Solar Power’s Rapid Growth (Graphs), Tesla Cybertruck Review, EV Sales Up — Top Cleantech News of the Week

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Friday is here! Unfortunately, the heat is rising fast here in Florida and it’s hard to enjoy some of the outdoor activities we love while suffering in the extreme heat and thinking about how dangerously we are heating up the planet. Let’s get a little relief by leafing through 18 of the best cleantech stories of the past week.

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There’s been some discussion about whether solar power is actually growing faster than anything in human history. One of our readers, Massey University Distinguished Professor Robert McLachlan, dives in and creates some original graphs to explore the matter.

Despite the growing size of homes and all of the growing tech (or in part because of it), Americans are now burning 50% less fossil fuel in their homes than 50 years ago. That comes from society electrifying more and more of what’s in our homes. That’s one great story to kick things off with!

The BYD Dolphin continues its journey around the world, now becoming the cheapest electric car available in South Africa.

Worldwide, electric car sales grew to 19% of total new car sales in March! That’s a continued march upwards. (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.)

In the US, I crunched the numbers and dove into 1st quarter EV sales in the US, US EV sales growth, and which auto companies are seeing the highest percentage of their sales go to EVs.

Electric conversions take time and money, but when they nail it, they really nail it. This EV conversion of a classic from Down Under is really a must-see one.

Whether you care about Tesla or not, the fact that the Feds are investigating Tesla for Full Self Driving claims and wire fraud has to perk your ears up, especially on the back of sudden mass layoffs and so much other disruption at the company.

On the plus side for Tesla, we got a great, useful review of a Tesla Cybertruck after 10,000 miles! Also, one of our writers hypothesized that the huge changes at Tesla might be a good thing, and I explored some of the potential pros as well as some of the potential cons of the big Supercharger network changes.

The last thing on the topic of Tesla: I realized I’m just using about 20% of my Model 3 SR+ battery after almost 5 years with the car. So much more needing 500 miles of range and super-duper-fast charging.

On the funner side of things, you can now buy an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for $200,000. I’m very curious to see where this company and its electric flight machines go.

We just got an update on how EV charging infrastructure has expanded in Eastern Europe thanks to a road trip in a Ford Mustang Mach-E, and things are looking good!

Speaking of climate disruption, though, insurance companies are seeing “constant threats” — it’s not looking good, and climate scientists are also now telling us that 2.5°C has become a best-case scenario.

In addition to all of those, we have our regular stream of top-notch EV sales reports from Max Holland and José Pontes:

1. EVs Take 24.7% Share In The UK — BMW Leading Battery-Electric Brand
2. EVs Take 18.4% Share In Germany — Market Still In Hangover
3. EVs Take 56.9% Share In Sweden — Volvo EX30 Is The Top BEV
4. EVs Take 91.0% Share In Norway — Volvo EX30 Grabs Top Spot
5. EVs At 24.3% Share In France — BEVs Grow Volume 45% YoY
6. Volvo EX30 Shines — Europe EV Sales Report

We also published dozens of cleantech press releases in the past week. Here are 13 of my favorites:

1. California Home to Two ZEV Firsts: Nation’s First Solar-Powered EV Truck Stop, World’s Largest Amazon EV Truck Fleet
2. Finnish Retailer K-Lataus & Kempower Join Forces to Expand the EV Charging Network in Finland: 100+ DC Fast-Chargers
3. Archer Aviation Completes Installation Of High-Volume Battery Pack Manufacturing Line
4. BC Transit Bringing 66 Electric Buses to More Locations
5. VinFast Officially Launches In The Philippines
6. VinFast Starts Accepting Deposits for VF 3 Mini e-SUV in Vietnam
7. NIO & GAC Become Partners On Charging & Swapping
8. 7 ORNL Inventions Licensed To Texas-Based Lithium Recovery Firm
9. Lilium Announces Firm Order of 20 Lilium Jets from U.S. Operator UrbanLink
10. Kia Teases New EV3: Compact Electric SUV Combining EV Accessibility & Robust Design

11. New Ryvid Outset Will Sell for Just $5,995, with Ryvid Anthem Reduced to Only $6,495
12. Porsche Rolls Out Electric Trucks As Transport Logistics Fleet
13. The All-New Audi Q6 SUV e-Tron & SQ6 SUV e-Tron: UK Pricing & Specification Confirmed

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