internal combustion engines

A Boom In Auto Battery Manufacturing | Earth Wise

June 24, 2022 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Nearly all automobile manufacturers are in a global race to build electric cars and trucks. There is a rapidly growing need for the battery packs that power those vehicles and therefore manufacturers are in a race to build battery factories to address that need.

The latest battery plant announcement comes from Stellantis – the new company created in 2021 through the merger of Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot. Stellantis aims to sell five million electric cars by 2030, which means they will need a lot of batteries. They will be spending $2.5 billion in partnership with Samsung to build a battery factory in Kokomo, Indiana. The facility is expected to create 1,400 jobs. Stellantis already had announced that it would build a battery factory in Windsor, Ontario in partnership with LG Energy Solutions.

They are not alone in their aggressive efforts on electric vehicle battery development. Ford Motor is building two battery plants in Kentucky and a third one in Tennessee. Ford has recently started production of its F-150 electric pickup truck which has attracted large numbers of pre-orders. The gas-powered Ford F-150 has been the best-selling vehicle in America for years.

General Motors is opening a new battery production plant in Ohio this summer and has two others under construction in Tennessee and Michigan. Hyundai plans to spend $5.5 billion on an electric vehicle and battery manufacturing facility near Savannah, Georgia that is expected to begin operations in 2025.

The auto industry has been struggling in recent times, but there is clearly a massive boom underway as the industry makes the transition from internal combustion engines to battery electric power.

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Stellantis and Samsung to spend $2.5 billion on an electric vehicle battery plant in Indiana

Photo, posted July 29, 2017, courtesy of Steve Jurvetson via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Have We Reached Peak Internal Combustion Engine? | Earth Wise

August 3, 2021 By EarthWise 1 Comment

According to new analysis from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, global sales of gas-powered cars may well have peaked in 2017, representing a significant milestone in the transition to electric vehicles.

Demand for gas cars dropped in 2018 and 2019, and then plummeted in 2020 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. While sales are surely picking up as the pandemic ebbs, the increasing demand (and supply as well) for plug-in vehicles is likely to put gas-powered cars in a state of permanent decline.

Global EV sales are projected to go from 3.1 million last year to 14 million in 2025. The growth is being driven by falling battery prices, government policies, and increasing choices of vehicles. Virtually all automobile manufacturers are introducing electric vehicles over the next couple of years and increasing numbers of them are planning a complete transition to EVs in the near future. Projections are that EVs will account for the majority of new car sales by 2035.

While all this progress is encouraging, there are still over a billion gas- and diesel-powered cars on the road and the fleet turns over slowly. The current average operating life of cars here in the US is 12 years.

To reach the net-zero carbon emission goals by 2050 as many governments have mandated, additional policies and regulations will be needed. For example, electric cars will need to account for essentially all new sales by 2035, not just the majority. Reaching net-zero by mid-century will require all hands on deck, including trucks and heavy commercial vehicles that have barely started to become electrified.

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New Analysis Suggests We Have Already Hit Peak Internal Combustion Engine

Photo, posted December 23, 2017, courtesy of Davide Gambino via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

Electric Cars For Real This Time?

August 29, 2017 By EarthWise

Electric cars have been around for a long, long time. The first ones appeared in the mid-19^th century. Around the turn of the 20^th century, they were popular for taxi cabs in places like New York City. But within about 10 years, they mostly disappeared. In the 1990s, electric cars had a brief revival with vehicles like the General Motors EV1. But again electric cars mostly vanished.

Pulling Carbon Out Of The Air

January 20, 2016 By WAMC WEB

The world is increasingly united in the desire to reduce carbon emissions into the atmosphere. There is much emphasis on reducing and someday eliminating our use of fossil fuels, which is the main culprit in the situation we find ourselves in today. More and more we are embracing the use of renewable energy sources to produce electricity and we are starting to slowly move away from internal combustion engines to power our cars.