The Big Battery Factory

[Canny lass]

Pity they aren't interested in establishing themselves here! Northvolt premises should be available soon! They promised the earth but despite having thousands employed they haven't been able to produce more than 5% of what they promised. BMW, one of their biggest investors has withdrawn an order for billions because Northvolt simply isn't meeting the promised production and Scania have done likewise. Plans for a further three factories has been placed on hold. Soon there won't be any need for batteries here as sales of EVs has plummeted because of the uncertainty. Having said that, it hasn't helped that Northvolt has had a spate of 'mysterious deaths 'at their factory this year or that petrol prices have reached an all-time low.

[Vic Patterson]

Ditto Canada. Our government is also pouring BILLIONS of dollars into foreign companies to build batteries but we are still to see production! or any significant improvement in battery technology that make EV's viable in our climate and geography.

Steam and electricity were the automobile preferred means of power until gasoline/petrol took over, (gasoline/petrol was a discarded byproduct) when and if they improve EV's to be at least as practical  in all environments, and not just city driving. Industry will be clamouring to build batteries and not having to be bribed too!

I don't see ANY proposals for remote or emergency electrical generation that presently uses IC. I rely on my small IC generator for our power outages, especially at -40c or +30c! I can see small nuclear power packs! I still think tidal power is still the largest unharness source of global power! 

I do hope that the proposed Data Center is built, even if the employment numbers aren't as large as advertised, there is still construction and then maintenance.

 

  

[Canny lass]

Breaking News - Northvolt have just announced that 1 600 jobs must go at the Skellefteå factory! I wonder what they'll do with all the housing that was built especially to accommodate the workforce that was 'needed'.

I agree with you, Vic, that tidal energy is worth looking at more closely. The tides are reliant on the sun and the moon and they aren't going anywhere so they should be a constant, reliable source. Sweden doesn't have a great deal of tidal water so it's maybe not the best option here but the Faroe Islands (Denmark) are investing heavily in tidal energy, planting 'kites' on the ocean floor that then sway in the tidal waters just as real kites sway in the air. They are planning on being totally converted to tidal power by 2030 so that project is worth watching.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

2 hours ago, Canny lass said:

Breaking News - Northvolt have just announced that 1 600 jobs must go at the Skellefteå factory!

Their web site still showing 3,500+ jobs :- 

https://northvolt.com/manufacturing/ett/

 

[Vic Patterson]

6 hours ago, Canny lass said:

that tidal energy is worth looking at more closely

Our Bay of Fundy has up to 16 meter tidal difference, I didn't realize that many countries were successfully using tidal/wave power, once harnessed the power, electricity can be moved over very long distances! Canada has lots of Hydro power.

[Canny lass]

13 hours ago, Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) said:

Their web site still showing 3,500+ jobs :- 

The news bulletin was just released on Friday night. What Northvolt have said is that "1 600 jobs must go". From what I understand, 1 000 of these jobs are at the factory, 400 are at the labs for product development and 200 at the head office in Stockholm so they are spread over the whole company. As yet nobody has been given notice of termination of employment, so you won't see any changes yet. Just a couple of weeks ago they were talking about just 300 jobs that must go!  Naturally, the unions are up in arms.

I think most people have expected this as Northvolt has been experiencing a financial crisis for a couple of years now and bankruptcy has been up for discussion on several occasions.

[Canny lass]

10 hours ago, Vic Patterson said:

Canada has lots of Hydro power.

Same here. The biggest distributor is in fact called Waterfall.

[Vic Patterson]

6 hours ago, Canny lass said:

Same here. The biggest distributor is in fact called Waterfall.

Over here no one calls electricity electricity they call it Hydro! still confuses me.... (so easily done)

[Canny lass]

Did I understand you correctly, Vic, - your electricity comes from waterpower?

[Vic Patterson]

1 hour ago, Canny lass said:

Did I understand you correctly, Vic, - your electricity comes from waterpower?

Yes, 60% the rest is a mix, nuclear, gas, oil, wind, solar, stopped using coal but sell it to the USA who generate with it and we buy that power! $$$ its odd when people loose hydro, meaning electricity!  

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/cambois-qts-blackstone-datacentre-30040349?fbclid=IwY2xjawFo1G1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHelTQqer6zG_UMIyHLIej9wtdt55fpMWziqjd2EJh_jgRYQLM85ZoS9rQg_aem_Kw40vxjBh9gk9qudhLBkKA

 

[Canny lass]

Nice! I like the idea of the community drop-ins.

[Mal]

If anyone wants to know whats going in now..............

 

 

[threegee]

On 27/09/2024 at 16:49, Canny lass said:

...Soon there won't be any need for batteries here as sales of EVs has plummeted because of the uncertainty...

Sales of pure EVs are up 23% year-on-year internationally.  Much of what you read in the media about plunging EV sales is a distortion of the true position.  The media has an agenda driven by their advertisers.  It's true that consumers aren't buying German EVs, and that German sales fell sharply after a large rise due to German buyers bringing forward purchases due to their government scrapping subsidies.

Except for the German made Tesla Model 'Y' German manufactured EVs aren't actually very good.  The consumer eventually worked this out, but you won't hear this in the bought and paid for media reports!  All German car sales are plunging worldwide, not just their underwhelming EVs!  The German motor industry is facing its biggest ever crisis and lots of factory closures are imminent.  All VW staff have been mandated a 10% pay cut, and they are just the lucky ones who aren't being made redundant.

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

The Nissan Sunderland plant in our area has it's workers on a 'Stand-down' so they have stopped working on a Friday until they can move on all the excess cars they have manufactured, and storing onsite, until they can move the manufactured cars on to the rest of the world. 

[Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)]

Is this Bedlington Station's first public EV charging point? Clayton Street.

Edited 5 hours ago by Alan Edgar (Eggy1948)

[threegee]

3 hours ago, Alan Edgar (Eggy1948) said:

Is this Bedlington Station's first public EV charging point? Clayton Street.

Connector type? Cost per KW/h? Payment methods? And most importantly... the power available? Is it on Zapmap - yet?

Back in 2020 it was very disappointing to see just how backward the NE was when we drove our Tesla off the Zeebrugge ferry at North Shields. We'd driven some 1500Km from Italy and through the Alps with no problems whatsoever.  As soon as we landed on Tyneside, it was like stepping back into the 20th century. The charger at Cramlington was utter c**p and had delivered a measly single kilowatt-hour when we returned to the car after an hour in the shopping centre.  It turned out it couldn't process the credit card it initially accepted and had disconnected. The hotel (which I won't name) had a totally ambivalent attitude to EVs, and much else! They directed us to a couple of points up beside Northumberlandia, which clearly hadn't worked for months.

The only charging that actually worked was at the roundabout on the spine road, and that had a queue for the single pathetic 50Kwh (minus a lot) connector post. It was also overpriced by a lot, and there were ICE vehicles making access to it difficult.

Back on the continent again, it was plain sailing all the way to the Mediterranean, with no waiting anywhere for a charge; zero defective chargers encountered; and two hotels giving us free overnight charging.