Author: Bob Luthar

Coronavirus’s outcome on the economy is not reducing interest in electric cars, with record-breaking listings in Europe around July. A recent study by Jato Dynamics displays that electric listings, comprising hybrids as well as fully electric vehicles, were upward by 131% year on year to 230,700- the foremost time it surpassed 200,00 components. As an outcome, electric vehicles justified for 18% of the entire listings in July, far higher than their market share of 7.5% in 2019 in July and 5.7% in 2018 in July.

Felipe Munoz, an international expert at Jato Dynamics, stated that an increase in demand for the electric vehicle was robustly associated with a broader offer that eventually included more inexpensive options. The great competition within brands is also taking down prices. Half of the electric vehicles were powered by hybrid engines, with demand escalating by 89%, alongside the slight hybrid types of the Ford Puma and Fiat 500 partaking to this outcome.

The plug-in hybrid electric vehicles tagged along by 55,800 components, upward by 365% from 2019 July, aided by latest models such as the Ford-Kuga, Mercedes A-class, BMW XC40, and BMW 3-Series. Listings for zero-releases battery electric vehicles topped from 23,400 components in 2019 July to 53, 200 in 2020, and the offer topped from 28 dissimilar models present to 38

The latest models, such as the Peugeot 209, Skoda Citigo, Mini Electric, MG ZS, and Porsche Taycan, assisted in driving demand. Nonetheless, Tesla posted a 76% decrease to 1,050 components ensuing from shipping delays to Europe, as an outcome of production hitches in its Fremont in California. Munoz stated that indifference to the overall fashion of rising demands for electric cars, Tesla was defeated this year around the European region. Some of those could be clarified by matters related to the production persistency in California, conversely by great competition from brands that play like locals all over Europe.

Jato’s information for 27 markets displays observed the most significant monthly volume numbers this year, similarly being the greatest since September in the preceding year, with the industry listing 1,278,521 fresh passenger vehicles, down by solely 4% month-on-month from 2019.

Munoz clarified that both businesses consumers, as well as private, are reacting to better market circumstances; hence if the present situation persisted to improve, they could commence speaking about a ‘V’ regaining in the European automobile industry.

Nonetheless, there are great indecisions concerning how and when the crisis shall eventually come to a halt. Hence caution stays. The levels in volume from January went down by 35% to 6.3 million vehicles. Nevertheless, demand evidenced healthy numbers in nations like the UK, France, and Denmark.

Scientists have sought to substitute the graphite anodes presently used in electric car batteries with lithium anodes in search of a rechargeable battery that can power electric vehicles for long.

Conversely, although lithium metal increases the range of an EV, it reduces the battery’s functional viability due to dendrites built upon the anode over several charging cycles. The dendrites also short-circuit the battery cells when they meet the cathode. Scientists have always presumed that solid electrolytes, for instance, those fabricated from ceramics, would aid in reducing dendrites’ formation. However, the issue with that, according to further research, the use of hard electrolytes would not prevent the emergence of dendrites.

Currently, experts at the energy department, published in a journal, a new category of soft-solid electrolytes – nanopolymers and graphite – that inhibit the formation of dendrites in the initial stages before they severely destroy the battery. The innovation is part of Berkeley’s partnership across its facilities in generating ideas for assembling and designing solid-state batteries and other gadgets. The solid-state technique, which incorporates different phases and forms of the electrolyte and the electrode, display excellent stability. Despite the increased performance, developing the batteries gets faced with massive difficulties in the production process.

A staff researcher at the lab expressed the multiple benefits that would get incurred from the breakthrough of solid-state technology. It would lead to maximum satisfaction by both the production firms and the consumers of the battery. Also, there would be increased performance and minimal concern by the masses concerning the range of the battery. He further added the advantage that the aircraft industry would acclaim from the battery as it would be possible to power planes with assured sustainability and performance. The new cutting-edge technology would not affect the disruption of the existing assembly-line structures. The soft-solid electrolytes manufactured would be the same size as the traditional graphite electrolytes hence the ease in transforming the production to lithium graphite, which will be integrated with soft micro polymers to suppress the building of harmful dendrites.

A demonstration was performed on the efficacy of the newly developed battery to indicate its obstruction. In the absence of nanoparticles of the soft polymer in the electrolyte, there were dendrites. In the presence of the polymer, there was no detection of the harmful build-ups. These results confirmed findings from a new physical system for lithium metal, which accounts for the electrolytes’ chemical and mechanical properties. In conclusion, an increased range will be possible by advancing the newly acquired battery technology to enhance battery life and improve performance in powering the EV cars.

Japan is slacking in the transition to renewables like wind and solar energy compared to the developed nations. The government has decided to implement other regulations to activate the transition to renewables, including widening of the offshore renewable energy projects and amending the bills on the plugging into a power transmission system. 

These strategies must be advocated aggressively so that the country can witness an accelerated transition to clean renewable energy. This move will facilitate the impartation onto the citizens of the government’s vision of attaining zero-emissions in the commitment to minimize global warming inducers. The vision of the Japanese government is to see the economy and systems running on renewable energy. But the targets articulated in the renewable energy plan is exceedingly low compared to the current percentages of the dirty energy that the renewables intend to wipe out because of the greenhouse gas emissions. Renewable energy production percentages in Japan in the previous years are below those of the developed European economies. 

Japan has seen dynamic changes since the shutdown of nuclear power plants after the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holding’s Fukushima power plant experiencing tragedy. One of the changes is that the thermal power plants regained popularity as they replaced these nuclear power stations to generate 30% of the country’s electricity. Thermal energy is primarily from coal and has been growing its market share since the tragedy occurred. 

Currently, Japan is under a lot of international pressure due to its overusing coal to run the power grids amidst efforts to minimize carbon emissions worldwide. The country replied to the critics that it plans to replace the unreliable coal-powered energy plants with renewable energy plants. 

Nevertheless, even with the phase-out of Japan’s unreliable coal-fired power plants, the change would still be negligible since other vital power plants are again run on coal. It will take time before the new renewable energy projects reach the energy supply capacity that the reliable coal-fired power stations are supplying. 

Japan is dependent on nuclear power plants to counter the permanent shutdown of its thermal power plants, which emit greenhouse gases. However, the challenge is the slow resumption of operations for its nuclear power plants since they last shutdown making the transition to clean energy a gradual process in the country. Additionally, safety regulations and the high cost of operating these plants will impede their resumption of operations. 

To sum up, the way out for Japan is to expand the operations in its renewable energy facilities and projects until they challenge the thermal energy power plants before phasing out the latter. Japan can also focus on technological mechanisms to minimize emissions from the coal-fired plants while working on the renewables. 

Latest report Thematic Research: Renewable Energy (2020) published by GlobalData, a primary data and analytics firm, unveils that one and a half-decade ago, biomass, hydropower, and biogas were the leading renewable technologies. Since that time, solar and wind have led and will remain the dominant renewable energy sources in the coming future. Except for mini-hydropower, the development of every other recyclable technology is anticipated to be necessary, however solar as well as wind are expected to be able to make the most significant contribution to the entire installed recyclable energy capacity.

Renewable power has been costly compared to conservative electricity, making it reliable on subsidies and incentives. Following advances in technology, solar and wind power are emerging economically aggressive. Onshore wind knowledge has developed into a mature and established technology with a low generation cost. Recyclable projects are currently beginning to compete with conventional energy, attesting that they can reinstate traditional power in most countries.

Solar and wind PV technologies will continue developing throughout the year 2021-2030, with subsidized costs supporting more projects to be initiated in the forthcoming years. The renewables adoption by new nations will additionally drive the uptake of solar and wind power sources. Initially, governments sought to promote wind and cosmic initiations via FiT schemes. The lessening in the cost has made it likely for those schemes to be reinstated by auction mechanisms. 

United States of America, Europe and China have been the main drivers for the renewable energy development, particularly solar and wind PV. Furthermore, Latin America is self-assured to take on an essential role in the climate change as well as the development of recyclable energy. The rapid growth of the renewables across the region of Latin America has improved its attempts to achieve a zero-carbon economy. Technological modernism has resulted in enhanced efficiency and lessened costs, nurturing the grid competitiveness of recyclables. 

With its aggressive pricing and steady policy support, the wind energy market thrives and has accomplished grid equivalence in many nations. Technological progressions have opened the approach for a more efficient and dependable tool and machinery, making the wind the fastest-growing power source.

Recent technological advancements are being observed in the O&M actions of wind farms, and drones have HD cameras. Thermal cameras are currently solving various issues that wind tool managers experienced for many years. It is usually time-consuming for team technicians to unconnectedly climb and verify every wind turbine tower. 

It is not that easy when it comes to reducing the footprint caused by carbon emissions. Even something like fitting solar panels, or operating by use of hydrogen fuel can be greenwashed more than green itself. It is harder when making the right choices in life, especially if you look at them at a closer approach. While electric vehicles appear to be attractive in the first spot, it becomes clear that they have a carbon trail and some side effects during the extraction process. 

The main problem encompassing rare earth metals and precious minerals is that the required ingredients in electric vehicle batteries are the multi-layered one. In turn, the cost of the EVs to reduce, making them accessible to everyone. However, there is more impact posed along the supply chain of electric vehicles. The dominion of lithium-ion batteries in China has made Beijing indirectly rule the electric vehicle market for the past years, resulting in shifting in the manufacturing of the vehicles to Asia. In the meantime, cobalt is a costly metal, and its composition in the batteries of the electric vehicle portrays a full forty percent of the car’s sum value. 

There is the fact that those metals do not fall under the category of renewables, as their mining is always green. The surging use of lithium-ion batteries as the primary source in electronics such as phones, computers, and electric vehicles has contributed to an increase of fifty-eight percent in lithium extraction since 2010. That appears to be a near-term danger of lithium extraction; however, there is another effect posed to the environment. 

Additionally, the extraction process needs large capacities of waters, and that might result in aquifer exhaustion and affect ecosystems at a more significant rate. Those ecosystems are more delicate, and they must be handled with care. 

The emerging question is, is that necessary? Electric vehicles seem to save us as they are the best solutions to the impacts of climate change. 

A life cycle examination of emissions highlights three stages, which are; The Manufacturing phase, the use phase, and the recycling phase. In this case, what matters is the company that manufactured your electric vehicle and the company that produced the electricity powering the electric car. For instance, in New Zealand, eighty-two percent of electrical energy comes from renewable sources. Since those sources of renewable electricity provide the vehicle’s charge, then electric cars suit best in New Zealand. That is not easy at appears, and that is why complete life cycle examination comes in to answer our question. 

In an annunciation made by the Federal authority, 28 of the most renowned Parks Canada stations currently have Tesla-donated electric cars charging points. Jonathan Wilkinson, who is the Minister of Environmental and Climate Change, and the Minister of Parks Canada, released the announcement the previous week stating that electric vehicle users can now use some of the charging points. 

Having installed electric vehicle charging stations in additional Parks Canada points, Canadian authority has eased charging electric cars in their beautiful parks, national marine conservation sections, and national historical sites among many areas. 

In May of last year, Canadian authorities submitted to having charging points structures to about 25% of renowned Parks Canada regions across the nation. Also, the Government stated that the submission would come right net year; however, Parks Canada has met the primary anticipation. 

The subsequent aim is to double the number of charging points to about 50 percent of public charging places in the next five years. The award received from Tesla will enable Parks Canada to enhance its services to its clients who drive electric vehicles. The gift is part of the green mission and mitigating climate change by Parks Canada. 

There are 172 charging points set up in 14 national parks, 12 historic national regions, one on national marine conservation regions, and the other in Rouge National Urban Park. More Parks Canada areas will be fitted with enough charging stations for electric vehicles. 

Fifty percent of the recently installed charging points belong to Tesla, and the other fifty percent are J-1772 that include a free charge with entry charges where valid. 

Canadian Government is ready to offer competitive solutions that will reduce carbon emissions when electric vehicle users pay visits to the national parks, marine conservation sites, and national historic sites. 

By the end of this year, Parks Canada anticipated the donated charging points by Tesla will be available to electric car users to thirty-eight regions. Last year, Parks Canada received 350 charging points from Tesla. 

Tesla will contribute over 50 electric chargers since there will be more than one charger in each charging point. MobileSyrup has managed to conduct Parks Canada to get additional information. 

Those chargers are not Superchargers made by Tesla, and they will charge both Tesla cars and electric motors since those chargers support the J1772 charging standard. The charging stations will be of AC Level 2 with Tesla SAE J1772 connectors, and they will be distributed in the market. 

The prevalent notion that fossil fuels are ‘dirty’ and renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar and not forgetting electric vehicles is ‘tidy’ has become the talk of the day in the media. 

The zero carbon emission strategy by 2050 calls for complete mitigation of carbon emissions in the energy sector. The ultimate question we are forced to consider is how fast liberal Western authorities, led by an alleged scientific accord ‘decarbonize’ savage the globe from the impacts of global warming. 

Extracting out of sight, out of mind

Starting with Elon Musk’s Tesla, it is a beyond belief accomplishment for the entity. It has registered four successive parts of profits, and it is the most valuable automotive firm globally. The demand for electric vehicles is anticipated to surge as the nation strategies support the buying of the electric vehicles financially as they take the place of internal combustion engine and gasoline-driven vehicles. 

If you take a bright look below the hood of ‘clean energy’ battery-driven electric vehicles, the dirt found is a huge surprise. The most fundamental part of the electric vehicles is the lithium-ion rechargeable battery, which depends on primary mineral commodities like lithium, manganese, graphite, etc. Tracking the source of such minerals is known as ‘full-cycle economics,’ It clearly shows that electric vehicles form dirt during the extraction and processing of such minerals.

A recent report released by the United Nations warns that raw materials used in electric vehicle batteries are found in large numbers in some nations where there are policies on environment and labor. Therefore, the production of batteries for electric vehicles steers an explosion in cobalt small-scale manufacturing. The artisanal extraction sites account for a quarter of DRC’s production and have been termed harmful and use child labor.

Having in mind the picture of children scrabbling for hand-excavated minerals in Africa, they can make high technology’s clear and green picture. Many techs and auto firms use cobalt and other poisonous heavy metals to prevent contacting the mines. In July, Tesla Inc. made a deal with Glencore Plc, a Swiss-based entity, to purchase over 6,000 tons of cobalt every year from old Congolese mines. Since Tesla stated its aim of removing recurrent dangers linked to sourcing minerals from countries like DRC where corruption is prevalent, Glencore has affirmed its customers no hand-excavated cobalt is treated in automated mines.