Geotab’s Colin Sutherland Discusses New GO9+ Telematics Upgrade
By Donald Dunphy, Contributing Editor
In early January, Geotab announced the availability of its upgraded GO9 port-connected telematics device.
The GO9+ features Wi-Fi connectivity that provides businesses with full real-time visibility of vehicles with the added component of up to four hours of usage with the ignition off. GO9+ will be offered through AT&T initially, with networks in Canada launching the solution mid-2021.
“It’s an art form these days to develop a product like ours that fits into a very small form yet meets all the necessary regulatory standards,” said Colin Sutherland, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Geotab. “This product has been in development for over a year and a half. Because it is a Wi-Fi enabled device with a cellular modem, gaining the certifications for such a device through the AT&T network can be quite complex.”
Further, Sutherland explained, the Wi-Fi component required additional certification as per the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which meant additional strategic planning for the product cycle.
The GO9+ platform arrives as fleets start considering how their present telematics options will fare when 3G wireless mobile telecommunications technology shuts down in 2022 in the United States.
4 Ways the U.S. Can Reassert Leadership on Climate Change
We need breakthroughs in the way we generate and store clean electricity, grow food, make things, move around, and heat and cool our buildings, so we can do all these things without adding more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. We should create the National Institutes of Energy Innovation.
The lesson for climate change is that we can’t avoid a climate disaster through technological innovation alone. We also need policy innovations to make sure that scientists’ breakthroughs make it from the lab to the market, and that they’re affordable enough for developing countries as well as rich ones.
Governments need to work together to develop common goals, share knowledge, and make sure that clean technologies developed in one country will spread quickly to others. We’re already seeing the impact of climate change. So even as we develop and deploy ways to prevent future warming, we also need to adapt to the effects that higher temperatures are having around the world.
Read the article at GatesNotes.
Majority of Electric Vehicle Owners are Intent on Purchasing Another One in the Future, J.D. Power Finds
Among the early adopters who own an electric vehicle (EV), 82% say they “definitely will” consider purchasing another EV in the future, according to the inaugural J.D. Power U.S. Electric Vehicle Experience (EVX) Ownership Study. However, satisfaction with the current ownership experience is a key influencer for whether owners will purchase the same brand of EV again.
“Brand loyalty can be fickle among EV owners,” said Brent Gruber, senior director of global automotive at J.D. Power. “While early adopters of EVs say they’ll remain loyal to EVs in general, staying with the same brand is not a sure thing. Auto manufacturers will have to keep EV owners and shoppers interested in their products beyond just the cost equation.”
Read the article at J.D. Power.
Biden Plan to Promote EVs Threatens to Deplete Federal Highway Funds Without Major Changes
In his first week in office, President Joe Biden has made it clear that climate change is one of his top concerns, with plans to address issues like tailpipe emissions, fuel economy and the push for battery-electric vehicles on his agenda.
The Federal Highway Fund is teetering on insolvency, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), even as studies warn the nation’s highways and bridges are in increasingly poor condition. With federal gas taxes providing the vast majority of the fund’s revenues, there may be no other option but to increase those taxes or find a new way of raising funds.
There is “a lot of work to do to improve the infrastructure in this country, a mission that will not only keep more people safe, but also grow our economy as we look to the future,” Pete Buttigieg, U.S. Transportation Department nominee told a U.S. Senate panel, adding, “We need to look at any responsible, viable revenue mechanism we can all agree on to replenish highway fund coffers."
Read the article at The Detroit Bureau.
Electric Vehicles Close to ‘Tipping Point’ of Mass Adoption
Thanks to the plummeting cost of batteries, electric vehicles are close to the “tipping point” of rapid mass adoption experts say. This week the first factory production began of batteries capable of giving a 200-mile charge in five minutes.
Global sales rose 43% in 2020, but even faster growth is anticipated when continuing falls in battery prices bring the price of electric cars dipping below that of equivalent petrol and diesel models, even without subsidies. The latest analyses forecast that to happen some time between 2023 and 2025.
The tipping point has already been passed in Norway, where tax breaks mean electric cars are cheaper. The market share of battery-powered cars soared to 54% in 2020 in the Nordic country, compared with less than 5% in most European nations. In a recent poll of 2,000 electric car owners, 91% said they would not want to go back.
Read the article at The Guardian.
