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Daimler Aims For 3 MW Charging For Electric Trucks

3 MW is comparable to 1,000 base 3 kW charging stations for cars or 1,000 households. Daimler Trucks North America, in one of its job listings, seeks an eMobility Senior Engineer – Vehicle Charging Systems (L5), which would participate in the development of very high power charging systems for electric trucks at up to 3 MW.… Continue reading Daimler Aims For 3 MW Charging For Electric Trucks

Ford Adds 550 Jobs In Kentucky Truck Plant To Boost SUV Production

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More on this:1 Ford Mach E To Be Built In Mexico, S650 Mustang In Flat Rock2 Ford Tells Tesla “Hold Your Horses,” Mustang-inspired Electric SUV Incoming3 New Ford Fiesta ST Now Available With m225 Upgrade From Mountune4 Ford Fiesta ST Nurburgring Crash Is Lift-Off Oversteer Panic5 Automatic Emergency Braking Is Becoming Standard in the U.S., Tesla in the Lead

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Ford Adds 550 Jobs In Kentucky Truck Plant To Boost SUV Production

22 Mar 2019, 7:53 UTC ·
by Mircea Panait

Home > News > Car Profile

If you’re in the market for a full-size SUV with truck underpinnings and convenience for the whole family, it’s hard to go wrong with the Expedition. Redesigned for the 2018 model year, Ford can’t keep up with demand for the successor of the fifth-generation Bronco.
26 photosWhat does an automaker do when people want a product but don’t like to wait for their order to roll off the assembly line? Invest in the Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, of course! Adding 550 new jobs is just the tip of the iceberg, more so if you remember the Lincoln Navigator is also selling like hot cakes.
Through those 550 jobs, Ford plans to ramp up production by 20 percent. Expedition sales increased 35 percent in 2018 while the Navigator improved 70 percent. There’s also the matter of average transaction price, which grew by $11,700 to $62,700 last year.
Supporting these efforts, Ford is launching a new marketing campaign this week. “Better Big” focuses on the best-in-class towing and legroom of the Expedition, as well as the most driver-assist technology in the segment. “We ‘out-big’ the competition where it counts – towing, interior space and technology,” declared Matt VanDyke, director of U.S. marketing. “Our team completely rethought every inch of Expedition, and its growing sales reaffirm we hit the sweet spot with today’s full-size SUV customers.”
In addition to more workforce, the Kentucky Truck Plant has increased the line speed by cutting down the cycle times of each operation. How did Ford pull it off? By adding more workstations and splitting up tasks to ensure the employees can finish their jobs in the allotted time, thank you!
Production per se will increase after the summer shutdown in July 2019, and if you were wondering, the Expedition can seat eight people and tow up to 9,300 pounds. For first-time homeowners who are starting new families, that’s an offer few can refuse. Does it come as a surprise Ford is discontinuing most passenger cars in the U.S. lineup to focus on trucks and utilities? Not even slightly!

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Justice Department investigating Ford emissions certifications

2017 Ford GT originally commissioned by John Cena – Image via Mecum Auctions
Some 2017 and newer Ford vehicles may have illegally polluted more than the company claimed during emissions certifications, and the company admitted Friday that criminal investigators were looking into the matter.

The disclosure that the U.S. Department of Justice began investigating the Ford vehicles in February was made during the company's routine report to securities officials Thursday. In February, Ford told environmental officials about the irregularities.

“(Ford) has become aware of a potential concern involving its U.S. emissions certification process. This matter currently focuses on issues relating to road load estimations, including analytical modeling and coastdown testing. The potential concern does not involve the use of defeat devices…” the company wrote in its quarterly filing to the SEC. “We voluntarily disclosed this matter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the California Air Resources Board on February 18, 2019 and February 21, 2019, respectively. Subsequently, the U.S. Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation into the matter. In addition, we have notified a number of other state and federal agencies. We are fully cooperating with all government agencies.”

In February, Ford said it was investigating emissions certifications for cars, trucks, and SUVs that it submitted to the EPA. It said it would begin a new certification procedure with the Ranger pickup, which went on sale earlier this year.

DON'T MISS: Ford invests $500M in Rivian to tackle Tesla, future electric vehicles

Kim Pittel, Ford's VP of environmental and safety engineering, said the company was made aware of the emissions issues in September 2018 via an employee tip line.

“In September, a handful of employees raised a concern through our Speak Up employee reporting channel regarding the analytical modeling that is part of our U.S. fuel economy and emissions compliance process,” she said.

As a result, the company hired an outside agency to investigate the claims.

Thursday's admission by Ford was the first time that the company acknowledged that federal justice officials were also looking into the issue.

In the past, Ford has made similar missteps regarding fuel consumption and efficiency. In 2014, the automaker paid millions to Ford and Lincoln vehicle owners for misstated fuel economy ratings, mostly for hybrid vehicles.

Since then, federal regulators have cracked down on automakers who misstate or falsify emissions information.

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Elon Musk and SEC again ask for more time to reach deal over Twitter dispute

Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., smiles while speaking to members of the media outside federal court in New York, U.S., on Thursday, April 4, 2019.Natan Dvir | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesTesla Chief Executive Elon Musk and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday sought a second delay and requested to provide the court another joint submission on or before April 30, indicating whether they have reached an agreement to settle a dispute over Musk's use of Twitter, both parties said in a court filing.
The SEC in February sought to have Musk found in contempt of a fraud settlement last year after the CEO tweeted details about Tesla production numbers that were not vetted by the electric vehicle company's attorneys.
Instead, U.S. District Court Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan ordered Musk and the SEC to try to resolve the dispute on their own. The parties have already requested one extension.
The SEC sued Musk last year for making fraudulent statements after he tweeted on Aug. 7 that he had “funding secured” to take Tesla private at $420 per share. The parties later settled and Musk agreed to step down as chairman and have the company's lawyers pre-approve written communications, including tweets with material information about the company. Musk's lawyers have argued that the February tweet did not contain new information that was material to investors.

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Elon Musk emailed employees about how great Tesla’s autonomy day was, but the plan has lots of holes

Tesla CEO Elon Musk views the new Tesla Model Y at its unveiling in Hawthorne, California on March 14, 2019.Frederic J. Brown | AFP | Getty ImagesTesla CEO Elon Musk did what he does best on Monday when he presented bold, visionary promises that only his most loyal followers would take at face value.
Specifically, Musk gave guidance that Tesla will have a million “robotaxis” on the road next year, meaning a million truly driverless cars that can operate commercially in a ride-hailing network, generating passive income for their owners.
Musk celebrated the day in an email to all employees on Monday afternoon.
Subj. Great day for Tesla!
The Autonomy Day was extremely well-received. Feedback has been incredible. [Smiling emoji here.]
Awesome result of extremely intense effort by the Autopilot Team!
[two clapping emoji]
Elon
Promising safe, driverless cars within a year is already exceedingly optimistic. But Musk went further to say that each Tesla — equipped with some future version of its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving software — could generate $30,000 in gross income for owners each year if operated as a robotaxi.
VIDEO1:2601:26Elon Musk says Tesla will have 'robotaxis' on the road by 2020That's not realistic, considering Tesla's production numbers to date and the average salary of a ride-hailing driver in the US today.
The event served as a distraction from Tesla's recent operational, regulatory and financial troubles, which will be in full focus during the company's first-quarter earnings report on Wednesday.
Among some of its recent challenges, Tesla slowed production of its Model S and X vehicles in recent quarters and recently closed stores and laid off thousands of employees. Plus, Musk remains locked in a battle with the SEC over his use of social media to disseminate material business information. Tesla had around $180 million in debt coming due this month. And sales of its Model 3 slowed down in the first quarter.
A history of self-driving promisesIn 2018, ride-hailing trade publication Ridester found that human drivers working 40 hours a week for the likes of Uber or Lyft make annual salaries of about $31,000 before vehicle expenses, and about $20,000 after expenses but before taxes in the US.
Those people are driving cars already deemed street legal, and picking up fares in major cities and at airports where local laws have been, for the most part, hashed out authorizing them to drive there.
Meanwhile, the company has produced only about 600,000 cars to date. Not all of them are still on the road.
Tesla said in its fourth-quarter earnings release that it was aiming to deliver 360,000 to 400,000 vehicles in 2019, about 45 percent to 65 percent more than its deliveries last year.
VIDEO8:0508:05Tesla loses $2.90/share, revenue light, as wellTo reach a million robotaxis in 2020, Tesla would have to continue producing cars near the high-end of its previous guidance. Then, the majority of those cars would have to get the necessary software updates to reach Full Self-Driving status, which currently costs $5,000 when customers order the car or $7,000 as an upgrade if added after delivery, although these prices could change over time. Finally, owners would have to agree to let their cars participate in a Tesla robotaxi network.
Meanwhile, truly driverless vehicles do not yet exist. Tesla doesn't sell one. Neither does any other company.
Deutsche Bank analyst Emmanual Rosner, who took a test drive of the vehicles Tesla showed on Tuesday, was skeptical, writing, “Throughout the ride, the car performed relatively well but experienced a few rough maneuvers and had one disengagement where it failed to recognize cones blocking off some parked vehicles on the side of the road.”
He continued, “Given our own test ride still faced issues despite being on a pre-planned course and under relatively simple road conditions, we believe the company's targeted timeline for both full self-driving and its robotaxi service is at the very least aggressive. Ultimately, we still wonder whether Tesla can even solve the large challenges of fully autonomous driving with its vision-based approach alone.”
Musk has made grandiose promises about self-driving before.
In October 2016, Musk touted Tesla's second-generation autonomous driving hardware, saying that system could power full level 5 autonomy in his company's cars — that means the car could drive in all conditions with zero human attention. Musk said the company expected that a Tesla would be able to complete a hands-free trip across the US by late 2017. As of April 2019, Tesla has not demonstrated any of its vehicles completing such a trip, although self-driving pioneer Anthony Levandowski says a car from his new start-up accomplished the task last December.
Analysts were generally skeptical. Cowen analysts wrote, “The Tesla Network robotaxi plans seemed half baked, with the company appearing toeither not have answers to or not even considered pretty basic question on the pricing,insurance liability, or regulatory and legal requirements.”
Even some historical Tesla bulls were not swayed by the presentation.
Dan Ives, Managing Director of Wedbush Securities said, “The presentation was more visionary and lacked the details the Street wants to know which is key to credibility. It was more geared to the autonomy world as Musk is telling technologists 'don't forget about Tesla,' with Waymo and Uber getting a ton of credit.”
Tesla stock traded down about 4% on Monday, and ticked up by less than a point in mid-day trading on Tuesday. The stock is down about 30% from its most recent peak in December, and down about 9% from a year ago.
VIDEO2:3902:39Tesla's Elon Musk promises 'robotaxis' by 2020

Ford electric vehicles and hybrids: Here are some of the many models arriving soon

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2013 Ford Focus Electric
With last week’s announcement of a strategic partnership with electric truckmaker hopeful Rivian, cemented by a pending $500 million equity investment, Ford Motor Company is covering the bases for how the market might evolve and assuring multiple paths toward a future where vehicles with charge ports are the norm.

“Across the world, we're fortifying our franchise strengths in trucks, commercial vehicles, and performance vehicles and bolstering our SUV franchise, executing the unique approach to electric vehicles that takes advantage of our strongest nameplates,” said Ford CEO Jim Hackett on Ford’s Q1 earnings call, the day after the Rivian announcement.

In Ford’s business update the company noted its strengthened electric vehicle plan, which includes a future vehicle developed with Rivian.

Ford said in March 2018 that globally it will be creating 16 fully electric vehicles and 40 electrified vehicles through 2022. Everything the company has said since then about electrification fit neatly into that frame—except for one other thing, autonomous vehicles, which we’ll get to.

THE ELECTRIC CARS

Here, rounded up, are at least some of the fully electric vehicles that Ford has in the works:

2020 Ford electric SUV teaser

Mustang-influenced electric crossover. Ford has been pushing ahead with its plan to build this much-anticipated alternative to the Tesla Model Y. To make sure that the vision doesn’t become too diluted (or convoluted) along the way, it’s been focusing those efforts through a focused electric-vehicle team (Team Edison) that will guide it though all the way to production, delivery, and support.

Although Ford has dodged recent questions about pricing and position for this vehicle, which has been referred to as Mach 1 and Mach E, executives have at several points stressed the importance of affordability and noted that it’s one of the main targets for the project. The electric SUV will land in a middle ground between small EVs like the Hyundai Kona Electric and Chevrolet Bolt EV, and larger premium ones like the Audi E-tron and Tesla Model X. Based on comments from several company officials, expect it to start around $45,000 (or even less) when it arrives, in the second half of 2020.

Fully electric Lincoln crossover. As Ford’s North American president, Kumar Galhotra, said earlier this year, it will emphasize “understated, quiet luxury.” It could arrive as soon as 2021, which would beat the Cadillac EV we’re expecting to be a top alternative.

Other future “C-EV” vehicles—maybe even a sedan. The Ford (and Lincoln) electric vehicles are expected to be just the first two to be conceived on what Ford has described is a scalable electric vehicle platform. This platform, which was conceived to be in what’s called the C-segment globally, is intended to spawn an entire suite of electric-car variants. Although Ford is exiting the traditional, mainstream sedan fold, for instance, company officials have hinted to Green Car Reports that we may see the sedan form factor again in a niche—as a Lincoln EV, perhaps.

Fully electric luxury SUV. The Michigan-based company Rivian plans to introduce its R1T and R1S in the U.S. in late 2020. With last week’s announcement, the two companies will “work together to develop an all-new, next-generation battery electric vehicle for Ford’s growing EV portfolio using Rivian’s skateboard platform.” Rivian has already teased a tow rating of up to 11,000 pounds and a range of up to 400 miles, aided by battery packs of up to 180 kwh.

2019 Ford F-150 RTR

Fully electric F-150. Ford has confirmed it’s a project, but that’s about it. Since the F-150 is at the core of Ford’s heritage and profitability, you can bet it’s moving along, Rivian venture or not. Just don’t expect it to arrive quite as soon. But with continued U.S. demand for the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator, which are based on the F-150, we could see this paying off in broader scope.

THE HYBRIDS (SOME PLUG-IN)

Unlike GM, which discontinued the Chevrolet Volt and sees electric as a near-term future for the company, Ford aims to push full hybrids and plug-in hybrids out in more of its next-generation vehicles:

2020 Ford F-150 hybrid. Separate from the fully electric F-150 project, Ford is producing an F-150 hybrid, and it’s due soon—as a 2020 model. The F-150 hybrid is expected to use a 10-speed automatic transmission, as part of a hybrid system that should still allow a wider range of engine-off coasting and idling without sacrificing much if any towing or hauling ability. Ford has teased that the F-150 will have a power takeoff for tools and worksites—a feature that would be even more useful with a charge port, if that’s a hint.

2020 Lincoln Aviator plug-in hybrid

2020 Lincoln Aviator plug-in hybrid. The Aviator plug-in hybrid will come with a version of Ford’s soon-to-be-ubiquitous 10-speed modular-hybrid transmission. It will be the top-performing version in the Aviator lineup as well, with a projected 450 horsepower and 600 pound-feet of torque. The Ford Explorer on which it’s based is (in the U.S.) only available as a hybrid, with the Explorer plug-in hybrid saved for Europe for now.

2020 Lincoln Corsair, 2019 New York International Auto Show

2020 Ford Escape plug-in hybrid and 2020 Lincoln Corsair plug-in hybrid. These models arrive later in 2019 and employ a revised version of the variable-ratio/planetary hybrid system Ford has used in a number of other hybrid products, including the C-Max Energi and going back to the previous Escape Hybrid.

2020 Ford Mustang hybrid. A hybridized version of Ford’s 10-speed automatic transmission is also going to be the basis for the Hybrid Mustang. The hybrid pony car is likely to gallop to the performance potential of hybrid tech rather than eke out every possible mpg—possibly with a V-8 still a part of the presentation.

New Ford Bronco

2021 Ford Bronco hybrid. Ford still hasn’t confirmed final specs for its much-anticipated Bronco—or even revealed its production form—yet the company long ago confirmed that it would arrive in leaner shape, with a hybrid version.

Behind The Scenes At Tesla’s Seat Factory — #CleanTechnica Field Trip

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Published on April 27th, 2019 |

by Kyle Field

Behind The Scenes At Tesla’s Seat Factory — #CleanTechnica Field Trip

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April 27th, 2019 by Kyle Field

Tesla invited CleanTechnica to its Fremont Factory and snuck in some time at its seat factory. Zach Shahan wrote up a beautiful article about Tesla’s seat factory and Chanan Bos put together a fantastic video documenting the happenings inside the factory for CleanTechnica TV. That’s all for your viewing pleasure, of course.

The factory where Tesla builds its seats may not sound exciting, but as probably the only automotive manufacturer that builds its own seats, we were enthused about our exclusive look into what is a very unique factory in the automotive industry. Tesla has not only brought seat manufacturing in-house. It has also applied the automation it has become known for in the industry to its seat factory. This automation has resulted in the most highly automated lower seat assembly in the automotive world, which you can see in our video below.

Tesla was kind to pull back the curtain on its seat manufacturing operations, where we were able to get an inside look at the careful balance of automation and human-supported manufacturing that goes into the seats for its vehicles.

The seats that go into Tesla’s vehicles are not just any seats — they are world-class automotive seats that are assembled with vegan fabric that’s not only an adequate substitute for leather, but is actually superior in every noteworthy way. Tesla’s vegan leather seats, aesthetically beautiful (that’s a fact), are admirably durable, highly stain resistant, super soft, and (of course) greener than the norm.

Our video above provides a unique insight into the technology Tesla applies to the seats that it puts into its vehicles. That said, while the seats are important to a select few parts of your body, they are not even close to the most technologically advanced parts of the car. Just wait until we dig into Tesla’s Autopilot hardware and battery management systems. That’s when it gets really exciting. You can start to see the future through the possibilities of each technology individually and more so collectively as part of the whole car.

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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