electric vehicles – TheNewsHub

Lucid CEO says Wall Street misinterpreted $1.75 billion capital raise

suimt — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 20:21:18 +0000

Lucid Motors CEO Peter Rawlinson poses at the Nasdaq MarketSite as Lucid Motors (Nasdaq: LCID) begins trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange after completing its business combination with Churchill Capital Corp IV in New York City, New York, July 26, 2021.

Andrew Kelly | Reuters

DETROIT — Investors misinterpreted a public offering on Wednesday by Lucid Group that raised roughly $1.75 billion — and led to the stock’s worst daily performance in nearly three years, CEO Peter Rawlinson told CNBC.

Rawlinson said the raise, which included a public offering of nearly 262.5 million shares of its common stock, was a timely, strategic business decision to ensure the electric vehicle company has enough capital for its ongoing operations and growth plans. It also should alleviate any potential worries that the company would need to issue a “going concern” disclosure regarding its operations, he said.

“We’d signaled that we had a cash runway to Q4 next year. As a Nasdaq company, we have to avoid a going concern. And a going concern is issued within 12 months of your financial runway,” Rawlinson said Monday from the company’s newly opened offices in suburban Detroit. “So, it should have been no surprise to anybody.”

But Wall Street analysts largely took a negative view of the move due to its timing. Several said the raise was unnecessary or came earlier than expected for the company, which had $5.16 billion of total liquidity to end the third quarter. That included more than $4 billion in cash, cash equivalents and investment balances.

The announced transactions also come two months after Lucid said Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund had agreed to supply the company with $1.5 billion in cash, as the EV maker looks to add new models to its product line.

“A cap raise was slightly larger and earlier than we had expected,” Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas wrote following the raise being announced Wednesday after markets closed.

Lucid’s stock

RBC Capital Markets analyst Tom Narayan shared similar thoughts: “We suspect that investors will wonder why LCID is raising more capital just after it secured the PIF capital in August, and at currently depressed share price levels. We expect Lucid shares to trade sharply lower as a result,” he wrote in an investor note Wednesday night.

Rawlinson on Monday reiterated that the company would raise capital “opportunistically.” He said the company’s current funds now secure its capital into 2026, ahead of it launching a new midsize platform later that year.

“This is exactly as expected. It is exactly to the playbook. It should have come as zero surprise to anyone,” he said. “And why did I choose this moment? Because I didn’t want to string it out to the end, because I didn’t have to.”

Shares of Lucid declined about 18% on Thursday after the announcement — marking the worst daily decline for the company since December 2021.

Rawlinson said Lucid is currently in a highly capital-intensive investment period as it expands its sole U.S. factory in Arizona; builds a second plant in Saudi Arabia; prepares to launch its second product, an SUV called Gravity; develops its next-generation powertrain; and builds out its retail and service network.

“Those five categories are the long-term investment for the future that we’re making now,” Rawlinson said. “Have we got to cut costs with every car we’re making? Absolutely.”

Wednesday’s announcement was made in conjunction with plans for Lucid’s majority stockholder and affiliate of PIF, Ayar Third Investment Co., to purchase more than 374.7 million shares of common stock from Lucid to maintain its roughly 59% ownership of the company.

Such a transaction is called pro rata, which allows an investor such as PIF to participate in future rounds of financing and retain its ownership stake. It’s something the PIF has routinely done with Lucid.

Individual investors were likely concerned by share dilution following the action, but Rawlinson said the continued support of the PIF should be viewed as a positive.

“I think it’s been misinterpreted and misreported,” Rawlinson said. “The norm is to go pro rata. If we didn’t go pro rata, it surely would be a signal that the PIF were losing faith in us.”

Lucid last week said the public offering was expected to raise about $1.67 billion, with a 30-day option for underwriter BofA Securities to purchase up to nearly 39.37 million additional shares of Lucid’s common stock as well.

Lucid has reported record deliveries in 2024 of its current model, an all-electric sedan called Air. The company expects to produce 9,000 vehicles this year. Production of its Gravity SUV is expected to start by the end of this year.

However, Lucid’s sales and financial performance have not scaled as quickly as expected following higher costs, slower-than-expected demand for EVs, and marketing and awareness problems for the company.

India leading global climate action despite contributing marginally to climate change: Modi

Aseem — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 16:27:13 +0000

New Delhi: India is leading the global movement against climate change despite contributing marginally to the problem, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday, citing its plans for growth focused on “stability, sustainability and solutions.”

The greening of industries as well as green jobs are the future, Modi said, adding that green transition is the focus of India’s growth trajectory led by schemes related to electric vehicles, green hydrogen, ethanol blending and rooftop solar installations, among other things.

Modi said India’s push for electric vehicles, the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana and solar pump schemes for agriculture, ethanol blending, large wind energy farms, LED lights, solar-powered airports and biogas plants reflect a strong commitment to a green future and green jobs.

Also read | Modi to visit Russia for 16th Brics Summit next week, likely to hold bilateral talks with member countries

Along with resolving domestic issues, India is also focused on addressing global concerns on climate change, the prime minister told the NDTV World Summit.

He said that over the past decade, India has worked on numerous initiatives essential for tackling these challenges, including the International Solar Alliance, the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, the India-Middle East Economic Corridor, the Global Biofuel Alliance, as well as efforts in yoga, ayurveda, Mission Life and Mission Millets. “All these initiatives represent India’s commitment to finding solutions to the world’s pressing issues,” he said.

Modi also spoke about India’s growth in the technology sector, which led to democratization of services and financial inclusion in the country.

He praised the country’s digital public infrastructure, including platforms such as Aadhar, Digilocker, and ONDC, and hailed the success of the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) with over 500 million transactions daily.

Also read | More broad-based investment needed to deal with climate change: Nicholas Stern

India has provided a new model to the world by democratizing technology and highlighted the JAM trinity—Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile—which provides a robust system for faster and leakage-free service delivery, he added.

He also said the PM Gati Shakti platform for infrastructure projects had helped reduce construction in silos and changed the logistics ecosystem.

Modi mentioned the launch of India AI Mission this year and laid emphasis on increasing the use of AI across sectors like healthcare, education and startups. “India is committed to delivering world-class AI solutions, and through platforms like Quad, we are taking significant initiatives to drive this forward,” he said.

Modi said AI also stood for “Aspirational India,” adding that the middle class, general citizens, enhancing the quality of life, and empowering small businesses, MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises), youth, and women are at the heart of the government’s policymaking process.

The prime minister pointed out the enthusiasm of experts like Mark Mobius, who advised global funds to invest at least 50% of their funds in India’s share market. “When such seasoned experts advocate for major investments in India, it sends a strong message about our potential.”

Noting the completion of 125 days of the third term of the government, Modi threw light on the work done in the country. He stated that 500,000 homes had installed rooftop solar plants under the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, which provides free electricity to households.

He said India’s forex chest had risen to $700 billion.

“Our goal of a Viksit Bharat by 2047 is not just a vision of the government but reflects the aspirations of 140 crore Indians. It’s no longer just a campaign for public participation, but a movement of national confidence,” Modi said.

Also read | Modi urges global framework for ethical AI, cyber security and data privacy

On the topic of youth empowerment, Modi highlighted the government’s focus on education, skill development, research and employment. He said that the result of the efforts in the last 10 years are now visible and mentioned India’s highest improvement globally in research quality as reflected in the latest Times Higher Education ranking.

He noted that the participation of Indian universities in international rankings has grown from 30 to over 100 in the past eight-nine years. The prime minister underlined that India’s presence in the QS World University Rankings has increased by more than 300% in the last 10 years while the number of patents and trademarks filed in India is also at an all-time high.

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Trump or Harris? Here are the 2024 stakes for airlines, banks, EVs, health care and more

suimt — Sun, 13 Oct 2024 13:36:31 +0000

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris face off in the ABC presidential debate on Sept. 10, 2024.

Getty Images

With the U.S. election less than a month away, the country and its corporations are staring down two drastically different options.

For airlines, banks, electric vehicle makers, health-care companies, media firms, restaurants and tech giants, the outcome of the presidential contest could result in stark differences in the rules they’ll face, the mergers they’ll be allowed to pursue, and the taxes they’ll pay.

During his last time in power, former President Donald Trump slashed the corporate tax rate, imposed tariffs on Chinese goods, and sought to cut regulation and red tape and discourage immigration, ideas he’s expected to push again if he wins a second term.

In contrast, Vice President Kamala Harris has endorsed hiking the tax rate on corporations to 28% from the 21% rate enacted under Trump, a move that would require congressional approval. Most business executives expect Harris to broadly continue President Joe Biden‘s policies, including his war on so-called junk fees across industries.

Personnel is policy, as the saying goes, so the ramifications of the presidential race won’t become clear until the winner begins appointments for as many as a dozen key bodies, including the Treasury, Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission, and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

CNBC examined the stakes of the 2024 presidential election for some of corporate America’s biggest sectors. Here’s what a Harris or Trump administration could mean for business:

American Airlines and JetBlue Airways in the Northeast and JetBlue’s now-scuttled plan to buy budget carrier Spirit Airlines.

The previous Trump administration didn’t pursue those types of consumer protections. Industry members say that under Trump, they would expect a more favorable environment for mergers, though four airlines already control more than three-quarters of the U.S. market.

On the aerospace side, Boeing and the hundreds of suppliers that support it are seeking stability more than anything else.

Trump has said on the campaign trail that he supports additional tariffs of 10% or 20% and higher duties on goods from China. That could drive up the cost of producing aircraft and other components for aerospace companies, just as a labor and skills shortage after the pandemic drives up expenses.

Tariffs could also challenge the industry, if they spark retaliatory taxes or trade barriers to China and other countries, which are major buyers of aircraft from Boeing, a top U.S. exporter.

— Leslie Josephs

JPMorgan Chase faced an onslaught of new rules this year as Biden appointees pursued the most significant slate of regulations since the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.

Those efforts threaten tens of billions of dollars in industry revenue by slashing fees that banks impose on credit cards and overdrafts and radically revising the capital and risk framework they operate in. The fate of all of those measures is at risk if Trump is elected.

Trump is expected to nominate appointees for key financial regulators, including the CFPB, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation that could result in a weakening or killing off completely of the myriad rules in play.

“The Biden administration’s regulatory agenda across sectors has been very ambitious, especially in finance, and large swaths of it stand to be rolled back by Trump appointees if he wins,” said Tobin Marcus, head of U.S. policy at Wolfe Research.

Bank CEOs and consultants say it would be a relief if aspects of the Biden era — an aggressive CFPB, regulators who discouraged most mergers and elongated times for deal approvals — were dialed back.

“It certainly helps if the president is Republican, and the odds tilt more favorably for the industry if it’s a Republican sweep” in Congress, said the CEO of a bank with nearly $100 billion in assets who declined to be identified speaking about regulators.

Still, some observers point out that Trump 2.0 might not be as friendly to the industry as his first time in office.

Trump’s vice presidential pick, Sen. JD Vance, of Ohio, has often criticized Wall Street banks, and Trump last month began pushing an idea to cap credit card interest rates at 10%, a move that if enacted would have seismic implications for the industry.

Bankers also say that Harris won’t necessarily cater to traditional Democratic Party ideas that have made life tougher for banks. Unless Democrats seize both chambers of Congress as well as the presidency, it may be difficult to get agency heads approved if they’re considered partisan picks, experts note.

“I would not write off the vice president as someone who’s automatically going to go more progressive,” said Lindsey Johnson, head of the Consumer Bankers Association, a trade group for big U.S. retail banks.

— Hugh Son

Inflation Reduction Act.

Harris hasn’t been as vocal a supporter of EVs lately amid slower-than-expected consumer adoption of the vehicles and consumer pushback. She has said she does not support an EV mandate such as the Zero-Emission Vehicles Act of 2019, which she cosponsored during her time as a senator, that would have required automakers to sell only electrified vehicles by 2040. Still, auto industry executives and officials expect a Harris presidency would be largely a continuation, though not a copy, of the past four years of Biden’s EV policy.

They expect some potential leniency on federal fuel economy regulations but minimal changes to the billions of dollars in incentives under the IRA.

— Mike Wayland

more than $4 trillion a year.

Despite spending more on health care than any other wealthy country, the U.S. has the lowest life expectancy at birth, the highest rate of people with multiple chronic diseases and the highest maternal and infant death rates, according to the Commonwealth Fund, an independent research group.

Meanwhile, roughly half of American adults say it is difficult to afford health-care costs, which can drive some into debt or lead them to put off necessary care, according to a May poll conducted by health policy research organization KFF.

Both Harris and Trump have taken aim at the pharmaceutical industry and proposed efforts to lower prescription drug prices in the U.S., which are nearly three times higher than those seen in other countries.

But many of Trump’s efforts to lower costs have been temporary or not immediately effective, health policy experts said. Meanwhile, Harris, if elected, can build on existing efforts of the Biden administration to deliver savings to more patients, they said.

Harris specifically plans to expand certain provisions of the IRA, part of which aims to lower health-care costs for seniors enrolled in Medicare. Harris cast the tie-breaking Senate vote to pass the law in 2022.

Her campaign says she plans to extend two provisions to all Americans, not just seniors: a $2,000 annual cap on out-of-pocket drug spending and a $35 limit on monthly insulin costs.

Harris also intends to accelerate and expand a provision allowing Medicare to directly negotiate drug prices with manufacturers for the first time. Drugmakers fiercely oppose those price talks, with some challenging the effort’s constitutionality in court.

Trump hasn’t publicly indicated what he intends to do about IRA provisions.

Some of Trump’s prior efforts to lower drug prices “didn’t really come into fruition” during his presidency, according to Dr. Mariana Socal, a professor of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

For example, he planned to use executive action to have Medicare pay no more than the lowest price that select other developed countries pay for drugs, a proposal that was blocked by court action and later rescinded.

Trump also led multiple efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, including its expansion of Medicaid to low-income adults. In a campaign video in April, Trump said he was not running on terminating the ACA and would rather make it “much, much better and far less money,” though he has provided no specific plans.

He reiterated his belief that the ACA was “lousy health care” during his Sept. 10 debate with Harris. But when asked he did not offer a replacement proposal, saying only that he has “concepts of a plan.”

— Annika Kim Constantino

Paramount Global and Skydance Media is set to move forward, with plans to close in the first half of 2025, many in media have said the Biden administration has broadly chilled deal-making.

“We just need an opportunity for deregulation, so companies can consolidate and do what we need to do even better,” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said in July at Allen & Co.’s annual Sun Valley conference.

Media mogul John Malone recently told MoffettNathanson analysts that some deals are a nonstarter with this current Justice Department, including mergers between companies in the telecommunications and cable broadband space.

Still, it’s unclear how the regulatory environment could or would change depending on which party is in office. Disney was allowed to acquire Fox Corp.’s assets when Trump was in office, but his administration sued to block AT&T’s merger with Time Warner. Meanwhile, under Biden’s presidency, a federal judge blocked the sale of Simon & Schuster to Penguin Random House, but Amazon’s acquisition of MGM was approved.

“My sense is, regardless of the election outcome, we are likely to remain in a similar tighter regulatory environment when looking at media industry dealmaking,” said Marc DeBevoise, CEO and board director of Brightcove, a streaming technology company.

When major media, and even tech, assets change hands, it could also mean increased scrutiny on those in control and whether it creates bias on the platforms.

“Overall, the government and FCC have always been most concerned with having a diversity of voices,” said Jonathan Miller, chief executive of Integrated Media, which specializes in digital media investment.
“But then [Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter] happened, and it’s clearly showing you can skew a platform to not just what the business needs, but to maybe your personal approach and whims,” he said.

Since Musk acquired the social media platform in 2022, changing its name to X, he has implemented sweeping changes including cutting staff and giving “amnesty” to previously suspended accounts, including Trump’s, which had been suspended following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection. Musk has also faced widespread criticism from civil rights groups for the amplification of bigotry on the platform.

Musk has publicly endorsed Trump, and was recently on the campaign trail with the former president. “As you can see, I’m not just MAGA, I’m Dark MAGA,” Musk said at a recent event. The billionaire has raised funds for Republican causes, and Trump has suggested Musk could eventually play a role in his administration if the Republican candidate were to be reelected.

During his first term, Trump took a particularly hard stance against journalists, and pursued investigations into leaks from his administration to news organizations. Under Biden, the White House has been notably more amenable to journalists.

Also top of mind for media executives — and government officials — is TikTok.

Lawmakers have argued that TikTok’s Chinese ownership could be a national security risk.

Earlier this year, Biden signed legislation that gives Chinese parent ByteDance until January to find a new owner for the platform or face a U.S. ban. TikTok has said the bill, the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which passed with bipartisan support, violates the First Amendment. The platform has sued the government to stop a potential ban.

While Trump was in office, he attempted to ban TikTok through an executive order, but the effort failed. However, he has more recently switched to supporting the platform, arguing that without it there’s less competition against Meta’s Facebook and other social media.

— Lillian Rizzo and Alex Sherman

Washington Post previously reported.

In keeping with the campaign’s more labor-friendly approach, Harris is also pledging to eliminate the tip credit: In 37 states, employers only have to pay tipped workers the minimum wage as long as that hourly wage and tips add up to the area’s pay floor. Since 1991, the federal pay floor for tipped wages has been stuck at $2.13.

“In the short term, if [restaurants] have to pay higher wages to their waiters, they’re going to have to raise menu prices, which is going to lower demand,” said Michael Lynn, a tipping expert and Cornell University professor.

— Amelia Lucas

has said she and Biden “reject the false choice that suggests we can either protect the public or advance innovation.” Last year, the White House issued an executive order that led to the formation of the Commerce Department’s U.S. AI Safety Institute, which is evaluating AI models from OpenAI and Anthropic.

Trump has committed to repealing the executive order.

A second Trump administration might also attempt to challenge a Securities and Exchange Commission rule that requires companies to disclose cybersecurity incidents. The White House said in January that more transparency “will incentivize corporate executives to invest in cybersecurity and cyber risk management.”

Trump’s running mate, Vance, co-sponsored a bill designed to end the rule. Andrew Garbarino, the House Republican who introduced an identical bill, has said the SEC rule increases cybersecurity risk and overlaps with existing law on incident reporting.

Also at stake in the election is the fate of dealmaking for tech investors and executives.

With Lina Khan helming the FTC, the top tech companies have been largely thwarted from making big acquisitions, though the Justice Department and European regulators have also created hurdles.

Tech transaction volume peaked at $1.5 trillion in 2021, then plummeted to $544 billion last year and $465 billion in 2024 as of September, according to Dealogic.

Many in the tech industry are critical of Khan and want her to be replaced should Harris win in November. Meanwhile, Vance, who worked in venture capital before entering politics, said as recently as February — before he was chosen as Trump’s running mate — that Khan was “doing a pretty good job.”

Khan, whom Biden nominated in 2021, has challenged Amazon and Meta on antitrust grounds and has said the FTC will investigate AI investments at Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft.

— Jordan Novet

Florida calls electric vehicles "ticking time bombs" as Milton nears

Aseem — Wed, 09 Oct 2024 19:42:44 +0000

Storm surges from Hurricane Milton could turn electric vehicles and other products containing lithium-ion batteries into “ticking time bombs,” Florida’s fire marshal is warning.

Residents and first responders are being cautioned about “an alarming fire hazard with lithium-ion batteries, EVs, as well as hybrid and fuel cell vehicles in preparation of Hurricane Milton,” according to a Monday statement from Florida fire marshal Jimmy Patronis, who also serves as the state’s chief financial officer.

By midday Wednesday, Hurricane Milton was barreling across the Gulf of Mexico as a powerful Category 4 storm, on track to make landfall along Florida’s central west coast late Wednesday or early Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said.

The fire marshal’s warning comes after prior incidents of floodwaters caused electric vehicles to burst into flames. Florida officials have confirmed 48 lithium-ion battery fires related to storm surge from Hurricane Helene, with 11 involving EVs.

Beyond cars, other consumer products that can contain lithium-ion batteries include scooters, hoverboards, golf cars and toys.

Owners should relocate their EVs to higher ground where their vehicles will be at less risk of flooding, Patronis said. After the storm, EVs flooded by saltwater should be moved away from residences to safe locations, so “you can worry about fixing your home, instead of rebuilding it due to fire,” Patronis stated.

And firefighters in Palm Harbor, Florida, last year warned Tesla owners their rechargeable car batteries could combust if exposed to saltwater after two of the electric vehicles caught fire following submersion.

Lithium-ion battery packs, which consist of a group of cells inside a compartment, contain a flammable liquid electrolyte. EV and plug-in hybrid vehicles have about 1,000 times more cells than an e-bike, according to a report by the CBS News Innovation Lab. Higher energy batteries with more cells are at greater risk of failure.

Vehicles or other devices that are at risk for flooding should be unplugged and moved to an open space, according to guidance from both Tesla and Patronis.

Tips if your EV, hybrid or alternative fuel vehicle is flooded:

Leave all windows and/or doors open to allow any potentially flammable gases to vent from the passenger compartment.

If the vehicle is stored indoors and can be moved, move it outside into an open-air location. If it cannot be moved, try to keep the storage area open and vented.

Unplug and do not attempt to charge the vehicle.

Disable the vehicle by chocking the wheels, placing the gearshift in park and removing the ignition key and/or disconnecting the 12V battery.

Avoid contact with the high voltage battery especially if a vehicle is showing signs of a damaged or overheating HV battery.

Follow manufacturers recommendations for your specific vehicle.

Kate Gibson

Kate Gibson is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch in New York, where she covers business and consumer finance.

Ola Electric's Dominance Fades as Country's E-Scooter Battle Intensifies

Ashish Singh — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 14:41:01 +0000

India’s top electric scooter maker Ola Electric logged its lowest monthly sales this year in September, government data showed, as the SoftBank-backed firm sees its dominance eroded by smaller competitors and servicing network challenges.

Ola Electric, which made its stock market debut about two months ago, sold 23,965 vehicles in September, recording a month-on-month decline for the second consecutive month.

Its falling month-on-month sales has seen its market share decline for five straight months to 27 percent in September, from over 50 percent in April, the data showed.

In that period, Ola’s closest rivals TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto have narrowed the gap, reporting market share gains for five and three straight months, respectively.

Ola Electric declined to comment on the market share loss and its servicing network.

Slowing sales at Ola, whose prices have often undercut the market, pose further challenges to the company’s financial results. It is yet to turn a profit.

Analysts attribute Ola’s narrowing lead to rivals launching newer models priced closer to those of Ola, as well as its own strained service network that is seeing scooters pile up.

A ramp-up in dealership networks has also been key for Bajaj and TVS in challenging Ola, according to Jay Kale of Elara Capital.

Over the last year, Bajaj has boosted the dealership count for its Chetak e-scooters from around 100 to over 500, as of June. Ola’s dealership count has only risen from 750 to 800.

Last month, a 26-year-old man was arrested for allegedly setting fire to an Ola showroom in the southern Karnataka state over unsatisfactory servicing of a recently purchased e-scooter.

HSBC analysts said in a note last month that Ola’s service would be one of the “key drivers” for maintaining its market share.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Lewis Hamilton to launch electric off-road racing Extreme E team | CNN

Ashish Singh — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 10:44:47 +0000

CNN
—

Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton has announced he will have a team competing in the inaugural all-electric off-road racing Extreme E series next year.

Extreme E is a series founded by the same team behind Formula E, with races hosted across the globe to promote electrification, sustainability and equality.

Its maiden season will be staged in five remote locations which have already been damaged or affected by climate issues, including the Arctic and the Amazon, raising awareness of climate change.

Hamilton, 35, called the opportunity to have his own team an “exciting new project” and said the series appealed to him because of its “environmental focus.”

“Every single one of us has the power to make a difference, and it means so much to me that I can use my love of racing, together with my love for our planet, to have a positive impact,” he said in a statement.

“I’m looking forward to the team taking part in this new series and I think it’s incredible that we can do so whilst raising awareness about the climate crisis.”

The six-time world champion’s team, X44, is named in reference to his F1 racing number and will enter season one of the Extreme E Championship. The first X Prix race is scheduled to take place in early 2021.

READ: The 13-year-old aiming to become Ferrari’s first female Formula 1 driver

Hamilton has long been an advocate for a greener world. In a series of messages posted on his Instagram account last year, he labeled the world a “mess” and wrote that he felt like “giving up on everything” before encouraging everyone to go vegan.

Extreme E will work with scientific experts from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge to raise awareness on specific issues, such as rising carbon emissions, melting ice caps, deforestation, desertification, droughts, plastic pollution and rising sea levels.

Each race will incorporate two laps over a distance of approximately 16 kilometers (10 miles), with two drivers – one male and one female – completing a lap apiece.

Visit CNN.com/sport for more news, features, and videos

Races will not be open to spectators, to minimize the effect on the environment, with fans instead following the action on TV.

The command center for the championship series will be on board the RMS St. Helena, a ship undergoing a multi-million euro transformation to minimize emissions and transform her into the championship’s operations hub.

X44 is the seventh team to sign up, joining Chip Ganassi Racing, Andretti Autosport, Abt, HWA, Techeetah, QEV Technologies, and fellow British-owned outfit, Veloce Racing.

Audi suspends motorsport star after gamer raced under driver’s name in esports event | CNN

Ashish Singh — Tue, 26 May 2020 16:05:19 +0000

CNN
—

Formula E driver Daniel Abt has been suspended by his Audi team for using a professional esports gamer to compete for him.

Abt had been taking part in the ‘Race at Home Challenge’ which raised funds for the UNICEF coronavirus relief fund.

After being found not to have driven his car himself in the qualifying and fifth race of the series on Saturday, May 23, Abt apologized and was disqualified from the race as well as being fined 10,000 euros ($10,956).

Audi has now suspended the driver “with immediate effect.”

“Integrity, transparency and consistent compliance with applicable rules are top priorities for Audi – this applies to all activities the brand is involved in without exception,” Audi said in a statement.

READ: Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel will leave Ferrari at the end of the season

Suspicions were initially aroused about Abt’s driving after the 27-year-old German qualified in second place and finished third in the actual race having not scored a point in the first four rounds of the series.

“Really not happy here because that was not Daniel driving the car himself, and he messed up everything. That was ridiculous,” said former F1 driver Stoffel Vandoornen on his Twitch stream. “I’m questioning if it was really Daniel in the car.”

“Please ask Daniel Abt to put his Zoom on next time he’s driving, because like Stoffel said, I’m pretty sure he wasn’t in,” two-time FE champion Jean-Eric Vergne said.

Following an investigation by Formula E on Sunday, which included IP address verification, it was concluded that Abt could not have been behind the wheel.

The gamer who replaced Abt is widely reported to be 18-year-old Lorenz Hoerzing, who competes in the FE Challenge series, a parallel championship for esport drivers. CNN has reached out to Hoerzing via his Allied esports team for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication.

Abt released an apology shortly afterwards in which he accepted his disqualification

“I would like to apologize to Formula E, all of the fans, my team and my fellow drivers for having called in outside help during the race on Saturday,” said Abt, who has promised to provide a further update on the story later on Tuesday.

Visit CNN.com/sport for more news, features, and videos

“I did not take it as seriously as I should have. I am aware that my offence has a bitter aftertaste, but it was never meant with any bad intention.”