TechCrunch Mobility: Inside GM’s $900M EV battery gamble

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Senior reporter (and resident battery expert) Tim Singing traveled to General Motors’ sprawling Warren Technical Center outside Detroit to learn more about the automaker’s plans to reduce the cost of its next slate of EVs. The upshot: GM is banking on LMR batteries and a new Battery Cell Development Center that is viewed as the bridge between its R&D efforts and full-scale production.

Kurt KeltyGM’s VP of battery and sustainability, provided fresh details about the company’s $900 million initiative and how this new chemistry will preserve range while slashing costs. For instance, the Chevrolet Silverado EV could be $6,000 cheaper. Read the story here.

As with most companies these days, AI also makes a cameo appearance. Although I should note that AI plays more than just a supporting role at GM. I recently interviewed Sterling AndersonGM’s chief product officer, and Jason Fischerwho is executive director of virtual integration engineering, about some of the changes inside the company and how it’s using AI. That story is coming next week, but I’ll give you a bit of a teaser.

GM is using a collection of outside AI models, as well as ones it has created in-house that can be used across large swaths of the business and that — here’s the punchline — will speed up its vehicle development cycle. I’ll have more details in my article, and don’t worry, if you miss it, I will highlight it in next week’s newsletter.

Finally, last week I wrote about the Ferrari Luce EV and how it doesn’t matter that it has been so widely criticized. I got some wonderful emails from you all on the topic — thanks! The poll, however, showed that as much coverage as the Luce received, many of you really don’t care about it.

In the poll I asked, ‘Do you love it, hate it, or indifferent to it?’ Most of you, about 44%, are indifferent, while the remainder are equally split between love and hate.

The more I think about the future of the Luce EV, the more I think this might become a ragebait purchase among those who can afford it and are deemed worthy by Ferrari to buy it.

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Deals!

The looming SpaceX IPO is the deal of the decade, certainly for the bankers and for CEO Elon Musk. But it could also affect Tesla shareholders.

As part of the IPO registration process, a company will often file numerous amendments before making its public markets debut. SpaceX has filed a few already. And our eagle-eyed senior reporter Sean O’Kane spotted a new sentence added to the S-1 document that has some big implications: “We may issue a significant amount of equity in connection with future transactions.”

While it is certainly possible that SpaceX will use the $75 billion it is expected to raise to snap up a variety of companies, the most likely M&A target is Tesla. This sentence was included in the risk factors and appears to be preparing future investors for the possibility of a major dilution event. Read the full story.

There is another interesting deal spotted by O’Kane — this time involving Caravana and Slate Autothe electric vehicle startup backed by Jeff Bezos. According to documents obtained by TechCrunch, Carvana has been granted the option to invest in Slate Auto. As O’Kane notes in his article, this could hint at a deeper partnership between the two companies.

Other deals that got more attention …

Layup Partsa startup trying to become the Amazon of composite parts, raised $42 million in a Series A funding round led by dual-use venture fund Marlinspike, with participation from new investors Cerberus Ventures and Pinegrove Venture Partners, as well as existing backers Founders Fund and Lux Capital.

Mach Industriesthe three-year-old defense tech startup that now has five autonomous vehicles in development, raised a $300 million Series C at a $1.8 billion valuation. The round was led by Infinite Capital and Ribbit Capital and includes backing from Bedrock Capital, Sequoia Capital, and Khosla Ventures.

Molfar Defence Technologiesa Polish-Ukrainian defense startup developing anti-drone radar systems, closed the first tranche of its €2 million funding round. Swedish investor Front Ventures committed €1.5 million, Tech.Eu reported.

Spirothe African electric mobility startup, raised $215 million in a round that pushed its valuation close to $1 billion, Bloomberg reported.

Notable reads and other tidbits

Avride CEO Dmitry Polishchuk shared a few stats about the autonomous vehicle startup on LinkedIn. The company has completed 60,000 trips for Uber riders in Dallas since launching in December. (Avride robotaxis show up on the Uber app in Dallas.) The company’s fleet of vehicles, which includes test cars and the Uber robotaxis, has driven more than 1.3 million miles, with a million of that covered in the first five months of 2026.

Lectric eBikes launched its third brand in six months — an initiative the company has sunk about $10 million into. How is this seven-year-old company expanding while so many others tanked? I dug into the company a bit and interviewed its co-founder to find out. Read the full story.

Uber’s annual Lost & Found Index has provided a rather quirky anthropological snapshot of its riders over the past decade. This year, the company also released a list of items left in robotaxis that are available via the Uber app. There are some odd items on the list! It also got me thinking about how Uber is clearly finding every way possible to push into — and make money from — the nascent autonomous vehicle industry. To my point: Uber is planning to put 500 data-collection vehicles on the road this year as part of its new AV Labs division.

Waymo had a couple of interesting news items this week. One of its robotaxis was used in a burglary and the case sheds some light on how Waymo handles all that rider footage it collects. And the Alphabet-owned company announced a deal with B2U to use the batteries from its retired all-electric robotaxis to support electricity grids in California and Texas.

Woven CapitalToyota’s growth fund, promoted Jarek Khoilian and Manas Punhani as principals. Reminder: Woven Capital launched its $800 million fund II in September 2025.

One more thing …

With Subaru rolling out some new EVs, I thought it would be good to remind myself what the original was like. I’m talking about the Solterra, which was born out of a partnership between Toyota and Subaru to jointly develop a platform dedicated to battery electric vehicles.

I spent a week with a pearl-white 2026 Subaru Solterra premium trim model that starts at $38,495. Putting aside for a moment that my friend’s Ring camera identified the Solterra as a mini golf cart, this EV does have something to offer. Yeah, it’s basic. And sure, it’s not going to fire off the line like a Tesla, Lucid, or Porsche Taycan. But it doesn’t need to.

The headline here is that the Solterra has gotten better — and it really needed it.

The 2026 model has a bunch of notable updates that improve the power, range, and usability.

The front and rear motors have been updated — along with a new controller that improves power distribution and control — and together produce an improved 233 horsepower (the XT trim pushes it up to 388 hp). Like most other EVs out there, the Solterra now has an integrated NACS charging port, the system developed by Tesla. The range has also improved to an EPA-estimated 288 miles, which is notable considering Subaru increased the battery capacity by only 2 kWh and managed to increase the range by more than 50 miles. There is also a preconditioning setting to prepare the battery for a charge, which greatly improves the charging time.

Subaru revamped the tech inside as well, adding a 14-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and making wireless 15 W smartphone chargers for standard.

Subaru doesn’t offer true one-pedal driving in the Solterra, a standard bearer of EVs. Instead, the Subaru has paddles located on the back of the steering wheel that let you increase the regenerative braking if you want. But it won’t come to a complete stop like other popular EVs that have one-pedal driving. While longtime EV owners might be turned off by this, it could be more attractive to car buyers who want their EV to act like their old gas-powered car.