River Davis of The Wall Street Journal is reporting that site conditions and potential subsidies coupled with uncertainty in EV business growth caused Panasonic to back off building a multibillion-dollar EV battery factory in OK. He writes: Tesla supplier Panasonic said Wednesday that it has decided against building a multibillion-dollar electric vehicle battery factory in Oklahoma. Panasonic already has an EV battery plant under construction in Kansas and had been eyeing Oklahoma as a potential additional location. The Japanese company already operates a joint-venture EV battery plant … [Read more...]
Tesla Recalling Millions of Vehicles
Rebecca Elliott and Gareth Vipers of The Wall Street Journal are reporting that a software fix will add more alerts and controls encouraging drivers to remain attentive while using autopilot features. They write: Tesla is recalling more than two million vehicles over government contentions that its Autopilot system can be misused by drivers, in the midst of a yearslong probe by the top U.S. auto-safety regulator into crashes involving the driver-assistance technology. The safety recall, which covers nearly all Tesla vehicles sold in the U.S., could dent the carmaker’s reputation. It is … [Read more...]
EVs Have 79% More Problems, and Biden is One of Them
Auto dealers are telling Biden to stop forcing Americans into electric vehicles, especially when EVs have 79 percent more problems, writes Maggie Hroncich of The New York Sun. She continues: Despite thousands of dollars in tax credits, manufacturer rebates, and national calls for more green energy, the Biden administration’s electric vehicle push isn’t resonating with consumers. That’s the latest according to a letter this week to President Biden from 3,882 dealerships, calling on the president to “tap the brakes on the unrealistic government electric vehicle mandate” as electric cars sit … [Read more...]
Subsidies Fuel Global Auto Trade – How Long Will the Boom Last?
Jason Douglas of The Wall Street Journal tells his readers how strong car sales contrast with weakness in other exports. He writes: Auto exports from Europe and Asia are surging as the U.S. and other countries lavish subsidies on electric vehicles and dealers replenish inventories that even now aren’t back to prepandemic levels. The boom in autos contrasts with broader weakness in exports as the global economy slows. The trend offers a glimpse of how the West’s embrace of industrial policies aimed at stimulating domestic manufacturing and reducing the use of fossil fuels is causing … [Read more...]
Utility-Pole Business to Booms in the Electric Car Era
Ryan Dezember The Wall Street Journal writes that the electric car era is causing high demand for utility poles, due to infrastructure spending and grid upgrades. He continues: Electric cars. The solar build-out. Washington’s rural-broadband initiative. Utilities bracing the grid for stronger storms. They all depend on the same thing: big trees. The utility-pole business is booming, thanks to a flood of public and private infrastructure spending. So the hunt is on for the tallest, straightest, knot-free conifers, which are peeled, dried and pressure-treated at facilities such as Koppers … [Read more...]
Swedish Unions Standing Toe to Toe with Tesla
Morgan Meaker of Wired reports that unions claim Tesla is failing to play by Swedish labor rules. Now, a strike that started with mechanics is beginning to spread. She writes: Dock workers in Sweden are threatening to block deliveries of new Teslas entering the country, in the most serious labor dispute the company has faced in Europe to date. Teslas arrive into Sweden via four ports, Malmö, Gothenburg, Trelleborg, and Södertälje, according to the Swedish Transport Workers’ Union, which represents 57,000 workers in the transport industry and has threatened the blockade. It’s planned to … [Read more...]
UAW Strike Pinches Automakers and Suppliers
Sean McLain and Ryan Felton of The Wall Street Journal report that United Auto Worker walkouts have resulted in thousands of layoffs at Detroit automakers and their suppliers; it has had less impact on car buyers. They write: Six weeks into United Auto Workers’ strike, the impacts of the work stoppages are rippling through the car business, causing pain for the automakers themselves, as well as parts makers and factory workers. One corner of the industry that has been largely spared: dealerships and consumers, due in part to an inventory buildup of both cars and parts before the … [Read more...]
Americans Are Increasingly Delinquent on Their Auto Loans
A mix of high interest rates and inflated prices are creating a weird situation in which, despite high employment, Americans are increasingly defaulting on their auto loans. Ben Foldy reports for The Wall Street Journal: Five years ago, there were a dozen models of new cars that sold for less than $20,000. In 2023, there was only one: the spartan Mitsubishi Mirage hatchback, which accounted for about 5,300 of the 7.7 million new vehicles sold in the U.S. in the first half of the year. If you are willing to spend more than $100,000, you can choose from 32 models. For the average American, … [Read more...]
Car Market Is the Least Affordable in Modern History
The market for automobiles is the least affordable in modern history, according to CoPilot CEO Pat Ryan in an interview with CNBC. Jessica Dickler reports: By nearly every measure, buying a car has become extremely expensive. Not only are new vehicle prices near an all-time high, but the interest rate to finance a purchase has also jumped dramatically. Now, fewer affordable new cars even hit the market, according to recent reports. Today, new cars priced under $30,000 make up just 8% of the market’s supply, down from 38% pre-pandemic, car shopping app CoPilot found. “It’s the least … [Read more...]
EV Makers Favoring Cheaper Alternatives to Nickel and Cobalt
In the race for mass production dominance of the EV market, manufacturers are avoiding expensive and rare materials like nickel and cobalt, even though their performance, when combined with lithium in batteries, is still the best. Instead, EV makers are using cheaper, "almost-as-good" lithium-iron-phosphate batteries. Reuters reports: As the auto industry scrambles to produce more affordable electric vehicles, whose most expensive components are the batteries, lithium iron phosphate is gaining traction as the EV battery material of choice. The popularity of the chemical compound known as … [Read more...]
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