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The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) released a study on renewable energy policies for cities last month. The reason for the focus on cities is due to their ability to scale up renewables and meet emission-reduction targets. Large cities have the revenue bases, regulatory frameworks, and infrastructure to support this while smaller ones usually don’t.

The study pointed out that it’s mostly cities that are raising awareness and moving towards energy transitions. Smaller and even medium-sized cities that have 1 million or fewer inhabitants usually don’t have the funding or political support to embrace renewables, and they are also not as highly visible as megacities.

The study analyzed six medium-sized cities from China, Uganda, and Costa Rica. They were chosen due to two reasons:

  1. They have effective policies in place, or
  2. They have untapped renewable energy sources that could launch their sustainable development.

A Quick Look At The Study

The study takes a dive into the challenges and successes that are seen in the deployment of renewable energy in medium-sized cities and provides case studies of the six cities studied. A quick look at the executive summary shows that these cities have a population range from 30,000 to 1 million inhabitants.

Image courtesy of IRENA.

Altogether, cities are responsible for around 70% of global energy-related greenhouse gas emissions. Urban areas have high rates of air pollution as well, with 98% of cities with over 100,000 inhabitants in low- and middle-income countries failing to meet the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) air quality guidelines.

Renewable energy technologies (RETs) play a central role in easing the severity of climate change while providing cleaner air. Research is often focused on the urban trends of particular sets of global megacities and doesn’t really focus any attention on cities with 1 million or fewer inhabitants, which is the fastest growing category and home to some 2.4 billion people (59% of the world’s total urban population).

Cities are motivated to promote renewables by several factors, such as:

  • Economic development and jobs.
  • Social equity.
  • Governance.
  • Air quality.
  • Secure and affordable energy.
  • Such as access to clean energy.
  • Climate stability.
  • Energy-related policymaking requires a lot of flexibility — it involves governance structures and processes as well as the diverse motivations of many stakeholders.

Image courtesy of IRENA.

Cities’ plans need to be tailored to their own circumstances, and some factors shaping city energy profiles include:

  • Demographic trends.
  • Climate zone.
  • Ownership of energy assets.
  • Settlement density.
  • Regulatory authority.
  • Institutional capacity.
  • Economic structure and wealth.

Image courtesy of IRENA.

Case Studies 1 & 2: Chongli District and Tongli Town

The two cities in this section are Chongli District and Tongli Town. In the cases of these two Chinese cities, the study found that both benefit from the availability of large-scale renewable energy projects, with wind and solar being the best options. It has a level of existing deployment which provides a solid base for the cities’ ambitious targets compared to other cities where renewables aren’t as present.

The Chinese cities benefit from the availability of financial resources that target renewable energy deployment. Tongli Town receives support from its upper-level administration, which has one of the largest revenue streams among Chinese city governments.

Tongli Town is one of the most replicable in developed cities that resemble Suzhou. Although Zhangjiakou City isn’t as wealthy as Suzhou, the Chongli District was able to receive financial support from the national government as a result of the Winter Olympics.

Its example shows that distributed renewables could also play a large role in cities. PV generation systems could be deployed outside of highly populated city centers, for example. Tongli Town also benefits from the relationship between local governments and local manufacturing industries that deploy RETs.

Showcase events such as the Winter Olympics also help a city gain visibility — this is what happened with the Chongli District. It and the Zhangjiakou Municipality linked the development targets of local renewables with the hosting arrangements of the Winter Olympics. This focused political attention and financial support on renewable energy projects.

Cross-governmental collaboration and existing manufacturing industries benefitting from renewable deployment also played key roles.

Case Studies 3 & 4: Kasese and Lugazi

This case study focused on the Ugandan cities of Kasese and Lugazi. Uganda has a variety of energy resources that includes hydropower, biomass, solar, geothermal, peat, and fossil fuels. Yet only 20% of the population has access to electricity. The World Bank estimated in 2017 that only 2% of the nation’s population has access to clean cooking fuels and technologies.

In Uganda, renewable energy deployment benefits the local communities in many ways while boosting socio-economic goals. In both Lugazi and Kasese, solar street lighting and solar home systems (SHSs) massively saved both municipalities and households while extending business hours for street sellers. It’s also improved public safety and telecommunications, which led to the creation of job opportunities.

Ugandan cities face obstacles to greater local deployment. Institutional constraints, such as narrow political mandates and tight municipal finances, present huge obstacles to effective policy action. Scaling up projects will need greater funding as well as capacity building. This requires a national enabling framework that supports the local government at the district and municipal levels. Kasese and Lugazi have benefited from initiatives targeting sustainable energy at the district level.

Financial resources for both district and municipal governments are needed. Renewables may offer savings in the long run, but the upfront costs usually surpass the funds available to Uganda’s municipalities and districts. For now, initiatives such as solar street lighting are usually linked to third-party financing support. An example of this is the World Bank’s Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development Programme.

Case Studies 5 & 6: Cartago and Grecia, and Guanacaste

Costa Rica has a population of around 5 million people and is the smallest of the three countries that were studied in the report. Some key questions discussed in the country include what role is played by the public and private sectors and what degree to which electricity generation should be based on centralized and decentralized sources. Some of the key issues and challenges that shape the nation’s efforts to promote the use of renewable energy include:

  • Mandates.
  • Strengthening cities’ ability to act with a diverse set of actors.
  • Transport as the next frontier.

For cities without the mandate, their scopes of action are limited and this is one of the main obstacles to a sustainable urban future. In the case of Cartago and Grecia, the cities have taken active measures to promote green policies in the transport and tourism sectors. Costa Rica’s “capital of renewable energy,” Guanacaste, has hosted several projects in the fields of wind, solar, and geothermal energy.

Another key lesson from the study in the case of Costa Rica is that when the share of renewables in the electricity mix is already high, transport becomes the next frontier. Compared to Columbia, Panama, and Chile, Costa Rica has a lack of municipal transport. The other countries are advancing with electric buses and other electric-mobility projects and these contrast with Costa Rica.

You can read the full 158-page report here.


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The Dodge Neon deserves a comeback – and Stellantis could do it tomorrow

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The Dodge Neon deserves a comeback – and Stellantis could do it tomorrow

The first all-new compact Mopar since the malaise-era K-Car, the Dodge Neon was a revelation. Its fun, approachable face, its “Hi.” marketing campaign, all of it was pitch-perfect for the uncertain times it was launched into. Now, a generation later, Stellantis faces similarly uncertain times – and a new Neon could go a long way towards helping the old Chrysler Co. do what it does best: come back from the brink.

If they wanted to, Stellantis could make it happen tomorrow.

Today, Stellantis is in trouble. Much like it was in the early 90s, the company is hemorrhaging cash, fighting with the unions, and struggling to sell higher-end cars. Today as then, what the company needs is an affordable, simple new car to get people in the showrooms – and in 1994, that new car was the Neon.

In the mid-late 1990s, the Dodge Neon was everywhere. It was affordable, fun to drive, and more or less reliable. It was also economical and fuel-efficient, but it wasn’t that way. It was sold as a fun, smiling face with funky round lights. In R/T and ACR spec, it was sold as an even more fun, smiling face, and offered serious performance chops that still get the grizzled Gen X guys at the SCCA/NASA track days excited.

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Stellantis is selling a car right now, today, that meets all that criteria. It’s the right size, it’s reasonably affordable, and it’s got the right tech – available as both a PHEV and a pure EV – for its time.

It’s even got some funky round lights!

Lancia Ypsilon HF


Spec SOHC Neon DOHC Neon Hybrid Y EV Y HF Y
Wheelbase (mm) 2642 2642 2675 2675 2675
Overall Length (mm) 4366 4366 4080 4080 4080
Engine Size (L) 2.0 2.0 1.2 NA NA
HP 132–136 150 100 156 280
TQ (lb-ft) 129–133 133 129 192 255
0–60 mph (s) 7.6–8.5 7.6 9.3 8.2 5.6
MPG (comb.)/EV range 28 28 ~50 425 km 370 km

As you can see from the specs, above, the first-gen Neon is pretty close in terms of size and performance, with the modern Ypsilon offering significantly improved emissions, technology, and safety upgrades compared to the OG Neon, which didn’t even offer anti-lock brakes (ABS) as standard on its base or Highline models (it was standard on the Sport and, later, R/T trims).

There’s even a modern allegory for the ultra track-focused ACR version of the Neon, which shipped with its adjustable suspension, anti-sway bars, disc brakes, and close-ratio transmission. That’s the Lancia Ypsilon HF, a 280 HP sporty compact EV that made its debut last week and originally inspired this article.

Check out the original launch ad for the 1995 Plymouth Neon, below, and tell me they couldn’t do a shot-for-shot remake with a rebadged Ypsilon and make it immediately relevant to car buyers in 1995 in the comments.

Plymouth Neon launch commercial from 1994


Original content from Electrek.


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Does Faraday’s FX Super One show us how Chinese EVs will get into the US?

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Does Faraday's FX Super One show us how Chinese EVs will get into the US?

Faraday Future unveiled its upcoming FX Super One MPV on Thursday, which appears to be a rebadged Great Wall Motors Way Gaoshan.

Which brings us to the question: is this how we might see more Chinese EVs make their way to the US?

The EV market in China has grown rapidly in recent years, not just in terms of total sales and revenues for its largest companies, but also in terms of the hundreds of EV companies vying to survive the current highly competitive market there.

But despite massively rising EV sales in the country, EV production is still scaling even faster. This has led to a price war within China due to this glut of cars, and also to Chinese companies seeking more buyers overseas.

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These affordable EVs have been shipped around the globe, leading to rapidly rising EV sales in Europe and in the “rest of the world” – though, as of yet, not really in the US. Due to excessive tariffs, the US has made itself into an island where few Chinese EVs are allowed.

The ones that have made their way into the US are those built by Western brands that were bought up by a Chinese conglomerate, like Volvo and Polestar under parent company Geely. Some of their models are assembled in Chinese factories, but most of the ones making their way to the US are built in European or US factories (largely due to the domestic sourcing efforts in Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, creating millions of US jobs which republicans are currently doing their best to send back to China).

BYD has also put out feelers about building a factory in Mexico, but those plans are on pause, ironically because BYD doesn’t want its technology to be stolen by the US (put that one on for some perspective about how far we have fallen behind on EVs, fellow Americans).

But we haven’t yet seen the kind of Chinese EV that the rest of the world is getting – one of those many eye-openingly cheap numbers that could finally bring true affordability to the US market (or bring it back, that is).

That’s due to tariffs, and it’s intentional. There are various arguments given for tariffs’ existence, but they boil down to: the US can’t make cars as cheap as China, and wants to protect its auto industry, and therefore making Chinese EVs more expensive will forestall their entry into the US while we try to get better at making them. I personally find these explanations wanting and consider these tariffs unwise (and they have only gotten more unwise).

But in a world where these tariffs exist, and depending highly on what final form they take, companies will look for ways to minimize their exposure to them and to still bring cars into the US. Much of the EV industry is sourced through China (again, one of the issues the Inflation Reduction Act tried to remedy), so parts will have tariffs on them, in various amounts.

This is where I speculate that the Faraday Future FX Super One could come in. At last night’s unveiling event, it became quite clear that the car is strikingly similar to the Great Wall Motors Wey Gaoshan.

This similarity is not coincidental – Faraday told us that it is working with “a Tier 1 Chinese automotive supplier,” one that we have heard of, to build the FX Super One. That supplier will send stamped bodies to Faraday’s US factory in Hanford, CA, where Faraday will take care of the final assembly.

Faraday didn’t let us take pictures of the interior, even from the outside, but what we saw of the interior on a short ride around the parking lot looked quite similar to the interior of a Wey Gaoshan, just with different controls (for example, the the pull-out fridge in the bottom of this photo is identical to the one I saw in the FX Super One).

Faraday said the interior hasn’t been finalized yet, but also said that it thinks it can have 100-150 cars built by the end of the year. Which is less than half a year away, for a company that has to date built 16 cars (though those it built on its own). So there’s not a lot of time for further changes at this rate.

So, here we have a company that intends to sell a car in the US, much of which originated in China. This seems like it would run afoul of tariffs.

But, depending on how (or if…) these tariffs get edited or finalized, they might be much lower for parts and/or for vehicles that undergo final assembly in the US. So Faraday might be able to get away with importing something very similar to a GWM, doing enough to it here to qualify its way past tariffs, and getting it on the market at a price that doesn’t incorporate the however-many-hundred-percent the US has ridiculously decided to tack on this week.

Faraday also mentioned during its presentations about the FX Super One that it has a US-based software team, which has been at work for some time.

The software in Faraday’s previous vehicle, the FF91, is pretty good, despite being such a low volume vehicle. And it’s gotten much better between the first time I sat in it and when I had a short demo this month of Faraday’s newly-upgraded voice recognition system (now supporting 50+ languages) and swipe gestures for setting volume and HVAC.

We didn’t get to interact with the software on the FX Super One at all, but we would be cautiously optimistic about it based on prior showings.

But more importantly for the purposes of this article, Faraday’s software team is based in the US. And given current US threats to ban any and all Chinese software from vehicles, this too would allow Faraday to swap out some chips and memory cards and make a car perfectly legal from a US perspective.

So it’s possible that Faraday is on to something here, and has found a reasonable way to get Chinese EVs into America, while complying with US law, and while giving the company a much easier way to increase its scale than trying to get numbers up for the slow-growing FF91 project. Faraday does not have the resources to build out mass market manufacturing currently, so this is another option.

Now… this is no $11k Dolphin Seagull, the Wey Gaoshan starts in the mid-$40k range in China, and is considered a luxury model. And here in the US, Faraday is positioning the car as a premium model as well, though hasn’t yet announced pricing or really gotten its messaging straight on whether it’s a mass market vehicle or a VIP/Cadillac Escalade competitor.

But if this is Faraday’s plan, and if the plan works, it could give the US a taste of the EVs that the rest of the world is getting access to, and could show a potential way of getting those cars across the border. There are both pros (competition good, cheaper prices good) and cons (race to the bottom for manufacturing, loss of important American industry) for the US auto market here, so you’ll have to decide which side of that equation you land on, but this could be a harbinger of one way cars from the now-biggest auto exporting country in the world could make their way out into markets that have exhibited hostility to that idea.


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Review: The tech-forward Meepo Go electric skateboard is a smooth, speedy ride for all [Video]

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Review: The tech-forward Meepo Go electric skateboard is a smooth, speedy ride for all [Video]

Scooter here, back with another electric mobility review. This time, I tested out the Meepo Go electric skateboard. It is a sturdy, smooth deck designed for riders of all sizes, with some unique tech I had never encountered before. Be sure to check out my full video review below.

The Meepo Go is a versatile skateboard built for everyone

The Go electric skateboard from Meepo comes in one standard design. It usually has an MSRP of $699, but it is currently on sale for $569, so now is an excellent time to buy.

Features at a glance:

  • Bamboo and fiberglass deck provides durability, flexibility, and stability, suitable for heavier riders over 200 lbs.
  • Impact-resistant plates and a scratch-resistant underside.
  • Dual belt drive 1500 watt stator 4230 motors
  • 12s2p 345.6WH/8AH battery with flame-retardant and water-resistant protection
  • JK-FOC24B Electronic Speed Controller (ESC)
    • Offers smooth, jerk-free acceleration with customizable speed and braking settings
  • Four-speed modes:
    • L: 12 mph (20 km/h)
    • E: 20 mph (32 km/h)
    • S/S+: 28 mph (45 km/h) (S+ adds faster acceleration)
  • Adjustable braking intensity
  • Top Speed 28 mph (45 km/h)
  • Range: Up to 20 miles (32 km)
  • Incline capabilities: 30%
  • 2-year warranty

Electrek‘s take

Meepo is an exciting electric skateboard manufacturer whose goal is to make this particular form of travel accessible to anyone and help reduce carbon emissions. You know we love that.

The company has built hundreds of thousands of electric boards, all of which are rigorously tested and constantly revamped for better quality and efficiency. For my first-ever encounter with Meepo, I was sent its Go electric skateboard – a sort of all-in-one deck designed to support heavier riders.

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I didn’t realize this was a heavy rider board until I read its description on the website. I don’t think that was the reason Meepo recommended this one, but it’s nice to know I wouldn’t have to worry about breaking the Go for being too heavy (I’m only 200 pounds right now, okay?).

The unboxing was incredibly simple. You first unwrap your shiny new, assembled Meepo Go deck, complete with wheels, trucks, motors, and battery. Below that is some instructions, a charger with cables, a couple of adjustment tools, plus two extra motor belts.

Last but not least is Meepo’s J6S ergonomic remote. According to Meepo, the remote’s upgraded control logic allows riders to double-click to change speed modes, reducing accidental toggles, and can stay connected to the board at a max range of 46 meters.

My full haul is pictured above and in the video below. Zero assembly is required; simply plug and play. The Meepo Go electric skateboard can recharge when fully drained in four hours.

Aside from its sturdy design, thanks to a Bamboo and fiberglass deck, I found the Meepo Go quite aesthetically pleasing. I liked its unique grip tape design and carved-out handle for easier carrying (see below).

Meepo skateboard

Once the Meepo skateboard was fully charged, it was time to power up and take it out for a first spin. My initial impression was just how smooth a ride the Go is, thanks in part to its wheels, which Meepo recently revamped to enable better wet-weather traction and anti-slip capabilities.

The trucks initially took some getting used to as they are 45-degree as opposed to 50-degree on traditional configurations, but once I got used to the difference, I felt much more stable at high speeds and making sharp turns. Meepo also provided a truck tool to tighten or loosen your configuration to your preferences.

The Meepo Go’s dual 4230 brushless motors combine for a total output of 3,000 watts, offering a top speed of up to 28 mph or 45 km/h. While that’s pretty damn fast for an electric skateboard, Meepo said “not so fast” to new riders for their own safety.

Go riders must travel 10 km (6.2 miles) in the lower two “L” and “E” speed modes to unlock the S and S+ modes, which allow the 28 mph top speed and higher acceleration. S mode was honestly too fast for my liking, but it was nice to know I had those speed capabilities whenever I’m feeling saucy. The truth is, at my age and skill level, I’m beyond satisfied cruising and carving around 20 mph.

Luckily, the Meepo Go electric skateboard delivers both speed options and then some.

The Meepo Go also allows you to customize its braking intensity from 0% to 100%. This is a feature I had never personally seen on an electric skateboard that genuinely impressed me. It just adds to the overall smoothness this deck provides on all levels.

As mentioned in the key features above, the Go’s dual motors are powered by an eight-amp-hour battery, which enables an all-electric range of up to 20 miles or 32 km.

Aside from speeds nearing 30 mph, you really feel the Meepo Go’s capability on hills. It was configured to tackle 15-degree (30%) inclines with ease, and having tested it, it’s true.

What may be most impressive about this particular Meepo skateboard is its advanced JKFOC-24B electronic skate controller (ESC), which is essentially the brain of the entire powertrain. 

The ESC delivers smooth acceleration with no jerking or lag. It also enables full user customization of acceleration, top speed, and braking sensitivity, so once you get comfortable, you can tailor every aspect of your riding experience to your liking. This is another super cool feature that was new to me personally.

Meepo skateboard

Overall, the Meepo Go is smooth, powerful, and very tech-forward. With more than enough speed, I truly enjoyed the lag-free cruising and carving of the 45-degree trucks and the ease of use of its ergonomic remote.

I was genuinely impressed by the tech used to customize this skateboard, enabling anyone to customize their ride. As such, I’d highly recommend the Meepo Go because of its feel, utility, and universal rideability for virtually everyone, not to mention its competitive pricing.

If you’d like to try out the Meepo Go electric skateboard for yourself, click here. Be sure to check out my full video review below.

Buy a Meepo Go Electric Skateboard

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