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A New York state law signed by governor Kathy Hochul sets a goal of 100 percent new passenger car and truck sales in the state being zero-emission vehicles by 2035, similar to executive order issued earlier by California governor.Newly adopted legislation sets similar goal for medium- and heavy-duty trucks in New York state, but with a target year of 2045.EV sales in New York state accounted for less than 2% in 2020, pointing to a need for significant gains over the next 13 years.Following a trend set by a number of states in the U.S., New York state has passed a law that sets a target for 100 percent of new passenger cars and trucks sold or leased in the state to be zero-emissions vehicles by the year 2035. The legislation was signed by Governor Kathy Hochul just a few days ago. The legislation contains a similar goal for off-road vehicles and equipment by 2035. The law also establishes a goal for all medium- and heavy-duty trucks sold or leased in the state to be zero-emission vehicles by 2045, “for all operations where feasible.”

The signed legislation is more akin to a policy statement or executive order, in that it directs a state agency—namely the Department of Environmental Conservation—to propose regulations that will require increased volumes of zero-emission vehicles to be offered for sale with the goal of achieving a 100 percent mark by 2035. The law effectively compels state agencies to phase out sales of gas- and diesel-engined vehicles and trucks by a certain date through agency rules, which itself have yet to be adopted.The law as drafted lacks enforcement mechanisms and concrete steps that agencies will need to take in order to phase in sales of zero-emission vehicles. In effect, there are no corresponding state agency rules that have been enacted to promote sales of zero-emission vehicles to such a significant extent, or (perhaps more importantly) actively inhibit sales of internal-combustion vehicles at a dealer level. Further legislation and agency rules, complete with enforcement mechanisms, will be needed.The law also requires that a zero-emission vehicle strategy be developed by 2023, which will then be used by New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) to create programs and policies to actually promote EV sales.

“Using California’s Advanced Clean Trucks Rule as a template, the proposed regulation would require truck manufacturers to transition to clean, electric zero-emission vehicles,” the governor’s office said in a statement. “Truck manufacturers would be required to meet a certain annual sales percentage of zero-emission trucks, which will vary among vehicle weight classes, beginning with model year 2025. By the 2035 model year, at least 55 percent of all new Class 2b-3 pickup trucks and vans, 75 percent of all new Class 4-8 trucks, and 40 percent of all new Class 7-8 tractors sold in New York State will be zero-emission. The proposed regulation provides medium- and heavy-duty truck manufacturers with several compliance options and would require a one-time reporting from applicable truck fleets.”The statement above, you may have noted, mentions proposed (but not yet adopted) regulations aimed at out-of-state truck manufacturers, rather than sales by truck dealers within the state, while also seeking compliance from reports by specific fleets.New York state faces some headwinds in achieving 100 percent zero-emission sales of passenger cars and trucks by 2035, with the market share of electric vehicles in the state currently hovering around 1 percent. Plug-in hybrids will also qualify as zero-emissions vehicles. Sales of these ZEVs will have to make significant gains while sales of gas- and diesel-engined vehicles will have to surrender significant market share each year. This is likely to be dictated by market forces more than anything, absent some compelling incentive programs.

Many automakers have rolled out ambitious goals for transitioning to EV-only lineups, but even these goals come with plenty of asterisks. For one thing, assuming comparable levels of annual vehicle sales in the US until 2035, the recovery and processing of raw materials for the production lithium-ion batteries alone would have to experience significant growth, absent the sudden arrival of solid-state battery technology that would rely on more easily obtained raw materials. So even the plans of automakers to go EV-only by a certain year are based on other industries being able to keep up with that transition.

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Lucid Motors announced official EPA range and efficiency ratings for several versions of its Air sedan.The Dream Edition Range model wearing 19-inch wheels can go the furthest with a 520-mile range, while the Grand Touring model, which has 133 less horsepower, goes 516 miles on 19-inch wheels.Upgrading to the 21-inch wheels knocks off a significant amount of range, with the Dream Edition Range dropping to 481 miles with the bigger wheels and the Grand Touring decreasing to 469 miles.Many of today’s electric-vehicle startups tout jaw-dropping performance figures and driving range figures. But Lucid Motors, which aims to deliver its first customer cars before the end of the year, has now taken a major step forward with official EPA estimates for the range and efficiency of its upcoming Air sedan. And the numbers are big.

Lucid

The launch model of the Lucid Air, called the Dream Edition, comes into two configurations, with the Range prioritizing driving distance and the Performance focusing on extra power and acceleration. The 933-hp Range, unsurprisingly, goes the furthest on a charge, with the EPA estimating the range at 520 miles on the standard 19-inch wheels and 481 miles on the optional 21-inch wheels. The 520-mile figure gives the Lucid Air the longest range of any EV rated by the EPA.

While the 1111-hp Performance version sacrifices distance for power, the EPA still estimates it can go 471 miles on a charge with the 19-inch wheels, a figure which dropps by 20 miles when fitted with the 21-inchers. Along with the Dream Edition available at launch, the Air will be offered in Grand Touring specification, which produces 800 hp. The Grand Touring can travel an estimated 516 miles with the 19-inch wheels and 469 miles with the 21-inch wheels. For reference, the Tesla Model S that goes the furthest on a single charge—the creatively-named Long Range—has an EPA rating of 405 miles, while the ultimate performance version of the Model S, the 1020-hp Plaid, has a EPA range estimate of 348 miles. Lucid also says it now has the highest MPGe ratings for the EPA’s Large vehicle class, with the most efficient version of the Air, the Grand Touring with 19-inch wheels, rated at 130 MPGe in the city, 132 MPGe on the highway, and 131 MPGe combined. The least efficient Air is the Dream Edition Performance on the 21-inch wheels, which earned a rating of 110 MPGe in the city and 111 MPGe on the highway for a combined 111 MPGe.Lucid had originally planned to start production of the Air in the spring of this year, but this was delayed to late 2021. With the EPA ratings now in place, Lucid is one step closer to delivering vehicles to customers.
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Over $104 million in tolls generated from the Pennsylvania Turnpike went uncollected in 2020, according to a report from the Associated Press. An internal report filed in July and obtained by the AP revealed that 11 million out of the 170 million Turnpike rides, nearly 6.5 percent, went unpaid last year. The biggest reason? People just don’t pay the charges. The Pennsylvania Turnpike switched to a purely automated toll collection system last year, driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. Out of those 170 million rides, about 145 million—93 percent—are paid by motorists using the electronic E-Z Pass system. The other seven percent are billed via “toll-by-plate,” which uses cameras to take pictures of license plates, and bill motorists through the mail.

At 6.7 million rides, the biggest hit for collections comes from motorists who are billed but simply do not pay. The uncollected fees are written off by the Turnpike after three years. The state set up a system in 2017 that suspends PA registrations for six or more unpaid toll violations, but has yet to implement a system to similarly penalize drivers from out of state. According to AP, Pennsylvania is working on agreements with Delaware and New York to install such a penalty system. Other reasons for the Turnpike missing out on toll payments? A total of 1.8 million rides went unpaid because license plates could not be identified. Roughly 41 percent of those failures were blamed on obstruction to the plate, such as a bike rack or trailer. Just 1.1 percent of obstructed plates were blamed on motorists intentionally blocking their plates from view. Another 1.5 million tolls went uncollected because motor vehicle agencies failed to provide addresses for vehicle owners. And in just over 1 million instances, bills sent out via the toll-by-plate system went undeliverable.

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Polestar has shared a photo of a prototype of the upcoming production version of the Precept concept.It appears to be a large, sleek flagship sedan model with a near-identical body shape as the concept.Polestar says it will begin production before 2025.Polestar is keen to demonstrate that its Precept concept car from last year is more than just a design study. The EV brand already confirmed that it will produce the sleek sedan for real, and now it’s sharing an image of a Precept prototype as it undergoes engineering development. The company says the production version will come to fruition before 2025, when it will join existing models such as the Polestar 2 and the upcoming Polestar 3.From this photo, we can see that the production model has a nearly identical body as the concept. It’s a long and low four-door that invites comparisons to the Tesla Model S, Porsche Taycan, and Mercedes-Benz EQS. As such, it will likely carry a six-figure price point to match its status as Polestar’s luxury flagship.

The company hasn’t shared any technical information about the Precept, but we anticipate it will have an all-wheel-drive dual-motor powertrain with more grunt than the Polestar 2’s 402-horsepower setup. Due to its larger size, a bigger battery pack is also a sure bet to live up to constantly evolving expectations for longer and longer driving range.We should hear more about the Precept in coming months as Polestar shares more about its specs, production timeline, and design details.
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