Category: NEWS_ARCHIVE Transport_Electric_MN

When you’ve been building the best-selling pickup truck in America for the last 40 years, which also happens to be the best-selling vehicle in the country outright, launching an all-electric version of it is big news. When you invite on stage, a vice president of the United Auto Workers (UAW) to announce it – that’s groundbreaking, because it puts American workers at the center of the story and right now, that’s very welcome indeed.

There are all sorts of electronic gizmos and doo-dads one could talk about with the new electric Ford F-150, the Lightning. Plenty of sophisticated engineering details, capabilities, power generation, colors, size, all of that. And we will. But the first thing one notices when considering whether this is a viable truck is the price. The F-150 Lightning starts at $39,974. With tax incentives, that price gets down to the low $30k range, depending on where you live. The Rivian, long-expected to be the benchmark electric truck when it goes on sale next year, starts in the $60k range. The GMC Hummer EV is about $100k.

I pulled into a Whole Foods parking lot in Bedford, New Hampshire, hoping against hope—but no, someone was already there, their Chevy Bolt plugged into the fast charger. Damn.

As electric vehicles look to gain an even larger portion of the automobile market in 2021, consumers will look at a number of factors as they choose to go electric. One major specification on any EV data sheet is the estimated range i.e. the amount of miles your new vehicle can travel on a single charge. Naturally, you’re going to want the most battery for your buck. Below is a list of the current EV options for 2021 sorted by longest range.

ust last summer, the much-watched lithium-ion industry finally reached sight of a long-sought super-stretch goal — a battery pack costing $100 per kWh, allowing the price of electric vehicles to drop to that of conventional combustion. But in September, Tesla CEO Elon Musk held “Battery Day,” at which he declared that, to penetrate the mass market, EVs needed a crash diet, and proposed a roadmap to bring down battery prices another 40%, to about $56 per kWh.

Thinking ahead to what (and whether?) you may be driving – may have parked in your garage or driveway or parking lot – a few years from now? Like, for instance, in 2035?

• Micromobility company Spin said Tuesday it will begin electrifying its operations fleet this month in San Francisco and Washington, DC, while also using full-size electric vans to transport its scooters.

The Biden administration recently unveiled a $2 trillion plan to modernize U.S. infrastructure, build an equitable clean energy economy, and stimulate recovery from COVID-19. A major focus of the “Build Back Better” plan is on transportation electrification, and now, new research shows vehicle electrification, and the associated infrastructure buildout needed to support it, could happen faster than previously thought, while delivering major economic, climate and health benefits.

The U.K. plans to ban new fossil-fuel-powered cars by 2030. The Netherlands and Germany have the same goal. Now the state of Washington plans to follow, making it the first in the U.S. to move as quickly to phase out polluting cars. In nine years, if you want to buy a new car or light truck in Washington, it will have to be electric.