Biden's EV goals get a boost from Amazon, Google, and Wells Fargo

As part of its electric vehicles (EV) acceleration challenge, the White House announced on Thursday the first phase of public and private sector investments, including investments from companies such as Amazon, Google, and Wells Fargo as part of its EV challenge.

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It was the goal of President Biden to have 50 percent of all new car sales to be electric by 2030, and the challenge included a call to action to stakeholders to support the transition towards electric vehicles.

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A major investment comes from Amazon, which is expected to announce that it has rolled out over 3,000 electric delivery vehicles over the next few months, in order to meet the White House's commitment to bring 100,000 electric delivery vehicles to the road by 2030.

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There was a recent announcement from the federal government that 13,000 light- and medium-duty zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) will be acquired by Federal agencies during Fiscal Year 2023. This is approximately four times the number of ZEVs that were acquired during the Fiscal Year 2022. Among the federal agencies, Biden's EV plan calls for the acquisition of 100 percent ZEVs for light-duty vehicles by 2027, as well as 100 percent ZEVs for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles by 2035.

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Another investment from Hertz is expected to come in the form of increased electric vehicle rental volumes, with the company announcing that it will be increasing its electric vehicle rental volumes substantially this year and forecasting nearly two million EV rentals by 2023. It is estimated that about five times as many EVs will be rented in 2022 as there is today.

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As part of their support for the challenge, Google and Wells Fargo are announcing that they are providing the tools and resources to do so.

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Wells Fargo will release a new tool designed to help business leaders transition their fleets to electric vehicles while Google will provide an up-to-date summary of tax credits that are available across all eligible passenger vehicles as a result of its new search tool. Through its new online tool, Consumer Reports will also be providing information and advice for people who are considering making the switch from a gasoline-powered vehicle to an electric vehicle to help them understand the pros and cons.

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Rewiring America, a nonprofit organization, is also set to launch a personal electrification planner online in 2023, which has the goal of helping 100,000 homeowners and renters develop plans for electrifying their homes and choosing electric cars as part of their electrification journey.

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According to the White House, there are currently over three million electric vehicles on the road throughout the United States as well as over 132,000 public EV chargers located throughout the country. A total of $7.5 billion has been earmarked by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for electric vehicle chargers.