What’d You Think Was Under All That Water?

TOGETHER WITH

Some work takes painstaking effort, but some things just need a simple solution that comes to you when you take a step back and look. Don't break your arm trying to pull a push door, friends.Keep Pushing Back-Paul, Kyle, & Chris

DEALERS

Having Fun and Raising Funds with Morgan Auto Group

Congratulations to Morgan Auto Group for another successful year of sponsoring the Charity Polo Classics — an annual event benefitting the Children's Cancer Center, Clothes to Kids, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay. The event featured sick rides, best-dressed awards, live music, and oh yeah…a polo match!

Since its inception in 2011, the event has raised more than $3M for various charities supporting the Tampa Bay community. As a regular and prominent sponsor of the gathering, the Morgan Auto Group contributed significantly to another successful year of neighborhood fundraising.

Telling it like it is - Great work Morgan Auto Group! You brought people together around a shared passion and cause, and societies most vulnerable benefited. Also, you taught us there is a sport called Polo where nobody has to say “Marco!” to play.

AUTOMOTIVE

Raccoon Gifs and OEM News

We all like keeping up with the comings and goings of our favorite OEMs. In many ways, what happens in the boardrooms and factories of the automakers becomes the landscape we are adventuring through. Also raccoon gifts make every day brighter.

Audi will not go with the flow. The German automaker says it has no plans to follow Tesla in cutting EV prices. The brand's European chief, Jens Puttfarcken, says they have their own pricing policy and will take steps when and if they are necessary for the company.

Chevy's electric cat is out of the camouflage bag. Two days ago, a Reddit post revealed the new EV Blazer out and about ahead of its summer release. A higher performance option will give the Blazer SS model 557 hp and a 0-60 time of just 4 seconds.

Nissan is delivering EVs with EVs. A press release by the OEM says they will use up to 4 Nikola electric semi trucks to deliver EVs from the port of LA to dealerships. The plan will be a proof-of-concept for Nissan on the road to carbon neutrality and has already led to infrastructure changes, such as newly installed chargers at the port of LA.

TL: DR - Audi is not cutting prices (yet), EV Blazers are out but not for sale (yet), Nissan is testing but not fully adopting carbon-neutral vehicle delivery (yet).

TOGETHER WITH RAMP

Spending Should Be The Easy Part…

Imagine you just finished your meal, you reach for your money, and instead, you find a Rubk’s cube that you must solve before paying for your food! Now come back to reality and realize that paying for business expenses is only a little simpler unless you have help.

Ramp says using your money should be easy, and tracking expenses should be simple. Travel, ad campaigns, or wooing your next partner client deserves your full attention. Let Ramp automate busy work, control spending, and save time.

New companies applying today receive a $250 virtual card!* Check out Ramp today.

Quick Hits

• The White House has directed staff to remove TikTok from all government-issued devices within the next 30 days.

• Butterflies win a battle with Texas officials.

• Biden admin says semiconductor manufacturers who receive funding under the $52 billion CHIPS Act must provide affordable child care to workers.

AUTOMOTIVE

California Confuses and Incentivizes EV Buyers

🌞 California is taking another step toward total EV adoption for its 40M residents.

💰 The state will offer low-income residents up to $27K to make the switch to electric vehicles.

📈 Customers making less than $150K a year can apply the credit to a new EV, while customers making under $75K can also apply the credit to used EVs.

😕 Some confusion lingers around using the funds as they are tax credits and not discounts. This means customers pay the full amount and are credited at tax time if the buyer has a tax liability.

❓ Of course, the learning curve doesn’t stop there. Customers also need to determine if the vehicle they are considering qualifies based on rules, not a list of models to pick from.

Telling it like it is - Big 2035 plans are less like light switches and more like elaborate Rube Goldberg machines.

CULTURE

Mining the Deep Seas

🌊🪨⛏️

As car manufacturers and government regulations continue to push toward an EV-centric future, researchers have been trying to answer the logistical quandary of how best to sustainably source the raw materials (like lithium, cobalt, and copper) necessary to meet demand. Enter The Metals Company, a Canadian mining startup that thinks it’s found the solution at the bottom of the ocean.

💎🚢🔋

Financed by the company, The Hidden Gem is an 800 ft, former oil-drilling ship retrofitted for sea mining and has successfully begun collecting ancient black stones rich in metals called polymetallic nodules (aka “batteries in a rock”) on the floor of the deep seas. The ocean bed is estimated to contain more of some metals than all the world's dry-land deposits combined.

🐬🐙🐠

The flip(per) side. Marine biologists and activists are concerned that the practice will disrupt the ocean’s delicate ecosystem in ways that are yet foreseen. One study suggests that the practice could cause irreparable damage due simply to noise pollution, similar to what we might experience as loud construction work in a neighborhood. Currently, companies like BMW, Microsoft, Google, Volvo, and Volkswagen have pledged not to buy deep-sea metals until the environmental impacts are better understood.

Telling it like it is - Anyone else get major unobtainium and “Sky People” vibes from this?

History

• 1872: Yellowstone National Park is established as the world's first national park.

• 1968: Johnny Cash gets married to June Carter.

• 1998: Titanic becomes the first film to gross over $1B worldwide.