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European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen addresses European lawmakers on the inauguration of the new President of the United States.
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LONDON — There is a new international order, where competition is fierce and some nations “stop at nothing to gain influence,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday.

Speaking at her annual “State of the Union” parliamentary address, von der Leyen described the currrent environment of foreign relations as “a new era of hyper-competitiveness.”

“An era of regional rivalries and major powers refocusing their attention towards each other,” she said, while adding that “recent events in Afghanistan are not the cause of this change — but they are a symptom of it.”

The withdrawal of American and allied troops from Afghanistan fueled a much faster-than-expected takeover of the country by the Taliban. The whole process and subsequent evacuation efforts have raised concerns in the EU about its dependence on the United States in terms of defense and security.

As such, some EU leaders have resurfaced the concept of a strategic autonomy — the idea that the bloc needs to develop its own defense capabilities — and a topic that von der Leyen is keen to pursue.

“Witnessing events unfold in Afghanistan was profoundly painful for all the families of fallen servicemen and servicewomen,” von der Leyen said Wednesday.

“Europe can — and clearly should — be able and willing to do more on its own … What we need is the European Defense Union,” she said.

The topic is likely to be in focus in the first half of 2022, when France, a keen supporter of the idea, is in charge of leading the discussions at the EU-level.

China’s Climate Plan

During her hour-long speech, von der Leyen also asked China to be more concrete about its carbon neutrality plans.

The country has pledged to be carbon neutral by 2060, but for von der Leyen this is not enough.

“The goals that President Xi has set for China are encouraging. But we call for that same leadership on setting out how China will get there. The world would be relieved if they showed they could peak emissions by mid-decade — and move away from coal at home and abroad,” von der Leyen told lawmakers.

She said that all major economies, including the U.S. and Japan, should present detailed plans toward carbon neutrality by the upcoming COP26 conference in Glasgow in November.

The EU has been leading this space, presenting in July a concrete set of measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030.

This topic is becoming increasingly more important as Europeans face higher energy bills amid a natural gas shortage and structural issues. This is raising concerns across the bloc as member states look ahead to colder temperatures in the coming months, which could result in even higher costs when the economy is still just resurfacing from the coronavirus pandemic.

The governments of Spain and Greece have already announced measures to offset some of the recent spike in energy prices. While Spain introduced temporary tax cuts, Greece said it would spend 150 million euros ($177 million) to cut energy bills for consumers over the next three months.

Mateusz Morawiecki, Poland’s prime minister, claimed last week that energy prices were going up due to the EU’s climate policies, Politico reported.

Frans Timmermans, who leads the climate policy portfolio at the European Commission, said Tuesday that “only about a fifth of the price increase can be attributed to CO2 prices rising.”

“The others are simply about shortages in the market,” he told the European Parliament.

“Had we had the green deal five years earlier we would not be in this position because then we would have less dependency on fossil fuels and natural gas,” Timmermans said, arguing that the commission’s climate plan would avoid such energy price increases.

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Meet the Rise Robotics Superjammer – the world’s strongest robotic arm

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Meet the Rise Robotics Superjammer – the world's strongest robotic arm

Rise Robotics’ electric Superjammer industrial robotic arm has the best name in the business. And now, it’s gunning for a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s strongest non-hydraulic robotic arm.

The top spot in the electric robotic strength contest has been locked down by the Fanuc M-2000iA/2300 for nearly a decade, after that machine hoisted an impressive 2,300 kg (approx. 5,070 lbs.) using a combination of electronic gears, belts, and servos.

Even trying to do that kind of lifting with electronic bits is fairly unique in itself, as the world of heavy lifting and earth-moving is almost entirely dominated by hydraulic arms and implements. That’s starting to change, however, with the rise of more all-electric equipment and the time-savings that can come from not having to “warm up” hydraulic fluids in cold environments.

To that end, Rise Robotics is using a novel assortment of belts and pulleys it calls “Beltdraulic” technology (those rods and arms are called “BeltCylinders” now, too, by the way). The tech is good enough to enable the Superjammer arm to curl a claimed 2,930 kgs (just under 6,500 lbs.) about 5 meters (15 ft) off the ground.

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Rise BeltCylinder

BeltCylinder; via Rise Robotics.

While the demonstration of Rise’ Beltdraulics are impressive for their capability, the real trick here is that the machine is fully electric, emissions-free, and doesn’t use energy-intensive or petroleum-based hydraulic fluids – an arrangement that the company says allows the Superjammer to match the performance of the fossil-fueled competition while using 65-90% less power and fuel.

And, because this is 2025 and you can’t have a press release without including “AI,” Rise Robotics claims its systems are “AI-ready,” and designed to be integrated into fully autonomous machines. Regardless of whether the arm is operated by humans or machines, however, its operators will surely appreciate the benefits of finer control over loads and movements, less backlash and slop, and the complete elimination of hydraulic drift offered by the electric servos.

Rise Robotics will officially attempt to break the record on March 20th. Watch this space.

Electrek’s Take

When Bobcat first showed off its all electric track loader prototype at CES all the way back in 2022, it was a huge departure from an industry that was simply “electrifying” by replacing ICE engines with electric motors. It promised to be genuinely different from what was already on the market. We wrote:

It might be a little hard to picture, but in a conventional tractor, the hydraulic fluid — a real nasty, super viscous (thick) oil — is pumped into (or out of) a cylinder, which pushes on a piston that raises (or lowers) the bucket. In the new T7X, that traditional hydraulic system has been completely replaced with an electrical drive system consisting of electric cylinders and electric drive motors. That means the Bobcat doesn’t just use electricity to move around and drive its tracks. It’s really, truly, all-electric.

As with Rise, that switch to electricity means there are virtually no petroleum products being used, so the machine operator no longer has to wait for the standard hydraulic system to “warm up” to be able to use it. That’s a huge step away from petroleum, and a big win for both electrification and job site efficiency — but Bobcat’s electric loaders had another win to celebrate: sales.

South Carolina-based Sunbelt Rentals, one of America’s largest equipment rental companies in North America with more than 1,025 locations, has committed to “a significant investment in a large fleet of Bobcat T7X all-electric compact track loaders and electric compact excavators,” which will be co-branded as Sunbelt loaders.

“By making an investment in this first-of-its-kind, all-electric technology, we support our ESG (environmental, social, and governance) objectives of empowering our customers and communities with the availability of alternative rental solutions that reduce emissions and noise,” said Brendan Horgan, CEO of Sunbelt Rentals. “Sunbelt Rentals is leading the implementation of electrified on-road and off-road products to unlock the ESG structural benefits of rental.”

Here’s hoping Rise Robotics’ fossil-free equipment offerings experience similar success in the heavy duty robotics market.

SOURCE | IMAGES: Rise Robotics.

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Nuvve wins $400 million V2G, EV charging contract in New Mexico

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Nuvve wins 0 million V2G, EV charging contract in New Mexico

The State of New Mexico has awarded Nuvve a $400 million contract to provide turnkey EV charging solutions – including hardware, maintenance, and data management – to the state’s growing fleet of electric vehicles.

That $400 million number comes from Nuvve (NASDAQ: NVVE) estimates about New Mexico’s total addressable market (TAM), which includes the current plans to electrify State of New Mexico (SONM) electric vehicles and support broader electrification and V2G efforts. The contract is structured as a Statewide Price Agreement (SWPA), enabling long-term progress across public agencies throughout New Mexico.

“These agreements play a crucial role in fulfilling the objective of Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s executive order to transition our state fleet to zero emissions,” said DOT Cabinet Secretary Ricky Serna. “These contracts ensure that state fleets transition to cleaner technology in a manner that is both efficient and economically viable.”

The contract, structured as a Statewide Price Agreement, will advance New Mexico’s Vehicles as a Service (VaaS) program, which state officials say will help facilitate more widespread fleet electrification through:

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  • Turnkey EV Charging Solutions – Deployment of advanced EV charging infrastructure, operations, and data management.
  • Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) and Microgrid Development – Scalable solutions integrating V2G-capable fleets, stationary battery storage, and solar energy to reduce costs and enhance grid resilience.
  • Corridor Charging Stations – Establishing key EV charging sites along state highways for inter-city travel.
  • EV Leasing and Infrastructure Financing – Providing innovative financial models to streamline fleet conversion.
  • Asset Transition and Management – Purchasing and retiring internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, ensuring efficient fleet turnover.

Nuvve continues to lead in deploying real-world, scalable solutions for the benefit of both our customers and the utility grid,” said Ted Smith, President and COO of Nuvve. “We believe this deployment provides New Mexico with best-in-class technology, financing, and implementation strategies while ensuring the state meets its sustainability goals without compromising operational efficiency.”

The first deployments of the new EV charging infrastructure program are expected to be announced sometime in Q2.

Electrek’s Take

A handful of school buses in northern Illinois will soon have a new summer job.
V2G charging program; via Nuvve.

Nuvve seems to be pulling ahead in the race to score state and municipal charging contracts – seemingly for good reason. The company is meeting these clients where they are, answering questions, and moving forward with smart, sensible program that have a high chance of successfully returning a good ROI. Which, you know, is that second kind of “sustainability” we often talk about.

SOURCE | IMAGES: Nuvve; featured image via MakeMyMove.

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Tesla’s top crash safety architect quits

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Tesla's top crash safety architect quits

Tesla’s top crash safety architect, who helped the automaker achieve top safety scores for its entire car line-up, announced that he is leaving the automaker after 14 years.

We are talking about Petter Winberg, Tesla’s Principal Engineer for CAE crashing safety for the last decade.

After an extensive career at Volvo and SAAB, both car brands praised for their commitment to safety, Winberg joined Tesla in 2011 to work on the “crash safety development of Model S structure and side occupant restraints.”

At the time, Tesla was still working on the Model S, its first vehicle built entirely from the ground up, considering the original Roadster was based on the Lotus Elise.

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CEO Elon Musk aimed for “Tesla vehicles to be the safest on the planet,” and Winberg took the challenge seriously.

He led the development of the vehicle body and chassis structure for Model 3 and Model Y, as well as the crash structure for Model S and Model X.

All of these vehicles have received top safety crash scores from independent testers worldwide – quickly elevating Tesla’s brand into a leader in passive safety.

Winberg and his team deserve a lot of the credit for this.

The engineer also led the design of crash readiness and the energy-absorbing capacity of Tesla’s latest “gigacasting” and structural battery pack designs, for which he obtained patents. Other automakers have since adopted similar designs.

For those less technical who want to understand how good and respected Winberg is at Tesla, he has been working for Tesla remotely in Sweden for the last five years. That’s impressive in itself, considering how much Musk hates remote work. He previously emailed Tesla management to tell them that only exceptional employees would be eligible for an exemption to work remotely, which he would approve himself.

After 14 years at Tesla, Winberg announced last week that he is leaving (via LinkedIn):

Having developed Model S, S-DM, X, 3, Y, Y-SP as well as future crash architectures, I have decided now is the time to move on. Thank you Tesla, keep crushing it! What an incredible team, I will miss you all.

He didn’t elaborate on his reasons for leaving the automaker or announce another venture.

Electrek’s Take

While Tesla has received much criticism for the dangers of its Autopilot and “Full Self-Driving” systems, I don’t think anyone can question that Tesla vehicles perform extremely well in terms of passive safety.

Independent testing has proven it time and time again.

Tesla has led the way in taking advantage of designing electric vehicles from the ground up. Its skateboard-like powertrain design and lack of engine in the front allow for a giant crumple zone to absorb the energy in case of a crash.

A big thank you to Petter Winberg for his designs and leadership in improving Tesla’s passive safety. He has undoubtedly made the automotive industry safer and saved lives. Congratulations.

As for his departure, it’s certainly a blow for Tesla. As we previously reported, the company has suffered a significant exodus of talent over the last year, with a big part of its leadership leaving during and after a wave of layoffs last year.

Many predict that Tesla could again initiate another wave of layoffs in the coming months as its sales are crumbling worldwide.

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