Tesla, Google, and Carrier are among the founding members of a new industry coalition called Utilize, which launched today with a bold claim: the US power grid is so underused that better utilization could save American consumers over $100 billion over the next decade.

The coalition, which also includes Renew Home, Sparkfund, SPAN, and Verrus, is targeting a problem hiding in plain sight — the US electric grid operates at just 53% of its total capacity on average, according to a Duke University analysis of 22 regional power systems.

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The bZ3X, Toyota’s fully electric SUV, is a hit in China. After delivering over 80,000 units in its first year on the market, the bZ3X was the best-selling EV among joint ventures in China for five months straight.

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Tesla has lost another long-tenured executive: Sendil Palani, the company’s VP of Finance, confirmed his departure after a 17-year run that began when the automaker was weeks from running out of cash.

Palani is one of the last pre-IPO-era leaders still in a senior role at Tesla, and his exit deepens what has become a sweeping drain of institutional knowledge across virtually every critical function over the past two years.

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As the average transaction price of a new car creeps towards $55,000, a coming wave of low mile, off-lease EVs with massive depreciation could help car dealers solve the affordability crisis, combat sticker shock, and move more units. CDK’s David Thomas talks us through it on today’s surprisingly affordable episode of Quick Charge.

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