Federal EV Tax Credit Is Prompting Massive US Investment
September 4, 2022 - The $7,500 tax credit from the Inflation Reduction Act excludes foreign automakers. The move has prompted many automakers to start moving quickly. In a matter of weeks, several massive announcements have come from various automakers, each pertaining to battery production within North America.
Even larger OEMs like Hyundai and Kia are hopping mad they are excluded and are ready to put up a fight before the proposed Georgia EV battery plant comes online.
Other large automakers like Toyota and Honda are all making big, expensive moves amounting to billions of dollars worth of investment. Toyota just dropped an investment of another $2.5 billion into a future EV battery plant in North Carolina. Panasonic has started to make moves to dominate the US EV battery plant landscape with partner Tesla.
Corporations Confront Obstacles in The Transition to Green Vehicle Fleets
Corporate fleets are placing record-setting orders for EVs. It’s one thing to want to showcase all-electric transportation for clean energy-conscious clients. It’s another to execute it easily.
Here are two important issues that arise when discussing the transition to green vehicle fleets.
Accessible charging infrastructure: Companies profess fear that their fleets won’t find charging opportunities as needed. Yet EV fleets represent a particularly promising segment of the potential market for charging services, which can help fleet operators reduce their costs by procuring and managing energy in efficient ways.
A variety of EVs to match function and aesthetics: Due to chip shortages, supply chain issues, inconsistent inflation, spooky gas prices, awareness of the climate crisis, the war in Ukraine, and continual consumer demand, EVs can’t meet demand right now from individual consumers or fleets. Waits will continue until supply catches up with fleet demand.
Everything You Need to Know About Charging an Electric Vehicle
September 3, 2022 - Unlike purchasing a vehicle with an internal combustion engine, buying an EV involves some forethought and planning. Particularly when it comes to keeping it running.
One of the best decisions you can make before purchasing an EV is to have a charger installed where you live. That’s certainly easier if you own your home, but there are plenty of hoops to jump through to make it happen (permits, contractors, fees).
To simplify the process, some automakers incentivize this process, as do a number of state and local governments. If you happen to rent the place you call home, then it never hurts to ask your landlord about the possibility of installing an electric car charger.
Brad Jacobs, Hari Nayar of Merchants Fleet Awarded for Sustainability Leadership by Business Intelligence Group
Merchants Fleet announced that Brad Jacobs, VP of Fleet Consulting & Product Development and Hari Nayar, VP of Electrification & Sustainability have been recognized by the Business Intelligence Group’s 2022 Sustainability Awards for their work on Merchants’ Fleet Electrification program.
Brendan P. Keegan, Chairman, CEO & President of Merchants Fleet, said, “We are extremely proud of the fleet electrification program that Brad, Hari and their teams have created, which provides a clear path to sustainability that will help propel our nation into an emission-free future.”
State Senator Pushes Safety Features on Passenger Trucks
September 6, 2022 - State Sen. Brad Hoylman, D-New York City, has proposed legislation that would require several safety features in vehicles weighing more than 3,000 pounds.
A study released earlier this year by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety pointed to vehicles getting bigger as reasons for rising pedestrian deaths on U.S. roads.
Hoylman wants to see those vehicles, and anything bigger, to be sold with active intelligent speed assist, advanced emergency braking, emergency lane keeping systems, blind spot information systems, drowsiness and distraction recognition technology, rear view camera sensor systems and event data recorders. The proposal would require blind spot information systems to also include cyclist and pedestrian detection technology.
