London is the first city to use Ford-designed all-electric ambulances. In addition to the 12 new electric ambulances, the city already uses 42 Ford Mach-E emergency vehicles as part of its $39M investment to make its emergency vehicles more environmentally friendly.
Vans...so hot right now. Ram's first EV in the US is the ProMaster van. It's essentially a city delivery van with a cargo option, 162-mile range, and 268 horsepower. The van will play a role in Stellantis' "50% electric by 2030" US goal by competing in the sub-market against the Ford Transit and the Rivian delivery van because, let's face it, a contract with Amazon is worth more than getting families to soccer practice.
Ok, look, we all know the government tries to not waste money and always does. In contrast, businesses try to make money and usually do, so the fact they are both flirting with electrifying their fleets means... ?
Hydrogen, Hybrids, Sodium-Ion, and Solid-State. There is no shortage of ideas that could make our current lithium-ion limitation era a flash in the pan on the grand mobility timeline.
Why the delay? Well, getting the combination of materials correct is tricky. Some have called it the "Holy Grail" of electric mobility. You get a fuller picture if you think of that scene in Indiana Jones.
You may think Elon Musk is the only one making choices for Tesla, but actually, he currently owns about 13% of the company's stock. Now, the current "Formerly Twitter" owner says he needs to bump that up to about 25% to properly facilitate Tesla's dreams of becoming a main name in AI.
Why? He says some of the stakeholders aren't at stake when decisions are made (Great pun, Chris. Thanks, Chris 🙏). Musk says if Tesla is going to realize its destiny as an AI/Robotics company, he needs more power, while remaining “overrulable”, of course.
The Hertz EV sell-off will send a ripple through the used car market. We talked last week about the car rental company selling 20K EVs due to the high repair cost and low demand among renters.
Since most of the soon-to-be re-homed EVs are Teslas with high mileage and cosmetic damage, the prices aren't expected to be up to snuff with those in the used EV market, which will drive used values down overall.
Love people more opportunity? Start letting them know when you call to buy their car that the prices may drop soon. So if you can, sell now and buy later.
Lightyear, named for its focus on solar EVs, is giving up on solar EVs. The company will shift efforts from bringing its Lightyear 0 and Lightyear 2 to market and instead work to develop onboard solar charging systems for other OEMs.
Now, Aptera Motors has the solar EV market mostly to itself, but it is also dealing with the oldest enemy in business — being broker than a glow stick at a rave in a cave.