Electric Vehicles

Legislation has been filed in both the House and Senate that calls for the MBTA to operate a fully electric commuter rail system by December 2035. Three lines that serve environmental justice populations would be electrified sooner.

States are increasingly turning their attention to the transmission lines, substations and transformers needed to get that electricity from renewable energy sources into homes and businesses.

The $11.3 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration will help to convert the state’s diesel ferries to hybrid-electric vessels and make improvements to the Belford Ferry Terminal in Monmouth County.

The micromobility transportation sector continues to evolve and grow, fueled by developments in technology, partnerships and infrastructure, according to experts at the 2023 Micromobility World Conference.

With help from rebates from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Alabama school district would replace 23 diesel buses with electric ones rented from School Transportation Solutions in a five-year contract.

Thanks to a $2.765 million grant from the EPA, seven all-electric school buses stand to save McAlester Public Schools money in the long run, update its aged bus fleet and help reduce its carbon footprint.

Car-share operations are turning to electric vehicles as they reimagine the service as an affordable, nonprofit transportation business model. The shift is helping to serve low-income communities where mobility options are limited.

Companies like Intertrust Technologies and StreetLight Data are developing new data tools for the planners integrating electric vehicles and charging infrastructure into the broader transportation network.

Michigan, Georgia and Kentucky will be able to manufacture between 97 and 136 gigawatt hours’ worth of EV batteries per year by 2030, per plans they have laid out, according to the Argonne National Laboratory.

Replacing diesel and gas vehicles with EVs is the focus of government policy around the world, of $515 billion in auto industry research and investments, and of billions more in battery research and development.

With new electric vehicle plants set to bring thousands of jobs to the state and a landmark federal climate law supercharging investment in renewable technologies, a clean energy transition is underway in Georgia.

The Link Transit board of directors last month authorized contract negotiations with a Netherlands-based electric bus manufacturer for 10 new buses. The vehicles are expected to cost around $7.95 million.

The district used about $1.3 million in state grant funding to buy two charging stations and two electric buses, each of which it expects to cost $10 a day in electricity, compared to $50 or $60 a day for diesel fuel.

The regulatory action comes just a year after the state adopted the Advanced Clean Trucks regulation, which will boost the number of medium- and heavy-duty zero-emission models available for purchase.

Senate Bill 1398 is among the hundreds of new state laws signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom this legislative session. It effectively bans Tesla from advertising its vehicles as fully self-driving.

Enpira is one of a dozen companies selected for the Govtech Accelerator Program by CivStart, to further develop its business model and technology for the government sector markets.

The Japanese carmaker has teamed up with Oncor, a Dallas-based utility provider, to research how energy can be pulled from an electric car’s battery and put back into the electric grid when it is under strain.

The Golden State plans to invest more than $5.5 billion in state funding toward electric vehicle charging infrastructure and incentive programs. This is in addition to some $384 million in federal funding.