Author

Avatar for Jo Borrás

Jo Borrás

volvojo1

I’ve been involved in the electric vehicle transition in one way or another since 1997, and have covered the industry as a journalist since 2008. You can catch more of my work on Quick Charge and The Heavy Equipment Podcast with Mike Switzer.

NOTE: any opinions expressed here are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Federal government, the State of Illinois, Electrek, or anyone else. Nothing here should be interpreted as a statement of official policy, legal guidance, or an endorsement unless expressly labeled as such.

Connect with Jo Borrás

The grid was melting down in last week’s heat – until EVs came to the rescue

EPA grants electric school buses

As last week’s relentless heat wave strained power grids, critics feared that the record number of electric vehicles on the push them over the edge. Instead, the opposite happened: EVs helped utilities keep the lights on and the AC running by feeding the electricity stored in their batteries back into the grid.

Expand Expanding Close

Hurricanes, heat domes, and holding up the grid with home batteries [update]

Tapping into the power of bring-your-own-battery programs

It’s been a year since this piece on home batteries becoming one of the most important tools we have for keeping the lights on during hurricanes, heat waves, and other extreme weather events was published. Since then, the case for VPPs has only gotten stronger, with more utilities than ever putting big money behind distributed batteries and virtual power plants to keep the grid stable during periods of record energy demands.

Expand Expanding Close

Kalmar is building – and selling! – these massive electric reach stackers in China

Kalmar secures new orders for electric reachstackers from customers across China

Kalmar began building its 45-ton ERG450 electric reach stackers at a Shanghai manufacturing plant back in 2023, aiming to bring heavy-duty cargo handler closer to potential customers across the Asian market. That investment appears to be paying off, with the company announcing four new orders from to close out Q2.

Expand Expanding Close

GM is flooding dealers with Bolt EVs – is that part of the plan?

Chevy Bolt Sales Proving That One Model Year May Be Enough After All

GM raised plenty of eyebrows when it announced that its resurrected 2027 Chevrolet Bolt – one of the lowest-priced, most capable new EVs in North America – would only be built for a single model year. Despite the limited-time offer and solid sales, dealers are still sitting on 118 days’ of inventory, far more than the 60-day supply the industry considers healthy. That begs the question: did GM overestimate demand, or is this all part of the plan?

Expand Expanding Close

$383 million port and freight infrastructure grant to create 22,000 clean jobs

🚂 California State Transportation Agency Secretary Toks Omishakin visited the Port of Long Beach to see how a record $383 million grant from the state’s Port and Freight Infrastructure Program (PFIP) is being put into action to support 22,000 jobs, reduce emissions and build a modern, sustainable supply chain at one of America’s busiest ports. 🚢

A ceremony held at the Port of Long Beach saw a record-setting $383 million grant from the state’s Port and Freight Infrastructure Program (PFIP) issued to support 22,000 clean jobs, reduce port and freight emissions, and build up a more modern, more sustainable supply chain at one of America’s busiest ports.

Expand Expanding Close

Solar gets railed: clever Swiss pilot proves PV panels and trains can coexist

Solar energy from railways shows first positive results in Switzerland

Finding places to deploy new solar panels is often just as challenging as the construction project itself – with productive farmland, open parking lots, and rooftops all offering their own sets of pros and cons, but a recent pilot project suggests that thousands of acres of viable, low-cost land have been hiding in plain sight all along: the space between railroad tracks.

Expand Expanding Close

Survey Sunday: with nearly a trillion dollars, will Elon try to make things right?

Last week, we asked Electrek readers a simple whether they believed that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, after becoming the world’s first trillionaire, would finally make good on the ambitious promises he spent years making about accelerating sustainable energy, delivering unsupervised full self driving, building useful humanoid robots, and ultimately making humanity a multiplanetary species. After more than 3,300 responses, here’s what you told us.

Expand Expanding Close