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Well, hello Tempus Fugit! AutoInformed again notes, humbly and wryly, that its vision is mostly clear on the significance of long past occurrences. Nonetheless, with each passing year we still pause and attempt to bring insight into events of the time. When we get it right, our perspective observes that we are what we were – a union of we the people aspiring to include all of us with awakened ideals from our 18th century American enlightenment put forth in our globally famous declarations and legal documents.
However, in these current times that try our souls, these ideals appear to be only a paltry influence amidst the chaos of the American present. Our vision and progress are threatened by a tawdry cast (caste?) of social media politicians who reside in comfort and leisure at taxpayer expense while idly watching the Potomac roll by. Our aspirations of becoming a more useful part of our society comprised of “We the People” is under daily news-cycle assault with an insurrection of can’t do characters and their apologists and power-hungry enablers who are our enemies within. They are the greatest threat to our upwardly mobile, inclusive democratic society. These illiterate book banners and burners are threatening our genuine American optimism and can-do past that still propels the best of us to keep moving forward with or without drums and fifes.
This past year did, however, provide glimpses of optimism breaking through the political darkness and shadows that are obscuring a better tomorrow where mobility and energy in all its ecologically friendly forms remain key to our survival as well as the survival of our heirs in their life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
First and foremost is our ongoing economic recovery from the plagues. The global pandemic and the Trump mis-administration that presided over needless deaths sending our economy into a tailspin. In American barnstorming terms this could have been a “graveyard spin.” Happily we are still flying as American eagles. The annum 2023 started with the ongoing recovery of the transportation industry that preoccupies AutoInformed. GM, to cite just one instance here, started 2023 by posting strong profits (GM Posts Record $14.5 Billion in Earnings During 2022). Other automakers more or less followed in the recovery. (US December Unemployment at Record Low of 3.5%; Bidenomics – People Spend Record $578B on New Vehicles; Forecast is Finally Normal for 2024 US Auto Market). In short this is ‘Merican “Can do.”
The prosperity of the industry even found its way into the accounts of workers. More “we’ in action. The reformed and resurgent UAW led by its first democratically elected leader – Sean Fain – prevailed in contract negotiations that many of the pundits said would fail:
- UAW October Sweep – GM and UAW Tentative Agreement
- Ford CEO Jim Farley on UAW Contract Ratification
- UAW Sweep – Stellantis Contract Approved by Members
Here, there were even benefits befalling the workers of the offshore-owned transplants in the non-unionized regions. Can do…
- Volkswagen Raises Pay of US Plant Workers to Resist UAW
- UAW Freeloaders – Hyundai Ups Wages of US Factory Workers
- Stellantis Implements First Employee Share Purchase Plan
Industrial Policy to Thwart Economic and Belligerent Threats. Another aspect of the American character was on display when we realized that relying on hostile countries or regions for the supply of components for our industries is folly. As part of the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act, the Department of Commerce is now overseeing $50 billion to revitalize the U.S. semiconductor industry, including $39 billion in semiconductor incentives. The goal is to construct, expand, or modernize commercial facilities for the production of leading-edge, current-generation, and mature-node semiconductors. This includes both front-end wafer fabrication and back-end packaging. The Department also has funding for semiconductor materials and equipment facilities, and one for research and development facilities. First CHIPS for America Funding Applications Now Open
“The CHIPS and Science Act presents a historic opportunity to unleash the next generation of American innovation, protect our national security, and preserve our global economic competitiveness,” said Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo. “When we have finished implementing CHIPS for America, we will be the premier destination in the world where new leading-edge chip architectures can be invented in our research labs, designed for every end-use application, manufactured at scale and packaged with the most advanced technologies. Throughout our work, we are committed to protecting taxpayer dollars, strengthening America’s workforce and giving America’s businesses a platform to do what they do best: innovate, scale and compete.”
CHIPS for America released a “Vision for Success,” laying out strategic objectives building on the vision Secretary Raimondo shared in a speech at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. To advance U.S. economic and national security, the Department aims to reach the following goals by the end of the decade: (1) make the U.S. home to at least two, new large-scale clusters of leading-edge logic chip fabs, (2) make the U.S. home to multiple, high-volume advanced packaging facilities, (3) produce high-volume leading-edge memory chips, and (4) increase production capacity for current-generation and mature-node chips, especially for critical domestic industries. “Can do.”
Infrastructure and a connected Clean Energy economy. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law more than doubled funding for surface transportation programs that improve roadway safety. Under the Biden Administration there are a collection of roadway safety investments, including the $9 billion in funding that states have received through the Highway Safety Improvement Program and the $570 million in funding that will improve safety at more than 400 rail crossings across the country. Last October The US Department of Transportation announced $86 million in Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grants to 235 regional, local and tribal communities for planning and demonstration projects to improve safety and help prevent deaths and serious injuries on the nation’s roadways.
“Whether it’s a dangerous intersection or highway, or a need for better bus and bike lanes, no one can better pinpoint a community’s safety needs than the people who actually live and work there,” said US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. “In the past five years, the communities we are awarding these grants to experienced nearly 14,000 roadway deaths. To help change that unacceptable reality, we are proud to deliver this needed funding to help them address their unique safety needs and save lives.” Can do. Infrastructure – More DOT Roadway Safety Planning Grants
Global Warming Requires new fuels, vehicles and transportation modes. Burning fossil fuels with carbon and the resultant global warming and extreme weather crisis are planet and life threatening problems. Here the solution begins with hydrogen, the most plentiful element in the universe. US policy is starting to understand this requires action, first with the ongoing support of the transition to EVs. A far greater impact can come from renewable fuels based on hydrogen to be used in all areas of the economy. A fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV), of course, generates its own electricity onboard from hydrogen, with water as the only emission. A fuel cell system combines stored hydrogen with oxygen from the air, and a chemical reaction that produces electric current and water, which dribbles out of a vent pipe.
Hydrogen is an ideal fuel for trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles because it provides long driving range and short refueling times. Replacing diesel in the trucking sector could result in an abatement of ~1300+ kilotons per year of CO2 by 2035, the equivalent of removing 280,000 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles from the road for one year. It’s great for all sorts of automobility devices, not just lunar rovers.
Hydrogen can be produced from a variety of domestic resources. (Distill Baby, Distill?) It is possible to use de-carbonized hydrogen for transportation such as that produced from bio-resources or renewable electricity via electrolysis during this decade and beyond. It’s possible to use hydrogen to power factories, cool, heat and light facilities – including our homes. Can do.
- Michigan Wins Clean Hydrogen Hub Funding
- Big Oil Rebuff as Nel ASA, GM Unite on Renewable Hydrogen
- Stellantis Buys Share of Symbio for Fuel Cell Technology
- PACCAR, Toyota to Sell Fuel Cell Trucks in 2024
- CARB Approves Toyota HD Fuel Cell Electric Powertrain Kit
- Cordless EV w 400 Mile Range – 2023 Toyota Mirai Fuel Cell
- Honda Using Fuel Cell to Back Up Power at Its Data Center
- GM Plans to Expand Fuel Cell Sales Beyond Vehicles
- Toyota to Assemble Fuel Cell Modules at Kentucky Plant
- GM to Sell Navistar Hydrotec Fuel Cell Power Cubes for EVs
May you all have a prosperous New Year moving forward making the American Dream reality. Soar like an American eagle…
AutoInformed on
- Significant 2022 Automotive Stories and Trends
- Significant 2021 Automotive Stories and Trends
- Significant Automotive Stories and Trends of 2018 and 2019
- More Significant Stories, Trends of 2017. And 2018?
- Significant Stories, Trends of 2017. And 2018?
- Significant Auto Industry Stories of 2010
“As 2023 ends and we look ahead to 2024, our world and our country continue to face a broad range of challenges—including climate change, economic uncertainty, and continued geopolitical tensions. In the face of these challenges, the United States is investing trillions of dollars in public-sector capital via the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the CHIPS and Science Act to bolster economic security, energy security, and national security. In aggregate, these new investments seek to accelerate technology and transform America’s industrial policy and built environment. If implemented effectively, these policies may fundamentally alter the public- and private-sector landscape for the next several decades.
“The year 2023 was one of planning. The US federal government drafted and issued guidance for a range of new programs. Many state governments designed, launched, and scaled central coordinating functions charged with winning competitive grants and deploying federal funding (competitive and noncompetitive, new and enduring) as efficiently and effectively as possible.
“Agency leaders have developed novel approaches to deploying green financing, expanding broadband infrastructure, accelerating new technology, and building hydrogen hubs to ensure that the United States can keep pace with the demands of rapid modernization across industries.
“We believe 2024 will be a year of transition from planning to implementation, with more shovels hitting the ground each day to build the future American economy. To make this happen, leaders at the federal, state, and local levels can work with industry counterparts to address a bevy of significant- but tractable – challenges, such as complex service procurement timelines, material and labor supply chain shortages, and permitting restrictions,” said Adi Kumar, Senior Partner, Washington DC and Tim Ward, Senior Partner, Southern California of the McKinsey & Company consultancy.