U.S. Approves Remaining EV Charging Infrastructure Plans
The Biden administration said it has approved electric vehicle charging infrastructure plans for all 50 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico ahead of a Sept. 30 deadline. The approval unlocks more than $1.5 billion in funding in 2022–23 to build EV chargers across roughly 75,000 miles of U.S. highway, including interstates and alternative fuel corridors, according to the Federal Highway Administration. Earlier this month, the agency said it had approved 35 of the 52 EV infrastructure deployment plans submitted ahead of schedule under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program, reports Automotive News. The program — created and funded by the infrastructure law — makes $5 billion available over the next five years to help states achieve President Biden's goal of 500,000 EV charging stations across the U.S. by 2030. "With this greenlight, states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico can ramp up their work to build out EV charging networks that will make driving an EV more convenient and affordable for their residents and will serve as the backbone of our national EV charging network," said Stephanie Pollack, acting administrator for the Federal Highway Administration. Click here for the full story.
EV Tax Credits to Spur More Vehicle Sales Are Entering a Critical Phase
The government is pressing to complete new rules on tax breaks for electric-vehicle purchases by an end-of-year deadline as auto companies seek guidelines that help qualify as many vehicles as possible. The Treasury Department is leading the effort after the August signing of a law that extended an existing $7,500 tax credit through 2032. The EV plan, included in Democrats’ climate, health and tax-policy package known as the Inflation Reduction Act, included new requirements for U.S. battery sourcing that auto makers have warned will make it difficult for models available today to be eligible. The changes to the EV tax credits come amid sharp price increases for new vehicles. New-vehicle prices were up 10.1 percent in August from a year earlier, according to the Labor Department, outpacing the overall annual inflation rate of 8.3 percent. The average electric-vehicle price is more than $60,000, reports The Wall Street Journal. EV sales have tripled in the past two years but still account for just 6 percent of U.S. vehicle sales. Auto companies are pushing to develop and sell more models with goals to greatly increase the percentage of EVs manufactured and sold. Click here for the full story.
Jaguar Land Rover Sets Out to Train Workers, Dealers for EV World
Luxury British carmaker Jaguar Land Rover said on it would retrain 29,000 employees and staff at retailers globally over the next three years to design, build and service electric vehicles ahead of its shift away from fossil-fuel cars. The unit of India's Tata Motors said the majority of technicians at its retailers should receive training on servicing EVs during this financial year to "tackle emerging skills gaps". The shift to EVs means carmakers need to provide fresh skills to workers trained to make and service fossil-fuel models. There are widespread concerns that fewer moving parts in EVs could mean fewer well-paid manufacturing jobs in the auto industry, especially in engine or transmission plants. Reuters reports Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) said it would retrain "thousands of highly skilled automotive engineers and production employees, who previously worked on the development of internal combustion cars, to specialize in electrification, digital and autonomous cars." EV sales have risen sharply in Europe over the last two years and looming fossil-fuel car bans mean more are coming. JLR's luxury Jaguar brand will be entirely electric by 2025 and the carmaker will launch electric versions of its entire line-up by 2030. Click here for the full story.
Japanese, German Brands Dominate J.D. Power Loyalty Report
Brand loyalty is increasing among new-vehicle buyers, fueled by the current vehicle shortage, J.D. Power said in a study released Tuesday. For the first time, the analytics firm broke its loyalty study into five segment categories — including premium car, premium SUV, mass market car, mass market SUV and truck. A company's loyalty score is the percentage of new-car buyers who return to the same brand when trading their old vehicle and was measured from transaction data from September 2021 through August 2022. Among the segment leaders, international automakers had the highest brand loyalty, reports Automotive News. Notable among them was Toyota, which ranked first in both the mass market car brands and mass market SUV brands segment with 62.2 percent and 63.6 percent return rate, respectively. In the mass market SUV segment, fellow Japanese brand Subaru came in a close second with 62.6 percent. While Japan owned the mass market, Germany topped the premium market. Porsche took the top spot among premium car brands with a 57.4 percent loyalty rate. BMW, another German brand, had the highest return rate of premium SUV brands, clocking in at 58.6 percent. Click here to see the full results of the study.
Dealer Alex Casebeer Is Keeping his Eye on the Prize Despite Low Vehicle Inventory
While new vehicle inventory improved slightly in August, supply is still tight, and consumers are on the search for new vehicles outside of their market. However, car dealers like Alex Casebeer, the General Manager and Partner of Capitol Auto Group, who are selling at sticker price, are also armed with a strategy. The last time CBT News spoke to Casebeer, his store increased in volume year-over-year and was one of the top Subaru stores in Oregon. Luckily for Capitol Subaru, not much has changed since then. Overall, gross profits are still solid; however, new car volume is about the same. He says the used car side of his business is tough, but they are battling through it. Acquiring used car inventory is a significant struggle, as are the changes in book values which are “all over the board.” Customers still expect high vehicle trade-in values, so the dealership has to help them mitigate their expectations. New vehicle inventory in Capitol’s case is “not fantastic.” Despite truckloads of deliveries almost daily, the vehicles are all pre-sold. Ground stock is not growing at any of Capitol’s stores, says Casebeer. Click here for the full interview.
What Does the CHIPS Act Mean to the Auto Industry?
Chips are in everything these days, not just computers. They help control your games console and smart home — even kitchen gadgets require semiconductor chips to function. In the past two years, we have seen how the car industry has struggled to keep up with demand. With everyone saving money by not being able to travel and staying at home, a lot of customers chose to buy their next car towards the end of 2020 and 2021. As a result, semiconductor demand and use are now at an all-time high, so the White House is stepping in to help. The latest CHIPS and Science Act from the Biden administration has recently been put into law and introduces a wave of changes for the auto industry.
The Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) and Science Act is an injection of $52.7 billion worth of subsidies to support this movement of chip production. With the main chip suppliers coming from the Asian market, the Biden administration has worked to transition the global footprint of chip production to the U.S. Breaking this down, the Act will support funding and tax credits for semiconductor companies to build manufacturing sites and invest locally in the U.S. Click here to read the rest of the article.
Around the Web
Considering an Electric Vehicle? Here’s How to Prep Your Home for One [The Washington Post]
Bentley Bentayga Hybrid Now Available in Two Intriguing New Flavors [Car and Driver]
Mercedes' First Virtual Show Car Will Debut in the Most Unlikely Place [Carbuzz]
Polestar 3 Electric SUV Will Debut on Oct. 12 with Up to 510 HP [Carscoops]
