GM, UAW clash over how to reach deal to end lengthy strike

WASHINGTON/DETROIT (Reuters) – General Motors (GM.N) and the United Auto Workers (UAW) union clashed late Thursday over how to end a 25-day strike that has cost the company over $1 billion, according to letters seen by Reuters. FILE PHOTO: General Motors Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra announces a major investment focused on the development of… Continue reading GM, UAW clash over how to reach deal to end lengthy strike

GM urges UAW to agree to ‘around-the-clock’ bargaining

FILE PHOTO: A “UAW On Strike” sign is seen during a rally outside the shuttered General Motors Lordstown Assembly plant during the United Auto Workers national strike in Lordstown, Ohio, U.S. September 20, 2019. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook/File Photo WASHINGTON (Reuters) – General Motors Co (GM.N) late on Thursday urged the United Auto Workers union to agree… Continue reading GM urges UAW to agree to ‘around-the-clock’ bargaining

Tesla Model 3 Almost Tops Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV In Sales In Sweden

14% of new passenger car sales in Sweden were plug-ins and Tesla Model 3 is almost on the top of the list. September was another great month for plug-in electric cars in Sweden, where 3,518 new registrations were recorded (up 52% year-over-year). The market share of 14% is outstanding and close to the all-time record… Continue reading Tesla Model 3 Almost Tops Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV In Sales In Sweden

New Tesla Model 4 And Future Tesla SUV Rendered To Life By Jalopnik

These renders are far from real, but that’s the point. The future Tesla SUV certainly won’t look even the slightest bit like this. And, believe it or not, that’s the whole point. Our pals over at Jalopnik called us out on our recent Tesla truck render (image down below) and we found Jalopnik’s take on the… Continue reading New Tesla Model 4 And Future Tesla SUV Rendered To Life By Jalopnik

GM CEO Barra, top UAW officials meet, injecting ‘new life’ into strike talks

CLOSE Jeff Rathburn of Local 598 and a material driver inside the GM Flint Assembly Plant talks about the strike. Eric Seals, Detroit Free Press General Motors CEO Mary Barra met Wednesday with top UAW officials, injecting renewed energy into negotiations to end the union’s 25-day strike against the Detroit automaker. Barra met for about… Continue reading GM CEO Barra, top UAW officials meet, injecting ‘new life’ into strike talks

StaVari project looks to additive manufacturing for car manufacturing

StaVari is a research project, led by German-based automotive engineering service provider EDAG Group, aiming to create a fully integrated additive manufacturing process chain for the production of automotive components. The project, consisting of nine other research partners, aims to produce the parts using a newly developed steel powder alloy, tailor-made for car body applications,… Continue reading StaVari project looks to additive manufacturing for car manufacturing

Stockholm-based electric boat maker X Shore raises €1.5 million through crowdfunding

Stockholm-based electric boat maker X Shore has raised €1.5 million through a crowdfunding campaign on FundedByMe, which closed at midnight last night.

Founded in 2016, X Shore boats are fully electric and silent to combine minimal disruption of marine life with optimised user experience. Customisable through modular elements, the boat’s design offers an endless variety of features. The motor comprises an inverter designed to handle stress; a battery that has outstanding power to weight ratio; and a magnetic gearbox, which ensures silence and zero air friction. X Shore craft have a top speed of 40 knots and can hold up to 12 people.

X Shore has already brought its first range of fully-electric, silent boats to market, and the company’s flagship craft ‘Eelex’ will hit the waves in January 2019.

The capital raised through the crowdfunding campaign will be used for R&D, production, and the continuous development of X Shore’s boats.

X Shore had been funded in full by its founder and CE..

Lexus teases design of upcoming city-sized electric car

Lexus has released a teaser shot—and video burst—for a new electric-car concept, due to be revealed later this month at the Tokyo Motor Show.

The model, which is expected to be a production-bound small city car based on the Lexus LF-SA concept from 2015, will be what Lexus chief Koji Sato described to Autocar earlier this year as being “a tall, boxy hatchback.”

Reports have also suggested that a fully electric version of the Lexus UX crossover is also on the way, but these are likely completely different products. Although an urban-sized EV would be unlikely for the U.S., such a model could be an important step for Lexus in Europe particularly, where for minicompacts battery-electric powertrains are quickly becoming expected—and seen as premium and desirable.

The car is expected to be fitted with an evolution of the brand’s complex spindle-grille design—likely a challenging task to fit that to a small, blunt nose that doesn’t have the same cooling challenges as if an engine were underneath. The video released shows an especially creased-and-sharpened—yet curvaceous—look in front, with soft lighting strips that illuminate downward in a way that establishes motion.

In-wheel motor technology is also reportedly in the works from Lexus—perhaps sooner than other brands, and even in a new concept iteration at Tokyo—but it’s unlikely yet in a production model and this latest teaser contains no additional information for that.

Lexus LF-SA concept, 2015 Geneva Motor Show

Lexus does say that the new vehicle will be “leveraging continued advances in technologies such as electrification and autonomous driving.”

We’re curious to see how that matches up with what it then maps out as the brand’s future vision—one in which it “caters to consumers who are equally passionate about driving and uniquely crafted luxury experiences.”

Lexus is expected, potentially as soon as 2022, to also get an electric SUV based on the new electric-vehicle platform being jointly developed with Subaru.

VW signals with light, Lexus teases EV, Volvo delegates engine development: Today’s Car News

Volvo is done developing internal-combustion engines. Well, almost; it’s delegating them to a new joint venture with parent Geely. Electrify Canada is pushing out some very high-power fast-charging hardware. Lexus will show the new iteration of an electric city car that’s likely production-bound. And VW is using light to send messages. This and more today at Green Car Reports.

Volkswagen is introducing a new light-based communication feature in its ID 3 electric car—and potentially all ID models—that helps the driver understand alerts and status updates without chimes and warnings.

Electrify Canada is pushing ahead with plans to install 32 high-power DC fast-charging stations by the end of 2020. On Thursday it mapped out more than 20 of those—all 350-kw-enabled—to be installed at Canadian Tire locations starting this year.

Lexus has teased the design of its production-bound all-electric city car, potentially to be shown in concept or prototype form at this month’s upcoming Tokyo Motor Show.

By 2025, half of all Volvos by sales volume are to be battery-electric. But for the other half, which will be hybrids in some form, Volvo still needs internal combustion engines—and this week it merged engine-development operations with its parent Geely.

And car-to-infrastructure technology, or C2X, is being tested in Germany as a way of directing road-maintenance crews to respond quicker to road conditions like ice and snow on roadways—one of many potential important steps toward autonomous-vehicle tech becoming viable.

_______________________________________

Follow Green Car Reports on Facebook and Twitter

Autonomous trucking startup Einride eyes US market with $25 million in new funding

Einride, the Swedish autonomous vehicle startup known for its futuristic pods designed to haul freight, has raised $25 million in a Series A round that will be used to fund its expansion into the United States. The round was co-led by EQT Ventures and NordicNinja VC, a fund backed by Panasonic, Honda, Omron and the… Continue reading Autonomous trucking startup Einride eyes US market with $25 million in new funding