Can Google push its software into automobiles the same way it did smart phones? It turns out, offering free software in exchange for customer data and advertising opportunities is as attractive for automobiles as it is for smart phones. An auto-group including Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi has decided to add Android to its vehicles. Will the move tie the automakers to Google forever? Reuters reports: Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi said on Tuesday their cars will use Google’s Android operating system from 2021. The Franco-Japanese alliance, which sold 10.6 million vehicles last year, … [Read more...]
Is Global Auto Demand About to Collapse?
New regulations, tariffs and an emerging market economic slowdown are having a major impact on global auto sales. William Boston, writes at The Wall Street Journal that automakers are entering their first sustained slowdown since the financial crisis. The question is, will it remain just a slowdown, or will auto sales collapse even further? Boston continues: China’s once-booming car market is cooling, in part because of escalating trade tensions with the U.S. American demand for cars and trucks—long a bright spot for the global auto industry—has topped out, following a seven-year growth … [Read more...]
Can Killer Cobalt be Replaced in Electric Cars?
Cobalt is at the center of modern day lithium-ion battery technology. Batteries without cobalt are unstable, but the majority of cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The DRC is a country with an unstable government and internal strife. Child labor is said to be used to mine for cobalt. These are not traits that end-users of battery technology want attached to their purchase. In the Financial Times, Henry Sanderson explains the work of Michael Zimmerman to replace cobalt, and just how important it is to do so. He writes: In a laboratory on an industrial park an hour’s drive … [Read more...]
Is There a Better Way to Buy Used Cars?
Heading into a used car dealership can often feel like voluntarily entering the gauntlet. No one looks forward to the pressure and intensity such a trip can generate. That could be why Americans are looking for different ways to buy used cars. One of the ways they've found that seems to be working for them is buying their cars from Costco. Costco members can participate in what's known as the Costco Auto Program. Mark Matousek explains the program at Business Insider: In the past five years, over 1 million Costco members have purchased a vehicle through the program, which allows members … [Read more...]
Tesla Wants its Money Back
Bleeding cash and desperate to show a profit, Tesla has been asking suppliers to give back some of the money the company had given them. After news of this leaked out, investors weren't taking it well. Angus Whitley reports in Bloomberg: Tesla Inc. asked some suppliers to return a portion of its payments to them in an attempt by the electric-car maker to turn a profit, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a memo sent to a supplier last week. The company, whose eroding cash position has alarmed investors, requested a “meaningful” amount of payments made since 2016 to … [Read more...]
Electric Vehicles(EV): Investing Billions!
At RealClearEnergy.com, Constance Douris, Vice President of the Lexington Institute, tells readers of the coming wave of investment in Electric Vechicles (EVs). Automakers are all in on EVs, and there is a wave of public money behind them. Douris writes (abridged): In coming years, automakers will unveil dozens of new electric vehicle (EV) models. Ford alone recently announced that it is investing $11 billion in EV development. A glance at automakers’ EV investments worldwide is revealing: $19 billion in the United States, $21 billion in China, and $52 billion in Germany. Clearly, these … [Read more...]
Will Tariffs Suck the Life out of Auto Sales?
With the tariff fight heating up, U.S. automakers are worried about the impact on their business. Adrienne Roberts reports in The Wall Street Journal: But industry executives warn that momentum could stall in coming months as President Donald Trump threatens to impose tariffs that are projected to cost the auto industry billions of dollars and could raise some car prices by nearly $6,000, according to estimates. Overall U.S. auto sales increased by 1.9% in the first half of the year. June sales increased by about 5%, according to analysts, boosted by an additional selling day compared with … [Read more...]
Hyundai and Audi Make a New Push for Hydrogen Cars
Fuel cell technology, like cold fusion, is one of those often promised but never delivered dream-technologies. Hydrogen fuel cells could, on paper, solve many of the problems with both petroleum fuels and electric battery technologies. Fuel cells combine petroleum-like easy fill ups with zero local emissions like battery electric vehicles. Now Hyundai and Audi have worked out a deal to combine efforts on hydrogen fuel cell vehicle technologies. Costas Pitas reports at Reuters: LONDON (Reuters) - Hyundai (005380.KS) agreed a deal with Audi (NSUG.DE) on Wednesday to collaborate on hydrogen … [Read more...]
The Chinese are Coming for Tesla
The world's largest maker of electric vehicle batteries is not housed in Palo Alto, California. Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. (CATL) is a Chinese company that, with the help of generous government subsidies has become the world's largest supplier of electric vehicle batteries. The company just went public, turning its founders into billionaires. CATL is valued at $12.3 billion, rather inexpensive compared to Tesla's valuation of $55.77 billion today. Bloomberg's Jie Ma tells the story of Zeng Yuqun, CATL's founder. The government’s generous subsidies for new-energy vehicles and … [Read more...]
Breaking News: BP’s Explosion in Battery Technology
There aren't many events that could change both the dynamics of international affairs and the discussion surrounding the environment faster than a major innovation in battery technology putting electric automobile performance on par with internal combustion engine powered machines. Not to mention that entire sectors of business would be created and possibly destroyed by such an innovation. BP is focused on the idea of battery innovation, and writes about the explosion in such technology in its corporate magazine here (abridged): As BP announces its investment in a developer of electric … [Read more...]
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