Texas is hot below ground and full of folks with oil and gas drilling expertise, so that makes it ripe for a geothermal energy boom, according to a new study from researchers at five Texas universities.
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EV tech and infrastructure giant Siemens eMobility today announced that it will locate its second US manufacturing hub for EV chargers in Carrollton, Texas, outside of Dallas.
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A year on from the big Texas freeze that knocked out the state’s power system and caused at least 246 deaths, new research released yesterday found that rooftop solar could have supplied more than enough electricity to meet the shortfall on all but two of the 13 days when power production fell short of forecasted demand.
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Texas has been hit by a heatwave, and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has asked residents to reduce electricity use until Friday because demand is up, but power supply is down. ERCOT stated yesterday, “Generator owners have reported approximately 11,000 MW [megawatts] of generation is on forced outage for repairs; of that, approximately 8,000 MW is thermal, and the rest is intermittent resources.” “Thermal” power in Texas largely refers to natural gas-fired power plants, which make up around 50% of annual energy production in Texas.
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In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):
In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):
As Electrek reported in December 2019, “Nearly half of US states impose fees on EV owners or will consider adding fees in 2020. The ill-conceived idea is to make up for gaps in roadway infrastructure investments usually derived from gasoline taxes.” Next up? Texas.
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Tesla has been on a tear lately, and it looks like CEO Elon Musk is trying to think of new ways to spend some money. Tonight he dropped a hint that, in addition to current gigafactory projects in China and Germany, Tesla is considering one in Texas.
A new look at a burgeoning solar boom in Texas reveals an unlikely source behind much of the demand — oil and gas companies.
[We’re back!] Electrek Green Energy Brief: A daily technical, financial, and political review/analysis of important green energy news.
Today in the return of EGEB, a new report shows corporations bought a record amount of clean energy in 2018. In Texas, corporations and cities alike are looking to add more wind turbines before a federal tax credit is phased out. Meanwhile, officials and residents in Vermont are looking to take action following a 2018 report that showed emissions actually increased in spite of the state’s efforts.
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Tesla has been leading direct sales battles this year on several fronts in Utah, Connecticut, Indiana, and several other states.
They lost the battle in the Lone Star State this week after bills to allow direct sales by automakers died in Texas state House and Senate.
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During a convention held in Dallas last week, Texas state GOP delegates endorsed new Tesla-backed language in the party platform to allow direct sales of vehicles in the state. About 90 percent of the more than 8,000 delegates supported the new proposal.
This new support is likely to be a big help for Tesla’s next effort to push new legislation in order to sell its cars through company-owned stores in Texas – something the company has been trying to do since 2013.
Tesla had a booth at the convention and discussed its situation in the state with thousands of delegates.
Under the current state’s laws governing car sales, as an automaker, Tesla cannot sell its vehicles to consumers and is required to go through third-party dealerships – something the company refused to do as per its business model.
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This weekend, Texas A&M University will be hosting SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition’s “Design Weekend”. Over 1,000 students and engineers forming 124 teams are competing for a chance to build their own Hyperloop pod prototypes and race them at SpaceX’s upcoming test track.
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Nissan expands its “free” charging program for the LEAF called “No Charge to Charge” to 3 more US cities: Austin, Texas; Monterey, Calif. and Raleigh-Durham, N.C. New LEAF buyers will have access to some chargers in EZ-Charge’s network for 2 years. The first 30 minutes of each DC charging session and 60 minutes of each level 2 charging session will be free.
IF LEAF owners want to hug the charging stalls for longer periods they will have to pay EZ-Charge, but considering the LEAF’s battery pack size, it isn’t likely to be necessary.
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When Google originally showcased the newer low-speed “cute-mobile” self-driving car, it mentioned a goal of having about 100 of them on the road for testing within a couple years. Now, as the company is bringing its low-speed electric prototypes to Austin a year later, Sarah Hunter, head of policy for Google [X], has revealed that the company is expanding production of the cars (via The Guardian). Hunter says that Google is now producing at least a “few hundred” and hints at a potential future of mass-production…
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Last month Tesla’s plan for a showroom and service center in San Antonio was denied approval by the city zoning commission over concerns that Tesla’s battery packs could potentially contaminate the local water supply. The commission denied the proposal despite the recommendation of San Antonio Water System (SAWS) which approved Tesla’s project.
The project was up for another vote last week, but Tesla pulled the proposal to work on some the details ahead of more concerns leading up to the vote…
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Even though Tesla Motors sold just over 3,000 cars in Texas since it introduced its all-electric sedan in 2012, the lone star state still maintains its ban on the direct sale method of the Silicon Valley carmaker. Yesterday on Bloomberg Radio, Texas Governor Greg Abbott reiterated his preference for the statu quo on the ban of direct car sales.
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From today’s Shareholder Report(PDF):
In June, we broke ground just outside Reno, Nevada on a site that could potentially be the location for the Gigafactory. Consistent with our strategy to identify and break ground on multiple sites, we continue to evaluate other locations in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. The final site for the first Gigafactory will be determined in the next few months, once we have full visibility and agreement on the relevant incentives and processes for enabling the Gigafactory to be fully operational to meet the timing for Model 3. We see these concurrent efforts as prudent. This vehicle will be
our third-generation product and will substantially broaden the addressable market for Tesla, helping to accelerate the transition towards sustainable transportation. Any potentially duplicative investments are minor compared to the revenue that could be lost if the launch of Model 3 were affected by any delays at our primary Gigafactory site.
Conference call will be at 5:30 here. Stock is down in after hours on unit shipment numbers.
