Zachary Shahan, Author at CleanTechnica

Tesla Gets Order To Stop Polluting Excessively in California — 112 Notices of Violation Since 2019

Zachary Shahan — Sat, 29 Jun 2024 01:04:59 +0000

It seems that the Bay Area Air Quality Management District is getting a bit fed up with Tesla. Or, at least, it’s getting fed up with one specific problem at the Tesla Fremont factory and Tesla’s unwillingness to correct it. The district published a news release this week requiring that ... [continued]

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Chinese Electric Cars Disrupting Auto Market In Thailand?

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 22:12:39 +0000

The new AlixPartners report 2024 Global Automotive Outlook has stimulated quite a lot of thoughts and feedback. Steve Hanley kicked things off with his summary of the findings. Reading through that, I couldn’t help chiming in by pulling out a couple of key highlights and expounding on them. In between, ... [continued]

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3 Oil Companies & 3 Polluting Carmakers Among Top 10 Recipients of Green Funds! WTH?

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 19:47:54 +0000

Well, this was a shocker. I just saw word from Transport & Environment thanks to one of our news aggregators here that three “polluting carmakers” were among the 10 companies to receive the most European Union “green funds” investments. But even more shocking than that, another three of the top ... [continued]

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Chinese Car Innovation Rate Is Kind Of Bonkers — Where’s Tesla On This?

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 17:15:55 +0000

I found Steve Hanley’s article on the new 2024 Global Automotive Outlook from AlixPartners quite fascinating. Granted, we’ve been covering the Chinese electric car industry since it was basically nothing, so there isn’t much in there that’s new for us fanatics. However, nonetheless, having it put all together and a ... [continued]

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Last Chance to Get 1.99% APR on New Tesla Model 3?

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 12:23:24 +0000

It’s the end of a quarter, and Tesla is sending out reminders that this is your last chance for a crazy good deal. That deal this quarter is 1.99% APR financing on a Tesla Model 3 — well, to be specific, a Tesla Model 3 RWD (for an AWD Model ... [continued]

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Butts in Seats: Still Top Way To Get People Buying Electric Cars

Zachary Shahan — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 20:45:30 +0000

Tracking the electric vehicle revolution, it’s sometimes hard to see the trees for the forest, and sometimes it’s hard to see the forest we’re headed into when we’re looking backward at the forest we traversed. Electric vehicle sales have grown enormously in the past decade, as many of us here ... [continued]

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Former Uber Boss: Robotaxis Too Expensive, Not Replacing Human Drivers Anytime Soon — Is That True?

Zachary Shahan — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 18:50:53 +0000

To be fair, this is not a new take on the potential “robotaxi revolution.” Robotaxi tech has been expensive for as long as robotaxis have been in development. That is one of the reasons robotaxis aren’t all over the place already. But I was curious to run some numbers after ... [continued]

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Waymo Goes Big In San Francisco

Zachary Shahan — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 13:31:15 +0000

Waymo’s progress may go under the radar a bit compared to Tesla’s Full Self Driving (FSD) progress, but let’s remember that Waymo is actually offering fully self-driving robotaxi service in some areas. Now, in San Francisco, the company is making a big step forward and “going big” by opening up ... [continued]

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How The IRA Is Affecting Energy Storage Projects In The USA

Zachary Shahan — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 00:36:33 +0000

Looking through Lazard’s recent LCOE (levelized cost of energy) report, in addition to the key headline points on renewable energy costs vs. fossil fuel and nuclear energy costs, I ran across some interesting notes the analysts made about energy storage projects in the USA. In particular, Lazard highlighted some effects ... [continued]

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LCOE of Solar & Wind Still Super Cheap — New Lazard Report

Zachary Shahan — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 19:58:57 +0000

Lazard recently released its latests analysis of LCOE (levelized cost of energy) for different power sources. As has been the case for the past several years, solar and wind power remain highly competitive (aka cheap). However, estimates on the high end of the price range have come down a bit ... [continued]

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Elon Musk: Tesla’s 4680 Batteries At Cost Parity With Cheapest Suppliers’ By End Of Year

Zachary Shahan — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 22:58:10 +0000

There were a couple of segments of Tesla’s 2024 annual shareholder meeting that stood out to me as particularly interesting with regards to Tesla battery production. The first part was from Tesla’s main presentation, and I’ll start with that. However, the big information actually came toward the end of the ... [continued]

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Huge Solar Power Boom, Tariffs on Chinese Electric Cars — Top Cleantech Stories

Zachary Shahan — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 18:13:37 +0000

I’ve been traveling for summer vacation with the family and skipped a week or two, but here’s another roundup of some top CleanTechnica articles from the past two weeks. Enjoy! And let us know if there are any favorites I missed here. The European Union (EU) announced tariffs on Chinese ... [continued]

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Real (But Boring) Reasons Robotaxis May Be Overhyped

Zachary Shahan — Sun, 23 Jun 2024 17:28:21 +0000

It’s going to be a robotaxi special today, apparently. Carolyn kicked it off with an article about one independent analyst’s critique of ARK Invest’s Tesla robotaxi and stock forecast. I was triggered by some wild assumptions in that critique, so wrote my own article highlighting a few things. However, there ... [continued]

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Critique of ARK Analysts’ Tesla Robotaxi Projections Misses Some Key Points, But ARK Might Too

Zachary Shahan — Sun, 23 Jun 2024 14:31:30 +0000

Checking out the Friday critique of “Tesla’s $9 Trillion Robotaxi Dreams” on Seeking Alpha that Carolyn Fortuna just covered, a few things jumped out to me. A few things seem to be missed, misunderstood, or even misleading from the analysts. But, then again, that doesn’t mean the ARK analysis is ... [continued]

The post Critique of ARK Analysts’ Tesla Robotaxi Projections Misses Some Key Points, But ARK Might Too appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Petrol Sales In Norway Drop 8% Year Over Year

Zachary Shahan — Sat, 22 Jun 2024 23:37:01 +0000

Electric vehicle sales have been growing strong over the past decade, and especially over the past four years or so. One thing that some people have pointed out, though, is that growing EV sales is one thing, actually reducing use of petrol (gasoline and diesel) and cutting carbon emissions. Even if ... [continued]

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World Getting 120 New 1GW Nuclear Fusion Power Plants This Year! Or Something Like That …

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 21 Jun 2024 12:06:43 +0000

Well, that’s one way to put it. I have to give the credit to CleanTechnica reader “ElectricGuy” for this one. Yesterday, he wrote, “The world will add 120 new 1GW nuclear reactors this year. What a headline that would be!” He was referencing a recent report’s estimate for solar power ... [continued]

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EV Battery Replacement Costs? Meh — Tesla Batteries Designed To Outlast Their Vehicles

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 21 Jun 2024 08:54:56 +0000

One of the bigger concerns many consumers have had about buying electric cars is that the big batteries that power the cars will need to be replaced after a few years, at very high cost. That may have been a legit concern initially, especially because without electric cars that had ... [continued]

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Chinese Battery & Auto Giants Looking To Follow & Rival NIO In Battery Swapping

Zachary Shahan — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 23:03:34 +0000

Tesla tried battery swapping a long time ago. Sort of. Maybe. In any case, it didn’t last long and there were only a couple of battery swap stations trialled. Better Place tried battery swapping for real in Israel, but then the company went bankrupt. NIO decided it would include battery ... [continued]

The post Chinese Battery & Auto Giants Looking To Follow & Rival NIO In Battery Swapping appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Volkswagen ID.4 Is 3rd Most American Car In USA! Tesla Model Y Still #1!

Zachary Shahan — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 17:38:47 +0000

If a man on the street was asked to guess what the most American car in the country was, I imagine there’s a strong chance they’d guess a Ford, a Chevrolet, a Dodge, or an automobile from some other member of the Detroit “Big 3.” To be clear, what we’re ... [continued]

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The Actual Benefit of High Tariffs on Chinese Electric Cars in Europe & USA

Zachary Shahan — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 13:08:56 +0000

There has been a vast amount of discussion on Chinese electric cars making their way to European and US markets, and the European Union and USA putting high tariffs on these electric cars based on the assumption that production of these electric cars is being unfairly subsidized, overproduced, and then ... [continued]

The post The Actual Benefit of High Tariffs on Chinese Electric Cars in Europe & USA appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Tesla Model 3 Long Range Now Eligible for Full $7,500 Tax Credit — Low Cost of Ownership Now

Zachary Shahan — Wed, 19 Jun 2024 22:07:37 +0000

You can now buy the Tesla Model 3 Long Range in the United States and get the full $7500 federal tax credit. That is, of course, if you have that much tax liability. Consult a tax professional before counting on the full $7500 if you are not sure of your ... [continued]

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BYD Tries To Conquer Europeans via Their Hearts — The Euros

Zachary Shahan — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 18:36:21 +0000

I’m in Europe right now, and like many here, I’m enjoying the Euros. For those not following the sport, this is like the World Cup but just for Europe. Considering that many of the best teams in the world are in Europe, considering how much neighborly rivalry there often is ... [continued]

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Elon Musk Says Tesla FSD AI Having Exactly The Problem I Thought 2 Years Ago It Was Having

Zachary Shahan — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 16:15:11 +0000

During the Q&A session of the 2024 Tesla annual shareholder meeting, in response to one of the questions about Full Self Driving (FSD), CEO Elon Musk explained something about Tesla’s FSD development that completely affirms a suspicion I had two years ago. Also, this is one of the key challenges ... [continued]

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1st Slide for Tesla Shareholder Annual Meeting Adamant to Debunk, But Vague & Confusing

Zachary Shahan — Sat, 15 Jun 2024 21:13:41 +0000

Covering the 2024 Tesla shareholder annual meeting, I’ve discussed two extremes that could be the future of Tesla depending on how the company’s current “big bet” turns out, and I’ve discussed 10 highlights from the main presentation. However, the first page of the slidedeck after the cover was an interesting ... [continued]

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10 Tesla Highlights from Shareholder Meeting

Zachary Shahan — Sat, 15 Jun 2024 14:33:46 +0000

Last night, I discussed two extremes that could be the future of Tesla depending on how the company’s current “big bet” turns out. It’s been no secret that Tesla’s #1 focus is now AI and robotics, and that’s now where it will either massively succeed or fail. However, there were ... [continued]

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Tesla Is Either Going To Be The Biggest Company In The World Or Collapse In Next Few Years

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 23:23:51 +0000

So, Tesla held its big annual shareholder meeting yesterday, and that included a vote to (again) give Elon Musk by far the biggest CEO compensation package in history. But the biggest story at Tesla is the same as it was last quarter, last year, and in the years to come. ... [continued]

The post Tesla Is Either Going To Be The Biggest Company In The World Or Collapse In Next Few Years appeared first on CleanTechnica.

In Auckland, 6 of 18 Gas Stations in City Core Closed “Reasonably Recently”

Zachary Shahan — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 22:06:00 +0000

New Zealand, which has been one of the fastest adopters of electric cars, has some interesting news. Thanks to reader Robert McLachlan for sharing it with us this week. According to the news report out of Auckland, New Zealand, which has a population of about 1.66 million, 6 out of ... [continued]

The post In Auckland, 6 of 18 Gas Stations in City Core Closed “Reasonably Recently” appeared first on CleanTechnica.

5 Ridiculous Things About The China–World EV Tariff Dispute — On Both Sides

Zachary Shahan — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 18:31:57 +0000

One of the biggest issues in the electric vehicle industry lately has been Chinese electric vehicle exports to the US and Europe and whether those vehicles should face high tariffs. The argument is that China* is heavily subsidizing electric vehicle production, which leads to artificially low prices for its electric ... [continued]

The post 5 Ridiculous Things About The China–World EV Tariff Dispute — On Both Sides appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Tesla Votes On Elon Musk Compensation More Complicated Than You Thought

Zachary Shahan — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 22:17:37 +0000

I will admit — based on the various headlines and articles I read about Elon Musk’s canceled compensation packet, I thought it was a pretty simple case: Elon Musk received, by far, the biggest CEO comp package in history, some people and a judge thought that it was far too ... [continued]

The post Tesla Votes On Elon Musk Compensation More Complicated Than You Thought appeared first on CleanTechnica.

California Public Utilities Commission Crushes Community Solar With Latest Monopolistic Play

Zachary Shahan — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 05:00:16 +0000

California has seen massive growth across its solar power sector — utility-scale solar, commercial solar, and residential solar have all boomed in the past decade plus. However, the utilities have been on a mission to squeeze out the little guys (distributed solar energy) for years, and after achieving quite a ... [continued]

The post California Public Utilities Commission Crushes Community Solar With Latest Monopolistic Play appeared first on CleanTechnica.

US Auto Sales Up 5% in Q1 vs. Q1 2023, Down 5% vs. Q1 2019

Zachary Shahan — Sun, 09 Jun 2024 18:44:27 +0000

The US auto industry is in a very interesting place. In this US auto industry sales report, I compare 1st quarter (Q1) sales going back 5 years. It’s been an interesting roller coaster, especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but now that we’ve gone past that, it’s extra interesting to ... [continued]

The post US Auto Sales Up 5% in Q1 vs. Q1 2023, Down 5% vs. Q1 2019 appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Tesla Full Self Driving (Supervised): 40-Minute Drive With Almost No Interventions

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 07 Jun 2024 14:50:13 +0000

Another week, another lengthy Full Self Driving (Supervised) test drive. This week I went with longtime CleanTechnica reader, friend, and Tesla bull Dan. We explored an area that has given FSD trouble in the past, and we also meandered into some other areas to see what we could find and ... [continued]

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Tesla Shareholders MASSIVELY Split On Elon Musk Pay Package — What Happens After The Vote?

Zachary Shahan — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 11:00:40 +0000

Some interesting things crossed my path recently regarding Tesla shareholders and the vote regarding Elon Musk’s pay compensation package. And it got me thinking — the bigger issue may not be the vote, but what happens after the vote. But let’s start with the vote. For starters, I learned that ... [continued]

The post Tesla Shareholders MASSIVELY Split On Elon Musk Pay Package — What Happens After The Vote? appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Good Graph For People Misinformed About US EV Sales Growth

Zachary Shahan — Sun, 02 Jun 2024 19:20:45 +0000

Naturally, we’ve created many US EV sales charts of our own here on CleanTechnica, but there’s a chart I haven’t thought to make that Bloomberg recently created, and it’s a superb chart for some of the claims circling at the moment. First of all, let’s note that EV sales have ... [continued]

The post Good Graph For People Misinformed About US EV Sales Growth appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Solar Passes 100% of Power Demand in California! [UPDATED]

Zachary Shahan — Sun, 02 Jun 2024 14:21:54 +0000

California has been a leader in the installation of solar power plants and wind power plants for many years now (despite its recent anti-rooftop solar shift via “Net Metering 3.0”). That has led to more and more of its electricity generation coming from renewables. The trend has been going on ... [continued]

The post Solar Passes 100% of Power Demand in California! [UPDATED] appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Are These EV Charging “Trees” A Solution For Curbside Charging?

Zachary Shahan — Sat, 01 Jun 2024 01:27:44 +0000

Battery prices are coming down. Electric cars are getting more competitive. EV options are growing rapidly. EV fast charging is even quite easy on road trips in most places now. However, there’s one big barrier that I do still find a bit concerning — regular, reliable charging for people without ... [continued]

The post Are These EV Charging “Trees” A Solution For Curbside Charging? appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Wicked Low Prices On Used Teslas — Just A Few Things To Watch Out For

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 31 May 2024 22:40:01 +0000

Tesla has sold millions of vehicles, and more and more of those are now reaching the used car market. In particular, Hertz is selling a lot of them. At the moment, you can find 1,240 used Teslas on the Hertz website. Many others have already been sold at auction and ... [continued]

The post Wicked Low Prices On Used Teslas — Just A Few Things To Watch Out For appeared first on CleanTechnica.

5 Million US Solar Installations, Low Tesla Model Y Interest Rates, New Electric Cars — Top Cleantech News

Zachary Shahan — Tue, 28 May 2024 21:57:03 +0000

What were the biggest cleantech news stories and analyses in the past couple of weeks? Below, put into a handful of core groupings, are the ones that stood out to me. Solar Power in the USA: California, the largest US solar market by far, has thrown the solar industry into ... [continued]

The post 5 Million US Solar Installations, Low Tesla Model Y Interest Rates, New Electric Cars — Top Cleantech News appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Now 5 Million Solar Installations Across USA, 5× More Than In 2016

Zachary Shahan — Tue, 28 May 2024 05:37:35 +0000

The U.S. solar power industry, particularly the rooftop arm of the industry, is going through a bit of a tough time at the moment. The country’s biggest solar market — by far — is California, and the industry there has been hit quite hard by the huge solar policy downgrade ... [continued]

The post Now 5 Million Solar Installations Across USA, 5× More Than In 2016 appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Geely Becomes A Top 10 Automaker Globally

Zachary Shahan — Tue, 28 May 2024 03:09:34 +0000

Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, which also includes Volvo Cars, has become the 10th best selling automaker in the world. That’s noteworthy in part because more than a third of its sales are now plugin vehicle sales, and the company could be a 100% plugin vehicle company by 2030 or so. ... [continued]

The post Geely Becomes A Top 10 Automaker Globally appeared first on CleanTechnica.

45-Minute Tesla Full Self Driving (Supervised) Test Drive — 3 Interventions (VIDEO)

Zachary Shahan — Tue, 21 May 2024 14:06:21 +0000

David Havasi and I recorded the following Tesla Full Self Driving (Supervised) test drive a few days ago. It was perhaps the most fascinating one of these weekly test drives we’ve done since FSD version 12.3 rolled out (though, the first one where FSD nailed a bunch of roundabouts was ... [continued]

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Tesla’s 0.99% APR Financing For Tesla Model Y Stirring Up Consumer Demand (+ Chevy Equinox EV Potential & Hot Volvo EX30)

Zachary Shahan — Mon, 20 May 2024 18:38:19 +0000

I recently met with David Havasi at the new Tesla store and service center near us in order to chat about some hot EV news and then also do another Full Self Driving (Supervised) test drive. The video below is about three news items — 0.99% APR financing for the ... [continued]

The post Tesla’s 0.99% APR Financing For Tesla Model Y Stirring Up Consumer Demand (+ Chevy Equinox EV Potential & Hot Volvo EX30) appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Can the VW ID. Buzz Achieve High Sales Volume in the USA?

Zachary Shahan — Sat, 18 May 2024 03:57:34 +0000

The Volkswagen ID. Buzz is coming to America. I’ve been pushing for that for about a decade. I recall a conversation I had with a Volkswagen executive in Amsterdam about 6 years ago where we were talking about this and how much people loved the Buzz concept, but he asked ... [continued]

The post Can the VW ID. Buzz Achieve High Sales Volume in the USA? appeared first on CleanTechnica.

Lilium Looking to Expand into High-Volume Production Facilities in France

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 17 May 2024 15:10:13 +0000

Lilium is one of the top electric aircraft companies we’ve been keeping an eye on for the past several years. It’s always seemed to have a pretty sensible, practical, efficient approach to getting electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles to the next level. Just one week ago we got ... [continued]

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Waymo Reaches 50,000 Paid Customer Trips A Week

Zachary Shahan — Fri, 17 May 2024 00:33:27 +0000

Waymo has spent most of my adult life working on self-driving vehicles (originally under the Google brand, until about 7½ years ago). For a long time after it finally started offering robotaxi service for non-employees, the service was free. Since December 2018, though, Waymo has offered and slowly expanded commercial ... [continued]

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