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Welcome again to The Station, your central hub for all previous, current and future technique of transferring folks and packages from Level A to Level B.

Hey frens! I’m again from trip and who-wee — loads occurred this week from automaker earnings and the Tesla vary inflation drama to Waymo tapping the brakes on self-driving and Cruise increasing to one more metropolis.

One different observe, yow will discover me on TechCrunch’s Fairness podcast, a spot the place I’ll present up on a semi-regular foundation, together with this episode that got here out Friday!

Onward!

Wish to attain out with a tip, remark or criticism? E-mail Kirsten at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com.

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Micromobbin’

Is there anything to speak about apart from Lyft mulling the sale of its ebike division?

Lyft posted on its weblog that it had obtained “robust inbound curiosity” in its bikes and scooters enterprise.

The corporate acknowledged:

As a number one bikeshare supplier, supplying options to over 53 markets throughout 15 international locations, it’s solely logical for Lyft to hearken to credible proposals and discover strategic companions and choices in a number of varieties to serve extra riders in additional cities. We count on this a part of the enterprise to proceed to be a significant a part of Lyft’s providing now and into the longer term.

The announcement runs opposite to what newly appointed CEO David Risher has informed reporter Rebecca Bellan in previous interviews. Risher, who is named an enormous supporter of ebikes, did say the corporate deliberate to deal with its core ride-hailing enterprise and grow to be worthwhile, however it didn’t appear to be the two-wheeled share service was on the chopping block.

The information prompted some right here at TechCrunch to declare that shared micromobility was formally lifeless. I’m not so positive.

What do you assume?

Deal of the week

As a substitute of a deal of the week, I’d prefer to name y’all’s consideration to the listing of offers beneath. See a sample rising?

Yup, me too. Software program and EV charging positive looks like a factor, eh?

Different offers that acquired my consideration this week …

Ampcontrol, an EV fleet administration software program startup, raised $10 million in Sequence A funding spherical led by the Westly Group. Different traders included AngelPad and Lorimer Ventures.

Aurora raised $820 million in a public and concurrent personal providing (a deal we coated final week.) As I discussed within the Fairness podcast, tucked contained in the SEC submitting detailing the deal we study that Uber invested $1 million within the personal placement and $74 million within the public follow-on. When taking into consideration the Class B shares, Uber has a 22% stake in Aurora.

EV.vitality, the UK-based EV charging software program startup, raised $33 million in a Sequence B spherical led by Nationwide Grid Companions with participation from new traders Aviva Ventures, WEX Enterprise Capital and InMotion Ventures, in addition to present traders Vitality Affect Companions, Future Vitality Ventures and ArcTern Ventures.

Flipturn, a startup that developed a software program administration system for EV truck fleets, raised $4.5 million in a seed spherical led by Accel.

Area, the battery vitality storage techniques developer launched by former Bulb Vitality co-founder Amit Gudka, raised £200 million from DIF Capital Companions.

Voltpost, a New York Metropolis–based mostly startup that developed {hardware} that converts lampposts into EV charging spots, raised $3.6 million in a seed spherical led by RWE Vitality Transition Investments with participation from Twynam Funds Administration, Exelon Basis, Good Information Ventures and Local weather Capital.

VW Group made a pair of offers with Chinese language automakers geared toward shoring up gross sales in China, together with taking a 5% stake valued at about $700 million XPeng as a part of a deal to collectively develop and produce two mid-sized EVs for China. In a separate settlement, Audi expanded a partnership with SAIC. Reporter Rita Liao supplies perception on what this deal may imply for future alliances between China and the West.

Notable reads and different tidbits

Autonomous automobiles

Cruise self-driving automobiles arrived in Nashville this week for testing; a robotaxi service is anticipated to comply with. Cruise may also start testing in a number of, new cities as a part of its aggressive business ramp, in response to the corporate. If the corporate’s careers web page supplies any hints, it appears Atlanta is certainly one of them.

Need proof that Cruise is accelerating? One yr in the past, Cruise solely operated in San Francisco. Cruise has since expanded to Austin, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix and most not too long ago Miami.

Rafaela Vasquez, the security driver who was behind the wheel of an Uber ATG self-driving car when it struck and killed a pedestrian in Tempe in 2018, pleaded responsible to endangerment. Vasquez was sentenced to 3 years of supervised probation.

Waymo is tapping the brakes on self-driving vehicles and shifting most of its capital, sources and expertise to at least one business wager: ride-hailing. I gained’t name it an entire shutdown as restricted testing will proceed. However this system because it as soon as stood is over. It appears most individuals on the crew have stored their jobs at Waymo, per sources. (Nonetheless, it’s nonetheless early; we’ll see the way it all shakes out as soon as this system is wound down.)

Earnings

Ford and GM each posted earnings this week and there have been some common themes; particularly that enterprise is nice in case you’re promoting gasoline and hybrid vehicles and SUVs. The EV enterprise? Effectively that’s a little bit of a cash loser. Each corporations raised revenue steering for the yr and GM mentioned it could reduce prices one other $1 billion because it focuses on incomes more cash.

Ford, which now breaks out earnings for 3 enterprise models, is tweaking its EV plans. The large line merchandise is that Ford expects its EV enterprise to lose $4.5 billion in 2023 — double what it beforehand forecast. And the corporate appears to be extra bullish than ever on hybrids, which jogs my memory of Invoice Ford’s feedback manner again in 2016 about viewing hybrids as a transitional, or bridge know-how. On the time, the sentiment was about shopper adoption. Today Ford is studying that hybrid know-how utilized to vehicles is especially engaging to patrons.

Electrical automobiles, batteries & charging

Ample, a San Francisco-based startup, is bringing its modular EV battery swapping know-how to Mitsubishi Fuso’s electrical vehicles this winter.

GM isn’t going to kill off the Chevy Bolt EV in spite of everything. That is going to be a next-gen Bolt EV based mostly on the brand new Ultium platform and battery design. I’m fascinated by this reversal as a result of it occurred so shortly (3 months!).  Will it nonetheless be assembled on the Orion plant? Reminder: Orion was presupposed to be retooled for electrical truck manufacturing as soon as the Bolt went out of manufacturing on the finish of 2023.

Tesla exaggerated the vary estimates for its EVs for years, prompting homeowners to flood its service heart over issues that their automobiles wanted service, in response to a new detailed Reuters report. As I observe in my very own story, one of many nagging issues with vary estimates is their variability, which permits some automakers to push the boundaries of the system. Whereas the EPA does evaluate and approve these estimates, it permits automakers to make use of certainly one of two strategies to succeed in these figures: use a typical formulation that converts gas economic system outcomes, or conduct extra exams to give you their very own vary estimate. Tesla has all the time achieved the latter, which provides much better numbers.

Miscellaneous

Lacuna Applied sciences, a startup that offered software program providers to cities to assist create and implement transportation insurance policies, has shut down, per a LinkedIn publish from product lead Samuel Jackson. (h/t to the supply who pointed me to the publish).

Disrupt!

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