Rivian’s skunkworks program has turned into a full-blown startup called Also. The new startup, which is separate from Rivian, raised $105 million from Eclipse Ventures. Also will focus on micromobility or the development of micro electric vehicles.

Also started within Rivian, aiming to figure out if the electric vehicle company’s technology could be condensed to fit smaller EVs, including vans, trucks, and SUVs. Eventually, the skunkworks program discovered it could, indeed, fit Rivian’s technology in smaller, more compact electric vehicles, but the project was bigger than Rivian.

“We’ve been taking the Rivian technology stack and adapting it to much smaller form factors and then coming up with some incredibly exciting embodiments of that technology in these very small form factors,” Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe told Reuters.

Rivian will always be part of Also. It holds a minority stake in Also and Rivian’s VP of future programs, Chris Yu, will be the startup’s president.

According to Scaringe, Also plans to debut its first vehicle designs later this year. One of the designs seems to be a bike, as Scringe described it having a seat, two wheels, and a screen with a few computers and a battery.

Also aims to start producing its flagship product by 2026 for customers in the United States and Europe. In addition, it plans to launch consumer and commercial vehicles made for Asia and South America.

The Financial Times has issued a retraction for an article it recently published that accused the electric vehicle maker of shady accounting practices.

The FT’s retraction has been appreciated by the electric vehicle community in social media, though many highlighted the fact that the publication’s initial erroneous allegations have already been spread across numerous other media outlets.

The Allegations

In an article published on March 19, the Financial Times pointed out that if one were to compare “Tesla’s capital expenditure in the last six months of 2024 to its valuation of the assets that money was spent on,” “$1.4 billion appears to have gone astray.”

The FT article highlighted that Tesla reported spending $6.3 billion on “purchases of property and equipment excluding finance leases, net of sales” in the second half of 2024. However, in that period, the company’s property, plant, and equipment only rose by $4.9 billion. As noted by members of the r/Accounting subreddit, this appeared to be the basis of the FT‘s article, which seemed careless at best.

Unfortunately, the publication’s allegations were quickly echoed by other news outlets, many of which proceeded to accuse Tesla of implementing shady accounting practices.

The Retraction

In its retraction, the Financial Times explained that Tesla’s payments for assets already purchased and the possible disposal of depreciated property could help explain the alleged discrepancy in the company’s numbers. With these in consideration, the publication noted that the “crack we’re left with at Tesla is now small enough — just under half a billion dollars — to be filled with some combination of foreign exchange movements, non-material asset write-offs, or the sale of machinery or equipment close to its not-fully depreciated value.”

“As we sound the Alphaville bugle while lowering this particular red flag, one unavoidable conclusion is that at a certain point it’s necessary to trust the auditor’s judgment,” the publication noted.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has responded to the Financial Times‘ retraction, commenting, “Turns out FT can’t do finance” in a post on social media platform X.

Starlink received the green light to launch its internet services in Vietnam.

The Vietnamese government noted SpaceX’s permission to launch Starlink services in the country is on a trial basis. Starlink’s trial period will last until the end of 2030. SpaceX has a subscriber limit of 600,000 within the trial period.

SpaceX can provide Starlink’s fixed and mobile internet service plans throughout Vietnam. It may also offer Starlink Aviation service plans.   

According to Reuters, the Vietnamese government noted that there is no limit to foreign ownership of a service. It is uncertain if SpaceX has applied for a license to launch Starlink services in Vietnam.

Vietnam’s decision to permit Starlink services in the country differs from Italy’s decision to pause discussions regarding SpaceX’s internet service. According to Italy’s Defense Minister Guido Crosetto, discussions of a Starlink deal with SpaceX have “come to a standstill. Crosetto cites the controversy surrounding Elon Musk as the reason for the pause on a Starlink deal. Italy was discussing a potential $1.6 billion, 5-year Starlink contract with SpaceX.

SpaceX is also trying to launch Starlink in India. The aerospace company has already signed deals with two of India’s top telecom companies for Starlink services. However, Starlink is still waiting for regulatory approval.

While waiting for regulatory approvals and license processing, SpaceX continues to improve its Starlink services. Recently, news broke that the Elon Musk-led company has plans to launch a new Starlink dish with gigabit speeds.