Category: Transport_MN

Electric cars are still rare in this marshy stretch of central Minnesota, where it is more common to pass a flock of wild turkeys on the country roads than a Nissan Leaf.
But the region could have an outsize impact on America’s transition to zero-emission vehicles. Tamarack, sitting atop a treasure trove of metal used to power electric cars, is fast becoming a test case of whether the auto industry can meet this critical climate moment by sourcing colossal amounts of battery materials domestically and sustainably.

We need to halve emissions by 2030 to have a chance of hitting net zero by 2050, and fossil-fuel subsidies are one of the biggest financial barriers hampering the world’s shift to renewable energy sources. In this episode we look at how fossil fuel subsidies penetrate and provide an unfair playing field in efforts to decarbonize transport.

With high energy prices and increasing urgency to reduce fossil fuel burning, it makes sense to get the most out of every gallon of gasoline or kilowatt-hour of electricity.
A previous post showed that charging an EV costs around $1.41 per gallon in the U.S., offering consumers a major savings over gasoline. Part of why EVs are cheap to operate is that they use energy with impressive efficiency.

Panelists from the U.S. Department of Energy, General Motors, Panasonic and the International Council on Clean Transportation debated the United States’ ability to reach the Biden administration’s goal that half of all new vehicle sales in the U.S. be zero-emission vehicles by 2030, at an annual seminar in Michigan held by the Center for Automotive Research.

Amid a global semiconductor shortage, and as lawmakers dithered over a bill to boost U.S.-based chip manufacturing, Intel went to the Biden administration with a proposal that some officials found deeply alarming.
Intel told Commerce Department officials that it was considering expanding its manufacturing capacity for chips by taking over an abandoned factory in Chengdu, China. The new facility, the company said, could help ease a global chip crunch that was shuttering car and electronics factories and beginning to fuel inflation.

Tailpipe emissions from cars, trucks, and other road vehicles account for around 75 percent of all carbon emissions from mobility—approximately six gigatons of CO₂ per year. This makes up close to 15 percent of total global CO₂ emissions. Decarbonizing vehicles will primarily involve replacing those that currently run on fossil fuels with electric vehicles (EVs) that are battery powered or hydrogen fuel-cell operated.

The $369 billion climate and tax package Democrats in the Senate proposed this week could have far-reaching effects on the kinds of cars that Americans drive, where those cars are made and how the country produces its energy. The legislation also aims to break China’s hold on battery supply chains.

Introduced on July 27, the climate- and energy-focused Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 misses a massive opportunity by neglecting to invest in an electric bicycle tax credit and other critical initiatives to promote biking for transportation. This omission leaves us sorely disappointed in the future of climate policy given the significant transportation investments in the bill are squarely focused on electric vehicles. While PeopleForBikes remains supportive of urgently needed climate action and broader policy solutions, we’re sorely disappointed that Democratic leadership axed most consideration of bicycles and active transportation in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

The U.S. Energy Department said Monday that it would lend $2.5 billion to a battery maker owned by General Motors and LG Energy Solution to build battery factories, advancing the Biden administration’s plan to promote electric vehicles and reduce dependence on China for critical components.

As Tropical Storm Olivia bore down on the island of Maui in September 2018, Kaliko and her family grabbed their most important belongings and fled. The storm inundated the island with more than a foot of rain, and the floodwater lifted Kaliko’s home from its foundation and washed part of it away. Now, 11-year-old Kaliko is one of 14 youth suing the State of Hawaii for failing to adequately reduce greenhouse gas emissions to protect them from the worsening dangers of climate change.