California’s EV rules are a-okay, EPA sources say
The US government is ready to approve California’s emissions rules which would end gas-only car sales within the state by 2035, according to a report by the Washington Post.
The Post spoke with anonymous sources stating that California’s “Advanced Clean Cars 2” light-duty emissions rules, which were finalized in 2022, are going to be approved by the federal government in the coming days.
California has requested waivers for several other emissions rules – and has received some of them in recent years – but the sources did not comment on whether any other pending rules, like those for heavy duty trucks, would be approved at the same time.
WaPo reached out to the EPA by email, and a spokesman declined to comment on the rumor. WaPo quoted spokesman Nick Conger as saying “EPA continues to review California’s waiver requests closely to make sure its decisions are durable and grounded in the law.”
The history of California’s emissions rules
For decades now, California has had a special “waiver” given by the federal government, allowing it to set its own emissions rules as long as they are stricter than the rules for the US overall.
This is due to heavy smog problems in California – especially in the areas around Los Angeles, its largest city and home to the nation’s largest container port; and in the central valley, which is the most agriculturally productive land in the country. Both of these places have geography that traps smog from the millions of cars driving on their roads every day and results in particularly bad air quality.
And so, since the 1960s when the California Air Resources Board was created (by then-Governor Ronald Reagan), California has generally exercised its state’s right to set its own emissions rules. Other states are allowed to follow these rules, but only if they copy them exactly.
The new set of rules has been in the works since 2020, and will have the effect of ensuring that there are no new gas-only vehicles sold in the state by 2035 (though there can be 20% plug-in hybrids, but those hybrids have to fit certain requirements to ensure they actually get used properly).
California intentionally chose this less-ambitious 2035 timeline because it thought it would make it easier for other states to follow along. And as a result, 11 other states have signaled that they will adopt the standards.
The new emissions rules are expected to save Californians $13 billion in health costs, avoid thousands of deaths, cut auto emissions by half, and result in almost a billion fewer barrels of petroleum being burned. Other states will see similar improvements in health and money savings.
EPA grants new California waiver – with another clean air fight looming
All of this is contingent on the EPA signing off on the regulation, which it reportedly is ready to do in the coming days.
The approval isn’t unexpected, but comes quite late during President Biden’s term, which has been marked by significant improvements in emissions rules and EV policy, leading to a boom in domestic manufacturing jobs and investment.
While a procedural step like this normally would not be particularly notable, there are some complicating factors here.
First, since it is late in the current Congressional term, the incoming Congress could attempt to reverse it through use of the Congressional Review Act, which republicans have made use of often in recent years to try to stop regulations that might improve Americans’ health. However, since the waiver is not actually a federal regulation, the Congressional Review Act doesn’t apply.
The larger threat is that, unfortunately for America, the next occupant of the White House is convicted felon Donald Trump, who finally received more votes than his opponent on his third attempt (despite committing treason in 2021, for which there is a clear legal remedy). Mr. Trump has stated quite forcefully that he wants to reverse President Biden’s clean air policies, thus saddling Americans with dirtier air, higher costs and poorer health, and sending EV jobs to China to ensure that this new boom in American manufacturing is unable to flourish.
Mr. Trump previously squatted in the White House between 2017-2021, after having attained the 2nd most votes in the 2016 election. During that period, he attempted to poison Americans by worsening California’s emissions rules – but in keeping with his pattern of incompetence, he failed to do so.
The primary actual outcome of the last fight with California was to de-harmonize federal and California standards. While California has mostly gone it alone since the 60s, there was a brief period in the 2010s where California and federal rules were harmonized – but industry lobbying resulted in a shattering of that harmony, giving companies a more difficult regulatory environment.
Industry learned their lesson, but republicans still aiming for dirty air
As a result, this time around, industry has decided to lobby against shattering emissions standards, recognizing the chaos that was caused the last time an ignoramus got involved in setting auto regulations.
Despite the desires of the industry in question, Mr. Trump has signaled that he wants to “rip up” California’s waiver again – even though the law does not specify a method to revoke a waiver once it is granted, as EPA will reportedly do in the coming days.
So it is yet to be seen if he will take the more reasonable approach desired by big auto, doctors, nurses, scientists, environmental groups, other businesses, people who have lungs, and so on; or if he will instead do what big oil, the industry he asked for a $1 billion bribe from and which kills millions of people around the world every year wants him to do. Make your bets now.
Further complicating the issue is that this time, Mr. Trump has a corrupt kangaroo court at his backing, who just today said that it will consider a challenge against California’s emissions rules by big oil. This illegitimate court has routinely ignored the law to legislate from the bench, so it’s entirely possible that it will try to say that California, which has been legally allowed to set its own emissions rules for 60 years, shouldn’t be allowed to do the thing that the law explicitly says it can do.
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A Tesla executive has announced that the automaker plans to update its Model S and Model X vehicle programs later this year.
In 2021, Tesla introduced updated versions of the Model S and Model X, its flagship EVs.
The design refresh failed to reignite the vehicle programs. At one point, Tesla envisioned a volume of 100,000 units per year for the two vehicles combined, but that number had fallen to about half as of last year.
Part of that is due to increased competition at the top end of the EV market from companies like Lucid, Rivian, Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, and others, but it is also due to Tesla’s own canabilization with Model 3 and Model Y vehicles getting more love over the last few years.
Now, Tesla has confirmed that it plans to update the Model S and Model X.
Lars Moravy, Vice President of Vehicle Engineering, made the announcement on the Ride the Lightning podcast:
“Just give it a minute. We’ll get there. The upgrade a few years ago was bigger than most people thought in terms of architecture and structure; We’ll give it some love later this year; Everyone here has a little place in their heard for S/X. They are not going anywhere anytime soon.”
The executive didn’t elaborate on what the update will entail, but we can expect some of the similar features as those introduced in the latest Model 3 and Model Y refresh.
It is rare for Tesla to announce upcoming vehicle refreshes or comment on leaks due to the Osborne effect, which occurs when premature discussion of future, unavailable products damages sales of existing products.
Electrek’s Take
I am unsure if it is Moravy’s mistake or if Tesla just doesn’t care because Model S and Model X sales are in the dumpster anyway.
What can we expect from Model S/X refresh?
I am hoping for efficiency improvements for Tesla to catch up a bit to Lucid. Maybe Tesla will bring back the turn signal stalk, like it did for Model Y and it is expected to do with Model 3.
Also, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a bunch of lightbars like the new Model Y.
What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.
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Automation and warehouse robots have been changing the way we ship and store goods for decades. In a post-Altman/OpenAI world, though, we get to call that kind of autonomous operation “AI” and slap a multimillion dollar valuation on it – which is exactly what Ati Motors did.
Don’t get me wrong, Ati Motors seems like a solid company. Not only are their Sherpa robots perfectly fine products, the company itself is experiencing a hockey stick of growth – nearly tripling its orders in 2024 from the year before. With that in mind, the $20 million Series B investment, led by Walden Catalyst Ventures (WCV) and NGP Capital (NGP) with participation from current investors including True Ventures, Exfinity Venture Partners, Athera Venture Partners and Blume Ventures, seems more like smart business and less like a late addition to the AI hype train.
For their part, the executives at Walden and NPG seem to agree.
“We’re excited to co-lead this investment in Ati Motors,” says Upal Basu at NGP Capital. “The company’s ability to successfully deploy fully autonomous mobile robots across diverse industrial environments, combined with their rapidly growing customer base, makes them a standout in the industrial automation space. We believe their unique approach to combining Edge AI, LIDAR, and robotics will help address a critical need in the manufacturing sector.”
Sherpa Tug can haul 1,000 kg
With both outdoor and indoor capabilities, the autonomous Sherpas are a natural fit for warehouses like Amazon and IKEA locations, but the bigger, 1,000 kg units could be suitable as airport luggage tugs, as well.
Ati’s press material says its autonomous Sherpa robots will “change the way you work, without you changing a thing, “adding that they are, “programmed to safely and seamlessly integrate into your existing workspace, workflow and workforce.”
The Sherpa robots feature 360 degree cameras and lidar sensors to constantly map their surroundings, as well as autonomous obstacle avoidance and automatic parking features. Their compact, li-ion battery packs are modular, good for up to 8 hours of continuous operation (depending on model), and can be easily swapped by a human operator in a matter of seconds.
Presumably, the batteries could also be swapped by a different Ati robot in a few more seconds, but that seems dystopian AF. Besides, the little Sherpas are undeniably adorable – so it’s OK.
Watch the video for the autonomous Sherpa PalletMover, below, then let us know what you think in the comments. (While you do that, I’m going to watch Wall-E again.)
Ati Sherpa – forklift certified
SOURCE | IMAGES: Ati Motors, via PR Newswire.
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In a reflection of growing sentiment in the US against reckless electric bike riders, one California town is preparing to enact a series of new restrictions and legal clarifications for e-bike riders.
This week, the Santa Barbara City Council will be discussing proposed changes to its city ordinances pertaining to electric bicycles.
The move has been spurred by many in the city having taken issue with riders who operate their bikes in reckless or dangerous manners, often riding near pedestrians on sidewalks or showing a general disregard for the safety of passersby.
As KEYT pointed out, the concerns are often associated with riders of light electric motorcycles such as those made by Sur Ron, Talaria, and other similar bikes. These motorbikes generally do not fall under the legal definition of electric bicycles in most jurisdictions, including in California. Their use on public roads is usually illegal as most lack the requirements for street-legal use. Their intended use is trail riding, such as on fire roads and other off-road scenarios.
“Among them is a Surron,” explained KEYT’s John Palminteri. “It is capable of going up to 75 miles per hour according to the manufacturer and through online video testing. There’s even an additional modification that is said to increase that number another five miles per hour.”
In actuality, most Sur Ron electric motorbikes are capable of speeds around 40-50 mph, though several popular online videos have showcased owners hot-rodding their bikes for higher speed. There are also larger, higher-performance models available, though they are considerably rarer on the streets. Such bikes are used more commonly in the motocross scene.
Young riders cruising the streets while popping wheelies on Sur Ron-style electric motorbikes have become a key image in the debate over reckless riding in cities around the US.
The proposed Santa Barbara ordinance changes include language to tackle that phenomenon head on, including “clarifying language that tricks or wheelies constitute riding in an unsafe manner when pedestrians or vehicles are present.”
Potential actions include “citations, an educational component, and the option to impound a bike by someone illegally riding it.”
According to KEYT, additional definitions and regulatory changes in the proposed ordinance ammendements include:
- Defines what constitutes operating in an unsafe manner and provides examples of unsafe ridership behaviors. This section is applicable to any public street, public right of way, sidewalk, bicycle path, lane, or trail.
- Requires riders to use bike lanes where possible, and on streets without bike lanes, to ride close to the right curb or edge of roadway.
- Requires riders to ride in single file, and not more than two abreast except on paths or parts of a roadway set aside for the exclusive use of bicycles.
- Requires the yielding to pedestrians when emerging from an alley, driveway, bicycle path, building or otherwise approaching upon a sidewalk or sidewalk area.
- Prohibits the riding of a bicycle or electric bicycle on any sidewalk except while an active threat to personal or public safety is present.
- Requires the wearing of properly strapped helmets for all riders under 18 years of age and that all bicycles or electric bicycles have reflectors affixed to both the front and back wheels and on the rear of the bike.
- Prohibits the operation of a bicycle or electric bicycle on a roadway unless it is equipped with a brake that will enable the operator to make one braked wheel skid on dry, level, clean pavement.
- Prohibits the parking of a bicycle or e-conveyance in a manner that obstructs a sidewalk or pedestrian path.
- Stipulates that any violation of the ordinance is punishable as an administrative citation with the fine not exceeding $100 for the first violation, $200 for a second violation, and $500 for each additional violation within a one-year period.
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