Interest in electric vehicles is at an all-time high, with sales of new EVs up 55% in 2022 compared with the year prior. But there are still a lot of gas cars on the roads today, and it’s likely there will be for a long time.
A burgeoning industry is breathing new life, and power, into internal combustion vehicles by converting them to electric. Both the shops and aftermarket community are growing substantially to meet the new demand.
Andrew Evers
“This is a 1976 BMW 2002 — really fun-to-drive car but underpowered,” Michael Bream, founder and CEO of EV West, told CNBC. “This particular customer decided that he wanted to go what we call ‘the whole hog,’ and he’s doing the 550 horsepower Tesla drive unit in this.”
Bream’s shop, based in San Diego, California, is one of the early pioneers in EV conversions and has become so popular it has a four-to-five-year wait to get in the door.
“Being involved in electric cars right now is like being involved in computers in the ’90s … we want this transition to sustainable fuels to be fun and exciting for people that are a part of car culture and automobile enthusiasts,” Bream said.
In addition to conversion shops, there is a fast-growing community of DIYers taking these projects on themselves. The complexity of electric vehicles can be intimidating, but that hasn’t stopped 14-year-old Frances Farnam, who is working on converting a 1976 Porsche 914. She got the car three years ago and has been documenting the process on her YouTube channel, Tinkergineering.
Andrew Evers
“I’ve always wanted an electric car, and my mom has a BMW i3,” Frances said. “I hope what I’m doing with this is I’m proving that it’s not too challenging … I’m just doing this in my backyard with my dad.”
She recently finished priming the car for paint and is getting ready to rebuild it. A 914 internet community has been instrumental in helping her and her father through the whole process. To learn how to work with the electrical systems, she took a course with Legacy EV, an electric vehicle aftermarket shop, that taught her the ins and outs of doing a conversion.
The aftermarket ecosystem seems to be blowing up with EV-focused parts to support people like Frances who want to build their own electric car. Both Ford and GM offer components for EV conversions, and there are several other companies entering the space as well. The Specialty Equipment Market Association, a trade organization that represents automotive manufacturers and resellers, said it has seen the number of EV-focused products in the market grow exponentially.
“We started two years ago at SEMA with having an EV section at the show,” said Mike Spagnola, president and CEO of SEMA. “It was 2,000 square feet. This last year it was 22,000 square feet … I’m sure in the next five years it’ll be 100,000 square feet.”
Watch the video to learn about converting internal combustion engine vehicles to EVs and whether it could go mainstream.
A woman walks past a logo of WhatsApp during a Meta event in Mumbai, India, on Sept. 20, 2023.
Niharika Kulkarni | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Meta is pushing back against a ban on WhatsApp from government devices.
The chief administrative officer, or CAO, of the U.S. House of Representatives told staffers on Monday that they are not allowed to use Meta’s popular messaging app. The CAO cited a lack of transparency about WhatsApp’s data privacy and security practices as the reason for the ban, according to a report by Axios that cited an internal email from the government office.
The CAO told House staff members in the email that they are not allowed to download WhatsApp on their government devices or access the app on their smartphones or desktop computers, the report said. Staff members must remove WhatsApp from their devices if they have the app installed on their devices, the report said.
“Protecting the People’s House is our topmost priority, and we are always monitoring and analyzing for potential cybersecurity risks that could endanger the data of House Members and staff,” U.S. House Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor told CNBC in a written statement.
Meta spokesperson Andy Stone on Monday responded to the report via a post on X, saying the company disagrees “with the House Chief Administrative Officer’s characterization in the strongest possible terms.”
“We know members and their staffs regularly use WhatsApp and we look forward to ensuring members of the House can join their Senate counterparts in doing so officially,” Stone said.
In a separate X post, Stone said WhatsApp’s encrypted nature provides a “higher level of security than most of the apps on the CAO’s approved list that do not offer that protection.”
Some of the messaging apps the CAO said are acceptable alternatives to WhatsApp include Microsoft Teams, Signal and Apple’s iMessage, the Axios report said.
Meta is currently embroiled in an antitrust case with the Federal Trade Commission over the social media company’s acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram.
The Super Micro Computer headquarters in San Jose, California, on Dec. 3, 2024.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Super Micro Computer shares fell about 6% on Monday after the server maker said it plans to offer $2 billion in convertible notes, maturing in 2030.
A company’s stock often falls on the announcement of a convertible offering because the eventual conversion to equity could dilute existing shareholders’ stakes.
Super Micro, which has seen its business boom due to soaring demand for Nvidia’s artificial intelligence processors, said in a press release that it plans to use the proceeds from the offering for “general corporate purposes, including to fund working capital for growth and business expansion.” It also said it would spend about $200 million to repurchase its stock from the note issuers.
Even after Monday’s slide, Super Micro shares are up close to 40% so far in 2025 as the company remains one of a handful of server makers that can sell systems based around new chips from Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices, and Intel soon after they start shipping. The stock has been viewed by Wall Street as an AI pure play that will appreciate with tech megacap companies expected to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on data centers to support AI workloads.
Super Micro also secured a major contract with a data center in Saudi Arabia when President Donald Trump visited the Middle East in May.
Super Micro “has emerged as a market leader in AI-optimized infrastructure,” Raymond James analysts wrote in a report last month, saying that 70% of the company’s revenue was attributable to AI. The analysts recommend buying the stock.
Investors soured on Super Micro in March and April on concerns about tariffs, and in May the company slashed its fiscal 2025 guidance and chose not to reiterate its previous forecast for $40 billion in fiscal 2026 sales, due to tariff and AI chip uncertainty.
The stock has recouped some of those losses but is still trading well below its high for the year reached in February.
Super Micro had a tumultuous 2024 largely because of accusations of accounting irregularities, and was forced to refile financials with the SEC in order to avoid delisting from the Nasdaq. Super Micro also named a new auditor, removed its CFO and named additional members to its board of directors.
An Atlas V rocket of United Launch Alliance (ULA) lifts off from Space Launch Complex 41 at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida on June 23, 2025.
Gregg Newton | Afp | Getty Images
Amazon‘s second batch of Kuiper internet satellites reached low Earth orbit on Monday, adding to its plans for a massive constellation and ramping up competition with SpaceX’s Starlink.
A United Launch Alliance rocket carrying 27 Kuiper satellites lifted off from a launchpad at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 6:54 a.m. ET, according to a livestream.
“We have ignition and lift off of United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying satellites for Amazon’s Project Kuiper internet constellation, continuing a new chapter in low Earth orbit satellite connectivity,” Ben Chilton, an ordnance engineer at ULA, said on the livestream following the launch.
Six years ago, Amazon unveiled its plans to build a constellation of internet-beaming satellites in low Earth orbit, called Project Kuiper. The service will compete directly with Elon Musk’sStarlink, which currently dominates the market and has 8,000 satellites in orbit.
Amazon in April successfully sent up 27 Kuiper internet satellites into low Earth orbit, a region of space that’s within 1,200 miles of the Earth’s surface.
The 54 craft currently in orbit are the start of Amazon’s planned constellation of 3,236 satellites. The company has to meet a Federal Communications Commission deadline to launch half of its total constellation, or 1,618 satellites, by July 2026.
The company has booked more than 80 launches with several providers, including rival SpaceX, to deliver Kuiper its satellites into orbit.