$4.3m for Northland DHB to expand electric vehicle fleet
14 May, 2021 05:00 PM
4 minutes to read
Northland DHB will expand its fleet of electric vehicles with new Hyundai Konas after getting $4.3 million of government funding.
Northland DHB will expand its fleet of electric vehicles with new Hyundai Konas after getting $4.3 million of government funding.
Northern Advocate
Northland District Health Board will expand its fleet of electric vehicles (EV) and install the charging infrastructure thanks to $4.3 million of government funding.
Margriet Geesink, NDHB sustainability development manager, said over the last five years NDHB has been actively reducing its carbon emissions with a wide range of measures, including changing all diesel boilers to electric heat pumps and reducing medical gas usage to achieve the target to halve emissions in 2030.
By Chloe Trofatter
Fifteen years ago, Michigan’s first electric hybrid bus was unveiled in Traverse City.
Early editions of those buses proved unreliable. But with the return of the wave of electrification in 2021, has anything changed?
State transit authorities are cautiously optimistic, but trust in technology remains a barrier to the incorporation of electric buses into fleets, according to Jean Ruestman, the administrator of the Office of Passenger Transportation in the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT).
“There is risk in implementing new technology,” Ruestman said. “There is still fear regarding how batteries will operate in the cold weather and on rough roads found in our rural areas.”
Lion Electric is taking a bigger bite of the American electric vehicle market as it settles in Joliet, Illinois for its U.S. manufacturing plant.
The company, based just north of Montreal in Saint-Jerome, will build a 900,000 square-foot factory to produce all-electric medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, with the first expected to roll off the production line late next year.
The new facility will represent the largest dedicated production site for zero-emission medium and heavy-duty vehicles in the U.S. and Lion s biggest footprint in the market, helping the company compete in the increasing Made in America market of zero-emission vehicles.