Daily Shorts: Tesla range under scanner, Canada clears four wind farms to drive green hydrogen plants

Tesla is under the scanner of US authorities over vehicle range claims, media reports indicate. The Wall Street Journal reported federal prosecutors are looking into the company's range claims, on the basis of a Reuters report that said Tesla cars fall short of their advertised ranges. The report, published in July, claimed Tesla wrote algorithms to provide "rosy" range estimates on the dashboard, and later set up a "Diversion Team" to cancel appointments after its service centers were flooded with owners seeking better mileage. Next month, the company faces trial over its autopilot feature.

Newfoundland and Labrador has selected four companies to develop wind farms that will supply power for new green hydrogen plants. The Canadian province cleared EverWind NL, Exploits Valley Renewable Energy Corp, ABO Wind and World Energy GH2 to apply for use of government land to set up the farms, whittling the number down from a list of 24 applicants. The projects are subject to environmental assessment, but if cleared, will help Canada meet its pledge of suppling green hydrogen to Germany by 2025.

Pertamina plans to blend more ethanol into petrol from next year, the Indonesian state energy company's CEO said. The company will blend seven percent ethanol into 'Pertalite', the country's most used fuel, while hiking the amount in 'Pertamax Green 95' to eight percent from five. The company also plans to import ethanol because Indonesia's domestic production (estimated at 63,000 kilolitres per annum), is insufficient to meet requirements. India is eyeing a 20 percent blend available nationwide by 2025.

Brazil's national oil giant Petrobras announced it had signed agreements with multiple Chinese companies for collaboration in the energy sector and aiding its transition to cleaner fuels. Among them, the company said it had signed a strategic cooperation agreement with China Energy International Group for identifying opportunities in renewable energy and hydrogen domains. The company also signed pacts with CNOOC, Sinopec and Citic Construction Co to evaluate hydrocarbon opportunities and other business projects.