Cleantech Talk

Hello again, listeners and readers. After a longer than expected off-season, Cleantech Talk is back! Season 3’s contributions should be a bit more regular than Season 2 was, given that I’ve moved -- “pivoted” in Silicon Valley lingo -- from his full-time engineering job to communications consulting, specifically to be able to dedicate more time to the podcast and related activities. Some pre-emptive apologies are in order for this week’s audio; I didn’t set my levels correctly, so there could be some hissing. I’ve also clearly forgotten the old Toastmasters rule about not using filler words like “um” and “uh”. Always room to improve, eh? We’ll also have time, now, to figure out how to improve the sound quality. Our two big stories related to summer’s big Tesla Model 3 announcement, and September’s new Nissan Leaf unveiling.

Nicolas started us off with his report from the San Diego Electric Bike Expo. Gocycle's use of lightweight magnesium for its bike frame is surely an expensive one, but on further reflection, it might be that for mass-market bicycles, as with mobile phones, there’s no such thing as “too light.” Easy disassembly should add greatly to the convenience factor, as well. ... + Uber: Goobered?

CleanTechnica's Nicolas Zart and Matthew Klippenstein talk Nick's amazing Lucid Air test ride, the deep history of Lucid Motors and its market potential, the early days of Tesla (Roadster and Model S development), GM's EV & self-driving car leaders, self-driving Chevy Bolts to be used by Lyft, and more!

Nicolas and Matthew kicked this week’s episode of CleanTech Talk off with the news that the Canadian government had committed to phasing coal out by 2030. Carlos Ghosn has continued his iconoclastic ways — at least by Japanese corporate standards — by having Nissan jettison its 41% stake in Calsonic, its biggest supplier. What can we say? VW’s diesel scandal is so bad, the company’s been forced to commit deeply to electric vehicles to rehabilitate its image. And while part of its plan involves expanding its presence in the United States, Volkswagen's never really been strong in North America.

After a longer-than-expected summer break, Cleantech Talk is back! With Zachary increasingly busy (alas, ever-expanding cleantech media empires don’t autonomously oversee themselves), this season’s co-hosting duties are now being shared by Matthew Klippenstein and Nicolas Zart. They chat Donald Trump and cleantech progress as well as Toyota, Volkswagen, and Ford electric vehicle announcements,

In this episode of Cleantech Talk, Matthew and I chat about Tesla's unique 18650 batteries, Tesla manufacturing and manufacturing in general, robots, Volkswagen's gigafactory plans, and more. Enjoy!

Given that we’ve been a bit electric vehicle-heavy in recent weeks, your podcast co-hosts decided to make this week’s Cleantech Talk an EV-free edition… only to see Tesla raise $1.4 billion in a secondary stock offering, about eighteen hours before we recorded the show! Well, at least when we get around to discussing it next episode, most of the background questions will have been answered…! This episode focused on the fastest-growing job in the United States -- the job of a wind turbine technician -- as well as drastic wildfires in Canada and various climate-related topics.

We start today’s podcast with Tom Moloughney’s excellent thought piece about how BMW could fend off the Model 3 -- and could in fact be the best-positioned carmaker to transition to electric propulsion. It is all about his vision for the BMW i5. We then delve into a fascinating recent acquisition -- Total's acquisition of Saft -- and the general topic of Total's apparent leadership among oil companies in the transition to clean energy.

In episode #25 of Cleantech Talk, Matthew and I tackled the recent Tesla financials conference call, Tesla Model 3 ramp plans, Ford's electrification plans, etc.

Matthew and I discuss the Tesla Model 3 design, Tesla Model 3 reservation estimates before the unveiling and going forward, the updated Tesla Model S and Tesla Model X, and coal having a hand in the death of natural gas... ironically.

In Cleantech Talk #23, Matthew, Kyle, and I talked about the coming Tesla Model 3 unveiling and a solar farm being built on land where a coal mine once lived.

Hot topics this week included the Koch Brothers and their latest plan to destroy society (if only those pesky kids didn't get in the way), Ontario giving EVs some northerly love, and GM going full blast (er... 50% blast) into an EV & alternative powertrain future.

Kyle and Matthew decided to sneak around behind my back and do a Cleantech Talk episode without me recently... (no, actually, I was just off in India presenting at an institutional investment conference at the time). Incidentally, this episode focused on an investing option (green bonds for retail investors), as well as Tesla Model S service screens and Ontario EV rebates. Below, you can listen to the episode and/or read Matthew's summary.

In this episode of Cleantech Talk, Matthew Klippenstein and I (Zachary Shahan) chat about the pros and cons of mandates versus carbon taxes, as well as Tesla financials (including Tesla profit, Tesla cash flow, Tesla Model S sales and orders, Tesla Model X sales and delays, Tesla Model 3 projections, and much more). Tweet & share so more people catch news of our podcast!

In another episode of Cleantech Talk, Matthew, Kyle, and I run through a healthy serving of EV topics. We discuss impacts of British Columbia electric vehicle purchase rebates, the importance of Tesla Supercharging and a well developed "EV ecosystem," and some Tesla Gigafactory myths and facts.

For Cleantech Talk #18, Matthew, Kyle, and I talked about the Tesla buying experience and "Tesla dealerships," the planned Chrysler plug-in hybrid electric minivan, and a 1 GW Quebec-to-Vermont HVDC interconnection (as well as the transmission network and renewable energy integration, in general).

For our 17th episode of Cleantech Talk, we got to dive into a handful of electric vehicle entrances that provided us with very mixed results. Kyle, Matthew, and I also provided our thoughts on electric car sales, which is one of my favorite topics to track, analyze, and discuss. As a reminder, you can subscribe to Cleantech Talk on iTunes and Soundcloud. You can also download the episodes to listen to them later offline, or you can simply listen via the embedded player below.

We had an extra long session for Cleantech Talk #16. In this episode, we discussed... ... a big huge BYD energy storage project that is supposed to help Lancaster, California, become a net-zero-energy city. (Matthew found out about the 500 MW project on another podcast -- storage capacity is unknown at this point. We've got a story coming soon.) ... BYD's overall approach to electrifying transport. ... Bob Lutz making another wild claim. ... and Tesla's "Secret Master Plan."

Our latest episode of Cleantech Talk tackled the huge 5-year extension of the solar and wind energy tax credits, Tesla Model X deliveries, and Faraday Future.

Kyle Field, Matthew Klippenstein, and I (Zachary Shahan) talk about early Tesla Model S drive unit problems and the implications for future models and Tesla as a whole; Ford's big new $4.5 billion electric vehicle push, and a soon-to-be-unveiled plug-in hybrid electric SUV from Ford; and the cost advantage of solar power and wind power over coal, natural gas, oil, and nuclear power, as well as the ability to integrate renewables into the grid.