NEWSNOTES | December 7, 2022
News Notes

Now that had to be a good time. Yesterday, Fraser Atkinson, CEO and chair of Greenpower Motor Company was given the honor of ringing the opening bell on the trade floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). They’ve had a good year including launching the new nano BEAST Type A electric school bus and the opening of their electric school bus manufacturing facility in West Virginia.

Ford Motor Company is out with good news, too. Theirs is that they have doubled year-over-year sales of all electric vehicles (EVs) making it America’s second best-selling brand and manufacturer of EVs behind Tesla. Kaizen Clean Energy (KCE) has news as well. Electric racing series Extreme E has chosen them to be its official clean energy technology provider starting next year. KCE will manufacture, integrate, and deploy their hydrogen production systems from its facility in Texas for use in microgrid power, hydrogen fueling, and industrial hydrogen supply.

In more hydrogen news, Ricardo and Toyota are collaborating on a light commercial hydrogen fuel cell truck. The multi-year project to develop its first zero-emission hydrogen powered light commercial vehicle will be the first of its kind, manufactured and assembled at Toyota’s Derby-based facility in the UK. It is scheduled for prototype production next year.

As a provider of post-production truck services, Fontaine Modification converts internal combustion vehicles to full electric. Together with Optimal EV they have released a power solution that converts trucks and buses into a range of commercial vehicle applications including school bus, shuttle bus, delivery vans and specialty vehicles.

Tesla’s class 8 electric truck has been delivered to PepsiCo at an event at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Sparks, Nevada. Pepsico reserved 100 Semis shortly after the original reveal. There have been several orders from businesses like Walmart and FedEx. Xos is a commercial vehicle manufacturer that has received an order from Alsco Uniforms for 30 electric step vans. The EVs will be deployed throughout several of Alsco’s laundry processing facilities in California.

Freight vehicles are one of the largest sources of air pollution in California and the California Air Resources Board is implementing clean truck regulations which require commercial van, pickup truck, straight-truck, and semi-tractor sales to be zero emission by 2035. There are several funding programs in the state to help make the transition happen.  CALSTART is able to help California fleets, too, through a newly relaunched Sustainable Fleet program that includes an accreditation process and recognition tiers aligned with the CARB proposed Advanced Clean Fleets regulation. Enrollment in the accreditation process also includes a CALSTART membership. Check out the details here.

RESOURCES

GreenPower Rings the Opening Bell, School Transportation News | https://bit.ly/3P5Eata

Ford Doubled BEV Sales Again in November 2022, INSIDEEVs | https://bit.ly/3Hfi31l

Extreme E and Kaizen Partnership, Forbes | https://bit.ly/3iCNQPv

Ricardo and Toyota Collaborate on Light Commercial Hydrogen Fuel Cell Truck, Hydrogen Fuel News | https://bit.ly/3iJu1Gt

Optimal EV, Fontaine Modification Repower Solution, NGT News | https://bit.ly/3haCx0Q

Tesla Gigafactory Delivers First Semi Trucks to Customers, Reno Gazette Journal | https://bit.ly/3VUdgqk

Xos Takes Order for 30 Electric Step Vans, electrive.com | https://bit.ly/3Y1tPm7

California Truckers, Help is on the Way, CleanTechnica | https://bit.ly/3Y3hXzQ

CALSTART Sustainable Fleets, CALSTART | https://bit.ly/3HiIbZq