The news about Tesla Motors regularly repeats a complaint about the cash burn rate, the fact that Tesla routinely runs at a loss, is propped up by investors, and eventually the house of cards will come crashing down. There’s some truth to this – the company showed a profit in…
Buried in the middle of Honda’s announcement of the Honda Clarity Electric lease price ($269/month in case you’re interested) is a sign that CHAdeMO’s prominence is crumbling. Over the last several years we’ve had an unfortunate schism in electric car DC fast charging, with some automakers pushing for CHAdeMO, Tesla…
I think there may be overly high expectations of what solar panels can do. I came across a project idea to develop a product that can be added to any car, using solar panels to somehow reduce gasoline consumption. The project write-up did not propose a given solution, but instead asked…
The Tesla Model S P100D is supposedly the best electric vehicle, offering luxury and capabilities competitive with gasoline cars. It’s such a good car that Tesla has a large market share in the luxury car segment. You’d think nobody but Tesla can equal what Tesla has done. Especially not someone…
Last winter saw alarmingly warm temperatures stretching from the North Atlantic deep into the Arctic. I wrote about this at the time, all through the winter the coast of Norway, in North Scotland, in Iceland, and as far west as Sweden or St. Petersburg Russia, the weather was at or…
A single solitary sentence in Tesla’s announcement about doubling the Supercharger network could have a significant impact for urban-dwelling prospective electric car owners. Those who live in “multi-unit-dwellings”, like apartment or condominium complexes, usually have a hard time finding charging. Typically the landlord or home owners association puts up barriers…
The Tesla Model 3 is due for its production launch in a few months. While some of us are pondering our personal budget, Tesla Motors has a bigger issue on its mind. The key advantage they have over other automakers is the extensive reach of the Supercharger fast charging network.…
In a letter to the Department of Energy, Secretary Perry describes having attended the G7 Energy Ministerial, and his reaction to discussion of “the need for an energy transition utilizing greater efficiency and fuel diversity.” That transition is necessary because the prevailing electric energy paradigm is based in fossil…
While CHAdeMO had a head-start over all other DC Fast Charging systems for electric vehicles, it may be that it will lose out in the standards/market-share competition to retain relevancy. We are plagued with three (four counting the Chinese) competing DC fast charging systems, when we as electric vehicle consumers…
The electricity grid is facing an interesting challenge: Solar and Wind energy is catching on faster than expected, forcing a rapid change change in how the grid operates. It’s extremely excellent that renewable electricity is growing so quickly, and in many places is directly cost competitive with fossil fuel electricity. The problem…
An arrest earlier this week in the Dieselgate scandal brings with it validation that upper Volkswagen Group management were indeed aware the company was fraudulently reporting inflated emissions results. At the time the management group claimed the scandal was the work of a few rogue engineers acting on their own. But,…
The above map is showing abnormally warm temperatures reaching into the middle of the Arctic. The map was captured at 6 PM PST on December 17, 2016, equating to about 2 AM UTC, meaning the area shown was in the middle of the night and experiencing the coldest temperatures for…
According to stolen/hacked/leaked emails, Hillary Clinton claimed in 2014 that anti-fracking groups were being funded by Russia (Putin). The emails came from John Podesta’s email account, and are transcripts of a private speech she gave on June 18, 2014, sponsored by tinePublic, a Canadian promotional group. According to the leaked email,…
Last year when I was covering the Dieselgate problem (the Volkswagen committing fraud by finagling emissions testing protocols) I had a haunting thought — in how many industries are the manufacturers pulling similar tricks? Our society has caused governments to enact emissions controls, energy efficiency measures, and more, in the name…
The race is on to deliver an affordable long-range electric car, with 200+ miles range and $35,000 MSRP as the next target. Several car makers are working on this, promising to deliver such vehicles in the next couple years. The rush to declare this vehicle or that a Tesla Killer…
