Biweekly Digest Archive

Source: Hyundai   Some automakers and startups are betting the farm on EVs and Tesla isn’t the only one starting to see their bets pay off. On August 9, Hyundai announced plans to shift its Ioniq brand away from hybrid offerings and rededicate the platform to all-electric vehicles. The move, which includes the [...]

Source: EV Hub   New York continues to show leadership in transportation electrification with a new order from the Public Service Commission issued on July 16th requiring six of the state’s largest utilities to invest in EV programs. The order approved more than $600 million for make-ready investment to support the expansion of the [...]

Source: New York Times More EV model delays are on the horizon as automakers continue to grapple with setbacks. Production shutdowns in March and April due to COVID-19 continue to wreak havoc on plans to unveil new vehicles. A week after raking in another $2.5 billion for the most recent investment cycle, Rivian has announced [...]

Source: EV Hub As the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, the extent of the damage to the auto market wrought by the initial outbreak of the virus continues to become more clear. Between January and May, U.S. EV sales were down 20 percent compared to 2019. After outperforming the conventional vehicle market through April, [...]

Source: EV Hub A previous version of this story said that Texas had not awarded any VW settlement funding to EVs. The state has made one award to electric school buses that was made in April 2020. We regret the error. The Volkswagen Settlement remains one of the largest dedicated sources of [...]

On July 1, the House of Representatives passed a $1.5 trillion infrastructure package called the Moving Forward Act (H.R. 2) that includes support for transportation electrification. House Democrats championed the effort as a critical step towards economic recovery amid a new flare up in COVID-19 cases. Only three House Republicans voted in favor of the spending [...]

Source: CARB The Golden State continues to lead the nation in their pursuit of rapid transportation electrification. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) unanimously passed the Advanced Clean Trucks Rule on June 25th, the first-of-its-kind regulation requiring manufacturers to ramp up sales of electric vans and trucks. The rule begins in 2024 and sets [...]

Source: EV Shared Mobility   Cities from Seattle to New York are working to reduce the impact of ride-hail trips provided by transportation network companies (TNCs) like Uber and Lyft. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, ride-hail vehicles account for 69 percent more climate pollution than the trips they replace. These findings [...]

Source: TechCrunch   The electric truck market is heating up and Wall Street is taking notice. Last week, EV and fuel-cell truck startup Nikola merged with a publicly traded acquisition company called VectoIQ  and saw their stock prices surge 104 percent after the company announced it would begin taking orders for its first passenger vehicle offering, the [...]

Source: EV Hub   The U.S. EV market held steady through the first quarter despite plummeting gas prices and passenger vehicle demand as the COVID-19 pandemic spread. The U.S. EV sector saw a total sales decline of 0.8 percent compared to the first quarter of 2019 with almost 75,000 vehicles sold. February brought a 24 percent [...]

Source: Seattle Times   Transportation is one of the leading drivers of air pollution affecting human health in the United States and communities suffering from unhealthy levels of air pollution are particularly susceptible to COVID-19. Updated research from Harvard finds that an increase of one unit in fine particulate pollution is associated with an increase [...]

Source: EV Hub   Throughout the first quarter of 2020, the EV market reeled and raced to grapple with the challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic. Widespread production shutdowns and collapsing vehicle demand sent the industry into a tailspin and only four out of 34 auto brands managed to improve on their [...]