The first 3,000 Audi e-tron buyers* in the US after February 3 are getting a 10-year subscription to solar power for their electric driving, according to a press release from Audi. The German automaker has partnered with Arcadia** to provide the clean energy bonus. The subscription is completely free for the consumer.
We somehow missed this one in October, but it’s an interesting and inspiring milestone that recently crossed our desk and seemed like it needed to be covered. Shell announced in October that it wouldn’t just be adding EV charging stations to more gas/petrol stations, but that it would actually be fully converting a gas/petrol station to an EV charging station.
Abundant and high-power charging stations can go a long way to support electric taxis. They’re a base necessity. But one thing would be better than that.
For years, we saw North American cities order 3 or 4 electric buses at a time while Chinese cities ordered hundreds or thousands. It was frustrating and annoying, especially considering that electric buses had become cost-competitive with all other options 7 years ago in some places. Well, time marched on, and we’re finally seeing large orders of electric buses.
The Tesla Model 3 is the Usain Bolt of the electric vehicle market. It is far and away the most popular electric vehicle in the world. In fact, it had nearly 3× as many sales last year as the 2nd best selling electric vehicle (EV), and it accounted for ~4× as many sales as the 3rd best selling EV, the Nissan LEAF.
Someone has gone and created a simple little Tesla video game in which you can walk around, watch videos about Tesla, talk to a Tesla-loving “CyberGirl,” click through to Tesla.com using the game creator’s referral code link, listen to cyber Elon Musk and Franz Holzhausen relay some useful statements that real Elon and Franz made, and more. My favorite part is zipping into the sky for a good view of the city on a definite non-Tesla vehicle.
“You might think, it’s just a bike. But for a young person, a bike can open up the world. It’s a way – and, often, the only way – to get to class, practice, games, lessons, work, and more. A bike is freedom. A bike is opportunity.”
In Sacramento — as part of a deal with the local utility, Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) — Electrify America is putting $1.3 million into SMUD’s Energy StorageShares program.
AutoFlightX is yet another electric vertical takeoff and landing startup you haven’t heard of (unless you read this electric aircraft roundup from November 2019 or somehow ended up in another obscure corner of the internet). It is also an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) startup that recently pulled in some venture capital investment and is eager to boast about it.
Gasoline and diesel vehicle bans became all the rage for a while a few years ago. One country after another announced plans or potential plans to stop selling fossil fuel vehicles by a certain year — 2030, 2040, 2050.
