Energy Transition Weekly: EV’s role in the UAW strike

Plus, a big lithium discovery in Nevada and Lyten raises $200M for EV batteries

Welcome back! This is your weekly debrief on what’s driving the clean energy transition.

In today’s edition:

  • EV’s role in the UAW strike

  • A big lithium discovery in Nevada

  • Lyten raises $200M for EV batteries

Read time: 5 minutes

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HOT TOPICS

⚡️ CLEAN ENERGY

  • America Just Hit the Lithium Jackpot - The world’s largest known deposit was just discovered in Nevada. What does that mean? (via The Atlantic)

    • A Huge Lithium Discovery That Economists Were Expecting - A vast new deposit on the Nevada-Oregon border could help ease geopolitical tensions and limit the effects of climate change. (via Washington Post)

  • Guidance for the IRA’s 45X, other clean energy tax credits will arrive by year end, says Treasury - The department is entering “Phase 2” of implementing the incentives, promising new guidance on 45X, 48C and 30D. (via Utility Dive)

  • Can Texas stave off its next grid emergency? - The state's main grid came close to rolling blackouts last week. Experts say the Texas power system remains vulnerable. (via E&E News)

  • This tax tweak is supercharging Biden’s climate agenda - For the first time, clean energy tax credits are transferable, and the market for them is surging. (via Grist)

  • Texas Moved to Protect its Fragile Grid. Then Prices Skyrocketed - As temperatures climb in Texas, so does demand for electricity — but a preventative measure against power grid failure caused energy prices to soar at peak hours. (via Bloomberg)

  • Florida is now adding more solar power than any other state - Sorry, California and Texas! Florida zoomed to the No. 1 spot for solar installations in the first half of 2023, despite a decidedly mixed policy landscape. (via Canary Media)

  • A big battery is replacing this old Massachusetts fossil power plant - Thanks to a state program incentivizing cleaner peak power, a developer is building a 45 MW grid battery at the site of a fossil power plant shut down in 2022. (via Canary Media)

  • How Applied Materials and Intel are helping chipmakers buy clean power - The Catalyze program, sponsored by Intel and Applied Materials and run by Schneider Electric, aims to accelerate renewable energy access across the global semiconductor supply chain. (via GreenBiz)

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🚙 MOBILITY / TRANSPORT

  • UAW goes on strike against GM, Ford, Stellantis - Union members walked off the job at midnight at three targeted plants after failing to reach a deal with the Big Three automakers. (via Automotive Dive)

    • How EV worries are helping fuel the historic UAW strike - "Tesla is the clear winner in this unfortunate situation now developing in Detroit." (via Axios)

  • Transportation is feeling the heat - As cities nationwide get hotter, addressing extreme temperatures and their effects on roads, bridges and rail is becoming a priority. (via Route Fifty)

  • European Union Will Investigate Chinese Subsidies of Electric Cars - The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, announced the inquiry, which could lead to tariffs, amid concern over China’s dominance in electric vehicles. (via NY Times)

  • Battle Over Electric Vehicles Is Central to Auto Strike - Carmakers are anxious to keep costs down as they ramp up electric vehicle manufacturing, while striking workers want to preserve jobs as the industry shifts to batteries. (via NY Times)

🏠 BUILDINGS & CITIES

  • Heat pumps outperform boilers and furnaces — even in the cold - Some utilities and fossil-fuel interests like to say heat pumps don’t work in the cold. A new study provides yet more evidence to debunk that myth. (via Canary Media)

MONEY MOVES

🚀 FUNDING / GRANTS / M&A

  • Lyten is the latest EV battery startup to score hundreds of millions | TechCrunch

  • Verkor secures more than €2 billion to launch high performance battery gigafactory in France and accelerate future sustainable mobility

  • ReSeed Raises $4.6M To Expand Commercial Market For Climate Financing

  • Evolectric Raises USD15M from Seismic Capital

  • Open Cosmos, a UK satellite startup focused on sustainability, raises $50M | TechCrunch

  • Erthos Secures Additional $24 Million in Equity Financing

  • Heliene Raises $170M in Funding - FinSMEs

  • Tesla Gets Nearly $150M In EU Funding For Supercharger Network Expansion

  • Delos Insurance Solutions secures $7.3 million in seed extension round - Reinsurance News

  • CO2 AI Now a Standalone Software Company Backed by BCG and International Venture Capital Firms

COMMUNITY ASKS & SHARES

SPOTLIGHT

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QUICK HITS

GOOD READS / LISTENS

TOGETHER WITH TERRA.DO

The Learning for Action program is a 12-week course that allows you to dive deep into the climate landscape. Understand the complexities in science, economics, policy, and climate justice and join a growing community, united by a singular purpose and deep desire to work on and help each other with this generation’s biggest crisis, climate change.

What will you be learning? ​​​​​

  • The science behind the climate crisis

  • Global impacts and development models

  • The impacts and the viability of solutions in the carbon and energy sectors

  • The psychology of communicating for advocacy and action

  • and so much more...

We’ve partnered with our friends at Terra.do to offer you 20% off with code ACC 20. Don’t miss out - applications for the next cohort close on October 6.

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