As the EV market enters choppy waters, legacy automakers are pulling back on electrification plans, delaying EV launches, and cutting production at EV plants.

That’s not an option for pure-play EV makers like Rivian. Instead, the Irvine, California-based manufacturer has its sights set firmly on the launch next year of its second-generation product: a midsize SUV called the R2 that’ll start at $45,000.

“One of our core strategies and approaches to offset some of the impacts of the…elimination of some of the credits for consumers is to bring a product to market that opens up the addressable market of consumers that can now say yes to a Rivian,” Claire McDonough, Rivian’s CFO, said during a Reuters automotive conference in Detroit on Wednesday.

Goodbye, tax credits: President Donald Trump’s tax and budget bill ended tax credits of up to $7,500 on eligible EV purchases as of Sept. 30, and EV demand is expected to cool without federal incentives. Rivian recently cut 4.5% of its workforce, or about 600 workers, The Wall Street Journal reported.

“With the changing operating backdrop, we had to rethink how we are scaling our go-to-market functions,” CEO RJ Scaringe wrote to employees, per the WSJ.

Pricing starts above $70,000 for the EV maker’s current passenger vehicles.

“It meant that we needed to reduce our costs in our vehicle roadmap,” McDonough said of the end of the EV tax credits. “And the key strategy for us is to bring to market a more mass-market-priced product, which is coming out next year.”

Keep reading here.—JG

Geothermal’s status as the darling of renewable energy is heating up.

The emerging baseload energy source retained its clean energy tax credits via President Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act, bringing geothermal growth to an “inflection point.” In the months since, geothermal residential heating company Dandelion Energy and developer Fervo Energy both introduced policies to propel industry expansion.

Residential leasing: Though mostly supportive of geothermal, the OBBBA’s tax credit changes forced residential geothermal companies to pivot a bit. The bill sunsetted the 25D clean energy home improvement tax credit, which can be applied to systems like Dandelion’s, but allowed residential geothermal heating systems to be leased.

“It’s a big loss to not be able to just offer that [25D] tax credit,” Dandelion’s CTO and co-founder, Kathy Hannun, told Tech Brew this summer. “With a lease, we can still give homeowners a mechanism for monetizing that tax credit.”

Keep reading here.—TC

One of the biggest players in healthcare education is teaming up with Google to teach both healthcare students and practicing professionals how to better use AI.

Adtalem Global Education rolled out a new credentials program in partnership with Google Cloud to familiarize doctors and nurses with the ins and outs of the generative AI technology that’s been flooding the industry.

The program will debut next year across all of Adtalem’s for-profit universities, which collectively reach 91,000 students. Coursework will cover “AI applications in clinical practice, ethical considerations, patient safety protocols, and hands-on experience with healthcare-specific AI tools commonly used across hospital systems and clinical practices,” per the announcement. Google’s Gemini model and Vertex agent builder will also be integrated into the curriculum.

In demand. The program aims to fill a gap, according to Michael Betz, chief digital officer at Adtalem and president of Adtalem-owned Walden University. In the past six to nine months, in particular, Adtalem’s hundreds of healthcare partners have been pushing for talent that’s savvy about the various AI tools now in use in clinical practice, Betz told us. There’s been interest from students too, who don’t want to be left behind, he said.

“A big part of our strategy here at Adtalem is to make sure that our graduates are able to not just be fluent with AI, but help in an effective and ethical way to lead that change in healthcare systems,” Betz said.

Keep reading here.—PK