About Zachary Shahan
Zachary Shahan is tryin' to help society help itself (and other species) with the power of the typed word. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director and chief editor, but he's also the president of Important Media and the director/founder of EV Obsession, Solar Love, and Bikocity. Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, and energy storage expert.
Zach has long-term investments in TSLA, FSLR, SPWR, SEDG, & ABB — after years of covering solar and EVs, he simply has a lot of faith in these particular companies and feels like they are good cleantech companies to invest in.
June 25th, 2017 | by Zachary Shahan
I first experienced Tesla Autopilot last year, as I wrote in my Tesla Model X review. It was certainly cool and interesting, and a bit nerve-racking. But that was a short test drive on a California highway — not real use.
Well, a few guys and I recently got our first Tesla Model S for an intercity Tesla shuttle service we're launching here in Europe (... called Tesla Shuttle), and the Tesla includes Autopilot
June 25th, 2017 | by Zachary Shahan
One of the unique aspects of driving an electric car is talking to people about the new tech, and as EV drivers quickly find out, there are a handful of common misconceptions about this “new” tech
June 25th, 2017 | by Zachary Shahan
Previous surveys — including our initial EV driver survey — have found a strong link between driving electric cars and having home solar panels. Yet again, in our 2017 EV driver report, a very large portion of our respondents had home solar panels, which means that they are essentially “fueling” their electric cars with sunshine
June 24th, 2017 | by Zachary Shahan
Investing is sort of always kind of supposed to be about the future, right? The challenge that has faced many an investor is that the future can be hard to predict. As it turns out, that leads much of the investment community to look at the past and extrapolate forward
June 23rd, 2017 | by Zachary Shahan
We're now announcing the plan for June 27, which involves some social networking, good food, and an EV charging walking tour that involves a "scathing critique" of EV charging stations, cleantech communications, and branding. Here's the schedule
June 23rd, 2017 | by Zachary Shahan
It may seem absurd to put Tesla ahead of Big Auto, but by many standards, Tesla seems to be far ahead. You don't have to take my word for it — Tesla [TSLA] is now the most valuable US car company, recently surpassing GM and Ford in market cap, and there's a reason or 10 why the investment community on the whole sees Tesla as a more valuable company despite drastically lower annual production/sales output.
This article isn't about proving that Tesla's ahead, though. It's actually a genuine, open-minded search for how long it'll take Big Auto to catch up to Tesla ... if it ever can. One widely held assumption is that large automakers can turn on a dime and crush Tesla at its own game "once the time is right." That's not true
June 20th, 2017 | by Zachary Shahan
We're LIVE. Our first CleanTechnica webinar, part of a webinar series titled #Electrifying, is now live. Log in via that link or check us out live on Facebook
June 19th, 2017 | by Zachary Shahan
The past week, with ~1 million pageviews, was a pretty big one here on CleanTechnica. With Tesla Model 3 production around the corner, spy shots jumping out of the corners of the interwebs, and leaks about production beginning soon, it's no surprise that stories about perhaps the most significant car in history topped the charts. Have a look and check out any cool stories you missed
June 19th, 2017 | by Zachary Shahan
We're launching a new webinar series — "Electrifying" — and to squeeze some extra fun out of the Model 3 interior intrigue, we're going to kick off with a chat about “Tesla Model 3 Interior Predictions, Preparations, & Prayers.” Our own Kyle Field, Roger Pressman of EV Annex (author of Getting Ready for Model 3), Viktor Irle of EV Volumes, and I will be chatting about what we've seen, what we expect, and what we dream for in our most optimistic moments
June 18th, 2017 | by Zachary Shahan
They said Tesla wouldn't do it, couldn't do it. They said Tesla would collapse before the Model S was produced. They said manufacturing inexperience would doom the Model S and destroy the company. They said the Model X was a colossal disaster that would mark the beginning of the end for Tesla. They said the Model X was impossible, a con, a lie, couldn't be manufactured, wouldn't function, and would quickly close the Elon era. They were wrong
June 17th, 2017 | by Zachary Shahan
The question is simple and stark, but there will be a gradient of effects, and side-effects, and after-effects. As the oil economy collapses, the world will change. And it will change a great deal
June 17th, 2017 | by Zachary Shahan
One of the perennial topics of interest regarding cars, in general, is whether to buy or lease. We won’t dive into that decades-long debate, but we were curious to see the results of that consideration among early EV drivers
June 16th, 2017 | by Zachary Shahan
One of the wonderful things about working in the cleantech industry is, sappy as it sounds, the people. We aren't at the early, early phases of industry growth, but we're at an early enough stage that many of the leaders in the industry are still adventurous, compassionate people who are striving to help society
June 15th, 2017 | by Zachary Shahan
Last year, when I presented* at a big institutional investment conference in India, there was a lot of talk about solar, but little about electric vehicles. Of course, a large portion of my presentation was about Tesla and electric cars. The presentation* from Indian Minister of Coal, Power, and New & Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal, highlighted the highly competitive cost of solar power but didn't really touch electric vehicles
June 15th, 2017 | by Zachary Shahan
I'm of the opinion that most households could actually do just fine with a Nissan LEAF, BMW i3, Ford Focus Electric, or the like — and then also benefit as a consumer from the wonderful inherent features of an electric car. One key reason I think so is because I've seldom known a household that needed to drive all the cars in their household a super long distance on the same day. Typically, households have 2–3 cars in the US, and when one is out on a road trip, the others are still enjoying a slow-paced, short-trip city life. So, why couldn't one of them be a medium-range electric car
June 14th, 2017 | by Zachary Shahan
Working in the cleantech communication business since the middle of 2009, I can say that I've picked up quite a few cleantech communication tips, and I try to sharpen them every day. Unfortunately, I've also seen a lot of examples of bad, bad, bad cleantech communication — communication flubs are quite abundant in this field. (And, yeah, I've been the person behind those bad examples from time to time.)
Many cleantech enthusiasts actually use talking points and discussion strategies that are counterproductive. Yikes!
June 14th, 2017 | by Zachary Shahan
Revolution is a brewing. In two weeks, we will be in the midst of our second Cleantech Revolution Tour conference in Berlin, and our 4th overall. We have a tremendous lineup of speakers and panelists scheduled for Berlin and Wroclaw, and a unique format that will result on some practical end products.
Additionally, this year's series brings "tour" into the agenda in a deeper way — with each conference held in two cities
June 13th, 2017 | by Zachary Shahan
Which electric vehicle incentives are most effective? Which will stimulate the most EV adoption? Which break down the biggest barriers to EV awareness, experience, and transition
June 13th, 2017 | by Zachary Shahan
The Tesla Model X has been scored as the safest SUV the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has ever tested, and the second-safest vehicle the NHTSA has ever tested ... only trailing the Tesla Model
June 13th, 2017 | by Zachary Shahan
One of the benefits of driving electric is that electric motors and drivetrains are inherently much more efficient than gasoline- or diesel-powered engines/drivetrains. Aside from that inherent energy conservation, though, how much do electric car drivers strove to conserve energy? And how much does driving electric encourage them to conserve energy? These are matters we dug into a little bit in our latest electric car driver report
June 13th, 2017 | by Zachary Shahan
The Model 3 is placed at the bottom of the premium sedan market. Of course, being a unique vehicle in a heavily undersupplied niche market, it competes with models well beyond the small premium sedan market, so definitely don't consider this to be anything close to a comprehensive global competition summary — the Model 3 will be attracting people who would have otherwise bought a Toyota Camry, Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic, Ford Mustang, Nissan LEAF, and BMW Z3 (me 20 years ago). But I think this is a decent list of gasmobiles (gasoline-powered cars) whose sales will be remarkably body slammed by the Model
