We love journalism. We need journalism. We need local journalism, high-access national journalism that puts a check on the power elite, and deeply investigative journalism that goes where few would dream to go. If people truly respected one of the great thinkers behind the forming of the United States, they would respect that the work of journalists is valuable — critical — to a democratic society. Thomas Jefferson said:
I’ve had the Soul EV for approximately one month, driven it for 3,000 km (1,900 miles), and … have been lovin’ it!
If, like me, you charge up your vehicle in public places, I am sure you will be familiar with what I am about to describe. I do my public charging at motorway service areas here in the UK. These are always busy. The car park is always nearly full, and there is a constant stream of people moving towards and away from the main doors, which lead to and from the restaurants, shops, and other public facilities.
We write a lot about electric vehicles here on CleanTechnica, because we’re a tech site. But some of the best ways to cut emissions involve no tech at all. One of the best things you can do to cut your carbon footprint and pollution output is live in a walkable, mixed-use location where much of your recreation and relaxation can be done right there in the neighborhood or community where you live. That eliminates the need to drive, traffic on the road, the stimulus to build more roads, and extra parking lot asphalt.
I no longer debate global warming and climate change. When I’m confronted with a denier, I ask how either of us, not being experts in the field, could ever hope to resolve a climate science debate? Nothing gets accomplished and this usually shuts down deniers completely. If they keep going, I ask who benefits if climate change is not occurring? Of course, we know the fossil fuel (FF) industry is the big winner. Individuals in a climate debate, regardless of side, gain very little if anything.
Episode #43 of Cleantech Talk is here! This episode covers accident liability for self-driving cars, the EV tax credit, and fuel cells’ exponential ramp.
As I noted a moment ago, I recently took a small risk, faced a short freakout, and then made it through my first Tesla software update. The reason I cut it close on the timing and installed the update was that it was a fun Christmas one that I knew my older daughter (3 years old) would love.
Some other members of our Tesla Shuttle team installed Tesla software updates on our Model S earlier in the year, but the first time I personally did so was the day after Christmas (or 2nd day of Christmas as some people call it). I was a little uncertain whether to do the update at that time — we needed to leave approximately 2 hrs later and the car said it would take 1 hour and 40 minutes. Additionally, I was a little concerned about how much energy it might take. We had an 85% charge but quite a ways to drive. “How much energy does a Tesla software update take?” I had never thought to ask and didn’t recall seeing this information somewhere, so I searched online. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find an answer.
If my last article seemed too reminiscent of Potterville in It’s a Wonderful Life or The Grinch that Stole Efficiency, let’s switch gears a bit with an upbeat holiday energy efficiency parable.
Just yesterday, I ran through a bunch of hypotheticals, delivery estimates, and financial assumptions for Tesla for the year 2022. One of those was the assumption that Tesla would have a pickup truck on the market by 2022 — and hitting 55,000 deliveries a year by 2022. Another assumption was that Tesla’s energy generation and storage revenue would approximately triple from 2017 to 2022.
