EU chief calls for more military independence amid new ‘era of regional rivalries’

Published

3 years ago

September 19, 2021

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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.

Environment

Daily Ev Recap: Ultra-fast charging adds 370 miles of range in 10 minutes

Published

5 hours ago

April 26, 2024

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Daily Ev Recap: Ultra-fast charging adds 370 miles of range in 10 minutes

Listen to a recap of the top stories of the day from Electrek. Quick Charge is now available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, TuneIn and our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded Monday through Thursday and again on Saturday. Subscribe to our podcast in Apple Podcast or your favorite podcast player to guarantee new episodes are delivered as soon as they’re available.

Stories we discuss in this episode (with links)

Everrati rebrands B2B EV conversion arm to ‘Powered by Everrati’ amid clientele increase

Tesla Cybertruck owner gets quoted over $30,000 for Powershare installation

CATL unveils world’s first LFP battery with 4C ultra-fast charging for 370-mi in 10 mins

Tesla (TSLA) surges on Elon Musk trying to ride AI wave

Tesla expects its 4680 battery cells to be cheaper than suppliers by end of year

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Environment

Watch the world’s first artificial energy island being built [video]

Published

11 hours ago

April 25, 2024

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Watch the world's first artificial energy island being built [video]

The first of 23 caissons for Princess Elisabeth Island, the world’s first artificial energy island, is nearly complete.

Princess Elisabeth Island will be an electricity grid at sea that will connect offshore wind farms to the Belgian mainland and also serve as a hub for future interconnectors with the UK and Denmark. Belgian electricity transmission system operator Elia is the project’s developer.

The 20,000-ton caissons, which will form the energy island’s outer walls, are being built at Jan De Nul Group and DEME’s construction site in Vlissingen, the Netherlands. It takes around three months to build one caisson. The production process is split into five 20-day stages. The caissons are moved between the different work sites using “runners,” which takes about six hours.

When the caissons are ready, a semi-submersible vessel will transport them further down the harbor, where they’ll be temporarily stored in the water. They’ll then be moved to their final location in the North Sea this summer, weather allowing, said maritime infrastructure company Jan de Nul.

You can watch a time-lapse video of Princess Elisabeth Island’s first caisson being built here:

[embedded content]

Princess Elisabeth Island is part of the larger Princess Elisabeth Zone, a future 3.5 gigawatt (GW) offshore wind farm in the North Sea, around 45 km (28 miles) off the Belgian coast. The world’s first artificial energy island will receive power from the wind turbines via undersea cables, and it will then be converted to high-voltage electricity and distributed to the Belgian mainland and other European countries. The energy island will combine both direct current (HVDC) and alternating current (HVAC).

The energy island will be finished in late 2026 when the electrical equipment will start to be installed. Princess Elisabeth Island is expected to be fully connected to all wind farms and the mainland by 2030.

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Environment

Honda joins EV race with historic $11B investment to build 240K EVs a year

Published

12 hours ago

April 25, 2024

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Honda joins EV race with historic B investment to build 240K EVs a year

Honda is finally joining the EV race after announcing a massive $11 billion (CAD$15 billion) investment to build four new EV plants in Canada. The historic investment will be used to build Canada’s first EV supply chain, enabling 240,000 Honda EVs to be made for the US and Canada annually.

Honda reveals game changing investment to build EVs

Honda announced its largest investment in Canada ever as it prepares for the electric era. The plans for a new Honda EV plant and stand-alone EV battery factory in Alliston, Ontario.

Once fully operational, the EV facility will be able to produce 240,000 EVs a year, while its battery plant will have capacity of 36 GWh per year. Production is expected to begin in 2028.

According to a press release from the prime minister’s office, Honda will build Canada’s first comprehensive EV supply chain. The project will include four new manufacturing plants in Ontario.

In addition to the EV plant and battery factory, Honda will build a cathode active material and precursor plant through a joint venture with POSCO Future M. A second is planned with Asahi Kasei Corp.

Justin Trudeau, prime minister of Canada, said Honda’s investment is a “game changer for manufacturing in Canada.” With a full supply chain, Honda expects to cut costs by over 20%.

Honda aims for EVs and FCEVS to account for 100% of vehicle sales by 2040. Honda also invested $700 million to retool three Ohio plants to serve as its hub for future EV and EV battery production.

Meanwhile, Honda’s first electric SUV, the Honda Prologue, went on sale earlier this year. Starting at $47,400 (excluding destination), the Prologue offers up to 296 miles range.

2024 Honda Prologue trim	Starting Price (w/o $1,395 destination fee)	Starting price after tax credit (w/o $1,395 destination fee)	Starting price after tax credit (with $1,395 destination fee)	EPA Range (miles)
EX (FWD)	$47,400	$39,900	$41,295	296
EX (AWD)	$50,400	$42,900	$44,295	281
Touring (FWD)	$51.700	$44,200	$45,595	296
Touring (AWD)	$54,700	$47,200	$48,595	281
Elite (AWD)	$57,900	$50,400	$51,795	273