February News

by | Feb 1, 2018 | Industry News

California Governor Jerry Brown signed an ambitious executive order calling for 5 million zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2030. The new goal was announced as part of his State of the State speech where he also proposed meeting the electric car target with a $2.5 billion investment over the next eight years to subsidize charging and hydrogen fueling stations as well as vehicle purchases. A recent study found that California should be able to meet the targets.

Greening a fleet can be costly, but there are smaller steps that can be taken which help make an environment impact. From purchasing smaller, fuel efficient vehicles, to purchasing electric vehicles, to introducing biofuels, cost efficient steps have been taken by many fleets. Click here to find out what fleets are doing to reduce their environmental impact in a cost-efficient manner.

Nuro, a Silicon Valley startup, is launching an electric vehicle that doesn’t have doors or windows to speak of, because it will be carrying packages—not people.  Nuro is ignoring humans altogether and steering for Amazon.com Inc., United Parcel Service Inc. and any retailer looking to build its e-commerce business. Nuro’s delivery pod weighs about 1,500 pounds, with most of that mass packed into a battery pack that powers its electric motor. It’s roughly the same length and height as a conventional SUV, but only 3.5 feet wide. There is a glass windshield, mostly just to keep other drivers from freaking out. Customers will have to go to the vehicle to pick up their delivery, but that may eventually involve a robot.

An autonomous vehicle is being tested on a street in Northern California. Startup udelv recently finished a public road test of its autonomous, last-mile delivery vehicle along a stretch of road near Draeger’s Market in San Mateo, Calif. Like Nuro, the vehicles will be used for deliveries, with the customers opening a locker in the vehicle by a code on their mobile devices. The company plans to test dozens of udelv vehicles on the roads in a few states within a short timeframe and eventually use a subscription-based business model to roll out its vehicle fleet.