Electric Vehicles

A young company that formed during the pandemic and chose the Denver area as its base has big ambitions: to become the entire world’s leading supplier of advanced electric motors.

The city has taken a big step as it transitions to a clean public transit system. The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority has become the operator of the largest electrified bus depot in the state, Gov. Kathy Hochul said.

VIA Metropolitan Transit is working with Centro San Antonio and the University of Texas at San Antonio to bring VIA Link Zone ride-hailing to the downtown area. It debuted Monday and features electric and conventionally powered vehicles.

Two recent cycling deaths in the western part of the state have prompted police to focus on educating riders, drivers and pedestrians on laws governing electric bicycles. Advocates say safety precautions are everyone’s responsibility.

The grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation will help pay for dozens of new electric vehicle charging stations. Locations will include city parks, parking garages, and curbsides. The money will have city and utility matching funds.

A report assessed two North Carolina projects piloting low-speed autonomous shuttles, stood up by partners including the state Department of Transportation. It found the vehicles still have significant limitations.

The city has invested $15.4 million in climate projects since the 2021 adoption of the Mesa Climate Action Plan. Officials have purchased 71 electric work trucks, and have 19 more electric vehicles on order.

Electric vehicle incentives in two Western states are structured with particular buyers in mind and aimed at larger policy goals like reducing harmful particulate matter air pollution.

The San Bernardino County Transit Authority recently presented the first zero-emission passenger train in the U.S., the Zero Emission Multiple Unit, in California. It should begin serving a nine-mile transit line early next year.

A startup that is out to electrify recreational vehicles expects to start commercial production before the end of the year in its new facility in Broomfield’s Baseline Innovation District.

A leading manufacturer of sodium-ion batteries is poised to receive state incentives there as it promises to invest around $1.4 billion to build a factory on a long-dormant megasite in Edgecombe County, N.C.

Clean energy and transportation goals could get a boost from the charged atmosphere around preparation for the next Olympics, in Los Angeles. Advocates say much remains to be done to electrify vehicles and infrastructure.

Research from CivicPulse shows many of the 1,219 U.S. counties with no public electric vehicle charging infrastructure are mostly rural with fewer than 25,000 residents. But more populous counties, too, lack chargers.

The EV market is in turmoil and its future is uncertain as consumer demand for electric vehicles is lagging the sales goals, and the automakers are pulling back investment in their production.

The West Virginia DOT wants to choose one vendor to build and maintain the first phase of the state’s charging stations, funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law by President Biden.

The money, delivered Wednesday by a Congressional representative, comes amid struggles at an electric school bus factory, from complications with a federal subsidy rollout. It will go toward five zero-emission buses in Calumet City.

Lower EV values — combined with higher government incentives — could open the opportunity to a wider demographic of buyers to try EVs as manufacturers work to meet government sales mandates.

A poll of 600 likely voters in the November general election found more than half felt it important for the state to become the center of electric vehicle manufacturing — but only about one-quarter would consider buying an EV.