We send out a weekly digest to catch you up on all the happenings on the EV Hub. Each week, we send out a summary of the transportation electrification market tailored to our public policy audience. The digest always includes a “spotlight” where we bring to your attention a key topic from the previous week. The digest also includes new content on EV Hub, a summary of media coverage courtesy of Media Pulse, recent news alerts on EV Hub, job openings in transportation electrification, upcoming events from the EV Hub calendar, and special announcements from our partners.
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EV Startups: The Battle for the Spotlight
Source: CNBC EV startups continue to vie for attention as they roll out announcement after announcement regarding production and funding updates. Nikola started last week with a bang when they unveiled a $2 [...]
West Coast EV Uptake Three Times the National Average
Source: ICCT New research from the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) found that EV uptake varied widely across metro areas throughout the United States in 2019. While the national EV uptake rate [...]
California Adds $436 Million in Utility Investment in EV Charging
Source: EV Hub Electric Utilities in the Golden State are lengthening their lead over the rest of the field with a new approval for Southern California Edison announced on August 27th. The $436 [...]
Automakers Look Beyond COVID-19 with Flood of New EV Models
Source: VW Automakers and EV startups are working to usher in a new age for EVs and help mitigate the damage wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. While EVs were hit harder than [...]
Utility and Government Funding for EVs Surpasses $4 billion
Source: EV Hub State governments, utilities, and utility commissions have been charging full steam ahead this summer with policies and programs supporting transportation electrification despite the continued struggle against COVID-19. Administrators, [...]
EVs Continue to Capture the Attention of Wall Street
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 [...]
New York Utilities Get the Green Light to Invest $700 Million
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 [...]
Further Delays Announced For Upcoming EV Models
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 [...]
U.S EV Sales Down 54 Percent in May
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 [...]
Nearly 80 percent of VW Funds Remain Two Years After the First Awards
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 [...]
New House Infrastructure Package Proposes Federal Support for EVs
Source: New York Times 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 [...]
California Passes Landmark Advanced Clean Trucks Rule
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 [...]
Seattle Installing DCFC for Ride-Hail Drivers
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 [...]
Investors Flocking to the Electric Truck Market
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 [...]
U.S. EV Sales Flat Through First Quarter
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 [...]
Pandemic Exposes Transportation Inequalities
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 [...]
Bright Spots for EV Sector Emerged in Q1 Amid Pandemic
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 [...]
New Tool Delivers Insights on Highway Revenue Losses
Source: Atlas Public Policy While the reduction in driving due to shelter-in-place orders has led to cleaner air in some cities, states are grappling with a major decline in road usage revenue and [...]
COVID-impacted Automakers Allowed to Resume Production May 11
Source: CNN After almost two months of stagnation, auto plants around the country are gearing up to resume production. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced on May 7th that manufacturers in the state affected [...]
EV Charging Construction Touch and Go During the Pandemic
Source: Atlas Public Policy Following a 34 percent increase in deployment between 2018 and 2019, EV charging station construction in 2020 has been stop and go as the pandemic grinds on. Construction delays aside, [...]
American Lung Association Finds EVs Important to Address Air Pollution
Source: New York Times Almost half of Americans were living in communities impacted by unhealthy levels of air pollution between 2016 and 2018 according to the latest “State of the Air” report from the [...]
2020 EV Hub User Survey Now Available
Source: EV Hub We are always looking for ways to enhance your experience on the EV Hub and connect you with the data and insights you need to facilitate your work [...]
Coronavirus Delays Release of New Vehicles
Source: Forbes Extended production shutdowns stemming from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic have led to the delay of new model releases across the auto industry. The federal government has directed GM to produce [...]
Trump Administration Weakens Light-Duty Vehicle Standards
Source: NRDC The battle around auto emissions and fuel economy standards rages on in the age of coronavirus with the Trump administration finalizing plans to roll back the Obama-era regulation on March [...]
Automakers Shutter Production Facilities as Coronavirus Spreads
Source: New York Times Automakers around the world face extended production shutdowns as countries fight to stem the outbreak of COVID-19. Accelerating outbreaks in the United States have already extended the freeze on [...]
EV Hub During Coronavirus Pandemic
Source: Forbes COVID19 has upended so many aspects of our lives that it can be hard to wrap our heads around what this means for transportation electrification. In this post, we won’t [...]
Denver Poised to Become Ride-Hail EV Hotspot
Source: Colorado Sun Colorado burst onto the EV scene in 2019, implementing a suite of new policies designed to kickstart transportation electrification across the state. As a part of this effort, the Centennial State became [...]
GM Moves to Lead U.S. Investment in EVs
Source: The Verge GM shot from third to first in terms of commitment to transportation electrification from automakers in the United States after revealing their new EV strategy last week. On March [...]
Forth Leading on TNC Electrification in Portland
Source: EV Hub Ride-hail trips are 70 percent more polluting than the rides they displace, according to new research from the Union of Concerned Scientists. Nationwide, the number of Transportation Network Company (TNC) [...]
Retail Industry Leaders Association Investigates Electrifying Fleets
Source: EV Hub The business case for electrifying vehicle fleets is improving and major retailers are looking for independent analysis on transportation electrification. According to a 2017 report from the United States Department [...]
Utility Investment Outside CA Doubled in 2019
Source: EV Hub Since the state's first approval in 2015, California has been the clear leader in utility investment for every year except in 2017 when the state accounted for only [...]
A Mixed Bag for EVs in the Final Quarter of 2019
Source: EV Hub After finishing the year strong with the third-highest quarterly sales ever, the U.S. EV market faces an uncertain path in 2020. Automakers seemed to diverge on approaches to emissions [...]
Super Bowl Ads Reveal New Pitch for EVs
Source: New York Times By Nick Nigro The passenger EV market has something for everyone right now and reading between the lines reveals that the market is on the verge of a [...]
U.S. EV Sales Down Nine Percent in 2019
Source: EV Hub The EV industry hit several roadblocks in 2019 and automakers continue to grapple with uncertainty around the future of emissions standards in 2020. Compared to 2018, U.S. passenger EV sales [...]
New Jersey Leads Among States Pushing Bold EV Plans in 2020
Source: Transport Topics Correction: this version clarifies the mechanism proposed by TCI. A flurry of activity from several EV market leaders in the early days of 2020 indicates that states [...]
Modifications Required for More than 85 Percent of Approved Utility EV Investment
Source: EV Hub This spotlight is an excerpt from a complete data story linked in the graph above. Engagement from electric utilities in transportation electrification is on the rise and approved investment [...]
Making Progress But We’re Running Out of Time
Source: Inside Climate News By Nick Nigro Climate change, software, and urbanization are the three primary drivers of change in mobility today and will continue to push on existing structures throughout the [...]
A Bright Future: Reflecting on a Decade of EVs
The first mass-market plug-in electric vehicle hit U.S. streets in late 2010, about a year after I landed in DC. By the end of this year, millions will have been sold worldwide and [...]
GM Ramps Up Battery Investment with New Plant
Source: GM The flood of new models expected in 2020 is going to require a surge in battery production. Anticipating potential supply crunches as battery demand rises, automakers are stepping up their investment in batteries [...]
25 Percent of Approved Utility Investment Going to Underserved Communities
Source: EV Hub Electric utilities have the opportunity to lead in the effort to expand transportation electrification in underserved communities. These communities are an important focus for utilities because they often face [...]
EVs Take Center Stage at the LA Auto Show
Source: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP/Getty Images There has been a flurry of new model releases in the lead up to and aftermath of this year’s auto show in Los Angeles. While arguably the [...]
Only a Quarter of Auto Dealerships are Selling EVs
Source: Sierra Club Car dealerships are doing little to address a persistent shortage of consumer EV awareness, according to an updated study from the Sierra Club. Based on survey results from both phone calls [...]
Leading Automakers Spent Less Than 10 Percent of Advertising Budget on EVs in 2018
Source: NESCAUM Automaker spending on marketing for conventional vehicles eclipsed the comparably paltry efforts to promote EV offerings in California and the Northeast in 2018, according to a new report by [...]
Regulatory Skirmishes Dominate a Quarter Marked by Lower EV Sales
Source: EV Hub U.S. EV sales were down 21 percent in the third quarter compared to the same period in 2018. This marks the first quarterly decline in sales since the third quarter [...]
More than 80 Percent of Approved Utility Programs Include VGI Focus
Source: EV Hub Vehicle-grid integration efforts are increasing as electric utilities are searching for ways to maximize the benefits of the increasing number of EVs on the road, according to new research by [...]
Ford Announces Plans to Provide Access to Nation’s Largest Public Charging Network
The number of public EV charging networks around the United States is increasing, giving EV drivers more places to plug in than ever before. Between the beginning of 2018 and beginning of 2019, the [...]
U.S. EV Sales Down 21 percent in Third Quarter
Total U.S. EV sales for 2019 are 0.5 percent higher than sales through the third quarter of 2018. Some months this year have brought encouraging sales numbers, but it has all been downhill since [...]
Public Funding for Electric School Buses More Than Doubles in September
Correction: An earlier version of this data story stated that Michigan announced that it will dedicate $13 million of VW Settlement funds to electric school buses. This has been corrected to reflect that Michigan [...]
Analysis of Charging Use in New York Reveals Pathways to Profitability
Several state agencies, electric utilities, and other organizations in New York are working to accelerate transportation electrification throughout the state. In collaboration with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), Atlas [...]
National Drive Electric Week Coordinates More Than 300 Events Across the Country
Organizations throughout the country are working to promote EVs and increase public awareness around transportation electrification in the United States. These efforts culminate every year in National Drive Electric Week, a nationwide collection of local [...]
28 States Have Adopted Annual Registration Fees for EVs
States across the country are using EVs as scapegoats for declining revenue for transportation infrastructure, according to a new report from Consumer Reports. The findings agree with our earlier observations from March and May on several bills being considered [...]
August Marks Second Consecutive Month of EV Sales Dip
Since posting 50 percent growth in June compared to 2018, the EV industry has taken a hit. Following the first monthly sales dip in more than three years this July, August marks the second consecutive month of falling [...]
E&E Reporters Prepare for 6,000-mile EV Road Trip
As the EV market continues to grow, drivers are starting to push the limits of these vehicles. Range anxiety continues to weigh heavy on the minds of consumers considering investing in an EV. Increasing vehicle range [...]
Less Than Two Percent of Utility Investment Going Towards EV Awareness
A significant push in policy development and awareness campaigns is required if EV sales, which reached only around two percent of total U.S. passenger vehicle sales in 2018, are to rise to meet market growth projections. The [...]
Colorado becomes the 11th State to Join ZEV Program
In deciding to join the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Program last Friday, Colorado demonstrates again that it wants to lead on EV policy. So far in 2019, Colorado has enacted more than five new policies supporting [...]
Monthly EV sales dip for first time since May 2016
U.S. EV sales declined for the first month since May 2016 in another sign that the U.S. market will struggle to reach the sales level achieved in 2018. While the overall U.S. auto market [...]
46 States Have Received Funding for Electric Transit Buses
On July 26, 2019, the Federal Transit Administration announced $85 million in awards for all-electric transit buses through the Low- or No-Emission (Low-No) Grant program. This round, 38 states received funding through the program for the [...]
EV Hub Second Quarter Review
Mixed signals continue in the EV market through the second quarter of 2019, leaving lingering uncertainty around what the rest of the year may hold. While year-over-year sales growth recovered from 11 percent in the [...]
5 New EV Partnerships Announced Since June
Amid acceleration in the EV market in June, automakers continue to announce new partnerships to advance electrification commitments. To date, almost $350 billion in private investment has been committed to transportation electrification globally. German [...]
California Leads on Electric Utility Investment with a Transportation Equity Focus
Lack of access to charging infrastructure is a primary barrier to EV adoption. Disadvantaged communities (DACs) typically face a harder time accessing charging than other groups, and electric utilities are well-positioned to bring EVs to communities that [...]
June EV Sales Grow 50 Percent Compared to Last Year
June saw the U.S. EV market post its strongest year-over-year growth for 2019 with sales 50 percent higher than the same time last year. High sales in June rounded out the second quarter and pushed year-over-year [...]
Charging Ports Increased by 40 Percent between 2018 and 2019
Despite continued growth, challenges surrounding charging accessibilitycontinues to hold significant influence over consumer decisions when considering purchasing an EV. Range anxiety is especially prevalent in the growing used EV market. States like Oregon are actively [...]
Reflecting on Roadmap
This week’s spotlight is a special edition and includes some reflections from this year’s Roadmap from Nick and Lauren at Atlas. Roadmap continues to be the crown jewel of electric vehicle policy conferences in the [...]
Get Unique Insights with New Data Stories on EV Hub
Amid an expanding market, new policies and regulations, and frequent announcements of public and private investments, the transportation electrification space is in constant motion. We’re always adding new data and tools to EV Hub [...]
EV Market Grows 16 Percent in May
After a slow start to the year where first quarter growth slowed to 11 percent, the U.S. EV market posted stronger growth in May. EV sales were 16 percent higher than this time a year ago. [...]
Colorado Pairs More Renewables and EVs to Reach State Climate Goals
Colorado took its EV leadership to the next level last week, enacting seven new bills that encourage clean energy and four that address clean transportation goals. The new laws require electric utilities to account for [...]
Transportation Electrification Accounts for 42% of All VW Settlement Awards So Far
Three years following the finalization of the settlement agreement, less than 10 percent of the roughly $2.5 billion total in state mitigation funds has been awarded, according to the EV Hub VW Settlement Funding Awards dashboard. The [...]
U.S. Expected to Receive Only 10% of Global EV Investment
At the beginning of 2019, Reuters estimated that automakers had invested more than $300 billion in electrification. The EV Hub is now tracking this information, and our new Global Private Investment Dashboard has recorded almost $350 billion in total EV [...]
Mapping EV Fee Advancement
EV fees have been a focus in state legislatures around the country in 2019 and new legislation in Illinois proposes the highest EV fee yet. The $1,000 annual registration fee for all-electric vehicles would be [...]
Regulatory Turbulence and Slow Growth Shape Q1
Slowing national EV sales and regulatory uncertainty have dominated the start of 2019. With the Trump administration advancing plans to weaken Obama-era emissions regulations, states like California are charting their own course and maintain tougher [...]
Facing Falling Profits, Ford Invests in Rivian
On April 24, Ford announced plans to invest $500 million in Rivian. The investment is a validation of the Michigan-based startup’s approach to EV design and a needed cash infusion as they plan to begin commercial [...]
Proterra Invests in Battery Leasing
Proterra plans to invest over $200 million to expand their battery leasing program. First piloted in Park City, Utah in 2017, the program reduces the upfront cost to bring electric transit bus prices closer to diesel and [...]
States Push Forward as Federal Policy Wavers
Progress towards rolling back Obama-era fuel economy standards has generated uncertainty across the auto industry. Issued in 2012, the standards require an increase in overall fuel efficiency for light-duty vehicles to around 50 mpg by model year 2025. A [...]
U.S. EV Market Decelerates
Growth in the electric vehicle (EV) market has slowed in the first quarter of 2019. While this year’s Q1 sales are 10 percent higher than last year, 2018 Q1 sales were 32 percent higher than in [...]
EVs Cut Electricity Costs
Charging EVs at off-peak times can generate significant savings for electric utilities and their customers, according to new research from the Illinois Citizens Utility Board (CUB). Published on March 27th, the report finds that smart charging programs could [...]
Fleet Electrification Generates Big Savings
Cities working to electrify their fleets are seeing significant savings, according to recent data from New York. Last week, news broke that the maintenance costs on all-electric fleet vehicles operated by the New York City Department [...]
New EV Fees Popping Up Nationwide
Before 2019, 20 states had already enacted annual registration fees on electric vehicles. New developments in 2019, outlined in the table above, have the potential to add 11 states to that list. For context, [...]
2019 EV Sales: Mixed Signals
Following a roaring end to the 2018 U.S. market cycle, growth in the electric vehicle (EV) market appears to have slowed in 2019. Quarterly EV sales hit an all-time high of over 126,000 vehicles [...]