J.D. Power Study Finds EV Charging Stations Still Scarce or Unreliable
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.
Test Shows Physical Buttons Are Less Time-Consuming in Cars Than Touchscreens
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.
Insights Into Fleet Managers’ Pain Points
Pitstop is a fleet maintenance platform powered by AI that helps fleets identify breakdowns weeks in advance, alleviating data overload, increasing uptime and lowering expensive repair costs.
Pitstop spoke to hundreds of fleet managers to uncover their most significant pain points, maintenance trends, and technologies impacting the transportation industry today.
Pitstop found that fleets with fleet maintenance software generally highlighted data overload and maintaining uptime as their biggest pain points.
On the other hand, fleets with no maintenance software found that operation costs were a significant problem.
EVs Have the Lowest Annual Fuel Cost of All 2022 Light-Duty Vehicles
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.
Jury Issues $1.7B Verdict Against Ford Over Fatal Super Duty Crash
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.
