Q&A with Alex Urist, Vice President of XCharge North America Battery storage, once considered a nifty additional feature for large-scale charging infrastructure projects, is steadily becoming de rigueur for public and commercial charging deployments of all sizes. Adding batteries to the system offers several benefits: coupled with on-site generation, it allows charging to be offered… Read more »
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GM’s rosy year-end figures obscure the fact that legacy automakers are in deep trouble
Duplicitous doublespeak has become de rigueur dialect in the auto industry. “We remain committed to an all-electric future,” says GM as it announces a rollback of its electrification plans. “We strongly believe in EVs,” say auto dealers as they support efforts to slow the EV transition. “The greatest responsibility for us as a company is… Read more »
Kia EV9 and Volvo EX30: Are they 2024’s most important EVs?
One’s a three-row midsize SUV under $60,000; the other’s a compact hatchback that starts in the mid-30s. Now we’ve driven both. Choosing “best of” or “most important” new cars is always dicey, and doubly so with electric vehicles. New entries are announced virtually every month, and picking the 2025 models that will be most important… Read more »
Toyota demonstrates Tesla-inspired gigapress die-casting process
It’s been a long time since auto industry observers have seen Toyota as an innovator, so it was a pleasant surprise when the world’s second-largest automaker demonstrated a version of the die-casting process pioneered by Tesla, using a massive hydraulic press to cast the entire rear third of an auto chassis as a single piece…. Read more »
What is this EV mandate that auto dealers are kvetching about?
Since the advent of modern EVs, auto dealerships have been seen as an impediment to faster EV adoption—and that image doesn’t appear likely to change any time soon, even though annual US EV sales cracked the one-million mark in 2023. Over 3,800 US auto dealers recently signed on to an open letter to President Joe… Read more »
GM acquires casting specialist TEI, a key enabler of Tesla’s gigacasting process
Tesla’s gigacasting process, which uses giant casting machines to make car bodies with just a few massive cast parts, allows the company to greatly simplify chassis assemblies, saving loads of time, money and factory space. Other automakers, including Ford, Hyundai and several Chinese brands, have taken a keen interest in the technology. Tesla’s process relies… Read more »
Volvo orders two Tesla-style Giga Presses for Slovakia EV plant
Tesla pioneered megacasting, a technique that uses giant casting machines to make car bodies with just a few massive cast parts (a Matchbox car is said to have provided the inspiration), and other automakers quickly took notice. In 2021, the LK Group reported that it would supply giant casting presses to several Chinese companies. In… Read more »
Battery makers seem to be okay with an EV production slowdown
The news that GM, Ford and other automakers plan to slow down production of EVs in response to slower sales growth (EV sales grew by only 50 percent last quarter) was like an early Christmas for the various varieties of EV-haters. For most of us in the EV industry, it was more like a visit… Read more »
No complaints at Volvo—EV sales soar in October
The legacy automakers had a truly scary October. Ford and GM, both of which had seemed to be manfully slogging forward with electrification, have scaled back their EV plans, moaning that they can’t make a profit on EVs. (It’s not just American companies—VW and Mercedes are wavering too.) Their can’t-do jeremiads are aimed at politicians,… Read more »
LG Energy Solution will invest $3 billion in US plant to supply Toyota with EV batteries
Another sign that the sleeping Japanese giant is starting to stir: Toyota has signed a supply agreement with Korean battery-maker LG Energy Solution for lithium-ion batteries that Toyota will use in its US-built EVs starting in 2025. LGES will invest $3 billion in its Holland, Michigan battery facility for dedicated production lines to supply a… Read more »