CleanTech Talk — EVs, Solar, Batteries, AI

Episode #44 of Cleantech Talk is here! This episode covers Shenzhen’s taxi plans, the launch of China x Cleantech, premature triumphalism, and a Roger Bannister moment for EV charging access.

Episode #43 of Cleantech Talk is here! This episode covers accident liability for self-driving cars, the EV tax credit, and fuel cells’ exponential ramp.

Episode #42 of Cleantech Talk is here! This episode covers my LA Auto Show-inspired VW-Scooby Doo fantasy crossover and “Fair Trade” Copper.

This week is Cleantech Talk’s Tesla Truck take. Anyone can offer a “hot take” on current events, and darn near every media outlet did! But it takes a brave team (or just a very busy-with-other-work one!) to offer a “cold take” weeks later. In our defense, we were trying to add something to CleanTechnica’s already-substantive coverage and reflections (e.g., this and this).

Episode #40 of Cleantech Talk is here! This episode covers a massive electric bus order in Shenzhen, new bioplastics, and a huge new solar power plant in Oman.

Episode #39 of Cleantech Talk is here! A giant passive house project in Vancouver, a trackless train, and an unsatisfactory Tesla conference call stole the show in our opinion, so that's what we discussed.

Episode 38 of Cleantech Talk kicks off with a discussion of how, while China may be overperforming with its solar panel buildout, those panels are underperforming due to the low air quality there. Which is a polite way of saying that coal-combustion aerosols are reducing solar panels’ electricity harvest -- by up to a third! (Dark aerosols, like soot, tend to absorb light; other aerosols such as sulfates and nitrates, reflect light. In both cases, the aerosols prevent light from reaching solar panels below.) There’s a Laffer Curve at play here, Laffer Curve being a wonkish way of describing the Goldilocks principle that the ideal porridge is between the two extremes of hot and cold. A fellow named Arthur Laffer once pointed out that if a government wanted to maximize revenue, it shouldn’t set the tax rates too high or too low. To his everlasting credit, he pointed out that others had the idea before him, but the name “Laffer Curve” has stuck.

We started this episode talking about the LMX-161 e-motorcycle, then got into Shell EV charging stations, Big Oil, natural gas, ad-supported EV charging stations, and the benefits of low-energy-density renewables.

Cleantech Talk starts off this week with a clip from professional wrestler Daniel “The Progressive Liberal” Richards. (The clip played on the show starts at the 0:27 mark from this YouTube video.) Nicolas Zart and Matthew Klippenstein also chat about electric bikes, plug-in hybrids, Tesla (of course), and Crossing the Chasm.

Though cars get most of the attention, batteries will participate in our cleantech energy transition on land, in the air and by sea. And in today’s Cleantech Talk, we cover them all. It’s something of a “double-cheeseburger” episode, in that we stretched ourselves around four topics instead of the usual two.