As electric vehicle adoption accelerates, the real estate industry faces increasing pressure to provide efficient charging infrastructure for tenants and customers. However, concerns about grid stability arise as more people plug into Level 2 chargers at these buildings, leading to higher electricity consumption overnight. To address these challenges, future-proof their buildings, and find solutions for… Read more »
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What does President Biden’s support for unions mean for the EV industry?
The relationship between labor unions and e-mobility is a complex one. In Germany, fears that the transition to EVs would result in job losses contributed to the fall of VW CEO Herbert Diess. Here in the US, EVs were a major issue in the recent United Auto Workers strike—autoworkers feared that the Big Three would… 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 »
Toyota to invest $8 billion to expand North Carolina EV battery plant
Is Toyota a sleeping giant, poised to exploit the wimpy waffling of GM and Ford, and become the EV powerhouse it should be? Or will the company continue paying lip service to e-mobility while clinging to 20th-century technology? Who knows? We won’t presume to read the green tea leaves, but we are happy to report… Read more »
Stellantis to acquire 20% equity stake in China’s Leapmotor
Amsterdam-headquartered multinational automaker Stellantis plans to invest some €1.5 billion to acquire 20% of Chinese EV maker Leapmotor. Stellantis will take two seats on Leapmotor’s board of directors. The deal also outlines the formation of Leapmotor International, a Stellantis-led joint venture that will have exclusive rights to the export and sale of Leapmotor products as… 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 »
Nel chooses Plymouth, Michigan for electrode gigafactory
Norwegian fuel cell company Nel has decided to build its next gigafactory in Plymouth Charter Township, a Detroit suburb. The electrode manufacturing plant will produce 4 GW of alkaline and proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer technology annually. The Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF) has awarded a $10-million Michigan Business Development grant to the project. The MSF… 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 »
New Formula G all-electric racing series offers a development path for young drivers
Every professional sport has its farm system: baseball players progress from the Little League through the minor leagues to the bigs; high school football players compete for college scholarships and a shot at the NFL, etc. Dilbagh Gill, the former Mahindra Racing Formula E Team Principal, saw that this development path was lacking in the… Read more »