Baltic Dry Index. 1340 +50 Brent Crude 94.48
Spot Gold 1915 US 2 Year Yield 5.00 +0.04
Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy.
Benjamin Franklin.
To no one’s great surprise, the Great US Auto Strike of 2023 is now underway. If it lasts only a day or two or even a week, the drag on the US economy will be tolerable. If it drags on for longer, lookout below, bad things will start piling up fast.
How it ends, will determine if US is in for a full-on new round of rampant wage price inflation. Run, do not walk to the life boats. When elephants fight it’s best to get out of their way.
Look away from that soaring crude oil price and
rising US 2 year yield now.
UAW members
go on strike at three key auto plants after deal deadline passes
DETROIT – Thousands of members of the United Auto Workers went on strike at
three U.S. assembly plants of General
Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis,
after the union and the automakers failed to reach a deal on a new labor
contract Thursday night.
“The UAW Stand Up Strike begins at all three of the Big
Three,” the union said in a post on X, the
site formerly known as Twitter, just after midnight Friday.
The facilities are GM’s midsize truck and full-size van plant
in Wentzville, Missouri; Ford’s Ranger midsize pickup and Bronco SUV plant in
Wayne, Michigan; and Stellantis’ Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator plant in Toledo,
Ohio. For Ford, UAW President Shawn Fain said only workers in paint and final
assembly will be on strike.
“We got to do what we got to do to get our share of economic
and social justice in this this strike,” Fain said outside the Ford facility in
Wayne, minutes after the strike began. “We’re going to be out here until we get
our share of economic justice. And it doesn’t matter how long it takes.”
The selected plants produce highly profitable vehicles for
the automakers that largely continue to be in high-demand. About 12,700 workers
– 5,800 at Stellantis, 3,600 at GM and 3,300 at Ford – will be on strike at the
plants in total, the union said. The UAW represents about 146,000 workers
across Ford, GM and Stellantis.
“If they come to the pump and
they take care of their workers, we’ll be back to work,” Fain said early
Friday, referring to the automakers. “But if they don’t, we’ll keep amping it
up.”
The union selected the plants as
part of targeted strike plans initially announced Wednesday night by Fain, who
has unconventionally been negotiating with all three automakers at once and has
been reluctant to compromise much on the union’s demands.
---- Fain has referred to the union’s plans as a “stand-up strike,” a nod to
historic “sit-down” strikes by the UAW in the 1930s.
Key proposals from the union have
included 40% hourly pay increases, a reduced 32-hour work week, a shift back to
traditional pensions, the elimination of compensation tiers and a restoration
of cost-of-living adjustments (COLA), among other items on the table including
enhanced retiree benefits and enhanced vacation and family leave benefits.
More
UAW strike hits Ford, GM, Stellantis plants (cnbc.com)
In the global stock casinos, who cares about economic
reality? Aren’t the massed ranks of central banksters about to flood the global
economy with more helicopter money, free for almost all?
Asia markets
rise as China August activity data largely beat expectations
UPDATED THU, SEP 14 2023 11:05 PM EDT
Asia-Pacific
markets climbed, bolstered by a slew of China’s economic data for August that
were mostly better than market expectations.
China’s August
retail sales and factory output beat expectations, but the print for fixed
asset investment came in slightly below expected. Home prices slipped 0.1% in
August from the year before.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rebounded
to rise 1.3% after the announcement, while mainland markets also rose, with the
CSI 300 inching up marginally.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed
1.34%, while the Topix continued to push fresh 33-year highs, gaining 1.25%.
Most notably, shares of investment holding company Softbank surged
over 3% after Arm, the chip
design firm it
controls, advanced almost 25% on its Nasdaq debut.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose
1.8%. South Korea’s Kospi advanced
1.15%, while the Kosdaq was marginally up.
Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes
ended higher as core producer price index in the U.S. climbed by 0.2% in
August, in line with expectations.
The overall producer price index
increased a seasonally adjusted 0.7%, higher than the 0.4% estimate and the
biggest monthly gain since June 2022.
The Dow notched its
best day since Aug. 7 , climbing 0.96%. The S&P 500 gained
about 0.84%, while the Nasdaq
Composite moved 0.81% higher.
Asia
stock markets today: Live updates (cnbc.com)
In China news, a mixed bag. One step
forwards, two steps back, or vice versa? Assuming the scripted data is real.
China factory output,
retail sales beat forecasts in boost to recovery prospects
By Ellen
Zhang and Joe
Cash September
15, 20233:46 AM GMT+1
BEIJING, Sept 15
(Reuters) - China's industrial output and retail sales grew at a
faster-than-expected pace in August, but property investment slumped further
and could drag on broader demand even as the recent flurry of support policies
showed signs of stabilising the economy.
Industrial
output, released on Friday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), rose
4.5% in August from a year earlier, accelerating from the 3.7% pace seen in
July and came above expectations for a 3.9% increase in a Reuters poll of
analysts. The growth marked the quickest pace since April.
Retail sales, a
gauge of consumption, also increased at a faster 4.6% pace in August aided by
the summer travel season, and was the quickest growth since May. That compared
with a 2.5% increase in July, and an expected 3% increase.
The
upbeat data suggest that a flurry of recent measures including property
support policies to shore up a faltering economic recovery are
starting to bear fruit.
Reacting to the
data, the Chinese yuan touched two-week high against dollar.
Yet, the recovery
is far from sure-footed, analysts say.
"Despite
signs of stabilisation in manufacturing and related investment, the
deteriorating property investment will continue to pressure economic
growth," said Gary Ng, Natixis Asia Pacific senior economist.
Friday's
data followed better-than-expected bank lending figures, narrowing in the
declines of exports
and imports as well as easing
deflationary pressure.
The country's
passenger vehicle sales also returned to growth in August from a year earlier,
as deeper discounts and tax breaks for environmentally friendly and electric
vehicles boosted consumer sentiment.
To
sustain the recovery momentum, China's central bank said on Thursday it would cut the
amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves for the second time this year
to boost liquidity. Earlier in the day, the bank also rolled
over maturing medium-term policy loans to inject more liquidity into
the finiancial system, while keeping the interest rate unchanged.
But analysts
say more fiscal and monetary policy steps are needed as an ailing property
sector, high youth unemployment, uncertainty around household consumption and
rising Sino-U.S. tensions over trade, technology and geopolitics have raised
the bar for a durable economic recovery in the near future.
Ng said
confidence remains the root of most problems requiring larger
"constructive policy and regulatory changes" to boost growth
momentum.
The
once mighty property
sector still remains a drag on the $18 trillion economy, with the
country's largest private developer Country
Garden the latest to stumble due to liquidity squeeze.
More
China
factory output, retail sales beat forecasts in boost to recovery prospects |
Reuters
China's property slump
worsens, clouding recovery prospects
By Liangping
Gao and Ryan
Woo September
15, 20234:18 AM GMT+1
BEIJING, Sept 15
(Reuters) - A slump in China's property sector worsened in August, with
deepening falls in new home prices, property investment and sales, despite a
recent flurry of support measures, adding pressure to the world's
second-largest economy.
New home prices
fell at the fastest pace in 10 months in August, down 0.3% month-on-month after
a 0.2% decline in July, according to Reuters calculations based on National
Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data. Prices were down 0.1% from a year earlier,
after a 0.1% decline in July.
For August,
property investment fell for the 18th straight month, down 19.1% year-on-year
from a 17.8% slump the previous month, separate data showed on Friday. Home
sales are down for the 26th consecutive month, according to Reuters
calculations based on the data.
China has in recent weeks delivered a raft of measures to boost home buying sentiment, including easing some borrowing rules, and relaxing home purchasing curbs in some cities.
These
policies have given major cities like Beijing a
tiny boost in new home sales, but some worry they might be short-lived and
could potentially dry up demand in smaller cities.
China's broader
economy is showing signs of stabilisation with economic figures showing
quickening growth in industrial output and retail sales.
However,
analysts say a series of supportive policies have yet to firm up the crisis-hit
property sector with major Chinese developers still fighting to avoid default.
----Moody's on Thursday cut China's property sector outlook
to negative from stable, citing economic growth challenges, which the rating's
agency said will dampen sales despite government support.
China's
property crisis is seen as one of the biggest stumbling blocks to a sustainable
economic recovery, with rising risks of default among private developers
threatening to imperil the country's financial and economic stability.
China's property slump worsens, clouding recovery prospects | Reuters
Next, more on the Country Garden follies.
Today, the Country Garden path to disaster, Malaysia version.
'Seeing is
believing': Country Garden's Malaysia project in spotlight
By Xinghui Kok and A.
Ananthalakshmi September
14, 20238:29 AM GMT+1
KUALA LUMPUR/ISKANDAR PUTERI, Malaysia,
Sept 14 (Reuters) - As cash-strapped developer Country Garden battles to stave
off default, its sprawling $100 billion development in Malaysia has come under
scrutiny from creditors even as the Southeast Asian nation dangles financial
incentives to lure investments.
Billed as a paradise with turtles and
white-sand beaches, Country Garden's Forest City development in the state of
Johor next to Singapore aims to house 700,000 people across 7,000 acres on four
reclaimed islands upon completion in 2035.
Seven years in, Country Garden has
invested 20 billion ringgit ($4.3 billion) in the project, Forest City said, a
far cry from the initial $100 billion plan. Today, with development still in
progress, it houses fewer than 10,000 people - about 1% of its target.
Forest City has become emblematic of
the risks Country Garden and some of its Chinese peers took on with their
debt-fuelled building boom not just at home but also in offshore markets.
As it struggles
with weak cash flow and a wall of repayment obligations, Country
Garden's prospects of deploying additional capital to the project now look
increasingly challenging, analysts say. The Chinese developer is also unlikely
to see any revenue boost from the project any time soon.
Late last month, Forest City said the
project is proceeding as planned despite issues tied to the "political
landscape and interference, economic stability, government policy".
"The company is also always
prepared to review and to re-evaluate Forest City's development plans after
2025 if there is a current need to do so," it said, without elaborating on
its plans or the significance of the 2025 review date.
Forest City, a joint venture between
Country Garden and a private Malaysian company backed by the Sultan of Johor
and the state government, has been beset by problems ranging from environmental
to regulatory issues since its inception in 2016.
As financial stress mounts on Country
Garden, help from the Malaysian government will be crucial for the success of
the development and the company may have to bring in external investors to
revive the project, said Foo Gee Jen, Group Managing Director at real estate
agency and consultancy CBRE-WTW.
More
'Seeing is believing': Country Garden's Malaysia project in spotlight | Reuters
In other news, the ECB opts for recession. More
US inflation.
ECB
raises rates to record high, signals end to hikes
By Francesco
Canepa and Balazs Koranyi September
14, 20232:42 PM GMT+1
FRANKFURT,
Sept 14 (Reuters) - The European Central Bank raised its key interest rate to a
record high of 4% on Thursday but, with the euro zone economy in the doldrums,
signalled this was likely to be its final move in a more-than year-long fight
against inflation.
The
central bank for the 20 countries that share the euro also raised its forecasts
for inflation, which it now expects to come down more slowly towards its 2%
target over the next two years, while cutting those for economic growth.
That
illustrated the dilemma the ECB faced at the meeting: prices are still rising
at more than twice its target rate but with high borrowing costs and a downturn
in China, overall economic activity is struggling.
Against this backdrop, the ECB sent a message that it was
likely done with raising rates, prompting euro zone bond yields to fall and
European shares to rise. (.STOXX)
"Based
on its current assessment, the Governing Council considers that the key ECB
interest rates have reached levels that, maintained for a sufficiently long
duration, will make a substantial contribution to the timely return of
inflation to the target," the ECB said.
That is
now expected to happen more slowly than at the time of the ECB's previous
projections in June, with inflation seen at 5.6% in 2023, 3.2% in 2024 and 2.1%
in 2025.
ECB
President Christine Lagarde did not absolutely rule out a further hike if
needed and said interest rates would have to remain at restrictive levels for
some time.
"The
focus is going to move, going forwards, to the duration, but that is not to say
- because we can't say that now - that we are at peak," she told a press
conference.
Lagarde
acknowledged that some ECB board members had argued against the latest rate
hike but added: "There was a solid majority of governors to agree with the
decision we have made."
Asked
to comment on whether the ECB's downgrading of its growth forecasts - with euro
area growth this year now put at only 0.7% - meant that a regional recession
was now its base-case scenario, Lagarde insisted the slowdown was temporary.
More
ECB raises rates to record high, signals end to hikes
| Reuters
August
wholesale inflation rises 0.7%, hotter than expected, but core prices in check
Inflation at the wholesale level rose more than
expected in August, countering recent data showing that price increases have
tempered lately.
The producer price index, a measure
of what producers get for their goods and services, increased a seasonally
adjusted 0.7% in August and 1.6% on a year-over-year basis, the U.S.
Department of Labor reported. That monthly gain was above the Dow
Jones estimate for a 0.4% rise and was the biggest single-month increase since
June 2022.
However, excluding food and energy,
the PPI climbed 0.2%, in line with the estimate. On a 12-month basis, core PPI
increased 2.1%, its lowest annual level since January 2021. Excluding food,
energy and trade services, the PPI increased 0.3%.
The data comes a day after the more
closely followed consumer price index showed a rise of 0.6% on a monthly basis
and 3.7% from a year ago. Excluding food and energy, core CPI increased 0.3%
and 4.3% respectively.
As with the CPI, the upward
pressure on the PPI came largely from a big jump in energy prices. The PPI
energy index rose 10.5% on the month, spurred by a 20% surge in gasoline.
Final demand goods prices rose 2%
in August, the biggest one-month gain since June 2022. Services prices
increased 0.2%.
In other economic news Thursday, the
Commerce Department estimated that retail sales increased a
higher-than-expected 0.6% in August, well above the Dow Jones estimate for a
0.1% rise. Excluding autos, sales also increased 0.6% against the 0.4%
estimate.
Those numbers are not adjusted for
inflation, indicating that consumers continue to hold up despite rising prices
and increasing levels of credit card debt. Compared to the monthly rise in CPI,
retail sales in real terms were flat on the month. Sales were up 2.5% from a
year ago, which was below the 3.7% annual CPI inflation rate.
The retail report also reflected
higher energy prices, as gas station sales rose 5.2%.
More
PPI
inflation report August 2023: (cnbc.com)
Finally, today something really important. A victory for the UK’s freedom’s that have long flowed from the Magna Carta of “Goode” King John’s, Merrie Olde Englande.
London Police issue a grovelling apology, pay substantial damages and issue a self-serving white-wash statement in an attempt to minimise their reputational damage from this “incident.”
We’re just trying to minimise the complainants’ “distress.” No really, honest,
Scouts honour, cross my heart and all that.
A spokesperson
for the Metropolitan Police said the vigil had taken place in [embarrasing, edit] extraordinary circumstances and its officers had [almost, edit]
acted in good faith.
"A
protracted legal dispute is not in the interests of any party, least of all [us, edit] the
complainants who we recognise have already experienced significant [torment, edit]
distress as a result of this [outrage, edit] incident," the spokesperson said.
"The most
appropriate decision, to minimise the ongoing impact on [us, edit] all
involved, was to reach an agreed settlement."
London police
apologise and pay compensation to women held at vigil
By Michael Holden September 14, 20237:42 AM GMT+1
LONDON, Sept 14
(Reuters) - London's police force has apologised and paid "substantial
damages" to two women detained at a vigil held in memory of Sarah Everard
who was raped and murdered by a serving officer, their lawyers said on
Thursday.
Marketing
executive Everard was abducted off a street in London as she walked home in
March 2021 and her body was found in a woodland about 50 miles (80 km) away
some days later.
News of her
killing and the disclosure a serving officer, Wayne Couzens, had been arrested
led to anger and protests, and hundreds of people, mainly women, attended a
vigil at Clapham Common in southwest London three days after Everard's body was
found, and close to where she was last seen.
The women, Dania
Al-Obeid and Patsy Stevenson, were among those who were held by officers and
then taken away in handcuffs after police said the gathering was in breach of
COVID-19 lockdown rules and the crowd had refused orders to disperse.
Photographs of
Stevenson being restrained and pinned down by officers were beamed around the
world and became the enduring image of the incident, leading to widespread
criticism of heavy-handed policing.
Bindmans, the law
firm who represented women, said in a statement the Metropolitan Police had now
settled civil claims brought by the women, paying them damages and issuing an
apology.
"It has
taken over two years to reach this conclusion," Stevenson said in a
statement.
"It’s been a
really tiring and difficult process but it has felt important to push for some
form of accountability and justice for myself and all women who attended the
vigil to express our anger and grief over the murder of Sarah Everard by a
serving Metropolitan Police officer."
A spokesperson
for the Metropolitan Police said the vigil had taken place in extraordinary
circumstances and its officers had acted in good faith.
"A
protracted legal dispute is not in the interests of any party, least of all the
complainants who we recognise have already experienced significant distress as
a result of this incident," the spokesperson said.
"The most
appropriate decision, to minimise the ongoing impact on all involved, was to
reach an agreed settlement."
The Everard
murder and the policing of the subsequent vigil was one of a series of scandals
that have plagued the London force in recent years, leading to its former chief
Cressida Dick being pressured to resign.
An independent
watchdog report weeks after the vigil concluded police had acted appropriately.
But
a scornful review published in March this year, commissioned after Couzens was
jailed for life, labelled the force misogynistic and highlighted the incident as an example of its
failings and the need for reform.
London police apologise and pay compensation to women
held at vigil | Reuters
To those of you who received honours, awards and distinctions, I say, well done. And to the C students, I say, you too can be president of the United States.
George W. Bush.
Global Inflation/Stagflation/Recession
Watch.
Given
our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians,
inflation now needs an entire section of its own.
Recession risk "coin flip" over the next year - PIMCO
September 13, 2023
LONDON (Reuters) - The risk of a global recession over the next 12 to 18 months is close to a "coin flip" and financial markets are underestimating the chances of one in the United States, executives at bond giant PIMCO said on Wednesday.
"We've
become a bit more constructive, given the better economic numbers," Daniel
Ivascyn, group chief investment officer at the $1.79 trillion asset manager
told a media event in London.
He was
referring to strong data prints in the U.S. recently which have prompted
markets to scale back expectations for rate cuts from the U.S. Federal Reserve
over the next 12 months.
Ivascyn said
PIMCO is the most interested it has been in interest rate exposure in years,
and has also been adding to its position in inflation-linked bonds. Deficit and
debt levels were a concern, he added.
Speaking at
the same event, Richard Clarida, former Fed vice chair and a global economic
advisor to PIMCO, said the odds of a moderate U.S. recession are higher than
markets are pricing in.
In Europe, the
asset manager expects a rate hike at Thursday's European central bank meeting
and next week from the Bank of England, with the latter's November decision
more uncertain.
On China,
where slowing demand and a deepening property crisis have exacerbated economic
slowdown, portfolio manager Pramol Dhawan said PIMCO was looking for additional
stimulus to support the economy and had not yet seen a "credible
solution".
Stimulus
measures so far were "nothing really with a big bang effect to get the
economy going," he added.
Beijing has
rolled out a series of support measures but investors have so far been
disappointed. PIMCO expects more rate cuts and liquidity injections to follow.
Dhawan added
that U.S.-China tensions were also denting investor appetite for Chinese
stocks. Data on Wednesday showed non-residents withdrew nearly $15 billion from
the sector in August, the largest monthly outflow on record.
"I think
that only continues in that direction while these sort of elevated tensions
between the U.S. and China continue," he said.
More
Recession risk "coin flip" over the next
year - PIMCO (msn.com)
Deloitte
set to cut 800 jobs in UK division amid slowdown in demand
WEDNESDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 2023
8:53 PM
Deloitte is set to make hundreds of
redundancies in the UK as demand for its services slows amid a challenging
market environment.
The Big Four accounting firm today
announced it would be restructuring its business.
Around three per cent of UK roles are at risk of redundancy
under the proposed plans, representing approximately 800 roles, City
A.M. understands.
“Today we announced
some targeted restructuring across our businesses, which may – subject to
consultation – put some roles at risk of redundancy,” Deloitte CEO Richard
Houston said.
“This follows a
slowdown in growth, which, combined with the ongoing economic uncertainty,
means we have to consider the shape of our business and may mean we have to
make some difficult decisions.”
The decision comes
amid a wider slump in demand for the sector, as dealmaking slows down and
businesses rein in costs amid inflationary pressures.
Fellow Big Four
accountant EY
last month also warned of job cuts in the UK and smaller bonuses as it battles
with rising costs.
PwC also noted the
challenging market environment earlier this year, with
the company warning its junior auditors in May of potential pay freezes.
Deloitte set to cut 800 jobs in UK division amid slowdown in demand (cityam.com)
Like
almost everyone who uses e-mail, I receive a ton of spam every day. Much of it
offers to help me get out of debt or get rich quick. It would be funny if it
weren't so irritating.
Bill Gates.
Covid-19 Corner
This
section will continue until it becomes unneeded.
New Study Detects
Spike Protein in Vaccinated 6 Months After COVID-19 Vaccination: Researchers
Suggest 3 Possible Reasons
9/12/2023 Updated: 9/13/2023
According
to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), mRNA from COVID-19 vaccines is “broken down
within a few days after vaccination and doesn’t last long in the body”—a
position it has adhered to since the pandemic's beginning, despite research
suggesting otherwise (pdf). The CDC refers to mRNA as “messenger
RNA,” whereas regulatory documents and Pfizer refer to the mRNA in COVID-19
vaccines as “modified RNA.”
Yet a new study published on Aug. 31
in Proteomics Clinical Applications found
spike protein in the biological fluids of people who received an mRNA COVID-19
vaccine six months after vaccination, suggesting mRNA may be integrated or
retranscribed in some cells.
The study
group included 20 subjects who received two doses of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine,
20 who were unvaccinated and tested negative for COVID-19 or antibodies
indicating they had previously been infected, and a control group of 20
unvaccinated participants who tested positive for COVID-19.
Researchers then
tested to differentiate synthetic spike proteins originating from mRNA vaccines
from natural spike proteins in biological fluids, such as blood, urine, saliva,
and bronchoalveolar lavage fluids of
study participants and monitored vaccine-induced spike protein following
vaccination.
According to the study, spike proteins originating from the translation of mRNA vaccines differ from natural spike proteins that circulate in biological fluids post-infection because two proline amino acids replaced the amino acids lysine and valine to help stabilize the synthetic spike generated by vaccination. This double amino acid variation removed a tryptic digestion site (a necessary part of protein absorption) on the natural spike protein. Because of this, researchers said it is possible to differentiate between natural and synthetic spike protein in biological fluids using tryptic digestion followed by mass spectrometry analysis.
Utilizing these techniques, researchers detected specific fragments of synthetic spike protein in about 50 percent of subjects who received mRNA vaccines. The synthetic spike protein was detected from 69 to 187 days following vaccination. All samples from the unvaccinated control group were negative, including the 20 individuals who had tested positive after contracting COVID-19.
Based on
the results of the study, researchers suggested three possible hypotheses to
explain why synthetic spike protein persisted in the vaccinated:
· The mRNA from COVID-19 vaccines may be integrated or
retranscribed in some cells.
· Pseudouridines at a
particular sequence position may induce the formation of a spike protein,
although the researchers stated this was a remote possibility.
· The mRNA-containing nanoparticles may be picked up by
bacteria ordinarily present at the basal level in the blood and produce spike
protein.
Although researchers
said all three hypotheses need further study, they concluded that their initial
observations could aid in an individual’s decision about whether to take
boosters.
More
Technology
Update.
With events happening fast in the
development of solar power and graphene, among other things, I’ve added this
section. Updates as they get reported.
New graphene EV
batteries hailed as ‘wonder material’ that could revolutionize transportation:
‘Science is the easy part’
Wed, September 13, 2023 at 10:00 PM GMT+1
Graphene has been heralded by the European Parliament, universities, and other institutions as a “wonder material” that could impact multiple industries.
It’s very light and
extremely strong. Better yet, the conductive material helps improve battery tech.
Made of a single layer of carbon
atoms, graphene — which the EP says is a million times thinner than a human hair — is poised to
transform the electric vehicle landscape, according to
AZoNano, a site reporting on nanotechnology.
The report listed
fire safety and better energy efficiency as benefits, with the potential to
charge EV batteries in minutes, not hours.
The EP stated that graphene (discovered in 2004) is the thinnest
material ever created. A Harvard blog added that it is formed by a connected lattice of carbon
atom hexagons and is derived from graphite, just like the kind in pencils.
AZoNano highlighted its
advantages over common lithium-ion batteries now powering our rides, and safety
might be chief among them. Graphene will “dissipate” heat better during the
charge/discharge cycle, limiting the risk of overheating and fires.
A lighter weight and an
environmentally friendly production method that reduces energy consumption are
other potential perks listed. The
production process, however, is still being developed. The Harvard report cited a project using a “plasma gun” to produce
graphene as one option being explored.
“Science is the easy part. To
develop a technology, you should know what products you are aiming at, and this
should be coming from the industry,” graphene co-discoverer and Nobel Prize
laureate Konstantin Novoselov said on the EP’s website, which noted bendable smartphones and extremely light planes as
other products that could be made with graphene.
NASA is even exploring batteries made with a special kind of graphene with
holes in it, allowing air to pass through. The material is lightweight and
highly conductive, according to its experts. The goal is for the batteries to
power electric aircraft.
There are still some challenges
to work through before graphene batteries are mainstream for EVs, including
“scalability of graphene production, cost-effectiveness, and integration into
existing battery manufacturing processes,” Taha Kahn wrote for
AZoNano.
But, Kahn is optimistic about the
research.
“It is expected that the
integration of graphene EV batteries will become more practical and
economically viable in the coming years,” Kahn added.
Another weekend and buy now for
Christmas 2023 and all of 2024 never looked more attractive, unless, of course,
China tips the global economy into massive deflation. I wish I knew which it’s
going to be! Have a great weekend everyone.
We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don't know.
W. H. Auden.
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