Insider Transportation: QuantumScape's battery breakthrough, Amazon's Zoox deal, and more

As the automotive world steadily shifts away from internal combustion and toward an electric future, one of the big questions about how exactly this will work comes down to power. Specifically, when will batteries be powerful and cheap enough to allow electric cars to go as far and cost as little as what's on the market today?

Jagdeep Singh says that time is now. In an interview with Insider, the CEO of QuantumScape - which is backed by Bill Gates and Volkswagen - explained how his team developed a solid-state battery that will deliver better performance, durability, and energy density than the lithium-ion cells used today.

But battery experts tell us there's a big difference between invention and industrialization, and for Singh to really deliver, QuantumScape must master the art of manufacturing.

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The 737 Max loses a key selling point - and Boeing could take another hit

When Boeing introduced the 737 Max, it wooed airline customers with a tantalizing promise: Pilots already certified to fly older 737 jets wouldn't need time in an expensive simulator to transfer over to the new bird. Now, after two deadly crashes and a 20-month grounding, regulators have deemed the plane safe - provided that pilots get extra training before taking off. The result could cost Boeing billions of dollars.

When Zoox met Amazon

Like another famous couple, self-driving startup Zoox and retail giant Amazon spent years having occasional chats before they settled down together. A few months after the announcement of their deal, reported to be worth $1.2 billion, Zoox co-founder and CTO told us how it all went down - and what he demanded of Jeff Bezos before agreeing to a deal.

Block-by-block maps reveal where SpaceX must offer Starlink satellite internet

So far, the only people using SpaceX's satellite internet service are a few thousand beta testers scattered around the northern US and Canada. Thanks to American government largesse, that's set to change. SpaceX has been awarded rights to $885 million in subsidies from the FCC, which it must use to offer Starlink to 642,000 homes and businesses - at competitive prices. Those spots are scattered around the country, largely in rural areas where broadband access is limited, but detailed maps show exactly where Starlink's likely to land in the next few years.

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