Todd St. John If, as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “an institution is the lengthened shadow of one man,” the story of the American economy can be told by the types of people who run its corporations. The early days of mass production belonged to mechanically minded men such as Henry Ford. The creation of mass… Continue reading Why Ford Hired a Furniture Maker as CEO – The Atlantic
Tag: Ford
Smart Bed Rolls Selfish Sleepers Back into Place – Using Car Tech and a Conveyor Belt
COLOGNE, Germany, Feb. 12, 2019 – At the end of a hectic day, cosying up to the one you love should be a welcome relief. But for those who share their bed with a “space invader”, precious hours can be lost simply trying to reclaim a fair share of the mattress. Studies show that 1… Continue reading Smart Bed Rolls Selfish Sleepers Back into Place – Using Car Tech and a Conveyor Belt
Rumor: GM electric pickup could come from Tesla
2019 GMC Sierra
Last month, the president of General Motors' GMC truck division said the brand was considering building an electric pickup.
Now, according to a CleanTechnica report, that pickup could come from Tesla.
Even the CleanTechnica reporter says to file this in the category of an enticing rumor, rather than fact, because there are no pictures, and a single, anonymous source inside GM. Still, he reports confidence in the source and says the person has been reliable about other findings.
DON'T MISS: GMC could join electric-pickup tailgate party
Tesla's own CEO Elon Musk has been talking for years about building a Tesla pickup. In his most recent interviews about the Tesla truck, he has described it as “a really futuristic-like cyberpunk, Blade Runner pickup truck,” and said that it will have a massive towing capacity of 300,000 pounds and be made with lots of expensive titanium.
Musk has even alluded to a second, more attainable and mainstream pickup. Now it looks possible that latter pickup could come from GM. GM CEO Mary Barra has announced that the company plans to convert to an all-electric lineup, and is revamping the automaker's electric strategy with a move to make Cadillac its primary electric-car division.
CleanTechnica reports that the General Motors pickup—either a GMC or a Chevrolet Silverado—could get its entire powertrain from Tesla, including batteries and motors. That would hardly be an unprecedented step, after GM leaned on supplier LG to develop most of the powertrain for the Chevrolet Bolt EV.
It wouldn't be the first time a company has leaned on Tesla for powertrain components either—Toyota with the 2012-2014 RAV4 EV, for instance.
MUST READ: Rivian R1T all-electric pickup revealed: 400-mile range, 160-kw DC fast charging
GM regularly partners with other automakers to provide specialized engineering expertise or manufacturing.
The rest of the truck could would come from GM's practiced truck development team.
If such an agreement pans out, it could also be a way for GM to access Tesla's battery production from its Nevada Gigafactory, the largest producer of lithium-ion batteries in the world. Thus far, GM has bought batteries from South Korean supplier LG Chem.
CHECK OUT: Ford confirms future all-electric F-Series truck, holds details close
Pickups are the second-largest selling segment of the car market, and many electric-car buyers have been clamoring to be able to buy a pickup with battery power.
Last month, Ford said it is developing an electric version of its upcoming F-Series, along with a plug-in hybrid version.
The automakers seem to be racing startup electric-automaker Rivian, which got a glowing reception for its R1T electric pickup concept when it revealed the truck at the LA auto show last November.
It's not clear how seriously to take this report, but we'll be watching for any confirmation.
Scoop: GM Reportedly Working On Electric Pickup Truck With Tesla Powertrain
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Clean Transport Published on February 12th, 2019 | by Zachary Shahan
Scoop: GM Reportedly Working On Electric Pickup Truck With Tesla PowertrainTwitterLinkedInFacebookFebruary 12th, 2019 by Zachary Shahan
Not an electric pickup truck. But could it be infused with a Tesla powertrain soon?
For years, electric vehicle enthusiasts in the US have been begging for a solid electric pickup truck for consumers. I’ve long reported on monthly electric car sales and I put them in the context of broader US car sales, but looking at the number of gas-thirsty pickup trucks sold each month is a whole other level and is quite disturbing.
Elon Musk announced a while back that Tesla was working on a wicked electric pickup like nothing else we’ve seen. Just last month, Ford finally announced plans for an electric version of the F-150, which is the king of the US auto market — by far — with nearly a million sales a year. But what about GM, which currently has the #2 vehicle on the US auto market, the Chevy Silverado?
Remember, Chevrolet raced the Bolt to market in order to be the first US automaker offering a long-range, semi-affordable electric car. It cares about going electric, maybe.
A source somewhat close to the heart of a big new development at GM has informed CleanTechnica that GM is indeed working on an electric pickup truck, and it is based around a Tesla powertrain. As in, the majority of the guts of the truck will be made by Tesla.
I know, I know — it seems unlike GM to swallow its pride and tap Tesla for this job. However, I’d briefly note a few things.
LG reportedly designed and built much of the Chevy Bolt’s powertrain.GM doesn’t have to announce or acknowledge a Tesla partnership if it doesn’t want to look less than capable.If GM does announce or acknowledge a Tesla partnership, it is likely to get big props from consumers for being brave and using the world’s electric vehicle leader to make an awesome electric pickup. Tesla is cool. Being friends with Tesla is cool.If GM wants to make sure to compete well with an electric F-150, there’s a good chance this is its best avenue, and the company knows that.Batteries — batteries, batteries, batteries. Aside from Tesla’s skill at designing and producing high-performance electric motors, it has a giant source of batteries. If other automakers want to offer mass-market EVs in the coming years, they need a good source of batteries, and Tesla may be as good as it gets for the time being.GM is good at building trucks, at putting them together. It has massive, awesome truck brands. Even if Tesla develops an amazing electric pickup truck of its own, many buyers will want to stick with the brands they know and love, and a truck design they’re familiar with. They may not want a giant Tesla touchscreen, minimalist interior, and smooth, futuristic exterior. A Tesla–GM partnership is a win–win that would bring a lot more people into the electric fold.Yes, I get it, you’d like to see proof of this partnership before getting too excited. So don’t get too excited. Take it as a rumor and stay tuned for more info in the coming months. I don’t currently have hard proof of this truck (no definitive picture or document), but I received enough information to feel confident the tip is correct and to thus run this article. The core source of this information wants/needs to remain anonymous and doesn’t even want any hints of identity tossed around, so I’m not going to say more about that. But let yourself dream a little bit tonight and accept that GM might be making a brilliant move in its approach to electric trucking.
If this plan rolls as smoothly as an electric powertrain, we may well have a Tesla semi, Tesla pickup, and Tesla-powered pickup from GM (Sierra Electric?) getting close to the starting line before the end of 2019. It could be another exciting year for the electric revolution. (Well, how could it not be?)
Note: No, the source is not Elon Musk.
About the AuthorZachary Shahan Zach is tryin' to help society help itself (and other species). He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director and chief editor. He's also the president of Important Media and the director/founder of EV Obsession and Solar Love. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about cleantech at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, and Canada. Zach has long-term investments in TSLA, FSLR, SPWR, SEDG, & ABB — after years of covering solar and EVs, he simply has a lot of faith in these particular companies and feels like they are good cleantech companies to invest in. But he offers no professional investment advice and would rather not be responsible for you losing money, so don't jump to conclusions.
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Ford investing $1 billion, adding jobs at Chicago factories as it makes cuts overseas
Tim Boyle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
A worker assembles a 2011 Ford Motor Co. Explorer at a plant in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., on Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2010.
Ford is sinking $1 billion and adding more jobs to plants in the Chicago area to expand production of the redesigned Ford Explorer and Lincoln Aviator sport utility vehicles.
The expansion comes as the automaker makes cuts overseas and shifts its lineup to make more SUVs, crossover-utility vehicles and trucks and away from sedans and sports cars, which have fallen out of favor with American drivers.
The move will add 500 jobs at Ford's Chicago-area Assembly and Stamping plants, bringing the total number of employees at the two factories to 5,800, the company said Thursday. Ford is building a new body shop and paint shop at the assembly plants and plans to make major changes to the final assembly area. The company also plans to install some new manufacturing technology, including 3D-printing tools and robots.
America is falling back in love with trucks and SUVs, and that's causing big changes at big car companies
10:38 AM ET Tue, 5 Feb 2019 | 04:45
It's also spending $40 million to upgrade the facilities for employees, including new LED lighting and cafeteria updates, new break areas as well as parking lot security upgrades.
In addition to the Explorer and Aviator, the plants make Ford's Police Interceptor, an SUV modeled on the Explorer.
Ford is undergoing an $11 billion restructuring that will shrink its salaried workforce of 70,000. It is also cutting thousands of jobs in Europe, where Ford has struggled to maintain solid footing.
Ford is not the only automaker that has had to reshape its business in the face of a changing industry. Rival General Motors is in the process of cutting production at plants in the United States and Canada as part of its own turnaround plan.
GM has been faced with underutilized factory capacity in plants that had heavily focused on building less popular sedans and compact cars. GM said it has offered jobs to hundreds of hourly workers at new plants building vehicles in growing segments, such as SUVs and crossovers.
Paul Eisenstein/CNBC
Joe Hinrichs, Ford president of global operations, speaks with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel after the automaker announced it was investing $1 billion in Chicago area factories.
Nissan, Toyota, Mercedes, VW, Honda, BMW, Lexus, Infiniti, & Audi Sales Drop In USA, While Ford & GM Hide
We have a weird situation. Not that long after GM decided to stop sharing monthly US sales figures, Ford has now followed suit and done the same. This is making monthly market sales report quite challenging. Of course, underneath the GM and Ford brands are Chevrolet, Lincoln, Buick, and Cadillac
Uber’s JUMP bikes are seeing high utilization rates
In the past year, more than 63,000 people took 625,000 rides on JUMP bikes in San Francisco, JUMP announced today. Each JUMP bike in San Francisco saw an average of seven rides per bike per day compared to the docked-bike industry average of one to two per day. JUMP initially launched 250 bikes at the… Continue reading Uber’s JUMP bikes are seeing high utilization rates
USPS tests electric delivery trucks in California: “I didn’t hear the mail come!”
USPS Motiv Power e450 delivery truck for Fresno, California
The U.S. Postal Service is adding 10 electric delivery trucks to its fleet in Fresno and Stockton, California, a region in the state's central valley known for its poor air quality.
The 1.5-ton delivery trucks converted to electric power by Motiv Power, a Silicon Valley conversion company.
USPS says it expects to save between $4,000 and $6,000 a year on fuel costs with the electric trucks, and expects them to save more than 37 tons of greenhouse gas emissions in the truck's one-year trial.
READ THIS: FedEx and UPS burn less gas to deliver boxes
The first Motiv Power mail truck began deliveries in Fresno on Tuesday. The remaining nine are scheduled to roll into service in Fresno and Stockton in coming weeks.
They're based on a Ford E-450 chassis and have a range of up to about 90 miles—plenty for a daily mail delivery route—and a top speed of 60 mph. It's likely the electric powertrain is much, much quieter than the diesels that are otherwise common on these trucks.
California's electric mail trucks aren't the USPS's first foray into electric deliveries. In New York City, it uses 30 electric trucks, along with two 2-ton hybrid trucks on Long Island.
CHECK OUT: UPS says 50 Workhorse plug-in hybrid trucks cost no more than regular delivery vans
The Postal Service is also in the midst of reviewing new vehicles to replace its aging fleet of more than 160,000 Grumman Long-Life Vehicle mail trucks that first went into service in 1987.
Among the four finalists are two fully electric models and one gas truck with a start-stop system.
The Postal Service first used an electric mail truck to make collections in Buffalo, New York, in 1899.
UPDATE 2-Fiat Chrysler paid $77 mln in U.S. fuel economy penalties in 2018
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV told Reuters on Thursday it paid $77 million in U.S. civil penalties late last year for failing to meet 2016 model year fuel economy requirements, the first significant sign the industry is facing hurdles meeting rising emissions rules. FILE PHOTO: A Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) sign is seen… Continue reading UPDATE 2-Fiat Chrysler paid $77 mln in U.S. fuel economy penalties in 2018
UPDATE 1-Ford investing $1 bln, adding 500 jobs in Chicago
The Ford logo is seen at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., January 15, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co said on Thursday it is investing more than $1 billion in its Chicago operations and adding 500 jobs as it prepares to launch three new SUVs this year.… Continue reading UPDATE 1-Ford investing $1 bln, adding 500 jobs in Chicago