“Pushing green energy before technology and economics justify the push was showcased on I-95, in Texas and now in Europe,” a reader says concisely.

Another reader – we’ll call him an expert – says: “From the perspective of an engineer with 30+ years heavily involved in the auto industry, the bottom line on EVs is as follows:

“The BEST use case for EVs is in the urban to suburban environment where average daily miles driven is low (<50),” he says. “This keeps the daily charging requirements to 10-15 kWh per vehicle, which can reasonably be supported by the current electrical grid.

“Rural to semi-rural residents might NEVER be well-served by electric cars since increasing electric distribution to sparsely populated areas will be VERY expensive per consumer – so until local power production or storage solutions become affordable, this is a lost cause.

“The powers that be who are currently trying to beat the planet (or at least the U.S.) into making an aggressive switch to EVs need to stop browbeating detractors.

“Treating the transition as a gradual initiative that is driven by technological development and incremental progress will generate less pushback and an overall better final result.”

Cheers to our expert contributor; we’ll hear more from him in the days ahead.

Send your opinions to, TheRundownFeedback@StPaulResearch.com

Your Rundown for Wednesday, November 24, 2022...

(Driverless) “Eyes” on the Road

Last week, Mercedes-Benz broadcast plans to use Luminar’s (ticker: LAZR) lidar technology in its next-generation vehicles.

“As part of the agreement, the German automaker is expected to acquire up to 1.5 million shares of Luminar over time as milestones are met,” CNBC says. “The companies also agreed to share data.”

Put simply, lidar technology – or light detection and ranging systems – gives driverless vehicles their ability to ‘see’ using a vast network of embedded chips and sensors.

In fact, lidar technology is essential to building out a driverless infrastructure platform which has been the pursuit of tech firms including Alphabet’s Waymo, Cruise and, for a time, Uber.

CNBC says: “Luminar last year announced Volvo would be the first automaker to offer Luminar’s lidar technology as standard on a new electric flagship SUV that’s scheduled to be unveiled this year.”

Luminar’s CEO Austin Russell describes the company’s agreement with Mercedes as being similar to the agreement with Volvo, albeit with a less definitive timeline.

Considering that solid-state lidar has many other useful applications, too — giving robots 360-degree vision, for example — the technology’s importance can’t be overstated.

And Luminar seems to be pulling ahead of the pack… particularly as a result of its partnerships with top-tier automakers.

Market Rundown for Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2022

S&P 500 futures are down 6 points to 4,310.

Oil is up almost 2% to $88.23 for a barrel of WTI.

Gold is down 0.50% to $1,785.90 per ounce.

Bitcoin is up $1,000 to $36,910.

Send your comments and questions to, TheRundownFeedback@StPaulResearch.com

Hope you have a wonderful weekend… We’ll catch up Monday!

For The Rundown,

Matt Insley
Publisher, The Rundown
TheRundownFeedback@StPaulResearch.com