Good Morning
What weāre reading this week:
The SF Chronicleās endorsement for Prop 30 to upgrade Californiaās transportation system (SFC)
Patagonia's founder and his family donated their $3B ownership in the company to fight climate change (CNBC)
Nearly every car sold in Norway is now electric (T)Ā
Oakland to return land rights to Indigenous group (OS)
The GreendicatorĀ
Top Deals of the Week
EV charging infrastructure startup TeraWatt raised a $1B Series A led by Keyframe Capital, Cyrus Capital, and Vision Ridge Partners (TC)
Greenhouse startup Gotham Greens raised a $310M Series E led by BMO Impact Investment Fund and Ares Management (TC)
Renewable energy investment platform Bluestar Energy Capital raised $100M in financing from Declan Flanagan, S2G, and Great Bay (BW)
PearlX, a three-year-old, Virginia-based startup that has been installing solar panels and backup batteries at multifamily rentals in Texas and is moving into California next, has raised $70 million in Series B funding led by Swiss asset manager Lombard Odier. TechCrunch has more here.
Patch, a two-year-old San Francisco startup whose platform enableS clients to purchase carbon credits, raised a $55 million Series B round led by Energize Ventures (GNW)
Prolific Machines, a biotechnology company aiming to optimize biomanufacturing for cultivating meat, raised $42M in a Series A and seed round: Mayfield led the seed round and Breakthrough Energy Ventures led the Series A (BW)
School transportation startup HopSkipDrive raised a $37M Series D from Energy Impact Partners, Keyframe Capital, FirstMark Capital, and more (PRN)
EV charging platform Monta raised a $30M round at a $155M valuation led by Energize Ventures (TC)
Taranis, a seven-year-old startup based in Westfield, In., that operates a crop intelligence platform that boasts of a data set containing more than 200 million artificial intelligence data points, raised a $40 million Series D round led by Inven Capital (VG)
Agricultural nanoliquid startup Aqua Yield raised a $23M Series A led by the LHM Company (PRN)
Next Level Burger, a plant-based burger chain, raised $20M in funding led by unnamed strategic investors and Alex & Nicole Payne (BW)
Ideon Technologies, a startup visualizing the earthās subsurface for mining minerals that are key for the clean energy transition, raised a $16M Series A led by Playground Global (BW)
French animal-free dairy and cheese startup Standing Ovation raised a $12M Series A led by Peakbridge, Seventure Partners, Astanor Ventures, and more (TC)
Stable, an EV charging data analysis platform, raised a $7M Series A led by Congruent Ventures (AXIOS)
Clean energy SaaS platform Prescinto Technologies raised $6.5M in financing (BW)
NeoCarbon, a one-year-old Berlin startup that is developing a device that can be used to retrofit industrial water cooling towers to capture COā, raised a $1.25 million round. PropTech1 and Speedinvest co-led the deal. TechCrunch has more here.
Green Theory
How many iPhones does it take to go a mile?
A few weeks back, Californian gas station owners awoke to troubling news.Ā The state announced a ban on new gas cars after 2035. With new internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles lasting around 12 years, that means these stations will struggle to sell any gasoline at all by mid-century. Around 1 in 10 new car buyers in the US chooses an electric car (EV), today, and that share grows by the quarter. For gas stationsāat least in the Golden Stateāthe writing is on the wall.
Already, these fueling stations diversify their offering with food, phone chargers, more, and to remain competitive through the energy transition, theyāll need to serve new forms of energy. A public EV charging station looks much like a gas pump, and rapid charger deployment at gas stations continues to expand. Though superficially similar, perhaps by design, under the hood, differences between tanks and batteries, and ICEs and EVs, abound. For instance, the first half of an empty battery recharges much faster: the fuller the battery, the slower the rate of range added. Experientially, it takes 30 minutes to get to a full charge in the most ideal conditions, compared to less than 5 minutes at the gas pump. This comparison, however, overlooks a key feature of EV āfuelingā, since you canāt get an 85 unleaded fueling station in your garage, but most EV charging can be done at home.Ā
Among many benefits such as dramatically lower emissions, EVs nonetheless canāt quite imitate gas travel planning, due to lower maximum range, longer time to power up, and wider distances between public powering stations, at least today. This trifecta of challenges has been dubbed ārange anxiety,ā for a customer fear that they will find themselves stranded, out of range of any charging option. That term draws criticism, as customers ought to know what theyāre buying when they get an EV today. Based on where they live, where they need to go, and what they need to do, an EV may be more or less viable. A motorcycle driver doesnāt have ātowing anxietyāāthey know their vehicle is suited to a particular use case. As EVs get better, and charging infrastructure expands, whether the term fairly describes the problem or not, it will likely go away.Ā
Compowerson of Vehicles (MPGe)
To be sure, ICE drivers enjoy the convenience of long ranges, quick fueling, and ample pumps, but the public bears the cost of choking car emissions from such inefficient energy use. The average 2020 ICE takes passengers just over 25 miles on one gallon of gasoline (MPG). Analysts compare this figure to electric vehicles by converting the heat from burning one gallon of gasoline into the equivalent power needed to generate that heat electrically (33.7kWh), and then see how far that energy would take an EV. At between roughly 80 and 120 miles per gallon equivalent (MPGe), EVs consume far less energy to get around. Taken another way, an EV consumes about 346 watt-hours per mile. An iPhone battery packs in roughly 10 watt-hours, so youād need about 35 full iPhone charges to go one mile. An iPhone of energy takes an ICE 40 feet down the road, hardly as far as you could throw a cellphone. It propels an EV 160 feet.Ā
Where is all that energy going in an ICE? Nearly two-thirds of the energy loss occurs in heat, pouring from the radiator, the exhaust, and other thermal losses. A measly 20% of the energy ends up making it to the carās wheels, of which half is again lost to wind resistance. An infuriating 9 in 10 gallons donāt become energy propelling passengersā progress.
EVs virtually eliminate thermal engine losses, so wind resistance stands as the new top culprit for gulping up energy. What if, instead of banking on more chargers and better batteries to reduce ārange anxietyā, we designed EVs to make the most of what we have today, or to not need a charger at all? Aptera claims to offer just thatāan electric vehicle optimized for minimal energy loss. Starting with aerodynamics, then weight and rolling resistance, the vehicle converts electricity into movement so efficiently that a few cartop solar panels can generate 40 miles of range per day in the sun. Rather than 300 watt-hours per mile or more, the Aptera consumes a mere 100. Thatās 337 MPGe, over 3 times the market MPGe widely available, and halfway to the MPGe of cyclists turning food calories into unassisted bicycle riding (at ~620 MPGe). Taken another way, youād only need about 10 fully charged iPhones to get the Aptera one mile. These efficiencies mean significant gains in shortening charging stops, and lengthening range per energy unit.Ā
Today, the US electrical infrastructure stands ready for EVs, and might even benefit from more EVs on the grid. At the same time, charger type compatibility limits public chargingāan issue the European Union solved with designating standardization on chargers. Hydrogen fuel cell vehicles and plug-in hybrids offer yet more alternatives, but battery-powered electric vehicles remain dominant. Whatever demands cars put on energy infrastructure in the future, using less energy to go further reduces the strain. Road trips may look a bit different over the next few decades: longer pit stops rewarded with quieter, zippier, and more sustainable travel. When you pick up your fully charged phone, imagine how much further that energy might take you tomorrow.Ā
The Closer
The #FairviewFire burns east of Hemet last night, seen from a lookout point in the San Bernardino National Forest 30 air miles away. I was photographing the Radford Fire near Big Bear, and could see both blazes in the same frame. In SoCal where light pollution is rampant, seeing a fire in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) from 30 air miles away at night was unique. Being at 7k feet elevation helped put my camera and I above most of the light dome that would otherwise block this shot.