GreenergyDaily

Jul. 2, 2024

1. Renault's electric vehicle unit Ampere said on Monday it would include lithium iron phosphate technology in its plans to mass produce EVs, teaming up with LG Energy Solution and CATL to build a supply chain in Europe. Western automakers are under pressure to expand their range of chemical battery technologies to meet the needs of all market segments amid fierce competition from their often cheaper Chinese rivals.

2. China is setting up a new entity guided by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council and jointly established by nine central enterprises including PetroChina and Sinopec,  to search for ultra-deep oil and gas reserves and tackle harder-to-extract non-conventional resources, state energy group CNPC said on Monday.

3. European manufacturers of hydrogen equipment have urged the EU to step in to help the industry compete with cheaper Chinese producers, in a letter seen by Reuters on Monday. The companies, among them Thyssenkrupp Nucera, Siemens Energy, and Nel Hydrogen, want Brussels to do more to ensure Europe-made equipment powers the EU's plan by 2030 to produce 10 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen using electrolysers, machines that use electricity to split water to produce the green fuel.

4. Saudi Arabia's energy minister announced on Monday the discovery of seven oil and gas deposits in the kingdom's Eastern Province and Empty Quarter, the official Saudi news agency SPA reported. Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said state oil group Saudi Aramco had discovered "two unconventional oil fields, a reservoir of light Arabian oil, two natural gas fields, and two natural gas reservoirs", SPA said.

5. Tesla China said yesterday it is offering up to five years zero-interest loans for customers purchasing a Model 3 or a Model Y this month. A minimum down payment of CNY79,900 (USD11,000) is required to enjoy the benefit.

6. BYD sold 341,700 vehicles in June, its fourth straight month to sell over 300,000 units and the third month in a row to top carmakers in China by NEV sales. It sold 145,200 pure EVs and 195,000 plug-in hybrid EVs, up 30% from a year ago. 

7. China's 1st hydrogen-powered smart tram rolled off the assembly line Mon in Yibin, SW China's Sichuan. The zero-emission tram with a 35MPa hydrogen storage system can run over 200 km on a single fill-up, meeting the long-distance operational needs of urban public transport.

8. The Shymkent refinery in Kazakhstan is one of the key projects of the Belt and Road Initiative in Kazakhstan. The project, jointly managed by China National Petroleum Corporation and Kazakhstan National Oil and Gas Corporation, has not only improved Kazakhstan's refining capacity and oil quality, but also laid a solid foundation for energy cooperation between China and Kazakhstan.

9. China has seen another energy storage project using sodium-ion batteries go into operation, as the new batteries begin to gain wider use in energy storage. State-owned power company China Datang Corporation put a 100-MWh energy storage station using sodium-ion batteries into operation in central China's Hubei province on June 30, the supplier of the batteries, Hina Battery, announced yesterday.

10. Deliveries of Chinese new energy vehicle startups Nio, Zeekr, and Leapmotor hit a record high last month, according to their data. Nio deliveries nearly doubled to 21,200 units in June from a year earlier, that of Leapmotor rose 52 percent to 20,116 units, and that of Zeekr surged 89 percent to 20,100 units.