BYD & Tesla Price Cuts, Largest Solar Roof, Apple EV Dead (For Real) — 15 Top Cleantech Stories of the Week

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What are the big cleantech stories of the past week? From a giant solar roof to booming EV sales, below are 15 top cleantech stories you should make sure you didn’t miss.

BYD and Tesla have cut prices (again) in China, signaling more and more competitive electric cars in a growing EV market but also raising some concern about how much and how far these automakers (and others) must go to sell their electric cars in this evolving market.

The BYD Dolphin Mini is now for sales in Mexico, bringing down the price of the cheapest electric car on the market by several thousand dollars and bringing a compelling, competitive compact hatchback to a new market.

On the complete opposite site of the spectrum, and world, Li Auto launched the Li MEGA in China. This is a very luxurious, high-tech, and high-cost minivan (or multipurpose vehicle, MPV), and it’s begging to be called a “Cybervan.”

Overall, in China, full electric vehicles (BEVs) took 18% of the auto market in January, a great result for the start of the year.

The year is kicking off nicely in Europe as well, with 12% of new vehicle sales being BEV sales in Europe in January. Making the rest of Europe look like amateurs, meanwhile, Norway just rose above 90% BEV share!

One vehicle that should be a hit in Europe eventually, the Renault 5 E-Tech Electric, was also launched last week. For just €25,000, its’s got 249 miles of range in the base version — and much more. Also in the Renault stable, the 2024 Renault Scenic was named European Car of the Year, a well deserved award.

We now have details on how Ford EVs can connect to Tesla’s Supercharging network, and included an updated summary on how Tesla’s partnership will roll out with various automakers agreeing to use the “North American Charging Standard” (Tesla Supercharging) this year.

Also on the charging topic, Wells Fargo has now partnered with ChargePoint and EnTech to advance EV charging and get more EV chargers built in the US. Jennifer Sensiba also had a great piece explaining why amenities are so important at EV charging stations.

On the electricity front, Mike Barnard dove into trends in electricity generation from renewable energy sources, from nuclear, and from fossil fuels in China and the US in a recent piece.

Shockingly, since Scandinavia is not the place you think of when you think of sunshine, Denmark is soon going to be home to the largest rooftop solar power system in the world.

Also on the solar power front, the US Department of Energy just announced $25 million for solar energy and wind energy power plants on Tribal lands.

Back to EVs, Stellantis has indicated it is now making a profit on its electric vehicles, one of the first automakers to do so.

And we’ll end with something we thought ended several years ago (but then was revived): Apple’s electric car program. It’s done. For real. Forever. We think.

Last but not least, a CleanTechnica special: Want a nearly free Rivian electric truck or SUV and want to support solar power in the process? Enter this raffle!

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