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Swedish EV maker Polestar (PSNY) said it expects to hit the lower end of its 2023 delivery target on Wednesday. Despite the lower expectations, Polestar says new EV launches will drive up demand. Its first electric SUV coupe, the Polestar 4, begins production next week.

Polestar lowers 2023 delivery goal

Polestar delivered 13,976 vehicles in the third quarter, up 51% year-over-year. However, the number is down from 15,800 in the second quarter.

The YOY growth comes amid the Polestar 2 rollout, including the recently launched upgraded 2024 model.

Polestar expects the higher-priced model to help improve models going into the end of the year. Although higher deliveries pushed revenue up to $367.7 million (+25%) in Q3, increased costs led to gross profits slipping 63% to $36.3 million.

Higher expenses in the quarter led to an operating loss of $261 million, up 33% compared to last year. Meanwhile, gross profits fell to 3.6% from 4.1% last year.

Polestar expects to hit the lower end of its 2023 delivery target with around 60,000 vehicles. The EV maker had already slashed its target in May from 80,000 to between 60,000-70,000.

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2024 Polestar 2 (Source: Polestar)

Due to the lower delivery expectations, Polestar says gross margins will be around 2% for the year, down from 4%.

The company said it was cutting costs to improve efficiency. Polestar had $951.1 million in cash at the end of September. However, it secured another $450 million in loans from its top two investors, Volvo and Geely.

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New EV models to accelerate demand

Despite the lower near-term expectations, Polestar expects the launch of new electric models to drive up demand.

The company’s first electric SUV coupe, the Polestar 4, will begin production next week. Polestar will start delivering the new EV to customers next month.

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Polestar 3 (left) Polestar 4 (right) (Source: Polestar)

Meanwhile, the Polestar 3 electric SUV is “on track” to begin production in China in early 2024 and over the summer in the US. The company said its electric SUV recently completed hot weather testing in the UAE.

The Polestar 3 is “better positioned” for the US market, according to CEO Thomas Ingenlath. Polestar’s electric SUV (launch edition) will start at $83,900 in the US with up to 300 miles range.

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Polestar 3 (Source: Polestar)

Powered by the same platform as the new Volvo EX90, the Polestar 3 will be available in two trims – a long-range dual motor and a performance pack version. Both will use a 400V battery with 111 kWh capacity.

Polestar will continue developing the brand, focusing on increasing volume and profitability. With four models expected (including the Polestar 5), the EV maker aims to deliver around 155,000-165,000 vehicles.

By mid-decade, Polestar expects gross profit margins in the high teens. The company says an improved offering of vehicles and additional measures will help boost profitability.

Polestar also teased a new plant on the company’s earnings call that would not be in China but didn’t specify where.

Electrek’s Take

With one fully electric vehicle currently, Polestar expects to hit the lower end of its delivery target this year.

Meanwhile, the EV maker expects new launches, including the Polestar 3 and 4, to increase demand. So is it an EV demand problem, or is it that Polestar doesn’t have models in the right segments yet?

Polestar said it will continue a “targetted approach” with EV models like the Polestar 3 aligning with the US market.

Other EV makers have reported mixed results. Although Lucid also lowered its target, Rivian raised it for the second time this year. Again, is it the market, or is it the models?

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The biggest solar farm east of the Mississippi is now powering Chicago

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The biggest solar farm east of the Mississippi is now powering Chicago

Swift Current Energy’s 800-megawatt (MW) Double Black Diamond Solar is up and running about 30 miles west of Springfield. It’s now the largest operating solar farm east of the Mississippi, and it’s set to make a serious dent in emissions while delivering clean energy to major customers, including the City of Chicago.

Chicago is sourcing around 70% of the power for its municipal operations from Double Black Diamond. That includes big energy users like O’Hare and Midway airports. Other customers buying power from the solar farm include CVS Health, Loyola University Chicago, PPG, State Farm, TransUnion, and Cook County, all through the energy company Constellation NewEnergy.

This project has been a long time coming – Swift Current started development in 2018 and leaned into a growing US supply chain. The company sourced most of its 1.6 million solar panels from First Solar’s Ohio factories, and the racking came from Nextracker, which used US-made steel and did some of the manufacturing in Chicago. Construction created around 500 jobs.

Double Black Diamond also met Illinois’ Clean and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) standards for labor and hiring, creating job opportunities for a broader group of workers. Over its lifetime, the solar farm is expected to generate $100 million in local tax revenue for Sangamon and Morgan counties. About 60% of that will go toward public schools, with the rest helping fund public safety, infrastructure, and community programs. Swift Current is also putting $10 million into community benefit programs, including school districts and local governments.

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Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson called the project “a powerful example of why we believe in the green economy.” He said the solar farm helps Chicago cut emissions, supports good union jobs, and lowers energy costs for city operations.

Read more: Home solar prices just hit record lows – and storage is even cheaper


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Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisers to help you every step of the way. Get started here. –trusted affiliate link*

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Range Energy announces two partners to electrify refrigerated trailers

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Range Energy announces two partners to electrify refrigerated trailers

Range Energy, a company which builds large-battery electric trailers to help fleets electrify at the drop of a hat, has announced partnerships with Thermo King and ESL Power Systems to bring its technology to refrigerated trailer units.

The idea behind Range’s product is that it adds a battery and an electric motor e-axle to a semi truck trailer, instead of to the tractor itself, which means that a fleet can add electric capabilities without having to buy new tractors. This means the fleet can effectively hybridize its operation without having to buy new tractors.

While this isn’t a fully electric solution, it can still reduce fuel usage by a large amount (independent tests say 36%), and adds new capabilities to a truck – like better control over the trailer and regenerative braking to avoid brake fade.

We met Range at ACT Expo in Anaheim two years ago, where they gave us one of the coolest demos we’ve seen. Just by attaching to a tractor’s kingpin, the system can decide how much power to apply and offers extremely natural feeling movement, making a heavy trailer feel light as a feather:

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Range isn’t quite up to production yet, but they have done some trials. In addition to the independent testing above, Range trialed its technology with Petaluma Egg Farm, up in Northern California, where it says the company saw a 50-70% improvement in MPG for the trucks using Range’s electric trailer.

But the company is still working to find novel applications for its technology, and when we caught up with them at ACT Expo this week, they wanted to focus on how Range trailers could be used for refrigerated freight in order to cut emissions and reduce the need for a separate engine to run the reefer unit.

In service of this, it has partnered with two companies in the refrigeration space – Thermo King, the biggest name in electrified trucks, and ESL Power Systems, a company that manufactures shore power solutions for heavy industry.

Range said Thermo King came to them because they’re the only company with enough energy storage to be able to run a refrigerated unit for an extended period of time. While there are other companies doing electrified refrigerated trailers, Range’s trailer has a much larger 288kWh battery (since it also works as a traction battery for the trailer’s electric motor).

This means it has a lot more energy on board to run a refrigeration unit, which can draw ~5-20kW depending on several factors. Range told us that fleets have told them this would be enough energy to keep the trailer box cold for a full day while unplugged from shore power, even in hot temperatures.

And that’s a big deal, because heretofore, refrigerated units have mostly run with an additional small diesel engine. Removing that engine means less pollution, less diesel usage, more noise, less maintenance, and it also means the refrigerated unit could operate in more environments (for example, you don’t want a running engine indoors if you can avoid it – but an electric unit doesn’t have to deal with that).

Speaking of shore power, that’s what Range is working with ESL to implement. ESL creates small, modular shore power systems which are easier to install, helping fleets save on infrastructure upgrade costs. Their boxes can deliver high-powered 480V 3-phase AC charging.

Plugging into one of these would allow the Range Energy trailer to charge at up to 50kW or so, meaning a 5-6 hour charge time for the 288kWh battery.

Range has already trialed its partnership with Thermo King, in the Petaluma Egg Farm example given above. Although the ESL partnership is newer, and those will be trialed soon.

Range is targeting the end of this year, or possibly the start of next year, for its first customer deliveries.


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Podcast: Elon is still CEO of Tesla, BYD EV sales surges while Tesla’s collapse, and more

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Podcast: Elon is still CEO of Tesla, BYD EV sales surges while Tesla's collapse, and more

In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Elon being challenged in his role as CEO of Tesla, BYD EV sales surging while Tesla’s collapse, and more.

Today’s episode is brought to you by retrospec—makers of sleek, powerful e-bikes and outdoor gear built for everyday adventure. Electrek listeners can get 10% off their next ride until May 8th with the exclusive code ELECTREK10 only at retrospec.com.

The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.

As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.

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After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:

We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.

Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:

Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET):

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