Driverless Electric Bus Eases Driver Shortages and Congestion In Madrid During Maiden Service

– Courtesy of EMT ©, released to Euronews

After five years of testing, an autonomous electric bus has been deployed to a park in Madrid for one final, real-world experiment in driverless vehicles for public transit.

If it succeeds, the cute little caterpillar-shaped bus may become a mainstay in the Spanish capital, ferrying passengers around Casa de Campo park and beyond.

Developed through a partnership with the Madrid transit authority (EMT) and Automotive Technology Center of Galicia (CTAG), in northern Spain, the driverless bus has been in action between the 15th of September and 24th of October.

It drove in a circuit around Casa de Campo, picking up passengers at 6 stops, and operating for five of the city’s peak hours.

The vehicle is 100% electric, and though many of its body components were manufactured abroad, the brain, eyes, ears, and other software were made at CTAG.

“This bus is one of the best I have ever tested,” César Omar Chacón Fernández, head of the EMT’s Rolling Stock Planning Division, told Euronews. “It behaves very well dynamically. Let’s say that the technology is very well integrated, it doesn’t behave erratically or robotically like other buses.”

The aim of EMT and CTAG is not replacing drivers, but providing a suitable and safe alternative for predictable, shorter routes that can help cities address a current shortage of professional bus drivers.

Though fully autonomous, and capable of detecting pedestrians, cyclists, skateboarders, scooters, animals, crosswalks, stop signs, traffic lights, and roundabouts, and making decisions over when to brake, accelerate, turn, and open/close the doors, a safety officer is always on board just in case.

“The vehicle detects any object, from a bicycle to an animal, and reacts accordingly to avoid collisions,” Chacón said. “It is a fully autonomous line, but we never leave anything to chance.”A cute little thing, it joins a growing number of miniature, electric, European automotive options that fit better into crowds of cyclists, narrow streets, and cramped parking spaces. Driverless Electric Bus Eases Driver Shortages and Congestion In Madrid During Maiden Service

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'Innovation in existing plants can help meet growth targets'

L-R: Svenningsson, Martinez Sancho, Ponchon, Edwards and Singh (Image: World Nuclear Association)

Extending operating lifetimes, improving efficiency, and restarting shut-down plants - not just building new capacity - will be needed to meet that tripling target - and innovation will have a big part to play, moderator Johan Svenningsson, who is chairman and CEO of Uniper Sweden, as well as being World Nuclear Association's vice chairman, said in a panel discussion on Maximising Value from Existing Nuclear Power Plants.

France's Grand Carénage investment programme to extend the operating lifetimes of its reactors has involved many activities, including the replacement of critical components and the renewal of instrumentation and control systems. Framatome CEO Gregoire Ponchon said close collaboration with French reactor operator EDF, and a focus on mitigating problems, had allowed the time taken for major activities such as the replacement of steam generators to be shortened. Using artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help with time management will also mean such tasks can be completed in a shorter time.

Lou Martinez Sancho is Chief Technology Officer at Westinghouse and acting president of the company's eVinci microreactor. As well as investing in maintaining the generating fleet, she said, continued investment and innovation in the entire fuel cycle will also be critical to achieve continued operation.

A major disruptor in the nuclear materials sector is the availability of new materials and techniques that could in future become widely used in nuclear fuel production, Martinez Sancho said, noting that Westinghouse began producing fuel containing some 3D printed components as long ago as 2020. And AI is also likely to play a key role in nuclear fuel innovation too, helping to shorten development timescales.

The timescales involved in fuel innovations have in the past been long - often longer than the time taken to design a reactor, she said: "But what we are seeing is that [in] nuclear, we have over 75 years of operations, of data - and data is what makes your AI actually develop … and allows you to understand better how closely those developments are going to happen."

Westinghouse's nuclear-specific generative AI system is called Hive. It was launched at the 2024 Symposium - and it "allows us to move that much faster", she said. As well as supporting design innovation, AI is also able to leverage that data to help improve efficiency, both in operations and in products like configuration management systems, optimising processes and supporting power uprates.

Asked if AI was just a "buzzword", Martinez Sancho was emphatic that it is not: Westinghouse is already using both "traditional" AI tools such as machine learning, and more modern tools such as generative AI, daily. But managing AI to unlock its true value is more complex than many realise, she added, needing a secure infrastructure - and full traceability of data is paramount. It needs engineers, data scientists, mathematicians, legal teams and regulators to work closely together. Access to the wealth of data from an AI, coupled with engineering knowledge, can be used to improve and speed up some process - including licensing - but "the final responsibility is always that of the engineer, not the AI", she said.

AI is also useful for knowledge management, to capture the experience of employees of many years and transfer it across generations, she said. "They need to have access to that information much faster," she said.

Never-ending story

AtkinsRéalis CEO Ian Edwards, emphasised the benefits from digitalisation in the execution of work on existing nuclear assets, allowing tasks including maintenance, life extension and even decommissioning to be performed more efficiently.

"We can digitally plan an activity in a nuclear zone to the nth degree virtually, and train our people virtually, so that the actual exposed time and the actual time, from an efficiency perspective, is reduced really consistently. And we are doing this on existing assets all the time and using technology to improve."

Maximising the use of existing nuclear assets is not just about preserving megawatts on the grid: it is also important as a foundation for future developments, Ponchon said, and nuclear companies have benefitted from the experiences of their predecessors. "Innovation is a never ending story," he added.

Operating life extensions and capacity uprates of existing nuclear plants are without doubt critically important for the industry going forward, said Kris Singh, President and CEO of Holtec International, but the challenge is how to make them affordable and also how to design plants and carry out the work in such a way as to ensure they continue to perform well and even to improve: for example, introducing features to make plants more easily inspectable.

"The owner user community and the designers, developers, consultants, they need to get together on this," he said. "There's an opportunity to make every plant last longer, be more resilient, be more reliable, be more maintainable while you are doing the life extension, while you are doing power upgrade."World Nuclear Symposium took place in London from 3-5 September. 'Innovation in existing plants can help meet growth targets'

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This Undersea Tunnel Marvel is Set to Break 5 Records and Shave Hours Off Travel Times in Europe

The Fehmarnbelt tunnel will carry two rail lines and a pair of two-lane highways under the Baltic Sea – credit: Femern A/S, screenshot

Betwixt the shores of Germany and Denmark, a massive road and rail tunnel is being built and assembled for positioning under the seafloor.

The marvel of modern engineering will set records; even the facility erected to build it will be an achievement, and the product will dramatically alter the road and rail networks of Northern Europe.

Called the Fehmarnbelt Tunnel, it will span 18 kilometers (11 miles) of water with two double-lane highways, and two rail tunnels. From Hamburg, the journey to Copenhagen will be reduced by half, from 5 hours to just 2.5. From the seashore, a ferry trip that once took 45 minutes will now be a ten-minute drive.

Each 700-foot-long section of the tunnel is as heavy as 10 Eiffel Towers, and there are 79 of them in all, plus another 10 special sections that will house the largest electrical components. They can be manufactured 5 x 1 at a time in an assembly facility as big as 300 football fields on the shore—purpose-built for the project.

When finished, a pair of purpose-built pontoons will utilize 120 miles of steel cables to lower each section into place 40 feet down into a trench dredged on the Baltic Seabed, connected to the other sections, and then buried, making the structure the longest “immersed” undersea tunnel in the world.

Specially engineered gaskets and secondary seals mean that these massive concrete blocks, which by then will have taken 9 weeks to build, can float. After the crews finish installing as many accessory components into each section as possible on land, the sections are positioned in a basin that will be flooded with seawater.

The tunnel elements will be floated into position – credit: Femern A/S, screenshot

Thus christened, a fleet of tugboats will move them into the grip of the two pontoons for positioning in the sea.

“There will be no test run for the actual immersion,” Denise Juchem, a spokesperson for Femern A/S, the state-owned Danish company in charge of the project, told CNN. “It must work the first time. We will not compromise on quality and safety. That is why we are taking the necessary time to ensure that we are perfectly prepared.”

Femern A/S reckon they can lower the pieces into the trench with a precision of 12 millimeters thanks to a suite of underwater cameras.

When finished it will be the “world’s longest immersed tunnel; world’s longest combined road and rail tunnel; the world’s longest underwater tunnel for road; the deepest immersed tunnel with road and rail traffic; and the second deepest concrete immersed tunnel,” the senior project managers claim.

A rendering showing the tunnel’s construction site and eventual opening – credit: Femern A/S, screenshot

Fehmarnbelt will have a price tag of around $7.4 billion, and is expected to be a boon in both cross-border business and tourism between the countries, which while touching each other, have 12 miles of seawater between the island on which sits Copenhagen and the German mainland.

As a result, eastern Denmark is especially eager to see the tunnel opened, which will see it seize a justifiable place high amongst the great marvels of undersea engineering. This Undersea Tunnel Marvel is Set to Break 5 Records and Shave Hours Off Travel Times in Europe

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Wildfires in Spain signal growing climate risks for Europe, expert warns

IANS File Photo

Madrid, (IANS): The devastating wildfires sweeping across Spain this summer should serve as a warning to the rest of Europe about the rising dangers of climate change, a Barcelona-based climatologist said.

"This is a warning to countries that have traditionally enjoyed temperate, cool summers... because these conditions of intense heat will increase in latitude and will reach these countries," Javier Martin-Vide, climatologist and professor of physical geography at the University of Barcelona, told Xinhua.

According to Thursday's update from the European Forest Fire Information System, wildfires have scorched 403,171 hectares of land in Spain so far this year. Around 350,000 hectares were destroyed in just the past two weeks, coinciding with a severe heat wave that began in early August, Xinhua news agency reported.

Martin-Vide emphasised that climate models point to worsening conditions in the coming decades. "Adaptation is key to reducing the risk," he said, noting that temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius in central and northern Europe will pose serious challenges to societies less accustomed to extreme heat.

He called for stronger prevention measures and better landscape management, highlighting the effects of rural depopulation. "The woods are not as clean as in the past, when there were cattle, sheep, goats grazing and eating the vegetation that now acts as the fuel that starts a forest fire," he explained.

The climatologist urged innovative strategies, including the creation of "mosaic landscapes with forest areas interspersed with cultivated fields," to make land more defensible against blazes.

He also pointed to adaptation already underway in agriculture, as olive and wine producers move production to higher altitudes, in search of more favorable climatic conditions to maintain both quality and output.

Martin-Vide welcomed the Spanish government's plan to establish a nationwide pact on fire prevention, calling it "very necessary."Spain is enduring its worst summer for wildfires this century, with more than 20 major blazes still burning, mainly in the northwestern provinces of Orense, Zamora and Leon. The interior ministry said over 33,000 people have been evacuated, while four people, including three firefighters, have died. Wildfires in Spain signal growing climate risks for Europe, expert warns | MorungExpress | morungexpress.com

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Renewable energy: rural areas can be the EU’s green powerhouse

Lewis Dijkstra, Joint Research Centre (JRC)

The European Union aims to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% in 2030 compared to 1990 levels, and to become the first carbon-neutral economy by 2050. This ambitious goal requires a radical increase in the production of green energy within a relatively short timeframe. The untapped potential of rural areas in the union offers a way forward.

Rural areas could produce more energy than we need

Rural areas cover more than 80% of the EU’s territory and are host to around 30% of its population. Our work at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) shows that rural territories already generate the largest share of green electricity (72%) from the three most prominent renewable technologies: solar photovoltaic, onshore wind and hydropower. The remaining share of renewable energy is produced in towns and suburbs (22%) and cities (6%). Germany, Spain, France, Italy and Sweden are the top five renewable energy producers in the union, accounting for 68% of its total production from solar, onshore wind and hydropower installations.

But there is more. According to our analyses, rural areas also possess the highest untapped potential of renewable energy production–nearly 80%. Theoretically, they could produce enough to meet the total energy demand of the EU. We estimate that the total potential of solar, onshore wind and hydropower energy production in rural areas nears 12,500 terawatt hours per year. That’s more than five times the amount of electricity the union consumed in 2023, and it surpasses total energy consumption (which includes sources such as gas, oil and coal) for that year, too.

Technologies that suit the land

All this energy could be produced in rural areas without disrupting existing agricultural systems, landscapes and natural resources. Rural areas could produce up to 60 times more solar energy than what they currently deliver, quadruple their output from wind, and boost hydropower production by 25%. Spain, Romania, France, Portugal and Italy are the five EU countries with the highest combined (solar, wind and hydropower) untapped potential: together, they account for 67% of the EU’s potential, with contributions from rural areas ranging from 92% in France to 49% in Italy.

Overall, solar panels installed on the ground can make the biggest contribution to green energy production in the EU. However, rural areas across the union are highly diverse, so choosing the right technology would depend on local characteristics. Mountainous areas with abundant water resources are a good fit for hydropower production, while rural municipalities with large areas of suitable land lend themselves to solar or wind energy, depending on sun irradiation and wind speed. In rural areas where wind and land are insufficient, rooftop photovoltaic systems are a good option.

Boosting clean energy production can be a win-win

Rural areas are key to producing more renewable energy, as almost 80% of suitable, available land is located there. In addition, some of these areas are facing demographic and economic decline and are already the target of measures aimed at making them stronger, resilient and prosperous–as part of the EU’s long-term vision for rural areas. In this context, ensuring that these areas benefit economically from hosting more renewable energy projects makes them even more enticing. It also aligns with political considerations, as energy independence is a key part of the EU’s goal of strategic autonomy.

Addressing local concerns and fostering acceptance

While the potential offered by renewables is unquestionable, their production sites can face resistance from communities concerned about impacts on the local economy and quality of life. Seeing land used to produce energy with little local employment and seemingly for the benefit of large companies can also lead to resistance. Other concerns include competition for land use in areas where income is tied to other industries (such as agriculture or tourism), and the potential environmental impact of solar panels and wind or hydropower plants on rustic landscapes. With these concerns in mind, we identified portions of land suitable to host renewable energy plants that comprise roughly 3.4% of the EU’s surface. We excluded protected nature sites and biodiversity areas, forests and water bodies. We used strict limits on the use of agricultural land for energy production by only considering land that has been abandoned or has a very low productivity. Finally, we created buffer zones around infrastructure and settlements to minimise disturbance and safeguard natural beauty and cultural heritage.

Engaging local communities to find solutions

In our report, several case studies show the successful implementation of renewable energy projects in rural areas, driven by community engagement, collaboration and innovative financing models. From the first community-owned turbine in southern Europe in Catalonia, Spain, to a commercial energy company giving part of its profits to a local cause chosen with an energy community in the northern Netherlands, these cases highlight the potential for such projects to contribute to energy security, produce economic and social benefits and promote environmental sustainability.

These case studies show that active involvement of local communities from the early stages of renewable energy projects can foster acceptance. Citizens who are actively engaged or even share ownership in small- or medium-scale projects become more supportive. Beyond seeing profits stay local, engaged communities can mitigate negative effects of production by, for instance, choosing where to locate new energy plants.

Our report also offers an overview of renewable energy communities’ role in ensuring a sustainable energy transition in which rural areas are not left behind. The number of renewable energy communities in the EU is rising and, although an exact count is unavailable, it is estimated that there were over 4,000 of them, with some 900,000 members, in 2023. These communities are mainly concentrated in northwest Europe, and a high proportion are rural. Beyond energy communities, place-based approaches, where local populations and administrations are engaged from the early stages and see clear benefits, can make an important contribution to our sustainable transition.

Lewis Dijkstra, Team Leader Urban and Territorial Analysis, Joint Research Centre (JRC)

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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EU funding for French enrichment plant expansion

The Georges Besse II plant (Image: Orano)

The European Investment Bank and Orano have signed a loan agreement for EUR400 million (USD434 million) to partly fund the project to extend the Georges Besse II uranium enrichment plant in Tricastin in southern France. The project will increase the plant's capacity by more than 30%.

The Georges Besse II centrifuge enrichment plant - which superseded the Georges Besse I gaseous diffusion enrichment plant that ended production in June 2012 - was officially opened in December 2010 and reached its full production capacity of 7.5 million Separative Work Unit (SWU) in 2016.

In October 2023, the board of directors of Orano approved an investment of about EUR1.7 billion to raise the production capacity of the plant. The decision followed requests from some US and European customers who are seeking alternatives to Russian sources of supply.

The project consists of building a further four modules identical to the fourteen existing modules that use "the same recognised and proven technology, offering the best guarantees in terms of safety, competitiveness and energy savings, while having a reduced environmental footprint", the company said. The additional cascades will increase the plant's capacity by 2.5 million SWU.

This project was the subject of a notification under Article 41 of the Euratom Treaty on 7 September 2023. The European Commission issued a positive opinion on 9 October 2024, underlining the project's compliance with the Euratom treaty and its contribution to the security of supply in Europe.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) - the long-term lending institution of the European Union, owned by its Member States - has now agreed to lend Orano EUR400 million towards the Georges Besse II expansion project.

EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle said: "This significant EIB financing contributes to European energy independence. Decarbonised energies are essential to enable the European Union to meet the ambitious climate neutrality objectives it has set itself."

"We are very proud of this cooperation, which represents further recognition of the strategic value of our investment plan for the climate and for the production of sustainable and decarbonised energy," said Orano CEO Nicolas Maes. "The financing granted by the EIB for the capacity extension at our Georges Besse II enrichment plant is perfectly in line with this objective, as the project will make it possible to take the number of households supplied with low-carbon energy up to a total 120 million. Not least, in the current geopolitical context, this support for our activities from the EIB will help to strengthen security of supply in the European Union."Orano held a ceremony in October last year to mark the laying of the foundation stone of the Georges Besse II plant extension. The new modules are expected to begin operating in 2028, with complete commissioning of the extension in 2030. EU funding for French enrichment plant expansion

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Priceless ninth-century masterpiece Bible returns to Swiss homeland

SWITZERLAND - The Moutier-Grandval Bible, an illustrated ninth-century masterpiece considered one of the finest manuscripts in the world, is back in Switzerland, where it miraculously survived the ages in impeccable condition.

The priceless Bible was produced in Tours in France in around 830-840, before making its way to Moutier-Grandval Abbey, in the mountainous Jura region in northwestern Switzerland.

Now in the care of the British Library, the 22-kilogramme (50-pound) manuscript is being loaned for three months to the Jura Museum of Art and History in the region's tiny capital Delemont.

It is only the second time it has been loaned from London, after being shown at the Jura Museum in 1981, when 32,000 people flocked to see it.

"We could even call it a miracle: this mediaeval masterpiece has survived the ages, the circumstances of history; it has escaped ransacking, wars, fires, revolutions, and has reached us in remarkable condition," said the museum's director Nathalie Fleury.

When it returned on Tuesday, "the emotion was palpable: more than 1,200 years of history were in our hands", she said.

Around 100 Bibles were produced during the same period in Tours, of which 18 have survived intact, including only three that are illustrated. The Moutier-Grandval Bible is the best-known.

- 'Joy, awe and wonder' -

The Bible is going on show in the museum's basement, behind a thick steel door. Sealed inside a glass cabinet, it is the only object in the bare, darkened room.

AFP | SEBASTIEN BOZON

It is open on the first page, showing a vivid illustration of the story of Adam and Eve - its colours still remarkably bright - from the Book of Genesis.

For optimum conservation conditions, only five people at a time are allowed in the room, for five minutes only.

"The Moutier-Grandval Bible really is a masterpiece of scribal and artistic endeavour," said Claire Breay, head of ancient, mediaeval and early modern manuscripts at the British Library.

"It is one of the greatest treasures of the British Library," where it is periodically displayed on rotation.

"This spectacular, 1,200-year-old, hand-written Bible, with this wonderful decoration, is still bringing people together and bringing, joy, awe and wonder to everyone who sees it."

The 450 leaves, or 900 pages, measure 50 by 37.5 centimetres (20 by 15 inches), with text written in two columns of 50 to 52 lines each. The skins of 210 to 225 sheep were required to produce the parchment.

AFP | SEBASTIEN BOZON

It contains four full-page illustrations and around 20 copyist monks worked on the text, written in Latin in highly legible Carolingian minuscule script.

"It's very emotional to see it in real life: it's completely different from seeing a reproduction of it in a book or online," said book historian and co-curator Angeline Rais.

"People can see how big it is, how beautiful the colours and the gold still are," she told AFP.

- Unravelling the mysteries -

"There's a lot of mystery around the Bible," said Rais.

How it came to Moutier-Grandval remains uncertain.

AFP | SEBASTIEN BOZON

The Bible was left behind by canons and forgotten about until it was found, according to legend, in a Delemont attic in the late 1810s or early 1820s. It was sold to an antiques dealer in 1822.

It was eventually sold to the British Museum in 1836 for £750, or $93,600 in today's money.

With much of its back story so little known, the Bible even today remains shrouded in a degree of mystery: how it was transported from London to Delemont, and all matters of security, remain a guarded secret.

Rais said it had "enormous" resonance for the region.

The founding of Moutier-Grandval Abbey, in around 640, is seen as the starting chapter in local history.

"There is a really, really strong link between the community here of Delemont, of Jura, and the Bible," Rais told AFP.

AFP | SEBASTIEN BOZON

The exhibition opens to the public from Saturday until June 8.

Research continues on the Bible, notably on the parchment and the pigments used in the illustrations.

The museum's experts hope that the Bible will be displayed in the Jura again, and when it does, that studies will have finally unravelled the mysteries of its long journey.By Robin Millard Priceless ninth-century masterpiece Bible returns to Swiss homeland

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AI regulation around the world

Countries and economic blocs around the world are at different stages of regulating artificial intelligence, from a relative "Wild West" in the United States to highly complex rules in the European Union.

Here are some key points about regulation in major jurisdictions, ahead of the Paris AI summit on February 10-11:

- United States -

Returning President Donald Trump last month rescinded Joe Biden's October 2023 executive order on AI oversight.

Largely voluntary, it required major AI developers like OpenAI to share safety assessments and vital information with the federal government.

Backed by major tech companies, it was aimed at protecting privacy and preventing civil rights violations, and called for safeguards on national security.

Home to top developers, the United States now has no formal AI guidelines -- although some existing privacy protections do still apply.

Under Trump, the United States has "picked up their cowboy hat again, it's a complete Wild West", said Yael Cohen-Hadria, a digital lawyer at consultancy EY.

The administration has effectively said that "we're not doing this law anymore... we're setting all our algorithms running and going for it", she added.

- China -

China's government is still developing a formal law on generative AI.

A set of "Interim Measures" requires that AI respects personal and business interests, does not use personal information without consent, signposts AI-generated images and videos, and protects users' physical and mental health.

AI must also "adhere to core socialist values" -- effectively banning AI language models from criticising the ruling Communist Party or undermining China's national security.

DeepSeek, whose frugal yet powerful R1 model shocked the world last month, is an example, resisting questions about President Xi Jinping or the 1989 crushing of pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square.

While regulating businesses closely, especially foreign-owned ones, China's government will grant itself "strong exceptions" to its own rules, Cohen-Hadria predicted.

- European Union -

In contrast to both the United States and China, "the ethical philosophy of respecting citizens is at the heart of European regulation", Cohen-Hadria said.

"Everyone has their share of responsibility: the provider, whoever deploys (AI), even the final consumer."

The "AI Act" passed in March 2024 -- some of whose provisions apply from this week -- is the most comprehensive regulation in the world.

Using AI for predictive policing based on profiling and systems that use biometric information to infer an individual's race, religion or sexual orientation are banned.

The law takes a risk-based approach: if a system is high-risk, a company has a stricter set of obligations to fulfil.

EU leaders have argued that clear, comprehensive rules will make life easier for businesses.

Cohen-Hadria pointed to strong protections for intellectual property and efforts to allow data to circulate more freely while granting citizens control.

"If I can access a lot of data easily, I can create better things faster," she said.

- India -

Like China, India -- co-host of next week's summit -- has a law on personal data but no specific text governing AI.

Cases of harm originating from generative AI have been tackled with existing legislation on defamation, privacy, copyright infringement and cybercrime.

New Delhi knows the value of its high-tech sector and "if they make a law, it will be because it has some economic return", Cohen-Hadria said.

Occasional media reports and government statements about AI regulation have yet to be followed up with concrete action.

Top AI firms including Perplexity blasted the government in March 2024 when the IT ministry issued an "advisory" saying firms would require government permission before deploying "unreliable" or "under-testing" AI models.

It came days after Google's Gemini in some responses accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of implementing fascist policies.

Hastily-updated rules called only for disclaimers on AI-generated content.

- Britain -

Britain's centre-left Labour government has included AI in its agenda to boost economic growth.

The island nation boasts the world's third-largest AI sector after the United States and China.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer in January unveiled an "AI opportunities action plan" that called for London to chart its own path.

AI should be "tested" before it is regulated, Starmer said.

"Well-designed and implemented regulation... can fuel fast, wide and safe development and adoption of AI," the action plan document read.

By contrast, "ineffective regulation could hold back adoption in crucial sectors", it added.

A consultation is under way to clarify copyright law's application to AI, aiming to protect the creative industry.

- International efforts -

The Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI) brings together more than 40 countries, aiming to encourage responsible use of the technology.

Members will meet on Sunday "in a broader format" to lay out an "action plan for 2025", the French presidency has said.

The Council of Europe in May last year adopted the first-ever binding international treaty governing the use of AI, with the US, Britain and European Union joining the signatories.

Of 193 UN member countries, just seven belong to seven major AI governance initiatives, while 119 belong to none -- mostly in the Global South.By Tom Barfield With Afp Bureaus AI regulation around the world

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Belgians Grow Heaviest Pumpkin in Europe–Weighing as Much as a Honda Civic

Copyright Mario Vangeel – courtesy

In a Belgian town where the residents are nicknamed “pumpkin eaters,” celebrations are ringing out that a local claimed 1st prize in the European Pumpkin Championship.

At 2,539 pounds, (1,152 kg) Mario Vangeel grew the biggest pumpkin of the year.

His pumpkin had to be transported from his hometown of Kasterlee to Ludwigsburg in Germany for the competition; not so easy when your gourd weighs as much as a 2007 Honda Civic.

Vangeel took first place in the Belgian Pumpkin Championship in 2019, and second place in the European Championship back in 2021. This year, as he strapped down his pumpkin, he thought he had a chance.

“I was hoping yes, but I didn’t think I was going to win,” the 50-year-old tractor driver tells Euronews Green.

Vangeel hails from the town of Kasterlee, which is known as the town of the pumpkin eaters, as his wife, Bieke, explained.

“They found papers from the 1600s saying that because they had poor land, they couldn’t grow a lot of food. But pumpkins did very well here. And that’s where it started.”

Kasterlee boasts a giant pumpkin-growing club of 50 members, some of whom were set to challenge Vangeel at the European Championship until disaster struck: snails.

It was a rainy growing season all throughout Europe this year, and some growers lost their prized pumpkins to snails. One gentleman had managed to grow a pumpkin over 1,000 kg, but days before he was to transport it to Ludwigsburg, a snail made a little hole in it, and before long rot had set it and it couldn’t be moved.

Most of the pumpkins grown at the competition will be turned into boats for a silly canoe event. The gourds are hollowed out and used as boats for Kasterlee’s Pumpkin Regatta—a race that now attracts 5,000 visitors to the town to watch members of the Kasterlee Kayaking Club—and international competitors too—race down a river in hollowed-out pumpkins.

Bieke is proud of her husband, but admits that between herself and the gourd, her man found time to love only one of them. She told Euronews she’s thankful he’s no longer sleeping in the greenhouse, so to speak.

As for Vangeel, his next plan is to compete at next year’s World Pumpkin Championship, where he hopes to break the record held by Travis Gienger, of Anoka, Minnesota. Gienger holds the record for the world’s heaviest pumpkin at 2,749 pounds (1,296 kg.) Belgians Grow Heaviest Pumpkin in Europe–Weighing as Much as a Honda Civic

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If Australia wants to fast-track 100% renewables, it must learn from Europe’s risky path

Anne Kallies, RMIT University

Even after decades encouraging the growth of renewables, we’re still too reliant on coal and gas power stations.

The problem isn’t in our ability to generate clean power. It’s what happens after that. Major roadblocks include the need for 10,000 kilometres of new transmission lines to connect rural renewable farms with city consumers. Another oft-cited reason is the need to store power from renewables so it can be drawn on as needed. This is why the Australian Energy Market Operator sees such a big role for large-scale storage coupled with some flexible gas as a backup.

Last year, renewable investment actually shrank in Australia. Reasons for the slowdown are wide-ranging. Some are local, such as rural communities lobbying against new transmission lines, the need for planning and environmental approvals and the slow pace of creating new regulations. Others are global, such as increased competition for engineers and electricians, clean tech and raw materials.

As climate change worsens, frustration about the slow pace of change will intensify. But when we look around the world, we see similar challenges cropping up in many countries.

European Union

Transmission line hold-ups are by no means a delay unique to Australia. Data from the International Energy Agency shows building new electricity grid assets takes ten years on average in both Europe and the United States.

In 2022, the European Union introduced laws expressly aimed at speeding up the clean energy transition by fast-tracking permits for renewables, grid investment and storage assets. These investments, the laws state, are:

presumed as being in the overriding public interest […] when balancing legal interests in the individual case.

That is, when the interests of other stakeholders – including local communities and the environment – clash with clean energy plans, clean energy has priority.

Germany has gone further still with domestic laws designed to further streamline planning and approvals and favour energy transition projects over competing interests. These changes were sweetened with financial incentives for communities participating in clean energy projects.

This is a risky path. European leaders have chosen to go faster in weaning off fossil fuels at the risk of inflaming local communities. The size of the backlash became clear in the EU’s elections in June, where populists gained seats and environmental parties lost.

United States

In 2022, the US government passed a huge piece of green legislation known as the Inflation Reduction Act. Rather than introducing further regulations, the US has gone for a green stimulus, offering A$600 billion in grants and tax credits for companies investing in green manufacturing, electric vehicles, storage and so on. To date, this approach has been very effective. But money isn’t everything – new transmission lines will be essential, which means approvals, planning, securing the land corridor and so on.

This year, the US Energy Department released new rules bundling all federal approvals into one program in a bid to accelerate the building of transmission lines across state borders.

Australia could borrow from this. The government’s Future Made in Australia policy package takes its cues from US green stimulus, but at smaller scale. What America’s example shows us is these incentives work – especially when big.

US-style streamlining and bundling of approvals could address delays from overlapping state and federal approvals. Supporting local green manufacturing can create jobs, which in turn encourages community buy-in.

China

Even as Australia’s clean energy push hit the doldrums and emission levels stagnated, China’s staggering clean energy push began bearing fruit. Emissions in the world’s largest emitter began to fall, five years ahead of the government’s own target.

They did this by covering deserts with solar panels, building enormous offshore wind farms, rolling out fast rail, building hydroelectricity, and taking up electric vehicles very rapidly. In 2012, China had 3.4 gigawatts of solar and 61 GW of wind capacity. In 2023, it had 610 GW of solar and 441 GW of wind. It’s also cornered the market in renewable technologies and moving strongly into electric vehicles.

Of course, China’s government has far fewer checks and balances and exerts tight control over communities and media. We don’t often see what costs are paid by communities.

China has also used industrial policy cleverly, with government and industries acting in partnership. In fact, the green push in the US, EU, Australia and other Western jurisdictions takes cues from China’s approach.

There’s still a long road ahead for China. But given its reliance on energy-intensive manufacturing, it’s remarkable China’s leaders have managed to halt the constant increase in emissions.

Acceleration has a cost

These examples show how it is possible to accelerate the energy transition. But often, it comes at a cost.

Costs can be monetary, such as when governments direct funding to green stimulus over other areas. But it can also be social, if the transition comes at the cost of community support or the health of the local environment.

This comes with the territory. Big infrastructure projects benefit many but disadvantage some.

While Australian governments could place climate action above all else as the EU is doing, they would risk community and political blowback. Long-term progress means doing the work to secure local support.

For instance, Victoria’s new Transmission Investment Framework brings communities to the fore, focusing on their role and what they will stand to gain early on.

Yes, this approach may slow the rate at which wind turbines go up and solar is laid down. But it may ensure public support over the long term.

No one said the shift to green energy would be easy. Only that it is necessary, worthwhile – and possible.

Anne Kallies, Senior Lecturer in Energy Law, RMIT University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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'Europe in miniature': Welcome to Baarle, world's strangest border

BAARLE - If ever a place encapsulated the glorious complexity and sometimes paradoxical nature of the European Union, it would be Baarle, just on the Dutch side of the Netherlands-Belgium border.

The town of just under 10,000 people is split in two, Baarle-Nassau (which is Dutch) and Baarle-Hertog (a Belgian enclave surrounded by the Netherlands).

The international border runs through the town, marked by a series of white crosses in the pavement that sometimes even bisects buildings -- including the town hall.

And come European election day, the Dutch parts of the town voted on June 6 whereas their Belgian neighbours have to wait three days later to cast their ballot.

"Anyone Dutch? Come and vote in here," cried a volunteer outside the "Stembureau" (polling station) when AFP visited on Dutch election day.

Literally a few metres across the road is Belgium, a snack bar offering "Fresh Belgian Fries".

Dutch and Belgian election posters stand a stone's throw apart with a completely different set of candidates and parties.

The town's split identity is much more complex than a single borderline. There are several separate chunks of land scattered around the town belonging to one country or the other.

There are 22 Belgian enclaves in total, the smallest the size of half a football pitch, and six Dutch "counter-enclaves" within these Belgian enclaves.

AFP | JOHN THYS

This means the border snakes haphazardly around the town, resulting in a bizarre patchwork quilt effect on international maps.

Visiting every enclave would mean crossing the Dutch-Belgian border 60 times in a few kilometres (miles), explained Ad Tuijtelaars from the local tourist office.

- 'World's strangest border' -

Anecdotes abound about the peculiarities of the town, which describes itself as "Europe in Miniature" or the "World's Strangest Border Situation."

Couples tying the knot in the town hall have to decide which country to get married in. Left side of the room: Belgium. Right side: Netherlands.

In one house split by the border, a 90-year-old woman lives on the Belgian side. Her son just down the corridor ... in the Netherlands.

People seize upon different laws and tax regimes, said Tuijtelaars, a 75-year-old retired Dutch businessman.

"Petrol is cheaper in Belgium. Cigarettes are cheaper in Belgium. But food tends to be cheaper in the Netherlands," he told AFP.

AFP | JOHN THYS

In the Netherlands, fireworks can only be purchased in the run-up to New Year, but all year round in Belgium, meaning people flock to Baarle-Hertog to stock up on bangers.

Different national closing times once meant diners at a restaurant split by the border had to move across to the other side of the room to finish their meals.

The border runs through one of the supermarkets with a sign promising Belgian mayonnaise 25 metres to the left, Hagelslag (Dutch chocolate sprinkles) 30 metres to the right.

Covid sparked pandemonium -- in Baarle-Hertog, masks were compulsory but in Baarle-Nassau, only on public transport.

Tuijtelaars, born and bred in Baarle, recalls walking to school -- crossing through Belgium several times along the way.

"It was just normal for us as kids. It was only when I grew up and travelled abroad that I realised it was quite a unique situation," he said.

- 'No need for conflict' -

The geographical oddity, which attracts thousands of tourists every year from all over the world, has its roots in the Middle Ages.

The territory was first carved up in 1198 when Henry I, Duke of Brabant, handed some of his land to Godfried of Schoten, Lord of Breda.

The border question came to the fore in 1830 when Belgium became independent from the Netherlands and the issue was only finally settled in 1995.

Voting in the "Cafe in Holland", a pub-cum-polling station on the outskirts of the town, Theo van der Veerdonk, a 64-year-old lecturer, said Baarle offered lessons for Europe to come together.

"We have a town here of two nationalities and I think Europe should be one. You see in a town such as this that Europe actually isn't one at all. I think that's a pity," he told AFP.

"I want more Europe and more integration, to make Europe closer and better... Here we've got two town halls, two police services, two fire services... and that's completely crazy."

But Tuijtelaars said Baarle showed how neighbours can live together in harmony despite nationality and borders.

"If you live so close to each other, why should you quarrel? There's no need for conflict -- well, apart from when Belgium plays the Netherlands at football," he joked.by Richard Carter in Baarle-nassau and Jan Hennop in Baarle-hertog' Europe in miniature': Welcome to Baarle, world's strangest border

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Waste Heat Generated from Electronics to Warm Finnish City in Winter Thanks to Groundbreaking Thermal Energy Project

An illustration of Varanto’s seasonal energy storage facility – credit, Varanto Energy, released

Heat stored underground in caverns can be set aside in Finland’s summer months to be re-used during frigid winters thanks to a state-of-the-art ‘seasonal energy’ storage facility.

Slated for construction this summer near Helsinki, it will be the largest in the world by all standards and contain enough thermal energy to heat a medium-sized city all winter.

Thermal exchange heating systems, like those built underground, or domestic heat pumps, are seen as the most effective way available of reducing the climate-impact of home heating and cooling.

Their function relies on natural forces or energy recycling to cool down or heat up water and then using it to radiate hot or cold energy into a dwelling.

In Vantaa, Finland’s fourth largest city neighboring the capital of Helsinki, the ambitious Varanto seasonal energy storage project plans to store cheap and environmental friendly waste heat from datacenters, cooling processes, and waste-to-energy assets in underground caverns where it can be used to heat buildings via the district heating network whenever it is needed.

In Finland and other Nordic countries, the heat consumption varies significantly between seasons. Heat consumption in the summertime is only about one-tenth of the peak load consumption during the cold winter months.

Varanto will utilize underground caverns equal in space to two Maddison Square Gardens—over a million cubic meters—filled with water heated by this waste heat and pressure that will allow the water to reach temperatures of up to 300 degrees Fahrenheit without the water boiling or evaporating.

“The world is undergoing a huge energy transition. Wind and solar power have become vital technologies in the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy,” says Vantaa Energy CEO Jukka Toivonen.

“The biggest challenge of the energy transition so far has been the inability to store these intermittent forms of energy for later use. Unfortunately, small-scale storage solutions, such as batteries or accumulators, are not sufficient; large, industrial-scale storage solutions are needed. Varanto is an excellent example of this, and we are happy to set an example for the rest of the world.”

The total thermal capacity of the fully charged seasonal thermal energy storage is 90 gigawatt-hours. This capacity could heat a medium-sized Finnish city for as long as a year. Broken down into smaller energy units, this amount of energy is equivalent to 1.3 million electric car batteries.

“Two 60-MW electric boilers will be built in conjunction with Varanto,” adds Toivonen. “These boilers will be used to produce heat from renewable electricity when electricity is abundant and cheap. Our heat-producing system will work like a hybrid car: alternating between electricity and other forms of production, depending on what is most advantageous and efficient at the time.”

The project cost is estimated to be around $217 million (€200 million,) and it has already been awarded a €19-million investment grant from Finland’s Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. Construction of the storage facility’s entrance is expected to start in summer 2024, while it could be operational as early as 2028.

District heating is by far the most popular form of heating for buildings and homes in Finland.

In district heating networks, the thermal energy produced in production plants is transmitted to customers as hot water in a closed, two-pipe system. In these pipelines, the hot water flows to the buildings, and the water that has released its heat flows back to the production plant for reheating. The heat is always transferred to the building via heat exchangers, so the district heating water itself does not circulate in the heating networks of the buildings.

There are more than 600 kilometers of underground district heating networks in Vantaa, and around 90% of Vantaa residents live in a home heated by district heating.

In 2023, a total of 37.3 terawatt-hours of district heat was produced in Finland. Of this, 53% was produced from renewable heat sources and 14% from waste heat. Waste Heat Generated from Electronics to Warm Finnish City in Winter Thanks to Groundbreaking Thermal Energy Project

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For Europe to emulate Silicon Valley’s tech success, it should change its startup funding model

Michaela Hruskova, University of Stirling and Katharina Scheidgen, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

Tech startups will be enthused by the news that Silicon Valley venture capital (VC) veteran General Catalyst is on the verge of raising US$6 billion (£4.8 billion) for backing new companies. It comes hot on the heels of an announcement from Andreessen Horowitz, another major VC, of a new US$7.2 billion investment fund. These are among the largest fundraisings in years, coming at a time when the VC sector has been going through a lull, with worldwide total investments down from US$644 billion in 2021 to US$286 billion in 2023.

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The bad news, depending on where you live, is that most of the proceeds are likely to be invested Stateside. American startups mop up around half of all global VC funding, while Europe and the UK are lucky to see a quarter. This is despite the fact that Europe and the UK have a slightly larger share of world GDP than the US (17% v 16%).

VC investment by country (US$)

 

Dealroom, CC BY-SA

This helps to explain why America’s leading three tech firms, Microsoft, Apple and Nvidia, are worth around US$7.5 trillion, while Europe’s equivalents, ASML, SAP and Prosus, are worth some US$700 billion. So what can be done to change this situation?

Silicon Valley’s edge

Silicon Valley’s success can be attributed to a range of mutually reinforcing factors, many of which planted their seeds decades ago. These include lucrative government contracts, entrepreneurial universities nearby, and the accumulation of wealth and talent from tech giants such as Apple, Nvidia, and OpenAI. This kind of head start is difficult to replicate.

US investors often plough millions of dollars into relatively early-stage companies, which are sums that other ecosystems simply cannot match. But startups typically first need to demonstrate traction with customers, usually in the form of sales revenue or user numbers. This is different from tech investment hubs such as Berlin and Scotland, where investors tend to only require a strong team with just an idea for the startup to be considered to have good potential for investment. Our research suggests that this might be an underappreciated reason for Silicon Valley’s success.

Having done in-depth interviews with 63 entrepreneurs and investors across Silicon Valley and Berlin, the different expectations of investors are very noticeable. For instance, the founders of San Francisco-based AirBnb had to use their credit cards to keep the company afloat, and even resorted to selling cereal boxes before eventually securing funding.

Similarly, the founders of food delivery app DoorDash, which is also based in San Francisco, built a full prototype and were making the deliveries themselves for nearly half a year before raising their first round of investment.

This is in stark contrast to European ecosystems. Recent examples from Berlin include language tutor marketplace HeyLama, which secured funding nearly immediately after inception. Meanwhile, pet care startup Rex raised more than US$5 million within months after launching.

And yet, between 2020 and 2022, US$44 billion was invested in early-stage deals in Silicon Valley as opposed to US$5.8 billion in Berlin. Equally, roughly 31% of US but only 19% of European seed-stage startups progress to the next round of fundraising.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that the companies that do not raise follow-on funding fail, but it may help explain why Silicon Valley’s exits amount to US$403 million on average, as opposed to US$53 million in Berlin.

So why is it not the case that US startups struggle more when they have to meet higher expectations to get funded? And could other ecosystems catch up by adopting the same strategy?

The ‘valley of death’

The journey of a business idea from inception to early traction is often referred to as the “valley of death”. During this period, the startup needs to keep developing the business, build the product, and figure out a reliable business model. There is no one-size-fits-all blueprint and many companies fail, either because the idea is not viable or they run out of money.

Silicon Valley’s preferred funding model of investing into startups with traction somewhat decreases the risk of failure for VCs. In the long term this should result in more funds for reinvesting into new startups, which likely helped the whole ecosystem to flourish. There’s also a benefit to those entrepreneurs who can delay fundraising until they can demonstrate traction, since the startup is likely to be worth more. This means they can get more money or give up a smaller percentage of the business.

This would suggest that European startup ecosystems ought to think about moving towards this model. But it comes with a major downside. Few entrepreneurs have enough money to maintain the company through the valley of death – and it tends to be longer and deeper for the most innovative ideas. This is particularly an issue for entrepreneurs from under-represented groups, such as disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, women and immigrants, who are less likely to have the necessary resources or connections. Thus, adopting the American investment threshold could make the startup world even more inaccessible to them.

To get the benefits of the US system without damaging diversity, there need to be support structures in place, such as incubator and accelerator programmes, to help startups gain traction. Even so, these need to be designed carefully to ensure they signal credibility, and therefore help – rather than hinder – the incubated companies to secure their first round of investment.

Michaela Hruskova, Lecturer in Entrepreneurship, University of Stirling and Katharina Scheidgen, Chair of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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UK SMBs could save 280m tonnes of CO2e by hitting 2030 targets

22 April 2024: This Earth Day, BT is announcing a new partnership with the UK Business Climate Hub (UKBCH) that aims to help UK small & medium businesses (SMBs) halve CO2e emissions by 2030 and empower them to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. It comes as research suggests UK SMBs would stop 280 million tonnes of CO2e emissions from reaching the atmosphere if they hit this near-term goal*.

There are 5.5 million SMBs in the UK, making up more than 99% of all businesses nationwide. Collectively they account for almost half (44%**) of non-household emissions, making their role in tackling the climate crisis critical to the UK’s chances of hitting net zero by 2050.

Nine in ten (90%) of SMEs would like to address climate change at their business, but find it challenging to get started and identify the right tools to mitigate their environmental impact.*** To help them map out a path to net zero, the UKBCH, a shared endeavour between industry and government, has welcomed BT as a key industry partner and member of its Advisory Board, and has developed ‘Seven Steps to Sustainability’ to empower SMBs to get started today.

The new partnership aims to bring together BT’s expertise in supporting more than one million small business customers with the UK Business Climate Hub’s free resources to help businesses reduce their carbon footprint and their energy bills. Businesses can take the first step today by checking out the available, free resources from the UKBCH on its website. They can also work towards the SME Climate Commitment, by making a pledge to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, achieve net zero emissions before 2050, and report progress on these goals annually.

Chris Sims, Managing Director, Small and Medium Business at BT, says: “BT set its first carbon reduction target more than 30 years ago, and we’ve had a strong track record of hitting our sustainability goals ever since. But we have size on our side – and from speaking to our small business customers we know that with limited resources, many of them struggle to find the time, the funding, or the guidance to help them prioritise sustainability. With the UK Business Climate Hub we are beginning our journey to reach more businesses with free tools and practical support to help them set the foundations for a greener future, and ultimately, reach Net Zero.”

Chris Taylor, Net Zero Programme Director at the Broadway Initiative – which manages the UK Business Climate Hub – adds: “We’re delighted to partner with BT and are energised about the impact we will make together. The UK Business Climate Hub works closely with the government and our industry partners to produce essential guides for SMBs across multiple sectors, with practical advice on how to reduce carbon emissions and save on energy bills. Whether it’s a tailored net zero plan for individual SMBs, free carbon footprint calculators or an online training course on cutting emissions, with our tools and support, SMBs can reduce both costs and emissions and transition to a greener economy – the ultimate win-win.”

Seven steps to Sustainability: Practical tips for all sectors

The UKBCH has charted a course for SMBs to build and achieve a greener future. The ‘Seven Steps to Sustainability’ break down key actions so that businesses can create an achievable plan. These include:

1. Understand the basics: An overview of net zero and how to reduce your business’s carbon footprint and any legal requirements on reducing carbon emissions.

2. Involve your team: Engage staff across the business to develop carbon reduction and energy saving initiatives. This could include an internal working group or hiring an external consultant.

3. Make the SME Climate Commitment: Commit to halving business emissions by 2030, reach net zero by 2050, and report yearly on progress towards these goals.

4. Make a plan: Measure current emissions from fuel consumption and electricity use. Taking stock of current business activities that contribute to overall carbon emissions will enable businesses to identify key focus areas.

5. Take action: Deploy technologies and new approaches to save energy and reduce carbon. Businesses can get sector-specific information here, and learn about specific actions that can be taken here.

6. Find finance and support: Businesses across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales can identify specific programmes or initiatives to help them to finance their sustainability journey.

7. Look beyond your business: Identify opportunities across the business’s entire value chain to reduce its impact, including creating a greener supply chain, using electric vehicles and transport, and get low carbon product labels and certifications.SMBs can visit the UKBCH website to access an entire library of free resources, tools and advice to cut carbon, reduce energy use, and chart a course to net zero: https://businessclimatehub.uk/ UK SMBs could save 280m tonnes of CO2e by hitting 2030 targets | Total Telecom

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Electric cars pile up at European ports as Chinese firms struggle to find buyers

Tom Stacey, Anglia Ruskin University

China’s automotive industry has revolutionised over the past decade, from producing basic western clones to making cars that equal the world’s best. As the manufacturing powerhouse of the world, China is also producing them in huge volumes.

However, Chinese cars are facing difficulties in finding buyers in Europe. Imported cars, many of which are Chinese electric vehicles, are piling up at European ports, with some spending up to 18 months in port car parks as manufacturers struggle to get them onto people’s driveways.

Why is this, though? Chinese electric vehicles in particular are getting positive reviews. Having driven them myself, I can attest to them matching, or even exceeding, the well-known European brands in range, quality and technology.

But entering an established market as a challenger is a complex operation. Chinese makers will have to contend with buyer wariness, a lack of brand image, trade protectionism and rapid outdatedness.

Lack of buyer faith

China’s automotive expansion programme draws parallels with the moves made by Japan in the 1960s and 70s. At that time, the product coming from Japan was commendable but lacked the finesse, design and longevity of their western counterparts. Japanese cars were thought of as tinny, underpowered and susceptible to rusting, as well as looking very generic compared to stylish European designs.

Memories of Japan’s involvement in the second world war were also fresh in (particularly American) buyer’s minds, who were slow to forgive a nation that launched the Pearl Harbour attacks. However, by constantly focusing on a reliable, relatively cheap and increasingly stylish product, Japan slowly turned this around to become the automotive powerhouse of the 1990s and 2000s.

China is viewed with suspicion by many westerners, and its carmakers are similarly hampered by their recent legacy of producing both endorsed and illegal clones of European cars. But with the lessons of the Japanese to learn from, Chinese cars are rapidly advancing to match and exceed existing alternatives.

Strategic purchases of brands like Volvo, Lotus and MG have also given China existing brands that are respected and, more importantly, have some of the best engineering knowledge in the world.

Yet, even after buying up western brands, Chinese automakers have proven unable to buy loyalty from existing customers of brands like BMW, Porsche, Ferrari and Ford. For these buyers, the history of the brand in terms of known reliability and even things like motor sport success is something that Chinese makers, like the Japanese, will have to build up over time.

It was Ford dealers who, in the 1960s, coined the phrase: “Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday”. The phrase is as an adage to attest the fact that if buyers see a car winning a race, they’ll be motivated to go out and buy one.

Existing manufacturers also have a legacy of reliability that buyers have experienced for themselves, giving a huge brand loyalty benefit. Add to this a lack of an established dealer network outside of China and you see how Chinese makers struggle against the established competition.

A challenging trade environment

China has a price advantage compared to Europe or the US. Economies of scale, excellent shipping links and cheap labour mean that Chinese cars are cheaper both to make and buy.

However, in many countries they are subject to high import tariffs. The EU currently imposes a 10% import tariff on each car brought in. And in the US, car imports from China are subject to a 27.5% tariff.

These tariffs may well rise further. The EU is conducting an investigation into whether its tariff is too low. If it concludes this later this year, higher duties will be applied retrospectively to imported cars.

Cars, and specifically electric vehicles, are also in a phase of their development where they see rapid changes and updates. Traditionally, vehicle models would see a market life of between four and seven years, perhaps with small updates in trim, colour palette or feature availability.

But Tesla has turned this on its head. The Tesla Model S, for example, has seen almost continuous product updates that make it barely recognisable in terms of hardware from a car released in 2012. Chinese automakers have taken note. They are bringing out new models around 30% faster than in most other nations.

Tesla is supporting owners of older cars with upgrades, at extra expense, to bring them in line with the latest hardware. Without guaranteed software support like this, the rate at which Chinese automakers are bringing out new models could make buyers wary that the product they have bought will soon become outdated compared to buying a car on a more traditional update cycle.

How to succeed

Many of these factors can be fixed. They also chime more with private buyers than business buyers, who are more concerned with cost. Chinese makers would be well-advised to push harder into this market.

In the UK, the fleet market dwarfs the private market, and the situation is similar in Europe. Selling en masse to fleets and rental companies gets more cars on the road and allows more data about reliability to feed into the market.

The road to succeeding in a new market such as the EU will be slow and bumpy. But it’s clear that China is laser focused on its global push. It remains to be seen whether this lack of buyers can be turned around.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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