Happy Thursday! My colleagues in Denver have been dealing with 0-degree mornings this week. The great news is, their EV will be nice and warm before they leave the house and start their day. Can you do that with your ICE vehicle? Nothing like some cold leather seats on a 0-degree day. Brr.
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Electric Vehicles
Envirotech Vehicles is opening an electric vehicle manufacturer in Osceola, Arkansas. The mayor of the town hopes the facility will bring around 800 jobs to the plant to assist in the production of electric urban trucks, electric logistics vans, electric cutaway vans for school districts, public and private transportation companies, and last-mile fleets.
In other EV News
- Mercedes-Benz plans to have factories producing exclusively electric vehicles by the end of the decade based on market demand. Mercedes plans to be flexible with its plants and won’t completely convert to EV-only factories as they want to be able to shift with market demands.
- Cars.com editors voted on the best electric vehicle of 2022 based on criteria like ride quality, charging speed, and overall excellence. The winner? 2022 Tesla Model Y. Runner-ups included the 2022 Ford Mustang Mach-E and the 2022 Volvo XC40 Recharge Twin.
- Ireland plans to put one million EVs on the road by 2030. However, this may be a huge challenge for manufacturers unless the government provides incentives and makes a deliberate effort to remove gas-powered cars in Ireland.
- In order to plant permanent seeds in the EV industry, Ford wants to separate their electric operations from its ICE manufacturing systems. The goal is to have a similar status to EV manufacturers such as Tesla. Ford plans on producing 600k EVs annually in two years and aims for half its sales to be derived from EVs by 2030.
Autonomous Snapshots
Airbags inside autonomous vehicles don’t make any sense, right? That’s why Autoliv, an autonomous safety systems developer, has teamed up with Nuro on its electric AV and created an exterior airbag. The goal is to protect road users like pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists, which account for more than half of the world’s traffic fatalities.
In Other AV News
- ServCity’s research project to test autonomous vehicles, basing their model on the Nissan Leaf, has begun in the streets of London. Through this test trial, ServCity hopes to demonstrate how cities can exploit the potential of future mobility solutions and accelerate their deployment.
- GM has submitted their driverless Cruise Origin to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for permission to deploy a commercialized version in the U.S. Production is expected to begin late this year, with deliveries beginning in 2023.
- Volkswagen wants to buy Huawei’s self-driving business in hopes of leveling competition with Tesla’s autonomous technology. No details have been revealed on potential pricing.
- GM’s new autonomous concept vehicle, the InnerSpace, provides riders with a two-seater luxury vehicle. The interior is equipped with a panoramic glass roof, a reclining loveseat, and a wraparound LED screen where riders can access entertainment, wellness recovery, and augmented reality en route to their location. Are we becoming the Jetsons?
- Writers for The Star tested Waymo's self-driving taxis in San Francisco. The verdict? We were pretty pleased with their review but read the piece here to decide for yourself.