** The inflation rate is down slightly but is still two times higher than the Federal Reserve’s ideal rate of 2%, according to Tuesday’s Consumer Price Index Report, which showed that the prices of U.S. goods and services increased 4% in May compared to the previous 12 months.
** In a weekend speech to Georgia Republicans, former President Donald Trump promises to halt federal incentives that have sparked a surge in electric vehicle and battery manufacturing a
nnouncements in Georgia and the Southeast. ** BYD Co., China’s homegrown company that’s now become the world’s hottest maker of electric vehicles, has a warning for the US: New climate laws could end up backfiring and leave Americans paying more for EVs than the rest of the world.
** General Motors has signaled in a series of recent announcements on plant retoolings that it plans to keep its largest and most profitable combustion trucks and SUVs in production longer than expected – another 10 to 12 years, according to analysts and suppliers.
** Duke Energy Corp said on Monday it has agreed to sell its unregulated utility scale Commercial Renewables business to Brookfield Renewable in a deal valued at about $2.8 billion.
** The head of a trade group representing nearly all major automakers urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to “ease up” on its aggressive proposal to sharply cut vehicle emissions through 2032, saying it could benefit China.
** Duke Energy announces it’s selling its commercial renewables business to a renewables company for $2.8 billion so it can focus on its regulated utilities.
World
** Britain has started burning coal to generate electricity for the first time in a month and a half, after the heatwave made solar panels too hot to work efficiently. One unit at Uniper’s Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal power plant in Nottinghamshire started producing electricity for the first time in weeks on Monday morning, while another coal-powered plant was warmed up in case it was needed by the early afternoon.
** India on Monday said power plants operating on imported coal would have to run at full capacity till the end of September, extending an earlier timeline by over three months, according to a government order seen by Reuters.
** Drilling for oil in miles-deep ocean water is booming again with rig-rental prices forecast to climb another 18% after doubling over the past couple years, according to Wood Mackenzie Ltd.
** European Union countries will try again next week to pass a deal on new renewable energy targets, which have been stalled by concerns from France and other states that the law sidelines nuclear energy.
** Toyota will introduce high-performance, solid-state batteries and other technologies to improve the driving range and cut costs of future electric vehicles (EVs), the automaker said on Tuesday, a strategic pivot that sent its shares higher.
** Ford is drilling down on its EV investments in America and Europe, as the company reopens its Cologne, Germany, plant as an EV hub. With an annual production capacity of 250,000 units, Ford says the first model produced at the plant will be the VW-backed, Europe-only Ford Electric Explorer.