SOLARCYCLE’s new plant will recycle 25% of all US end-of-life solar panels by 2030
SOLARCYCLE is building a huge solar recycling plant in Cedartown, Georgia, which will recycle 10 million solar panels a year.
The company says it will be able to process around a quarter of all the solar panels that are expected to reach end-of-life in the US by 2030.
The new facility, which is set to open in mid-2025, will start with the capacity to recycle 2 million panels annually and expand as demand grows. It will be adjacent to SOLARCYCLE’s already planned solar glass factory, which was announced earlier this year.
The glass factory will be the first of its kind in the US, producing specialized glass for crystalline silicon (c-Si) solar panels. Together, these two factories will employ over 1,250 people once they’re running at full capacity.
SOLARCYCLE CEO Suvi Sharma said that the Cedartown site is meant to close a major gap in the US solar supply chain: “By scaling recycling and solar glass manufacturing through a vertically integrated process, we are filling a critical gap in America’s solar supply chain and closing the loop for domestic solar manufacturing.”
Sharma credited the support from Governor Brian Kemp (R-GA) and the Biden-Harris administration’s clean energy policies for making the new factories possible.
The solar recycling company is also bringing Microsoft on board as a strategic investor, joining the ranks of investors like Fifth Wall, HG Ventures, and Closed Loop Partners. Brandon Middaugh, senior director of sustainability markets at Microsoft, said, “It’s important to us that companies like SOLARCYCLE are developing innovative solutions for ensuring that the raw materials required for this build-out and deployment are returned to the supply chain.”
The Cedartown recycling factory is designed to recover up to 99% of the materials from solar panels, including bifacial panels, which have been harder to recycle efficiently. Most recyclers today use the same approach for both monofacial and bifacial panels, but SOLARCYCLE’s new process is supposed to be far more flexible and efficient. The company plans to turn the recovered materials into new solar glass right next door, and then they’ll go straight back into the US solar market.
With facilities already operating in Odessa, Texas, and Mesa, Arizona, SOLARCYCLE is expanding its footprint to tackle one of the solar industry’s biggest challenges: dealing with end-of-life panels. The 255,000-square-foot Cedartown facility is move-in ready, and the company has long-term partnerships with over 70 major US energy companies to handle their panel recycling.
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A Tesla Cybertruck caught on fire in the lot of a Tesla store in North Decatur, Georgia, near Atlanta. The local fire authorities suspect a battery fire.
The incident went mostly unreported because it happened just a few hours before the highly publicized Cybertruck explosion in front of the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas on January 1st.
While the Las Vegas accident involved firework-like explosives in the back of the Cybertruck and was likely intentional, foul play is not suspected in this other incident.
It happened in the early hours of December 31st at the Tesla store on Church Street in Decatur, Georgia.
The fire was quickly extinguished, but not before it destroyed the entire interior of the vehicle as well as the bed and the tires.
Here are some images of the aftermath from Atlanta News First:
The local news reported that the fire authorities believe the battery pack started the fire, but it is still under investigation.
As we have previously reported, there have been a few other instances of Cybertrucks catching on fire in the last few months, but it was after crashes.
The Cybertruck explosion yesterday appears to have been foul play – although the situation is still under investigation.
Electric vehicle batteries can sometimes catch on fire, but statistically, they don’t catch on fire at a higher rate than fossil fuel-powered vehicles.
We recently reported that Tesla is having an issue with the Cybertruck’s battery pack. Tesla has referred to the problem as “cell dent.” Tesla is having to replace battery packs in many Cybertrucks, including some sitting at its lots, but there’s no evidence that this issue is linked this specific fire at this time.
Tesla has yet to issue a service bulletin or recall about this issue despite changing the battery pack of a few customers over it.
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If you own a Lucid EV, try saying “Hey Lucid” next time you drive it and see what happens. Lucid (LCID) launched a new AI assistant that allows you to interact with your vehicle in new ways. Here’s how it works.
Lucid launches new AI assistant for EV drivers
The new Lucid Assistant is a hands-free voice assistant powered by SoundHound Chat AI. The Chat AI platform was the first of its kind to go into production with integrated AI voice assist.
Like Amazon’s Alexa or Apple Siri, drivers can wake up their new AI assistant by saying, “Hey, Lucid.” From there, they can ask almost any question about sports, stocks, weather, etc., and get a response in real-time. The assistant also enables them to control various features, such as Navigation.
Have a question about your EV? With access to its full manual, you can also ask it anything about the vehicle’s functionality. Many Lucid Assistant features can be used without a cellular connection.
“Developing Lucid Assistant in cooperation with SoundHound enables us to deliver much more than a voice control feature,” Lucid’s Head of Software Engineering, Dr Jean-Philippe Gauthier, explained. He added that with frequent OTA updates, “Lucid Assistant can grow” with new functions and capabilities.
SounHound AI’s COO, Michael Zagorsek, boasted, “We believe that SoundHound’s best-in-class voice technology opens up unlimited new opportunities for both drivers and OEMs, and will fundamentally change the way we interact with our vehicles into the future.
The company uses a proprietary approach to reduce the risk of “AI hallucinations” or misleading responses that many LLM (Large Language Models) use.
Instead, its technology ensures that the assistant uses the correct response from the most appropriate domain, such as generative AI or real-time.
Lucid had its third straight quarter with record EV deliveries in Q3. It also just launched its first electric SUV, the Gravity. The company will report Q4 and 2024 delivery numbers shortly, so stay tuned for more.
After securing a partnership to supply its advanced EV powertrain tech to Aston Martin in 2023, Lucid’s CEO Peter Rawlinson said the company is in active talks with “a couple” of automakers last month over similar partnerships.
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The Joint Office of Energy and Transportation today reported record-breaking numbers in its monthly update for US EV sales and public charger availability in November 2024. Let’s break it down.
EV sales keep on climbing
November 2024 was a big month for EVs. A total of 141,442 plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) were sold, which includes 117,929 battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and 23,513 plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). That’s an 11.5% increase from November 2023.
As of the end of November, over 1.4 million PEVs had been sold – an impressive 9% jump compared to the same period in 2023. PEVs now account for 10.4% of all light-duty vehicle (LDV) sales, up from 9.4% in 2023 and 6.8% in 2022.
New players like the Honda Prologue and Chevrolet Equinox EV are reshaping the market. Their sales rose 65% and 69%, respectively, from October to November. Ford also had a standout month, with Mustang Mach-E sales soaring 79% and the F-150 Lightning cracking the top 10 with a 96% jump.
More EV chargers, more confidence
Charging availability is keeping pace with EV sales. In November, 2,490 public EV charging ports were added nationwide – a 1.2% increase in the US network.
Among those, 14 new NEVI (National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure) stations went online, adding 56 fast-charging ports in Ohio, Hawaii, New York, and Texas. As of now, the US boasts:
- 205,000 charging ports across 74,500 locations
- 289 federally funded ports, including NEVI, CFI, and RAA program chargers
And that’s the tip of the iceberg – projects are underway to deploy over 24,000 federally funded chargers.
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Read more: ‘EVs right now are the best deals in the market’ – Kelley Blue Book
If you live in an area that has frequent natural disaster events, and are interested in making your home more resilient to power outages, consider going solar and adding a battery storage system. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. They have hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
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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