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President Joe Biden speaks during a visit to the General Motors Factory ZERO electric vehicle assembly plant, Wednesday, Nov. 17, 2021, in Detroit.
Evan Vucci | AP

DETROIT – Now that President Joe Biden‘s $1 trillion infrastructure bill is law, Democrats are setting their sights on his Build Back Better Act to further advance the administration’s electric vehicle agenda.

The bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act provides $7.5 billion to jump start Biden’s goal of having 500,000 EV charges nationwide by 2030. The $1.75 trillion Build Back Better Act, which is close to a vote in the U.S. House, includes tax incentives of up to $12,500 per vehicle to spur consumer demand in electric vehicles.

“The infrastructure bill the President signed this week is a critical step in investing in our future,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said during an event to celebrate GMC Hummer EV production with Biden in Detroit. “Now we’re focused on the next step.”

The event at General Motor’s Factory Zero was largely a parade of Michigan Democrats touting Build Back Better and using the forthcoming Hummer production as a soapbox to tout union-made vehicles.

“This infrastructure law with my Build Back Better plan, we’re going to kickstart new batteries, materials and parts production and recycling, boosting the manufacturing of clean vehicles with new loans and new tax credits,” Biden said during the event. “Creating new purchasing incentives for consumers to buy American-made, union-made clean vehicles like the electric Hummer.”

The $1.75 trillion Build Back Better bill is set for a vote in the House on Friday.

Controversial incentives

The proposed EV incentive under Build Back Better includes a current $7,500 tax credit to purchase a plug-in electric vehicle as well as $500 if the vehicle’s battery is made in the U.S. It also includes a controversial $4,500 tax credit if the vehicle is assembled domestically with union labor, which has drawn heavy criticism from non-Detroit automakers whose American workers aren’t organized.

Toyota Motor has called the union-made incentive “blatantly biased” and “wrong.” Tesla CEO Elon Musk also has heavily criticized the incentive and Biden for his support of unions such as the United Auto Workers union that represents plant workers of the Detroit automakers.

The tax credits supporting advanced technologies that generally benefit wealthier Americans has always been controversial, but stipulating that a portion of the $12,500 go to union-made EVs escalated the partisan tension. Biden has been unapologetic about his support of unions.

“We’ve got to focus on what made the nation great. I have no problem with Wall Street bankers and others,” Biden said Wednesday. “But they didn’t build America. The middle-class built America and unions built the middle class.”

Under the bill, individual taxpayers reporting adjusted gross incomes of $250,000 or $500,000 for joint filers to get the new EV tax credit. It also would limit the EV credit to cars priced at no more than $55,000 and trucks and SUVs up to $80,000.

‘More critical bill’

BofA Global Research analyst John Murphy described the infrastructure package as “only modestly supportive” of the auto industry’s move toward EVs. He said the $12,500 in tax credits to buy an EV is more crucial to increase adoption.

“As noted, the Biden administration’s Build Back Better agenda is the more critical bill determining regulatory support for the electrification revolution in the U.S.,” Murphy wrote in an investor note last week.

U.S. President Joe Biden gestures after driving a Hummer EV during a tour at the General Motors ‘Factory ZERO’ electric vehicle assembly plant in Detroit, Michigan, November 17, 2021.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

Transportation officials last week touted the Build Back Better as a key part of Biden’s plan along with the new infrastructure package to help achieve the president’s EV sales goal. He wants half of all new vehicles sold by 2030 to be electric vehicles, including plug-in hybrid electric vehicles that include EV batteries and traditional internal combustion engines.

Goldman Sachs analyst Mark Delany believes such incentives for EVs could make the total cost of buying a vehicle “more compelling and would broadly benefit” automakers by making their products more affordable to consumers.

‘Ambitious’ goal

The infrastructure package, in the meantime, only covers a portion of the funds needed to build out a truly nationwide charging network.

The $7.5 billion is only about 15% of the $50 billion consulting firm AlixPartners has forecast will be needed to reach Biden’s goal of a nationwide network of 500,000 chargers by 2030.

Building that will take a multitude of public and private sector investments, experts say. They characterize the infrastructure package as a positive step in the right direction.

“It’s not all going to come from government, for sure,” said Mark Wakefield, global co-leader of the automotive and industrial practice at AlixPartners. “It’s presumably going to come more from companies putting utilities, automakers, charging companies, convenience stores, gas stations putting chargers in … The fact there’s any investment in it is a good thing.”

Before Biden signed the infrastructure package, U.S. Transportation Deputy Secretary Polly Trottenberg said the 500,000 charger goal remains “ambitious.”

“We stand by our goal. Our goal is to get to 500,000 EV chargers by 2030. That is obviously going to take strong partnerships at the state and local level and with private providers as well,” she told reporters during a call last week. “It’s an ambitious goal, but I think we’re going t have a plan to get there, also working with our partners at the Department of Energy.”

The DOT and DOE have established a joint program office under the infrastructure bill on how to use the funds, according to Christopher Coes, principal deputy assistant secretary in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Transportation Policy.

DOT officials declined to estimate how many EV chargers they plan to install with the $7.5 billion under the infrastructure bill. The devices, based on their speed of charging, can cost $120,00 to $260,000 for Level 3 “fast chargers” to be installed, according to AlixPartners.

“The goals of our program are to figure out how do we build the market? How do ensure that we are investing in places that aren’t the first places private sector investors are going to go to,” he said, citing inner cities, multifamily locations and along interstate highways.

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Isuzu’s first electric pickup is here and it’s a beast: Meet the new D-MAX EV

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Isuzu's first electric pickup is here and it's a beast: Meet the new D-MAX EV

A fully electric Isuzu pickup truck? That’s right. The D-MAX EV is Isuzu’s first electric pickup, and it will be rolling in the next few months. After kicking off mass production, Isuzu said the new EV pickup will “match the performance of existing diesel models,” boasting high towing capacity and payload.

Isuzu’s first electric pickup is launching in 2025

Isuzu announced on Tuesday that the D-MAX EV has officially entered mass production. The company has started building left-hand drive models, which will be shipped to Europe in the third quarter of 2025.

By the end of the year, production of right-hand drive models will begin for the UK, with sales expected to start in 2026.

The electric pickup is nearly identical to Isuzu’s popular gas-powered D-MAX, but swaps the diesel powertrain for a pair of electric motors. The D-MAX EV features new e-Axles, one on the front and the other at the rear, for a full-time 4WD system.

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The dual-motor powertrain enables it to match the performance of existing diesel models, with a combined 188 hp (140 kW) and a maximum torque of 240 lb-ft (325 Nm).

It can also tow over 7,700 lbs (3,500 kg) with a maximum payload of over 2,200 lbs (1,010 kg). That’s about the same as the D-MAX diesel, which has a 3,500 kg towing capacity and a payload capacity of up to 1,200 kg.

Powered by a 66.9 kWh battery, Isuzu’s first electric pickup boasts a driving range of up to 263 km (162 miles) on the WLTP. In the city, it can have a driving range of up to 224 miles (361 km).

Isuzu D-Max EV specs
Drive System Full-time 4×4
Battery Type Lithium-ion
Battery Capacity 66.9 kWh
Max Output 130 kW (174 hp)
Max Torque 325 Nm
Max Speed Over 130 km/h (+80 mph)
Max Payload 1,000 kg (+2,200 lbs)
Max Towing Capacity 3.5t (+7,700 lbs)
Isuzu D-Max EV electric pickup specs

Built for on and off-road performance, the rugged electric pickup features over 8″ (210 mm) of ground clearance with a wading depth of nearly 24″ (600 mm).

Although prices have not been announced, the D-MAX EV is expected to start slightly higher than the diesel model, which has a base price of around € 36,500 ($41,600).

Isuzu’s popular D-MAX is sold in over 100 countries, including Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Central and South America. The electric version will arrive in Europe in the next few months, followed by the UK and other regions in 2026.

The electric D-MAX will compete with the Toyota Hilux, Ford Ranger, and other electric pickups, such as Geely’s Radar R6, BYD’s Shark, and Ford’s F-150 Lightning.

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Tesla insider buys stock for the first time in years and it’s hilarious

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Tesla insider buys stock for the first time in years and it's hilarious

For the first time in five years, a Tesla insider required to report Tesla stock transactions bought stocks rather than selling them.

But the transaction is so small that it makes the whole situation hilarious.

Insiders in public companies are top executives and board members who are required to report to the SEC any transaction related to the company’s stock.

For Tesla, it has become a running joke that insiders only sell, never buy the stock.

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This has been true without exception for years.

We don’t know as much about executives as Tesla has a very short top executive bench who are required to file transactions. However, when it comes to its board members, they have been selling at an impressive rate.

We recently reported on Kimball Musk, Elon’s brother, and Tesla’s Chief Financial Officer Taneja Vaibhav recently selling ahead of a recent drop in the company’s stock price.

Tesla’s chairwoman, Robyn Denholm, also sold $33 million worth of Tesla shares in February and over $100 million in the 3 months prior.

However, we now have confirmation that a Tesla board member is buying, rather than selling.

Joe Gebbia, the Airbnb co-founder who joined Tesla’s board in 2022, confirmed that he bought 4,000 shares in Tesla last week worth about $1 million:

Electrek’s Take

Gebbia is estimated to be worth over $7 billion. Therefore, his purchase of $1 million worth of Tesla stock would be equivalent to my buying a fractional share in Tesla.

Furthermore, the disclosure confirmed that despite being on the board for the last 3 years, Gebbia owned only 111 shares in Tesla before the transaction.

That’s quite the show of confidence in Tesla.

Thie whole situation with the board is disappointing. Tesla’s core business is melting. The company reported its worst quarter in years last week, and the stock surged 20%.

None of it makes any sense.

The board is sitting on its hands while the most powerful force accelerating the advent of electric transport is being destroyed in favor of nonsensical predictions about the potential of solving self-driving and humanoid robots.

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Venmo revenue grows 20%, with debit card payment volume soaring

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Venmo revenue grows 20%, with debit card payment volume soaring

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

Venmo, long a centerpiece of PayPal‘s growth story but often criticized for its lack of monetization, is becoming a bigger contributor to the business.

PayPal said Tuesday in its first-quarter earnings release that revenue at Venmo increased 20% year-over-year in the first quarter, though the company didn’t provide a dollar figure. PayPal acquired Venmo in 2013 through the acquisition of parent company Braintree.

While it’s long been a popular consumer service for sending money to friends, Venmo’s ability to drive meaningful revenue has been a major question mark for investors, especially as competition from rivals like Zelle and Square Cash has intensified.

Venmo’s total payment volume rose 10% from a year earlier, but revenue grew twice as fast, reflecting the business opportunity. Venmo only gets revenue from specific products like Pay with Venmo at online checkout, Venmo debit cards, and instant transfers, but not from peer-to-peer payments.

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Ahead of the earnings report, Jefferies analysts noted that Venmo revenue growth appeared to be “accelerating sharply” and flagged its rising contribution to branded checkout as a key area to watch. Compass Point analysts similarly said that while competition from Zelle and Square Cash remains fierce, Venmo’s traction with debit cards and online checkout could “open up new monetization avenues” if adoption trends continue.

The company added nearly 2 million first-time PayPal and Venmo debit card users during the quarter, and total debit card payment volume across PayPal and Venmo climbed more than 60%. Meanwhile, Pay with Venmo transaction volume surged 50% year over year, and Venmo debit card monthly active users grew about 40%.

PayPal reported better-than-expected earnings for the quarter but missed on revenue. The company reaffirmed its full-year guidance, citing macroeconomic uncertainty.

WATCH: PayPal CEO Alex Chriss: Huge opportunity to deliver to consumers and help small business

PayPal CEO Alex Chriss: Huge opportunity to deliver to consumers and help small business

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