Chris Till

  • Does Trump Matter?

    At first, I was so angry every time he undid a climate or energy regulation. But as time has gone on, it’s become clear to me that it really doesn’t matter what he and his cabinet of fools does. Not to mention, it’s practically a never-ending process which is still relentlessly continuing until every law is repealed. This week’s energy week (aka fossil fuel week) is a prime example.

    Coal is on the way out, gas and oil are soon to follow, with renewable energy in the ascendancy. He can only slow down the transitional process, but really, when the rest of the world are so united, and he is showing himself more and more to be living in the past, he will just look increasingly delusional, even to the people who voted for him.

    A huge number of cities in the US and around the world have pledged to stick to the terms of the Paris Agreement, and even step up efforts further. That is great news of course. But even beyond this, there has to be a point in the near future where the rest of the country say enough is enough and force the hand of Trump to do what’s right and keep the US competitive economically. Tesla will of course help to keep them competitive in the green economy regardless. But whether or not they can do it by themselves really depends on how quickly they can scale up both their car and solar / storage businesses.

    At this point, it seems inevitable that we’re on the cusp of a huge swing towards the left in politics in major economies around the world. I could be wrong, but the tide definitely seems to finally be turning away from the right and far right. People are seeing what Trump and Brexit meant, and they fought back. They pushed back in France, The Netherlands and the UK in the general election where Theresa May didn’t lose and lost big at the same time.

    Don’t get too angry about Trump like I and many others have been. Still bring attention to his moronic, trolling policies, but don’t get too stressed about it. Focus on the positives and do what you personally can to make an impact. All he can do is slow things down, and to be honest, the way things are going, I don’t think he can even do that very successfully. I take everything personally as an insult to me. But if I just remember that it’s not my fault and Trump and his team of idiots are the ones who are going to be a laughing stock in years to come (not that they aren’t already, but you know what I mean), it makes me feel a lot better.

  • The Lack of New 2017 EVs

    Is this the 2017 Nissan Leaf?

    In the U.K. especially, it seems as though 2017 could be a baron year for brand new EV models coming onto the market. We know the Opel Ampera-e won’t be coming here as a right hand drive version (The less said about that, the better). We also know that the Tesla Model 3 will probably be released in the US by the end of the year (hopefully), but even if it is on time, a right hand drive version is probably going to come later. Only recently has the Model X become available here, and even that is in limited quantities.

    It’s possible that some EVs could be announced at Geneva and released at the end of the year, like the Hyundai Ioniq was in 2016. I don’t have a lot of hope for that, but let’s wait and see.

    Assuming nothing else gets announced, the only hope we have for a 2017 brand new EV seems to be the next Nissan Leaf. Carlos Ghosn has said to expect the announcement soon, but whether that means Geneva or somewhere else, we don’t know. One reason we should expect a new Leaf this year is due to them being at risk of losing their leadership status in the EV market. The current Leaf doesn’t match up well at all against the Bolt or Model 3, or even the smaller Renault Zoe in terms of range, tech or exterior style. As EV sales increase worldwide, they could lose their hard earned number 1 spot very quickly as the Bolt establishes itself in the market and word gets out about how accomplished of a car it is.

    If the new Leaf looks like the IDS concept we’ve seen before, then it will be a major style improvement over the current model. I do like the current Leaf, but it grows on you over time. In order to sell EVs to an ever widening market, they have to have instant appeal. The period of time where EV buyers are techy people who know exactly what they want and have done the research is coming to an end. EVs have to compete with all other cars in order to attract buyers who aren’t necessarily just looking for an EV when they are considering a new car.

    I really hope we see tons of new EVs announced and launched this year, but if not, I at least hope we see Carlos Ghosn unveil the most crucial one. Otherwise, it’ll be another year of putting bigger batteries in the same exact cars. I want more than that, and I want the manufacturers to put as much effort into making EVs as they do in developing autonomous cars. Because as far as I’m concerned, electrification is the first priority.

  • Why EV Charging Standards Must Converge Now

    One of the several reasons EVs have not taken off yet is that there are several standards for fast charging. This makes it appear as though there are more chargers available to you than there actually are in reality.

    Chademo, CCS, Type 2, Supercharging, AC and DC systems. This is not good for EV mass adoption. Manufacturers need to come up with one standard to move forward with as soon as possible. My preference would be type 2, since that can connect to all residential wall chargers that I’m aware of, as well as being the same size as the Tesla connector. This would help to bring in charger sharing if Tesla eventually decide to open up their system by charging non-tesla drivers to charge up. Type 2 is also the most elegant and simple design in my opinion. Some Chademo connectors look pretty complicated to plug in properly. Even small things like that will be off-putting to some.

    We don’t have a situation where BP petrol nozzles are one shape and Shell nozzles another, meaning we’d have to go to a specific station in order to fill up. That would be ridiculous, and this situation we have with EV charging is just as ridiculous in my view. The EV world needs to present a united front in this area, and drivers of EVs also have to put pressure on manufacturers to prevent this madness from continuing for years and years to come.

    Having one charging standard wouldn’t immediately increase EV sales 10 fold. It will take several more years to fully solve the range anxiety and elevated purchase price elements to EV ownership. But having one single connector would be a huge step in the right direction.

    Because right now, EV manufacturers don’t need to be shooting themselves in the foot like this.

  • Every Month is a Temperature Record

    After the astonishing graph we saw regarding February’s hottest ever month, and the subsequent record breaking March, I thought this run of records surely must end in April, but that hasn’t been the case.

    Will this turn into a global panic situation in the next few months? Or will things just continue as they are even with routine record setting? Unfortunately, I know where my money would be going if I were a betting man.

    People keep talking about immediate action, but what does immediate action actually mean? Not many people outside of climate activists seem to be open to the idea that immediately means today.

    So many of us have the power to make real change in our own lives, and collectively we can force action. Not by parading onto coal mines and blocking large machines. That’s not going to get anything done except piss people off. People who are being inconvenienced are less likely to be sympathetic to the cause.

    What does actually create change is for everyone to show an interest. Talk about it with people: your family, your friends, your colleagues. Many of them may not have even considered climate change before. They may realise they have an opinion on the issue that they never thought about before.

    Talking is good, as long as you’re not excessively preaching to people who don’t want to be preached to. But actions are better. If everyone worldwide who could afford to get solar panels on their home did so, I can only imagine that it would be an astronomical leap forward in total renewable energy capacity, and it would help to bring down the cost of solar at the same time.

    If you can afford solar, or even if you can afford a green energy plan with a company like Ecotricity for example, then you can make a difference right now, today.

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started