This is Not Cool

EV Sales Pass Petrol in EU

Sales of fully electric cars surpassed those of petrol-only vehicles in the European Union for the first time in December, data from ‌the auto industry group ACEA showed on Tuesday, even as hybrids held onto the largest overall share of the market.

The data underscores how the bloc is shifting slowly towards electric and hybrid vehicles, even as policymakers have proposed loosening emission regulations that should allow vehicles with combustion engines to stick around for longer.

Independent automotive analyst Matthias Schmidt said that the fewer petrol car sales partly reflect reclassification of some as “mild ‌hybrids”, which still have petrol engines and only modestly contribute to lowering emissions.

“It will still take around half a decade before pure electric cars genuinely overtake combustion-engine models across the region, but this is nonetheless a start,” he said.

Fully electric vehicles made up 22.6% of cars registered in the EU last month, edging out petrol cars ‍on 22.5%. Gasoline-electric hybrids, including plug-in hybrids that can go limited distances on battery power alone, were the top group with 44%.

The EU unveiled a plan in December to abandon an effective 2035 ban on combustion engine cars, bowing to pressure from carmakers as ‌they fend ‌off challenges from Chinese rivals, U.S. import tariffs and difficulties in selling EVs profitably.

Another Climate Denier Caught up in Epstein Files

Bjorn Lomborg “looking forward” to meeting Epstein, years after the financier had been convicted and served time for trafficking

Not all climate deniers are pedophiles, but I bet most pedophiles are climate deniers.

just sayin’.

Yale Climate Connections:

The newly released documents show that in late 2016 and early 2017, after Donald Trump was elected to his first term, Epstein exchanged emails with celebrity physicist Lawrence Krauss, who at the time was the director of the Origins Project at Arizona State University. Epstein was a major donor to the Origins Project.

In the emails, which contain numerous typos and grammatical errors, Epstein pressed Krauss – who himself left Arizona State University in 2019 amid allegations of sexual misconduct – about several common claims by climate deniers. In each exchange, Krauss politely pushed back.

“i liked the argument that more co2 is good for plants?” Epstein wrote.

Texas “Test Bed” Weathered Cold Snap with Diverse Generation,Wind, New Batteries.

The **massive** system, nicknamed Fern, began its cross-continent **trek** on January 22, 2026 and lasted several days. It brought heavy snow, ice, and freezing rain to more than 220 million people.

Last week’s cold air blob challenged the Texas grid, it was not as severe as 2021’s Winter Storm Uri, nor as long lasting, but offered a reasonable test of improvements and updates since that deadly debacle.

Weatherization, what a concept.
Wind over performed, Batteries and solar backed up newly renovated gas.

Latitude Media:

ERCOT analysts and energy experts told Latitude Media that gas plants and wind turbines were less vulnerable to icy conditions than they were in 2021, in part due to weatherization mandates from state officials. Few plants went offline during the storm — a stark departure from when gas well heads and pipelines froze during Uri, causing rolling blackouts and skyrocketing electricity prices. Since then, Texas has also added more than 14 gigawatts of new battery storage capacity, some of which kicked in during critical windows Monday and Tuesday morning when demand spiked as residents and businesses turned on the heat.

“The gas, coal, and nuclear fleet was all significantly more reliable this time around, and then the batteries gave Texas the flexibility that those other generators don’t,” said Stephen Ryan, power market analyst at Wood Mackenzie.

Luck played another role: There was more wind and less ice than forecasters feared in the lead-up.

Ryan said that wind generation “overperformed.” Output was nearly six GW higher on Saturday and three GW higher on Sunday than Wood Mackenzie had forecasted. For every megawatt of wind on the grid, there’s less need for more expensive fossil fuels, he said. Renewables help drive down the cost overall of the entire system.

ERCOT’s ability to weather the storm could be a glimpse at the future for other grid operators; Texas leads the nation in renewables and storage deployment, and has become a test bed for the energy transition. Fern has demonstrated that a mix of winterized power generation can absorb shocks to the system, and — especially if the wind cooperates — temper skyrocketing prices. Analysts told Latitude Media that grid reliability doesn’t come from certain technologies winning, but rather from fossil fuels, solar, wind, and battery storage all covering the weaknesses of each other.

Chinese EVs WILL Come to the US

CBS Detroit interview with very plugged-in, long time Auto Industry and Michigan journalist Paul Eisenstein.

The Trump administration’s insult and threats to Canadians motivated Canada’s turn to China, and deal for EVs imports to Canada – which had formerly been tariffed out of deference and partnership with the US industry.
That’s all blown up and gone permanently.
Eisenstein says not only will China being coming to Canada, but that Chinese automaker will be coming to America.
“Almost certain in the next 3 or 4 years” – some Chinese manufacturing in the US.

Trump “Energy Dominance” Agenda Plays into China’s Hands

Besides providing more evidence of the President’s bottomless insecurity and neediness, the obnoxious “Energy Dominance” messaging from this administration, coupled with military attacks on Venezuela, and Iran, as well as threats against NATO allies and Canada, are only accelerating the energy transition to China’s benefit.

Jigar Shah on Linked In:

Most discussions of global oil markets fixate on supply: where the next barrel comes from, how much it costs to extract, and which producer sets the marginal price. That lens is in full force with the Venezuela and Iran events this weekend.

China’s energy strategy suggests a different framing—one that looks far more like the long-standing playbook advanced by Amory Lovins and the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI): don’t fight oil directly. Get more out of each barrel through efficiency, electrification, and better system design until demand structurally disappears.

If China succeeds at achieving their peak oil demand this year, their domestic success will be embraced by other oil importing countries that are looking to shift their oil import dollars into domestic technology investments. Oil demand will never go away, but we are seeing a long-term erosion of oil’s economic relevance.

Reagan Judge finds Fracker Energy Sec’s Climate Denial Panel Illegal

Turns out having secret meetings coordinated by shadowy fossil fuel funded groups with a pre-determined outcome aimed at overturning critical policies based on mainstream science is wrong.

In the video above, the grifter DOE Sec-to-be took time out from his busy schedule as a Fracking millionaire to produce a video on the complete harmlessness of fracking fluid.

What is misleading about the demonstration is, Fracking fluid that goes down into the hole is not the problem. It’s the stuff that comes back out.

Our Energy Secretary is a con man – Pete Hegseth without the tattoos.

New York Times:

A federal judge on Friday ruled the Energy Department violated the law when Secretary Chris Wright handpicked five researchers who reject the scientific consensus on climate change to work in secret on a sweeping government report on global warming.

The Energy Department issued the report, which downplayed the dangers of warming, in late July without having held any public meetings or made records available to the public. Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, then cited the report to justify a plan to repeal the endangerment finding, a landmark scientific determination that serves as the legal foundation for regulating climate pollution.

But the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972 does not allow agencies to recruit or rely on secret groups for the purposes of policymaking. Judge William Young of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts said the Energy Department did not deny that it had failed to hold open meetings or assemble a balance of viewpoints, as the law requires, when it created the panel, known as the Climate Working Group.

“These violations are now established as a matter of law,” wrote Judge Young, who was nominated to the bench by Ronald Reagan. He said the Climate Working Group was, in fact, a federal advisory committee designed to inform policy, and not, as the Energy Department claimed, merely “assembled to exchange facts or information.”

Ominous AI Post of the Week: Reddit for Bots

Moltbots/Clawdbots now have their own social network (@moltbook) and it's wild.

This is the first time I'm a little scared…

You need to watch this. pic.twitter.com/cek1MQfWQJ
— Matthew Berman (@MatthewBerman) January 31, 2026

We are in the age of WTF.

China’s EVs Will Destroy Detroit

Detroit automakers just assumed they’d always be protected behind tariff barriers, and it looked like that would be the case for a while, at least, as Canada, understanding that it had a stake in US automaker’s success, followed the US in applying 100 percent tariff barriers on Chinese cars.
That was before Trump made it clear he was going to force US automakers to pull their manufacturing out of Canada, and started bullying, threatening, and ridiculing Canadians, while actively working to subvert upcoming elections in Alberta.

Now there’s a deal with China for Canada to import EVs, with a tariff of only 6 percent. Small numbers, at first, but is there anyone who believes it will stay that way, especially when reviews of Chinese cars on YouTube have become a tech-porn addiction for millions of viewers. (see above)

Wall Street Journal:

My dearest Xiaomi SU7 Max,

It’s been about a month since we were last together. Now, every time I climb back into my Ford Mustang Mach-E, I can’t stop thinking about you—your long range, your modular interior, your absurdly large infotainment screen.

At night, I miss your adjustable color lighting. On weekends, the kids talk about your wireless karaoke mics, walkie-talkies and yes, that back-seat minifridge.

Please come back to America…for me.

Always,

Joanna

The Xiaomi SU7 Max—like other Chinese-made cars—is effectively blocked from the U.S. market. And yet, late last year, I spent two weeks test-driving one of China’s hottest cars around the mean streets of New Jersey. A friend who previously worked at Xiaomi bought the car and got a temporary permit to drive it in the U.S. He generously let me take it for an extended spin.

My time with the car confirmed what experts in the auto industry have long been saying: Holy crap, China is winning the digitally enhanced electric-car race.

Elon Musk Confirmed in Epstein Files

it's so wild watching this knowing what we now know ☠️pic.twitter.com/Cco6OWTjgv
— Micah (@micah_erfan) January 31, 2026

Ever wonder how it was that Elon Musk did that sudden switch to backing right wing politics?
Maybe it was the Ketamine. Maybe it was going crazy when one of his (how many does he have again?) children came out as trans.
Or maybe, maybe, it was something else.

The Weekend Wonk: India Taking Short Cut to Electro Tech

India has been behind China in economic and technological development, and as they are coming up the curve, they are now looking at a different set of options than China had 2 decades ago.

Ember:

India is generating more solar electricity, burning far fewer fossil fuels and electrifying transport faster than China did at an equivalent GDP per capita.

India is harnessing some of the cheapest solar in the world to power its industrial rise – bypassing an expensive, insecure, fossil-burning interlude. Where China and the West took the long road to the energy future, India is taking a shortcut.

India’s shortcut has consequences, both at home and abroad. It offers a faster, cheaper route to growing electricity. It means greater energy sovereignty at an earlier stage of development. It can position India as a third pole of influence in a world where energy is being reshaped by electrotech and trade by Sino-American competition. Such advantages are not a foregone conclusion, but the signs are promising.