US grid operators haven’t been practicing long-term transmission planning, but for the first time, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) just made it mandatory.

FERC now requires proactive grid planning

FERC oversees interstate electricity transmission. The rule it released today, Order No. 1920, adopts specific requirements for transmission providers in the lower 47 states for long-term planning for regional transmission facilities. They also have to determine how to pay for them. (Texas has an an isolated grid, so it’s excluded.)

FERC gathered “tens of thousands of pages of comments, filed over the course of the past three years,” from stakeholders in the power industry, advocacy groups, and government bodies.

FERC chairman Willie Phillips said, “Our nation needs a new foundation to get badly needed new transmission planned, paid for, and built. With this new rule, that starts today.”

Operators are now required to conduct and periodically update long-term transmission planning over a 20-year time horizon to anticipate future needs. The order also provides for cost-effective expansion of transmission that’s being replaced, when needed – that’s known as “right-sizing” transmission facilities. FERC says Order No. 1920 “expressly provides for the states’ pivotal role throughout the process of planning, selecting, and determining how to pay for transmission lines.”

Phillips added:

Over the last dozen years, FERC has worked on five after-action reports on lessons learned from extreme weather events that caused outages that cost hundreds of lives and millions of dollars. We must get beyond these after-action reports and start planning to maintain a reliable grid that powers our entire way of life.

The rule also encourages grid innovation by requiring transmission providers to consider advanced transmission technologies that drive down ratepayer costs. Julia Selker, executive director of the WATT Coalition, said in a statement, “Grid enhancing technologies will be vital to achieving the seven economic and reliability benefits in the rule, especially production cost savings, reducing grid congestion, and improving performance in extreme weather.”

Melissa Alfano, senior director of energy markets and counsel for the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), said in a statement:

Our energy system has vastly different needs than it did when the grid was built out over a century ago, and today FERC stepped up to account for many of these needs… As transmission providers comply with this rule, FERC will need to remain vigilant to ensure effective and meaningful implementation.

You can read the major points in FERC’s fact sheet here.

Electrek’s Take

Transmission providers actually having a long-term strategy in place for the US grid seems like such an obvious thing that one would assume it was already in place, but it wasn’t. Turns out grid operators weren’t planning for the long term.

As FERC’s chairman mentions above about getting beyond after-action reports, the grid operators now have to move from reactive to proactive. Better late than never with this major move to upgrade and expand the US grid.

This ruling isn’t going to be a magic bullet, as it will take years to roll out. Plus, there will be the inevitable head butting among states due to disparate rollout plans for renewables.

But ultimately, this is great news. The grid will have more capacity for renewables and become more resilient in extreme weather as these (finally) forward-looking plans are put into place.

Read more: The US just came up with a plan to upgrade 100k miles of transmission lines in 5 years

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Kia is expected to reveal the new EV6 GT later this year as its most powerful electric car yet. Ahead of its official debut, Kia’s new EV6 GT was spotted in a new 360-degree video, giving us our closest look yet.

The EV6 is Kia’s first dedicated EV based on Hyundai’s E-GMP platform. After launching the EV6 in August 2021, the electric crossover is due for a facelift three years later.

This will include a sporty new GT version. Kia revealed the EV6 GT in 2022 as its most powerful vehicle yet. With up to 576 hp, the high-performance EV can hit 0 to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds.

To prove its power, Kia put the EV6 GT up against a Ferrari Roma and Lamborghini Hurcan EVO, with the sporty EV out-accelerating both of them. The dual-motor EV6 GT, starting at $61,600, is also quicker than most supercars at more than half the cost.

We’ve seen the EV6 facelift out testing a few times ahead of its debut and caught a glimpse of the GT version earlier this year.

Kia revealed the first teaser images of the upgraded EV6 earlier this month with several new design features. One of the biggest is the new daytime running lights with its “Star Map Signature Lightning” to reflect Kia’s new design theme.

After unveiling three new EVs during its first annual EV day in October, it was clear the EV6 was the odd one out based on lighting alone.

Kia’s new EV6 GT show in new 360-degree video

Kia plans to release additional info on the new EV6 later this month, which will include a GT version.

Ahead of its official debut, a new 360-degree video from ShortsCar gives us our closest look yet at the new electric sports car.

You can see Kia improved the new electric cars’ silhouette and rear and front map designs. After completing its certification in South Korea, new info revealed the EV6 refresh will feature an 84 kWh battery pack, similar to the upgraded Hyundai IONIQ 5.

According to TheKoreanCarBlog, the new battery pack is good for up to 505 km (313 miles) range in Korea, a 24 km (15 miles) improvement over the current generation.

When it launches in the US, the EV6 could reach up to 370 miles EPA range, up from the current 310 miles on the long-range models. In Europe, around 600 km WLTP range is expected.

Kia also confirmed plans to launch its EV9 GT in January with “enormous power” and several other upgrades. Meanwhile, leaked images from China last month revealed the EV5 GT for the first time.

To clear inventory, Kia is offering up to $9,000 in Customer Cash on the 2024 EV6. With the $7,500 EV lease bonus included, leases start as low as $229 per month (for 24 months). Kia is also offering other incentives like 0% APR for 60 months and owner loyalty bonuses.

Ready to drive off in a new EV6 at some of the lowest prices yet? We can help you get started. You can use our link to find deals on the 2024 Kia EV6 (and GT models) at a dealer near you.

Tesla’s head of Cybertruck manufacturing has left the company. It’s unclear if he was involved in yet another round of layoffs or if he left on his own accord.

Over the last month, Tesla has been conducting several major waves of layoffs across its entire organization.

At least 10% of the workforce has been let go, but Electrek has heard that as much as 20% of the entire headcount could be gone by the time everything is said and done.

Tesla’s automotive business, including charging and manufacturing, as well as new product launches, took the biggest hit as Elon Musk appears to be transitioning Tesla away from its EV manufacturing roots to focus on autonomous driving products.

Now, the latest Tesla executive to leave is Renjie Zhu, director of manufacturing in charge of Cybertruck production. He announced on LinkedIn:

After triumphing the epic launch of Cybertruck program and ramping the volume production line to the steady 1K/W throughput orbit for the past 16 months in GFTX, also 7 weeks after the 5th Tesla-versary, my adventure with this great company has come to an end.

Zhu was in charge of manufacturing operations for Tesla’s highly succesful Model 3 and Model Y production lines at Gigafactory Shanghai.

In 2023, he came to Gigafactory Austin after Tom Zhu, then the head of Tesla’s operations in China, was placed in charge of roughly Tesla’s entire automotive operations with the goal of replicating Tesla’s success in Shanghai at its North American factories.

As we reported, Tom Zhu recently went back to China, leading the company’s effort there, and gave up his responsibilities in North America.

As for Renjie Zhu, it’s unclear if he left Tesla of his own accord or if he was let go as part of the layoffs.

We recently reported that some Tesla employees are leaving the company due to low morale at the company amid the layoffs.

The Tesla Cybertruck production ramp has been going about as expected, with Tesla achieving a production rate of 1,000 units in a week last month. The goal is 5,000 a week in the first half of next year.