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Electric Mobility Monthly


November 2019

Welcome to the November edition of Forth's monthly newsletter! 

There has been no shortage of announcements and vehicle debuts this month – both Ford and Tesla presented new models, and we have exciting news on public charging infrastructure in Los Angeles, rebates and incentives to trade up to electric in San Diego, plus developments in heavy-duty autonomous trucks and e-schoolbuses from Daimler. 

And if that wasn't enough, Forth was voted #16 in the 100 best nonprofit to work for in Oregon!

We hope you enjoy the news and we always love hearing your feedback. Keep track of what we’re up to on the Forth website.

Ford's Mach-E Mustang

And it’s here. Ford’s rumored Mach-E, an electric crossover based on the Mustang brand, debuted at the Los Angeles Auto show. With a sticker price of $45000 and a range of up to 300 miles, the Mach E heralds Ford’s entry into the realm of serious design to appeal to drivers looking for quality, affordability and efficiency.
 
“We’ve pushed all our chips to the middle of the table,” company chairman, William C. Ford Jr., said in an interview with the New York Times. “I hope this will show we are now deadly serious about electrification.”

“The five-seat S.U.V. borrows some of the features that Tesla has pioneered,” the Times notes.  “Most of the interior controls are on a large touch screen on the center console, and Ford said it would be able to add or improve features through over-the-air software updates.”

As SUVs and crossovers have emerged as highest in consumer demand, increasingly, automakers are weaning themselves from smaller, more economical sedans. Thus electric car manufacturers see it as essential to address the demands of their consumers and produce the kind of vehicle they desire.
 
Buyers will be able to take advantage of the federal tax credit of $7500 on the Ford, while Tesla’s eligibility expires on January 1, as they’ve sold over 200,000 vehicles, the benchmark for each automaker to provide the credit.

Lights, Charging, Action!


The availability of charging infrastructure, particularly for anyone without convenient access to home charging, removes a significant obstacle and concern for many considering an electric car.
 
The city of Los Angeles has helped address this issue by installing 130 EV chargers to streetlight poles throughout the city with an additional 150 coming each year, according to electrek.

The city has over 200,000 street lights throughout the city. The use of the poles removes the difficulty of adding equipment to sidewalks. The city’s conversion of the lights to LED fixtures allowed for the ability to use the poles for charging sources.
 
Los Angeles' Department of Transportation also recently announced the purchase of 130 electric buses for its public transportation fleet from Forth member, BYD.
 
The buses are BYD K7M models with a 150-mile range, room for 22 passengers and can be charged in three hours. Los Angeles has set a goal of having a zero-emission transportation fleet by 2030 and to have all city-owned vehicles zero-emission by 2050.
 
BYD states that the buses will reduce greenhouse gas emissions 81% compared to the current compressed natural gas vehicles currently in use, according to Clean Technica.

Daimler Accelerates Autonomous Trucks

Daimler Trucks North America is increasingly bullish in its expectations for autonomous trucks. 
 
“The vehicles spend around 80% of their time on high-speed freeways, 10% on regular highways, and just 10% getting to their final destinations,” said spokesman Bernhard Weidemann in an interview with Fortune describing why the technology presents an easier engineering challenge to tackle than cars or taxis in urban areas. 

Forth recently collaborated with Daimler at their headquarters for a networking event on Daimler's vision for an electric future. We explored the future of heavy-duty electrification and how it will shape manufacturing in Oregon.

DTNA’s Electric Mobility Group discussed future strategies for managing the increasingly heavy electrical load, and Alex Voets, eMobility Product Marketing and Sales Strategy Manager at Daimler Trucks North America, highlighted use cases and deployment of battery-electric trucks. 

Slides from the company's presentation on their path toward electrifying heavy-duty trucks can be seen here

Thomas Buses Go Electric

Adding to its portfolio of heavy-duty electric vehicles, Daimler Trucks North America’s subsidiary, Thomas Built Buses, announced the launch of its Electric Bus Authority program this month. They will provide guidance and consultation with school districts as they navigate the steps to electrifying their bus fleets from route analysis, to charging, financing and funding.
 
“Transitioning to an electric vehicle fleet is both rewarding and complex,” said Caley Edgerly, president and CEO of Thomas Built Buses. “Thomas Built Buses is proud to provide districts with a clear path for understanding whether an electric school bus fleet is right for them, as well as the tools and expertise they will need to make their EV fleet come to fruition.”
 
Thomas’ Saf-T-Liner C2-Jouley electric bus runs emissions-free, uses no fossil fuels has a 120-mile range and can charge in three hours.

San Diego Offers Cash Incentives for Electric Cars 

San Diego drivers interested in upgrading to an electric car can qualify for incentives of up to $9,500 to replace their combustion engine vehicles with zero emissions cars.
 
As part of the state’s Clean Cars 4 All program, created to get high-emission vehicles off the streets, residents can receive vouchers to use for the purchase of cleaner cars or for public transportation, car-sharing and bike-sharing programs.
 
“This is gonna help make San Diego a greener city and county by ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to get into an electric car,” said Dan Jacobson, director of the environmental advocacy group, Environment California, in an interview with The San Diego Union-Tribune.
 
The program is for both new or used electric cars, where the impact can be very significant. Jacobson pointed out that a used Nissan Leaf can go for roughly $13,000m, but with the rebates, the final cost to the consumer could be as low as $4000.
 
Forth and our partners developed a similar program in Oregon, which passed through state legislation in 2017. The Charge Ahead rebate offers qualifying buyers up to $5000 in rebates for the purchase of a new or used electric car, in addition to the $7500 federal tax credit available. Forth has been contracted to promote the Charge Ahead rebate throughout the state in the coming year. 
More information can be found here.

International Micromobility

Uber is partnering with Cityscoot, the French e-moped sharing company. Now Parisians can use the Uber app to book rides on the 4000+ mopeds throughout the city. The company notes that this is part of Uber’s plan to become an all-encompassing transportation hub for consumers – from scooters to e-bikes, e-mopeds and cars, depending upon trip length. Rides cost about 30 cents a minute.
 
Meanwhile, Romans are getting another shot at bike-sharing. Uber has installed 2,800 of its Jump electric bikes in the Italian capital. An article in the New York Times, notes that previous experiments there with bike services weren’t well-received, due to issues of theft and vandalism. But Uber seems confident that the quality of the Jump bikes will lead to success. And they have the support of the city’s mayor, Virginia Raggi.

“If we don’t want these bikes to be badly treated, guess who it is up to?” Ms. Raggi said. “Romans themselves are the first defense against degradation.”


The bikes cost 50 cents to unlock and then 20 cents for every minute of use. 

Rome previously cracked down on Uber’s car ridesharing services in the city, ultimately limiting them only to the luxury service, Uber Black, in response to strikes by traditional taxi drivers, which led to Italian courts outlawing the service as anticompetitive.

Auto Dealers Grind Gears on Electric Car Sales

Since the introduction of mass-market electric cars, limited availability, new technology, and lower profitability for sales staff have made it challenging for many traditional auto dealers to sell electric cars.

A recent Sierra Club Report report finds that while the sales of electric vehicles rose 81 percent from 2017 to 2018, and that two-thirds of consumers expressed an interest in electric cars for their next auto purchase, many dealerships are still not up to speed. In particular, they do not offer a wide variety of electric cars on their lots and the salespeople are not familiar enough with the cars to sell them properly.

According to the report, up to 74 percent of U.S. dealerships do not carry electric vehicles, and in the ones that do, salespeople were unclear on charging technology or incentives available. In 10 percent of dealerships, when there were electric cars on hand, they weren’t appropriately charged for test drives. 43 percent of dealerships had no more than two electric cars on display and only nine percent had more than 10.
 
Forth is working diligently with dealerships to help them increase electric car sales by making it easier to communicate the benefits of these vehicles, the incentives available to consumers, and the simplicity of charging.

Travel Oregon By Electric Car 

Forth and Travel Oregon, the state's official tourism resource, collaborated on a video and photoshoot promoting the various locations people can explore the state via an electric car. 

In it, Jeff Allen, Forth's executive director, discusses how Forth and Travel Oregon partnered to provide rebates on charging infrastructure to tourism-related businesses in small towns throughout the state so they could offering charging at their locations to encourage and accommodate visitors traveling by electric car.  

Tesla's Cybertruck and Gigafactory

Tesla is good at many things, not least of which is dominating media cycles with announcements and products. This month they've made significant headlines with their latest earnings report, sending the stock up considerably. They also announced plans for a new production factory in Berlin and most recently debuted their version of the electric pickup called the "Cybertruck." 

The name is apt as it looks more like a sci-fi police or military vehicle, the likes of which would be found in a Blade Runner or Batman film. 


The New York Times reports that the truck is available in three models, ranging from $49,000 to $69,000 with single, dual and tri-motor options. The higher-end model offers a 500-mile range. 

“Trucks have been the same for a very long time,” Musk said. “We want to try something different.”

In that, they have definitely succeeded. 
 

EVS33 Sponsorship Opportunities

Thinking about exhibiting at EVS? Maximize your visibility and save big when you reserve your exhibit space by November 30th. 

Forth is offering organizations that sponsor or exhibit at EVS33 and join Forth 25% off your first year's membership dues

There's a range of opportunities to gain visibility for your organization - view the EVS33 Partnership Prospectus here

Registration is open – buy your ticket before prices go up. Show your support for Forth by using attendee code "EVS33FORTH" when you register. 

And remember that Forth's Roadmap Conference is part of this year's EVS conference. Attendees have access to both events with your registration. We'll be presenting multiple panels, workshops, and an exciting public day event. We're working with our local host committee to present the finest of the Pacific Northwest's world-class technology, environments and businesses. 

Upcoming dates: 
February 28: Deadline for registration and payment by presenters of accepted abstracts
March 20: Submission deadline for final papers.
For questions about our member discount and EVS33 contact Ashley Duplanty, Forth's International Marketing Manager. 

New & Renewing Members

DKS Associates
Gordon Hoffman
TriMet 
Bruce Nyden
Mobility Cubed


 
Razor USA LLC
Sierra Club National
Mercedes Benz
CleanFuture

 

VISIT OUR WEBSITE FOR A COMPLETE LIST OF MEMBERS

Upcoming Events

Tuesday, Dec. 10
Webinar 

Reviewing 2019 and Looking Forward to 2020
Online
10 am – 11 am 

                    

Wednesday, Dec. 18
Networking Event 

Annual Holiday Celebration and Food Drive!
Portland, OR.
4 pm – 6 pm 

Partner 
Events

Monday, Dec. 2
Conference
Clean & Affordable Energy Conference
Seattle, WA 
9 am – 7 pm
Questions or Comments?  Send them our way!  Email info@forthmobility.org or call 503.724.8670.

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