Hello everybody, and welcome back to another episode of the
Elon Musk Podcast. Today, we're going to be looking
into a significant development in the electric vehicle space
that's going to transform the North American landscape.
It's a new comprehensive electric vehicle charging
network set to span across the United States and Canada.
This is a joint venture backed by some of the largest players
in the auto industry, including BMW, General Motors, Honda,
Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz and Stalantis.
These industry leaders are coming together with the aim of
making EV charging as convenient as possible for users.
This will revolutionize how we charge our EV's.
Now in addition to that, we'll also be discussing Rivian,
another EV maker. Now this is about the CEO of
Rivian, and they share their perspective on companies that
are truly committed to renewable energy and the importance of
consumers understanding the source of their power
consumption, where everything comes from.
We'll take a little dive into that and also the future of EV
charging. So there's a lot to uncover in
today's episode and I promise that it'll be a nice thought
provoking discussion that you won't want to miss.
So stay with us, we'll take a quick break for some important
messages from our sponsors and we'll be back to delve deeper
into these developments in the electric vehicle industry.
All right. Welcome back, everybody.
This is a major step for electrification in the auto
industry. This is a global consortium of
automakers comprising of BMW, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai,
Kia, Mercedes-Benz and Solantis. And this is a joint venture to
build a comprehensive EV charging network across the US
and Canada. This is a formidable grouping.
Currently unnamed, they don't have a name yet, and they
pledged to erect user friendly DC fast chargers along the
highways and within urban environments of the US and
Canada. The plan aims to install at
least 30,000 high speed EV chargers by 20-30, with the
initial one set to become operational by the summer of
2024 in the US. Now, to fulfill this goal, this
group intends to harness the National Electric Vehicle
Infrastructure or the NEVI funding in the US and draw from
both private and public funding at the state and federal levels.
So they're getting the government and the taxpayers to
pay for most of this. And the current EV charging
landscape is mainly Tesla Superchargers and Electrify
America stations dotted all across the United States.
Now these stations are typically installed in strategic locations
where people can shop, they can go out to eat, or they can use
restrooms. And in line with this, the
proposed new chargers will be positioned along routes leading
to holiday destinations and within major city limits.
Now, these new charging stations promise seamless connection and
charging capabilities for EV models manufactured by the
partner automakers. This eliminates the need for
consumers to navigate between different charging station
applications, thereby ensuring a smooth user experience.
The venture also seems to incorporate the emerging plug
and charge standard that the Federal Highway Administration
is striving to standardize. Mary Barra, the CEO of General
Motors, voiced her support for the initiative, saying the
better experience people have, the faster EV adoption will
grow. She pointed to the current issue
plaguing many charging networks, which require unique apps and
suffer from reliability concerns.
Notably, Tesla's Supercharger network hailed us among the best
globally will accommodate vehicles from automakers
including Ford, GM, Volvo and more, all without necessitating
activation via an app. In line with global
sustainability initiatives, the joint venture plans to have its
operation fully powered by renewable energy.
Although it's unclear whether the renewable energy will
directly power the stations or whether the companies will
purchase credits. Is eco conscious approach is
indicative of the industry's increasing shift towards
sustainable practices. Now Canadians are great
Neighbors to the North will have to wait until a later stage
before the initial charging stations are installed.
All stations will include standardized Tesla North
American Charging standard ports, the NECS and the widely
used Combined Charging System plugs, the CS.
This announcement comes at a time when the environmental
credentials of companies are under scrutiny.
Now the Rivian CEO expresses frustration at companies
overstating their green achievements.
He believes consumers can't discern the difference, and the
companies often hide the true source of their power
consumption, he said. This is just so conceptually
complex, drawing a clear line between companies that invest in
renewable energy to offset their emissions and those who merely
want to pay a teeny little incremental amount more to get
the ability to pat ourselves on the back and say we're using
renewable energy. That's what they said.
Now they position Rivian as a company that aspires not only to
offset its own carbon emission, but also to contribute to the
creation of new renewable energy capabilities.
This commitment led him to support the development of a new
solar energy center in Kentucky built the top of former coal
mine. Now the mine Starfire, once
bustling with miners hauling millions of tons of coal
annually, is set to be transformed into a solar farm,
aiming to generate 800 megawatts of energy, enough to power
160,000 homes per year. Bright Night, a company based in
Florida, which is a solar company, is additionally
constructing A10 mile transmission line to add another
GW of power capabilities in the future.
A Rivian has committed to purchasing 100 megawatts of
energy from the project under a virtual power Purchase
agreement, the PA, which means the power is clean energy and it
won't directly power Rivian's electric vehicles or its
corporate infrastructure. However, it will contribute to
powering up to 450,000,000 miles of renewable driving every year.
Now, the commitment to renewable energy doesn't stop with Rivian,
though. Other automakers like Solantis
and Mercedes-Benz have also signed on to virtual PPA's to
help meet their sustainability goals.
Now, virtual PPA's are growing in popularity amongst American
corporations, and in 2021, corporations purchased a record
31.1 gigawatts of clean energy, which was over 10% of all new
renewable energy capabilities added worldwide that year.
Tech giants like Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Google accounted
for more than half of those agreements.
Now, the Rivian CEO asserted that without these virtual
Ppa's, many renewable energy projects wouldn't even get off
the ground. The commitment to the purchase
power for these projects ensures their financial viability and
their completion, and Rivian's commitment to the solar project
in Kentucky shows that they're in it for the long haul.
Rivian also champions transparency and reporting
environmental impact. It's striving to achieve Scope 3
neutrality. This is an objective that means
the company aims to eliminate all indirect emissions from its
supply chain and the life cycle of the Ev's it produces.
Moreover, Rivian plans to offer a package allowing drivers to
match their charging regardless of location with renewable
energy Now. This commitment to offsetting
carbon emissions positions Rivian as an industry leader in
the shift towards renewable energy.
Now this collective venture of global automakers to build this
new EV charging network is a huge move and this will
electrify an eco conscious future for the automotive
industry. Now the commitments towards
renewable energy signals a shift towards sustainable practices in
the automotive sector that we've never seen before and hopefully
will help promote wider EV adoption in the future.
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