All posts by Trevor Larkum

Nissan’s Alliance Partner Renault Joins CharIN CCS DC Fast Charging Group

August 8, 2016Charging, Electric Cars, News, Reviews and Comment, Renault, ZOETrevor Larkum

The CharIN e.V. Steering Committee announced a list of new members of the initiative supporting CCS Combo DC fast charging standard, which is being adjusted to handle up to 150 kW in the next few years.

My Renault ZOE fast charging at Rothersthorpe Services (Image: T. Larkum)

Among the most recent members added, we see Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) – which is not a surprise, and newcomers like Faraday Future, but the most significant new entry is Renault.

“On the 15th of June 2016 the CharIN e.V. Steering Committee accepted membership of eight new companies: atieva, Circontrol, Clever, Faraday Future, FCA, Hubject, Lafon and Renault Group.

Some of them already joined the new members meeting last week with the opportunity of introduction to the other members and committees. In the first half of this year CharIN e.V. grew by 24 members. Together with the ten founding members and the new members of 2015 the association is now supported by 36 leading international companies.”

Renault has extremely close relations with Nissan through the Renault-Nissan Alliance, and also has the same CEO – Carlos Ghosn, while the two companies also share the same bold commitment to all-electric cars.

And while Nissan has pursued CHAdeMO from the start, Renault has not. The French company originally romanced with three-phase AC charging, using a Type 2 inlet. The CCS inlet today would be easy addition for the Type 2.

The World Nears Peak Fossil Fuels for Electricity

August 7, 2016Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, Peak OilTrevor Larkum

Coal and gas will begin their terminal decline in less than a decade, according to a new BNEF analysis.

The way we get electricity is about to change dramatically, as the era of ever-expanding demand for fossil fuels comes to an end—in less than a decade. That’s according to a new forecast by Bloomberg New Energy Finance that plots out global power markets for the next 25 years.

Call it peak fossil fuels, a turnabout that’s happening not because we’re running out of coal and gas, but because we’re finding cheaper alternatives. Demand is peaking ahead of schedule because electric cars and affordable battery storage for renewable power are arriving faster than expected, as are changes in China’s energy mix.

Here are eight massive shifts coming soon to power markets.

1. There Will Be No Golden Age of Gas

Since 2008, the single most important force in U.S. power markets has been the abundance of cheap natural gas brought about by fracking. Cheap gas has ravaged the U.S. coal industry and inspired talk of a “bridge fuel” that moves the world from coal to renewable energy. It doesn’t look like that’s going to happen.

The costs of wind and solar power are falling too quickly for gas ever to dominate on a global scale, according to BNEF. The analysts reduced their long-term forecasts for coal and natural gas prices by a third for this year’s report, but even rock-bottom prices won’t be enough to derail a rapid global transition toward renewable energy.

“You can’t fight the future,” said Seb Henbest, the report’s lead author. “The economics are increasingly locked in.”

The peak year for coal, gas, and oil: 2025.

Smart green energy in the post-Paris World

Jeremy Leggett’s Presentation

Council aiming to turbo-charge electric car use in Oxford

August 5, 2016Charging, Electric Cars, Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and CommentTrevor Larkum

AN ATTEMPT to jump-start Oxford’s slow uptake of electric vehicles is now in motion, with up to 30 new charging points arriving in the next 12 months.

Oxford city councillor John Tanner plugging a charger into one of the council's own vehicles — Oxford city councillor John Tanner plugging a charger into one of the council’s own vehicles

People and businesses across the city are being called on to help develop the plan and find suitable places for the trial stations, which will be bought in the summer.

In April this year Oxford City Council received an £800,000 grant to add an extra 100 charging stations to the city – where only 85 people currently drive electric cars.

John Tanner, the council’s board member for climate change, said:

“What we have at the moment is the early adopters, the enthusiasts.

“But with more plug-in points around the city, I think more people are going to take the plunge and buy electric vehicles.”

There are currently 13 on-street charging stations around Oxford, of which three, Summertown Car Park, Cowley Road and Worcester Street Car Park, have reported faults.

It is hoped the 100 new devices will begin to be rolled out in 2018, making make electric vehicle ownership possible for 16,000 extra homes.

Remote installation of Rapid charging units is no problem for Evolt

August 4, 2016Charging, Electric Cars, Evolt, News, Reviews and CommentTrevor Larkum

Evolt has completed the supply and installation of a new series of Rapid and Fast electric vehicle (EV) charge points on the Western Scotland mainland and the Isle of Mull, having won a competitive tender from Argyll and Bute Council.

Evolt charge point, Lorne Street (Image: Evolt)

The new network of seven Rapid and two Fast chargers is the Council’s first publicly available EV charging infrastructure, funded by Transport Scotland through a Government-led initiative that helps to promote the use of EVs in Scotland.

The installation further builds upon Evolt’s reputation in Scotland as a strong and reliable supplier; it has now provided more than 1,100 charge points for 24 local authorities as well as private businesses, including taxi companies.

Argyll and Bute Council’s Policy Lead for Roads and Amenity Services, Councillor Ellen Morton, explains:

“At tender stage we found Evolt’s submission to be of a higher quality than its competitors, and it was able to provide a more cost-effective solution.”

“Evolt gave us the confidence that it would be fully in control and understood the challenges of supplying and installing an EV charge point infrastructure to a highly remote region, which included two charge points on the Isle of Mull,” she says.

Justin Meyer, General Manager of Evolt, says its experience in installing systems at remote locations was key to its success in winning the contract:

“The Council recognised our previous work on remote islands such as Harris, South Uist and Shetland, as well as our ability to manage and service systems in a cost-efficient and timely manner.”

Seven of Evolt’s top-of-the-range Rapid chargers that can efficiently charge two EVs to 80% of their battery life within 30 minutes through a 50Kw AC and 43Kw DC outlet have been installed throughout the region, including two on Mull. These are supplemented by two 22kW Fast chargers that are ideal for quick ‘top ups’, have AC and DC capability, and take one hour to simultaneously charge two EVs.

Each unit has a built in 3G communications modem enabling Evolt’s back office management system to remotely monitor the charging process and collect and provide charging data when needed.

Source: Evolt via GravityLondon

Tesla Model 3 | Fully Charged

The unveiling of the Tesla Model 3 recently garnered enormous interest around the world.

When will they make them?

How will they make that many?

Where will the batteries come from and why do I have a crush on the French Minister of Energy?

The UK’s best selling plug-in cars revealed

August 2, 2016BMW, Electric Cars, i3, Leaf, Mitsubishi, News, Reviews and Comment, Nissan, Outlander PHEV, SalesTrevor Larkum

By March this year, there were close to 60,000 electric or plug-in hybrid cars driving in the UK

Electric car sales continue to surge in the UK, with the latest figures showing close to 60,000 currently on the road. The Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV accounts for nearly a third of those, but there’s an increasingly wide range of different models on the roads.

According to DVLA figures analysed by the RAC Foundation by the end of March 2016 there were 19,945 plug-in hybrid electric Outlanders licenced in the UK, over 7,000 more than the next best selling electric or plug-in car, the Nissan Leaf.

The Leaf, however, is the UK’s best-selling battery-electric car. The 12,469 Leafs come with an electric-only drivetrain, whereas the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV uses a 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine to complement the batteries and the electric motor.

In third place was the BMW i3, with over 4,500 currently on the road. The i3 comes with a choice of two drive trains, with owners able to spec either a battery electric or a range extender with a 650cc two-cylinder petrol engine to boost the electric car’s range.

U.S. Gasoline Demand Is Likely to Slide

August 1, 2016Electric Cars, Model 3, News, Reviews and Comment, SalesTrevor Larkum

Electric vehicles could slice fuel’s consumption up to 20% in two decades, new report says

Electric cars are poised to reduce U.S. gasoline demand by 5% over the next two decades—and could cut it by as much as 20%—according to a new report being released Monday by energy consulting firm Wood Mackenzie.

The U.S., which currently uses more than nine million barrels of gasoline a day, could see that demand drop by as much as two million barrels a day if electric cars gain more than 35% market share by 2035, according to the report.

That aggressive case assumes Tesla Motors Inc. and other auto makers begin to deliver lower-cost electric vehicles that can travel longer distances in relatively short order, said the report’s author, Prajit Ghosh. A more likely scenario is a 5% drop in U.S. gasoline demand as electric cars build to more than 10% of the U.S. vehicle fleet by 2035, he said.

Even the low end of the forecast by Wood Mackenzie, which provides in-depth analysis for a wide range of clients including large oil companies, utilities and banks, is a more bullish outlook for electric-car adoption than many oil-and-gas companies have espoused.

Spencer Dale, the chief economist of energy company BP PLC, said last week in Houston that while he expects electric cars to start gaining traction, the internal-combustion engine still has significant advantages over electric alternatives and widespread adoption won’t happen in the next two decades.

“It will still take some time,” Mr. Dale said. “Electric vehicles will happen. It is a sort of when, not if, story.”

The Pain You Feel is Capitalism Dying

July 31, 2016Economy, Energy and Climate Change, Opinion, Prepping and CollapseTrevor Larkum

It can be very confusing to know that you won’t find a decent job, pay off student loans or put in a down payment on a house in the next few years — even though you may have graduated from a top-tier university or secured glowing references from all those unpaid internships that got you to where you are today.

Even if you are lucky enough to have all of this going for you, you’ll still be one among hundreds of applicants for every job you apply for. And you’ll still watch as the world becomes more unequal, with fewer paid opportunities to do what you feel called to do in your work or for your life path.

What’s more, you won’t find much help from your friends because most (if not all) of them are going through the same thing. This is a painful and difficult time that is impacting all of us at once.

There will be people who tell you it’s your fault. That you aren’t trying hard enough. But those people are culprits in perpetuating a great lie of this period in history. The standard assumptions for how to be successful in life a few decades ago simply do not apply anymore. The guilt and shame you feel is the mental disease of late-stage capitalism. Embrace this truth and set yourself free.

To see how broken things have become you’ll have to think systemically. Take note of the systems built up to create this situation and understand how it came to be — so you’ll see why it cannot possibly continue on its current path.

First, a diagnosis of the problem:

A Global Architecture of Wealth Extraction has been systematically built up to rig the economic game against you. This is why a tiny number of people (current count is 62) have more wealth amongst them than half the human population.

Why Billions in Proven Shale Oil Reserves Suddenly Became Unproven

July 30, 2016Energy and Climate Change, News, Reviews and Comment, Oil, Peak OilTrevor Larkum

U.S. companies erased more than 20 percent of inventories
Regulator examined estimates as wells lingered on books

Ultra Petroleum Corp. was a shale success story. A former penny stock that made the big leagues, it was worth almost $15 billion at its 2012 peak.

Then came the bust. Almost half of Ultra’s reserves were erased from its books this year. The company filed for bankruptcy on April 29 owing $3.9 billion.

Ultra’s rise and fall isn’t unique. Proven reserves — gas and oil resources that are among the best measures of a company’s ability to reward its shareholders and repay its debts — are disappearing across the shale patch. This year, 59 U.S. oil and gas companies deleted the equivalent of 9.2 billion barrels, more than 20 percent of their inventories, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It’s by far the largest amount since 2009, when the Securities and Exchange Commission tweaked a rule to make it easier for producers to claim wells that wouldn’t be drilled for years.

Wider Effort

The SEC routinely questions companies about their reserves. Now, agency investigators are also on the hunt for inflated reserves estimates, according to a person familiar with the matter.

“Reserves make up a large share of the value of these companies, so it really matters,” said David Woodcock, a partner at Jones Day in Dallas who served as the SEC regional director in Fort Worth, Texas, from 2011 to 2015.

“They’re looking even more closely at how companies are booking reserves, how they’re evaluating the quality of those reserves and what their intentions really are. They’re not accepting pat answers.”

Drillers face pressure to keep reserves growing. For many, the size of their credit line is tied to the measure. Investors want to see that a company can replace the oil and gas that’s been pumped from the ground and sold.