Volkswagen Group is desperate to cut costs. As recently as 2023, the company had an operating profit of €22.6 billion, but by 2025, that number had been slashed to €8.9 billion. 2026 may be half of that. In today’s market, it has more factory capacity in Germany that it needs, … [continued]
Li Auto’s new i6 electric vehicle has a very interesting look. It makes me think of something out of some futuristic movie or The Jetsons. It certainly has an MPV (multipurpose vehicle) design that is current in China but not really anywhere else. Anyway, aside from the futuristic, cool styling, … [continued]
Some DOE cuts hit technologies that deserved scrutiny. The wider retreat undermines capabilities needed for an actual energy transition.
Some DOE programs deserve to end. The problem is a budget request that cuts weak hydrogen bets while stripping support from technologies already delivering electrification.
Billionaire blackout or bad timing: “Musk” the documentary by Alex Gibney closes after just one week in theaters across the US.
Despite the last year's sharp U-turn in federal energy policy, solar power plants continue to add more electricity to the nation's grid (cropped, courtesy of US Department of Energy).
Driven by the rapid growth of artificial intelligence, data centers, electric vehicles, and industrial electrification, global electricity demand continues to rise, making solar power a focal point for investment in energy infrastructure. For investors aiming for a daily return of $3,000, what scale of power generation capacity would be required? … [continued]
J. Wellington Wimpy, of Popeye comics fame, had a favorite expression. It went like this: “I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a cheeseburger today.” As the Earth gets hotter and hotter, most countries have made commitments to reduce their climate warming emissions by 2030, or 2050, or 2077, or … [continued]
Tesla just passed Waymo in Austin in weekly driverless miles. If its recent 20% weekly growth holds, it passes Waymo nationally in roughly 11 weeks and is doing the volume of Uber + Lyft across three Texas metros by mid-February. The accumulating unsupervised miles are already large enough to start … [continued]
Volkswagen, like pretty much all foreign brands, has really been struggling in China in recent years. The whole German auto industry is basically in crisis because their cash cow in China has shifted and now prefers buying cool new EVs from Chinese companies. Well, Volkswagen decided to team up with … [continued]
The Zayed Sustainability Prize recently made its final cuts to determine the finalists for the 2027 edition. I used to cover the prize very closely and thoroughly, back when it was called the Zayed Future Energy Prize. I think the name was changed in large part because they wanted to … [continued]
Chatgpt generated panoramic editorial visualization of the Strait of Hormuz as a global energy chokepoint.
Almost 8 months into Trump’s war on Iran, we can see more clearly the consequences of this quagmire. Some have been quite unexpected, like the surprising resilience of the oil market, the emergence of multiple failure points outside of Hormuz (including Bab-al Mandeb, the East-West pipeline, and global refinery capacity), … [continued]
