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Battery materials and recycling startup Redwood Materials is expanding a partnership with Volkswagen of America in its bid to collect more end-of-life batteries from consumer electronics and strip out the valuable materials so they can be used to make batteries for electric vehicles.
Redwood has said its technology can recover more than 95% of the critical minerals from batteries (like nickel, cobalt, lithium and copper) and then manufacture the metals into battery components that are supplied to U.S. battery manufacturers for new electric vehicles and energy storage products. Co-founder and CEO JB Straubel, who was formerly the co-founder and CTO at Tesla, has long argued that creating a closed-loop system will reduce battery costs and the need to mine and ship raw materials.
Volkswagen of America and sibling brand Audi contracted with Redwood last year to recover and recycle end-of-life EV battery packs from its thousand-dealership network in the United States. Audi then expanded its partnership with Redwood to launch a consumer-focused recycling program.
Now Volkswagen of America has agreed to set up bins at certain dealerships to collect consumer electronics. The batteries and devices, including cell phones, cordless power tools, electric toothbrushes, wireless headphones and other lithium-ion-powered devices that are collected in the bins, will be sent to Redwood’s Nevada facility to be repurposed as EV batteries.
The consumer recycling program officially launches at 14 dealerships April 22, including locations in New Jersey and Wisconsin. Volkswagen will also set up a bin during the New York International Auto Show, which will be held from April 5 to April 16. Additional dealerships will be added throughout the year.
Redwood has largely been a B2B enterprise since its founding. The company has locked in deals with companies like Panasonic to recycle and process the scrap to recycle scrap from battery cell production. In early 2021, Redwood quietly opened a recycling program to everyday consumers and all of the old electronics sitting in their junk drawers. Redwood posted a “recycle with us” tab on its website, along with an address, where consumers can send their e-waste, and a “contact us” button.
The program has collected tens of thousands of pounds of electronics from consumers, according to Redwood.
VW and Redwood want to turn your old laptops into EV batteries by Kirsten Korosec originally published on TechCrunch
TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 will have a whole new look this fall with one aim in mind: bring together investors, founders and technologists who have specific industry interests — all under one roof at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.
Disrupt has always been big. But this year we’re folding TC Sessions, the standalone industry events that are traditionally held throughout the year, into the big annual tech event.
Disrupt will have six industry tracks, each with its own stage, including AI, fintech, hardware, SaaS, security and sustainability. Yup, sustainability, a category that will combine transportation, climate tech, smart cities and renewables.
What the heck is sustainable tech, anyway? In our experience, it’s a moving target. The term is arguably many things: aspirational, a misnomer, a buzzword and a catch-all for products and services that are less environmentally destructive than doing business as normal.
To us, the goal of sustainable tech is simply to do less harm to the planet (thus sustaining something close to life as we know it). Yet, how to achieve that goal — without resting on piecemeal tweaks and greenwashing — is a rich and messy topic worth probing.
That is what we aim to do on the Sustainability Stage — discuss material ways to mitigate the damage we’re doing, while interrogating bullshit and distractions along the way.
The stakes have never been higher. As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said with the release of its sixth major assessment, “keeping warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels requires deep, rapid and sustained greenhouse gas emissions reductions in all sectors.” The tech industry must do its part by drawing down scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions, cleaning up its pollutive supply chains and accelerating the transition to renewables.
Disrupt in particular is all about startups. The specific areas we’re eager to dig into this year via panels and fireside chats include: fixing the broken U.S. power grid, examining how cities will adapt to more frequent extreme weather events, mitigating fast fashion’s environmental toll and rethinking some of the world’s most-loved beverages.
Book your early-bird pass today and save $800 to the startup event of the year. Prices go up May 12.
Sustainability at Disrupt by Kirsten Korosec originally published on TechCrunch
In a major blow to shared micromobility companies Lime, Dott and Tier, Paris has voted to ban rental e-scooters from its streets. Many in the industry fear the move in Paris, where free-floating scooters initially took off in 2018, will have ripple effects in other cities.
Paris has been one of the most heavily regulated e-scooter markets, something companies have pointed to as an example of how they can play nice with cities. Yet, despite limiting scooter top speeds to as slow as 10 kilometers per hour (about 6 miles per hour) and requiring riders to use dedicated parking areas or pay fines, Paris has become the first city to completely reverse its policy on offering contracts to shared micromobility companies.
In a referendum on Sunday organized by Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, Paris residents voted 89% against keeping shared e-scooters in the city. The three companies that pay for contracts to operate in the City of Light will have to pull their fleets — a total of 15,000 e-scooters — out of the city by September 1.
Hidalgo, who originally welcomed shared e-scooters to Paris, has pushed for the city to become a more livable 15-minute city and has spearheaded policies that reclaim parking spots from cars to create new bike lanes and pedestrian-friendly areas. However, shared scooters have gotten a lot of pushback from many city residents who often complain about reckless driving and clutter on sidewalks.
Hidalgo said on Sunday that scooters are the cause of a lot of accidents and that the business model was too expensive to be sustainable, with a 10-minute ride costing about €5. She also said free-floating scooters aren’t as climate friendly as she’d want. At the start of the year, TechCrunch dived deep into scooter usage in Paris and found through a variety of studies that while e-scooters are incredibly popular, they mostly replace walking or public transit rather than car usage.
That doesn’t mean they didn’t replace any car trips. One study from 2019 found 7% of kilometers covered by scooters replace car and personal taxi trips, a number that has likely grown over the years. But 7% is not nothing, says Hélène Chartier, director of urban planning at C40, a global network of mayors taking urgent climate change action. Chartier previously served as an advisor to Hidalgo.
“As part of a mobility package that Paris would offer as an alternative to cars, [shared e-scooters] could have been an option,” said Chartier. “Without all of the other problems, they could have said, ‘Ok why not?’ But if you add the accidents, if you add the difficulty on the public space, at some point, you need to say this is not the main solution. We should invest more in bikes, e-bikes, walking.”
David Zipper, a visiting fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Taubman Center for State and Local Government, tweeted that he wasn’t surprised to see Paris vote against shared e-scooters, but he didn’t expect such a large margin. That sentiment has been mirrored by scooter advocates and the companies themselves.
Dott, Lime and Tier said in a joint statement that the low voter turnout affected the results of the referendum. Only 103,084 people turned out to vote, which is about 7.5% of registered Paris voters. They blamed restrictive rules, a limited number of polling stations (and thus long lines that dissuade young voters) and no electronic voting, saying the combination “heavily skewed toward older age groups, which has widened the gap between pros and cons.”
Additionally, the companies said the referendum was held the same day as the Paris marathon, and that only residents of the city were allowed to vote, leaving out those who live just outside the city but commute in.
The operators offered free rides to customers who voted Sunday and relied on social media influencers to try to get young users to vote, efforts that seem to have gone in vain. Parisians reported there were a high proportion of older voters in the queues.
The referendum isn’t binding, so Hidalgo can still make the unlikely decision to keep scooters in the city based on the low voter turnout. The numbers clearly show that scooters are popular. Lime has previously told TechCrunch that 90% of its fleet in Paris is used every day. In 2021, over 1.2 million scooter riders, 85% of whom were Parisians, took a total of 10 million rides across Lime, Dott and Tier. That’s around 27,000 rides per day.
The ban will not have an effect on the e-bikes offered by shared micromobility companies, which will remain in the city. Similarly, privately owned scooters are not affected by the ban, of which 700,000 were sold in France last year, according to transport ministry figures.
Paris votes overwhelmingly to ban shared e-scooters by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch
UPDATE: Tesla tweaks Model 3 page of U.S. website encouraging buyers to take delivery now in anticipation of reduced tax incentives by March 31.
The U.S. Treasury Department’s guidance on battery sourcing requirements for the electric vehicle tax credits will result in fewer vehicles being eligible for full or partial credits, reports Reuters, citing an unnamed U.S. official.
The proposed EV credit guidance as included in the Inflation Reduction Act says that in order for vehicles to qualify for $3,750, which is half of the total credit, 50% of the value of battery components must be produced or assembled in North America. To get the remainder of the credit, 40% of critical minerals must be sourced from the U.S. or a country with which it has a free trade agreement.
The guidance on battery sourcing was meant to kick in on January 1, 2023, but in December the Treasury Dept. decided to hold off until March to give some EV-makers a grace period to meet the requirements.
The Treasury Dept. is expected to share its guidance Friday, and while the Reuters report doesn’t state exactly what it will be, we can guess that the full guidance will kick in, meaning many EVs will lose tax credits or see them cut. The Treasury Dept. is also expected to define key terms like processing, extraction, recycling and free trade deals.
The battery sourcing rules are aimed at helping the U.S. decrease its reliance on China for batteries. While most automakers have been reorganizing supply chains and bringing more processes onshore since COVID, not all will have had the chance to completely upgrade their battery sourcing in time to meet both the Treasury Dept.’s requirements and the increased demand for EVs.
China currently makes 81% of the world’s cathodes, 91% of the world’s anodes and 79% of the world’s lithium-ion battery production capacity, according to data from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, a market research firm. For comparison, the U.S. has just 0.16%, 0.27% and 5.5% market share, respectively.
Despite the U.S., and most of its free trade agreement partners, being woefully behind China, the Biden administration has said it thinks over time, the tax credit will result in more EVs sold as automakers reorganize supply chains to meet the IRA rules, the source told Reuters.
In February, the Treasury Dept. updated the vehicle classification standard to redefine what makes a vehicle a sedan, an SUV, a crossover or a wagon. The change made more Tesla, Ford, General Motors and Volkswagen EVs eligible for up to $7,500 tax credits. Those vehicles stand to lose some or all of the tax credits once the battery sourcing guidance is out. In fact, Tesla on Wednesday evening updated the Model 3 page on its U.S. website to reflect this, saying the tax credit is expected to be reduced for the vehicle by March 31 and encouraging buyers to “take delivery now.”
Battery sourcing guidance might slash EV tax credits by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch
Swedish company Candela this summer will launch its 30-passenger commercial hydrofoil shuttle, the P-12, the vessel it believes will change the course of motorized water transport. Following its C-7 and C-8 leisure cruisers, Candela has already been making waves with its drive to transition to fossil-free waterways.
“We are now heavy into the process of finalizing the development and putting this ferry into production, which we think is going to be kind of a game changer in public transportation,” said Gustav Hasselskog, Candela’s founder and CEO.
The company raised SEK 210 million (around $20 million) in a round co-led by EQT Ventures and investor duo Joel Eklund (Fosielund Holding AB) and Svante Nilo Bengtsson (Marknadspotential AB), with participation from Ocean Zero LLC and others. This follows its $24 million round from last year.
The P-12 is an electric-powered hydrofoil that effectively flies over the surface of the water on computer-guided underwater wings. It has a range of up to 60 nautical miles at a cruising speed of 27 knots. Being electrically powered makes the P-12 cleaner and greener than traditional diesel-fueled craft, which also makes it cheaper to operate. Candela estimates that the P-12 uses 80% less energy than a traditional vessel.
“It’s a very good thing for the environment. In total, the shipping industry is around 3% of total carbon emissions,” says Hasselskog. However, as well as the benefits of being electric-powered, the P-12 is designed to be low maintenance and with lower service costs.
“We use a low maintenance type of dry drain. We have developed this pod motor, which doesn’t have any gears, any oil or anything; it’s just motors underneath the water,” explains Hasselskog.
If the decision to make a passenger vessel with a maximum capacity of 30 people seems a little unusual, it’s because it is designed for coastal, archipelago or lake-based transport, and how people actually use water transport in these geographies.
“It looks the same in Oslo, in Stockholm, in New York and everywhere: most of these boats are typically 300 passengers. But when you study optimal boat size, especially in Stockholm, Istanbul and in San Francisco, it’s concluded that it’s not the optimal boat size. Seat utilization is typically super low. In Stockholm, it’s 5% over the year,” says Hasselskog. “When you have only 30 passengers, you don’t need more than one staff member on board; otherwise, you need three staff members. If you put that all together, you get a very good cost equation, and that’s why we went with this format. Operators save typically around 40% compared to traditional, large, diesel setups.”
Smaller craft can also be deployed more flexibly, for example, by operating on an on-demand basis rather than on a fixed timetable, and can travel to more remote locations. The company says this format has huge cost-efficiency benefits for operators.
Candela is looking to build on this flexible approach to transport and is currently developing its own software to enable real-time fleet routing.
“The first one we’re going to put in water is for the city of Stockholm,” says Hasselskog. “It’s going to run from a suburb outside of town into the center. If you travel that route today by bus and subway, or by the current boat, it takes 50 minutes. We can do that in 25 minutes, the reason being we don’t create any wake so we have permission to go faster. If we can save commuters’ journey time, that makes a huge difference.”
For Candela and Hasselskog, the future looks like large fleets of small craft that can travel more quickly to more remote locations with greater flexibility. It might be starting in Stockholm, but it estimates that the market is €15 billion in size, and the format has global appeal.
”The next step for us here is to… take a place like Stockholm, where there are, say, 35 big ferries today. We will replace them with 120 of ours,” says Hasselskog. And from there: “It’s a global business that we envision and so far, we are in dialogue with hundreds of customers. They are spread from Hong Kong to Sydney. There are a lot in the Gulf region, in Europe, and we have dialogues in Mexico, Belize, San Francisco, New York.”
The company is taking a big bet that bigger isn’t always better, in the hope that smaller can mean faster, greener and more serviceable.
Foiled again: Candela raises another $20M to set course for the future of ferries by Haje Jan Kamps originally published on TechCrunch
Honda bailed on the Clarity — its only hydrogen-powered car in the U.S. — but the automaker hasn’t quit on fuel cells.
That’s the message Honda sent with a peculiar announcement today: It’s putting some old Clarity fuel cells back to work, combining them into a backup power system for its data center just south of Los Angeles.
This is just a “proof of concept,” Honda told TechCrunch, but it aims to commercialize the tech and sees potential applications beyond helping data centers keep the lights on.
The used fuel cell systems in Honda’s backup-power demonstration once powered leased Clarities (via an electrochemical reaction that combines hydrogen and oxygen to generate electricity). Honda retired these used fuel cells for transport, but they apparently still work well enough to drive its server farm in case of a power failure. Previously, Honda relied on diesel for backup power at the facility. (Honda said it uses this particular data center to “securely maintain and access its proprietary data,” because “automotive design is data intensive.”)
It’s nice to hear that Honda found a use for its old fuel cells, but crucially, this demonstration isn’t as environmentally friendly as it could be. The company told TechCrunch that it isn’t exclusively using green hydrogen in the pilot, which means at least some of it was generated via fossil fuels.
This is the trouble with using hydrogen to generate electricity: Fuel cells do so while spitting out only water and heat as exhaust, but they’re still indirectly pollutive if that hydrogen comes from dirty sources (as most hydrogen fuel does). Correcting this demands a whole lot more green hydrogen production, on top of whatever infrastructure is needed to deliver the hydrogen. This is why some automakers don’t believe in the future of hydrogen-powered cars; they argue it’s simply too much work to go that route.
But! Honda still believes in hydrogen-powered cars. In fact, this demonstration is also kind of an ad for Honda’s next-generation fuel cells, which the company developed with General Motors.
As Honda tells it, the next-gen fuel cell systems will power its upcoming hydrogen-powered vehicle, which is “based on the Honda CR-V” and is due in 2024.
Honda also plans to use these new fuel cell systems for backup power as it scales the tech. That means this effort won’t be as circular, if at all, when it’s commercialized. Yet, on the upside, Honda said it intends to exclusively use green hydrogen when it commercializes the backup-power units.
Beyond data centers, Honda added that it’s considering other applications, including “peak shaving.” This means Honda thinks industrial customers could use its generators at peak times, when electricity is priciest and grids are strained.
Honda said it aims to develop its proof of concept into a “new business model.” Yet, the pilot is also a convenient way for the company to talk up its new fuel cells. As battery-electric cars permeate the U.S. market, Honda has an interest in keeping hydrogen in headlines.
Honda’s aging hydrogen fuel cells get new life in data center by Harri Weber originally published on TechCrunch
As a Universal Hydrogen-branded plane, equipped with the largest hydrogen fuel cell ever to power an aircraft, made its maiden test flight in eastern Washington, co-founder and CEO Paul Eremenko declared the moment the dawn of a “new golden age of aviation.”
The 15-minute test flight of a modified Dash-8 aircraft was short, but it showed that hydrogen could be viable as a fuel for short-hop passenger aircraft. That is, if Universal Hydrogen — and others in the emerging world of hydrogen flight — can make the technical and regulatory progress needed to make it a mainstream product.
Dash-8s, a staple at regional airports, usually transport up to 50 passengers on short hops. The Dash-8 used in Thursday’s test flight from the Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake had decidedly different cargo. The Universal Hydrogen test plane, nicknamed Lightning McClean, had just two pilots, an engineer and a lot of tech onboard, including an electric motor and hydrogen fuel cell supplied by two other startups.
The stripped-down interior contained two racks of electronics and sensors, and two large hydrogen tanks with 30 kg of fuel. Beneath the plane’s right wing, an electric motor from magniX was being driven by the new hydrogen fuel cell from Plug Power. This system turns hydrogen into electricity and water — an emission-free powerplant that Eremenko believes represents the future of aviation.
The fuel cell operated throughout the flight, generating up to 800kW of power and producing nothing but water vapor and smiles on the faces of a crowd of Universal Hydrogen engineers and investors.
“We think it’s a pretty monumental accomplishment,” Eremenko said. “It keeps us on track to have probably the first certified hydrogen airplane in passenger service.”
Aviation currently contributes about 2.5% of global carbon emissions, and is forecast to grow by 4% annually.
The Universal Hydrogen-branded plane also relied on jet fuel. Notice the Pratt and Whitney turboprop engine under one wing. Image Credits: Mark Harris
The test flight, which was a success, doesn’t mean entirely zero-carbon aviation is just around the corner.
Beneath the Dash-8’s other wing ran a standard Pratt and Whitney turboprop engine (notice the difference in the photo above), with about twice as much power as the fuel-cell side. That redundancy helped smooth a path with the FAA, which issued an experimental special airworthiness certificate for the Dash-8 tests in early February.
One of the test pilots, Michael Bockler, told TechCrunch that the aircraft “flew like a normal Dash-8, with just a slight yaw.” He noted that at one point, in level flight, the plane was flying almost entirely on fuel cell power, with the turboprop engine throttled down.
“Until both motors are driven by hydrogen, it’s still just a show,” said a senior engineer consulting to the sustainable aviation industry. “But I don’t want to scoff at it because we need these stepping stones to learn.”
Part of the problem with today’s fuel cells is that they can be tricky to cool. Jet engines run much hotter, but expel most of that heat through their exhausts. Because fuel cells use an electrochemical reaction rather than simply burning hydrogen, the waste heat has to be removed through a system of heat exchangers and vents.
ZeroAvia, another startup developing hydrogen fuel cells for aviation, crashed its first flying prototype in 2021 after turning off its fuel cell mid-air to allow it to cool, and was then unable to restart it. ZeroAvia has since taken to the air again with a hybrid hydrogen/fossil fuel set-up similar to Universal Hydrogen’s, although on a smaller twin-engine aircraft.
Mark Cousin, Universal Hydrogen’s CTO, told TechCrunch that its fuel cell could run all day without overheating, thanks to its large air ducts.
Another issue for fuel cell aircraft is storing the hydrogen needed to fly. Even in its densest, super-cooled liquid form, hydrogen contains only about a quarter the energy of a similar volume of jet fuel. Wing tanks are not large enough for any but the shortest flights, and so the fuel has to be stored within the fuselage. Today’s 15-minute flight used about 16kg of gaseous hydrogen — half the amount stored in two motorbike-sized tanks within the passenger compartment. Universal Hydrogen plans to convert its test aircraft to run on liquid hydrogen later this year.
A Universal Hydrogen module. Image Credits: Mark Harris
Eremenko co-founded Universal Hydrogen in 2020, and the company raised $20.5 million in a 2021 Series A funding round led by Playground Global. Funding to date is approaching $100 million, including investments from Airbus, General Electric, American Airlines, JetBlue and Toyota. The company is headquartered just up the road from SpaceX in Hawthorne, California, with an engineering facility in Toulouse, France.
Universal Hydrogen will now conduct further tests at Moses Lake. The company will work on additional software development, and eventually convert the plane to use liquid hydrogen. Early next year, the aircraft will likely be retired — with the fuel cell heading to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.
Universal Hydrogen hopes to start shipping fuel cell conversion kits for regional aircraft like the Dash-8 as soon as 2025. The company already has nearly 250 retrofit orders valued at more than $1 billion from 16 customers, including Air New Zealand. John Thomas, CEO of Connect Airlines, which plans to be the first U.S. carrier to use Universal Hydrogen’s technology, said the “partnership provides the fastest path to zero-emissions operation for the global airline industry.”
Universal Hydrogen isn’t just producing the razors — it’s also selling the blades.
Almost all the hydrogen used today is produced at the point of consumption. That’s not only because hydrogen leaks easily and can damage traditional steel containers, but mainly because in its most useful form — a compact liquid — it has to be kept at just 20 degrees above absolute zero, usually requiring expensive refrigeration.
The liquid hydrogen used in the Moses Lake test came from a commercial “green hydrogen” gas supplier — meaning it was made using renewable energy. Only a tiny fraction of hydrogen produced today is made this way.
If the hydrogen economy is really going to make a dent in the climate crisis, green hydrogen will have to become a lot easier — and cheaper — to produce, store and transport.
Eremenko originally started Universal Hydrogen to design standardized hydrogen modules that could be hauled by standard semi-trucks and simply slotted into aircraft or other vehicles for immediate use. The current design can keep hydrogen liquid for up to 100 hours, and he has often likened them to the convenience of Nespresso units. Universal Hydrogen says it has over $2 billion in fuel service orders for the decade ahead.
Prototype modules were demonstrated in December, and the company hopes to break ground later this year on a 630,000-square-foot manufacturing facility for them in Albuquerque, New Mexico. That nearly $400 million project is contingent on the success of a previously unreported $200+ million U.S. Department of Energy loan application. Eremenko says the application has passed the first phase of due diligence within the DOE.
Some experts are skeptical that hydrogen will ever make a meaningful dent in aviation’s emissions. Bernard van Dijk, an aviation scientist at the Hydrogen Science Coalition, appreciates the simplicity of Universal Hydrogen’s modules, but notes that even NASA has trouble controlling hydrogen leaks with its rockets. “You still have to connect the canisters to the aircraft. How is that all going to be safe? Because if it leaks and somebody lights a match, that is a recipe for disaster,” he says. “I think they’re also underestimating the whole certification process for a new hydrogen powertrain.”
Even when those obstacles are overcome, there is the problem of making enough green hydrogen using renewable electricity, at a price people will be prepared to play. “If you want to get all European flights on hydrogen, you’d need 89,000 large wind turbines to produce enough hydrogen,” says van Dijk. “They would cover an area about twice the size of the Netherlands.”
But Eremenko remains convinced that Universal Hydrogen and its partners can make it work, with the help of a $3 per kilogram subsidy for green hydrogen in Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. “Of all the things that keep me awake at night,” he says, “the cost and availability of green hydrogens is not one of them.”
Universal Hydrogen takes to the air with the largest hydrogen fuel cell ever to fly by Kirsten Korosec originally published on TechCrunch
The big, giant message Tesla CEO Elon Musk and other execs tried to impart during its four-hour Tesla Investor Day was how the company would be the driver of a global shift away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy. Investors, at least those active after the market closed, weren’t impressed perhaps because it lacked that big product announcement, specific details on the next step in its so-called master plan 3 or Musk’s signature “one more thing” line.
Shares of Tesla fell 5.66% in after-hours trading.
Much of the event was more history lesson than a forecast of future business — although the nuance was that, of course, all roads lead to the future. And large sections of the event were dedicated to operational efficiencies and efforts to reduce cost at virtually every level of company. (which normally investors like).
Perhaps the most interesting parts are what was not said. Musk and an unusually long lineup of department leads did not share new details on Tesla’s next-generation EV and its upcoming factory in Mexico nor did they address current issues with its Full Self-Driving software that is currently unavailable to those who opted to buy the $15,000 option due to a recall.
Still, there was some news and insights from the event. Here’s a roundup highlighting the big stuff.
Image Credits: Tesla/screenshot
This isn’t a new goal for Tesla. But a string of executives, who came on stage to talk about everything from manufacturing and raw materials to design, charging and batteries, all really tried to prove their case for how they would reach that goal.
The slide above shows the existing portfolio, the Model S, Model X, Model Y and Model 3 — as well as the Tesla Semi and the Cybertruck, and two veiled vehicles.
It’s worth looking at the 20 million vehicles per year number for a bit of a reality check. Tesla produced 1,369,611 and delivered 1,313,851 vehicles in 2022. Toyota, the global sales leader, sold 10.5 million vehicles last year.
That means, and follow the math, Tesla would need to increase its production (and sales mind you) about 15 times from 2022.
So, how will Tesla achieve this? Musk said it’s not a demand problem (a phrase he has used repeatedly in the past). The tough part is building the darned things, he said. Tesla’s answers are: vertical integration, scaling existing factories and building new ones, making the manufacturing process more efficient and adding a few more models. (But, interestingly, not too many; Musk said maybe 10 models total).
Tesla is famous for its constant push towards vertical integration. It’s the only car company in recent memory that took on making its own seats, for instance.
That message continued at the investor event, with executives discussing different pieces of the vertical-integration goal. Tesla has brought in house already, including building its own chip. But the company has continued to push the bounds of vertical integration, right down to the software it uses for in-house operations. Execs said that recently that got rid of an outsourced software for recruiting to use its own and that it developed its own purpose-built microprocessor for high-power electronics that will reduce costs by half.
For Tesla, vertical integration equals cost reductions. And that’s one of the big aims to achieve that bigger mission.
Image Credits: Tesla/screenshot
Tesla has even extended its vertical integration efforts to the materials it uses in battery cells.
Tesla officially broke ground at a new lithium refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas, Drew Baglino, senior vice president of powertrain and energy engineering, confirmed during the event.
During the presentation, Tesla showed a rendering of the 50 gigawatt-hour per year lithium refinery. The company’s messaging around speed and scale continued with the refinery project, as Baglino noted they’re working to have it operational by the end of 2023.
“This is a good example of something where we’re basically talking about breaking ground and and starting commissioning within 10 months and with actual production within 12 months,” Baglino said. “That’s the target.”
Musk added later, during a Q&A session, that a cathode processing facility will eventually be built adjacent to the lithium refinery. He also noted that the company would prefer if others took on lithium mining.
“We’re doing it because we have to not because we want to,” Musk said.
Image Credits: Tesla/screenshot
Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador technically broke the news Tuesday, but Musk reiterated the announcement without sharing any new details aside from a rendering.
“We’re excited to announce that the next Tesla gigafactory will be in Mexico near Monterey,” Musk said. “We do want to emphasize we will continue to expand production at all of our existing factories, including California, Nevada, here in Texas, Shanghai, so we intend to increase production at all factories. So the Giga Mexico would be supplemental to the output of all the other factories.”
Musk went on to tease a grand opening event at the factory.
Image Credits: Tesla/screenshot
As we mentioned above, Tesla displayed two veiled vehicles during the presentation, hinting at how it will build its next-generation of vehicles on a completely different platform design. A big part of that design is building in a way that relies on automation to scale faster and cheaper.
“It’s going to look something like this where we build all the sides of the cars independently, we only paint what we need to, and then we assemble the parts of the car once, and only once. We put them where they need to go,” Baglino said.
Baglino noted that this would mean more people and robots having the space to work on separate pieces of the car, rather than lugging heavy objects to a central buildout. What that looks like on the factory floor is sub-assemblies, wherein the front, rear and floor with seats are assembled separately, and then put together at final assembly.
“To increase the scale of adoption of electric vehicles to the orders of magnitude that we just showed you, we have to make constraints part of the solution,” he said. “It leads us to greater than 40% reduction in footprint, which means we can build factories faster, with less capex and more output per unit dollar.”
While that theoretically sounds neat, factories are dangerous places and when more people work in closer quarters, injuries can happen.
Neither Baglino, Musk nor head of design Franz von Holzhausen gave additional details on next-generation vehicles. The only hint: This next-gen design may also be used on the Cybertruck, according to Baglino.
Image Credits: Tesla/screenshot
As part of Tesla’s next-gen design, the company is developing a new drive unit that it says will be more scalable, in large part because it will eventually eliminate the use of rare earth materials.
“We have designed our next drive unit to use a permanent magnet motor to not use any rare earth materials at all,” said Colin Campbell, VP of powertrain engineering, noting that the new drive unit cost has been reduced to $1,000. Those savings could, in theory, be passed onto the consumer to make for a more accessible, affordable EV.
Tesla said its next powertrain will also use 75% less silicone carbide without compromising performance or efficiency of the vehicle. The new powertrain is also compatible with any battery chemistry, which will give Tesla more flexibility in battery sourcing, said Campbell. Finally, Tesla’s new powertrain factory is apparently 50% smaller than the current one in Austin, which Campbell said means faster scaling of EV production.
The third part of Tesla’s Master Plan Part 3 is to switch home, business and industrial heating to heat pumps. Most of that portion of the presentation was just a Climate Tech 101 on the ill effects of traditional heating systems and how heat pumps could help. Musk said at some point Tesla might consider building heat pumps for the home to help solve this problem.
Tesla already produces heat pumps for its cars, so expanding into homes wouldn’t be far out of left field. But if you have a gas or oil heater, the good news is you don’t have to wait for Tesla to replace it. Plenty of other companies already do this, including Sealed and BlocPower.
Image Credits: Tesla
Tesla broke up its info-dump with some announcements, and several hints, on the future of its EV charging and energy storage businesses. Most concretely, the automaker formally introduced Magic Dock, an upgrade to Tesla’s charging stations which opens them up to vehicles that aren’t Teslas. Rolling out the tech will enable Tesla to tap into billions in federal subsidies.
Tesla also said it will add a $30 “unlimited overnight home charging” plan to Tesla Electric in July. An invite-only electric plan, Tesla Electric is exclusively available to Powerwall havers in parts of Texas where retail choice exists. Tesla added that it aims to expand its electric plan into other areas — “market by market, in the same way that we’ve approached Tesla insurance.” The company offered no specific dates.
Later, the automaker said it would debut new energy storage products in 2023. One chart shown to investors appeared to depict new megapack and powerwall designs, also hidden beneath illustrated veils. Take this with a grain or more of salt; Tesla has a track record of missing its own deadlines.
Image Credits: Tesla/screenshot
Tesla teased a little more information about its humanoid robot, the Optimus, with a video showing two robots slowly building another bot — a big step up from the prototype Tesla showed last October at AI Day.
As usual, Musk stated that Optimus will be worth significantly more than the car side of things. Optimus is trained using the same AI that trains Tesla’s Autopilot and FSD, and Musk detailed how even much of the hardware for Optimus is taken from Tesla’s cars.
“The actuators in Optimus are all custom designed Tesla actuators,” said Musk. “We designed the electric motor or the gearbox, the power electronics, obviously the battery pack and everything else that goes into Optimus. The same team that designed the groundbreaking electric motors that are in the Model S Plaid designed the actuators in the robot.”
What this means, said Musk, is that Tesla has the tools to bring an actual humanoid robot product to market at scale. Now it’s just a question of timing. And also, apparently, of what the ratio of humans to humanoid robots will be. Musk reckons it’ll be greater than one-to-one because the robots can be used at homes, in industrial use cases and more.
How the robot fits into Tesla’s Master Plan Part 3, which is focused on a sustainable energy future for Earth, isn’t exactly clear.
Everything Elon Musk and execs shared (and skipped) at Tesla Investor Day by Kirsten Korosec originally published on TechCrunch
Air Company, a startup that turns carbon dioxide into perfume, vodka, hand sanitizer and aviation fuel, is now on the U.S. Defense Department’s payroll, so to speak.
The JetBlue and Toyota-backed company struck an up-to $65 million deal to help the Air Force capture CO2 and turn it into “sustainable” aviation fuel on base.
Air Company said the carbon will initially come from industrial fermentation facilities — which is how the startup makes fuel at its “pilot plant” in Brooklyn, New York. But the company also has its hands in direct air capture, which is “part of the technology that Air Company would be building out on site,” a spokesperson for the firm said.
The goal is not for Air Company to supply fuel but to provide the Air Force with tech to make the fuel itself. The company described producing fuel on bases as “harm reduction,” saying it prevents “fuel transportation as a target for explosives.”
“The contract is tiered out over the next several years,” a spokesperson told TechCrunch. Air Company aims to work with the Air Force to produce “tens of hundreds of gallons,” and later “tens of thousands of gallons,” of jet fuel. As one astute TechCrunch reader commented below, “tens of hundreds” is also known as “thousands.”
The Department of Defense is a notorious carbon polluter, though it is cagey about how much fuel it burns. Researchers at England’s Lancaster University estimate the DoD emits “more climate-changing gases than most medium-sized countries.” The same researchers argue that “action on climate change demands shuttering vast sections of the military machine.”
Sustainable aviation fuel can come from lots of things; possible feedstocks include household waste, a variety of crops, and used cooking oil. The source of the fuel, as well as how it’s produced and transported, determines whether it’s actually as sustainable as the name suggests.
Asked about its environmental impact, Air Company told TechCrunch that it exclusively uses renewable electricity to produce its fuel today, which it called “completely carbon neutral when burned.”
This story was updated on March 1, 2023 with additional details on Air Company’s deal.
Startup inks $65M deal to help Air Force make ‘sustainable’ jet fuel on bases by Harri Weber originally published on TechCrunch
After a decade of keeping its North American charging network closed to outsiders, Tesla appears poised to allow other electric vehicles to use its Superchargers.
The White House announced on Wednesday that the company would open 7,500 chargers — including 3,500 250 kW stalls along highways — to any EV with the combined charging system (CCS), the standard broadly used in the U.S. (The company has vowed to do something similar before, so maybe don’t hold your breath just yet, though this new Biden administration fact sheet has some hard numbers, which were notably absent last year.) The first bricks in the EV charger wall should rattle loose by the end of 2024.
If Tesla follows through — again, a big “if” given the company’s preference for splashy announcements and optimistic timelines — it could usher in a sea change in EV charging infrastructure in the U.S.
Today, Electrify America, the closest competitor, has about 3,500 fast chargers. If Tesla were to make the change overnight, it would double the number of fast-charging stalls.
Tesla’s main motivator, of course, is getting a piece of the $7.5 billion EV charging pie that’s part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. While opening a portion of the Supercharger network will help the automaker’s bottom line courtesy of the government, the move will also have some knock-on effects that are likely to upend EV charging in the U.S. Here are a few ways those could unfurl.
The cynical take is that Tesla is simply going to use federal money to put even more distance between itself and its competitors. It’s possible, even likely, that the company will use the new funding to add new stalls to its already enviable network.
Tesla opening its Superchargers to all EVs might be a masterstroke — or a terrible mistake by Tim De Chant originally published on TechCrunch
The European Parliament formally approved a law to ban the sale of new gas and diesel cars in the European Union starting in 2035 in a move designed to speed up the transition to electric vehicles.
The new legislation, which is part of a broader effort by the EU to combat climate change, says that by 2035, carmakers must achieve a 100% cut in carbon-dioxide emissions from new cars sold, which means no new fossil fuel–powered vehicles could be sold in the 27-country bloc.
With 340 votes in favor, 279 against and 21 abstentions, the new rules also set a path for more immediate emissions reductions targets. New cars and vans sold from 2030 will have to meet a 55% and 50% cut in emissions, respectively, compared to 2021 levels. The previous 2030 emissions target for new cars sold was 37.5%.
The law was first accepted by negotiators from EU countries, the European Parliament and the European Commission in October last year, so Tuesday’s approval is just a step before the law gets a formal rubber stamp and the rules begin to take effect. That’s expected to happen in March.
Member of the European Parliament Jan Huitema said these target revisions are crucial steps if Europe wants to reach climate neutrality by 2050.
“These targets create clarity for the car industry and stimulate innovation and investments for car manufacturers,” Huitema said in a statement. “Purchasing and driving zero-emission cars will become cheaper for consumers and a second-hand market will emerge more quickly. It makes sustainable driving accessible to everyone.”
However, some automakers, industry players and countries have been giving the EU pushback ever since the law was proposed in July 2021. Renault, for example, said in 2021 that it would seek an extension to the proposed plan to ban internal combustion engine vehicle sales in the EU by 2035, instead hoping to push out the transition to 2040 so it could provide more affordable cars to EV buyers.
As a result of resistance, the final deal approved Tuesday includes flexibilities, including a caveat for small carmakers producing fewer than 10,000 vehicles per year to be able to negotiate weaker targets until 2036.
EU formally bans sale of gas and diesel cars from 2035 by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch
“That doesn’t look safe.”
The statement would follow me for days. Every time I mentioned I was test driving Arcimoto’s Fun Utility Vehicle — an open-air, all-electric three-wheeler — a friend or co-worker would pipe up to state, what to them, seemed like the obvious.
After all, most cars have four wheels, not three. They also tend to have doors and airbags too.
Arcimoto’s FUV (or Fooove as I chose to pronounce it) has something most of those fully enclosed sedans and subcompacts do not: It’s a thrill to drive without feeling like a deathtrap.
Legally speaking, the FUV is a motorcycle. I think of it more as an electric go-kart that hits 75 mph on the highway. If you’re like my colleague Brian Heater, however, your first thought might be “Flintmobile.” Another colleague wondered if it was more like an ATV. While yet another friend later said the FUV reminded them of a Little Tikes Cozy Coupe.
Whatever you conclude on first blush, one thing’s for sure: If you want to drive something that everyone will hastily form an opinion of, then oh boy is this the car for you.
A quick, 10-minute walkthrough and lap around the block was apparently all the training I needed before an Arcimoto staffer sent me off on my own in the FUV.
I picked it up at GoCar Tours Las Vegas, and really that’s the rub. The FUV could be a neat little neighborhood cruiser, but in a town like Vegas, this three-wheeler screams touristic excursion. Arcimoto may as well’ve built it for soaking in the spectacle of the Strip, but I’d like to think the little guy also introduced some flavor of its own to the otherwise SUV-dominated roads.
Driving down the Strip in the Arcimoto FUV
The FUV features heated seats and handlebars to compensate for the wind chill. There’s also a steel panoramic roof (that GoCar filled in with ads), a hand and foot break (the former is regenerative), Bluetooth speakers and a projected 102-mile range in the city.
I adjusted to the handlebar throttle (and missing steering wheel) quicker than I expected. At a traffic signal, I queued a few songs I felt comfortable subjecting passersby to, sank deeper into the front seat and rode around like I had real errands to do.
I’m a habitual, smug pedestrian and don’t own a car, but as I pulled into a pharmacy parking lot and tugged my tote bag out of the trunk (a small, lockable “cargo box”), I thought: “Hey, three wheels are better than none.” I was riding high on Pixies‘ Doolittle album and the novelty of it all, cruising down virtually empty roads shortly before CES attendees and cabs would clog Sin City’s arteries.
The FUV is tiny, but it can’t exactly weave around traffic like a conventional motorcycle. Still, there were moments I deeply appreciated its small stature, and steered around stretches of cars that were taking up half the lane waiting to turn.
Another shot of Arcimoto’s FUV on the Strip
Plus, I could park just about anywhere. It takes up so little space that reserving an entire parking spot for the FUV seems almost wasteful.
Riding around with a passenger in the back was also a joy. You may not believe it, but the roof does a nice job of reflecting sound, so I could easily chat with my colleague Natalie Christman while she filmed from the rear seat.
Having someone along with you also means you’re bound to spot more reactions from pedestrians. In our case, they ranged from blank stares and upward nods to outright yelling. It isn’t easy to hear what someone’s shouting from the sidewalk across ultra-wide streets, but I made out some variations of, “what’s that!?” and “Is that new?!” (It isn’t. The FUV debuted in 2019.)
Parking the FUV with plenty of room to spare
My stay in Vegas was exceedingly wet, as rare storms dumped buckets on the city. I considered this a challenge for both myself and the FUV. I agreed to endure a couple days of chilled knuckles and wet pants, so long as the goofy little vehicle did not slip ‘n slide us beneath a hulking pickup. It didn’t!
The rain wasn’t too challenging. Sometimes my hands went a bit numb despite the heated grips. (If I owned a FUV, I would just keep a pair of gloves in the back.) Occasionally, I dodged puddles. It was a small hassle to brush rainwater off the seat and the roof mostly did its job.
In a sprinkle, I sipped an iced latte and jotted down notes on how cold I felt. Why am I this way?
Other FUV downsides included the extra-heavy steering. It really made me work to get around turns from a full stop, handling almost like a car without power steering. I was told when I picked it up that the latest iteration of the FUV addresses this and steers lighter.
After a while, the attention got old, too. I’m an introverted trans lady, so I’m not here for the stares that accompany a visually loud vehicle. I don’t see this as a deal breaker, though — just an observation. I also love very goofy cars, so this is more of a personal contradiction than anything else.
The FUV is certainly goofy. However, in normally dry locales like Las Vegas or say, Los Angeles, it struck me as, dare I say, practical. I would prefer a teeny city car with doors and windows, and there are three-wheelers on the market that offer just that, including Electra Meccanica’s SOLO.
With room for a passenger (unlike the SOLO) and an overall breezy driving experience on a single charge, I still think Arcimoto’s FUV is less silly than it initially lets on.
The name makes it seem like a car best left for tourists; I’d happily ride it around my neighborhood for light errands. It seemed sturdy and dependable in the three and a half days I spent with it, and riding on three wheels seemed just as natural to me as four. (Side note: I did take it on the highway, reaching around 60 mph, and that was a bit too thrilling for my taste.)
There are plenty of reasons to opt for an extra-small vehicle, especially if you live in a dense area. For one, smaller vehicles require fewer materials and smaller batteries, which at least in theory should translate to lower emissions. Smaller vehicles are also less likely to kill pedestrians.
If you have any safety concerns, you can check out what Arcimoto has to say about that here. A spokesperson for the company told TechCrunch that the FUV’s “steel upper frame meets the FMVSS 216a Roof Crush Resistance standard.”
The car also includes a crash-sensor that disconnects the battery on impact and “dual 3-point safety seatbelts.” That means you have to buckle up twice when you get in.
If you want to try the FUV out for yourself, you may want to hurry. After laying off dozens of staffers, Eugene, Oregon-based Arcimoto alerted investors in January that it was running out of cash.
“We have halted our production of vehicles and will require substantial additional funding to resume production,” the automaker said.
Without fresh funds, Arcimoto warned at the time that it “will be required to cease our operations and/or seek bankruptcy protection.” The startup’s market cap sat around $13.5 million when this story was published, a far cry from its $1 billion-plus high two years ago.
The FUV starts at $17,900 before subsidies, but the price creeps above $25,000 with upgrades like fancier seats, half doors, a rear cargo box and cup holders. Arcimoto also sells used FUVs; on its site, the company has one listed for $16,800.
If you know something about Arcimoto, reach out to this reporter via email or Twitter DM.
[gallery ids="2483830,2483831,2483829,2483832,2483834"]The Arcimoto Fun Utility Vehicle is a blast (that might not last) by Harri Weber originally published on TechCrunch
Toyota’s president, Akio Toyoda, surprised the automotive world this week by announcing he would resign his position and hand the reins over to Koji Sato, who currently helms the company’s Lexus and Gazoo Racing divisions.
But Toyoda isn’t going far. The 66-year-old isn’t retiring outright, but instead retiring to the boardroom, where he’ll take over the role of chair.
Insiders aren’t expecting Toyoda to be hands-off, either. One executive said that Toyoda was about to embark on a period of “cloister rule,” a period in Japan’s history where the emperor retired to a monastery without actually ceding power.
If that’s the case, then the shakeup in Toyota City might not be much of a shakeup at all.
Toyota’s surprise executive shakeup may disappoint investors by Tim De Chant originally published on TechCrunch
The growth keeps coming for Tesla’s energy storage business.
On Wednesday, the automaker said its home and utility-scale battery deployments reached 6.5 gigawatt hours (GWh) during its fiscal 2022, calling it “by far the highest level of deployments we have achieved.” That’s up from about 4 GWh in 2021.
For context, the average American home consumes 10,632 kilowatt hours — just over 0.01 GWh — per year, according to the U.S. Energy Department.
In the fourth quarter alone, Tesla said energy storage deployments reached 2.5 GWh — up from 2.1 GWh in Q3. Tesla’s energy storage business includes its Powerwall home batteries and its much larger Megapacks.
Tesla also updated investors on its solar business, saying deployments totaled 348 megawatts in 2022. In the final quarter of the year, the automaker’s solar deployments fell just short of recent highs, hitting 100 MW in Q4.
The disclosures cap a supremely wobbly fiscal 2022 for Tesla.
In July, the automaker’s solar energy arm announced its “strongest” quarter in four years, with 106 megawatts deployed in Q2. Tesla said something similar about its energy storage business in Q3, declaring in October that it recorded “by far the highest level [of growth it has] ever achieved,” with home and utility-scale battery deployments rocketing 62% year over year. Tesla also dipped its toes in the Texas retail electricity market with an invite-only plan called Tesla Electric.
Yet, Tesla reportedly put solar roof installations on ice during this timeframe, and one of its Megapack batteries caught fire at a California power storage site in September, state utility PG&E said. Tesla also missed some Wall Street analysts’ expectations in recent quarters — falling short on revenue in Q3 and deliveries in Q3 and Q4. Earlier on Wednesday, Tesla’s stock price was trading at a two-year low.
Tesla’s energy storage arm caps 2022 with ‘highest level’ of deployments ever by Harri Weber originally published on TechCrunch
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