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This week’s Green Deals are starting with Bluetti’s New Year sale that is seeing up to 57% discounts across a solid lineup of on-the-go and at-home power station setups, with the AC180 1,152Wh LiFePO4 Power Station hitting a new $455 low, among others. MOD’s new and improved Easy SideCar Sahara e-bike that is perfect for riders with furry companions is back down at its $3,499 low. We also have Goal Zero’s Yeti 500 and Yeti 700 Power Stations returning to their lowest rates of $337 and $450, as well as a one-day-only discount on the Greenworks 80V 10-inch Cordless Electric Pole Saw with a 14.5-foot reach at $230. Plus, all the other hangover Green Deals can be found in the links at the bottom of the page, like the New Year savings from EcoFlow, Jackery, Rad Power, and more all collected within our Electrified Weekly coverage from over the weekend.

Head below for other New Green Deals we’ve found today and, of course, Electrek’s best EV buying and leasing deals. Also, check out the new Electrek Tesla Shop for the best deals on Tesla accessories.

Bluetti is celebrating New Years with a massive sale through January 20 that is saving folks up to 57% off its lineup of backup power solutions, complete with the usual flash sale offers, select members-only pricing, and a 5% sitewide coupon code. With a focus towards travel needs, we spotted the popular AC180 Portable Power Station down at $455.05 shipped, after using the code AFF5OFF at checkout for the additional 5% off. Normally carrying a $999 price tag here, discounts have mainly kept costs between $549 and $649 on average for the last year, with September seeing a drop lower to $499 while October’s Prime Day event saw things go further to the $459. Thanks to the sitewide coupon, you’re standing to save $544 at a new all-time low price.

One of the brand’s most popular units for portable backup power needs, the AC180 brings a 1,152Wh LiFePO4 capacity into the equation that is ready to cover devices and appliances with an 1,800W output that surges up to 2,700W when needed. It offers 11 port options to achieve these means: four ACs, four USB-As, one USB-C, one DC, and even a wireless charging pad. Recharging takes as little as 45 minutes to reach an 80% battery when plugging the station into a wall outlet, or you can get that same recharge in 2.8 to 3.3 hours when utilizing 500W of solar input. You’ll find solar generator bundles for this model starting from $664.05 (using the coupon code) for a 100W panel, with other options for 200W, 350W, and 400W panels on the same page.

***Note: The prices below have not had the 5% sitewide coupon factored in – be sure to use the code AFF5OFF at checkout to score the most savings!

Bluetti New Year sale on-the-go power station deals:

Bluetti New Year sale RV travel bundle deals:

Bluetti New Year sale member-only deals:

Bluetti New Year sale new arrival deals:

There’s plenty more to check out during Bluetti’s New Year sale – particularly the brand’s home backup and accessory deals, as well as the short-term flash sale offers – which you can browse in full on the landing page here.

MOD Easy SideCar Sahara e-bike

MOD’s new and improved Easy SideCar Sahara e-bike is the ultimate ride for those with furry companions at $3,499 low

MOD Bikes’ New Year savings are lasting through January 31, with up to $400 being taken off its lineup of e-bikes. The largest discounts of this sale are hitting the Sidecar-specific models, with the brand’s new Easy SideCar Sahara e-bike coming in at $3,499 shipped. Down from its usual $3,899 rate, we saw it first drop this low back during early Black Friday sales when it first released, with December seeing a slightly higher $3,509 rate. The $400 markdown is returning costs back to the lowest we have tracked, which offers upgraded features over the Easy 3 SideCar model that is matching in price. You can learn more about these e-bikes below or by checking out our hands-on review from last month.

The first big difference you’ll notice on MOD’s new Easy SideCar Sahara e-bike is the new sand-beige colorway that has been inspired by the classic 1940 BMW R 75 Sahara motorcycle, complete with an upgraded dual-crown motorcycle-style suspension on the front fork. The aluminum frame houses a 750W geared hub motor (1,000W peak) paired alongside a 720Wh battery with five levels of torque-sensing PAS supporting the rider.

This combination provides top speeds of 28 MPH and carry you for up to 50 miles on one charge. It shares plenty of stock features with its predecessor, like the 7-speed Shimano ALTUS derailleur, a wide beam LED headlight and integrated LED taillight with brake lighting, hydraulic disc brakes, multi-terrain tires with fenders over each, a snap-on rear cargo rack (that is child seat friendly with a 65-pound payload), a wide saddle, a thumb throttle, a bell, and an S3 smart color display with a USB port.

MOD Easy SideCar Sahara e-bike
MOD Easy SideCar Sahara e-bike

One of the biggest changeups with this model is the expansion upon its sidecar, with things being extended slightly further from the bike’s frame, as well as being equipped with two headlights, a taillight, a detachable seat/seatbelt, and a small cargo rack on top. Pet owners will appreciate the continued effort made for animal companions, as the backside of the sidecar has been given a doggie door, allowing easier loading and unloading of your furry passengers, especially older animals who may struggle to climb over the sides.

More MOD New Year sale e-bike discounts:

goal zero yeti 500 and yeti 700 power stations

Get Goal Zero’s 499Wh Yeti 500 or 677Wh Yeti 700 power stations at return Black Friday lows from $337

Through its official Amazon storefront, Goal Zero is offering its Yeti 500 and Yeti 700 Portable Power Stations back at their lowest prices for $336.89 shipped and $449.89 shipped. These two models at full price would normally cost you $450 and $600, respectively, with these same low rates last seen during Black Friday sales. Today, you’ve got an opportunity to score $113 off the Yeti 500 and $150 off the Yeti 700 at the all-time lowest prices we have tracked. There’s even an option to bundle the Yeti 700 with a 100W solar panel for $587, down from $800.

With these sixth-generation power stations from Goal Zero you’ll ensure personal devices and small appliances get the power they need during camping trips, tailgating parties, and much more. While they share most of the same designs and features, the difference between these models comes in their battery capacities (Yeti 500 offers 499Wh, Yeti 700 offers 677Wh) and output power levels (Yeti 500 provides 500W surging to 1,000W and the Yeti 700 provides 600W surging to 1,000W).

They’ve been equipped with fast-charging tech, allowing a wall outlet to recharge the Yeti 500 in 90 minutes while the Yeti 700 takes a little longer at under two hours. Your small appliance and device charging needs are covered by the two AC ports, two USB-A ports, two USB-C ports, plus the bonus car port – and both can be hooked up to a solar panel with a max input level of 200W, with recharging ranging from 2.9 hours to 4 hours, depending on your model.

greenworks 80V 10-inch cordless electric pole saw

As part of its Deals of the Day, Best Buy is offering the Greenworks 80V 10-inch Cordless Electric Pole Saw for $229.99 shipped through the rest of the day only. It normally posts up at its $300 price tag most of the time, but until midnight tonight, you can score $70 off that going rate. We last saw it at a lower price back in December 2023 when it fell to the $200 low, but you can score it today for your lawncare arsenal at the second-lowest price we have tracked.

Light and heavy-duty trimming jobs are made easier with this Greenworks 80V 10-inch pole saw. Thanks to the three-piece shaft, it provides a 14.5-foot reach and comes with a TRUBRUSHLESS motor that is the equivalent of a 25cc gas motor. The included 2Ah battery ensures up to 90 cuts on one 30-minute charge and can be interchanged with the brand’s other batteries for extended use. The trigger start tosses out the hassle of dealing with pull strings, with speed controls for comfortable cutting at your preferred pace and an automatic oiler to keep the chain lubricated and running.

Best ongoing holiday e-bike deals!

Best new Green Deals landing this week

The savings this week are also continuing to a collection of other markdowns. To the same tune as the offers above, these all help you take a more energy-conscious approach to your routine. Winter means you can lock in even better off-season price cuts on electric tools for the lawn while saving on EVs and tons of other gear.

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The world isn’t close to breaking free from coal — in some countries, demand for it is surging

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February 9, 2025

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The world isn't close to breaking free from coal — in some countries, demand for it is surging

Piles of coal waiting to be transported at Guoyuan Port container terminal in Chongqing, China.

Cfoto | Future Publishing | Getty Images

The world won’t be able to release its grip on coal anytime soon.

“Nothing can destroy coal,” U.S. President Donald Trump said at the recent World Economic Forum. “Not the weather, not a bomb.”

U.S. exports of coal have been rising steadily to satisfy growing global demand for the world’s dirtiest fossil fuel, even though its domestic consumption has decreased.

On top of that, the world’s coal capacity reached a new record high of nearly 2,175 gigawatts in 2024, data from Global Energy Monitor showed on Feb. 6. Coal capacity is the overall power output that can be generated from coal-fired power plants.

“The global shift away from coal remains challenging, largely driven by rising demand in Asia, even as Europe and the U.S. see significant declines in coal consumption,” said Dorothy Mei, project manager for Global Energy Monitor’s Global Coal Mine Tracker.

Global coal demand is also expected to have breached another fresh record high of 8.77 billion tonnes in 2024, and will remain at similar levels until 2027, the International Energy Agency predicted.

The main culprits?

China recently reported that its coal imports surged 14.4% to a record high in 2024, amounting to 542.7 million metric tons compared with 474.42 million tons the year before.

The world’s second largest economy is also the largest coal consumer globally, accounting for more than 56% of global demand in 2023, latest figures by IEA showed.

China’s record-high coal stockpiling strategy is largely geared toward preparing the country for potential power shortages caused by extreme weather events, said Mei. 

There is little focus on using energy efficiently, when coal is so cheap.

Dave Jones

Ember Energy

Hydropower, wind and solar energy made up almost 30% of China’s electricity mix in 2023, data from energy think tank Ember Energy showed. When hydropower output drops as a result of insufficient rainfall, the Chinese government often relies on coal power to ensure energy security, Mei added.

“Additionally, another major barrier is not the availability of renewable energy infrastructure, but the difficulty of transmitting solar and wind power across provinces,” she said, adding that coal will continue to be a “critical energy backbone” in China until grid integration and management is fully developed across the entire country.

In India, climate-induced extreme heat has led to soaring energy demand for cooling, and clean energy sources are not built fast enough to meet the country’s growing power demand, said Mei.

India’s focus on economic and infrastructure development has also boosted the consumption of cement and steel, industries that are heavily reliant on coal, according to analysts CNBC spoke to.

The South Asian nation’s demand for steel is set to grow by 8-9% in 2025, outpacing that of other economies, owing to a pickup in steel-intensive construction in the infrastructure and residential sectors, data from consulting firm Crisil showed.

As recently as last December, India extended its directive for imported coal-based power plants to run at full capacity until Feb. 28.

But that’s not to say that India has been neglecting its renewable energy targets. The country has set an ambitious goal of fulfilling 50% of its electricity needs through renewable energy by 2030. And it has made progress. And as of last October, renewables account for more than 46.3% of the country’s electricity generation capacity, according to India’s Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

Beyond China and India

Outside of India and China, other top countries building new coal plants are Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam, Global Energy Monitor noted. 

Vietnam is expected to have surpassed Taiwan as the world’s fifth largest importer of coal, after the country’s coal imports reached a record high in more than a decade last year.

Indonesia’s coal production rose to around 831 million tons to notch a fresh high last year, data from the country’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources showed.

And the share of coal in Philippines’ electricity mix surpassed that of China in 2023, becoming Southeast Asia’s most coal-dependent country, Ember Energy reported.

“There is little focus on using energy efficiently, when coal is so cheap,” said Dave Jones, an electricity analyst at energy think tank Ember Energy.

Strong coal demand in Asia across the board is also partly a consequence of the surge in gas prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, given that a number of major thermal coal importers like China, India and Vietnam had scaled back plans for gas-based power buildouts following the high gas prices that ensued, said Ian Roper, commodity strategist at Astris Advisory Japan KK.

The AI factor

Global electricity consumption is expected to keep rising in 2025, the IEA said.

“The world needs more energy, and it needs it now,” said Rob Thummel, senior portfolio manager at Tortoise Capital. “For the global economy to grow, it needs efficient, cost-effective, and reliable energy supply sources,” he told CNBC.

Artificial intelligence has also accelerated the world’s need for energy. Reports have shown that power needs driven by data centers around the world will also prolong the demand for coal.

“The U.S., China and the world are in a race for AI superiority,” said Tim Winter, portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds. AI data centers are huge power users, making it harder to retire a reliable and affordable energy source such as coal, he explained.

By 2030, electricity demand from data centers could exceed 35 GW, more than double the 17 GW recorded in 2022, a report by Moody’s Ratings showed.

Is the energy transition still possible?

With global electricity demand rising faster, other industry watchers are beginning to echo IEA’s forecasts of coal demand remaining at all-time highs.

“There can be no transition when the demand for oil, for natural gas, for coal, continues to hit record highs,” said Eric Nuttall, senior portfolio manager at Ninepoint Partners.

Governments agreed in the 2015 Paris climate accord to limit global heating to well below 2 degrees Celsius and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius. To prevent global warming from exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius, it is estimated that emissions must be cut by 45% by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.

Others are less pessimistic, though they recognized the challenge of reaching those targets in time.

An ongoing pledge toward renewables, alongside a looming surge in global LNG supply may ensure that coal imports continue to weaken in some coal-importing markets, said Roper, who noted that coal consumption has been falling in Europe and Northeast Asia in recent years. 

Additionally, if countries commit to its promises of tripling renewables by 2030, coal could start to see a meaningful decline in this decade, said Ember Energy’s Jones.

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Tesla Cybertruck crash on Full Self-Driving v13 goes viral

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February 9, 2025

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Tesla Cybertruck crash on Full Self-Driving v13 goes viral

Tesla Cybertruck Full Self-driving crash
Picture by Jonathan Challinger

A Tesla owner reported that he crashed his Cybertruck into a pole after hitting a curb while using Full Self-Driving, Tesla’s advanced driving assist system that Elon Musk claims will be unsupervised this year.

The post is going viral.

Jonathan Challinger, a Florida-based software developer working for Kraus Hamdani Aerospace, reported in a viral post on X that he crashed his Cybertruck into a pole.

He reported that he was driving using Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system, a suite of advanced driver assist (ADAS) features that require driver supervision at all times. However, Tesla claims that it will soon work without driver supervision—hence the name.

Challinger said that he was driving with FSD v13.2.4 on the right lane, which was ending and merging into the left lane, but the car failed to merge and hit the curb.

He said that he failed to react in time and take control of the Cybertruck:

It failed to merge out of a lane that was ending (there was no one on my left) and made no attempt to slow down or turn until it had already hit the curb.

The Cybertruck then crashed into a light post. He was lucky to walkway without a scratch.

To be fair, it was a strange location for a post, but there’s no reason why Tesla FSD shouldn’t have moved lane and even if it wouldn’t have changed lane, it should have hit the curb or post (pictures via TroyTeslike):

Challinger said that he shared the story as a “public service announcement” to tell people to remain attentive when using Tesla’s Full Self-Driving system and not become complacent:

Big fail on my part, obviously. Don’t make the same mistake I did. Pay attention. It can happen. I follow Tesla and FSD pretty closely and haven’t heard of any accident on V13 at all before this happened. It is easy to get complacent now – don’t.

It might be the first crash on Tesla’s latest FSD v13, which CEO Elon Musk has presented as “mind-blowing” and an important step toward achieving “unsupervised self-driving” by the end of the year.

Musk and his Tesla influencers often share FSD videos claiming that the technology is “on the verge of becoming truly self-driving,” despite data evidence pointing to Tesla still being years away from achieving this.

Electrek’s Take

This guy is lucky to be alive, and he is right. There’s a problem with people becoming complacent with FSD, and Tesla, and especially Elon Musk, are not doing enough to prevent that from happening.

On the contrary, Musk continues to hype every update, like Tesla is on the verge of solving self-driving, and claims that its quarterly safety report proves that FSD is safer than human driving, which is misleading.

If Tesla was developing FSD in a vacuum without Elon’s claims that it would be solved every year for the last 5 years and Tesla selling the software package to customers without any clear idea of when it can be achieved or on what hardware, it would be celebrated product.

Instead, it’s a product that is making Tesla lose credibility and potentially dangerous, as we see today.

I myself had the exact same problem that Challinger described where a lane ends, but FSD doesn’t detect it. It’s weird because it works most of the time so you can get this sentiment of complacency and give the system a chance to move. In this case, it evidently went too far.

Be careful out there and stop believing Elon Musk when he talks about self-driving.

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At just $9,140, is the 2025 Nissan LEAF the best new car deal in Chicago?

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February 9, 2025

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At just ,140, is the 2025 Nissan LEAF the best new car deal in Chicago?

Chicago area buyers can get a Nissan Leaf for nearly $20,000 off MSRP.

The 2025 Chicago Auto Show opened this week, and I’ve been struggling a bit with how to approach this story about the decline and fall of what was once the American auto industry’s premier commercial vehicle show – but one thing was absolutely clear: the Nissan LEAF is the best new car deal in Chicago. ***

Like any wild deal like this, there are asterisks and caveats. And (I promise) I will absolutely get to those. That said, I have some musings about the state of the Chicago Auto Show that I’ve shared, below, to sort of “set the stage,” if you will. If you want to skip those, you can can click here to get right to the nitty-grity on that 2025 Nissan LEAF deal, or simply click here to find a Nissan LEAF deal near you.

2025 Chicago Auto Show Map

Via Chicago Auto Show.

If you have fond memories of the Chicago Auto Show from years past – and not even that many years past; like, pre-COVID years past – skip the 2025 show.

Once upon a time, the Chicago Auto Show occupied both main halls, with another hall housing commercial trucks and vendors, and drive activations outside and in the parking lot. Since that heyday, the show has shrunk significantly. It’s down to a single hall now. Depressingly, the show can’t even fill that with OEM displays, and has worked a number of vendors, drive events of both the EV and ICE-powered varieties, and even military recruiters into huge swaths of floor space. Despite the compacted nature of the displays, the show floor is not packed. You will be able to sit in any car you want, for as long as you want, with minimal chance of interruption.

I was lucky enough to be able to walk the show with my good friend and industry legend, Greg Lucia. Greg is best known for an iconic, gonzo PR stunt he pulled off while he was working at Toyota that involved the Space Shuttle Endeavour being towed to its final destination at the California Science Center in Los Angeles across the 405 freeway by a then-new Tundra.

Oddly enough, we both honed in on a specific year, 1997, as one that stood out.

“I had a part-time job at Sears while I was in college,” I told Greg. “I was making $9/hr. plus either 1% or 3% of everything I rang up. It worked out to a pretty steady $12/hr., and that money was good enough that there were a bunch of cars I could have reasonably bought. I ended up with a ’98 Dodge Dakota pickup. Manual. My payment was $218/mo.”

“Those were neat trucks,” he said. Adding, after a thoughtful minute, “I don’t think you could do that, today.”

Greg is obviously correct. Auto Shows have turned a corner. Instead of being someplace that any able-bodied person could go and, with a reasonable amount of effort and willingness to put in the hours, pick out a fun, dependable vehicle. In such an economic climate, it’s no wonder that the car you drove said something about you above and beyond what you could afford. Today, the closest thing to that mid-sized Dakota is probably the current Ford Ranger. The mid-sized Ford starts at $32,820 … but the average part-time mall job doesn’t pay any more than I made back in ’97. If anything, it pays less.

I wondered what possible value a traditional auto show could offer a college kid in 2025, when something like a base Ford Mustang that started at about $15,800 in 1997 has more than doubled to $31,920 and the cost of college has risen even higher, over 140% in the same interim, while wages have largely stayed the same.

Deeply entrenched in this gloomy mood, I plodded along between the relatively subdued Nissan and Volkswagen booths towards the ComEd presser (see the show map, above), that was already under way.

ComEd $100M commercial EV rebate program

ComEd press conference announcing $100M in EV funding; photo by the author.

ComEd chose the Chicago Auto Show to lay out the 2025 version of their beneficial electrification rebate programs that will offer customers access to $100 million (up from $90M last year) in funding opportunities designed to remove up-front cost as a barrier to widespread adoption of EVs and the expansion of charging infrastructure in northern Illinois. $53 million of that budget is earmarked specifically business and public sector customers, with up to $7500 available for each light-duty (Class 1 or 2) EV purchased by a ComEd commercial customer.

That was when it hit me: this is why local events like the Chicago Auto Show exist — to highlight deals that are unique to the area, that outlets like Motor Trend and Car and Driver and even Electrek (if we’re being honest) might overlook due to factors like geography, international audiences, or some other general lack of interest.

Allow me then, to explain how a parks district, or a police department, or a car sharing fleet, or a delivery fleet, or any other company, incorporation, or LLC in northern Illinois can score an absolutely killer deal on a Nissan LEAF.

Structuring that $9,140 Nissan LEAF deal

2025 Nissan LEAF lease
2025 Nissan LEAF; via Nissan.

For 2025, Nissan’s groundbreaking LEAF S starts at just $28,140 before incentives. That’s already more than twenty thousand US American dollars less than the $49,740 average transaction price of a new vehicle recorded just last month. But $28,140, you’ll notice, is a lot more than $9,140. Here’s how we get there:

For that $9,140 you get a smooth, capable EV with 149 miles of range* whose only real shortcomings are its relatively slow charging speed* compared to something like a Hyundai IONIQ 5, of course, the CHAdeMO charging standard* that every other brand has abandoned and for which precious few public charging options exist.

And, admittedly, those are three very real, very scary asterisks.

For a business, though? For a parks district or city official or lab courier or car share service that has some dedicated parking space to put their own charging into? That’s not as much of an obstacle as it might be to you and me. Heck, a young, ambitious college student who realizes they can fit a few robot lawnmowers under the LEAF’s spacious 23.6 cubic foot (668 liters) hatch might just find the money needed to start an LLC in Illinois and find any number of fun, expressive, practical news car they can actually pay off with a part-time hustle at the 2025 Chicago Auto Show after all!

That’s my take, anyway — you can get tickets to the 2025 Chicago Auto Show here, explore ComEd’s business and public sector EV rebate program here, then let me know what you think of all these musings (and whether or not you think I could get a few Automowers into the back of a Fiat 500e) in the comments.

SOURCES | IMAGES: ComEd, Nissan, the twisted mind of Greg Lucia.

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