When I was a kid, everyone had a favorite Beatle (mine was George). Now I have a favorite Tesla co-founder: JB Straubel. He’s a visionary who converted a Porsche to electric drive and built a solar-powered racer, long before EVs were cool. He’s the engineering genius who personally went through and redesigned almost every component… Read more »
Search Results Found For: "battery plant"
New CEO confirms Honda will go all-electric by 2040
Honda has become the first major Japanese automaker to set an official date for phasing out sales of fossil-powered vehicles. New CEO Toshihiro Mibe has announced that his company hopes to go all-electric by 2040. Mibe’s announcement confirms a shift that Honda has been hinting at for some months. In 2020, the company partnered with… Read more »
Jaguar announces plan to electrify by 2025
The iconic British car brand Jaguar became the latest automaker to reveal a plan to phase out fossil-fuel engines, announcing its intention to go fully electric by 2025. Jaguar Land Rover, which is owned by Indian conglomerate Tata Motors, hopes the move will help repair the fortunes of the struggling 86-year-old Jaguar brand. JLR said… Read more »
Unions fear electrification will vaporize their jobs
As the legacy automakers finally begin to get serious about electrification, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the accelerating transition will result in a major restructuring of the industry, which seems likely to include substantial job losses. As a recent Bloomberg article reports, fear of the electric future is an underlying reason for the United Auto… Read more »
Tesla Q4 earnings: another profitable quarter, Model Y and Pickup in the pipeline
As expected, Tesla announced that it earned a small profit ($139.5 million on $7.23 billion in revenue) for the second quarter in a row, a major milestone for the company. Sales of Model 3 sales remain strong – with over 140,000 units sold, the electric sedan represented 80% of all EV sales in the US… Read more »
Mercedes to invest $1 billion to build electric SUVs, batteries in Alabama
Daimler has announced that it will invest up to $1 billion to build electric SUVs and batteries at its assembly plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The company said it will build a new battery plant near the site in 2018, and that production of a Mercedes-Benz EQ electric SUV will begin “early next decade.” More than… Read more »
2015 VW e-Golf ushers in an era of interchangeable drivetrains for every Volkswagen model
Rising above the waters of the Mittelland Canal in Wolfsburg, Germany, four iconic smokestacks cut through an otherwise sparse skyline. These are the most recognizable – and among the last – vestiges of the original Volkswagen factory from 1938. Symbolically, however, the smokestacks represent much more than the symbols of a power plant that –… Read more »
Tesla’s batteries – past, present and future
This article is an excerpt from Tesla Motors: How Elon Musk and Company Made Electric Cars Cool, and Sparked the Next Tech Revolution by Charged Senior Editor Charles Morris. Tesla seems to make a point of doing things differently than other automakers, and its battery pack – the most critical component of any EV –… Read more »
Panasonic expects to be the sole manufacturer in Tesla Gigafactory
Tesla’s Gigafactory will be a game-changer for the automotive industry, and as Tesla’s main battery supplier, Panasonic will be a key participant. As prospects for the massive battery plant have brightened and dimmed, not only the EV press but the major news outlets have been following the saga with keen interest. The latest news is… Read more »
Panasonic to take a step by step approach to investment in Tesla Gigafactory
Pour the Champagne back into the bottle for now – reports that Panasonic had committed to investing a bundle in Tesla’s Gigafactory turn out to have been premature. President Kazuhiro Tsuga told reporters in Tokyo this week that the company plans to move cautiously to reduce its risk. “Our approach is to make investments step… Read more »