The battery market is one of the most interesting industries in the global economy. As part of our new “What Changed … ?” series, it seemed appropriate to include a thorough update of what changes in the EV battery market on a monthly basis. Below is a rundown of what changed in November.
What was new in the world of solar energy in November? That is, what significant changes occurred in the industry? For the second month in a row, summarizing a list of those changes is the humble goal I’m trying to accomplish.
Large truck fleet buyers and execs are not profligate spenders. They won’t spend big dollars on untested technology, but instead do trial orders to test new technology. An increasing number of companies have shown interest in Tesla Semi with pre-orders. That includes large corporations like Sysco, Anheuser-Busch, Walmart, Loblaw, Deutsche Post / DHL, and PepsiCo. Recognize any of those names?
For decades, electric cars have been a dream of the future. Magazines showed show cars and experiments, but fielded few or no production examples. During periods of high oil prices, their prospects rose, but as oil prices declined, they faded. Tinkerers and DIY mechanics made home-built lead-acid gas car conversions. There were tantalizing forays stimulated by California’s CARB ZEV (zero emission vehicle) mandates, like the GM EV1, Toyota RAV4 EV, and Honda EV Plus, but they were in limited numbers and more often offered for lease but not for sale.
Here’s an in-depth look at electric semi trucks and electric heavy-duty trucks on the market today and planned for the coming years.
So that’s HVDC and why the electricity you use will increasingly come through HVDC transmission. It gets more power delivered over longer distances, it’s increasingly economically viable, it works better underground, it works better underwater, it can dodge NIMBYs and it reduces the challenge of variable renewable generation. It’s one of the top innovations in the world of electricity, and it’s coming soon to a grid near you.
There have now been multiple claims that Tesla staff members are telling Tesla customers that Tesla is sending out Model 3 configuration invites to batches of 5,000 at a time. If that’s true, it seems that 5,000 email invitations were sent in the past few days, 5,000 were sent approximately a week before that, and 5,000 were sent around November 21–22, going by crowdsourced information in this Google Sheet.
Reading Zachary’s article “Tesla Semi Price × Orders = $47 Million to $55 Million in Tesla Revenue (with Assumptions),” I thought I had something to add.
The first Tesla Model X that I got to drive was an early Model X from a regular CleanTechnica reader who drove it from Northern California to Southern California when I was there for the first Tesla Model 3 reveal. He put in an early reservation for a Model 3 too, and he just got his invite to configure a few hours ago.
More interesting is what a Tesla employee told him on the phone after he got the invite. The Tesla staff member told him that invites were going out in batches of 5,000.
Episode #42 of Cleantech Talk is here! This episode covers my LA Auto Show-inspired VW-Scooby Doo fantasy crossover and “Fair Trade” Copper.
