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☆ Tesla Pullback Puts Onus on Others to Build Electric Vehicle Chargers
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-04 | by ( Jack Ewing | Ivan Penn | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, blindsided competitors, suppliers and his own employees this week by reversing course on his aggressive push to build electric vehicle chargers in the United States, a major priority of the Biden administration. It put the onus on other charging companies, raising questions about whether they can build fast enough to address a shortage that appears to be discouraging some people from buying electric cars. As the owner of the largest charging network in the United States, Tesla has a powerful effect on people’s views of electric cars. “There is certainly a psychological component,” said Robert Zabors, a senior partner at Roland Berger, a consulting firm. “Availability and reliability are critical to overall E.V.

Persons: Elon Musk, Tesla, Biden, ”, Robert Zabors, Roland Berger Locations: United States

☆ Tesla Fires Many on Charger Team, Raising Doubts About Expansion
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( Jack Ewing | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Elon Musk has gutted the part of Tesla responsible for building electric vehicle charging stations, sowing uncertainty about the future of the largest and most reliable U.S. charging network. Tesla’s agreements with other makers of electric cars assured buyers that they would be able to find fast chargers on road trips, addressing one of the main reasons that many people are hesitant to buy such cars. It was also seen as a coup for Mr. Musk, validating Tesla’s technology and giving the company outsize influence over the auto industry. Almost all major manufacturers announced plans to switch the hardware and software in their cars to make them compatible with Tesla’s chargers. Ford has been mailing adapters to owners of its older electric vehicles so they can connect to Tesla’s chargers.

Persons: Elon, Tesla Organizations: General Motors, Ford Motor, Ford

☆ Daimler Truck Workers in North Carolina Are Poised to Strike
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-26 | by ( Jack Ewing | More About Jack Ewing | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Workers who make trucks and buses for Daimler Truck in North Carolina appeared poised to strike on Friday as contract talks remained deadlocked. A contract covering 7,000 Daimler employees represented by the United Automobile Workers will expire at the end of Friday. The German company has five factories in North Carolina, where it builds Freightliner and Western Star trucks, Thomas Built buses, and various components. scored a significant victory this month when workers at Volkswagen’s factory in Chattanooga, Tenn., voted to be represented by the union. Workers at a Mercedes-Benz factory in Alabama will vote on whether to unionize in mid-May.

Persons: Thomas Organizations: Daimler Truck, Daimler, United Automobile Workers, Freightliner, Western Star, Workers, Benz Locations: North Carolina, Southern, Volkswagen’s, Chattanooga , Tenn, Alabama

☆ Honda Commits to E.V.s With Big Investment in Canada
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-25 | by ( Jack Ewing | More About Jack Ewing | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Honda Motor on Thursday said it would invest $11 billion to build batteries and electric cars in Ontario, a significant commitment from a company that has been slow to embrace the technology. Like Toyota and other Japanese carmakers, Honda has emphasized hybrid vehicles, in which gasoline engines are augmented by electric motors, rather than cars powered solely by batteries. The Honda Prologue, a sport-utility vehicle made in Mexico, is the company’s only fully electric vehicle on sale in the United States. “This is a very big day for the region, for the province and for the country,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at an announcement event in Alliston, where Honda manufactures the Civic sedan and CR-V S.U.V. The investment is the largest by an automaker in Canadian history, he said.

Persons: Justin Trudeau Organizations: Honda, Toyota Locations: Ontario, Mexico, United States, Alliston , Ontario, Toronto, Alliston

☆ Tesla Earnings Report Could Add to Concerns About Its Strategy
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Jack Ewing | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Tesla is expected to report on Tuesday that it made less money in the first three months of the year because of its tepid car sales, reinforcing concern among investors that the company led by Elon Musk is losing ground in the market for electric vehicles. The job cuts were interpreted as a sign that Tesla was struggling to bring costs in line with sinking revenue. A year ago, in the first quarter of 2023, Tesla reported earning $2.5 billion and had one of the best profit margins in the industry. For a while that strategy seemed to help bolster the company’s sales but Tesla now appears to be struggling to attract buyers even with lower prices. Tesla investors are increasingly worried that its falling sales and profit are a symptom of larger problems, possibly pointing to the company’s inability to effectively respond to increased competition from established automakers and new carmakers from China.

Persons: Tesla, Elon Musk Locations: China

☆ Tesla Seeks to Revive Musk’s $47 Billion Pay Deal After Judge Says No
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( Jack Ewing | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Facing criticism that it is overly beholden to Elon Musk, Tesla’s board of directors said on Wednesday that it would essentially give him everything he wanted, including the biggest pay package in corporate history. If setbacks in court and the car market have induced any soul searching among Tesla’s board, there was no sign of it in the latest announcement. If anything, the board doubled down on backing Mr. Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, risking riling up activist investors and more litigation. The board’s decision to ask shareholders to endorse a compensation plan for Mr. Musk that is worth about $47 billion came less than three months after a Delaware judge voided the same pay package. In addition, Mr. Musk has not presented much of a plan to restore the company’s momentum.

Persons: Elon Musk, Tesla, Musk Locations: Delaware

Tesla plans to lay off more than 10 percent of its work force in an effort to cut costs, Elon Musk, the automaker’s chief executive, told employees on Monday. The job cuts, amounting to about 14,000 people, come as the company faces increasing competition and declining sales. The email was earlier reported by Electrek, an online news site, and Handelsblatt, a German business newspaper. The move is the latest sign that Tesla may not be as unstoppable as it once seemed. The company’s sales are no longer growing at a rapid pace, and it has been slow to introduce new models.

Persons: Tesla, Elon Musk, Mr, Musk, ”, Electrek Organizations: Elon, The New York Times Locations: Asia, Europe

☆ Tell Us: Has Elon Musk’s Behavior Affected How You View Tesla?
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-12 | by ( Jack Ewing | More About Jack Ewing | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Withholding Starlink satellite internet service from Ukraine to prevent a drone attack on Russian forces. Elon Musk’s behavior and public statements have clearly offended many people, especially left-leaning consumers who are the most likely to buy an electric vehicle. As a business reporter who covers Tesla, the company that Mr. Musk is chief executive of, I’m exploring to what extent his public persona is damaging the company’s brand and hurting sales. Or, as Mr. Musk has insisted, do people choose the best car regardless of what the chief executive says and does? If you own a Tesla, are thinking of buying one or have thought about buying one but ultimately chose another brand, I’d like to hear from you.

Persons: Elon, Tesla, Musk Organizations: Biden Locations: Ukraine

☆ What Happened When a German Car Factory Went All Electric
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-09 | by ( Jack Ewing | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

So when Volkswagen announced in 2018 that it would convert its Zwickau factory, the largest private employer in the area, to manufacture nothing but electric vehicles, it was a big deal. “A lot of people were skeptical,” said Michael Fuchs, who has worked at the factory for more than a quarter century. They wondered, “What’s going to happen?” he said. Volkswagen shut down assembly lines churning out its popular Golf hatchbacks and converted the factory, which has its own exit on the autobahn, to make six electric models. The remodeled plant can produce a car a minute, shipping them out by train.

Persons: Horch, ”, Michael Fuchs, “ What’s Organizations: Volkswagen Locations: Zwickau, Germany’s, Detroit

☆ Tesla Settles Lawsuit Over a Fatal Crash Involving Autopilot
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Jack Ewing | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Tesla on Monday settled a lawsuit that blamed the automaker’s driver-assistance software for the death of a California man in 2018, averting a trial that would have focused attention on the company’s technology several months before it plans to unveil a self-driving taxi. The trial stemming from the death of Wei Lun Huang, an Apple software engineer who went by Walter, was scheduled to start Monday with jury selection. The case was one of the most prominent involving Tesla’s Autopilot software, attracting significant public attention and prompting an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. Terms of the settlement with Mr. Huang’s children and other members of his family were not disclosed, and Tesla filed court documents seeking to prevent them from being made public. Testimony in the trial would have put Tesla’s autonomous driving software under close scrutiny, further fueling a debate about whether the technology makes cars safer or exposes drivers and others to serious injury or death.

Persons: Tesla, Wei Lun Huang, Walter Organizations: Apple, National Transportation Safety Locations: California

☆ Mercedes-Benz Workers in Alabama Ask for Unionization Vote
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-05 | by ( Jack Ewing | More About Jack Ewing | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Workers at a Mercedes-Benz factory in Alabama have petitioned federal officials to hold a vote on whether to join the United Automobile Workers, the union said on Friday, a step forward for its drive to organize workers at car factories in the South. is also trying to organize workers at a Volkswagen factory in Tennessee and a Hyundai factory in Alabama, establishing a bigger presence in states that have drawn much of the new investment in automobile manufacturing in recent decades. A vote at the Volkswagen plant is scheduled for April 17 to 19. The drive has taken on added importance as Southern states like South Carolina and Georgia attract billions of dollars in investment in electric vehicle and battery manufacturing. is trying to ensure that jobs created by electric vehicles do not pay less than jobs at traditional auto factories.

Organizations: Benz, United Automobile Workers, Ford Motor, General Motors, Detroit, Volkswagen, Hyundai Locations: Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia

☆ Tesla’s Sales Drop, a Sign That Its Grip on the E.V. Market Is Slipping
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-02 | by ( Jack Ewing | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The company said it delivered 387,000 cars worldwide in the first quarter, down 8.5 percent from 423,000 vehicles in the same period last year. This was the first time Tesla’s quarterly sales have fallen on a year over year basis since the pandemic started in 2020. The sales figures were also significantly lower than the estimates of Wall Street analysts who had expected a modest increase. The reduced deliveries are the latest sign that Tesla’s dominance of the market for electric cars is slipping. And in the United States, sales of electric cars are not growing as fast as they were a year ago.

Persons: Tesla, Elon Musk Organizations: Elon, Wall Street, Volkswagen, BMW Locations: China, Europe, United States

☆ New Pollution Rules Aim to Lift Sales of Electric Trucks
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-29 | by ( Coral Davenport | Jack Ewing | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Biden administration on Friday announced a regulation designed to turbocharge sales of electric or other zero-emission heavy vehicles, from school buses to cement mixers, as part of its multifront attack on global warming. Today, fewer than 2 percent of new heavy trucks sold in the United States fit that bill. The regulation would apply to more than 100 types of vehicles including tractor-trailers, ambulances, R.V.s, garbage trucks and moving vans. The rule does not mandate the sales of electric trucks or any other type of zero or low-emission truck. Options could include using technologies like hybrids or hydrogen fuel cells or sharply increasing the fuel efficiency of the conventional trucks.

Persons: Biden Organizations: Environmental Protection Agency Locations: United States

When Elon Musk unveiled the first Chinese-made Teslas in Shanghai in 2020, he went off script and started dancing. Mr. Musk had reason to celebrate. Mr. Musk would build one in Shanghai that would become a flagship, accounting for over half of Tesla’s global deliveries and the bulk of its profits. Mr. Musk initially seemed to have the upper hand in the relationship, securing concessions from China that were rarely offered to foreign businesspeople. Tesla’s China pivot has also tethered Mr. Musk to Beijing in a way that is drawing scrutiny from U.S. policymakers.

Persons: Elon Musk, Musk, Tesla Locations: Shanghai, China, Beijing

☆ Tesla Settles Discrimination Suit With Former Factory Worker
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-15 | by ( Jack Ewing | More About Jack Ewing | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Tesla and a former employee have agreed to settle a closely watched lawsuit that cast a harsh light on the carmaker’s treatment of Black workers. Lawyers for Tesla and for Owen Diaz, who worked at the company’s factory in Fremont, Calif., did not disclose the terms of the settlement in a legal filing on Friday. Organ, a lawyer for Mr. Diaz, said in an email, adding that he could not comment further. A supervisor drew a racist caricature near his work station, according to testimony in the case. Tesla did little to discipline the supervisors or address pervasive racism at the factory, the jury found.

Persons: Tesla, Owen Diaz, “, ” Lawrence, Diaz Organizations: Tesla Locations: Fremont , Calif, San Francisco, Tesla’s

☆ BMW Is a Surprise Winner in Electric Vehicles
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-09 | by ( Jack Ewing | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The German automaker’s electric vehicles are made on the same assembly line as gasoline cars and look similar from the outside. The company sold 376,000 electric vehicles last year, including some under its Mini brand, a 75 percent increase from the previous year. Electric vehicles accounted for 15 percent of BMW sales in 2023, up from 9 percent the previous year. The company’s growth comes as sales of electric vehicles have risen at a slower pace overall around the world. What is even more surprising is that BMW, unlike General Motors or Ford Motor, made a profit on the electric vehicles it sold.

Organizations: BMW, Tesla, General Motors, Ford Locations: Munich

☆ Volkswagen Leans on Electric Vehicles and Nostalgia to Grow in U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Jack Ewing | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Probably only Americans of a certain age remember when the Volkswagen Beetle was the best-selling imported car in the United States and the hippest ride to a Grateful Dead concert was a Volkswagen Microbus. Volkswagen is trying to tap some of that nostalgia in its latest push to regain the status and sales it enjoyed in the United States during the Beetle’s and Microbus’s heydays in the 1960s. But this time it hopes its top models will be electric. The German carmaker is second only to Toyota globally but is a niche player in the United States. Part of its plan to revive its fortunes here is to lean on a new electric model that resembles the Microbus, the ID.Buzz, and to revive the Scout brand with a line of electric pickups and sport utility vehicles.

Organizations: Volkswagen, Toyota Locations: United States, Columbia

☆ Tesla’s Chair Under Scrutiny for Oversight of Elon Musk
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Natasha Frost | Jack Ewing | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Elon Musk, the chief executive and public face of Tesla, is constantly making news and broadcasting his opinions on his social media site, X. To some analysts and investors, Ms. Denholm is the “adult in the room” who has helped Mr. Musk turn Tesla into the world’s most valuable automaker. But to her critics, she has failed at her most important job: serving as a check on Mr. Musk. Late last month, a Delaware judge sharply criticized Ms. Denholm’s leadership while striking down Mr. Musk’s 2018 compensation package, which is worth more than $50 billion. Ms. Denholm took a “lackadaisical approach to her oversight obligations” at Tesla, said Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery.

Persons: Elon Musk, —, Robyn M, Denholm, Musk, Musk’s, Kathaleen St, J . McCormick Locations: Australia, Delaware

☆ Elon Musk’s $50 Billion Tesla Pay Was Struck Down. What Happens Next?
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-31 | by ( Jack Ewing | Peter Eavis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Tesla and Mr. Musk could appeal the court decision. Mr. Musk has also indicated that he might seek to incorporate the company in another state that he believes could be more hospitable to businesses, like Texas. What happens to Mr. Musk’s stock options? As part of a compensation package Tesla finalized in 2018, Mr. Musk received options to buy 304 million shares that are now worth more than $50 billion. While he has met the goals needed to receive those options, Mr. Musk does not appear to have converted them into shares of Tesla.

Persons: Elon, Kathaleen St, J . McCormick, Tesla, Musk Organizations: Tesla, Mr Locations: Delaware, Texas

☆ Truck Makers Team Up to Push for Electric Vehicle Chargers
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Jack Ewing | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

There are more than four million electric vehicles on American roads, but fewer than 1,000 of them are heavy-duty trucks. On Tuesday, the three largest truck makers plan to announce a push to remedy that deficit by calling on governments and utilities to help them build many more places to charge big rigs. Daimler Truck, which owns Freightliner; Navistar, which is controlled by Volkswagen; and Volvo Trucks have formed an association to push for chargers, improvements to the electricity grid and other measures they say are needed to promote battery- or hydrogen-powered trucks. The new organization, Powering America’s Commercial Transportation, will be based in Washington and also be open to suppliers, nonprofit organizations and other groups. The Inflation Reduction Act, which Democrats passed in 2022, provides $1 billion for electric trucks, including tax credits of up to $40,000 for companies that buy them, as well as subsidies for charging infrastructure.

Organizations: Daimler, Freightliner, Volkswagen, Volvo Trucks, Transportation Locations: Washington

☆ Elon Musk’s Tesla Pay Package Is Voided by Judge
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Jack Ewing | Peter Eavis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, suffered a stunning rebuke Tuesday when a Delaware judge voided the pay package that helped make him a billionaire many times over and the world’s wealthiest human being. In a decision that cast a harsh light on the behavior of Mr. Musk and Tesla’s board of directors, Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick of the Delaware Court of Chancery said the chief executive had effectively overseen his own compensation plan with the help of compliant board members. “The process leading to the approval of Musk’s compensation plan was deeply flawed,” the judge said. She ordered that the contract that gave Mr. Musk “the largest potential compensation plan in the history of public markets” be voided, and told parties in the case to work out how Mr. Musk would return excess pay. Some compensation experts said the decision would send a warning to other companies that awarded their top executives very large pay packages.

Persons: Elon Musk, Tesla, Chancellor Kathaleen St, J . McCormick, Musk Organizations: Chancery Locations: Delaware

☆ Musk Demands Bigger Stake in Tesla as Price for A.I. Work
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-16 | by ( Jack Ewing | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, demanded that the company’s board give him shares worth more than $80 billion if it wants him to continue developing products based on artificial intelligence. The chief executive owns 13 percent of Tesla after selling a substantial portion of his stake to finance his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, which he renamed X. The social media site has struggled under his leadership and plunged in value. An additional 12 percent of Tesla would be worth $82 billion at the current share price, effectively recouping Mr. Musk’s investment in Twitter — which he has said he regrets — and then some. & robotics without having ~25% voting control,” Mr. Musk wrote on X.

Persons: Elon Musk, Tesla, Musk, —, Mr Organizations: Twitter

The Biden administration proposed new rules on Friday aimed at shifting more production of electric vehicle batteries and the materials that power them to the United States, in an attempt to build up a strategic industry now dominated by China. The rules are meant to limit the role that Chinese firms can play in supplying materials for electric vehicles that qualify for federal tax credits. They will also discourage companies that seek federal funding to build battery factories in the United States from sourcing materials from Chinese partners. The rules could cause some consternation among automakers, who continue to rely heavily on China for materials and components of electric vehicles. The Biden administration is attempting to use billions of dollars in new federal funding to change that dynamic and create a U.S. supply chain for electric vehicles, through both carrots and sticks.

Persons: Biden Locations: United States, China, U.S

☆ Pickup or Lunar Lander? Tesla’s Cybertruck Enters a Crowded Market.
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Jack Ewing | More About Jack Ewing | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Tesla plans to begin delivering its much delayed, highly anticipated Cybertruck pickup to customers on Thursday, entering one of the most lucrative but competitive segments of the auto industry. With its stainless steel body and sharp angles, the Cybertruck is unlike pickups from Ford Motor, General Motors and Ram that dominate the market. It is Tesla’s first completely new passenger vehicle in more than three years but arrives long after other automakers began selling battery-powered pickups. Will it steal customers from traditional automakers, appeal to a different crowd or become a costly flop? “It looks like something lowered from the lunar module to collect rocks on the moon.”

Persons: Tesla, Ram, ”, Ben Rose Organizations: Ford Motor, General Motors, Battle, Research

The Biden administration has been trying to jump-start the domestic supply chain for electric vehicles so cleaner cars can be made in the United States. But the experience of one Texas company, whose plans to help make an all-American electric vehicle were upended by China, highlights the stakes involved as the administration finalizes rules governing the industry. Huntsman Corporation started construction two years ago on a $50 million plant in Texas to make ethylene carbonate, a chemical that is used in electric vehicle batteries. It would have been the only site in North America making the product, with the goal of feeding battery factories that would crop up to serve the electric vehicle market. But as new facilities in China came online and flooded the market, the price of the chemical plummeted to $700 a ton from $4,000.

Persons: Biden, ”, Peter R, Huntsman, “ I’d Organizations: Huntsman Corporation Locations: United States, Texas, China, North America

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