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| Oil gushing from a deep well, destined for Standard Oil. Photo: Kinderflow. |
MARCH has been quite a month for events that take us all a bit
closer to the end of petrol-engined motoring as we know it.
The last of these events happens tonight, at a car launch that will
be watched closely by city planners and social anthropologists alike, for it
involves that great disruptor, Elon Musk.
Musk, owner of the electric car brand Tesla, had already tweeted in
February that “Model 3 reservations ($1 000 down) will be accepted in Tesla
stores on March 31 and online April 1”.
Unlike other Tesla cars, the Model 3 is not a brutally fast, very
luxurious all-electric vehicle, but an affordable evee aimed at the masses — a
lot like the Chevrolet Bolt.
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| Elon Musk at the Tesla factory in the US. |
The Tesla 3 will bring Musk a step closer to his real objective —
to save the planet from our carbon-belching vehicles by replacing them with
electrics.
Last year, Musk told students in Paris, while the French capital
was hosting the U.N. Climate Change Conference, that electric vehicles are a
crucial part of a solution to climate change. That, and much higher taxes on
carbon emissions.
The Model 3 launch was hosted at the Tesla’s design
headquarters in Hawthorne, California, and will be live-streamed at the Tesla
website from about 4.30 am on Friday morning, SA time and over 198,000 orders streamed in during the first 24 hours.
Rocking the oil world
While the Tesla car shows the way forward in
propulsion systems, an announcement by the Rockefeller Family Fund (RFF) last
week shows if not the end of oil, at least that the end of oil is nigh.
The family fund, a charity set up in 1967 by descendants of John D.
Rockefeller, announced last Wednesday that it would divest from all fossil-fuel
holdings “as quickly as possible”.
Bear in mind, it was in oil that Rockefeller made his billions, but
now his descendants, Martha, John, Laurance, Nelson and David Rockefeller, have
said that ExxonMobil in particular is “morally reprehensible” in its deeds as
the world’s largest oil company. In a statement that may as well have been
written by Musk, the RFF founders thundered: “There is no sane rationale for
companies to continue to explore for new sources of hydrocarbons. “We must keep
most of the already discovered reserves in the ground if there is any hope for
human and natural ecosystems to survive and thrive in the decades ahead.
“We would be remiss if we failed to focus on what we believe to be
the morally reprehensible conduct on the part of ExxonMobil. “Evidence appears
to suggest that the company worked since the eighties to confuse the public
about climate change’s march, while simultaneously spending millions to fortify
its own infrastructure against climate change’s destructive consequences and
track new exploration opportunities as the Arctic’s ice receded.”
An Exxon spokesperson told CNBC: “It’s not surprising that they’re
divesting from the company since they’re already funding a conspiracy against
us.”
In England, meanwhile…
While Musk and the Rockefellers dominated the
headlines, news that millions of pounds sterling will be sucked up by British
vacuum maker Dyson to develop a battery system, almost slipped in under the
radar.
The news would have slipped past unnoticed were it not for the
British National Infrastructure delivery plan first claiming that Dyson will
develop an electric car, using £147 million in investment and creating 500
jobs.
According to the Guardian, the current version of the same government report
now states “up to £16 million” will be granted to Dyson to support research and
development for battery technology at its site in Malmesbury.
The news follows Dyson’s acquisition of battery start-up Sakti3
late last year for $90 million, citing it had “developed a breakthrough in
battery technology”.
Sakti3 is best known for its “solid-state” batteries (SSBs) that
store 50% more energy than current lithium-ion models in less space. The Sakti3
prototype can survive more charge-discharge cycles than traditional Li-ion.
Whatever the real reason behind the changes in the UK statement, the smoke
signals seem to indicate a UK government that is also on fire for vehicles that
do what Musk also wants — no carbon belching from exhaust pipes.
