Top Events
- Dyson plans to enter electric cars business :Best known for slick-looking vacuum cleaners and hand dryers, James Dyson has already stated his intentions to tackle a completely different machine — the electric car. Dyson is planning a trio of new EVs for the next decade that will also adopt a solid-state battery pack, , embarking on an estimated $2.8 billion project to give an Elon Musk-like jolt to the automotive market.
- Global EV figures crossed 3 million in Jan 2018 :By the start of 2018 the number of vehicles with electric motors, range extenders or plug-in hybrid systems have reached a global 3,2 million units, according to a ZSW survey. China is leading with around 1.2m NEVs driving around the country.With more than a third of the cars driving on China’s roads, the rest of the world has some catching up to do. Second place in the worldwide ranking is held by the USA, with a total of 751,510 vehicles, followed by Japan with 201,410 vehicles. It bears mentioning that this statistic does not consider population statistics, and only the actual number of vehicles. Accordingly, Norway (187,270) follows on rank 4, with France coming in 5th (149,350), 6. UK (125,940), 7. Holland (121,540), 8. Germany (92,720), 9. Sweden (49,900) and 10. Canada (47,350).
- Germany now has 2nd largest Hydrogen filling stations for the fuel cell cars: According to information from TÜV Süd, Germany had the largest growth in hydrogen fuelling stations in the world last year. A total of 24 public fueling stations were installed in Germany, while the global market managed to construct a total of 64.This marks considerable growth, as Germany can now boast of the second largest network of public refueling stations in the world. Only Japan has more, with a total of 91 stations, compared to Germany’s 56 fuelling stations, of which 45 are publicly accessible. The USA has 40 hydrogen refuelling stations currently, and has fallen behind Germany as the global number 2 after last years developments.
- Indian Govt’s U-turn on Electric Vehicles: Now Nitin Gadkari along with Amitabh Kant CEO of their external think tank NITI AAYOG have taken a complete U-turn on EV mission by saying “there was no need for any EV Policy now.”The government announced their 2030 (which later became the 2032) goal for 100% electrification of cars manufactured in India late last year. Ever since, they have changed stances, with-held policy and pushed the rebate revision under the FAME scheme further and further. Asserting further that technology should not be restricted by governance and regulations, Kant added that “Don’t freeze anything for the country. Future will be shared economy, future will be connected economy and the future will zero-based emission policy”.
Unfortunately, this change requires thousands of crores in investment and even more in divestment, and most importantly of all, it involves hundreds of thousands of lives.
Considering, Mr Kant and Gadkari’s statement today, it seems the government has now withdrawn from the responsibility of fulfilling an agenda that they had set out for themselves. - China tops Lithium vells production
