Streetsblog

Friday’s Headlines Need to Slim Down

The price of battery minerals is skyrocketing. So why not make smaller EVs? Tell that to the 65,000 people who've preordered a 9,000-pound Hummer.

By Blake Aued

12:00 AM EDT on April 1, 2022

Photo: GMC

Transitioning to zero-emissions vehicles and renewable energy would deliver $1.2 trillion worth of health benefits in the U.S. (Common Dreams)
Lithium prices are up 500 percent, which will make batteries more expensive and electric vehicles less affordable. There are several solutions, including making vehicles lighter and encouraging less driving. (Treehugger)
Unfortunately, consumers don’t seem interested in lighter vehicles. About 65,000 people have already reserved a nearly five-ton GMC Hummer EV that “will turn a child into red mist.” (Jalopnik)
President Biden will release 180 million barrels of oil from the strategic reserve in hopes of driving down gas prices. (New York Times)
High-speed rail could replace the short-haul flights that make up 62 percent of aviation emissions. (International Council on Clean Transportation)
Do your allergies seem worse this year? Blame climate change. (Washington Post)
San Francisco couldn’t tear down a highway connecting the city to the Golden Gate Bridge, so it buried Doyle Drive under a park instead. (Fast Company)
Traffic-choked Los Angeles could become a mobility utopia if only it took the money it spends on enabling drivers and used it for transit, bike and pedestrian infrastructure instead. (Zocalo Public Square)
With wildfires undoing decades of progress on air quality, Colorado is considering making transit free during the summer to reduce ozone emissions. (Colorado Public Radio)
The Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority is now considering bus rapid transit rather than light rail to Emory University after being criticized for abandoning rail in favor of BRT in other corridors. (AJC)
Indianapolis at the front lines of climate change with its all-electric BRT system. (Grist)
Developers say an Omaha streetcar would create a vibrant downtown and alleviate the need for parking (KETV). Similarly, acting mayor Cavalier Johnson says extending the Milwaukee streetcar will also spur development (Wisconsin Politics)
Massachusetts Uber and Lyft drivers are speaking out against Prop 22-style gig worker legislation. (Western Mass News)
An Oregon pilot program will devote $30 million over three years to bike-shares. (Bike Portland)
A software glitch forced Austin to shut down its bike-share system during the peak of South by Southwest. (Chronicle)

Blake Aued

Blake Aued has been doing Streetsblog's daily national news digest for years. He's also an Atlanta Braves fan, which enrages his editor in New York.

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