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The week that was

Deals of the week

Temperature check

Chart of the week: Solar flare

When buying shoes, a suit or a car, no one truly longs for the cheapest option.

Why it matters: Slate Auto's $25k electric pickup is as budget as it gets — but it's a pleasure to drive.

Driving the news: I tooled around Newport, Rhode Island, for nearly an hour this summer in a prototype of Slate Auto's forthcoming Slate EV.

Behind the wheel: It's much more pleasant than I expected.

Zoom in: The Slate accelerates quickly, steers nimbly, and rides smoothly over bumps and potholes.

The seats were reasonably comfy, and the interior surprisingly tall, a boon for folks with more height than my 5'8" frame. 

The bottom line: It's too early to know reliability or build quality, but it has the makings of a good car — one that also offers a ton of customization, from mix-and-match exterior wraps to speakers and armrests.

Yes, but: Two of the most well-known features may get old fast.

🛻 Scoop: Slate Auto, the Jeff Bezos-backed developer of affordable electric pickup trucks, is raising around $500 million in Series D funding. Go deeper

🛢️ Scoop: Shell Ventures has agreed to sell stakes in around 10 portfolio companies to Spanish asset manager Alantra. Go deeper

🔎 Exclusive: Infrastructure AI startup Buzz Solutions has raised a $20 million Series A to scale and develop its visual inspection product for utilities. Go deeper

📈 Low-carbon startup valuations are soaring, fueled by breakneck electricity consumption and federal efforts to rebuild American mining and manufacturing. Go deeper

⚛️ Valar Atomics closed a $1 billion Series B round at a $6 billion post-money valuation led by Sequoia Capital to build its nuclear reactors. Go deeper

1 big thing: The week that was

A gray Slate Auto electric pickup sits on the side of a road by , framed by large leafy trees with green grass and a bright blue sky in the background.

Slate Auto's debut electric pickup has a low step height and a tall roofline. Photo: Alan Neuhauser

👉 GO HERE TO CATCH UP on deals this week.

• Base Power, an Austin, Texas-based home battery startup led by Zach Dell, raised $1b in Series D funding at a $13b post-money valuation. Go deeper

• Iceye, a Finnish satellite observation provider, raised €1b in Series F funding led by Scaleup Europe Fund. Go deeper

• Mariana Minerals, a Houston-based mining tech firm, raised $310m in Series B funding at a $1.5b post-money valuation, led by Khosla Ventures. Go deeper

2. Deals of the week

Illustration of an electric plug in the shape of a lasso around the words "Energy and climate deals roundup"

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios. Stock: Getty Images

🚕 Robotaxi revenue: Amazon's robotaxi service, Zoox, began charging fares Monday in Las Vegas, challenging rivals Uber and Waymo, Joann Muller reports in Future of Mobility.

Unlike those other services, Zoox has developed a purpose-built robotaxi that lacks a steering wheel and other human controls.

🧳 Air-taxi hubs: eVTOL developer Joby is partnering with former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick's new company, Atoms, to develop next-generation transportation hubs where electric air taxis, robotaxis and ridesharing services will converge, Joann also writes. 

Atoms will initially focus on building hubs in Florida, New York and Texas, where Joby is preparing to launch early operations under the White House-backed eVTOL Integration Pilot Program, as well as in California.

🛢️ Oil inertia: BP this week said it's planning to sell Archaea, which captures and sells gas from landfills and dairy farms, just four years after buying it for $4.1 billion, Ben Geman reports in Future of Energy.

It's a major move in BP's pivot back to its core oil and gas business, and a streamlining of operations, to boost financial performance that has lagged rivals. (Sounds familiar!)

3. Temperature check

Illustration of a pattern of repeating thermometers with different temperature levels.

Data: Financial Modeling Prep; Chart: Alan Neuhauser/Axios

U.S. solar manufacturers rallied ahead of and after the Trump administration unveiled new tariffs on imported solar products.

4. Chart of the week: Solar flare

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August 08, 2026

1 big thing: The week that was