A quick roundup of recent electric vehicle news of note
By Dean Adams Curtis
So far 2021 has been full of great news for our decarbonized future.
Merlin says so. That’s the General Motors code name, and perhaps upcoming actual name, for their EV Hummer. And GM announced that they will make no more gas-powered vehicles after 2035. The company has thirty EVs in the works, and is building a factory in Ohio to make them. The company’s Super Bowl ad features their upcoming EV Cadillac, and for several years now their game-changing Bolt EV has been a superstar among the affordable U.S. EV sedan offerings.
Ford says so. Ford’s commitment to EVs closely matches GMs. We are just a year away from showrooms stocked with another game changing vehicle, Ford’s F150 EV. And this is the year we get to begin enjoying Ford’s EV Mustang, the Mach-E.
China says so. America’s most important international economic competitor now makes 1 million EVs a year.
Korea and Apple say so. Kia/Hyundai is nearing a deal to make Apple’s autonomous EV (with no steering wheel) at Kia’s assembly plant in West Point, Georgia.
Volkswagen says so. They are taking orders for their EV sedan, the ID4, and this year will finally see VW’s reintro of their classic microbus, newly named the ID BUZZ to European buyers. As an aside, there are also retrofitters configuring the classic microbuses as EVs.
Washington says so. President Biden will focus on decarbonizing aspects of our economy, with the transportation sector a key focal point, such as by purchasing EVs for the vast fleet of U.S. government-owned vehicles. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer last year put forward a major incentive to incentivize EV purchases, offering equitable scaled rebates so that buyers with lower incomes in disadvantaged communities would get more significant help with their electric vehicle purchases. And new cabinet secretaries, including Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, former governor of Michigan and Motown, can be expected to roll-out an array of initiatives to encourage the transition.
So, forget what you have heard about range anxiety, with upcoming vehicles getting over 300 miles on a charge. And stop worrying about EV battery life. It will not be an issue. VW is already building a scalable EV battery recycling plant in Germany. And don’t concern yourself about where all the new electrons of electricity will come from. That’s being sorted too.
So, do concern yourself about the millions of people whose lives are fueled by incomes from oil extraction and, for example, repairing internal combustion engines and transmissions. Expect equity for them all via government support and you will be rewarded to see it forthcoming.
And so, in summary, having simply scratched the surface of the deep well of electric vehicles coming from makers around the globe, 2021 has already been a time of great news for our decarbonized future, and each year ahead will take us from the baby-steps we’ve been making for decades, to taking giant-steps into that near-future sustainable reality.
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