Author: David Smith

Stellantis and LG Energy Solution will invest about $4.1 billion in an electric vehicle battery factory in Canada. Stellantis and LG Energy Solution will create a joint venture for Canada’s first large-scale domestic electric vehicle battery manufacturing facility in Canada. Construction of the EV battery plant will begin at the end of 2022 and will be fully operational in the first quarter of 2024. EV battery factory will be in Windsor, Ontario. The plant is targeted to have an annual production capacity of more than 45 gigawatt hours and will create around 2,500 new jobs. The plant is part of…

Volkswagen plans to launch 25 new electric vehicle models by 2030, as part of the German manufacturer’s electrification strategy for the US market. Volkswagen itself targets to achieve an electric vehicle share of 55 per cent of its US vehicle sales. To achieve that target, Volkswagen plans to build its own battery factory in the United States. This year the VW ID.4 went into production at Chattanooga. So far, ID.4 for the US market is shipped from Zwickau, Germany. VW hasn’t given details about the electric SUV for the US market, but it will certainly be positioned above the ID.6.…

After eight months of complicated bureaucracy, Tesla Berlin Gigafactory officially opened on Tuesday, March 22, 2022. This Berlin Gigafactory is the first in Europe and is targeted to produce around 500,000 cars per year. Elon Musk was seen celebrating the opening of the Berlin Gigafactory with a bit of dancing and fireworks. “This is a great day for the factory and for the Earth as another step towards a sustainable future,” he said. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Olaf Scholz added that it was a positive step for the automotive industry in Germany. There are about 30 new Model Y Performance…

The Berlin Gigafactory was officially opened today by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The opening of the first Tesla factory in Europe was marked by the handing over of the first production of the factory to consumers. The opening ceremony was also attended by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and German Economy Minister Robert Habeck. The Berlin Gigafactory is located in the city of Grünheide, east of Berlin. Habeck called the day a special day for the region and a special day for the mobility revolution in Germany. Meanwhile Scholz said it was a testament to the prestige of East Germany’s industry.…

Volkswagen Group China on Monday (21/3) said it would form a joint venture with Huayou Cobalt and Tsingshan Group to secure nickel and cobalt supplies. This collaboration is part of efforts to control the cost of producing electric vehicle batteries at a time when raw material prices soar. The three companies have signed a memorandum of understanding to form two joint ventures. The first joint venture between the three companies is in Indonesia, where they will jointly invest their respective advantages and resources in the production of battery raw materials, Volkswagen said in a statement. More than 10 percent of…

After being named the European Car of the Year 2022, the Kia EV6 again won the 2022 Red Dot Design Award. Kia EV6 electric crossover takes overall victory in prestigious Red Dot Awards with ‘Best of the Best’ title The KIA EV6 won the ‘Red Dot: Best of the Best’ award for its pioneering and forward-looking design. The award was won from 50 expert judges from the famous international design competition. In addition, the KIA EV6 was also named the winner for the Red Dot category: ‘Innovative Products’. The KIA EV6 itself is built around Kia’s new ‘Opposites United’ design…

Suzuki Motor Corp plans to invest about 150 billion yen (1.26 billion US dollars) in its main market in India to increase production of electric vehicles (EVs), and build a new factory for car batteries. According to a report from Kyodo on Sunday, the Japanese automaker’s move is in line with the Indian government’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions amid a global trend toward decarbonisation. EV production in India is slated to start in 2025 at one of Suzuki’s existing factories, with operation of a new plant to produce automotive batteries set to begin around the same time. See…

Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer, Leap Motor has filed for an IPO in Hong Kong and will launch eight new electric vehicle models by 2025. The IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange is expected to see Leap Motor bring in at least one billion US dollars which will be used to drive the development of a new electric vehicle model. In the plan until 2025, Leap Motor targets one to three new electric vehicle models per year. Total Leap Motor will offer a total of eight new models by 2025. According to CN EV Post, the number of shares to…

General Motors recently recalled 10 Hummer EV trucks due to a software issue. This is the first recall of the Hummer EV after it was first delivered to consumers at the end of last year. From the recall notice filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there was a problem with the software driving the taillights. The software itself is embedded in the microcontroller in the taillight assembly. The software issue is making the taillights partially on or ineffective at all. That extends to brake lights, turn signal lights, backup lights, side markers and clearance lights. In some cases,…

Porsche’s Chief Executive Officer, Oliver Blume revealed the possibility of undertaking a collaborative project with technology company Apple. “We already have Apple CarPlay, we will expand it,” Oliver Blume said during a video conference on Friday (18/3/2022), quoted from Carscoops. He said Porsche and Apple have been working together for a long time. But it may be too early to make decisions about future projects. “Porsche is also currently considering whether to enter Formula One. But no decision has been made,” said Blume. See also: Apple reportedly needs to launch a self-driving EV in 2025 with a customized chip As…

Lucid is considering increasing the price of his product for future orders. Heavy inflationary pressures have forced Lucid executives to make those price changes, Thursday, March 17. However, Lucid remains committed to respecting the orderers who have entered and providing the same price to them, without any increase or additional price. “There is an inevitability that we will have to look at the price point of the models that will come out in the future,” CEO Peter Rawlinson told Reuters. This was forced to do because of the soaring price of nickel after Russia invaded Ukraine. See also: Lucid plan…

Luxury carmaker Bentley announced plans to roll out a new electric vehicle every year for five years starting from 2025, after a recent report said the company’s annual profit had increased dramatically. The Crewe, UK-based Bentley posted a profit of 389 million euros (427.1 million US dollars) for 2021, compared with a profit of 20 million euros a year earlier. It came after shipments jumped 31 percent on demand for new Bentley hybrid models. Automakers around the world are redoubling efforts to switch to electric models due to demand for more environmentally friendly engines. Bentley’s parent Volkswagen is increasing investment…