The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs is leading the effort to bulk up the state’s electric vehicle charging infrastructure.

“The buyer that has purchased these cars needs to have the same opportunities as those that are driving gasoline-powered engines,” said ADECA Director Kenneth Boswell.

More electric cars are expected to be on roadways. A report from Reuters estimated that EV sales could reach 33 % globally by 2028, compared to 8 % in 2021. In the US, the White House set the goal for 50 % of new vehicles sold in 2030 to be electric.

Mercedes-Benz has launched production of the all-electric luxury EQS SUV at its Tuscaloosa County plant, part of a global strategy of next-generation technology that is ushering in a new era for Alabama’s auto industry.

Mercedes has invested $7 billion in the state since it arrived in the early 1990s, and Alabama workers began producing the M-Class SUV in 1997. Multiple expansions, new model launches and innovation upgrades have followed, with more than 4 million vehicles shipped from the plant around the world.

Twenty-five years after Mercedes-Benz began making vehicles in Alabama, the German automaker ushered in its newest phase today, as the Vance plant in Tuscaloosa County celebrated the beginning of electric SUV production.

It was the cap on five years of activity and more than $1 billion pumped into the operation, which also added an electric battery factory in Bibb County earlier this year, as well as 1,000 more employees.

DETROIT (AP) — The surprise deal by Senate Democrats on a slimmed-down bill to support families, boost infrastructure and fight climate change also is likely to jump-start sales of electric vehicles.

From electric vehicle manufacturing to needed infrastructure, Alabama is getting charged up for the EV evolution.

Officials told economic developers at the Economic Development Association of Alabama 2022 Summer Conference this week that EVs are no longer something in the future.

“EV is here,” Alabama Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield said.

Birmingham ranks in the top 10 for used electric vehicle adoption, according to a recent study.

Website iSeeCars.com analyzed over 16 million 1- to 5-year-old used cars sold in 2014, as well as between May 2021 and April 2022. The website then broke the findings down further by determining the number of hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles that were sold in that time period.

During an overcast morning in south Alabama, garbage was making history. Well, a garbage truck that is.

City officials, including Mayor Sandy Stimpson, along with Mack Trucks Inc. representatives unveiled a model of an electric garbage truck and gave a demonstration of it on Wednesday outside of the Public Works building in Mobile. Once the vehicle arrives, Mobile will be the first city in Alabama to have an electric truck included in its garbage fleet.

Nick Schmidt was at home when he got the call he had been waiting on for months. Schmidt had ordered the electric version of Ford’s F-150 as soon as it was announced in May of last year. And more than a year later, his F-150 Lightning was finally ready to be picked up.

The Biden administration on Wednesday evening announced new standards to expand electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure throughout the U.S.

The standards will be laid out formally in a proposed rule from the Federal Highway Administration, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told reporters on a press call Wednesday. The rule will require EV charging stations every 50 miles and no more than a mile off the highway, emphasizing the interstate highway system and alternative fuel corridors, according to Buttigieg.

Electric vehicle owners are keeping DMV employees busy.

Registrations for new EVs soared 60% in the first three months of 2022 even though new car registrations were actually down 18% on the whole, Automotive News and Car and Driver reported, citing Experian data. EVs now account for 4.6% of all passenger vehicles being sold in the U.S.