VW to Invest $2 billion in Electric Infrastructure
After getting shellacked with fines due to cheating diesel tests, Volkswagen is looking to make amends. How? By expanding electric charging infrastructure to poorer areas of California and the rest of the United States, of course.
Volkswagen has a lot of atonement to do. But this is a great step in the right direction. And it’s a great move not only for PR but also for California and the rest of the United States. Apparently, even Tesla Motors is on board with the plan.
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What we can expect from this plan
Right now it’s just in the planning stages. But with $800 million pledged to building California’s electric car infrastructure up, and an additional $1.2 billion nationwide, we can expect some good things.
For starters, more electric car support will result in more electric cars on the road. The costs associated with electric cars currently are a deterrent for many people. Not only that, but electric charging infrastructure has yet to be extended to more rural areas. Therefore, electric cars are often seen as a privilege of those in urban areas. And VW is trying to change that.
It’ll take time to implement, but if it’s successful we could very well see an even larger share of the automobile market go to electric cars. Considering what Tesla has been able to accomplish with theirs, and the plans that other automakers have for electric cars, there’s a good chance they could dominate the road in the next half-century.
How this might affect your car shipping services
But we’ve yet to cover how it might impact the auto transport industry. Electric cars and trucks are not something we shy away from here at American Auto Shipping, because we firmly believe in the future. And electric powertrains really are the way of the future. The writing’s on the wall for conventional fuels, and the more companies that get on the electric hype train the better.
That said, more electric charging stations in rural areas makes it more feasible for electric car transport trucks. Right now the technology to run such a large truck on solely electric power is in its infancy. We talked about Nikola Motor Company and their efforts in creating an all-electric transportation truck. But that’s just one company; if we’re to see real fleets of all-electric auto transportation trucks, we need to see more companies get on board.
Having electric charging stations in more rural areas makes it easier for auto shippers to get to their customers. Right now, car transporters will go anywhere so long as they get paid enough (well, most will). But a carrier with an electric truck can only go so far, which can cut them off from a variety of loads or restrict them only to certain routes. Having more electric charging stations can mean more loads and more routes for those enterprising truckers, after all.
As for right now, it’s not going to do much for the auto shipping industry. But it’s a solid step in the right direction, and if more companies take steps like VW we could see some real innovation – and change – across the nation.
Get more with American Auto Shipping
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Since 2007 Dave has written all the content and blogs for American Auto Shipping and during this time added the duties of customer support and transport logistics.
He currently resides in Washington with his three kids and their mom and cat. A fan of Marvel movies and good stories, when not shipping cars Dave can be found working on his novel, enjoying a good book or playing some tournament HALO.
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