Technological Velociraptor

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[Technological Velociraptor @TechVelocirap]

VELOCIRAPTORIAN TECHNOLOGY

[JR Urbane Network @JRUrbaneNetwork]

The BBC News countdown intro style meme seems to have flared up again this weekend on Chinese social media. One of Nanjing posted yesterday.

[the tiny corp @__tinygrad__]

In a few years, between hardware and algorithmic improvements, this will all look as laughable as governments restricting encryption to 40-bits.

[Technological Velociraptor @TechVelocirap]

@TonamiPlayman Thank you!

[Tonami Playman @TonamiPlayman]

@TechVelocirap I expect it to be about the same as the 144kWh electric iX5, which comes in at 2,900kg.

The last gen iX5 hydrogen prototype had a mass of 2,570kg with 6kg of hydrogen storage vs 7kg for the new one.

The last gen electric iX xDrive50 with 105.2kWh battery pack weighed 2,585kg.

[Martyn Schmoll @martynschmoll]

“[Driving] is removing a hundred tiny frictions a day…”

[Technological Velociraptor @TechVelocirap]

@leixing77 China has also mandated a 100 km range on EREVs and an efficiency when the battery is empty being 30% superior to pure ICEs. They clearly are favouring EVs.

[Lei 𝕏ing邢磊 @leixing77]

So China has decided to cancel vehicle and vessel tax preferential policy for energy-saving vehicles and NEVs effective January 1, 2027.

Specifically the country will cancel the policies of halving the vehicle and vessel tax for ESVs and exempting certain NEVs including battery electric commercial vehicles, PHEVs and fuel cell commercial vehicles from the tax.

Vehicle owners will be required to pay the annual tax starting next year.

However, battery electric and fuel cell passenger vehicles will remain exempt from the tax, as the two categories do not fall within the taxable scope stipulated by the vehicle and vessel tax law.

The preferential vehicle and vessel tax policies have been in place since 2012 to support the growth of the NEV industry and promote energy conservation and emission reduction.

My take: the significance of this policy change more reflects a clear signal that China is moving from a "cultivation and support" to a "market driven" stance since NEV sales have already way passed the tipping point and dominate overall vehicle sales, and less at preferring one powertrain type (BEV) over others (PHEVs and EREVs). So I don't think this particular policy change will have that of a significant effect in terms of swaying consumers' preference toward BEVs or PHEVs/EREVs.

Ultimately BEVs will remain as the long-term technology route but PHEVs/EREVs will still be relevant in the near future. Chinese consumers will vote with their wallets on product competitiveness rather than this policy change.

Table below is from the Vehicle and Vessel Tax Law of the People's Republic of China. Most of the EREVs for example are powered by 1.5L engines and depending on the region will pay an extra RMB300 to RMB540 a year.

[Tonami Playman @TonamiPlayman]

At this point, it becomes a question of insanity why BMW is still pursuing hydrogen.

I remember the promise of hydrogen being its longer range & faster refueling, yet the X5 hydrogen is expected to get only 750km (385 miles) range on its "revolutionary" flat pack tank.

[CATL @catl_official]

What does it take to create long-term value in energy storage?

CATL has officially unveiled TENER Sodium, a sodium-ion energy storage solution engineered to deliver greater efficiency, reliability, and long-term returns through system-level innovation.

• 30 MWh+ rated system capacity with fully modular architecture, enabling decoupled energy and power design
• Intelligent Sodium Storage System improving overcharge SOC tolerance by 20%
• 15,000 cycles and a 25–30 year service life
• >92% capacity retention at -20°C and 10,000 cycles at 45°C
• 40% reduction in expansion force. 60% lower peak surface temperature, and 35% reduction in gas generation, during thermal runaway
• ~30% lower system heat generation and 1% auxiliary power consumption
• 65dBA quiet operation enabling deployment closer to load centers
• Millisecond-level self-healing with 200ms fault isolation and 150ms service restoration, reducing unplanned outage losses

#CATL #TENER #TENERSodium #SodiumIonBattery #EnergyStorage

[CATL @catl_official]

At Intersolar Europe 2026, CATL showcased a comprehensive portfolio of energy storage solutions and services across diverse application scenarios, including its latest lithium-ion and sodium-ion technologies, as well as Battery Passport, ESVL, AI data center energy storage solutions, and other innovations supporting large-scale deployment.

During the event, CATL secured over 5GWh of sodium-ion energy storage project signings and more than 35GWh of lithium-ion energy storage project signings, with projects spanning over 20 countries and regions.

[AJ Investment Research @alojoh]

WARNING: TESLA RED PILL INCOMING. CONTINUE READING AT YOUR OWN RISK. @elonmusk

This is a widely held misconception about Tesla, at least partially.

The reason Tesla is so far ahead has not only to do with the Model Y being a strong product and brand, but also with capital and politics. Let me explain.

1) Tesla is the only large EV maker globally with factories in all three major markets: China, the US, and Europe. None of the other large EV makers have that footprint. Most Chinese EV makers do not even have meaningful manufacturing capacity outside China.
2) As a result, their global sales are artificially suppressed by tariffs and trade barriers. Some Chinese OEM's pay over 40% tariffs!
3) While Tesla can collect sales across all major regions, Chinese manufacturers are effectively locked out of the US market and highly restricted in Europe due to tariffs.
4) This means Tesla gets to compete across a much larger addressable market. Comparing Tesla's global sales with the global sales of Chinese EV makers is therefore inherently not an apples to apples comparison.

"But AJ, that's bullsh*t. The Chinese can just build factories on all three continents like Tesla."

Well, not quite.
Tesla's extremely inflated share price gave the company an enormous capital raising advantage. No automaker globally has had anywhere near as low a cost of capital as Tesla. Tesla's factories are already built and paid for. The major cash outflow is behind them. Today, there are depreciation charges and ongoing operating costs, but the large factory buildout already happened.

Chinese OEMs, by contrast, would have to put real cash on the table today to build factories abroad. On top of that, they cannot be sure whether they will face political headwinds that effectively deter or block large scale investments in the US and Europe. Several projects have already been delayed, scaled back, or put on ice.

Hence, please stop making these nonsensical comparisons.

The truth is that sales numbers can only be compared properly in markets where there is an even playing field.

The closest we have is China. In China, Tesla still leads, but by an ever smaller margin. Other OEMs, for example Xiaomi, are selling nearly as many units at a similar price point with the same number of models, namely two.

In the US, the gap is much larger because there is no large and highly competitive domestic EV competitor at Tesla's price and volume level and there won't be since Trump killed OEMs' incentives to move more strongly into EVs. Tariffs have successfully locked out the most competitive Chinese players. Hence, a US comparison is highly limited.

Similar applies to Europe. European OEMs have been quite uncompetitive, but even there the gap is narrowing.

Bottom line: comparing Tesla's global sales with EV makers that are objectively constrained in their global reach is not serious analysis. It is a flawed comparison.
https://t.co/9KUuKtitkt

[JR Urbane Network @JRUrbaneNetwork]

Today the final section of the Xi'an-Wuhan HSL from Xi'an to Shiyan (Xishi HSL) opened. A diagonal HSL that cuts the travel time from Wuhan and Xi'an from 4.5 hours doing a "⅂" jog on the congested Beijing-Guangzhou and Xi'an-Zhengzhou HSLs to 3 hours by taking a direct route. There are some economic-geographers that don't understand how trains, networks or even how the pythagorean theorem works and think the Xi'an to Shiyan HSL is a waste of money. China seems confident enough on the Xi'an-Wuhan HSL that there are already express "Benchmark" services that reach 350kph operating on the line. You can find out my critic of their "research" in the...

[Autoblog @therealautoblog]

Ford fired veteran engineers to let AI build its cars. This costly mistake triggered massive recalls and forced a shocking corporate reversal. https://t.co/XF8mhLuiNn

[Patrick Heizer @PatrickHeizer]

Revoke 5-10% of driver's licenses and tens of thousands of lives will be saved, prices for auto, property, and health insurance will all decline, multiple forms of pollution and traffic will decrease, and there will be a new demand for robust public transportation.

[Daniel Swain @Weather_West]

NOAA has extended the highest-tier "extremely critical" fire weather risk into Saturday, and shifts the maximum risk zone eastward from the Great Basin to Rocky Mountain western slope. Multiple new wildfires, most likely lightning holdovers, are currently popping up in Utah.

[Technological Velociraptor @TechVelocirap]

@JK_Lundblad You can't do Word and Excel on consoles, that's really a final bad take

[America Walks @americawalks]

Pedestrian deaths increased 72 percent just between 2009 and 2024, and more than 7,000 people are still dying each year because we aren’t doing enough to change the way we design our roads.

Learn more in @SmartGrowthUSA's Dangerous by Design 2026: https://t.co/aWoEQAXi7X

[Prof. Ryan Katz-Rosene @ryankatzrosene]

Fascinating… it’s been a relatively cool spring here in Eastern North America. And that happens to be very characteristic of prior Super El Niños as well…

“This comes from the pressure pattern, which in a rising super El Niño favors a low-pressure area development over eastern Canada and the eastern United States. That allows a more northerly flow to develop, bringing down lower temperatures than normal into central and eastern parts of the United States and Canada.”

Pattern is expected to oscillate over July and fully flip by Fall (for this part of the continent at least).

From: https://t.co/jRfxFRMSCx

[Ryan Maue @RyanWeather]

North Carolina will be ground zero for the upcoming "mega heat dome" over the Eastern U.S. into July 4th weekend.

Raleigh to 107°F will melt your face off

271 million Americans at least 90°F on Friday, July 3rd