NEWSNOTES | July 26, 2023
News Notes

Last April General Motors (GM) signaled the end of the line for the Chevrolet Bolt. Yesterday, during a quarterly earnings call, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mary Barra confirmed that there is a new version of the Bolt on the way. Barra said Bolt customers love their vehicles, they stay with the Chevy brand, and 70% are new to GM.

Bollinger Motors has officially launched the design validation pilot builds of its all-electric B4 Class 4 chassis cabs. In partnership with Roush Industries, the manufacturing process has started at the Roush facilities in Livonia, MI. Demonstrations will take place September 12-22 at Mcity, a testing and demonstration facility at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In more Midwest news, Lion Electric has inaugurated an electric school bus factory 40 miles southwest of Chicago. The 900,000-square-foot facility in Joliet, Illinois, is expected to have manufacturing capacity of 2,500 electric school buses by the end of the year. When fully ramped up it can produce 20,000 buses and trucks annually.

Phoenix Motor is celebrating the receipt of a purchase order for thirteen all electric, zero-emission trucks to be deployed for Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA). The trucks will be built on the Ford E-450 chassis, powered by Phoenix’s electric drive system, and will serve LAWA’s maintenance department. The trucks are funded in part by the Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Project (HVIP) program.  And, at the Port of Long Beach, CA, WattEV has opened the largest accessible EV truck charging depot in the country. The station has 26 chargers and is part of a regional network of truck charging locations. The chargers are also public access and can be used (for a fee) by other electric trucks operating at the port.

Canada’s Toronto Transit Commission will be getting a new fleet of battery-electric buses that will include 541 Gen3 electric power and propulsion systems provided by BAE Systems. BAE’s offering builds on a proven track record that has powered more than 1,000 hybrid-electric buses in Toronto.

Accelera by Cummins and Blue Bird Corp. unveiled a next generation electric school bus at the STNEXPO West tradeshow in Nevada. The bus is called the Vision electric school bus and includes Accelera by Cummins’ newest electric powertrain system, the Accelera PowerDrive 7000. The bus seating capacity is 77 passengers and the vehicle can travel up to 130 miles on a single charge.

EVgo, one of the nation’s largest public fast charging networks for EVs was selected recently by Drive Ohio, a division of the Ohio Department of Transportation, for a proposed award of $13.8 million in funding to deploy 20 fast charging stations. Ohio is one of the first states to announce awards from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program which includes over $5B in funding to build EV infrastructure nationwide. DriveOhio will release over $100 million in NEVI funds over the next five years. In this first funding round, DriveOhio awarded more than $18 million in NEVI funds for 27 new EV charging stations along key Ohio corridors.

RESOURCES

Chevy Bolt Gets a Next Generation, autoblog | https://tinyurl.com/ycy4a2s4

Bollinger Making Strides with Class 4 Electric Chassis Cab, ChargedEV’s | https://tinyurl.com/585yyv2r

Lion Electric Opens Factory in Illinois, electrive.com | https://tinyurl.com/yjj7js2f

Phoenix Motor Receives Order for 13 Trucks for LAWA, Fleet News Daily | https://tinyurl.com/3n967w9t

WattEV Opens US’s Largest Electric Truck Charge Depot, electrek | https://tinyurl.com/35u2b56h 

BAE to Provide Electric Drive Systems for TTC, Metro Magazine | https://tinyurl.com/8aw8n8u5

This EV School Bus Just Got a Range Increase, Autoweek | https://tinyurl.com/2p9awmn4

Ohio is Getting More EV Chargers, Autoweek | https://tinyurl.com/3wbe9k5k

EV Jump Start Funding Lane Open, Energiize | https://www.energiize.org/