Delaware judge rules again against Elon Musk’s $56 billion salary

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Your usual host, Kirsten, is away this week, so I’ll bring you the mobility news from the last two weeks.

This week, a Delaware judge’s decision to uphold his previous ruling denying the legality of Elon Muskthe exorbitant salary of $56 billion. To refresh your memory, Delaware Chancery Court Judge Kathaleen McCormick ruled in January that the pay package — the largest compensation deal in company history — was unfair given that the CEO is moving much of his time occupied with his many other businesses and projects, including X. (formerly Twitter). And now he’s in charge of “government effectiveness” to boot!

Tesla tried to change McCormick’s mind after shareholders voted to “reratify” the deal, but she was not swayed by their arguments. In her ruling, she wrote, among other things, that a shareholder vote cannot overturn a court decision.

The X-verse is angry about this, arguing that no, in fact, a judge’s ruling should not be able to overturn a shareholder’s vote.

Musk has threatened to give up on helping Tesla grow if he doesn’t get his money back, a prospect that terrifies shareholders. Tesla will appeal the decision again, and with Musk as Trump’s new right-hand man, it will be an interesting case to watch.

—Rebecca Bellan

A little bird

It looks like Henrik FiskerFounder of now-defunct EV startup Fisker has his name on something new. It’s called “Glogy Foods LLC” and is described in a filing as having something to do with food and drink. With a name like that, I’m not sure I want to know.

Do you have any advice to give us? Email Kirsten Korosec at [email protected], Sean O’Kane at [email protected] or Rebecca Bellan at [email protected]. Or see these instructions for how to contact us via encrypted messaging apps or SecureDrop.

Offers!

Main agreement

Chinese autonomous vehicle company AI pony debuted on Nasdaq last week as investors showed interest in backing Chinese technology companies following Beijing’s de facto ban on foreign IPOs. Pony’s debut comes after WeRide and Zeekr became publicly traded companies earlier this year.

Pony opened at $15 per share, for a valuation of $5.25 billion. That opening price was higher than Pony’s offering price of $13 per share, but it quickly fell and closed Wednesday at just under $12. Perhaps this is because Pony, like most other AV companies, suffers heavy losses from investing money in R&D and trying to evolve cutting-edge technology.

Other offers that caught my attention…

Ampéco, an electric vehicle charging platform, raised a $26 million Series B round led by Revaia. The startup provides OEMs with a charging network to mix and match hardware partners, which has helped it scale with large utility companies across Europe.

THE Biden administration is rushing to approve clean energy loans before Trump takes power, and businesses are profiting. Rivien obtained a conditional $6.6 billion federal loan to resume construction of its electric vehicle factory in Georgia; And Stellantis And Samsungthrough its StarPlus Energy JV, secured a conditional loan of up to $7.54 billion to help finance two lithium-ion battery cell and module factories in Indiana.

Speaking of battery factories, General engines sells its interest in the nearly completed Ultium battery cell factory in Lansing, Michigan, to its JV partner LG Energy Solution (LGES). We don’t have a transaction number, but GM says it hopes to recoup its initial investment in the plant. GM and LGES had promised to invest more than $2 billion in this site.

Notable readings and other information

Autonomous vehicles

Tesla appears to be building a teleoperations team for its robotaxi service. The company has posted a job posting for a software engineer who could help develop the system that allows human operators to remotely access and control Tesla’s upcoming robotaxis.

YouSimple co-founder and former CEO Xiaodi Hou demands that the board immediately liquidate the company and return all remaining funds to shareholders. Things are getting super spicy around here!

Electric vehicles, charging and batteries

California plans to offer rebates for electric vehicles if Trump eliminates federal tax credits currently available to Americans through the Inflation Reduction Act.

EGo and GM have exceeded 2,000 public fast-charging stations through their continued charging collaboration. This represents double their shared electric vehicle charging footprint compared to a year ago.

General engines suffered a $5 billion loss due to weak business in China. GM, through state-owned SAIC Motor, was once a dominant player in China but has struggled to compete with the influx of new models over the past two years.

Hyundai, Kia, And Genesis are recalling about 208,000 electric vehicles in the United States due to a problem that could cause cars to suddenly lose power.

The pope will receive his first electric popemobile, and no, it does not come from Fisker, now defunct. His Holiness will sail in a Mercedes-Benz G-Class SUV.

NorthvoltSwedish battery manufacturer and unicorn, filed for bankruptcy in the United States (Chapter 11). The company will work to reorganize and accelerate its operations to better position itself for the long term.

Enjoy is expanding its electric vehicle charging empire in New York. The startup is working with Port Authority to install 24 fast chargers at JFK Airport.

Embedded technology

Tesla released a slew of new features this week, including a new Tesla app for the Apple Watch and the ability to prank your friends with a fart sound when they sit in a passenger seat.

Micromobility

Jocothe New York-based startup that offers bright orange electric bikes to delivery workers, offers a slice of hope to founders venturing into micromobility. The company almost died several times, including during its launch, but managed to grow primarily on its own cash flow and become a profitable business.

London tired of all the dockless electric bikes cluttering the sidewalks and streets. The city’s transportation authority announced a new enforcement policy that will limit parking for tens of thousands of e-bikes offered for rental by Lime, Human Forest and Dott.

Skarperthe British startup that helps convert bicycles to electric bikes, must have done something right because the company has the support and endorsement of Sir Chris Hoy, one of the most decorated track cyclists.

Hail

Uber expands what it means to be a gig worker. The company is hiring contractors for a new AI and data labeling division called Scaled Solutions, which serves both Uber and external clients, like Aurora Innovation and Niantic.

Uber is also under investigation by the Federal Trade Commission on whether the company violated consumer protection laws by automatically signing people up for its Uber One subscription service and making cancellation difficult.

This week’s wheels

While reporting on Joco, I was able to test out some of their now iconic orange e-bikes, custom made for the company based in Segwaysthe A200 platform. And I have to say, it’s pretty damn solid. There wasn’t a pothole or a patch of cracked pavement that slowed me down. Acceleration was smooth and it felt like I was flying over New York’s bike lanes – something I’m sure New York’s many delivery drivers will appreciate as well.

Perhaps my favorite part of the bike was the built-in phone holder that not only holds your phone in place on the handlebars so you can use GPS, but also charges your phone at the same time.

What is “This Week’s Wheels”? This is an opportunity to discover the different transport products that we are testing, whether it is an electric or hybrid car, an electric bicycle or even a ride in an autonomous vehicle. Future vehicles include the Lucid lookmore time in the next generation Rivien R1Sand the Volkswagen ID Buzz. Stay tuned.