Tag Archives: battery electric vehicles

Petroleum Equivalency Factor Change Slows EV Adoption

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final greenhouse gas and criteria pollutant rules for light-duty vehicles covering model years 2027-2032 is about to be to be announced. It’s part of a tangled maze of regulations from multiple federal and state agencies affecting automakers and ultimately consumers in the US, often referred in shorthand as CAFE – corporate average fuel economy.

In the latest development, The Department of Energy last year proposed decreasing the so-called “petroleum-equivalent fuel economy factor” (PEF) for EVs by 72% in 2027. The Petroleum Equivalency Factor expresses electric vehicle efficiency as equivalent-miles-per-gallon of gasoline for purposes of the EPA’s calculation of manufacturers’ compliance with NHTSA’s CAFE regulations. DOE is responsible for establishing the value of the PEF. With a final rule, issued yesterday,  the PEF will be established for model years beginning in 2027. It slows forcing EV adaption, and in AutoInformed’s view this is a good thing. Continue reading

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Automaker Profits Post-Covid Hiding Supplier Weakness

The continued trend delivers a “complex backdrop for an industry committing $526 billion through 2026,” AlixPartners’ analysis finds, to fund the shift to battery-electric vehicles (BEVs). The transition, now taking place amid a weakening economic outlook, could cost automakers and suppliers $70 billion if not effectively managed, the analysis finds. There are several implications for consumers here – not all of them benign. Continue reading

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Battery Electric Vehicles – Future or Folly?

Our friends at Consultancy LMC Automotive ask: “What’s next for the automotive industry? A broad question, but the most common answer is likely to be electrification.” Continue reading

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Bedfellow Alert! Toyota and Suzuki in India

Since February 6, 2017, when Toyota and Suzuki concluded a memorandum toward business partnership, the two companies have been exploring projects for collaboration. Continue reading

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Ford Dropping Car Business – Reallocating $7B in Capital

It’s time for Ford to reorganize yet again. This time around it’s as radical a turnaround plan as ever seen in Dearborn with Ford essentially ceding the car market to other major auto makers and reallocating the $7 billion saved to bets – with wildly uncertain odds – in the connected car and autonomous car areas, as well as the newly emerging interactive road system. Continue reading

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Hybrid Vehicle Sales Slump! EV Demand Overhyped?

Data continue to show that widely publicized green vehicles, notably hybrid vehicles whose sales are in a slump, and electric vehicles just now starting sales are losing popularity among potential buyers. The latest evidence of a hybrid sales slump comes from CNW Research in a report that suggests consumers are increasingly less willing to spend additional money for a hybrid than a conventional gasoline car or truck of the same size and use. Continue reading

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