Electric Vehicles

Electric vehicles will grow from 0.7% of the global light-duty vehicle (LDV) fleet in 2020 to 31% in 2050, reaching 672 million EVs, predicts the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

As electric vehicle sales continue to grow worldwide, more and more consumers are getting curious about the options out there. Sure, everyone has heard of Tesla and has a neighbor that has been driving a Prius for the last decade. But, perhaps you yourself are finally open to joining the zero-emissions party. Good on you old sport! Now, I’m sure you’ve already searched “how does EV charging work,” and the like. Great work. Now, your next search be, “what are the cheapest electric vehicles available?” Search no longer, my friends. We’ve compiled the latest and greatest in affordable EVs for you below.

The province of Saskatchewan in Canada has joined a growing number of regions around the world in levying punitive taxes against electric cars while letting gas cars continue to get away with murder. But a local group has come up with a creative way to show just how dumb their EV tax is: by demanding a tax on people who use sidewalks.

It’s World EV Day today, which means what it sounds like: it celebrates and promotes the role of electric vehicles as the world attempts to move toward reaching net zero. US climate czar Gina McCarthy spoke with Ben Prochazka of the Electrification Coalition today about why that’s so important.

If you were to take a pen to a blank piece of paper, and from scratch, attempt to design a vehicle that is the very antithesis of everything you’d look for in a mode of urban transportation, I strongly suspect that you’d end up drawing something that looked an awful lot like… a car.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• The end of leaded gas use globally will prevent more than 1.2 million premature deaths.
• Electrifying transport could add $47 billion annually to the US Southeast’s economy.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

A new study from the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory offers the most comprehensive results yet of the costs of owning and operating different types of vehicles and how costs vary by powertrain.

The world’s largest-ever report about climate change was published today by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a United Nations group of nearly 200 leading climate scientists that looked at more than 14,000 scientific papers. It’s pretty grim – but far from hopeless. There are things we all can and must all do. As US Senator Ed Markey says, “We can’t agonize – we must organize.”

Allegra Stratton, British prime minister Boris Johnson’s climate spokesperson, says she won’t switch to an electric car yet because she has range anxiety. So she drives a “third-hand” diesel Volkswagen Golf instead.

After months of horse trading, a bipartisan group of US senators unveiled the legislative text of a 2,700-page, $1 trillion infrastructure bill last night. Here’s what’s in it for all things electric vehicle and clean energy – and what got the chop.

After taking its sweet time to get cracking in the first place, Audi is now off to a strong start on its long journey to 100% electrification.

If you’re a lover of stuff on wheels, there truly is no place like the UK’s Goodwood Festival of Speed. Situated in the sprawling front garden of the Duke of Richmond’s house, complete with hillclimb route and rally stage, it truly is a glorious day out.

Highways England is considering imposing the UK’s first pollution-linked speed limits to help reduce smog in Sheffield. But why should electric vehicle drivers have to slow down too?

Clean energy may mean less mining for coal, but it also means more mining for minerals such as cobalt for use in alloys and batteries, tellurium for solar cells and semiconductors, and germanium for transistors in electronic devices.

Electric vehicle infrastructure is getting $15 billion in US government funding in a new bipartisan proposal. It’s less than originally planned, but it’s still a decent amount.

Some EV detractors are already suggesting that the proposed $10,000 EV rebate is being left behind, but it is apparently still in play.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• Tesla models make up more than half of US EV sales in 2021.
• A Michigan utility wants to be one of the first in the US to go coal-free.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• EV100 businesses call for strong US emissions standards and all new-vehicle sales to be net zero by 2030.
• Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) introduces legislation to rapidly boost US solar manufacturing.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.

Duke Energy has filed a $56 million proposal of Phase II programs to continue the advancement of transportation electrification in North Carolina.

The first driverless electric shuttle buses hit the roads in the city of Cambridge in the UK yesterday as part of ground-breaking trials.

New data from the UK’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) reflects which parts of the UK are adopting electric vehicles the quickest, and it’s not London or its southeastern suburbs. And while there’s been a big jump in just a year, the mountain Britain has to climb to reach its 2030 target is still high.

In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):

• South Korea has committed nearly $40 billion to build EV tech factories and expand R&D in the US.
• The UK will install 3,550 “ultra-rapid charging points” on motorways and in towns over two years.
• UnderstandSolar is a free service that links you to top-rated solar installers in your region for personalized solar estimates. Tesla now offers price matching, so it’s important to shop for the best quotes. Click here to learn more and get your quotes. — *ad.