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A Closer Look at CATL’s New Sodium-Ion Battery
CATL unveiled a new sodium-ion battery for energy storage at the ESIE 2026 show in Beijing, in April. The show is the 14th Energy Storage International Conference and Expo (ESIE). ESIE was born alongside the development of China’s energy storage industry and serves as a key communication and cooperation platform in the energy storage field.
CATL’s new battery expands its sodium-ion lineup beyond passenger cars, commercial vehicles, and auxiliary power, into utility-scale and commercial storage.
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A Failed Experiment? Biofuels Under Spotlight

Guy Youngs On March 31, EU ministers met to discuss the global shortage of around 11million barrels of oil per day. At the meeting, European Commissioner Dan Jørgensen urged nations to outline measures to reduce the use of oil and gas, particularly in transportation. The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has caused panic within Europe. As a result, the EU has been advised to consider biofuels as an alternative to fossil fuels.
Unlike America, Europe is struggling to find sources of oil that are either not in Russia nor the Middle East. As a result the European Union has been advised to look again at Biofuels.
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As Fossil Fuel Supplies Falter, Renewables Increase
This article reviews how China is helping Cuba shift its dependence from oil to renewable energy, by a series of massive solar parks (92 in total) with a combined output of 2,000 MW (or roughly Cuba’s entire current thermal generation from burning fossil fuels.
China has also committed to installing 10,000 photovoltaic systems for isolated homes and critical facilities. China is also investing in Cuba’s wind farms.
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US Battery Recycler Lands $1.1B Metals Refining Deal
In Tokyo, at the first Indo-Pacific Energy Security Ministerial and Business Forum, Nth Cycle (a critical metals refining company) signed a massive US$1.1 billion, 10 year, agreement to provide recycled battery metals.
Refining battery metals in the US and Europe has been difficult to scale up because the more traditional refineries often require billions of dollars in upfront investment, take a long time to get all the necessary permits and require huge amounts of material in order to be profitable.
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Oil Crisis Makes Drivers Reconsider Electrics
The US-Israeli attack on Iran, and Iran’s retaliation has caused a massive rise in the costs of petrol and diesel. In the UK, petrol is up around 30% and diesel is up around 50%. In the USA, average gas prices were up by 33% in early April
There seems to be a never ending cycle of oil-related problems. In 2008, supply, demand and speculation caused a massive price hike. In 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine causing another oil price hike. And now, the US-Israeli attack on Iran has driven yet another price hike. The fundamental problem is that transportation remains totally dependent on oil, and oil prices are set by a very volatile global market.
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Alternative Power Report, April 2026
Download PDFThe April 2026 issue of the Alternative Power Report produced by Power Systems Research and authored by Guy Youngs, features articles on problems with biofuels in Europe and how drivers consider EVs again. Read these articles and more in the April 2026 issue of Alternative Power Report today. PSR
Guy Youngs is Forecast and Technology Adoption Lead at Power Systems Research
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Alternative Power Report, March 2026
Download PDFIn the March 2026 issue of the Alternative Power Report produced by Power Systems Research and authored by Guy Youngs, you’ll find articles on plug-in hybrid research, long-run tests of PV-powered refrigerated trailers, comparison tests of EV batteries, cutbacks in Bosch China operations, and the changing cost differential between Chinese and EU batteries. Read these articles and more in the March Alternative Power Report today. PSR
Guy Youngs is Forecast and Technology Adoption Lead at Power Systems Research
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Hybrids May Use 300% More Fuel Than Thought

Guy Youngs Study shows PHEVs exceed government estimates. There have been several studies that suggest that hybrid electric vehicles (also called PHEVs) are simply not the great environment saver that the marketing people are suggesting. A new study by the Fraunhofer Institute shows that on average, PHEVs use more than three times as much fuel as government estimates suggest.
The study is highly credible as it was based around on-board fuel consumption monitoring data from a massive 981,035 vehicles across Europe.
A gap of over 300% is severe and makes it hard for the EU to regulate something when the estimated numbers are so wildly different from reality. The EU is aware of this problem, and is taking some measures to fix it
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PV-Powered Refrigerated Trailer Completes Test Run
Recently in Australia, Protrans Solutions conducted a successful trial with a battery-electric refrigerated trailer charged by onboard solar panels on the 1,100 miles Sydney-Brisbane round trip without using diesel to refrigerate the trailer unit. This demonstrates a depot-to-depot cold-chain capability.
But that’s easy, I hear you say, its Australia and its sunny. Well, how about cold and snowy Canada? Transport Canada’s Zero-Emission Trucking Program, recently published a study which monitored over than 200 thousand kms (124,224 miles) of diesel and electric truck data over a year of operations in the Montreal-area. There findings were staggering with nearly $200k of savings per electric truck
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Researchers Compare Different EV Battery Types
Researchers from Newcastle University in the UK, and the Fire Service Academy in Poland, have undertaken a detailed comparison of three key battery technologies: conventional lithium-ion, emerging sodium-ion (SIB), and solid-state batteries (SSB)
They report that high energy lithium types (such as NMC battery variants) are more prone to fire risks (often referred to as thermal runaway) and these can become structural unstable when highly charged, leading to a potential fire risk. They also noted that thermal stability declines as nickel content increases. However, Lithium iron phosphate (LFP), is more robust and can thermal runaway even above 300 °C, making it less prone to fire risks. However, it offers lower voltage and energy density.
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