This Week in Charts 7-1-22
This article can also be found on Youtube: This Week in Charts
Well, it’s another July and you know what that means: America’s birthday! Wherever you’re coming from, America certainly has got her pros and cons. Myself, I’m often proud to be a part of this nation, but that doesn’t come without speculation: my love for this country is accompanied by rather intense criticism about the issues. Realy, I should hope every other citizen feels the same.
But, all for later discussion, dear viewer, because today we return to our program of This Week in Charts presented by me! Grante! with data from the usual sources linked below. Before we take the dive, I want to share that the nature of this show may change: instead of one long episode per week covering three industries, we may begin producing three short episodes per week which focus on each industry specifically. Let me know what you think in the comments, but here’s what’s on the docket today:
In corporate news:
First a breakdown of capital expenditures for electric vehicle infrastructure;
Locations of high-earning minority owned businesses;
New numbers about costs of energy storage;
And who’s got control of resources coming out of Eastern Europe?
In 3D printing news:
Funding received for the development of ceramic printing in energy applications;
The profile of a powerful player in rapid prototyping;
3D printing takes on air conditioning.
In financial technology:
A comparison of Sam Bankman-Fried to John Pierpont Morgan, regarding industry organization;
Deloitte and NYDIG partner to provide access to Bitcoin trading;
And the rebranding of a powerful payment platform.
Let’s start with corporate charts.
Corporate Charts
For electric vehicles to go mainstream, America will need to build an extensive network of charging solutions, growing from the approximate 100,000 public chargers currently accessible to about 1.2 million by 2030. We estimate that it will cost more than $38 billion, over five times more than the $7.5 billion specified for public charging stations in the recently passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. That’s a serious commitment, and right away we see an interesting split between commercial and residential use along the lines of AC or DC power. I’ll also offer some criticism of this chart: while residential is the current “biggest need”, I want to speculate that trends are aligning to dictate vehicle ownership as a thing of the past. Sure you probably still get one, but it will be vastly more expensive versus using the impending autonomous fleet for which you will pay a service fee, rather than an auto loan.
An estimated 10,000 American businesses owned by minorities, women, LGBTQ+ people, veterans, and people with disabilities earn at least $10 million annually. Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, DC, are home to more of those business enterprises than any other city in the United States. For any supply chain gurus watching, this should give you an idea of where to locate established vendors when developing a progressive business model.
The variability of wind and solar power creates a need to balance supply and demand. Long-duration energy storage (LDES) technologies could potentially smooth out fluctuations in supply and demand by storing energy at times of surplus and releasing it when needed—and, at high levels of supply–demand matching, reducing the costs of renewable power. This balance is no new idea but is really limited by what materials we have in play. Including LDES tech in grid design does have a significant impact keeping energy storage costs down at the upper range of supply/demand matching.
The war in Ukraine is affecting global trade and could complicate the transition to net-zero carbon emissions. Ukraine and Russia have significant shares of global trade in many commodities, including key minerals such as copper, nickel, and silicon. These materials are essential inputs to four of the most important net-zero technologies: onshore and offshore wind turbines, solar panels, electric vehicles, and battery storage. However unlikely, Russia’s success at securing the region could place them as necessary dealers of the supplies for a green future.
3D Printing News
Following the earlier trends around power and storage, we begin 3D printing news with an investment from the Department of Energy.
The DOE pledged almost $200 million US dollars to organizations developing disruptive technologies for energy initiatives. One recent recipient is Synteris, receiving $2.7 million to develop, quote, “3D printable ceramic packaging for electronic modules. Working in tandem with the National Renewable Energy Lab, Synteris will attempt to improve thermal management, power density, performance, and lifetime of ceramic packaging for power electronics. Synteris proposes a method which replaces current metalized components with additively manufactured ceramic shell which acts as both thermal insulator and heat exchanger. Other 3D printing award recipients include: Stanford University, to develop amorphous metal-oxide magnetic composites; Precision Combustion, to develop electrochemical-chip-based scalable solid oxide fuel cells for power-dense, lightweight transportation applications; and Dimensional Energy, to print low-cost ceramic components for innovative chemical reactors on low-carbon electricity sources.
A couple weeks ago I reported on a lawsuit involving a Delaware organization who was found illegally exporting design files to China and importing 3D printed metal components for defense projects, all while claiming that their production occurs in the US of A. Today we’ll profile a Shanghai-based organization who stands to be on the receiving end of those kinds of operations, either domestically or from international bids. IN3DTEC boasts rapid prototyping on high-end 3D metal printers. They claim to be fast, turning over orders in 3-5 days. They also offer 3D scanning services, a relatively new offering for 3D print orgs. Visionary boss Lukas Wang only sees growth on their path, saying “3D Printing can’t be bypassed when talking about industry 4.0. It has already become an unstoppable trend for making prototypes and low-volume production.”
An international trio of 3D system organizations are partnering to produce the world’s first, and perhaps most efficient, 3D printed air-conditioning system. They players? First is German AI-based engineering software producer Hyperganic; EOS, a German additive manufacturing pioneer; and Strata, an advanced manufacturing aviation firm based in the United Arab Emirates. With support from the UAE’s Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, the group believes that they can use their combined expertise to design and 3D print A/C units up to ten times more efficiently than current models. Given that A/C consumes nearly 20% of energy worldwide and given that the International Energy Agency predicts usage to triple by 2050, this project might be the beginning of an industry shift akin to that of hearing aids.
Financial Technology
Our financal technology news today all seems to follow a trend: people and organizations attempting to develop standardization. As platforms collide and proficiencies intermingle, this becomes a difficult but necessary task.
Our first story harks back to the year 1907, when John Pierpont Morgan provided the leadership and liquidity to bail out American banks suffering from depression. This act, and its consequenes, revived the American economy and would establish the Federal Reserve Bank. Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, appears to be executing the same actions: bailing out cryptocurrency companies and trying to establish some sense of standardization. In an interview with NPR, Bankman-Friend stated that he (and FTX) have a responsibility to step in, even at a possible loss, to stem contagion and help the industry thrive.
In another move towards standardizaiton, bitcoin trading platform NYDIG has announced a partnership with consulting giant Deloitte’s blockchain and digital assets practice. Together, they will look to develop “a world where traditional financial infrastructure works alongside digital asset infrastructure to deliver clients a best-in-class experience with the highest standards of regulatory compliance.” Yan Zhao, president, is enthusiastic, stating that they believe Deloitte to be the “perfect collaborator” to take this next step.
The gold rush for layered reality value exchange is not yet upon us, but we might consider the following to be a leading indicator: Facebook Pay officially rebrands itself as its metaverse equivalent: Meta Pay. CEO Zuckerburg has stated that a primary capability in development will be that of cross-platform functionality with cryptocurrency platforms. While still unsure of what the final product may look like, Zuck acknowledges that they’ve acted like this before: as a significant player, Meta has recently served as a force of standardizaiton when it comes to language and tech related to the metaverse.
That’s all our updates today. Thanks for following and check in next week for more data.
~ fïn ~
