Tag: Autos

EU strikes deal to ban the sale of new diesel and gasoline cars from 2035

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An electric car being charged in Germany. The European Union is moving forward with plans to ramp up the number of EVs on its roads.

Tomekbudujedomek | Moment | Getty Images

The EU’s plans to phase out the sale of new diesel and gasoline cars and vans took a big step forward this week after the European Council and European Parliament came to a provisional agreement on the issue.

In a statement Thursday evening, the European Parliament said EU negotiators had agreed on a deal related to the European Commission’s proposal for “zero-emission road mobility by 2035.”

The plan seeks to slash CO2 emissions from new vans and passenger cars by 100% from 2021 levels and would constitute an effective ban on new diesel and gasoline vehicles of these types. The European Commission is the EU’s executive branch.

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The parliament said smaller automakers producing up to 10,000 new cars or 22,000 new vans could be granted a derogation, or exemption, until the end of 2035.

It added that “those responsible for less than 1,000 new vehicle registrations per year continue to be exempt.”

Formal approval of the deal from the European Council and European Parliament is required before it takes effect.

Industry reactions

Thursday’s news was welcomed by Transport & Environment, a Brussels-based campaign group. “The days of the carbon spewing, pollution belching combustion engine are finally numbered,” said Julia Poliscanova, T&E’s senior director for vehicles and e-mobility.

Others commenting on the plans included the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. In a statement, it said it’s now urging “European policy makers to shift into higher gear to deploy the enabling conditions for zero-emission mobility.”

“This extremely far-reaching decision is without precedent,” said its chair, Oliver Zipse, who is the CEO of BMW. “It means that the European Union will now be the first and only world region to go all-electric.”

“Make no mistake, the European automobile industry is up to the challenge of providing these zero-emission cars and vans,” he added.

“However, we are now keen to see the framework conditions which are essential to meet this target reflected in EU policies.”

“These include an abundance of renewable energy, a seamless private and public charging infrastructure network, and access to raw materials.”

During an interview with CNBC earlier this month, Carlos Tavares, the CEO of Stellantis, was asked about the EU’s plans to phase out the sale of new ICE cars and vans by 2035. ICE vehicles are powered by a regular internal combustion engine.

It’s “clear that the decision to ban pure ICEs is a purely dogmatic decision,” said Tavares, who was speaking to CNBC’s Charlotte Reed at the Paris Motor Show.

He added that Europe’s political leaders should be “more pragmatic and less dogmatic.”

“I think there is the possibility — and the need — for a more pragmatic approach to manage the transition.”

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October 28, 2022
Ford reveals third-quarter net loss, weighed down by supply chain problems and Argo A.I. investment
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2023 Ford F-150 Raptor R

Ford

DETROIT – Ford Motor recorded a net loss of $827 million during the third quarter, weighed down by supply chain problems and costs related to disbanding its autonomous vehicle unit Argo AI.

Still, the automaker was able to narrowly beat Wall Street’s subdued expectations for the period and guided to the lowest end of its previously forecast earnings for the year.

Shares of the company were down roughly 1.5% in extended trading following the report.

Here’s how Ford performed during the third quarter, compared with analysts estimates as compiled by Refinitiv:

Adjusted earnings per share: 30 cents vs. 27 cents estimated

Automotive revenue: $37.2 billion vs. $36.25 billion estimated

The auto industry’s earnings and forecasts are being closely watched by investors for any signs that consumer demand could be weakening amid rising interest rates and looming recession fears. However, both Ford and crosstown rival General Motors continue to say demand for their products remains strong despite outside economic concerns and rising interest rates.

Ford reported adjusted earnings of $1.8 billion for the quarter, down 40% from a year earlier but slightly above its own previously announced expectations, set last month.

Ford in September partially pre-released its results, including projected adjusted earnings before interest and taxes in the range of $1.4 billion to $1.7 billion — some analysts had been expecting a quarterly profit closer to $3 billion — but affirmed full-year guidance of adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of between $11.5 billion to $12.5 billion.

On Wednesday Ford updated its guidance to forecast full-year adjusted earnings before interest and taxes of about $11.5 billion. It raised its full-year adjusted free cash flow forecast, however, to between $9.5 billion and $10 billion – up from $5.5 billion to $6.5 billion – on strength in the company’s automotive operations.

Argo A.I.

Ford recorded a $2.7 billion non-cash, pretax charge on its investment in Argo AI, which the company initially invested in starting in 2017. It later split its ownership of Argo AI with German automaker Volkswagen in 2019.

Ford CFO John Lawler said the company is winding down the operations to focus on advanced driver-assist systems such as its BlueCruise hands-free highway driving system and other operations that aren’t considered “fully autonomous.”

“It’s become very clear that profitable, fully autonomous vehicles at scale are still a long way off,” he told reporters. “We’ve also concluded that we don’t necessarily have to create that technology ourselves.”

Some of the roughly 2,000 employees for Argo AI are expected to be offered positions at Ford or Volkswagen, officials said. Volkswagen said in a statement that it will no longer invest in Argo AI.

Ford’s Q3

In pre-releasing some results last month, Ford attributed the lower-than-expected earnings to parts shortages affecting 40,000 to 50,000 vehicles as well as an extra $1 billion in unexpected supplier costs during the quarter.

Lawler on Wednesday said the company still expects to finish those vehicles and have them shipped to dealers by the end of the year.

The vehicles, largely high-margin pickups and SUVs, dragged down Ford’s North American profits. The company’s adjusted profit margin for the region was just 5%, down from 10.1% a year earlier.

Ford’s North American operations recorded adjusted earnings of $1.3 billion during the third quarter, down 46% from a year earlier. The automaker recorded earnings gains in Europe and South America, while its operations in China lost $193 million.

Ford’s overall revenue during the quarter, which includes its financial arm, was $39.4 billion, a 10% increase from a year earlier. Through the third quarter, the company’s year-to-date revenue was $114.1 billion, a 16% increase compared to that same time period in 2022.

Ford’s earnings come a day after crosstown rival General Motors significantly outperformed Wall Street’s earnings expectations but slightly missed on revenue. GM’s adjusted profit margin for the quarter narrowed to 10.2% compared with 10.7% during the third quarter of 2021, including 10% in North America.

– CNBC’s John Rosevear contributed to this report.
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October 27, 2022
France enters ‘white gold’ rush as top producer aims to supply Europe with lithium

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A Lithium-ion battery photographed at a Volkswagen facility in Germany. The EU is looking to increase the number of electric vehicles on its roads in the coming years.

Ronny Hartmann | AFP | Getty Images

Paris-headquartered minerals giant Imerys plans to develop a lithium extraction project that it’s hoped will help meet demand and secure supply for Europe’s emerging electric vehicle market.

In a statement Monday, Imerys said its Emili Project would be located at a site in the center of France, with the company targeting 34,000 metric tons of lithium hydroxide production each year from 2028.

According to the business, this level of production would be enough to “equip approximately 700,000 electrical vehicles per year.”

Alongside its use in cell phones, computers, tablets and a host of other gadgets synonymous with modern life, lithium — which some have dubbed “white gold” — is crucial to the batteries that power electric vehicles.

The project being planned by Imerys is taking shape at a time when major economies like the EU are looking to ramp up the number of electric vehicles on their roads.

The EU plans to stop the sale of new diesel and gasoline cars and vans from 2035. The U.K., which left the EU on Jan. 31, 2020, is pursuing similar targets.

With demand for lithium rising, the European Union — of which France is a member — is attempting to shore up its own supplies and reduce dependency on other parts of the world.

In a translation of her State of the Union speech last month, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said “lithium and rare earths will soon be more important than oil and gas.”

As well as addressing security of supply, von der Leyen, who switched between several languages during her speech, also stressed the importance of processing.

“Today, China controls the global processing industry,” she said. “Almost 90% … of rare earth[s] and 60% of lithium are processed in China.”

“So we will identify strategic projects all along the supply chain, from extracting to refining, from processing to recycling,” she added. “And we will build up strategic reserves where supply is at risk.”

Read more about electric vehicles from CNBC Pro

Back in France, Imerys said it was finalizing what it described as a “technical scoping study” in order to “explore various operational options and refine geological and industrial aspects relating to the lithium extraction and processing method.”

The site selected for the project has, since the end of the 19^th century, been used to produce a type of clay called kaolin for use in the ceramics industry.

The construction capital expenditure of the proposed lithium project is estimated to be around 1 billion euros (roughly $980 million), Imerys added.

“Upon successful completion, the project would contribute to the French and European Union’s energy transition ambitions,” the company said. “It would also increase Europe’s industrial sovereignty at a time when car and battery manufacturers are heavily dependent on imported lithium, which is a key element in the energy transition.”

In recent years, a range of factors has created pressure points when it comes to the supply of the materials crucial for EVs, an issue the International Energy Agency highlighted earlier this year in its Global EV Outlook.

“The rapid increase in EV sales during the pandemic has tested the resilience of battery supply chains, and Russia’s war in Ukraine has further exacerbated the challenge,” the IEA’s report noted, adding that prices of materials like lithium, cobalt and nickel have soared.

“In May 2022, lithium prices were over seven times higher than at the start of 2021,” it added. “Unprecedented battery demand and a lack of structural investment in new supply capacity are key factors.”

Read more about energy from CNBC Pro

In a recent interview with CNBC, the CEO of Mercedes-Benz sketched out the current state of play, as he saw it when it came to the raw materials required for EVs and their batteries.

“Raw material prices have been quite volatile in the last 12 to 18 months — some have spiked and actually some have come back down again,” Ola Kallenius said.

“But it is true as we become electric, all-electric and more and more automakers go into the electric space, there is a need to increase mining capacities and refining capacities for lithium, nickel, and some of those raw materials that are needed to produce electric cars.”

“We have everything that we need now, but we need to look into the mid to long-term and work with the mining industry here to increase capacities.”

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October 24, 2022
Tesla shares down 3% in premarket after Elon Musk’s EV firm cuts price of cars in China

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends an opening ceremony for Tesla China-made Model Y program in Shanghai, east China, Jan. 7, 2020.

Ding Ting | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images

Tesla shares slipped in pre-market trade on Monday after the company cut the price of some of its cars in China.

Shares of the electric carmaker were down around 3% in New York before the market open on Monday.

Tesla slashed the price of its Model 3 and Model Y vehicles in China, one of the company’s most critical markets.

The starting price for the Model 3 sedan was reduced to 265,900 Chinese yuan ($36,615) from 279,900 yuan. The Model Y sports utility vehicle now costs 288,900 yuan versus the previous price of 316,900 yuan.

Tesla’s price cuts partly reverse some of the price increases the company was forced to carry out earlier this year in China and the U.S. on the back of rising raw material costs.

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, warned in March that his electric car firm is “seeing significant recent inflation pressure in raw materials & logistics.”

The price cuts also come after Musk said he sees elements of a recession in China.

“China is experiencing a recession of sorts” mostly in the property markets, Musk said last week.

Tesla delivered 343,000 vehicles for the quarter ending September 30, missing analyst expectations. The company does not break out how many cars were delivered in China. Tesla also missed analyst expectation on revenue in the third quarter.

However in September, the China Passenger Car Association reported Tesla delivered 83,135 China-made electric vehicles, a monthly record for the company. Tesla has a huge Gigafactory in the Chinese city of Shanghai which it completed upgrades on earlier this year.

Still, the price cuts come in the face of rising competition for Tesla in China from domestic firms such as Warren Buffett-backed BYD as well as upstarts Nio and Xpeng.

Other electric carmakers have hiked prices this year including BYD and Xpeng, as rising raw material costs hit these companies.

The Chinese economy continues to face challenges particularly as strict Covid-19 controls continue to weigh on retail sales. Third-quarter gross domestic product rose 3.9% from a year ago, beating expectations, but remaining below the official target of around 5.5% growth.

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October 24, 2022
Here’s how much this van lifer has saved since moving into her Taylor Swift-inspired mobile home

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After living in her car during a cross-country road trip in 2019, Tory Delury, 25, decided she loved the journey so much that she wanted to make mobile living a permanent thing.

In 2020, Delury purchased a 2015 van with 24,000 miles for $31,000.

She paid a $10,000 down payment on the van using money she’d saved from selling customized jackets that went viral after the Jonas Brothers shared them on social media.

For the remaining $21,000, Delury is on a payment plan. She pays $300 a month.

The rest of her expenses include: $75 a month for insurance, $10 a month for Planet Fitness, which she uses for showering and going to the bathroom, an average of $150-300 on gas, and about $175 in groceries.

To cover her monthly expenses, Delury takes on odd jobs in the places she’s living at the time.

In Pennsylvania, she learned how to manufacture guitars. And in Vermont, she made ice cream at the original Ben and Jerry’s factory.

Delury told CNBC Make It that according to her calculations she’s saved $10,000 since moving into her van two years ago.

“The way I see it, it’s better than having to pay rent every month because I put that money into myself and into something that I love,” she said.

Tory Delury's #vanlife finances

'I'm going to live by the things that I love and that make me happy'

After purchasing the van, Delury parked it at her parents' house in Pennsylvania and watched hundreds of YouTube videos to learn how to renovate the vehicle herself.

"I would say there were plenty of times when I thought I was never going to be able to do it and wanted to just pay someone instead," she said. "Now I never think I can't do something because I built a house. It's a huge confidence builder."

Delury says she decided to paint the inside of the van pink as a statement against the sexist and negative comments she started receiving after sharing that she was going to DIY the van herself on social media.

"People doubted that I could do it because I'm a girl, so I wanted to do it in the girliest way possible. I wanted to tell them that I'm not a tomboy but can build anyway," she said.

Delury added that she felt personally inspired by Taylor Swift after attending a concert during Swift's "Reputation" tour, which was around the first anniversary of the singer's court case against David Mueller.

The former DJ was ordered to pay Swift a symbolic $1 after the jury ruled in her favor in a lawsuit she brought against him for battery and sexual assault.

Three years ago, Delury was sexually assaulted outside her Florida apartment building.

At Swift's concert, Delury heard the singer talk about her own experience and decided she would report her assault. It changed her outlook on life.

Tory Delury wanted the inside of her van to be as girly as possible, which is why she wanted everything to be pink.

Tory Delury

"I started thinking of myself the way I would want Taylor Swift to think of herself. It was a moment for me when it wasn't just about her music anymore; it was about a woman who genuinely inspired and changed my life," Delury said.

"She taught me that it was ok to allow myself to move on from what happened to me and that the best revenge is just going on being happy and finding things that you love."

In an additional homage to Swift, Delury painted lyrics of the song "Daylight" from Swift's "Lover" album around the van and has several of the singer's albums hanging in a corner too.

"It's a reminder that I'm not going to be defined by the things that people have done to me before; I'm going to live by the things that I love and that make me happy," she said.

In September, Delury's van was featured in a viral YouTube video. At the time, she was living in New York City but has since left the state because of safety concerns after she started receiving death threats in the comments.

Delury listened to Taylor Swift's music nonstop during the year she was renovating her van.

Tory Delury

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October 22, 2022
Tesla Stock Could Rebound in 3 Months. Here’s What it Would Take.

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Elon Musk says that

Tesla

could someday be worth more than

Apple

and Saudi Aramco, combined. First, it needs to get through the next few months.

Before Tesla (ticker: TSLA) reported third-quarter earnings this past week, investors had been hoping they would allay concerns that had been growing since the company released second-quarter numbers three months earlier. They did no such thing. While earnings topped expectations, third-quarter deliveries, sales, and profit margins all fell short of Street projections. Tesla shares slumped 6.7% following the release, putting them down 22% since the end of September, their second-worst start to a quarter since the first few weeks of 2016.

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October 21, 2022
Tesla stock had its worst week since March 2020 during a ‘very intense 7 days’ for Elon Musk

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Elon Musk

Mike Blake | Reuters

Tesla shares dropped nearly 16% during what CEO Elon Musk called a “very intense 7 days indeed” to one of his 108 million followers on Twitter.

Tesla shares closed at $265.25 on Friday, Sept. 30. At market’s close one week later, Tesla shares were trading at $223.07, a decline of nearly 16%. It was the worst week for the stock since Mar. 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic began to grip the U.S., shutting down businesses and public life.

Over the weekend, Tesla reported electric vehicle production and delivery numbers that did not meet analysts’ expectations.

On Monday, Musk proceeded to stir up a political firestorm by opining about how he thought Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine should be resolved.

After that, public records revealed that Musk had informed the Delaware Chancery Court that he would complete a $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in October, a deal he had been trying to evade for months.

Tesla deliveries and AI Day

According to estimates compiled by FactSet-owned Street Account, analysts had been expecting Tesla to report deliveries of 364,660 cars for the period ending September 30, 2022.

But last weekend, Tesla reported deliveries of 343,000 total, and production of 365,000 electric cars — despite having started production at two new factories in Brandenburg, Germany, and Austin, Texas.

Analysts wondered if Tesla now faces demand erosion in China, where it is facing the steepest competition from BYD, the Warren Buffet-backed lithium ion battery and electric vehicle maker.

Tesla also held an engineer recruiting event late on Friday last week in which it trotted out a rough, early prototype of a humanoid robot and talked about remaining challenges and progress in developing self-driving technology that can turn its cars into robotaxis with a software update.

The robot demo failed to impress industry insiders but its potential captivated some fans and bullish analysts.

Musk on Russia

On Monday, Musk posted a Twitter poll gauging support for what he claimed was a likely outcome of the seven-month conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

He suggested new UN-supervised votes in Ukraine on whether certain divisions of the democratic nation under siege should join Russia. He also suggested Ukraine should cede Crimea to Russia, and that the nation should then remain “neutral” rather than aligning with either NATO or Russia.

The Kremlin praised Musk, but he drew sharp criticism from many others including Ukraine President Zelenskyy, Ukraine ambassador to Germany Andrij Melnyk, South Carolina Senator Lindsay Graham and anti-Putin human rights activist and former chess champion Garry Kasparov.

Kasparov, who sought to block Putin’s rise to power and was jailed and beaten for his activism before fleeing the country, described Musk’s plan as a “repetition of Kremlin propaganda.”

Twitter deal back on

While Musk originally agreed to buy Twitter in April 2022, he spent months after that accusing the company of lying about its user metrics in financial filings, while fighting in court to get out of the deal he proposed.

Twitter had sued Musk to make sure the deal would go ahead as promised, seeing a windfall for its shareholders. Facing a deposition this week, and with a trial start-date looming, Musk sent a letter to Twitter and the court this week saying he would take the company private at $54.20 per share after all. He wanted Twitter, or the court, to stay the litigation, and a judge gave him until October 28th to wrap up the deal or proceed to trial.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO may have to sell another chunk of his shares of Tesla to finance the Twitter acquisition. He will only be able to do so on or after Oct.19, when the electric vehicle maker reports its third-quarter earnings.

On the upside…

Despite his volatile week, Musk at least notched a historic professional achievement at his re-usable rocket venture, SpaceX. The company launched four people to the International Space Station from Cape Canaveral, Florida on Wednesday.

The mission is SpaceX’s fifth operational crew launch for NASA to date and the company’s eighth human spaceflight in just over two years. One of the people to fly with SpaceX on this latest mission is Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina.

Musk also boasted about the start of production of the years-delayed Tesla Semi, a heavy-duty all-electric truck, and promised that the company would deliver some of the trucks to Pepsi by Dec. 1.

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October 7, 2022
Tesla’s Deliveries Missed the Mark. Why Analysts Aren’t Worried.

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Tesla

stock dropped on Monday after the electric-vehicle company disclosed delivery figures that fell short of Wall Street forecasts, but at least some analysts see reason for optimism.

On Sunday,

Tesla

(ticker: TSLA) reported that it delivered 343,830 cars and produced 365,923 in the third quarter. The deliveries were a jump compared with the 254,695 vehicles

Tesla

handed over to customers in the second quarter, but still below Wall Street estimates. The company said that deliveries have historically been skewed toward the end of each quarter, and that as “production volumes continue to grow, it is becoming increasingly challenging to secure vehicle transportation capacity and at a reasonable cost during these peak logistics weeks.”

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October 3, 2022
Tesla delivered 343,000 vehicles in the third quarter of 2022
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A Tesla Model Y on display inside a Tesla store at the Westfield Culver City shopping mall in Culver City, California, U.S., on Thursday, April 14, 2022.

Bing Guan | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Electric vehicle makers Tesla just posted third-quarter vehicle production and delivery numbers for 2022. Here are the numbers:

Total deliveries Q3 2022: 343,000

Total production Q3 2022: 365,000

Deliveries are the closest approximation of sales reported by Tesla, and they fell short of analysts’ expectations 364,660 vehicles, according to estimates compiled by FactSet-owned Street Account.

Tesla also said in its report the company produced 19,935 of its higher priced Model S and X vehicles, and 345,988 of its more popular Model 3 and Y vehicles during Q3.

Total production increased from the prior quarter of 2022, when Tesla said it made 258,580 vehicles.

During the year-ago quarter, Tesla reported deliveries of 254,695 vehicles, and that it had produced 237,823 cars including just 8,941 Model S and X vehicles, which are the company’s more expensive sedan and SUV with falcon-wing doors, respectively.

In the third quarter of 2022, Tesla faced soaring commodity prices, executive turnover (with the notable departure of AI leader Andrej Karpathy in July) and growing pains at its new factories in Germany and Texas.

Tesla has not historically disclosed its vehicle production and delivery numbers by region.

In July this year, Tesla had to suspend most of its Shanghai factory production temporarily to make upgrades to the plant. By the month of August, however, the company’s production and deliveries in China had rebounded, according to China Passenger Car Association data.

In the U.S., at the end of the second quarter, Tesla laid off an entire AI office and made other headcount cuts. Musk also mandated that all Tesla employees should work at a Tesla office at least 40 hours per week, even if they were previously allowed to work remotely.

After that, some employees were dismissed and others chose to resign, while those who returned to the office found over-crowded conditions that persisted through the third-quarter, making it hard to get work done normally at some of the companies facilities, including its first U.S. car factory in Fremont, California, and battery plant outside of Reno, Nevada.

By September, executives speaking at an all-hands meeting with employees at the Nevada Gigafactory were celebrating new production records, and lauding employees’ hard work.

As CNBC previously reported, Tesla execs said at that time August had been a record month for the Fremont factory in terms of production, and that Tesla’s relatively new factory in Austin, Texas, had hit a 1,000 cars per-week production rate on a seven day rolling basis, a promising milestone.
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October 2, 2022
Tesla expected to show humanoid robot Optimus demo on Friday night at AI Day 2022

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Tesla CEO Elon Musk and leaders from the company’s AI and hardware teams are expected to speak at the company’s AI Day 2022, an engineer-recruiting event, which will be live-streamed on Friday starting around 5:00 p.m. in California. You can watch AI Day 2022 here.

During the last AI Day in August 2021, Musk said Tesla was going to build a humanoid robot, which is referred to as either the Tesla Bot or Optimus today.

“It’s intended to be friendly, of course, and navigate through a world of humans, and eliminate dangerous, repetitive and boring tasks,” Musk said at the time.

Tesla didn’t have a hardware prototype to show last year and made the 2021 announcement with an actor dressed in a Tesla Bot body suit dancing on stage. The stunt drew sneers from critics and cheers from fans.

This year, investors are expecting a real tech demonstration of the robot, along with updates on Tesla’s progress developing self-driving technology that can turn the company’s existing electric vehicles into robotaxis.

Musk has been promising a truly self-driving Tesla since 2016 when he said a coast-to-coast demo would happen by the end of 2017. To-date the company has only released driver assistance systems that need to be constantly supervised by a human driver who remains attentive to the road and their car, ready to take over at any time.

When Musk originally floated the humanoid robot concept at AI Day 2021, Musk said of Optimus, “It should be able to, ‘please go to the store and get me the following groceries,’ that kind of thing.”

Later, Musk said that robots made by Tesla will one day be worth more than its cars, and that thousands of them would be put to work moving parts around the factories, where humans build cars and batteries.

During Tesla’s 2021 fourth-quarter earnings call, Musk remarked: “If you think about the economy– the foundation of the economy is labor. Capital equipment is distilled labor. So what happens if you don’t actually have a labor shortage? I’m not sure what an economy even means at that point. That’s what Optimus is about, so very important.”

Tesla has a mixed record with automation.

As Bernstein senior research analyst Toni Sacconaghi wrote in a September 30 note ahead of AI Day 2022, In 2018 Tesla “had mistakenly tried to hyper-automate its final assembly (i.e. putting parts into cars).” The result was that Musk soon admitted “excessive automation at Tesla was a mistake,” and “humans are underrated.”

Tesla brought more people back to its manufacturing and assembly lines after that, but Sacconaghi writes that today Tesla is over-automating its customer service. Tesla owners generally find it difficult to get in touch with individual sales and service reps at Tesla, and are steered to conduct all possible resolution of complaints through Tesla’s mobile app.

A long-time robotics engineer, Alexander Kernbaum, who now serves as interim director of robotics at the vaunted research and development non-profit SRI International, says whether Tesla impresses with its robotics update at AI Day or not, the company has the resources to develop something meaningful and has inspired new interest in the field.

However, Kernbaum notes, when it comes to creating a robot that can make a difference in an car assembly plant, there’s really no need for Tesla to develop a bi-pedal robot. “Mobile robots will find uses,” he explains, “But mobility should be as simple as possible for a factory environment meaning wheels would be the way to go, not legs.”

Robotic legs require a lot of power, for one thing, which would put strain on any battery Tesla develops for its robotics. Additionally, legged robots — like people — can trip and fall. Wheeled robots would not be as likely to tip over. The safety concern should be tantamount in a factory, Kernbaum suggests.

Kernbaum believes Tesla would be best-served to focus on robotic hands. He said, “Hands are like the ultimate multi-tool. Dexterity and in-hand object manipulation are the grand 10-year challenges that will have an obvious impact on all precision manufacturing and on everything really.”

AI Day 2022 will be the company’s first major event since former AI leader of Tesla Andrej Karpathy resigned. AI Day precedes Tesla’s third-quarter vehicle production and deliveries report which is expected within days.

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September 30, 2022
Toyota CEO doubles down on EV strategy amid criticism it’s not moving fast enough

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A Toyota bZ4X on display at the New York Auto Show, April 13, 2022.

Scott Mlyn | CNBC

LAS VEGAS – Toyota Motor is standing by its electric vehicle strategy, including hybrids like the Prius, following criticism by some investors and environmentalist groups that the company is transitioning too slowly to EVs.

Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda, who has built a corporate strategy around the idea that EVs aren’t the only solution for automakers to reach carbon neutrality, said Thursday the company will move forward with plans to offer an array of so-called electrified vehicles for the foreseeable future – ranging from hybrids and plug-ins to all-electric and hydrogen electric vehicles.

“Everything is going to be up to the customers to decide,” he said through a translator during a small media roundtable, a day after addressing the company’s Toyota dealers at their annual conference in Las Vegas.

Toyoda addressed the need to convince skeptics of the company’s strategy, including government officials focusing regulations on all-electric battery vehicles, saying the automaker will “present the hard facts” about consumer adoption and the entire environmental impact of producing EVs compared with hybrid electrified vehicles.

Since the Prius launched in 1997, Toyota says it has sold more than 20 million electrified vehicles worldwide. The company says those sales have avoided 160 million tons of CO2 emissions, which is the equivalent to the impact of 5.5 million all-electric battery vehicles.

Toyoda’s remarks echoed comments he made to thousands of Toyota dealers and employees on Wednesday, saying the company will play “with all the cards in the deck” and offer a wide-array of vehicles for all customers.

Read more about electric vehicles from CNBC Pro

“That’s our strategy and we’re sticking to it,” Toyoda, who has described himself as a “car guy or car nerd,” said in a recording of the remarks shown to reporters.

Toyoda doubled down on company expectations that all-electric vehicle adoption will “take longer to become mainstream” than many think. He said it will be “difficult” to fulfill recent regulations that call for banning traditional vehicles with internal combustion engines by 2035, like California and New York have said they will adopt.

Toyota executives, while increasing investments in all-electric vehicles, have argued such cars and trucks are one solution, not the solution, to meet tightening global emissions standards and achieve carbon neutrality. Toyota continues to invest in alternative solutions as well as hybrid vehicles such as the Prius, which combine EV technology with traditional internal combustion engines.

The company has said its strategy is justified, as not all areas of the world will adopt EVs at the same pace due to the high cost of the vehicles as well as a lack of infrastructure.

Toyota’s strategy has been criticized by environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and Greenpeace, which has ranked the Japanese automaker at the bottom of its auto-industry decarbonization ranking the past two years.

Toyota plans to invest roughly $70 billion in electrified vehicles, including $35 billion in all-electric battery technologies over the nine years. It plans to offer about 70 electrified models globally by 2025.

Toyota plans to sell about 3.5 million all-electric vehicles annually by 2030, which would only be around a third of its current annual sales.

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September 30, 2022
Max Cash Title Loans is Proud to Announce Their Car Photo Contest

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Max Cash Title Loans, the top-rated car title loan referral service, is running a car photo contest with a $500 prize. Random winner!

Press Release
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updated: Dec 20, 2016

Phoenix, Arizona, December 20, 2016 (Newswire.com)
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Max Cash Title Loans, the top-rated car title loan referral service in the industry, is delighted to announce that they will be providing an opportunity to win $500 by conducting a car photo contest on social media. The cash will be awarded based on a random drawing so everyone will have a chance to win.

The Max Cash Title Loans Car Photo Contest’s entry period began on December 15^th of 2016 and will be ongoing until January 16^th, 2017. All entries must be received by midnight on the 16^thto qualify to win. The contest is easy to enter and there is no purchase necessary to win. All that is required of you is to take an original photo of your vehicle, post it to the contest’s Facebook page, like the Facebook page, and share the promotion page on your own Facebook wall. The winner of $500 will be notified directly following the entry deadline.

So many beautiful vehicles, from classics to super modern, people just love their cars. This contest to win $500 is for celebration of that love. It’s time to show off and use your car as a model for our site.

Fred Winchar, President

Max Cash Title Loans was recently named as Top Consumer Reviews’ top pick amongst all car title loan providers, with a five-star and best-in-class rating. Max Cash Title Loans’ has not only snagged the number one spot on Top Consumer Reviews but, additionally, has the highest score amongst title loan providers on Consumer Affairs, with a four and three-quarter star rating. Brian Dolezal of Top Consumer Reviews has said “Max Cash Title Loans makes it extremely easy to get the needed funds quickly…[and] makes every effort to use their loan volumes to get good interest rates and service for their customers.”

Max Cash Title Loans sets themselves apart from all other title loan providers in their tireless pursuit of excellence, service, encouragement, strength, diversity, support, and community. All of these things are encompassed in their mission statement to provide high quality loan services with integrity, professionalism, and respect to their clients, their lenders, and the community with which they share resources.

“For quite some time, we have wanted to show our clients that we are different than any other lending service out there,” says Fred Winchar, CEO and Founder of Max Cash Title Loans. “We thought, what better way to show that we are passionate about helping those in financial need than to give out free money!”

Max Cash Title Loans hopes that many individuals will enter their photo contest; and they look forward to awarding the lucky winner with $500 so they might start their new year with financial peace of mind.

About Max Cash Title Loans:

Max Cash Title Loans is a brand of Tradition Media Group, LLC (TMG Loan Processing) which is the largest title loan independent car title loan processor in the nation and the highest ranked title loan processor as rated by Consumer Affairs. Max Cash Title Loans is an extensive title loan referral service that partners with title loan lenders nationwide. If you need funding quickly, Max Cash Title Loans finds you a lender with competitive interest rates and low monthly installments. No matter where you live, from the west coast to the east coast, they can help you obtain a title loan.

Media Contact:

Fred Winchar
Phone: 480-498-3940
Email: fred@maxcashtitleloans.com

Source: Max Cash Title Loans

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December 20, 2016