Sean O'Kane
The Verge
Brooklyn, NY, United States
Contact Sean
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
| Recent: |
|
| Past: |
|
Past articles by Sean:
A vehicle burned at Canoo’s headquarters after a battery test
A cargo vehicle burned down at EV startup Canoo’s former headquarters in August, The Verge has learned. The blaze started after batteries left in the vehicle started a fire. → Read More
EV startup Canoo loses chief technology officer and two co-founders
The chief technology officer of California EV startup Canoo is leaving the company, along with two other top executives and co-founders. It’s the latest shakeup of Canoo’s executive ranks in a year full of changes. → Read More
Rivian will build a second, $5 billion EV plant in Georgia
Amazon-backed EV startup Rivian has announced plans to build a second factory outside of Atlanta, Georgia. The factory will be used to assemble electric vehicles and produce batteries, and it will employ thousands of workers. → Read More
Inside the slow, strange collapse of electric delivery startup Chanje
EV startup Chanje had an ahead-of-its-time plan to sell electric vans to the likes of FedEx, Ryder, even Amazon. But the founder’s curious management style, and turmoil at its Chinese parent company, led to a remarkable collapse with lots of collateral damage. → Read More
Alpha Motor’s EV designs look cool, but will they ever get made?
Alpha Motor Corporation is a California EV startup with murky origins and funding. It’s spent a year releasing eye-catching designs for multiple electric vehicles, and two of the company’s representatives spoke to The Verge in an interview about how it plans to make them. → Read More
Ford reportedly delays Explorer EV in favor of Mustang Mach-E
Ford has reportedly delayed the electric version of its Explorer SUV from mid-2023 to late 2024, along with the Lincoln Aviator EV. The company says it is instead increasing production of the Mustang Mach-E at its plant in Mexico to meet demand. → Read More
Mercedes-Benz fixes error that let drivers watch TV while in motion
Mercedes-Benz issued a recall for the EQS EV and newer S-Class sedans after fixing a server error that allowed drivers to watch TV and browse the web while in motion. The company said it was unaware of any crashes related to the error. → Read More
Ford stops taking reservations for the F-150 Lightning
Ford is no longer taking deposits for its upcoming F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck as it gets ready to start shipping the first ones in a few months. The company says it has collected 200,000 reservations since the truck debuted in May. → Read More
Elon Musk says the US should ‘get rid of all’ government subsidies
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said at the Wall Street Journal CEO Summit that he thinks the United States should just get rid of government subsidies, and that the Biden infrastructure plan is useless. He cited the federal deficit as a reason. → Read More
Lucid Motors’ mega SPAC merger is under investigation
EV startup Lucid Motors has received a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding its merger with a special purpose acquisition company. The deal turned Lucid Motors into a public company and netted the startup more than $4 billion in fresh capital. → Read More
GM won’t make new Bolt EVs until at least late January 2022
General Motors says it won’t make any new Chevy Bolts until at least the end of January 2022, as it continues to focus on making defect-free replacement batteries for the vehicles affected by the massive recall. → Read More
Arc raises $30 million to power its electric boat ambitions
Electric boat startup Arc has raised $30 million in a Series A funding round led by former Tesla VP Greg Reichow, who is now a partner at Eclipse Ventures. The money will help Arc move even faster toward its goal of making and shipping a 24-foot, $300,000 electric boat with 475 horsepower. → Read More
GM backs electric boat startup in $150 million deal
General Motors is making a big investment in Seattle-based electric boat startup Pure Watercraft. The automaker is committing $150 million in cash and in-kind contributions to the startup, which makes electric motors and batteries for boats. → Read More
Ford drops plan for Rivian-powered EV
Ford and Rivian have dropped plans to collaborate on a new electric vehicle. The companies first said they were working on an electric vehicle based on Rivian’s platform in 2019, when Ford invested $500 million in the startup. → Read More
Apple reportedly wants to launch a self-driving EV in 2025 with a custom chip
Apple is reportedly trying to launch its secretive self-driving electric car in four years and has developed a custom processor to make it completely autonomous, according to Bloomberg. The car would reportedly not even have a steering wheel. → Read More
Barbie EV mockup debuts, and on an unrelated note, Mattel’s stock is up
Mattel showed off a life-size version of a new Barbie toy car at the 2021 LA Auto Show that also happened to be built on a Fiat 500e EV. The company’s stock price then went up. → Read More
Fisker’s electric Ocean SUV has a rotating center screen
Fisker Inc. revealed the production version of its Ocean SUV at the 2021 LA Auto Show, and the top trim will have a 17.1-inch touchscreen that rotates between portrait and landscape orientation. The electric SUV starts at $37,499 with 250 miles of range and will start shipping in late 2022. → Read More
Lucid Motors passes Ford’s market cap four years after it nearly got bought
Lucid Motors has a bigger market cap than Ford after shipping its first electric sedans and posting its first quarterly financial results as a publicly traded company. The startup was nearly bought by Ford four years ago. → Read More
Biden’s $7.5 billion EV charging plan will require a lot of patience
President Joe Biden has signed the infrastructure bill into law, and with it comes $7.5 billion to build out hundreds of thousands of new EV chargers — something that will be desperately needed as EV sales grow. → Read More
JPMorgan says Tesla owes the bank $162 million
JPMorgan has sued Tesla, and claims it’s owed $162 million after Tesla refused to fully settle a 2014 stock warrant agreement. The dispute centers on changes made to the agreement following Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s infamous 2018 "funding secured" tweet. → Read More