Ready for Work Truck Week!
The Fleet Management Weekly team is excited to attend Work Truck Week in Indianapolis in less than two weeks time! If you’d like to set up a meeting, please contact me HERE.
Remembering Robert Ward
Along with his family and many friends, we mourn the loss of affable fleet industry executive Robert (Bob) Ward, who passed away on January 29th. Bob served as president of Gelco, Avis, and United States Fleet Leasing during his long career. He founded Fleet Advisors in 1994 and retired in 2012. You can read more HERE.
Ted Roberts
President
Revel Nabs $60M in New York State Funding to Build More EV Chargers
image credit: Revel
EV charging infrastructure startup Revel secured a $60 million loan from New York’s clean energy investment fund NY Green Bank to more than triple its current public fast-charging network in New York City.
“In support of the transition to a clean energy economy, it is critical that we continue to build electric vehicle infrastructure to ease the shift to EV ownership for more New Yorkers, especially those in urban areas,” New York governor Kathy Hochul said. “This significant investment addresses the key need of providing electric vehicle users in New York City with much needed public charging options while reducing local emissions.”
Ford CEO Says Trump’s Tariffs Are Causing ‘Chaos’ in Auto Industry
President Donald Trump’s tariffs, both implemented and just threatened, are causing “chaos” for the U.S. automotive industry, according to Ford Motor CEO Jim Farley.
The chief executive of America’s second largest automaker described 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum, as well as threatened levies of the same amount on Mexico and Canada as adding “a lot of cost and a lot of chaos” to the industry.
Farley seemed most concerned about potential duties on goods from Mexico and the U.S., saying a 25% tariff that could go into effect as soon as March 1 would be “devastating” and “blow a hole in the U.S. industry that we’ve never seen.”
Rental Giant Hertz Dumps EVs, Including Teslas, For Gas Cars
Rental firm Hertz Global Holdings is selling about 20,000 electric vehicles, including Teslas, from its U.S. fleet about two years after a deal with the automaker to offer its vehicles for rent, in another sign that EV demand has cooled.
Hertz will instead opt for gas-powered vehicles, it said on Thursday, citing higher expenses related to collision and damage for EVs even though it had aimed to convert 25% of its fleet to electric by 2024 end.
Last year, CEO Stephen Scherr flagged headwinds from higher expenses for its EVs, particularly Teslas.
New Federal Electric Vehicle Charging Funds Halted
The Federal Highway Administration halted new funding for state programs to install tens of thousands of new vehicle chargers along highways and at rest stops across the nation.
A key part of the 2022 bipartisan infrastructure law, all 50 states have federally approved plans to build these fast chargers, which will allow more drivers to access fast, convenient charging when they are on long trips.
“Stopping funding midstream will result in chaos and delays in states across the nation. It will throw state efforts into turmoil, wreak havoc with the companies that install the chargers and risk the jobs of their workers." - Beth Hammon, a senior vehicle charging advocate at NRDC
