2021 is going to be the year for all-electric cars and should greatly accelerate the electric revolution. There are so many new models hitting the market that it should shift the entire industry.
Here we look at 10 new electric vehicles coming next year:
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With all the loss of lives and financial destruction that the coronavirus has brought us, it’s hard to look at silver linings from this crisis, but there’s one that’s becoming obvious: cleaner air.
It might not last for long, but it’s giving us a glimpse at what we could experience if the world was to rapidly transition to electric transportation.
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International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) today reports that there’s a “good chance” that vehicle manufacturers will be able to meet their 2020/21 CO2 targets in time to avoid paying any penalties. The new optimism is based on incoming January 2020 data. In one shining example, the average CO2 level of new cars in France dropped from 113 g/km in December to 96 g/km in January, a 15% improvement in a single month.
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Representatives Andy Levin (D-MI) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) introduced the Electric Vehicle Freedom Act this week, which would provide federal grants to private businesses to build direct current fast chargers (DCFCs) along US Interstate highways.
It was hardly a secret that Detroit-Hamtramck would be GM’s assembly plant for electric pickups and SUVs. But with the official announcement moments ago, the American auto industry made a big leap toward its EV future. GM’s storied Detroit-Hamtramck plant – where 4 million vehicles have been built over 35 years – from now on will produce nothing but pure battery-electric models of a size and shape most favored by American consumers.
An 83-minute-long video of a dinner attended by Donald Trump in April 2018 was released today by Lev Parnas.
The video touches on many subjects, many of which been covered elsewhere. But here on Electrek, we are particularly interested in the part starting around minute 57, where there is approximately 15 minutes’ worth of discussion about electric vehicles, alternative fuels, shipping, and autonomous driving.
And almost all of it is nonsense.
A new California law going into effect in 2020 will encourage low-income motorists to buy an affordable used EV. On Jan. 1, qualifying solo drivers who buy a used electric car can gain access to carpool lanes. The stickers granting access were previously only available for those who bought more expensive new electric vehicles. The change is designed to address concerns that only wealthier people buying high-priced EVs can drive solo in the fast-moving high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) lane.
The experiment to offer battery-electric vehicles by the day or hour is mostly done. Companies such as BlueIndy, Maven, and ShareNow pulled the plug in 2019. These companies, launched with enthusiasm just a couple of years ago, were based on the idea that urban consumers would be eager to access (rather than own) a zero-emissions vehicle for local travel. But the operational costs and complicated logistics outweighed the interest in fledgling services. Maybe people want a private EV after all.
Nearly half of US states impose fees on EV owners or will consider adding fees in 2020. The ill-conceived idea is to make up for gaps in roadway infrastructure investments usually derived from gasoline taxes. Expect these counter-productive fees to expand in the coming years as the EV market grows. Oregon and Utah are next.
Imagine walking into a traditional car dealership and having the salesperson take you straight to the EVs. When you ask about the gas cars with lower price tags, the dealer explains that electric cars have a lower total cost, among many other benefits. Why is the dealership pushing electrics? Because it would get a big bonus for selling a vehicle with lower CO2 output. This is precisely what will happen at PSA, Nissan, and other dealerships in Europe starting in 2020.
Piaggio has just unveiled its latest electric vehicle, and it’s no Vespa. This time it is the classic Piaggio Ape that is going electric as the new Ape E-City electric tuk-tuk.
Dave Versical, chief of editorial operations for Automotive News, believes the 2020 outlook for electric vehicles is weak. In his commentary piece published yesterday, Versical reports that auto executives speaking with him privately are using terms like “carnage” and “Armageddon” to describe the EV sales landscape for 2020. Has somebody been breathing in exhaust fumes?
In Europe, sales of pure electric and plug-in hybrid passenger cars are expected to grow 35% in the first nine months of 2020, according to BloombergNEF. That’s a much faster rate than we’ll see in North America or China, the world’s biggest EV markets.
Squad Mobility has a new solar electric car that is being developed by two former Lightyear employees. And the affordable Squad solar car could be exactly what cities need to solve growing congestion problems seen around the world.
Germany is increasing its incentives for buying electric vehicles with a focus on making less expensive electric cars even cheaper.
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Dominion Energy and Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority are going to jointly explore a large-scale 100-megawatt solar energy project at Washington Dulles International Airport. It would be on approximately 1,200 acres. It could power up to 25,000 homes and would be one of the largest solar facilities in Northern Virginia.
In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):
Autolist has released a new survey showing consumer attitudes on electric cars. Among other questions, consumers were asked what their biggest reasons were for not buying an EV, and the answers were pretty much what you’d expect.
The top reasons given were range, price, and charging. But the problem is that these concerns are, by and large, out of date.
San Francisco is aiming for 100% emission-free transportation within city limits by 2040, as it introduced a plan today that looks to embrace the “opportunity” in electric vehicles.
New homes in the UK could all be fitted with electric car charging points in the future, as the UK government has outlined a number of EV-supportive proposals in a public consultation on England’s building regulations.
There are now about 3,000 emojis, but none for electric cars. Electrify America is out to change that, with a formal proposal and a new petition in pursuit of an EV emoji.
Maryland’s state electric vehicle tax credit program has proven so popular that rebate funding was depleted for the entire fiscal year before it even began on July 1, 2019.
The European Union rule which requires new electric cars to emit a noise for pedestrian safety goes into effect today. What does that mean for the EV industry as a whole?
A coalition of US mayors announced it will purchase more than 2,100 electric vehicles for their cities and counties by 2020. But that commitment could have been more than 50 times larger, if the mayors followed their initial path.
