NEWSNOTES | May 2, 2024
News Notes

There is a push on Capitol Hill that would curtail progress to electrify the trucking industry. Today a hearing will be held before the House Transportation Committee that could potentially overturn the Environmental Protection Agency’s(EPA) Phase 3 greenhouse gas emissions standards for heavy-duty (HD) trucks. The EPA’s more stringent standards are expected to reduce 1 billion metric tons from 2027 through 2055. CALSTART will host an EPA Phase 3 Rules Webinar this Friday, May 3^rd for CALSTART members only. The focus is on the Phase 3 vehicle standards and what the impacts could be. Member only registration can be accessed here. 

Congratulations to CALSTART member Fontaine Modification which has opened their new headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina. The facility is three times the size of their last building. Fontaine Modification provides post-production services for OEMs, truck dealers and fleets and has 10 center across the states.

Daimler Truck North America (DTNA) is restating their commitment to sustainability by deploying more electric trucks to support its logistics operations. The regions they are operating in are North Carolina, South Carolina, Arizona, Ohio, Michigan and Saltillo, Mexico.

New Flyer and Princeton University have teamed up to convert the University shuttle system to an all-electric fleet. The two began planning for the fleet transition so it would be ready to go post COVID. The University purchased 17 Xcelsior buses and eight chargers at the operations base. “Tiger Transit” is free and open to the public.

Hyundai has confirmed that its dedicated US EV plant will make hybrids, too. It’s  not yet clear what the impact could be in the U.S. but the company plans to increase global hybrid sales by 28% this year. They expect to begin production in Georgia in the last quarter of the year and once that occurs they expect to build at least 300,000 EVs annually.

There is much focus today on reports that Tesla will lay off most of their 500-person Supercharging team. There are many questions ranging from what happens to automakers wanting to use Tesla’s NACS technology to will the new EV charging systems be less reliable without Tesla’s expertise.

And now for the good charging news. First up, California now has one EV fast charging station for every five gas stations. With recent funding news from the California Energy Commission (CEC) which approved a $1.9 billion investment plan that expands charging and hydrogen fueling goals in the state. The state of Michigan is also touting infrastructure growth. The Anderson Economic Group (AEG) says close to 20% of Michigan’s population lives within a 10-minute round trip drive of a DC fast charging station. The state’s number of EV fast-charging infrastructure increased 52% in 2023. AEG’s finding is that Michigan ranked 7^th in the number of DC fast charging stations.
 

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