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☆ Can Biden Win America’s Green Tech Trade War With China? - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-22 | by ( David Wallace-Wells | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

On May 14, President Biden announced a major escalation of the country’s emerging climate trade war with China, raising existing tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles to 100 percent — a unilateral quadrupling. A few days earlier, responding to reports of Biden’s plans, Donald Trump outdid him, promising tariffs of 200 percent should he win the 2024 election. Five years after blasting Trump for imposing tariffs on Chinese exports, Biden raised them — on aluminum, steel, lithium batteries, solar cells and semiconductors, among other products. In 2019, Chinese E.V. Nearly 60 percent of all the world’s E.V.s are now sold in China, which is home to three of the world’s four biggest E.V.

Persons: Biden, Biden’s, Donald Trump outdid, It’s, “, Gaia, David Autor, Tesla, BYD Organizations: Trump, Democratic Locations: China, U.S, Washington, Chinese

The restrictions build on Trump-era measures, and many are likely to appeal to voters in battleground states ahead of the election. But it’s less clear if they are enough to rebuild America’s industrial base in a global race with China to lead in the new economy. The new duties will apply to about $18 billion of annual Chinese imports, the Biden administration said. Biden is at pains to say that he’s being smarter than Trump on China. Trump imposed sweeping trade barriers and has vowed to impose more if he’s re-elected.

Persons: Biden, Donald Trump, Trump, he’s Organizations: China, Trump Locations: China, American, U.S

☆ Opinion | Are E.V.s Too Quiet and ‘Boring’?
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-05 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

To the Editor:Re “Electric Cars Are Boring,” by Ezra Dyer (Opinion guest essay, April 13):If E.V.s are boring, I guess I am OK with being bored. owner, I no longer have to stop at the gas station to fill up in all kinds of (Chicago) weather. in various types of inclement weather. I am now at the age where simpler (boring) is better. It’s because they are 1) too expensive; 2) take too long to charge; 3) don’t go far enough on a single charge.

Persons: Ezra Dyer, Dyer, Ron Thomas Glencoe, don’t Locations: Chicago, Ill

☆ Honda Commits to E.V.s With Big Investment in Canada
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Jack Ewing | More About Jack Ewing | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Honda Motor on Thursday said it would invest $11 billion to build batteries and electric cars in Ontario, a significant commitment from a company that has been slow to embrace the technology. Like Toyota and other Japanese carmakers, Honda has emphasized hybrid vehicles, in which gasoline engines are augmented by electric motors, rather than cars powered solely by batteries. The Honda Prologue, a sport-utility vehicle made in Mexico, is the company’s only fully electric vehicle on sale in the United States. “This is a very big day for the region, for the province and for the country,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at an announcement event in Alliston, where Honda manufactures the Civic sedan and CR-V S.U.V. The investment is the largest by an automaker in Canadian history, he said.

Persons: Justin Trudeau Organizations: Honda, Toyota Locations: Ontario, Mexico, United States, Alliston , Ontario, Toronto, Alliston

☆ Electric Cars Are Boring (Tesla Cybertruck Included) - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Ezra Dyer | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Over the past few years, as electric vehicle sales increased substantially and car companies announced an onslaught of new battery-powered models, it seemed that electric cars were a near-term inevitability. Hertz is selling off about a third of its electric cars and Audi is slowing its transition to E.V.s. But there’s also a more subtle issue at play, one that won’t be easily resolved: Electric cars are too boring. On the list of things wrong with the world, “electric cars are dull” isn’t in the Top 5. Driving, as we all knew it before the arrival of mass-market electric cars a little more than a decade ago, involved familiar rituals that carved out a place in our collective psyche.

Persons: Tesla, Hertz, there’s, revel Organizations: Ford, Audi, Chrysler Pacifica Locations: upshifts

☆ Ford Slows Its Push Into Electric Vehicles
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Neal E. Boudette | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Ford Motor on Thursday delayed the production of at least two new electric cars and said it would pivot to making more hybrids. Its decision was the latest sign that large automakers have been forced to rethink their strategy for electric vehicles because sales for those models are slowing. The shift by Ford and automakers like General Motors and Mercedes-Benz, which have also pushed back their electric car plans, has been prompted largely by the companies’ difficulties in making and selling enough electric cars and doing so profitably. Because they are still learning how to make the cars and their batteries at lower cost, the companies have not been able to bring out more affordable models. “That’s made it a lot tougher to sell those vehicles.”

Persons: ” Sam Abuelsamid, “ That’s Organizations: Ford, General Motors, Mercedes, Benz

☆ The Roadblocks to Biden’s Electric Vehicles Plan
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-21 | by ( David Gelles | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Biden administration rolled out new rules on Wednesday designed to thrust the United States — the greatest car culture the world has ever known — into the era of electric vehicles. With new tailpipe pollution limits from the Environmental Protection Agency, automakers will effectively be forced to make a majority of new passenger cars and light trucks sold in the United States all-electric or hybrids by 2032. To meet the new standards, 56 percent of new cars sold by 2032 would be zero-emissions and another 16 percent would be hybrid, according to the E.P.A.’s analysis. E.V.s account for only 7.6 percent of new car sales today, so the targets represent an ambitious attempt to overhaul one of the country’s biggest industries in a remarkably short amount of time. A successful phaseout of gas-powered cars and trucks would also make a big dent in the fight against climate change; cars and other forms of transportation are the biggest source of planet warming emissions generated by the United States.

Organizations: Biden, Environmental Protection Agency Locations: States, United States

☆ A New Surge in Power Use Is Threatening U.S. Climate Goals
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-13 | by ( Brad Plumer | Nadja Popovich | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +14 min

Nathan Howard for The New York TimesIn California, electric vehicles could soon account for 10 percent of peak power demand. AP Photo/Mike StewartIn interviews, utility executives say gas is needed to back up wind and solar power, which don’t run all the time. Gas plants can sometimes be easier to build than renewables, since they may not require new long-distance transmission lines. “It’s going to take a diversified fleet.”Mr. Mitchell noted that Georgia Power was planning a large build-out of solar power and batteries over the next decade and would offer incentives to companies to use less power during times of grid stress. The tech companies and manufacturers that are driving up electricity demand could also play a major role, experts say.

Persons: ”, Daniel Brooks, Nathan Howard, Lauren Justice, Biden’s, “, Tyler H, Norris, Mr, John Wilson, Ken Seiler, Seiler, Devin Hartman, Duke, Kendal Bowman, Duke Energy’s, it’s, we’ve, Georgia Power, It’s, Greg Buppert, Megan Varner, Mike Stewart, Aaron Mitchell, “ It’s, Mitchell, Heather O’Neill, Brian Janous Organizations: Electric Power Research Institute, The New York Times, Duke University, Biden, Utilities, North American Electric Reliability Corporation, Boston Consulting, Dominion Energy, Nationwide, R Street Institute, The New York Times Soaring, Duke Energy, Georgia, Southern Environmental Law Center, AP, Dominion, Georgia Power, Advanced Energy, Microsoft Locations: America, California, Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina , Tennessee, Kansas, Northern Virginia, Arizona, Texas, Illinois, New Jersey, York City, PJM, “ Texas, Ashburn, Va, Dalton , Ga, Dalton, Duke

☆ Where Electric Vehicles Are (and Aren’t) Taking Off Across the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-06 | by ( Nadja Popovich | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +7 min

Where Electric Vehicles Are (and Aren’t) Taking Off Across the U.S.Last year, Americans bought more than one million fully electric cars, trucks and SUVs, a record and a milestone for the country’s transition away from gas-powered vehicles. To fight climate change, the Biden administration and many state governments want to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles. experience from pretty easy and kind of hard,” said Ken Kurani, a researcher focused on electric vehicles at the University of California, Davis. Only two electric vehicles in the analysis, both made by Tesla, cost the same or less than similar gas models. But for now, “there are some very real ways in which, in comparison to conventional vehicles, electric vehicles either really are still struggling to be as good or better, or are struggling against the imagination that they’re not as good or better,” he said.

Persons: Tom Libby, Mr, Libby, “, ”, Biden, Ken Kurani, Kurani, Brittany Greeson, Philip Cheung, We’re, Tesla, “ We’re, Jessica Caldwell, Kelley, Davis Organizations: P Global Mobility, P, Pew Research Center, University of California, The New York Times, BMW, Ford, Hyundai, General Motors Locations: Florida, Texas, West Coast, California, San Francisco Bay, Los Angeles, Detroit, Bismarck, N.D, United States, Davis, Chicago, Norway, Edmunds, U.C

The Davos consensus on the presidential electionPublicly, the global business leaders who gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, haven’t wanted to predict the winner of the upcoming U.S. presidential election. In an interview with Andrew on CNBC, he didn’t predict that Trump would win, but suggested that dismissing the former president and his supporters would be a mistake. “He wasn’t wrong about some of these critical issues, and that’s why they’re voting for him,” he said. “Trump is already the president at Davos — which is a good thing because the Davos consensus is usually wrong,” Alex Soros, the son of George Soros, said on a panel. A little history: The Davos consensus was that Hillary Clinton would beat Trump in 2016.

Persons: haven’t, Donald Trump, DealBook, Trump, Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase, Andrew, “, ” Dimon, ”, MAGA, bode, “ Trump, ” Alex Soros, George Soros, Hillary Clinton, Sting, Biden, It’s, Reddit, Macy’s, Tony Spring, Warren Buffett, Morningstar Organizations: Economic, JPMorgan, CNBC, Trump, NATO, Biden, Trump’s Republican, Davos, Apple Watch, Reuters, Investors Locations: Davos, Switzerland, U.S, China, American, Indonesia, E.S.G

☆ Opinion | Relax, Electric Vehicles Really Are the Best Choice for the Climate
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-24 | by ( Stephen Porder | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

It has been a bumpy few weeks for carmakers who sell electric vehicles, which are moving more slowly off the lot than they were earlier this year. The electric Volkswagen ID. But I think something else may explain why so many Americans, including those who consider themselves climate conscious, have been hesitant to buy an electric vehicle. Electric vehicles are like digital cameras in their early iterations. And while there are environmental concerns with them, they are dwarfed by the benefit they provide regarding climate change — the biggest environmental threat to human well-being in the 21st century.

Persons: carmakers, What’s Organizations: Volkswagen Locations: American

☆ Rental Cars: Know the Pitfalls
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Elaine Glusac | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Maximize your membershipsUse memberships at the retailer Costco or the organizations AAA or AARP to get a discount at specific companies. If you’re strictly joining Costco to rent cars, it may take a few rentals a year to recoup the $60 membership fee. Consider alternative companiesTuro and Getaround act like Airbnbs for rental cars: Owners offer their vehicles to rent through company websites or apps. Available in more than a dozen cities in the United States, the app- and internet-based rental company Kyte, which has no brick-and-mortar locations, will drop off and pick up its cars, which are competitively priced, wherever you specify, at no extra charge. The contactless and app-based UFO Drive rents E.V.s in more than 20 cities in the United States and Europe.

Persons: Hertz, Kyte Organizations: Costco, AAA, AARP, Avis Locations: United States, Britain, Canada, France, Australia, Europe

Just as important will be persuading people like Mr. Marohn that electric cars, renewable energy and electric heaters and stoves are practical, economical and exciting. Many, conservatives in particular, chafe at the prospect of the government forcing them to buy electric cars or ditch their natural gas appliances, polls show. By The New York TimesA clean energy future will require painstaking and individually tailored persuasion campaigns. “Even if some of them deny the science of climate change, they can’t deny good-paying jobs,” he said. “I just want to change the perception that electric cars are not as good as big, noisy muscle cars,” Mr. Lawson said.

Persons: Mikey Marohn, “, ”, Marohn, Alicia Cox, Cox, , chafe, Jesus, Ms, ” “, Jae Landreth, “ That’s, “ Nobody’s, Mr, Landreth, Phil Collins, Rob Leach, Leach, ‘, “ I’ve, Jack Conness, Biden, Jennifer Granholm, Granholm, Vladimir V, Putin, Sue Burns, Burns, Marjorie Taylor Greene, William Turner, didn’t “, Jason Walsh, Walsh, Tia Williams, Ms . Granholm, ” Ms, Williams, Joe Wilson, ” “ Didn’t, Roy Cooper of, Cooper, Patrick Lawson, Ford, Lawson, Lawson’s, Susan Lawson, Cheryl, Tesla, They’re, Kent Wheeler, “ It’s, ’, Josh Hermes, Paul Rosenzweig, Rosenzweig, Mary T, Barra, ” Kenneth Boswell, Quinton Lucas, Lucas, ” Mr Organizations: Clean, Biden, General Motors, nonbelievers, Republican, Pew, The New York Times, Pew Research Center, Toyota, Clean Energy Manufacturing, Energy Innovation, Trump, Trump Biden, Savings, Yale, Pontiac, BlueGreen Alliance, Democratic, Georgia Institute of Technology, Mr, Republicans, Flex, Gov, Northern Arapaho Tribe, Tesla, Rocky Mountain Rebels, Elks, Wild West EV, Polaris, Northern Arapaho, Chevy Silverado, Mercedes, Benz, Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, Kansas City, Fire Department Locations: Teton, Wyoming, Yellowstone, Baldwin City, Kan, Kansas City, G.O.P, Counties, Russia, Memphis, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Murfreesboro, Tenn, Dalton, Ga, Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Riverton, Jackson, Minnesota, Louisiana, Alabama, Missouri, Quinton Lucas , Kansas, Kansas

☆ Automakers Face a Labor Showdown as the E.V. Era Looms
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-06 | by ( Neal E. Boudette | More About Neal E. Boudette | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

also hopes to push Stellantis to reopen a plant in Belvidere, Ill., that was idled this year, putting 1,350 people out of work. Mr. Fain said many workers typically worked 50 or 60 hours a week, leaving little time for family activities or rest. Stellantis said it intended to “fairly reward” its workers but warned that any agreement must not “jeopardize our ability to continue investing” in new vehicles and technologies. The automakers are investing tens of billions of dollars in electric vehicles but have yet to see significant sales or profits from them. The union is concerned that the move to E.V.s could cost thousands of jobs because electric vehicles generally require fewer workers to produce than traditional gasoline-powered cars and trucks.

Persons: Fain, G.M, “, ” Ford, Stellantis Organizations: nonunionized Locations: Belvidere , Ill

☆ Volkswagen Replaces Audi Chief Amid Pressure to Electrify
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Melissa Eddy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The NewsVolkswagen is replacing the chief executive at its luxury brand Audi, naming Gernot Döllner to take over from Markus Duesmann, as the company seeks to accelerate its transition to electric vehicles. Mr. Döllner, who has served as Volkswagen’s leading strategist, will start his new role on Sept. 1, Audi said in a statement on Thursday. Audi, although profitable, is struggling to convert to battery power and compete with the growing threat from Chinese carmakers. Herbert Diess, Volkswagen’s chief executive before Oliver Blume took over in September, brought Mr. Duesmann to Audi from BMW three years ago, with the hope that he could help the brand innovate and strengthen sales of its electric models. Audi is now working on its final generation of combustion engine models and plans to bring 10 new electric models to its lineup, ahead of plans to produce only E.V.s beginning in 2026.

Persons: Markus Duesmann, Döllner, Herbert Diess, Oliver Blume, Duesmann Organizations: Volkswagen, Audi, BMW

☆ Deal for Formula 1 Team Reflects Growing U.S. Interest in the Sport
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( Lauren Hirsch | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

They are buying a 24 percent stake in Alpine F1 Team owned by Renault Group. The investors are paying about 200 million euros ($218 million) for the stake, valuing the team at roughly $900 million. Formula 1 has jumped in popularity in the United States since its sale to Liberty Media in 2017. For Renault, the Alpine deal is aimed at raising the visibility of its Alpine electric vehicle line, as it pushes to have more than half its sales in E.V.s by 2030. In a news release, Renault’s chief executive, Luca de Meo, said the deal would increase the value of the Alpine F1 brand.

Persons: Ryan Reynolds, ”, Luca de Meo Organizations: RedBird Capital Partners, Otro, Alpine F1 Team, Renault Group, Liberty Media, Netflix, Renault, Alpine Locations: United States, Las Vegas, Miami, E.V.s

☆ Electric Vans, Delayed by Production Problems, Find Eager Buyers
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Neal E. Boudette | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A few minutes of number crunching showed he was spending about $110 to $140 a week on fuel for each of the four older, diesel Transits in his fleet. Then he worked out how much electricity he was using to charge the electric model to drive the same distance — about 300 miles a week. It makes it really, really cheap to operate.”In the auto industry’s transition to electric vehicles, passenger vehicles have led the way. Tesla remains the largest seller by far, while General Motors, Ford Motor, Hyundai, Volkswagen and others are selling multiple electric models. sales total in the U.S. market to top one million this year for the first time.

☆ Just How Good for the Planet Is That Big Electric Pickup Truck?
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Elena Shao | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +11 min

But as electric vehicles have bulked up, they have also faced new questions over their environmental and safety impacts. Less emissions per mile More emissions per mile Electric vehicles Vehicle SIZE, BY WEIGHT: Heavier vehicles tend to have higher emissions. Take the Ford F-150 pickup truck compared with the electric F-150 Lighting. The same beeswarm chart as in the previous graphic, but Ford F-150 Lightning and Ford F-150 gas-powered models are highlighted. Larger batteries have also added significant weight to many big electric vehicles, anywhere from hundreds to thousands of pounds.

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