Jameson Dow

Hydrovolt, the largest battery recycling plant in Europe, has started operations in Fredrikstad, Norway.

The plant is a joint venture between two Norwegian companies – Hydro, one of the world’s largest aluminum companies, and Northvolt, a battery producer building battery factories in Sweden and Germany.

Electric cars aren’t just cheaper over the long term but have cheaper total monthly cost from day one for most buyers in the United States, according to a new report from Energy Innovation.

Rivian has posted its Q1 2022 results and shareholder letter after market close today, showing $95 million in revenue and a loss of $1.593 billion for the quarter ($1.77 per share), up from a loss of $414 million from the same quarter last year. It ended the quarter with nearly $17 billion in cash, largely from its massive IPO late last year.

Rivian also reaffirmed 2022 annual guidance, expecting a total loss of $4.7 billion for the year with 25,000 units of total production and $2.6 billion expected in capital expenditures. While RIVN dropped 9.6% during trading hours today, the market has responded positively after market close, with the stock recovering by 5.5% in after hours trading.

Japan, the world’s second-largest car exporter, risks a 14% drop in GDP if it does not move more swiftly toward producing electric vehicles, according to a new report by the Climate Group.

VW’s advisory board is expected to approve a proposal tomorrow to spin off a new EV company centered around off-road vehicles, as reported by the Wall Street Journal and TechCrunch.

The company will resurrect the classic nameplate from the International Harvester Scout, a Jeep-like off-road vehicle from the ’60s and ’70s, and fill a similar niche as the Rivian R1T as an electric competitor to off-road enthusiast trucks like the Ford Raptor, Jeep Gladiator, and the like, but at a lower price point than the Rivian.

Formula E has revealed the much-anticipated “Gen3” car, which will race in the 2023 season, with significantly improved performance over the current Gen2 cars. And an angular body which is – let’s say – “polarizing.”

The unveiling happened in Monaco ahead of this weekend’s Monaco ePrix, where racing commences on Saturday morning (check here for ways to watch).

Several states and environmental and labor groups have filed lawsuits against the USPS today. The lawsuits charge that the agency failed to do required environmental assessments before going through with their deal to spend billions on gas guzzlers to replace the aging postal service fleet.

Posten Norge, the Norwegian postal service, has put into service a 19-ton all-electric delivery truck from Scania on the remote Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, as reported by Teknisk Ukeblad. This truck means Posten’s delivery fleet on Svalbard now consists solely of electric vehicles.

Plug in America, the Sierra Club, and the Electric Vehicle Association are hosting their annual Drive Electric Earth Day event where advocates educate attendees about EV ownership. While most events will take place on April 23-24, Earth Day weekend, events have been running all month, with over 180 events scheduled across the US (and a couple in Canada and New Zealand).

The House Oversight Committee held a 3.5-hour long hearing today on USPS’ contract to buy tens of thousands of gas guzzling trucks from Oshkosh Defense to replace its aging delivery fleet.

GM has finally restarted production on the Bolt EV and EUV lines after being out of production for the better part of a year due to an issue with its LG battery cells.

Canada has unveiled a $9 billion “2030 emissions reduction plan” with several provisions aimed at lowering the country’s emissions, including a plan to mandate 20% zero-emission new light-duty vehicle sales in 2026, rising to 60% by 2030 and 100% by 2035. But it may not actually ban gas cars – depending on how the plan defines plug-in hybrids.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ruled that heightened fines on automakers that fail to meet Corporate Average Fuel Economy requirements on 2019 and later vehicles would be reinstated. The decision is a big hit to high-polluting automakers and the lobby group that supports them, and a win for EV makers.

Washington state has set a target that all vehicles of model year 2030 or later sold, purchased or registered in Washington state be electric vehicles. The bill was signed today by Gov. Inslee, making Washington the state with the earliest all-electric new car target in the nation.

NVIDIA announced two new automotive clients for their DRIVE self-driving platform, EV startup Lucid Motors and Chinese EV giant BYD. BYD will use the system in their next-generation vehicles, and Lucid revealed that they are already powering their DreamDrive ADAS system with NVIDIA’s DRIVE Hyperion platform.

Sony and Honda have signed a memorandum of understanding to jointly develop electric vehicles, with the first car becoming available commercially in 2025, reports Nikkei Asia.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk invited the United Auto Workers to hold a union vote at the Tesla factory, stating that Tesla “will do nothing to stop” the voting process.

It’s the latest in a years-long saga between the UAW and Tesla, in which Tesla has been found to violate labor law in unfairly cracking down on union organization.

The USPS issued a “record of decision” today stating that it has finished its environmental review and responded to the EPA’s concerns and will go through with its plan to spend up to $11.3 billion on gas-guzzling, 8.6 mile-per-gallon vehicles to replace the aging USPS delivery fleet.

However, if you read the USPS press release summarizing the decision, you wouldn’t know that – since the press release makes no mention of the USPS’s plans to buy polluting, fossil-powered vehicles, and repeatedly only mentions electric and electrified vehicles.

Extreme E returns to the desert for the start of its second season with the Desert X Prix in Neom, Saudi Arabia this Sunday.

The electric off-road racing series started last year with a dual focus on racing with sustainable technologies while bringing attention to environmental issues across the globe.

Tesla has updated its smartphone app to version 4.6 adding some useful new features including actionable notifications and charging stats, and data-miners have found plans for an upcoming cheaper annual subscription to their Full Self-Driving and Premium Connectivity services.

But even with this upcoming cheaper subscription scheme, Tesla has so far shown no interest in ending its practice of charging owners $1k for hardware they already paid for.

Jaguar Land Rover is partnering with NVIDIA to use their DRIVE Hyperion 8 platform for future vehicles. NVIDIA’s system will power autonomous and driver assistance systems and will render visualization of the vehicle’s environment.

EcoCycle, a nonprofit recycler in Boulder, Colorado, is putting into service the nation’s first commercial electric truck for compostable waste collection. The truck is a Mack LR electric and EcoCycle hopes that it will be first of many adopted by the industry.

The US Army unveiled a comprehensive climate strategy including moves to lower emissions and build an electric vehicle fleet in the coming years.

The Army states that this will help them confront the growing global threat of climate change and enhance safety for soldiers who are already feeling the effects of our warming globe.

Nissan reportedly plans to end “most” gasoline engine development, becoming the first Japanese automaker to take this step, according to Nikkei Asia.