The state of California approved a plan to phase out diesel-powered medium and heavy-duty trucks in 2036. Get all the latest auto industry news in the Executive Briefing.
Today’s headlines:
+ General Motors plans to invest $200 million at the site of the Palace of Auburn Hills, former home of the Detroit Pistons, to build a supply facility to support the Orion EV assembly plant. More at The Detroit News.
+ According to documents submitted to the EPA, Mercedes will send a W214 E-Class station wagon and a CLE-class coupe and convertible to the U.S. market in 2024. More at Car and Driver.
+ Stellantis announced the winners of its 11th annual Drive for Design contest for young car designers, with high-schooler Rocco Morales of Northville, Michigan taking top honors. More at ClassicCars.com Journal.
+ Hendrick Motorsports president Jeff Andrews says there will be no changes in team policies after two drivers, Chase Elliot and Alex Bowman, were sidelined by injuries outside NASCAR this year. More at Racer.
+ BMW has filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a system to allow drivers to adjust throttle mapping and torque delivery to alter the performance of their EVs. More at Motor Authority.
+ A paper published by SAE International has determined that electric vehicles fall further short of their EPA mileage estimates than their gasoline-powered counterparts. More at InsideEVs.
+ California regulators approved new rules requiring all medium and heavy-duty trucks sold in the state in 2036 to be zero-emission, effectively phasing out the sale of diesels. More at Reuters.
+ A 23 year-old Long Island woman was arrested for driving 95 mph in a 55 mph zone, whereupon it was discovered that she already had 67 citations and 65 license suspensions. More at NBC New York.
+ Former Kawasaki executive Yoji “George” Hamawaki, who established American Kawasaki Motors in 1966 and brought the H1 and Z1 motorcycles to the USA, has died. More at Motorcycle Powersports News.
+ The FIA said it will take “immediate steps” to prevent the “very dangerous scenario” caused by driver Esteban Ocon’s mandatory pit stop at the finish of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. More at Autosport.
Photo courtesy of Kenworth.
Review the previous MCG Executive Briefing from April 28 here.
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I believe the class 8 truck market will be dominated by BEVs before 2036.
Without a change in the way truck transportation operates, it will not happen. EV’s can’t do the same job as diesels in long haul trucking. Short haul and intercity operation, maybe. There isn’t enough energy in the grid to support total electric transportation, nor will there ever be in most of our lifetimes. It would take a generating station at each truck stop to charge up every truck. To change to a system where loads would be carried a short distance then swapped to another truck to go to the next handoff might work, but would cost the carriers billions of dollars to implement, something they are not going to do. They would have to increase freight rates 10X to what they are now, maybe even more, just to break even. When fossil fuel transportation is outlawed, food shortages will be soon to follow, along with other goods, which by the way, all are transported on trucks somewhere in the journey from producer to consumer. And electric trains aren’t going to work, either. I’ve never seen a train in behind a grocery store unloading food!
In time, this may all come to pass, but no need to have these knee jerk decisions to end fossil fuels at a certain date. Allow the markets to decide, the technicians the time to perfect things, and people will make the right decisions. Stop the sky is falling rhetoric and put the actual facts out there, not those influenced by one political party or the other.
This is a fairy tale.. Forcing an all electric fleet on the American electric is a disaster waiting to happen.