NEWSNOTES | March 15, 2023
News Notes

Maryland Governor Wes Moore, surrounded by electric cars and trucks, recommitted the state to following California’s Advanced Clean Cars II standards for electric vehicles (EVs). The agency expects to finalize a regulation laying out the timetable for increasing EV sales later this year. There’s more good news for states, too, as the Biden administration has opened up a $2.5B community EV charging program. The funds are to be provided over five years to cities, counties, local governments, and Tribes.

The Work Truck Show in Indianapolis generated a lot of news coverage including an announcement from Ford about their E-Transit, fully electrified van available in three models including a cargo van, chassis cab and cutaway. The E-Transit is the first van from a full line automaker to offer a Type A school bus package on an electric powertrain. Cummins wants to launch 1,000 new electric school buses with Blue Bird. This is part of Cummins rebranding of their electrification business.  Accelera by Cummins, along with Blue Bird, expect to accelerate the production of the buses over the next 12 to 18 months.

Purolator, a courier service owned by Canada Post, has announced a one billion Canadian dollar ($725 million U.S.) investment in decarbonizing its fleet. That includes the purchase of more than 3,500 fully electric last-mile delivery vehicles. As soon as this month they expect to deploy 25 Ford E-Transit vans and 55 Motiv Power Systems vans. Xos is out with their latest-generation electric step van built on their medium-and heavy-duty X-Platform chassis. The chassis are currently operating in the parcel delivery, uniform rental and cash-in transit industries.

Hino Trucks and SEA Electric have formed a partnership agreement resulting in the SEA-Drive power-system being fitted into Hino’s medium-duty electric trucks. The companies have been working together since 2017 and Sea Electric has powered 100 Hino electric trucks worldwide. Kudos to Volta Trucks which has just announced that it has received certification allowing them to sell their Zero electric commercial trucks in Europe. Volta is based in London and they offer a “Trucks as a Service” (TaaS) model. They also plan to bring their trucks to the U.S.

 Trucking info has helpfully provided photos of electric vehicles on display at the Work Truck Show where you can see several member products including Isuzu, Workhorse, Morgan Olson and Shyft Group.

 The pathway to electrification is a hot topic that will be addressed this month at the SAFE Summit. The focus is on the challenges to achieve secure and reliable supply chains in the transportation sector. The Summit is in Washington, DC March 28-29 and anyone interested in attending can register here.

RESOURCES

Maryland Recommits to National Climate Goals, Route Fifty | https://bit.ly/40c91bV 

States to Receive $2.5B For EV Infrastructure, Green Car Reports | https://bit.ly/3LpMP9S 

Ford Reveals EV School Bus, electrek | https://bit.ly/3JhGaw0 

Cummins and Blue Bird Expand Electric School Buses, School Transportation News | https://bit.ly/3JhHfUA 

Purolator Pledges $1B to Electrify Last-Mile Delivery, The Energy Mix | https://bit.ly/3JqSKsW 

Xos Brings EV Step Van to Market, NGT News | https://bit.ly/3Jh4NZv 

Hino Selects Sea Electric for MD Trucks, The Driven  | https://bit.ly/3Jc1se8 

Volta Approval to Sell EVs in Europe, electrek | https://bit.ly/42iPJ6j 

Electric Trucks Unwrapped at Work Truck Show, HDT | https://bit.ly/3JikzTV 

SAFE Summit 2023, Electrification Coalition | https://bit.ly/3LkLUaS