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August 22, 2022 – Electric vehicle subscription company, Steer EV, announced it is entering into an agreement with Enterprise Fleet Management to lease over 1,000 EVs.
Companies like Autonomy and Steer EV help give consumers the option to drive electric vehicles without the hassle of owning or leasing a car. According to recent data, the global vehicle subscription market was worth around $5 billion in 2021 and expects to reach over $31.7B by 2030.
Steer EV sees the new deal with Enterprise Fleet Management as an ample opportunity to grow its US presence. The agreement is worth between $80 and $150 million for over 1,000 EVs. Subscription services make it easy for users to go electric by offering a wide range of EVs to choose from.
via Electrek
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August 21, 2022 – Swedish automotive magazine Vi Bilägare recently proved that physical buttons are safer than touchscreens by simply seeing how long it takes to do simple, everyday actions.
Vi Bilägare tested a dozen vehicles — primarily new but also one 2005 Volvo — to see how long it took to perform a series of four tasks. The drivers were timed as they performed each task while driving the respective vehicle at 68 miles per hour. It took 10 seconds in the old car and up to 45 in one of the new models.
Touchscreens and endless pages of menus cause, in a sense, distracted driving. Vi Bilägare points out that it’s not just the lack of buttons that can be a problem. The way an infotainment system is designed plays a huge role, too.
via Car and Driver
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August 22, 2022 – All-electric vehicles might be more expensive initially, but once purchased, they bring significant cost savings over internal combustion engine (ICE) counterparts.
Battery-electric vehicles are the absolute king in terms of energy costs, as all models had annual fuel costs of less than $1,000, regardless of type. Assuming EPA fuel economy data, plug-in hybrids and conventional hybrids (non-rechargeable) are the only types with an annual energy cost (electricity and fuel) in the $1,000-$2,000 range.
The annual fuel cost for ICE vehicles starts above $2,000, and varies vastly between $2,000 and $7,000, depending on type and fuel (gasoline, diesel, E85). Interestingly, the biggest differences between vehicles are in the small car category – because it contains ultra-efficient small cars, as well as luxury sports cars with low fuel economies, according to the report.
via InsideEVs
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August 22, 2022 – Ford could be forced to pay $1.7 billion in punitive damages as a jury in Georgia returned its verdict on Friday, Aug. 19. This comes after the death of a couple whose 2002 Ford F-250 Super Duty’s roof caved in on them during a rollover.
The crash occurred in April 2014 when a tire came off Melvin and Voncile Hill’s F-250 on a state highway. In 2018, the couple’s children sued Ford, alleging that their parents’ truck had a dangerously defective roof. Their lawyers provided evidence of 80 similar rollovers where occupants also suffered injury or death.
Initial legal proceedings ended in a mistrial. Ford’s lawyer violated court directives by suggesting that the couple had not worn seatbelts during the crash and that Melvin Hill had alcohol in his bloodstream at the time. A toxicology report, however, exonerated Mr. Hill of drinking and driving.
via The Drive
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Manufacturers of electric vehicles (EVs) have been very pleased with sales in recent times, prompting more and more shoppers to either add an EV to their family fleet or abandon their gasoline-powered car altogether in favor of greener pastures.
But, in a case of be careful for what you wish for, the growth of public electric vehicle charging stations is not keeping up with demand. More so, in many areas, such as California, Washington and Texas, where it looked like they were keeping up with charging infrastructure, many of those public charging facilities just don’t work.
These are just a couple of the major findings in the 2nd edition of the J.D. Power U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience (EVX) Public Charging Study.
READ MORE
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“I believe that fleet management is going to change more in the next decade than it’s changed in the last century”
By Ed Pierce, Fleet Management Weekly Contributing Editor
Mercury Associates is widely known in the fleet industry as the largest fleet management consulting firm in North America.
Their consulting services help organizations better manage their fleets to boost performance and control costs. With the recent push towards fleet electrification and sustainability, they have been instrumental in guiding fleets as they navigate the integration of electric vehicles in an increasingly changing industry.
Paul Lauria founded and directed Mercury Associates for 20 years, serving as its President until his recent retirement. In his current role as Senior Advisor, he continues to consult for individual Mercury clients.
We sat down with him to hear his take on the current and future state of the fleet industry and how electrification fits in with other challenges facing fleet owners.
READ MORE
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August 16, 2022 – The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published a new report, “Female Crash Fatality Risk Relative to Males for Similar Physical Impacts,” which updates a 2013 NHTSA study examining female fatality risk relative to male fatality risk in crashes with similar physical impacts.
The new report finds the estimated difference in female fatality risk compared to male fatality risk is significantly reduced in newer vehicles, starting as early as model year 2000.
The newer the vehicle, the smaller the disparity. The overall gap drops from 18% to 6.3% for 2010-2020 vehicles and to 2.9% for 2015-20 vehicles.
The declines are the direct result of NHTSA’s actions adopting and strengthening Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for seat belts and air bags and launching educational campaigns to improve seat belt use.
NHTSA is taking several steps to ensure that any existing disparities in like crash outcomes for men and women are eliminated.
via NHTSA
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