When it comes to electrification, trucks are getting left in the dust.

While two- and three-wheeled vehicles, buses, passenger EVs, and other light-duty commercial vehicles could come close to hitting the sales figures needed for a net-zero scenario by 2050, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles are way off track, according to BloombergNEF’s latest Electric Vehicle Outlook.

• To reach net zero by 2050, zero-emissions medium and heavy commercial vehicles need to make up about 95% of sales in 2040.
• The current outlook predicts they will only account for about 35%, according to BNEF.

Zoom in: Consumer demand for EVs and the economic benefits to fleet owners who make the switch are driving significant increases in passenger and light-duty commercial EV sales.

But even as production of these EVs ramps up, options for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles remain scarce and expensive because they require specific battery tech and charging capabilities.

• Batteries: Truck batteries are currently as much as 2x–3x more expensive than batteries for passenger EVs, Nikolas Soulopoulos, head of commercial transport research at BloombergNEF and co-author of the report, told Emerging Tech Brew.
• Charging: Charging stations would need to reach megawatt-scale in order to charge multiple large trucks simultaneously on long-haul routes, Soulopoulos said. The most powerful fast chargers for passenger EVs today typically range from about 50kW to 350kW.

Big picture: Despite the challenges, there is a path for many trucks and other medium- and heavy-duty battery-electric vehicles to become economically competitive with diesel within five years in the US, Europe, and China, Soulopoulos said, particularly those operating in cities.

Adoption is set to grow, but it will take serious net-zero commitments and policies.

“The signs are all there,” he said. “But by no means is it easy.”

Read the full story here.—GD

Nature (read: The shortage of extremely small slices of silicon crammed with a bunch of circuits) is healing.

After nearly two years of a steadily deepening shortage, there are signs that semiconductor supply and demand are inching back toward equilibrium. And it’s not because supply has magically increased; it’s because demand for chips is cooling off due to a snarl of economic factors, from rising inflation to slowing growth in China to a pullback in tech funding.

By the numbers: As of May, semiconductor lead time was still a record-high 27.1 weeks, per Susquehanna Financial Group data cited by Bloomberg, but that is basically flat with April and March wait times, a welcome plateau after months of increases. For context, in May 2020, wait time was just 13.6 weeks, but it had surged to 20.4 weeks one year later.

• Mercedes, Daimler, and BMW all told Bloomberg they’re able to operate at full capacity now, after weathering months of production cuts.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports that semiconductor suppliers—after flying high throughout the crisis—could be hit hard by weakened demand as the shortage eases.

• Global semiconductor revenue hit a record-high in 2021, reaching ~$556 billion, compared to about $440 billion in 2020, per the SIA—a 26% increase YoY.
• Units shipped also hit a record high, with 1.15 trillion semiconductor units changing hands in 2021.

Bottom line: The semiconductor squeeze may be starting to let up, but that doesn’t mean it’s over. Reuters reported Wednesday that many companies, as well as the US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, expect the shortage to last through at least through 2023.

“It’s not perfect, but it’s better than last year,” Karin Radstrom, head of Daimler Truck’s Mercedes brand, told Bloomberg. “I try to not celebrate too early. We’re still monitoring the situation closely.”

Click here to read the story on-site.—DM

Stat: Funding for carbon-removal tech has jumped 30x, making it the fastest-growing climate sector in terms of $$$ invested.

Quote: “If we don’t sell that ethics makes the product better, it’s not like they stop making the product.”—Blake Lemoine, a senior software engineer and researcher in Google’s Responsible AI division, told us

Read: In theory, human artifacts can live on in space for trillions of years. Another vote for better space-junk cleanup!

UCaaS for dummies: Get smart fast with this complete guide to unifying your company’s messaging, video, and phone. Ensure 99.999% uptime, superior security, and serious savings to really drive your business. Read the guide.*

^{*This is sponsored advertising content.}

Three of the following news stories are true, and one...we made up. Can you spot the odd one out?

• Chinese scientists claim they used AI to clone a pig…without human involvement.
• Amtrak announced that in lieu of building out new service lines, it would invest in making all existing train routes conductorless.
• Salesforce announced an “NFT cloud.”
• Fake engine noise is quite common in American passenger vehicles.

For tech layoffs: There have been more than 17,000 layoffs across the US tech industry so far this year, according to this tracker from Crunchbase.

For unleashing the artist inside you: Dall-E mini is a stripped-back, open-source version of OpenAI’s art-generating AI, Dall-E 2, for which there is a wait list. Play around with it here.

For EV investments: A map of private $$$ invested in EVs across the US.

Catch up on the top Emerging Tech Brew stories from the past few editions:

• One year after promising to double AI ethics team, Google is light on details
• A distant cousin of Moore’s Law explains the rise of vertical farming
• By 2050, nearly 70% of passenger vehicles could be EVs—but net-zero will still be out of reach