Major cities like San Francisco often have traffic congestion problems. During heavy traffic times, cars are typically gridlocked with slowly moving traffic, and the number of vehicles means a concentration of toxic exhaust fumes. Many cities around the world have implemented congestion pricing to limit the number of vehicles and…
Another front of the battle between California and the Trump Administration is the lowly light bulb. Incandescent and Halogen bulbs cannot meet a standard laid out in the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA), and under that law if the Federal Government fails to take action by January 1, 2020, then…
As we’ve been covering for awhile, the US Environmental Protection Agency has been threatening to yank California’s ability to set its own emissions standards. California and many other states have a long-standing precedent to set emissions standards and other environmental regulations. Under the Trump Administration everything that threatens the fossil…
A couple weeks ago the Salt River Project in Arizona announced a plan to replace a 2.25 GW Coal plant, the Navajo Generating Station, with a facility involving a large solar array (250 MW) and a large battery-based energy storage system. The storage system is sized at 1 GW and…
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Ford Motors is complementing the heck out of Tesla with the Mustang Mach-E. Ford has announced what some might have thought would never exist – the development of an all-electric Ford Mustang. Going by the specifications this could be an amazing car,…
A few weeks ago Northern California was rocked by huge power outages which PG&E hoped would prevent wildfires ignited by tree limbs falling on power lines. At the time weather conditions included heavy wind storms, drying out an already extremely dry landscape, raising the fire danger high enough to make…
I want the electric motorcycle industry to succeed if only because of the need to electrify every type of vehicle. My work has circled around the electric motorcycle industry for some time, and as a result I’ve met most of the movers in this industry. Having talked with Richard Hatfield,…
I appreciate that Rivian carries with it an appreciation for the wild areas, the natural world, and going out into the mountains to enjoy life. I appreciate that Rivian’s staff goes to these places, and has their own ah-hah moment that their work in developing an electric pickup truck could…
In China, Tesla built the Gigafactory 3 in 10 months, which may cause some in the USA to slam policies here about environmental reviews and the like. Be that as it may, the Tesla Model 3 is now manufactured in China, fulfilling a long-term goal of Tesla to have a…
Some of us want to take road trips with electric cars. Thanks to ever-more-powerful fast charging systems and ever-larger battery packs electric car road trips are increasingly possible. A year ago a friend in Romania informed me he would not consider an electric car until it could go 1200 kilometers…
On Monday, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler and Toyota said they were intervening on the side of the Trump Administration in its fight with California over that states’ right to set its own emissions policy. Since the 1960’s California has set its own emissions policies, and has a specific allowance to…
What is California to do during it’s yearly fire season in October/November? The last ten years this state has seen an uptick in huge wildfires, with seemingly every year having the largest wildfire ever only to be superseded with the one the following year. Some of the wildfires have been…
Many people in California are irate about PG&E. In 2017, downed PG&E power lines contributed to a wildfire that destroyed parts of Santa Rosa California. In 2018, downed PG&E power lines ignited a wildfire that destroyed the city of Paradise. In 2019, PG&E developed a plan to avoid wildfires that…
The state of electric motorcycles were improved greatly during the years of active racing action. Ten and one half years ago the TTXGP kicked off the era of modern electric motorcycle racing with a one-lap race on the Isle of Man during TT Week 2009. That race garnered a bunch…
Today NY Senator Schumer proposed a bold plan to switch completely to clean vehicles, zero emission vehicles, like electric cars. As Schumer notes, “Scientists tell us that to avoid the most devastating effects of climate change, the world needs to be carbon neutral — to have net-zero carbon dioxide emissions…
