Tag: electric vehicles

Will Future Electric Vehicles Be Powered by Deep-Sea Metals?

Wired: Will Future Electric Vehicles Be Powered by Deep-Sea Metals? Mining companies and marine scientists want to know whether harvesting blobs of useful materials from the seafloor harms ocean life.

THE PUSH TO build more electric vehicles to combat climate change rests on an inconvenient truth: The metals used in EV batteries are pretty dirty. From exploited child laborers digging cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo to toxic waste leaking from nickel mines in Indonesia, the sources of key ingredients to power climate-friendly transportation have been assailed by activists and led to lawsuits against the tech firms that use the metals.

US and European carmakers have been looking for alternative sources of these materials that would allow them to bypass some of these troublesome practices, while avoiding having to buy batteries produced by global competitor China. They also want a piece of President Joe Biden’s new plan to spend $174 billion to promote electric cars and build new charging stations.

The electric vehicle sales surge

Axios: The electric vehicle sales surge.

Tesla’s stock was up over 7% in premarket trading this morning after it reported record deliveries in the year’s first quarter on Friday. But it’s not the only manufacturer seeing sales increases this year.

Why it matters: Even as gasoline-powered sales return from the pandemic, cars with plugs are going faster, albeit from a much smaller base.

  • “It’s clear EV sales, both in the U.S. and globally, are increasing on a percentage basis faster than traditional internal combustion vehicles,” iSeeCars.com analyst Karl Brauer tells Axios.
  • “Multiple automakers have introduced high-volume models in the past 12 months, with Tesla’s Model Y and Ford’s Mach-E being two prime examples,” he said in an email.

The Daily Climate, April 5, 2021

Articles include: Algae blooms & otters; cars versus mass transit; Study: meat & dairy lobbyists; US offshore wind targets; EV battery availability problems; fossil fuel divestment; climate jobs; Green New Deal; Report: Must electrify transportation; rewilding our cities; pandemic and EVs; sunlight blocking tests.

The Daily Climate, April 2,2021

Articles include: climate change stunting farm production; activists doubt transportation plan; Arctic sea ice loss and major snowstorms; coal mining in Canada; EV sales; cheaper and cheaper solar power; California drought and wildfires; Australia fire and flood; reversing efficiency rules; Texas activists fighting natural gas project overseas.

The Daily Climate, April 1,2021

Articles include: Climate change and financial markets; Report: O&G warning – diversify; Tackling climate change will create jobs; Biden and electric vehicles; Rainforests will become savannas – study and  study. EU climate plan and Asia; greening the financial system; low maximum Arctic ice; world bank financing fossil fuels; Canada’s TransMountain pipeline study paper from a team at Simon Fraser University‘s School of Resource and Environmental Management; Increase funding for poor nations; Saudi Arabia, renewable energy, planting trees; frequent flyers; Aussie brewer and solar power; coal shutdowns – German approach; Report (no link provided): Barrier Reef doomed; EPA fires trump appointees.

The Daily Climate, March 31,2021

Articles include: Michigan flooding & sea walls; forest destruction accelerated in 2020; rivers as a climate change solution; Kerry to India and UAE; Climate change, Canada, and hurricanes (report in the ScienceBrief Review website); thaw-driven landslides; wind energy; Scottish wind farm success; UAE, automakers and EV’s; keeping the planet habitable; DOJ holding oil companies accountable.

The Daily Climate, March 30,2021

Articles include: Eastern Kentucky and flooding; Biden offshore wind farms; Massachusetts law and gas ban; Japan’s cherry blossoms peak; Electric vehicles; investigating trump attacks on science; Russian oil leaks; DOE & carbon capture; Study: China and coal-based electricity (published by Ember, the London-based energy and climate research group – no link provided); Biden reducing methane emissions.

The Daily Climate, March 26, 2021

Articles include: Canada’s Supreme Court ruling on carbon tax; US carbon tax on O&G; promises of net zero carbon emissions; solar entrepreneurs; biomass; Congressional Review Act to reinstate methane rules; pro-fracking columnist is a denier; Massachusetts climate law; wind capacity not being built quickly enough; abandoning buses and trains; East Kentucky flooding; Volkswagen & Tesla.

The Daily Climate, March 22, 2021

Articles include: Inuits and melting ice; Australia flooding; coal’s impact on the health of neighbors; electric vehicle opposition; climate justice and leaking oil wells; Volkswagen’s move to electric vehicles; deforestation; California real estate; Biden’s infrastructure plan; FERC shift on pipeline CO2 emissions.

Yale Climate Connections, March 26, 2021

Articles include:  The choice is clear: Fair climate policy or no climate policy;  Zero emissions drive would grow U.S. economy;  Cartoonists – left, right, and center – have their say on Texas freeze and power outage;  The making of a one-of-a-kind climate change PR professional;  Why some Christians are participating in a ‘carbon fast’ for Lent;  Artist and scientist install fake bakery storefront in Chicago to draw attention to climate change;  Scientists work to make solar panels more efficient;  Food rescue group in Hawaii reduces food waste, feeds community;  NASCAR drivers try out racing version of Ford’s all-electric Mustang Mach-E.