Hybrid and Electric Vehicle Purchases Are on the Decline

       As the economy rebounds, sales of hybrid and electric cars continue to decline. Sport utility vehicles, crossovers, and trucks are gaining popularity as buyers have more expendable income. Because gas prices are so much lower than in past years, consumers’ main motivation for buying hybrid and electric no longer applies.        

       According to an article by ClimateWire, the past six months were the best the American auto industry has seen in a decade. Sales of trucks, crossovers, and sports cars are as high as they’ve been since pre-recession 2007. Previous to this recent jump, consumers had been steadily purchasing more fuel-efficient cars each year. But, recent data has shown this trend reversing. Although the aforementioned data is conflicting and far from conclusive, the numbers are still worrying.  And this backwards trend is not only true in the U.S. Fiat-Chrysler plans on introducing new Jeep cross-over models to India and China, where SUV sales have soared since last year. 

        There is a clear correlation between the sales of trucks and economic activity. SUV and truck sales are up, and hybrid and electric car sales are down. It’s obvious that the big auto-industry companies, as well as consumers, are under the impression that this shift is good for the economy and themselves. But this is false. The positive effect that sales of expensive trucks, and the gas to go along with them, have on the economy is extremely short term. In the long run it’s only increasing our country’s dependency on fossil fuels, and taking a huge step back from progress made towards lower carbon emissions and sustainable energy. Quarterly sales mean nothing if they negatively affect our economy and environment long term.

Source: ClimateWire’s July 31, 2015 edition

By: Kaitlyn Maskalenko, Intern

Current by GE and Sparkplug have the right idea in Energy Storage

by: Donald E. Bowen, Jr., PLS

      Principal

My trip to San Diego and recent pursuit of large utility scale energy/battery storage is a work-in-progress that I am very confident will come to fruition similar to wind and solar PV.  The intermittencey of renewable energy, specifically large scale wind and solar PV along with the need for greater grid resiliency given the growing threat from climate change obviate this emerging opportunity. 

Homeowners seeking protection from grid outages and for safety reasons will increasingly pursue battery storage for their homes in lieu of generators due to the readiness capability and minimal/no cost maintenance. 

Large institutional, commercial and utility scale installations and deployment will quickly recognize the return on this investment.  Energy storage will be big.  Very big. 

http://cleantechnica.com/2015/10/08/what-will-drive-growth-of-stationary-battery-energy-storage-systems/?utm_source=Cleantechnica+News&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=164e377f14-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_term=0_b9b83ee7eb-164e377f14-332042853 

We see significant financial support and regulatory mandate for large scale energy storage in CA which it is often where adaptive innovation originates - then spreads across the country.

We are already witnessing demand rising in the New England region for large scale energy storage.  Companies from around the world are investing Billions into a wide range of technologies especially in the US, South Korea, Japan, China and Germany.   The article below illustrates the major organizations such as GE are well under way positioning themselves to seize the business opportunities in this industry. 

A dramatic drop in the cost of high density battery technology will be compressed to next 3-5 years in the global race toward large scale energy storage similar to the precipitous drop of solar panel manufacturing over the last 8-10 years.  

"To create Current, GE is combining its light-emitting diode, or LED, business with its solar, energy storage, and electric vehicle businesses."

"....Sean Becker, owner of the Somerville energy-storage startup Sparkplug Power, said he can understand why GE chose Greater Boston over Schenectady. The labor pool here is deeper, he said, and it’s easier to persuade talented workers to be in Boston than in upstate New York."

This highlights this rapidly moving industry:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/uciliawang/2015/03/05/sunedison-buys-energy-storage-startup/