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Cash, demand concerns overshadow Tesla’s SUV launch

(Reuters) – Shares of Tesla Inc fell nearly 5 percent on Friday, as investors wondered if its unveiling of an electric sports utility vehicle would add to pressure on cash flow, while analysts worried the carmaker was not addressing slowing demand for other models. Tesla Inc’s Model Y electric sports utility vehicle is pictured in… Continue reading Cash, demand concerns overshadow Tesla’s SUV launch

Electric vehicles could cost the auto industry millions of jobs, a top analyst says

Tesla competition heats up as big autos roll out electric car plans
5:38 PM ET Mon, 14 Jan 2019 | 06:01

The electric car has become so popular that it could cost 3 million auto industry jobs in the next three to five years, according to a prominent analyst.

Morgan Stanley's Adam Jonas said in a research note Friday that the auto industry is going to see serious, widespread changes to its labor force. Jonas said electric vehicle production will lead to heavy workforce cuts as companies like Elon Musk's Tesla push big automakers to make them part of the mainstream.

“As auto companies shift production towards electric vehicles, we expect increased pressure on a 100-year-old auto ecosystem supporting millions of jobs globally…representing a risk to labor relations, earnings and the balance sheet,” he said.

Jonas earned a wide following on Wall Street for his early calls on Tesla, as well as his thoughts on electric vehicles. He recently has begun highlighting how electric vehicle start-ups are challenging automakers by transforming the way cars are made.

Morgan Stanley estimates that the global auto supply chain employs “in the range of 11 million people.” Jonas pointed to recent statements by VW Group CEO Herbert Diess, who said it takes 30 percent less labor to produce an electric vehicle than a similarly priced car that has the traditional internal combustion engine. This would result in a headcount cut of more than 3 million workers from the global auto industry.

But that number could increase, Jonas said.

Jonas said tech start-ups like Tesla and Rivian could build electric vehicles at “a 50 percent reduction in direct labor … or more.” That would reduce the global auto supply chain labor force even further. Even at just a 30 percent cut, Jonas estimates the labor force reduction would cost automakers “collectively and over time upwards of” $60 billion.

Maintenance and servicing for electric vehicles is less expensive than traditional cars, another consideration in terms of the labor force needed as the switch to the newer cars continues.

WATCH: Former Tesla CEO on electric vehicle growth

Former Tesla CEO on electric vehicle growth
2:44 PM ET Thu, 7 Feb 2019 | 04:06

Ford is cutting 5,000 jobs in Germany with more cuts coming for the UK

Oliver Berg | picture alliance | Getty Images
North Rhine-Westphalia, Köln: An employee installs a door in a Ford Fiesta at the Ford plant. The US car manufacturer Ford wants to cut 5000 jobs in Germany.

Ford is cutting 5,000 jobs in Germany and more in the U.K. as part of an effort to reduce costs in Europe, the company said Friday.

The automaker offered voluntary separation packages for employees in Germany and the U.K. to help accelerate its plan to improve performance in the region, where Ford has struggled. The total number of jobs affected in the U.K. have yet to be determined.

The automaker is undergoing a larger plan to restructure its operations worldwide, which it's said will cost $11 billion. Ford is reshaping its European business into three different business groups that focus on commercial vehicles, passenger vehicles, and imports. The carmaker plans to simplify its product lines and focus on the most profitable vehicles.

Ford said in January it plans to partner with German carmaker Volkswagen on a number of initiatives, including trucks and commercial vans for markets around the world.

Europe has also been difficult for Ford's Detroit rival General Motors sold off its European business entirely in 2017, to French automaker Groupe PSA and French banking groun BNP Paribas.

Audi plans to put old EV batteries to work in factory tugs

Audi factory tug uses recycled e-tron batteries
Factory tugs in Audi's Ingolstadt factory now sport the latest in second-hand lithium-ion batteries.

With automakers on the hook in jurisdictions around the world to take back and properly reuse or recycle all the batteries they install in electric cars, various automakers are experimenting with different ways to reuse the depleted batteries that come back from their old electric cars—from using them in new charging stations to selling them to wind farms, to installing them on the roofs of solar-powered apartment complexes.

Now Audi is installing them on fork lifts and the tugs it uses to move parts around its main factory in Ingolstadt, Germany.

MUST READ: As used electric-car batteries set to flood market, Automakers ramp up reuse efforts

The tugs, which resemble larger versions of those that pull baggage trains at airports, are normally equipped with heavy trays of lead-acid batteries, which workers have to remove from the vehicles using heavy equipment several times per day to install on charging stations.

Instead, Audi fits 24 of the e-tron's 36 battery modules into an identically sized tray to give the tugs and fork lifts up to perhaps between 30 and 50 kwh of battery capacity, depending on how much the cells degraded in their original cars.

With charging hardware like that in a car, the tugs and fork lifts can be driven to a charging station in the factory and plugged in, saving countless man-hours on the factory line and clearing out space that the large, old lead-acid battery chargers consumed.

READ MORE: Volvo reuses bus batteries for solar storage

The new batteries also improve the performance of the machines, allowing them to maintain a constant speed while climbing ramps in the factory, for example.

“Every lithium-ion battery represents high energy consumption and valuable resources that must be used in the best possible way,” said Peter Kössler, Audi board member for Production and Logistics, in a statement. “For us, a sustainable electric-mobility strategy also includes a sensible second-use concept for energy carriers.”

CHECK OUT: Formula E signs on to complete battery recycling

Overall, Audi estimates that reusing e-tron batteries in fork lifts and tugs throughout its 16 factories could save millions of dollars.

Of course, those factories churn out many more EV batteries than the number of such factory vehicles can absorb, so the company may still need to find more ways to reuse old EV batteries before they are recycled.

Dieselgate continued: SEC charges VW and its ex-boss with fraud

Volkswagen TDI diesel vehicles owned by Phil Grate and family, Seattle, Washington
Amazingly, the diesel emissions case against Volkswagen in the U.S. is still gaining steam.

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged VW and its former CEO Martin Winterkorn on Thursday with defrauding investors, according to wire-service reports.

READ MORE: Gauging VW's progress on second diesel-settlement anniversary (Updated)

The charges are tied to bonds that VW sold to investors in the U.S. in 2014 and 2015, when the SEC alleges the company and its chief executive knew that more than half a million of the diesel cars and SUVs it sold in the U.S. didn't comply with emissions regulations and so should have known they could face a massive recall.

The lawsuit alleges that VW misled investors who bought $13 billion worth of those bonds about the quality of its cars.

CHECK OUT: Report: Former VW CEO Martin Winterkorn criminally charged over dieselgate

“Volkswagen hid its decade long emissions scheme while it was selling billions of dollars of its bonds to investors at inflated prices,” said Stephanie Avakian, the co-director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, in a release.

In a prepared statement, Volkswagen responded to the new charges by calling them “legally and factually” flawed, and said the SEC was “piling on.”

“The SEC has brought an unprecedented complaint over securities sold only to sophisticated investors who were not harmed and received all payments of interest and principal in full and on time,” VW's statement (via the Wall Street Journal) continued.

DON'T MISS: VW boosts electric car plans with more models, 22 million EVs in 10 years

The new charges follow ones that Volkswagen settled with the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department by recalling all those cars and buying back most of them. Criminal charges in the U.S. are still outstanding against Winterkorn and several other German VW executives, over the emissions cheating scandal. Since Germany does not extradite its citizens to the U.S., they have not faced the charges. Two VW executives have been convicted in the scandal and are now serving sentences in U.S. federal prisons.

The diesel emissions scandal is reported to have already cost VW more than $30 billion, and the company has since shifted its focus to developing electric cars, where the company has invested as much as $50 billion to make the transition to EVs as it attempts to put the diesel scandal in its rearview mirror. The first electric models from VW's resulting modular-platform mass-market push are slated to go on sale in the U.S. starting next year.

Tesla Upgrading Its Supercharging Network To V3 For Next-Generation Speeds

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Published on March 4th, 2019 |

by Kyle Field

Tesla Upgrading Its Supercharging Network To V3 For Next-Generation Speeds

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March 4th, 2019 by Kyle Field

The rollout of Tesla’s next-generation Supercharging network is starting on Wednesday, according to a tweet by CEO Elon Musk late Sunday. The first public Supercharging point running at the company’s new version 3.0 spec will go live at 8pm on Wednesday, March 6th, 2019.

The Supercharging V3 spec is expected to level up Tesla’s charging network to compete with the cutting edge speeds of other next-generation public chargers, which are operating at speeds of 150–350kW. Tesla has not disclosed the specs for its Supercharger V3 stations. Though, CEO Elon Musk teased the twittersphere back in 2016 when asked if they would operate at 350kW. He playfully mocked the speed, leading to rampant speculation that Tesla’s next-generation chargers would raise the bar even further, and that was back in 2016!

Increasing the speed of its charging network was one of the critical pushes the company was working on to improve the availability of its Supercharging network in its home market of California and beyond. Increasing the speed of its Superchargers not only gets owners back on the road faster, it frees up the stations being utilized much faster, improving the overall power a station can provide to even more drivers per day.

On the financial side of things, investing more capital into the chargers themselves makes better use of the existing real estate agreements Tesla has in place. The move leverages Tesla’s increased access to capital, thereby improving the usefulness of its existing real estate agreements.

The offset is that the higher power chargers will pull down power from the utility even faster, incurring more demand charges with the utility. Demand charges are the fees ratepayers incur based on how fast they pull down power. The fatter the pipe and the more power they pull at one time, the higher the charges. To offset this, Tesla will install its Powerwall stationary energy storage units to serve as a buffer between their charging stations and the utility.

Take these for a grain of salt, but a redditor who claimed to have inside information from a Tesla employee said that the new standard included:

200kW actual charging speed
Cabinets can support 250kW max speed each
All Model 3 battery configurations can charge at these speeds
Supercharger V3 is a full redesign from previous generation
V3 chargers use the industrial inverters from Tesla’s Powerpacks
All V3 will eventually have much thinner liquid cables than current ones
Coolant pump will be located in the base of the Supercharger and can be installed into existing Supercharger V2 stations
Solar panels and Powerpack integration is a part of the design spec
Up to 7 V3 cabinets per bus (or block) can be linked, with an optional connection to one Power Pack
Supercharger V3 will have 40% better throughput performance thanks to a 96% efficiency inverter versus the 92% efficiency inverter in the Supercharger V2 units.

The new design also brings reduced harmonics and no over-voltage sensitivity
The new efficient design brings an impressive savings in purchased electricity

Combined AC input is 438kVA, 526A
Cabinets are on a shared DC radial configured bus of 880-1000
Any extra power can be shared across cabinets
Site master controller is 4G LTE for communication for remote diagnostics and billing

The new charging spec is simply the next step in Tesla’s full court press on the automotive industry. No other automaker has yet to truly push into solving public charging infrastructure needs for its vehicles. Even Volkswagen and its mandated Electrify America program is not adding enough public charging infrastructure to enable worry-free long-distance travel.

This is not brand favoritism — it is the simple reality of public EV charging networks in 2019. Compare a Hyundai Kona EV and a Tesla Model 3. They are both great cars, but the ability to simply head out on a 5 hour road trip without thinking about it (like you would in a gas or diesel vehicle) only exists in one of the two.

Other companies have public chargers that compete at the speeds being thrown around about Tesla’s Supercharger V3 network, but they are only pilot installations. More cohesive efforts to stitch together networks of next generation 150kW+ DC fast chargers are starting to be rolled out in Europe, but Tesla is leaps and bounds beyond anyone else when it comes to having a consistent product with easy access and more than 12,000 charging points in operation.

The big question with the rollout of the first Supercharging V3 station is about the capability of Tesla’s vehicles. Some of the older battery packs already can’t charge at the full power of today’s 125kW stations. The Model 3 has Tesla’s latest EV charging hardware in it, but nobody knows how fast it can actually take a charge.

About the Author

Kyle Field I'm a tech geek passionately in search of actionable ways to reduce the negative impact my life has on the planet, save money and reduce stress. Live intentionally, make conscious decisions, love more, act responsibly, play. The more you know, the less you need. TSLA investor.

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BMW applies for funds for battery cell research: spokesman

FILE PHOTO: The BMW logo is seen on the second press day of the Paris auto show, in Paris, France, October 3, 2018. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau HAMBURG (Reuters) – German luxury carmaker BMW has applied for state funding of research and development in the field of battery cells, a spokesman said on Friday, adding this does… Continue reading BMW applies for funds for battery cell research: spokesman

UPDATE 1-Ford to cut more than 5,000 jobs in Germany, others in UK

FILE PHOTO: The Ford logo is seen at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., January 15, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo BERLIN (Reuters) – U.S. automaker Ford plans to cut more than 5,000 jobs in Germany and will reduce its workforce in Britain as well as it seeks to return to profit… Continue reading UPDATE 1-Ford to cut more than 5,000 jobs in Germany, others in UK

Tender Offer Extension for Acquisition of Maxwell Technologies, Inc.

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Tender Offer Extension for Acquisition of Maxwell Technologies, Inc.

Mar 15,2019

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Tender Offer Extension for Acquisition of Maxwell Technologies, Inc.

PALO ALTO, Calif., March 15, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Tesla, Inc. today announced that it has extended the expiration of its previously announced offer, through its direct wholly-owned subsidiary Cambria Acquisition Corp., a Delaware corporation, to acquire each outstanding share of common stock of Maxwell Technologies, Inc.

The offer is now scheduled to expire at 11:59 p.m., Eastern time, on April 2, 2019, unless it is further extended or earlier terminated in accordance with the merger agreement. The offer was previously scheduled to expire at 11:59 p.m., Eastern time, on March 19, 2019. All other terms and conditions of the tender offer remain unchanged.

The depositary of the offer has advised that, as of 5:00 p.m., Eastern time, on March 14, 2019, a total of approximately 3,094,515 shares of Maxwell common stock had been validly tendered and not validly withdrawn in the offer.

The closing of the offer remains subject to customary closing conditions, including the effectiveness of the registration statement of which the prospectus/offer to exchange forms a part.

Forward Looking Statements

This communication contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates and forecasts, as well as the beliefs and assumptions of Tesla’s management, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Many factors could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated, including: risks and uncertainties discussed in this communication and those matters described under the sections entitled “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of Tesla’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, subsequent Reports on Form 8-K, the Schedule TO relating to the offer and other filings Tesla makes with the SEC. We may not actually achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. We do not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

Additional Information and Where to Find It

This communication is neither an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell shares of Maxwell. On February 20, 2019, Tesla filed with the SEC a Tender Offer Statement on Schedule TO and a Registration Statement on Form S-4 and Maxwell filed with the SEC the Solicitation/Recommendation Statement on Schedule 14D-9. Maxwell’s stockholders are urged to read the offer materials (including the prospectus/offer to exchange and the related letter of transmittal) because they contain important information that stockholders should consider before making any decision regarding tendering their shares.

The offer materials are available for free at the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov. Copies of the offer materials and Schedule 14D-9 may also be obtained free of charge from Georgeson LLC, the information agent for the offer, by writing Georgeson LLC, 290 Avenue of the Americas, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10104, or by calling toll free at (888) 643-8150.

Source: Tesla, Inc.

Category: Automotive

Cash, demand concerns overshadow Tesla’s SUV launch

Electric vehicles could cost the auto industry millions of jobs, a top analyst says

Ford is cutting 5,000 jobs in Germany with more cuts coming for the UK

Audi plans to put old EV batteries to work in factory tugs

Dieselgate continued: SEC charges VW and its ex-boss with fraud

Tesla Upgrading Its Supercharging Network To V3 For Next-Generation Speeds

BMW applies for funds for battery cell research: spokesman

UPDATE 1-Ford to cut more than 5,000 jobs in Germany, others in UK

Tender Offer Extension for Acquisition of Maxwell Technologies, Inc.

BMW Group commits to sustainable transport logistics