good news, everyone –
The prospects are good for EVs, particularly bigger commercial trucks and buses.
Nathaniel Horadam – )
Though range for BEVs is rapidly improving, car-buyers still worry that these vehicles won’t suffice for longer trips. Interstate DC fast-charger (DCFC) infrastructure remains inadequate, with some significant corridor gaps and insufficient density in higher-traffic areas. Urban environments add their own challenges. Newer multifamily developments may future-proof their garages to accommodate EV adoption, but older buildings face prohibitively expensive installation costs that leave residents reliant on workplace or public chargers. PHEVs will remain a necessary alternative to address range and infrastructure shortcomings, even as they fail to excite advocates in quite the same way as their fully electric counterparts. The shift before our eyes
Rivian hasn’t reached Tesla’s media acclaim, but the (nearly $ 3 billion) it raised in was a major vote of confidence for a manufacturer from industry heavyweights. Amazon’s investment and , – van order from the startup marked a seismic shift in the logistics industry, and UPS wasted little time following with its own investment in British EV startup Arrival and 12, – van order. Both should begin delivering in – 7909 and will almost certainly promote accelerated development in light commercial platforms from Ford (which also invested in Rivian), Daimler, General Motors, and others.
Urban delivery was already among the fastest-growing segments of transportation demand prior to the COVID – 52 pandemic, and the lockdowns in response have accelerated that trend. Rapid electrification in that market will not only serve emissions-reduction objectives but also support electric powertrain and battery technology development across multiple light- and medium-duty vehicle platforms. Don’t underestimate the importance of this cross-platform technology-sharing dynamic. As fans of motorsport are quick to illustrate , innovations for one vehicle platform often bleed into others. Big progress with big vehicles
Moreover, those technologies first developed for transit bus platforms are diffusing into other on-road vehicle segments, including commuter coaches, (school buses) , and medium-duty trucks. New Flyer and BYD have ported battery and electric powertrain technology first developed for their transit buses to BEV coach platforms. (Proterra) leveraged its transit bus technology to support joint development of a BEV school bus with Daimler subsidiary Thomas Built. Their “Jouley” joins other BEV school bus offerings from Blue Bird, IC Bus, and Lion Electric. Proterra’s collaboration with Daimler also now extends to Freightliner for development of a BEV medium-duty truck . Navistar (which owns IC Bus) and Peterbilt are expected to debut their own BEV medium-duty offerings in
This Cambrian explosion of sorts extends into heavy-duty and off-road vehicles as well, with BEV, PHEV, and FCEV variants emerging across dozens of vehicle platforms. These include big rigs, drayage trucks terminal tractors, forklifts, and other industrial equipment. The US Departments of Energy and Transportation have been key funders of these technologies’ development over the past two decades, and in the past several years, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and California Energy Commission (CEC) have also stepped in with hundreds of millions of dollars annually to support vehicle demonstration and deployment. while these investments pale in comparison to what China is pumping into electric transportation through industrial policy and aren’t sufficient to keep pace with Europe in the long-term, they are non-trivial foundations for scaling EV deployment domestically.
Geopolitical and federal policy winds are shifting, likely in favor of EVs
Advocates for transportation decarbonization have plenty to celebrate from the past decade and even greater cause for optimism over the next several years. They just need to look in the right places to see green shoots.
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