☯️ The "good" news from Tesla

Vol 102

This newsletter aims to separate the signal from the noise for investment in all things sustainable transportation: Electrification, mode shift, active and public transit, and mobility aggregation, across both people and goods movement.

Amidst all the bad news on Tesla, this issue’s Deep Dive looks at the good news: all those leaving Tesla to become cleantech startup founders.

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🌱STARTUP WATCH: Sustainable mobility startups (pre-seed or seed) to keep an eye on

• Cariqa (Germany): EV charging marketplace

• ECHO Solutions (Texas, USA): Marine carbon capture to create hydrogen

• Electric Outdoors (Michigan, USA): Off-grid solar-based EV charging for camping

• Flete (Iowa, USA): Fleet management SaaS

• HydroHaul (Massachusetts, USA): Hydrogen marketplace linking consumers with producers

• Maritime Fusion (California, USA): High-temperature superconducting fusion reactors for maritime

• Parthian Battery Solutions (West Virginia, USA): Second-use battery recycling for EVs

• Pila Energy (California, USA): Home-based battery mesh network to support energy needs, including EV charging

💰FUNDING: Capital raises from startups previously featured in Startup Watch

• GageZero (Vol 51) sold a portfolio of its assets to EVRealty (Vol 49)

• Dustmoto (Vol 74) raised $1.2M from crowdfunding

• Chargitect (Vol 81) raised a 500K EUR pre-seed round from StartupLab, Sarsia, and Lyse

• Aerofuse (Vol 89) raised an $800K pre-seed round from The Veteran Fund, DraperU Ventures, Soma Capital, Climate Capital, and others

Know someone who invests in startups in this space?

📰QUICK HITS: Notable news from the last two weeks

👩🏽‍⚖️Government, Policies & Cities

🇬🇧 London neighborhoods that resisted the expansion of the ultralow emissions zone have been those that have benefited most from lowered air pollution. A frequent pattern in transit projects…

🗽New York City’s congestion price zone might have boosted the local economy by almost $1 billion in one month. Trump is hoping to dismantle it later this month, but NY’s ready for a fight.

🍫 Brussels is dragging its feet on implementing its Low Emissions Zone. Part of the challenge may be that residents feel like traffic calming measures have gone too far.

🔁 Massachusetts has launched a 2-year vehicle-to-grid pilot. You love to see it.

🇳🇴 Meanwhile, Norway has finally given permission for zero-emissions zones, with Olso, Bergen and Trondheim ready to move forward. It’s overdue but welcome!

🇸🇪 In Sweden, over 60% of new cars sold last month were plug-in. Meanwhile the US is at 10%….

🇪🇺 The European Union watered down rules on EV adoption. This is a slowdown but the bloc remains committed to the EV transition.

🔬Markets & Research

🚌 Half of all transit buses sold in the EU last year were zero-emissions. Sales of diesel-powered transit buses may stop before the end of the decade.

🔋According to the International Energy Agency, global battery demand hit over one terrawatt hour. Battery demand is fundamentally about transportation: EVs account for 85% of the global battery market.

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🏭 Corporates & Later Stage

🚲 Doordash gave a data-driven peek into its use of two-wheel bikes for delivery. Because using a 4,000 pound car to deliver a 2 pound pizza isn’t particularly efficient.

🪨 Mercedes has started road testing the solid-state battery from the startup Factorial. The more different types of battery chemistries we have, the more robust and resilient our options for transportation decarbonization are.

🙅‍♂️ Elon Musk-led DOGE is cutting almost half of the team that oversees autonomous vehicle regulation in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). As a reminder, he’s apparently allowed to self-manage his own potential for conflict of interest, including for Tesla and government contractor SpaceX.

🚕 Tesla has applied for a permit in California to run a ride-hailing network, a precursor to a purported robotaxi network. Meanwhile, still no word from Tesla about any regulatory applications for driverless testing or deployment in California…

🚮 Andreessen Horowitz co-founder Ben Horowitz has donated a fleet of Tesla Cybertrucks to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police. It’s unclear if he’s trying to punish the city.

🕐 After the collapse of Nissan’s merger with Honda, Nissan may get rid of its CEO. A long, distracting saga for a company that was once a leader in EVs.

🛢️ BP is slashing its investment in renewables. RIP beyond petroleum.

🐣 Startups & Early Stage

🛩️ JetZero is partnering with Delta Airlines to develop its blended-wing-body design aircraft, a much more fuel-efficient design that’s never been used in mass aviation. See the Deep Dive in Vol 50 for more on aviation decarbonization.

✈️ Electric aircraft startup Eviation, which had raised over $200M, has had to put its business on pause as it tries to secure new funding. The sector could face more headwinds if the federal government pulls back on energy and defense contracts.

🚙 Struggling electric automaker Lucid fired its CEO. The fates of Lucid and Rivian continue to diverge: Rivian found safe harbor in its relationship with VW. It’s not clear to what degree Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), which owns about 60% of Lucid Motors, is willing to indefinitely cover losses.

↘️ After being acquired by Marc Lore’s Wonder, Grubhub is letting go of 20% of its staff. Just over a decade ago, Grubhub had a 70% market share. Today, it’s down to about 6%.

📦 European startup Relay is aiming to build a DHL-like network of gig workers on bikes. Parcel networks continue to look at how to downsize in urban environments from vans to micromobility.

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DEEP DIVE: Teslarati, 2025 Climate Founders Edition

It would be logical to spend a deep dive on how quickly Tesla’s problems are mounting: its stock price is cratering, sales are collapsing, and it’s a target of an increasingly visible consumer boycott. But as painful as the stock drop is, the company’s board may feel that Tesla without Elon might mean an even bigger, and more permanent, drop in stock price.

Given that 2025 seems to be starting out with lots of bad news, I’m choosing to spend this edition celebrating the good news. Last year, I did a Deep Dive on Tesla and SpaceX alums who had founded climate related startups.

Founders from the 2024 edition have been making huge strides since then: Curo raised its pre-seed round, Glimpse raised a $10M Series A, Noya announced a partnership with Johnson Matthey, and H3X raised a $20M Series A.

So what better way to find a silver lining in 2025 than to find a fresh crop of Tesla alums who are contributing to building something new in climate? Without any further ado, here’s the Teslarati 2025 Climate Founders list.

As the months progress, expect more and more Tesla employees to jump ship. And that’s even more good news given that some of them will become climate founders.

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