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China’s BYD beat out Tesla for the first time this April to become the top EV vehicle brand sold in Europe. BYD only outpaced Tesla by 100 vehicles, but the 7,231 cars that made their way to Europe show that tariffs are not deterring European consumer demand. Sales for BYD’s battery-powered vehicles soared 170% overall in April YoY. In comparison, all other electric vehicles collectively saw a 17% increase in sales over the same period. I’ve mentioned numerous times that China simply has the ability to produce cheaper vehicles that are often better quality than what is made in the...

Shares in Chinese EV giant BYD surged to a record high Tuesday after it unveiled new battery technology it says can charge a vehicle in the same time it takes to fill up a petrol car. The company said the battery and charging system, called "Super e-Platform", boasted peak speeds of 1,000 kW, allowing cars to travel up to 470 kilometres (292 miles) after being plugged in for just five minutes.

A major lithium deposit discovered near the Portuguese border in Castilla Leon could power Spain’s energy future. Found within the Conchas Project by Berkeley Energy, the 31 square kilometre site has been hailed financially as a highly significant resource that, if mined efficiently, could meet Spain’s lithium needs, reducing the country’s reliance on imports. Currently, most of the lithium Spanish battery manufacturers use comes from South America. The project, which is still in feasibility studies, promises significant economic growth for the region but faces hurdles. Environmental groups warn that extraction could harm water resources and biodiversity, and they are calling...

President Trump gets a thing or two done. In his first term in office, President Trump apparently thought he could operate as if the federal government were a corporation he headed as Chief Executive and Commander in Chief of the armed forces. He assumed those beneath him would give him honest counsel, would perform their assigned duties, and follow his directives. He learned otherwise. All the steps he took the first week after beginning his astonishing second term are those a wise CEO and commander in chief must take to do the job he promised and was elected to do....

The government of Brazil stopped issuing work visas for Chinese electric carmaker BYD after local authorities rescued 163 Chinese nationals working in conditions “analogous to slavery” at a BYD factory under construction in the city of Camaçari, Bahia, Reuters reported Friday. BYD, a company with deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party, is building the plant at a location once occupied by American carmaker Ford, which sold the location to the local Bahia government in 2023 after Ford ceased all operations in Brazil in 2021. Brazil’s Public Prosecutor’s Office announced on December 23 that construction work on BYD’s factory in...

California regulators withdrew a proposal to mandate the sale of zero-emissions trucks over the next 20 years on Tuesday evening. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) pulled back its request to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for a waiver that would have allowed the state to require massive increases in sales of electric or zero-emissions truck models over the coming decades. As of 2023, only 0.3% of all registered heavy-duty vehicles in the U.S. were zero-emissions models, according to the International Council on Clean Transportation. CARB’s Advanced Clean Fleets rule would have mandated California’s truck fleet to move to zero-emission...

(The Center Square) – Medicare premiums and senior citizens' prescription drug costs have surged since passage of the $891 billion Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, according to data compiled by an advocate for seniors on the federal health care program. The legislation promised financial relief for millions of people with Medicare by expanding benefits, lowering drug costs, and strengthening Medicare for future seniors. Medicare Is for Seniors' "Misery Index," as the report is known, says prescription drug costs instead have risen nationally by 31%, leaving seniors with new expenses and fewer options. Those costs will rise again under the new...

After Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida on Wednesday, Sunshine State residents who own electric vehicles have been urged to be cautious. Ahead of Milton, one county that was in the hurricane’s path, Hillsborough County, said Monday EV owners in flood zones “should move their vehicles away from flood areas and storm surge” and noted storm surge and flooding can “pose a potential risk to lithium-ion batteries and could lead to fires.” It shared a county webpage about electric vehicle hurricane safety. EVs left behind during hurricanes should not be plugged into charging stations or parked in garages because of...

* The European Union on Friday voted to adopt definitive tariffs on China-made battery electric vehicles (BEVs). * "Today, the European Commission's proposal to impose definitive countervailing duties on imports of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) from China has obtained the necessary support from EU Member States for the adoption of tariffs," the EU said in a statement. * The EU added that it was still working in China to look for "an alternative solution" even as the tariffs are adopted.The European Union on Friday voted to adopt definitive tariffs on China-made battery electric vehicles (BEVs). "Today, the European Commission's proposal...

Electric cars are up to twice as expensive as petrol or diesel vehicles to run... Running an electric vehicle (EV) can cost more than 24p per mile, while a diesel vehicle is 12.5p .. 80p per kilowatt hour ... A typical electric car will travel 3.3 miles for every kWh of electricity used, meaning rapid and ultra-rapid chargers currently cost the equivalent of 24.1p per mile. ... This is about double the average diesel car, which will do 43 miles per gallon, resulting in a cost of 12.5p per mile at current prices. A typical petrol car costs 14.5p per...

(Kitco News) – Gold has had a breakout year as the yellow metal surged to new heights above $2,500 while its grey counterpart, silver, has struggled to keep pace, but that could soon change, according to one analyst, as silver demand is expected to increase thanks to one new technological development from Samsung. According to retired investment professional Kevin Bambrough, Samsung has developed a new solid-state (SS) battery. The inclusion of silver as a key component, combined with the increasing demand for electric vehicles, means that demand for the grey metal will soon increase. “The key drivers that will ramp...

The decline in electric vehicle sales is “very worrying” from a climate perspective, an expert has said. The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show that 12,765 EVs were licensed in Ireland between January and July of this year, a decline of nearly 25% compared with the same period last year. The total number of EVs on Irish roads is now around 125,000. However, the target outlined in the Government’s Climate Action Plan is to have 845,000 electric vehicles by 2030. Professor of Transportation at Trinity College Brian Caulfield said that trend is “very worrying” as the country has...

Just before 2 a.m. on a chilly April night in Seattle, a Chevrolet Silverado pickup stopped at an electric vehicle charging station on the edge of a shopping center parking lot. Two men, one with a light strapped to his head, got out. A security camera recorded them pulling out bolt cutters. One man snipped several charging cables; the other loaded them into the truck. In under 2½ minutes, they were gone. The scene that night has become part of a troubling pattern across the country: Thieves have been targeting EV charging stations, intent on stealing the cables, which contain...

High purchase prices are a major barrier to the wider adoption of electric vehicles. A significant portion of this cost comes from expensive batteries. However, in recent years, automakers have been employing an advanced manufacturing technique known as gigacasting. This method helps offset the high cost of batteries, simplifies production, and reduces the weight of EVs. Nissan will follow Tesla, and several other carmakers like Toyota, Hyundai, and Ford, in adopting this technology. The brand aims to reduce the costs of EV parts by 10% and slash weight by 20%, Automotive News reported. Nissan's EVs using gigacasting are expected to...

Car manufacturers are slowing their transition to producing electric vehicles (EVs), because of low customer demand and production problems. Mercedes-Benz announced to investors in March of this year that it is going back on its pledge to sell only fully electric cars by 2030. Instead, investors were told that the company plans to continue to make gasoline-powered cars well into the next decade. Fully electric cars and hybrids will account for only up to half of its sales by 2030. It appears that carmakers are suffering after committing wholeheartedly to the ideological fad of EVs, rather than introducing them as...

Millions of middle-class California households are poised to pay an extra $24 per month for electricity, regardless of how much electricity they use. Regulators are hoping this utility billing policy will rescue their agenda to move everyone to electric cars and appliances by redistributing the massive costs of the state’s electric grid so utilities can lower their usage rates. But critics say the income-based premium will likely further hike utility costs for millions of Californians—nearly one-fifth of whom are already behind in paying their bills after household electricity rates almost doubled in the last decade—and likely won’t do much to...

Due to China's overcapacity in production – as it aims to capture a quarter of the European electric vehicle market – the ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge are inundated. You can share an article by clicking on the share icons at the top right of it. The total or partial reproduction of an article, without the prior written authorization of Le Monde, is strictly forbidden. For more information, see our Terms and Conditions. For all authorization requests, contact syndication@lemonde.fr. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/economy/article/2024/05/04/belgium-s-ports-drowning-under-glut-of-chinese-electric-cars-some-are-parked-here-for-a-year-sometimes-a-year-and-a-half_6670373_19.html A large number of Chinese-made cars are being gathered at Yantai Port for shipment for export in Yantai, Shandong Province,...

Hertz raised the number of electric vehicles it plans to sell this year as it is cutting its EV fleet to reduce losses that have weighed on the car rental giant’s earnings. In the first quarter, Hertz upsized its EV disposition plan by 10,000 vehicles, for a total of 30,000 EVs intended for sale in 2024. Most of these EVs will be Teslas. The company incurred a $195 million charge to vehicle depreciation to write down the EVs held for sale which were remaining in inventory at quarter-end to fair value and recognize the disposition losses on EVs sold in...

The future for electric vehicles is looking bleaker than ever.According to a Gallup poll published this week, the number of Americans who own an electric vehicle has indeed increased in the last year. However, the number of those interested in buying one is on the decline despite efforts from the federal government to transition the entire automobile market within the next decade. Seven percent of Americans, up from 4% a year ago, report that they own an electric vehicle. That increase is matched by an equal decline in the percentage saying they are seriously considering buying one, from 12% to...

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg said Tuesday on Fox News Channel’s “America Reports” that people who do not want electric cars were like those who wanted “landline phones forever.” Buttigieg said, “Let’s be clear consumers have wanted and purchased more EVs every single year than the year before. Tesla is facing more competition as GM and Ford and Stellantis and other competitive players make sure they get a piece of the EV market. Let’s be clear, the automotive sector is moving toward EVs and we can’t pretend otherwise. Sometimes, when these debates happen, I feel like it’s the early 2000s...