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Japanese transmission maker JATCO opens new plant in east China

NANJING, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) — JATCO, one of the largest manufacturers of automatic transmissions in the world, put its new plant into operation on Friday in Zhangjiagang of east China's Jiangsu Province.
It is the second production base set up and wholly funded by the Japanese company in China.
With some 700 employees, the new plant covers 96,000 square meters and has an annual production capacity of 480,000 transmissions.
The main products will be the Jatco CVT8 models, which are used on premium midsize automobiles of Nissan and Renault brands produced by their joint ventures with China's automaker Dongfeng Motor Corporation, JATCO said.
Teruaki Nakatsuka, president of JATCO, said CVT (continuously variable transmission) technology has been a success in the Chinese market with the fuel-efficient and comfortable rides it provides for automobiles.
“China is an important strategic market of JATCO,” Nakatsuka said.
JATCO entered China in 2007 and founded its first manufacturing en..

Community electric car scheme to connect locals

Two rural communities in Gwynedd are unveiling new electric cars to be shared by people for job interviews, hospital appointments or shopping. One will be based in Bethesda and the other in Abergynolwyn for when buses, trains or taxis are not available or cost too much. It is the latest in a string of schemes… Continue reading Community electric car scheme to connect locals

Tesla Inside Out — Tesla History From 7-Year Insider

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Published on November 9th, 2019 |

by Zachary Shahan

Tesla Inside Out — Tesla History From 7-Year Insider

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November 9th, 2019 by Zachary Shahan

I recently met a gentleman named David Havasi while charging our Tesla Model 3 at a ChargePoint station at a Whole Foods I frequently visit. He recognized me from CleanTechnica and I quickly learned he worked at Tesla for 7 years, until just recently. We got talking, talking, talking, and talking. I wasn’t sure if he’d be camera shy to repeat some of what he told me (or more) on camera, but it turned out he very much wasn’t shy — he had actually worked on Broadway before working at Tesla!

If you prefer audio podcasts over watching YouTube videos, you can listen on your favorite podcasting platform instead. You can subscribe and listen to this podcast and other CleanTech Talk podcasts on: Anchor, Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Breaker, Google Podcasts, Overcast, Pocket, Podbean, Radio Public, SoundCloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or via the embedded SoundCloud player above.

To kick off our first on-camera interview, I got some background on David, which included being raised by a professional Detroit gearhead. His dad had actually been instrumental in designing the now dominant crossover vehicle style, which David humorously relayed was an odd-sounding idea when his dad excitedly explained it to him many years ago.

From that gearhead background and a deep passion to help protect our climate and environmental resources, when David found out about the AC Propulsion tzero (read our exclusive, fascinating piece on the tzero if you haven’t done so yet) in 2013, and then soon after that the Tesla Roadster, he got super excited about electric vehicles. (David’s Broadway background was kicking in well at this point, helping to animate the history — I recommend watching.)

Interestingly, David noted that it was the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that really pushed him to get into the industry, that pushed him to try to get a job at Tesla. This was in 2010. With such a wild few years (for Tesla and politically), it seems like lifetimes have passed since then, but that was less than a decade ago. We discussed in a bit of wonder how far Tesla has come since then. Back in 2010, Tesla was almost unknown. A story about Tesla would be a short sidebar of Motor Trend. “Tesla clickbait” was definitely not a thing!

After a short side tangent about lingo from the ’90s and ’00s, David talked a bit about the early Tesla recruitment process and how he joined the Tesla team, starting with a meeting in Palo Alto in 2010 and then his eventual hire in May 2012.

He also discussed early roles at Tesla, and how much the unique corporate culture of “builders” and everyone being “ultra hardcore” led to its success. We talked about the culture changing a bit and how trying to retain the deep essence of Tesla is an ongoing process. “The ultra hardcore mentality can’t be an archaic notion from a bygone era,” David said. “We can’t become complacent,” was his critical parting message to colleagues when leaving the company earlier this year.

Getting back to 2012, he noted how empty and “post-apocalyptic” the Fremont factory seemed. Tesla was only using about 10% of the space, and David had some hilarious stories of riding bikes across the empty space from one side to another, including one funny story of seeing Elon along the way and circling back to spy on him again. We also talked about how much different the factory is today, how impressive it is, and my first big impression from our tour of the factory earlier this year: “The World Inside Tesla Is Completely Different From The Media’s Portrayal Of Tesla.”

One interesting tidbit David shared is that Elon and Jerome, in the past at least, required at least two incremental improvements a week in the factory.

We got into a short discussion about Tesla Easter eggs, humor, and Tesla’s many literary and film allusions, including a fun story about Jamie Lee Curtis and Christopher Guest experiencing a “turn it up to 11” inside joke while test driving a Tesla Model S. David also noted a fun Monty Python tweet he sent out a while back that Elon Musk responded to and then Eric Idle of Monty Python also responded to. David talked a little bit about how the younger staffers at Tesla miss some of these references so well known to our generations, like “All our patents are belong to you,” which made me think of one of my recent joke articles, an article many people loved but others were confused by. In case you missed it, the article was “All The Problems With Our New Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus.” Luckily, David was a fan of the article and even called it poetic! He actually had some thoughtful philosophical reflections on the blank article. Admittedly, as off topic as that part of the discussion was, I think it’s what got us most animated and enthusiastic. That said, David is highly enthusiastic throughout the interview and definitely relayed more interesting and important stories throughout the talk. It’s worth a watch, so I hope you’ll now go click play and watch or listen to the conversation.

We wrapped up the conversation talking about elementary school enthusiasm around Tesla, Elon Musk’s role as a legendary historical figure, how the media narrative around Elon has warped the story of his life and business career, David’s first days at Tesla, and Tesla achieving “the impossible.” There’s much in there that can’t be summarized in text, but I think you now have a good overview of what’s in the conversation.

We have more “Tesla Inside Out” articles underway. We’ll publish the videos and summaries soon. Stay tuned.

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Zachary Shahan is tryin' to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its director and chief editor. He's also the CEO of Important Media. 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, Canada, and Curaçao.

Zach has long-term investments in Tesla [TSLA] — after years of covering solar and EVs, he simply has a lot of faith in this company and feels like it is a good cleantech company to invest in. But he offers no investment advice and does not recommend investing in Tesla or any other company.

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Volkswagen starts mass production of new battery systems in Germany

BERLIN, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) — Germany's largest car manufacturer Volkswagen has started mass production of battery systems for its upcoming electric vehicles, Volkswagen Group announced on Friday.
According to Volkswagen, the newly constructed facility in the German city of Brunswick would be producing up to half a million battery systems annually.
In addition to the production of the new battery systems, the new system's hardware and software was also developed at the Volkswagen facility in Brunswick.
A total of over 300 million euros (331 million U.S. dollars) had been invested in the new building at the company's main production site in Brunswick, the German car manufacturer announced.
“At our Brunswick location, we have a great deal of know-how in the planning and development of the high-voltage battery systems and are now setting new standards in production for the entire group,” said Thomas Schmall, chairman of the board of management at Volkswagen group components.
“..

Tesla Model Y Prototype Spotted, NHTSA Looking Into Tesla Battery Fires As Trolls Swarm

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Published on November 2nd, 2019 |

by Steve Hanley

Tesla Model Y Prototype Spotted, NHTSA Looking Into Tesla Battery Fires As Trolls Swarm

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November 2nd, 2019 by Steve Hanley

Good news and bad news in the Teslaverse today. The price of shares in the company will either rise or fall on Monday as a result. Let’s begin with the good news, shall we?

Tesla Model Y Prototype Spotted On California Highway

Whilst motoring serenely along on a California highway last week, YouTuber kenken830 noticed a vehicle he had never seen before coming up on his left. It turns out the car was a Tesla Model Y prototype out on a test drive. Kenken830 followed the car for several miles, capturing video of it with his car’s built-in cameras.

Through a happy coincidence, a friend of his was also driving along the same highway in a Tesla Model 3 at that moment. For a while, the two cars were side by side, making it possible to assess their size relative to each other for the first time in a real-world driving situation. Watch the video for yourself to see the difference, which is quite remarkable. Several people who watched the video have commented that the Model Y is much larger in comparison to the Model 3 than they realized.

If it is true the world is crazy for SUVs, then Tesla is about to unleash an all electric SUV with all the features and benefits of the Model 3 that targets the most popular cars in the new car marketplace today, cars like the Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, Hyundai Kona, and Volkswagen Tiguan. Even cars like the Jaguar I-PACE, Audi e-tron, and Mercedes EQC will be in its crosshairs. Elon Musk has stated publicly he sees the Model Y outselling the Model S, Model X, and Model 3 combined! Seeing the Model Y up close and personal like this makes it seem Musk’s words are more than an idle boast.

The hope for Tesla fans is that the Model Y will get here sooner rather than later. During the most recent Tesla earnings call, Musk indicated the timetable for Model Y production is being moved forward by several months. There are rumors the first of them could begin rolling off the assembly line in Fremont before the end of the first quarter next year — not a moment too soon for Tesla fans.

NHTSB Opens Investigation Into Tesla Battery Fires
A report in the New York Times carries this headline: “Tesla Batteries Investigated for Possible Defects.” The story itself is a hatchet job that hardly rises to the level of journalism, something the Times does over and over again when the topic is Tesla. Here’s what you need to know: Last April, a camera in a parking garage in Shanghai captured what appeared to be a Tesla Model S bursting into flame. Tesla immediately sent a team to investigate and determined that a battery cell had failed and triggered the incident.

In response to its findings, Tesla created an over-the-air update for the battery management system installed in some of its cars to “further protect the battery and improve longevity,” according to Green Car Reports. That update decreased the range of those cars according to several owners. That’s when attorney Edward Chen got involved. He filed suit on behalf of the affected owners, claiming that all Tesla batteries are defective and that the company tried to get out of its legal liability to provide defect-free products with an OTA that cost little to nothing.

This was all done “under the guise of ‘safety’ and increasing the ‘longevity’ of the batteries of the Class Vehicles,” the complaint stated. “Tesla fraudulently manipulated its software with the intent to avoid its duties and legal obligations to customers to fix, repair, or replace the batteries of the Class Vehicles, all of which Tesla knew were defective, yet failed to inform its customers of the defects.” At the time the lawsuit was filed. Chen said in a statement, “This is no different than what Apple did to their older iPhones in the throttling and performance case.”

After the suit was filed, Tesla issued a statement saying, “A very small percentage of owners of older Model S and Model X vehicles may have noticed a small reduction in range when charging to a maximum state of charge following a software update designed to improve battery longevity. As previously noted, we have been working to mitigate the impact on range for these owners and have been rolling out over-the-air updates to address this issue since last week.”

Not satisfied with the progress of the litigation, Chen fired off a letter in September to NHTSA requesting it open an investigation into Tesla batteries and any BMS updates. In turn, the agency sent a letter to Tesla in October demanding information on — Are you sitting down? — all Tesla Model S and Model X vehicles ever built and all OTA since the beginning of this year. The letter ends with a threat to impose more than $100 million in fines on the company if it does not respond fully by November 28. The Times report clearly relishes the idea that Tesla might have to pay dearly for negligence.

This is clearly an attempt to work the refs, as they say in sports. Chen’s letter to NHTSA has the effect of putting pressure on Tesla to settle the lawsuit. The New York Times in its reporting breathlessly notes that lithium-ion batteries are known to catch fire under some circumstances, such as in early iterations of the Boeing Dreamliner and in various smartphones. It makes sure its readers know lithium-ion batteries are banned on commercial aircraft and that not only did a Tesla catch fire in Shanghai, a car in the US actually caught fire twice! In his letter to NHTSA, Chen refers to the “alarming number of car fires that have occurred worldwide.”

Oh my God! Hide the women and children to protect them from this danger! But never, ever mention that there are more than 150 gasoline fires every day in the United States. The Times even goes so far as to conflate the claim by Walmart that rooftop solar systems provided by Tesla have caught fire at several locations with the danger of vehicle battery fires. The message is clear: stay away from Teslas if you don’t want to get burned or blown up.

I confess I read the New York ‘Times on a daily basis and consider it an authoritative news source in most instances. (Besides, I have a crush on Maureen Dowd, even though her profile photo is probably more than 20 years out of date.) But I have to say its reporting on Tesla falls to the level of the garbage spit out routinely by the likes of the Daily Mail. It is solidly on the side of the Tesla FUD network and undeserving of any credibility whatsoever. When it comes to the NYT and Tesla, caveat lectorem!
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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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Tesla Bull Talks Tesla’s Big Competitive Moat

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Published on November 8th, 2019 |

by Johnna Crider

Tesla Bull Talks Tesla’s Big Competitive Moat

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November 8th, 2019 by Johnna Crider

A Tesla bull named David recently addressed Tesla’s competitive moat in a Medium article. He actually wrote the article for friends who seem to think Tesla is just an electric car company that will most likely fail, but then decided to share with the world. David makes several good points in his article and sums up the mentality that people, especially the shorts, have about Tesla:

“It seems like the dominant notion is that Tesla is just another car company in a tough market which is dominated by titans, and so Tesla may not survive.” —David.

Tesla, however, has surrounded itself with a competitive moat that many can’t seem to swim across. Three things that David talks about in his article actually form Tesla’s competitive moat, and other companies — not just automakers — can learn from this. Several key points David covers in his article are:

The type of company Tesla really is
The location of Tesla
Tesla’s Advantage

Tesla, The Company
Tesla doesn’t just build cars, but also build the computers that run in cars. It builds software for the vehicles. Competing combustion cars can be seen as analog devices, while an electric Tesla is a digital (meaning connectable) device.

“What we end up with is an iPhone in an age of Nokia devices.” —David.

Location
The US is the world leader in the computer software industry, and Silicon Valley is the epicenter of that leadership. Which is why the location needed to be in Silicon Valley.

“[A]t some point, choosing a car with the right software will stop being an option. If you can’t call the car from your app, play video games while parked, get firmware updates overnight, see your dog while parked, get notifications on your mobile if someone gets close — you simply won’t consider it at all.” —David.

Advantage
Tesla’s main advantage over new companies such as Rivian is that it has a head start. David mentions that the electrification of automobiles has flattened out the competition in the same way the internet did. Who uses phone books when you can just look it up on Google Maps? Tesla’s current status and advantages is just one wave in Tesla’s competitive moat.

Tesla’s focus on the software gives it that sharp edge that has legacy automakers reaching for bandaids. But it’s only going to get worse for them.

What we are seeing with Tesla are the results of over a decade’s worth of innovation, hard work, and creativity. This force, if you will, will continue to grow. The beautiful thing is that all of this brilliant engineering started out as a mere thought, an idea. Imagine what you could create if you really put your all into it.
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It will make you happy & help you live in peace for the rest of your life.

About the Author

Johnna Crider Johnna Crider is a Baton Rouge artist, gem and mineral collector, and Tesla shareholder who believes in Elon Musk and Tesla. Elon Musk advised her in 2018 to “Believe in Good.”

Tesla is one of many good things to believe in. You can find Johnna on Twitter

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CNET Places Velodyne Among Biggest Transportation Disruptors of the Decade

November 8, 2019 Lidar sensors are vital to autonomous vehicles, providing high-resolution, three-dimensional information about a car’s surrounding environment. An article by Andrew Krok in Roadshow by CNET looked at the people, concepts and decisions that have contributed to large-scale disruption in transportation in the 2010s. In writing about the disruptive role of lidar, Krok… Continue reading CNET Places Velodyne Among Biggest Transportation Disruptors of the Decade

UAW, Ford change tentative deal, giving bigger raises to nearly 10,000 workers

CLOSE UAW International acting president Rory Gamble speaks to the Detroit Free Press about issues with corruption, negotiations and future of UAW. Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press Contract negotiators for Ford Motor Co. and the UAW rewrote a passage in their tentative agreement — while members are voting on the deal — that will increase pay for nearly 10,000… Continue reading UAW, Ford change tentative deal, giving bigger raises to nearly 10,000 workers

Alphabet’s self-driving car project Waymo is shuttering its Austin operations

John Krafcik, CEO of Waymo speaks at a press conference at the 2017 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, January 8, 2017. Geoff Robins | AFP | Getty Images Waymo, Alphabet‘s self-driving car project, is shuttering its operations in Austin, Texas. The Alphabet subsidiary is removing employees at the facility and says it… Continue reading Alphabet’s self-driving car project Waymo is shuttering its Austin operations

Done deal: Ohio company aims to build electric work trucks at former GM plant

General Motors has officially sold its Lordstown, Ohio, assembly facility—for an undisclosed amount—to a company that will build electric pickups. They won’t have anything to do with GM’s upcoming electric pickups, however. Lordstown Motors wants to use the facility as its headquarters and as the production location for the Endurance, its own electric pickup aimed… Continue reading Done deal: Ohio company aims to build electric work trucks at former GM plant