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It’s time to catch up on the most interesting and most exciting cleantech stories of the past week. As it turns out, some of the top stories were also top stories in other recent weeks. But that’s just how big these stories are. There are several new stories as well, of course. Check them all out!
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1. BYD sales are absolutely popping.
The company’s passenger vehicle sales just surpassed 500,000 units for the second month in a row, a stunning milestone. Sales were up 67% year over year. In addition to those passenger vehicle sales, the company has also been selling more and more commercial electric vehicles, with those rising by 54% compared to the first 11 months of 2023. The company also keeps entering new markets, the latest one being Guatemala.
2. XPENG & NIO sales hopping, too.
While they clearly aren’t at the level of BYD, XPENG and NIO continue to see super strong sales growth. XPENG sales rose 54% year over year in November, and rose 29% month over month. Meanwhile, NIO sales rose 29% year over year.
3. Europe sales report.
I love all of our EV sales reports, but I especially enjoy the Europe and global ones, since there’s so much diversity, variation, and of course large volumes. In the latest Europe EV sales report, we see BEVs have risen to 16% of European auto sales, and plugins overall have risen to 24% share. Interestingly, 252,000 plugin vehicles were registered in October, which is about half as many as BYD sold worldwide in October!
4. Agrivoltaics are simply lovely.
Combining solar power and agriculture just makes so much sense. They often help each other, and make more sense financially and environmentally. Tina dove into some progress New Jersey is making in this field (no pun intended), while Cynthia shared a fun story (and pics) of a community solar project on a cranberry bog.
5. Japanese auto sales are plummeting.
Considering the stories above in #1 through #3, as well as Japanese automakers lagging behind on EVs for years, it’s not surprising that Japanese automakers are seeing some serious sales bleeding. Nonetheless, it was fascinating and eye opening to see some of the numbers and stories Steve shared on this topic.
6. Baltic country going 100% renewables in pursuit of energy independence.
With the dramatic crisis in Eastern Europe, gaining energy independence is critical for countries in Russia’s vicinity. Estonia gets this, and is pursuing 100% renewable electricity by 2030, with a strong focus on solar.
7. With US EV tax credit likely on brink of death, buy your EVs today!
It seems highly likely the Trump administration will kill the US EV tax credit. Therefore, you should probably buy an EV ASAP if you are thinking to buy one soon-ish. Cutting the EV tax rebate also means used electric car prices are likely to jump, so the same recommendation applies (that you should buy one before the end of 2024 if you’re in the market for one). On the same topic, we discuss how Elon Musk has repeatedly said Tesla vehicles need to be cheaper to help find more buyers, and yet he is now supporting removal of the $7,500 EV tax credit. It makes no sense.
8. Huge electric carsharing program with V2G in Europe.
500 Renault 5 E-Tech electric vehicles part of a carsharing program in the Netherlands are going to be used in a giant vehicle-to-grid (V2G) program. This is getting serious.
9. California EV sales reach 2 million.
One of the leading electric vehicle markets in the world continues to shine. California reached 2 million cumulative EV sales in the third quarter, with plugin vehicles accounting for 26.4% of the state’s auto sales.
10. Masdar’s giant renewable energy project progress.
Masdar has been involved in bigger and bigger renewable energy projects, and it just announced progress on a slew of them.
11. US manufacturing boom.
President Joe Biden stimulated an enormous increase in manufacturing construction. The US has never seen such a manufacturing resurgence. Too bad it and other things weren’t appreciated, but #ThanksBiden nonetheless.
12. Rivian gets BIG loan.
US EV startup Rivian has scored a $6.5 billion conditional loan from the US government. This is largely for Project Horizon, “a new factory that will bring thousands of new jobs to Georgia.”
13. Tesla doubles referral bonus.
In an effort to stimulate more sales, Tesla has doubled the vehicle referral bonus credits it provides to Tesla owners and new customers. Clearly, Tesla is working hard to increase sales. Will it work for long?
14. Batteries last a LONG time.
For some reason, millions of people think EV batteries are going to get old and need replacing after just a few months or years of use. Luckily, research has found most EV batteries will probably last longer than their host cars.
Have any favorite news of the week that I missed? Chime in down in the comments and let us know.
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