Joules of the Week #10
Electrification stepping up and corporates rely on startups.
A celebration - the 10th edition of the “Joules”!
This last week has been EPIC! Corporates making big moves, and partly supported by startups.
A startup is not a bad idea: the creation of Bugatti-Rimac
Let’s begin with a an entrepreneur with a big idea and a huge determination building his own startup car company and then 11-12 years later becoming a CEO for a division within a traditional automotive company (which includes his). I am talking about Mate Rimac, who is now going to head up Bugatti-Rimac1. Working in a startup is not a bad career move, this is what I tell my guys and other entrepreneurs. The agile capabilities, risk taking and mitigation skills developed are crucial in big business, so I believe we will see more of this kind of career ladders.
Stellantis makes a giant push into electrification
Over €30 billion are to be invested in the Stellantis brands to reshape their future of mobility offerings. Electrification big time2.
Daimler #1: Semi-truck goes electric: the new Mercedes-Benz e-Actros
With a 249-miles range, the new e-Actros is looking quite impressive3.
Daimler #2: JV to invest in charging network for heavy-duty vehicles
And the three European heavy-duty manufacturers Daimler Truck, TRATON Group and Volvo announced the JV plan to invest €500 million for some 1,700 heavy-duty fast charging stations around Europe4. Collaborate to make an impact.
GM steps into lithium
The control into the vertical supply chain is continuing in the automotive sector. GM are investing into Controlled Thermal Resources5 Hell’s Kitchen California geothermal project, that by 2024 could produce up to 60,000 tonnes of lithium, enough for 6 million EVs6.
Car and Driver’s EV of the Year - Mach-E (Ford)
Perhaps not surprising, but C/D selected the Mach-E the EV of the Year7. It seems like the industry sentiments favor the Mach-E, Polestar 2 and the Taycan for the time being. What’s next - we’ll see…
The changes in the battery scene - European gigafactories (Northvolt).
The European car market sees big percentual growth in EVs, however the batteries are for a vast majority manufactured in Chinese gigafactories. Northvolt, a Swedish startup, have setup an alliance with Volvo most recently to take up the battle. VW and BMW are amongst those already engaged with Northvolt for supply of batteries etc. This WIRED article gives a good view on the late-to-market Europeans (and Americans) but also the ambitions to make Europe competitive again8.
Reinvent the factory - Arrival
As we are on it, this other WIRED article on the re-invented micro-factory is another great story9! Arrival10 aims to deliver on offering the first “affordable” commercial electrical vehicle.
The Death of the ICE Age - Bain & Co report11: 2028 a pivotal year
One of my frequent “mantras” up again - and 2028 seems to be the breaking point, also mentioned by others research and forecasting.
The future looks cool - See Beyond podcast on the future of industry
I had a talk with Asif Moghal, Autodesk on the future of …everything! Well, it was mostly industry, work, digitization, but also other aspects. Have a listen on your favorite podcast provider, a link provided to my Substack channel12.
Festival of Speed - make every Joule count
Ongoing and ending tomorrow is the Goodwood Festival of Speed - check out their webpage with relevant information and events13. I would have been interested to experience the Electric Avenue and the Future Labs!
The sun shines on Germany
In June, PV was the largest electricity source with above 20% of total generated power14. The summer might do it.
Green Hydrogen from Germany
Siemens kicked-off the largest green hydrogen project in Germany using only renewable energy. Operational in summer 2022, output set for 1,350 tonnes of hydrogen15.
More green hydrogen - involving Shell
Decarbonizing industry is critical, this plant outside Cologne is utilizing renewables to power the 10 MW electrolyser producing green hydrogen, where Shell is one of the stakeholders16.
A new voice in wind - Windflix
For the latest from the world of wind - check out Windflix17!
https://newsroom.porsche.com/en/2021/company/porsche-bugatti-rimac-joint-venture-25000.html
https://www.stellantis.com/content/dam/stellantis-corporate/investors/events/stellantis-ev-day-2021/ev_day_2021_presentation_slides.pdf
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/mercedes-debuts-its-first-fully-electric-semi-truck-in-europe/
https://media.daimler.com/marsMediaSite/en/instance/ko.xhtml?oid=50388830
https://www.cthermal.com/
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/gm-shakes-up-lithium-industry-with-california-geothermal-project-2021-07-02/
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a36877450/2021-ford-mustang-mach-e-ev-of-the-year/
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/northvolt-europe-batteries
https://www.wired.co.uk/article/arrival-electric-vehicles-microfactory
https://arrival.com/?topic=radical-impact
https://www.bain.com/insights/energy-is-only-one-part-of-the-sustainability-transition-enr-report-2021/?utm_source=linkedin_company&utm_medium=social_organic&utm_content=5058620331&utm_campaign=OS-ENR-GLOBALENRREPORT-2021-06&linkId=122520695
https://mikatienhaara.substack.com/p/s1e13-a-discussion-on-the-future?r=foifx&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=copy
https://www.goodwood.com/motorsport/festival-of-speed/
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2021/07/02/pv-was-the-largest-electricity-source-in-germany-in-june/
https://press.siemens.com/global/en/pressrelease/siemens-build-one-germanys-largest-carbon-free-hydrogen-generation-plants-wunsiedel?linkId=300000001319736
https://www.shell.com/inside-energy/green-hydrogen-project-goes-live-in-germany.html
https://windeurope.org/windflix