Most recent 40 articles: Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles
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Oil Refineries: A Deadly Industry - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Sep 26) |
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Sep 26 · Many of us have driven by a refinery and witnessed the sprawling and dystopic-looking installations that produce the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel that power our vehicles, and other petroleum products such as asphalt for our roads. You might have smelled the invisible toxic pollutants in the air and rolled up your car windows. Tragically, many refineries are located near highways and places where people live, work, go to school and do errands. Many people, including refinery workers, have no choice but to breathe that foul air day after day, year after year.
While some who drive past these refineries don’t have to live near them or work in them, those who do can be harmed by ... Read more ...
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Delivery Vans Are Going Electric: Where and Why - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Sep 17) |
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Sep 17 · Let’s start this one with some good news: the transition toward clean freight is picking up speed. Over the past few years, we’ve started to see more and more zero-emission commercial trucks, delivery vans, and buses hit the road. The much-needed evolution of our on-road freight system to one that’s cleaner and more equitable is gaining momentum – and not a moment too soon.
Medium- and heavy-duty vehicles (MHDVs), like the big rigs on our highways and the vans that deliver our packages, make up just over 1 in 10 of the vehicles on our roads, but are responsible for over half of ozone-forming nitrogen oxide pollution and lung-damaging fine particulate pollution from on-road ... Read more ...
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Has Gasoline Use in California Peaked? - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Sep 10) |
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Sep 10 · Despite adding six million more passenger cars, trucks, and SUVs to the roads over the last 10 years, California’s gasoline consumption has dropped over two billion gallons from its peak in 2005. More efficient (and cleaner) gasoline cars are part of the reason why gasoline use is down, but the increasing number of electric vehicles being sold in the state will likely drive gasoline use down even further.Switching from fossil fuels like gasoline to increasingly clean electricity sources is vital for hitting climate and air pollution goals. This trend is clear, but this transition away from petroleum needs to speed up to reduce emissions as fast as possible. At the same time, we need ... Read more ...
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Electric School Buses: The Best Choice for Our Kids and Communities - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Aug 20) |
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Aug 20 · The iconic yellow school bus is a familiar sight on our streets no matter where you live in the US, transporting millions of kids safely to and from school every day. While the color of school buses is still the same old yellow that it was when I was going to elementary school, there’s been a lot of changes going on under the hood recently. It turns out school buses are at the leading edge of the transition to electric heavy-duty vehicles. This is great news for our kids, our communities and our climate.
But just in case there was any doubt, UCS crunched the numbers to compare the different types of school buses from gasoline and diesel-powered option, to natural gas, electric ... Read more ...
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Can EV Batteries Be Used Again? - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Aug 13) |
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Aug 13 · This blog was written in coordination with Ellie Peichel at Plug In America.
The number of electric vehicles (EVs) on our roads has been increasing at an exceptional rate, reaching 9.5 million EVs sold around the world in 2023. The EV transition offers many advantages, including the ability to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector.
At the end of an EV’s 10-15 year lifespan, the lithium-ion batteries powering the vehicle typically retain about 70-80 percent of their original capacity. At this point, there are several great options for the battery: it can be reused, repurposed, or recycled. Battery reuse includes using batteries in a ... Read more ...
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My Drama-Free EV Road Trip Through New York’s Wild North - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Jul 23) |
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Jul 23 · On a Monday in June, I got my first electric vehicle. Two days later, I took it on my first EV road trip: A 6-hour, 370-mile drive that took me, my wife, and son from my home in New York’s Hudson Valley to a transportation conference (the Transatlantic Transportation Decarbonization Summit) outside of Montreal, Canada.
Some might call this jumping into the deep end. I had only driven an EV three times before. The first was when my neighbors let me borrow their car to satisfy some electric-car curiosity; the second and third were half-hour test drives from auto dealerships. Now I was taking my family through some of the most undeveloped land in the Eastern United States - New ... Read more ...
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Improved EV Credits Makes the Switch Even Easier for US Drivers - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Jul 11) |
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Jul 11 · To avoid the worst impacts of climate change we need to switch from gasoline and diesel to electric vehicles powered by clean electricity as soon as possible. While driving an electric vehicle (EV) can save drivers on fuel and maintenance, the upfront cost of electric cars and trucks can be a barrier to choosing an EV. The federal tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) are important tools to accelerate the transition and make EVs accessible to more car buyers by reducing the initial cost of both new and used EVs. The Department of the Treasury and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently finalized rules on these credits, including on the transfer of the new and used EV ... Read more ...
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Fossil Fuels Must Go: Re-inventing US Transportation - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Jul 1) |
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Jul 1 · We have over 284 million gasoline- and diesel-burning cars, trucks and buses on our roads. Together with other modes of transportation, our vehicles emit the most heat-trapping gases in the US economy: 28 percent, followed closely by the electricity sector. Carbon dioxide and methane (a short-lived but extremely powerful global warming gas) are emitted during the extraction, processing, storage, transportation and combustion of gasoline, diesel and other petroleum fuels used by our vehicles. To adjust the focus of this picture a little closer, just our passenger cars and light trucks contribute to a whopping 58 percent of total transportation emissions, placing our car-centric ... Read more ...
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Watt Comes Around Goes Around: Will California Do the Right Thing on EV Batteries? - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Jun 24) |
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Jun 24 · Over the past year, I have written a lot about electric vehicle (EV) battery recycling, answering common questions, reviewing the European Union’s gold standard battery recycling policy, and establishing principles for strong EV recycling policy generally.
While I have been frantically typing away for your reading pleasure, I have also been working in Sacramento to push for the strongest possible EV battery end-of-life policy in California. This advocacy has been laser focused on Senate Bill (SB) 615 (Allen), which faces a vote in the Assembly Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials on June 25, 2024.
UCS will be at the June hearing asking legislators to ... Read more ...
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What Will the Advanced Clean Fleets Rule Do for California? - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (May 31) |
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May 31 · Trucks and buses on California’s roads and highways are responsible for the majority of lung-damaging fine particulate and ozone-forming nitrogen oxide emissions, and over 20% of the climate-warming greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from vehicles. Diesel exhaust in particular is a well known carcinogen and has also been linked to adverse health conditions ranging from chronic heart disease to decreased lung-function in children. Given that a disproportionate amount of public health impacts from heavy-and medium-duty vehicle emissions are concentrated in lower income communities, mitigating, and eventually eliminating this significant source of pollution has been a priority in the state ... Read more ...
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Driving on Electricity Is Now Much Cleaner than Using a Gasoline Car - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (May 30) |
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May 30 · Replacing gasoline with electricity greatly reduces the carbon emissions from driving. Based on where electric vehicles (EVs) have been sold, driving the average EV in the US produces global warming emissions equal to a hypothetical 94 mile per gallon gasoline car, or less than a third of the emissions of the average new gasoline car.
Transportation is the largest sector for emissions, and passenger cars, trucks, and SUVs are the majority of transportation emissions, so there is no way to slow down climate change without a fundamental shift from petroleum to clean electricity to power our vehicles.
When UCS first compared driving an EV to a gasoline car, only 45 percent ... Read more ...
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Three Policy Issues in Transportation on Tribal Lands - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (May 23, 2024) |
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May 23, 2024 · Urban and regional planning is the public policy of the built environment - how communities decide what to say 'yes,’ 'no,’ and 'not yet’ to in how we manage growth and development. Planning is a very wide field, covering housing, land use, environment, and many other subfields, with many practitioners earning their American Institute of Certified Planner (AICP) credential to further their skills in the field. In my small area of the field, I practice, teach, and conduct research in transportation planning, especially as it relates to Tribal communities. I’ve learned that there is often great interest from my colleagues and students in understanding what, if any, differences there ... Read more ...
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What Fixed Charges on Your Electric Bill Could Mean for Charging an EV in California - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Apr 22, 2024) |
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Apr 22, 2024 · Residential electricity rates for many Californians have increased significantly over the last year, making it more expensive to charge an electric vehicle (EV) at home. It’s still cheaper to recharge an EV than buy gasoline, but those savings have been eroded by surging electric rates.
Prompted by a state law, California’s utility regulator has proposed to change the way electricity is billed by adding a fixed monthly charge to all rate plans and making a corresponding reduction to the cost for each unit of electricity used.
Transportation is the largest sector for climate changing emissions, so it’s important that we transition our cars and trucks from gasoline to ... Read more ...
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Women in a Transportation System Designed for Men - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Apr 02, 2024) |
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Apr 02, 2024 · At some point as a bright-eyed kid who loved STEM, I was told to “draw an engineer”. You can probably guess what happened. My little stick figure came with a hard hat, a wrench, and no indication of them being a woman. This matches over 50 years of research showing children drawing only 27% of scientists as female, with similar trends for drawing engineers. And when children don’t imagine women as engineers and scientists, that directly shapes the future. This already shows up with severe underrepresentation of women in civil engineering (16%) and the transportation industry as a whole (14.5%).
And this is just the tip of the iceberg of the many ways sexism pervades ... Read more ...
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EPA Grant Program Helps to Accelerate Transition to Cleaner Ports - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Apr 01, 2024) |
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Apr 01, 2024 · Air pollution from ports comes from many sources: ships, trains, tugboats, cargo equipment, and – quite importantly – the trucks that move cargo containers to and from ports. The vehicles, vessels, and equipment that move our freight create hot spots of some of the worst air quality in the country and contribute significantly to climate change. However, zero-emission options for these workhorses of the economy are growing rapidly and some ports are beginning to move towards cleaner operations.
To accelerate the much-needed transition to cleaner ports nationwide, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the Clean Ports Program (CPP), which provides $3 billion for ... Read more ...
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EPA’s Final 2027-2032 Truck Rule Risks Leaving Communities Behind - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Mar 29, 2024) |
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Mar 29, 2024 · The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just finalized its Phase 3 greenhouse gas regulation as a part of the administration’s plan to decarbonize the transportation sector. The Phase 3 regulation will cut new greenhouse gas emissions from trucks in 2032 by 32 to 62 percent for vocational trucks (e.g., refuse, delivery vans, school and transit buses) and 9 to 40 percent for tractor-trailers, compared to the current 2024 standards. We could also see up to 623,000 electric trucks on the road in this time period, with zero-emission trucks making up over one third of all new truck sales by 2032, according to our analysis…but that number is highly dependent on manufacturer compliance ... Read more ...
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Everything You Need to Know about EPA’s New Clean Car Emissions Standards - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Mar 26, 2024) |
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Mar 26, 2024 · Last week, the Biden Administration finalized the newest, and strongest, set of vehicle emissions standards for new passenger cars and trucks. These new rules apply to all auto manufacturers and only affect new vehicle sales. They will go into effect in model year 2027 and steadily increase in stringency through model year 2032. Here’s what you need to know:
Transportation is the largest source of climate emissions in the US (29 percent) and passenger cars and trucks account for the majority of this pollution. These new rules represent the largest climate regulatory action ever adopted by EPA and are expected to reduce more than seven billion tons of climate emissions. That’s ... Read more ...
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A Trip Down Memory “Train”: A Brief History of Public Transit - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Mar 20, 2024) |
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Mar 20, 2024 · Being able to get from place to place is the foundation for a thriving community and sets the stage for growing our economy and upward mobility. For more than a century, the United States has recognized this, and maintaining roads and bridges has been a core function of federal, state, and local governments. While public transit is also a key option in getting around, it has suffered from chronic disinvestment despite its many community-wide benefits, and the current system leaves many of us disconnected, especially those who have long been divided by highways and borne the brunt of the cumulative impacts of environmental pollution. The federal government embraced a role in ... Read more ...
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Where Is Truck Charging Needed First? We Have the White House’s Answer - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Mar 20, 2024) |
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Mar 20, 2024 · The transition to replace the most heavily polluting diesel vehicles on the road with zero-emission models is critical both to avoid the worst effects of climate change and to clean up foul air in freight-adjacent neighborhoods. Indeed, the communities most impacted by local air pollution from freight have been leading the call for the zero-emission freight for decades - you should hear from our partners at the Moving Forward Network (MFN) directly on this (see here and here for starters). Together, we advocate for policies to achieve 100 percent zero emission truck sales by 2035.
I wrote previously about the general categories of where zero-emission electric trucks charge - ... Read more ...
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Ask a Scientist: UCS Transportation Program Adds Equitable Mobility to its Portfolio - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Mar 12, 2024) |
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Mar 12, 2024 · Cars and trucks are a lot cleaner than when I was growing up. In 1963, a typical car - which ran on leaded gasoline without pollution control devices - emitted 520 pounds of hydrocarbons, 1,700 pounds of carbon monoxide, and 90 pounds of nitrogen oxide every 10,000 miles traveled. In 1966, vehicles were responsible for nearly 60 percent of the 146 million tons of pollutants discharged into the air across the United States.
Thanks largely to the Clean Air Act, new passenger vehicles are 98 to 99 percent cleaner than they were 60 years ago when it comes to most tailpipe pollutants, including hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and fine particulate matter. Even so, ... Read more ...
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More Transportation Choices Lead to Better Health, Better Communities, and a Healthier Planet - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Mar 11, 2024) |
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Mar 11, 2024 · One of my earliest childhood memories is sitting with my mother on a Chicago Transit Authority bus, headed to spend a summer day on Lake Michigan. In fact, images of transportation often come to mind when I think about growing up: Morning walks to elementary school; riding my bicycle around the New Jersey suburb I moved to before third grade; taking a high school sweetheart on the NJ Transit train to an outdoor concert in Manhattan; driving my friends to the beach for our after-prom weekend.
In my professional life, I have been driven by the recognition that - whether a train, bus, bike, sidewalk, or car - transportation is a means to independence.
Unfortunately, ... Read more ...
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EVs Are at a Turning Point, It May Not Be What You Think - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Mar 07, 2024) |
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Mar 07, 2024 · There’s been a lot of nay-saying around EVs lately, including, amongst other things, worries that EV sales are stalling out now that all the early adopters have already made the switch and mainstream buyers aren’t ready to dive in. I wouldn’t blame you if you thought nobody was buying EVs or that sales were about to plummet. While there are some near term headwinds, I’ve never had as much confidence in the ability to zero out tailpipe emissions from our cars and trucks. Here’s why I’m optimistic:
2023 was a milestone year for electric car sales in the US. For the first time ever, annual sales surpassed one million vehicles, accounting for more than seven percent of new ... Read more ...
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Investing in Public Transit Is Investing in Public Health - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Feb 28, 2024) |
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Feb 28, 2024 · Last week, I interviewed a patient who was hospitalized for severe and persistent asthma attacks. Ms. S had been perfectly healthy until her respiratory symptoms commenced one year ago. She described her struggle to breathe on her worst days as feeling as though “an elephant was sitting on her chest.” I asked about smoking history and exposure to any potential indoor irritants (i.e. dust, mold), all of which she denied. Perplexed, I then thought to ask her about environmental exposures. She noted that she moved to a new apartment around the time her symptoms began. Suspecting a connection, I inquired about the location of her apartment and traffic congestion in the area. Ms. S ... Read more ...
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Something Stinks: California Must End Manure Biomethane Accounting Gimmicks in its Low Carbon Fuel Standard - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Feb 15, 2024) |
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Feb 15, 2024 · California’s transportation fuel policy is knee deep in cow poop, and it’s not a good look. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is considering amendments to its Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) regulation, but indicated they have no plans to address the problems caused by counter-productive subsidies for manure biomethane. CARB’s use of the LCFS as a cash cow to fund manure digesters is bad transportation fuel policy and bad agricultural policy. Accounting gimmicks disguise a poorly run offset scheme as a magic carbon negative climate solution. CARB needs to phase out credits for “avoided methane pollution,” refocus the LCFS on transportation and get to work developing a more ... Read more ...
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Plug-in Hybrids: Are They Really a Solution to Reducing Emissions? - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Feb 12, 2024) |
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Feb 12, 2024 · It’s immediately clear how fully-electric battery electric vehicles (BEVs) can help reduce emissions; eliminating gasoline and tailpipes in favor of increasingly clean electricity helps limit both climate change and air pollution. Plug-in hybrids are a bit more complicated. A plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (or PHEV) has both a gasoline engine and one or more battery-powered electric motors. The battery in a PHEV can be charged using grid electricity just like a fully electric vehicle but a PHEV can continue driving when the battery is low on charge by switching to the gasoline engine (either to generate electricity for the motors or to directly drive the wheels).
Recently ... Read more ...
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A Cap on Vegetable Oil-Based Fuels Will Stabilize and Strengthen California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Jan 29, 2024) |
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Jan 29, 2024 · I have long been a supporter of California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). The LCFS is the leading example of a Clean Fuel Standard, an approach to transportation fuel policy that holds oil refiners accountable to reduce the carbon intensity (CI) of transportation fuels. The CI is determined through a lifecycle analysis of the global warming pollution associated with the production and use of gasoline, diesel, biofuels, electricity, or other alternative fuels. Oil refiners comply with the LCFS by blending cleaner alternative fuels into the gasoline and diesel they sell, and also by buying credits generated by vehicles that don’t use any gasoline or diesel at all, such as electric ... Read more ...
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Pieces of Federal EV Charging Vision Coming Together - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Jan 25, 2024) |
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Jan 25, 2024 · Two key pieces of Federal support for electric vehicle (EV) charging are coming into place to accelerate EV infrastructure installation for all kinds of vehicles. The first is the announcement of Charging and Fueling Infrastructure Grant Program awards - $623 million representing the first two years of the program’s budget - which provides funding for EV charging and other alternative fueling stations along highway corridors and in communities. The second is guidance from Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service on the Alternative Fueling Infrastructure Tax Credit, which makes installing EV charging cheaper for both individual drivers and businesses.
I’ve been ... Read more ...
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Rural Drivers vs. Disinformation: Three Facts about Electric Vehicles to Set the Record Straight - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Jan 17, 2024) |
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Jan 17, 2024 · EV demand is on a clear upward trajectory, in spite of fluctuations in the market. Availability has also increased, with many auto dealers offering a wide range of new and more affordable electric passenger car and pick-up truck models. This is all good news, but while urban areas have witnessed a growing adoption of EVs, adoption in rural areas is still lagging. According to one estimate, rural EV sales lags by about 40 percent compared to urban areas. Disinformation and misconceptions about electric vehicles are a major reason for this lag.
False claims about EV demand, reliability, and performance are circulating widely, making it more challenging for rural drivers to ... Read more ...
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Everything You Wanted to Know About Biodiesel and Renewable Diesel. Charts and Graphs Included - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Jan 10, 2024) |
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Jan 10, 2024 · Back in 2016 I wrote a long post about biodiesel, explaining what it is made from (mostly vegetable oil) and arguing that EPA should show restraint in setting targets for biodiesel because of the limited availability oils and fats and the harmful consequences of drawing too heavily from these limited sources. The world has changed in many ways since 2016, but the large-scale diversion of vegetable oil from food to fuel remains a bad idea. Now it is California policymakers’ turn to establish sensible guardrails on fuel policies to avoid creating problems in California, and around the world.
Since 2016, EPA has generally shown restraint in setting targets for biodiesel and ... Read more ...
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Diesel is the Reason for the Sneezin’: Cleaner Holiday Deliveries are on the Horizon - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Dec 21, 2023) |
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Dec 21, 2023 · With the holidays fast approaching, I sat down the other night to finish the list of gift ideas for the folks who’ve made my nice list. As I worked my way through family and friends, attempting to strategically formulate gift ideas within my budget, my mind drifted from the task at hand (as it often does) to ways I could reduce the environmental impacts of my holiday shopping and shipping decisions.
The holidays are the peak shopping time for US consumers. According to the National Retail Federation, around 20 percent of shopping occurs during November and December. Holiday shopping has grown consistently over the past decade at around 3.5 percent annually on average – ... Read more ...
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Hydrogen Combustion is a Dead-End Technology for Heavy-Duty Trucks - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Dec 21, 2023) |
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Dec 21, 2023 · Earlier this month, the California Air Resources Board held a workshop on the use of hydrogen combustion engines in trucks in California as part of an agreement with the Truck and Engine Manufacturers. It was clear from the workshop that industry is interested in extending the lifetime of their investments in combustion engine manufacturing regardless of the harm it would cause to the environment or the public. While industry tried to paint hydrogen combustion engines as a “bridge” technology to hydrogen fuel cells, their own presentations undermined that very point - instead, this path is a clear dead end. We need to make sure regulators like EPA and CARB restrict its usage before ... Read more ...
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Biden Administration Faces Stark Choice on Its Biggest Climate Policy - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Nov 28, 2023) |
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Nov 28, 2023 · The UN’s Climate Change Conference is just about to kick off in Dubai, juxtaposing the powerful political power of the fossil fuel industry and the desperate need to reduce oil and gas usage as we face an ongoing climate crisis. With the petroleum-dominated transportation sector the leading source of heat-trapping emissions in the United States, it’s a great opportunity to look at the Biden administration’s progress on cleaning up passenger cars and trucks and what we should look for in the coming year.
This year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) proposed new emissions and fuel economy standards (respectively) ... Read more ...
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What is the Department of Transportation’s Greenhouse Gas Performance Measure, and Why Does it Matter? - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Nov 27, 2023) |
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Nov 27, 2023 · Last week, the Federal Highway Administration finalized an important regulation–the greenhouse gas performance measure. UCS along with more than 100,000 members of the public have written in support of this national rule that will gather the scattered and incomplete data counting greenhouse gas emissions into a unified standard so local, state, and federal transportation authorities can make informed decisions.
Currently, only 24 states and the District of Columbia have laws requiring them to set targets and track their greenhouse gas emissions from transportation. Given that transportation is the sector of the economy that contributes the most to the climate crisis in ... Read more ...
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Electric Vehicle Sales Continue to Grow, Despite What Some Automakers Are Saying - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Nov 13, 2023) |
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Nov 13, 2023 · The future of cars is electric. That’s not just what I think, it’s not just what is required to slow climate change, it’s what many of the world’s automakers have publicly stated. However, over the last month several automakers have said the transition from gasoline to electric vehicles (EVs) will need to slow down, in part citing demand.
It’s important to understand two facts driving this flurry of pessimistic press. First, while overall EV sales are up compared to last year, there are short-term sales dynamics negatively impacting some, but certainly not all, EV makers. Second, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in the process of setting regulations for future ... Read more ...
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Considering An EV and Live in a Rural Area? Here are Five Things to Know About Charging - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Nov 09, 2023) |
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Nov 09, 2023 · Interest in electric vehicles (EVs) is strong among U.S. drivers - including drivers who live in rural areas. That’s great news because swapping gasoline and diesel vehicles for EVs is an essential strategy to reduce local air pollution and climate change emissions from transportation.
One factor helping rural interest is the increasing variety in available electric models, including models that can meet the mobility and utility demands of rural drivers. Even for people who love their trucks, there are now multiple pickup options to choose from.
Rural drivers tend to put their vehicles through intense use on a regular basis, relative to drivers in more populous areas. ... Read more ...
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Automakers Opt Out of Cleaning Up Their Vehicles…But at What Cost? - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Nov 09, 2023) |
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Nov 09, 2023 · The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently proposed new fuel economy standards that, together with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) greenhouse gas emissions standards, are meant to continue to reduce fuel use from new passenger vehicles. The fuel economy program, known as CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) because it considers the “average” fuel economy of a manufacturer’s new vehicle fleet, has resulted in over $5 trillion in fuel savings over its nearly 50-year history. However, it does have one shortcoming that has gotten some press recently: automakers can buy their way out of compliance with the regulations, choosing to simply pay ... Read more ...
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How are EV batteries (actually) recycled? - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Oct 25, 2023) |
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Oct 25, 2023 · Electric Vehicle (EV) battery recycling is crucial to a sustainable, electrified transportation system. A substantial portion of key minerals for electrifying could come from recycled batteries by 2050, dramatically reducing the need for new mining.
But how those batteries are recycled can make a big difference - we must use recycling processes with high mineral recovery rates and lower environmental impact. In this blog post, I’ll explain different ways to recycle batteries and why getting it right is essential.
The three types of recycling, summarized here, are discussed later in greater depth, including the pre-processing that must occur before recycling. This ... Read more ...
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Transition to EVs: a Win for Climate; Let’s Make it a Win for US Workers - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Oct 24, 2023) |
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Oct 24, 2023 · A global transition to electric transportation is underway and momentum is growing. Traditional and new auto manufacturers are bringing more and more models to market. Even in California, where a tradition of stringent regulation has pushed the industry to innovate over the past 50 years, automakers are selling EVs at levels well above sales requirements. This momentum is spreading across the country with US EV sales now over 9% and climbing.
When a change as big as this is underway, it’s important to understand what impact it can have on employment and to take steps to ensure that workers benefit from the transition and aren’t left behind.
But what is the outlook for ... Read more ...
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Electric Vehicle Sales in US Hit the Accelerator Pedal - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Sep 22, 2023) |
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Sep 22, 2023 · With more electric vehicle choices than ever, EV sales in the US are hitting new heights. In just the first half of 2023, over 670,000 EVs were sold with over 80 percent of those fully-electric battery electric vehicles (BEVs). It took 8 years for the first million EV sales – but now more than a million have been sold in just the past 12 months.
Several factors are likely responsible for EVs hitting a tipping point in sales. More EV models are now available, from small cars to pickup trucks, meaning more buyers have an electric option that meets their needs. More widespread adoption of EVs across the US is also a factor. We’re seeing EV sales increase outside of California, ... Read more ...
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Ask a Scientist: It’s Getting Easier for US Car Owners to Go Electric - Union of Concerned Scientists - Vehicles (Sep 15, 2023) |
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Sep 15, 2023 · Since the beginning of 2022, electric vehicle sales in the United States have been downright electrifying.
Last year, US drivers bought more than 800,000 new electric vehicles (EVs), 65 percent more than in 2021, even as overall car sales declined. Those 807,956 EVs accounted for 5.8 percent of all new cars sold, an increase from 3.1 percent in 2021.
Thanks largely to federal tax incentives, lower sticker prices, and more available models, EV sales have continued to surge in 2023. The 554,140 EVs sold during the first and second quarter of this year represent nearly a 50 percent jump from the first half of 2021, and sales are on pace to surpass a record-breaking 1 ... Read more ...
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