In our Sunday newsletter, we, as editors, reflect on the past seven days. We do this on the initiative of our cartoonist Albert Jan Rasker. He chooses a subject, draws a picture, and we take it from there.
Albert Jan gets it: not everything possible must be on our wish list immediately. It’s like with AI: it starts with the need, and only then do you start looking at how to realize it with all these new artificially intelligent tools. And not, as some now think, the other way around: the possibilities are there, “and so we have to use them.”
And yet… what I keep hearing as an electric rider (bike and car) from the owners of a combustion motor: “Yes, but that range; yes, but that lack of charging spots…” So an occasional bit of nuance is welcome: we are transitioning, but the future looks bright. Indeed, from anywhere in the Netherlands, we can soon drive to Munich without recharging in between – or, if you don’t like that, with equal ease to Lyon, Berlin, or Prague. And after a recharge of at most 5 minutes, the same distance back (or just further on…).
What Ewout Lubberman, head of product at LeydenJar, showed it very convincingly during his presentation at the Automotive Campus in Helmond: it’s just a matter of time. With his company, he is happy to contribute to that. Thanks to LeydenJar’s extremely thin anode, those currently unthinkable distances and charging powers will come within reach.
Yes, it’s a dream, but one that will surely come true.
What else caught our eye
Then last week’s highlights. Again, there were many. What caught our eye?
Could small modular reactors be the next green energy source?
Can you make professional soccer climate-neutral? Dordrecht shows how
Next-generation batteries, large-scale production in Europe and the cash cow of recyclers
The Netherlands may soon have a lithium plant
Revolution in the dairy industry: the stainless steel cow
Harsh AI judgments: the impact of training data
First cultured burgers from Mosa Meat next year in Singapore’s better restaurants
The next solar revolution: everything becomes a solar panel
And here’s the rest – Make it a great, innovative week!
