This week, we have a compelling EV news about General Motors, Volkswagen, and the US Postal Service: Our Top EV News for the week of July 29, 2022.
Check out the full newsletter for the week which includes more Electric Vehicle News, and also news about Autonomous Vehicles.
Bio: John is the COO at EPG, a company focused on helping electric and autonomous vehicle companies hire the best talent. In addition to these services, EPG puts out an informative weekly newsletter that is now named Mobility EVo. You can sign up for the newsletter here.
Ultium
When it rains, it pours, and it’s been pouring for GM lately. General Motors has secured cathode materials from LG Chem for 5 million electric vehicles. Cathodes are a crucial ingredient in car batteries, and GM plans on needing 950,000 tons of cathode active materials. The automaker will receive shipments from late 2022 until 2030.
GM hopes that the large shipment will boost its chances of taking down Tesla as the top dog in the EV world. This comes on the heels of GM and LG Chem’s joint venture, Ultium Cells, receiving a $2.5 billion loan to build battery manufacturing facilities in OH, TN, and MI.
More from GM
As I said, it’s been pouring for GM. General Motors announced a method to encourage EV adoption, a new website called EV Live. People can interact one-on-one with EV specialists to have any questions about EVs answered. Users can book a tour with a specialist to learn more about home and public charging and battery technology. More from GM? Sure, why not? Late last week, GM also unveiled its $300k luxury sedan: the Cadillac Celestiq. What do you think?
American Production
More news for TN, Chattanooga's Volkswagen factory has begun ID.4 EV production. Volkswagen plans to produce 7,000 EVs per month until December 2022 and then ramp up production in 2023. Customers should expect deliveries in October, with both variants of the 82kWh model (RWD and AWD). Over 190,000 ID.4 cars have been delivered globally since its launch in 2021.
Electric Mail
The US Postal Service is upping its EV game. The USPS announced its intention to increase EV delivery vehicles after the Biden administration said their original goal fell short of governmental climate change goals.
Now, 50% of its mass delivery truck order will be EVs, instead of the original goal of 20%. In addition, the agency wants to buy 34,500 commercially available vehicles over 2 years. Right now, the Postal Service’s fleet totals 190,000 vehicles. You can expect to see the first electric delivery vehicles to be on the road next year.
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