China needs to bolster its coal supply to avoid an economic slowdown this quarter, but Beijing’s icy relations with Australia could make that difficult, according to investment bank Mizhuo.
The world’s second-largest economy is facing a power shortage owing to a combination of factors. They include: extreme weather, surging demand for Chinese exports and a national push to reduce carbon emissions, as set out by President Xi Jinping.
China is an industrial powerhouse and the planet’s biggest emitter of carbon dioxide. The country generates most of its electricity by burning coal but the inventory of major power plants reached a 10-year low in August.
“While China unambiguously needs as much coal as it can get its hands on to avert a [fourth-quarter] slowdown due to the tyranny of rolling power shortages, geo-political tensions with Australia have waylaid the most convenient source of high-calorific coal from Down Under,” said Vishnu Varathan, head of economics and strategy for Asia and Oceania treasury department at Mizuho, in a note on Monday.
Late last year, China stopped buying coal from Australia — which used to be the biggest exporter of the commodity to the country. It came as trade tensions between the two countries soared, after Australia backed a call for an international inquiry into China’s handling of the coronavirus.
As a result, China turned to Indonesia, Mongolia, Russia and other countries to try and make up for the shortfall. Last year, reports said that Indonesian coal miners signed a $1.5 billion supply deal with China.
Indonesia is well positioned to benefit from the demand spill-over, but its ability to fulfil shipments may be a bottleneck, Varathan said.
China faces risks in procuring coal quickly due to a variety of constraints including logistics and regulations. That implies a “stutter in economic activity and attendant kinks in regional supply chain may not be fully avoided,” Varathan said.
Inflationary pressure
Already, some banks have downgraded China’s growth prospects due to the power crunch.
Many observers appear to be worried about a “significant degree of energy price shock,” Varathan said.
China’s power shortage could lead to rise in prices for many export goods that could result in modest increase in consumer inflation in advanced economies, according to Kevin Xie, senior Asia economist at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
Restrictions on electricity supply will cut economic growth and exacerbate the slowdown caused by problems in China’s residential construction sector, Xie said in a note last week.
“Energy intensive industries will be most affected by electricity rationing. The combined share of the industrial sector in affected provinces with power rationing is about 14% of Chinese GDP,” he added.
So far, policymakers in Beijing have not given any indication of whether China will resume importing Australian coal. Media reports last week said Indian firms snagged about 2 million tons of Australian coal at a discounted price that were sitting in Chinese warehouses.
Amid worldwide protests against Tesla due to CEO Elon Musk’s involvement in the company, hackers have released a website with address and contact information of thousands of Tesla owners. And the same hackers say that the only way to get off the list is to prove that you’ve sold your car.
Protests against Tesla started in February, with groups picketing outside stores across North America and elsewhere.
The protesters have been pretty clear in their reasoning why – they’re not fans of Elon Musk and his recent actions.
In case you’ve been under a rock, Musk has been meddling in politics recently, after being radicalized by his twitter feed which he is hopelessly addicted to. It started with a nine-figure bribe to a convicted felon’s presidential campaign, which many thought would produce results in the form of corruption after said felon wandered back into the Oval Office (despite that there exists a clear legal remedy for insurrectionists), and appointed Musk to a fake and redundant government department which has so far expectedly failed to produce any meaningful results.
This meddling is predictably not working out great so far for Tesla, the business which produced the vast majority of Musk’s wealth and which he is still, somehow, the titular leader of.
It turns out, people don’t particularly like it when you’re part of an administration that dedicates itself to poisoning Americans, raising their costs, and harming US industry, among all the other ill-considered actions going on at the federal level. The administration Musk is a part of is actively trying to make EVs more expensive and harder to charge, both of which will harm Tesla – and your air quality.
Even Elon Musk himself acknowledges that these actions are “not good for America or the world” – or at least he did, back before he forgot how climate change works.
The unambiguous Nazi salutes didn’t help either – which were not out of character for Musk, given his history of white supremacist statements and his current support for German neo-Nazis. He has since gone on to agree with a defense of Hitler’s actions in the Holocaust.
All of this has resulted in a huge drop in Tesla popularity, and along with that has come a drop in sales and the aforementioned protests, many of which are being exercised by Tesla owners and EV fans who are dismayed that the electric car company’s leadership has taken such an anti-EV turn.
There are passive protests like Tesla owners debadging their cars, and then the active ones like those who are exercising their First Amendment right to picket outside of Tesla stores.
Musk and the government he’s a part of have responded to these protests in their expected manner: by spreading misinformation with the intent of silencing the protesters’ free speech – a fundamental right which Musk has long shown disdain for.
And then, beyond that, there are… let’s say less accepted forms of protest happening in the US and elsewhere.
Today, we’re seeing a whole new type of protest – in the form of a hacker group which got access to Tesla account data and posted it all online, exposing thousands of Tesla owners’ information on the web.
Tesla owners’ information posted on protest site
The website includes a map and a snarky message stating the site’s intent – claiming that it’s a social media site for Tesla owners, rather than a protest site. But it also says that it encourages “creative expressions of protest that you can execute from the comfort of your own home.” Though, the site also uses a molotov cocktail as a cursor replacement.
Here is the text on the site (the name of the site has been redacted here, because while the information doesn’t seem particularly harmful on its own, given that most of it is public, I’d still rather not be responsible for leading people towards it):
XXXXX is the ultimate hub for enthusiasts of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)! Our innovative platform allows users to explore an interactive map of DOGE landmarks.
But that’s not all! We also cater to Tesla Motors owners, providing a comprehensive resource to locate nearby service centers, showrooms, and charging stations—all at their fingertips.
Leveraging our cutting-edge artificial intelligence algorithms, XXXXX goes a step further by connecting like-minded Tesla owners with one another, facilitating a vibrant community through shared contact information.
Join us as we revolutionize the way DOGE fans and Tesla owners connect and explore!
Is XXXXX a protest platform?
If you’re on the hunt for a Tesla to unleash your artistic flair with a spray can, just step outside—no map needed! At XXXXX, we believe in empowering creative expressions of protest that you can execute from the comfort of your own home.
XXXXX neither endorses nor condemns any actions.
Before you embark on any adventure, we highly recommend checking out the No Trace Project.
I want my information removed.
Absolutely! Just provide us with proof that you’ve sold your Tesla.
Email XXXXX. We only accept scanned documents in JPG and PNG formats.
The way that the information was leaked is not immediately apparent, nor does the group make any claims as to how it got the information. It may or may not have even come from Tesla itself, since it includes somewhat random pieces of information for each owner.
The information is categorized under different icons, with designations for Tesla stores, Superchargers, Tesla owners’ cars, and then additional people of interest – which seem to largely be known residence of staffers working at Elon Musk’s bungling government department.
A quick check of the information suggests that it is not complete – there are many Tesla owners who are not listed on the site. And most of the information seems to just be addresses, phone numbers, business names and the like – much of which is already public information. Though there are also some email addresses and social media handles associated with certain entries, which may not be public information.
Also, Tesla locations are listed – such as Superchargers and Tesla stores. These are wholly public information and can be found on Tesla’s website.
Further, some outlets have confirmed that some of the information is inaccurate.
But, if any given Tesla owner is on the list, the site offers a remedy: merely email them with a scanned document proving you sold your car, and you will be removed. We haven’t tried this out to see if it will work or not, but if any owners do, feel free to reach out to us.
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A new era of 3D printing “microfactories” is helping to turn waste plastics into “highly competitive” products fit for use in the construction industry, according to Veena Sahajwalla, professor and founding director of UNSW Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT) Centre.
Speaking to CNBC’s Mandy Drury at Schneider Electric’s Sydney Innovation Summit on Monday in Australia, Sahajwalla said manufacturers had to direct their thinking around sustainability toward profitability.
“It’s not about saying, well I’m making it because its green. Actually, that should be the last thing. The first thing has to be profitability, does it work? Is it showing the right performance?” she said.
That thinking has pushed SMaRT to build plastic filaments made from 100% waste plastics, sourced from “all kinds of old printers.”
They are built in hyper-localized, heavily automated “microfactories” to produce personalized products.
“If this [waste-made plastic] can now be fed into a 3D printer, can you actually print a whole range of products?” she said.
One such product already made are “clamps” — or blocks — used in building and construction projects.
“Imagine all the building and construction projects where you need plants and imagine if you had to wait a long time to source these parts and components,” said Sahajwalla.
The large outlay on plants during construction projects means companies often purchase them secondhand.
SMaRT’s 3D-printed alternative, built in a Sydney microfactory using plastic filaments made from older, plastic waste, could ultimately lower costs, says Sahajwalla.
“You could literally talk to your local microfactory and say, can I make this at a comparative price and the right kind of performance?”
“This is where microfactory technologies have come in. To really close the gap to between what is seen as a waste on one hand and on the other hand make something that is high performance, high tech and competitively closing the gap.”
Hydrogen revolution?
Autonomous trucks and buses, powered by clean hydrogen-based energy, are on the cusp of hitting the roads, thanks to a technology still in its infancy.
Scott Brown, managing director of pure hydrogen, told CNBC that his firm now has a hydrogen-powered garbage truck in the city of Adelaide emitting “no diesel pollution, which can be detrimental to your health if you breathe it in,” as well as less noise pollution waking residents up during the morning garbage run.
He predicts a drop in fuel cell prices in the coming 10 to 15 years.
Car manufacturers Honda, Toyota and Hyundai have already adopted more fuel cell engineering.
Fuel cells refer to the use of hydrogen or other fuels to produce clean electricity.
“There’s not a lot of material involved. It looks like a PC and you put it into — in our case — a truck or a bus,” Brown said.
Because of its increasingly cost-effective production, fuel cell prices have come down “about 50% in the last three years,” he added.
Brown predicts that clean energy battery cell prices will “fall dramatically” in the coming decade as Chinese companies adopt more hydrogen-powered vehicles.
According to figures released by South Korean analysts SME Research Group in November, sales of hydrogen-powered commercial vehicles in China outnumbered purchases across the world.
Tesla (TSLA) has officially obtained a permit in California to operate an internal fleet for a ride-hailing service, but it’s not for robotaxi yet.
In fact, the automaker hasn’t even applied for an autonomous driving permit yet.
A few weeks ago, it was reported that Tesla had applied for a ride-hailing permit in California.
Even though many linked it to Tesla’s Robotaxi effort, it was specifically for the right to operate an internal fleet of vehicles with drivers to offer a ride-hailing service.
Tesla had already disclosed that it was offering such a service to its employees in the Bay Area.
Now, the CPUC has confirmed that it has approved Tesla’s application (via Reuters):
The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) said it approved Tesla’s application for a transportation charter-party carrier permit (TCP), a license typically associated with chauffeur-operated services, allowing the company to own and control a fleet of vehicles and transport employees on pre-arranged trips.
After Tesla’s stock crashed 5% today, the automaker’s stock went up 1.3% in aftermarket trading on the news.
The speculation is that this is in anticipation of Tesla launching its “robotaxi service”, but a CPUC spokesperson confirmed that the permit doesn’t allow Tesla to do that and that the automaker has yet to apply for a permit that would enable such a service.
Last year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk claimed that Tesla would launch “unsupervised self-driving in Texas and California in Q2 2025.” That’s within the next 4 months.
However, we suspected that this would not be “unsupervised self-driving’ in customer vehicles like Tesla has been promising since 2016, but an internal fleet with teleoperation support in a geo-fenced area for ride-hailing services, much like Waymo has been doing for years.
Sure enough, Musk confirmed last month that this was the plan for Austin in June. We describe this as a “moving of the goal post” for Tesla.
With the focus on Austin in June, Tesla stopped talking about California, which was announced to happen at the same time as Texas last year.
Currently, the prediction market Polymarket puts the odds of Tesla launching robotaxis in California in 2025 at 29%:
Electrek’s Take
As I previously stated, I believe Tesla will use this permit to expand its existing ride-hailing test program in California to non-employees.
It will use that to iron out the ride-hailing system while it continues to work on its self-driving system, which is obviously the hard part to solve.
That said, I wouldn’t be completely shocked if Tesla launched a “robotaxi” in California this year. It just won’t be what Tesla has been promising for years: customer vehicles built since 2016 would be capable of self-driving at a robotaxi-level (4-5 SAE levels).
Instead, it will be an internal fleet with teleoperation support in a geo-fenced area, much like Waymo has been offering in California, Arizona, and Texas for years.
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