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Stellantis takes €22bn hit after ‘overestimating’ pace of shift to EVs

Carmaker, which owns marques including Peugeot and Jeep, will also sell stake in battery joint venture Business live – latest updates The carmaker Stellantis has said it will take a €22bn (£19.1bn) charge and sell a stake in its battery joint venture after admitting that it “overestimated” the pace of the shift to electric vehicles. The European-based carmaker, which owns marques including Peugeot, Fiat, Jeep and Citroën, said that the move was part of a reset of its business as it also admitted “poor operational execution”. Continue reading...

Green energy sector drove more than 90% of China’s investment growth last year, analysis finds

Industry bigger than all but seven world economies, and accounts for more than third of China’s economic growth China’s clean energy industries drove more than 90% of the country’s investment growth last year, making the sectors bigger than all but seven of the world’s economies, a new analysis has shown . For the second time in three years, the report showed the manufacture, installation and export of batteries, electric cars, solar, wind and related technologies accounted for more than a third of China’s economic growth. Continue reading...

Boy, 13, who took family campervan on 70mph joyride given points on future licence

Teenager admitted it was not the first time he had taken the vehicle but told the court he ‘won’t do it again’ A 13-year-old boy who drove his family’s Volkswagen campervan on a 70mph road in the middle of the night for a joyride in Dorset has been given penalty points for a future licence, a court heard. The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was spotted by other motorists driving the 2.5-litre silver van on the A35, a busy dual carriageway in Poole. His father told the judge at Poole magistrates court his son would be “washing cars for the next year” to pay off his debt. Continue reading...

Chinese carmaker Chery to launch fourth brand in UK

State-owned company will sell under the Lepas brand, continuing its rapid expansion in the British market Business live – latest updates The Chinese carmaker Chery is launching a fourth brand in the UK, continuing a push into the British market where it has rapidly become a major player. The state-owned company said on Wednesday that it would sell cars under the Lepas brand, which is developing battery and hybrid SUVs aimed at younger families, mainly in the European market. Continue reading...

The lithium boom: could a disused quarry bring riches to Cornwall?

Known as ‘white gold’, lithium is among the most important mined elements on the planet – ideal for the rechargeable batteries used in tech products. Can Europe’s largest deposit bring prosperity to the local community? It looks more like the past than the future. A vast chasm scooped out of a scarred landscape, this is a Cornwall the summer holidaymakers don’t see: a former china clay pit near St Austell called Trelavour. I’m standing at the edge of the pit looking down with the man who says his plans for it will help the UK’s transition to renewable energy and bring back year-round jobs and prosperity to a part of the country that badly needs both. “And if I manage to make some money in the process, fantastic,” he says. “Though that is not what it’s about.” We’ll return to him shortly. But first to the past, when this story begins, about 275-280m years ago. “There was a continental collision at the time,” Frances Wall, professor of applied mineralogy at the Camborne School of Mines...

Waymo raises $16bn to fuel global robotaxi expansion

The funding round valued the Alphabet subsidiary at $126bn as company aims to expand more cities worldwide Self-driving car company Waymo on Monday said it raised $16bn in a funding round that valued the Alphabet subsidiary at $126bn. Waymo co-chief executives Tekedra Mawakana and Dmitri Dolgov touted the massive investment as a sign that the age of large-scale autonomous mobility has arrived. Continue reading...