Electric cars are nowhere

The Frankfurt motor show is big. It's like if they took Sydney's international and domestic airports, tripled it in size, took away any form of cohesive internal transport and put lots of cars in it. Even then, I think the Frankfurt show is bigger.

Every two years when I attend the show I always vow that next time, I will actually see things. The problem is, the show is so big, and we have so many executives to interview, that it's all but impossible to actually see every one of the dozen or so halls that house the show. And each one of these halls is a gigantic display of extravagance as manufacturers try to outdo each other for sheer 'wow!' factor.

In saying all that, I did actually get to walk around a bit this year and the one thing that became bloody obvious was that 2017 Frankfurt motor show was all about electric mobility (don't fall asleep, yet).

BMW did an entire 30-minute presentation to the world's media as the very first scheduled item of day one, and didn't even mention its new Z4 concept. Instead, it was all electric this and electric that. Thankfully, no one fainted.

BMW even had people riding around on electric scooters and motorbikes during the presentation. I wouldn't have been surprised if they were also offering free hugs with Penguins. It was that ridiculous.

This is a brand that makes twin-turbo V8 performance cars that like to go sideways. This is a brand that less than a decade ago built the V10-powered M5, its engine derived from Formula One technology of the time! Who are they kidding? We want the old BMW back, thanks. We know it's just hiding in the background.

If you take all the hype and shameless self-promotion of electric mobility at face value, you would think that Elon Musk is right – electric cars are killing the internal combustion engine at a rapid rate. But that's simply not the case, not for a very long while anyway.

You see, while the German and the world's mainstream media continue to hammer the internal combustion engine (ICE), and more major cities talk about wanting to ban the ICE from a certain date, all the car companies seem paranoid to even mention development work on fossil fuel-powered vehicles. Well, except Mazda. It's almost as if, the entire talk track is about electric and anything other than that is blasphemy.

It makes great business sense, of course. No one wants to be targeted as the manufacturer that isn't focusing on 'future mobility'. It's not only bad for the company's share price, but the media backlash is unwarranted and unwanted.

Apart from Tesla (obviously), there is no mainstream car company today, that we can find, which will admit it's investing more of its research and development budget in electric vehicle development than the continued development of the internal combustion engine and its associated technologies. Think about that for a minute.

So lets look at the facts. In Europe, electric vehicle sales are up around 30 per cent, which seems huge, but on the whole they account for just under two per cent of the market. That's it. In Australia, pure electric vehicle sales are up year to date by more than 50 per cent, almost entirely thanks to Tesla and its Model S and Model X vehicles. Yet, with just around 750 sales from January to August this year, Tesla makes up a tiny 0.01 percent of the new car market! Yes, the end is nigh for ICE! Run for the hills, children.

Everyone from Mercedes, to BMW, Audi and even Porsche talked nothing but electrification. There were Greenpeace protesters at the Frankfurt show that held up signs indicating their displeasure at the likes of Volkswagen for not doing more to rid the world of the awfulness that is the ICE and particularly, its diesel engines.

So herein lies the crux of the problem. Dieselgate. It was Elon Musk's wet dream. If you actually track the share price of Tesla since Dieselgate hit the media (which happened two years ago this month), it is up more than 65 per cent. Volkswagen's share price nearly halved when Dieselgate broke, but it has recovered by around 48 per cent since. It is still down by nearly half since its peak highs in April 2015.

Volkswagen, or any of its brands, is not going to talk about pouring cash into the internal combustion engine. That would be seen as a big no-no by everyone involved. Can you imagine the headlines?

At the motorshow, the boss of Volkswagen Group – Matthias Mueller – talked loud and proud about investing 20 billion euros ($30 billion) in zero-emission vehicles by 2030.

Sounds impressive. If you break that up into the next 12 years, that's roughly $1.67 billion euros ($2.5 billion) each year invested into electric mobility. But, do you want to know what Volkswagen group's financials show for total R&D budget in fiscal year 2016? How about 11.5 billion euros ($17.5 billion). Yep!

Assuming the budget remains relatively unchanged going forward, only around 15 per cent of the brand's R&D budget is being spent on electric mobility. That makes sense, because most brands believe electric cars will only make up about 15-25 per cent of their model lineup by 2025-2030. So why the hell wouldn't they invest heavily into the other 75 or so per cent of their vehicles?

Is Volkswagen working on a new generation of diesel engines? Of course, it would be absolutely mad not to. But is VW going to talk about it? Not on your life.

BMW will, though. The boss of Mini was honest and proud enough to admit that diesel still has a very bright future at the BMW group and that the brand looks forward to selling plenty of them in the coming years. He even went on to say the current talk around diesel engines is not rational, but driven by political agendas, and he is dead right.

Am I saying we shouldn't embrace electric cars? Far from it. I love Tesla and what it has done for the industry, but it comes at the car from a different approach. Tesla doesn't make electric cars, Tesla makes a technology statement riding on four wheels. For that we love Tesla, dearly.

Let's be realistic about the uptake of EVs, however. They are not going to be the mainstream form of personal propulsion for many more decades. I would predict it would be more than likely that it will take at least until 2050 for the world's total vehicle sales to switch for the first time in favour of electric vehicles over those those using an ICE. This doesn't mean that some markets like California and parts of Europe don't get there far quicker. But globally, we are some time away.

So, while the marketing and PR departments of mainstream car companies are doing their very best to electrify us with their messaging, the reality is far different. There are tens of thousands of engineers around the world, at this very instant, who are working flat-out on the next-generation of internal combustion engine technologies, both petrol and diesel. There are more engineers doing that, than there are working on electric mobility. Believe it, because it's true.

Ignoring all the environmental issues of sourcing, making and recycling batteries, the electric mobility future we have all dreamed of is still coming. It's going to be good and we will save lots of penguins in the process, but it's not coming for a while.

MORE: Electric vehicle news and reviews

Source: Electric cars are nowhere

5 Cars That Would Be Better As Fully Electric Models

by Jared Rosenholtz5,950 reads

Not all cars should be EV, but these would be seriously great with some electrification.

Automakers seem to be on a mission to turn every car in their lineups into a hybrid or EV. Sometimes enthusiasts like to complain that certain cars should never include electrification. For example, we think that the Lamborghini Aventador would be worse if it was an EV. Part of what makes that car great is the sound and savage gear changes. This isn't the case with all cars though. There are certain models that we think would be much better if they had an EV drivetrain instead of a gas engine. Here are our top five cars that would be better off as EVs.

Rolls-Royce recently revealed its all-new Phantom VIII. This amazing flagship luxury car will pick up right where the previous Phantom left off by offering a buttery smooth 6.75-liter twin-turbo V12. Even though this engine produces 563 hp and 664 lb-ft of torque while barely making any noise, we think that the Phantom would be even better as an EV. This way, the car would be perfectly silent instead of just very silent. An EV drivetrain would also eliminate gear changes all together and give the car the smoothest acceleration possible. Rolls-Royce may build the most luxurious car, but it could still learn a few things from Tesla. On a very similar note of luxury, we think that the new Audi A8 could benefit from an EV model. We could have easily included rival German sedans like the BMW 7 Series and Mercedes S-Class on this list as well. These cars are all at the top of the technology pyramid in the auto industry. It would make sense that one of these cars should go electric and have incredible smoothness and performance that would match the high-class character of this segment. We chose the A8 simply because it is the newest of the three and features the most autonomous driving technology that would pair well with an EV drivetrain. The Lexus LS is the last luxury flagship on the list that we think should become an EV. We could also make a similar argument with the smaller Lexus ES sedan. Lexus has been trying to catch up with the German automakers by offering sporty, RWD cars with very good handling. This effort has been good, but we think that Toyota needs to go back to what has helped it succeed: electrification. Toyota and Lexus hybrid models were once at the forefront of technology, but have since turned into an afterthought compared to Tesla. We think that Lexus could reinvigorate the market with an EV model that would help it leapfrog its German rivals. The Range Rover Evoque is a bit of an oddball on this list. We chose the Evoque because we have always thought that this model never lived up to its full potential. The Evoque is extremely beautiful, but offers a very average 2.0-liter turbo four-cylinder that seems out of place in such a futuristic-looking car. We think that the Evoque would be perfect as the first EV model from Land Rover. Not many people actually use the Evoque off-road anyway, but we have seen in the past that EVs can succeed off-road. Turning the Evoque into an EV would give more people more of a reason to gravitate to it, instead of just loving the Range Rover badge. The Q60 is a very important car for Infiniti. The old G37 was a very popular car, but the 3.7-liter VQ V6 was getting a bit long in the tooth. Enter the new Q60 with its available 400 hp twin-turbo V6. We thought that this new engine would be what Infiniti needed to get back in the spotlight. However, it turns out that this new engine doesn't have a whole lot of character and neither does the Q60. We think that Infiniti needs to do something different in order to stand out. There is currently no sporty, affordable EV coupe on the market today. If Infiniti could turn the Q60 into a fast EV coupe, it could have a huge market advantage over cars like the BMW 4 Series, Mercedes C-Class coupe and Audi A5.
Source: 5 Cars That Would Be Better As Fully Electric Models

How electric cars can create the biggest disruption since iPhone

London - It's 10 years since Apple unleashed a surge of innovation that upended the mobile phone industry. Electric cars, with a little help from ride-hailing and self-driving technology, could be about to pull the same trick on Big Oil.

The rise of Tesla Inc. and its rivals could be turbo charged by complementary services from Uber and Alphabet's Waymo unit, just as the iPhone rode the app economy and fast mobile internet to decimate mobile phone giants like Nokia Oyj.

The culmination of these technologies - autonomous electric cars available on demand - could transform how people travel and confound predictions that battery-powered vehicles will have a limited impact on oil demand in the coming decades.

"Electric cars on their own may not add up to much," David Eyton, head of technology at London-based oil giant BP, said in an interview. "But when you add in car sharing, ride pooling, the numbers can get significantly greater."

Most forecasters see the shift away from oil in transport as an incremental process guided by slow improvements in the cost and capacity of batteries and progressive tightening of emissions standards. But big economic shifts are rarely that straightforward, said Tim Harford, the economist behind a book and BBC radio series on historic innovations that disrupted the economy.

Systemic change

"These things are a lot more complicated," he said. Rather than electric motors gradually replacing internal combustion engines within the existing model, there's probably going to be "some degree of systemic change." 

That's what happened ten years ago. The iPhone didn't just offer people a new way to make phone calls; it created an entirely new economy for multibillion-dollar companies like Angry Birds maker Rovio Entertainment Oy or WhatsApp.

The fundamental nature of the mobile phone business changed and incumbents like Nokia and BlackBerry Ltd. were replaced by Apple and makers of Android handsets like Samsung.

Today, as Elon Musk's Tesla and established automakers like General Motors are striving to make their electric cars desirable consumer products, companies like Uber and Lyft are turning transport into an on-demand service and Waymo is testing fully autonomous vehicles on the streets of California and Arizona.

Combine all three, for example through an Alphabet investment in Lyft, and you have a new model of transport as a service that would be a cheap compelling alternative to traditional car ownership, according to RethinkX, a think tank that analyses technology-driven disruption.

One key advantage of electric cars is the lack of mechanical complexity, which makes them more suitable for the heavy use allowed by driverless technology, Francesco Starace, chief executive officer of Enel, Italy's largest utility, said in an interview.

After disassembling General Motors's Chevrolet Bolt, UBS concluded it required almost no maintenance, with the electric motor having just three moving parts compared with 133 in a four-cylinder internal combustion engine.

"Competitiveness very much depends on the utilization of the car," Laszlo Varro, chief economist at the International Energy Agency, said in an interview.

The average Uber vehicle covers a third more distance than the typical middle-class family car in Europe, amplifying the benefit of lower running costs to the point that "the oil price at which it makes sense to switch to electric is $30 per barrel lower," he said.

Uber on steroids

The total cost of ownership of electric and oil-fueled vehicles will reach parity in 2020 for shared-mobility fleets, five years earlier than for individually-owned vehicles, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Already in London, Uber plans for its UberX service to be hybrid or fully electric by the end of 2019. Its rival Lyft aims to provide at least 1 billion rides a year in autonomous electric vehicles by 2025, saying they can be used much more efficiently than gasoline-powered cars.

This combination would be "the Uber model on steroids," Steven Martin, chief digital officer and vice president of General Electric's Energy Connections unit, said in an interview. "Once you have complete autonomous operation of a vehicle, then my desire to own one is going to go down and I'll be more willing to sign up to a subscription service." 

Autonomous hurdles

The transition to fully autonomous fleets may not match the speed of the smartphone revolution because of the many regulatory, legal, ethical and behavioral hurdles. Self-driving technology should become available in the 2020s, but won't be widely adopted until 2030, BNEF says.

Even so, the shift to electric cars could displace about 8 million barrels a day of oil demand by 2040, more than the 7 million barrels a day Saudi Arabia exports today, the London-based researcher says. That could have a significant impact on oil prices - a drop of 1.7 million barrels a day in global consumption during the 2008-2009 financial crisis caused prices to slump from $146 a barrel to $36.

That doesn't mean oil giants like BP or Exxon Mobil are heading for an inevitable Nokia-style downfall. While transport fuels account for the majority of their sales, they also have huge businesses turning crude into chemicals used for everything from plastics to fertiliser. They also pump large volumes of natural gas and generate renewable energy, both of which could benefit from increased electricity demand.

Even if electric vehicles do grow as rapidly as BNEF forecasts, the world currently consumes 95 million barrels a day and other sources of demand will keep growing, said Spencer Dale, BP's chief economist.

The London-based energy giant expects battery-powered cars to reduce oil demand by just 1 million barrels a day by 2035, while also acknowledging the potential for a much larger impact if the industry has an iPhone moment.

The sheer breadth of the potential disruption makes it hard to predict what will happen. When Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone, few people anticipated that it meant trouble for makers of everything from cameras to chewing gum.

"The smartphone and its apps made new business models possible," said Tony Seba, a Stanford University economist and one of the founders of RethinkX. "The mix of sharing, electric and driverless cars could disrupt everything from parking to insurance, oil demand and retail."

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Source: How electric cars can create the biggest disruption since iPhone

City plans to ramp up number of electric car charging ports

It pays to go green as the city announces a $10 million investment to encourage more of it on the road.

City Hall says it plans to ramp up the number of electric car charging ports around the five boroughs, with up to 20 chargers at each station.

The mayor's goal is for 20 percent of registered vehicles in the city to go electric by 2025.

The city is partnering with Con Edison to find at least one good charging site in every borough.

It's estimated these five hubs would be able to service more than 12,000 cars a week.

Con Ed is also partnering with the Transportation and Police departments on a pilot program to reserve street parking for electric cars.

The cars would also be able to charge up at these spots.

There are currently more than 300 charging sites around the city.

Source: City plans to ramp up number of electric car charging ports

3 Lithium Stocks to Profit From the Tesla-Led Electric-Car Revolution

Lithium stocks, particularly lithium mining stocks, have been white-hot since 2016. The Tesla-led electric car revolution is driving demand for the silvery-white metal to make lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles.

Tesla's first mass-market vehicle, the Model 3, began shipping in July, and promises to significantly rev up lithium demand. Moreover, the Chinese EV market is particularly booming, and all the world's major automakers are in the early stages of launching EVs.

So what are the best lithium stocks to profit from the EV revolution?

Lithium mining stocks

Here are lithium mining stocks with market caps over $300 million that trade on a U.S. stock exchange.

Company

Market Cap

Dividend Yield

 1-Year Return

 6-Year Return*

5-Year Projected Avg. Annual EPS Growth Rate

Forward P/E

Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile, or SQM (NYSE: SQM)

 $16.3 billion  1.32%  152%  20.2%

 32.5%  

 35.2

Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB)

 $14.9 billion  1.01%  77.2%  223%  15%   26.9 

FMC Corp. (NYSE: FMC)

 $12.4 billion  0.74%  95%  156%   16.6%  18.1 Galaxy Resources* 

 $838 million

 N/A  59.3%  (37.7%)  N/A   N/A  Orocobre* 

 $719 million

 N/A  18.6%  144%  N/A  N/A  Lithium Americas* 

 $592 million 

 N/A  84.1%   176%   N/A N/A  Nemaska Lithium* 

 $446 million

 N/A  9.3%  205%  N/A   N/A 

S&P 500

 N/A  1.91%  19.6%  137%  N/A  N/A

Data sources: Y!Finance and YCharts. Data to Sept. 19, 2017. Boldfaced returns have beaten the S&P 500. *Trade over the counter in the U.S. Galaxy and Orocobre are based in Australia, and Lithium Americas and Nemaska are Canadian companies. May be other lithium stocks trading OTC that meet market cap criteria. **Max full-year charting period available that includes all stocks. 

Best 3 lithium stocks for most individual investors 

Albemarle, SQM, and FMC are by far the largest lithium players that are traded on a major U.S. stock exchange, though none are pure plays. So they are the best stocks for most individual investors wanting exposure to lithium. 

There are a handful of small junior miners and numerous tiny players. They are more speculative, to varying degrees, and most are unprofitable. It takes a massive amount of money, not to mention a long time, for junior miners to go from exploration to profitable production -- and the vast majority of them won't make that transition. Only investors with a high risk tolerance should consider investing in a junior miner.

Image source: Getty Images.

The best lithium stock: Albemarle, the world's largest lithium producer

Albemarle has leading market positions in lithium, bromine, and refining catalysts. Global lithium market share estimates vary quite widely by source, but it seems safe to say that North Carolina-based Albemarle is the world's largest lithium producer with Chile's SQM a close runner-up. 

The best market share estimates, in my opinion, come from lithium expert Joe Lowry, who runs Global Lithium LLC: Albemarle, 22%, SQM, 21%, China's Jiangxi Ganfeng, 12%, FMC, 10%, China's Sichuan Tianqi, 10%; and other, 25%. While the numbers have surely changed a bit over the past couple of years, the two key things to remember are Albemarle and SQM are the "Big Two" and the Chinese have been gaining share. 

Albemarle has three independent sources of lithium: 

Salar de Atacama, Chile. (A "salar" is an underground salt lake.) 

Silver Peak, Nev. (Lithium source is also brine.)  

Talison Lithium joint venture with Tianqi in Western Australia. (Lithium source is hard rock, or spodumene.)

Albemarle remains the best lithium stock for most investors for two main reasons, in my opinion. First, it's based in the U.S., so it doesn't have SQM's higher risk level stemming from being headquartered in an emerging market. Second, it's closer than FMC Corp. to a pure play on lithium, as per the following chart.  

 Company        First-Half 2017 Lithium Revenue As a % of Total Revenue           First-Half 2017 Lithium Profit* As a % of Total Profit          Albemarle  31.5% 58.1% (of total segment adjusted EBITDA**) SQM 29% 61% (of total gross profit) FMC Corp. 11.1% 20.4% (of total segment operating profit)

Numbers calculated by author using companies' Q2 earnings reports. *The companies use varying profit metrics for segment results. **EBITDA = earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.

In its most recent quarter, Q2 2017, Albemarle's lithium revenue jumped 55% to $243.8 million, accounting for 33% of its total revenue. The lithium segment's EBITDA soared 80% to $115.2 million, accounting for 60% of the company's total EBITDA from its operating units. Profitability growth has been increasing faster than revenue growth because lithium demand has been outpacing supply, driving up prices. So the segment's results have been benefiting from the dynamic duo of higher sales volumes and higher prices. Similar dynamics have been playing out with SQM and FMC. 

Albemarle has been expanding production to help keep up with rising lithium demand: 

In early 2017, it announced that it received approval from the Chilean authorities to extract enough lithium to increase its annual Chilean battery-grade lithium carbonate production from 70,000 metric tons (MT) to 90,000 MT over the next four years. This modest increase came on the heels of a huge increase, as in early 2016, it received approval to hike this number from 24,000 MT to 70,000 MT. 

In March 2017, it announced an expansion at its joint venture in Greenbushes that will more than double that operation's lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) production capacity from 80,000 MT per year to more than 160,000 MT per year. Albemarle has a 50% interest in what's produced at this JV. This expansion is slated to begin in Q2 of 2019.

Albemarle could also have a potentially very promising new lithium source coming on line in the future. In the fall of 2016, it announced an agreement with Bolland Minera S.A. for the exclusive exploration-and-acquisition rights to a lithium resource in Antofalla, within the Catamarca Province of Argentina. Albemarle said at the time that it believed this resource would be certified as the largest lithium resource in Argentina.

Wall Street analysts expect Albemarle's earnings per share (EPS) to increase at an average annual rate of 15% over the next five years. That's lower than the 32.5% forecast for SQM but higher than the 13.7% estimate for FMC. It's highly likely that Albemarle will exceed this expectation, in my opinion. The company routinely beats analysts estimates, and analysts keep moving their estimates up. 

Lithium salt flats. Image source: Getty Images.

SQM: A lithium stock for investors comfortable with higher risk

Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile, or SQM, has five business segments: lithium and derivatives, specialty plant nutrition, iodine and derivatives, industrial chemicals, and potassium. Its lithium source is nearby Albemarle's Chilean lithium source at the Atacama Salt Desert. Like Albemarle, Chile-based SQM extracts lithium chloride (and other minerals) from underground brine. It then produces lithium carbonate, lithium hydroxide, and other downstream products at its plants at this location. 

Positively, SQM -- which is also expanding lithium production -- has had a strong free cash flow (FCF) over the last year, which is significantly more than its reported net income. That said, only investors with higher risk tolerances should consider diving in, as SQM has risks associated with emerging markets -- including political and currency risks. Indeed, SQM was mired in financial and political scandal as recently as 2015, which led to the firing of its CEO, and the forced resignation of its former chairman, a former son-in-law of late dictator Augusto Pinochet.

SQM's total return has surged 89% from July 1 through Sept. 19. Lithium stocks in general have had a strong run over this period. However, we can attribute the bulk of this outperformance to reports in July that a Chinese company is interested in buying a significant stake in SQM. Jumping in based solely on market chatter -- especially late in the game -- can be risky because if the speculation doesn't come to fruition, a stock can sink as quickly as it ran up. 

FMC: Some positives, but lithium business is relatively small 

FMC has three segments -- lithium, agricultural solutions, and health and nutrition -- but it will soon be transferring the latter business to DuPont. The Philadelphia-based company has some distinct positives, but its lithium business accounts for a much smaller percentage of its total revenue and profits -- 11% and 20%, respectively -- relative to Albemarle and SQM. So investors wanting a significant exposure to lithium should probably take a pass. 

Image source: Getty Images.

That said, FMC is also expanding its lithium production capacity to help meet strong demand for battery-grade lithium hydroxide. In May, it announced a three-phase expansion plan to triple its annual production capacity of lithium hydroxide to at least 30,000 MT by 2019. The first part of the three-phase expansion started coming on line in the second quarter.

FMC claims that it's the most vertically integrated company in the lithium industry. It owns its lithium source, the Salar del Hombre Muerto in Argentina, and processing and production facilities, where the lithium carbonate that is produced from lithium chloride is further refined into such products as lithium metals and lithium hydroxide, bromide, and hypochloride. Neither Albemarle nor SQM own their Chilean lithium sources. 

Earlier this year, the market cheered when FMC announced that it was acquiring the portion of DuPont's crop protection business that the European Commission ruled it must divest in order to merge with Dow Chemical. In exchange, DuPont will get FMC's health and nutrition business and $1.2 billion in cash. FMC recently said that it continues to expect these transactions will close on Nov. 1.

Wrapping it up

Lithium stocks have run up considerably since early 2016. So there could be pullbacks over the near and intermediate terms. However, select higher-quality lithium stocks have good long-term growth potential, in my opinion. That's because I continue to believe EV sales will grow faster than most market-watchers project. 

Keep in mind that none of the three big players highlighted are pure plays on lithium, so their financial results and stock prices will also be affected by how well their other businesses are performing.

10 stocks we like better than Albemarle

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David and Tom just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy right now... and Albemarle wasn't one of them! That's right -- they think these 10 stocks are even better buys.

*Stock Advisor returns as of September 5, 2017

Beth McKenna has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Source: 3 Lithium Stocks to Profit From the Tesla-Led Electric-Car Revolution

PG&E Partners with Valley CAN and IBEW to Connect Underserved Communities with Electric Vehicles

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Pacific Gas and Electric Company today announced a new pilot program in partnership with Valley Clean Air Now (Valley CAN) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 684 and 100 to provide free electrical panel upgrades to encourage electric vehicle (EV) ownership in low-income, underserved communities.

The PG&E Corporation Foundation will provide $75,000 in shareholder funds to cover the cost of upgrading home service panels—a commonly cited obstacle to EV adoption. IBEW Local 684 and 100 members will perform the site surveys, planning and panel installation for customers who qualify for the program.

Valley CAN, a nonprofit organization committed to improving air quality in California's San Joaquin Valley, already provides up to $9,500 for local low-income homeowners to trade in their older vehicles for a used plug-in EV. Doing so is part of their ongoing participation in the California Air Resources Board's Enhanced Fleet Modernization Program Plus-Up program, an initiative funded with revenue from California's Cap-and-Trade program.

"Electric vehicles—and the home electrical panel upgrades that may be needed to charge them—are often beyond the reach of individuals and families living in disadvantaged communities. PG&E is partnering to overcome these financial barriers so that all of our customers can afford clean energy options. This pilot with Valley CAN and the IBEW Local 684 and 100 will help us better understand how we can assist Central Valley residents," said Melissa Lavinson, PG&E's chief sustainability officer and vice president of federal affairs and policy.

"PG&E is reducing barriers to zero-emission transportation in disadvantaged communities by giving low-income customers free home infrastructure improvements they need to install electric vehicle chargers. PG&E is making a real difference with this pilot," said Tom Knox, executive director, Valley CAN.

To support job creation and capacity building, the IBEW will encourage participating local contractors to complete certification in the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Training Program to increase the pool of trained and qualified EV equipment installers in the San Joaquin Valley, and IBEW members will then complete the panel upgrades for program participants.

"This is an innovative approach to creating clean-energy options for disadvantaged communities, while also using organized labor to provide training, quality control and good paying jobs," said Bobby Stutzman, Business Manager for the IBEW Local 684.

Additionally, all car owners in the pilot program will immediately be eligible for PG&E's Clean Fuel Rebate, which provides customers with a $500 one-time rebate for their use of electricity as a clean transportation fuel.

PG&E's Commitment to EVs

PG&E's announcement is part of the company's commitment as a founding member of EV100, a new initiative launched today by The Climate Group at Climate Week NYC to encourage business commitments to electric transportation across the globe. Joining EV100 reinforces PG&E's ongoing work to make EV ownership both easy and affordable for our customers, further electrify our own vehicle fleet as options become available and expand access to EV charging for both employees and customers.

For example, through our EV Charge Network program, PG&E will build up to 7,500 EV charging stations at multi-unit dwellings and workplaces across Northern and Central California, with a minimum of 15 percent of the chargers located in disadvantaged communities. Additionally, PG&E has installed about 500 charging units for employees at our facilities to date.

PG&E also offers resources to help customers driving EVs learn more and determine which rate makes sense for them. On PG&E's residential EV rate plans, customers pay the equivalent of $1.20 per gallon to charge their vehicle overnight.

PG&E also operates one of the cleanest transportation fleets in the energy industry, with nearly 1,600 vehicles that are electric-based―ranging from passenger vehicles to pioneering hybrid-electric bucket trucks that reduce idling at the job site and reduce fuel use, emissions and vehicle noise.

About PG&E

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric energy companies in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation's cleanest energy to nearly 16 million people in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/ and www.pge.com/en/about/newsroom/index.page.

Source: PG&E Partners with Valley CAN and IBEW to Connect Underserved Communities with Electric Vehicles

Colorado’s $68.7 million from VW emissions-cheating settlement will replace older vehicles, fund electric charging stations

Colorado already shared how it plans to slice up the $68.7 million it's getting in the Volkswagen emissions scandal settlement. On Monday, the public had its say.

"My ask is that you devote a majority of this magical funding to electrifying our vehicles, as many as possible, (and) to provide charging so that as a society, we can adopt electric transportation and make this normal and not something that just tree huggers do," said Rachelle Dillon, a native Denverite, who recalled the era when people burned garbage in backyard incinerators and threw trash out the car window. "…And my hope is that exhaust coming out of the tailpipe will be just as rude as me tossing a bag of trash out the car window."

[ Click here to read Colorado's proposal on the VW settlement ]

The funding, part of the $2.9 billion Volkswagen set aside for violating the federal Clean Air Act, stems from several fines levied against the German automaker after it was discovered cheating emissions tests so its cars would test much cleaner than they actually drove. The company also set aside $10 billion to buy back cars from VW owners to get the emission-violating vehicles off the road.

But Colorado's share can't be used for just anything, said Chris Colclasure, deputy director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the agency handling the funds.

"The purpose of the trust is to reduce emissions, nitrogen oxide emissions, from areas that were disproportionately impacted," said Colclasure, showing a map of black splotches in the Denver area to indicate where most vehicles operated. "Because Volkswagen cheated on their emissions test, we have some additional ozone that we would not otherwise have."

The funds can be used to replace older vehicles with new, alternative fuel ones. The state's plan, which has been public for three weeks, aims for spending on these areas:

$18 million — Help public and private fleets replace heavy- and medium-duty trucks (including shuttle buses and school buses) with new alternative-fuel vehicles. Private owners can get 25 percent of a new vehicle's cost, while public fleets qualify for 40 percent. Up to 400 to 450 vehicles are expected to be replaced.

$18 million — Replace diesel-reliant transit buses. Expects to fund 36 electric buses plus charging infrastructure.

$10.3 million — Pay for zero-emission vehicle equipment, primarily electric vehicle charging stations.

$12.2 million — Flexible funds to be determined.

$5 million — As part of the Diesel Emissions Reduction Act, funds would focus on replacing diesel engines that aren't limited to cars, but projects that use diesel engines, such as those used to drill oil and natural gas.

$5 million — For marketing, accounting and other administrative tasks.

Public comment on Monday was mostly in favor of the state's proposal, with several officials from alternative fuels industries like natural gas, biofuels and propane making a claim for attention. Public comment continues through Oct. 13, after which the state plans to make its claim by early 2018. The state hopes to receive the funding in 2018. For details on commenting, see the notice at dpo.st/vwfunds.

Source: Colorado's $68.7 million from VW emissions-cheating settlement will replace older vehicles, fund electric charging stations