Much like the slacker who doesn’t contribute to the group project, the US may drag down EV adoption globally, thanks to recent federal policy changes.

That’s according to BloombergNEF’s latest Electric Vehicle Outlook, which forecasts nearly 22 million battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicle sales this year, a 25% YoY jump. The analysis attributes this year’s growth to greater availability of more affordable EV models and lower battery costs.

But looking ahead, BNEF’s projections are less optimistic. For the first time, the research group lowered its long- and short-term passenger EV adoption outlook, “largely due to the various policy changes in the US.”

BNEF now expects passenger EV sales in the US to increase from 1.6 million in 2025 to 4.1 million in 2030—14 million fewer than previously projected during that period.

“The roll-back of federal fuel-economy standards, the phase-out of the EV tax credit, and the potential removal of California’s ability to set its own air quality standards result in a notable decline in EV adoption in the US, impacting global adoption rates,” according to BNEF.

Keep reading here.—JG

The move-fast-and-break-things ethos of the tech industry and the often sclerotic pace of the federal government have often been at odds, but for the agtech sector, the problem is particularly acute.

Agriculture tech needs federal support to become more competitive, boost agricultural resilience, and secure the country’s “agricultural future,” according to a new report from agriculture institute Triple Helix.

For example: Weeds and insects are becoming more and more resistant to traditional herbicide and pesticide products. Therefore, bioscientists have gotten to work on novel crop protection products to which pests aren’t resistant. But the report said the Environmental Protection Agency, which regulates crop protection products, isn’t moving as quickly, even though it received more than five times as many registration applications for nontraditional crop protection products last year as it did in 2019.

It took the EPA four years to evaluate and approve Calantha, an RNA-based product that farmers have told Tech Brew is a “critical” part of their crop protection practices. And that’s just one of the novel crop protection products that has actually made it through the EPA’s registration process, which Triple Helix said can “stall or even kill breakthrough innovations before they ever reach scale, no matter how much capital is available.”

Keep reading here.—TC

Phishing attacks have become par for the course when it comes to cybersecurity threats, partly because they’re so effective—and some attackers are taking advantage of advances in voice-based technology to increase their chances for successful subterfuge.

Michael Crandell, CEO of password manager Bitwarden, demonstrated just how far voice phishing, or “vishing,” has come. During an interview with IT Brew, Crandell played a recording his team had made of him apologizing to this reporter for his lateness and asking for personal information to reconnect. While the delivery was somewhat stilted, the effect wasn’t completely unbelievable.

“Almost every new team member at Bitwarden in the first week or two gets a text, supposedly from Michael Crandell, asking them: ‘I’m in a webinar, could they buy some gift cards?’” Crandell said. “Most of them are pretty obvious, but I think we’re in a world where, because of AI, everything is advancing quickly and becoming more difficult to detect.”

Keep reading here.—EH