🤖 Your cheat sheet for CES 2025
Vol 98
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.
I’ll be at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) on January 8th. Send me a message if you’ll be there and want to meet up.
This week’s Deep Dive is all about what you should check out at this week’s CES for all things sustainable mobility.
🌱STARTUP WATCH: Sustainable mobility startups (pre-seed or seed) to keep an eye on
Allkemie (Virginia, USA): Green graphene for batteries and other applications
DC Grid (California, USA): Off-grid DC-based energy solutions for EV charging, from Amply founder Vic Shao
Flynt (Netherlands): Emerging manufacturer of electric vans
Mobius Fuels (Texas, USA): Recycled, low-carbon fuels, focused on maritime
Staxel (Michigan, USA): Micro warehouse fulfillment using robots
Fun fact: Newsletter subscribers live in 49 US states.
💰FUNDING: Capital raises from startups previously featured in Startup Watch
Seabound (Vol 25) and Fleet Robotics (Vol 74) both raised an undisclosed amount from Elemental Impact
Phoenix Tailings (Vol 48) raised a $43M Series B from BMW iVentures, Yamaha Ventures, Envisioning Partners, MPower, and Escape Velocity
Hive Power (Vol 61) raised a 3.5M EUR Seed round from Axpo, Creadd Ventures, and Technologiefonds
As a reminder, the startup data set is free (for now) to subscribers. If you’re a subscriber interested in accessing the Airtable with how these startups raised $2.4 billion in follow-on funding, please let me know.
📰QUICK HITS: Notable news from the last two weeks
🗽New York City will indeed make mobility history today with the launch congestion pricing. For more, see Volume 49: Is New York City on the Cusp of Making Mobility History?
🪙 New York State, meanwhile, also made history with its new Climate Superfund. Notionally, the fund taxes heavy polluters, rather than individual taxpayers, to help pay for climate recovery efforts.
😢America suffered terrorist incidents on New Year’s Day in New Orleans and Las Vegas. In both cases, the perpetrators rented electric pickup trucks from peer-to-peer car-sharing app Turo for their crimes. In a move that likely raised eyebrows at privacy-obsessed Apple, Tesla’s Elon Musk sent vehicle surveillance materials directly to Las Vegas police.
↘️ Tesla notched a sales decline in 2024, its first in a decade. The overall global EV market grew 25%, so Musk’s push into robotaxis really may make or break the company.
🪦 Air taxi (eVTOL) startup Volocopter, which had raised more than $600M, filed for insolvency. The company still keeps up hope for a financial lifeline.
🐦🔥Meanwhile, air taxi startup Lilium actually did get a lifeline from European and American investors. Details are scarce, including who the new financiers actually are.
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DEEP DIVE: YOUR CHEAT SHEET FOR CES 2025
For many in tech, CES is one of the “can’t miss” events of the year. A lot of what is happening at CES 2025 this week is known ahead of time, so here’s your cheat sheet for what matters at CES 2025 for where climate tech meets logistics, supply chain, transportation, and mobility. Whether you’re heading to the show and want to know what to check out or whether you’re bypassing Vegas but want to know what you missed, this is what’s worth your time and why.
Micromobility and Automobiles
Expect a more subdued vibe at this year’s CES. We’re a few weeks away from a new Presidential administration in the US, one that has promised a very different stance on almost anything. Most players are taking a “wait and see” approach for everything from tariffs to EV mandates.
Honda’s EV strategy has had more pivots than you can count and now the pressure is on, as the company may have to bail out Nissan as well. The company promises to give an update on its “Zero” strategy as well as an update on its Afeela JV with Sony.
Suzuki stopped selling cars in the US in 2013, but that’s not stopping the Japanese company from showing off its “Versatile micro e-Mobility Platform concept.” If anyone can figure out how to get autonomous delivery robots to scale, it’s the plucky automaker that likes to make things as small as possible.
Segway will show off its first two e-bikes for the US market. China’s Segway/Ninebot is one of the 800-pound gorillas in micromobility but whether they’re ready for a branded bike in the 2025 US political environment is an open question.
Aviation
CES can feel like drone and air taxi (eVTOL) central, but don’t forget to keep an eye peeled for insights on electric airplanes.
South Korea’s Hanseo University is showing off a Bladeless Drone that purports to reduce noise by 40%, making it a better match for urban deliveries. We’re just beginning to grapple with all the challenges these products pose in terms of air and visual pollution.
Xpeng, one of China’s leading EV makers, is intent on marrying its cars with flight. The Land Carrier concept is a three-axle EV paired with a two-seater air taxi. This duo eats a Tesla Cybertruck for breakfast.
Delta Airlines is celebrating its centennial by snagging one of the coveted keynote speaking slots. Expect some nuggets from Delta about sustainable aviation fuel, electric planes, or air taxis, all while trying to not anger a future US President.
Maritime
Just a year ago, it seemed like maritime technology might be adrift at sea, but the last twelve months or so have been a huge number of commercial and technology advances in the decarbonization of shipping.
South Korean startup Ecopeace is showing off its Healing Boat, a solar-powered vessel that removes algae from the water. While this one is more fanciful, the momentum behind the electrification of harbor vessels has been impressive, as ferry operators left and right are going electric.
Voltaic (Startup Watch Vol 71) will display its electric leisure boat. Voltaic is one of a slew of startups like Arc Boats (Startup Watch Vol 4) betting that the future of boating is electric. They will all have to hustle, as incumbent Brunswick is moving quickly towards more sustainable boating.
Energy & Charging
A year ago, I was wondering whether Tesla would end up playing the Google/Apple role, dominating the standards and application ecosystem layer while a long tail of infrastructure and hardware players in the ecosystem struggle to survive. What a difference a year makes!
South Korean startup TMEV Net is showing off its CryoFlux Power Cable, which uses liquid cooling to manage overheating for the megawatt charging standard. While public charging is old-hat by now, charging for heavy-duty trucks needs technology improvements like this in order to scale.
Xing, a decade-old startup, will showcase its immersion-cooled battery technology. Niche UK sportscar maker Caterham recently adopted Xing’s technology for its first electric car.
Michigan-based Danlaw will show off its Level 2 Clever Charge, its first foray into consumer electronics. Danlaw is hoping to improve the home EV charging experience through the use of AI.
Autonomy
Almost all autonomous vehicles are electric, but whether they will be more sustainable is an open question. The lower long-term costs of autonomous operations invite Jevon’s paradox into the mix, meaning that the right regulatory framework for both safety AND sustainability will be key.
Waymo’s co-CEO Tekedra N. Mawakana will be the Keynote at the Leaders in Technology Dinner. After over a decade of a slow build, Waymo is in breakout mode. She may give more hints about expansion plans following December’s announcement about Tokyo.
WATA is showcasing its stocktaking robot for automated warehouse operations. South Korea’s WATA is primarily a software company supporting warehouse operations, so their deeper move into robotics is a reminder that autonomy is mostly about goods movement, despite all the headlines that Waymo’s people-moving garners.
Tier 1 supplier Continental will be showing off its autonomous technology. Arch rival Bosch has undertaken large layoffs and appears to be ceding ground in the self-driving space to China, so keep an eye out for whether Continental sticks with trying to sell autonomy to large car companies.
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