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The holidays are just about here, and already some are putting up Christmas lights, decorations and motion lights on their siding.
How fitting, then, that current news from the world's biggest automakers all involve electricity.
And they're all racing to be the first off the transport truck. Let's take a look at what's coming down the wire.
Earlier this month Ford announced it will invest nearly $1 billion in metro Detroit and surrounding areas to build electric vehicles as well as the motors and transaxles to make them go.
Not to be outdone, General Motors is launching a full-scale push to commercialize Ultium battery and Hydrotec fuel cell technologies. It's not just alternative energy they're advertising -- it's the storage ease of these fuel cells that lends itself it engineering innovation. This could position GM as not just an automaker, but a future-forward innovator able to compete against Silicon Valley at its own game.
Other automakers both new and foreign aren't resting on their laurels, either. Hyundai plans to launch 10 new hybrid, PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicles) and standard electric vehicles by 2022. Many of these will be hybrid versions of existing models as well as some all-new models, easing the transition from fossil fuel to electric fuel cosmetically as well as mechanically.
And let's not forget Tesla and Rivian, who are emerging as rivals in the electric truck space against Ford and GM with their design. This article points out that electric vehicle sales have steadily risen for years, with these numbers expected to jump in 2021 despite the pandemic. We've already seen Tesla's Cybertruck; Rivian's first pre-orders of R1T pickups have already sold out, and Ford announced that the electric version of the F-150 will be available in electric in 2022.
The future's not just bright - it's electrifying!
