Xiaopeng Motors is a technology and electric car company designing and manufacturing intelligent vehicles. NIO is a Chinese company operating globally designing and developing autonomous electric vehicles. TOGG is developing autonomous, connected, and connected vehicles, with an entire mobility ecosystem encompassing EVs. Electric vehicles now include sports cars, cargo trucks, bicycles, and an array of other products designed to make traveling easier, faster, and greener.
Electric vehicles are growing in popularity, meaning that freight companies must adapt to the needs of those vehicle-based transports. About one-fifth of DHLs shipping fleet is now made up of zero-emission vehicles, including 11,000 electric Chevy Bolt freight vans. The postal service is also buying an additional 34,500 vehicles that are available for purchase, enough of them being electric models that four out of every ten trucks in its new delivery fleet are zero-emission vehicles.
The commitment comes after 16 states, the District of Columbia, and four of the nations leading environmental groups sued Postal Service in the spring seeking either to block its initial purchase plans or force it to purchase more electric trucks. Pick Your Plan ArrowRight The Postal Service was slated to purchase up to 165,000 vehicles from Oshkosh Defense, 10 percent of which were expected to be electric under the initial purchase plan. The Oshkosh agreement requires the purchase of at least 50,000 vehicles, at which point the Postal Service can open another round of bidding on trucks–or pursue better negotiations with Oshkosh Defense–at a time when experts expect prices for electric vehicles and their pricey batteries will drop.
Ryder System said afterward that it was buying an additional 100 of Chanjes class-five electric vans (all of FedExs 1,000 Chanje V8100s would be operating in California), with Ryder ordering 500. The company plans to have 10,000 Rivian delivery vehicles on the road by 2022, with Rivian saying that it will have all 100,000 electric delivery trucks operational by 2023 (it remains unclear if 100 will be operating in the U.S. and/or worldwide). Given German carmaker Daimlers 40% stake in the roughly $39B U.S. heavy-duty truck market, it will be interesting to see whether Daimler is the leader or the laggard in the race for fully electric delivery vehicles. The company is likely to introduce the battery-electric versions of three of its heavy-duty truck models first, ahead of fuel-cell vehicles.
The announcement is welcome news to companies like Workhorse Group, which is developing hybrids and fully electric vehicles, both of which are likely to be costlier to manufacture. As demand for utility-class EVs grows, that is likely to push costs lower, encouraging carmakers to develop better, more efficient EV trucks and vans. With increased demand to decarbonize the transportation industry, companies producing batteries to power electric vehicles have seen significant momentum. Vehicle manufacturers are ramping up production of EVs, and as a result, large companies such as Amazon, AT&T, and Ikea are telling carmakers what kinds of electric vehicles large companies such as Amazon want.
We compiled a list of 21 companies that have either committed to EVs for their fleets or are embracing them. This list represents companies from a variety of industries, as well as some of the largest corporate fleets in the United States, which highlights how widespread the interest in fleets with electric vehicles is. Check out this list of 21 electric vehicle companies helping us improve mobility by reducing our energy footprint. The Corporate EV Alliances principles allow electric vehicle stakeholders, including car and truck manufacturers, suppliers, utilities, policymakers, and regulators, to see what companies that have a strong fleet of vehicles on U.S. roads are looking for in order to meet their own bold goals of cleaner transportation.
The Corporate Electric Vehicle Alliance helps companies map out a path toward successfully transitioning their transportation and logistics fleets to electric vehicles. In January 2020, Electrek reported at the time, the Ceres, a Boston-based sustainable-living-nonprofit, launched the Corporate Electric Vehicle Alliance, a group that helps companies speed the switch to electric vehicles. As Corporate Electric Vehicle Alliance moves toward electrifying our fleets, we are also supporting the development of even more nearly-zero-emission, high-efficiency electric vehicles, in an effort to accelerate decarbonization in the transportation sector, cut pollution, and drive further cost savings. By 2030, Consumers Energy plans to transition 100% of our light-duty vehicles to EVs.
The Michigan utility plans to make 30 percent of its fleet–including all purchases of light-duty vehicles–electric by 2030. In addition, Genentech has committed to convert 100% of the 1200 vehicles in Genentechs sales fleet electric or plug-in hybrids by 2030. Cemex announced plans to convert its corporate fleet of cars and utility vans into hybrid and electric models across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. In addition to encouraging employees to buy electric cars and commuting bikes, and installing EV charging stations for employees at all Clif Bar locations, Clif Bar will transition its fleet of vehicles to all plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles by 2030.
Lightning Systems is an innovative automobile R&D and manufacturing company developing all-electric, zero-emissions drivetrains. QuantumScape is a renewable energy company developing solid-state battery technology for extended electric vehicle range. In addition to developing and marketing high-speed electric vehicles, the company develops solar panels designed for business and residential applications. In addition, companies manufacturing components used in electric vehicles–such as batteries or autonomous vehicle systems–can also be considered a part of the electric car industry.
As high-minded an objective as it is for Amazon (and a Herculean one for Rivian), buying up EVs likely would put pressure on other companies, such as DHL, FedEx, and UPS, to invest heavily to add electric delivery vehicles to the other companies own final-mile fleets, such as those owned by DHL, sooner rather than later.