Nissan R&D Has New Safety Advancement Lab in North America

Posted on 30 September 2021 by Ken Zino
Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on Nissan Safety Advancement Lab

To assure data modeling accuracy let’s start with Live Republican Senators since they are acting like dummies and about to crash the economy. Click to Enlarge.

Nissan says it has expanded its Michigan-based engineering center, Nissan Technical Center North America (NTCNA), with a more than $40 million dollar Safety Advancement Lab for vehicle safety testing. Nissan claims the new lab brings more efficiency to the vehicle development process and helps a stated goal of reaching a future with virtually zero fatalities. (Nissan Starts Advanced Brain Training for Formula E Drivers)

The Safety Advancement Lab expansion provides Nissan the onsite capability to conduct full vehicle crash testing, vehicle certification, advanced development testing and benchmarking. Engineers can conduct 48 different passive safety crash test simulations onsite, thereby creating efficiencies in timing and results analysis – if the simulations are realistic of course. Continue reading →

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Climate Change Car Wars – GM to Reach 100% Renewable Energy in 2025

Posted on 30 September 2021 by Ken Zino

General Motors said today that it plans to source 100% renewable energy to power its U.S. sites by 2025 – five years earlier than previously announced, and 25 years ahead of its initial target that was set in 2016. By accelerating its renewable energy goal, GM aims to avoid 1 million metric tons of carbon emissions that would have been produced between 2025 and 2030. It’s the latest p.r. shot in the car marketing wars by automakers that no longer can deny the real damages incurred by fossil fuel use.*

 “We know climate action is a priority and every company must push itself to de-carbonize further and faster,” said GM Chief Sustainability Officer Kristen Siemen. “That’s what we are doing by aiming to achieve 100 % renewable energy five years earlier in the U.S. as we continue to advance on our commitment to lead an all-electric, carbon-neutral future.” Continue reading →

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Connected Cars – GM Debuts Ultifi for Saleable APPs, Services

Posted on 29 September 2021 by Ken Zino

General Motors Today announced Ultifi, its revised software platform designed to “unlock new vehicle experiences and connect customers’ digital lives.” Ultifi will help the frequent and seamless delivery of software-defined apps and services to customers over the air, GM said.

This latest move is part of an ongoing transition in the auto industry toward more cloud-based services, faster software development and new opportunities to increase revenue and, maybe, customer loyalty. Ultifi is enabled by hardware built into some next-generation products starting in 2023, encompassing internal combustion and electric vehicles. Continue reading →

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Sunshine as Disinfectant or Glare? – SEC Proposes Enhanced Proxy Voting Disclosure

Posted on 29 September 2021 by Ken Zino

The Securities and Exchange Commission today proposed to enhance the information mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, and certain other funds report about their proxy votes. The rulemaking would require funds to tie the description of each voting matter to the issuer’s form of proxy and to categorize each matter by type to help investors identify votes of interest and compare voting records. The proposal also would prescribe how funds organize their reports and require them to use a structured data language to make the filings easier to analyze. Funds would also be required to disclose how their securities lending activity impacted their voting.

While the intent is to slow down the insider trading practices in the capital markets, it is by no means certain it will do so. Without doubt it will increase the complexity and length of disclosure documents thereby leading to more confusion among the people it is trying to help. Continue reading →

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Rolls-Royce Announces First Full Electric Car

Posted on 29 September 2021 by Ken Zino
Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on Rolls-Royce Spectre, Its First Full Electric Car

A Rolls sports coupe? Click to Enlarge.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars announced today that on-road testing of its first fully electric motor car – Spectre – is about to begin. It will come to market in Q4 2023, lagging significant competitors such as Mercedes-Benz, Renault Group, Cadillac and BMW Group – it owns Rolls* – among others. Global testing will cover 2.5 million kilometers – a simulation of 400 years of use, according to Rolls. By 2030 all Rolls-Royce products will be fully electric. The first one, Spectre debuts  Rolls-Royce’s own spaceframe architecture.

“The use of electric motors is not a new concept for Rolls-Royce. Sir Henry Royce was fascinated by all things electrified, and his first venture, named F. H. Royce and Company, created dynamos, electric crane motors and patented the bayonet-style light bulb fitting,” said Chief Executive Officer, Torsten Müller-Ötvös. Continue reading →

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US September Auto Sales Projected Down -25%

Posted on 28 September 2021 by Ken Zino
Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on US September ’21 Auto Sales Projected Down

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New-vehicle retail sales for the month of September 2021 are expected to drop when compared with September 2020 and September 2019, according to a joint forecast from J.D. Power and LMC Automotive. Retail sales of new vehicles this month are expected to reach 888,900 units, a -24.8% decrease compared with September 2020, and a -19.8% decrease compared with September 2019 when adjusted for selling days*.

New-vehicle retail sales in Q3 2021 are projected to reach 2,990,500 units, a -14.3% decrease from Q3 2020 and an 18.8% decrease from Q3 2019 when adjusted for selling days. The seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) for total new-vehicle sales is forecast at 12.2 million units, down 4.0 million units from 2020 and down 4.9 million units from 2019. Continue reading →

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EVs – Ford to Spend $11.4B Creating a Tennessee Campus, Twin Battery Plants in Kentucky

Posted on 28 September 2021 by Ken Zino

Ford Motor Company claims it is making the largest U.S. investment in electric vehicles at one time by any automaker. With its partner, SK Innovation, Ford plans to invest $11.4 billion and create ~11,000 new jobs at the Tennessee and Kentucky “mega-sites.” Overall, Ford expects 40% to 50% of its global vehicle volume to be fully electric by 2030.

Both states are “right to work” (for less?) states, which means workers don’t have to be unionized. Tennessee sent $500 million in incentives from its taxpayers. Kentucky donated $300 million and what appears to be about 1500 acres of free land. Thus Ford is the latest automaker attempting to lay off some or more of the huge capital costs needed to build EVs as global warming make their increasing use inevitable. SK Innovation will split off its battery business on October 1 as a wholly owned subsidiary. (EU Gets Tougher on Climate Change – Wants All EVs by 2035; Toyota, Subaru at Shanghai Introduce Latest Joint-Venture EVs; Volvo to Only Sell EVs Online as a Pure EV Company by 2030; GM Doubles Down on EVs in Bid to Win Global Race) Continue reading →

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Palou Driving a Honda is 2021 IndyCar Series Champion

Posted on 27 September 2021 by Ken Zino
Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on NTT IndyCar Series Long Beach Grand Prix

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The new NTT IndyCar series champion Alex Palou earned his first title with a composed, calculating drive to fourth place Sunday in the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Colton Herta won the race. Palou became the first Spaniard to win a championship and is now Chip Ganassi Racing’s second consecutive title winner. Once again the pace car was on the track many times for crash induced yellow flags,

Several crashes marred the Long Beach race – consistent with the season – as several IndyCar drivers demonstrated the idiocy of making moves that were almost always likely to hurt theirs and other driver’s chances. Reigning 2020 champion Simon Pagenaud finished fifth with a decent run. Other drivers in contention weren’t so lucky or level headed. Josef Newgarden finished second and Scott Dixon, the six-time and reigning champion, finished third. Palou took the championship by 38 points over Newgarden. Continue reading →

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Climate Change – EPA Targets Hydrofluorocarbons Again

Posted on 24 September 2021 by Ken Zino
Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on EPA Targets Hydrofluorocarbons Again

The tip of the regulatory iceberg?

The United States Environmental Protection Agency has issued a final rule establishing what it calls “a comprehensive program to cap and phase down the production and consumption of climate-damaging hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) in the United States.” Hydrofluorocarbons, aka HFCs, are powerful greenhouse gases commonly used in refrigeration and air conditioning equipment, as well as foams and other applications.

A global phasedown of HFCs is expected to avoid up to 0.5 °C of global warming by 2100. This final rule will phase down the U.S. production and consumption of HFCs by 85% during the next 15 years, as mandated by the American Innovation and Manufacturing (AIM) Act that was enacted in December 2020 after the environmental hater “global warming is a Chinese hoax” was evicted by voters the month before from occupying the Whitehouse. Continue reading →

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Lithium-Sulfur – Better than Lithium-Ion Battery?

Posted on 24 September 2021 by Ken Zino

A Silicon Valley startup is claiming a new electric vehicle battery – LytCell EV lithium-sulfur (Li-S) battery is designed to deliver three times the gravimetric energy density of conventional lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries (claimed potentially at 900 Wh/kg). Moreover it also claims to outperform solid state batteries.

Whether this is a genuine breakthrough or just another silly-CON (Do you know the ways of San Jose? Privately held until the IPO?) remains to be validated by vehicle use on the road and ultimately adoption by major automakers. Lyten expects full production and market availability for ‘25-‘26 model year vehicles. Continue reading →

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Honda, Google Team on In-Vehicle Connected Services

Posted on 23 September 2021 by Ken Zino

Honda and Google in Tokyo today said that the two companies have agreed to integrate Google’s in-vehicle connected service into an all-new model that will come to market in the second half of 2022 in North America, then expand it globally in stages. Continue reading →

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Semiconductors – Auto Industry to Lose $210B in Revenue

Posted on 23 September 2021 by Ken Zino

Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on the semiconductor shortage is severely hurting the global automotive industryAlixPartners today released its latest forecast regarding how much the ongoing semiconductor shortage is costing the global automotive industry. The consultancy’s updated estimate is that the shortage will cost the industry globally $210 billion in lost revenues this year. This is a breathtaking increase its estimate in May of $110 billion. AlixPartners is now forecasting that production of 7.7 million units will be lost in 2021, up from 3.9 million in its May forecast.

Exec Summary: There are no more cushions left in the industry when it comes to production or obtaining material. Any shortage or production interruption in any part of the world affects companies around the globe. Worse, the impacts are now amplified due to all the other shortages. Continue reading →

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Constellium to Make Aluminum Parts for Ford F-150 Lightning

Posted on 23 September 2021 by Ken Zino

Constellium SE (NYSE: CSTM) today announced that it will supply aluminum structural components for the all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning that is might be available Spring 2022. The F-150 Lightning, and all F-Series pickup trucks, extensively use high-strength aluminum alloys. Constellium-supplied structural components for the F-150 Lightning include the windshield header, rocker, and radiator support.

Aluminum can be used in electric vehicles to manage crash energy in front, side and rear impacts, and provide intrusion resistance. Plug-in hybrid and full battery electric vehicles use more aluminum than the typical internal combustion engine vehicle today. (Ford Introduces All-Electric F-150 Lightning Pro – Bring Money; EV Pickup! Ford is Betting Lightning Can Strike Twice; Ford Motor Posts Q2 Revenue $26.8B, Net Income $56M, Earnings $1.1B as Market Share Drops ) Continue reading →

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FAA – Unruly Passenger Rate Remains Too High

Posted on 23 September 2021 by Ken Zino
Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on Unruly Airline Passenger Rate Remains Too High

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The Federal Aviation Administration said today that unruly passenger incidents on commercial flights has dropped since the FAA launched its Zero Tolerance campaign, but the rate remains too high, according to new data just released.

As of last week, unruly passenger incidents were occurring approximately six times per every 10,000 flights. That’s a ~50% drop from early 2021, when Republicans were promoting the “Big Lie” about voter fraud, which was the cause of the January 6th insurrection at the US Capital. However, it’s more than twice as high as the end of 2020. Since the FAA launched its public awareness campaign with memes and two public service announcements, the rate has fallen ~30%.  Continue reading →

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GM, Amazon Offer OnStar Emergency Service at Home

Posted on 22 September 2021 by Ken Zino
Ken Zino of AutoInformed.com on GM and Amazon Offer OnStar Emergency Service at Home

Members reach OnStar Emergency-Certified Advisors by saying, “Alexa, call for help.”

General Motors and Amazon today announced plans to introduce “OnStar Guardian skill for Amazon Alexa1. This new addition will provide a voice-enabled connection to Emergency-Certified OnStar Advisors2 at home through compatible Alexa-enabled devices. The OnStar Guardian skill for Amazon Alexa is part of the OnStar Guardian platform, which aims to help keep people safe.

When the OnStar Guardian skill for Amazon Alexa (OStGsfAA?) is enabled on compatible, in-home Alexa devices, people can reach OnStar Emergency-Certified Advisors by saying, “Alexa, call for help,” during crisis events, such as house fires, medical emergencies, break-ins and so forth. Continue reading →

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