A few weeks ago, Volkswagen Group CEO Herbert Diess called 120 top-level executives to company HQ for a crisis meeting, at which he announced a series of measures to help his company catch up with Tesla. More recently, Diess went a step further, inviting Tesla CEO Elon Musk to address 200 Volkswagen executives via a… Read more »
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JB Straubel talks Tesla, Redwood and the massive challenge of building an EV supply chain in new video
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 »
Northvolt to invest $750 million to expand Swedish battery lab
Battery manufacturer Northvolt plans to invest $750 million to expand its laboratory facility in Sweden in order to meet soaring demand for lithium-ion batteries. Northvolt says it plans to set up the “first R&D campus covering the entire battery ecosystem.” The order of the day in Europe is to quickly expand domestic battery capacity to… Read more »
Ford unveils big plans for an EV factory and 3 battery plants in Tennessee and Kentucky
Here at Charged, we don’t usually repeat superlative claims—“the first, the biggest, the fastest”—we leave those to the Guinness Book of Records. In this case, however, we’ll make an exception. Ford says its plan to build two new manufacturing complexes in Tennessee and Kentucky represents “the largest ever manufacturing investment at one time by any… Read more »
Ford and Redwood Materials to collaborate on battery recycling
Redwood Materials, the battery materials firm founded by Tesla cofounder JB Straubel, has announced a partnership with Ford. The two companies will work together to “create a closed loop for battery recycling and a domestic supply chain for critical battery materials.” Ford also made a strategic investment of $50 million in Redwood. “Excited to work… Read more »
Four ways DuPont adhesives and resins advance EVs
Sponsored by Dupont Much of what drives the advancement of EVs today is what you don’t see. For example, crash-worthy adhesives that bond body and battery components along with performance polymers and thermal interface materials that safely manage battery temperature. At DuPont, we’re developing adhesive and plastic solutions that help automakers worldwide produce EVs that… Read more »
Spanish utility plans Mediterranean charging corridor for heavy-duty EVs
Spanish electric utility Iberdrola will lead a project to develop a “Mediterranean Corridor” for electric heavy-duty trucks, in collaboration with transport and logistics company Disfrimur and electronics specialist Ingeteam. The project will include the procurement of heavy-duty EVs (up to 40 tons), the development of fast charging infrastructure at Disfrimur logistics centers (which will also… Read more »
Toyota actively lobbies against support for EVs
Toyota has earned a place in the history of transport electrification. The Japanese automaker’s introduction of the Prius hybrid in 1997 was a milestone. Since then, the company has sold some 15 million hybrids worldwide, and has gradually added hybrid powertrains to more of its offerings—a majority of Toyota and Lexus models are now available… Read more »
Louisiana to use VW settlement money to install 82 charging stations
Louisiana may be more famous for étouffée than electric vehicles, but money from Volkswagen’s dirty diesel settlement will finance several measures to clean up the air in the Pelican (or Petroleum) State. Louisiana received $19.8 million from the 2016 settlement. Around $12 million went to replace 351 diesel school buses (some with propane or CNG… Read more »
“A sad state of affairs”: VW Group CEO Herbert Diess calls out shortcomings of IONITY charging network
Taking a road trip in an EV is no longer a novelty, but it’s still an instructive (and hopefully, fun) thing to do, and the EV road trip story remains an online literary staple. It’s especially interesting when an exec at an automaker takes a trip in one of their company’s new EV models—and even… Read more »