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February 4, 2022 – General Motors is collaborating with an electric truck conversion company to turn commercial trucks, such as shuttles and school buses, into battery electric vehicles.
In the deal with GM, Lightning eMotors will be the first GM Specialty Vehicle Manufacturer to provide fully electric Class 3 through Class 6 commercial vehicles. The GM chassis underpin shuttles, delivery trucks and ambulances, to name a few.
via Detroit Free Press
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February 4, 2022 – Roughly 10 percent of dealers have reportedly taken advantage of increasingly long wait times for popular Ford models by trying to charge above MSRP and “gouge” customers. Ford CEO Jim Farley knows who they are, and they will feel Ford’s wrath in their future vehicle allocation deals with the automaker.
Dealers have so much control over vehicle prices right now because demand is through the roof and into the clouds, so people will pay more for the car they can find. Ford was the No. 2 seller of electric vehicles in the U.S. in 2021, behind juggernaut Tesla, but ahead of General Motors.
Ford already has a combination of orders and reservations for about 275,000 Ford Mustang Mach-Es, Lightnings, and E-Transit commercial vehicles. Farley said the automaker underestimated demand for its new electric vehicles and is now doubling capacity to produce at least 600,000 EVs globally by 2023.
via MotorTrend
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February 6, 2022 – A new study from England’s Bournemouth University found that drivers seemingly ignore some of the risks motorcycle riders notice. The study was organized to determine how people process visual road information.
Human brains are programmed to recognize certain things as potential threats. Big objects, especially big fast-moving objects, are one of them. But a motorcycle is smaller in comparison to a car, so our brain prioritizes the car to avoid overtaxing itself. Because bikes are smaller, it’s harder for our brains to accurately judge their speed.
Our peripheral vision doesn’t actually pass on a lot of information. Instead, our brain fills in the relatively small field of vision with things it knows historically are in the vicinity. So, if something new, say, a motorcycle rider, enters your peripheral vision, your brain might not perceive or process it.
via Motor Biscuit
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February 4, 2022 – Automatic emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian detection – those heavily advertised systems that stop a car from hitting a pedestrian even if the driver doesn’t hit the brakes fast enough – work well, according to one of America’s leading auto safety groups. They work well, that is, in the daytime.
Then comes the damning sentence: “However, when the researchers looked only at pedestrian crashes that occurred at night on roads without streetlights, there was no difference in crash risk for vehicles with and without pedestrian AEB.”
The conclusion comes from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) in a new report. The group plans to launch a new round of testing to improve the auto industry’s approach to preventing pedestrian crashes.
via KBB
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February 4, 2022 – The carbon dioxide emissions of new cars sold in the UK dropped to the lowest level ever in 2021 thanks to the unprecedented surge in electric vehicle sales, industry data suggests.
Average new car CO2 emissions fell by 11.2%, to 119.7g for every kilometer driven, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), a lobby group. Car sales data for January showed that the number of battery electric cars more than doubled year on year to 14,400, accounting for 12.5% of cars sold.
Ben Nelmes, the head of policy and research at the thinktank New AutoMotive, said: “Electric car sales have doubled in the last year, but there is still a mountain to climb to reduce the UK’s carbon emissions from cars. The 90,000 internal combustion engines that rolled off forecourts this month will continue to pollute and hit motorists in their pockets for another 14 years, on average.”
via The Guardian
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By Ed Dubens, Founder/CEO of eDriving
A common misconception is that driver risk management influences only a small area of the business, while in fact it has far-reaching implications, and an effective program can positively affect businesses in many ways.
At a societal and economic level, countries that do not invest in road safety and risk management could miss out on substantial GDP growth. For businesses, the most obvious benefits of a reduction in employee/contractor collisions and injuries are reductions in lost workdays, license violations and the overall costs associated with vehicle and fleet ownership.
But there are many more “hidden” benefits that are not always recognized.
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By Ed Pierce, Contributing Editor
Cargo theft has plagued truck drivers and businesses in the supply chain for years now.
In order to help fleet managers identify vulnerabilities and better prevent cargo theft, Fleet Management Weekly interviewed Scott Cornell of Travelers Insurance.
As the National Transportation Practice Leader for Travelers Insurance, Scott has the kind of insight necessary to help fleet managers perform the right preventive measures to reduce the risk of cargo theft.
Scott began working at Travelers in 2002 and helped create the Special Investigations Group (SIG) in 2005.
SIG investigates cargo theft, and its objective is to prevent cargo theft and recover stolen cargo for Travelers’ clients.
READ MORE
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