The top two discussions I had last week with a few of my readers were about: cost effective electric vehicles and investing in the green economy. Today we cover these topics in more detail. Remember, this newsletter is intended for you to skip to which ever part interests you most.
Overcoming EV costs
Currently we are experiencing a wave of EV manufactures racing to market, some targeting luxury buyers while others are targeting your average consumer. There are a few EV adoption challenges consumers are currently facing: Cost of vehicle, range anxiety, and fear of trying something new.
Today I will address EV costs. EV's might seem to cost more upfront than ICE (internal combustion engine) vehicles, but there are several EV's available in a similar price bracket compared to mid-range ICE vehicles. What a lot of people compare is the cost of fuel vs electric, but fail to factor in repair and maintenance costs in ICE vehicles (oil changes, exhaust repair, moving parts, belts, etc). EV's come in at a fraction of a cost simply due to the fact that there are fewer moving parts and zero emissions components that fail.
A good example of this would be a comparison between the Tesla Model 3 SR+ and a Honda Civic, see this nice spreadsheet in an article by Zachary Shahan written for Clean Technica.
Top 5 Affordable New EV's You Can Buy NOW!
According to Edmunds here is a list of the top 5 lowest cost NEW EV's you can buy now.
If you look at some of these models above on a pre-owned car site, you will find that the prices are substantially lower and more affordable. A used few year old EV with lower miles can definitely save you a pretty penny and help avoid some drastic depreciation.
Volkswagen's ID.4 Unveil
Photo Courtesy of Car & Driver
Last week Volkswagen unveiled their new ID.4 EV compact SUV built on VW's MEB tool kit, with a starting price of $39,995, has an estimated range capacity of 250 miles and can charge approximately 60 miles in 10 minutes. First trims to launch in 2021 will be the 1st Edition and Pro, both single-motor rear wheel drive models with 201hp, the choice of a Gradient package or a Statement package is available . Gradient is a basic standard option with a cost of $1500, and Statement package offers a larger center display screen, a rear lift gate at the trunk, and a panoramic sunroof for an additional $4500. This SUV is equipped with IQ.Drive which allows for semi-autonomous driving capability. Later on VW will be releasing a basic option with a lower price point.
See a more detailed explanation in Car and Driver's article.
Tesla Updates
This week Tesla made several headlines with a few deals being made and Q3 production numbers, let's take a look.
Tesla delivered 139,300 globally in Q3 despite Wall St's estimate of 129,950 and produced a total of 145,036. Numbers broken down into 15,200 Model S's and X's, 124,100 Tesla Model 3's and Y's. Tesla has a goal of delivering 500,000 cars this year and as we move into Q4 it's looking pretty good.
Walmart Canada orders 130 more Tesla Semis, aiming for a 20% electric fleet by 2022
Tesla signed agreement on 09-28 for mining with Piedmont Lithium's North Carolina Project (ticker $PLL) and share prices $PLL shares went from $9.29 to $53.26 a 200%+ increase. At market close on Friday shares were down to $26.11, yet an increase since market opening on 09-28.
$TSLA was down 7.38% at market close on Friday and another 3.89% after hours.
Charging Station Challenges
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash
Cynthia Shahan in her article for Clean Technica, wrote about her road trip in an EV. She talks some about the challenges she faced in her travels. Shahan compares charging stations from 2 companies, EVgo vs. Electrify America. Her biggest challenge was Electrify America's lack of or malfunctioning chargers in the Southeastern US, more specifically on Florida's I-95 corridor. Her first choice for Electrify America is due to the fact that there are more of those chargers available but her final choice was EVgo chargers because they were easier to use and charged her car in a shorter time.
Electrify America and EVgo plans differ, with Electrify America charging 31 cents/kwh (if you have the plan with a $4 monthly fee). EVgo pricing is a little different, each charging station's prices vary and are considerably higher than Electrify America's. The common problem among many of these chargers is that several can be shut down for long periods of time, Shahan seems to have an idea for a solution. In her article she writes "There should at least be a quicker way to get to the point where you can say 'please reset the charger'" rather than having to spend a long time on the phone with support. On the upside, these companies are working hard to build a nationwide infrastructure to make it fast and easy for us to charge our EV's and the millions to come in the future, hopefully they can get all the kinks ironed out soon.
Read the full article on here Clean Technica's site.
Investing in Energy Markets
Courtesy of Nathan Worden
In an article by Nathan Worden written on Commonstock, he shares some perspective on what the world's energy sources look like and their availability. In his article he writes "...while there are significant issues with solar power availability being volatile locally (weather can block the sun, no production at night, etc.), it is globally stable and predictable. Such a dynamic suggests battery storage technologies and energy routing infrastructure will be a huge area of growth in the future." In the graphic above Worden demonstrates how large the solar resource is compared to the combined total of other finite resources.
Worden suggests in his article that when making investment decisions regarding clean energy, that people maintain a longterm view of solar technology and energy reserve systems. Although there might not be a lot of volatility at the moment, within 5 to 10 years he speculates we will see a large return on investments in these specific areas.
See Nathan Worden's full article at Commonstock by signing up for free.
What I'm Reading This Week
Joey Klender's article on Teslarati covering Lucid Motor's new Laguna Seca lap time, see it here.
Tesmanian's article by Eva Fox on Tesla's Q3 production numbers.
US Fort Bragg's new floating solar plant article by Michelle Lewis featured in Electrek.
That's a wrap for this week Shakers! Thank you so much for reading, last week I was in contact with a number of you and you all really inspired this issue. Stay in touch, you can connect with me on Twitter @tech_jdc or email me at josh@localwebmaker.com.