October, not August: The grand unveiling of Tesla’s robotaxi won’t be taking place on August 8. It will be taking place in October, though that date has yet to be released. The company’s engineering design team has to rework some elements of the self-driving electric car, according to sources familiar with the matter. The August 8 launch was announced in early April after news came out that the carmaker had canceled its long-awaited inexpensive car. This development ties into two elements that Tesla analysts deal with: overpromising of launches, and how much the company is counting on robotaxis in its long-term strategic model. There’s also the problem of getting regulators to allow for autonomous vehicles to be released beyond limited robotaxi rides in a couple of U.S. cities.
J.D. Power on Cheapest Electric Vehicle States: States with the biggest savings from EVs: New Jersey where $10,345 can be saved; and Nevada with $9,216 in savings. States with losses from EVs: West Virginia: $-1,800, and Maine: $-1,619. That comes from J.D. Power in a detailed analysis conducted in the first quarter for Automotive News. Maine and West Virginia were the only two states where cost savings can’t be gained. The study looked at total cost of ownership for en EV over five years.
Hydrogen getting cleaner: Clean hydrogen, which is generated from both renewables and fossil fuels through the use of carbon capture and storage technology, is taking off in America, with the U.S. being the largest producer in the world, accounting for almost 37% of global supply by 2030. That comes from a study by Gary Perman, president of PermanTech. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is one of the reasons this growth rate is expected, through tax credits for hydrogen production. The study says that these incentives are making hydrogen an increasingly attractive energy source and feedstock.
There is still hope, former Microsoft chief said: Bill Gates was thrilled to be in London recently for the Breakthrough Energy Summit, which brought together global leaders, industry executives, innovators, and investors to develop solutions for fighting climate change. Key stakeholders will have to get creative, cooperative, and committed to success during these days of progressively worsening climate conditions. Fortunately, technology breakthroughs are showing up, and that’s a necessity these days. “But it was clear that meeting these goals would require unprecedented investment from the private sector to drive innovation. It would also require extraordinary collaboration across all sectors to get clean energy ideas out of the lab and into the market affordably and at scale,” Gate write in his LinkedIn column.
Facts about EV charging in US and Europe: According to a new analysis report by Chargepoint, there are more than 170,000 publicly available charging ports across the United States and Canada based Alternative Fuels Data Center (AFDC) statistics. At ChargePoint, the saw year-over-year port growth in North America increase by 31% in 2023. According to European Alternative Fuels Observatory (EAFO), there were over 380,000 public charging ports available to drivers across the European Union and more than 30,000 in the U.K. at the end of 2023. There was a 47% overall increase in public charging ports in the EU year-over-year.
Peak demand for oil is here: Demand for global oil supply looks like it will be hitting its peak sooner than some experts had predicted. Oil use won’t be disappearing anytime soon, but measuring “peak demand” shows where the amount of oil being consumers will start falling rather than rising permanently. The climate crisis is driving things along, with global demand increasing another 2% to 3% over three to four years; and then the tipping point comes after that peak with oil consumption continuing to decline. It will need to be replaced by something, hopefully an alternative fuel.
