Democrats' pathway to moving huge new climate investments through Congress is looking narrower than ever as negotiations over wide-ranging tax and spending legislation reach a fever pitch, Ben writes.

Driving the news: Washington is enmeshed in tricky talks over sweeping legislation that covers taxes, health and social spending, and of course energy and climate.

Here are a few notes from the cliffhanger on Capitol Hill...

• President Biden bailed on plans to visit Chicago in order to continue negotiations over the bipartisan infrastructure plan and the Democrats-only package with vastly larger clean energy investments.
• Via E&E News, Joe Manchin (D-W.Va) still has big concerns with the proposed Clean Electricity Performance Program (CEPP). That's the new system of financial carrots and sticks Democratic leaders want to provide utilities to speed up the deployment of zero-carbon power.
• Biden's separate White House meetings with Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) — key holdouts on the Democrats' reconciliation plan — produced no apparent breakthroughs.
• Many House progressives are holding firm on refusal to back the bipartisan plan — which has some large clean energy and climate spending in its own right — absent the wider Democratic plan moving in the Senate.
• Per AP, seven Texas House Democrats signed a letter opposing provisions in the reconciliation package they call punitive to the oil-and-gas sector.

Why it matters: The White House and Democratic leaders want to move hundreds of billions of dollars in unprecedented clean energy and climate provisions through the budget reconciliation process.

Those provisions are key to President Biden's emissions-cutting pledge under the Paris climate deal, and their passage or demise will likely influence the upcoming United Nations climate summit that's critical to combating global warming.

Catch up fast: The bipartisan plan has passed the Senate and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to bring it up tomorrow.

• Progressives want assurances that the larger Democrats-only package of social safety net and climate provisions won't be left behind.
• But the Senate version of that package remains incomplete as leaders struggle to determine what Manchin and Sinema will tolerate.

What we're watching: The lobbying and advocacy around the bills and key provisions, including the CEPP that's a centerpiece of the reconciliation push.

A new letter from a suite of electricity experts to Manchin (and other lawmakers) makes the case that the CEPP would not jeopardize power system reliability.

Axios' auto expert Joann Muller reports: Lucid Group says production of its new electric luxury sedans has begun and it will start delivering cars to customers by the end of October.

Why it matters: The Lucid Air, starting at $77,400, is among a slew of plug-in models like the Mercedes-Benz EQS, Porsche Taycan and Audi e-tron all hoping to challenge Tesla's control of the EV market.

Lucid's first car, the Air Dream Edition, is a $169,000 special edition with a Tesla-beating range of up to 520 miles.

Driving the news: Lucid, founded by former Tesla engineer Peter Rawlinson, had its official coming-out party on Tuesday.

• Lucid said it has 13,000 Air reservations so far and is striving to produce 520 of the Dream Edition models this year, with the production of less expensive versions ramping up next year to 30,000 vehicles.

Zoom in: Lucid let select reporters drive the Air for the first time.

• I drove the Dream Edition R, which maximizes the driving range over performance, leaving me with a mere 933 horsepower to overtake ordinary gasoline cars on the highway, Joann writes.
• A key takeaway: The Lucid Air is two cars in one. It's both a sublime luxury sedan and a powerful, thrilling sports car.

Read more

This graphic via the Energy Department shows that as of model year 2021, there were 54 electric models available in the U.S., Ben writes.

What's next: The tally is already a little higher — the Lucid Air being among the new ones — and set to keep growing.

• And look for pickups to join the ranks of options as several automakers plan production.
• Rivian's R1T pickup just hit the market. The Verge took it for a spin.

Over two-thirds of Black voters favor inclusion of new investments to combat climate change and expand the social safety net in wide-ranging federal spending legislation, per new polling by the firm Hit Strategies shared with Axios, Ben writes.

• The poll also showed that climate is tied for Black voters' top priority in infrastructure legislation.

Why it matters: Black voters are a key Democratic constituency, and the fate of pending infrastructure plans will factor into midterm election contests.

"As Democrats negotiate the two spending bills this week, it is imperative that they consider the priorities of Black voters’ whose communities have been disproportionately impacted by the effects of climate change, the housing crisis, and lead pipes," Hit Strategies founding partner Terrance Woodbury said in a statement.

The big picture: The Democratic polling firm's survey comes as the White House and Democratic leaders are struggling to move a multi-trillion-dollar package that includes major new incentives and investments in renewable power, electric vehicles and other clean energy sources.

The separate bipartisan infrastructure bill also has clean energy and environmental spending in areas like lead pipe abatement, but the plan Democrats hope to move on a party-line vote has much larger energy provisions.

By the numbers: Hit Strategies asked Black voters which statement aligns more with their view...

• Investments that "prioritize our physical infrastructure by upgrading roads, bridges, energy grids, water pipes, public transit, and providing broadband access."
• Investments that go beyond physical infrastructure and "invest in reversing climate change, skills training programs, free community college, and providing more help to children, caregivers, and the disabled."
• 71% favored the latter category.

Of note: The poll of 1,000 voters has a margin of error of +/- 3.1%.

The Federal Aviation Administration will begin implementing a software program at 27 domestic airports designed to all but eliminate the long lines of aircraft that can build up ahead of takeoff, it announced jointly with NASA, Andrew writes.

Why it matters: The software calculates gate pushback times at busy airports and is designed to allow aircraft to taxi directly to the end of the takeoff runway. Over time, this can save fuel and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Details: Rollout will begin in early 2022 and take several years, the FAA stated Tuesday.

• A four-year test phase of the software at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, which was conducted jointly with NASA, saved more than 275,000 gallons of fuel annually, or the equivalent to the typical fuel burn of a Boeing 737 flying 185 flights between New York and Chicago.
• It also cut delays by 916 hours, equivalent to shaving 15 minutes of waiting time on a taxiway for more than 3,600 departing flights.

Read more

DroneSeed, a startup that helps speed reforestation to fight climate change, has raised $36 million in series A funding, Ben writes.

Driving the news: Social Capital and Seven Seven Six led the round. New investors include DBL Partners and Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke.

How it works: "DroneSeed is the only company approved by the FAA to deploy a fleet of heavy-lift drones to reforest after wildfires, enabling healthy forests to grow back," the company states.

TechCrunch has more on the firm, which sells carbon credits based on areas it's helping to reforest.

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The digital tech-focused VC and asset finance firm Energize Ventures just announced the closing of its second fund at $330 million.

It's focused on "scaling and commercializing cutting-edge technologies and software across renewable energy, mobility, cybersecurity, battery storage, critical infrastructure and climate resiliency," the firm said.

Driving the news: Energize's backers include asset manager CDPQ, American Electric Power, the VC arm of oil-and-gas giant Equinor and other deep pockets.

Energize's second fund has already made a few investments, including in the battery analytics software company Twaice.