World EV Sales Records, EV Sales Growth, Hydrogen Collapse — Top Cleantech Stories

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

This past week has been packed with a number of big cleantech stories. I was going to try to narrow this weekly report down to just a few, but it was impossible again, and I ended with a bit more than 10. That also includes some stories that I can’t say are big stories, but are just too fun to leave out.

First off, I have to start with our world EV sales reports. José Pontes does such a good job with these, and they are so fun to explore. Being the end-of-year reports for 2023, that makes them extra special this time around. If you happened to miss this trio of reports, check out the charts and discussions around the world’s top selling EV models, top selling EV brands, and top selling EV OEMs.

On the topic of EV sales, there’s been a lot of hype lately on supposedly “disappointing” levels of EV sales and demand. I dealt with this odd and misleading talking point here, and Steve Hanley also did so, titling his piece, “The EV Revolution Isn’t Dead Yet, Although Some Would Like You To Think So.” Then, stimulated by a new chart on EV sales growth in the US, and clearly irritated by the hot new anti-EV smack talk, I just wrote about this topic again a few hours ago.

A new EV charging station network in the US is finally looking to do everything right, as far as I can tell. And not just right, but great! The high-powered charging network, IONNA, is a collaboration between 7 major automakers — BMW, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, and Stellantis — and operations just got rolling. I think these companies realize they need something truly appealing to customers and also don’t want to be under the thumb of Tesla’s Supercharger network and Tesla’s mercurial and sometimes vindictive leader. Smart move. It’s a decade late, but better late than never.

South Africa is getting its own boost of ultra-fast, renewably powered charging stations. “Zero Carbon Charge, the South African firm working to build South Africa’s first fully off-grid charging stations, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Chinese energy storage systems manufacturer Shanghai Magic Power Tech Co., Ltd, also known as Magic Power, and its local partner Greencore Energy Solutions (PTY) Ltd to build and import the first-of-its kind integrated ultra-fast systems for its 120 renewable charging stations currently being rolled out across South Africa,” Remeredzai Joseph Kuhudzai writes.

The “Hydrogen economy” has taken more hits this past week, which surprises me so little that I might as well be sleeping. Michael Barnard discusses hydrogen refueling stations closing in multiple countries as well as the struggles that “hydrogen for energy” fans are facing. He then ends this trio of stories with an epic piece on “the life story of a committed hydrogen-for-energy worker.”

Meanwhile, GM is re-introducing plugin hybrid powertrains. Steve Hanley tries to explain why and what’s going on.

Tesla’s “Dojo” had previously been massively hyped up by Tesla CEO Elon Musk on a few occasions, but it seems the project is far from its targeted goals and may not end up being anything more than a giant money dump. Or it could be transformational. We’ll see, but that’s not just me talking — that’s essentially what Elon Musk said on the recent Tesla shareholder conference call.

Additionally, there are signs Tesla is facing an increasingly tightening consumer demand crunch. The company keeps adding avenues for pushing for more sales, and has brought back offers it said it wouldn’t provide again. Tesla also just shot down rumors of a refreshed Tesla Model Y coming this year — something that was probably putting a bit of a crimp on Model Y demand.

Expanding its geographic breadth, Tesla is entering the Chilean market. It’s not just big news that Tesla is entering this market, but also that Tesla is offering highly competitive pricing in Chile. This could be a game changer for the market and stimulate many other competitively priced EVs in the market — in fact, it seems to already be driving down costs of the limited EV options on the market. And this kind of influence was the core aim or mission of Tesla in the beginning.

Ethiopia, meanwhile, is not waiting around for anyone else to save the day, as the country is apparently banning the imports of automobiles made with a fuel-chugging powertrain.

Back to South America, Juan Diego Celemín Mojica explores the top EV markets in Latin America. If you missed the report, see if you can guess the three EV leaders down south. And enjoy the charts!

You can now get green community perks with e-bike subscriptions (some of you). “Companies can help their employees clean up their commutes by offering e-bike and e-scooter subscriptions as a company benefit, and Ridepanda is here to make that process as easy as possible. Ridepanda acts as a one-stop-shop for employees to pick the micromobility option that best suits them, and then offers a monthly subscription service for the e-bike or scooter, which the employee’s company can either directly subsidize through Ridepanda, or can offer the employee a reimbursement for the subscription,” Derek Markham writes.

Transformers was one of the best shows on television when I was a little kid, and while the following vehicles may not compete in size or usefulness, there is something to be said for vehicles that can transform themselves. The cool new automotive transformers I’m talking about are the Surge S32 and the CT-2 microcar.

Reminding us why cleantech is so critical, Steve Hanley has a piece on the terrifying reality of global weirding and some of the changes expected to come in the next 50+ years. Fair warning: reading the article may cause anxiety, depression, and fear. Just remember all the good cleantech stories above when that hits.

Last, but certainly not least, CleanTechnica turned 16 years old last week! It blows my mind. Thanks for helping us do what we do.