California

Anyone living in San Francisco knows that the city has been a testing ground for hundreds of self-driving cars – and there is probably a good reason why. In light of a series of incidents, including a pedestrian who was seriously injured by a Cruise robotaxi last year, California law enforcement has its hands tied when it comes to issuing moving violations when no human is behind the wheel.

SunZia, a massive clean energy project in the US Southwest, has closed $11 billion non-recourse financing and launched full construction.

Gas and diesel yard tractors are out, and battery-electric models at California’s Port of Long Beach container terminal are in.

California’s infamous Salton Sea has been a known hotbed of lithium for years, but no one had a sense of how much “white gold” was found there. Now a new study quantifies that, and it’s impressive: The huge underground reserve of scorching hot brine located underneath the lakebed contains enough lithium to build batteries for 375 million electric vehicles, making it one of the largest lithium brine deposits in the world.

PG&E, California’s largest utility, just brought its first renewable remote grid online, in a nature preserve in Sonoma County.

Trucking companies are currently suing the state of California in federal court, trying to protect their ability to continue forcing poison into your lungs – instead of saving billions of dollars across the state by shifting to electric trucks.

Clean Power Alliance, California’s fourth-largest electricity provider, is going to source power from SunZia, the US’s largest clean energy transmission project.

EV sales continue to rise steadily in California, reaching a record 22.3% market share in Q3. But Tesla has returned to its position as second-best selling overall car brand in the state, behind longtime leader Toyota, after briefly eclipsing the brand last quarter.

California governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) signed legislation that mandates all new school buses in the state to be electric starting in 2035.

California has added a new $2,000 incentive for low- and moderate-income EV buyers, bringing the total state incentives to $9,500.

On top of the federal $7,500 EV tax credit and potential local or regional credits, this means some new EV buyers can get $17,000 or more back on the purchase of a new EV.

The Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility, the world’s largest lithium-ion battery energy storage system, has been expanded to 750 MW/3,000 MWh.

An electric truck charging depot that can charge up to 96 trucks at once will service fleets moving cargo to and from the Port of Oakland.

Califooooorniaaaaaa here we coooommmmeeeee (autonomously). Mercedes-Benz has just announced that its SAE Level 3 autonomous driver assist system, DRIVE PILOT, has been certified to operate in the entire state of California, beginning with a couple of familiar models.

Tesla continues to have the two top-selling vehicles in California, with the Tesla Model Y extending its No. 1 sales lead over the competition and the Model 3 holding strong at No. 2. But other manufacturers’ sales are picking up too, leading the state to a 23.2% market share for vehicles with plugs – 19.5% BEV and 3.7% PHEV.

A bill has been introduced in California which would require all EVs to have bidirectional charging capability starting in model year 2027.

The California Air Resources Board has voted unanimously to finalize its Advanced Clean Fleets rule, a massive new regulation on medium- and heavy-duty fleet vehicles that, among other things, requires all new medium- and heavy-duty vehicles sold or registered in the state of California to be zero-emission come 2036.

California has reached 1.5 million electric vehicle sales two years ahead of its planned 2025 target for the sales milestone, according to the California Energy Commission.

With EV demand soaring, California is not the first place to reach its EV sales goals early, and it won’t be the last.

Vietnamese EV automaker Vinfast just relayed that its new VF 8 electric SUV has been added to the list of eligible vehicles under the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project (CVRP) created by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). New and existing VinFast customers can now qualify for up to $7,500 in tax rebates in California, which can extend to other participating states. Learn how to apply below.

Solar electric vehicle startup Aptera Motors shared encouraging news today as it has been awarded a grant from the California Energy Commission (CEC) to the tune of $21 million. The grant comes as welcomed news for Aptera as it looks to reach scaled production of its namesake solar EV as one of the few startups left trying to successfully scale the sustainable technology for the masses.

You read that right. Poop. Manure. Cow pies. US Dairy farming remains a massive contributor of greenhouse gas methane emitted by its endless lanes of cattle providing milk to the public. California in particular currently sits at as the US dairy farming mecca, but also accounts for nearly half of the methane emissions in the entire state. New recycling methods have been put into place and automakers like BMW have utilized their carbon offsets to power its EVs, but many argue this is greenwashing and the entire incentive program encourages more emissions, not less.