1, Consumer electronics and cars. Automobiles are becoming more like computers every day. But that doesn’t mean that all consumer electronics companies will add cars to their product ranges. Apple announced its final withdrawal from plans to enter vehicle manufacture. But its mobile phone competitor Xiaomi told us that it was starting full scale production of its own car. Apple has been working for the best part of ten years on an electric car and failed to launch even a prototype while Xiaomi’s formal announcement of its $30,000 electric vehicle resulted in 50,000 orders in the first 27 minutes after the launch, selling out production capacity for this year.
2, Steel industry transition. Sweden’s SSAB took another step in its planned transition to low carbon steel manufacturing, confirming it would close its blast furnace, replacing it with two electric arc furnaces (EAFs) and in so doing reducing the country’s overall emissions by 7%. The EAFs will use scrap steel, complemented by low carbon iron from SSAB’s trial hydrogen direct reduction plant and from its planned commercial scale replacement. SSAB is also in line to get $500m support from the US government to build the first hydrogen direct reduction iron plant outside the EU and China in Mississippi.
3, Railway locomotives. Trenitalia showed off a new version of a low emissions train in southern Italy. Made by Hitachi, the new train is powered by electricity, batteries or diesel and operates in hybrid mode similar to a car, regenerating electricity during braking. Hitachi claims an 83% reduction in emissions compared to a conventional diesel unit of similar size. In the UK, Freightliner, an operator of railway freight transport services, said it had entered a partnership with Zero Petroleum, an innovative start-up that will manufacture synthetic liquid fuels for aircraft, cars and other transport vehicles. The intention is that Zero Petroleum will provide the low carbon fuel for the existing fleet of diesel freight locomotives. No new transport infrastructure required, a major benefit.
4, Shipping fuels. New academic research questioned the viability of ammonia as a shipping fuel. Although it may be less costly than other alternatives, the researchers write that NH3 is an unattractive route partly because of the likely emissions of nitrous oxide, a potent GHG. The lead author says that ammonia is ‘probably not green enough’, also mentioning its potential impact on ocean acidification and eutrophication. Other new fuels, including synthetic methanol, don’t escape criticism either. Nevertheless, last week saw a big step forward in the use of this alternative liquid. Maersk carried out the first methanol bunkering of a full sized container vessel in Europe. About 4,300 tonnes of methanol were taken on board in Antwerp as well as about 1,400 tonnes of back-up diesel. XPress feeders, which operates smaller vessels that collect containers and takes them to the main ports separately said it had established methanol supply facilities in several Baltic ports as well as Antwerp.
5, Biochar for industry. An Australian startup has established a factory for making biochar in Malaysia for supply as a fuel source (or reductant) for metallurgical industries such as steel and magnesium manufacture. The source organic material is bamboo. 10 tonnes of this wood produces 3 tonnes of biochar and 2 tonnes of other valuable products such as oils. Biochar, or pyrochar, as it is called by the Australian state agency that helped develop the product, resembes coal in that it is almost pure carbon. It can therefore replace coal in steel furnaces, for example and the startup is intending to supply trial quantities to industries around the world. The carbon benefit is that the bamboo source material has extracted the carbon from the air, making the fuel a low emissions product. However we will all have a nagging concern that success in this venture will mean old forests being cut down to grow bamboo.
6, Battery swapping for EVs. The Chinese car manufacturer Nio is the most active proponent of battery swapping and operates about two thirds of the 3,500+ swapping stations in China. Could this solution be more widely adopted elsewhere, particularly in rural areas with low density of charging stations? Would it reduce the nervousness of potential purchasers of electric vehicles around the world who worry about getting access to charging stations. This article reports official Chinese research that states that during national holidays the typical EV owner has to queue for ‘well over an hour’ to get access to a charger whereas battery swapping is ‘complete in just five minutes’ according to the journalist writing on the topic.
7, Germany hydrogen storage. Hydrogen storage, and hydrogen transmission networks, will probably develop alongside natural gas distribution systems, and pipelines will gradually be converted. A good example of this is the newly announced plan to store hydrogen in new caverns in the Berlin area close to existing natural gas facilities and then connect into the proposed hydrogen transmission network from the Baltic Coast into eastern Germany. Without substantial storage capacity and widespread distribution systems, as well as clear subsidies and regulation, hydrogen will struggle to develop.
8, Light commercial vehicles. Renault, Volvo and the venture capital arm of giant shipper CMA CGM gave more details of their partnership to build electric light commercial vehicles for urban delivery routes. The head of Flexis, the name for the new business, provided some information about the proposed product. The CEO started with an interesting comment: 50% of logistics costs arise in the final part of the delivery but Flexis thinks it can reduce this by 30% with its new vehicles. The design will be ‘Lego-like’, he said, enabling many different types of vans to be constructed on a single skateboard. Typically, vehicles will be shorter and taller than today’s vans, with a much tighter turning circle. As with all new road transport products, the vehicles will be ‘software-defined’, a way of emphasising the highly connected features of the vans, which will be in constant communication with headquarters via the Cloud. The head of Volvo also stressed the emphasis to be given to ensuring that all aspects of the vehicles will be carbon neutral, including manufacture, repair and disposal. This new venture is an illustration of how electrification and ‘software-defined’ vehicles may completely change the structure of a well-established industry. Startled by the innovations of competitors such as Rivian, as well as the threat from China, older vehicle manufactures have begun the rapid evolution that will be required.
9, Green fertiliser. IFFCO in India, the world’s largest fertiliser cooperative, said it would be buying 200,000 tonnes of green ammonia, using about 35,000 tonnes of hydrogen. The ammonia will be made by a specialist Indian producer using hydrogen from electrolysis generated by renewable electricity. Green ammonia made for fertiliser production is likely to be the early driver of green hydrogen development in India, aided by the availability of international carbon credits for emissions reduction. A recent report suggested that continued support from the central government might push Indian green ammonia production to about 9 million tonnes a year by 2030 on the way to complete decarbonisation and 55 million tonnes of production by mid-century. Fertiliser manufacture is going to be one of the most important uses for green hydrogen.
10, The solar eclipse. The eclipse on Monday 8th April across the US, running from Texas to Vermont, will provide interesting information on the resilience of electricity grids. 20 gigawatts of grid solar capacity will lose at least 80% of their likely generation at some point in the middle of the day when PV is normally at its peak. But almost 85 gigawatts of solar farms, or about 90% of all US utility-scale solar, will see measurable losses in electricity production. Small rooftop systems will also be affected by the eclipse but the overall effect is uncertain because it’s not known exactly how much capacity they represent. Average US power usage is about 500 gigawatts on an April day so the impact on grid operations will be substantial, particularly in Texas. Total battery capacity is only about 15 gigawatts meaning that other sources of electricity will have to be switched on.
Possible, my new book, covering many of the questions raised in this week’s newsletter on topics such as fertilisers, green steel, shipping and railway trains is now available on all online platforms.