Manufacturing – Page 12575 – I wish I had more to offer

Continental Celebrates Grand Opening of New Mississippi Tire Plant

Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant and Continental Executive Board Member Christian Koetz join ceremony Investment will create 2,500 jobs Project is part of Continental’s Tire Division ‘Vision 2025’ growth strategy Hanover/Clinton, October 17, 2019. Continental, technology company and manufacturer of premium tires, celebrated a major milestone for its new tire plant near Clinton, Mississippi, with a… Continue reading Continental Celebrates Grand Opening of New Mississippi Tire Plant

Volvo is paying plug-in hybrid drivers for all the electricity they use

As Volvo sees it, plug-in hybrids are the path toward achieving one of its high-aiming carbon-reduction goals—making fully electric cars half of its sales by 2025. To do so, the automaker plans to nudge its portion of PHEVs in the U.S. over the next 16 months, to 20 percent, up from about 4 percent today.

But it also knows that plug-in hybrids only serve their purpose (including as segue ways to all-electric) when drivers of PHEVs actually plug in. That’s the onus behind an unusual new program announced by Volvo Wednesday.

The gist of it: Volvo will cut owners a check at the end of one year based on how much they’ve been plugging in.

Using the vehicles’ On Call capabilities—no additional subscription required—Volvo will see how many kilowatt-hours of electricity the vehicle has used. The company will simply take that number and multiply it by the national-average price per kilowatt-hour, to arrive at the amount paid back to the owner.

2018 Volvo XC60 T8

Volvo is aware that buyers with cheap electricity are going to make money from the program, while those with particularly expensive residential electricity aren’t going to recoup all of their charging costs. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the national-average price of residential electricity is 13.27 cents per kilowatt-hour. If 8.0 kwh is now usable (the usable capacity in Volvo’s latest XC90 T8 plug-in hybrid), and owners are able to plug in twice a day, that’s potentially about $773 for the year.

The company currently isn’t actually able yet to read cumulative vehicle power used via On Call, but it will be sometime next spring. Starting at that time, and including all the vehicles going back to October 1, new plug-in hybrid models will be included in the program on a rolling basis.

So far the figure Volvo does have is one based on drive time. It’s found that globally customers are using plug-in electricity 41.4 percent of the time.

2018 Volvo XC60 T8 R-Design with Polestar optimization

In studying some of the first buyers of Ford’s Energi plug-in hybrid products, in 2013, Ford found that drivers were covering more than 60 percent of their overall mileage on plug-in electricity. Those were early adopters and particularly eager to plug-in whenever possible, but other studies have suggested that buyers of luxury-brand PHEVs aren’t plugging in as often.

With Volvo incentivizing plugging in, instead of the vehicle itself, it might be able to boost the demand for the vehicles in a way that can help dealerships sell the idea, without going down a slippery slope with high incentives, bruised residuals, and an artificial market.

As Volvo looks toward electric—starting with the 2021 XC40 Recharge—it’s one way it can potentially sell drivers on it, too, and reward them for making a habit of plugging in.

AAM Opens New Manufacturing Facility in Barcelona

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GM strike hits French car parts supplier Faurecia

FILE PHOTO: The sign of French maker of car interiors Faurecia is pictured on the company’s showcase on media day at the Paris Mondial de l’Automobile, October 2, 2014. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo PARIS (Reuters) – French car parts group Faurecia (EPED.PA) said on Thursday a hit to sales from a month-long U.S. strike at General… Continue reading GM strike hits French car parts supplier Faurecia

Phase 2 Of Tesla Gigafactory 3 Will House Battery Manufacturing Facility

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Published on October 16th, 2019 |

by Steve Hanley

Phase 2 Of Tesla Gigafactory 3 Will House Battery Manufacturing Facility

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October 16th, 2019 by Steve Hanley

According to a report by China’s Global Times, Tesla has completed construction of the parts of its Gigafactory 3 in Shanghai that will be dedicated to producing automobiles. Now it has begun work on “phase 2” of the factory, which will house a battery manufacturing facility. The report does not make clear whether this space will be used to make battery packs from cells sourced from outside suppliers or whether it is intended for cell production as well.

Last summer, Tesla announced it would use battery cells sourced from LG Chem for the battery packs used in the Model 3 sedans built in Shanghai. It also indicated it was open to using battery cells made by CATL or Panasonic in the future as well. The implication is the company does not intend to manufacture its own battery cells but will be responsible for making its own battery packs, presumably in the part of the new factory that is now under construction. Global Times visited the Gigafactory 3 (GF3) site this week and reports the area where phase two will be located has already been paved and the installation of pillars and roof trusses has already begun.

Feng Shiming, a veteran analyst for the Chinese auto industry analyst, tells the Global Times he has heard from Tesla employees at GF3 that the first batch of vehicle batteries for the Model 3 will be fully assembled as of October 30. He predicts that mass production at the Shanghai factory will not start until after the Spring Festival holidays in January next year. The factory built in the first phase will merely assemble parts shipped from the US, Feng says. On Monday, a Tesla sales person told the Global Times on Monday that a Chinese customer who places an order for a Model 3 today will take delivery of the car in 6 to 10 months.

We’ve also seen a report that Model 3 production will now start in GF3 on October 20.

A Need For Urgency
Feng suggests the push to get the Model 3 into production at the new Shanghai factory is tied in with a desire to reassure investors that the company can achieve profitability and deliver its cars in a timely fashion. “The price of the Model 3 is relatively low, so Tesla needs to start sales in China as quickly as it can and sell the car in large volumes to recoup its capital investment,” Feng says.

Some industry observers believe mainstream customers for the lower cost Model 3 may be less inclined to overlook quality concerns than the more affluent buyers of the Model S and Model X who are focused primarily on the advanced technology Tesla brings to the table. Model 3 buyers, on the other hand, are replacing conventional cars with internal combustion engines and are more interested in utility than technology, presumably.

Feng suggests Tesla may have to offer incentives to get Chinese customers to make the switch, which could depress earnings, at least to start with. Confirmed Tesla supporters, like those who read CleanTechnica, see things differently. We tend to think that once Chinese customers get to experience the goodness of the Model 3, it will be traditional manufacturers who will be juicing their sales incentives in an effort to convince shoppers not to buy every Model 3 Tesla can weld, screw, and glue together at its Shanghai factory.

Hat tip to Teslarati.
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About the Author

Steve Hanley Steve writes about the interface between technology and sustainability from his home in Rhode Island and anywhere else the Singularity may lead him. His motto is, “Life is not measured by how many breaths we take but by the number of moments that take our breath away!” You can follow him on Google + and on Twitter.

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Toyota to Show Production-Ready Ultra-Compact BEV at 2019 Tokyo Motor Show “FUTURE EXPO”

Oct. 17, 2019

Toyota to Show Production-Ready Ultra-Compact BEV at 2019 Tokyo Motor Show “FUTURE EXPO”

Cummins Unveils New Battery Powered Tactical Unit for U.S. Military

SHOREVIEW, Minn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) debuted the Tactical Energy Storage Unit during the 2019 Association of the United States Army (AUSA) show at the Washington Convention Center, October 14 – 16. The new Tactical Energy Storage Unit is the first battery hybrid power generation system for military use, further enhancing the performance and reliability… Continue reading Cummins Unveils New Battery Powered Tactical Unit for U.S. Military

Škoda’s First MEB-Based Test Mule Spotted In VW Tiguan Skin

This is not a regular Volkswagen Tiguan. It’s Škoda’s test mule of first MEB-based EV (most likely ID.4 counterpart). Škoda, after launching two plug-in models (CITIGOe iV BEV and Superb iV — both Volkswagen derivatives: e-Up! and Passat GTE), is now working on its next all-electric car, based on the new MEB platform. It’s expected that… Continue reading Škoda’s First MEB-Based Test Mule Spotted In VW Tiguan Skin

Romania resumes talks with Volkswagen on hosting new car plant – SeeNews

BUCHAREST (Romania), October 16 (SeeNews) – Romania has resumed talks with Volkswagen on hosting a new factory of the German carmaker after Volkswagen said it had postponed the final decision on whether to build the facility in Turkey, the Romanian ministry of business, commerce and entrepreneurship said. The announcement was made by Romania’s interim minister… Continue reading Romania resumes talks with Volkswagen on hosting new car plant – SeeNews

GM-UAW deal calls for 9,000 jobs, $9,000 ratification bonus, e-truck at Detroit-Hamtramck

CLOSE Joe Krapohl, 64, of Otisville has spent more than 30 years working at GM as a toolmaker. He is a third-generation employee on the strike line outside the Flint Assembly Plant. Phoebe Wall Howard, Detroit Free Press The proposed deal between General Motors and the UAW includes promised investments in U.S. manufacturing that would… Continue reading GM-UAW deal calls for 9,000 jobs, $9,000 ratification bonus, e-truck at Detroit-Hamtramck