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NEW YORK, April 6 (Reuters) - Walmart Inc (WMT.N) plans to have its own network of electric vehicle charging stations by 2030 to tap into the growing adoption of EVs in the United States. Walmart's more than 5,000 stores and Sam's Club warehouses are located within 10 miles of about 90% of Americans. As EV charging infrastructure ramps up in the U.S., there are widespread concerns over uptime, performance, ease of use and high installation costs of the machines. Owning its chargers, instead of partnering with a network operator, will help Walmart address reliability and cost issues, Kapadia said. Walmart's plan comes as U.S. President Joe Biden has committed to building a network of 500,000 public EV chargers by 2030.

☆ Tesla's looks are getting stale, and Elon Musk can't ignore it forever
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Nora Naughton | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Rumors have swirled about Model 3 and Model Y updates, but nothing official yet from Tesla. "When you move to higher-volume vehicles, you have to start keeping up with the Joneses," one analyst said. Rumors have swirled online about incoming refreshes of the Model 3 and Model Y vehicles, but Tesla has yet to set a release date for these updates. "When you move to higher-volume vehicles, you have to start keeping up with the Joneses," Fiorani said. This year, Musk has said Tesla aims to build 2 million vehicles, nearly doubling its 2022 production capacity.

For now, by building in Ohio, Foxconn can offer customers access to U.S. federal incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act, Daiwa Capital Markets analyst Kylie Huang said. That's a selling point as traditional automakers juggle building gasoline-powered vehicles with plans to build their own EV capacity. "If they don't get one this year, next year will be more difficult," Huang said of Foxconn's search for an EV contract with a traditional automaker. "Sooner or later, maybe the top, traditional (automakers) say, 'Hey, I want to become a product marketing company. Foxconn wants to build around 300,000 EVs at the plant, Ian Upton, director of production control at Foxconn Ohio, told Reuters.

☆ How Rivian went from Wall Street darling to another struggling EV startup
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Alexa St. John | Nora Naughton | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Another Rivian customer told Insider they placed a reservation last July. A Rivian spokesperson told Insider that timing is "based on a number of factors, including delivery location, configuration and original preorder or reservation date." The Rivian spokesperson told Insider Scaringe's language refers to "how we deliver over the long term." An employee laid off in Rivian's first round of cuts last summer told Insider it felt like growing pains many other companies have experienced. Are you a current or former Rivian employee, Rivian vehicle owner, or Rivian order-holder?

☆ How Elon Musk Ruined Tesla, Let Other Car Companies Catch up on EVs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Nora Naughton | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

"I feel stupid driving around with my brand-new Tesla Model Y," Mark told me. Tesla spent the past two decades defying expectations and disrupting the automotive industry, but in 2023 the once revolutionary car company did the seemingly unthinkable: It turned fanboys against it. But after years of rocketing ahead of legacy car companies' tech, the futuristic guts of Tesla's vehicles have started to go stale. Companies like Ford and Audi are changing their sales strategies to model Tesla's innovative direct-sales style. These companies have something Musk doesn't: nationwide networks of brick-and-mortar locations where customers can have their vehicles serviced and repaired.

☆ It's not just the chip shortage — other supply chain disruptions are wreaking havoc on automakers and helping keep prices high
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Alexa St. John | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The pandemic, the shift to EVs, and supply chain problems are all to blame. GM's Bowling Green plant will stop Corvette output this week due to a "parts supply issue." Despite tailwinds like huge profits, high demand, and low inventory, automakers are bracing themselves for more disruptions. The relationship between automakers and their parts companies has never been perfect, but it's especially challenging of late even as the two remain codependent. Now, parts companies are struggling amid macroeconomic concerns, inflation, in addition to the transition to EV components (or risking becoming defunct), and that will impact the automakers they supply to.

☆ Elon Musk wants Tesla to be the biggest car company ever by 2030. Experts say there's no way.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Elon Musk wants Tesla to sell 20 million electric cars in 2030. Another lofty goal that the billionaire entrepreneur has kicked around: Sell at least 20 million Teslas in 2030, effectively transforming the young firm into the largest car manufacturer the world has ever seen. Last year, Tesla delivered a record 1.3 million cars, making it the leader in electric-vehicle sales. Indeed, if you ask Musk, Tesla isn't merely a carmaker, but rather a tech company that could soon be worth trillions more than Apple. Even if it managed to crank out 20 million cars, Musk's firm would still need to find buyers for them, which isn't a given.

☆ Former Wall Street darling Rivian suddenly has a lot to prove
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Alexa St. John | Nora Naughton | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Suppliers familiar with GM's production plans through 2025 support the notion the automaker continues to slow-walk electric vehicle investment and output while it continues to bank money from its big combustion-engine pickups and SUVs. GM on Tuesday stuck to its plan to produce a total of 400,000 electric vehicles for North America from 2022 through the first half of 2024. GM said it has secured all the battery materials it will need to build 1 million EVs a year in North America by 2025. In the short run, GM's go-slow approach could allow it to side-step the price war that Tesla launched earlier this month. The division has 90,000 reservations for the high-performance Hummer EVs and is sold out into next year, he said.

☆ Tesla needs to start acting more like Toyota and GM if it really wants to win the electric car race
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Tesla is the world leader in electric vehicles, but it needs to diversify its lineup. If Elon Musk wants to be a top player like GM, Volkswagen, or Toyota, he needs to make cheaper cars. The Model 3, Model Y, Model S, and Model X, which cost between $44,000 and $120,000, accounted for nearly 70% of EVs sold in the US in 2022. The Model 3 and Model Y, by far Tesla's top sellers, went on sale in 2017 and 2020, respectively. Elon Musk announced plans for a $25,000 car at a Tesla event in 2020, but the car hasn't materialized.

☆ Rivian and Lucid's Q4 struggles signal an even tougher 2023 for EV startups
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Nora Naughton | Alexa St. John | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The results from Rivian and Lucid signal a tough year ahead for EV startups, said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting for AutoForecast Solutions. "As an investor you're going to be watching for every sign of trouble because you're now expecting a larger return on your investment." Rivian and Lucid's results came just after Tesla also missed analyst expectations for its fourth-quarter delivery results — and it has investors concerned. Previously, Rivian delivered more vehicles than it built in Q2 (accounting for vehicles built before the quarter that didn't make their way to customers), but only delivered about 89% of what it built in Q3. "With newcomers like Rivian and Lucid, that is going to be a warning sign for some people to begin with."

☆ It'll be much easier to buy the car you want in 2023 as automakers put the chip shortage in the rearview
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Alexa St. John | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Automakers built 4 million fewer cars in 2022 than they would have due to the chip shortage. The waning chip shortage could be a good sign for today's car-buyers. Sure enough, in 2022, automakers built 1.62 million fewer vehicles than expected in North America because of the chip shortage, per an AutoForecast Solutions estimate. That's about half of the 3.25 million fewer vehicles built in the region in 2021. Further, the impact of the chip shortage globally substantially declined from 2021 to 2022.

☆ Fed-up Tesla owners say they're so sick of Elon Musk's antics that they're ditching their cars
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-07 | by ( Tim Levin | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Some Tesla owners are done with the electric-car brand over Elon Musk's antics. We spoke to three Tesla owners who say Musk has made them rethink their relationship with the brand. Perkowitz is one of many Tesla owners rethinking their allegiance to the brand as Elon Musk becomes an increasingly erratic and polarizing figure online. "Elon was a really good reason to buy the car," Perkowitz told Insider. "I've been kind of stalling waiting for Elon to come to his senses and say something that makes sense," Perkowitz said.

☆ 2023 will make or break Tesla wannabes like Rivian and Lucid. Here's what they need to do if they want to survive.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Alexa St. John | Nora Naughton | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

"As the pressure on the supply chain eases, investors can point to a General Motors and say, 'They're building without a problem, why can't you?'" During quarterly earnings calls, executives at Rivian and Lucid cautioned investors of more trouble heading into 2023 as they raced to ramp up production and their logistics processes in hand. Accordingly, stock prices have been sinking from blockbuster IPO and SPAC highs, with many EV startups' shares down as much as 80% from earlier last year. Rivian reported Tuesday it fell a few hundred vehicles short of its goal to build 25,000 electric cars in 2022. If the startups want to succeed and regain investor faith, they have to get closer to meeting their numbers in 2023.

☆ Electric vehicles confront the leap to the mass market
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( Joseph White | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Industry executives and forecasters do not agree on how rapidly electric vehicles could take over half the global vehicle market, let alone all of it. In China, the world's largest single automotive market, battery electric vehicles have captured about 21% of the market. By 2029, electric vehicles could account for a third of the North American market, and about 26% of vehicles produced worldwide, according to AutoForecast Solutions, a consultancy. Electric vehicle sales likely will not increase in a smooth, ever-ascending curve, said AFS President Joe McCabe. The next few years will determine whether the 21st Century's crop of electric vehicle brands will follow a similar path.

WASHINGTON/DETROIT, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Chrysler parent Stellantis (STLA.MI) on Friday said it will indefinitely halt operations at an assembly plant in Illinois in February, citing the rising costs of electric vehicle production. The automaker, which employs about 1,350 workers at the Belvidere, Illinois, plant that builds the Jeep Cherokee SUV, said the action will result in indefinite layoffs and added it may not resume operations as it considers other options. Stellantis has said it will invest over 30 billion euros ($31.6 billion) through 2025 on electrifying its vehicle lineup. Stellantis spokeswoman Jodi Tinson would not comment on whether the Cherokee production would be moved to Toluca. UAW Vice President Cindy Estrada noted Stellantis imports many vehicles into the United States and said "companies like Stellantis receive billions in government incentives to transition to clean energy.

☆ The chip shortage could be just about done pummeling the auto industry, experts say — so cars may get a whole lot cheaper in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( Alexa St. John | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The chip shortage has been hurting the auto industry for more than two years. The chip shortage has pummeled the global auto industry for years, depressing dealership inventory levels and driving up new and used vehicle prices. Since 2020, auto companies have sacrificed production levels and valuable features like heated seats, while prioritizing money-making vehicles. In 2021, automakers built 3.23 million fewer vehicles than expected in North America because of the chip shortage. Next year's potential chip shortage respite could bring relief to car shoppers if inventory levels recover, pushing down prices.

Gareth Kaminski-Cook, CEO of Autins, which makes noise-reducing and thermal insulation for carmakers, gives a tour of the auto supplier's factory in Tamworth, Britain, May 3, 2022. Many auto suppliers, already squeezed by rampant inflation and energy prices, say they have little choice but to shoulder the extra costs of making their components sustainable to meet carmakers' environmental targets. "We're going to see a real big shakeout the next five, 10 years in the auto supply chain." The company, which is worth about $39 billion, launched its own sustainability drive in 2020 and is working on recyclable products with carmakers including Volkswagen, Volvo and BMW. Guell says carmakers only want to work with suppliers who use green energy, leaving him in a tight spot.

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