• Energy

EV Battery Production in Georgia Charges Ahead Thanks To Settlement

• battery
• cars
• electric vehicles
• EVs
• Ford
• LG Energy
• SK Innovation
• VW

Scaling production of EVs in the U.S. will require a ramp-up in domestic battery production. Now there’s good news on that front. A battery factory in Georgia can move forward after LG Energy Solution and SK Innovation (South Korean companies), two of the world’s biggest electric vehicle battery manufacturers, settled a dispute. 

Why This Matters: The dispute threatened U.S. production of EVs. SK has contracts to produce batteries for electric Ford F-150 pickup trucks and Volkswagen SUVs.

• Energy

Biden Administration Pushed for Electric School Buses

• Build Back Better
• electric vehicles
• EVs
• Secretary Pete
• transportation

by Ashira Morris, ODP Staff Writer Right now, 95% of American public school buses run on diesel fuel, but that could soon change thanks to part of the Biden administration’s massive infrastructure proposal. The new Clean Buses for Kids Program would electrify at least 20% of the country’s iconic yellow school bus fleet. It would […]

• Energy

Read This: Sky’s The Limit for EVs

• electric vehicles
• EVs
• range anxiety

Electric vehicles are an important part of meeting climate change action goals in addition to their potential to clean up air pollution, yet Americans have traditionally been apprehensive about purchasing them. That is until now. As Ben Geman wrote for Axios  this week, “Even as gasoline-powered sales return from the pandemic, cars with plugs are […]

• Green Finance

A Climate Change Two-Fer: Big Climate-Focused Jobs Package And Kerry Goes to India and the UAE

• Build Back Better
• climate resilience
• electric grid
• EVs
• green infrastructure
• Infrastructure
• resilience
• transportation

Today the Biden administration unveils its American Jobs Plan and it is chock full of actions that will create jobs and address climate change and environmental justice issues.  At the same time, the Wall Street Journal reported last night that Presidential Climate Envoy Kerry is traveling later this week to the United Arab Emirates and then on to India.

Why This Matters:  Climate policy is central to both the Biden foreign and domestic agendas.

• People

One Fast Thing: NASCAR Puts EV Mustang to the Test 

• electric vehicles
• EVs
• Ford

The new Ford Mustang Mach-E reenvisions the classic American muscle car for the clean energy era. It’s gotten solid reviews from the tech and car geeks, but what do actual NACAR drivers think of this 1400 horsepower EV? Their need for speed seemed to have been fulfilled based on their smiling faces after a test drive […]

• Energy

Achtung, fertig, los! Volkswagon Jumps into the EV Battery Wars

• batteries
• electric cars
• EVs
• lithium ion

by Natasha Lasky, ODP Staff Writer Volkswagon, the world’s second-largest car company by sales announced this week that it would take aim at reducing the cost of eclectic vehicle batteries. According to the Verge, Volkswagon aims to: Reduce the costs of producing its batteries by up to 50%. Build multiple battery factories around the world. […]