India sold more than 1 million electric vehicles in FY25

According to H D Kumaraswamy, the Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel, India sold more than one million electric vehicles in FY2024-25, reported PTI. Kumaraswamy said this through a video message during the Auto Retail Conclave organised by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA), adding that India’s electric mobility market has among the fastest growth rates in the world. He said that while electric two-wheelers grew at 21%, three-wheelers grew at 57%. 

Indian company focuses on alternative EV motor tests on the heels of China’s rare earth export curb

China’s export curbs on critical minerals, a key component of building batteries as well as required for testing EV motors, has hit India hard. However, it also created an opportunity for companies like Sterling Gtake E-Mobility to come up with a different testing process for EV motors — one that does not use rare earth magnets, reported Reuters. Though not new, this technology is uncommon and could help alleviate the dependence on China for rare earths. According to the company, multiple Indian automakers are interested in this technology, and it can begin production within a year.

BYD to produce EVs locally in Europe by 2028

BYD, one of the top EV makers in the world, plans to produce all EVs locally in Europe within three years, according to one of its top executives. Reuters reported that this move will help the Chinese auto giant avoid EU tariffs. It will also allow BYD plug-in hybrid cars to dominate the European market in the short term. Currently, BYD is building a factory in Hungary, while another factory being built in Turkey should start production in 2026.

Spain’s power grid cannot take on new connections, blow for data centers

Spain harbours ambitions of becoming a hub for data centers by offering cheap renewable energy and sturdy telecommunication infrastructure. Lobby group SpainDC expects demand for data centers to almost double by 2028, with investments reaching $68 billion through 2030. However, the reality is different. The Mediterranean country’s power grid is reaching a saturation point, as 83% of connection points in its electricity distribution network cannot handle new connections, according to a report by Bloomberg. This might deter project viability of data centres, which require enormous amounts of electricity to run. Nearly 50% of requests to access Spain’s electricity grid in 2024 were rejected due to lack of capacity. One-third of these requests were for data centres. 

EV battery mileage drops nearly half in freezing climes

Battery mileage of electric vehicles decreases in colder climates. This is being seen in Kashmir, where farmers are abandoning their Chinese made EVs as mileage is dropping, according to a new report by Rest of World. As much as 50% of the mileage can get slashed. Testing done in the USA shows that EV batteries lose 20% of mileage in extreme cold on average, while 40% drop was also documented. While countries like Norway and China have come up with some solutions to this particular problem, these technologies are not available to the mass market yet.

Indigenous community in Brazil head to court to protect river and land from TikTok’s data centre

From deforestation to cattle farming and now data centres, Brazil’s indigenous communities are having to contend with multiple threats to their lands. In the north-eastern region of Brazil, the Anacé Indigenous community is taking TikTok to court to stop the construction of a data centre, reported Rest of World. TikTok is investing in a $10 billion data center in the South American country, which is supposedly being built on the Anacé community’s land, very close to a river, which the Anacé consider sacred. The Anacé say that they were not consulted on the project, and are apprehensive that the river’s water will be threatened if the data centre comes up.

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