TechCrunch Mobility: Jeff Bezos backs a secretive EV startup and Lucid snaps up Nikola’s assets

Summary

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. Sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility! Tariffs, tariffs, tariffs. If there is one certainty in this uncertain moment, it’s this: U.S. tariff policy is likely to change again. As of Friday morning, there is a 90-day pause on “reciprocal” tariffs placed on most countries. However, 10% base tariffs remain and President Trump has ratcheted up tariffs against China to about 145%. Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives slashed his price targets for Apple and Tesla because tariffs threaten to disrupt both businesses. However, they’re hardly the only U.S. companies expected to feel the pain — and then decide whether to pass that along to customers. The pause on higher tariffs placed on goods imported from Mexico and Canada provides relief to the transportation sector. However, the sector, particularly any EV companies using LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries, are highly exposed thanks to the outsized tariffs placed on China imports. We’ll be following the tariffs issue closely, the effects of which won’t bear out for months. A little bird Image Credits:Bryce Durbin Nearly a year ago, a little bird gave us a tip that sparked a months-long hunt for more information about a secretive EV startup called Slate Auto. And boy, did we discover a lot. Senior reporter Sean O’Kane has all of the details in this story, including that Jeff Bezos is backing the company, along with other high-profile backers like Mark Walter, the controlling owner of the LA Dodgers and CEO of Guggenheim Partners, and Thomas Tull, who is a lead investor of Re:Build Manufacturing. But there is so much more, including Slate’s origin story and its business model, as well as a second story that confirms a recent spy shot of its first product, an EV pickup truck. Got a tip for us? Email Kirsten Korosec at kirsten.korosec@techcrunch.com or my Signal at kkorosec.07, Sean O’Kane at sean.ok...