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Interesting to see the pros an cons of Si anode versus Graphite anode and others... many graphite mines and their vertical integration are assuming they will be part of this industry for at least this decade...
Mercedes-Benz to incorporate Sila’s Si anode chemistry in batteries for the electric G-Class; > 800 Wh/l on cell level
Mercedes-Benz will work with Sila, a next-generation battery materials company (earlier post), to incorporate Sila's silicon anode chemistry in batteries which are optionally available for the first time in the upcoming electric Mercedes-Benz G-Class. This will add another innovative cell chemi...
Hopefully, EV consumer demand will keep up with such expectations. There are only so many government and corporate fleets, single-family homes, and dedicated multi-family home hook-ups to make this expensive, electric transition convenient. I doubt that the majority of the US, asia, and non-EU european countries will legislate or effectively tax EV full-purchase/ sale/ use compliance. Also, electrical capacity and distribution networks outside of the G7 are unlikely to be upgraded or support off-the-grid electric production. This early EV numbers take-up will possibly plateau slightly higher until past the late 2020s.
Benchmark Mineral Intelligence: lithium industry needs $42B investment to meet 2030 demand
The lithium industry needs $42 billion of investment if it is to meet 2030 demand, according to analysis by Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. This works out at approximately $7 billion a year between now and 2028 if the industry is to meet lithium demand by the end of the decade. Benchmark fore...
Easier said than done.
The permitting process and typical NIMBYism self-interests delay these for years, if not decades.
Canada’s Budget 2022 calls for C$3.8B to launch Critical Minerals Strategy
The Government of Canada has released Budget 2022. Among its measures is up to C$3.8 billion (US$3 billion) to implement Canada’s first Critical Minerals Strategy to capitalize on a growing need for the minerals used in everything from phones to electric cars. The Budget also allocates more tha...
"... for decision makers on the severity of the shortfall and how much money and time it realistically takes to get a mine into operation and ramped up..."
Its all political.
The issue is more about how reliable the non-G20 countries are for access to Li, Graphite, rare-earth, etc., resources. We don't want another OPEC of battery resources -- an oligarchy of broken leadership of otherwise dysfunctional limited-resource states. Also, we don't want crushing labor, environmental, and NIMBY forces in the richer countries who may have limited reserves. Alaska, Canada, a few NE states and a few SW states will have the majority of these resources in NA and powerful interests want to encourage/ discourage a wild-west-type rush. Everyone knows where and how much of those resources reasonably exist in developed countries and are just positioning themselves to take most advantage and not otherwise be crushed by the stampede (witness some of the valuation fluctuations over the last 6 months, 2 years, 10 years...)
Benchmark: growing disconnect between battery demand and raw material supply
Thee is a growing disconnect between battery demand and raw material supply that could derail Europe’s and North America’s electrification plans, according to Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. Outside of China, Europe and North America are the key regions developing significant lithium-ion cell p...
This seems a very biased and end-results-driven report - more of an Op-Ed, really.
We live in a world of reason, compromise, risk mitigation/ tolerance, and passion.
People who own, drive regularly, maintain, and have gone to the effort to facilitate parking/ safe storage of their vehicles are typically richer, more career-ambitous, more likely to follow society's soft rules and structure, and are overall more productive/ task-driven than a transit-only/ pedestrian-bike-dominated equivalent individual. Why would we want pedestrian only areas? - people typically park within 1/2-mile, at most, of where they want to work, play, or visit. I'm not going to drag my family of 5 + elder onto a bus/ train/ taxi/ caravan pf bikes. nonsense. Food delivery multiple times a week with others choosing the produce - i would rather be dead. Density and transit/bike routes would be sole arbiter of a business's success - because, who walks? Also, Car Road trips - a national pastime.
We live an individualized, freedom-based economy -and human-influenced driving will always be part of that. Besides who would insure autonomous cars when we all know that people hardly maintain the manual cars we have now? Would the controller system lock off the car to any driving unless the sensors/ controllers were fixed? - riot and sales & economic plunge. Cars are a symbol, not just an appliance.
IDTechEx: human driving will be outlawed by 2050
Autonomous cars will match or exceed human safety by 2024, after which they will grow rapidly at a CAGR of 30% finds IDTechEx’s new report “Autonomous Cars, Robotaxis & Sensors 2022-2042”. By the 2040s, they will be capable of fulfilling the world’s mobility needs without a single collision. So ...
Not convinced that the paper has really included enough variables. High-rises are less likely to be demolished (or even significantly refurbished) and thus less has to be invested in their renewal per century. Materials are very important - the type of construction for a 10-storey is very much different than a 50-storey building. Few consider which is the smallest GHG product before actually designing and building. Older cities (or of a particular vintage) may not be as GHG considerate - so age matters. Also the economic density/ productivity/ opportunity of a city is likelier a more significant consideration than lifetime GHGs.
Study finds high-density, low-rise cities such as Paris may be optimal urban form for reducing life cycle GHG emissions
A study by researchers at CU Boulder and Edinburgh Napier University finds that high-density, low-rise environments such as those found in Paris are the optimal urban form when looking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions over their whole life cycle. There is a growing belief that building tall...
Too bad that many North American cities consider these items as nuisances. Several ordinances against them have been enacted to mitigate sidewalk, park path, and pedestrian conflicts. Limited use in rain, snow, and off pavement. Otherwise very convenient compared to cycling, cars, and public transpo.
BMW Group Research unveils innovative concepts for cargo e-bike and e-scooter
The BMW Group has presented a number of innovative micromobility solutions to the public in the past, including the BMW Motorrad X2City, the Personal Mover Concept and the BMW Vision E³ Way elevated road concept. BMW Group engineers are now unveiling the electrified bicycle Concept DYNAMIC CARG...
Seems kind of culturally-focussed rather than technically- or logistically-focussed. We have a bit too many Bleeding-Heart-Liberal-driven infrastructure initiatives as it is at the moment that will be unlikely to deliver efficiency, value, scale, and technological robustness. Keep the Woke in the applicable community and allow the competence and vision to come first.
DOE seeking public input regarding “energysheds”
The US Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a request for information (RFI) (DE-FOA-0002548) regarding the concept of an “energyshed” and energyshed management systems. Given that the term “energyshed” is relatively new, DOE is seeking feedback on its concept and definition, as well as its appl...
Not all EVs are equal. Overall quantities don't matter (economically). America is not interested in saving the World. The US realizes that the vehicles that its consumers really want (and are most profitable) are pickups, med-large SUVs, and upgrade miniVans. When battery tech reaches these heavy vehicles, EV industrial infrastructure will explode -- especially since most of the consumers that want these vehicles likely live in single-family residential and are in the top 50% -- ripe for a second or third vehicle and in-house fast-charge infrastructure. There is no race to win, just another economical opportunity slowly bearing fruit.
ICCT report finds US domestic EV production and investment continues to fall; only 5% of global EV investment to go to US EV assembly plants
The United States is the third-largest electric vehicle (EV) producer behind China and Europe; a new study from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) finds that the gap has widened. The ICCT study finds that the United States’ share of cumulative global EV production decrease...
All about the business plan: investors, clients, and cost per BTU. Hopefully, they can sustain business while oil needs to exceed $100, get phased out of Europe and NA, but be affordable to other countries. Certainly a '20-year and out' plan.
Consortium developing green hydrogen megaproject in Oman
An international consortium comprising OQ, which is the Sultanate of Oman’s global integrated energy company, InterContinental Energy, the leading dedicated green fuels developer, and EnerTech, a Kuwait government-backed clean energy investor and developer, is developing an integrated green fue...
A game changer.
If these systems can tolerate the off-road Contractor service conditions and 4-season challenges of other batteries - this will be the thing that will inject widespread customer appeal into the EV sector at, likely, healthier than sedan-sector profit margins. How will other pick-up brands compete?
Ford unveils F-150 Lightning electric pickup; starting at $39,974; arriving in 2022
Ford unveiled the F-150 Lightning battery-electric pickup. Arriving in spring 2022, F-150 Lightning will be available in four series and two battery options at more than 2,300 EV-certified Ford dealers across the country, with the option for fleet customers to access Ford’s complete ecosystem of...
Frustrating.
All scenarios and programs assume (or at least vilify for) behaviour change and 'ambitious policies' . This is the most preposterous and irresponsible assumption to even include. Don't start from a supposedly ideal world in 20 or 40 or 60 years and move back to how we should attain it (therefore the unlikely 'now' assumptions). You simultaneously start from the likely trajectories of the last 10, 20 and 50 years of behaviour -and- start from the range of reasonable desired outcomes at the other side, going backward -- leaving you to fill in the 'apparently unbridgeable gap' between. This gap is the area where highly detailed and granular assessments/design/innovations are made at a very local level. Which regions and industries and sectors and technologies can maintain living standards and growth potential while 'incentivizing' movement to carbon-positive tech, services, and employment. Innovation uptake is local and incentive-based. From electric pick-up trucks to EV dealership benefits to geothermal-rich to solar-shingles in the south... etc. Technology and lifestyle is cultural and local. Wave enough success and opportunity in front of a local group and the benefits accelerate, often reinforcing surrounding regions. Grand schemes and generic visions are the worst of all motivations - especially from 'world bodies' and NGOs.
ITF: worldwide transport activity to double by 2050, emissions to rise 16% compared to 2015
According to the ITF Transport Outlook 2021, the biennial flagship report of the International Transport Forum, a sister organization of the OECD, global transport activity will more than double by 2050, and traffic emissions will rise by 16% compared to 2015 even if existing commitments to deca...
Unlikely.
These technologies are expensive, logistically challenging, and require a level of cultural sophistication and investment that will not be available to 50%+ of the world's populations in 10, or even 30 years. Developing countries will insist upon a level of wealth and access to opportunity such as can only be delivered by very cheap fuel and extremely simple technology - even ICE tech is mostly imported with low levels of internal technical and upgrade support. PV and wind are high maintenance; they will degrade in years without constant outside support. Nuclear and Hydrogen are exceptionally esoteric and high security/ maintenance. The 3rd world solutions/ contributions may be limited to small scale BEVs and possibly something ultra-low maintenance - a type of geothermal or simple wind system with limited, but essentially carbon-reduced 'impact'. You can be 3rd world, 'frugal and carbon-free' -or- 3rd world, 'lo-middle-class and carbon-lite' - not both, before 2050.
IEA report calls for no investment in new fossil fuel supply and end to sales of ICE cars by 2035
The world has a viable pathway to building a global energy sector with net-zero emissions in 2050, but it is narrow and requires an unprecedented transformation of how energy is produced, transported and used globally, according to a new special report from the International Energy Agency (IEA)...
Absolute nonsense in its assumptions and motivations.
The intentions of Uber and Lyft was simply to profit on: overturning existing professional driver monopolies, allowing participation for entrepreneurs to provide self-profitable chauffer-like services, and freeing up people from self-parking or possible lack of foresight in purchasing their own car.
Congestion is a matter of people choosing a certain time and place to use vehicles -- many have other options, but would rather spend time stuck than embrace those alternatives.
I know this is a pro-'green' transportation blog, but no-one 'loves' transit. No one 'sanely' gets up in the morning shivering with anticipation to be herded onto a common vessel of locomotion - it is, at best, an occasionally-convenient alternative for moving people around environments not designed well enough to allow all to take their preferred mode of transportation, whether it is walk, bike, car, etc. It is not noble of itself - but an excellent occasional-to-regular choice. I am glad that urban/ semi-urban environments have it and that it provides benefit and occasional convenience for a wide range of users. I hope that advancements continue, access is made available to faster and more ubiquitous destinations, and people will embrace all forms of transportation so that they can live as fully as possible.
MIT study finds Uber & Lyft increase congestion, decrease transit ridership and don’t affect vehicle ownership (updated w/ Uber response)
Researchers at MIT report that the entrance of transportation network companies (TNCs)—specifically Uber and Lyft, which together have a 98% share of the market—in cities led to increased road congestion in terms of both intensity (by 0.9%) and duration (by 4.5%); an 8.9% decline in transit ride...
Home charging.
Multi-family apartment/ condo tax breaks on installing into existing facilities and including in the design of new buildings. Policies for reducing spots per Unit in car parks within urban residential and commercial buildings must be revoked - transit needs to seen as 'the other option', not the primary option. Business tax breaks for installing chargers on employer sites.
Study: EVs cannot succeed without developing parallel supercharging networks
Electric vehicles cannot succeed without developing a nationwide network of fast-charging networks in parallel with the cars. Current EV business models are doomed unless manufacturers that have bet their futures on them, such as General Motors and VW, invest in or coordinate on a robust superc...
Hideous.
Completely anti-thetical to the Mustang brand.
Caroll Shelby would be rolling in his grave.
Ford to manufacture Mustang Mach-E in China; localized production of GT as well
Ford announced that Mustang Mach-E, its first global pioneering SUV built on an all-new, all-electric platform, will be manufactured in China by Changan Ford for local customers. Mustang Mach-E will become available in China later this year. Mustang Mach-E will offer Chinese customers a sm...
Very important to differentiate between incentive, regulation, and ban. I think ALL want a choice of EV vehicles that match their individual model needs (big/ small/ econo/ perform), their access to convenient charging, and that provides for a price-point that matches or exceeds today equivalent ICE purchase and maintain/fuel. Without these options, you are adversely affecting economic potential at the individual and aggregate levels. The big hurdle, of course, is access to a charger overnight -- many multi-family residential developments are unlikely to invest in underground or grade-level charging at the community level, much less the Unit-by-Unit (stall by stall) level. Anecdotal info indicates over 25% of working age individuals use a car to get to work at least 2 - 3 times a week and currently live in a multi-family residential. Creating an incentive/ regulation that all multi-family building new-build requires basic rough-in for stall-by-stall chargers would assist. Further, incentives to get electrician contractors/ Building Owners to install numerous community and hopefully - shared-stall rough-in/ charger infrastructure would be the biggest catalyst to widespread adoption.
Electrification Coalition launches online EV Policy Showroom
The Electrification Coalition has introduced its EV Policy Showroom, offering policymakers, EV advocates, industry partners and other stakeholders online access to easily navigable data and policy information on the deployment and adoption of electric vehicles and charging infrastructure. The ...
Are we sure that graphite anodes have a significant future? Sure the current Lithium Ion batteries have such anodes and the expected first generation of Solid State batteries may use them, but we're likely to get back to a more metallic lithium or other lighter alloy after the mid- to late-2020s, especially in smaller/3rd-world cars (and ALL trucks/ bigs) that need better safety (fire/explosion), weight-to-charge ratio, and simpler manufacturing. That being said, perhaps increased fuel-cell integration/ other-electronics manufacturing may make up for lost high-quality graphite quantities.
US designates Graphite One Project as “High-Priority Infrastructure Project”
Canada-based Graphite One Inc. announced that it received notice on 15 January 2021 that its Alaska-based Graphite Creek Project has been designated a High-Priority Infrastructure Project (HPIP) by the US Government’s Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Committee (FPISC). The approval is the...
Hydrogen can be a worthy co-contributor to a battery-based economy, but the large stumbling blocks will be safe production, dispensing, and storage away from commercial facilities (i.e. parking garages and residences). I, for one, dream of a near gas-station-free world with hydrogen being heavily-regulated by a utility-based system, no longer a decentralized price-gouging mecca for private energy giants and colluded with by large auto/ truck manufacturers. With hydrogen hook-ups as (or more) prevalent than natural gas, energy pricing can soon be a not-for-profit, municipally-controlled system. With home and work re-charging becoming more widespread, supplemental fuelling by hydrogen can be instituted on freeways and convenient public areas, especially for those larger vehicles where battery technology has not yet overcome the current weight to range/ pull ratio. Now is the time, local municipalities, to stop hydrogen vehicle fuel from falling predominantly into the private sector.
New Road Map to a US Hydrogen Economy
A coalition of major oil & gas, power, automotive, fuel cell, and hydrogen companies have developed and released the full new report, a “Road Map to a US Hydrogen Economy.” The Road Map stresses the versatility of hydrogen as an enabler of the renewable energy system; an energy vector that can b...
Yes.
This must be the technology/ policy/ methodology that will make H2 a part of the vehicle mix - an at-home/ multi-residential installation that creates a parallel ecosystem completely separate from corporate station/ installation refuelling policies and pricing. With the near-death of the 'gas' station so will its arbitrary and gouging practices.
DOE announces $1M H2 Refuel H-Prize Competition finalist: SimpleFuel
The US Department of Energy (DOE) announced that SimpleFuel is the finalist for the $1-million H2 Refuel H-Prize Competition. (Earlier post.) SimpleFuel was selected by an independent judging panel and will have until July 2016 to deploy their small scale, on-site hydrogen generation and fuelin...
Of course, cost competitive with gasoline is a moving target - say US$3 a gallon?
Report: Honda and GM to build fuel cell plant, mass production by 2025
The Asahi Shimbun reports that will set up a factory for the joint manufacture of automotive fuel cells, with production beginning by 2025 at the latest. In 2013, the two companies announced a long-term, definitive master agreement to co-develop next-generation fuel cell system and hydrogen stor...
Low- to zero-interest loans with easier-than-typical terms (including 90-day no-cost returns) and low credit quality may be the only way to get these systems out there for the middle three quintiles. Couple that with home installation (for EV fast charge systems) and guaranteed limited time offsite recharge rates at widespread stations and you are not only empowering the owner (some may say underwriting) you are establishing an ecosystem of work for Contractors and EV station developers. Finance the ecosystem not only the front line consumers - Tesla knows this.
60% of $18B in US clean energy tax credits 2006-2012 went to top 20% by income; 90% in the plug-in program
A working paper by a team at the Energy Institute at Haas, University of California, Berkeley, has found that 60% of the $18 billion in US federal income clean energy tax credits issued between 2006 and 2012—e.g., for weatherizing homes, installing solar panels, and buying hybrid and electric ve...
It is appealing to believe that Saudi is playing an International Domination game - as mainstream media is clamouring for eyeballs. Don't believe it for a moment. They are actually acting in a very sensible and pro-economic (domestic) way. With oil prices low and refinement prices being driven down, now is the time to deleverage away from the huge subsidies granted to its citizens on fuel. With prices low, the incremental increases are small compared to $100 oil and the consequent huge price shock that would have to come if gas prices approached cost. With costs likely to bump around the $40 - $60 for the foreseeable future, the Saudis are weening their citizens off of a huge domestic budget expenditure, providing incentive to adjust businesses to a more realistic cost structure. The Saudis care not for international oil drama - it is now about diversification, market-driven pricing, and pushing an economy into modernity.
Opinion: The Saudi Oil Price War Is Backfiring
by Gaurav Agnihotri of Oilprice.com Saudi Arabia has long enjoyed the status of being the top crude oil exporter in the world. With record production of 10.564 million barrels per day in June 2015, Saudi Arabia has been one of the major driving forces behind the current oil price slump. The Saud...
The first technology of H2 vs battery to enable:
- a modern F-150 towing 12000 lbs with a payload of 3000 lbs while passing on a 2% up incline at 65 mph over a 600 mi range for $60 full charge over 7 years of 500 full charge cycles, starting up in the a.m. outside at 10F, for an overall vehicle cost less than $45k with a 5-yr full 'power storage system' replacement warrantee and a 60% recharge in 30 minutes based on an off-the-shelf home charge station
...will dominate the G7 countries new vehicle tech category. Batteries may have the lead in this benchmark, but H2 likely had the greatest potential, but for lack of development effort and money. Whatever, the answer, or hopefully both, it will need to occur before 2020. The money investment trajectory will need to plateau and its primary funders and lab/ developers will certainly have R&D fatigue by then - the result being the slow death of incremental ICE mileage increases and an ever en'small'ening vehicle chassis - a conclusion that most think is far less than ideal for a transportation diverse and productivity-directed socio-economic system(and the happiness of the normal red-blooded driver).
Toyota embraces the “Bullsh*t” about hydrogen
Toyota has tapped award-winning documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock to show how calling hydrogen fuel cell vehicles “bullsh*t”—an oft-quoted opinion of Elon Musk—isn’t far from the truth. “Fueled by Bullsh*t” is the first online video in a multi-part “Fueled by Everything” series aimed to edu...
Funny how I have become a bit intolerant of long (500+ words) journalistic interviews which come across as sales pitches - despite how compelling this product/ service/ limited-time-offer is. I think this article could have been presented in 12-15 lines. Also, I think a bit more big picture commentary might be important:
- how much withdraw (if it is a full withdraw rather than part of the hydro- cycle) would need to be made against oceans, salty aquifers, etc., and how would that affect other water industries, shorelines, water access, and - i guess.. the environment.
- would this be treated as a utility rather than a private enterprise. It may be too important of a resource to leave it to pure market capitalist cost pressures (who else could compete?)
- environmental and geological reviews? (more so land settlement and movement, than ecosystem modification)
- with possible water availability which may return to the good old days of water abundance (if that ever existed), is it possible that land use modification and increased density may results in places not used to water availability (Utah, New Mexico, etc)? This could lead (which I am not saying is a bad thing) to more Los Angeles situations where a city was built without adequate local natural sources. Amusing if this innovation leads us from moderate water scarcity to moderate water abundance and the lifestyles of endless lawns, golf courses, and car washes that would result as far as the eye could see.
The Game-Changing Water Revolution: Interview with Stanley Weiner
by James Stafford for Oilprice.com Globally, water demand is threatening to dangerously outpace supply, while in the US, dry states such as Texas and California are suffering from shortages and the future forebodes more suffering. For the North American shale boom, the lack of water is suffocati...
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