STUFF

A Chevy Volt caught fire in May - just hearing about it now - while parked at fed test center 3 weeks after a side-impact test. So now the feds are testing all lithium-ion batts that power EV's. LG Chem (S.Korea) supplies the Volt batts. But. GM says its safety procedures for handling the battery after an accident weren't followed. If they had been, there would not have been a fire. Maybe the feds were testing not following after-accident procedures.

Better Place raised another $200M from investors including GE, UBS, Morgan Stanley to roll out EV charging/batt swapping networks. Comp now has banked >$750M. They will start deploy in early '12 in Denmark and Israel. Australia 2Q12. Also deals in place for San Francisco, Canada and Hawaii. Currently only Renault building EV's that work with Better system. (Tesla Model S will have swappable batts that can be changed at Tesla stores.)

Russia comp to build first nuke power plant in People's Republic of Bangladesh. 2GW.

EPA awarded 1st GHG permit for TX NG-fired power plant. EPA took over regulating TX after it was the only state to not accept new emission rules. TX leads nation in GHG emissions, industrial pollution. And Perry makes W look like a genius.

Slim pickins today. Happy hippy trails, pards.