FoT is the intelligence arm of Trucks Venture Capital.

Notable:

Dead EV batteries turn to gold with US incentives (link). 'The IRA includes a clause that automatically qualifies EV battery materials recycled in the U.S. as American-made for subsidies, regardless of their origin. That is important because it qualifies automakers using U.S.-recycled battery materials for EV production incentives.' It does feel as though we have not fully reckoned with the battery elder care lifecycle, and in reality need as much if not more understanding and incentives at that stage rather than just simply making more new ones.

Why buy a CCS-equipped non-Tesla EV today? (link). A gap year exists for vehicles on CCS - will consumers recoil? Related: Video: 'The harsh reality of road tripping a CCS car has hit me hard today.' (link). Related: 'Welcome to EV dongle town' (link).

This week in AV nationalism: 'Chinese driverless vehicles present spying risk, US transport chief warns' (link).

Tesla to license FSD to other OEMs, allow transfer of FSD to new cars (link). Some OEMs are moving beyond 'resistance is futile' to the 'best fwends forever' stage of their Tesla relationship. Is the first OEM to use FSD on license going to be Polestar, as was suggested to me by two separate FoT readers?

Disability advocates push CPUC for robotaxi expansion (link). Via Craig T. Related: Former NHTSA head blasts Cruise’s ‘Humans are terrible drivers’ ad (link).

What Elon Musk’s AI startup means for Tesla’s AI ambitions (link). 'The billionaire long framed the automaker as an artificial-intelligence company. Then he started xAI.'

Video: Baja like a duck: smooth on top, moving like crazy underneath (link). Audio: Vox's new season of its Land of the Giants podcast focuses on Tesla (link). Video: How do you build a more efficient bicycle? (link). Via Wes Davis. Video: Skateboarder Tyshawn Jones ollies over a Ferrari Monza in Manhattan (link).

M&A / Deals / Changes:

Dutch ebike startup VanMoof declares bankruptcy (link). David Hansen: 'The talking heads are united in pushing the wrong conclusions from the Vanmoof bankruptcy. Vanmoof is the General Motors EV1 of the bike industry and the future is in pushing Vanmoof’s ideas to their logical extremes, not keeping the status quo of the big brands, suppliers, and bike shops' (link).

VTOL startup Lilium raises $182M (link). Led by Aceville.

AV trucking startup Aurora raises $820M (link).

Norway's FREYR Battery gets $111M grant for Giga Arctic factory (link).

South Korean EV charging startup Everon raises $39M (link). Led by Korea Development Bank.

Irish EV charging startup Go Eve raises $3.8M (link). Led by The Pearl Family Office.

Brazilian vehicle rental startup Turbo raises $16.4M (link). Led by EXT Capital.

After Detroit's Police and Fire Retirement System sued Tesla for excessive compensation, the directors agreed to return $735M back to the company (link).

New FAA leader likely to be Hyundai's Supernal VTOL exec (link).

The State of Michigan announces Justine Johnson as its next Chief Mobility Officer (link).

Board Changes:

CarGurus: Manik Gupta joins board (link).

New Stuff:

Taur launches the Taur II electric scooter (link). 'The TAUR II can travel the vast majority of return trips in cities – it has an incredible 27 mile range.'

Sony-Honda Afeela EV will rely on Qualcomm's super chips (link). 'The Afeela EV will have 45 sensors, including lidar, eight cameras, expansive interior screens and built-in AI.'

Scrapyards adopt new high-tech ways to dismantle cars (link). Via Diego. A new 'deproduction line' process.

Roadie is an app that helps you plan epic road trips (link).

Patents & Patent Applications:

Zoox's patent for offloading data for gradient computing (link).

Waymo's patent application for tracking and estimating locations of vanished objects (link).

Featured Jobs:

Director of Sales at Token Transit in San Francisco, CA USA or remote (link).

Global Supply Manager - Powertrain and Battery at Joby Aviation in San Carlos, CA, USA (link).

MobilityJobs is the No.1 job board for auto & transportation companies (link).

Statistics / Projections:

Owner satisfaction in new-vehicle design and performance has declined for the second year in a row; 'automakers do not know what customers actually want' (link). Via Automotive News / JD Power.

Consumers are warming to subscription features: '82% said they would likely consider purchasing subscription-based services on a future new-vehicle purchase' (link). Via Automotive News / S&P.

Nearly 300,000 new EVs were sold in the U.S. in Q2, a record for any quarter and an increase of 48.4% from Q2 2022 (link). Via Cox Automotive.

Bikeshare ridership in major US cities has increased 27% since 2019, reaching almost 45 million annual trips (link). Via Bloomberg / US Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

Thank you:

Thank you to Ryan Melohn (link) for offers of introductions to new founders, investors and friends over the last week.

Trucks portfolio companies mentioned in this issue:

Joby Aviation (link), Taur (link), Token Transit (link). View the full portfolio of Trucks companies (link).

See you next week,

Reilly Brennan