Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Saudi banks on electric vehicles, to profit $20 bn with Lucid

Saudi banks on electric vehicles, to profit $20 bn with Lucid

The kingdom of Saudi Arabia stands to record a profit of nearly $20 billion on a $2.9 bn investment in Lucid Motors Inc., a San Francisco Bay Area electric-car maker. The future of mobility is electric

*  The Saudi Public Investment Fund will own over 60% of Lucid Motors

*  Last year, electric vehicles made up less than 3% of all new car sales in the United States

*  Dendrites threaten to curtail the development of rechargeable batteries

The kingdom of Saudi Arabia stands to record a profit of nearly $20 billion on a $2.9 bn investment in Lucid Motors Inc., a San Francisco Bay Area electric-car maker.

This follows Lucid Motors shares trading on the Nasdaq starting Monday, July 26, after the company’s merger with Churchill Capital Corp, a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC.

The Saudi Public Investment Fund will own over 60% of the company, which is expected to have a market capitalization of about $36 billion.

The listing represents the fruits of a well-timed 2018 investment in Lucid when it was struggling for survival. Its lifeline came thanks to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman who is pushing his country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) to invest in promising startups as part of a bid to diversify the country’s wealth away from oil.

A flood of amateur stock traders has pushed up prices of companies merging with SPACs, especially in the electric-vehicle space, as traders bet that startups will emulate Tesla Inc.’s stock market success leveraging the auto industry’s shift away from gasoline engines.


Lucid’s expected market capitalization is nearly twice the valuation of Nissan Motor Co. and about two-thirds that of Ford Motor Co., which delivered more than 4 million cars last year. Lucid has yet to sell any cars. It plans to start production later this year.

In all, more than 23 companies making electric vehicles or batteries have struck deals to go public through SPACs in the past year. The deals have raised over $17 billion for the companies. Lucid has said it expects revenue of $22 billion in 2026.

As part of the deal, Lucid committed to building a factory in Saudi Arabia, according to the company’s securities filings.

EV growth


In March 2021, the Swedish company Volvo declared that by 2030 it will sell only fully electric cars. Just weeks earlier, Ford had announced plans to go all-electric in Europe by the same year, while GM is aiming for its cars to be fully electric by 2035. Last year, electric vehicles made up less than 3% of all new car sales in the United States, but a recent analysis by Bloomberg predicts that their global market share will soar to nearly 60% in just 20 years.


EVs pollute but are cleaner than internal combustion


A new study lays to rest the tired argument that electric vehicles aren’t much cleaner than internal combustion vehicles. Over the life cycle of an EV, from digging up the materials needed to build it to eventually laying the car to rest, it will release fewer greenhouse gas emissions than a gas-powered car, the research found.

That holds true globally, whether an EV plugs into a grid in Europe with a larger share of renewables or a grid in India that still relies heavily on coal.

“We have a lot of lobby work from parts of the automotive industry saying that electric vehicles are not that much better if you take into account the electricity production and the battery production. We wanted to look into this and see whether these arguments are true,” says Georg Bieker, a researcher at the nonprofit research group the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) that published the report.

Lifetime emissions for an EV in Europe are between 66 and 69% lower compared to that of a gas-guzzling vehicle, the analysis found. In the US, an EV produces between 60 to 68% fewer emissions. In China, which uses more coal, an EV results in between 37 to 45% fewer emissions. In India, it’s between 19 to 34% lower.

Issues with rechargeable batteries


Electric vehicles that can travel long distances and recharge quickly require safe batteries that pack a lot of energy into a small volume. Building those batteries, however, means overcoming a number of challenges. Chief among them is the problem of dendrites—disruptive, spiky growths of metal inside a battery that raise the risk of dangerous discharges.

These dendrites threaten to curtail the development of rechargeable batteries.


In lithium-ion batteries, which power today’s electric vehicles, the electrolyte is often a flammable liquid. A 2017 report from the Federal Aviation Administration estimated that lithium-ion battery fires in computers, phones, or even e-cigarette chargers occur on flights about once every 10 days, and those fires can often be traced to separator problems that dendrites may have exacerbated.

Experimental efforts to tame dendrites have produced promising, proof-of-concept demonstrations that capitalize on the strengths of lithium batteries while minimizing dendrite risk. These include strategies such as making nanoscale-level changes to the structure of the electrodes, studying the fundamental causes of dendrites, and exploring new materials for the anode-electrolyte interface and the electrolyte itself.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Vatican hosts first Catholic LGBTQ pilgrimage
Apple Unveils iPhone 17 Series, iPhone Air, Apple Watch 11 and More at 'Awe Dropping' Event
France joins Eurozone’s ‘periphery’ as turmoil deepens, say investors
France Faces New Political Crisis, again, as Prime Minister Bayrou Pushed Out
Nayib Bukele Points Out Belgian Hypocrisy as Brussels Considers Sending Army into the Streets
France, at an Impasse, Heads Toward Another Government Collapse
The Country That Got Too Rich? Public Spending Dominates Norway Election
EU Proposes Phasing Out Russian Oil and Gas by End of 2027 to End Energy Dependence
More Than 150,000 Followers for a Fictional Character: The New Influencers Are AI Creations
EU Prepares for War
Trump Threatens Retaliatory Tariffs After EU Imposes €2.95 Billion Fine on Google
Tesla Board Proposes Unprecedented One-Trillion-Dollar Performance Package for Elon Musk
Gold Could Reach Nearly $5,000 if Fed Independence Is Undermined, Goldman Sachs Warns
Uruguay, Colombia and Paraguay Secure Places at 2026 World Cup
Trump Administration Advances Plans to Rebrand Pentagon as Department of War Instead of the Fake Term Department of Defense
Big Tech Executives Laud Trump at White House Dinner, Unveil Massive U.S. Investments
Tether Expands into Gold Sector with Profit-Driven Diversification
‘Looks Like a Wig’: Online Users Express Concern Over Kate Middleton
Florida’s Vaccine Revolution: DeSantis Declares War on Mandates
Trump’s New War – and the ‘Drug Tyrant’ Fearing Invasion: ‘1,200 Missiles Aimed at Us’
"The Situation Has Never Been This Bad": The Fall of PepsiCo
At the Parade in China: Laser Weapons, 'Eagle Strike,' and a Missile Capable of 'Striking Anywhere in the World'
The Fashion Designer Who Became an Italian Symbol: Giorgio Armani Has Died at 91
Putin Celebrates ‘Unprecedentedly High’ Ties with China as Gazprom Seals Power of Siberia-2 Deal
China Unveils New Weapons in Grand Military Parade as Xi Hosts Putin and Kim
Rapper Cardi B Cleared of Liability in Los Angeles Civil Assault Trial
Google Avoids Break-Up in U.S. Antitrust Case as Stocks Rise
Couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary at assisted living facility in Lancaster
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
The White House on LinkedIn Has Changed Their Profile Picture to Donald Trump
"Insulted the Prophet Muhammad": Woman Burned Alive by Angry Mob in Niger State, Nigeria
Trump Responds to Death Rumors – Announces 'Missile City'
Druzhba Pipeline Incident Sparks Geopolitical Tensions
Cost of Opposition Leader Péter Magyar's Economic Plan Revealed
Germany in Turmoil: Ukrainian Teenage Girl Pushed to Death by Illegal Iraqi Migrant
United Krack down on human rights: Graham Linehan Arrested at Heathrow Over Three X Posts, Hospitalised, Released on Bail with Posting Ban
Asian and Middle Eastern Investors Avoid US Markets
Ray Dalio Warns of US Shift to Autocracy
Eurozone Inflation Rises to 2.1% in August
Russia and China Sign New Gas Pipeline Deal
Von der Leyen's Plane Hit by Suspected Russian GPS Interference in an Incident Believed to Be Caused by Russia or by Pro-Peace or by Anti-Corruption European Activists
China's Robotics Industry Fuels Export Surge
Suntory Chairman Resigns After Police Probe
Gold Price Hits New All-Time Record
UK Fintechs Explore Buying US Banks
Greece Suspends 5% of Schools as Birth Rate Drops
Apollo to Launch $5 Billion Sports Investment Vehicle
Bolsonaro Trial Nears Close Amid US-Brazil Tension
European Banks Push for Lower Cross-Border Barriers
Poland's Offshore Wind Sector Attracts Investors
×