Boston-based sustainability nonprofit group Ceres has launched the Corporate Electric Vehicle Alliance, a new group to help companies accelerate the transition to electric vehicles.
The Alliance’s flagship members are Amazon, AT&T, Clif Bar, Consumers Energy, DHL, Direct Energy, Genentech, IKEA North America, LeasePlan, Lime, and Siemens.
The quest for the Democratic presidential nomination will heat up in 2020. So it’s a good time to look at what the leading candidates say about electric vehicles. We focus on the front-runners: Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Andrew Yang. Here’s a sampling of quotes and position statements. For fun, we share what we could find about the vehicle each candidate drives. EV fans, who gets your vote?
Ford renegotiated its union contract last week, coming to a relatively speedy agreement between the automaker and its workers. The agreement includes a detailed breakdown of plant investments, including which cars will be made where.
Of particular note, the list of cars includes two full electric vehicles (F-150 and Transit), two plug-in hybrids (Escape and Lincoln Corsair), and multiple other conventional hybrids. The electric F-150 will be built alongside the standard F-150 in Ford’s main truck plant in Dearborn, Michigan, where Ford also plans to produce batteries for the electric F-150. While the Mach E is not specifically mentioned, “Mustang derivatives” are, and it looks like that car will be built in Flat Rock, Michigan.
In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):
Ashland, Oregon’s The Garden Cottages is already designed to be eco-friendly. The 12 houses will also feature a communal electric vehicle for residents.
In today’s Electrek Green Energy Brief (EGEB):
Kia will unveil a new all-electric concept car at next month’s Geneva Motor Show, and the company has released a teaser image of the vehicle.
The Maruti Suzuki Wagon R EV is expected to launch next year in India, and the car has been spotted road testing. It could be one of the most important vehicle/platforms in the ongoing battle against climate change and pollution in the world’s most air-polluted country.
A recent nationwide survey revealed that 66 percent of automotive consumers would consider paying more for a vehicle with an alternative powertrain.
Lyft is bringing a new “Green Mode” to its app which allows riders to specifically request an EV or hybrid vehicle.
Spy photographers recently caught glimpses of an electric Peugeot 208 and Volkswagen’s electric I.D. Crozz driving around in the snow.
While introducing its newest V-Class van series today, Mercedes-Benz also announced plans to unveil a new all-electric concept MPV at the upcoming Geneva Motor Show. This isn’t a fleet vehicle — it’s for the family segment.
Electric vehicle startup Faraday Future, also known as FF, is moving forward with its $1 billion factory in North Las Vegas, Nevada. The company is holding an official ground-breaking ceremony with state officials today – you can watch the stream below.
FF also released several new details about the factory and its features, as well as the concept rendering seen above.
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Although Toyota is betting big on hydrogen vehicles, the Japanese automaker seems to be slowly warming up to electric vehicles as an alternative to broaden its lineup of zero-emission cars. This week, the automaker unveiled a new electric vehicle concept in partnership with Clemson University’s International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR).
Unfortunately for EV enthusiast, it’s another ‘weird-mobile’ and it’s called the uBox.
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Volkswagen has been trying to improve its brand image since the ‘DieselGate’ scandal last year, and part of the effort to remedy the situation has been to reiterate its commitment to electric vehicles. CEO Matthias Müller has since announced that the group’s brands will introduce 20 new electric vehicles by the end of the decade.
More recently, VW decided to showcase its EV initiatives through a public event at its ‘Transparent Factory’ in Dresden.
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We knew it was coming for a while, but today the California Air Resources Board (CARB) confirmed the exact timeframe. The California Clean Vehicle Rebate (CVRP) will be increasing for low- and moderate-income drivers, while it will also introduce a cap for high-income drivers.
The change will apply statewide to vehicle purchases or leases effective March 29, 2016.
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Fortune is running a Koch Industry advertisement-as-commentary piece today ‘authored’ by Jim Mahoney, the employee signaled out in a Huffington Post article last month as leading a $10M campaign against EVs.
The piece doesn’t directly reference Tesla by name, but it does feature pictures of the Model S both in Fortune’s article and subsequent social media push by the publication (see above).
We advised that these hit pieces were coming but didn’t know they’d be coming so soon.
It looks like electric vehicles are still in the “fighting phase” as we learn today that billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch are planning to back a new group of lobbyists with a focus on “boosting petroleum-based transportation fuels and attacking government subsidies for electric vehicles”, according to refining industry sources talking to the Huffington Post….
According to the Huffington Post, the Kochs are teaming up with James Mahoney, a member of their company’s board, and lobbyist Charlie Drevna, who until recently was the head of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers. Their mission will be to “make the public aware of all the benefits of petroleum-based transportation fuels”.
Mahoney is a petroleum industry veteran who uses a few tired gems like:
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France is among the many European markets that greatly helped Tesla grow its fleet in 2015. The automaker delivered a total of 50,580 cars globally last year, which represents an overall 60% increase over 2014, while the company’s deliveries grew 115% in France in 2015.
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(Thanks to Zac Hall for images and video and checking out the back seats/CarPlay)
I have two electric cars at home – a plug-in Prius and a base model 2013 Tesla Model S. Yesterday, I drove the car that felt like their natural offspring: the compact crossover Chevy Bolt…
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Fully Charged’s latest video features Jonny Smith’s modified Enfield 8000 ECC now called the “Flux Capacitor”. The vehicle beautifully illustrates how far batteries have come in the last few decades. When originally manufactured in 1974, the car was equipped with 300 kg of lead-acid batteries for 96 volts, now Smith equipped his with 145 kg of li-ion batteries for 378 volts.
The video and specs below:
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The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) updated its study on the average greenhouse gas emissions of electric vehicles versus gasoline-powered vehicles based on electricity sources and reiterated that on average, EVs indeed create less emissions than gasoline-powered cars.
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Volkswagen’s new board of management issued a new statement this morning highligting its new strategy to come out of the emission scandal. CEO Dr. Herbert Diess about the announcement:
“The Volkswagen brand is repositioning itself for the future. We are becoming more efficient, we are giving our product range and our core technologies a new focus, and we are creating room for forward-looking technologies by speeding up the efficiency program.”
On top of obviously changing its diesel strategy to now comply with American and European standards, the company plans on making significant investments in electric vehicles.
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The Tokyo Motor Show is coming up on October 29 and automakers are starting to announce a few concepts they will unveil at the event. Yesterday we covered Mitsubishi’s eX electric vehicle concept, today we take a quick look at Nissan’s Teatro with a gallery of renders.
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Earlier this week, the UK government approved off road testing of wireless charging for electric vehicles on highways, what they are calling “electric highways”. The trials, which are expected to begin later this year, will last for approximately 18 months, and if successful, could lead to road trials.
According to Highways England officials, the initiative is not an alternative to charging stations, the agency is still committed to installing stations every 20 miles on the motorway network.
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