The world’s EV leader, BYD (OTC: BYDDY), announced a stock buyback plan as it continues expanding into new markets. BYD is pushing into different segments with new luxury EVs and mid-size electric SUVs.
After selling a record 526,409 all-electric vehicles in the fourth quarter of 2023, BYD topped Tesla to become the best-selling EV maker globally.
The automaker’s success was fueled by its lineup of affordable EVs like the Dolphin, Atto 3 (Yuan Plus in China), and Seal. However, BYD is quickly expanding into new segments.
A combination of battery technology and catalysis opens new avenues for cheap, high-capacity batteries. Lithium-sulfur batteries can potentially store five to 10 times more energy than current state-of-the-art lithium-ion batteries at much lower cost. Current lithium-ion batteries use cobalt oxide as the cathode, an expensive mineral mined in ways that harm people and the environment. Lithium-sulfur batteries replace cobalt oxide with sulfur, which is abundant and cheap, costing less than one-hundredth the price of cobalt.
But there’s a catch: Chemical reactions, particularly the sulfur reduction reaction, are very complex and not well understood, and undesired side reactions could end the batteries’ lives well before those of traditional batteries.
Now, researchers led by UCLA chemists Xiangfeng Duan and Philippe Sautet have deciphered the key pathways of this reaction.
With less than three weeks until the R2 is finally unveiled, Rivian (RIVN) confirmed it will bring the more affordable electric SUV to Europe.
After opening the R2 website last week, Rivian gave us our first look at the new EV during a teaser video.
The shadowy image shows a smaller-looking version of the R1S, aligning with what we’ve seen in the past. A patent filed by Rivian last month showed a more compact electric SUV with slightly smaller headlights and a rear quarter panel.
UCLA spinout Equatic has developed a carbon removal technology it believes can help the world meet its climate change goals — by converting CO2 in the ocean into seashell dust.
The challenge: To prevent the worst predicted effects of climate change, experts say we need to not only slash our carbon emissions, but also remove and permanently store some of the CO2 that’s already been released.
The ocean does this naturally: it already absorbs about 31% of human-made carbon emissions, but there’s a limit to the amount of CO2 that seawater can absorb before it starts to release the carbon back into the atmosphere. Absorbing CO2 from the air also causes ocean acidification, resulting in further environmental damage.
The Cactus ransomware gang claims they stole 1.5TB of data from Schneider Electric after breaching the company’s network last month.
25MB of allegedly stolen were also leaked on the operation’s dark web leak site today as proof of the threat actor’s claims, together with snapshots showing several American citizens’ passports and non-disclosure agreement document scans.
As BleepingComputer first reported, the ransomware group gained access to the energy management and automation giant’s Sustainability Business division on January 17th.
Sun Bear, an enormous solar and battery storage installation in the Four Corners region of Colorado, will have more than two million solar panels spread across 5,500 acres of land belonging to the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, part of the Weenuche Band of the Ute Nation. The primary developer is the Canigou Group, which styles itself as a global leader in renewable energy. “We are active throughout Europe, Australia and North America where we work with partners at the local level to provide a holistic solution,” it says on its website. The Sun Bear facility will cost up to $1.5 billion and produce peak power of 975 MW. There is no information currently available about the size of the battery storage system or who will supply the batteries for it.
There are several reasons why the site in southwest Colorado, which borders New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah, was chosen for this large scale solar project. Carigou Group says “Sun Bear is well positioned for harnessing the sun with its large unobstructed sky, high annual solar irradiance, and low seasonal variability. The site is located close to a confluence of transmission systems which provide access to customers via both transmission and distribution interconnection.”
All those factors are significant. An unobstructed sky means no shading issues that might reduce the amount of electricity that can be produced. High solar irradiance is a fancy way of saying the area gets a lot of sunlight throughout the year. Low seasonal variability means the output of the Sun Bear solar farm will not vary appreciably with the seasons. Proximity to existing transmission lines for the Western Area Power Administration means the developer will not need to build long and expensive new transmission infrastructure to connect the solar farm to the grid.
Inspired by the distribution of sunflower seeds, a group of scientists say they have developed a new city-pattern that ensures the best distribution of solar energy utilization “in low solar radiation countries.”
“Our new city-plan bears close resemblance to the distribution of seeds in sunflowers. This distribution ensures the best utilization of solar energy,” says Dr. Ammar A. T. Alkhalidi, University of Sharjah’s Associate Professor of Sustainable and Renewable Energy Engineering.
Dr. Alkhalidi is the lead author of a new study titled “Sunflower-inspired urban city pattern to improve solar energy utilization in low solar radiation countries.” The study is published in journal Renewable Energy Focus.
Sandia National Laboratories researchers have developed a fundamentally new type of rotary electrical contact. The technology is called Twistact, and it will eliminate the need for expensive rare-earth magnets in large wind turbines.
Sandia is now ready to partner with the energy industry to develop the next generation of direct-drive wind turbines.
Sandia’s Twistact is a novel approach to transmitting electrical current between a stationary and rotating frame, or between two rotating assemblies having different speeds or rotational directions. This method is ideal for use in wind turbines.
Odysseus is one of the first landers to participate in NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, which aims to deliver science and technology payloads to the lunar surface using commercial partners. The CLPS program is a key component of NASA’s Artemis program, which plans to establish a sustainable human presence on the moon by the end of the 2020s.
Intuitive Machines successfully transmitted its first IM-1 mission images to Earth on February 16, 2024. The images were captured shortly after separation from @SpaceX’s second stage on Intuitive Machines’ first journey to the Moon under @NASA’s CLPS initiative. pic.twitter.com/9LccL6q5tF — Intuitive Machines (@Int_Machines) February 17, 2024
Odysseus is carrying six NASA experiments and technology demonstrations, along with six private payloads, on its current IM-1 mission. The lander is expected to touch the moon on February 22, near the lunar equator.
