NEWSNOTES | December 12, 2024
News Notes

Southern California based Evolectric is focusing on new electrification technologies as well as underserved communities. The company retrofits diesel medium-duty trucks to be all electric. They recently took four eight and ten year old Isuzu trucks that were headed toward the scrap yard and electrified them. The company is particularly interested in converting smaller fleets that can benefit by saving money on maintenance and fuel.

DHL has its sights on autonomous freight deliveries with Volvo Autonomous Solutions (VAS). Their current focus is collecting performance data and evaluating their operations. That work is taking place in Texas where up until recently human drivers were operating traditional trucks but now, they are starting to introduce autonomous drives.

Tesla’s North America Charging System (NACS) is about to become the official U.S. EV charging standard. The formal announcement takes place next week and the Federal Highway Administration has said that the J3400 connector and port will become the federal standard.

Thanks to a partnership between the Port of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) and Revel, soon there will be 24 electric vehicle fast chargers at JFK Airport which is more than a doubling of what they have now. Revel pairs their public fast charging stations with the nation’s first all-electric rideshare platform.

Rivian has been getting into the charging station business as well. Joshua Tree national park in California  is the first charging Outpost in the state with plans for additional sites in Texas, Colorado, Illinois, Montana, Pennsylvania, Michigan and New York. The chargers include a larger display and tap-to-pay to be used with or without the Rivian mobile app. EVgo and GM are also partnering to expand charging opportunities. They are expanding charging opportunities with Pilot/Flying J truck stops as a focal point and with partnerships around the U.S. There are now 2,000 stalls at almost 400 locations.

CALSTART, with support from New Energy Nexus (NEX) manages the PowerForward-Battery Manufacturing Grant Program funded by the California Energy Commission (CEC).  The recent recipients recommended by CALSTART are Sparkz, Sepion Technologies and South 8 Technologies. 

The Los Angeles Business Journal features a partnership between CALSTART, Electreon and the UCLA campus where a test project is taking place to test California’s first in-road electric charging system. The target date for these projects is in time for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic games.
 

RESOURCES

• This LA Company Gives Old Polluting Trucks New Life, LAist
• DHL Begins Making Autonomous Freight Deliveries with Volvo, Trucknews.com
• Tesla’s NACS to Become Official US EV Charging Standard, Autoblog
• EV Charging at JFK, Future Travel Experience
• Rivian Adventure Network Opens Chargers for All EVs, ChargedEVs
• EVgo& GM’s Road to 2000 Stations, Clean Technica
• CALSTART  Program Chooses 3 Grant Recipients, ChargedEVs
• UCLA, CALSTART Look at On-Road Charging, LA Business Journal