Michigan: Catch up!
A collective sense of urgency behind the wheel.
Welcome back to The Big Switch from Lafayette American.
Today, Toby Barlow has a wake up call for Michigan. But first…
Links from the vast internet:
California to Require Half of All Heavy Trucks Sold by 2035 to Be Electric (NYT)
By 2035, 55% of delivery vans and small trucks, 75% of buses and larger trucks, and 40% of tractor-trailers and other big rigs sold in the state would have to be all-electric.
Six other states have already adopted truck rules modeled after California’s new requirement but had been waiting for federal action in order to enforce them.
2025 Ram 1500 REV Smashes F-150 Lightning's Towing And Range Estimates (CarBuzz)
The standard truck has a 168-kilowatt-hour battery pack delivering a targeted range of up to 350 miles but can be optioned with an enormous 229-kWh battery delivering up to 500 miles.
Tesla spotted testing Cybertruck suspension on test track (Electrek)
This test is real, unlike their April Fools crash test, which was obviously just a joke.
The New Prius Prime Proves That the Best EV Might Not Be an EV (Road & Track)
Given finite resources, Toyota’s argument is that it makes more sense to build eight 13kWh plug-in hybrids than it does to build one 100kWh fully electric vehicle. With 44 miles of EV range, and considering the average person in the United States drives 41 miles every day, that’s eight EVs for the materials of one.
It also looks great. Just sayin’.
GM-owned BrightDrop to add 4,000 electric vans to Ryder’s fleets (The Verge)
In addition to Ryder, BrightDrop has already committed to providing thousands of its electric vans to companies like Walmart, FedEx, DHL, and Hertz.
Michigan: Wake Up?
Toby Barlow
The foundation of Michigan’s economy is still the ICE engine, and it will be for a while to come. But while the major auto companies know EV’s are coming - and they’re moving things around as fast as they can - it doesn’t appear that many of the people in Michigan are aware of how big this change is. And that blindspot could be the region’s final downfall.
It’s happened before. And it was bad. When the gas crisis hit in the early 70’s our state economy got hit with a serious bullet. The whole global economy changed. Buyers went for fuel-efficiency and Detroit wasn’t ready for it. The blow to Michigan was devastating. The signs of it still resonate, a half century later.
Michigan has the same blindspot today. People think EV’s are partisan or political. They’re not. They are not even the “next” economy. They’re happening right now. Things are changing fast. Tesla? That’s already yesterday. China’s BYD is outpacing Tesla. In California, 80,000 electric chargers were installed just last year. States have voted to ban ICE vehicles by 2035.
Meanwhile, here in the midwest you maybe see a Tesla or a Mach-E on the road. Every so often a parking lot has a charging station. None of the dealer’s Tier II or Tier III ads ever seem to mention EV’s.
So, while they are undoubtedly talking about it in the boardrooms, a lot, the average citizen in Michigan has no idea there is a revolution going on, one that, played wrong, could absolutely wipe out the region’s number one industry. Our ability to recognize this revolution, to install the charging structure, to incentivize electric vehicles, to promote and get Michigan on board in every way, will determine whether we’re a part of the global economy going forward, or if we’re just another economic backwater, like Honduras, Sri Lanka or Wyoming.
It undoubtedly felt a lot like this in the 70’s, when all the Toyotas and Datsuns were coming onto the docks in California. Detroit’s boardrooms had an eye on it then too. At the ill-fated AMC they were working on ill-fated small cars like the Gremlin. They thought they were on top of it. But it’s easy to see why they failed, because when those guys pulled into the country club for dinner, the culture of change did not surround them. All they saw were those Buicks with the trunks so big you could fit three bags of golf clubs. There was no collective sense of urgency. It was a problem they could just leave behind at the office. That is, until their office just disappeared.
So, this isn’t a shout out to the car dealers or the auto execs, this is a mission for folks far away from the industry. The guy with the wine shop in Ferndale, the woman with a diner in Warren. Listen, businesses that are all going to get knocked out if Michigan goes down. So, what can you do? It doesn’t have to be that radical. You don’t have to go out and buy an EV. You can do simpler things. Email your state rep and ask them how they’re supporting EV’s. Call your dealer and ask when you can test drive one. Or call your gym and ask when they’re going to install chargers. If you have a neighbor who drives an EV, ask them about it. Maybe you’ll learn something cool.
Maybe you’ll even buy one.
That’s all for now.
If there’s something we missed, of if you think Michigan is better off than the average state, write us: bigswitch@lafayetteamerican.com
Excellent Wake-Up Call, Toby!