Ford’s new custom electric pickup truck is a blast from the past

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Ford Motor unveiled Tuesday a custom truck that combines its past with its future electrification plans, including its highly anticipated F-150 Lightning pickup in 2022.

The “all-electric Ford F-100 Eluminator concept truck” features the retro-styling of a 1978 F-100 pickup with electric motors and batteries from the automaker’s 2021 Mustang Mach-E GT Performance Edition. Its interior controls and screens also resemble the Mach-E electric crossover.

Ford built the vehicle to showcase its new “e-crate motor” that’s now on sale online and at its dealerships. Such “crate” engines or motors are assembled by the company but are available for general purchase for building, fixing or customizing vehicles.

Top Automakers Are Investing in Fuel Cells. Should You, Too?

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Hydrogen fuel cells have long been considered a promising energy storage alternative. However, they have seen limited adoption so far; but that may change in the future. Several governments and leading companies are throwing their weight behind this promising technology. Let’s take a closer look at what these developments may mean for fuel cell companies such as Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG) and FuelCell Energy (NASDAQ: FCEL).

Uneven growth

The adoption of hydrogen fuel cells in the global electric vehicle segment is patchy. At the end of 2020, there were roughly 34,800 fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) in use worldwide. Of these, 29% were in South Korea. The U.S. followed with a 27% share while China accounted for 24% of the FCEVs. South Korea is betting big on hydrogen, and the country increased its hydrogen refueling stations by 50% in 2020.

In 2020, roughly 9,590 new FCEVs were sold globally — lower than the 12,350 units sold in 2019. However, the growth in FCEV sales returned in 2021. Around 9,000 FCEVs were sold in the first half of 2021 — nearly the amount sold in the entire 2020.

Moreover, just two companies — Hyundai Motor Company (OTC: HYMTF) and Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE: TM) — account for more than 90% of FCEV sales in the first half of 2021. Hyundai sold roughly 5,000 units of its Nexo FCEV in the first half. This number increased to around 7,276 at the end of the third quarter. Notably, around 6,400 of these FCEVs were sold in the domestic Korean market. Toyota sold roughly 3,700 FCEVs in the first half of 2021. Roughly 52% of these were exported, while the remaining were sold in Japan.

DOE Announces Nearly $200 Million to Reduce Emissions From Cars and Trucks

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WASHINGTON, D.C. — Vice President Kamala Harris will join U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm in New York today to announce the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded $199 million to fund 25 projects aimed at putting cleaner cars and trucks on America’s roads, including long-haul trucks powered by batteries and fuel cells, and at improving the nation’s electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. While in New York, they will discuss the enormous benefits of electrification and alternative-fuel technologies, through programs like SuperTruck, to combat the climate crisis and create good-paying jobs across the country.

Transportation emits more carbon pollution than any other sector of the U.S. economy, making up approximately 29% of emissions. The announcements align with DOE’s commitment to reaching President Biden’s goals of having zero-emission vehicles make up half of all vehicles sold in America by 2030 and achieving net zero emissions economy-wide by 2050.

“As America’s solutions department, DOE is working with manufacturers and industry partners to reimagine vehicle transportation across the country to achieve our climate goals—from lowering carbon emissions to increasing efficiency and affordability,” said Secretary Granholm. “This investment and the innovations that come from it will help shape our clean energy future and strengthen domestic manufacturing that support good-paying careers for hardworking Americans.”

Toyota planning $461 million Georgetown expansion for ‘advanced technology vehicles’

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Toyota is proposing a new $460.8 million expansion of its Georgetown manufacturing plant, already the company’s largest in the world.

According to a news release Friday, the plans include a major update to that will expand the plant’s “ability to produce new products, including future electrification.” The plans has made hybrid electric vehicles since 2006.

Georgetown has already been announced as the site for assembling fuel cell modules for use in hydrogen-powered heavy-duty commercial trucks starting in 2023, according to the release.

Now, the plant also will begin making a new 2.4-liter turbo engine for an expanded range of vehicles made in North America. And the company will shift to a direct hiring process that will move about 1,400 contract employees to the Toyota payroll, along with all new hires. That will increase Toyota’s official employment by over 20 percent.

Biodiesel is booming. It may help the climate, but there’s a big environmental risk

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Ed Cinco of Youngstown, Ohio, has a problem. He’s the director of purchasing for Schwebel’s Baking Company and he can’t get enough soybean oil, a key ingredient in the company’s bread and buns. Suppliers won’t even talk to him.

“The only quotes I can get, for 2022, are from the person I currently buy from,” Cinco says. “So I am basically at [that supplier’s] mercy.”

Prices are rocketing upward, from 35 cents per pound a year ago to almost a dollar. Cinco says companies that crush soybeans and extract the oil are sending it elsewhere: “They all want to go to biodiesel.”

Biodiesel is a version of diesel fuel, which is used by trucks and other heavy-duty engines, that’s made from oils extracted from plants, like soybeans or canola, or even animal fat. It’s set for an unprecedented boom in the next few years because of government policies aimed at finding alternatives to fossil fuels, and helping the climate. Those incentives are driving up demand for soybeans and other oilseeds, pushing prices higher and squeezing supply.

Tesla’s value tops $1 trillion after Hertz ordered 100,000 of its vehicles

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Rental car company Hertz has ordered 100,000 Teslas as part of an ambitious plan to electrify its fleet. A first tranche of Tesla’s Model 3 sedans will be available to rent from Hertz in major US and European markets from early November, said the company in a press statement. The announcement comes just months after Hertz escaped bankruptcy.

After the purchase was announced, Tesla’s stock price reached as high as $998.74 early in the day, increasing its market cap to over $1 trillion before the price dropped again. However, by the time the market closed for the day, its price had risen again, finishing at $1,024.86 per share for a market cap of $1.01 trillion. As CNBC notes, that put it in the rare company of other trillion-dollar market cap companies like Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft.

News of the purchase was first reported by Bloomberg, which says the deal is the single largest order ever for electric vehicles, and worth $4.2 billion in revenue to Tesla. The automaker’s stock was up 4.3 percent on the news in pre-market trading. It was also reported this morning that Tesla’s Model 3 became the first electric vehicle to top monthly sales charts in Europe this September. Earlier this month, the company reported record sales in its third quarter, despite chip shortages denting the automotive market.

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Kentucky asks for public input on transportation future

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Kentucky transportation officials are asking the public to weigh in on the state’s transportation needs to help set priorities for the next 25 years.

The survey will help the state update its Long-Range Statewide Transportation Plan—a federally required document that lays out the state’s current conditions and goals for the coming decades.

The last plan was finalized in 2007, and officials are hoping to finish the next one by the end of next year.

In a statement, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Secretary Jim Gray said the transportation system needs to reflect the needs and desires of the people who use it.

“My hope is that everyone will take this opportunity to tell us what’s most important to them as they travel across town and across our state, both now and in the future,” Gray said.

Gray said the cabinet is taking input on all forms of travel, including car, rail, bike and plane. They are also working with creative crosswalk installation companies like https://creativecrosswalks.co.uk/ to ensure pedestrian safety.

BMW starts production of the i4 electric car

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BMW announced that it has started series production of the BMW i4 electric car today at its Munich factory.

Milan Nedeljković, BMW AG board member for production, said that the start of i4 production marks the beginning of BMW’s important Munich plant going electric:

For the plant and team, the launch of the BMW i4 is a milestone on the road to electric mobility. By 2023 more than half of all vehicles from our Munich facility will have an electrified drive. The majority will be fully electric. So Munich goes fully electric.

Peter Weber, Director of BMW Group Plant Munich, added:

We succeeded in integrating the new vehicle into our existing systems without halting production. The team and our partners did an amazing job. Our bodyshop is a shining example of intelligent, efficient integration. Most of the new production processes for the BMW i4 can be carried out on the existing bodyshop systems.

Ford announcement sparks excitement for electric car owners in Kentucky

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LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – Many people call it a game changer: the news last month that Ford planned to spend billions of dollars on electric battery plants near Elizabethtown.

It’s another strong sign auto makers are moving toward electric vehicles.

For owners of electric cars in Kentucky, the news is exciting, and offers hope, that more charging stations are coming, to support their no gas transportation.

Mike Proctor, of Richmond, has owned electric vehicles for the last nine years.

”On a cold winter day, when I see everybody out there standing out there pumping gas, and I drive right past them knowing that my nice warm garage is my place where I’m going to refuel, I’m a happy camper,” Proctor said.

Procter recharges his electric car in his garage overnight. It cost him less than a $1,000 to have a Level 2 charger installed.

”Level 2 is the same voltage as your range or your dryer work on,” Proctor said. “So, the voltage is available in most households.”

Proctor is a member of EvolveKY, a group of about 200 electric car enthusiasts. EvolveKY has 36, free charging stations around the state.

Ethanol Output Is Back to Pre-Covid Level in U.S.

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Bumper corn harvests and more Americans filling up gasoline tanks pushed U.S. ethanol production to the highest since pandemic lockdowns brought the industry to a near standstill.

U.S. output of the corn-based biofuel last week surpassed analyst expectations and swelled to the most since June 2019. Gasoline demand on a four-week rolling average hit the highest since 2007 for this time of year.

The revival of biofuel production comes a day after spot ethanol soared close to a seven-year high amid surging crude oil prices. At the same time, corn is both plentiful and relatively cheap, setting the stage for fatter producer margins and a potential boost in overseas demand for U.S. supplies.