Piece of CAKE
Happy New Year! This year, our resolution is to make this the best newsletter you read all week. It’s like drinking through a firehose with the amount of year-end EV news and 2023 news hitting the wires. In this newsletter, we've compiled all the important information in one spot for your convenience. We'll be covering updates on Taxes, Rivian, Tesla, EVs under $35k, CAKE, Zoox, and more.
If you know someone that is interested in Electric Vehicles and/or Autonomous Vehicles, send them this newsletter. It helps us grow and provide even better content in the future.
We hope you have an amazing day!
EV News
2023 promises to be exciting for EVs, with a range of highly anticipated models set to hit the market. Don’t get me wrong, last year was a great year for EVs, but this year will be better. We’re talking about an electric Blazer from GM, the luxurious GV70 from Genesis, the kid hauling EV9 from Kia, and the yacht on wheels from Rolls Royce. A fully electric offering from Jeep, a Lotus SUV, the Polestar 3, and even the Fisker Ocean has plans to make a splash. With so many exciting releases on the horizon, it's hard to say which one we look forward to most. What are you most looking forward to? Will we finally see the Tesla Cybertruck on the road?
EV Sales
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138,265 new EVs were sold in Norway last year, making EV sales nearly 80% of new cars sold.
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In the fourth quarter of 2022, Tesla produced over 439,000 vehicles and delivered over 405,000 vehicles. In 2022, vehicle deliveries grew 40% YoY to 1.31 million while production grew 47% YoY to 1.37 million.
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In November, the CEO of Polestar, Thomas Ingenlath, announced that the company was on track to deliver 50,000 cars in 2022. The goal was apparently met as Ingenlath tweeted "Mission accomplished" on December 30, 2022.
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Nio also hit a sales record in December 2022 - it exceeded 15,000 EVs sold.
EV Taxes & More
Who doesn’t enjoy an excellent skim of the IRS website, especially when it involves reducing your taxes? The US federal government offers a tax credit of up to $7,500 for the purchase of a new, qualified, plug-in, EV or FCV that was placed in service on or after January 1, 2023, and meets certain income limitations. To determine if a specific vehicle meets the assembly requirements, the vehicle's VIN can be checked using the Department of Energy's VIN Decoder tool.
Also starting on January 1, 2023, if you buy a qualified used EV or FCV for $25,000 or less from a licensed dealer, you may be eligible for a used clean vehicle tax credit. The credit is equal to 30% of the sale price, up to a maximum of $4,000, and is non-refundable. To be eligible, you must be an individual who bought the vehicle for personal use, not the original owner, not be claimed as a dependent on someone else's tax return, and not have claimed another used clean vehicle credit in the 3 years prior to the purchase. Your modified adjusted gross income must also be below certain thresholds based on your filing status. In addition, the vehicle must have a model year at least 2 years prior to the year of purchase, have a gross vehicle weight rating of fewer than 14,000 pounds, have a battery capacity of at least 7 kilowatt hours, and be primarily used in the United States. To claim the credit, you must complete Form 8936 and include the VIN.
More EV News
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Ram has potentially revealed its electric name - the RAM 1500 REV.
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In 2022 alone, companies announced more than $73 billion in planned projects, more than three times the previous record set in 2021.
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China’s EV sales continue to grow with a 50% YoY growth in November. The top two models sold in November were the BYD Song Plug (64,145 sold) and the Tesla Model Y (52,424 sold)
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Tata Motors has delivered its first 100 Evs and also signed an MoU with Everest Fleet Private Limited to deliver 5,000 XPRES-T EVs.
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Over 8,700 chargers were installed in the UK in 2022, making last year a record year for chargers.
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EVs under $35,000:
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Chevrolet 2023 Bolt EV, starts at $25,600
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Chevrolet 2023 Bolt EUV, starts at $27,200
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Hyundai 2023 Kona Electric SUV, starts at $33,550
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2023 Nissan Leaf, starts at $28,040
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2023 MINI Hardtop Cooper SE, starts at $34,225
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Tribute
Back in the day, you know, my more youthful days, I was a skateboarder working on turning pro. That was a pipe dream (no pun intended). I was also big into cars, it was just a more financially feasible pathway to pursue skateboarding. There were a handful of names that were iconic in the industry and DC Shoes was one of them. I had no idea who started that company back in the day, but everyone knew the brand and the DC logo.
It wasn’t until many years later when I was browsing the Youtube and came across some whackjob doing some insane drifting maneuvers through warehouses and around any and all objects. After a little more research on Ask.com, I found the man behind these mind-blowingly incredible car dances to be Ken Block. Ken was a successful rally driver, a successful YouTuber, and also one of the founders of DC Shoes.
What a story! A story that any gearhead or action sports fan would dream of. Start a global brand, have a successful rally career, start a household brand name with car stunts, and just live life. Everywhere you looked, Ken was doing something that I, and probably everyone, was envious of doing. There never seemed to be a dull moment.
Mr. Block passed away earlier this week in a snowmobile accident. Never a dull moment. You were a legend in the car community and have impacted so many people with your unique and incredible driving style. RIP Mr. Block.
-John @ Mobility EVo
Ned's Corner
Let's talk about regen, or regeneration. This EV feature is so neat, it came to gas cars before modern EVs hit the market!
There's some FUD and confusion out there on regen: Nearly ten years ago I test drove a BMW i3 and a salesman told me I didn't need to bother getting a charger at home since regen puts all the energy back into the battery when you slow down. That's completely wrong, so here's the basics on the technical side. When an EV regenerates, the motor is acting as a generator and energy flows back into the battery. I'm going to ignore how that happens electrically, just know that the driver can control regen just like they control acceleration, which is how we get one-pedal driving. Regen is just the reverse of acceleration, trading one form of energy for another: between kinetic energy, electrical energy, chemical energy, etc. The computers worry about all the details so the driver just drives. Most new drivers adapt to it easily and often prefer it to ICE driving.
For more about regen. Click
AV Corner
CAKE, a Swedish electric motorbike manufacturer, has announced its first four-wheeled electric vehicle, the CAKE Kibb. The Kibb is a semi-autonomous robotic work platform and electric ATV that is designed for light-duty agricultural use. It is intended to provide a lower-impact transport option for sustainable farming, and can be used to supplement human or machine work. The Kibb has a modular body that can be fitted with various ATV attachments, and its battery pack can also be used as a mobile power station. The Kibb can even perform certain tasks autonomously, freeing up time for farmers and ranchers to handle other work.
In other AV News
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According to Tesla, 285,000 people purchased Full Self-Driving in North America.
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Baidu will not have safety drivers in their new autonomous testing round in Beijing.
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Washington State wants robotaxis to have at least $5 million worth of liability insurance.
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Poni.ai has received a permit to deploy fully autonomous vehicles in Beijing.
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May Mobility’s newest exec, Kathy Winter, wants to step up the company’s driverless vehicles.
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An interview with Zoox’s CTO, Jesse Levinson.
EPG and Mobility EVo
Mobility EVo is brought to you by EPG. EPG is an electric vehicle and autonomous vehicle recruiting and staffing company. We created Mobility EVo to bring you the latest news on the Electric Vehicle and Autonomous Vehicle industry through our newsletter. Whether it’s Tesla, Ford, Mobileye, Cruise, Waymo, GM, Rivian, we bring it to you. We also have some electric vehicle merch too. Check out our EV hats, EV Shirts, EV Hoodies, etc… We have something for everyone.
