title: Plug-in hybrid

text: The second generation Prius plug-in hybrid, called Prius Prime in the U.S. and Prius PHV in Japan, was unveiled at the 2016 New York International Auto Show. Retail deliveries of the Prius Prime began in the U.S. in November 2016, and is scheduled to be released Japan by the end of 2016. The Prime has an EPA-rated all-electric range of , over twice the range of the first generation model, and an EPA rated fuel economy of in all-electric mode (EV mode), the highest MPGe rating in EV mode of any vehicle rated by EPA. Unlike its predecessor, the Prime runs entirely on electricity in EV mode. Global sales of the Mitsubishi Outlander P-HEV passed the 100,000 unit milestone in March 2016. BYD Qin sales in China reached the 50,000 unit milestone in April 2016, becoming the fourth plug-in hybrid to pass that mark.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: In June 2016, Nissan announced it will introduce a compact range extender car in Japan before March 2017. The series plug-in hybrid will use a new hybrid system, dubbed e-Power, which debuted with the Nissan Gripz concept crossover showcased at the 2015 Frankfurt Auto Show.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: In January 2016, Chrysler debuted its plug-in hybrid minivan, the Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid, with an EPA rated electric-only range of . This was the first hybrid minivan of any type. It was first sold in the United States, Canada, and Mexico in 2017.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: In December 2017, Honda began retail deliveries of the Honda Clarity Plug-In Hybrid in the United States and Canada, with an EPA rated electric-only range of .


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: PHEVs are based on the same three basic powertrain architectures of conventional hybrids; a "series hybrid" is propelled by electric motors only, a "parallel hybrid" is propelled both by its internal combustion engine and by electric motors operating concurrently, and a "series-parallel hybrid" operates in either mode. While a plain hybrid vehicle charges its battery from its engine only, a plug-in hybrid can obtain a significant amount of the energy required to recharge its battery from external sources.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: The battery charger can be on-board or external to the vehicle. The process for an on-board charger is best explained as AC power being converted into DC power, resulting in the battery being charged. On-board chargers are limited in capacity by their weight and size, and by the limited capacity of general-purpose AC outlets. Dedicated off-board chargers can be as large and powerful as the user can afford, but require returning to the charger; high-speed chargers may be shared by multiple vehicles.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: Using the electric motor's inverter allows the motor windings to act as the transformer coils, and the existing high-power inverter as the AC-to-DC charger. As these components are already required on the car, and are designed to handle any practical power capability, they can be used to create a very powerful form of on-board charger with no significant additional weight or size. AC Propulsion uses this charging method, referred to as "reductive charging".


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: A plug-in hybrid operates in charge-depleting and charge-sustaining modes. Combinations of these two modes are termed blended mode or mixed-mode. These vehicles can be designed to drive for an extended range in all-electric mode, either at low speeds only or at all speeds. These modes manage the vehicle's battery discharge strategy, and their use has a direct effect on the size and type of battery required:


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: Charge-depleting mode allows a fully charged PHEV to operate exclusively (or depending on the vehicle, almost exclusively, except during hard acceleration) on electric power until its battery state of charge is depleted to a predetermined level, at which time the vehicle's internal combustion engine or fuel cell will be engaged. This period is the vehicle's all-electric range. This is the only mode that a battery electric vehicle can operate in, hence their limited range.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: Mixed mode describes a trip using a combination of multiple modes. For example, a car may begin a trip in low speed charge-depleting mode, then enter onto a freeway and operate in blended mode. The driver might exit the freeway and drive without the internal combustion engine until all-electric range is exhausted. The vehicle can revert to a charge sustaining-mode until the final destination is reached. This contrasts with a charge-depleting trip which would be driven within the limits of a PHEV's all-electric range.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: The optimum battery size varies depending on whether the aim is to reduce fuel consumption, running costs, or emissions, but a 2009 study concluded that "The best choice of PHEV battery capacity depends critically on the distance that the vehicle will be driven between charges. Our results suggest that for urban driving conditions and frequent charges every 10 miles or less, a low-capacity PHEV sized with an AER (all-electric range) of about 7 miles would be a robust choice for minimizing gasoline consumption, cost, and greenhouse gas emissions. For less frequent charging, every 20–100 miles, PHEVs release fewer GHGs, but HEVs are more cost effective."


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: PHEVs typically require deeper battery charging and discharging cycles than conventional hybrids. Because the number of full cycles influences battery life, this may be less than in traditional HEVs which do not deplete their batteries as fully. However, some authors argue that PHEVs will soon become standard in the automobile industry. Design issues and trade-offs against battery life, capacity, heat dissipation, weight, costs, and safety need to be solved. Advanced battery technology is under development, promising greater energy densities by both mass and volume, and battery life expectancy is expected to increase.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: The cathodes of some early 2007 lithium-ion batteries are made from lithium-cobalt metal oxide. This material is expensive, and cells made with it can release oxygen if overcharged. If the cobalt is replaced with iron phosphates, the cells will not burn or release oxygen under any charge. At early 2007 gasoline and electricity prices, the break-even point is reached after six to ten years of operation. The payback period may be longer for plug-in hybrids, because of their larger, more expensive batteries.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: Nickel–metal hydride and lithium-ion batteries can be recycled; Toyota, for example, has a recycling program in place under which dealers are paid a US$200 credit for each battery returned. However, plug-in hybrids typically use larger battery packs than comparable conventional hybrids, and thus require more resources. Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has suggested that utilities could purchase used batteries for backup and load leveling purposes. They state that while these used batteries may be no longer usable in vehicles, their residual capacity still has significant value. More recently, General Motors (GM) has said it has been "approached by utilities interested in using recycled Volt batteries as a power storage system, a secondary market that could bring down the cost of the Volt and other plug-in vehicles for consumers".


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: Ultracapacitors (or "supercapacitors") are used in some plug-in hybrids, such as AFS Trinity's concept prototype, to store rapidly available energy with their high power density, in order to keep batteries within safe resistive heating limits and extend battery life. The CSIRO's UltraBattery combines a supercapacitor and a lead acid battery in a single unit, creating a hybrid car battery that lasts longer, costs less and is more powerful than current technologies used in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs).


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: Aftermarket conversion of an existing production hybrid to a plug-in hybrid typically involves increasing the capacity of the vehicle's battery pack and adding an on-board AC-to-DC charger. Ideally, the vehicle's powertrain software would be reprogrammed to make full use of the battery pack's additional energy storage capacity and power output.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: Many early plug-in hybrid electric vehicle conversions have been based on the Toyota Prius. Some of the systems have involved replacement of the vehicle's original NiMH battery pack and its electronic control unit. Others add an additional battery back onto the original battery pack.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: In recent years, demand for all- electric vehicles, especially in the United States market, has been driven by government incentives through subsidies, lobbyists, and taxes. In particular, American sales of the Nissan Leaf have depended on generous incentives and special treatment in the state of Georgia, the top selling Leaf market. According to international market research, 60% of respondents believe a battery driving range of less than is unacceptable even though only 2% drive more than that distance per day. Among popular current all-electric vehicles, only the Tesla (with the most expensive version of the Model S offering a range in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 5-cycle test) significantly exceeds this threshold. The Nissan Leaf has an EPA rated range of for the larger 60 kWh 2022 model year.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: Plug-in hybrids provide the extended range and potential for refueling of conventional hybrids while enabling drivers to use battery electric power for at least a significant part of their typical daily driving. The average trip to or from work in the United States in 2009 was , while the average distance commuted to work in England and Wales in 2011 was slightly lower at . Since building a PHEV with a longer all-electric range adds weight and cost, and reduces cargo and/or passenger space, there is not a specific all-electric range that is optimal. The accompanying graph shows the observed all-electric range, in miles, for four popular U.S. market plug-in hybrids, as tested by "Popular Mechanics" magazine.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: A key design parameter of the Chevrolet Volt was a target of for the all-electric range, selected to keep the battery size small and lower costs, and mainly because research showed that 78% of daily commuters in the U.S. travel or less. This target range would allow most travel to be accomplished electrically driven and the assumption was made that charging will take place at home overnight. This requirement translated using a lithium-ion battery pack with an energy storage capacity of 16 considering that the battery would be used until the state of charge (SOC) of the battery reached 30%.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: In October 2014 General Motors reported, based on data collected through its OnStar telematics system since Volt deliveries began, and with over 1 billion miles (1.6 billion km) traveled, that Volt owners drive about 62.5% of their trips in all-electric mode. In May 2016, Ford reported, based on data collected from more than 610 million miles (976 million km) logged by its electrified vehicles through its telematics system, that drivers of these vehicles run an average of annually on their vehicles, with about half of those miles operating in all-electric mode. A break down of these figures show an average daily commute of for Ford Energi plug-in hybrid drivers. Ford notes that with the enhanced electric range of the 2017 model year model, the average Fusion Energi commuter could go the entire day using no gasoline, if the car is fully charged both, before leaving for work and before leaving for home. According to Ford data, currently most customers are likely charging their vehicles only at home.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: The 2015 edition of the EPA's annual report ""Light-Duty Automotive Technology, Carbon Dioxide Emissions, and Fuel Economy Trends"" estimates the following utility factors for 2015 model year plug-in hybrids to represent the percentage of miles that will be driven using electricity by an average driver, whether in electric only or blended modes: 83% for the BMW i3 REx, 66% for the Chevrolet Volt, 45% for the Ford Energi models, 43% for the McLaren P1, 37% for the BMW i8, and 29% for the Toyota Prius PHV. A 2014 analysis conducted by the Idaho National Laboratory using a sample of 21,600 all-electric cars and plug-in hybrids, found that Volt owners traveled on average 9,112 miles in all-electric mode (e-miles) per year, while Leaf owners traveled 9,697 e-miles per year, despite the Volt's shorter all-electric range, about half of the Leaf's.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: Between January and August 2014, a period during which US sales of conventional hybrids slowed, US sales of plug-in hybrids grew from 28,241 to 40,748 compared to the same period in 2013. US sales of all-electric vehicles also grew during the same period: from 29,917 vehicles in the January to August 2013 period to 40,349 in January to August 2014.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: Plug-in hybrids have the potential to be even more efficient than conventional hybrids because a more limited use of the PHEV's internal combustion engine may allow the engine to be used at closer to its maximum efficiency. While a Toyota Prius is likely to convert fuel to motive energy on average at about 30% efficiency (well below the engine's 38% peak efficiency), the engine of a PHEV-70 would be likely to operate far more often near its peak efficiency because the batteries can serve the modest power needs at times when the combustion engine would be forced to run well below its peak efficiency. The actual efficiency achieved depends on losses from electricity generation, inversion, battery charging/discharging, the motor controller and motor itself, the way a vehicle is used (its duty cycle), and the opportunities to recharge by connecting to the electrical grid.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: Each kilowatt hour of battery capacity in use will displace up to of petroleum fuels per year (gasoline or diesel). Also, electricity is multi-sourced and, as a result, it gives the greatest degree of energy resilience.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: The actual fuel economy for PHEVs depends on their powertrain's operating modes, the all-electric range, and the amount of driving between charges. If no gasoline is used the miles per gallon gasoline equivalent (MPG-e) depends only on the efficiency of the electric system. The first mass production PHEV available in the U.S. market, the 2011 Chevrolet Volt, with an EPA rated all-electric range of and an additional gasoline-only extended range of , has an EPA combined city/highway fuel economy of 93 MPG-e in all-electric mode, and in gasoline-only mode, for an overall combined gas-electric fuel economy rating of equivalent (MPG-e). The EPA also included in the Volt's fuel economy label a table showing fuel economy and electricity consumed for five different scenarios: 30, 45, 60 and driven between a full charge, and a never charge scenario. According to this table the fuel economy goes up to equivalent (MPG-e) with driven between full charges.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: For the more comprehensive fuel economy and environment label that will be mandatory in the U.S. beginning in model year 2013, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued two separate fuel economy labels for plug-in hybrids because of their design complexity, as PHEVS can operate in two or three operating modes: all-electric, blended, and gasoline-only. One label is for series hybrid or extended range electric vehicle (like the Chevy Volt), with all-electric and gasoline-only modes; and a second label for blended mode or series-parallel hybrid, that includes a combination of both gasoline and plug-in electric operation; and gasoline only, like a conventional hybrid vehicle.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) developed their recommended practice in 1999 for testing and reporting the fuel economy of hybrid vehicles and included language to address PHEVs. An SAE committee is currently working to review procedures for testing and reporting the fuel economy of PHEVs. The Toronto Atmospheric Fund tested ten retrofitted plug-in hybrid vehicles that achieved an average of 5.8 litres per 100 kilometre or 40.6 miles per gallon over six months in 2008, which was considered below the technology's potential.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: In real world testing using normal drivers, some Prius PHEV conversions may not achieve much better fuel economy than HEVs. For example, a plug-in Prius fleet, each with a all-electric range, averaged only in a test in Seattle, and similar results with the same kind of conversion battery models at Google's RechargeIT initiative. Moreover, the additional battery pack costs –.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: A study published in 2014 by researchers from Lamar University, Iowa State University and Oak Ridge National Laboratory compared the operating costs of PHEVs of various electric ranges (10, 20, 30, and 40 miles) with conventional gasoline vehicles and non-plugin hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs) for different payback periods, considering different charging infrastructure deployment levels and gasoline prices. The study concluded that:


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: Disadvantages of PHEVs include the additional cost, weight and size of a larger battery pack. According to a 2010 study by the National Research Council, the cost of a lithium-ion battery pack is about /kW·h of usable energy, and considering that a PHEV-10 requires about 2.0 kW·h and a PHEV-40 about 8 kW·h, the estimated manufacturer cost of the battery pack for a PHEV-10 is around and it goes up to for a PHEV-40. According to the same study, even though costs are expected to decline by 35% by 2020, market penetration is expected to be slow and therefore PHEVs are not expected to significantly impact oil consumption or carbon emissions before 2030, unless a fundamental breakthrough in battery technologies occurs.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: According to the 2010 NRC study, although a mile driven on electricity is cheaper than one driven on gasoline, lifetime fuel savings are not enough to offset plug-ins' high upfront costs, and it will take decades before the break-even point is achieved. Furthermore, hundreds of billions of dollars in government subsidies and incentives are likely to be required to achieve rapid plug-in market penetration in the U.S.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: A 2013 study by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy reported that battery costs came down from per kilowatt hour in 2007 to per kilowatt hour in 2012. The U.S. Department of Energy has set cost targets for its sponsored battery research of per kilowatt hour in 2015 and per kilowatt hour by 2022. Cost reductions through advances in battery technology and higher production volumes will allow plug-in electric vehicles to be more competitive with conventional internal combustion engine vehicles.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: A study published in 2011 by the Belfer Center, Harvard University, found that the gasoline costs savings of PHEVs over the vehicles' lifetimes do not offset their higher purchase prices. This finding was estimated comparing their lifetime net present value at 2010 purchase and operating costs for the U.S. market, and assuming no government subidies. According to the study estimates, a PHEV-40 is more expensive than a conventional internal combustion engine, while a battery electric vehicle (BEV) is more expensive. The study also examined how this balance will change over the next 10 to 20 years, assuming that battery costs will decrease while gasoline prices increase. Under the future scenarios considered, the study found that BEVs will be significantly less expensive than conventional cars ( to cheaper), while PHEVs, will be more expensive than BEVs in almost all comparison scenarios, and only less expensive than conventional cars in a scenario with very low battery costs and high gasoline prices. BEVs are simpler to build and do not use liquid fuel, while PHEVs have more complicated powertrains and still have gasoline-powered engines.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: Increased pollution is expected to occur in some areas with the adoption of PHEVs, but most areas will experience a decrease. A study by the ACEEE predicts that widespread PHEV use in heavily coal-dependent areas would result in an increase in local net sulfur dioxide and mercury emissions, given emissions levels from most coal plants currently supplying power to the grid. Although clean coal technologies could create power plants which supply grid power from coal without emitting significant amounts of such pollutants, the higher cost of the application of these technologies may increase the price of coal-generated electricity. The net effect on pollution is dependent on the fuel source of the electrical grid (fossil or renewable, for example) and the pollution profile of the power plants themselves. Identifying, regulating and upgrading single point pollution source such as a power plant—or replacing a plant altogether—may also be more practical. From a human health perspective, shifting pollution away from large urban areas may be considered a significant advantage.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: According to a 2009 study by The National Academy of Science, "Electric vehicles and grid-dependent (plug-in) hybrid vehicles showed somewhat higher nonclimate damages than many other technologies." Efficiency of plug-in hybrids is also impacted by the overall efficiency of electric power transmission. Transmission and distribution losses in the USA were estimated at 7.2% in 1995 and 6.5% in 2007. By life cycle analysis of air pollution emissions, natural gas vehicles are currently the lowest emitter.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: The additional electrical consumption to recharge the plug-in vehicles could push many households in areas that do not have off-peak tariffs into the higher priced tier and negate financial benefits. Customers under such tariffs could see significant savings by being careful about when the vehicle was charged, for example, by using a timer to restrict charging to off-peak hours. Thus, an accurate comparison of the benefit requires each household to evaluate its current electrical usage tier and tariffs weighed against the cost of gasoline and the actual observed operational cost of electric mode vehicle operation.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: The effect of PHEVs on greenhouse emissions is complex. Plug-in hybrid vehicles operating on all-electric mode do not emit harmful tailpipe pollutants from the onboard source of power. The clean air benefit is usually local because depending on the source of the electricity used to recharge the batteries, air pollutant emissions are shifted to the location of the generation plants. In the same way, PHEVs do not emit greenhouse gases from the onboard source of power, but from the point of view of a well-to-wheel assessment, the extent of the benefit also depends on the fuel and technology used for electricity generation. From the perspective of a full life cycle analysis, the electricity used to recharge the batteries must be generated from zero-emission sources such as renewable (e.g. wind power, solar energy or hydroelectricity) or nuclear power for PEVs to have almost none or zero well-to-wheel emissions. On the other hand, when PEVs are recharged from coal-fired plants, they usually produce slightly more greenhouse gas emissions than internal combustion engine vehicles. In the case of plug-in hybrid electric vehicle when operating in hybrid mode with assistance of the internal combustion engine, tailpipe and greenhouse emissions are lower in comparison to conventional cars because of their higher fuel economy.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: In 2009, researchers at Argonne National Laboratory adapted their GREET model to conduct a full well-to-wheels (WTW) analysis of energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles for several scenarios, considering different on-board fuels and different sources of electricity generation for recharging the vehicle batteries. Three US regions were selected for the analysis, California, New York, and Illinois, as these regions include major metropolitan areas with significant variations in their energy generation mixes. The full cycle analysis results were also reported for the US generation mix and renewable electricity to examine cases of average and clean mixes, respectively This 2009 study showed a wide spread of petroleum use and GHG emissions among the different fuel production technologies and grid generation mixes. The following table summarizes the main results:


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: The Argonne study found that PHEVs offered reductions in petroleum energy use as compared with regular hybrid electric vehicles. More petroleum energy savings and also more GHG emissions reductions were realized as the all-electric range increased, except when electricity used to recharge was dominated by coal or oil-fired power generation. As expected, electricity from renewable sources realized the largest reductions in petroleum energy use and GHG emissions for all PHEVs as the all-electric range increased. The study also concluded that plug-in vehicles that employ biomass-based fuels (biomass-E85 and -hydrogen) may not realize GHG emissions benefits over regular hybrids if power generation is dominated by fossil sources.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: A 2008 study by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory analyzed oil use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of plug-in hybrids relative to hybrid electric vehicles under several scenarios for years 2020 and 2030. The study considered the mix of power sources for 13 U.S. regions that would be used during recharging of vehicles, generally a combination of coal, natural gas and nuclear energy, and to a lesser extent renewable energy. A 2010 study conducted at Argonne National Laboratory reached similar findings, concluding that PHEVs will reduce oil consumption but could produce very different greenhouse gas emissions for each region depending on the energy mix used to generate the electricity to recharge the plug-in hybrids.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: In October 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published the 2014 edition of its annual report "Light-Duty Automotive Technology, Carbon Dioxide Emissions, and Fuel Economy Trends". For the first time, the report presents an analysis of the impact of alternative fuel vehicles, with emphasis in plug-in electric vehicles because as their market share is approaching 1%, PEVs began to have a measurable impact on the U.S. overall new vehicle fuel economy and emissions.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: EPA's report included the analysis of 12 all-electric passengers cars and 10 plug-in hybrids available in the market as model year 2014. For purposes of an accurate estimation of emissions, the analysis took into consideration the differences in operation between those PHEVs like the Chevrolet Volt that can operate in all-electric mode without using gasoline, and those that operate in a blended mode like the Toyota Prius PHV, which uses both energy stored in the battery and energy from the gasoline tank to propel the vehicle, but that can deliver substantial all-electric driving in blended mode. In addition, since the all-electric range of plug-in hybrids depends on the size of the battery pack, the analysis introduced a utility factor as a projection, on average, of the percentage of miles that will be driven using electricity (in electric only and blended modes) by an average driver. The following table shows the overall EV/hybrid fuel economy expressed in terms of miles per gallon gasoline equivalent (mpg-e) and the utility factor for the ten MY2014 plug-in hybrids available in the U.S. market. The study used the utility factor (since in pure EV mode there are no tailpipe emissions) and the EPA best estimate of the tailpipe emissions produced by these vehicles in real world city and highway operation based on the EPA 5-cycle label methodology, using a weighted 55% city/45% highway driving. The results are shown in the following table.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: In addition, the EPA accounted for the upstream emissions associated with the production and distribution of electricity required to charge the PHEVs. Since electricity production in the United States varies significantly from region to region, the EPA considered three scenarios/ranges with the low end of the range corresponding to the California powerplant emissions factor, the middle of the range represented by the national average powerplant emissions factor, and the upper end of the range corresponding to the powerplant emissions factor for the Rockies. The EPA estimates that the electricity GHG emission factors for various regions of the country vary from 346 g /kW-hr in California to 986 g /kW-hr in the Rockies, with a national average of 648 g /kW-hr. The following table shows the tailpipe emissions and the combined tailpipe and upstream emissions for each of the 10 MY 2014 PHEVs available in the U.S. market.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: Most emission analysis use average emissions rates across regions instead of marginal generation at different times of the day. The former approach does not take into account the generation mix within interconnected electricity markets and shifting load profiles throughout the day. An analysis by three economist affiliated with the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), published in November 2014, developed a methodology to estimate marginal emissions of electricity demand that vary by location and time of day across the United States. The study used emissions and consumption data for 2007 through 2009, and used the specifications for the Chevrolet Volt (all-electric range of ). The analysis found that marginal emission rates are more than three times as large in the Upper Midwest compared to the Western U.S., and within regions, rates for some hours of the day are more than twice those for others. Applying the results of the marginal analysis to plug-in electric vehicles, the NBER researchers found that the emissions of charging PEVs vary by region and hours of the day. In some regions, such as the Western U.S. and Texas, emissions per mile from driving PEVs are less than those from driving a hybrid car. However, in other regions, such as the Upper Midwest, charging during the recommended hours of midnight to 4 a.m. implies that PEVs generate more emissions per mile than the average car currently on the road. The results show a fundamental tension between electricity load management and environmental goals as the hours when electricity is the least expensive to produce tend to be the hours with the greatest emissions. This occurs because coal-fired units, which have higher emission rates, are most commonly used to meet base-level and off-peak electricity demand; while natural gas units, which have relatively low emissions rates, are often brought online to meet peak demand. This pattern of fuel shifting explains why emission rates tend to be higher at night and lower during periods of peak demand in the morning and evening.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: Since 2008, plug-in hybrids have been commercially available from both specialty manufacturers and from mainstream producers of internal combustion engine vehicles. The F3DM, released in China in December 2008, was the first production plug-in hybrid sold in the world. The Chevrolet Volt, launched in the U.S. in December 2010, was the first mass-production plug-in hybrid by a major carmaker.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: There were 1.2 million plug-in hybrid cars on the world roads at the end of 2017. The stock of plug-in hybrids increased to 1.8 million in 2018, out of a global stock of about 5.1 million plug-in electric passenger cars. , the United States ranked as the world's largest plug-in hybrid car market with a stock of 360,510 units, followed by China with 276,580 vehicles, Japan with 100,860 units, the Netherlands with 98,220, and the UK with 88,660.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: Global sales of plug-in hybrids grew from over 300 units in 2010 to almost 9,000 in 2011, jumped to over 60,000 in 2012, and reached almost 222,000 in 2015. , the United States was the world's largest plug-in hybrid car market with a stock of 193,770 units. About 279,000 light-duty plug-in hybrids were sold in 2016, raising the global stock to almost 800,000 highway legal plug-in hybrid electric cars at the end of 2016. A total of 398,210 plug-in hybrid cars were sold in 2017, with China as the top selling country with 111,000 units, and the global stock of plug-in hybrids passed the one million unit milestone by the end of 2017.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: Global sales of plug-in electric vehicles have been shifting for several years towards fully electric battery cars. The global ratio between all-electrics (BEVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) went from 56:44 in 2012, to 60:40 in 2015, to 66:34 in 2017, and rose to 69:31 in 2018.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: The Netherlands, Sweden, the UK, and the United States have the largest shares of plug-in hybrid sales as percentage of total plug-in electric passenger vehicle sales. The Netherlands has the world's largest share of plug-in hybrids among its plug-in electric passenger car stock, with 86,162 plug-in hybrids registered at the end of October 2016, out of 99,945 plug-in electric cars and vans, representing 86.2% of the country's stock of light-duty plug-in electric vehicles.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: Sweden ranks next with 16,978 plug-in hybrid cars sold between 2011 and August 2016, representing 71.7% of total plug-in electric passenger car sales registrations. Plug-in hybrid registrations in the UK between up to August 2016 totaled 45,130 units representing 61.6% of total plug-in car registrations since 2011. In the United States, plug-in hybrids represent 47.2% of the 506,450 plug-in electric cars sold between 2008 and August 2016.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: In November 2013 the Netherlands became the first country where a plug-in hybrid topped the monthly ranking of new car sales. During November sales were led by the Mitsubishi Outlander P-HEV with 2,736 units, capturing a market share of 6.8% of new passenger cars sold that month. Again in December 2013 the Outlander P-HEV ranked as the top selling new car in the country with 4,976 units, representing a 12.6% market share of new car sales. These record sales allowed the Netherlands to become the second country, after Norway, where plug-in electric cars have topped the monthly ranking of new car sales. , the Netherlands was the country with highest plug-in hybrid market concentration, with 1.45 vehicles registered per 1,000 people.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: The following table presents the top ranking countries according to its plug-in hybrid segment market share of total new car sales in 2013:


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: According to JATO Dynamics, since December 2018 the Mitsubishi Outlander P-HEV is the world's all-time best selling plug-in hybrid. Since inception, 290,000 units have been sold worldwide through September 2021. Europe is the Outlander P-HEV leading market with 126,617 units sold through January 2019, followed by Japan 42,451 units through March 2018. European sales are led by the UK with 50,000 units by April 2020, followed by the Netherlands with 25,489 units, and Norway with 14,196, both through March 2018.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: Combined global sales of the Chevrolet Volt and its variants totaled about 186,000 units by the end of 2018, including about 10,000 Opel/Vauxhall Amperas sold in Europe through June 2016, and over 4,300 Buick Velite 5s sold only in China (rebadged second generation Volt) through December 2018. Volt sales are led by the United States with 152,144 units delivered through December 2018, followed by Canada with 17,311 units through November 2018. Until September 2018, the Chevrolet Volt was the world's top selling plug-in hybrid.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: Ranking third is the Toyota Prius Plug-in Hybrid (Toyota Prius Prime) with about 174,600 units sold worldwide of both generations through December 2018. The United States is the leading market with over 93,000 units delivered through December 2018. Japan ranks next with about 61,200 units through December 2018, followed by Europe with almost 14,800 units through June 2018.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: The following table presents plug-in hybrid models with cumulative global sales of around or more than 100,000 units since the introduction of the first modern production plug-in hybrid car, the BYD F3DM, in 2008 up until December 2020:


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: Several countries have established grants and tax credits for the purchase of new plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) including plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, and usually the economic incentive depends on battery size. The U.S. offers a federal income tax credit up to , and several states have additional incentives. The UK offers a Plug-in Car Grant up to a maximum of (). As of April 2011, 15 of the 27 European Union member states provide tax incentives for electrically chargeable vehicles, which includes all Western European countries plus the Czech Republic and Romania. Also 17 countries levy carbon dioxide related taxes on passenger cars as a disincentive. The incentives consist of tax reductions and exemptions, as well as of bonus payments for buyers of all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, hybrid vehicles, and some alternative fuel vehicles.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: Incentives for the development of PHEVs are included in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008, signed into law on October 3, 2008, grants a tax credits for the purchase of PHEVs. President Barack Obama's New Energy for America calls for deployment of 1 million plug-in hybrid vehicles by 2015, and on March 19, 2009, he announced programs directing $2.4 billion to electric vehicle development.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: Electrification of transport (electromobility) is a priority in the European Union Research Programme. It also figures prominently in the European Economic Recovery Plan presented November 2008, in the frame of the Green Car Initiative. DG TREN will support a large European "electromobility" project on electric vehicles and related infrastructure with a total budget of around €50 million as part of the Green Car Initiative.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: Organizations that support plug-in hybrids include the World Wide Fund for Nature, National Wildlife Federation, and CalCars.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: Other supportive organizations are Plug In America, the Alliance for Climate Protection, Friends of the Earth, the Rainforest Action Network, Rocky Mountain Institute (Project Get Ready), the San Francisco Bay Area Council, the Apollo Alliance, the Set America Free Coalition, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, and the Plug-in Hybrid Electric School Bus Project.


title: Plug-in hybrid

text: FPL and Duke Energy has said that by 2020 all new purchases of fleet vehicles will be plug-in hybrid or all-electric.


title: NBA playoffs

text: The NBA playoffs is the postseason tournament of the National Basketball Association (NBA) held to determine the league's champion. An annual best-of-seven elimination tournament, the NBA playoffs are held after the league's regular season and its preliminary postseason tournament, the NBA Play-In Tournament.


title: NBA playoffs

text: Prior to the 2020s, the NBA playoffs were widely regarded to comprise the entirety of the NBA postseason, although some sources suggested the NBA Finals should be regarded as separate. From the 2021–22 NBA season, when an expansion to the postseason implemented during the prior two Covid-shortened seasons was made permanent, the NBA made it clearly known that the "Playoffs" were to remain a 4-round, best-of-seven tournament (including the Finals), and that thus qualification criteria for the playoffs and postseason are no longer identical.


title: NBA playoffs

text: Officially considered separate from the NBA playoffs, the NBA Play-In Tournament seeds the final two spots (the seventh and eighth seeds) of the main playoff brackets, using a four-team, three-game format. Within each conference, teams that finished ranked seventh through tenth play each other as follows. The tournament uses a modified page playoff format in which the seventh and eighth place teams play each other, with the winner being given the opportunity to play as the number seven seed of the playoff tournament. The ninth and tenth place teams play each other, with the loser being eliminated, and the winner playing the loser of the seven-eight game to determine who earns the eighth playoff seed.


title: NBA playoffs

text: The top six teams in each conference (East and West), ranked in order by win–loss records, qualify for the playoffs. The tie-break criteria for playoff seeding and home-court use first head-to-head results between the tied teams is the first tie-breaker, and whether a team won its division championship is the second tie-breaker.


title: NBA playoffs

text: Both conferences conduct the playoffs in the traditional bracket format. All rounds are best-of-seven series. Series are played in the 2–2–1–1–1 format, meaning the team with home-court advantage hosts games 1, 2, 5, and 7, while their opponent hosts games 3, 4, and 6, with games 5, 6 and 7 being played if needed. Once the playoffs start, the bracket is fixed; teams are never "reseeded", unlike in the National Football League (NFL) and National Hockey League (NHL) where the strongest remaining teams face the weakest teams in subsequent rounds. This format has been used since 2014, after NBA team owners unanimously voted to change the format of the NBA finals from the 2–3–2 format on October 23, 2013.


title: NBA playoffs

text: The National Basketball Association was established in 1949 by merger of the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and National Basketball League but it recognizes the three BAA seasons as part of its own history. In all of its three years the BAA champion was finally determined in a best-of-seven series but its first two tournaments, the 1947 and 1948 BAA Playoffs, were otherwise quite different from the third, which 21st-century NBA playoffs nearly match. In 1947 and 1948, the Eastern and Western Division champions were matched in a best-of-seven series following the regular season, whose winner advanced to the championship round. Meanwhile, four runners-up played best-of-three series to determine the other finalist: the two second-place teams were matched in one short series and the two third-place teams in another; the winners of those two series played another one. In 1947, the Philadelphia Warriors won the runners-up bracket and beat the Western champion Chicago Stags four games to one, which the NBA recognizes as its first championship; in 1948 Baltimore won the runners-up and beat Eastern champion Philadelphia in the final. Both tournaments generated one finalist from the Eastern and one from the Western Division, but only by chance.


title: NBA playoffs

text: In 1949, the third and last BAA tournament matched Eastern teams exclusively and Western teams exclusively, necessarily generating Eastern and Western playoff champions to meet in the final. At the same time, the number of playoff teams was increased from three to four from each Division; two rounds of best-of-three series were played, followed by a best-of-seven championship. The main idea was retained by the NBA. Even the 1950 tournament, following a transitional season with three divisions rather than two, initially determined one playoff champion from each division. The Central champion Minneapolis Lakers became the first league champion under the NBA name by defeating Anderson from the West in a best-of-three, with Syracuse from the East idle, and then knocking off the Syracuse Nationals in six games.


title: NBA playoffs

text: The 1951 through 1953 playoffs changed the division finals into a best-of-five playoff. With only nine league members in 1953–54, the NBA cut its postseason tournament field from eight teams to six (from 1954 through 1966, the period of eight to nine league members). Round robins were played in 1954, uniquely in NBA history—a three-team round robin among the three playoff teams in each division. From 1955 to 1966, the first-place team in each division was idle while its two runners-up faced played a best-of-three. Division finals were expanded to best-of-seven in 1958 and division semifinals to best-of-five in 1961.


title: NBA playoffs

text: With ten league members again for the 1966–67 season, eight teams were again admitted to the tournament, providing a simple three-round knockout (8-team bracket). A year later, the division semifinals were changed to best-of-seven playoff. Then, in 1975 and 1977, respectively, a fifth and sixth team were added to each Division, necessitating an additional first round of best-of-three series.


title: NBA playoffs

text: Finally in 1984, the tournament expanded to its present 16-team, four-round knockout, and the now-complete set of first-round series was expanded to a best-of-five. In 2003 the first round was changed to also be best-of-seven.


title: NBA playoffs

text: Beginning with the 2004 season, with the addition of the thirtieth NBA franchise, the Charlotte Bobcats, the NBA realigned its divisions. The result was that each conference would have three divisions of five teams each, and the winner of each division was guaranteed a top-three playoff seed. This would change slightly after the 2005–06 season; while division winners still receive automatic playoff berths, they are guaranteed a top-"four" seed, as described below.


title: NBA playoffs

text: The playoff format in place for the 2004–05 and 2005–06 NBA playoffs created controversy and would be changed prior to the 2006–07 NBA season.


title: NBA playoffs

text: Prior to 2004, when the NBA was aligned into two conferences with two divisions each, the division champions were guaranteed the top two seeds. This meant that the top two teams in a conference could never meet until the conference finals, assuming they both made it to that round.


title: NBA playoffs

text: After the NBA realigned its two conferences into three divisions each, the seeding rules remained largely unchanged. The top three seeds would now be reserved for division champions. However, this meant that if the top two teams (by record) in a conference were in the same division, they would be seeded first and fourth. Assuming no first-round upsets, this raised the prospect that the top two teams in the conference would face each other in the conference semifinals, instead of the conference finals. In the second year of this format, the 2005–06 NBA season, the two teams with the best records in the Western Conference, the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks of the Southwest Division, did just that. This turn of events led to the playoff format being criticized by many.


title: NBA playoffs

text: In August 2006, the NBA announced a rules change. Beginning in the 2006-2007 season, the top four seeds in each conference would be seeded according to their win–loss totals, "guaranteeing that the top two teams in each conference cannot meet until the conference finals".


title: NBA playoffs

text: There were no byes, or idle time, for the division champions – as there would be for higher-seeded playoff teams 1955–66 and 1975–83. All six 1947 participants played their first tournament games on Wednesday, April 2; in 1948 the two Eastern runners-up (E2, E3 in the figure) were idle for a few days only because there was a three-way Western tie to break. Both winners of the runners-up bracket, Philadelphia in 1947 and Baltimore in 1948, reached the final series having played fewer tournament games than their final opponents, Chicago in 1947 and Philadelphia in 1948, had played in the best-of-7 pairings of division champions. And both winners of the runners-up bracket won the final series. The "postseason" actually comprised 11 games played in a span of 21 days for the 1947 Chicago Stags and 13 games in 30 days for 1948 Philadelphia Warriors, the finalists who emerged from the pairing of division champions.


title: NBA playoffs

text: The 1961 to 1966 tournaments alone combined initial byes for the top seeded teams in each division with best-of-five initial series for second and third seeded teams in both divisions. The 1961 byes provided five and seven extra days idle for the first-place teams. By 1966 the schedule provided more rest for the first-round participants with byes of 11 and eight extra days idle.


title: NBA playoffs

text: The 1983 tournament is the latest to incorporate first-round byes for seeded teams. The first-round best-of-three series tapped off on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 19 and 20; the second-round best-of-sevens on Sunday to the following Wednesday, April 27. Counting from Tuesday the byes provided five to eight extra days idle.


title: NBA playoffs

text: In the 2020 play-in format, if the ninth-place team within a conference finished the regular season within four games of the eighth-place team, they would compete in a postseason play-in series. This format was used only in the Western Conference, as the No. 9 Memphis Grizzlies finished within a half-game of the No. 8 Portland Trail Blazers. The Trail Blazers, holding an automatic one-game lead as the higher seed, eliminated the Grizzlies in game one to advance to the playoffs.


title: NBA playoffs

text: In 2021, the top six teams in each conference advance to the playoffs, while seventh- through tenth-placed teams qualified for a play-in tournament. The seventh- and eighth-place teams got up to two chances to win one game to qualify for the playoffs, while the ninth- and tenth-place teams needed to win two consecutive games to advance.


title: NBA playoffs

text: Playoff teams must identify their postseason rosters before the playoffs begin. They are allowed up to 15 players each and can designate two players as inactive for each game. Players are eligible to be on a team's playoff roster as long as they were on the team for at least one regular season game, and were not on another NBA team's roster after March 1. Prior to the 2005-06 season, playoff rosters were limited to 12 players who were named before the playoffs began.


title: NBA playoffs

text: The all-time NBA playoffs table is an overall record of all match results of every team that has played in playoffs since the 1946–47 season. The table is accurate as of the end of the 2022 NBA playoffs. Bold indicates the highest number.


title: British Army officer rank insignia

text: Listed in the table below are the insignia—emblems of authority—of the British Army. Badges for field officers were first introduced in 1810 and the insignia was moved to the epaulettes in 1880. On ceremonial or parade uniforms these ranks continue to be worn on the epaulettes, either as cloth slides or as metal clips, although on the modern 'working dress' (daily uniform) they are usually worn as a cloth slide on the chest. Although these insignia apply across the British Army there is variation in the precise design and colours used and it can take some time to become familiar with them all.


title: British Army officer rank insignia

text: Officers in the ranks of lieutenant and second lieutenant are often referred to as subalterns and these and captains are also referred to as company officers. Brigadiers, colonels, lieutenant colonels and majors are field officers. All above these are considered to be of general officer rank.


title: British Army officer rank insignia

text: The rank of Field Marshal has become an honorary/ceremonial rank; the last active officer to be promoted to the rank was in 2014.


title: British Army officer rank insignia

text: Before 1767, there were no definite badges for Field Marshals and general officers. In 1767, the British Army issued an order to distinguish Field Marshals (once the rank was established in 1813) and different graded General officers by the combination of chevron-shaped ess pattern laces on the sleeve.


title: British Army officer rank insignia

text: During the Napoleonic wars, field marshals wore oak-leaf embroidered collar and cuff; and shoulder cord instead of previous pattern. It was continued until the end of 1830.


title: British Army officer rank insignia

text: After the Crimean War (30 January 1855), the War Office ordered different rank badges for British general, staff officers and regimental officers. It was the first complete set of rank badges to be used by the British Army.


title: British Army officer rank insignia

text: In 1868, brigadier-generals were ordered to wear the same collar as other General officers, but no device in the collar.


title: British Army officer rank insignia

text: In 1921, the War Office abolished the appointment of brigadier-general and introduced two appointments: colonel commandant (for an officer commanding a brigade) and "colonel on the staff" (for an officer not commanding a brigade, but staff officer). The rank badges of Colonel Commandant and Colonel on the staff were the same, consisting of a crown and three stars. In 1928, the appointment of brigadier was introduced and the appointments of Colonel Commandant and Colonel on the Staff ended. Since 1928, a brigadier has had the same rank badges as were displayed by a Colonel Commandant.


title: British Army officer rank insignia

text: Initially company and field rank insignia did not appear on officers' uniforms. In 1791 the War Office ordered officers to wear different graded epaulettes and wings to distinguish regimental officer ranks (Colonel to Ensign/ Cornet). This was ordered only for line infantry officers. According to the Army Order,


title: British Army officer rank insignia

text: In 1795, a special pattern of epaulettes was ordered for Fusiliers and Light Infantry officers. Field officers of those regiments wore epaulettes over wings. Company officers wore wings.


title: British Army officer rank insignia

text: In February 1810, an order was issued by the War Office to distinguish Field officer ranks. The following devices were introduced in the epaulettes:


title: British Army officer rank insignia

text: These badges were issued for all infantry regiments except the Foot Guards. In 1815, badges for Foot Guards were ordered. In Foot Guards regiments, all Field Officers were equivalent to the Colonels of line infantry regiments. Captains were equivalent to Lieutenant Colonels, Lieutenants were equivalent to Majors and Ensigns were equivalent to Captains of Battalion companies.


title: British Army officer rank insignia

text: In 1829, epaulettes and wings were standardised by maintaining the badges of rank issued in 1810 and 1815. According to the order, epaulettes of all regular infantry regiments and foot guards regiments would be in gold and other regiments were in silver. All officers including field and company officers wore epaulettes and wings on both shoulders. The epaulettes over wings system was abolished. Different graded officer wore different sized bullion to distinguish themselves from other.


title: British Army officer rank insignia

text: In January 1855, at the end of the Crimean War, the War Office abolished all epaulette and wing rank badges. New rank badges were introduced in the collar. It was first time that a complete set of rank badges was used by the British Army.


title: British Army officer rank insignia

text: In April 1880, rank badges were moved from collar to shoulder and officers of all regiments wore the following rank badges.


title: British Army officer rank insignia

text: In 1919, a new order was issued by the Horse Guards office—all Guards officers would wear special star badges.


title: British Army officer rank insignia

text: During World War I, some officers took to wearing tunics with the rank badges on the shoulder, as the cuff badges made them too conspicuous to snipers. This practice was frowned on outside the trenches but was given official sanction in 1917 as an optional alternative, being made permanent in 1920, when the cuff badges were abolished.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea (titled Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham in Malayalam, Marakkyar: Arabikkadalin Singam in Tamil) is a 2021 Indian epic period war film directed by Priyadarshan. Set in the 16th century Calicut, the film is based on the fourth Kunjali Marakkar named Muhammad Ali, the admiral of the fleet of the Zamorin. Priyadarshan scripted the film with Ani Sasi. The film is produced by Antony Perumbavoor's Aashirvad Cinemas. "Marakkar" features Mohanlal in the title role and Pranav Mohanlal play Mohanlal's young role, alongside Arjun Sarja, Suniel Shetty, Prabhu, Nedumudi Venu, Mukesh, Siddique, Manju Warrier, Keerthy Suresh and Kalyani Priyadarshan in supporting roles. The film was shot in Malayalam and partially reshot in Tamil.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: The initial plan for a film based on the admirals Kunjali Marakkar started between Priyadarshan, Mohanlal, and screenwriter T. Damodaran in 1996. Damodaran pitched a plot idea in 1999. However, the film did not materialise in Damodaran's lifetime because of the high budget requirements, which was unaffordable for a Malayalam film at that time. Priyadarshan kept the project in mind for years, until in 2017 he proceeded with the research work. The final draft was completed by June 2018.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: Principal photography took place from December 2018 to March 2019, filmed in sets created at Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad. It lasted 104 days and post-production took 14 months. Four life-size ship replicas were constructed and were shot inside a water tank. The sea was completely created using visual effects. Sabu Cyril and Siddharth Priyadarshan oversaw the production design and visual effects supervision, respectively. Production began with a budget of ₹100 crore, making it the most expensive Malayalam film to date. The original score was composed by Rahul Raj, Ankit Suri and Lyell Evans Roeder; and songs by Ronnie Raphael.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: The film, originally scheduled to release on 19 March 2020, was delayed by the outbreak of COVID-19. It was then rescheduled and postponed through three more dates in March, May, and August 2021 before settling on release date by the end of the year. Meanwhile, at the 67th National Film Awards, the film won three awards—Best Feature Film, Best Special Effects, and Best Costume Design. The film released theatrically worldwide on 2 December 2021. It received mixed reviews and failed at the box office. The film was also shortlisted among with 35 other films for the Indian submissions for Best Feature Film category at the 94th Academy Awards.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: During the late 1500s, the empire of Portugal allies with the kingdom of Kochi in Malabar, Kerala. This is in order to colonize the region by overthrowing the powerful kingdom of Kozhikode, a long time war rival of Kochi. Portuguese military commander Alfonso de Noronho trains Kochi soldiers to use firearms and offers them cannons in exchange for trading crops and spices. However, the Malabar natives are displeased with the new Cartaz license system they've established which impedes trade with the Arabs. Kuttiyali Marakkar, an influential merchant, finds a way to trade while bypassing Portuguese customs laws, but he's sold out by his brother-in-law Moidu who is allied with Alfonso.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: In the past, Kuttiyali and his sons, Kutti Poker Ali and Pattu Marakkar, were commanders of the Kozhikode navy and helped resist Portuguese rule, but they resigned and became merchants after Poker died in battle. In the present, Poker's son Muhammad Ali is newly married to Aisha, his childhood sweetheart. However she, Muhammad's mother, and Kuttiyali are all killed that night by Alfonso in a raid. Kochi's king frames it as a civil massacre and blames Muhammad and Pattu, who had survived and escaped. In retaliation, the two assassinate Moidu and manage to flee by raft, but a storm causes them to land in Ponnani, Kozhikode. There they start a new life and meet the kingdom's military commanders, the arrogant and spoiled Achuthan, and the compassionate Anandan. Muhammad speaks against Achuthan for disrespecting him, but Anandan stops them from fighting. The king's associate and right-hand warrior Mangattachan distributes supplies to the storm's victims, but the corrupt "nāduvāzhi" Namathu Kurup hoards them to sell in market, and his men assault Pattu for calling him out. In retaliation, Muhammad recruits a bandit named Thangudu and his crew to rob Kurup's goods and distribute them to civilians. They perform many raids against corrupt noblemen and Muhammad takes up the mantle of Kunjali Marakkar, a protector of the people but fugitive to the kingdom.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: Many years later, Marakkar's gang engage in guerilla warfare against Portuguese vessels, and on one raid they meet Chiang, a Chinese slave. Chiang fights them in defense so gang member Aimutty takes Chiang's mother hostage. Marakkar is against hurting women and children so he saves her but accidentally kills Aimutty. Aimutty's brother Mayinkutty witnesses this. Chiang and his mother are rescued, leading to the former and Marakkar becoming friends, and he calls Chiang "Chinnali". Since Marakkar is a fugitive of Kozhikode, Achuthan instructs Mayinkutty to kill him for revenge, but Chinnali kills him first.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: Viceroy Francisco de Gama threatens war against Kozhikode when their monarch, the Samoothiri, declines a trading deal proposed by their king. Since Achuthan, their naval commander, states that defeating them is impossible, Anandan proposes a controversial decision to recruit Marakkar, who is brought to the kingdom and recognized as Poker's son. The Samoothiri's judgement of Achuthan using Mayinkutty being dishonorable causes him to replace Achuthan with Marakkar as naval commander, leading Achuthan to jealousy. Marakkar leads the troops to battle and they use traps to sink many Portuguese ships, eventually finding Alfonso and killing him. Marakkar is praised by the court, except by the diplomats of Kolathunadu who ally with the Portuguese. The Samoothiri thanks Marakkar by renovating his family's fortress, and it grows into a village. In the meantime, Chinnali falls in love with Aarcha, the daughter of minister Dharmoth Panicker. She reciprocates, but Achuthan also has feelings for her. Their parents decide to get Aarcha married to Achuthan. Unbeknownst to them, Aarcha, who is now pregnant with Chinnali's child, runs away with him. Achuthan, out of jealousy, frames Chinnali for abducting her, causing tension. Achuthan attempts to force Aarcha to return to the kingdom, causing a fight between him, Chinnali, and Anandan. Anandan pleads to Chinnali to calm down, but Achuthan kills Chinnali and runs. Aarcha commits suicide, while Marakkar assumes Anandan is the killer after arriving late and slashes his throat.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: Achuthan also beats up one of the court members to frame Marakkar for it, further painting him as a traitor. A new monarch named Nambyathiri takes the Samoothiri's place, and he decides to submit to the Portuguese rule. Thus, the Portuguese and Kozhikode work together and plot to kill Marakkar. The two armies lay siege to Marakkar's village, and despite resistance, they lose due to Kolathunadu's treachery. Marakkar continues to resist them, so De Gama proposes killing handfuls of his people (who were taken prisoner) each day. Nambyathiri is bludgeoned by De Gama for rejecting, and Pattu is one of the first to be executed. Marakkar manages to kidnap De Gama, forcing the release of his people, but he is drawn into a trap orchestrated by Achuthan and Subaida, Aimutty's wife. She regrets it when Marakkar apologizes but it is too late, and De Gama's men arrest him. Marakkar is brought to Velha, Goa, and is convicted and sentenced to death by guillotine after refusing to beg for mercy. He is seen joining his mother in the otherworld.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: A film based on Kunjali Marakkar was originally planned by Priyadarshan with screenwriter T. Damodaran in 1996, with Mohanlal in the title role. The idea for the film originated and was discussed in length at the sets of Mohanlal-starring "Kaalapani" (1996) in Kozhikode. Due to budget constraints, it did not progress, "back then, our industry size was very limited and most producers weren't ready to invest hugely in such big ventures", said Priyadarshan. Damodaran pitched a plot idea in 1999, but "it was inconceivable back then to make a film that was extensively set at sea", said Priyadarshan. The project was still on their mind for years. Priyadarshan recalled that it was difficult to shoot with one ship in "Kaalapani", let alone a film with multiple ships on turbulent waters of the Arabian Sea. Years later, with the advancement of visual effects and producers willing to fund the film, Priyadarshan revisited the idea. Meanwhile, during 2008 – 2009, director Jayaraj too planned a film on Kunjali Marakkar with Mohanlal in the title role and T. P. Rajeevan hired to write the screenplay. It was ready to begin production and when the screenplay was handed over to Mohanlal, he did not show interest. That screenplay was later bought by August Cinema from Rajeevan for making a separate project with different cast and crew.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: In 2013, Priyadarshan revealed that in addition to a Hindi film, he was working on a Malayalam period film about a Kunjali Marakkar chieftain with Mohanlal in the title role for which the research work was ongoing. On 1 November 2017, Priyadarshan confirmed to "The Times of India" that he would start the project after completing a Hindi film first and the ongoing research would require at least 10 more months to complete. They wanted to look deeper into history since what was gathered until then was information already available to the public. It was undecided then on which Kunjali Marakkar would Mohanlal portray out of the four Marakkars. Priyadarshan said the story he would come up with would be a mix of fact and fiction, as the information about many of the incidents that happened during that era are unavailable. Priyadarshan zeroed in on Kunjali Marakkar IV as the protagonist as he "has the most interesting story". Mohanlal said that their idea was to make a patriotic film. Marakkar IV was at the forefront of resistance against the Portuguese invaders and is regarded as the first naval commander in India and was also an expert navigator. That is why they have dubbed him the "lion of the Arabian Sea".


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: The title of the film was officially announced at a press conference held at Kochi on 28 April 2018 by Priyadarshan, Mohanlal, producer Antony Perumbavoor and co-producers Santhosh T. Kuruvilla and Roy C. J. The budget was revealed to be ₹100 crore, making it the most expensive film made in Malayalam cinema—produced under the company Aashirvad Cinemas, with Moonshot Entertainments and Confident Group as co-producers. Production is said to have begun on 1 November 2018 on the day of Kerala Piravi. Priyadarshan said that it took him three years to commence filming from the day he had conceived the film.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: Priyadarshan co-wrote the screenplay with his disciple Ani Sasi. Ani himself expressed interest in collaborating with Priyadarshan when he learned that the later was working on a film about Kunjali Marakkar. Priyadarshan also incorporating many inputs from late Damodaran from their early discussions. The first draft was completed in April 2018. It was estimated to require seven months for pre-production and eight months for post-production. They completed the final draft by early June 2018. The story spans the period from 1505 to 1601. Marakkar IV was chosen as the protagonist not only because he has the most interesting story, but also they knew more about him than the other Marakkars, and he was the one who brought a lot of strategies, and "everything ended with him". Priyadarshan said that not many reliable sources exist about Marakkar I, and facts about Marakkar II, III, and IV are a mystery, and their available accounts are conflicting with each other. The screenplay was written with a combination of facts, fiction, and folklore. He said that his characters are historical figures but they all may not be contemporaries, cinematic liberty that he has taken.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: Most of the female characters in the film are imaginary. Due to a lack of sufficient written history and reliable sources, it is difficult to know the facts about Marakkars. There were more unanswered questions and contradicting accounts and perspectives. Priyadarshan relied on commonsense and basic human behavioral patterns to fill the gaps. According to him, the screenplay contains 30 percent history and 70 percent fiction. Marakkar IV is presented as a hero of a fairy tale. Since nothing much is known about Marakkar IV, artistic freedom was to be used to tell his story. Whatever was found about him was completely contradictory, while the Europeans portray him as a villain, the Arabs hail him as a savior. Priyadarshan took the basic structure of the story from a chapter he learned as a child in his grade three textbook and worked on that. According to him, "Marakkar was a patriot whose loyalty to his land came above barriers of caste and religion. That is my message in my film. If Kunjali Marakkar could do it so many years ago, why do we find it so difficult to put our country ahead of caste, religion and region?". A disclaimer is added in the opening of the film that it contains fiction.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: Mohanlal was attached to the project in the initial discussion itself in 1996. The screenplay was written with Mohanlal in mind as Priyadarshan wanted an actor with an image that fits the larger-than-life stature of Marakkar IV. Priyadarshan said that, "heroic figures like Marakkar or Velu Thampi Dalawa had this aura about them and has that", also Marakkar IV was 53 years old when he died and Mohanlal suits the age too. The team was then on a lookout for a Chinese actor to play the role of Chinali, Marakkar IV's trusted lieutenant. In May 2018, it was reported that Nagarjuna, Suniel Shetty, and Paresh Rawal has been cast alongside Mohanlal in ensemble roles. Shetty was confirmed to have signed the film, while Nagarjuna was in talks for a role. Shetty grew his hair out for his role. In June, Nagarjuna said he has not yet heard the script and will sign only after that. At the end, he did not take the role. Madhu and Prabhu were confirmed in that month, with the former cast as Kunjali Marakkar I / Kuttiyali Marakkar. Prabhu plays a Tamil shipwright who build boats for Marakkar, such a character is mentioned in history. Madhu opted out from the film (and other films) as part of his decision to retire from cinema industry. Fazil took the role in his absence. Akshay Kumar was offered a role, but declined.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: In July 2018, Durga Krishna was reported to have been cast in a pivotal role. The team was aiming to complete the casting by the end of September 2018, including the actress for female lead role. More cast were revealed in that month. Arjun Sarja was confirmed in a principal role. Both Shetty's and Sarja's roles are based on real-life characters in a "slightly fictionalised" forms as not much about them are known from history. Renji Panicker, Nedumudi Venu and Siddique were confirmed in supporting roles. Priyadarshan revealed that Pranav Mohanlal and Kalyani Priyadarshan will be making "special appearances" in the film, with Pranav enacting a young Marakkar IV. They play a couple. Kalyani said she herself asked her father for a role in the film. Keerthy Suresh plays an important role. She learned veena as part of preparing for her character who is trained in classical music. Her character has a romantic relationship with Chinali / Chiang Juvan, played by Chinese actor Jay J. Jakkrit. Mukesh was confirmed to be in the film. In October 2018, Pooja Kumar was in talks for a role. Manju Warrier was cast as Subaida. Ashok Selvan was cast in an antagonistic role, making his debut in Malayalam cinema. Shiyas Kareem was cast as a sidekick in Marakkar IV's gang; he had 50 days shoot.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: Principal photography began on 1 December 2018 at Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad. Cinematography was handled by Tirru. Co-writer Ani Sasi also worked as an assistant director in the film. Pranav and Kalyani shot a few scenes early that month. A song sequence between the two was choreographed by Brinda. Prasanna Sujit choreographed another sequence. Mohanlal joined the sets in mid December. Filming was wrapped by late March 2019. Principal photography lasted 104 days. The film was shot in Malayalam while a few scenes were reshot in Tamil. The bulk of filming took place at Ramoji Film City itself, a five-day shoot was also held in Thiruvananthapuram. Meeting scene between the Samoothiri and the Portuguese was shot at Adimalathura. Kazu Neda, Sumret Muangput, and B. Thyagarajan were responsible for the action sequences.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: Priyadarshan's frequent collaborator Sabu Cyril was the film's production designer. The story is set 500 years ago in what is now Kerala. Even though the events happened during that period are recorded in history, there are no proper documentation about the outfits, ornaments, their colour, weapons or home appliances used. Hence, some of them were made from imagination and referring available material. Ships were not built but bought from Egypt during the period of Kunjali Marakkars. Four life-size ship replicas and a 200×200 metre tank were built at Ramoji Film City. Installed on a one-acre space, the tank was filled with 150,000 litre of water. The film was never shot on sea, the action sequences on the high seas, the storm, and the thundering waves was completely created using visual effects. There are no paintings of Marakkar IV, and it is unknown how he became the admiral of the Samoothiri. There were hardly any pictorial references regarding the costumes or ornaments worn by the warriors and the people, for that they had to depend on their imagination and some books and paintings for reference. Several other sets were also created for the film. Cannons were built accurately, but swords, shields, and helmets of Samoothiri's arsenal was made by referring similar armory existed in that century, exact models could not be found. A total of 40 cannons and more than 1000 swords were made. Some swords were made from carbon fibers while others were from bamboo. Horses were used in the film because there was recorded history that Samoothiri used to import horses from Bahadur Shah of Gujarat.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: On setting the period, they also considered the temperature of that period, which was only 21 degree Celsius at peak in summer. Priyadarshan said that creating the old mast ships, war galleys of the Portuguese, and the battle sequences on sea were the bigger challenges in making the film. For research, Priyadarshan could not locate the spot or remains of neither Marakkars' fort in Iringal, nor Samoothiri's palace, even Archaeological Survey of India did not have any clue. In the film, elephant is used as the insignia of Samoothiri's kingdom. The idea was taken from the Emblem of Kerala which is presumed to be composed of the elephant insignia of Samoothiri and shanku insignia of Trivandrum kingdom. Since Samoothiri bought the ships from Egypt by bartering spices, his ships are Arabian model. Cyril took only ₹25 lakh as remuneration, which was far less than what he usually charge, for his love for the film. Sujith Sudhakaran and V. Sai was in charge of the costume department. Keerthy's wardrobes, ornaments and character looks were based on three Raja Ravi Varma paintings. Indrakshi Pattanaik was her stylist.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: M. S. Aiyappan Nair was the editor, digital intermediate was processed by Prime Focus studio. M. R. Rajakrishnan of Sync Cinema was the sound designer. Around a quarter of the film is set in sea, nonetheless, the film was never shot on sea, except for a shot of sea shore. The sea was completely created using visual effects. Priyadarshan's son Siddharth Priyadarshan worked as the film's visual effects supervisor, he hired his son to reduce the film's cost. Siddharth divided the graphics work among four personnel. The film was shot using storyboard (which is scarcely used in Indian productions) as it is helpful in creating visual effects. In Priyadarshan's view, success of a film like "Lion of the Arabian Sea" depends largely on the fineness of graphics, "if you don't get your graphics right, the film will look terrible. Which we have seen often in Indian cinema". Priyadarshan said that the most difficult thing to create in VFX is water and fire, for that they bought necessary software from Austria and Hungary. Pune-based Anibrain, and two Chennai-based Knack Studios and Golden Star Studio were employed for the film's visual effects creation. Post-production began in Chennai as soon as they completed filming. It was expected to last 11 months, with eight months consuming for visual effects alone. Post-production took 14 months to complete. The film was reportedly completed with a cost of ₹85 – 100 crore. The film's theatrical cut runs for 181.07 minutes. It underwent censoring in India on 23 December 2019.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: The original score was composed by Rahul Raj, Ankit Suri and Lyell Evans Roeder. Suri and Roeder, composers of Alternative Fidelity, a British-American music production house were hired to compose the score for battle sequences in the film. It was also their debut in Malayalam cinema. A few months later, Rahul Raj, who freshly graduated from Berklee College of Music was hired to independently compose and produce the rest of the score. Raj was chosen by Priyadarshan after being impressed watching a video of him conducting a 52-piece London orchestra as part of his thesis in Berklee. While scoring, Raj avoided giving a regional touch to the music which would have been easier for a film set in Malabar, as Priyadarshan was clear that he was making a film which caters for a global audience and it should resonate in its music too. Deviating from his usual norm, Priyadarshan who is known for giving references and definitive instructions to his composers, gave full creative freedom to Rahul Raj for scoring. His only instruction was to imagine as if he is working for a Hollywood epic and compose with that on mind. Raj wanted a soundscape that could bring an epic feel as in films produced during the golden age of Hollywood. He mentioned "Ben-Hur" and "The Ten Commandments" as examples. Beside composing, Rahul Raj also performed programming and production entirely by himself as opposed to have additional programmers in many regular film scores. The Chennai Strings Orchestra played string pieces for some of the significant portions.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: The original songs in Malayalam were composed by Ronnie Raphael. In the initial stage, Priyadarshan planned only fours songs in the film, with one being instrumental. His plan was to experiment by diving three songs to three composers. However, all songs were finally given to Raphael. Raphael had composed music for Priyadarshan's Hindi film "Anamika" in the "Forbidden Love" series, after which he was offered the position in "Lion of the Arabian Sea" too. He composed five songs for the film. Recording began as early as November 2018 when filming had not begun. The songs were sung by K. S. Chithra, M. G. Sreekumar, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Shweta Mohan, Shreya Ghoshal and Zia Ul Haq, with lyrics by Prabha Varma, B. K. Harinarayanan, Shafi Kollam, and Priyadarshan. Saina Music acquired the music rights in February 2020 for an all time record sum in Malayalam cinema.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: The first single "Kunju Kunjali", sung by K. S. Chithra was released in all languages on 10 February 2021. A flute cover of "Kunju Kunjali" by Josy Alappuzha, who also played flute in the original track, was released on 22 February 2021. It was released on digital music platforms on 3 March 2021 as a track in the album. A teaser of second track "Kannil Ente" was released on 24 March 2021, and the full song was released in all languages on 31 March 2021. The third track "Chembinte Chelulla", sung by Vishnu Raj was released in all languages on 21 May 2021, marking Mohanlal's birthday. On 10 November 2021, the theme of "Marakkar" composed by Rahul Raj, was launched through streaming platforms and also on YouTube.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: On 22 September 2019, The first teaser trailer of the film was exclusively screened at "Aashirvadathode Lalettan", an event held at Gokulam Park, Kochi, organised by Aashirvad Cinemas. The first trailer released in March 2020 was edited by Alphonse Putharen. In November 2021, a promotional event was conducted on the luxury cruise ship Nefertiti Cruise, organised in association with Jain International School of Creative Arts.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: The film was originally scheduled to be released on 19 March 2020, as announced in October 2019. It was then moved to 26 March by January 2020. However, it was further postponed without a release date after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. Priyadarshan said that the postponement was at the behest of exhibitors in the Gulf, particularly those across Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as the box office collection from these countries are crucial to the film's success. In February 2021, Mohanlal told to "Variety" that it is a global film with an international release, so they are waiting for the COVID-19 situation to normalise, "when everything settles and people are back to the theaters, only then can we release". The film was then rescheduled and postponed again three times in 2021: 26 March, 13 May, and 12 August.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: Fans show tickets for more than 100 shows were already sold out when it postponed release in March 2020. There was a surge in COVID-19 cases in India when it was about to release in May 2021 coinciding with Eid al-Fitr. The film could not release in the Onam holidays aimed August 2021 date as the test positivity rate (TPR) in Kerala was the highest in India at that time and theatres remained closed per government order. Theatres were later allowed to run with half its seating capacity. On 6 November 2021, producer Antony Perumbavoor said that they are cancelling theatrical release and the film will have a direct-to-OTT premiere through Amazon Prime Video. Reportedly, they made a ₹90 crore deal with Prime Video for a direct-to-OTT premiere. In early November 2021, a preview show was held for Mohanlal, his wife Suchitra Mohanlal, and producer Antony in Chennai, the theatrical experience from the show changed their decision to opt for a theatrical release. On 11 November, Saji Cheriyan, minister of Kerala State Film Development Corporation announced that the film will be releasing on 2 December 2021 in theatres, which was decided after a meeting with the makers. The government also waived entertainment tax for all films releasing in Kerala until 31 December. The makers renegotiated and relaxed the deal with Prime Video to allow for a theatrical debut prior to OTT. The film's release date coincide with the National Day holiday of the United Arab Emirates, where it premieres a day early, on 1 December 2021.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: The film was reported to be releasing in more than 5000 theatres worldwide in March 2020, and in more than 50 countries worldwide, which would make it the largest release for a Malayalam film up until then. Besides the original Malayalam and Tamil versions, the film also has dubbed versions in Hindi, Telugu, and Kannada. Priyadarshan said that they also plans to dub the film in Arabic. In 2019, they made a deal to release the film in China, dubbed in Chinese, and signed a co-production and distribution agreement with a Chinese company. Kalaipuli S. Thanu of V. Creations bought the distribution right for the film's Tamil version. The Telugu version is distributed by Suresh Productions. The film is releasing in 4100 screens worldwide in five languages, with 16,000 shows on the opening days. Out of the 631 screens in Kerala, 626 screens is playing "Lion of the Arabian Sea".


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: "Marakkar" was released on December 17 through Amazon Prime Video in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi.


title: Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea

text: In his review for "The Hindu", S. R. Praveen wrote, "Kunjali Marakkar certainly deserved a much better tribute. In the end, it is not about the crores that you spend, but about how well you manage to engage and move the audience." "The Times of India" rated the film 2.5 on a scale of 5 and wrote that the film is "a historical hero's story that isn't rousing." "Malayala Manorama" praised the visuals, cinematography and production design. They wrote, "Marakkar is undoubtedly the biggest film by the Priyadarshan-Mohanlal combo, but not the best by the two." "The Indian Express" wrote, "Priyadarshan tells an age-old story without wearing down the viewers, though after a point, you may feel the movie is reluctant to show its inevitable climax. Otherwise, the movie makes for an engaging watch." "The News Minute" rated the movie 3 out of 5 and wrote that the film is "visually stunning" but "badly written." "The New Indian Express" wrote that the film "is yet another testament to Priyadarshan's remarkable ability to paint in broad strokes, but it falters when it comes to the emotional stakes." Anna M. M. Vetticad of "Firstpost" gave the film 1.5 out of 5 writing "Mohanlal-led war drama is remarkably unremarkable." "Hindustan Times" wrote that the film is "ambitious but underwhelming." Rating the film 2 out of 5, "Deccan Herald" also wrote that the film is an "underwhelming experience." "The Quint" gave the film a rating of 2.5 out of 5 and wrote that the film "is an epic disappointment." "International Business Times" commented that ""Marakkar" is one such movie that is technically brilliant, but it lacked that powerful script and screenplay."


title: Leader of the Conservative Party (UK)

text: The leader of the Conservative Party (officially the leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party) is the highest position within the United Kingdom's Conservative Party. The current holder of the position is Rishi Sunak, who was elected to the position on 24 October, following his unopposed victory in the party's leadership election.


title: Leader of the Conservative Party (UK)

text: From the party's formation in 1834 until 1922, the leader of the Conservative Party was not a formal position; instead, there was a party leader in each chamber of Parliament, and they were considered equal unless one took precedence over the other, such as when one was serving as prime minister. Following the passage of the Parliament Act of 1911, the reduction of power in the House of Lords suggested that the Conservative leader in the House of Commons would be preeminent, but this fact was not formalised until 1922.


title: Leader of the Conservative Party (UK)

text: Since 1922, a leader of the Conservative Party has been formally elected, even when the party is in opposition. Originally, the party leader was appointed opaquely by other high-ranking members of the party. This process was gradually democratised in the late 20th century; in 1965, the appointment was linked to a vote by party MPs, and in 1998, the process was opened to all party members to decide between the last two candidates selected by parliamentarians. Under party rules, members can vote in the Conservative leadership even if they are not British citizens, do not live in the UK and do not have the right to vote in a UK general election.


title: Leader of the Conservative Party (UK)

text: When the Conservative Party is in government, as it currently is, the leader would usually become the prime minister of the United Kingdom, first lord of the Treasury and minister for the civil service, as well as appointing the cabinet. Concordantly, when the Party is in opposition, the leader of the Labour Party usually acts (as the second largest party) as the Leader of the Opposition, and chairs the shadow cabinet. As of October 2022, three of the party's leaders have been women: Margaret Thatcher, Theresa May, and Liz Truss, all of whom have served as prime minister. Rishi Sunak is the first British Asian party leader and prime minister.


title: Leader of the Conservative Party (UK)

text: Under the party's constitution, leaders are elected by serving MPs and party members whose membership started at least three months prior to the closing of a ballot. Candidates must be serving MPs. A former leader who has resigned may not stand in the contest triggered by their departure.


title: Leader of the Conservative Party (UK)

text: Those who wish to stand must notify the 1922 Committee, a body representing backbench Conservative Party MPs, which has broad powers to set the rules of the leadership race (e.g. the minimum number of nominees candidates need).


title: Leader of the Conservative Party (UK)

text: The party's practice is for MPs to eliminate candidates through multiple rounds of voting until two remain, from whom the winner is then chosen by a ballot of party members.


title: Leader of the Conservative Party (UK)

text: The 1922 Committee's chairman acts as the returning officer for all stages of the leadership election process.


title: OpenSea

text: OpenSea is an American online non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace headquartered in New York City. The company was founded by Devin Finzer and Alex Atallah in 2017.


title: OpenSea

text: OpenSea offers a marketplace allowing for non-fungible tokens to be sold directly at a fixed price, or through an auction, based on the Ethereum ERC-721 standard, the layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum Polygon, the KIP-7 standard for Klaytn, and the SPL standard for Solana.


title: OpenSea

text: In 2021, following a heightened interest in non-fungible tokens, the company's revenue reached $95 million in February 2021 and $2.75 billion in September of that year. By January 2022, the company had been valued at $13.3 billion and has been considered the largest non-fungible token marketplace. The daily trading volume on the OpenSea marketplace reached a record $2.7 billion on May 1, 2022, but four months later had dropped by 99%.


title: OpenSea

text: In September 2021, OpenSea admitted that an employee engaged in insider trading. OpenSea's Head of Product hoarded NFTs just before they were featured in the homepage.


title: OpenSea

text: In January 2022, OpenSea acquired Ethereum wallet-maker Dharma Labs, and OpenSea reimbursed users about $1.8 million after a user interface bug allowed users to buy more than $1 million worth of NFTs at a discount.


title: OpenSea

text: On January 27, 2022, OpenSea announced it would limit how many NFTs a user can create using the free minting tool. The following day, OpenSea reversed the decision following user backlash and later admitted that 80% of NFTs created with the tool were plagiarism or spam.


title: OpenSea

text: On February 19, 2022, some users began to report that some of their NFTs disappeared. OpenSea later revealed a phishing attack had took place on its platform via an exploit in the Wyvern Platform. The company denied rumors the source of the theft was their website, its listing systems, emails from the company, or an upgraded contract system. Opensea provide a good representation of the NFT market due to their dominance in sales volumes and the number of traders who frequent their marketplace. OpenSea has recorded $20.37 billion in sales and has over 1.2 million active traders in it's network. The next day, The Verge reported that hundreds of NFTs were stolen from OpenSea users causing a huge panic among the platform community. The estimated value of the stolen tokens is more than $1.7 million. According to OpenSea, only 32 users had been affected. OpenSea later revised their statement to note that 17 users were directly affected, while the other 15 users had interacted with the attacker but had not lost tokens as a result.


title: OpenSea

text: On April 25, 2022, OpenSea announced the acquisition of the NFT marketplace aggregator company Gem.xyz.


title: OpenSea

text: In June 2022, former OpenSea product manager Nathaniel Chastain was charged with wire fraud and money laundering in connection with an insider trading scheme of digital assets.


title: OpenSea

text: On 30 June 2022 OpenSea reported a massive email data breach after a Customer.io staff member misused his employee access to download and share email addresses of OpenSea’s users. Over 1.8 million email addresses are said to been leaked.


title: OpenSea

text: On 14 July 2022, chief executive Devin Finzer tweeted that the company was cutting one in five of its employees.


title: OpenSea

text: The daily volume of NFT transactions on OpenSea peaked at $2.7 billion on May 1, 2022, but then dropped by 99% within four months to just $9.34 million on August 28, with daily users down a third to 24,020.


title: OpenSea

text: In December 2020, OpenSea announced that any user can mint NFTs on its platform for free. Later, in March 2021, OpenSea announced NFT collections would not need to be approved to be listed; this decision was later criticized for allowing rampant NFT plagiarism on the platform.


title: OpenSea

text: On September 17, 2021, OpenSea released an app for Android and iOS. The app allows for browsing the marketplace, but not buying or selling NFTs.


title: OpenSea

text: In April 2022, OpenSea gave users the ability to buy and sell popular Solana NFTs on OpenSea's Solana beta.


title: OpenSea

text: In October 2022 OpenSea announced the release of bulk buying and listing feature that allows customers to list and buy over 30 items in one go.


title: Population decline

text: A population decline (also sometimes called underpopulation, depopulation, or population collapse) in humans is a reduction in a human population size. Over the long term, stretching from prehistory to the present, Earth's total human population has continued to grow; however, current projections suggest that this long-term trend of steady population growth may be coming to an end.


title: Population decline

text: Until the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, global population grew very slowly. After about 1800, the growth rate accelerated to a peak of 2.09% annually during the 1967–1969 period, but since then, due to the worldwide collapse of the total fertility rate, it has declined to 1.05% as of 2020. The global growth rate in absolute numbers accelerated to a peak of 92.9 million in 1988, but has declined to 81.3 million in 2020. Long-term projections indicate that the growth rate of the human population of this planet will continue to decline and that by the end of the 21st century, it will reach zero. Examples of this emerging trend are Japan, whose population is currently (2015–2020) declining at the rate of 0.2% per year, and China, whose population could start declining in 2027 or sooner. By 2050, Europe's population is projected to be declining at the rate of 0.3% per year.


title: Population decline

text: Population growth has declined mainly due to the abrupt decline in the global total fertility rate, from 5.0 in 1960 to 2.3 in 2020. The decline in the total fertility rate has occurred in every region of the world and is a result of a process known as demographic transition. In order to maintain its population, ignoring migration, a country requires a minimum fertility rate of 2.1 children per woman (the number is slightly greater than 2 because not all children live to adulthood). However, almost all societies experience a drastic drop in fertility to well below 2 as they grow more wealthy (see income and fertility). The tendency of women in wealthier countries to have fewer children is attributed to a variety of reasons, such as lower infant mortality and a reduced need for children as a source of family labor or retirement welfare, both of which reduce the incentive to have many children. Better access to education for young women, which broadens their job prospects, is also often cited.


title: Population decline

text: Possible consequences of long-term national population decline can be net positive or negative. If a country can increase its workforce productivity faster than its population is declining, the results, in terms of its economy, the quality of life of its citizens, and the environment, can be net positive. If it cannot increase workforce productivity faster than its population's decline, the results can be negative.


title: Population decline

text: National efforts to confront a declining population to date have been focused on the possible negative economic consequences and have been centered on increasing the size and productivity of the workforce.


title: Population decline

text: A reduction over time in a region's population can be caused by sudden adverse events such as outbursts of infectious disease, famine, and war or by long-term trends, for example sub-replacement fertility, persistently low birth rates, high mortality rates, and continued emigration.


title: Population decline

text: Historical episodes of short-term human population decline have been common and have been caused by several factors.