Category Archives: Energy

German EV Sales Dominated by DS, MG and Audi

Since I wrote a post a few weeks back — looking at the huge Fiat EV sales numbers in Germany — I’ve been curious about the Stellantis rise (Fiat is a Stellantis brand).

It seems odd that Tesla is soaking up headlines in Germany while failing to deliver, shooting itself in the foot and above all lacking innovation for the tenth year in a row. Nobody meanwhile is writing about the Stellantis revolution delivering amazing results.

The Stellantis boss plans to launch 75 new fully electric models by 2030. The group’s annual sales should double by then to around 300 billion euros – with a double-digit return on sales.

Seventy five EV models within a decade. Wow.

Another one of Stellantis’ brands dominated last month’s EV sales in Germany, for example. This time it’s the French “DS” that takes honors.

Germany’s Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA — motor transport authority) published new figures that show DS registrations in November were up 301%, followed by MG with registrations up 124%, and then Audi up 109%.

That is a huge jump.

I’ll be honest, I know very little about this DS brand even after reading the October press releases.

Looking at the “luxury” marketing I don’t immediately see the DS appeal versus a Polestar, for example.

“Only you, a wealth of attentions”?

Wat.

Why is that all-black faceless woman staring into oblivion while the “only you” is a white man in white? Is that an apparition, like he’s meant to be seaside for mourning the death of his mistress?

It must sound and look better in French, or French translated into German.

My guess is this new DS EV is an amazing feat of engineering that sells itself because the marketing is… let’s just say “schnauzer”.

Since nobody seems to be writing about the DS having huge appeal in Germany, it’s even more curious how they’re crushing very recognizable and highly curated brands like VW and Audi.

It kind of reminds me how Tesla somehow manages to splash itself into Norwegian news, while the modest Nissan LEAF like Stellantis has quietly dominated that country’s all time EV sales.

The story of Nissan’s LEAF, the world’s first mass-market EV launched a decade ago, is woven into Norway. In 2018, for example, it was the country’s most-sold passenger car. A 2020 survey of 14,000 EV drivers in Norway – thousands of them Nissan LEAF owners – showed that nearly 95% are satisfied with their cars and 66% are encouraging their friends to follow their lead. Maria is definitely one of those drivers. “For those who have not yet switched, try this car. You won’t regret it,” she says. “As soon as you drive it, you’ll see how wonderful it is to drive a Nissan LEAF.”

Seriously, there’s great EV stuff going on if you look at the real numbers instead of cooked ones from the Tesla propaganda pulpit. Let’s see some more talk about super cool Nissan innovation for Norway’s snowy roads, engineering that fundamentally changes an EV that Norwegians buy the most.

e-4ORCE offers a powerful and controlled drive with a lightning-fast response and smooth acceleration with ultra-high-precision control at 1/10000th of a second. It guarantees driver and passenger comfort and steadiness while delivering thrill and velocity matched with a sports car.

Nissan innovation is impressive, especially now that their CEO is not crazy.

“Chevy Bolt, like a fine red wine, kept getting better with age.”

Motor Trend in 2017 wisely called the Chevy Bolt their car of the year. They’re now positively gushing over their prediction, calling the electric car’s engineering refreshing; very modestly it just keeps getting better and better.

While most buyers largely ignored it, the Bolt, like a fine red wine, kept getting better with age. The Bolt EUV launched in 2021 with more interior space, a more modern look, and the option to equip it with the best hands-free highway driving system on sale today. Now, a massive price cut for 2023 is transforming what was already a good car at a reasonable price into a veritable bargain.

That’s very high praise from a very respected authority.

Chevy is described as delivering the best hands-free electric car in America for just $19K in 2023.

It’s everything right about America boxed up into a car, like wearing a classic inexpensive pair of sturdy well-built blue jeans.

Fun history tangent, the word “denim” in jeans comes from “serge de Nimes”. It was industrious Frenchmen in Nimes weaving wool-silk “serge” materials for hard working shepards, who had their product name shortened to de-Nim. Somewhere along the line (pun not intended) Americans switched cotton threads into denim, marketing this result as lower cost yet still highly durable jean.

Reliable, durable yet inexpensive.

Recently I was taking a stop in the sleepy beach-side town of Monterey, California when I noticed every car in a parking lot row was… the Chevy Bolt.

Every car a Bolt?

This bucolic small town, with its down-to-earth scene, reminded me of the buzz that only a cherry 1957 Chevy could generate, yet it was in 2023 and electric.

The 1957 Chevrolets were good cars mechanically. They took abuse fairly well, and when they did break, they were often cheaper to repair than their contemporaries. Thus, a higher percentage of them survived to become hobby/collector cars.

Something definitely was going on in the quiet back streets among those who could own anything. A sort of quiet, unassuming yet powerful statement that Chevy was THE electric vehicle to own.

This is going to sound a bit repetitive, but it needs to be said again: since we bought the 1957 Chevy, now named Project X, for $250 back in 1965, its sole reason for existing has been to act as a testbed for new hot rodding trends and technologies. …it’s clear that EV is here to stay and, just like always, Project X is on the leading edge to try out this new technology.

The quintessential hot rod for everyone, a Chevy initially costing $250, turned up in 2021 as a mouth watering EV.

Honestly, I have to admit I kind of expected engineering innovators like Kia or Fiat to be getting motorhead magazine accolades and maybe even Porsche, yet an honest and reliable Chevy looks like the real and clear winner year after year.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s half-baked jalopies have proven to be about as valuable as over priced ugly Russian designer pants that dissolve in the laundry. This blatantly anti-democratic racist predictably has dumped little more than hot snake oil directly on consumers (to undermine and delay protections from his fraud).

Worse and worse engineering problems hidden by intentionally misleading marketing have Tesla embroiled in class-action lawsuits, far too many funerals, and widespread investigations after reducing overall road safety for everyone.

Regulators looking at the remarkable success Chevy has achieved, given a huge market of improving electric car options reaching back to the 1940s, now more than ever should seriously consider a ban to remove the intentionally sub-par Tesla products from public roads.

The Chevy Bolt is hidden beneath this brilliant E10 concept that someday may be proven safe enough for the mass market.

Elon Musk has criticized other car companies for having concept cars they never launch. However, the wise and cautious approach taken by Chevy is FAR more ethical than Tesla’s greed-driven clown show, which callously treats humans like disposable crash test dummies.

222km/hr Wind-Powered Land Speed Sets New World Record

Team New Zealand have recorded the fastest wind powered land speed yet.

‘Horonuku’ named by Ngati Whatua Orakei meaning ‘gliding swiftly across the land’ did exactly that and was clocked at 222.4km/h in 22 knots of windspeed on Lake Gairdner in South Australia.

The design looks like an airplane sideways, much like a sailboat, hinting at the future.

Skipper Glenn Ashby sounds much like Maverick in Top Gun, navigating dangerous “shifts and puffs” like an F18 avoiding canyon walls… with zero visibility.

Amazing to watch

Cockpit ready. Source: Team NZ
Cockpit ready. Source: Team NZ

His cockpit recording could be the basis for the next action movie in the series: “Glenn, you have three months to put together a team….”

Even more remarkable is they started their attempt just this past summer.

The difference of course is that “save the world” fiction of Top Gun cares not at all about harm to planet (1950s power projection), while this real life story is the exact opposite demonstrating missions centered on actually saving the world.

If all the money wasted on the con game of “driverless” transit were spent on solar/wind energy instead, it would make a world of positive difference. Top Gun’s anti-drone narrative is about caring (nod to Blade Runner), but this one is humans caring for each other AND their environment.

In related sustainable high efficiency news, MIT announced an ultralight print than can be made into solar fibers/cloth or shell. Another speed record could soon become a blend of sun and wind.

At Least 1/3 of North Korean Missile Program Funded by Crypto

A decade ago or so people seemed surprised when I warned about links between Crypto and North Korea (or even Russia) military funds.

Now the U.S. Deputy National Cyber Adviser, Anne Neuberger, is very publicly stating one-third of North Korea’s missile program is funded by Crypto.

Neuberger analysis seems based on the fact that $1bn in Crypto was stolen in the first nine months of 2022 alone — it’s a total mess of insecurity and societal harms.

This reminds me of a consulting engagement on Crypto risks many years ago, which I’ve written about before.

I was parachuted into a bank to help their executive teams navigate Crypto. They asked whether a giant power generation plant pushing them to invest in bitcoin mining on massive scale (energy sector generally is run/owned by for-profit bankers in America) should be given the green light.

“That’s all we need to know” I remember a roundtable of executives saying after I asked if they really wanted the blood of North Korean missile launches to be on their hands.

The hungry power company was given a giant negatory.

This idea of “blood Crypto” that I presented back then wasn’t meant to be new, but something more like the latest chapter in an old tragic story.

Having long studied anonymity games for weapons proliferation among global hate groups (e.g. “blood diamond” money laundering to fund mercenaries and coups in Africa — “fascist pig” glorification) it seemed somewhat obvious to me where Crypto was and would sit for some time — organized international crime.

People often told me they didn’t see a dark Crypto future, until I explained the past reality of blood diamonds.

I guess more to the point, many people STILL wear diamond assets around publicly like they just don’t see “it”, and many people STILL boast about owning Crypto assets.

The evolution from diamond crimes to Crypto crimes shouldn’t seem abrupt to anyone observing particularly onerous billionaires in the news.

If you remember, websites were setup by white South Africans specifically to allow unregulated international movement of racist mining wealth (PayPal was a “fast and easy” money transfer service intended to escape humanitarian regulations).

“Fascist Pig” glory like a Tatra T87 story right out of 1938: Peter Thiel and Elon Musk moved from South Africa to America and nearly killed themselves in a sports car because Musk couldn’t figure out how to drive.

From there Crypto really became a minor change to expand global risk. This also probably explains why white South Africans STILL so brazenly promote toxic odious Crypto mines today even though it should bring to mind their parent’s washing of blood diamonds.

The bottom line is that for the last two years Crypto (crime) has funded modernization of North Korean long-range missiles, which soon pose direct nuclear threat to all of America.