Wärtsilä Report Urges 100% Renewables Sooner, Uruguay Proves It Can Happen Now
With the COP26 conference in Glasgow coming up soon, many climate and environmental groups are urging nations to accelerate the transition to renewable energy. A new report from Wärtsilä entitled Front Loading New Zero argues that nations can adopt 100% renewable systems faster than currently planned.
It says significant cost reductions can be achieved by front loading the deployment of renewables — mostly wind and solar — and by utilizing the technologies needed to balance their inherent intermittency with energy storage and thermal generating stations. The report reveals that by accelerating 100% renewable power systems, substantial benefits are unlocked:
- Accelerating renewables so they become the main source of electricity drives down fossil fuel usage significantly reduces the levelized cost of electricity by 50% in India by 2050, while California and Germany can cut costs by 17% and 8% by 2040 respectively.
- Coal-fired power — currently 70% of generation in India and 33% in Germany — can be securely replaced by renewables coupled with energy storage and thermal power as early as 2040.
- Colossal carbon savings can be made in the short term, enabling national climate targets to be achieved. Germany can avoid 422 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2040 by accelerating its coal phase-out, helping it achieve a 65% reduction target compared to 1990 levels by 2030. In addition, renewables would allow Germany to avoid the need to import 550 TWh of power by accelerating the phase-out of coal.
Wärtsilä CEO Håkan Agnevall explains, “As we approach COP26, our Front-Loading Net Zero report should act as a wake-up call for leaders, as this is our last and best chance to get countries on pathways to carbon neutrality. Our modelling shows that it is viable for energy systems to be fully decarbonized before 2050 and that accelerating the shift to renewable power coupled with flexibility will help economies to thrive.
“We have all the technologies that we need to rapidly shift to net zero energy. The benefits of renewable-led systems are cumulative and self-reinforcing — the more we have, the greater the benefits — so it is vital that leaders and power producers come together now to front load net zero this decade.”
Sushil Purohit, president of Wärtsilä Energy adds, “There is no single solution that fits all markets, and this report highlights the different paths and technologies that can be utilized. The ultimate aim, however, is common to all and that is to decarbonize energy production and take the fullest advantage of our natural energy sources.”
Uruguay Shows The Way
In 2007, Uruguay had to rely on electricity imported from neighbors like Brazil and Argentina. That’s when it decided to invest heavily in wind turbines. Within 10 years, it had 4,000 MW of installed capacity. Today, 98% of the electricity for its 3.4 million inhabitants comes from renewables, including hydro. This is a nation that a recent former president of the United States liked to referred to as a “shithole country.”
Since the Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1997, Uruguay has surprised its South American neighbors with its growing list of environmental successes, including conserving native forests, protecting bio-diverse areas, and showing remarkable progress toward a promise to be carbon neutral by 2030.
To transform its energy landscape, the Frente Amplio, or FA, Uruguay’s governing party from 2005 to 2020, recognized the reality of a country dependent on importing fossil fuels while living in an ideal location for solar, wind, and hydraulic power generation. To date, the FA’s vision for an inclusive, people-oriented strategy for energy transformation has shown not only remarkable promise, but results. Throughout Uruguay, there is a strong emphasis on local energy production, particularly solar energy in rural areas that focuses on rural schools and churches far from the grid, as well as hospitals, hotels, sports clubs, and new public buildings.
With its gently rolling landscape, higher than average year-round sunshine, and hundreds of miles of ocean and river coastline, Uruguay has prime space for deploying energy alternatives. In addition, the country has identified significant opportunities for generating energy from biomass produced by the agriculture industry.
Other progressive energy projects include the country’s push toward a network of “electric highways” beginning with the coastal highway that links Colonia and Punta Este, two popular tourist cities. A network of EV charges will eventually be available throughout the entire country. While these projects are impressive, it is the country’s creation of larger energy infrastructure changes that have made the most impact.
According to Earth Island Journal, in the decade leading up to 2017, forward-looking policies and projects made Uruguay a world leader in wind power — along with Denmark, Ireland, and Germany — with more than a third of its electricity coming from wind farms. Adding hydropower generation to the mix, emissions levels in the country have fallen roughly 20 percent from their peak in 2012.
How this happened is worth noting. The country’s determination to use solar as an alternative is reflected in the country’s solar thermal mandate established in 2009 by the Solar Thermal Law, with additional provisions enacted in 2011. The law states that after 2014, all new construction and refurbishments of public buildings, hotels, health, and sports facilities in which hot water is expected to account for over 20 percent of the building’s energy consumption must obtain at least 50 percent of water heating energy from solar thermal energy. After 2012, heated pools had to use solar heating unless they used a different renewable energy source.
“The energy policy of Uruguay has focused highly on renewable energies, with the ambitious goal of incorporating them in the short term and providing attractive tax benefits for that purpose,” says Fernanda Panizza, Biz Latin Hub’s country coordinator and corporate lawyer, who counsels both foreign and national business stakeholders in the country. “Uruguay offers not only an advantageous business environment,” she notes, “but also great social stability, and considerable fiscal incentives for investments.”
A New Political Order
While Uruguay has made remarkable progress in expanding its renewable energy infrastructure, the country’s groundbreaking energy initiatives now face a new challenge from a governing party with more conservative views and a new president, Luis Lacalle Pou.
World affairs analyst Frida Ghitis, who has covered political and social issues in the region for over a decade, believes that there is good reason to look for the continuing positive trajectory of Uruguay’s progressive energy policies. “My sense is that Uruguay’s commitment to renewable energy is so deep that it transcends the left/right divide,” she says. “I don’t foresee that the center-right administration in Uruguay will backtrack on progress toward green energy.”
For more perspective on how renewable energy has become embedded in the culture of Uruguay, please take the time to review the DW video below, particularly with regard to concerns that wind turbines would disturb cows and interfere with their milk production. The result? The cows paid no attention to the turbines at all. It would be wonderful if more humans could do the same.
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The bright yellow D6 XE dozer might look like your everyday medium-class dozer, but underneath that vibrant bodywork it’s hiding a highly efficient electric drive system that Cat says makes it the most advanced hybrid dozer on the market.
Operating more like an extended range EV (EREV) than a conventional hybrid, the D6 XE runs a Cat C9.3B diesel engine that operates as an electrical generator, feeding power to electric motors that drives the dozer’s tracks directly. The result is instant torque, smooth, high-precision controls, and 35% better fuel efficiency (and, as a consequence, significantly lower emissions) compared to the diesel-only D6T.
35% is big in a segment where equipment can and do regularly burn 25 gallons of red dye diesel per day, and that number only gets bigger when you factor in the oil and maintenance costs saved from ditching the conventional transmission altogether. Combined with the reduced number of moving parts and reduced metal fatigue from vibration-free running, and Cat estimates its D6 XE electric drive operators are saving over $1/hour of operation in rebuild savings, alone — that’s a game-changing number!
“(A full rebuild) can be up to roughly 60 percent of new machine price,” says Sam Meeker, marketing professional at Caterpillar, citing the need for a typical rebuild at the 10,000- to 15,000-hour mark. “So you could be getting a half-price dozer for that second life.”
Turbo encabulator
First introduced in 2018, the newly updated Cat D6 XE features a switched reluctance electric motor and generator instead of the previous, permanent magnet system used in the first-gen Caterpillar electric-drive machines. The newer drivetrain is more power-dense and efficient, and makes for a generator that doesn’t require a massive, maintenance-intensive cooling system.
“We like to run this machine at a lower RPM, not only for fuel efficiency, but then it allows us to lug up into a load,” adds Meeker, hyping up the big hybrid dozer. “So when we pull the load on, instead of the tractor lugging down, it actually increases the RPM and the power output, maintaining that consistent torque … we only make as much power as we’re going to use, and we generate less heat than previous designs.”
In a bid to encourage more operators to give their electric drive models a try, Caterpillar is offering on-demand learning resources through its online platform, catoperatortraining.com. Designed to be accessible any time and from any device, Cat’s is particularly valuable for operators, whether they’re digital natives or just learning how to navigate new technologies. The company is also partnering with global equipment rental fleets like Plantforce in the UK, which (if nothing else) is absolutely phenomenal at taking pictures of heavy equipment.
Electrek’s Take
While there are a lot of people outside the urban construction space who may scoff at environmental concerns, the quest for improved efficiency and cost reduction among commercial fleet managers knows no political ideology. Add in more restrictive noise regulations and the side benefits of improved job site safety and fewer sick days, and electric equipment is a no-brainer.
Simply put: If it’s better or cheaper, fleets will buy it. If it’s better and cheaper, they’ll buy two — and electrically driven heavy equipment assets are proving to be consistently better, in a broader scope of use cases, than diesel alone.
SOURCE: Caterpillar, via Heavy Equipment Guide; featured image by Plantforce.
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A report this morning detailed American EV automaker Rivian’s plans to lay off a portion of its current workforce as it tries to conserve cash while gearing up for the launch of its newest model, the R2, next year.
Not much backstory here, so we’ll get right into it.
A report from the Wall Street Journal this morning shared brief details of Rivian’s layoff plans, which could affect approximately 4% of the current staff. At the end of 2024, Rivian’s workforce tally sat around 15,000 people, so the reported layoff could affect as many as 600 individuals, possibly more.
Other outlets have pointed out that EV automakers like Rivian have faced a tougher market following the end of the $7,500 federal tax incentive. While that may be true to a certain extent, most of Rivian’s R1 variants didn’t qualify, unless it was a lease, and the automaker has deployed its own incentive programs.
In fact, Rivian’s Q3 2025 deliveries exceeded expectations. It remains speculative at this point until we receive an official statement from Rivian explaining the plans to lay off staff, but this could be a preemptive decision based on market forecasts.
Furthermore, Rivian is closer than ever to launching R2 in 2026, which has the makings of becoming a bestseller in the EV industry if sales match a mere portion of the hype surrounding it. The layoffs could also be a lean-down to conserve funds through the home stretch of that development process before beefing back up again in 2026 or 2027 when demand is (ideally) higher.
We really do not and will not know the reasoning behind the decision until Rivian shares more information.
We reached out to Rivian for comment and were told the automaker will have more to share this afternoon. We will update this story as new information becomes available.
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![Hyundai's new IONIQ 6 looks way better in person after its facelift [Video]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2025/10/Hyundai-IONIQ-6-facelift-US.jpeg?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
Hyundai will reveal the refreshed electric fastback at the LA Auto Show next month. Ahead of the event, the 2026 Hyundai IONIQ 6 was caught rocking a sleek new facelift in the US.
Hyundai will reveal the IONIQ 6 facelift in November
Hyundai’s electrified streamliner is undergoing its first major refresh since it first launched in September 2022. Although the IONIQ 6 was expected to be Hyundai’s answer to the Tesla Model 3, it hasn’t quite lived up to the hype.
Last year, Hyundai sold just 12,264 IONIQ 6s in the US. That’s less than the nearly 13,000 it handed over in 2023.
The IONIQ 5, on the other hand, has remained one of the most popular EVs alongside the Tesla Model Y, Model 3, Chevy Equinox EV, Ford Mustang Mach-E, and Honda Prologue.
Like the 2025 IONIQ 5, Hyundai gave its electric fastback a facelift, a built-in NACS port for charging at Tesla Superchargers, and a bigger battery to extend driving range.
After launching the 2026 IONIQ 6 in South Korea in July, Hyundai will introduce the updated US model at the LA Auto Show next month.
Although we’ve seen plenty of the same web-generated images floating around, the new and improved IONIQ 6 looks way better in person.
The 2026 Hyundai IONIQ 6 was spotted on public streets in California rocking a stylish new look ahead of its official debut.
Hyundai said it “enhanced every line and detail to make the IONIQ 6 simpler and more progressive,” after unveiling the design at the Seoul Mobility Show earlier this year.
The video from KindelAuto gives us a clear look at the redesign. Hyundai tweaked the front end, which was often the most criticized part, with a new hood and updated fascia.
In South Korea, the 2026 IONIQ 6 is now the longest-range domestically made electric vehicle, with up to 350 miles (562 km) of driving range.
We will learn prices, driving range, and other details at the LA Auto Show next month. The event starts on November 21, but the media and press day kicks off the day before on November 20, 2025. Check back soon for the full rundown.
The 2025 IONIQ 6 already has an EPA-estimated driving range of up to 342 miles. With Hyundai’s fourth-gen batteries, we could see the 2026 model arrive with around 350 miles of range. It will also feature an NACS port for the first time.
Hyundai also plans to introduce the IONIQ 6 N in early 2026. The sporty model packs nearly 650 horsepower (478 kW), good for a 0 to 100 km/h (0 to 62 mph) sprint in just 3.2 seconds.
With the updated 2026 models arriving, Hyundai is offering some sweet deals on its current EV lineup. The 2025 IONIQ 6 is available for lease starting at $229 per month, or you can take advantage of 0% APR or a $7,500 cash bonus. Looking for something bigger? The 2025 IONIQ 5 may be an even better bet with up to $11,000 in bonus cash. Check out our links below to find Hyundai vehicles in your area.
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