German taxpayers are handing BMW €273m to once again attempt to push hydrogen-powered cars, when battery prices have once again dropped >50% in the past ~18 month and CATL is on its 5th-gen LFP battery. CATL, BYD et al must be laughing all the way to the bank. Sigh. www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/w...

Electrification FTW

BMW bekommt pro Auto 2,7 Millionen Euro Steuergelder geschenkt www.linkedin.com/posts/thomas...?

And of course, as soon as a technology is on the decline, there are always German politicians, like a flock of reverse vultures, ready to throw even more money down the drain.

Repeating myself: China is now so large int terms of population, economy and emissions that it (should) makes sense for China to act unilaterally on climate change.

End of this year, the hydrogen refuelling stations in Berlin-Rothenbachstraße, Biebelried, Braunschweig, Duisburg, Essen, Hasbergen, Ingolstadt, Kirchheim, Laatzen, Limburg, Lohfelden, Metzingen, Rheda-Wiedenbrück and Wendlingen will close.

Ein 350 Millionen schweres Steuergeschenk für die Luftverkehrsindustrie raushauen, das Bahnfahrende mit der Verteuerung des Deutschlandtickets querfinanzieren. Chapeau: Das ist Robin Hood rückwärts bei gleichzeitiger Klimazerstörung.

An interesting example of how a non-grid operator can achieve a (temporary) grid connection using a battery. Once the grid operator has made the permanent connections, the battery can be used elsewhere. A temporary variant on contestable build that can be scaled further?

Will it be electric prosperity or combustion-driven impoverishment?

"Für jede Trafostation eine LEG" [‘A local energy community for every transformer station’] It is fascinating how local energy communities are encouraged in Switzerland (so not governed by EU law, that also creates that role), and how the (local) utilities are also actively involved in this.

🇳🇴 EV drivers in many areas can now earn a 'Ladebonus' for offering flexibility to the energy system, regardless of their energy supplier or contract. With the 'Norgespris' static low price removing incentives for smart home charging, this enables grid-friendly behaviour in a user-friendly way.

Important decision for V2G in Germany: parliament approves a legislative amendment that exempts electricity stored and supplied by bidirectional charging cars from energy tax and network costs. This makes the business case viable (and equivalent to large stationary batteries).

This has long been a French aspiration: that there should be futures contracts for the afternoon (currently there are only base and peak contracts, which no longer reflect the fundamentally changed reality brought about by solar power generation).

Important decision for V2G in Germany: parliament approves a legislative amendment that exempts electricity stored and supplied by bidirectional charging cars from energy tax and network costs. This makes the business case viable (and equivalent to large stationary batteries).

This is so cool: Copper, which makes induction stoves with li-ion batteries integrated, is going to build *10,000* of these suckers for use in New York public housing. Better cooking, easier cleaning, grid resiliency built in. Win win win.

I am quoted in this Guardian article on sustainable transport policy (or lack thereof) in Berlin www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...

NEW: I wrote about British churches installing heat pumps, in some cases in 1,000-year-old buildings! Decarbonisation may not be easy, but many view it as an act of faith. This is a special feature to mark The Reengineer’s first anniversary! Spread the word! 🥳 www.thereengineer.pro/p/let-there-...

One indicator of all this: Germany's car exports to China are headed to very low levels.

NEW | Solar and wind have grown fast enough to meet ALL new electricity demand in the first three quarters of 2025, leaving fossil generation at a standstill. Ember forecasts that 2025 could be the first year since Covid-19 without a rise in fossil power. https://loom.ly/AK3Fn3I

Wonderfully clever 1980s advert for UK's InterCity rail service.

Flexibility from EV charging and heat pumps reduces the total system costs for Switzerland by 1.7% for heat pumps only, 2.1% for EVs only, and 4.0% for both. Strong modelling results and recommendations to ensure that consumer-friendly flex offers are scaled up.

And even more, if you include Norway, which is also a Nordic country 😉

One of the most ill-conceived EV charging solutions is to place the plug in the kerb. Clearly, no one has considered the costs of groundwork and accessibility. Introducing a special arm for the latter does not improve the situation. This is not innovation, this is stupidity.

"on average, the use of an EV would generate an extra-European trade deficit twice as low (-51%) as that of a PHEV or EREV. [..] battery use - even assuming most of the added value remains outside the EU - combined with European electricity, requires far less extra-EU import value than petroleum"

"Allowing the sale of plug-in hybrids or range-extended electric vehicles beyond 2035 would 1️⃣ cost users more, particularly the most modest ones driving older used vehicles, 2️⃣ lead to significantly higher greenhouse gas emissions, and 3️⃣ negatively impact the trade balance and national sovereignty."

"Allowing the sale of plug-in hybrids or range-extended electric vehicles beyond 2035 would 1️⃣ cost users more, particularly the most modest ones driving older used vehicles, 2️⃣ lead to significantly higher greenhouse gas emissions, and 3️⃣ negatively impact the trade balance and national sovereignty."

Now, 10,000 EV drivers in Finland are contributing to grid stability. The smart charging service Synergi, which already optimises EV charging according to dynamic power prices, now provides FCR support to the national grid using this aggregated fleet.

NEW RESEARCH: Our study shows high-temperature heat pumps are the most cost-effective path to decarbonising industrial heat at low to medium temperatures. We find industrial heat pumps can cut heating costs by up to 75% vs h2 & and beat natural gas. www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Local energy communities meet public EV charging in Burgenland, Austria 🇦🇹. Discounted EV charging is available at times when there is an abundance of wind and solar energy, reducing the public charging price to €0.26/kWh. www.fcbe.at/laden/

“Google also announced the expansion of its 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy (CFE) partnership with Engie in Germany [..] now scaling up to contribute to Germany's energy transition and grid stability. [..] Google's German operations are projected to run at or near 85% carbon-free energy in 2026.”

Ethiopia last year banned the import of new gasoline-powered cars. Nepal reduced import duties on EVs so much that they are now cheaper than cars with internal combustion engines. Brazil raised tariffs on car imports to compel Chinese automakers to set up plants inside Brazil. Etc

🚜 Electrification will change the farm. Swappable batteries, bidirectional charging and on-site solar charging

The EV roaming system in Europe is increasingly being hit by hidden fees and absurd price discrimination.

Smart stacking in practice: Frank Energie in the Netherlands and Belgium introduces smart heat pump control (for multiple brands) that not only responds to dynamic energy prices, but also participates in intraday, imbalance and frequency services.

It's been a while since an energy supplier in France offered dynamic prices to households. Since this month, there's a new one. Sobry doesn't offer smart device control yet, but for most EVs and many heat pumps and A/Cs, device manufacturers or 3rd parties offer tools. ht @florentcoste.bsky.social

Begrijpelijke frustratie: procedures, vergunning, grond sneller dan gedacht beschikbaar en nu vertraagt TenneT alsnog omdat het 'sneller gaat dan gedacht'. Hoe de netproblematiek in Nederland ook een probleem is met organisatiecultuur.

The new family vehicles of Paris. I think that if a Parisian cycling activist came out of ten years of hibernation and went into the street, what would seem most unbelievable to them would be seeing all these bikes with childrens on the back ;)

“Users should be able to use any car with any charger and service. In addition to technical standards and grid codes, we need user choice in legislation.” That's what I wrote last week about V2G (bidirectional charging).

A Dutch consumer organisation is taking BMW to court for cheating on diesel emissions. When Germans refer to combustion engines as 'job engines', they mean for lawyers, right?

From Paris to Belém (Hôtel de Ville Paris)

This research gets called "AI" now because that's the latest buzzword. 5 years ago it would've been called "machine learning" (the term the researchers themselves use, although the magazine writer calls it AI). In the oughts it would've been called "big data." Before that, "time-series forecasting."

The article doesn't say it, but this cool solar forecasting software uses no large language models, the thing people usually think of when they hear "AI." It uses a fairly simple convolutional neural network that's readily trained on a laptop. No data centers or LLMs involved. Research paper here:

Misinformation and populism also appear to be finite fuels, like fossil gas. In a generally sluggish German heating market, gas boilers are now losing out to heat pumps.

This is probably the coolest thing you'll see on the internet today. itiner-e.org

If producing solar electricity were woke, we wouldn't have countries like Hungary and Pakistan leading the transition. It's good business, less reliance on costly fuel imports, and less filthy air. edition.cnn.com/2025/11/07/c...

China’s rise as the world’s clean energy superpower is reshaping global decarbonisation. The full implications are only starting to sink in. An important new FT piece highlights that while much of the debate has focused on how Europe and the US should respond, the bigger story might be elsewhere.

“...all that flexible demand, all those batteries from the cars, they're going to be really, really important for the way we run our electrical system. If we don't have that demand, we're going to see more curtailment, we're going to see higher system costs."

@solarpowereu.bsky.social had me on their podcast to talk about the EUs upcoming Electrification Action Plan. I mostly talked about implementing existing legislation, maintaining the 2035 car standards. Plus my favourite idea: a Rural Homes Electrification Mission. youtu.be/eNb8CjlFIUM?...

Dites-le avec des fleurs. Paris, 7 novembre.

V2G, and the rise of dynamic grid signals – in the form of prices – as a major lever for guiding the charging and discharging of electric vehicles.