Electric Vehicles, Tools, & Other Once Fossil Fuel Things

[LFC]

Lithium for the batteries is a choke point. Now they're looking at pulling it out of the brine in the Salton Sea. I've been there multiple times. In September I've seen temps as high as 118F and the "lake" is a pool of ultra-briny crap. It must grow something, though, because certain kinds of birds love it.

With August wrapped up and the U.S. summer cooling off, CTR continues to progress its Hell’s Kitchen Lithium and Power projects in Imperial Valley with commercial operation of the first 15,000-tonne lithium carbonate facility and 49.9 megawatt power plant projected for 2023.

We also expect cooler heads to prevail in the media after several months of negative-hype regarding spodumene (raw material from hard rock mining) oversupply and the consequent price conditions for both lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide products.

I’d like to address this, as there are many factors at play and there seems to be a lot of confusion surrounding these reports.

Some facts to consider:

- Battery-grade lithium products from hard rock mined spodumene (mainly developed in Australia) are the highest cost lithium products in the battery market.
- The hard rock raw material contains about a 4-6% concentration of lithium. After mining, it is generally transported to China for further processing into battery-grade lithium chemicals.
- The process of mining the raw product is relatively simple; however, bottlenecks at any of the actual battery processing stages can create market conditions that look very much like ‘oversupply’.
- Many in the media are failing to acknowledge the speed at which the Electric Mobility and Energy Storage sectors are growing.
- Plain and simple: Market analysts from across the globe agree that demand for battery-grade lithium products will grow from its current position of around 200,000 tonnes per annum to at least 1.2 to 1.5 million tonnes per annum by 2028 – with supply deficits expected as early as 2023.
- Timing is critical for the development of low cost, sustainable solutions.

Direct lithium extraction from thermal brine:

- Direct lithium extraction from thermal brine is one of the lowest-cost methods to obtain battery-grade lithium products.
- Battery-grade lithium products are produced from the brine directly (taking less than one hour), whilst utilizing renewable thermal heat as various forms of energy for processing.
- The Salton Sea highly-mineralized geothermal brine resource in California is the largest and most robust in North America; in fact, the largest and most studied geothermal power resource on the planet.
- CTR plans to deliver battery-grade lithium carbonate from our first train in 2023, just as demand is expected to outstrip supply on a global basis.

According to one global auto manufacturer that we are currently having discussions with, our first phase of 15,000 tonnes LCE would represent around 15% of their yearly demand. They are very comfortable with this ratio and as a result, we continue to work towards building a strong, long-term relationship.

In short, CTR is not concerned with the current media sentiment regarding the global lithium market. We are ideally positioned in a secure location with a known and robust resource, backed by exceptional investment confidence and construction timing to deliver one of the most sustainable and low-cost lithium projects in the world today.

On top of the solar heating it's also a very geothermally active area so if they need to heat brine there's access to "free" heat there as well.

[LFC]

I expanded the subject line to encompass other fossil fuel powered machinery that is moving towards running on batteries. This interested me because we're currently standardizing our power equipment to have a single battery system for all of the stuff we need.

Experts say the shift is already well underway. “The transition to electric products is gaining momentum,” said John Wyatt, senior vice president of outdoor at manufacturer Stanley Black and Decker. The company estimates that the volume of electric-powered lawn equipment that North American manufacturers shipped jumped from about 9 million units in 2015 to over 16 million in 2020 — a leap of more than 75 percent in only five years. And during that time electric went from roughly 32 percent to 44 percent of the overall lawn equipment market.

“We’re just responding to customer demands,” said Wayne Hart, a spokesperson for another manufacturer, Makita, which he said has gone from having about 30 battery-powered offerings last year to 47. “And there’s more on the way.”

According to the Freedonia Group, a division of MarketResearch.com, the battery-powered lawn equipment sector is growing at a rate three times faster than gas. “It’s just exploding,” said Daniel Mabe, the founder of the American Green Zone Alliance (AGZA). The company runs workshops and trainings, as well as certification and monitoring programs, aimed at helping people transition to lower-impact landscaping. “We’re on the precipice of a revolution.”

The move to electric is particularly pronounced among residential consumers. A 2019 California Air Resources Board (CARB) survey found that more than half of household lawn and garden equipment in the state was already zero emissions. While that number is much lower (around 5 percent) for commercial landscapers, there are a number of all-electric companies across the country. Chris Regis, founder of the Florida-based lawn-care company Suntek, said he’s able to charge a premium for electric because his customers value the quiet, especially with more people at home during the pandemic.

Gas equipment is also dirty. According to CARB, operating a gas leaf blower for an hour can create as much smog-forming pollution as driving a Toyota Camry 1,100 miles. Department of Transportation data shows that in 2018 Americans consumed nearly 3 billion gallons of gasoline running lawn and garden equipment. That’s equivalent to the annual energy use of more than 3 million homes.

As is often the case, though, it was decibels, not carbon dioxide, that initially prompted Mountain Brook’s interest in electric equipment.

Bit by bit we're replacing corded tools and older, disparate systems with Makita's 18V / 36V LXT system. Depending upon the tool the same batteries can produce 18V with one or 36V with two. This means that the same batteries and chargers support our 18V compact drill-driver, 18V circular saw, 18V garage blower, 36V chain saw, and 36V pole saw. I'll soon be replacing the leaf blower If we needed a lawnmower we could buy that too.

BTW we're in the midst of having a lot of work done on the house. Different crews use different brands of power tools, generally either Milwaukee or Dewalt though one uses Makita as well. They're all battery operated. For electric tools power cords have already become dinosaurs. Gas-powered lawn equipment is now headed the same way.

[pnwguy]

Jul 15, 2021 21:52:13 GMT LFC said:

I expanded the subject line to encompass other fossil fuel powered machinery that is moving towards running on batteries. This interested me because we're currently standardizing our power equipment to have a single battery system for all of the stuff we need.

Bit by bit we're replacing corded tools and older, disparate systems with Makita's 18V / 36V LXT system. Depending upon the tool the same batteries can produce 18V with one or 36V with two. This means that the same batteries and chargers support our 18V compact drill-driver, 18V circular saw, 18V garage blower, 36V chain saw, and 36V pole saw. I'll soon be replacing the leaf blower If we needed a lawnmower we could buy that too.

BTW we're in the midst of having a lot of work done on the house. Different crews use different brands of power tools, generally either Milwaukee or Dewalt though one uses Makita as well. They're all battery operated. For electric tools power cords have already become dinosaurs. Gas-powered lawn equipment is now headed the same way.

It's beyond time that either a dominant industry trade group or the Dept. of Commerce create some battery standards for interoperability.  Too many chargers and dead-end battery designs create a lot of e-waste.  We really should have some ANSI standards.

[LFC]

Jul 15, 2021 21:59:18 GMT pnwguy said:

It's beyond time that either a dominant industry trade group or the Dept. of Commerce create some battery standards for interoperability.  Too many chargers and dead-end battery designs create a lot of e-waste.  We really should have some ANSI standards.

This. SO this.

[Bact PhD]

Jul 15, 2021 21:52:13 GMT LFC said:

I expanded the subject line to encompass other fossil fuel powered machinery that is moving towards running on batteries. This interested me because we're currently standardizing our power equipment to have a single battery system for all of the stuff we need.

Experts say the shift is already well underway. “The transition to electric products is gaining momentum,” said John Wyatt, senior vice president of outdoor at manufacturer Stanley Black and Decker. The company estimates that the volume of electric-powered lawn equipment that North American manufacturers shipped jumped from about 9 million units in 2015 to over 16 million in 2020 — a leap of more than 75 percent in only five years. And during that time electric went from roughly 32 percent to 44 percent of the overall lawn equipment market.

BTW we're in the midst of having a lot of work done on the house. Different crews use different brands of power tools, generally either Milwaukee or Dewalt though one uses Makita as well. They're all battery operated. For electric tools power cords have already become dinosaurs. Gas-powered lawn equipment is now headed the same way.

I've despised the gas-engine tools, with the exception of lawn mowers and chain saws. Even when we first moved out here over 20 years ago, we went with corded blower, string trimmer, & hedge trimmer. I think we started replacing the corded items with the rechargeable battery counterparts about 10-12 years ago (we've stuck with Black & Decker). About the only power tool that still has a cord on it is the 1/4" drill from the mid-1990s. I guess in the lawn care arena, it took longer for the demand for the rechargeable battery-operated items to hit critical mass--?

Heartily concur re having some sort of standard; it's beyond time.

[andydp]

Jul 16, 2021 2:16:59 GMT Bact PhD said:

Jul 15, 2021 21:52:13 GMT LFC said:

I expanded the subject line to encompass other fossil fuel powered machinery that is moving towards running on batteries. This interested me because we're currently standardizing our power equipment to have a single battery system for all of the stuff we need.

BTW we're in the midst of having a lot of work done on the house. Different crews use different brands of power tools, generally either Milwaukee or Dewalt though one uses Makita as well. They're all battery operated. For electric tools power cords have already become dinosaurs. Gas-powered lawn equipment is now headed the same way.

I've despised the gas-engine tools, with the exception of lawn mowers and chain saws. Even when we first moved out here over 20 years ago, we went with corded blower, string trimmer, & hedge trimmer. I think we started replacing the corded items with the rechargeable battery counterparts about 10-12 years ago (we've stuck with Black & Decker). About the only power tool that still has a cord on it is the 1/4" drill from the mid-1990s. I guess in the lawn care arena, it took longer for the demand for the rechargeable battery-operated items to hit critical mass--?

Heartily concur re having some sort of standard; it's beyond time.

Two years ago, I gave up on the gas powered mower after I needed a replacement.  Got a Kobol self propelled battery powered mower.  Haven't looked back since.  I have a "small" yard but I do get a full job out of the battery with some power to spare.  I also bought a Kobol battery leaf blower and string trimmer.  The ease of operation is fantastic.  Insert battery and push start.  No oil changes, gas mixing etc.  Kobol (via Lowe's) also sells a variety of battery powered tools such as chain saws, limb cutters, snow throwers all using the same "format" rechageable batteries. I have one gas powered item left: our snow blower.

[pnwguy]

Manufacturers LIKE proprietary battery packs, because it locks in customers and profits. It usually takes some external pressure to force standardization, and thus, competition. At least the Biden administration is making a push for competition to once again be part of capitalism. Of course, that means more corporate money will flow to Republicans as bribery, to keep their gravy trains safe.

[Bact PhD]

Jul 16, 2021 13:18:18 GMT andydp said:

Two years ago, I gave up on the gas powered mower after I needed a replacement.  Got a Kobol self propelled battery powered mower.  Haven't looked back since.  I have a "small" yard but I do get a full job out of the battery with some power to spare.  I also bought a Kobol battery leaf blower and string trimmer.  The ease of operation is fantastic.  Insert battery and push start.  No oil changes, gas mixing etc.  Kobol (via Lowe's) also sells a variety of battery powered tools such as chain saws, limb cutters, snow throwers all using the same "format" rechageable batteries. I have one gas powered item left: our snow blower.

We went the other direction in the lawnmower department last year, replacing the small gas-powered push mower that arrived the same year as Dear Son with that status symbol of Old Goat-dom, a riding mower. It was coming down to managing to get the task done in the decreasing time window where the lawn was dry enough to cut and before the next thundershower came up.  The chainsaw is a Stihl, acquired about the time of the Storms of Oh-Four. It's been well-maintained and gets a fair amount of use by Chem PhD, between helping out the neighbors with fallen trees and cutting up large logs for firewood. I don't see him willingly replacing it with anything battery-operated; it just "won't be the same."

[LFC]

From the very first time I read that a "study" had found that EVs created more greenhouse gases than normal gasoline powered vehicles due to the mining and manufacturing process every skeptical synapse in my body fired off. On the face of it the premise seemed absurd though I was still willing to be convinced. As expected the more I read on the topic the more it comes off as fossil fuel company funded propaganda. Here's yet another study that calls bullshit.

A new study lays to rest the tired argument that electric vehicles aren’t much cleaner than internal combustion vehicles. Over the life cycle of an EV — from digging up the materials needed to build it to eventually laying the car to rest — it will release fewer greenhouse gas emissions than a gas-powered car, the research found. That holds true globally, whether an EV plugs into a grid in Europe with a larger share of renewables, or a grid in India that still relies heavily on coal.

This shouldn’t come as a big surprise. Fossil fuels are driving the climate crisis. So governments from California to the European Union have proposed phasing out internal combustion engines by 2035. But there are still people who claim that EVs are only as clean as the grids they run on — and right now, fossil fuels still dominate when it comes to the energy mix in most places.

“We have a lot of lobby work from parts of the automotive industry saying that electric vehicles are not that much better if you take into account the electricity production and the battery production. We wanted to look into this and see whether these arguments are true,” says Georg Bieker, a researcher at the nonprofit research group the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) that published the report. The ICCT’s analysis found that those arguments don’t hold true over time.

The report estimates the emissions from medium-sized EVs registered in 2021 in either India, China, the US, or Europe — countries that make up 70 percent of new car sales globally and are representative of other markets across the world, the ICCT says. Lifetime emissions for an EV in Europe are between 66 and 69 percent lower compared to that of a gas-guzzling vehicle, the analysis found. In the US, an EV produces between 60 to 68 percent fewer emissions. In China, which uses more coal, an EV results in between 37 to 45 percent fewer emissions. In India, it’s between 19 to 34 percent lower.

It’s important to note that the study assumes that the vehicle was registered in 2021 and will be on the road for around 18 years. Study authors ended up with a range of potential emissions reductions for each region by looking at the energy mix under existing policy, as well as projections from the International Energy Agency for what the future electricity mix will look like as climate policies develop. But it’s difficult to predict how much the world’s energy infrastructure will actually change. For example in the US, President Joe Biden has set a goal of getting 100 percent clean electricity by 2035 — but still needs to pass the policies to make that happen. The study also doesn’t take into account other non-climate related environmental effects that constructing the cars might have from things like mining and waste.

Actually building an EV is still a little more carbon-intensive than building a traditional vehicle. Recycling EV batteries could eventually bring that carbon intensity down. But for now, EV drivers start to reap the climate benefits after driving their car for a year or so, according to Bieker. That’s when the car passes the threshold when the emissions that it saves by running on cleaner electricity make it a better option for the climate than a traditional car.

[LFC]

Tesla is moving towards structural batteries to cut weight (from January).

At its Battery Day event last year, Tesla not only unveiled its new 4680 battery cell but also a new battery architecture built around the new cell.

Inspired by the aerospace innovation of building airplane wings as fuel tanks instead of building the fuel tanks inside the wings, Tesla decided to build a battery pack that acts as a body structure, linking the front and rear underbody parts.

Currently, Tesla builds battery packs by combining cells into modules, which when put together form a battery pack. That battery pack is installed into the vehicle platform.

The difference with this new concept is that Tesla is not using modules and instead builds the entire battery pack as the structural platform of the vehicle, with the battery cells helping solidifying the platform as one big unit.

Using its expertise in giant casting parts, Tesla can connect a big single-piece rear and front underbody to this structural battery pack.

This new design reduces the number of parts, the total mass of the battery pack, and therefore enables Tesla to improve efficiency and ultimately the range of its electric vehicles.

The structural battery pack is expected to be first used in the Model Y that is going to be built at Gigafactory Berlin and in the new Model S Plaid.

The move is seen as bold in the industry since most electric car makers are trying to protect the battery pack while Tesla is planning to use it as an integral structural part of its electric vehicles.

Overall weight is a big issues. I saw a follow-up elsewhere that Audi's EV has the most massive battery by far but has middle of the pack range to show for it.

[LFC]

F*** Toyota.

For years, Toyota was a leader in eco-friendly vehicles. Its efficient cars and crossovers offset emissions from its larger trucks and SUVs, giving the company a fuel-efficiency edge over some of its competition. By May 2012, Toyota had sold 4 million vehicles in the Prius family worldwide.

The next month, Tesla introduced the Model S, which dethroned Toyota's hybrid as the leader in green transportation. The new car proved that long-range EVs, while expensive, could be both practical and desirable. Battery advancements promised to slash prices, eventually bringing EVs to price parity with fossil-fuel vehicles.

But Toyota misunderstood what Tesla represented. While Toyota invested in Tesla, it saw the startup not as a threat but rather a bit player that could help Toyota meet its EV mandates. In some ways, that view was justified. For the most part, the two didn't compete in the same segments, and Toyota's worldwide volume dwarfed that of the small US manufacturer. Besides, hybrids were just a stopgap until Toyota's hydrogen fuel cells were ready. At that point, the company thought, hydrogen vehicles' long range and quick refueling would make EVs obsolete.

Yet, Toyota hadn't picked up on the subtle shift that was occurring. It's true that hybrids were a bridge to cleaner fuels, but Toyota was overestimating the length of that bridge. Just as Blackberry dismissed the iPhone, Toyota dismissed Tesla and EVs. Blackberry thought the world would need physical keyboards for many more years. Toyota thought the world would need gasoline for several more decades. Both were wrong.

[snip]

Confronted with a losing hand, Toyota is doing what most large corporations do when they find themselves playing the wrong game—it's fighting to change the game.

Toyota has been lobbying governments to water-down emissions standards or oppose fossil-fuel vehicle phaseouts, according to a New York Times report. In the last four years, Toyota's political contributions to US politicians and PACs have more than doubled. Those contributions have gotten the company into hot water, too. By donating to congresspeople who oppose tighter emissions limits, the company funded lawmakers who objected to certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election. Though Toyota had promised to stop doing so in January, it was caught making donations to the controversial legislators as recently as last month.

Toyota has also begun to wage a campaign of FUD—fear, uncertainty, and doubt—to cast EVs as unreliable and undesirable. "If we are to make dramatic progress in electrification, it will require overcoming tremendous challenges, including refueling infrastructure, battery availability, consumer acceptance, and affordability," Robert Wimmer, director of energy and environmental research at Toyota Motor North America, told the Senate in March.

GM continues to perform as GM has performed for decades. Yes, anybody can have a design or manufacturing problem but as the numbers build up they tell a story. I've never considered buying a GM and doubt I ever will.

GM announced last Friday that it was recalling every Chevrolet Bolt it had ever made, including the new electric utility vehicle model that debuted this year. After a string of fires affected Bolt models, the company traced the problem to two simultaneously occurring defects in the cars’ LG Chem-made batteries.

The automaker initially discovered the problem in batteries from one of LG’s Korean plants, and it recalled cars with those cells last November. But then more Bolts caught fire, and other LG plants were ensnared in the investigation, spurring two expansions of the recall. The problem, GM said, has been traced to a torn anode tab and a folded separator.

[snip]

“It wouldn’t surprise me if both defects are caused by the same thing,” he added. “I would imagine that the separator must be folded at the edge near where the anode tab is at. What I’m guessing is that at some point during the handling of the cell, before it’s fully packaged, some part of the robot machine is catching. The tab is catching, the separator is catching—something is catching very infrequently so that it hasn’t been noticed, and it’s causing this damage.”

[LFC]

A global survey find a lot of people are considering buying an EV as their next car.

EV adoption is moving faster in some places than others. In China, for example, 48 percent say their next car will be an EV, and only 43 percent say it will have an internal combustion engine (with 3 percent looking for a hydrogen fuel cell EV and the remaining 5 percent saying they are unsure). Sweden's numbers are near-identical, with a matching 48 percent wanting an EV.

In South Korea, 51 percent indicate that an EV will be their next vehicle. In Singapore, 53 percent want an EV, and in Italy, a whopping 63 percent said their next vehicle would be a plug-in.

But in the other countries that EY surveyed, the internal combustion engine remains the most popular choice. In Australia, only 17 percent would buy an EV, versus 75 percent of Australians who want another carbon-burning car. There is little similarity between the US car market and India's, but in both cases, only 28 percent of consumers say they want an EV next. In New Zealand, 30 percent indicated an EV was in the cards. In Canada, 35 percent said the same, and in Germany, 38 percent plan to go electric. In the UK, 40 percent want a plug-in, and in Japan, 42 percent do.

In each country, the environment was the primary reason for wanting to electrify, and the major concern was the cost of ownership, not charging infrastructure. The good news is that time and again, research shows that EVs are cheaper to maintain and have a lower total cost of ownership than gasoline or diesel-powered vehicles.

Right now my wife is lusting after a Volvo XC40 Recharge. We took a test drive and it's a sweet ride. If we weren't in the midst of a massive home reno project we'd have probably put in our order already.

[LFC]

Electric car company Rivian is looking to go public. The target valuation looks insane to me but then that's stock prices and not reality.

Late last week, Rivian filed for an initial public offering. The 12-year-old electric vehicle manufacturer, which is backed by Amazon and considered one of the biggest threats to Tesla, is seeking a valuation as high as $80 billion. That would make Rivian one of the world’s most valuable automakers, worth billions more than Ford or GM — and its trucks aren’t even on the road yet. Rivian’s first vehicle, a $73,000 pickup, is expected to start shipping in September, and a second model, a $75,500 seven-seat SUV, is supposed to be released next year.

In some ways, Rivian’s timing is good. President Joe Biden recently issued an executive order that called for electric vehicles to account for half of all new auto sales in the United States by 2030, and a growing number of legacy automakers have committed to shifting their production to electric vehicles in the next two decades.

But as the world continues to struggle with the pandemic, Rivian faces some serious challenges. A shortage of semiconductors has caused delays and production halts across the auto industry. There also aren’t that many charging stations available across the US, leaving some potential EV buyers worried about running out of juice.

“It’s a big deal that more public infrastructure is available,” Jeremy Michalek, an engineering and public policy professor at Carnegie Mellon, told Recode. ”Probably the first priority is making sure there are enough fast chargers available on highway rest stops so that you can take your vehicle wherever you want to go.”

Like Tesla, Rivian is selling home chargers and developing a nationwide charging network. The company plans to have 10,000 stations available by the end of 2023, many of which will be in remote areas. Also as Tesla has done, Rivian is taking an AI-focused approach to its vehicles. Rivian has invested heavily in its hands-free, semi-autonomous driving technology with a suite of features called Driver+, which sounds a lot like Tesla’s Autopilot. In a lawsuit, Tesla even accused Rivian of stealing its trade secrets after hiring its former employees.

But a big difference between Rivian and Tesla is the type of electric vehicles the two companies are selling. After being founded in 2009 and remaining secretive for years, Rivian announced in 2018 that its first models would be a pickup truck and an SUV meant for off-road driving. That’s a notable difference from Tesla, which has focused primarily on selling cars and crossovers. (Tesla announced its first pickup truck, the Cybertruck, in 2019, but deliveries have been delayed until 2022.)

Rivian is also appealing to commercial clients, including its own influential backers. After participating in two funding rounds for the startup, Amazon last year committed to buying 100,000 electric delivery vehicles from Rivian by 2030. Former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and three other passengers on Blue Origin’s first flight with humans aboard even rode in a Rivian SUV to the launch site.

Ford, which has its own plans to release an electric version of its popular F-150 pickup truck next year, has also invested more than half a billion dollars into the electric car startup.

[LFC]

Toyota screwed the pooch on the future of clean cars by betting on hydrogen with hybrids as a bridge. Now they're planning on putting over $13B into batteries in the next decade.

Toyota was an early pioneer in hybrid electric vehicles, and it has sold more than 18 million hybrids since the introduction of the first Prius in 1997. But it's fair to say that the world's largest automaker has been left behind in the shift toward battery EVs.

That situation looks like it's set to change. On Tuesday, Toyota announced that it will spend $13.6 billion (¥1.5 trillion) on batteries between now and 2030. Of that money, $9 billion (¥1 trillion) will go toward battery production, with a planned output of 180 to 200 GWh/year by the end of the decade.

"What Toyota values the most is to develop batteries that its customers can use with peace of mind. Especially, we are focusing on safety, long service life, and high-level quality to produce good, low-cost, and high-performance batteries," said Chief Technology Officer Masahiko Maeda.

With regard to safety, Maeda said the company has been able to study the effect of spirited driving on batteries. Demanding a lot of power from a lithium-ion battery can result in localized hotspots within the pack, but by monitoring the voltage, current, and temperature of cells, modules, and the entire pack, Toyota says it can now control for abnormal heat generation.

The automaker is also setting an ambitious goal for battery longevity. In the US, federal regulations require OEMs to guarantee BEV battery packs for at least eight years or 100,000 miles, by which point the pack should still retain 70 percent of its original capacity.

But Toyota wants to go further than that—it says that the new bZ4x electric crossover, which debuts next year, should retain 90 percent of its battery capacity after 10 years. The company plans to achieve this by preventing the degradation of the anode surface, which will require keeping moisture out during manufacturing. Toyota will also employ uniform battery cooling and better control software.

[LFC]

Battery powered freight locomotives are becoming a reality. This report on actual in-field testing is from January.

The first train out of Barstow consisted of 76 cars, with 55 loads and 21 empties, totalling 8,385 tons, BNSF says. The return trip consisted of 118 cars, with 40 loads and 78 empties, totalling 7,787 tons.

BNSF says the experimental locomotive is one potential solution to reducing its carbon footprint.

“We’ve got everything in place and we’re ready to see how this next-generation locomotive performs in revenue service,” said John Lovenburg, BNSF vice president, environmental. “BNSF is focused on continuing to reduce our environmental impact, and we’re committed to doing our part to test and assess the commercial viability of emerging technologies that reduce emissions.”

The battery-powered locomotive creates a three-unit hybrid consist that is expected to improve fuel efficiency of the diesel electric locomotives by at least 10%. When running on the mainline, both the battery-electric and diesel locomotives power the train. For more details, see Wabtec’s battery-electric locomotive video.

This is a bit more recent. It looks like they're ready for prime time.

The new train, known as the FLXdrive battery-electric locomotive, underwent successful trials in California earlier this year where it was found to have cut fuel consumption by 11%, which meant reducing the amount of diesel used by 6,200 gallons. Wabtec said that the next iteration of the locomotive, to be rolled out within two years, will be able to cut the consumption of diesel, the fossil fuel traditionally used in freight rail, by nearly a third.

The company also said emissions will be entirely eliminated through the development of accompanying hydrogen fuel cells. If the technology is used worldwide, Wabtec estimates planet-heating emissions could be cut by 300m tons a year, with nearly half of those saved emissions occurring in the US.

“A bolder, cleaner, more efficient transportation system is in our grasp,” said Raphael Santana, chief executive of Wabtec. “This is just the beginning.”

The rail industry is seeking to position itself as an enthusiastic backer of Joe Biden’s climate agenda despite its history of funding groups that reject the reality of climate change and fiercely protecting the stream of coal transported on US rail.

The use of rail to move freight long distances has been an integral part of the American economy since the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads were joined up in 1869, allowing goods to flow freely to the US west for the first time. The rail freight industry is now worth around $80bn and spans 140,000 miles of track across the US.

However, the environmental benefits of rail have been undermined by the heavy reliance upon diesel to fuel freight trains, as well as a widespread preference among businesses to move goods via trucks rather than trains. This is a problem globally beyond the US – the International Energy Agency has said that freight rail is “often neglected” in climate debates and currently carries only 7% of all freight moved around the world.

Wabtec is betting the FLXdrive will change this dynamic. Housed in a traditional locomotive body, the new battery system drives the axles of the train and uses the kinetic energy of the train’s braking to partially recharge the battery, . The newest version will be a 7-megawatt battery locomotive, which is “100 times the power and energy within a Tesla – it’s dramatically more powerful”, said Eric Gebhardt, Wabtec’s chief technology officer.

[LFC]

Ford wants to compete head to head with Tesla but their dealerships are not so happy about that.

Ford Motor Company is serious about offering more electric cars in its lineup. The Ford Mustang Mach-E and the upcoming F-150 Lightning are impressive products. However, the company’s approach to actually selling these products is leaving some customers frustrated and looking elsewhere. While short-term sales seem good right now, the long-term impact may not be.

The first issue is that on these EVs Ford has moved to what it calls “e-invoice” pricing; this means that the invoice price (or dealer cost) and MSRP are identical. Usually dealer invoice pricing is lower, allowing dealers to offer deals below MSRP, which just isn’t as clean or simple to a consumer, who may rather want to just pay what the car costs instead of worrying about getting the best deal. Whether Ford will admit it or not, with this “e-invoice” pricing, it seems to be taking a page from Tesla’s playbook where everyone pays the same price for a car. If you buy a Tesla, the price online is what you pay. No games, no dealer nonsense. Except, despite Ford’s “e-invoice” pricing, dealers can play games and markup cars well over the MSRP.

CarsDirect.com recently reported that Ford is implementing a program where dealers can “snitch” on each other if a dealer advertises the upcoming Lighting below MSRP. Advertising well over sticker price is perfectly okay, though; the “voluntary” program says a dealer can sell a car for whatever they decide, but it is only attempting to discourage advertisements that indicate any level of savings.

I have assisted with several Mach-E deals for various customers in different areas of the country, and though there are some vehicles for sale at MSRP, I’ve seen upwards of $10,000 over sticker. There are even dealers putting a markup of over $33,000 on these cars.

We recently bought a Subaru Outback. Our old small dealership was bought out by one of the big multi-brand outfits in the area. Despite having bought several cars from the old dealership and bringing our cars in regularly for service even at the big dealership they gave us an incredibly shitty offer. Even after haggling for quite some time the deal didn't smell very good. We went to a small, family owned dealership and got the exact same car for over $1,000 less and that was their opening and only price. "Here's what we charge" and that was that. The big outfit lost the sale and, more to the point, lost us as service customers for two vehicles.

All too often shopping for a car continues to be an unpleasant experience. I don't know anybody who would shed a tear if the entire dealership system as it exists today collapsed.

We also looked at the Volvo XC40 Recharge and at a Mazda CX-5 both from small dealerships. The experience at both was vastly better than at the first Subaru dealer. In our experience the bigger the dealership the more likely the deal will suck.

[Bact PhD]

Sept 21, 2021 22:03:36 GMT LFC said:

Ford wants to compete head to head with Tesla but their dealerships are not so happy about that.

We recently bought a Subaru Outback. Our old small dealership was bought out by one of the big multi-brand outfits in the area. Despite having bought several cars from the old dealership and bringing our cars in regularly for service even at the big dealership they gave us an incredibly shitty offer. Even after haggling for quite some time the deal didn't smell very good. We went to a small, family owned dealership and got the exact same car for over $1,000 less and that was their opening and only price. "Here's what we charge" and that was that. The big outfit lost the sale and, more to the point, lost us as service customers for two vehicles.

All too often shopping for a car continues to be an unpleasant experience. I don't know anybody who would shed a tear if the entire dealership system as it exists today collapsed.

We also looked at the Volvo XC40 Recharge and at a Mazda CX-5 both from small dealerships. The experience at both was vastly better than at the first Subaru dealer. In our experience the bigger the dealership the more likely the deal will suck.

I hear ya, BOY, do I hear ya! The big multi-brand "regional auto groups" have cornered things in this market. The one in the next town down the road with which we dealt recently for the Family Fleet expansion owns the Honda dealers in BOTH cities, as well as the Nissan dealer, the VW dealer, the Kia dealer,... (the Toyota dealer in my burg is owned by a different "auto group"). They put one over on us, BIG time, when it came to the mystery "dealer fees" (and were VERY aggressive on the extended warranty/service contract sale!) when they found out we would not be financing with them. Unfortunately, taking the cars to the smaller dealer in Jax that sold me my ride (without muss or fuss) for routine service isn't a realistic option, so we're stuck.

[LFC]

If I had to predict which EV manufacturer something like this would happen to GM would be my pick. For the life of me I can't understand why this company still exists.

Chevrolet was one of the first automakers to market with a long-range battery-electric vehicle, the Bolt EV. Unfortunately for the US automaker, it's also now the first to have to issue a massive recall after manufacturing defects with the car's lithium-ion battery cells were identified as the cause of a number of fires.

Chevrolet's first fix was a software remedy, started in November 2020, before faulty manufacturing was recognized as the true culprit. Now the plan is relatively simple, if expensive: replace every Bolt EV's battery pack with a new one, at a cost of more than $1.8 billion.

[LFC]

If auto manufacturers want to transition to EVs then they had better realize, quickly, that software is an enormously critical part of their process. I get the feeling that some still don't quite grasp the criticality of it in the EVs.

The Ford Motor Company serves as the perfect example with the Mustang Mach-E, the all-electric crossover that may discharge the 12-volt battery while plugged in over janky software for the powertrain control module. As if that wasn’t bad enough for the Dearborn-based automaker, the Blue Oval has identified yet another software bug after a total of six vehicles have stopped without notice while they were driven down Eagle Road in Norway.

According to Motor.no, the vehicles were being driven on the steep road with maximum regenerative braking to gain battery charge. This led to the battery getting seriously hot and the wheels locking up, which are huge problems on their own. Anne Sønsteby, the information director at Ford Norway, said that a software update will rectify every single one of these conditions.

Sounds like a typical Big Auto reaction.

Pretending that the problem impacts only a few cars is how the Ford Motor Company tries to minimize the potential outcomes resulting from a Mustang Mach-E that bricks itself while driving downhill. In addition to a battery fire, locking the wheels on a winding road is a terrifying recipe for disaster.

[pnwguy]

Oct 14, 2021 15:26:04 GMT LFC said:

If auto manufacturers want to transition to EVs then they had better realize, quickly, that software is an enormously critical part of their process. I get the feeling that some still don't quite grasp the criticality of it in the EVs.

Sounds like a typical Big Auto reaction.

Boeing's 737 Max fiasco was similar.  I just flew on the first of these back and forth to Reykjavik this past week, and I'm glad they took 2 years to remedy the fatal flaw in their MCAS system.  As someone who's worked in software for almost 39 years, I can appreciate a rigorous QA team.

[LFC]

Hertz has purchased 100,000 Teslas.

Hertz Global Holdings Inc., barely four months out of bankruptcy, placed an order for 100,000 Teslas in the first step of an ambitious plan to electrify its rental-car fleet. Tesla Inc.’s shares soared, pushing the automaker’s value past $1 trillion for the first time.

The cars will be delivered over the next 14 months, and Tesla’s Model 3 sedans will be available to rent at Hertz locations in major U.S. markets and parts of Europe starting in early November, the rental company said in a statement. Customers will have access to Tesla’s network of superchargers, and Hertz is also building its own charging infrastructure.

It’s the single-largest purchase ever for electric vehicles, or EVs, and represents about $4.2 billion of revenue for Tesla, according to people familiar with the matter who declined to be identified because the information is private. While car-rental companies typically demand big discounts from automakers, the size of the order implies that Hertz is paying close to list prices.

“How do we democratize access to electric vehicles? That’s a very important part of our strategy,” Mark Fields, who joined Hertz as interim chief executive officer earlier this month, said in an interview. “Tesla is the only manufacturer that can produce EVs at scale.”

By locking up so much of Tesla’s production -- the order is equivalent to about one-tenth of what the automaker can currently produce in a year -- Hertz may box out rivals from copycatting the strategy. Hertz also is breaking with tradition by paying full price for well-appointed cars rather than the typical base-model, heavily discounted sedans that populate rental lots.

The discussions with Tesla go back months, to when Knighthead and Certares were putting together an offer for then-bankrupt Hertz, Fields said. Also, the relationship between the two companies isn’t exclusive: Hertz can buy EVs from other automakers and rival car-rental companies can order from Tesla, provided it has available capacity.

“We want to work with every manufacturer to help them launch EVs and drive this secular shift to electrification,” Fields said in the interview.

[LFC]

Conversion to electric is getting to be pretty mainstream. Tomorrow's motorheads may be looking for big batteries rather than big blocks to drop in their project cars.

Las Vegas is currently hosting its annual visit by SEMA, the aftermarket automotive trade show. Hot rods and custom cars have always been a SEMA thing, but these days there's no guarantee you'll find a brawny V8 or even any cylinders under the hood. In the past, we've covered show cars from Ford and Chevrolet, but this year the electric custom car is a full-blown trend.

Of course, the big OEMs haven't ignored SEMA this year. Ford's still in the first flush of Mustang Mach-E mania, and the Blue Oval brought multiple Mach-Es to the show. One is an aggressive-looking Mach-E GT that'll be auctioned for charity after hopefully hitting 200 mph (321 km/h) at Bonneville, and another is bright orange with lowered air suspension and an e-bike charging rack at the back.

But the one that really caught my attention is a Shelby Mustang Mach-E GT concept, complete with the iconic white-with-blue-stripe livery. I'm not sure it's any faster than the Mach-E GT Performance Edition that recently brightened my day, but it does look even better, with graphene-infused carbon-fiber bodywork.

The Shelby Mach-E GT also has retuned magnetorheological dampers and is fitted with carbon-fiber springs. And its Pirelli P Zero performance tires have been swapped for a set of Michelin Pilot Sport EV rubber. Ford's not saying if there will be a Shelby version of the Mach-E, but if there is I hope I get a chance to drive one.

It was actually another electric Ford that captured the headlines yesterday, however. The Ford F-100 Eluminator started life as a 1978 F-100 pickup, but now it's fully electric, powered by a pair of the same electric motors you'll find in the Mustang Mach-E GT.

If that sounds like something you'd want in your 1978 Ford, then I've got good news. Ford Performance will sell these 281 hp (210 kW), 317 lb-ft (430 Nm) drive units as crate motors. They're best used in a transverse-oriented application and will retail at $3,900.

[LFC]

At least somebody's working on electric grid stability.

Large power stations with their large synchronous generators provide stability in the power grid, but are being successively powered down in the course of the energy transition. In order to address this issue, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE are working on how grid-forming converters can ensure a future supply of sinusoidal alternating current and stable grid frequency.

Whether flicking on the lights, charging the cell phone, keeping the milk cool in the fridge, or quickly vacuuming the house, we generally assume in day-to-day life that our power outlets are a reliable source of energy. However, our power grid actually has a quite complex design, and its typical level of balance is a delicate matter. The ideal form for energy following through the power lines in Europe is a sinusoidal alternating current with a nearly constant frequency of 50 hertz. This is made possible by the stability of the physical properties of synchronous generators in large power stations. These large power plants use their rotating mass to bring inertia to the system and, thus, react with an inertial response to grid disturbances. Potential shortfalls in energy generation can be compensated using the stored kinetic energy in the short term, thus bridging the time until further protection measures—such as the provision of control reserves—can be implemented. In this way, there are not immediate far-reaching losses of power in critical situations such as in the unplanned outage of large generation capacities or so-called "system splits."

That said, nuclear and coal power plants are being removed from the grid and replaced by renewable forms of energy generation, and this trend will only intensify in the coming years. "This means that the synchronous generators, which play a central role in grid control, will be lost," explains Dr. Sönke Rogalla, Head of the Power Electronics and Grid Integration Department at Fraunhofer ISE. In grid-forming converters, he and his research team see a promising solution for ensuring grid stability.

Converters are electronic power devices whose primary function is to convert direct current into alternating current. Depending on the power class, they can vary in their appearance from a small battery up to a large megawatt power plant. Their electric behavior is not physically determined, but rather must first be set via certain control algorithms. At present, converters are programmed such that they feed the desired amount of power into a stiff assumed power grid, provided by robust large power plants. Grid-forming converters, on the other hand, are programmed to behave as a voltage source. In a manner similar to that of conventional power plants, grid-forming converters respond to short-term demand in the grid and provide inertial response.

"For example, it is important that the devices in special cases such as overload situations, defective lines, or system splits respond in a reflexive manner and keep the grid stable," says Roland Singer, Group Manager for Converter-Based Grids. "For this reason, we are performing research on the development of devices and algorithms. We can test various application scenarios with the aid of simulations as well as with the test infrastructure in our institute's in-house Multi-Megawatt Lab in Freiburg."

[goldenvalley]

Am I being cynical when I wonder if these startups are actually interested in producing EVs or if they are interested in attracting venture capital and shareholder money so they can pay themselves as executives?  

[LFC]

Dec 3, 2021 19:27:57 GMT goldenvalley said:

Am I being cynical when I wonder if these startups are actually interested in producing EVs or if they are interested in attracting venture capital and shareholder money so they can pay themselves as executives?  

Some of each, I suspect. We already posted how Nikola's founder (the one who picked such an original name) was completely full of shit. I think a number of other companies are passionate entrepreneurs, but I doubt all of them are truly driven by passion for engineering and accomplishment rather than passion for money.