To Be or Not To Be: The Future of Electric-Car Tax Credit
The future of a federal tax credit that provides up to $7,500 to buyers of electric cars is questionable, as lawmakers in the U.S. Senate have unveiled a pair of bills that would either end the program or boost the cap on the number of credits per automaker can be used.
A measure by U.S. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wy., would eliminate the tax credit for electric cars and institute a new tax on electric cars and alternative fuel vehicles to boost the coffers of the federal Highway Trust Fund that is used to pay for construction projects. A separate measure by U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., would keep the electric vehicle tax credit in place and lift the cap that is looming over General Motors Co. and Tesla Inc.
Read the article at The Detroit News.
Merrill Lynch Analyst: Mobility Is a Serious Threat to Carmakers
Long-term sales growth for OEMs and rental car companies is being seriously threatened by younger generations’ shift away from car ownership and toward access to rides, according to Martyn Briggs, an automotive industry analyst for BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research.
“We forecast 130 million vehicles being used in mobility services by 2030, representing 8% of the global vehicles parc — the total number of vehicles on the road — and up from 2% in 2016, with 49 million of these in the ridehailing and carsharing sector. Those numbers might not seem staggering, but consider this: One carsharing vehicle can remove up to 25 privately owned vehicles from the road, and one ridehailing vehicle can reduce up to ten.
“This poses a big problem for car brands, and it’s keeping the auto industry up at night. The question now is, how can OEMs capture revenue from each mile a [vehicle] moves?”
Read the article at Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Strategies to Move the Commercial Electric Vehicle Market From Niche to Mainstream
Attaining environmental benefits and lower cost of ownership are driving more commercial fleets to electrify, according to new study released by UPS and GreenBiz.
Instead of undertaking a large-scale fleet overhaul, many companies will prioritize electric options when replacing vehicles and even consider electric leasing options to mitigate the initial purchase price.
“The challenges of cost and infrastructure requirements can be daunting, but we’ve begun to see solutions emerge,” says Scott Phillippi, UPS’ senior director of automotive maintenance and engineering. “In the U.S., we recently ordered 50 electric-powered delivery trucks that we anticipate will be at cost parity with conventional diesel-powered vehicles."
Read the article at NGT News.
‘No Demo Candy’ – It’s Time to Slow Down and Get Real
At their new company, Aurora Innovation, the three former executives at Google, Tesla and Uber are urging their own self-driving car industry to face a reality check, saying lofty promises risk confusing passengers and dooming the technology before it can truly take off.
The “entire industry” needs “to be more truthful about our capabilities,” said Sterling Anderson, an Aurora co-founder and former head of Tesla’s “Autopilot” system. “We’re talking about building trust in the public. You don’t do that by overstating what the system can and can’t do.”
Read the article at The Washington Post.
The Computer Chauffeur Is Creeping Closer
When fully autonomous driving for privately owned vehicles becomes available, the potential for a car to sense a driver’s illness and head for a hospital becomes a reality.
Few artificial intelligence applications carry the responsibility of automotive safety systems.
“I honestly believe we are still scratching the surface of applying the technologies of deep learning and neural networks,” said Sachin Lulla, IBM's Automotive Leader. “As computing increases, we will see this scale to true potential. The big issue is to perfect autonomous driving with human driving. Autonomous vehicles driving with other A.V.s seems far along, but when there is someone on a bike it gets tricky.”
Read the article at The New York Times.
