This isn’t really a surprise at this point. GM’s Cruise robotaxi service went off the road more than a year ago after a terrible accident in San Francisco and lost its right to operate in the city. Not long after that the company laid off about 1/4 of its workforce. Yesterday, GM announced it was pulling the plug on the whole project despite having spent about $10 billion on it.
Earlier this year, top executives at Tesla gathered in Palo Alto to sell CEO Elon Musk on a line of compact cars that would bring the electric-vehicle revolution to budget-conscious consumers across the world. The more affordable car had long been part of Musk’s master plan for Tesla to fight climate change by “accelerat[ing] the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”
But Musk axed the proposal, amid budget constraints, according to two people close to Musk who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. Instead, the billionaire green-lit a massive purchase of computer chips, in a deal worth billions intended to enhance Tesla’s luxury cars (and a humanoid robot called Optimus) with energy-intensive artificial intelligence capabilities.
The axe fell because of the limited profitability an eco-car offered not politics.
Ministers are forging ahead with plans to use electric vehicles (EVs) for combat on the battlefield despite warnings from military grandees that they could put the Armed Forces at risk.
The Telegraph has learnt that the Ministry of Defence will be ramping up testing of battlefield EVs next year at the Army’s Bovington Garrison in Dorset, home of the Tank Museum.
The testing, described by an insider as “putting these vehicles through their paces”, is at an experimental phase, but is an expansion of plans first mooted under the Conservative government on the development of combat EVs.
MONTREAL – Electric bus manufacturer Lion Electric is temporarily laying off 400 employees and shutting down production at its Illinois plant after getting a two-week reprieve from its lenders.
The St-Jérôme, Que.-based company said in a statement Sunday that it has secured an extension to Dec. 16 for a loan and a credit agreement with a syndicate of lenders, after a Saturday deadline passed.
This week’s net-zero carnage in Europe—these stories pop up weekly now—has happened in Britain, where the no-carbon energy transition is killing another country’s auto industry. How much longer can the insanity last?
Stellantis announced it will shut a plant in Luton, north of London, in the spring. The move imperils up to 1,100 jobs. The factory had been slated to produce electric vans under the storied British Vauxhall make, but the consumer demand isn’t there.
Stellantis may shift some jobs to a plant at Ellesmere Port in northwest England, which has been overhauled with the help of taxpayer subsidies to produce electric vehicles. But there’s spare capacity there, too.
Electric-vehicle startups were struggling before the election. Donald Trump’s victory could send them into a tailspin.
Several high-profile companies, including electric SUV maker Fisker and bus manufacturer Arrival, filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. Swedish-based battery maker Northvolt became the latest casualty last week, filing for Chapter 11 after BMW canceled a key order.
At least a dozen other startups, specializing in electric vehicles or batteries, are at risk of running out of cash by next summer, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of their most recent filings.
Musk is there as a counter.
For over a century, there has been an anticipation that electric vehicles will replace internal combustion engines (ICE) and push them into obsolescence. Because the free market failed to deliver this result, in recent decades governments around the globe have been aggressively pushing for the adoption of EVs, including subsidies and — for now — legally-binding phase-outs of non-zero-emission cars. Alas, none of this appears to have had the desired effect: while global EV sales continue to grow, the pace is slowing down. According to Bloomberg’s Net Zero scenario, to accomplish a fully zero-emission vehicle fleet by 2050 it would be necessary to cease the sales of combustion engine vehicles by approximately 2038.
Canada’s electric truck and bus manufacturer Lion Electric Co. is up against a deadline this weekend to find new investors amid a cash crunch and an EV market that’s in turmoil.
The St-Jerome, Que.-based company said on Nov. 18 that it had received a two-week extension of its credit agreement with three lenders, as well as temporary relief on the conditions of a loan provided by the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec and Finalta Capital Inc.
Politicians love to gamble with your cash but, based on their record, you’d think they were rookies getting fleeced by a card shark at a shady bar.
The latest epic failure is the gamble on electric vehicle battery manufacturer Northvolt.
The Legault government bet buckets of cash. And now the company is broke.
Britain’s car industry is in crisis due to a lack of demand for electric cars, the boss of Ford’s UK arm has warned.
Lisa Brankin, the chairman and managing director of Ford UK, called for the Government to urgently introduce ‘incentives’ such as tax breaks to convince drivers to switch away from petrol and diesel.
She said Ford has invested ‘significantly’ in the production and development of EVs, with ‘well over’ £350million invested around electrification in the UK, adding: ‘So we kind of need to make it work.’
Yea throw more money at it that’s the ticket.
More than 1,000 jobs at one of the country’s largest vehicle plants have been put at risk after Vauxhall became the latest company to scale back its UK production.
Ministers have been forced into talks with manufacturers amid fears that electric vehicle (EV) targets will hit carmakers with ruinous fines.
Stellantis, Vauxhall’s parent company, said that the government’s “challenging” mandates, aimed at phasing out petrol and diesel vehicles, had played a significant part in its decision to shut its van-making plant in Luton.
Rules governing the switch to electric vehicles (EVs) are poised to be watered down after a backlash from carmakers.
Jonathan Reynolds, the Business Secretary, will announce a fast-track consultation on potential policy changes to the phase-out of petrol engines at an industry gathering on Tuesday, it is understood.
The rethink comes after Mr Reynolds and Louise Haigh, the Transport Secretary, last week met executives from seven carmakers, trade groups and charging firms.
Electric-vehicle dreams are crashing into reality, and the latest signs come from Europe. Swedish battery manufacturer Northvolt last week filed for bankruptcy, one day after Ford announced 4,000 job cuts in Europe because of the government-mandated EV transition. Will the next Trump Administration learn from Europe’s blunders?
“The global auto industry continues to be in a period of significant disruption as it shifts to electrified mobility,” Ford said Wednesday. “The transformation is particularly intense in Europe where automakers face significant competitive and economic headwinds while also tackling a misalignment between CO2 regulations and consumer demand for electrified vehicles.”
Northvolt was one of the world’s most valuable battery startups. Now it has run out of charge.
Over the past week, the Swedish company filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. and said its co-founder was stepping down as chief executive, after a turbulent year of production problems and job cuts.
The move marks a stark change in fortunes for a company that was once vaunted as Europe’s best hope for competing with China’s dominant battery makers. Northvolt’s collapse also underscores the difficulty Western companies face in establishing a foothold in the industry.
Ottawa and Queen’s Park bet your farm on electric vehicles and the hand they’re playing looks worse every day.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier Doug Ford teamed up to hand $57 billion in electric vehicle manufacturing subsidies to wealthy auto giants like Volkswagen, Stellantis, Honda and General Motors in recent years.
