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☆ How EVs are upending the 100-year-old auto supply chain
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-31 | by ( Robert Ferris | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Companies that make parts for internal combustion engines are facing a harsh future. Revenues for internal combustion engines, as well as fuel and exhaust systems, are expected to decline 44% through 2027, according to the 2023 Deloitte Automotive Supplier Study. While the supply chain is shifting away from parts, the total powertrain part supply pie is also shrinking. While automakers bring more of their supply chain in-house, there are thousands of parts in cars that come from companies all over the world — a branching supply chain of firms each dependent on the success of the others. Bigger firms are either spinning out their internal combustion divisions or just winding them down to pivot toward EVs.

Persons: Tesla Organizations: Battery, Bosch

☆ Texas Tesla plant receives false alarm of active shooter
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

July 28 (Reuters) - Police in Texas on Friday were investigating a 911 call reporting an active shooter at a large Tesla (TSLA.O) plant that turned out to be a false alarm, authorities said. The Travis County Sheriff's Office responded to the emergency call at about 5 a.m. local time of an active shooter at the Tesla Gigafactory plant in Austin, Texas, a sheriff's office spokesperson said. Police cleared the large plant and found no shooter, threat or injuries, the spokesperson said. Workers inside the plant received an email saying, "There is an Active Attacker near column location 35Z at the Giga Factory Texas. The nature of the phone call, including where it came from and who placed it, was being investigated by police, the sheriff's office said.

Persons: Tesla, Brendan O'Brien, Doina Organizations: Police, Workers, Giga Factory, Thomson Locations: Texas, Travis, Austin , Texas, Giga Factory Texas, Chicago

☆ Tesla's Cybertruck is finally starting production, 2 years behind schedule. Here are 6 other projects Elon Musk promised to deliver by now.
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-17 | by ( Sebastian Cahill | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Tesla's Cybertruck is finally beginning production two years behind schedule. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has been known to make lofty promises that go undelivered for years at a time. In 2017, Inverse reported, Musk expanded the promise, assuring buyers that it would be just two more years before self-driving Teslas could be used to travel cross-country while passengers sleep. An 'everything' social media app, XIn late 2022, Musk tweeted that his purchase of Twitter was an "accelerant" to the creation of 'X,' the "everything app." According to the same CNBC article, in its most productive year, 2022, Tesla only installed an average of 21 solar system installations per week.

Persons: Elon Musk, —, Tesla, Musk, Musk's, Will Organizations: Tesla, CNBC, Boring Company, SpaceX, Twitter, University of Cincinnati Locations: Giga , Texas, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Southern California

“I’m not an engineer, but that’s not right,” Jeremy Wagner thought Friday on his visit to the Carowinds park in Charlotte, he told CNN. Wagner knew something was wrong when he spotted the aperture in the coaster’s infrastructure, he told CNN. The Fury 325 remains shuttered at the Carowinds amusement park. A “giga” roller coaster has a drop between 300 and 399 feet, according to Kings Island amusement park in Ohio. All rides, including Fury 325, “undergo daily inspections to ensure their proper functioning and structural integrity,” Carowinds said.

Persons: I’m, that’s, ” Jeremy Wagner, Erin Wilson, Wagner, Jeremy Wagner “, ”, ” Carowinds Organizations: CNN, Device, Sunday, giga Locations: North Carolina, Charlotte, South Carolina, North America, Ohio

☆ Why are other automakers chasing Tesla's 'Gigacasting'?
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Here's a look at Gigacasting and how the innovation is forcing automakers to scramble to match Tesla:WHAT IS GIGACASTING? The Giga Press is an aluminium die-casting machine adopted by Tesla at its factories in the U.S., China and Germany. The house-sized machines are able to produce aluminium parts far bigger than anything used before in auto manufacturing. Toyota said it expected that using aluminium die-casting would eliminate dozens of sheet metal parts from assembly and reduce waste. The global aluminium die-casting market was worth almost $73 billion last year and is projected to top $126 billion by 2032, showed an AlixPartners analysis.

Persons: Matthew Childs, Tesla, Elon Musk, Zeekr, Kevin Krolicki, Christopher Cushing Organizations: REUTERS, Toyota, Giga Press, EVs, WHO, Industries, Buhler Group, HK, General Motors, Hyundai Motor, Volvo, EV, Thomson Locations: London, Britain, U.S, China, Germany, Italy, Europe, Japan, Gothenburg, Sweden

The plan comes a day before an annual shareholders meeting where governance and strategy - including a slow pivot to battery EVs under former CEO Akio Toyoda - will be scrutinised. Toyota said it aims to launch next-generation lithium-ion batteries from 2026 offering longer ranges and quicker charging. At the high end of the market, Toyota said it would produce an EV with a more efficient lithium-ion battery offering a range of 1,000 km (621 miles). An EV powered by a solid-state battery would have a range of 1,200 km and charging time of just 10 minutes, Toyota said. "What we want to achieve is to change the future with BEVs," Takero Kato, president of new Toyota EV unit BEV Factory, said in a video posted on the automaker's YouTube channel on Tuesday.

Persons: Akio Toyoda, Koji Sato, Takero Kato, BEV Factory, Henry Ford, Koji Endo, Toyota's, I'm, it's, Toyota's BEV Factory, Kato, Tesla, Daniel Leussink, Christopher Cushing, Kevin Krolicki Organizations: Toyota, EVs, Tesla, Engineers, Toyota EV, YouTube, NEW ASSEMBLY, SBI Securities, Lexus, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, China

☆ Factbox: Toyota unveils battery, production innovations for new EVs
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Toyota released a technology briefing, including details on new solid-state batteries, a day before its annual shareholder meeting where governance, climate lobbying and EV strategy are under scrutiny. Here are Toyota's key announcements:BATTERY TECHNOLOGYToyota has a number of initiatives to improve battery performance and reduce cost, and said it was ready to move from research toward production of solid-state batteries. It aims to sell vehicles powered by solid-state batteries by 2027 or 2028. Toyota said, without providing details, it had achieved a "technological breakthrough" overcoming problems previously identified with solid-state batteries' durability. Those chips promise to reduce power loss to the electric motor of an EV by up to 50%, Toyota said.

Persons: Daniel Leussink, Kevin Krolicki, Christopher Cushing Organizations: Toyota, EV, Tesla, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi, Denso, Thomson Locations: TOKYO, U.S, Tokyo, Singapore

The Japanese carmaker said it aims to launch next-generation batteries from 2026, seeking to win over consumers with vehicles that offer longer driving ranges and quicker charging times. It also said it was developing a method to mass produce solid-state batteries, which it aims to commercialise in 2027-2028. The automaker said it would produce an EV with a more efficient lithium-ion battery which would have a range of 1,000 km (621 miles). "We will launch the next-generation battery EVs globally and as a full lineup on the market from 2026," Kato said. Toyota also detailed other technologies that it plans to deploy to reduce costs for its EVs and batteries.

Persons: Takero Kato, BEV Factory, Kato, Tesla, Daniel Leussink, Christopher Cushing, Kevin Krolicki Organizations: Toyota, EVs, Tesla, Toyota EV, YouTube, U.S, Lexus, Thomson Locations: TOKYO

☆ Part of the secret to Austin's thriving clean-tech startup scene: mentorship
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Tim Paradis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Austin, Texas, is home to a number of clean-tech startups. Austin's clean-tech scene isn't only composed of household names. But why do so many clean tech companies call Austin home? That's poised to help clean-tech companies, according to recruiters, venture capitalists, and those who have shifted to working for green companies. Taylor, who's lived in Austin for 38 years, has been part of the Austin startup scene since 1991.

Persons: —, Rebecca Taylor, Taylor, Austin, HolonIQ, Teague Egan, Larry Fink, Egan, Elon Musk, There's, who's, It's Organizations: Service, Austin Technology, ATI, University of Texas, Motors, EV, Blackrock, Giga, Southwest Festival, Computing, Dell, Apple, Microsoft Locations: Austin, Texas, Washington, Tesla, California, Giga Texas, Round, Taylor

☆ Elon Musk says his Shanghai factory makes the ‘highest quality’ Teslas
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

It was the first time Musk has visited the country since January 2020, when a video of him dancing onstage at Tesla’s Shanghai factory went viral. Before leaving, Musk met Chen Jining, the Communist Party chief of Shanghai, according to a statement by the city government. Musk praised the success of Tesla’s Shanghai facility — which opened in 2019 — and said he was hoping to work more with the city in various areas, the statement said. In 2022, the company delivered 1.31 million vehicles globally, more than half of which were from Shanghai, according to its financial results. “Congratulations to Giga Shanghai & Tesla China SDS teams for their excellent work overcoming many obstacles over many years!!

Persons: Hong Kong CNN —, Elon Musk, Musk, Chen Jining, Chen, Tesla, —, Variflight, ”, “, ” Musk, “ It’s, ” “, Elon, Jade Gao, Qin Gang, didn’t, Zeng Yuqun Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Communist Party, Beijing Capital International Airport, Getty, Financial Times, Twitter, Giga Shanghai, Tesla China SDS, EV, CNN Locations: Hong Kong, China, Shanghai, Shanghai’s Hongqiao, Beijing, AFP, United States, Weibo

☆ Elon Musk's whirlwind China trip included talks with vice premier
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SHANGHAI, June 1 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) Chief Executive Elon Musk departed Shanghai on Thursday, wrapping up a two-day trip to China in which he met senior Chinese government officials including the highest-ranking vice premier. The video released by Tesla showed Musk praising employees for "overcoming so many difficulties and challenges" and making a heart sign with his hands. Earlier in the trip, Musk met with China's foreign, commerce and industry ministers in Beijing and dined with the chairman of battery supplier Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL) (300750.SZ). He also met with Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang on Wednesday, a source familiar with the matter said. China values its relationship with Tesla and in 2019 Musk had a one-on-one meeting with then premier Li Keqiang.

Persons: Elon Musk, Musk's, Tom Zhu, Tesla, Musk, Ding Xuexiang, Ding, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Chen Jining, Chen, Zhang Yan, Brenda Goh, Nicoco Chan, Julie Zhu, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: Tesla Inc, Amperex Technology Co, State, Information Office, U.S ., Thomson Locations: SHANGHAI, Shanghai, China, Beijing, U.S, Shanghai's Hongqiao, Austin , Texas, Hong Kong

☆ Elon Musk wraps up whirlwind China trip
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

SHANGHAI, June 1 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) Chief Executive Elon Musk departed Shanghai Thursday morning, wrapping up a two-day trip to China in which he met government ministers, a key battery supplier and visited the automaker's biggest production hub. Photos of Musk's visit to Tesla's Shanghai factory late Wednesday showed him holding up a "Giga Shanghai" sign, flanked by hundreds of staff including head of global manufacturing Tom Zhu. "A very rewarding day!," Grace Tao, Tesla's China-based public affairs chief, said in a social media post with the photos. Earlier in the trip, Musk met with China's foreign, commerce and industry ministers in Beijing where he also dined with the chairman of battery supplier Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL) (300750.SZ). The industry ministry only said Musk and its head exchanged views about development of electric vehicles and connected cars; the commerce ministry announced he discussed Tesla's development in China with its minister.

Persons: Elon Musk, Tom Zhu, Grace Tao, Musk, Brenda Goh, Zhang Yan, Nicoco Chan, Edwina Gibbs Organizations: Tesla Inc, Amperex Technology Co, U.S ., Thomson Locations: SHANGHAI, Shanghai, China, Beijing, U.S, Shanghai's Hongqiao, Austin , Texas

☆ Here are Friday's biggest analyst calls: Tesla, Netflix, Planet Fitness, Bloom, Wendy's, Dell & more
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Michael Bloom | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Goldman Sachs initiates SQM as sell Goldman said the Chilean chemical company is exposed to ongoing lithium price weakness. Cantor Fitzgerald initiates Intuitive Machines as buy Cantor said the space exploration company has a "first-mover" advantage. Credit Suisse upgrades TE Connectivity to outperform from neutral Credit Suisse said the consumer electronics company is an Inflation Reduction Act beneficiary. JPMorgan upgrades Bloom Energy to overweight from neutral JPMorgan said the selloff in the the energy company is "overdone." RBC initiates Planet Fitness as outperform RBC said it sees an attractive entry point for the gym stock.

☆ Tesla and more: Morgan Stanley names EV stocks set to benefit as supply chain move West
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Ganesh Rao | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Morgan Stanley has identified several stocks to invest in as electric vehicle battery manufacturing shifts to the West. EV giant Tesla , auto parts maker Aptiv , and battery maker Freyr rank highly, according to Morgan Stanley, while Ford and Chinese batter maker CATL rank lower. Tesla Tesla is well placed to overcome the three challenges, Morgan Stanley said. Ford / CATL Morgan Stanley noted that companies like Ford and Chinese battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology, or CATL, might face challenges when it comes to "onshoring" due to geopolitical concerns and potential technological barriers. Ford will own the new facility but will license battery manufacturing technology from CATL, including technical expertise.

☆ Geely's EV brand Zeekr jumps on the 'gigapress' bandwagon
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Norihiko Shirouzu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

REUTERS/Aly Song/File PhotoApril 27 (Reuters) - Geely's EV brand Zeekr is the latest to join a growing list of automakers that have turned to the "gigapress" die casting technique pioneered by Tesla to slash the cost of electric cars. "In the future, Zeekr will use giga-casting technology on more models," Jiang said. Metal and plastic die casting has long been used in manufacturing, but its application to large aluminium underbodies in carmaking is relatively new. The front and rear sections are then connected with large under-floor battery packs to form a three-piece EV chassis. 'MEGA-CASTING'Other automakers turning to large die casting include General Motors (GM.N), which is using the technology to help design its Cadillac Celestiq electric saloon.

A new EV platform, if implemented, would be the result of a far-reaching review of Toyota's electric-car strategy undertaken last year. Its current production architecture, the e-TNGA system, was launched in 2019 and produces electric vehicles on the same assembly line as gasoline cars and hybrids. The briefing was given by the former chief competitive officer tasked with the EV strategy review, Shigeki Terashi, according to the person. So far it has fallen short - its initial battery EV, the bZ4X, suffered an early recall and has had only limited sales. GM sold more than 20,000 electric vehicles during the first quarter while Toyota and its luxury brand Lexus sold about 1,880 battery electrics.

☆ Op-ed: Crypto and blockchain need a trellis, not just a weed killer, says Scaramucci
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Anthony Scaramucci | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

You might not know this, but Goldilocks and the Three Bears is actually a story about the debate currently surrounding regulation of the blockchain and crypto industries. The agency nearly doubled the size of its crypto assets enforcement unit last May. Many in the crypto industry want this "regulation by enforcement" to stop. It's as much of a trellis for good plants as it is a weed killer. Scaramucci is the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge Capital, an alternative asset manager and SEC-registered investment adviser.

☆ Meet the brothers building massive spacecraft to leverage SpaceX’s Starship
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Michael Sheetz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

What we're finding is that, with the new launch capabilities of vehicles like Starship, there's actually an interesting opportunity to go the opposite direction," Karan Kunjur told CNBC. Los Angeles-based startup K2 Space, co-founded by CEO Karan Kunjur and CTO Neel Kunjur, is setting out to build satellite buses — the physical structure of a spacecraft that provides power, movement and more. A pair of brothers is aiming to challenge the way spacecraft are built, by going against the industry trend and designing massive satellites in a bet that towering rockets such as SpaceX's Starship are the way forward. K2 Space, a play on the brothers' surname and a nod to astronomer Nikolai Kardashev's scales of civilization, marks Karan and Neel's first venture together and fuses their previously divergent careers. For K2, the company is targeting prices that would be unheard of for satellite buses of these sizes.

☆ Georgian ruling party withdraws 'foreign agents' bill after two nights of protest
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Felix Light | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Summary Georgian ruling party pulls foreign agent billMove follows two nights of protests in GeorgiaEU praises withdrawal of foreign agent billProtests to continue, says Droa partyTBILISI, March 9 (Reuters) - Georgia's ruling party said on Thursday it was dropping a bill on "foreign agents" after two nights of violent protests against what opponents said was a Russian-inspired authoritarian shift that imperilled hopes of the country joining the European Union. The Georgian Dream ruling party said in a statement it would "unconditionally withdraw the bill we supported without any reservations". The bill would have required Georgian organisations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as "foreign agents" or face fines. Georgian Dream had previously said the law was necessary to unmask critics of the Georgian Orthodox Church, one of the country's most powerful institutions. The European Union's delegation to Georgia praised the decision to withdraw the bill, writing on Twitter: "We welcome announcement by the ruling party to withdraw draft legislation on 'foreign influence'.

☆ Top auto analyst Jonas stays bullish Tesla, says investor day showed competition can't keep up
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Sarah Min | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Morgan Stanley's Adam Jonas remains bullish on Tesla even as shares drop following the electric vehicle maker's latest investor day. Tesla shares dropped more than 5% in Thursday premarket trading after the electric car maker's investor day, which was long on vision but short on specifics on any new Tesla products. Regardless, Jonas reiterated an overweight rating on Tesla, saying the Elon Musk-led company will fend off competitors as a pricing war heats up in the electric vehicle sector. He said the vertical integration in Tesla's Austin facility allows Tesla to "iterate far faster and with less waste" than its peers. Tesla shares surged 64% in 2023, after falling 65% last year.

☆ Battery start-up Freyr accelerates U.S. plans on IRA support
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Nora Buli | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

OSLO, March 1 (Reuters) - New York-listed Norwegian battery start-up Freyr is accelerating investment in a U.S. plant to benefit from Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) tax credits, its chief executive told Reuters this week. Of the two large battery plants Freyr is currently building, plans for Giga America, in the state of Georgia, were previously anticipated to be 10-12 months behind those of Giga Arctic, in northern Norway. Tax credits offered through the IRA meant that Freyr would receive $37 million per gigawatt hour (GWh) of capacity installed in the United States, he added. The IRA also offers investment tax credits for energy storage projects, he said. A first, smaller customer qualification site in Norway will start production on March 28, but commercial operations are scheduled for 2024.

☆ Morgan Stanley analyst Jonas says investors may have missed their window to buy Tesla shares
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( John Melloy | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Notable electric vehicle analyst Adam Jonas believes investors may have missed their chance to buy Tesla on the cheap after the stock doubled off its 52-week low, with most of the comeback coming this year. "While we reiterate the overweight rating on Tesla shares, we believe the window of opportunity on 'valuation' has closed," the Morgan Stanley analyst wrote in a note Thursday. TSLA YTD mountain Tesla so far in 2023 Jonas noted that the shares now trade for 38 times enterprise value/EBITDA. "Adding over $350bn of market cap this year closed the 'valuation case' window on Tesla even faster than it opened," Jonas wrote. Jonas is not alone on Wall Street in being cautious on Tesla after the big runup in the stock.

☆ Tesla plans to spend $3.6 billion more on battery and truck manufacturing in Nevada
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( Lora Kolodny | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Tesla plans to spend $3.6 billion more on expanded battery and heavy duty truck manufacturing in Nevada, the company said Tuesday on social media. It wasn't immediately clear whether Tesla's plans expand the company's manufacturing footprint beyond the property it is already developing outside of Reno in Sparks, Nevada. Tesla began construction of its first battery factory in Nevada in 2014. Joe Lombardo revealed details about Tesla's plans for expansion in the state early on Monday. Tesla CEO Elon Musk held a ceremony in Nevada in December to kick off deliveries of the company's Tesla Semi to a key early customer, PepsiCo .

☆ Bond spat is odd look for Melrose deal machine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

That process will have to decide, for example, whether the demerger constitutes a transfer of “substantially all” the company’s assets or not. The relevant bonds only amount to 130 million pounds. Redeeming them at par, rather than the current traded price, would only cost just over 20 million pounds. For a company that specialises in dealmaking and careful use of leverage, it all seems more trouble than it's worth. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

☆ Alibaba’s pushy shareholder mistimes his moment
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

HONG KONG, Jan 18 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Ryan Cohen has been pressing Alibaba (9988.HK), for improvements since last August, per the Wall Street Journal. As the owner of an undisclosed stake, he wants the company to boast its share buybacks. It confirms Alibaba’s emerging status as a mature company: revenue growth is forecast to almost halve to 10% by 2025, per Refinitiv. Increasing share purchases as the storm settles, and as an obstacle in the company’s growth path clears, would be odd. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

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