Cruise Origin pushing the boundaries: Cruise, General Motor’s self-driving vehicle unit, last week in San 
Francisco launched the Cruise Origin, a large battery-electric autonomous shuttle van that can carry up to six passengers. All of this without a steering wheel or a brake pedal — but it still needs to be cleared by government officials. GM and Cruise are waiting for an exemption from the Federal Motor Vehicle safety standards that would allow the companies to test vehicles without these manual controls. If that gets approved, GM will be able to deploy up to 2,500 robs-taxis a year through its own Uber-competitive ride-sharing business. The US Dept. of Transportation is taking a hands-off approach to regulation on the national level. Elaine Chao, the US transportation secretary, says that this was going to be left to the companies developing these vehicles to self-regulate.
Corporate EV fleet alliance: Amazon, AT&T, Clif Bar, Consumers Energy, DHL, Direct Energy, Genentech, IKEA North America, LeasePlan, Lime, and Siemens are leading a campaign for an expanded electric vehicle market and improved policy landscape through the Corporate Electric Vehicle Alliance, led by Ceres, a sustainability nonprofit organization. The alliance is focused on decarbonizing transportation to tackle the climate crisis. The group is promoting the benefits of transitioning over to electrified fleets — cost savings on fuel and maintenance, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, freedom from reliance on volatile oil and gas prices, improved driver safety, enhanced company reputation, and bolstered workforce recruitment and retention. Amazon’s purchase of 100,000 Rivian electric delivery vans, and a commitment to deliver 50% of shipments with net zero carbon by 2030, is part of the “climate pledge” the member companies are taking, according to Amazon.
Top Selling US Electric Vehicles in 2019
1. Tesla Model 3: 300,471
2. Tesla Model S: 157,992
3. Chevrolet Volt: 157,054
4. Nissan Leaf: 141,907
5. Toyota Prius Prime: more than 109,003 (by September 2019)
6. Tesla Model X: 85,077
7. Ford Fusion Energi: more than 66,679 (by September 2019)
8. Chevrolet Bolt EV: 58,313
9. Ford C-Max Energi: 42,231
10. BMW i3: 41,988
The Tesla Model 3 continues to dominate electric vehicle sales in the US, at nearly double the volume sold of the Tesla Model S and the Chevrolet Volt. The Volt went out of production in the spring and will be running out of inventory available for sale soon as new vehicles. The Model S finally overtook the retiring Volt in December. The Toyota Prius Prime and Ford Fusion Energi will later include more sales units recorded for the year, as these numbers only went through the end of September. Through the end of October, the Model 3 was the top selling EV in the world, followed by the BAIC EU-Series, BYD Yuan/S2 EV, Nissan Leaf, and Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV. Another report shows a steep drop for the Tesla Model 3 in The Netherlands, Norway, and Spain, compared to December; however, details on overall EV and new vehicle sales during that time period were not available in this analysis piece.
GAM readership changes: Green Auto Market has switched over to Mailchimp, bringing over only a list of readers who’ve opened and read the newsletter recently. For those interested in joining the list, the subscriber link on the right column has been reactivated. And you can follow GAM and its editor on Twitter (both the publication and my page), LinkedIn, and Facebook.
RNG study: Navigant Research just released a study on the growth boom in renewable natural gas. It includes it within the global biogas market, which is expected to continue to grow with a large and relatively established market in Europe and a rapidly growing market in Asia Pacific. Government incentives are making a big difference. “Transportation mandates such as the US Renewable Fuel Standard and California Low Carbon Fuel Standard have been instrumental in the RNG market,” according to the report.
DOE funding announcements: The US Department of Energy (DOE) will offer an investment of nearly $300 million in funding for research and development of sustainable transportation resources and technologies through the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). These Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs) will be issued on behalf of the three sustainable transportation offices: Vehicles, Fuel Cells, and Bioenergy Technology Offices. EERE’s Advanced Manufacturing Office (AMO) will provide funding support under two of the FOAs that will catalyze research, development, and adoption of energy-related advanced manufacturing technologies and practices to drive U.S. economic competitiveness and energy productivity. Topic areas within this FOA address priorities in advanced batteries and electrification; advanced engine and fuel technologies, including technologies for off-road applications; lightweight materials; new mobility technologies (energy efficient mobility systems), and alternative fuels technology demonstrations. The DOE’s H2@Scale initiative investment will support innovative hydrogen concepts that will encourage market expansion and increase the scale of hydrogen production, storage, transport, and use, including heavy-duty trucks, data centers, and steel production. In a separate announcement, the DOE said it will provide funding of about $96 million for bioenergy research and development. One project will be focused on reducing the price of drop-in biofuels, lowering the cost of biopower, and enabling high-value products from biomass or waste resources.
LCFS verification: California Air Resources Board has set up its Low Carbon Fuel Standard verifier accreditation training program. The LCFS relies on accurate data monitoring, reporting, and verification to ensure the highest quality data are used in the program. In 2018, CARB approved amendments to add third-party verification requirements consistent with the verification programs under Mandatory Reporting and California’s Cap-and-Trade Programs, and international best practices. The LCFS verification program provides confidence and reliability in reported data for stakeholders, market participants, and the public. You can research accreditations on the LCFS Verification program webpage.
Volvo plug-in vehicles: Volvo Cars has started taking orders for its XC40 Recharge P8 AWD, the company’s first all-electric car based on the best-selling SUV, in selected markets. The company said its already received several thousands of pre-orders well ahead of availability of the vehicle. The Swedish automaker has a very big goal to make battery-electric vehicles 50 percent of global sales by 2025, with the rest having hybrid variations. The company sold nearly 46,000 plug-in hybrids last year, a 23 percent increase over 2018. In Q4 2019, plug-in hybrids made up more than 20 percent of all its vehicles sold in Europe.
