Category Archives: manufacturing

Bosch Starts Mass Production of a Fuel-Cell Power Module

“Bosch knows its way around hydrogen, and Bosch is growing with hydrogen, “said Bosch chair Stefan Hartung. Bosch is spending ~€2.5 billion in H2 technology from 2021 to 2026. Bosch is active in the whole hydrogen value chain, developing technology for its production and application. By 2030, Bosch claims it will generate sales of roughly ~€5 billion with hydrogen technology. Continue reading

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UAW Say GM’s Lordstown JV Battery Plant Dangerous

“This case study of Ultium Cells Lordstown shows there is a real danger that hundreds of billions in taxpayer dollars will subsidize an EV industry that underpays and endangers workers. Ultium is a joint venture of General Motors and LG Energy Solution. Its Lordstown, Ohio, plant makes the battery cells that power GM’s growing EV fleet. Ultium’s Lordstown plant could qualify for tax credits worth more than $1 billion a year,” the UAW said. Continue reading

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UAW Blasts Biden and Inflation Reduction Act

“The so called 45X program alone will cost taxpayers more than $200 billion in the next decade, far more than the $31 billion estimated by Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation. On top of 45X and other federal incentives, factories manufacturing electric vehicles and batteries have also been promised well over $13 billion in state and local economic development incentives in just the past 18 months,” the UAW said. Continue reading

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Stellantis Shows New Global EV Platform – STLA Medium

The platform can be used on a variety of vehicles and propulsion configurations in the center of the mass-market, the C- and D-segments, which accounted for 35 million sales in 2022 of the 78.5 million vehicles sold globally that year. Stellantis brands right now offer 26 vehicle nameplates in those segments on a variety of platforms. Up to two million vehicles per year can be built on the STLA Medium platform in several plants. Continue reading

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General Motors Buys Israeli Battery Software Startup

The move  comes at a time of considerable turmoil and violence in Israel.  There is also the pending UAW contract negotiations where non-union EV partnerships and joint ventures are large, contentious issues. Continue reading

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Toyota Motor North America EV Executive Shuffle

Toyota now directly employs more than 48,000 people in North America who design, engineer, and assemble what totals ~45 million cars and trucks at 13 non-unionized manufacturing plants. The Research & Development, Manufacturing and Product Support changes are effective 3 July 2023. Continue reading

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US EV Market Growing – Problems Growing Too

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation today released its analysis of the US electric vehicle (EV) market for Q1 2023. More than 305,000 EVs sold in U.S. During  Q1, an increase of 56% compared to Q1 2022. This means that EVs represent 8.6% of new light-duty vehicle sales in Q1 2023, up slightly from 8.5% in Q4 2022 and 5.9% in Q1 2022. While this is relatively good news, supply constraints still hinder growth. This might not be as bad as it sounds for consumers since Q1 2023 public charging data show that the installation of US public chargers is not keeping up with current and – above all – projected EV sales. Continue reading

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EV Battery Gold Rush – GM and Element 25

General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Element 25 (ASX: E25) announced today in Detroit and Perth, Australia an agreement for Element 25 to supply up to 32,500 metric tons of manganese sulfate annually to support the annual production of more than … Continue reading

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Toyota, Mitsubishi to Debut Biogas Hydrogen Equipment

Toyota Motor, Toyota Tsusho and Mitsubishi Kakoki will introduce biogas-derived hydrogen production equipment for the first time in Thailand. The hydrogen production equipment to be introduced will be manufactured by Mitsubishi Kakoki and installed in Thailand in November 2023 to produce hydrogen from biogas derived from local chicken manure and food waste.  It’s the latest step announce by awakened companies to move, ultimately, to a carbon-neutral society. Continue reading

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EV Politics – Biden versus the UAW

AutoInformed notes that this is a UAW contract year and an election year. Biden’s endorsement by the UAW is by no means assured, although we understand trade offs are unappetizing, but not as bad as endorsing a Republican candidates? Ford Motor is also opening a $3.5 billion manufacturing plant in 2026 in Marshall, Michigan, using technology licensed from Chinese CATL. Continue reading

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Fasten Your Safety Belt – Quality Problems at Record High

New vehicles are becoming more problematic with the number of problems per 100 vehicles (PP100) rising to a record 30 PP100 during the past two years, according to the J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Initial Quality StudySM (IQS) released today. Power … Continue reading

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What Does American Made Mean?

The website Cars.com released its 2023 American-Made Index® today at a time of intense discussion about whether the term means anything. The standards for the American-Made Index include location of final assembly; percentage of US. and Canadian parts; country of origin for available engines; country of origin for available transmissions; US manufacturing employees relative to the automaker’s footprint. Continue reading

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Cleared for Takeoff – Archer Aviation and Stellantis

Stellantis previously said it will provide up to $150 million in equity capital for potential draw by Archer at its discretion in 2023 and 2024, subject to achievement of certain business milestones which Archer predicted will occur during 2023. If AutoInformed’s math is right, manufacturing aircraft at the forecast volumes would make Covington the world’s leading aircraft manufacturing facility. Continue reading

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GM to Build Full-Size Pickups at Oshawa – Maybe

What role Unifor, which represents Canadian auto workers, plays in this remains to be seen. AutoInformed observes this is a bittersweet blessing for Canadian autoworkers since internal combustion engines are ultimately doomed. There are larger issues as well as the components and agreements for supplying electric vehicles are in place or at organizations that are hostile to unionized workers and even Democracies. Continue reading

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GM Expanding Ultium CAM EV Battery Joint Venture

General Motors (NYSE: GM) and POSCO Future M announced today the second phase of their Ultium CAM joint venture, an investment forecast to exceed $1 billion to increase production capacity of Cathode Active Material (CAM) for EV batteries. While CEO Mary Barra admits that GM was slow to embrace EVs, GM is now clearly among the leaders in what is the future of automobility. Today’s announcement is the latest in a series of actions GM has taken to build a more secure EV supply chain. Continue reading

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