Congress
Democrats Flesh Out Green New Deal With Bill To End Sales Of Gas-Burning Cars By 2040.
According to the Huffington Post, “Just days after carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere hit a level not seen in 800,000 years,
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) is proposing a bill to completely phase out new gas-burning cars by 2040. The legislation mandates zero-emissions vehicles to make up 50% of new sales by 2030, and ratchets up the requirement 5% every year for a decade. Merkley plans
to submit the bill on the Senate floor Wednesday. Help us tell more of the stories that matter from voices that too often remain unheard. Become a founding member It’s an ambitious proposal, and one almost certain to go nowhere in a Republican-controlled Senate
and under an administration that’s in the process of reversing rules to make combustion-engine vehicles more fuel efficient. The bill is almost identical to legislation Merkley introduced in November in the last Congress. What’s changed is the political framework
into which it now fits. Over the past six months, the Green New Deal has emerged as a new guiding vision for climate policy, calling for a decadelong industrial plan to zero out emissions, fortify infrastructure and eliminate poverty with millions of union-wage
jobs.” [Huffington Post, 5/15/19
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Electric Vehicles
By 2038, The World Will Buy More Passenger Electric Vehicles Than Fossil-Fuel Cars.
According to Quartz, “Car makers are busy electrifying their vehicles, but they’ll still have to wait as much as two decades before consumers buy more electric cars than conventional
fossil-fuel ones. Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the media company’s research service, predicts that sales of passenger electric vehicles (EVs) will reach 50 million by 2038, when they will exceed the 47 million units of conventional passenger vehicle sales,
according to the organization’s 2019 outlook today (May 15). The gap will increase as sales of passenger EVs reach 56 million, or 10 million more than sales of those powered by internal combustion engines, two years later. BNEF’s prediction marks a significant
increase from present passenger EV sales—conventional passenger vehicle sales in 2018 were about 85 million units, while passenger EVs clocked in at around 2 million. China, the world’s largest EV market, contributed to about half of those, with sales of both
battery EVs and plug-in hybrids.
Yet the roughly one million units only accounted for around 4% of the total passenger cars sold in China last year, while sales of passenger EVs in the US made up around 6% of its total
passenger car market, according to the Sierra Club environmental group.” [Quartz,
5/15/19 (=)]
Buses Are Dominating The Electric Vehicles Boom.
According to Axios, “Roughly two-thirds of buses worldwide will be electrified by 2040, according to the latest research from BloombergNEF, while sales of electric cars and light-duty
commercial vehicles are on track to be more than 50% by then too. Data: BloombergNEF; Chart: Axios Visuals What they’re saying: Colin McKerracher, head of advanced transport for BNEF, says in a statement: ‘We see a real possibility that global sales of conventional
passenger cars have already passed their peak.’ Yes, but: BNEF tends to be on the more aggressive side with its forecasts. This one also makes some assumptions that are uncertain with President Trump in office and Republicans controlling at least one chamber
of Congress. The forecasts assume a federal subsidy remains intact and that California retains its legal right to issue stricter standards, which Trump is attempting to do away with while rolling back federal efficiency standards (BNEF doesn’t assume those
standards are met). The big picture: China is dominating in electric cars — like it is in nearly all energy technologies. ‘China’s electric car market is growing much faster than electric vehicle sales in Europe, the United States, Japan and the rest of the
world combined,’ Jack Barkenbus, a visiting scholar at Vanderbilt University, writes in The Conversation.” [Axios,
5/15/19 (+)]
French Grid Operator Able To Handle Sharp Electric Vehicle Rise.
According to Reuters, “France’s electricity grid will be able to cope with a sharp increase in demand from electric vehicles by 2035, its operator RTE said on Wednesday. France has
around 223,000 electric vehicles on its roads and like some other European countries plans to end the sale of diesel and gasoline vehicles by 2040 as part of efforts to curb pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. ‘For us, the development of electric vehicles
is a real opportunity for the electricity system. It could constitute an important volume for power storage of around 40 gigawatts,’ RTE President Francois Brottes told journalists. Brottes’ prediction is based on the most ambitious growth scenario which forecasts
there will be 15.6 million electric vehicles on French roads by 2035. These could be used to store electricity when not in use. Demand from this number of electric vehicles would not exceed 48 terrawatt hour (TWh) per year, or around 10 percent of current
demand, an RTE study found. Remote management systems could be used to pilot the recharging of vehicles using renewable energy during the most cost effective period of the day because 95% of the time vehicles are stationary, Brottes said.” [Reuters,
5/15/19 (=)]
Can You Own An Electric Car Without A Home Charger?
According to the Washington Post, “A popular selling point for electric vehicles is the notion that you never have to stop for gas. Your ‘gas station’ is in your garage — simply plug
in your vehicle to charge it overnight. But what if you live in an apartment? Or park somewhere without a plug? How practical is it to own an electric vehicle if you can’t charge it at home? I set out to answer these questions by driving two electric vehicles
in the Edmunds test fleet without relying on a home- or office-based charger. I spent one week in a Chevrolet Bolt and another in a Tesla Model 3. The Bolt has an estimated driving range of 238 miles on a full charge, and the Model 3 Long Range can go an EPA-estimated
310 miles. Here are a few lessons I learned along the way. Without a home charger, you’ll need to rely on public stations. But locating them can be challenging, even when you know the exact address. Some are located in shopping mall parking lots, while others
might be at hotels or car dealerships. Sometimes, you’ll have to pay for parking. Based on my 40-mile commute and weekend mileage in the Los Angeles area, I knew I’d need to charge the Bolt every two or three days for about three hours, which meant finding
a charge station near whatever I planned on doing.” [Washington Post,
5/15/19 (=)]
Outlook For Gas Cars 'Stark' — Report.
According to E&E News, “The spread of electric vehicles could slash demand for oil almost twice as deeply as previously thought in the next two decades, according to a new analysis
from Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Sales of conventional gas cars also will peak and start to decline by 2030, analysts said at the firm. Ten years later, the advent of battery-powered cars will cut demand for oil by 13.7 million barrels per day — an estimate
that surpasses last year’s Bloomberg forecast of 7.3 million barrels. David Doherty, a London-based oil specialist with BNEF, said the firm had adjusted its forecast in part because of the growing prominence of EVs in automakers’ portfolios. Company commitments
to electrify portions of their future fleets have mounted in the past year. A few, like Daimler and Volkswagen, have set dates to eliminate or offset their fleets’ carbon footprint. To comply with fuel efficiency rules, many carmakers will lean harder on electric
models than in the past, when they simply improved the efficiency of gas cars, said Doherty. ‘Essentially we expect that automakers are likely to use clean energy vehicles to meet their fuel economy/emission targets,’ he wrote in an email to E&E News.” [E&E
News,
5/15/19 (=)]
Auto Manufacturers
VW Cranks Up Electric-Car Plants To Overtake Tesla's Capacity.
According to Bloomberg, “In about a year, Volkswagen AG may catch up to Tesla Inc.‘s capacity to make electric cars. The world’s biggest automaker said Tuesday it’s building two plants
in China to produce a total of 600,000 vehicles on its dedicated battery-car platform, dubbed MEB. The new factories in Anting and Foshan will open a few months after Germany’s Zwickau, which will assemble as many as 330,000 cars annually and is slated to
get started by year-end. Following through with plans to reach this level of scale will likely leave Tesla trailing behind. Its lone vehicle assembly plant operating in Fremont, California, can make about 500,000 cars. The electric-car leader expects to start
output on the outskirts of Shanghai at the end of this year and produce 250,000 vehicles a year initially. VW has little time to lose after Tesla resolved manufacturing snafus in Fremont and its battery factory near Reno, Nevada, which may start also building
Model Y crossovers. While Model 3 sedan deliveries tailed off in the first quarter following a strong second half of 2018, Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk has dismissed concerns about demand and stuck to a forecast for as many as 400,000 vehicle deliveries
this year.” [Bloomberg,
5/14/19 (=)]
Volkswagen To Invest $1B In Battery Production Plant.
According to E&E News, “Automaker Volkswagen AG says it is investing €1 billion ($1.12 billion) to set up a battery production plant in Germany. CEO Herbert Diess said yesterday that
the factory is part of the company’s effort to electrify its vehicles. He said the plant will be built in the northern city of Salzgitter, which has ready access to vast wind power plants in the region. Volkswagen is trying to move on from the diesel emissions
scandal, which has so far cost the company €30 billion. The announcement comes after rival Daimler announced Monday that it aims to make all of its passenger cars carbon-neutral by 2039 (Climatewire, May 14). Emissions in Germany’s transport sector have stagnated
since 1990, putting a drag on the country’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.” [E&E News,
5/15/19 (=)]
Opinion Pieces
Op-Ed: Big Oil Wants To Kill Electric Vehicles.
According to an op-ed by Hal Connolly in The Hill, “Big Oil and its front groups want to kill electric vehicles (EVs) under the pretense of fairness. It’s no secret why. The industry
sees that the electric transportation future is coming fast, threatening their polluting profits, and they’re scared. We should double down on electrifying transportation and support an expansion of EV tax credits so we can stop pollution that is driving the
climate crisis and making our air healthier for everyone. Let’s get real about Big Oil: The industry receives over $26 billion
in subsidies from American taxpayers and pays nothing for polluting the air we breathe and exacerbating the climate crisis. If there’s any group doesn’t need help from the government, it’s this industry. Let’s also get real about who suffers the most from
air pollution and climate: low-income families and communities of color. Pollution from fossil-fueled transportation is the largest single source of climate pollution in the United States. As we saw when Hurricane Harvey dumped 60 inches of rain on Houston
or when Hurricane Maria pummeled Puerto Rico, it’s frontline communities who suffer the greatest losses and are left without the help they need.” [The Hill,
5/14/19 (+)]
Chad Ellwood
Research Associate
202.448.2877 ext. 119