BYD’s Massive Growth, Sunrun’s Dominance, Waymo Popping — 11 Top Stories of the Week

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Cleantech industries are flying, and the past two weeks show more evidence of that. Check out some of the biggest recent stories in the update below.

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1. Waymo is growing, fast.

Just a few days after I wrote that Waymo was preparing for a big growth spurt, with another $5.6 billion raised, the company noted that it had reached 150,000 paying rides a week, 50% more than the 100,000 rides/week milestone it had reach just two months before.

2. Sunrun is leading the home solar & storage market in the US.

Sunrun is dominating the US solar-plus-storage market now. It accounts for 20% of all the rooftop solar systems in the country, which is massive, but it also currently owns about 45% of the home battery storage market! Check out that interview with Chris Rauscher, Head of Grid Services & Virtual Power Plants at Sunrun, for more details and perspective.

3. BYD continues to grow by leaps & bounds and expand around the world.

The Chinese EV giant reached a stunning 500,000 sales last month! Every one of those vehicles has a plug. The company is still growing fast, and seems certain to attain the title of #1 top selling automaker in the world. Reader and guest writer Larry Evans also highlighed the company’s positive 3rd quarter financials. And all of that followed a bigger piece Larry did on how BYD is leading on EVs much more than you think.

BYD has actually launched 10 models in the past year, and continues to expand geographically. BYD also just launched the Shark in Brazil and the Song Pro in Paraguay.

4. EV charging wins in hurricane season.

Paul Fosse and I both went through the extremes of Hurricane Helene. I went straight through the eye, and he had severe flooding and power disruption in his area. Both of us found that EV life was easier through that than gas-powered car life would be. Now, research is showing the same on a larger scale.

5. Solar power soaring in China.

China installed a whopping 160 gigawatts (GW) of solar power in just the first three quarters of the year. It was not that long ago, as I remember, that it would take the whole world years to install that much solar power.

6. Solar & wind getting cheaper and cheaper.

Solar and wind power costs continue to come down, which has been happening for years. Some of the biggest highlights from the report, though, are just how much cheaper the analysts see solar and wind getting. “By 2060, utility-scale solar LCOE is expected to decline by an average of 60%, driven by advancements in cell technology, and increased production capacity for key components like polysilicon. Onshore wind in the U.S. is projected to see a 42% reduction in LCOE, underscoring the long-term competitiveness of renewables in the region. However, offshore wind faces short-term cost pressures but will see a significant LCOE reduction of up to 67% by 2060, highlighting its growing role in the future energy mix.”

7. It’s US election season — one candidate (Kamala Harris) is much better than the other candidate on cleantech, and, well, much more.

I wrote an op-ed on 7 reasons Donald Trump should not be president again, and many of these arguments also come from most of his former Cabinet members, former Republican presidential nominees and vice presidents, the mother and wife of two Republican presidents, dozens of Nobel prize winning economists, and other non-traditional experts. A former Tesla executive also explained how Donald Trump favored an “American last” policy on EVs and what was going on with the NEVI program.

8. Hydrogen continues to fail.

Hydrogen cars and buses continue to demonstrate that they are not competitive, and much worse than hyped. We dig into that in a couple of stories, one on a hydrogen electric van failure at IKEA and one on the topic of hydrogen refueling stations with electrolysis being much less efficient than hyped. Mike also wrote about how much hydrogen actually leaks.

9. The plugin hybrid and extended-range electric vehicle era?

Fortunately or unfortunately, plugin hybrid (PHEV) and extended-range electric vehicle (EREV) sales have been soaring in China — Steve Hanley explains why. Backing this up, CATL is now creating batteries specifically focused on optimizing PHEVs and EREVs.

10. How Europe can catch up to China.

Mike Barnard explains what Europe needs to do if it doesn’t want to be left in the dust by China on decarbonization and eletrification.

11. World’s most powerful electric outboard motor comes to the US.

We don’t think much about vehicles on the water when it comes to decarbonizing and electrifying, but it’s needed. So, it was great to see the launch of the most powerful electric outboard motor in the US.

Of course, we also had a regular stream of EV sales reports and EV reviews.

EV sales.

Scan through any of our recent EV sales stories for loads of numbers fun:

• Europe EV Sales Report — In September, 60% of European Automotive Sales Were Electrified
• 53% Of Car Sales in China Are Now Plugins! Full Report
• EV Sales Trends, Tesla, and BYD in Chile
• EVs At 23.5% Share In France — Plugins Dip As HEVs Surge
• Zeekr Sales Soar 92% in October
• Hyundai IONIQ 5 Sales Grow 51% in USA
• Kia US EV Sales Grow 70% in October
• NIO & XPeng Sales Increase 30% & 20% In October

EV reviews.

Jennifer Sensiba had a fun story on her early EV road trip days, what she learned along the way, and how much different things are now.

Fritz Hasler reported on 5 years of life, and maintenance, with this Tesla Model 3.

Paul Fosse explained why Tesla FSD (Full Self Driving) is still far, far away from being robotaxi ready, just based on his own driving.

To wrap up, I wrote a review of a great electric trike I love, and I’m actually heading out right now to use it again to collect more shingles that got tossed off the roof.