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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.
FRANCISCO SECO | AFP | Getty Images

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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Tesla jumped the gun, Nissan drivers will have to wait a bit for Supercharger access

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Tesla jumped the gun, Nissan drivers will have to wait a bit for Supercharger access

It sounds like Tesla jumped the gun when announcing that Nissan drivers now have access to the Supercharger network in North America.

They will have to wait a bit.

Yesterday, we reported that Tesla added Nissan to the list of automakers with EVs capable of using the Supercharger network in North America.

However, Tesla has since removed Nissan from its list of automakers with access and switched the Japanese automaker back to the “coming soon” list.

Nissan confirmed to Electrek that access is not currently available, but it will be available by the end of the year.

It sounds like a miscommunication on Tesla’s side. We hear that it should be coming soon.

Elon Musk fired Tesla’s entire charging team – seemingly to make an example of its then-head of charging, Rebecca Tinucci, who reportedly disagreed with Musk about making further layoffs following another layoff wave.

Instead of just firing her, Musk decided to fire the entire team and then sent an email to other Tesla managers using the charging team situation as a warning.

Tesla has since had to rehire several former members of its charging team to rebuild the department.

This is believed to have slowed down the opening of the Supercharger network to other automakers in North America. We were told that communications with Tesla’s charging team were difficult to non-existent for those automakers for weeks earlier this year.

As we have previously reported, the situation has definitely slowed down Tesla’s own deployment of Supercharger stations.

Nonetheless, the Supercharger network recently hit the milestone of 60,000 chargers worldwide.

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Northvolt files for bankruptcy, CEO quits

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Northvolt files for bankruptcy, CEO quits

Europe’s “green dream” Northvolt has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US after a rescue package failed to go through, leaving the battery maker with just one week’s worth of cash in the account. Cofounder and CEO Peter Carlsson, who spearheaded a costly expansion, has also quit.

The Swedish-owned battery maker filed for Chapter 11 in the Southern District of Texas, reports Bloomberg, with $5.8 billion debt. CEO Peter Carlsson, Telsa’s former chief products officer, stepped down from his role as CEO after the filing, but will remain onboard as advisor and director.

According to a statement, Northvolt said that its main factory will maintain business as usual during the reorganization, as the company now has a buffer from creditors, giving it time to restructure the balance sheet. However, the company said that this will not impact its business in Germany, and through the court process, Northvolt now has access to about $145 million in cash collateral. An additional $100 million in debtor-in-possession financing will be added to the pot via one of its customers, the report said.

In recent weeks, Northvolt has been in intense negotiations in the hope of securing a $300 million rescue package to give the company a bit more time to seek longer-term funding. But when that deal fell through, the battery maker was forced to seek protection from creditors via the Chapter 11 filing.  

The company still has a $7 billion project in place in Quebec – a new campus that is set to include a cell production plant, battery recycling, and cathode active-material production facilities –  and the bankruptcy won’t affect those plans, the company said on its website. “Northvolt Germany and Northvolt North America, subsidiaries of Northvolt AB with projects in Germany and Canada, are financed separately and will continue to operate as usual outside of the Chapter 11 process as key parts of Northvolt’s strategic positioning.”

The plant is expected to have capacity to produce 30 GWh of battery cell every year, with an expansion set to double that output, making it enough to power 1 million EVs. The Canadian government is putting $1.334 billion CND toward the project, with Quebec chipping in another $1.37 billion CND.

Northvolt has hit hard times in recent months, once thought of as Europe’s best shot to homegrown EVs and the makers of “the world’s greenest battery.” Enthusiasm mounted as the company opened the doors to its first plant in Sweden, in the small town of Skelleftea near the Arctic Circle, in 2021. Billions of dollars have been invested into the company, and Volvo, VW, and BMW rushed to place future orders.

All of this enthusiasm has been fueled by a vision to cut dependency on China by creating greener EV batteries using 100 percent recycled nickel, manganese, and cobalt. Plans were put in place to build factories in Gothenburg, in southern Sweden, and Poland, Germany, and Canada, all backed by huge government subsidies. Back in January, the company raised an additional $5 billion, firmly locking in its position as one of Europe’s best-funded startups and recipient of the largest-ever green loan in the EU.

But then things started going south, with Northvolt’s production problems and massive delays forcing BMW to cancel its €2 billion battery cell order with the company. This past May, Northvolt also announced that it pushing back its plans for an IPO until next year. The interim report that followed revealed the dire state of its finances and how far its production had fallen short of goals, with Carlsson admitting he had been “too aggressive” with the company’s expansion plan.

Since Northvolt has put in place a series of changes to reset the company’s course, including bringing onboard a new CFO, leaving the former CFO to focus solely on expansion plans. Plus the company started making cuts, including closing down its research center, Cuberg, in San Francisco and deprioritizing secondary businesses. At the end of September, Northvolt announced that it would cut 1,600 staff from three Swedish sites and about 20 percent of its international workforce.

Last month, Volvo started proceedings to take over their joint venture with Northvolt, while Volkswagen Group’s representative to Northvolt’s board stepped down this month. Sweden, for its part, is ruling out taking a stake to save its homegrown enterprise, Bloomberg reports. Carlsson had said last month that the company needs more than $900 million to permanently shore up its finances.

Photo credit: Northvolt


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YMX Logistics deploys 20 new Orange EV electric yard trucks

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YMX Logistics deploys 20 new Orange EV electric yard trucks

Leading yard operation 3PL YMX Logistics has announced plans to deploy fully twenty (20) of Orange EV’s fully electric Class 8 terminal trucks at a number of distribution and manufacturing sites across North America.

As the shipping and logistics industries increasingly move to embrace electrification, yard operations have proven to be an almost ideal use case for EVs, enabling companies like Orange EV, which specialize in yard hostlers or terminal tractors, to drive real, impactful change. To that end, companies like YMX are partnering with Orange EV.

“This relationship between YMX and Orange EV is a significant step forward in transforming yard operations across North America,” said Matt Yearling, CEO of YMX Logistics. “Besides the initial benefits of reduction in emissions and carbon footprint, our customers are also seeing improvements in the overall operational efficiency and seeking to expand. Our team members have also been sharing positive feedback about their new equipment and highlighting the positive impact on their health and day-to-day activities.”

This Orange looks good in blue

YMX Logistics electric yard trucks; by Orange EV.

One of the most interesting aspects of this story – beyond the Orange EV HUSK-e XP’s almost unbelievable 180,000 lb. GCWR spec. – is that this isn’t a story about California’s ports, which mandate EVs. Instead, YMX is truly deploying these trucks throughout the country, with at least four currently in Chicago (and more on the way).

“Our collaboration with YMX Logistics represents a powerful stride in delivering sustainable yard solutions at scale for enterprise customers,” explains Wayne Mathisen, CEO of Orange EV. “With rising demand for electric yard trucks, our joint efforts ensure that more companies can access the environmental, financial, and operational benefits of electrification … this is a win for the planet, the workforce, and the bottom line of these organizations.”

We interviewed Orange EV founder Kurt Neutgens on The Heavy Equipment Podcast a few months back, but if you’re not familiar with these purpose-built trucks, it’s worth a listen.

HEP-isode 26

SOURCE | IMAGES: YMX Logistics.

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