Month: November 2024

Tesla CEO Elon Musk may get a payback for supporting Donald Trump’s presidential reelection campaign. Members of the president-elect’s transition team say that a plan to create a federal framework for autonomous vehicles is one of the U.S. Dept. of Transportation’s top priorities, according to confidential sources. Musk, who has been a major contributor to Trump’s campaign, has made self-driving technology and artificial intelligence the foundation of where the EV maker is heading.

Tesla has been offering full self-driving capability on all of its new vehicles in recent years, and the company may be offering robotaxi services. The federal government has taken longer to clear policy for allowing for self-driving cars than automakers like Tesla had hoped for.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration currently permits manufacturers to deploy 2,500 self-driving vehicles per year under a granted exemption. The federal agency has safety investigations underway, including driver-assistance systems and autonomous vehicles that Tesla offers through its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving options.

Approval of autonomous vehicles at mass-market level will likely need full approval in Congress.

Tesla would also like to offer full self-driving technology early next year in China, according to Marketplace. That would require regulatory approval from Chinese officials. Cheese automakers would be competing with Tesla to take the lead in autonomous electric vehicles offered in that market.

Residual award winner: The 2025 Hyundai Kona Electric has earned a J.D. Power 2025 Best-in-Class Residual Value Award in the program’s newly introduced Mainstream EV SUV segment. Hyundai Motor America also announced that the 2025 Hyundai Santa Fe and IONIQ 6 did well in the residual value awards, both ranking second in their respective categories. These annual awards honor the new vehicles expected to retain the highest percentage of their original manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) over three years, which is essential for determining lease costs, overall vehicle value and total ownership cost.

EV Joint Venture: Rivian Automotive and Volkswagen Group have created a new joint venture, called “Rivian and VW Group Technology, LLC”. The deal came in at $5.8 billion. Through this JV, the companies plan to bring next-generation electrical architecture and best-in-class software technology for both companies’ future electric vehicles, covering all relevant vehicle segments, including subcompact cars. The JV reflects Rivian’s software and electrical hardware technology as well as Volkswagen Group’s significant global scale and industry-leading vehicle platform competencies.

Tesla facing safety problems: Distracted driving and higher rates of speed are behind a high crash rate for Tesla. Automotive research and data analytics firm iSeeCars reports that the Tesla Model Y has a fatal accident rate of more than three times the average car over a billion miles driven. The Model S is twice more likely to result in a fatal crash than the average car. The firm analyzed data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System. It included model year 2018-2022 cars with crashes that resulted in at least one occupant fatality to identify the most dangerous vehicles.

“New cars are safer than they’ve ever been,” said Karl Brauer, iSeeCars Executive Analyst. “Between advanced chassis design, driver assist technology and an array of airbags surrounding the driver, today’s car models provide excellent occupant protection,” he added. “But these safety features are being countered by distracted driving and higher rates of speed, leading to rising accident and death rates in recent years.”

Battery prices: Goldman Sachs has released a report predicting that global average battery prices will decline to $80 per kilowatt hour (kwh) by 2026, which is almost 50% lower than the $149 per kwh in 2023. The price decrease has been coming from technological advancements, mainly around larger cells and cell-to-pack tech that lower the number of batter modules needed. A downturn in the price of raw materials is also helping, especially lithium and cobalt.

Hydrogen Summit: Clean Cities Georgia recently announced the Georgia Hydrogen Summit, which will take place Dec. 4, 2025, at the Historic Academy of Medicine. In partnership with the Southern Hydrogen Energy Alliance (SHEA), Georgia Institute of Technology, and Southern Company, the Summit will bring together businesses and organizations that wish to be at the forefront of adopting hydrogen energy within Georgia and throughout the Southeast.

Top News: You can expect the obvious when the Trump administration comes on board in January, says ClimateWire. Trump’s goal is to continue similar efforts as during his first term — rolling back pollution and climate change regulations, unleashing fossil fuel development, and withdrawing from international commitments like the Paris Agreement. On a brighter note, some Democrats think that clean energy projects coming from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will be supported in a few Republican districts. They mention a letter signed by 18 Republican representatives opposing efforts to repeal IRA as a reason to be optimistic about it.

California Air Resources Board (CARB) voted Friday to approve changes to its low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) that increases the state’s emission reduction targets and funds the charging infrastructure for zero-emission vehicles. It will also phase out incentives for capturing methane emissions from dairy farms to turn into fuel. The oil industry and a few analysts complained that the new standard could increase gas pump prices up to 65 cents a gallon. Environmentalists have also had their own complaints, saying that the LCFS program stimulating the production of biofuels, which come from sources including plants and animal waste; environmentalists say the state should focus more on supporting power for electric vehicles.

Data Analytics: Chinese electric vehicle makers have been the clear winners in global EV sales this year through September, with BYD surging ahead of Tesla.
Here’s the top five in sales units for the first nine months of 2024:
BYD 399,442
Tesla 191,430
Wuling 68,605
Li Auto 55,602
Geely 53,358

Sources: CleanTechnica and EV Volumes

Company News: Tesla, Inc. has become a $1 trillion dollar company on the stock market. With shares going well over $320 a share since the election last week, the company’s market valuation soared past $1 trillion for the first time since October 2021. It was a nearly 30% increase in share prices. Analysts say that CEO Elon Musk’s visible support for election winner Donald Trump propelled that along. Musk is hoping to be appointed by Trump to lead a Department of Government Efficiency committee that he says could pave the path for federalized autonomous vehicle standards. Musk put down at least $130 million in campaign contributions to place himself in an ideal position to craft federal rules that could support his autonomous vehicle strategic planning.

Phoenix-based Nikola is one of the few hydrogen fuel cell truck makers to reach serial production in North America — after a number of tumultuous years. CEO Steve Girsky wants to see competition to make commercial fuel cell trucks a viable option to hit zero emission vehicle targets. So far, it’s been mainly about Nikola in this space, but that will be changing. Daimler Truck says that it will start series production of hydrogen-powered vehicles at the end of this decade.

Resources: International Energy Agency’s Energy Technology Perspectives 2024 (ETP-2024) provides a forecast and outlook for the top six mass-manufactured clean energy technologies: solar PV, wind turbines, electric cars, batteries, electrolysers and heat pumps. The agency see the market for these technologies rising from $700 billion in 2023 to more than $2 trillion by 2035 – close to the value of the world’s crude oil market in recent years. Trade in clean technologies is also expected to rise sharply. In the past decade, it’s gone up to $575 billion, more than 50% larger than the global trade in natural gas today.

California Air Resources Board will conduct a public meeting Nov. 21 to consider approval of the fiscal year or FY 2024-25 proposed funding plan for clean transportation incentives or funding plan. This public meeting may continue at 9 a.m., on Nov. 22. You can find the public meeting notice here: https://tinyurl.com/public-Meeting-Notice

Hydrogen hub partnership: The hydrogen fueling industry and truck makers are working to develop a hydrogen refueling infrastructure that can support cost-effective, environmentally viable fleet operations. A U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) program called Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs, created through a bipartisan infrastructure law, can provide up to $7 billion to form what the DOE calls “the foundation of a national clean hydrogen network” and help decarbonize sectors of the economy including heavy-duty transportation. The hubs are, by region or state: Appalachia, California, Gulf Coast, Heartland, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and Pacific Northwest. Each hub, consisting of private and public partnerships, applies to and negotiates with the DOE for funding of specific projects.

While 2021 and 2022 were hit by supply-chain disruptions, S&P Global Mobility sees the U.S.’s medium and heavy commercial vehicle sector poised for recovery and growth in 2024 and 2025. Last year was transitional, with that market seeing 14% growth for a total of 1.6 million commercial vehicles registered in 2023. It reached pre-pandemic levels with 2023 being just 196,000 units shy of 2019 registrations. Much of that came from resurgence in the rental and leasing industry in 2023. Class 2 vehicles saw a 21% increase in registrations coming from continued growth in construction and last-mile delivery vehicles, with increases in pickup and cargo van registrations.

Alternative fuel vehicles, and electric and hybrid powertrains are seeing more fleet interest in light-duty commercial vehicles, and compressed natural gas (CNG) and electric are becoming more popular alternative options for heavy-duty commercial vehicles, says S&P Global Mobility. Fleets such as Amazon, Walmart, Penske, and FedEx, are bringing in electric cargo vans for last-mile delivery applications. There were more than 14,000 EV cargo vans registered in 2023, with much growth coming from Rivian. Hybrid pickup trucks have become a viable alternative to EV pickups for fleets due to price and availability. Construction fleets are appreciating the Ford Maverick hybrid. Electric pickup launches expected from Chevrolet and Ram should contribute to the EV and electrified vehicle sales boom, the consulting firm says.

Compressed natural gas (CNG) and electric powertrains in heavy-duty vehicles (GVW 6-8) accounted for 6,800 registrations in 2023. CNG is becoming a popular option for the sanitation and refuse industry, with offerings from Peterbilt, Autocar, and Mack. General freight short-haul tractor trucks have been the primary adopters of EV for heavy-duty with launches from Freightliner, Volvo, BYD, Orange EV, and Nikola leading the way.

Renewable natural gas (RNG) heavy-duty trucks are reaching diesel-like performance for many fleets, according to a September report from FreightWaves. Rulemaking this year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Phase 3 emissions mandates stronger standards in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Part of the Phase 3 final rulemaking requires a greater total percentage of certain fleet segments to be made up of zero-emissions vehicles. Trucks equipped with the Cummins’ X15N engine are set to meet stringent EPA and California Air Resources Board (CARB) regulations for model years 2024 and 2027, according to FreightWaves.

Largest landfill-gas-to-RNG plant: Republic Services and Ameresco unveiled the opening of California’s largest landfill-gas-to-RNG plant at the Keller Canyon Landfill in Pittsburg, Calif., on Oct. 2. The renewable natural gas (RNG) plant builds on the companies’ existing partnership at the site. The site will provide power to the RNG refining plant, which can process up to 4,500 standard cubic feet per minute. It will feed the gas into Pacific Gas & Electric Co.’s natural gas grid. Ameresco began treating biogas at wastewater treatment plants in 2008 before expanding both the feedstocks the company will process and the products it can produce, including RNG. Today, more than 90% of the facilities it processes gas from are landfills. 

CARB wants input on EV window sticker: The California Air Resources Board (CARB) wants input on a new California Vehicle Window Sticker. Survey participants can take this link to better refine what ends up on these window stickers — to provide even better information to future EV shoppers.

ZEV Ride & Drive: California Air Resources Board (CARB) and CALSTART are hosting a Zero-Emissions Showcase + Ride & Drive featuring medium- and heavy-duty trucks (Class 2b-8), heavy-duty off-road equipment, school and transit buses, and commercial vans. It presents an opportunity to get behind the wheel of these vehicles and learn about funding programs to help purchase zero-emissions technology. It will be held on Wed., Nov. 13, 2024, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm PT in Pomona, Calif. Click here for more details and registration.

Nearly $45B for EV battery recycling: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) just announced $44.8 million in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) for eight projects that will lower costs of recycling electric drive vehicle batteries and electric drive vehicle battery components, with the long-term aim of lowering vehicle costs. The demand for EVs and stationary storage is projected to increase the size of the lithium battery market five-to ten-fold by the end of the decade, making U.S investments to accelerate the development of a resilient domestic supply chain for high-capacity batteries essential.

Tesla wins patent: Tesla was just awarded a patent for creating a system and method for adapting a neural network model on a hardware platform. From the patent application that was filed in March 2023, it says that the method includes obtaining neural network model information comprising decision points associated with a neural network, with one or more first decision points being associated with a layout of the neural network. It was also noted that machine learning applications may often be desirable to implement and/or configure neural networks on previously unimplemented platforms. Patent research firm SETI Park speculated on social media site X that the patent could be related to implementing FSD (full self-driving) on other brands. The automaker has not yet released any specific information on licensing its FSD technology.