The Rocky Mountain Institute’s Business Renewables Center recently reported US corporate renewable energy procurement achieved a new record in 2018, with 3.57 gigawatts of announced clean energy projects so far this year. The previous record was 3.12 GW set in 2015. Kevin Haley, a program manager at the Business Renewables Center, answered some questions for CleanTechnica.
I moved from Europe to the US at the end of June, so ended up skipping my monthly updates on what changed in the electric vehicle (EV) and solar energy industries. Now that I’m back at it this month, I’m combining big news from June and July. Enjoy this EV news roundup and let us know in the comments if you think I’m missing any biggies.
Cities are finding ride hailing services like Uber and Lyft increase congestion rather than decrease it. New York City has placed a cap on new licenses while it studies the effect of ride hailing on the city and its residents.
Microcars are nothing new. In fact, Isetta, Messerschmitt, and BMW shared a successful three-wheeled car in the 1950s. Although the original car ran on a highly inefficient two-stroke gasoline engine, today’s electric drivetrain is a given for such micro-mobile platforms. So, why haven’t we seen more micro EVs?
America’s third largest residential solar provider, Vivint Solar, announced its second-quarter earnings report this week in which it posted solid installations and installations but missed analyst expectations on earnings and revenue.
The White House has been notably silent on the topic of offshore wind and American Wind Week, but the Energy Department takes note.
Shell and Centrica have made major investments in EV charging startups Ample and Driivz. As the number of electric cars increase, the demand for chargers will increase as well.
Recently, Harley-Davidson announced plans for multiple different electric vehicles: three motorcycles, three scooter-category bikes and even an electric-assist bicycle. Most of these are supposed to be on the road by 2022. It won’t help the company. It has serious brand issues that it must overcome, and it’s hard to see how it will.
It was recently announced that the HERO financing option of Renovate America is estimated to have created over 25,000 jobs. Renovate America is a leading provider of home-improvement financing in the US. Greg Frost, the organization’s National Communications Director, answered some questions for CleanTechnica.
The Tesla Model 3 has now moved into the top sales ranks of all cars in the US, not just EVs, as CleanTechnica director and chief editor Zachary Shahan wrote recently in “Tesla Model 3 — 7th/8th Best Selling Car In USA — Is In A Class Of Its Own.”
This success and sales volume of the Model 3 in comparison to every other electric vehicle available in the US raises the question: What current or future model will be the next high-volume (“hit”) electric vehicle?
