plan

the plan to implement 16,000 MW of batteries to save renewable surplus

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Spain is a world power in wind and solar energy: the graphics say it where it fares quite well against much larger countries and also the records he is breaking year by year. None of the world’s major economies came close to level of integration of renewables like Spain and Portugal already in 2024. In fact, there is so much that it reaches unbalance the electrical grid and what has he done to him become an export power. And yet, the blackout of April 28, 2025 He put Spain in front of an uncomfortable truth: I didn’t have enough batteries to accompany the boom of its renewables. So Spain is doing its homework: it is the second country with the most battery storage projects in the world, only behind the United States, according to this Ernst & Young report that analyzes the evolution and perspectives of the sector. Why is it important. Because the implementation of enough BESS would end one of the big problems with renewables: they provide energy intermittently, not on demand. If there is no storage, the excess is wasted (exporting is an option, but France is in the middle). Batteries are what is missing for the energy transition to be a reality, a reality that implies achieving energy sovereignty. On the other hand, with a storage system sized to the capacity, the batteries would function as a blackout-proof airbag in a matter of milliseconds in the event of possible failures. Finally, the possibility of being able to store energy when it is cheap (during very sunny hours) and release it would help alleviate electricity bills. Brief notes on the BESS. Energy storage batteries for the electrical grid or BESS (Battery Energy Storage System) They are not just huge mobile phone batteries, but rather they are storage systems the size of industrial containers (such as those on ships) packed with electrochemical cells with integrated electronics to inject or absorb energy into the grid in real time. They work as if they were a kind of shock absorber to store excess energy that is released later, when necessary. Inside there is a kind of management brain to control its status, power inverters so that the energy is usable on a domestic and industrial scale, and control software that decides when charging or discharging occurs. It’s time. The 2025 blackout was a friendly reminder of the situation, but it also helps that the price of lithium-ion batteries has dropped drastically: from 2014 to 2024 it fell 73% and continues to plummet: now it is at a minimum of 78 dollars per megawatt-hour. This collapse in costs is working as a catalyst for investment. The Spain of batteries, in figures. The EY report speaks of a planned business volume of 2,000 million euros in the form of projects under development until 2030 to store 16,000 MW. By then, the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan hope to have 22,500 MW of storage. The Expansion medium puts This data in perspective: those 16 GW represent a 29% share of everything projected on a global scale. Only the United States exceeds that figure. To make it possible, there is already a committed public investment: 750 million euros come from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, which is added to the 699 million European funds. The ball is in the Administration’s court. Everything mentioned so far are projects and not realities, that is, having these storage systems plugged into the electrical grid. Despite the volume of business and public aid, it is the economic viability that will make these projects go from paper to materialization. More specifically, the sector is waiting for the Spanish Government to develop a regulatory framework on how payment will be for these infrastructures and the service they provide to the network. These rewards will define their long-term profitability and therefore, whether companies decide to execute them or not. In Xataka | Spain’s electricity market has broken: there is so much energy left over that we are using the reservoirs like giant batteries In Xataka | Andalusia is going to become the “battery” of Spain: why it will keep almost half of European funds for batteries Cover | RawPixel

Microsoft has a billion-dollar plan to end inequality in Latin America. And it is to expand AI, of course

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50 billion dollars. This figure that seems so impossible to contextualize is the amount of money that Microsoft is going to invest in what they have dubbed the ‘plan’Global South by 2030‘. And like almost everything that has to do with Microsoft for a few months now, it is focused on one thing: improving access to AI in the countries of the ‘Global South‘. In short. This week, during the AI ​​Impact Summit in New Delhi, Microsoft president presented a plan to invest $50 billion by the end of the decade to improve access to artificial intelligence in developing countries and emerging markets. Brad Smith said they want to sustain the long-term growth of those countries as part of his company’s effort to address a problem they have detected: the growing digital divide between developed and developing nations. There may be many other gaps beyond access to AI, but Smith is convinced that what is urgent is to accelerate the adoption of AI in regions of India, Africa and Latin America. This ‘Global North’ and ‘Global South’ thing is not a geographical issue. It is an economic division The plan. The intention of Microsoft is “to make the dissemination of AI real and at scale, so that communities have what they need to access that tool, that they trust it and can apply it to local priorities.” The legs of that plan are: Empower schools and nonprofit organizations through technology and digital skills. Strengthen multilingual and multicultural artificial intelligence capabilities. Enable local AI innovations to meet community needs. Measure the spread of AI to guide future policies and investment. Let it be used more. With this, Microsoft hopes that AI will penetrate more into these territories because, according to an internal report on the spread of artificial intelligence, while 24.7% of the working-age population in the Global North uses generative AI tools, in the Global South only 14.1% use it. According to Smith, developing economies cannot miss out on those productivity advantages that come with AI. AI and hunger in Africa. But it is not the only thing that Microsoft has recently presented that seeks to position AI as a catalyst for change. With the ambitious title of ‘Stop malnutrition with AI’, the American company has presented a project to improve food security in sub-Saharan Africa. Starting in Kenya, the idea is that institutions have access to tools that offer information to predict and prevent food shortages and predict, with AI, the risks that this implies for health. If you are raising an eyebrow like “thank goodness we now have AI to give us the solution to a problem that we already know”, here at least there is no talk of Generative AIbut rather a model that collects all the data and reflects it on a map so that organizations have more detailed information. Data centers. These 50,000 million are added to other previous billion-dollar investments that Microsoft had already done in countries like BrazilIndia or South Africa, but there is something more than “digital empowerment”. The initiative includes building AI infrastructure, and that means one thing: building data centers. This infrastructure requires an immense amount of energy to satisfy the needs of the digital infrastructure, but they also need water and Mexico and South American countries are directly mentioned as home to some of the new data centers. Microsoft has been testing for some time more sustainable data center designsbut precisely in developing places, energy and water are resources that, perhaps, are not abundant. Images | Specialgst, Microsoft In Xataka | What is happening in the US is a warning for Spain: data centers driving up electricity bills in homes

The Government already has a plan to return to physical buttons

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Many of us miss the presence of physical buttons inside the vehicles that land on the market today, that is a fact. However, from various points of the globe there is already a certain movement in reversing and require a certain balance. In this sense, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China (MIIT) has proposed a new regulation which will force manufacturers to install physical buttons and controls for essential vehicle functions. The ‘all screen’ has dominated the automobile industry in China in recent years, but everything indicates that there is now an intention to stop this trend for safety reasons. The underlying problem. The obsession with minimalist interiors with huge touch screens has led many Chinese manufacturers to eliminate virtually all physical buttons from the cabin. A trend largely started by Tesla and that brands like BYD, Xiaomi or Geely have adopted it massively. As if navigating our phone’s interface wasn’t enough, now we also have to spend some time on the central screen of our car, and in several vehicles we have to go through this screen for functions as basic as the turn signals or emergency lights. Which functions will have mandatory physical controls. The regulations specify a clear list of items which must have physical buttons or controls with a minimum size of 10×10 millimeters: turn signals, emergency lights, horn, gear selection (P/R/N/D), windshield wipers, defroster, electric windows, switch to activate driving assistance systems and emergency lights. Technical requirements. Under the proposal, physical controls would need to be in fixed positions, allow use without looking, and provide tactile or auditory feedback. Additionally, basic functions must remain available even when the vehicle system fails or loses power. In this way, the regulatory body intends for the driver to be able to operate these controls without taking their eyes off the road or depending on the screen to respond correctly. It is not an isolated case. China has begun a regulatory crusade for security in recent months. A few days ago we were talking about the ban on hidden handles retractable after several fatal accidents in the country. There is also an intention to eliminate yoke-type (U-shaped) steering wheels, arguing that their design is not suitable for the 10-specific point impact tests on the steering wheel required by new safety regulations, which will come into force in January 2027. Stricter regulation for autonomous driving. The new rules also tighten the requirements for autonomous driving systems levels 3 and 4. Manufacturers will have to demonstrate that their systems can drive as well as “a competent and attentive human driver”, presenting case studies to support this. According to the regulations, if the system fails or the driver does not respond, the vehicle must reach what regulators call a “minimum risk condition” – that is, stop safely on its own. Implementation schedule. The draft is open to public consultation until April 13. According to ChinaEVHomethe regulations on physical controls would come into force on July 1, 2027, with a transition period of approximately six months. New models seeking approval must comply with all of this immediately, while existing models will have 13 months to adapt, according to they count from CarScoops. In Xataka | Two centuries ago the tires on cars and motorcycles were white. It had nothing to do with the design.

Mexico has a gigantic energy treasure under its feet. The plan to extract it is called fracking

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Mexico is walking on a treasure and, at the same time, on a political minefield. Under the land of states like Coahuila, Tamaulipas and Veracruz, an energy giant sleeps: the sixth world reserves of unconventional gas. Waking him up was the great taboo of López Obrador’s six-year term, a red line drawn with the promise of “no to fracking“However, reality has knocked on the door of the National Palace. In a turn that redefines the new mandate, President Claudia Sheinbaum has faced an iron dilemma: staying true to the campaign promise of not using hydraulic fracturing or pursuing “energy sovereignty”, one of the almost mythical aspirations of the Mexican left, to stop depending on US gas. The president has already made a decision: she is willing to pay the political cost. What began as a rumor has become a budgetary and contractual reality in 2026. The data is compelling and leaves no room for doubt about the change in course. Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex) has increased its investment for this year in the “Gulf Tertiary Oil” program by 66%, going from 2,423 million pesos in 2025 to 4,016 million pesos in 2026, according to Treasury data obtained via transparency collected by The Universal. The machinery is already in motion. Pemex’s Strategic Plan (2025-2035) schedules the start of these operations after last year’s pilots. Pemex has awarded the first “mixed contracts” to private companies such as C5M, Geolis, CESIGSA and Petrolera Miahuapan. Although the state company retains the majority shareholding and control, it is the private parties who will provide the capital and technology, an urgent need for an oil company with a debt of more than 100 billion dollars. However, this injection of capital has raised alarm bells due to its opacity. The Mexican Alliance against Fracking denounces that in the 2026 Budget there are more than 245,000 million pesos allocated to gas projects that involve hydraulic fracturing, hidden under items that lack public breakdown and transparency, just as collected The Impartial. The semantics of dissimulation If he fracking was a “cursed word” in the previous six-year term, the new government has found a creative solution: change the dictionary. To avoid the political cost of openly announcing the use of fracking, the administration has chosen by a series of technical euphemisms. Rather frackingofficial documents speak of “reservoirs with complex geology” or “reservoir stimulation.” The general director of Pemex, Víctor Rodríguez Padilla, was blunt before the Senate: “We are not going to do frackingwe are taking advantage of technological development in evaluations of existing deposits.” But operational reality belies the rhetoric and breaks the discipline of official discourse. While euphemisms are used in the capital, on the ground urgency rules. The Undersecretary of Hydrocarbons of Tamaulipas, cited by The Countryrecently broke the taboo by declaring: “We talk it like it is here…hydraulic fracturing.” However, to understand the magnitude of the challenge, you have to look at the map. Pemex’s hopes are concentrated in three main basins: Burgos, Tampico-Misantla and Sabinas-Burro Picachos. The Burgos Basin is particularly relevant for being the natural extension towards the south of Eagle Ford in Texas, one of the deposits of shale most prolific of the American boom. If there is wealth north of the border, geology suggests there is wealth to the south as well. However, extracting this oil is not easy. The expert Miriam Grunstein illustrates the technical challenge starkly: the soil in these areas is a clayey “dump” and the crude oil has the density of “toothpaste.” This makes their exploitation extremely difficult, expensive and technologically demanding. Why go back to these complicated areas now? The answer is exhaustion. Pemex is pivoting toward the “unconventional” because its large conventional fields are drying up. It’s a portfolio decision to try to sustain the production platform in the face of the natural decline of traditional fields. If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu Behind Sheinbaum’s turn is a real geopolitical fear. Mexico imports 70% of the gas it consumes from the United States. “If the United States closes the valve, Mexico will be left in the dark,” recognized the head of Pemex himself. But the scenario is even more complex with the neighbor above led by Donald Trump and his vision of natural resources as national security. Recently, Washington has deployed the Project Vaulta strategy to secure critical minerals and counter China, which includes “geological mapping” of Mexican resources. The pressure is such that the Mexican government has had to give in to the harshest pragmatism. It was the Secretary of Economy, Marcelo Ebrard, who summarized Mexico’s position regarding the US energy integration demands with a lapidary phrase: “If you are not at the table participating, you are on the menu.” Mexico has decided to sit at the table fracking to avoid being devoured. Furthermore, the lack of liquidity forces this opening. Reactivating the identified wells requires immediate investments of more than $1 billion, money that will now come from private partners. The decision has been made, but the results will not be immediate. Although investment skyrockets in 2026, specialists warn that the launch of massive exploitation will take between three and four years to yield tangible results. The government’s optimistic projections suggest that, in their most developed phase, these fields could provide an additional 300,000 barrels per day. To achieve this, the “Mixed Contracts” model will be the norm: Pemex collect immediate bonuses for the award (almost 50 million dollars in the first round alone) and lets the private parties assume the operational and financial risk. A very high price The cost of this decision is already being paid in credibility with the bases. Organizations like Greenpeace and the Mexican Alliance against Fracking They have accused Sheinbaum of “betraying the people who elected her.” The most critical point is water. In a country hit by drought, the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change (INECC) estimates that 5.7 million liters of water are required per well. Greenpeace raise the alert citing the … Read more

the US plan to revive its industry

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On the complex board of global technology, power is not only measured in lines of code, but in the ability to master chemical elements that, until recently, went unnoticed. That’s where gallium comes in, a silvery, malleable metal that, as explained in the Wall Street Journalhas the almost magical property of liquefying with the simple heat of the palm of the hand. However, behind this physical curiosity lies the nervous system of modern defense: unlike silicon, gallium withstands extreme voltages and resists heat without blinking, which makes it the irreplaceable material for military radars, satellites and missile guidance systems. For decades, the world depended on a single supplier. Today, in a twist worthy of the Cold War, the United States and its allies have decided that the era of complacency is over. The plan is as ambitious as it is unusual: extracting the technological treasure from industrial waste, from the so-called “red mud.” The market as a weapon of war. The current crisis is not a supply chain accident, but a state strategy. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), China applied a textbook tactic for years: flooding the market with artificially low prices to suffocate any mining attempts in the West. Once he achieved the monopoly—controlling 99% of refined gallium by 2025—Peking began to turn off the tap. In the report of Wall Street Journal remember that in 2023 China imposed export controls and, soon after, a complete ban on shipments to the United States. Although the ban was temporarily lifted, the damage had already been done: the price of gallium outside China tripled, reaching an all-time high of $1,572 per kilo last January, as reported by AlCircle. For the Pentagon, which in its official documents has recovered the historical term “War Department”, this is no longer a commercial issue, but of national survival. The gallium triangle. To break this siege, Washington has stopped looking at conventional mines to focus on the refinery chimneys. The strategy is deployed in an industrial triangle that starts in Australia. There, at the Wagerup refinery, the giant Alcoa has teamed up with Japan and the US to filter gallium directly from bauxite processing. The objective, detailed by Wall Street Journalis to capture 10% of global demand without opening a single new mine. The effort crosses the Pacific to the banks of the Mississippi, in Louisiana. The Gramercy plant has received a $150 million injection from the Pentagon to process its mountains of “red mud,” a waste product from aluminum production that is now worth its weight in gold. He Financial Times underlines the ambition of the project: This single plant aims to cover the entire US gallium demand. The triangle closes in Tennessee, where the South Korean Korea Zinc leads a multimillion-dollar investment to rescue the strategic metal from zinc refining waste. A market armored against Beijing? Despite the rain of millions, the path is full of economic traps. Professor Ian Lange, from the Colorado School of Mines, warns in the Wall Street Journal that the gallium market is “dangerously small.” If the West ramps up production too quickly, prices could collapse, making new plants unprofitable before they even start. To avoid this scenario, the White House has deployed a financial safety net. It is about the Project Vault, a strategic reserve of 12 billion dollarsdesigned to guarantee the purchase of these minerals and protect giants like General Motors or Google from volatility. This measure is aligned with the proposal of the CSIS to create an “anchor market”a mechanism where G7 allies establish mandatory purchasing quotas, shielding Western production from Chinese dumping. The future is written atom by atom. It is no longer enough to design the best software; Now it is imperative to possess the stuff that makes it work. Between the “red mud” of Louisiana and the refineries of Australia, the West is trying to demonstrate that it can regain its technological sovereignty. As long as Beijing maintains its ability to sink prices at will, these projects will depend on vital support from the State. The great battle for gallium is, ultimately, a fight of resistance to see who sustains the supply of the chips that will move the world of tomorrow. Image | AndrewDaGamer and freepik Xataka | The gold of discord: why 14 municipalities of Guadalajara have rebelled against Europe’s “mineral sovereignty” plan

the plan to turn Asturias into the great energy shipyard that Europe no longer knows how to build

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For decades, the West operated under a mirage: believing that making things was no longer relevant and that the future lay only in software. However, China has woken up Europe of that dream, showing him that national sovereignty depends, ultimately, on knowing how to melt metal. Now that “bath of reality” has just docked in Asturias. The Port of Gijón, El Musel, has ceased to be just a strategic enclave for local coal and steel to become the epicenter of a global ambition. The Asturian group Zima and the Chinese giant Dajin Offshore they have sealed an alliance to build a foundation plant for offshore wind. However, there is a problem and size does matter, a lot. The landing of a colossus. Dajin and Zima have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop a facility that will not only manufacture components, but will function as a port for marshalling —the logistics area where these pieces are collected and pre-assembled—. As detailed in The Economistthe objective is to supply the European market and alleviate bottlenecks in the sector. Dajin is not just any actor. As detailed in local media, It is the largest Chinese private manufacturer of offshore wind structures. This alliance will reinforce the strategic role of the region in the European energy transition. The Gordian knot: the crisis of space. Zima’s initial project occupied 153,753 square meters on the North Pier. However, the entry of Dajin changes everything: the multinational need more space. Making XXL “monopiles” is not like making cars. According to technical data provided by Energetica21Dajin has the capacity to manufacture structures up to 12 meters in diameter, 120 meters in length and 2,500 tons in weight. “Moving and storing these steel cylinders requires massive esplanades that are currently compromised,” warn industry sources. in LNE. El Musel finds himself facing a puzzle. The land requested by Zima borders Ionway’s future battery plant. As LNE explainsthe Port Authority is studying with “the best disposition” how to meet this demand, either by extending towards the sea or looking for non-contiguous plots. An “Electrostate” in the Cantabrian Sea. To understand this project you have to look at the global context. Today, China builds 74% of the planet’s renewable energy. By settling in Gijón, Dajin brings what the West has lost: heavy industrial capacity. As Miquel Zorita, director of Zima, points out, in The Economistthe desire is to integrate local suppliers. This is vital because European wind turbine manufacturers such as Siemens Gamesa or Vestas are going through a deep profitability crisis. Chinese technology in Asturias could be the necessary oxygen ball, even if it is under a foreign flag. The industrial clock against the bureaucratic clock. The success of this operation will not be measured only in the millions of euros of investment or in the jobs created, but in the size of the facilities it will depend exclusively on the space they obtain in the port. Asturias has before it the opportunity to stop being a “quarry” of resources and become a center of high added value. But, as Craig Tindale’s thesis warnsa civilization that sacrifices its material base ends up losing its independence. Gijón is redesigning its map; Now it remains to be seen if El Musel has enough soil to support so much weight. Image | Bafpg and ShellAsp Xataka | Inspecting an offshore wind turbine no longer requires stopping it: the drone that uses AI to ‘x-ray’ moving blades

What the Auto+ Plan offers, requirements and how to request it

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Let’s explain to you What are the aids to buy an electric car? of the Auto+ Plan. Thus, if you are thinking of buying a car of this type in 2026, you will know until when the aid can increase and what the requirements are to be able to apply for it. The Auto+ Plan is the successor to the MOVES III Plan which ended last year, and solves some of the problems that it had been dragging on. This new aid plan has some important newsboth in the amounts and in the way in which the aid is calculated. These are the aids of the Auto+ Plan Below, we leave you the table in which you can see the amounts of aid and the percentage received. Here, to calculate the aid, both the type of car and its price before taxes will be calculated and where it was manufacturedso that those who are European will be given more priority. Here you have the table: Category Maximum aid amount Vehicle type Percentage received based on price Manufacturing Tourism (M1) 4,500 euros Electric: 50% of the aid (2,250 euros) Plug-in and electric hybrid with extended autonomy: 25% of the aid (1,125 euros) Maximum of 45,000 euros before taxes: Up to 35,000 euros: 25% of the maximum aid amount (1,125 euros) Between 35,001 and 45,000 euros: 15% of the maximum amount of aid (675 euros) Vehicles whose assembly and final completion prior to marketing has been carried out in an EU industrial facility will be allocated: 15% of the maximum aid amount (675 euros) Additionally, if a part of the battery manufacturing process (at least must include the assembly of the battery packs): additional 10% of the maximum aid amount (450 euros euros) Vehicle (N1) 5,000 euros Electric: 50% of the aid (2,500 euros) Plug-in and electric hybrid with extended autonomy: 25% of the aid (1,250 euros) No maximum limit: All vehicles receive 25% of the maximum aid amount (1,250 euros) Vehicles whose assembly and final completion prior to marketing has been carried out in an EU industrial facility will be allocated: 15% of the maximum aid amount (750 euros) Additionally, if a part of the battery manufacturing process (at least it must include the assembly of the battery packs): additional 10% of the maximum aid amount (500 euros) Moped (L3e, L4e and L5e) 1,100 euros Electric: 50% of the aid (550 euros) Plug-in and electric hybrid with extended autonomy: 25% of the aid (275 euros) Maximum of 10,000 euros before taxes: All vehicles receive 25% of the maximum aid amount (275 euros) Vehicles whose assembly and final completion prior to marketing has been carried out in an EU industrial facility will be allocated: 15% of the maximum aid amount (165 euros) Additionally, if a part of the battery manufacturing process (at least it must include the assembly of the battery packs): additional 10% of the maximum aid amount (110 euros) Quadricycle (L6e and L7e) 1,500 euros Electric: 50% of the aid (750 euros) Plug-in and electric hybrid with extended autonomy: 25% of the aid (375 euros) No maximum limit: All vehicles receive 25% of the maximum aid amount (375 euros) Vehicles whose assembly and final completion prior to marketing has been carried out in an EU industrial facility will be allocated: 15% of the maximum aid amount (225 euros) Additionally, if a part of the battery manufacturing process (at least it must include the assembly of the battery packs): additional 10% of the maximum aid amount (150 euros) Aid phases and requirements The Auto+ Plan aid is calculated based on three phases. This means that 100% of the aid is divided into three partsone of 50% and two others of 25%. With this, if you want to receive 100% you will have to meet the requirements of each of the phases of the aid. Phase 1: Type of car (up to 50% of the total aid): If you buy an electric or fuel cell car, you will be awarded 50% of the total aid. This is all that can be given to you in this phase. If the car is an extended range electric or plug-in hybrid, then it will only be 25%. Phase 2: car price (up to 25% of total aid): If your car costs up to 35,000 euros before taxes, an additional 25% of the aid will be added. If your car costs between 35,000 and 45,000 euros, you only receive 15%. If it costs more than 45,000 euros, nothing is added to you. Phase 3: where it is manufactured (up to 25% of total aid): This phase is divided into two conditions. If your car was manufactured in Europe, an additional 15% will be added for the aid. And if the battery has also been produced in Europe (at least the battery pack assembly), then you receive an additional 10%. If you meet both requirements, then the remaining 25% is added to the total aid. With this, you will only be able to aspire to the maximum aid of 4,500 euros if you comply with everything: if your car is electric or fuel cell, if it cost a maximum of 35,000 euros, if the car was manufactured in Europe and if the battery was assembled in Europe. In the event that you do not meet all the requirementssince you will stop receiving the percentage of the aid that corresponds to the phase whose requirements the vehicle you have purchased does not meet. In addition to this, you should know that There are other points to take into account. on the types of vehicles to which aid is provided. As we explained in Xatakathese are the points: The aid takes into account all purchases made from January 1, 2026 so those who have purchased an electric car in the first month of the year will be able to have access to them. Aid is only provided for purchases of Zero-emission vehicles. Aid is only provided to passenger … Read more

The Auto+ Plan comes with less money, more demands and a key question to resolve

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Announced for January 1, it was finally in February 2026 when the Auto+ Planthe new aid system for electric cars with which the Government tries to promote the sale of cars with a Zero Emissions label, whether electric or plug-in hybrids. The new aid system comes with important new features, both in the amount that can be obtained and in the way that aid is delivered. Now, in addition, where the car will be made will be taken into account in order to qualify for the maximum possible deduction. This is all that needs to be taken into account. This is what the new aid for electric cars is like After a month of uncertainty, the Government has approved new aid for electric cars that relieves the MOVES III Plan and solves some of the problems that have been dragging on for years. The program has an amount of 400 million euros so, for now, it will only be available until this fund runs out. In it, as we will see, vehicles manufactured in Europe and those with the lowest price are rewarded. And to receive the maximum discounts it will be necessary to overcome different key points. What must be clear is that from the Ministry of Industry and Tourism has not been clarified exactly when the aid will be delivered to the client. The promise was that the discount would be applied at the time of purchase, eliminating the waits of up to 18 months who have come to live with the MOVES III Plan. However, this seems to be up in the air. And in its explanations, the Ministry points out that the aid “will be carried out in coordination with the Autonomous Communities and that “dealers, points of sale and renting companies will be able to help process aid requests” but nothing is specified about what will be delivered at that time. It must be taken into account that The concessionaires already indicated that they were not willing to advance the aid money. First of all, the basic points that must be clear are the following: The aid takes into account all purchases made from January 1, 2026 so those who have purchased an electric car in the first month of the year will be able to have access to them. Aid is only provided for purchases of Zero-emission vehicles. Aid is only provided to passenger cars (M1) whose maximum amount before the application of VAT is 45,000 euros. N1 vehicles (vehicles intended for the transport of goods that do not exceed 3,500 kg) have no purchase limit to receive aid L3e, L4e and L5e vehicles (mopeds) may not exceed 10,000 euros before taxes to receive aid. L6e and L7e vehicles (quadricycles) have no purchase limit to receive aid. The maximum aid for a car will be 4,500 euros. The brand will have to offer a minimum discount of 1,000 euros. It is not clear when the aid will be delivered to the client or how long it will take for the client to receive it. Once this is understood, the next thing to understand is that the maximum amount of aid is only received if a series of conditions are met. requirements. Thus, depending on the car purchased, percentages of the maximum amount will be covered and, therefore, only by meeting all the requirements will we be able to receive the maximum money delivered by the State. Category Maximum aid amount Vehicle type Percentage received based on price Manufacturing Tourism (M1) 4,500 euros Electric: 50% of the aid (2,250 euros) Plug-in and electric hybrid with extended autonomy: 25% of the aid (1,125 euros) Maximum of 45,000 euros before taxes: Up to 35,000 euros: 25% of the maximum aid amount (1,125 euros) Between 35,001 and 45,000 euros: 15% of the maximum amount of aid (675 euros) Vehicles whose assembly and final completion prior to marketing has been carried out in an EU industrial facility will be allocated: 15% of the maximum aid amount (675 euros) Additionally, if a part of the battery manufacturing process (at least must include the assembly of the battery packs): additional 10% of the maximum aid amount (450 euros euros) Vehicle (N1) 5,000 euros Electric: 50% of the aid (2,500 euros) Plug-in and electric hybrid with extended autonomy: 25% of the aid (1,250 euros) No maximum limit: All vehicles receive 25% of the maximum aid amount (1,250 euros) Vehicles whose assembly and final completion prior to marketing has been carried out in an EU industrial facility will be allocated: 15% of the maximum aid amount (750 euros) Additionally, if a part of the battery manufacturing process (at least it must include the assembly of the battery packs): additional 10% of the maximum aid amount (500 euros) Moped (L3e, L4e and L5e) 1,100 euros Electric: 50% of the aid (550 euros) Plug-in and electric hybrid with extended autonomy: 25% of the aid (275 euros) Maximum of 10,000 euros before taxes: All vehicles receive 25% of the maximum aid amount (275 euros) Vehicles whose assembly and final completion prior to marketing has been carried out in an EU industrial facility will be allocated: 15% of the maximum aid amount (165 euros) Additionally, if a part of the battery manufacturing process (at least it must include the assembly of the battery packs): additional 10% of the maximum aid amount (110 euros) Quadricycle (L6e and L7e) 1,500 euros Electric: 50% of the aid (750 euros) Plug-in and electric hybrid with extended autonomy: 25% of the aid (375 euros) No maximum limit: All vehicles receive 25% of the maximum aid amount (375 euros) Vehicles whose assembly and final completion prior to marketing has been carried out in an EU industrial facility will be allocated: 15% of the maximum aid amount (225 euros) Additionally, if a part of the battery manufacturing process (at least it must include the assembly of the battery packs): additional 10% of the maximum aid amount (150 euros) Therefore, now to be aware … Read more

NASA has already used it to plan routes for the Perseverance rover on Mars

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Over the last few years, artificial intelligence has crept into our routines as a practical tool: generate images, summarize, analyze, program. But in recent times it is crossing a more demanding frontier, that of systems that make decisions with physical consequences in the real world. And that also includes space. NASA JPL just announced that the Perseverance rover has completed the first drives on another world whose route was planned by AI. In terms of planetary exploration, we are not talking about a great leap in distance, but about something more delicate: proving that a technology designed to interpret information and propose actions can begin to be integrated, with supervision, into the way in which other worlds are explored. What exactly did the AI ​​do. The test materialized in two drives carried out on December 8 and 10, 2025, both inside the crater Jezero. In those two days, the team incorporated AI models with visual capacity for a very specific task: proposing waypointsthat is, the intermediate locations on which the driving plan is then built and sent to the rover. This type of planning is normally done manually by specialists who analyze images and data of the terrain. On this occasion, AI generated these waypoints so that Perseverance could safely navigate a complex area, under the leadership of the rover’s own operations center at JPL and in collaboration with Anthropic. A basic limitation. Mars is far away, and you can’t drive a rover like a remote-controlled car. JPL itself remembers that the red planet is, on average, about 225 million kilometers from Earth, a distance that generates delays in communication and makes real-time control unfeasible. For this reason, the missions operate with a different logic: the terrain is analyzed, routes are drawn in sections and instructions are sent through the Deep Space Network. The rover executes them and the result is confirmed with a delay. It is a well-proven workflow, but it is also slow, especially when the goal is to advance through complex areas without putting the vehicle at risk. The milestone figures. JPL details that, in the first demonstration on December 8, 2025, Perseverance advanced about 210 meters. In the second, on December 10, he traveled around 246 meters. In total, just over four hundred meters in two days. It is not an epic feat nor does it pretend to be. What is relevant is that these routes were based on a different scheme than usual: the planning was built from the aforementioned waypoints and the rover then executed the plan on terrain that requires precision because it does not forgive mistakes. A demonstration that AI continues to gain ground. “This demonstration shows how far our capabilities have advanced and expands how we will explore other worlds,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. And he finished with an idea that serves as an editorial guide for the entire experiment: “Autonomous technologies like this can help missions operate more efficiently, respond to challenging terrain, and increase scientific performance as distance from Earth increases.” For now, the demo is limited, but it’s hard not to read it as a warning. Autonomy is no longer discussed only in laboratories, it is also being tested on Mars. In context. We are not talking about any AI. Claude, Anthropic models, have been gaining ground as a tool for programming tasks for some time, becoming a reference option, even threatening ChatGPT. And that reputation has not stayed in the developer community: according to Mark Gurman (Bloomberg), Apple would be beginning to integrate it in a structured way into its AI strategy for Xcode; and, according to Insider, Meta has incorporated Claude into “Devmate”, an internal debugging-oriented tool. Images | NASA | Anthropic In Xataka | Anthropic has rewritten his 25,000-word “Constitution” for Claude. It is the manual for how AI should behave

what is the plan of one of the most powerful studios in the world

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The 33% collapse in Ubisoft’s stock market after announcing in January 2026 the cancellation of six projects and the closure of several studios marks a turning point for one of the most emblematic publishers in the industry. With a valuation of 11,000 million euros in 2018, Its market value has fallen to just 606 millionwhile projecting operating losses of €1 billion for fiscal year 2026. Project massacre. The official list includes six games in development, including the remake of ‘Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time‘, a project that had gone through multiple studies and reboots. The leaks point to a greater drain: an ‘Assassin’s Creed’ set after the American Civil War was shelved due to political fears. They have also dropped a ‘Splinter Cell’ in early development, a sequel to ‘Star Wars Outlaws’ and the ‘Watch Dogs’ franchise, definitively buried after the failure of ‘Legion’. Added to these titles are seven delayed games. The most significant, according to industry speculation, would be ‘Assassin’s Creed IV: Resynced’, a remake of ‘Black Flag’ now scheduled for 2027. The financial impact amounts to 650 million euros in amortizations. How we got here. The last two years have been a string of setbacks for Ubi. ‘Skull and Bones’, after over a decade of development since 2013arrived in February 2024 with a cost between 200 and 850 million dollarswhich did not prevent a certainly lukewarm reception. Guillemot called it an “AAAA” game, but months later it barely had 400 simultaneous players on Steam. ‘Star Wars Outlaws’ sold less than a million copies40% below expectations. ‘XDefiant’, the shooter free-to-play, It was closed in December 2024 after only seven months on the market. Despite its 15 million players, it did not retain enough audience. The closure caused 277 layoffs. ‘Assassin’s Creed Shadows‘, the last game in the company’s quintessential saga, and still the main best-seller along with ‘Just Dance’, also had a complicated trajectory. suffered multiple delays since November 2024 and was involved in an unusual controversy for the franchise, around cultural inaccuracies and technical problems. And above all: more than 3,000 employees laid off from 2023a figure much more painful than any puncture in lists. Tencent had to inject $1.16 billion in 2025 to keep the company afloat. Debatable business decisions. Ubisoft has announced a strong commitment to “player-oriented” generative AIsuggesting that it will appear directly in the games. The measure has generated rejection in the community, increasingly sensitive to the use of AI for creative issues. As a cherry on top, Ubi has given the order to return to the office five days a week, which contrasts with trends in the sector and is another obstacle when it comes to retaining talent. Many employees consider these measures “hidden layoffs.” The houses. Ubi has reorganized its franchises into five “Creative Houses” with financial responsibility over specific genres, but has already raised doubts about its effectiveness. The appointment of Charlie Guillemot, son of the CEO, as co-CEO of Vantage Studios, the first of these houses, nepotism accusations reopen. From there they will be in charge of ‘Assassin’s Creed’, ‘Far Cry’ and ‘Rainbow Six Siege’. The second house will have ‘The Division’, ‘Ghost Recon’ and ‘Splinter Cell’. The third, ‘For Honor’, ‘The Crew’, ‘Riders Republic’, ‘Brawlhalla’ and ‘Skull & Bones’. The fourth, ‘Anno’, ‘Might & Magic’, ‘Rayman’, ‘Prince of Persia’ and ‘Beyond Good & Evil’. The fifth, ‘Just Dance’, ‘Idle Miner Tycoon’, ‘Ketchapp’, ‘Hungry Shark’, ‘Invincible: Guarding the Globe’, ‘Uno’ and the Hasbro games. The future for Ubisoft. The projects that have survived are few. ‘Assassin’s Creed’ has acquired existential overtones: it must work or the star franchise will be damaged. ‘The Division 3’ is the commitment to keep another important saga going. Four unannounced IPs are added, including ‘March of Giants’, acquired from Amazon, although all these massive cancellations have begun to raise doubts. Ubisoft has withdrawn its forecasts for 2026-2027recognizing that the situation is too volatile. Project cuts of an additional 200 million until March 2028, which implies more layoffs. Fixed costs should fall from 1,750 million in 2023 to 1,250 million in 2028. The results of February 2026 will determine if the plan is viable or if the company ends up absorbed by Tencent, fragmented or worse, on sale. The Guillemot family had considered purchase offers in 2024, and the deterioration means that option is back on the table. It only remains to be seen if Ubisoft, capable of creating iconic franchises, continues to retain some of what made it great. In Xataka | ‘Star Wars: Outlaws’ is one of Ubi’s most ambitious games, but some details keep it from a perfect ‘space GTA’

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