Climate activists light flares and hold banners during a protest outside the InterContinental London Park Lane hotel on the first day of the International Energy Week conference in London on February 28, 2023.
Justin Tallis | Afp | Getty Images
LONDON — BP CEO Bernard Looney on Tuesday sought to defend the firm’s fossil fuel spending plans, reaffirming the need for an “orderly” energy transition and highlighting the oil giant’s commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050.
His comments came shortly after dozens of protesters blocked an entrance to the InterContinental London Park Lane hotel on the first day of International Energy Week, a global energy conference that brings together senior figures from across the industry.
Holding banners reading “Climate Criminals Enter Here” and “No New Oil,” activists from climate action group Fossil Free London gathered outside the luxury hotel to protest BP’s continued fossil fuel investment. Their chants could be heard throughout the opening sessions of the conference.
“Energy is the lifeblood of society,” BP’s Looney said as he addressed those in attendance.
“An energy system that works is one that provides energy that is secure and affordable as well as lower carbon — what’s known as the energy trilemma,” Looney said.
“It is a complex and, indeed, it is a massive challenge,” he continued. “To solve it, action is clearly needed to accelerate the energy transition and at the same time, that transition has got to be orderly. We need to do both. We need to invest in the energy transition and — not or — we need to invest in today’s energy system, which is predominantly an oil and gas system.”
Holding banners reading “No New Oil,” activists from climate action group Fossil Free London blocked an entrance to the InterContinental London Park Lane hotel on the first day of International Energy Week.
Justin Tallis | Afp | Getty Images
Earlier this month, BP reported record 2022 earnings to join a profit bonanza for Big Oil. The company also prompted anger from activist investors and campaigners as it announced plans to scale back its climate ambitions.
The British energy major raked in net profit of $27.7 billion last year, more than double its 2021 total, as fossil fuel prices surged following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
BP’s Looney sought to defend the company from criticism at the time, saying the company was “leaning in” to its strategy to provide the world with the energy it needs.
He announced BP would spend up to $8 billion more investment into the energy transition this decade and up to $8 billion more on oil and gas in support of energy security and affordability this decade.
BP’s three objectives
BP, which was one of the first energy giants to announce an ambition to cut emissions to net zero “by 2050 or sooner,” had pledged emissions would be 35% to 40% lower by the end of the decade. It said on Feb. 7, however, that it was now targeting a 20% to 30% cut, saying it needed to keep investing in oil and gas to meet demand.
When asked on Tuesday what he would say to the activists chanting in protest over BP’s spending plans, Looney replied, “I think the way we see our role, it may not be perfect but it’s the way we see our role in life … is to do three things.”
“We invest our cashflows, we pay taxes and we return value to our shareholders. That’s kind of the three things that we do in this space,” Looney said.
The extraordinary scale of the oil and gas industry’s earnings has renewed criticism and sparked calls for higher taxes.
Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
BP’s CEO said the company invested $16 billion last year and was prepared to increase investment into both today’s energy system and the energy transition. He added the energy major paid $15 billion in taxes in 2022, describing that as “the highest taxes BP has ever paid in its 113-year history.”
“And then finally … we have to take care of our shareholders,” Looney said. “I think there is a narrative that shareholders are somehow faceless institutions. They are far from it. Millions and millions of people around the world depend on BP’s shares and dividends … and companies like ours for their livelihoods.”
BP earlier this month boosted its dividend by 10% to 6.61 cents per ordinary share.
“That’s how we look at our role in life,” Looney said. “We have to listen to people. We have to put ourselves in the other person’s shoes and try to understand their point of view. But at the end of the day, we have to boil down what we do into those three things.”
Over the weekend, Tesla began offering many Cybertruck trade-in estimated values above the original purchase price, apparently due to a glitch in its system.
Tesla offers online trade-in estimates for individuals considering purchasing a vehicle from them.
Over the last few days, Cybertruck owners who submitted their vehicles through the system were surprised to see Tesla offering extremely high valuations on the vehicle, often above what they originally paid for the electric truck.
Here are a few examples:
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$79,200 for a 2025 Cybertruck AWD with 18,000 miles. Since this is a 2025 model year, it was eligible for the tax credit and Tesla is offering the same price as new without incentive.
Here Tesla offered $118,800 for a 2024 Cybertruck ‘Cyberbeast’ tri-motor with 21,000 miles.
In this example, Tesla offers $11,000 more than the owner originally paid for a 2024 Cybertruck.
So, trade in the Foundation Series Cybertruck AWD for $11k more than I paid for it originally, re-buy an AWD with FSD for $79,490 after the tax credit.
I’d lose free supercharging for life, Cyberwheels, and white interior.
The trade-in estimates made no sense. Tesla has been known to offer more attractive estimates online and then come lower with the official final offer, but this is on a whole different level.
Some speculated that Tesla’s trade-in estimate system was malfunctioning, while others thought Tesla was indirectly recalling early Cybertrucks.
It appears to be the former.
Some Tesla Cybertruck owners who tried to go through a new order with their Cybertruck as a trade-in were told by Tesla advisors that the system was “glitching” and they would not be honoring those prices.
Tesla told buyers that it would be refunding its usually “non-refundable” order fee.
Electrek’s Take
That’s a weird glitch. I assume that it was trying to change how the trade-in value would be estimated and the new math didn’t work for the Cybertruck for whatever reason.
It’s the only thing that makes sense to me.
The Cybertruck’s value is already quite weird due to the fact that Tesla still has new vehicles made in 2024, which are not eligible for the tax credit incentive, while the new ones made in 2025 are eligible.
There’s also the Foundation Series, which bundles many features for a $20,000 higher price.
All these things affect the value and can make it hard to compare with new Cybertrucks offered with 0% interest.
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Like a 90s “gifted” kid that was supposed to be a lot of things, the electric Jeep Wagoneer S never really found its place — but when dealers started discounting the Jeep brands forward-looking flagship by nearly $25,000 back in June, I wrote that it might be time to give the go-fast Wagoneer S a second look.
Whether we’re talking about Mercedes-Benz, Cerberus, Fiat, or even Enzo Ferrari, outsiders have labeled Jeep as a potentially premium brand that could, “if managed properly,” command luxury-level prices all over the globe. That hasn’t happened, and Stellantis is just the latest in a long line of companies to sink massive capital into the brand only to realize that people will not, in fact, spend Mercedes money on a Jeep.
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That said, the Jeep Wagoneer S is not a bad car (and neither is its totally different, hideously massive, ICE-powered Wagoneer sibling, frankly). Built on the same Stellantis STLA Large vehicle platform that underpins the sporty Charger Daytona EVs, the confusingly-named Wagoneer S packs dual electric motors putting out almost 600 hp. That’s good enough to scoot the ‘ute 0 to 60 mph in a stomach-turning 3.5 seconds and enough, on paper, to convince Stellantis executives that they had developed a real, market-ready alternative to the Tesla Model Y.
With the wrong name and a sky-high starting price of $66,995 (not including the $1,795 destination fee), however, that demand didn’t materialize, leaving the Wagoneer S languishing on dealer lots across the country.
That could be about to change, however, thanks to big discounts on Wagoneer S being reported at CDJR dealers in several states:
Jeff Belzer’s in Minnesota has a 2025 Wagoneer S Limited with a $67,790 MSRP for $39,758 ($28,032 off)
Troncalli CDJR in Georgia has a 2025 Wagoneer S Limited with a $67,590 MSRP for $42,697 ($24,893 off)
Whitewater CDJR in Minnesota has a 2025 Wagoneer S Limited with a $67,790 MSRP for $43,846 ($23,944 off)
Antioch CDJR in Illinois has a 2025 Wagoneer S Limited with a $67,790 MSRP for $44,540 ($23,250 off)
“Stellantis bet big on electric versions of iconic American brands like Jeep and Dodge, but consumers aren’t buying the premise,” writes CDG’s Marcus Amick. “(Stellantis’ dealer body) is now stuck with expensive EVs that need huge discounts to move, eating into already thin margins while competitors focus on [more] profitable gas-powered vehicles.”
All of which is to say: if you’ve found yourself drawn to the Jeep Wagoneer S, but couldn’t quite stomach the $70,000+ window stickers, you might want to check in with your local Jeep dealer and see how you feel about it at a JCPenneys-like 30% off!
Jeep Wagoneer S gallery
Original content from Electrek; images via Stellantis.
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Multinational equipment brand SANY just launched a clever new 50-ton reach stacker that pairs gravity and an F1-style KERS system to generate electricity, improve operating efficiency, and reduce costs. The best part: they’re putting that smart tech to work by helping clean up (and shore up) the grid.
Short for Kinetic Energy Recovery System, KERS was a staple of Formula 1 in the late aught and 2010s. Essentially an advanced form of regenerative braking, KERS captured the kinetic energy of a car at speed that would normally be lost as heat when the brake pads pressed against the brake discs. Instead of heat, KERS converted that energy into electricity (storing it in a battery or flywheel), to be deployed later.
Sebastian Vettel explains KERS
4x WDC Sebastian Vettel explains KERS.
In practice, KERS gave drivers an extra boost of horsepower at the push of a button, enabling them to attack or defend their position on track and adding a fresh strategic element to the sport. In SANY’s case, that stored power is fed back into the reach stacker’s electric hydraulic system, reducing pressure loss across the high-pressure setup by 50%, and lowering the machine’s overall energy consumption by more than 60%.
Energy recovery is a key feature. The potential energy of the boom, lifting gear and energy storage cabinets during the boom’s descent can be recovered efficiently with an overall recovery efficiency of over 65%. That means every 1 kWh of consumption in lifting can be recovered by 0.4 kWh during descent.
The 50t reach stacker is available with a 512 kWh swappable battery pack that’s compatible with other SANY heavy equipment assets, and supports both DC fast charging when swapping isn’t practical or (for whatever reason) desirable.
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On a single charge and backed by the onboard KERS, that’s good enough for the machine can lift and move containers for more than 7 continuous hours, which SANY claims significantly reducing downtime for charging compared to other, similar equipment assets.
The new SANY reach stacker can stack six 50-ton containers, greatly enhancing a site’s container and battery storage density within a limited space. The first units will reach unnamed customers building out a utility-scale energy storage project by the end of this month.
Regardless of which one you choose, it seems like the available options for reach stacker operators are just getting better and better!
SOURCE | IMAGES: SANY.
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