Nikola Motor Co. closed a reported $23-million deal to purchase a 389-acre parcel in central southern Arizona for its hydrogen-electric truck manufacturing plant. The 1 million-square-foot plant will be built in a planned industrial park in Coolidge, about 50 miles south of Phoenix. Nikola expects to break ground in 2020 and begin building vehicles for… Continue reading Nikola Closes Land Deal for Arizona Truck Plant – Trucks.com
Tag: Manufacturing
Lidar startup Ouster raises $60 million in production run-up
Ouster has raised $60 million as the San Francisco-based lidar startup opens a new facility that will have the capacity to assemble and ship several thousand sensors a month by the end of 2019. The new factory, which will have a grand opening ceremony March 28, currently produces hundreds of sensors per month. Ouster says… Continue reading Lidar startup Ouster raises $60 million in production run-up
UPDATE 1-Tesla, Elon Musk win dismissal of lawsuit over Model 3 production
FILE PHOTO: A Tesla Model 3 car is displayed during a media preview at the Auto China 2018 motor show in Beijing, China April 25, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Lee/File Photo SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A federal judge in San Francisco dismissed for the second time a securities fraud lawsuit brought by Tesla Inc shareholders alleging that… Continue reading UPDATE 1-Tesla, Elon Musk win dismissal of lawsuit over Model 3 production
Faraday Future gets new money from gaming company to build in China, and the US
Faraday Future FF91 prototype
The shame of Faraday Future's financial struggles is that it has what looks to be a viable new electric car, not just on paper, but ready to roll on the road—in prototype form—that may never actually make it to market.
On Sunday, the company revealed a new joint venture with a video-game company in China that could bring it $600 million to build a version of its FF91 in China.
The company will form a joint venture with The9, a Chinese video-game company that launched the first Chinese virtual currency and community in 1999 and once had the exclusive license to operate World of Warcraft in China. It trades on the NASDAQ stock exchange and is reportedly worth $100 million.
READ THIS: With cease-fire agreement, spark flickers toward Faraday's Future
The joint venture aims to produce a new model for the Chinese market based on the FF91, called the V9. The joint company plans to produce up to 300,000 V9s per year for the Chinese market.
In a statement released Sunday, Faraday Future said that The9 will initially invest $5 million, which Faraday Future will use to “overcome its short-term cash flow difficulties and support its ongoing equity financing efforts.”
The balance of the $600 million is dependent on meeting certain investment contingencies.
DON'T MISS: Faraday Future posts “For Sale” signs, as Evergrande backer announces first EV
The company also said the joint venture will help it get the FF91 into production in the U.S.
Faraday Future has a factory in California, where it planned to build the FF91, and had talent from Tesla, Apple, and quite a few automakers to develop the FF91, but it has laid off most of it staff after a funding dispute with its previous backer, Evergrande Health, a large, Hong Kong-based conglomerate intent on getting into the electric-car business. Evergrande also holds a majority stake in National Electric Vehicles Sweden, a Chinese company that builds electric versions of the last Saab 9-3 in China.
CHECK OUT: Faraday Future funder writes its own Saab story
That $2 billion funding deal fell apart in a volley of lawsuits when Faraday Future spent through the first round of funding building running production prototypes of the FF91. The lawsuits were later withdrawn as Evergrande agreed to let Faraday Future seek additional funding from other sources.
The company has since struggled to do so, and The9 represents its first new source of major funding since the $2 billion deal with Evergrande fell apart.
Nissan: Nissan to celebrate 50 years of performance at NYIAS
NEW YORK – Come experience a garage 50 years in the making – the Nissan Dream Garage at the 2019 New York International Auto Show. About Nissan North America In North America, Nissan’s operations include automotive styling, engineering, consumer and corporate financing, sales and marketing, distribution and manufacturing. Nissan is dedicated to improving the environment under… Continue reading Nissan: Nissan to celebrate 50 years of performance at NYIAS
Evolution of Michelin’s Executive Committee
Evolution of Michelin’s Executive Committee This new executive committee meets for the first time today and is composed as follows, Three new senior managers are integrated at this time: Scott CLARK, Executive Vice President, Automotive Business Management, Motorsport, Experiences, Americas Regions (Central, North and South) Jean-Claude PATS, Executive Vice President, Corporate Personal Management Eric VINESSE,… Continue reading Evolution of Michelin’s Executive Committee
Third Generation Available: New Opel Vivaro on Sale Now
€24,600: Attractive starting price in Germany for Vivaro Cargo For every purpose: Vivaro as Cargo, crew cab, Combi and chassis Right sizing: Three lengths up to 5.30 metres, 1.90m in height for underground parking Heavy duty: Payload rises to more than 1,400 kg, trailer capacity to 2,500 kg Mobile office: Multimedia connectivity, sensor-controlled sliding doors… Continue reading Third Generation Available: New Opel Vivaro on Sale Now
Electromobility under extreme conditions: The BMW iX3, the BMW i4 and the BMW iNEXT undergo cold testing in the Arctic Circle.
Munich. BMW i is preparing to launch the next generation of solely electrically powered models. Three of the brand’s electric models are currently going through a key phase of their series development process at the BMW Group’s winter test centre in Arjeplog, Sweden. Together with the BMW iX3 already due to go on sale next… Continue reading Electromobility under extreme conditions: The BMW iX3, the BMW i4 and the BMW iNEXT undergo cold testing in the Arctic Circle.
Faraday Future strikes deal to make cars in China with mobile gaming company
Troubled electric car startup Faraday Future has received another surprise lifeline in the form of a new 50/50 joint venture partnership with Chinese online video game company The9, the EV company announced Sunday. The9 says it’s willing to contribute up to $600 million to the joint venture, and Faraday Future has promised to use that… Continue reading Faraday Future strikes deal to make cars in China with mobile gaming company
Tesla Accusing Ex-Employee Of Selling Self-Driving Technology To Chinese Rival
Tesla has been renowned as a pioneer in its field, creating incredible, more environmentally friendly cars that run without petroleum gas and working on technology that will one day mean cars will be able to completely drive themselves.
That technology has been improving drastically under the Tesla banner, but the brand has recently had some trouble with Chinese rival Xiaopeng Motors. The California-based company has accused a former employee, engineer Guangzhi Cao, of stealing their self-driving tech, the Autopilot source code, and selling it to the Chinese startup, according to a report by CNN.
The legal complaint filed by Tesla states that “Cao uploaded complete copies of the company’s self-driving source code to his personal Apple iCloud account.”
It is believed that he took a total of “300,000 files and directories” during his time working with Tesla.
But the lawsuit then explains that after Cao was given a job at Xiaopeng Motors, he suddenly deleted 120,000 of those files and even disconnected his Apple account from his work computer. He then proceeded to repeatedly log into his Tesla account and delete his browser history.
In the meantime, Xiaopeng Motors has denied any knowledge of such underhanded business regarding Cao, but state that it has launched an internal investigation within the company to determine if Tesla’s accusation is true.
“XMotors fully respects any third-party’s intellectual property rights and confidential information. The company has been complying and will comply [with] all applicable laws and regulations,” they said in a statement, according to a recent Reuters report.
Tesla’s claim goes back to January, shortly before Cao left Tesla for Xiaopeng officially.
Cao is one of four former employees who Tesla is going after in cases of intellectual property theft, according to the lawsuit filed on Wednesday. U.S. self-driving car startup Zoox Inc. is also part of the lawsuit for stealing “proprietary information and trade secrets for developing warehousing, logistics and inventory control operations.”
Tesla has been working on self-driving technology for a while now and has been testing it on the road already. But competition, particularly of the variety that could be promising the same product for a much lower price, could cause a serious problem for them in the long run.
As Reuters points out, Tesla has also started construction on a production factory in Shanghai, putting it in direct competition if the Xiaopeng Motors company has, in fact, gotten ahold of its coding technology.