Not So Super Charge Network

After having achieved a major milestone by persuading almost every manufacturer to adopt the Tesla-designed North American Changing Standard (NACS) and signing deals to allow other brands’ vehicles to access the Tesla Super Charge Network, Tesla has laid off the entire Super Charge Network team, potentially reshaping the trajectory of electric vehicle adoption. bbc.com, theverge.com, techcrunch.com

Among the layoffs were several senior Tesla employees, including Rebecca Tinucci, who was primarily responsible for the widespread adoption of NACS. electrek.co

However, Elon tweeted (posted) that the company still plans to grow the Supercharger network, just slower.

“Tesla’s roughly 58,000 Superchargers have set the standard for EV drivers the world over. Musk’s decision to slow expansion will be felt most acutely in North America, where the network accounts for 74% of all ultra-fast chargers tracked by BloombergNEF.” bloomberg.com

The CBC and The Toronto Sun reported that Canada's greenhouse gas emissions climbed in 2022 after pandemic-related emissions declined. cbc.ca, torontosun.com

However, CP24 and The Toronto Sun (yep, same outlet) reported that the country is on track to meet emissions targets. cp24.com, torontosun.com

Both statements are true.

The data paints a more precise picture that although emissions did climb from 2021 to 2022, they are down relative to pre-pandemic years. From 2005 to 2022, Canada's greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 7.1% (54 Mt CO2 eq). canada.ca

The largest contributor to the nation’s emissions is the Oil and Gas industry, which accounts for 31%, followed by transportation, which accounts for 22%.

The US grid got greener, and everything else remained about the same. arstechnica.com

China was dragging its feet. But now, this is starting to change. China’s electrical power will grow from 30% renewables to 55% by 2035 and 88% by 2050. China emits the most greenhouse gases in the world (33%), followed by the U.S. (15%), while Canada is ranked 11th (1.5%). forbes.com

Any improvement aside, on a per capita basis, Canada is arguably still one of the world's worst emitters of Greenhouse Gases. cbc.ca

CATL announced their new Shenxing PLUS lithium iron phosphate (LFP) electric vehicle battery, which provides a range of 1,000 KM and super fast charging that delivers 600 km of capacity in 10 minutes. catl.com, newswire.ca, canada.autonews.com

BYD had a ‘meh’ Q1 in China but still outsold Tesla on their home turf. reuters.com

Zeekr wants to IPO in the US. reuters.com

Shares of Chinese electric vehicle maker Nio Inc jumped 20% Thursday after its vehicle deliveries more than doubled in April. cnbc.com

Good commentary from Forbes on why the US remains the forbidden land for Chinese automakers. forbes.com

Elon went to China to sign a deal for mapping access with Baidu and to convince Chinese Government officials that Full Self Driving should be available on Teslas in their country. reuters.com, reuters.com

Elon says that auto companies that aren’t prepared to invest $10 Billion this year in AI efforts will likely die. fortune.com

“Okay, Elon!” Tesla is going to launch their own in-vehicle voice assistant. electrek.co, mashable.com

Tesla sues Tesla, an Indian battery maker, for infringing its trademark by using the brand name "Tesla Power." reuters.com

Tesla pulls back plans to expand gigacasting. theverge.com, canada.autonews.com

Elon’s publicly acknowledged drug use may cost him his ability to secure FCC licenses for StarLink. fortune.com

In a video released last week, Astribot S1, a new AI-powered humanoid robot from China’s Stardust Intelligence, demonstrated a staggering level of precision and agility. youtube.com, newatlas.com

Another new Chinese robot, the “Tiangong,” is a humanoid bot capable of running at 6 km/h. gizmochina.com

Northrop Grumman built DARPA a massive autonomous “Manta Ray” submarine drone. darpa.mil

G7 energy ministers are close to an agreement on phasing out coal in power generation by the mid-2030s. reuters.com

The US put in their own rules to force coal-fired energy production to either reduce or capture 90% of their greenhouse gases or shut down by 2032 unless those facilities plan to shut down by 2039. theguardian.com

Nevada dropped in a battery storage facility where a coal plant used to be. electrek.co

Microsoft is partnering with Brookfield Asset Management to build new wind and solar farms to bring over 10.5 gigawatts of new renewable energy capacity. reuters.com

FirstElement Fuels opened the world’s first large-scale hydrogen station for commercial trucks outside the Port of Oakland. electrek.co

Exxon is working on direct air carbon capture technology. The only problem? It’s more than five times too expensive relative to what it needs to cost to be viable. cnbc.com

Electric vehicle battery recycling is already profitable and can recover more than 95% of critical minerals. bnnbloomberg.ca

Polestar and charging startup StoreDot successfully demonstrated charging a Polestar 5 prototype from 10-80% in 10 minutes. media.polestar.com, youtube.com

GM CEO Mary Barra describes herself as a “badass soccer mom” as she drives a Hummer EV around Detroit. Barra is still confident that GM’s passenger vehicles will be 100% electric by 2035. youtube.com

Stellantis reported a 12% decline in revenue in the first quarter, citing lower sales and foreign exchange effects. cnbc.com

Stellantis finally stopped selling the 15-year-old “Ram Classic” truck in Canada. driving.ca

An optimistic Volkswagen Group holds its revenue and margin targets for 2024 after posting a 20% drop in operating profit. europe.autonews.com

Mercedes's net profit and revenue for Q1 fell due to lower sales and supply-chain bottlenecks. wsj.com

Mercedes juiced up an EQXX and drove over 1,000 kilometres on a single charge from Riyadh to Dubai. youtube.com

Ferrari’s love of V12 gas engines is rekindled. reuters.com

Hyundai is spending a lot of money to keep self-driving startup Motional alive. techcrunch.com

GM built Acura a new EV ZDX. autonews.com, techcrunch.com

Ford is using gamified online video to train US dealers about the benefits of EVs. cnbc.com

Rivian locked in a $827 million incentive package from the State of Illinois to ramp up R2 production. teslarati.com

Starting September 2029, newly sold passenger cars and trucks in the United States must be equipped with automatic emergency braking systems. This mandate will save a minimum of 360 lives annually and avert at least 24,000 injuries. reuters.com

The world’s first autonomous F1 car race didn’t go as planned. theverge.com

Kendrick Lamar dropped “euphoria,” a diss track, on April 30th in response to Drake's single "Push Ups.” music.youtube.com, wikipedia.org

The Fu##in’ Up live album from Neil Young & Crazy Horse is a delightfully passive-aggressive response to Neil playing a corporate gig at a Canadian billionaire’s birthday party. music.youtube.com, pitchfork.com

New music this week from Shirley Manson’s Garbage, including an awesome remix of Garbage’s 2005 track “Bad Boyfriend,” featuring Dave Grohl on drums. music.youtube.com, stereogum.com

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