Clean
Car Standards
California
Unveils Incentive Program For Clean Truck Infrastructure.
According to the Washington Examiner, “The California Energy Commission announced yesterday a first-of-its-kind program to speed up construction of electric vehicle charging and hydrogen refueling stations to service zero-emissions trucks and buses. Under
the new program, the CEC is pledging $50 million over several years to help plan for and fund the development of charging and hydrogen refueling infrastructure, with a particular emphasis on regions that are near highways or ports that are heavily affected
by vehicle pollution. The CEC is partnering with CALSTART, which will design and administer the program. The infrastructure funding is part of California’s effort to meet an executive order from Gov. Gavin Newsom requiring all medium- and heavy-duty vehicles
to be zero-emissions by 2045.” [Washington Examiner, 4/14/21
(=)]
Op-Ed:
Market Forces, Not Mandates, Should Guide Minnesota’s Electric Vehicle Future.
According
to an op-ed by Michael K. Dorsey in Minnesota Post, “When it comes to addressing the risk of climate change, electric vehicles certainly have a role to play. Rightfully, we should be using all of the tools in our arsenal to reduce emissions, but we also must
acknowledge when those tools have limitations and consequences as a result of erecting enforcement policies before we are ready. At the moment, Gov. Tim Walz and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) are advancing a rule that would require Minnesotan’s
vehicles to completely conform to the emissions standards established by California regulators. The reason: Walz wants Minnesota to take a leading role in addressing climate change, and electric vehicles can certainly help limit emissions from the transportation
sector. Getting more electric vehicles on the roads of Minnesota is a laudable goal, but there are serious hurdles and complicated realities Minnesota’s leaders must first face. For starters, adequate charging infrastructure for electric vehicles simply doesn’t
exist yet across Minnesota. California, ground zero for electric vehicles, has led the nation in the buildout of public charging stations, but many states have lagged behind: Minnesota included. A recent study from Pew shows Minnesota with only 776 charging
stations statewide. Without a dramatic increase in the installation of new public, private, and workplace charging stations, Minnesotans – especially farmers and other residents in rural areas – will struggle to access charging infrastructure needed to use
electric vehicles in any practical way. Moreover, the economic slowdown as a result of COVID-19 has significantly disrupted the auto industry, stagnating sales in EVs. However, prior to the pandemic, EV sales in the United States had already been slowing,
with annual growth decreasing from 80 percent in 2018 to 12 percent in 2019 per a recent McKinsey report.” [Minnesota Post,
4/14/21
(-)]
Congress
Pollution-Covid
Links.
According to Politico, “A group of 37 environmental and transportation-focused organizations sent a letter this week to House and Senate leaders urging them to invest in drastically reducing emissions from the transportation sector, making the pitch that doing
so will help vulnerable communities and citing a correlation between slightly elevated air pollution and increased Covid-19 mortality. ‘Support for low-income communities and BIPOC (Black Indigenous and People of Color) in particular should be prioritized
to mitigate the ongoing impacts of structural racism, including underinvestment, less access to reliable service, greater exposure to pollution, and the persistent health related inequities that have led to people of color suffering higher rates of sickness
and death from COVID-19,’ the organizations wrote. The group recommended a federal investment of at least $40 billion in domestic clean vehicle and parts manufacturing, as well as $40 billion over 10 years in electric vehicle charging infrastructure, according
to the letter.” [Politico, 4/15/21
(+)]
Lawmakers
Weigh New User Fees For Highway Bill. According
to E&E News, “Senate Environment and Public Works Committee members yesterday debated how to replenish the quickly depleting Highway Trust Fund, which is used to finance the nation’s transportation infrastructure. ‘Roads, highways and bridges in this country
are in bad shape,’ EPW Chair Tom Carper (D-Del.) said during a hearing. ‘Something needs to be done about it, and we are among the most responsible people for making that happen.’ An increase in the use of electric and hybrid vehicles, coupled with improved
fuel efficiency, has slowed the flow of fuel-tax revenue into the Highway Trust Fund. For more than a decade, revenue from excise taxes on gasoline, diesel and other motor fuels has fallen short of federal spending on highways. The current authorization for
federal highway programs expires this September. If no action is taken, the fund could run out of money by the summer of 2022, according to a March analysis from the Congressional Budget Office. While President Biden has called for raising corporate tax rates
to 28% to pay for surface transportation and other infrastructure upgrades, there’s growing consensus among Democratic and Republican lawmakers that users should continue to foot the bill. ‘Those who use our roads, our highways, our bridges have a responsibility
to help pay for them,’ Carper said. ‘The things that are worth having are worth paying for.’ The question is how. Raising the federal gas tax is largely viewed as politically infeasible. The White House said this week that it will not support raising the gas
tax, despite the issue coming up during Monday’s meeting between the president and members of Congress from both parties.” [E&E News,
4/15/21
(=)]
White
House
Biden
Wants To Buy EVs. Are There Enough Cars? According
to E&E News, “The Biden administration’s plan to replace the federal government’s fleet of cars and trucks with electric vehicles assembled in the United States could face a roadblock: supply. There are currently 645,047 federal vehicles across the country
and fewer than 1% of them are electric, according to the General Services Administration. Put another way: There are more federal vehicles on the road now than there were EVs sold in 2019 and 2020 combined, which totaled 590,000. While experts project a 70%
increase in EV sales this year alone — totaling 585,375 vehicles — analysts say ramping up U.S.-based manufacturing to meet Biden’s pledge in the next decade will be no easy feat. ‘This involves the entire supply chain from raw materials, including computer
chips, to production and manufacturing. And you have to have the infrastructure in place — like charging stations and an ability to provide clean electricity,’ said Barry Rabe, a professor of environmental policy at the University of Michigan. ‘That’s a lot
of pieces to move quickly.’ President Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan included $174 billion for EVs — billions more than spending on the electric grid and clean energy. It’s one sign of the importance of EVs to this administration’s plan to tackle
climate change, and a recognition that the transportation sector is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the country. The White House isn’t alone in looking ahead to EVs. Virtually every global automaker is planning a robust lineup of EVs
this decade. But for now, there are only a handful of companies assembling all-electric vehicles in the United States, including Tesla Inc., General Motors Co. and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. While others, such American Honda Motor Co. Inc., have recently announced
plans to follow suit, the prospect of replacing the federal fleet is a daunting one — to say nothing of the roughly 286 million gasoline-powered cars on U.S. roads.” [E&E News,
4/15/21
(=)]
INfrastructure
Package
As
Biden Shifts Infrastructure Focus To Climate And Racial Justice, Cities And States Alter Pitches For Federal Money.
According
to the Washington Post, “Cities and states across the country are pitching new kinds of infrastructure projects and offering fresh assessments of existing proposals as they chase $2 billion in grant funding the Biden administration has tied to environmental
and racial-justice goals. Seleta Reynolds, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, initially did not plan to apply for a federal Infrastructure For Rebuilding America grant, a $900 million pot of money targeted at economy-boosting
projects. It has typically been used to back major highway projects and other work to reduce congestion and speed travel for cars and trucks. But shortly after Pete Buttigieg was confirmed as transportation secretary, his department announced that it would
judge projects based on their racial-equity and environmental benefits. Reynolds assembled a team that scrambled to put together an application. The city is seeking $45 million to help fund projects on major streets in South Los Angeles, trying to remedy harms
caused by an interstate highway running through the area. The proposal calls for bike lanes, safer crosswalks, new shade trees and bus-boarding islands. It also would involve installing 300 electric-vehicle chargers, putting up air-quality sensors and extending
broadband access to 11,000 homes. ‘I see it as a form of validating and showing L.A.’s support for this pivot U.S. DOT is trying to make,’ Reynolds said. ‘If they really want projects that center equity and climate, I want to give them one.’ The new criteria
demonstrate one way Buttigieg’s team has put its imprint on the Department of Transportation. They also offer a preview of how the administration is seeking to reshape the nation’s transportation networks as it tries to advance major infrastructure funding
through Congress.” [Washington Post, 4/15/21
(=)]
Auto
Manufacturers
EV Maker
Polestar Raises $550 Million From New Investors. According
to Bloomberg, “Polestar, the electric-carmaker controlled by Volvo Car AB and its owner Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., has raised $550 million from new investors to help fund its growth. The group of investors was led by Chongqing Chengxing Equity Investment
Fund Partnership, Zibo Financial Holding and Zibo Hightech Industrial Investment, the Gothenberg, Sweden-based company said in a statement Thursday. They were joined by I Cube Capital, an arm of South Korean conglomerate SK Inc., and a range of other investors,
Polestar said. This is the first time external investors have backed the company, according to Polestar, which said it’s in talks with global investors about possible additional fundraising. Bloomberg reported last month that the automaker is exploring options
for going public as soon as this year at a valuation of more than $10 billion. Led by Chief Executive Officer Thomas Ingenlath, Polestar is a rival to Tesla Inc., the world’s biggest manufacturer of electric vehicles. Production of its second vehicle and first
all-electric car, the Polestar 2, started in March last year at Geely’s plant in Luqiao, China. The automaker said in September it would put another car, the Polestar Precept, into production. That vehicle’s interiors will be made from recycled plastic bottles
and cork vinyl as well as reclaimed fishing nets. The new investment diversifies Polestar’s funding structure and will help accelerate product development and technological capability ahead of several new car launches, the company said.” [Bloomberg,
4/15/21
(=)]
Hyundai
Motor Group Plans To Launch EVs In China Every Year Starting 2022. According
to Reuters, “South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group said on Thursday it plans to launch electric vehicles (EVs) in China every year starting 2022 to enhance its presence in the world’s biggest car market. The South Korean auto group said it plans to unveil a total
of 21 EV models from Hyundai Motor Co and Kia Corp by 2030, including hybrid and fuel-cell vehicles. The group said it plans to cut the number of its gasoline vehicle models to 14 in China from the current 21 by 2025.” [Reuters,
4/15/21
(=)]
Ford's
First VW-Platform Electric Car Is A Small SUV, Report Says. According
to CNET, “Vehicle development takes a pretty long time, which is why it came as no surprise when we didn’t really hear much after Volkswagen and Ford announced a platform-sharing partnership that would see the American automaker using the German company’s
MEB scalable electric-vehicle platform. While official news has yet to land about the fruits of their partnership, a new report gives us an idea of what to expect in the near future. Ford’s first use of VW’s MEB platform will spawn a small SUV, Autocar reported
Monday, after sighting what it believes to be the vehicle in question. Representatives for Ford did not immediately return a request for comment, Volkswagen declined to comment, and neither automaker provided comment for Autocar’s report. Pictures published
by Autocar show a vehicle wrapped in a blue cover, with only a hint of its styling revealed on the lower portion of the car. Based on its color, it could be a full-size clay model, but since automakers routinely decline to discuss future vehicles until the
time and date of their choosing, answers will likely be hard to come by until Ford delivers more information on its efforts, which Autocar understands will happen later this year. The report says that Ford will build this MEB-based EV at its factory in Cologne,
Germany, which is currently being renovated specifically to produce future electrified vehicles. Given its size relative to the workers standing by it in Autocar’s photos, this small SUV looks to slot beneath the Mustang Mach-E and would likely be analogous
to VW’s own ID4, which relies on the same MEB platform. Rumors of a Ford and VW partnership first surfaced in 2018, and the two automakers chose the Detroit Auto Show to announce their joint venture, which at first was limited to midsize pickup trucks and
commercial vans.” [CNET, 4/14/21
(=)]
Tesla
Is Still The EV Reference But Toyota’s Close, Says Cargurus. According
to Inside EVs, “Cargurus discovered that 52 percent of 1,097 car owners in the US consider buying an electric car in the next ten years. To these folks, it made a simple question: which brand of electric vehicles are you likely to consider? Predictably, Tesla
led the pack, with 57 percent of the respondents mentioning it. With 52 percent of answers, the second place will surprise you: it was Toyota, a car company with no EVs for sale in the US. If you thought numbers do not add up, that’s because car owners could
select more than one brand. The percentages presented in the image above show how many of these customers selected each brand presented to them. The five percent difference shows Toyota may have a bright future selling EVs – even if it was pushed to do that
by legislation. The company will reveal the first vehicle from its Beyond Zero initiative on April 19. Cargurus showed more signs that a wider variety of competitors might dilute Tesla’s advantage when it comes to brand awareness. Of all people interviewed
who said they could buy an electric car in the next ten years, 78 percent are open to buying from more than one brand. There is more good news for EV advocates. If you sum up the 52 percent that will definitely consider an EV with the 32 percent that would
give it a thought in the next ten years, the positive outcome reaches about 84 percent of all buyers. Only about 17 percent refuse to do that. Cargurus did not disclose the exact numbers in the survey, but we would guess they were something like 83.5 and 16.5,
reaching the perfect 100 percent you’d expect.” [Inside EVs, 4/14/21
(=)]
Electric
Vehicles
Electrifying
All New Vehicles Sales By 2035 Can Be Done, Would Save U.S. Consumers $2.7 Trillion By 2050, Report Finds.
According
to Morning Consult, “The lofty and seemingly improbable vision of a country with exclusively new electric car and truck sales by 2035 is within reach, according to a new report from the University of California, Berkeley. And pairing the electrification of
transit with a grid dominated by clean energy would set the United States on the path to keep global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius compared with pre-industrial levels, the study finds. By comparing an ambitious electrification scenario with a business-as-usual
scenario, the study’s researchers found not only that the former is possible within the next 15 years, but also that it will come with benefits for the climate, economy and public health. This accelerated electrification process for new vehicle sales could
save consumers roughly $1,000 annually per household by 2050, or $2.7 trillion in total, the report concludes. And doing so could avoid 150,000 premature deaths related to air pollution issues and save $1.3 trillion in environmental health costs over the next
30 years, as compared with the business-as-usual scenario. These emissions and cost savings are in reach, the authors say, because recent developments related to electric vehicle battery costs and performance have already accelerated the electrification of
transportation, leaving EVs poised to overtake gasoline and diesel vehicles, despite modest sales projections in the coming years. ‘The uptake of electric cars and trucks can go much faster than previously forecast and is already exceeding market projections,’
Dr. Amol Phadke, a senior scientist at Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy and one of the study’s authors, said in a news release.” [Morning Consult,
4/15/21
(=)]
Advances
Mean All New US Vehicles Can Be Electric By 2035, Study Finds. According
to The Guardian, “Rapid advances in the technology and cost of batteries should allow all new cars and trucks sold in the US to be powered by electricity by 2035, saving drivers trillions of dollars and delivering a major boost to the effort to slow the climate
crisis, new research has found. Electric vehicles currently make up only about 2% of all cars sold in the US, with many American drivers put off until now by models that were often significantly more expensive than gasoline or diesel cars, as well as concerns
over the availability of plug-in recharge points. This situation is likely to drastically change this decade, according to the new University of California, Berkeley study, with the upfront cost of electric cars set to reach parity with gasoline vehicles in
around five years’ time. As electric cars are more efficient and require less costly maintenance, the rapid electrification of transport would save about $2.7tn in driver costs by 2050. Researchers said the plummeting cost of batteries, the main factor in
the higher cost of electric vehicles, and improvements in their efficiency mean that it will be technically feasible for the US to phase out the sale of new gasoline and diesel cars within 15 years. This would shrink planet-heating emissions from transport,
currently the largest source of greenhouse gases in the US. ‘In order to meet any sort of carbon goals, the transport sector needs to be electrified,’ said Amol Phadke, a senior scientist at University of California, Berkeley and report co-author. Phadke added:
‘The upfront price of electric vehicles is coming down rapidly, which is very exciting. Because of battery technology improvements, most models now have a range of 250 miles, higher than the daily driving distance of most people, and now come with pretty astonishing
fast-charging capabilities.’” [The Guardian, 4/15/21
(=)]
As
Auto Industry Goes Electric, Can It Avoid A Battery Bottleneck? According
to NPR, “The world is going to need more batteries. A lot more batteries. Every major automaker is preparing to pivot from gas and diesel cars to electric and hybrid ones. Ford F-150s and Kia crossovers, Volkswagen hatchbacks and BMW sedans: They’ll all plug
in instead of fill up. It’s a remarkable transformation that will change the way we drive and shake up world energy markets. But the massive shift is raising concern that the world’s battery supply chain, from mines to manufacturers, will fail to keep pace,
leading to a bottleneck that will slow the pace of electrification and derail companies’ business plans — and the fight against climate change. These fears are coming as the global auto industry is already reeling from supply shortages, most notably of semiconductors,
that have delayed the production of an estimated million vehicles and cut into billions of dollars of automaker profits. A future battery shortage could be even more of a nightmare. ‘In a conservative scenario, we expect lithium-ion battery demand to increase
at least tenfold between 2020 and 2030,’ says Logan Goldie-Scot, the head of clean power research at BloombergNEF. The battery market is already tight, according to Goldie-Scot. It’s not a catastrophic shortage by any stretch, but there’s not a lot of extra
supply either. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has blamed battery supplies for delays in production of the Tesla Semi, a battery-powered tractor trailer. And battery demand is only starting to rise. General Motors and Volvo have pledged to give up gas-powered cars completely
in just 15 years or even less, and President Biden wants to push the industry as a whole to accelerate its transition.” [NPR,
4/15/21
(=)]
This
EV Charger Turns Electric Cars Into Back-Up Power Sources. According
to Mashable, “You could go the Tesla route to build out a complete energy system with an electric car, Powerwall battery for energy storage, and solar tiles to gather power from the sun. You can then charge your Tesla EV with the stored energy from the roof
or feed that battery energy back to the house (although you still can’t use a Tesla to directly power your home’s electricity). Total cost: About $6,000 plus installation for the Powerwall; some $44,000 for a full solar roof; and a Tesla Model 3 at around
$38,000 for the cheapest model. But Tesla isn’t the only option. More ‘smart home’ energy systems are popping up. On Wednesday, Montreal-based Dcbel announced it’s launching the r16, an all-in-one energy management unit. It uses solar energy for EV charging,
but also works as a home back-up power source. The unit can charge up to two EVs at the same time, and offers fast charging (known as Level 3 or DC Fast Charging) giving you 60 miles of battery range in an hour. CEO Marc-Andre Forget described it as a ‘small
Tesla Supercharger inside your home.’ Total cost: $4,999, plus installation and an EV (a new Nissan Leaf starts at around $31,000). Dcbel’s unit comes with an accompanying app to monitor energy usage in your EV and home. It will be available first in California
later this summer, where CEO Marc-Andre Forget saw a need for better energy solutions (and because the state has high EV ownership). After the Texas climate crisis earlier this year, the company is eyeing a launch there too. The Dcbel can charge any EV, but
to use your electric vehicle as a power source the car has to have bi-directional charging. That’s only compatible with the Nissan Leaf and Mitsubishi Outlander plug-in hybrid vehicles for now.” [Mashable,
4/14/21
(=)]
Apple
May Have Found New Partners For Its EV Project. According
to Car and Driver, “A report in the Korea Times today suggests that Apple has still not given up on its dreams of building (or at least selling) a self-driving electric vehicle. The first rumors that Apple was working on its own car surfaced in 2014. Since
then, the company seems to have focused its car-related ambitions on the development of self-driving software, which would be used in a vehicle built by a partner company with expertise in vehicle manufacturing. Earlier this year, negotiations on the project
between Apple and Hyundai-Kia fell through. But now, Apple may have found new targets in LG and Magna International. If the reports circulating now are correct (none of the three companies responded immediately to our request for comment), Apple may be close
to inking a deal to sell self-driving cars built by a joint venture between Korean tech company LG, and Magna International. LG’s automotive batteries are already in over a million hybrid, plug-in hybrid, and electric vehicles, including in the Chevrolet Bolt
EV and the Hyundai Kona Electric. Magna is a Canadian manufacturing company that supplies parts to dozens of auto manufacturers worldwide, including BMW, Ford, General Motors, Hyundai, Kia, Toyota, and Volkswagen. The joint venture between the two, still in
its infancy, is working under the title LG Magna e-Powertrain, and will (theoretically, eventually) design and supply electric motors, inverters, and onboard chargers. It’s still far too soon to say whether these talks will pan out. The LG/Magna partnership
itself won’t be final until at least July 2021, and will require approval by both shareholders and regulators. But there are some hopeful signs for those hoping to match their car to their smart phone: Apple has an existing relationship with LG (LG’s Display
division has built monitors sold by Apple).” [Car and Driver, 4/14/21
(=)]
U.S.
Could Save $2.7T Going All EV — Report. According
to E&E News, “A swift transition to electric vehicles within a decade could save the country trillions of dollars, according to a new study. The report, out today by California researchers, says that if the U.S. sells only EVs by 2030, it could save drivers
and fleets about $2.7 trillion in vehicle, fuel and maintenance costs through 2050. Put another way, that’s $1,000 per household per year. The report was led by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy and GridLab,
a nonprofit that advises policymakers on clean energy. It based many of its findings on models developed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The study inserts itself into an intensifying debate over how quickly America should move toward all-electric
vehicle sales. A consensus is settling on 2035, led by General Motors Co., the country’s largest automaker. In January it declared it would phase out internal combustion engines for cars and make only EVs by that date (Climatewire, Jan. 29). But others are
pushing for an earlier target of 2030, saying it is technically possible and important to curb climate change. In this camp are climate and clean energy boosters and automaker Volvo. Both sides seek to sway the Biden administration. Neither President Biden
nor Michael Regan, the administrator of EPA, which sets tailpipe emission standards, has weighed in on a specific date. The report said that waiting to 2035 will lead to $460 billion less in savings than getting there by 2030. ‘When it comes to electrifying
transportation, sooner is definitely better,’ the report said. The most aggressive plan would have the U.S. selling only electric light-duty cars by 2030. Big trucks, buses and vans would reach that threshold by 2035. The electric grid would by 2035 run on
90% zero-carbon electricity from sources like solar and wind farms.” [E&E News,
4/15/21
(=)]
Research and Analysis
Study Links COVID-19 Deaths To Tailpipe Pollutant.
According to E&E News, “The odds of a Los Angeles County resident contracting and dying
from COVID-19 may in part hinge on their exposure to a common traffic pollutant, a newly released study finds. The neighborhood-by-neighborhood study of a metropolitan area hit hard by the pandemic found as much as a 60% increase in deaths from the virus-borne
respiratory illness in neighborhoods with relatively high levels of nitrogen dioxide versus those with much cleaner air, according to a release accompanying the study published online in the journal Environment International. The findings by public health
researchers at UCLA and other schools add to the mounting body of evidence of a link between air pollution and vulnerability to COVID-19. Because Los Angeles County reports infectious disease data on a neighborhood basis, it offered a relatively rare opportunity
to study that possible connection in a local setting. ‘These findings are especially important for targeting interventions aimed at limiting the impact of COVID-19 in polluting communities,’ Michael Jerrett, a professor at UCLA’s Fielding School of Public
Health and the project’s leader, said in the release. Nitrogen dioxide, or NO2, found in car and truck emissions, is a respiratory irritant that contributes to the formation of smog and acid rain; long-term exposure may increase susceptibility to respiratory
infections, according to EPA. As the new paper notes, a nationwide study last year also tied higher NO2 exposure to an increased death rate from COVID-19 (Greenwire, Aug. 27, 2020). Some 10 million people live in Los Angeles County, which has experienced more
than 1.2 million COVID-19 cases and about 23,500 deaths to date. The study covers the period from March 2020 through this February.” [E&E News,
4/14/21
(=)]
Opinion Pieces
Op-Ed: Cleaner By The Mile: Electric Trucks Can Have Outsized Environmental And Health Benefits.
According to an op-ed by David Farnsworth, Camille Kadoch and Nancy Seidman in Utility Dive, “Trucking in the U.S. is an $800 billion industry. We all depend on trucks to maintain
fast delivery times and distribute products safely all over the nation. Everything that comes on ships, planes and trains, still comes to us by truck. Trucks deliver virtually everything we want, but one thing we don’t want – air pollution. Emissions of pollutants
from trucks are a problem, a big problem. Does this mean that getting at this problem is going to require an impossible effort? According to forthcoming research from Texas A&M University, the answer is ‘no.’ Tailpipe Emission Benefits of Medium -and Heavy-Duty
Truck Electrification in Houston finds that the electrification of a small number of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles (MHDVs) can lead to significant pollution reductions. And that’s important for a variety of health and environmental reasons. Air pollution
causes around 100,000 premature deaths in the U.S. each year; more than half (53,000) are caused by transportation emissions. Tailpipe emissions from internal combustion engine vehicles contain particulate matter, nitrogen oxides (NOx), and volatile organic
compounds, and contribute to ozone formation. Exposure to these pollutants leads to serious illness and premature mortality. According to the EPA, breathing polluted air can irritate human respiratory system airways. Short exposures to NOx can aggravate respiratory
diseases, particularly asthma, leading to the need for medical attention. Longer exposures to elevated concentrations of NOx may contribute to the development of asthma and potentially increase susceptibility to respiratory infections. The American Lung Association
estimates that wide-spread transportation electrification across the United States translates into $72 billion in avoided health effects.” [Utility Dive,
4/14/21 (+)]
Analysis: Growing EV Adoption: The Solution Already On The Road.
According to Stacy Noblet in Forbes, “Despite realizing widespread awareness in a short period of time, electric vehicles (EVs) haven’t yet achieved mainstream adoption at scale.
We have, however, seen the makings of a strong foundation. In the last year, California and Massachusetts committed to phasing out the sales of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035, President Biden pledged to convert the entire federal government fleet to EVs,
and key players built more reliable charging infrastructure across the country. Even with this progress, an important question remains: how do we get more consumers on board? Early adopters have responded well to the many benefits of EVs, including lifetime
cost savings, superior performance, and a smaller carbon footprint. And with nearly every major automaker announcing their commitment to vehicle electrification, there’s no shortage of new EV options on the market. Yet in order to move beyond early adopters,
we need to appeal to a wider range of consumers. Enter: the used EV market. One of the biggest challenges to widespread EV adoption is cost. According to CarGurus 2019 Electric Vehicles Survey Findings, 67 percent of consumers cite purchase cost as their top
concern about EVs. And these concerns aren’t unwarranted – an EV can cost anywhere from 10 to over 40 percent more than a similar gasoline-only model. The U.S. used vehicle market is sizable, representing about 65 percent of annual passenger vehicle sales
and leases, so there’s an opportunity to engage with many customers. With the earliest EV models turning 10 years old, and newer EVs constantly coming off short-term leases, we’re seeing more emerge in the used car marketplace – and at significantly lower
prices than new offerings. This lower upfront cost makes EVs a more reasonable purchase for the cost-savvy or low-income buyer.” [Forbes,
4/15/21 (+)]
Editorial:
Biden’s
Climate Plan Is A Risky Bet For The Planet.
According to the Washington Post Editorial Board, “Environmentalists have tried many approaches to promote climate-change legislation: a big cap-and-trade proposal; small amendments
to must-pass bills; tiny changes to the tax code. Their success has been limited. Now Democrats are trying a new strategy, folding what would be the country’s largest-ever climate investments into much larger spending proposals, including President Biden’s
massive infrastructure package and the budget he unveiled last week. With the focus on spending to rebuild and bolster the nation, rather than on climate mandates, this approach may be more politically effective. But what is most politically effective may
not be most effective for the environment. If the coming spending bills represent the Democrats’ one, best shot to change the nation’s direction on climate change, they must get it right — or as right as the politics allow. As with everything else in Mr. Biden’s
$2 trillion infrastructure plan, the headlines on climate provisions concern how much the bill would spend: $213 billion to build greener housing; $35 billion on climate technology research and development; $85 billion on public transit; $174 billion on electric
vehicle manufacturing and infrastructure; $50 billion to make national infrastructure more resilient to natural disasters; $10 billion for a new ‘Civilian Climate Corps’ and $16 billion to plug abandoned wells and mines. Signaling his intent to prioritize
climate spending, the president included many of these ideas in his new budget, too. Mr. Biden would go big on carbon capture and sequestration — technology that intercepts greenhouse emissions before they enter the atmosphere — funding 10 ‘pioneer facilities’
and enhancing a major tax credit for the industry. He would extend and expand existing tax credits for wind and solar power. He would create a tax credit to encourage the construction of high-voltage power lines, which will be needed to transport wind and
solar electricity around the country.” [Washington Post,
4/14/21 (+)]
Chad Ellwood
Senior Research Associate
Climate Action Campaign
614.570.3644
He/Him