The US government has approved the construction of a massive new lithium mine on public land in Nevada as part of a strategy to break China’s dominance over the supply chain of critical minerals used in EVs. The mine will be a key supplier to Ford’s future EVs.
This marks the first time the Biden administration has signed a permit for a lithium mine in the US.
The US government has offered Australia-based producer Ioneer a $700 million loan to help build the project, which would quadruple US lithium production when completed in 2028. The mine, which is thought to be vital to providing a domestic source of the critical mineral, contains enough lithium to power roughly 370,000 EVs every year.
Ford is one of first companies to promise to source its lithium for EV batteries from the mine.
Conservationists and Ioneer have battled it out for nearly six years over the protection of an endangered flower growing there, but the government is moving forward with the project, which will mine both lithium and boron. The project, reportedly, has undergone environmental impact assessments to evaluate its effects on local ecosystems and water resources, with Ioneer exploring methods to minimize environmental impacts, including water recycling and responsible mining techniques.
“This is a science-based decision,” Laura Daniel-Davis, the Interior Department’s acting deputy secretary, told Reuters. “We’re trying to send a signal that there’s no topic with greater importance than addressing climate change.”
The US Bureau of Land Management added that the deal includes “significant protections for the local ecosystems.” Plus the rural region, about 225 miles north of Las Vegas in Esmeralda Country, should see the creation of 500 jobs during construction and 350 “high-paying jobs during its decades in operation,” the company said.
Construction is scheduled to start next year, with production beginning by 2028. That timeline should also set Rhyolite Ridge apart as one of the largest US lithium producers alongside Albemarle and Lithium Americas, Reuters reports. Customers that have already agreed to purchase lithium from the mine include Ford and a joint venture between Toyota Motor Corps and Panasonic.
Conservationists say, however, that the project will surely push the endangered Tiehm’s buckwheat flower out of existence, with the Center for Biological Diversity planning to sue the federal government to block the project. The flower, which grows on limestone substrates and only in this exact part of the world, is protected by the Endangered Species Act.
However, US officials, according to Reuters, say that they believe that the mine will not impact the flower, and that Ioneer has worked to reconfigure the project to take the flower into account. Back in 2020, more than 17,000 flowers died near the mine site, sparking allegations of a “premeditated” attack, with Ioneer denying any wrongdoing. The government, according to Reuters, said that squirrels are to blame.
Since 2002, only three US mines have come online for critical minerals, reports The Financial Times. But lithium mining in the US has becoming a hot topic as the US looks to tap into its own resources for future EV batteries and break China’s grip on supply.
Audi has unveiled the Audi ConceptC, an all-electric two-seat roadster that aims to redefine the brand’s design language, and which could also preview an upcoming electric TT sports car successor.
Radical Simplicity in Motion
Unveiled in Milan on 2 September 2025, this concept signals Audi’s shift into sleek, minimalist clarity.
From every angle, the Concept C embodies what Audi now calls “radical simplicity”, a philosophy built around geometric purity, emotional precision, and technical clarity, according to the release.
Central to the car’s identity is the vertical frame, Audi’s reimagining of its signature grille, inspired by the legendary Auto Union Type C (1936) and even the third-gen A6 from 2004.
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Its twin-panel, electrically actuated hardtop rocks both coupe-like elegance and open-air allure.
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Inside: Clarity Meets Tactility
Inside, the Concept C embraces minimalism without sacrificing substance. Anodized‑aluminum haptic controls, including that satisfying “Audi click,” and a foldable 10.4‑inch center display, offer sleek digital interaction, but nothing feels superfluous.
Audi is calling this “shy tech”—technology that’s always present, never overpowering. Smart, emotional, and intuitive.
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Clear Design Vision leaks into Corporate Clarity
This concept is apparently not just a car, it’s a sort of manifesto. CEO Gernot Döllner says that clarity now guides everything at Audi, from design to structure to corporate ethos. The Milan reveal under the banner “Strive for clarity” sets the tone for a bold, focused reimagining of the brand – making this reveal more than about just a new concept.
It’s a full‑scale reorientation, described internally as “The Radical Next” by CCO Massimo Frascella, who emphasizes design as a cultural force, not just a styling exercise.
The Concept C also makes its public debut at IAA Mobility 2025 in Munich, showcased under Audi’s immersive “Feel Audi” experience.
A TT Comeback as an Electric Vehicle?
Now, Autocar released a report adding a lot of context around the concept unveil: Audi is reportedly working on an electric TT‑inspired drop‑top, targeting 2027, and this concept could be fairly close to what the German automaker could bring to production.
It would be positioned as a retro‑styled EV, the car would slot in as a Boxster‑rival, potentially sharing its bones with a Porsche counterpart, which is also going electric.
Audi already retired the TT and the R8—leaving a gap in its two‑door sports car lineage. But according to CEO Döllner, sports cars are still part of Audi’s DNA, and their return is not off the table—especially when the timing is right.
Design chief Frascella has a long‑standing personal connection to the TT—it inspired him as a young designer, and he’s excited about bringing that emotional spark into a new EV concept. But, he cautions, it won’t be derivative. Expect something that captures the essence without cloning the past.
A future electric TT would be Audi Sport’s “emotional compact”, built on the surging wave of electrification, and maybe, just maybe, born from the same radical simplicity that powers the Concept C.
Electrek’s Take
As you know, it’s hard for us at Electrek to get excited about new concept cars, but it does sound like Audi isn’t just sketching a pretty concept here.
The vehicle appears to signal a new design language for the four-ring brand and could even preview a new electric sports car.
If it’s indeed the direction Audi is heading, I like it. It manages to be both retro and futuristic without doing too much. That’s impressive.
I appreciate the minimalism all around, but especially in the interior, where, even though it’s just a concept, it already feels exceptionally refined.
You definetly should make this Audi.
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The ES90 can drive further and charge faster than any of Volvo’s electric cars to date. Its sleek design looks like a fastback, but offers the space of an SUV. After the first ES90 rolled off the assembly line on Thursday, Volvo said its new flagship EV stands in a class of its own.
The first Volvo ES90 EV rolls off the production line
Volvo created quite a stir after unveiling the ES90 in March, its new flagship EV. Although it may look like a sedan, it offers the versatility of an SUV with a spacious interior and higher ground clearance.
It’s also the first Volvo model based on its new 800V SPA2 architecture. The advanced new platform unlocks some of the world’s fastest charging speeds, along with an impressive driving range.
Based on the new platform, the ES90 can gain up to 300 km (186 miles) of range in just 10 minutes using a 350 kW fast charger. It also provides a driving range of up to 700 km (435 miles), making it the “most technically advanced” Volvo EV to date.
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After the first ES90 rolled off the production line on Thursday, Francesca Gamboni, chief industrial operations officer at Volvo Cars, said the automaker is entering “a new era of safety, sustainability, and human-centric technology.”
The first Volvo ES90 enters production (Source: Volvo Cars)
By offering the best of a sedan, fastback, and SUV, “the ES90 stands in a class of its own,” Volvo claims. Powered by a 102 kWh battery, the Volvo ES90 offers a whopping 700 km (435 miles) of WLTP driving range.
The inside is just as impressive as the first Volvo car equipped with NVIDIA DRIVE AGX Orin. With around 508 trillion operations per second, the computer offers an eightfold improvement from the previous DRIVE AGX system.
The interior of the Volvo ES90 (Source: Volvo Cars)
Volvo’s new Superset tech stack enables the ES90 to improve and “evolve” through software updates. All of that, and it’s still designed with Volvo’s advanced safety tech at its core.
The ES90 “is set to be another Scandinavian design classic from Volvo Cars,” the company boasted. Volvo has already opened ES90 orders in several European markets and will soon launch it in the Asia Pacific region. In Germany, the ES90 starts at €71,990 ($84,000) with higher trim options priced upwards of around €95,000 ($110,000).
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Attendees during a media tour of the Revolution Wind construction hub at the Port of Providence in Providence, Rhode Island, US, on Thursday, June 13, 2024.
Adam Glanzman | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The Danish renewable energy company Orsted sued the Trump administration on Thursday to prevent it from blocking the completion of a wind farm off the coast of New England.
The Interior Department abruptly ordered Orsted on August 22 to halt construction on Revolution Wind off the coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut. The fully permitted project is 80% complete and would provide enough power for more than 350,000 homes across both states.
Orsted asked the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to set aside the stop-work order, calling it “unlawful” and “issued in bad faith.”
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has justified the order on national security grounds and concerns that Revolution Wind will interfere with other uses of U.S. territorial waters. But Orsted said this justification is just a pretext, pointing to President Donald Trump’s long-standing animus toward wind power going back more than a decade.
“The President has apparent hostility towards offshore wind, including based on statements made on the campaign trail,” Orsted’s attorney told the court.
Revolution Wind has undergone extensive environmental and safety reviews over nearly a decade that cost hundreds of millions of dollars, according to Orsted’s lawsuit. Federal agencies have uniformily concluded based on thousands of pages of data that the project is “environmentally sound, safe and consistent with federal law,” the company said.
Trump has targeted the wind industry since his first day in office, when he issued an order that closed federal waters to new leases for offshore projects. But the renewable industry had hoped that the White House would allow permitted projects such as Revolution Wind to proceed.
Trump has escalated his attacks on the renewable energy industry in recent weeks. The president said his administration would not approve solar and wind projects two days before Revolution Wind was hit with the stop-work order.
And the Trump administration on Friday cancelled $679 million in funding for a dozen infrastructure projects that support the offshore wind industry.