Whaaaat? Am I gone crazy? Did I sell out to Big Oil ? None of the above, but realism IMHO always trumps ideology I have been using the title above for quite some time in answering questions people ask me because I hate hype, even when it supports my point of view, and I feel … More Why your next car should NOT be electric
Exxon loses two (maybe three) board seats to activist hedge fund (May 27th) Shell ordered to deepen carbon cuts (May 26th) Investors chide Toyota’s Toyoda for questioning combustion car ban (May 10th) See the pattern? The force to be reckoned with in the current phase of the Climate battle is not increased regulation, or legislative … More Scrooge’s children
ITA One of the main aces up the sleeve of the proponents of “Carbon Capture” (i.e. the capturing and storage of CO2 at the point of production) is the fact that it represents a valuable commodity. The underlying thesis is that we will be able to exorcise the ghost of carbon dioxide only if we … More CCS and the 45Q tax credit
ITA Yesterday I published an article on the efficiency disadvantage of the H2 cycle. A couple friends pointed out two issues with the schematic represented in the chart: many electrolyzers are NOT built right next to a photovoltaic or wind farm, so transport losses should accrue; the final stage of a FCEV car has a … More Hydrogen’s disadvantage (revised)
ITA [Edit 2/3/2021: there is an updated version of this post here] No point in getting emotional: the arguments in favour of hydrogen in cars are weak to say the least, but they resonate with people carrying enormous interests and so it’s not very likely we will see it wane from our radar screens. Paul … More Hydrogen’s disadvantage
ITA It’s easy to see Electric Mobility fans indulge in the guilty pleasure of contemplating the disarray in which the fossil camp seems to find itself: to be fair, the rather clumsy statements of high-profile key players such as the CEOs of Toyota or Bosch all but confirm that the auto industry never truly believed … More A crisis in the making
ITA During a recent event on electric mobility charging infrastructure one of the speakers, Manuel Fernandes (President Tritium Europe) demonstrated that for a given investment a Fast DC charging infrastructure (the faster, the better says the caption) serves more clients than one based on AC, showing this infographic: I agree in very general terms with … More Designing an effective charging infrastructure.
ITA Recently I have been invited to speak at an international automotive event which I have been asked NOT to share until they make up their mind whether it’s going to be virtual of physical (first time ever an event organizer asks me NOT to promote it, go figure!) Waiting for the veil to lift, … More Why is a CarOS inevitable?
ITA I follow the social profiles of Gian Luca Pellegrini, Editor-in-Chief of the most prestigious Italian motoring magazine, Quattroruote; yesterday to launch the leading article on the June issue he wrote a post which starts like this: There is in Italy and “anti-car” party which traverses the whole Parliament from left to right, as a … More On the Origin of Species
ITALIAN Early morning wake-up call, today: I must be in Rivoli, near Torino) for a meeting and must leave in the wee hours. Google says I must drive for about 177 kilometers: leaving from Pavia I will hop on the A7 and from there westward on the A4 avoiding the rush hour on the Milano … More Why should everybody use Power Cruise Control
