Electric Vehicles

According to city officials, the Chevy Blazer PPV is one of the first electric police pursuit vehicles to be placed in service in a local department in the state of Michigan.

As EV manufacturing grows in the state, purchasing the vehicles could become more expensive if federal lawmakers lessen or even remove the tax credit, a stated goal of President Donald Trump.

Tens of millions of dollars promised to Michigan for electric vehicle charging programs are among the federal grants in peril after President Trump ordered agencies to "immediately pause" payments.

The U.S. Joint Office of Energy and Transportation has awarded funding to 25 projects, to advance the use of electrified urban transportation. The money is intended to expand at-home charging and electrified fleets.

As many as 350 electric vehicle charging stations could go in to State University of New York campuses as a result of $15 million in recently announced federal funding. The stations will be spread across its 64 campuses.

California saw some of its steepest reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector, which has long been the single largest source of climate-warming pollution. Meanwhile, its economy grew.

Nearly $2.3 million from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy will help Lawrence Technological University devise automated systems to disassemble consumer and electric vehicle batteries.

A massive car-charging plaza is being developed in California, while Colorado is moving forward with a high-speed charging network. And the electric vehicle industry is gravitating toward a single charging standard.

Officials from the Joint Office of Energy and Transportation offered measured hope and little guarantees during a recent discussion that the federal government would remain committed to advancing adoption of electric vehicles.

It’s possible the automaker’s throttling back on its robotaxi endeavor will come to be seen as a missed opportunity. But it’s definitely a sign self-driving electrified vehicles are a more complex, expensive challenge to realize than may have been thought.

As part of Gov. Wes Moore’s $90 million climate pledge to cut emissions, school districts can receive grants for up to 85 percent of the incremental price of purchasing qualified electric school buses.

A Bus2Grid project in Illinois will not only send electric school buses to 13 school districts, but enable them to discharge unneeded power back to the district, or an electric utility, when needed.

The city’s Parks, Recreation and Cultural Services Advisory Board has approved a policy to expand electric bike access on city trails, but an official City Council decision won’t come until February.

The Maine Department of Education has advised that districts park their Lion Electric Co. buses until further inspections, given mechanical and service problems arising with many district fleets.

Electrathon clubs like the one at East Central High School in San Antonio teach STEM concepts involved with electric vehicles by challenging students to build and race their own battery-powered mini cars.

The funding, via a Fleet-ZERO grant from the Colorado Energy Office, will help pay for the city’s internal Electric Vehicle Action Plan and enable the transition to EVs and their supporting infrastructure.

The endeavor, on the University of California, Los Angeles campus, is intended to make charging seamless. Its infrastructure, to be in place by the 2028 Summer Olympic Games, could be used by numerous transit operators.

Seven states have passed mandates requiring buses be replaced with electric models to reduce air pollution and dependence on fossil fuels. But the journey to modernizing a fleet can be expensive and complicated.