NEWSNOTES | August 3, 2022
News Notes

NEWSNOTES | August 3, 2022

NEWSNOTES | August 3, 2022

Wednesday, August 3, 2022 / Kimberly Taylor

For the second month in a row Ford has seen strong sales gains. The automaker is reporting a 168.7% increase in electric vehicle (EV) sales with the Mustang Mach-E up 74% and the F-150 Lightning realizing its best month since it launched. General Motors (GM) has announced a new tool to facilitate adoption of EVs. They have a new website, evlive.gm.com, that has specialists standing by to answer questions in real time and give tours of the EV Live studio. GM plans to launch thirty new EVs in the next three years.

It is almost time for kids to start boarding school buses again just as there is growing demand in the market for electric buses. San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), Nuvve, and Cajon Valley Union School District have kicked off a vehicle-to-grid trial with eight electric buses. The 5-year pilot will help the parties understand if there are financial benefits on top of the environmental ones. Also in California, BYD is busy building twenty battery electric school buses for the Antelope Valley Schools Transportation Agency (AVSTA). The school district would like to build the largest electric school bus fleet in the state.

Home goods store IKEA has partnered with Denver-based Fluid Truck on an interesting project to electrify IKEA’s entire New York City last-mile delivery fleet. IKEA does not own the vehicles in its fleet so in steps Fluid which allows companies to rent a range of trucks, vans and SUVs through an app. Fluid Truck has a small number of commercial EVs in its fleet but is aiming increase the number by 50% in the near term. Green Biz chronicles what was learned from IKEA’s electrification of last-mile deliveries.

Swedish-based Volvo Group has announced plans to open a new battery factory in Sweden to manufacture battery cells for heavy-duty vehicles and machines. Chief executive Martin Lundstedt said their aim is to have at least 35% of the products they sell be electric by 2030. Nikola is accelerating the development of its electrification platform and has announced that it is acquiring battery pack supplier Romeo Power which builds battery modules and packs. The acquisition is expected to ensure stable access to lithium-ion packs as it ramps up electric semi production.

We are heading into a heavy conference season and there are two coming up this month that you may want to know about. The inimitable Kirt Conrad, Executive Director, and CEO of the Stark Area Regional Transit Authority (SARTA) in Canton, Ohio will be the featured speaker at the first Appalachian Hydrogen Transportation Conference. Under Kirt’s leadership, SARTA has become one of the largest public transit agencies to adopt zero-emissions hydrogen.  Chicago takes center stage August 31 and September 1 as the Industrial & Off-Highway Vehicle Technology Expo showcases next-generation components, suppliers, and technologies. CALSTART’s Steve Sokolsky will moderate a panel on pushing the zero-emission off-road market forward. Panelists include CALSTART member companies eNow, Orange EV, RISE Robotics and Zero NOx.

 

RESOURCES 

Ford Sees Strong Gains in July, The Detroit Bureau | https://bit.ly/3JpzWd3

GM Announces EV Live, Detroit Free Press | https://bit.ly/3d7f8uV

SDG&E Works with Local School District on V2G Project, Daily Energy Insider | https://bit.ly/3zuMdrZ

BYD To Build 20 Electric School Buses, School Transportation News | https://bit.ly/3zUHNMx

Takeaways from IKEA’s Last-mile EV Deliveries, GreenBiz | https://bit.ly/3Qga2dR

Volvo Group Announces Large-Scale Battery Factory, electrek | https://bit.ly/3Q44HH6

Nikola to Acquire Romeo Power, CNBC | https://cnb.cx/3oQ2t1N

SARTA to Sponsor Hydrogen Transportation Conference, EIN News | https://bit.ly/3Sq1frC

Industrial and Off-Highway Vehicle Technology Expo, IVT Expo | https://bit.ly/3cZ6QVI