Event
The City of Largo, FL will be hosting their annual car show at Largo Central Park on Saturday, November 17th. This year they are teaming up with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) and 'adding a spark' to this year’s event, with electric vehicles!
Saturday, November 17 9 AM - 1 PM 101 Central Park Dr, Largo, FL 33771
Electric Vehicles
VW will be selling a new subcompact VW all-electric I.D. Concept vehicle which could start at $21,000 (and would qualify for the $7,500 Federal Tax Credit). The subcompact should be released sometime in 2020. However, it’s not really fair to make the claim as VW's CEO Herbert Diess has that it will be ‘as good as Tesla at half the cost’ when the products will be so vastly different.
Speaking of Tesla, they have broken into the top 20 best selling vehicles (including trucks and SUVs) with the Model 3 for the month of October. Read more in the article Model 3 is the #19 Best-Selling Vehicle In U.S.
BMW has paired up with Turkish manufacturer Karsan to make a new electric bus powered by a BMW i3 powertrain. The electric buses will have a 130-mile range that can fit 26 passengers and is easily wheelchair accessible. Perfect for intracity transportation!
Infrastructure
Good news for those of you in, near, or passing through Union City and County, SC. They are rebranding their EV charging stations for the purpose of being the first in the state with standardized signage. “The rebranding is the latest step in Union County’s efforts to embrace and promote the growth of the use of electric vehicles that are not only more environmentally-friendly in and of themselves, but are powered by electricity generated from environmentally-friendly sources.”
Policy
Check out this new tool from the Alternative Fuels Data Center where you can see the impact the source of your electricity (by state) has on the emissions of your EV and how it compares to a traditional gasoline car.
The three current bills proposed for addressing a Federal Tax Credit for EVs are vastly different. A new pro-EV coalition released a press statement and website on Nov. 13th, to address the bill aimed at eliminating the credit. Here’s a snippet: “The original electric vehicle tax credit, which goes directly to consumers, not manufacturers, catalyzed the market, increased consumer awareness and grew a nascent industry. To promote continued market growth and stabilization, members of the EV Drive Coalition are advocating for reform to lift the current cap on the number of consumers who can take advantage of the credit through each manufacturer.”