AOC can’t find a union-made EV to trade for her Tesla: That’s a problem.
In the midst of the United Auto Workers’ strike, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was asked on Face The Nation whether she plans to trade in her Tesla Model 3 for a union-built EV.
However, there really aren’t many EVs she could pick from, and that’s a problem for the Big Three, the UAW, the American auto industry, and US workers in general. And also for AOC.
The UAW started striking two weeks ago, beginning with shutting down one plant at each of the Big Three auto companies. Only one plug-in car was affected initially, the Jeep 4xe.
Since then, the strike has expanded to several more GM and Stellantis parts distribution centers, but the strike against Ford has not expanded as the UAW says talks are progressing better there.
With only one plug-in car currently affected by the strike, it may seem like EVs lucked out, or that the unions perhaps decided not to stop EV production. But in actuality, the reason that union-made EVs haven’t been affected by the partial shutdowns is because, well, there just aren’t very many of them.
What choices does AOC have?
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) has spoken out repeatedly supporting unions. She’s stood on picket lines in her district and generally supports strikes and labor unions.
Last year, she stated that she wanted to trade in her Tesla Model 3 and get a union-made EV instead. And this weekend, with the UAW striking, she was asked the same question again.
In her answer she mentioned that she purchased her car during the pandemic, looking for safe and efficient travel to DC from her district in Queens, New York. At the time, the Model 3 was the best choice for this – and, frankly, it probably still is, based on fast charging capability, price, range, and general vehicle quality.
But it’s also not union-built, and in addition, Tesla CEO Elon Musk often interferes with unionization efforts and talks down on unions (he even did so yesterday) and routinely acts publicly creepy towards AOC, which is likely a contributing factor to her desire to rinse her hands of the brand.
At the time, the only union-built EV made in the US was the Chevy Bolt. There are more union-built EVs today than there were in 2020 when AOC bought her Tesla, but the choices are still limited.
In the last few years, we’ve seen the Ford F-150 Lightning, the Hummer EV, and the Cadillac Lyriq all go into production here in the US with union manufacturing. But none of those would really be great choices for AOC. Nor would the E-Transit, which is mainly for commercial use, though it paints an amusing #Vanlife image for the congresswoman.
The Lightning and Hummer are far too large for a city dweller, and likely too way much vehicle for her purposes. And the Lyriq, despite being really dang nice, is probably not the right statement for an everyman representative like her – although its $57k base price is almost identical to the $58k MSRP that Long Range Model 3s were fetching at their peak price at the end of last year.
At least, those are some union-made EVs that are built in the United States. If we expand elsewhere, we can find plenty of examples of EVs built by union labor. While foreign automakers typically run non-union shops in the US, they are unionized in their own countries (so, no ID.4 then unless she picks a used, early run model before they switched to Tennessee models). European auto-worker unions are strong (especially in Germany), and Asian automakers are typically unionized domestically even if their unions are not as strong as in Germany. Mexican auto assembly plants are also often unionized, including the one that builds the Mustang Mach E.
But, as a US rep, she is probably looking for a US-made vehicle (and to be fair, she does have the most American-made vehicle already in her Tesla). So even the Mach E from our neighbors to the South is out of the running.
That leaves us the same choice she would have had in 2020: the unassuming but awesome Chevy Bolt. We at Electrek think this is a great choice, having given it our Vehicle of the Year award, and it remains a screaming deal given its low MSRP and availability of credits and incentives to drive that price down further (if you can find one anyway – you can check local dealer inventory here).
A Bolt EUV (due to Super Cruise availability, for that long trip down to DC) is going to be our official recommendation.
But it’s still not ideal for her circumstances, since the Bolt has a slow 54kW DC charge rate. Since Queens and DC are about 240 miles apart, the Bolt’s 247 mile range will likely need a little top-up for safety along the way, and slow DC charge rate and lack of access to Tesla’s superior Supercharger network (though that’s changing soon) will make that experience less than optimal.
Her choices could be getting better soon, with the upcoming Chevy Blazer and Equinox EVs, but those aren’t out yet (though they’re due to hit the road this coming quarter). And her choices will get a little worse at the end of the year as well, since the excellent Chevy Bolt is due to end production in December (though it is slated to come back).
So it’s no wonder she hasn’t been able to trade in her car yet – and that’s kind of a problem.
Electrek’s Take
It’s a problem because it shows that the companies that have formed the industrial backbone of the US for so long are simply not building enough EVs. Everyone understands that EVs are the future of the auto industry – though we at Electrek would argue that they are also the present of the auto industry, not just the future.
Tesla currently has around 5x the combined market cap of Ford, GM, and Stellantis, despite that those three companies combined sell about 10x as many vehicles as Tesla currently. This is obviously a quite… optimistic valuation, but it also shows, among other things, that the market values growth and sees where the industry is going. And it’s clear that investors, as a collective, have more confidence in Tesla’s ability to prepare for the future of the industry than they do in the Big Three combined.
Some, including business media and leadership from the Big Three in the last week or two, blame this on the UAW themselves. The argument goes that unionized labor asks for too much or stands in the way of progress, and that this cripples the Big Three with labor costs and keeps them from being competitive as vehicles evolve, particularly given that EVs will require fewer assembly hours than gas cars.
But as mentioned above, other countries’ automakers have strong auto unions and yet are not similarly “shackled.” And when questioned about whether they might oppose the industry’s green transition due to this drop in assembly hours, UAW leadership has never taken the bait and has merely insisted it be a “just transition.”
Meanwhile, analyses have shown that countries and automakers that don’t fully participate in this green transition aren’t going to do well. We covered a report suggesting Japan’s GDP could drop a full 14% due to its failure to move on EVs. And a year later, we’ve already seen Mitsubishi and Toyota reduce their presence in China due to failure on EVs, and the same goes for other foreign automakers who have underestimated EV demand there. Then there’s the matter that Tesla is outselling Toyota in California and has the world’s best-selling car, the first EV to gain that title.
So everybody knows that we need to go in the right direction, but American automakers have still been slow to offer a wide variety of EV models – despite GM’s promises to the contrary.
The US government has tried to stimulate more production here, via the Inflation Reduction Act, which gives tax credits to domestically-produced EVs. The proposed law originally included an additional union-made credit, but it was struck by the efforts of all 50 republicans and Joe Manchin.
The law has been successful in onshoring production of EVs, as manufacturers have announced investments in domestic EV production totaling in the hundreds of billions of dollars. But it has been less successful in creating union jobs, as many of those announcements are non-union (though we did see the first battery plant unionize late last year and win a pay raise last month).
As I stated in the last article about this, personally, I’m pro-union. And I think that everyone should be – it only makes sense that people should have their interests collectively represented, and that people should be able to join together to support each other and exercise their power collectively, instead of individually.
This is precisely what companies do with industry organizations, lobby organizations, chambers of commerce, and so on. And it’s what people do when sorting themselves into local, state, or national governments. So naturally, workers should do the same. It only makes sense.
Unions are important not just for AOC’s car choices, but for American labor as a whole. The US economy and US workers tend to do better when unionization rates are high, and the auto industry is one of the bulwarks of organized labor in the US and has been central to US manufacturing prowess for decades. This is why AOC supports them, and why President Biden, who joined UAW workers on the picket line yesterday, does as well.
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A chimney from the Linden Cogeneration Plant is seen in Linden New Jersey April 22, 2022.
Kena Betancur | View Press | Corbis News | Getty Images
Natural gas producers are planning for a significant spike in demand over the next decade, as artificial intelligence drives a surge in electricity consumption that renewables may struggle to meet alone.
After a decade of flat power growth in the U.S., electricity demand is forecast to grow as much as 20% by 2030, according to a Wells Fargo analysis published in April. Power companies are moving to quickly secure energy as the rise of AI coincides with the expansion of domestic semiconductor and battery manufacturing as well as the electrification of the nation’s vehicle fleet.
AI data centers alone are expected to add about 323 terawatt hours of electricity demand in the U.S. by 2030, according to Wells Fargo. The forecast power demand from AI alone is seven times greater than New York City’s current annual electricity consumption of 48 terawatt hours. Goldman Sachs projects that data centers will represent 8% of total U.S. electricity consumption by the end of the decade.
The surge in power demand poses a challenge for Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Meta. The tech companies have committed to powering their data centers with renewables to slash carbon emissions. But solar and wind alone may be inadequate to meet the electricity load because they are dependent on variable weather, according to an April note from consulting firm Rystad Energy.
“Economic growth, electrification, accelerating data center expansion are driving the most significant demand growth in our company’s history and they show no signs of abating,”
Robert Blue
Dominion Energy, Chief Executive Officer
Surging electricity loads will require an energy source that can jump into the breach and meet spiking demand during conditions when renewables are not generating enough power, according to Rystad. The natural gas industry is betting gas will serve as the preferred choice.
Natural gas prices year to date
“This type of need demonstrates that the emphasis on renewables as the only source of power is fatally flawed in terms of meeting the real demands of the market,” Richard Kinder, executive chairman of pipeline operator Kinder Morgan, told analysts during the company’s first-quarter earnings in April.
“The primary use of these data centers is big tech and I believe they’re beginning to recognize the role that natural gas and nuclear must play,” Kinder said during the call. Kinder Morgan is the largest natural gas pipeline operator in the U.S. with 40% market share.
Natural gas is expected to supply 60% of the power demand growth from AI and data centers, while renewables will provide the remaining 40%, according to Goldman Sachs’ report published in April.
Gas demand could increase by 10 billion cubic feet per day by 2030, according to Wells Fargo. This would represent a 28% increase over the 35 bcf/d that is currently consumed for electricity generation in the U.S, and a 10% increase over the nation’s total gas consumption of 100 bcf/d.
“That’s why people are getting more bullish on gas,” said Roger Read, an equity analyst and one of the authors of the Wells Fargo analysis, in an interview. “Those are some pretty high growth rates for a commodity.”
The demand forecasts, however, vary as analysts are just starting to piece together what data centers might mean for natural gas. Goldman expects a 3.3 bcf/d increase in gas demand, while Houston-based investment bank Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. sees a base case of 2.7 bcf/d and a high case of 8.5 bcf/d.
Powering the Southeast boom
Power companies will need energy that is reliable, affordable and can be deployed quickly to meet rising electricity demand, said Toby Rice, CEO of EQT Corp., the largest natural gas producer in the U.S.
“Speed to market matters,” Rice told CNBC’s “Money Movers” in late April. “This is going to be another differentiator for EQT and natural gas to take a very large amount of this market share.”
EQT is positioned to become a “key facilitator of the data center build-out” in the Southeast, Rice told analysts on the company’s earnings call in April.
The Southeast is the hottest data center market in the world with Northern Virginia in the thick of the boom, hosting more data centers than the next five largest markets in the U.S. combined. Some 70% of the world’s internet traffic passes through the region daily.
The power company Dominion Energy forecasts that demand from data centers in Northern Virginia will more than double from 3.3 gigawatts in 2023 to 7 gigawatts in 2030.
Further south, Georgia Power sees retail electricity sales growing 9% through 2028 with 80% of the demand coming from data centers, said Christopher Womack, CEO of Georgia Power’s parent Southern Company, during the utility’s fourt-quarter earnings call in February.
“Economic growth, electrification, accelerating data center expansion are driving the most significant demand growth in our company’s history and they show no signs of abating,” Dominion CEO Robert Blue said during the company’s March investor meeting.
EQT shares over the past year.
The surging power demand in the Southeast lies at the doorstep of EQT’s asset base in the Appalachian Basin, Rice said during the earnings call. Coal plant retirements and data centers could result in 6 bcf/d of new natural gas demand in EQT’s backyard by 2030, the CEO said.
EQT recently purchased the owner of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which connects prolific natural gas reserves that EQT is operating and developing in the Appalachian Basin to southern Virginia. EQT is the only producer that can access the growing data center market through the pipeline, said Jeremy Knop, the company’s chief financial officer.
“I think we are very uniquely positioned in that sense,” Knop said during the call. Rice said the Southeast will become an even more attractive gas market than the Gulf Coast later in the decade. EQT is planning to expand capacity on the Mountain Valley Pipeline from 2 bcf/d to 2.5 bcf/d. The pipeline is expected to become operational in June.
The level of electricity demand could help lift natural gas prices out of the doldrums.
Prices plunged as much more than 30% in the first quarter of 2024 on strong production, lower demand due to a mild winter and historic inventory levels in the U.S. By 2030, prices could average $3.50 per thousand cubic feet, a 46% increase over the 2024 average price of $2.39, according to Wells Fargo.
Grid reliability worries
Dominion laid out scenarios in its 2023 resource plan that would add anywhere from 0.9 to 9.3 gigawatts of new natural gas capacity over the next 25 years. The power company said gas turbines will be critical to fill gaps when production drops from renewable resources such as solar. The turbines would be dual use and able to take clean hydrogen at some point.
“We’re building a lot of renewables, which all of our customers are looking for, but we need to make sure that we can operate the system reliably,” Blue told analysts during Dominion’s earnings call Thursday.
Renewables will play a major role in meeting the demand but they face challenges that make gas look attractive through at least 2030, Read, the Wells Fargo analyst, told CNBC.
An all of the above strategy is the only thing that we see as the way to maintain the reliability and the affordability that our customers count on.”
Lynn Good
Duke Energy, Chief Executive Officer
Many of the renewables will be installed in areas that are not immediately adjacent to data centers, he said. It will take time to build power lines to transport resources to areas of high demand, the analyst said.
Another constraint on renewables right now is the currently available battery technology is not efficient enough to power data centers 24 hours a day, said Zack Van Everen, director of research at investment Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.
Nuclear is a potential alternative to gas and has the advantage of providing carbon free energy, but new advanced technology that shortens typically long project timelines is likely a decade away from having a meaningful impact, according to Wells Fargo.
Robert Kinder, chief executive of pipeline operator Kinder Morgan, said significant amounts new nuclear capacity will not come online for the foreseeable future, and building power lines to connect distant renewables to the grid will take years. This means natural gas has to play an important role for years to come, Kinder said during the company’s earnings call in April.
“I think acceptance of this hypothesis will become even clearer as power demand increases over the coming months and years and it will be one more significant driver of growth in the demand for natural gas that will benefit all of us in the midstream sector,” Kinder said.
Environmental impact
Any expansion of natural gas in meeting U.S energy demand is likely to be met with opposition from environmental groups who want fossil fuels to be phased out as soon as possible.
Goldman Sachs forecast carbon emissions from data centers could more than double by 2030 to about 220 million tons, or 0.6% of global energy emissions, assuming natural gas provides the bulk of the power.
Virginia has mandated that all carbon-emitting plants be phased out by 2045. Dominion warned in its resource plan that the phase out date potentially raises system reliability and energy independence issues, with the company relying on purchasing capacity across state lines to meet demand.
Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good said natural gas “can be a difficult topic,” but the fossil fuel is responsible for 45% of the power company’s emissions reductions since 2005 as dirtier coal plants have been replaced. Good said electricity demand in North Carolina is growing at a pace not seen since the 1980s or 1990s.
“As we look at the next many years trying to find a way to expand a system to approach this growth, I think natural gas has a role to play,” Good said at the Columbia Global Energy Summit in New York City in April. The CEO said natural gas is needed as a “bridge fuel” until more advanced technology comes online.
“An all of the above strategy is the only thing that we see as the way to maintain the reliability and the affordability that our customers count on,” Good said.
Multi-million-dollar grants adding up to more than $46 million from the US Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will help support electrification efforts at several American ports.
The Long Beach Container Terminal (LBCT) in Long Beach, California has received a $34.9 million grant from the FHWA to replace 155 on-site commercial trucks and buses with zero-emission vehicles (ZEV). The grant will fund both the purchase of new electric trucks and the necessary charging infrastructure to support them.
LBCT said the grant dollars will allow it to continue its multi-billion dollar investments in more sustainable logistical operations. “Our vehicle electrification project, coupled with previous investments, enables LBCT to achieve a unique status that is reframing the way the world views sustainable goods movement, enhancing community quality of life and climate change,” said Anthony Otto, CEO of LBCT.
Real progress at Port of Long Beach
Back in 2018, Power Progress reported that the Port of Long Beach had plans to install zero-emissions cranes and cargo handling equipment at its terminals. True to its word, the port has invested more than $2.5 billion to convert its cranes and terminal tractors vehicles to electric equipment. It’s a project that LBCT says has led to an 86 percent (!) reduction in harmful carbon emissions.
“This investment is a huge win for clean air, electrification and the region,” said US House Rep. Robert Garcia. “These federal dollars will make our port cleaner, safer and help us meet our climate goals.”
In a separate announcement, charging infrastructure operator Voltera said that its sites in California and Georgia would receive $11.4 million of the FHWA funding.
Electrek’s Take
Container ports used to be some of the dirtiest, most heavily polluted areas in the world. That was bad for everyone – but it was especially bad for the people who lived and worked near them. That’s why any positive change is good. Beyond just “positive change,” however, ports today seem to be leading the way when it comes to electric vehicle and hydrogen adoption.
How things change!
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German equipment manufacturer Kramer showed off a pair of zero-emission equipment options at the Paris Intermat show last week – the 5065e electric wheel loader and 1445e electric telehandler.
Kramer says the quiet operation of its new electric wheel loader and telehandler are ideal for noise-sensitive areas such as city centers, cemeteries and golf courses, hotels, and suburban parks and recreation areas, where it can operate without emitting harmful diesel particulate matter and other forms of air pollution.
Kramer-Werke GmbH is serious about promoting its new EVs in the French market. “That’s why Intermat is an important platform for us,” explains Christian Stryffeler, Kramer’s Managing Director. “We are also looking forward to showcasing our new generation of (electric) wheel loaders and telescopic wheel loaders here.”
Kramer 5065e wheel loader
The 5065e loader is powered a 37.5 kWh, 96V lithium-ion battery that’s good for up to four hours of continuous operation – which is a lot more than it sounds, considering idle time in an EV doesn’t drain batteries the way idling a diesel drains fuel. A 23 kW (30 hp) electric motor drives the electric wheel loader around the job site, while a 25 kW (approx. 35 hp) motor powers the machine’s 40 liters hydraulic system.
Kramer says the battery on its electric loader can be fully charged in just 5.1 hours using a “Type 2 Wallbox” (that’s an L2 charger to you and me). Max payload is 1750 kg, with a 2800 kg tipping load. Top speed is 20 km/h (approx. 12.5 mph).
Kramer 1445e telehandler
The 1445e telehandler uses a 96V battery architecture that’s similar to the one in the wheel loader, but in a smaller 18 kWh or 28 kWh pack. This enables a fleet manager to right-size their equipment’s batteries to provide four hours of run time in different types of work environments. And, also like the wheel loader, a 23 kW (30 hp) electric motor provides the drive while a 25 kW (approx. 35 hp) powers the hydraulics.
Level 2 charging comes standard on Kramer’s electric telehandler, enabling a full charge of the larger, 28 kWh battery in about five hours. Max payload is 1450 kg.
Electrek’s Take
It’s always good to see more manufacturers pushing out electric equipment options. It’s still the “wild west” out there, even more so than in automotive, and Kramer’s offerings seem to be a step behind in some ways (no DCFC capability) and ahead in others (96V where others are 48V), so it’s hard to know where they stand.
More than anything, the lesson seems to be that fleet managers need to choose wisely when they choose to electrify – and work closely with the dealers and OEMs to ensure that they’re buying the right tool for the right job.
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