'China is crushing Europe's electric car dreams' / Storage needs
CNN
Europe gave the world some of its top automakers, but it’s losing out to China in the race to define the industry’s future, writes Daniel Chane for CNN business. “It may be too late to catch up,” according to Chane. Energy analyst Simone Tagliapietra from think tank Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, told the author it was a huge risk for Europe that carmakers might massively move production to China to be near most customers and near battery production.
Read the article in English here.
For background, read the dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers.
Die Welt / dpa
German transport minister Andreas Scheuer will meet the country’s carmakers at the end of next week to thrash out a deal on who pays for hardware retrofits to lower nitrogen oxide emissions from diesel cars, industry sources told German newswire dpa. Earlier this month, the German government decided to reduce NOx emissions from diesel cars in polluted cities by swapping old models for new ones and retrofitting some older cars. But the deal was heavily criticised for the lack of firm commitments by carmakers.
Find the dpa article here.
For background, read the article Germany’s ‘huge step’ to solve diesel crisis leaves NGOs unconvinced.
Wirtschaftswoche
The confusion about discounts make it highly unlikely that German diesel drivers will swap their vehicle against a newer model, write Andreas Macho, Martin Seiwert and Volker ter Haseborg in an article for business magazine Wirtschaftswoche. While company fleet purchases still underpin the diesel, sales are slumping due to dwindling interest from retail clients. “It seems the diesel’s twilight has started in Germany […] Suddenly, the end of a technology appears in sight that carmakers called indispensable until recently,” the authors write.
Find the article in German (behind paywall) here.
For background, read the dossier The Energiewende and German carmakers.
The Conversation
The rising share of renewable electricity in Germany and France makes energy experts believe that electricity storage will become crucial in the near to medium term, write Nikolas Wölfing from the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Mark Olsthoorn and Swaroop Rao, both from the Grenoble Ecole de Management (GEM), in an article for The Conversation. In a survey in both countries, 75 percent of German energy experts and 62 percent of French experts said there is a need to extend energy storage within the next 10 years.
Read the article in English here.
Find plenty of background in the dossier Energy storage and the Energiewende.
Wirtschaftswoche
German power grid operator Amprion and its Belgian counterpart Elia have started building the first power grid connection between the two countries, according to an article by German newswire dpa carried by business weekly Wirtschaftswoche. Amprion said the 90 kilometre direct current cable will increase supply security and stabilise the grid, while state premier Armin Laschet from the bordering region of North Rhine-Westphalia said it was a milestone for cross-border power supply and the integration of European energy markets.
Read the article in German here.
Find background in the dossier The energy transition and Germany’s power grid.
German Energy Agency (dena)
Improving energy efficiency in non-residential buildings requires approaches specifically tailored to different sectors such as retail, offices, hotels and communal buildings, according to an analysis by the German Energy Agency (dena). “There is no such thing as a typical non-residential building,” said dena head Andreas Kuhlmann. “Quite a lot is happening in retail, and an increasing number of hotels and municipalities also realise the necessity to invest in energy efficiency. But there is a lot of room for improvement in office buildings.” Non-residential buildings consume a third of the energy used by all buildings in Germany, according to dena.
Read the press release in German here.
