Noting the climate, economic, jobs and health benefits it would bring, today nine nations on four continents agreed to work collaboratively to grow zero-emission commercial vehicle manufacturing, infrastructure and deployment at home and globally.
Applying the Pareto Principle to Benefit the Planet: in the US, the transportation sector is at the top of a list of polluters inclusive of agriculture, industry, commercial, residential and electricity. Within transportation itself, it’s the light-duty, medium- and heavy-duty vehicles that are responsible for 82% of GHG, while the others combined contribute just 18%.
One April 28th, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) released the final draft of the Advanced Clean Trucks standard, a policy that will require truck manufacturers to make electric trucks. The proposal’s release kicks off a 30-day public comment period leading up to a Board vote on June 25-26.
Sadly, big polluters are exploiting the COVID-19 pandemic to attack vital environmental rules by pressuring government agencies for regulatory delays, rollbacks, or weaken enforcement. One target of their lobbying is the ongoing Advanced Clean Truck rulemaking, which would put clean, zero-emission trucks on California’s roads starting in 2024.
The Greater Los Angeles Region, home to almost half of all Californians, is aiming to meet pollution and carbon emission goals by targeting 80% EV market share by 2028, in time for the LA Olympics. 30% of the private vehicle fleet of around 15 million vehicles will be EVs.
The California Clean Vehicle Rebate Project provides a rebate of up to $7,000 when a California resident who is eligible for the program buys or leases a new all-electric, plug-in hybrid, or fuel-cell electric vehicle.
A new study on the hazardous gas emissions from the calamitous 2015 blowout of the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage facility, near Porter Ranch, CA, has found that apart from methane, a group of other hazardous pollutants escaped into the air, affecting many residents in the area. The study calls for air monitoring at underground gas storage facilities nationwide, potentially affecting thousands of sites around the country.
EVgo has become the first EV charging network in the United States to contract 100% of the energy needed to power its customers with renewable energy this week. This was made possible thanks to a host of new renewable energy purchase contracts and Renewable Energy Credit purchases that all of the electricity consumed by customers on its charging network directly support renewable energy generation.
Grants for EV charging stations for multi-resident buildings and workplaces will be available later this year in San Mateo County, CA, under a $16 million program — the largest in the state thus far — aimed at accelerating the adoption and use of EVs in the area.
California-based Motiv Power Systems has delivered the first of seven fully electric mid-sized delivery vans to the United States Postal Service this week as part of a California Air Resources Board-funded program.
