Tag Archives: tesla

Volkswagen Joins the Tesla Supercharger Network Party

Posted on 12 November 2025 by Ken Zino

Volkswagen of America today announced that its ID.4 and ID. Buzz owners will be able to access the Tesla Supercharger network of 25,000 NACS Partner DC fast chargers, beginning November 18th. To enable the ID.4 and ID. Buzz vehicles to use the network, customers must purchase a Volkswagen-approved NACS adapter that will allow compatible Volkswagen electric vehicles to charge using the North American Charging System (NACS) fast charger plug. [Volkswagen is late to the Supercharger party – AutoCrat]

“This is great news for our EV owners,” said Petar Danilovic, Senior Vice President, Product Marketing and Strategy, Volkswagen of America. “They will now be able to access the more than 25,000 DC fast chargers on the Tesla Supercharger network across the United States, in addition to the more than 5,000 fast chargers on Electrify America’s grid. This makes life much more convenient, whether you are taking a road trip or you rely on public charging should home charging not be an option.” Continue reading →

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Trump Tariffs Hit N.A. Automakers $1.389B

Posted on 11 September 2025 by Ken Zino

“Tariffs hit North American automakers hard in July,” said Patrick L. Anderson, Principal & CEO of Anderson Economic Group. “The automakers made extensive use of temporary allowances that effectively allowed an exemption for the majority of both parts and vehicles through June. That changed in July for assembled vehicles, and we can expect that these costs will become embedded into the prices consumers are paying in the very near future.” Continue reading →

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GM Poaches Aurora Exec for Chief Product Officer

Posted on 12 May 2025 by Ken Zino

General Motors (NYSE: GM) today announced the appointment of Sterling Anderson, co-founder and chief product officer of autonomous trucking company Aurora, as executive VP, Global Product and Chief Product Officer. This can be viewed either as a GM poaching or grabbing an itinerant executive. He will report to GM President Mark Reuss. Anderson joins GM on 2 June 2025 and will be based in GM’s Mountain View Tech Center in California. The latest move comes at a time when Chinese companies are challenging traditional automakers with stunningly short development times and new product debuts with a variety of electronic systems. Continue reading →

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Mazda Japanese BEVs to Adopt North American Charging Standard

Posted on 9 May 2025 by Ken Zino

Mazda Motor Corporation (MMC 7261.T)* today announced that a deal was reached with embattled Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) to adopt the North American Charging Standard (NACS) for charging ports on the company’s battery electric vehicles (BEV) launched in Japan from 2027 onward. Earlier this year, Mazda said that it will build a new module pack plant for automotive cylindrical lithium-ion battery cells in Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan. The new plant will produce modules and packs of automotive cylindrical lithium-ion battery cells procured from Panasonic Energy Co. The completed battery packs will be installed in Mazda’s first battery EV that uses a dedicated EV platform and will be manufactured at Mazda’s Hiroshima plant. The annual production capacity is planned to be 10 GWh. This could see a U.S. export version, but there’s the ever-changing Trump trade barriers in play. The former Auto Alliance joint venture in Michigan is now a Ford Mustang plant and given Mazda’s strained relations with Ford, as well as Ford’s own struggles with Trump tariffs, it’s a highly unlikely source of Mazda BEVs in AutoInformed’s view.

Tesla itself presents another problem for U.S. sales, AutoInformed opines. Tesla said in late April that 2025 profits during Q1 plunged from $1.39 billion to $409 million. This was a drastic drop from analyst guess-timates as Elon Musk’s DOGE chainsaw kicked back on the company and slashed revenue from $21.3 billion to $19.3 billion. Amidst the carnage of lower customer deliveries, lower margins and lower profits, Elon Musk also claimed that he was leaving DOGE behind as his major work there was finished. Musk will only be spending a day or so weekly on the unpopular Trump DOGE executive order. However, the Tesla brand is unquestionably damaged. Tesla links could be highly toxic, the automotive brand equivalent of an EPA superfund cleanup site. Continue reading →

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Q1 2025 U.S. EV Sales Up 10%. Tesla Down

Posted on 18 April 2025 by Ken Zino

“General Motors sold a lot of EVs in Q1 of 2025. While GM suffered through painful and slow product launches in 2023 and 2024, the long-promised EVs are starting to flow. More than 30,000 EVs from General Motors brands were sold last quarter, nearly doubling the volume from a year ago and passing both Ford Motor Company and Hyundai Group along the way. And worth noting, Honda and Acura added more than 14,000 EVs to the U.S. market last quarter as well, up from zero a year ago, all courtesy of a short-lived partnership with GM. Stellantis got in the EV game in Q1, with new products from Dodge, Jeep and Fiat. It’s a start.” said Cox Automotive. Continue reading →

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Musk and Bezos Freeloading on Taxpayer Subsidies

Posted on 26 February 2025 by Ken Zino

Elon Musk, who is leading efforts to cut spending he alleges is wasteful, has himself benefited from more than $38 billion in government funding, according to a just-published exposé in the Washington Post. The Washington Post used Good Jobs First’s Subsidy Tracker to help tell the story of just how much companies controlled by Musk have received, according to a release today from the respected Good Jobs First (GJF) organization. Continue reading →

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Mercedes-Benz Alabama Workers Ask NLRB for Union Vote

Posted on 5 April 2024 by Ken Zino

Energy appears to be on the side of the union. Alabama has been a so-called “right to work state (for less?) since 2016, meaning that union-membership is not required for employment. By late February, less than two months after Mercedes workers went public with their drive to join the UAW, a majority of them had signed union cards.

The Mercedes workers are part of the growing national movement of non-union autoworkers organizing to join the UAW in the wake of the historic Stand Up Strike victory at the Big Three auto companies last fall. More than 10,000 non-union autoworkers have signed union cards in recent months, with public campaigns launched at Mercedes, Volkswagen, Hyundai in Montgomery, Ala., and Toyota in Troy, Mo. Workers at least two dozen other facilities are also actively organizing. The main event in this fight will likely be at Tesla in AutoInformed’s view with Twitter owner Elon Musk, mustering all the anti-worker tweets he can. Continue reading →

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Do Media Have the Electric Vehicle Market Collapse Wrong?

Posted on 19 February 2024 by Ken Zino

The European Passenger Vehicle (PV) Battery Electric Vehicle market EV market grew ~32% with positive growth in all months except December during 2023. This growth was better than many forecasters indicated at the start of last year (and better than in 2022), with some predicting no growth. BEV sales volume came in at just under 2.1 million units. This is 500,000 more than were sold in 2022.

“It is clear there has been some recent slowdown in the market, but it depends where you look. Some brands are doing considerably better than others, with the likes of MG and Tesla standing out as strong performers in 2023,” the respected consultancy GlobalData said today. Continue reading →

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GM Creates New VP of Batteries Position

Posted on 8 February 2024 by Ken Zino

General Motors (NYSE: GM) said today that it has hired Kurt Kelty, a battery expert and former Tesla executive, to be vice president of Batteries, reporting to GM President Mark Reuss. Kelty in a new position at GM will be charged with GM’s battery cell strategy and what it is calling an “end-to-end approach.” This will include the use of raw materials, research, developing and investing in new technology, commercialization of cells and packs, and end of life opportunities.

“The foundation that GM has established coupled with Kurt’s exceptional battery expertise in leading battery chemistry development, establishing partnerships, building out supply chains and partnering closely with teams that have developed leading battery systems will help us achieve our electrification goals and position GM as a leader in EV technology,” said Reuss. Continue reading →

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Slow Sales Start for US Light Vehicles in January 2024

Posted on 2 February 2024 by Ken Zino

“After a flurry of sales activity in December, there was always a risk that January would see some payback, with fewer consumers on the hunt for a new vehicle, and so it transpired. Apart from normal seasonal effects, the current environment is such that buyers remain price-sensitive and if the right deals are not available, volumes are liable to suffer,” said David Oakley, Manager, Americas Sales Forecasts, GlobalData. Continue reading →

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Audi, Porsche, Scout Motors and VW EVs to offer NACS in 2025

Posted on 19 December 2023 by Ken Zino

“This is great news for our electric vehicle customers in the North American Region,” said Pablo Di Si, President and CEO, Volkswagen Group of America. “This potentially provides them with access to more than 15,000 additional charging points as well as the current near-4,000 DC fast charging outlets operated by Electrify America.” Continue reading →

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SEC Sues Musk for Blatant Refusal of Subpoena

Posted on 5 October 2023 by Ken Zino

The filing in US Court for the Northern District of California concerns an ongoing investigation by the SEC regarding, among other things, potential violations of various provisions of the federal securities laws in connection with Musk’s 2022 purchases of Twitter stock, and Musk’s 2022 statements and SEC filings relating to Twitter. According to the filing, the SEC seeks Musk’s testimony to obtain information not already in the SEC’s possession that is relevant to its legitimate and lawful investigation. Continue reading →

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Ford Cuts F-150 Lightning Prices by $6000 to $10,000

Posted on 17 July 2023 by Ken Zino

Ford Motor said today that it is lowering the MSRP of F-150 Lightning® electric vehicle for all customers by $6000 to $10,000. The largest cuts are on the least expensive models. The Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Michigan is currently closed completing changes that will triple the plant’s annual capacity to a targeted 150,000 F-150 Lightning trucks beginning this fall. Tesla, of course, surprised the industry with its recent price cuts. The increasing supply of semi-conductors is also adding to downward pricing pressure. Continue reading →

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Electrify America to add Tesla’s NACS EV Charging Connector

Posted on 29 June 2023 by Ken Zino

Electrify America said today it will add the North American Charging Standard (NACS) connector to Electrify America and Electrify Canada’s fast charging networks to broaden charging s for electric vehicle (EV) drivers. NACS was previously known as the Tesla connector introduced more than a decade ago with its unique pin or plug design that can use both a/c and d/c charging. Electrify America will continue to provide the Combined Charging System (CCS-1) connector throughout its network as it transitions to also support automakers adding NACS charging ports. Continue reading →

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Ford EV Customers to Get Access to Tesla Superchargers

Posted on 26 May 2023 by Ken Zino

“We’ve spent the last 10 years building an industry-leading Charging Network that enables freedom to travel and provides charging confidence for our Tesla owners. We’re excited to deliver on our mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy by welcoming Ford owners, and other electric vehicles who adopt NACS, to our thousands of Superchargers across North America,” said Rebecca Tinucci, Tesla’s senior director of charging infrastructure. Continue reading →

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