Biden Should Expect Bi-Partisan Support on EV Portion of $2.3 Trillion Infrastructure Plan
President Biden's Infrastructure proposal calls for $174 billion to boost EVs. It also calls for $100 billion in new consumer rebates and $15 billion to build 500,000 new EV charging stations.
“And it’s hard to imagine a congressman or senator voting against something that could create thousands of jobs in his or her district or state, no matter what party he or she belonged to.” said Joe Britton, executive director of the Zero Emissions Transportation Association (ZETA). "We’ve seen Republicans question the package at large, but I haven’t heard anyone say they’re against investing in transportation electrification.”
All the positives far outweigh the negatives, and the proposal can really kickstart the economy. The new EV rebates would be a potential big boost to U.S. automakers. The plan also calls for $20 billion for electric school buses, $25 billion for zero-emission transit vehicles and $14 billion in other tax incentives.
Read the article at The Detroit Bureau.
Is Our New ‘Distanced’ Way of Life Making Drivers a Threat to Themselves?
By Paul Atchley, PhD, eDriving’s Brain Science Advisor
The COVID-19 crisis has required us to adapt in many ways. While these adaptations are too numerous to list, many of them fall under one umbrella - interacting at a distance.
If there is one word that could describe the result of the pandemic, “distanced” might be it. Pre-existing trends toward interacting in technologically mediated ways have only accelerated.
Even if we still don’t prefer these ways of interacting, we are all certainly more comfortable with them and many of us have found ways to adapt to the new normal of distanced living.
Peterbilt Introduces New Class of Medium Duty Trucks for Lease and Rental Markets
Last week, Peterbilt Motors Company unveiled the all-new medium duty Model 535 and Model 536, designed for the Class 5/6 non-CDL lease and rental markets.
“This year has proved to be a very big year for Peterbilt, first with the launch of the New Model 579 and now with launch of the new Model 535 and Model 536. The medium duty segment is integral to Peterbilt’s business and we have seen great gains in market share since the launch of our first medium duty truck back in 1995,” said Jason Skoog, Peterbilt general manager and PACCAR vice president.
“These trucks are a perfect fit for the growing lightweight lease, rental and pick-up and delivery markets with their versatility, excellent efficiency and uptime”.
Donlen Teams with Udelv to Offer Last-Mile Delivery as a Service
By Mike Sheldrick, Senior Editor
For months now, Amazon has been trumpeting its plan to introduce 10,000 electric delivery vans in 2022 and 100,000 by 2030.
Intel's Mobileye and Udelv have just upped the ante in the futures game by unveiling plans to produce 35,000 driverless electric delivery vans between 2023 and 2028.
Intel bought Mobileye in 2017, and Udelv is a well-funded Silicon Valley start-up. It's no late-comer to equipping autonomous delivery vehicles. It has partnered with Wal-Mart since 2019 and claims to have made thousands of automated deliveries around the U.S. in the past few years for a number of retailers.
Udelv's emphasis has been on the last mile of delivery although it plans to also enter other vehicle fields, including taxi services.
A Call to Action: An ABM Primer for Fleet Service Providers, Part III: Key Metrics
By Ed Pierce, ITA Communications. Fleet
The pandemic has sped the need for fleet service providers to find more effective means of winning and keeping business in a digital business world.
Account-based marketing moves beyond disparate lead generation, sales, customer service, and account management programs to deliver a winning strategy for the entire customer relationship journey.
Part III reviews a list of metrics to ensure ABM success.
Your sales and customer-facing teams all are communicating with key account contacts with personalized, account-specific messages to key contacts. Sales, marketing and account management teams must coordinate messaging for ads, emails and content to ensure they strategically reinforce the intended theme and deliver the intended action – sales funnel progress, relationship strengthening, and so on.
