2017 was a strange year, with plenty to celebrate and plenty to ponder about. The wild ups and downs most of us have gone through, both personally and professionally, were reflected in the industries we cover as well. So let’s take a look at what surprised us, what shows the most potential, and what was simply strange.
There are some significant differences with regard to the plug-in electric vehicles that sell the best in Europe and those that sell the best in the USA. While differences with regard to range needs and costs are part of the drivers for these differences (note that the average European drives approximately half as much as the average American over the course of a year), they are by no means the only ones. Questions of national bias, government incentives, and public image all come into play as well, amongst others.
Yet another one of the top auto manufacturers in the world, in this case Honda, has now expressed interest in developing its own solid-state battery technology for use in elected vehicles, going on recent reports.
Toyota has revealed that it will be marketing and selling over 10 all-electric vehicle models around the world by the early 2020s and investing around or over ¥1.5 trillion ($13 billion) into the development of battery technology through 2030 as well.
As part of our new “What Changed … ?” series, here’s a rundown of what changed in November in the EV market. Since this is a new series, I’ll reiterate what I wrote in the solar update (changing a few words): “To further clarify, this article doesn’t include interesting op-eds about solar and it doesn’t include news that we thought was worth covering but wasn’t really a change in the industry (like specific projects or reports — well, for the most part). It covers significant shifts, trends, and new opportunities in the solar market.”
Also, this update excludes battery stories since I covered EV batteries this month in “What Changed In The EV Battery Market In November?“
Oh, Toyota, when will you ever learn! Toyota is an odd company for those of us who cover the electric vehicle (EV) industry. For one thing, we don’t have much to write about. Toyota has had a best-selling hybrid for the past two decades that has somewhat evolved over time. … [continued]
Toyota and Panasonic may create a new joint venture focused on the development of battery technology for use in electric vehicles, company execs revealed at a press conference on Wednesday.
The big electric car sales story again in November was that Chevy Bolt sales rose again, and took the #1 spot again.
The next tier was Tesla’s showroom — the Model S and Model X — based on my estimates for the month*.
Whether or not the US Congress ends the tax credit for electric vehicles on December 31, 2017, it won’t be a disaster for sales of electric cars in the US in 2018 and beyond. More on that in minute.
What were the hottest, coolest, most interesting, and thus most popular stories of November on CleanTechnica? Read on…
