The EV industry beyond vehicles and batteries
Issue #70, March 25th, 2021
The electric vehicle continues to evolve as an ecosystem beyond just the vehicles and batteries. Companies that made early moves find it advantageous. The scope of influence continues to grow beyond e-bikes and cars to trucks, tractors and also for water and air travel. Associated industries like insurance and cyber security continue to grow, more out of necessity than the opportunity. EV factories have low entry barriers and are opening up in small cities and towns, offering employment. Here are some recent updates in the EV industry globally.
The Volkswagen EV turnaround
In Oct 2015, after the company confessed to rigging diesel cars to conceal high emissions, company executives gathered in Wolfsburg, Germany. Herbert Diess, who was then the head of the unit that makes Volkswagen-brand cars and was later promoted to chief executive, presided over the meeting. After hours of discussion, he and the other executives decided to shake Volkswagen AG's reputation as a cynical polluter by developing cars with no tailpipe emissions at all. The commitment Volkswagen made then, when sales of EVs were minimal, is paying off now as the company rolls out a line of vehicles to run on batteries, with more interior space and more appeal than adaptations of gasoline vehicles. - New York Times
Autonomous tractors for farming
Monarch Tractor, a startup cofounded by a member of the Mondavi wine family, is leveraging technology more commonly associated with battery-powered Teslas and autonomous Waymo vans to create electric robotic tractors it says can make farming safer and more sustainable. Monarch, along with industrial giants like John Deere, see big opportunities to make farming more efficient and provide new options for farmers in regions where human labor may be scarce through the use of advanced sensors, software and computing power. - Forbes
Global EV charging point growth
Bloomberg's clean energy and transport research group's study shows some stark differences in how fast countries are tackling one of the last remaining barriers to widespread EV adoption - charging points. The most remarkable thing is just how fast China is pulling ahead on this front. China is likely to need more public charging infrastructure than, say, parts of Europe or the U.S. The U.S. has a lot of detached homes with driveways or garages that provide easy home charging options, reducing the amount of public chargers that drivers will need to feel comfortable making the jump to electric. There is now one charging point for about every 20 EVs in the U.S., while for China it is around one to five. - Bloomberg
EV factories in small cities
Bloomington and Normal are among several cities nationwide riding the wave of electric vehicle excitement in the last two years. Casa Grande, Arizona, population 55,000, will be home to a factory for electric vehicle startup Lucid Motors. Sparks, Nevada, with 100,000 residents next to the better-known city of Reno, hosts Tesla's giga factory. These cities didn't have a reputation as hotbeds for innovation in decades past. Now Central Illinois, best known for auto insurance, corn and soybeans, finds itself hosting a startup that touts its own expertise in lithium ion battery architecture and cloud computing. - CNN
Switch from ICE to EV factory
The software and battery chemistry of a contemporary EV does mandate a learning curve, but so too does the building and refining of a manufacturing site. Even switching a factory from making one vehicle to another is an expensive process that typically takes months. The robots have to be recalibrated, the lift heights recalculated, and the entire supply system needs to be retooled for deliveries. Ford has overhauled its Rouge complex in Dearborn, to start stamping out electric F-150s, part of a $700 million project. GM has cleared the decks at its Detroit plant and is spending $3 billion, in part to retrofit the so-called Hamtramck space for electric trucks and SUVs. The almost 40-year-old facility, recently scheduled to close, will be making the all-new GMC Hummer by the end of the year. - Bloomberg
Nuclear verdicts and truck industry
“Nuclear verdicts” — jury awards that surpass $10 million — are driving up insurance rates for trucking companies as costs to insure them rise and carriers leave the market. The average verdict size for a lawsuit above $1 million involving a truck crash has increased nearly 1,000% from 2010 to 2018, rising from $2.3 million to $22.3 million. To cut costs, large operators are scaling back on excess insurance, putting them at greater risk should they be involved in an accident. - CNBC
Monitoring vehicle cyber attacks
Panasonic will partner with antivirus software developer McAfee to monitor vehicles for signs of cyberattacks. Panasonic and McAfee will build a security operation center that will monitor vehicles in case of cyberattacks. - Nikkei Asia