As climate change policy takes shape, will the U.S. ever put a price on carbon?

Published

3 years ago

November 15, 2021

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A ConocoPhillips refinery in Wilmington, California.

Jonathan Alcorn | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The world needs to reduce carbon levels, and one way is through a carbon tax, a strategy the U.S. has been debating for decades.

With urgent calls to lower greenhouse gas emissions globally, putting a price on carbon was one of the major points of discussion among world leaders at the COP26 conference in Glasgow earlier this month. Consensus on a global carbon price is growing, according to Lord Greg Barker, executive chairman at EN+ and co-chair of the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition.

“We need countries to come together to agree on international standards in order to make that big shift to the low carbon economy,” Barker told CNBC in an interview from COP26 last week. ”It would be much better for the world if there was a common carbon price.”

As of now, Barker says there are 69 countries with a carbon price ranging from $1 to $139 per metric ton. The U.S. is not one of them.

Barker told CNBC most economists agree that carbon pricing is the most effective tool there is to transition to a low carbon economy. Carbon pricing shifts the liability for the consequences of climate change to the polluters who are responsible, according to the World Bank.

The Biden administration has outlined $555 billion in spending to confront climate change, though the plan does not address carbon pricing. The bill does include a proposed methane fee incentivizing oil and gas companies to reduce their methane emissions.

A policy to apply a carbon tax was considered as a “plan B” during negotiations over the current climate package, according to the New York Times, after Biden’s clean electricity program was cut from the spending bill last month.

If the U.S. administration can’t get behind the rest of the world on carbon pricing, there are other ways to follow through with the initiative, says Barker, such as regulations, taxes, and emissions trading.

The U.S. has considered carbon import fees and emissions trading that would apply to carbon-intensive products imported to the country. “But carbon import fees only make sense if you have some kind of domestic U.S. carbon policy,” says Richard Newell, president of Resources for the Future, a nonpartisan energy and environment research organization.

He thinks a price on carbon ultimately is achievable as part of U.S. policy as the world grapples with the seriousness of climate change and turns more to financial incentives to reach a low-carbon ecosystem that supports the entire economy.

The Biden administration has a government-wide plan addressing how climate change could affect all sectors of the U.S. economy. The plan was part of a larger agenda to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and transition to a net-zero emissions economy.

“There is also going to be a desire to raise revenue to deal with climate change, and for other public purposes, and carbon pricing does all those things,” Newell said. He added that while an economy-wide carbon fee would be the best solution, the administration could start by applying carbon fees to individual sectors.

As the U.S. decarbonizes areas like the power sector and automotive sector, Newell says pressure on government regulation will intensify. “There will be an increasing recognition that to really decarbonize the economy, across all sectors, there is going to be a need for some comprehensive policies,” he said.

“There has been a significant shift across the country in terms of the seriousness with which people and legislators are confronting climate change,” Newell said. ”And that will continue to build beyond the focus on particular sectors.”

The debate over a carbon pricing mechanism right now takes place at a time of rising concerns about inflation and prices at the gas pump that have led to discussions about whether the government should tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The methane fee sparked a debate with some worrying that raising the price of methane would increase electric and heating costs for individual consumers.

Fears of rising prices for low-income households and increasing costs for businesses will need to be considered.

“If politicians are smart and anticipate that they need to compensate, say families that might see their bills go up as a result of a carbon price, you can drive [carbon pricing] through,” Barker said.

In a plan put together by the Climate Leadership Council, a climate advocacy group co-founded by former Secretary of State James Baker, who served in the Bush and Reagan administrations, the idea isn’t to fund government efforts to fight climate. The Climate Leadership Council’s plan outlines that revenue collected from a carbon fee is “to be returned to American households,” said Carlton Carroll, Climate Leadership Council spokesperson.

“Nothing would do more to accelerate innovation and invest all citizens in a clean energy future than an economy-wide carbon fee, with corresponding dividends for the American people,” Carroll said.

The group’s carbon dividends plan cites four major benefits to consumers, including an increase in household disposable income nationwide.

Increasing carbon pricing could be done by taxing greenhouse-gas intensive goods and services, like gasoline, or by taxing carbon emitters individually. The Climate Leadership Council is among groups advocating for pricing carbon-intensive goods as part of a U.S. climate plan, “because it will go further, faster than any other single climate policy intervention,” says Carroll, “while also driving innovation throughout the economy and making families better off financially.”

Historically, there has been some bipartisan support for a carbon tax. The first carbon pricing proposal was introduced in 1990, and there have been several other propositions since. Though none have passed, Newell said the most recent carbon pricing proposal in Biden’s social safety and climate plan piqued the interest of Congress far more than anticipated.

The carbon tax proposed as part of the Build Back Better plan would impose a $20 fee per metric ton of carbon.

“I would say there was a surprisingly strong interest in a carbon fee as part of the ongoing budget reconciliation process,” Newell said.

But Mindy Lubber, CEO of sustainability investment organization Ceres, told CNBC earlier this year that while a carbon tax is one way to prevent the U.S. from being locked into a fossil fuels economy and spur the development of new energy and transportation systems, it has proven controversial in the past, and is a complicated policy tool, making it harder for all sides to reach agreement on, especially in a Senate where the votes are so tight.

A carbon tax could be closer than some people think, says Flannery Winchester, spokeswoman for the progressive Citizens Climate Lobby. ”It has gone from a hopeful idea to one that is on the verge of becoming a reality,” she said.

The White House and 49 senators were on board with a carbon tax, but not the key vote from West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin.

“But there is clearly a lot more consensus than there’s ever been that this policy is effective for meeting America’s climate goals,” Winchester said.

Environment

Italian DC fast charger maker Alpitronic enters the US market [video]

Published

3 hours ago

September 20, 2024

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Italian DC fast charger maker Alpitronic enters the US market [video]

Electrek‘s Seth Weintraub went to Alpitronic America’s new HQ to speak with CEO Mike Doucleff about its plans to roll out its ultra-fast chargers across the US.

Bolzano, Italy-based Alpitronic was founded in 2009, and it specializes in the development and production of DC fast chargers. The global company’s best-known product line is the Hypercharger, an ultra-fast EV charging station that can deliver charging power from 50 kW to 400 kW, depending on the model.

Alpitronic Americas recently announced an agreement with Mercedes-Benz High-Power Charging to become the first DC fast-charging network to deploy Hypercharger 400 units at scale in the US.

Alpitronics Americas’ new headquarters’ 68,000-square-foot office and industrial space in Charlotte, North Carolina, includes a diagnostics laboratory and repair center, a spare parts warehouse, a training center, and space for as many as 300 employees.

The Bolzano, Italy-based company’s Hyperchargers achieve, on average, an efficiency rate greater than 97.5%, and that its repair and service network can service chargers anywhere in the US.

Alpitronic cofounder and CEO Philipp Senoner said, “As a natural part of Alpitronic’s growth, we are anxious to expand our industry-leading Hypercharger network from Europe, where we are market-share leader, to North America. We are pleased with the talent we are finding in North Carolina and look forward to setting a new standard for the EV charging network in the US.”

Alpitronic chargers support all EV brands. Pre-production units have been tested publicly in Rock Hill, SC, and Portland, OR. The first US-built, public chargers are expected to be installed and available in October.

Seth and Mike Doucleff discuss what Aliptronic’s main driver was to come to the US, what attracted them to Charlotte, and what the company thinks the future of DC fast chargers is in the US, among other things. Their conversation begins at 00:41 on the Electrek podcast below:

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Volvo CE rolls out some new hotness at Volvo Days 2024 [part 1]

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3 hours ago

September 20, 2024

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Volvo CE rolls out some new hotness at Volvo Days 2024 [part 1]

Volvo CE unveils ambitious new product line-up at Volvo Days 2024

This week, Volvo Group held its once-every-three-years “Volvo Days” event in Shippensburg, PA for the first time since the pandemic, showing off tons (literally!) of new equipment, new trucks, and new concepts – including a couple of “world’s first” debuts.

What is Volvo Days? That might require a bit of background …

The heavy equipment world operates on something of a three-year cycle. ConExpo, the industry’s biggest trade show, happens every three years. That sets the tone, with companies showing off all their hottest concepts and forward-thinking new projects. That’s year 1. Year 2 is typically when shows like Volvo Days typically take place, with manufacturers rolling out the production versions of the concepts they showed at ConExpo and inviting a mix of dealers, end-users, and journalists in to try out some of what got showed at ConExpo. Year 3 is more insular, with the manufacturers bringing in salespeople to get them trained on new products and prepare them for how to talk about what the company is planning to show at next year’s ConExpo.

ConExpo was last year, so this year we get Volvo Days – for the first time since 2018, in fact, since the 2021 event was canceled due to COVID. That makes this the first Volvo Days in six years … and expectations were high.

The kickoff

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Volvo Days, night 1; kickoff.

Volvo kicked off the week’s events with a drone display highlighting the company’s construction equipment history – appropriate, given that the event was held at Volvo CE’s Pennsylvania engineering and production campus. The drone show was followed by a genuinely impressive, highly choreographed equipment ballet that featured new electric equipment shown for the first time in North America, as well as the new-for-2025 Volvo VNL and Mack MD Electric trucks doing some heavy lifting and hauling.

The show lasted well over thirty minutes, and it was impossible for me to keep track of everything that was happening, but you can get a sense of it in the video (above).

Compact electric equipment

Volvo had its new, in-production L20/120 Electric wheel loader and ECR25 Electric excavator front and center in its reception center, along with information highlighting their competitive advantages in the compact equipment space.

The best thing about Volvo Days, however, isn’t that they have interesting vehicles on display – it’s the fact that nearly every one of those interesting vehicles is available to experience first hand … including the 30-ton EC230 Electric excavator.

Volvo Electric excavators with Steelwrist; photo by the author.

All the electric excavators (even the mini) were incredibly smooth and quiet, with noticeably fewer vibrations than their diesel counterparts … which we also got to play with.

That said, I’m not a “real” equipment operator, which means my seat of the pants impressions are probably worth less than those of the people who use these things every day. That’s why I was glad to have Mike Switzer, my co-host on The Heavy Equipment Podcast, along for the ride.

“It’s really impressive, and the articulation on the Steelwrist is incredible,” Mike told me, after hopping out of the demo EC230. “I’ve seen it before, obviously, but I’ve never had a chance to use it. I think every municipality needs to take a look at that.”

Electric compaction

Volvo electric compactors; image by the author.

Over on the compaction side, Volvo had its DD25 Electric vibrating drum compactor on display – where the all-electric tandem roller was joined by two all-new siblings being shown off for the first time ever: a pre-production DD15 Electric “mini” compactor prototype seemingly designed for sidewalks and driveways, and the TC13 Electric trench compactor.

The TC13 Electric is designed as a walk-behind unit that uses its heavy batteries to provide the compaction mass – but those heavy batteries won’t get depleted in the hour or so of operation that most trench compactors see on a busy day. To keep the little TC13 useful throughout the day, Volvo gave it a pair of 110 and 220V outlets.

TC13 power outlets; photo by the author.

Specs weren’t released, but Volvo’s compaction brand manager claimed those outlets were more than capable of keeping the rest of the job site’s battery-operated tools running all day long, and even packed enough juice (in a pinch) to power a portable office, table saw, or drill press.

“Did you see his face when I asked if it could run an arc welder?” asked Mike, smiling. “He said, ‘It’s not something we’d advise,’ but you could tell he liked that question.”

Yeah, he did!

Electrek’s Take

Jo Borrás looking for prizes; photo by Jefferson Yin.

Somewhere around the twenty minute mark of the “equipment ballet” show, something broke inside my brain. I think it was the sparks flying off the bucket when the L20 Electric scooped up a few thousand pounds of gravel and sand at full speed, scraping its bucket along the ground. Maybe it was the hydrogen-powered articulated loader, or the open bar.

Regardless, one thing that was made very clear at Volvo Days ’24 is that, while other companies are still developing the initial entries into the electric commercial vehicle space, Volvo has not just a full line of products – but an expanding line of products, with the company entering new spaces specifically because of the unique advantages electric offers.

As Volvo’s North American President, Scott Young, explains, the future is electric, and Volvo’s vision for the future has the company firmly in the leadership position … but more on that in part 2.

ORIGINAL CONTENT FROM ELECTREK.

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Environment

Lucid opens Detroit hub to tap into US legacy auto talent pool

Published

4 hours ago

September 20, 2024

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Lucid opens Detroit hub to tap into US legacy auto talent pool

EV maker Lucid Motors (LCID) opened its new office in Detroit this week, hoping to attract engineers from “one of the biggest talent pools in the Western world.”

Lucid sets up shop in Detroit for engineering talent

Lucid celebrated the grand opening of its new office in Southfield, Michigan, roughly 15 miles northwest of Detroit.

At its new office, Lucid is “growing our team of hardware engineers, R&D, operations, and more” as it looks toward its next growth phase.

“We need talent quickly, and that’s what this hub is about,” Eric Bach, Lucid’s senior vice and chief engineer, said at an event at the company’s new office.

Bach explained that as Ford and GM take talent from EV startups like Lucid, Tesla, and Rivian, Lucid looks to attract traditional engineering skills that are central to Detroit.

The company has already hired 24 engineers at its new hub, according to Lucid’s vice president of vehicle engineering, Charles Wildig told Automotive News. However, it plans to hire another 30 by the end of the year while growing its engineering team “exponentially.”

Lucid-Gravity-Air-EVs — Lucid Air (left) and Gravity SUV (right) models (Source: Lucid)

Wildig said that Lucid gets double the number of applications for every engineering position in Michigan compared to California.

“Michigan is one of the biggest talent pools in the Western world for automotive,” he said, adding, “It’s very difficult to find that kind of talent in California.”

Lucid-Gravity-SUV — Lucid Gravity SUV (Source: Lucid)

The next growth phase

Lucid is adding engineering talent as it prepares to launch its first electric SUV, the Gravity, later this year.

Last week, during its Technology & Manufacturing Day, Lucid revealed that the Gravity will feature an NACS port in 2025, unlocking access to over 15,000 Tesla superchargers.

Lucid also showcased how the electric SUV and advanced future technology will enable “mass savings.”

CEO Peter Rawlinson claims Lucid is already “years ahead of the competition” but promises new tech, like its next-gen “Atlas” drive units, will be even more advanced.

Lucid-tech-advantage — (Source: Lucid Motors)

The drive unit’s smaller, more efficient design will unlock more performance at a lower cost. The next-gen tech will power Lucid’s new midsize EV platform. Lucid teased its upcoming midsize electric SUV during the event, due out in 2026.

The midsize SUV will be the first to launch on Lucid’s new lower-cost platform. Last month, the company confirmed to Electrek that it plans to launch three lower-cost models on the midsize platform.

Lucid-teases-midsize-SUV — Lucid midsize electric SUV teaser image (Source: Lucid)

Lucid is already backing up its claim of being “years ahead,” with the 2025 Air Pure being the most energy-efficient mass-production car ever, with a record 146 MPGe and 5 miles per kWh efficiency. The cheapest trim starts at $71,400.

The Lucid Air is the longest-range EV on the market, with some models offering over 500 miles range.

Lucid-most-energy-efficient-EV — (Source: Lucid Motors)

Lucid’s Gravity electric SUV will launch later this year, starting at under $80,000. The midsize electric SUV is expected to launch in 2026, starting at around $50,000

Bach said Lucid is in talks with “many” automakers about sourcing its EV powertrain tech. The company already secured a deal with Aston Martin to provide EV battery and powertrain tech last June.

Because of its compact design, the powertrain can easily fit into rivals’ systems. “That means everybody can just plug and play technically,” Bach said. He added, “We are open for business,” and Lucid wants to “embrace” the competition.

Source: Automotive News, Lucid Motors

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