Plus: Hydrogen passenger train in Germany; 10 million dockless rides; Saudi’s pump $1B in EV maker
Hi Everyone,
Global oil production hits a new record. It’s an important reminder that despite growth in renewables, the world is demanding more oil. It’s not something to be celebrated. A clear-eyed view would suggest Canada, with some of the most responsible oil in the world, ought to find a way to meet this demand, reap the economic reward while it is to be had and use the resource rents to transform its economy for the 21st century.
Feel free to forward on to other who may be interested.
Thanks,
Peter
Total Buys Car Charging-Point Provider in New Power-Market Foray
Excerpt: The purchase of G2mobility will give Total almost 10,000 charging stations operated from a web platform, the company said Thursday. The French oil giant also plans to work with Nexans to speed up growth in electric-car infrastructure.
In June, British rival BP Plc announced a plan to buy U.K. car-charging company Chargemaster, while Royal Dutch Shell Plc agreed last October to buy NewMotion, one of Europe’s largest charging providers. Bloomberg
100% renewable energy: the public wants it, and quick
Excerpt: The decarbonization ship has sailed. Renewable energy is in the vanguard and, at least for now, it appears unstoppable. At this point, it is difficult to imagine what could turn the public against it. The more relevant question is when lawmakers will catch on to renewable energy’s full political potential.
The basic message from the public, if I could pull together all the strands of the research, is this: We want clean, modern energy, and we’ll pay for it. We’re willing to let experts work out the details, but we don’t want to hear that it can’t be done. Just do it.
Utilities can’t make that sentiment go away, though they can and will try to soften it. In the meantime, in the off-chance that their messaging efforts fail, they’d better get serious about giving customers the clean energy they want. Vox
Electric bus maker Proterra secures $155 million investment led by Daimler
Excerpt: The company has been accumulating orders over the past two years and it is increasingly putting more electric buses on the road after raising close to $200 million in order to expand production.
The company unveiled the Proterra Catalyst DuoPower drivetrain last year and achieved a record 1,100-mile trip on a single charge with the bus. Electrek
European nations plan to use more hydrogen for energy needs
Excerpt: Energy officials from 25 countries pledged Tuesday to increase research into hydrogen technology and accelerate its everyday use to power factories, drive cars and heat homes. The proposal, which was included in a non-binding agreement signed in Linz, Austria, includes the idea of using existing gas grids to distribute hydrogen produced with renewable energy. CNBC
Hydrogen-fueled passenger train begins service in Germany
Excerpt: The train by French company Alstom runs more quietly than diesel and produces zero carbon emissions, and can run all day on one tank. Smart Cities Dive
Bombardier Debuts Battery Train in Berlin in Challenge to Diesel
Excerpt: With three carriages and a driver, the Talent 3’s maiden trip was in Berlin, where it was developed. The train runs on batteries with a range of 40 kilometers (25 miles) between charges, Bombardier said on its website. An upgraded battery due next year will push the range to 100 kilometers. Bloomberg
Saudi fund pumps $1B into Silicon Valley electric car maker
Excerpt: The infusion represents a coup for Lucid Motors, a Newark, California, startup whose leadership includes six former Tesla executives. Lucid is depending on the Saudi money to help realize its goal of delivering its first vehicle, the Lucid Air, in 2020. Besides helping to put the final touches on the Air model, Lucid plans to use the money to finish the construction of its Casa Grande, Arizona factory, where it has pledged to employ 2,000 workers by 2022, at which point it aims to be manufacturing 130,000 vehicles annually. AP News
New Jersey opens biggest offshore wind solicitation at 1.1 GW, expects 2.4 GW more
Excerpt: The U.S. struggles to lower costs and create economies of scale for offshore wind projects as they are behind other regions of the world in the amount of the renewable resource deployed. But that may change given the recent pipeline of projects on the East Coast. Utility Dive
Dockless Digest: Bird, Lime celebrate 10M rides
Excerpt: Both companies lauded their astonishing growth a year after launch, with Bird saying their scooters have been ridden 14.3 million miles, the equivalent of 574 trips around the world. Smart Cities Dive
Two electric vehicles at opposite ends of the market
Microlino electric bubble car surpasses 8,000 pre-orders
Despite an impressive amount of innovation in the electric vehicle industry, it’s not every day that a new electric vehicle is debuted with such a successful pre-order period. That’s why news of the Microlino surpassing $100 million in pre-orders is so promising. Electrek
2019 Audi e-Tron Quattro Makes Global Debut In San Francisco
On the world light duty test protocol (WLTP) which is now being used in Europe, the e-Tron is expected to have a range of about 400 km (249 miles). Forbes
…and a couple stories from Canada
Uber to invest $150M in Toronto AV program expansion, new engineering hub
Excerpt: The new engineering hub, which is expected to open in early 2019, will be the company’s eighth outside of the United States. Its Advanced Technologies Group presence in Toronto will be its first AV office outside of the U.S. Smart Cities Dive
First large-scale wind power plant approved in Saskatchewan
Excerpt: Algonquin Power Co.’s Blue Hill Wind Energy Project is expected to produce 177 megawatts of power, enough to power more than 70,000 homes according to SaskPower.The project will be located south of Herbert, Sask. and is expected to include up to 56 wind turbines. Global News