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A bulldozer moves coal that will be burned to generate electricity at the American Electric Power coal-fired power plant in Winfield, West Virginia.

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The planned restart of Three Mile Island is a step forward for nuclear power, but the U.S. needs to deploy new plants to keep up with rising electricity demand, one of the nation’s top nuclear officials said this week.

The U.S. needs to at least triple its nuclear fleet to keep pace with demand, slash carbon-dioxide emissions and ensure the nation’s energy security, said Mike Goff, acting assistant secretary for the Office of Nuclear Energy at the Department of Energy.

The U.S. currently maintains the largest nuclear fleet in the world with 94 operational reactors totaling about 100 gigawatts of power. The fleet supplied more than 18% of the nation’s electricity consumption in 2023.

The U.S. needs to add 200 gigawatts of nuclear, Goff told CNBC in an interview. This is roughly equivalent to building 200 new plants, based on the current average reactor size in the U.S. fleet of about a gigawatt.

“It’s a huge undertaking,” Goff said. The U.S. led a global coalition in December that formally pledged to meet this goal by 2050. Financial institutions including Goldman Sachs and Bank of America endorsed the target at a climate conference in New York City this week.

Constellation Energy‘s plan to restart Three Mile Island by 2028 is a step in the right direction, Goff said. The plant operated safely and efficiently, only shutting down in 2019 for economic reasons, he said.

The reactor that Constellation plans to re-open, Unit 1, is not the one the partially melted down in 1979.

Microsoft will purchase electricity from the plant to help power its data centers. Goff said the advent of large data centers that consume up to a gigawatt of electricity only reinforces the need for new reactors.

“A lot of the data centers are coming in and saying they do need firm, 24/7, baseload clean electricity,” Goff said. “Nuclear is obviously a perfect match for that,” he said.

But restarting reactors in the U.S. will only provide a small fraction of the nuclear power that is needed, he said. There are only a handful of shuttered plants that are potential candidates for restarts, according to Goff.

“It’s not a huge number,” Goff said of potential restarts. “We need to really be moving forward also on deploying plants,” he said.

From coal to nuclear

Coal communities across the U.S. could provide a runway to build out a large number of new nuclear plants. Utilities in many parts of the U.S. are phasing out coal as part of the clean energy transition, creating a supply gap in some regions because new generation is not being built fast enough.

Recently shuttered coal plants, those expected to retire, and currently operating plants with no estimated shutdown date yet could provide space for up to 174 gigawatts of new nuclear across 36 states, according to a Department of Energy study published earlier this month.

Coal plants already have transmission lines in place, allowing reactors at those sites to avoid the long process of siting new grid connections, Goff said. The plants also have people experienced in the energy industry who could transition to working at a nuclear facility, he said.

“We can actually get a significant cost reduction by building at a coal plant,” Goff said. “We can maybe get a 30% cost reduction compared to just going on a greenfield site.”

Cost overruns and long timelines are major hurdles for building new nuclear plants. The expansion of the Vogtle plant in Georgia with two new reactors, for example, cost more than $30 billion and took around seven years longer than expected.

Expanding operational nuclear plants and building at retired sites in the U.S. could create a pathway for up to 95 gigawatts worth of new reactors, according to the DOE study. Between coal and nuclear sites, the U.S. potentially has space for up to 269 gigawatts of additional nuclear power.

The potential capacity would depend on whether advanced, smaller reactors are built at the sites, or larger reactors with a gigawatt or more of power.

More electricity could potentially be generated if the smaller reactors were rolled out on a large scale because there is space for more them, according to the DOE study. Some of these smaller advanced designs, however, are still years away from commercialization.

But rising electricity demand from data centers, manufacturing and the electrification of the economy could provide a catalyst to build the larger plants as well, according to Goff. The Three Mile Island restart, for example, would bring back just under a gigawatt of power to meet Microsoft’s needs.

“That increased power demand, that will lead toward an additional push toward those gigawatt size reactors as well,” he said.

Restarts likely to secure greenlight

While reactor restarts aren’t a silver bullet, shoring up and maintaining the existing fleet is crucial, Goff said. The U.S. went through a decade-long period in which reactors were shutting down because they could not compete with cheap, abundant natural gas.

The economics are changing, however, with tax support from the Inflation Reduction Act and nuclear increasingly valued for its carbon-free attributes, Goff said.

“One of the issues with the economics, especially in the non-regulated utilities, was there was no value necessarily for clean, baseload electricity,” he said. “There is a lot more recognition of the need for that clean, firm, reliable baseload for nuclear”

Constellation’s decision to restart Three Mile Island follows in the footsteps of the Palisades nuclear plant in Michigan. The private owner, Holtec International, plants to restart Palisades in 2025. The two restarts are subject to review and approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

“They are an independent agency, but I expect if the safety cases are presented, they’re going to approve it,” Goff said of those potential restarts.

“Constellation obviously operated the Three Mile Island plant for years, and has a very large fleet of reactors that they’ve operated safely and efficiently,” he said. “They will continue to have a great expertise in moving those plants to continue their safe operation.”

But finding additional plants to restart could prove difficult, said Doug True, chief nuclear officer at the Nuclear Energy Institute.

“It gets harder and harder,” True previously told CNBC. “A lot of these plants have already started the deconstruction process that goes with decommissioning and the facility wasn’t as thoroughly laid up in a way that was intended to restart in any way.”

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All-new ALLPOWERS R1500 LITE station $405 (49% off), Gotrax F1 2.0 e-bike new $560 low, EcoFlow 35L GLACIER bundle low, more

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July 16, 2025

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All-new ALLPOWERS R1500 LITE station 5 (49% off), Gotrax F1 2.0 e-bike new 0 low, EcoFlow 35L GLACIER bundle low, more

We’ve got a jam-packed Green Deals with plenty of low prices in our post-Prime Day market, with today’s edition led by the preorder launch deal on ALLPOWERS’ new R1500 LITE Portable Power Station at $405. Right behind it is Gotrax’s F1 2.0 20-inch Folding e-bike with five add-on accessories hitting a new $560 low, as well as EcoFlow’s 35L GLACIER Classic Portable Fridge/Freezer with an add-on battery at a new $859 low. We also have returning low prices on several Heybike models during its current weekend flash sale, like the Mars 2.0 Folding e-bike coming with $198 in free gear at $899. We’re also seeing EGO’s 56V 25-inch Cordless Hedge Trimmer Kit back at its $269 low, and have a special one-day-only low price on Birdfy’s Feeder 2 Duo with dual cameras at $330. Plus, there’s all the hangover Prime Day savings in our Prime Day Green Deals hub at the bottom of the page, as well as yesterday’s Tenways e-bike sale, the new low price hitting DJI’s latest Power 2000 station, and more.

Head below for other New Green Deals we’ve found today and, of course, Electrek’s best EV buying and leasing deals. Also, check out the new Electrek Tesla Shop for the best deals on Tesla accessories.

ALLPOWERS launches new R1500 LITE 1,056Wh LiFePO4 power station for preorder at $405

ALLPOWERS has launched its latest backup power solution for preorder with a significant discount through July 25. Until shipping begins, you can pick up the R1500 LITE Portable Power Station for $405 shipped, after an additional 10% savings is automatically added in your cart. This all-new unit will carry a full $799 price tag after these pre-sale savings end, with the brand offering a large 49% markdown right out of the gate, giving you $394 in savings and setting the bar for future discounts. On the same landing page, you’ll also find its many bundle options for varying sizes of accompanying solar panels.

ALLPOWERS’ new R1500 LITE station is the latest compact backup power solution from under the brand’s flag, coming with a 1,056Wh LiFePO4 capacity that is rated for over 3,500 life cycles, which would support you for over nine and a half years were you to discharge and recharge it every day. From its 12 output port options, it delivers up to 1,600W of steady juice to your devices, surging as high as 3,200W for hungrier appliances. Following a trend we’re seeing with each new power station that comes out, this one is designed to operate at “whisper-quiet” 35dB, so as not to disturb your sleep should you have it running at night.

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The ALLPOWERS R1500 LITE station provides the usual remote smart controls you’d expect, giving you the ability to monitor its charging process and adjust settings all from your smartphone via the companion app. To recharge the station’s battery, you have four options. First, a standard wall outlet can have it back to full in 1.5 hours or you could connect up to its 650W max solar input to reach a full battery in 1.6 hours. There’s also the option to plug it into your car’s auxiliary port, as well as the ability to utilize both AC and solar for hybrid fast-charging that only takes a single hour.

Gotrax F1 2.0 Folding e-bike

Gotrax’s F1 2.0 20-inch folding e-bike comes with five add-on accessories at a new $560 low

Amazon is now offering the Gotrax F1 2.0 20-inch Folding e-bike at $559.99 shipped. While it carries a $999 MSRP direct from the brand, we see it occasionally keep to $799 in full at Amazon, with discounts so far this year having kept costs down as low as $625. You’re looking at a $239 markdown off the going rate ($439 off its MSRP), giving you a solid budget-friendly commuting option at the best new price we have tracked to date.

If you want to learn more about this e-bike and this deal, you can check out the full breakdown in our original coverage here.

EcoFlow GLACIER Classic 35L Portable Fridge/Freezer bundle

EcoFlow’s 35L GLACIER Classic portable fridge/freezer comes with an add-on battery at its $859 low

EcoFlow’s official Amazon storefront is undercutting its direct pricing on the GLACIER Classic 35L Portable Fridge/Freezer with an add-on battery for $859 shipped at Amazon, while picking it up direct from the brand’s website would cost you an additional $90. This bundle package with the add-on battery usually goes for $1,098 in full, which we’ve been seeing keep down around $949 recently. Prime Day saw it hit the $859 low for the first time before rising back in price over the weekend, until now. You can pick it up here with a $239 markdown, equipping you with an ice-free option for outings at the best price we have tracked.

If you want to learn more about this electric cooler/freezer, be sure to check out our original coverage here.

Heybike Mars 2.0 folding e-bike

Heybike summer flash sale drops Mars 2.0 fat tire folding e-bike with $198 in free gear back to its $899 low (Save $798 total)

Heybike has launched a Summer Flash Sale through July 20 that is seeing many of its e-bikes return to their lowest prices alongside solid savings on others. The standout is the popular Mars 2.0 Fat Tire Folding e-bike that comes with $198 in free gear at $899 shipped. The sale is bringing costs down from its $1,499 full price tag, which we regularly see drop between $999 and $1,099 during sales, occasionally falling further to the $899 low in flash events like this one. It’s coming back around again with $798 in total savings (including the free large basket and front basket you’ll get) at the best price we have tracked. Head below for more on this model and the others we’re seeing benefit from savings.

If you want to learn more about this e-bike or the other models seeing discounts during this flash sale, be sure to check out our original coverage here.

EGO 56V 25-inch cordless hedge trimmer

EGO’s 56V 25-inch cordless hedge trimmer kit gets larger post-Prime Day savings back to its $269 low

Amazon is offering a post-Prime Day return to the lowest pricing on the EGO Power+ 56V 25-inch Cordless Hedge Trimmer Kit for $269 shipped. Normally costing $349 at full price, we saw this same rate appear a month ago and hold out until the end of June, when it rose back up for the first week of July and only fell to $300 for Prime Day. Now, with that event having ended, the costs are coming back down with $80 in total savings to the best price we have tracked.

You can learn more about this electric lawn care solution by checking our original coverage here.

Birdfy Feeder 2 Duo smart bird feeder with camera

Get up close and personal with feathered visitors through Birdfy’s Feeder 2 Duo at $330 low (Today only)

As part of its Deals of the Day, Best Buy is offering the Birdfy Feeder 2 Duo with Camera at $329.99 shipped, while matching in price at Amazon. It carries a $430 MSRP direct from the brand, while sitting down lower at $420 at Best Buy. The deal we’re seeing here, which will only last through the rest of the day, gives you a 21% markdown off the going rate (23% off the MSRP), providing you with a $90 price cut ($100 off the MSRP) at the best price we can find. What’s more, this deal is coming in $20 under the direct pricing we’re seeing from the brand’s website, while over at Amazon the price is unmoved from its $

If you want to learn more about this advanced smart feeder system, be sure to check out our original coverage of this one-day-only deal here.

Best Summer EV deals!

Best new Green Deals landing this week

The savings this week are also continuing to a collection of other markdowns. To the same tune as the offers above, these all help you take a more energy-conscious approach to your routine. Winter means you can lock in even better off-season price cuts on electric tools for the lawn while saving on EVs and tons of other gear.

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The new Chevy Bolt EV is coming soon and it’s getting some big upgrades

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July 16, 2025

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The new Chevy Bolt EV is coming soon and it's getting some big upgrades

new-Chevy-Bolt-EV

Chevy is bringing back the beloved affordable electric hatch. The new Chevy Bolt EV is expected to arrive later this year, featuring over 300 miles of driving range, faster charging, and more.

When will Chevy launch the new Bolt EV?

Many were sad to hear that GM was ending production of the iconic electric hatch in late 2023, but CEO Mary Barra promised a new Bolt EV was on the way.

Barra claimed the updated model would offer “an even better driving, charging, and ownership experience.” It will be based on GM’s Ultium platform, which powers current Chevy, Cadillac, GMC, and Honda electric vehicles sold in the US.

The platform will offer significantly longer driving range and faster charging speeds than the outgoing Bolt. GM also said it will use LFP batteries to lower costs.

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Although LFP batteries typically offer less range compared to NMC, the new Chevy Bolt EV is expected to arrive with over 300 miles of driving range. Given that the Chevy Silverado EV WT offers up to 492 miles of EPA-estimated range, 300 miles for the Bolt EV shouldn’t be too hard, even with LFP batteries.

new-Chevy-Bolt-EV
2022 Chevy Bolt EUV (Source: GM)

GM’s president, Mark Reuss, confirmed the new model will be a part of a “family of Bolts,” which will include an even more affordable variant.

After announcing plans to invest $4 billion in ramping up US production last month, GM said a new “next-gen affordable EV” was in development. It will be built in Kansas, alongside the new Chevy Bolt EV. Whether this model is part of the family of Bolt’s or not remains unclear.

GM-low-cost-EV-batteries
GM plans to build a “next-gen affordable EV) in Kansas (Source: GM)

With an official debut expected later this year, we’ve seen the new Bolt out for testing. Although it keeps the overall feel of the outgoing Bolt, it appears to have a more crossover-SUV look, similar to the Trax.

According to Edmunds, GM’s Super Cruise hands-free highway tech will be available on the upcoming Bolt EV. In the previous generation, it was only offered on the bigger EUV model.

new-Chevy-Bolt-EV
Chevy Silverado (left), Equinox (middle), and Blazer (right) EVs at a Tesla Supercharger (Source: GM)

With some GM electric vehicles now arriving with a built-in NACS port for Tesla Supercharger access, the new Bolt will likely also feature it.

GM is set to begin production later this year, with the new Chevy Bolt EV expected to be available in mid-2026. Prices and final specs will come closer to launch, but the first model from the Bolt EV family is likely to start at a slightly higher price than the $28,785 MSRP of the outgoing model, given the upgrades.

Chevy-Equinox-EV
2025 Chevy Equinox EV LT (Source: GM)

Meanwhile, Chevy already has an affordable model that’s helped it become the fastest-growing EV brand in the US. The Chevy Equinox EV, or “America’s most affordable 315+ range EV,” as GM likes to call it, starts at under $35,000. With the $7,500 EV tax credit, the price of the base LT model drops to just $27,495.

With leases starting at just $289 per month, it’s no wonder the electric SUV is selling like hotcakes. GM expects the Chevy Equinox EV to be among the top-three-selling EVs by the end of 2025.

Ready to test one out for yourself? We’ve got you covered. You can use our link to find deals on the Chevy Equinox EV at a dealer near you (trusted affiliate link).

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Rivian has extended its R1 lease deals into September, with savings as high as $15,500

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July 16, 2025

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Rivian has extended its R1 lease deals into September, with savings as high as ,500

Rivian lease deals

We’ve already reached peak summertime (crazy), and your back patios aren’t the only thing heating up. Rivian has extended its lease deals, which apply to a range of R1S and R1T configurations. Combined with federal tax credits, you could save upwards of $15,000 on a new Rivian EV.

Today’s latest deals update is an extension (and a welcome one at that) of two separate lease deal programs that Rivian announced earlier this summer. In May, we reported that Rivian had begun a “Nothing But Adventure” lease offer, which covered the $6,500 down payment on the lease of any R1 EV with a dual motor configuration with the Max battery pack and performance upgrade package.

However, that deal was originally set to expire on May 31, 2025. In June, Rivian followed up with a second deal called the “Summer Adventure Offer,” which included $5,000 off the purchase or lease of a new Tri-Motor R1 EV if customers took delivery by June 30.

Below, we have broken down Rivian’s latest offers, which include revamped lease deals that have been extended through the rest of the summer.

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Rivian lease deals
Source: Rivian.com

Rivian lease deals on dual, tri motor R1S and R1T EVs

Rivian sent an email earlier today outlining details of its latest lease offers, which include multiple deals valid through September 1, 2025. That includes the previously mentioned “Nothing But Adventure” offer, which now pertains to any 2025 Tri-Motor R1S or R1T lease.

Similar to the May 2025 deal, Rivian will contribute $6,500 toward the down payment of said lease, as long as you place your order by September 1 and take delivery by September 30. Combined with the $7,500 federal EV lease credit and a $1,500 bonus from Rivian for trading in any vehicle, you can save as much as $15,500. Check out all the terms and conditions here.

Rivian’s “Summer Adventure Offer” expired last month. Still, the American automaker has followed up with a new “Summer Lease Offer” that applies to any 2025 Dual Motor R1 model with the performance upgrade. Combined with the federal credit and Rivian Energy Refresh bonus of $1,500, customers can save up to $14,000 on an R1S or R1T with a Max battery pack, and up to $12,000 with those dual models with the Large pack.

Per Rivian, the summer lease offers between $3,000 and $5,000 will be applied directly to your 2025 Dual Motor order as long as it’s on or before September 1, 2025, and delivery is taken by September 30. To peruse the lease deals, you can connect with a Rivian sales advisor or go to R1 Shop.

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