A lack of parts means that GM is shipping full-size pickups with a missing fuel economy module, and that means worse fuel economy. Anything to get the pickups out the door! All this and more in The morning shift for March 16, 2021.
1st gear: chip shortage means no fuel saving module
The global shortage of semiconductors has wreaked havoc across the automotive industry, with huge production cuts and factories closing, even here in the United States. Not hanging up: the production of large trucks from GM. Nothing is between America and its pickup trucks. It is not a global pandemic, it is certainly not a shortage of parts! Even if it means sending trucks out the door with poorer fuel economy, as Reuters reports:
General Motors said on Monday that due to the global semiconductor chip shortage the U.S. automaker is building certain full-size 2021 light trucks without a fuel management module, hampering the fuel-saving performance of these vehicles.
The lack of the active fuel management / dynamic fuel management module means that the affected models, equipped with the 5.3-liter EcoTec3 V8 engine with six- and eight-speed automatic transmission, will experience less fuel savings by one mile per gallon , spokeswoman Michelle Malcho said.
Malcho emphasized that all trucks are still being built, something GM has repeatedly emphasized that it would try to protect, since pickups are among GM’s most profitable models. She declined to say the volume of vehicles affected.
GM will likely have to use credits from previous years that were more efficient to still meet its federal CAFE requirements for fuel economy across the fleet. GM told Reuters that it is not concerned with complying with CAFE in 2021, but if I were someone buying a new pickup truck, I would be upset to lose this module.
2nd gear: What’s up with Byton? Let’s check
Last night, the Jalopnik slack channel exploded: remember Byton? What is up with that?
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Well, the little startup that used to have the BMW guy until he left claiming that the Chinese government had acquired the company, is approaching another strange step (or more adjacent) to production. Byton is in partnership with the iPhone maker Foxconn, and Foxconn may be setting up a car factory here in the United States, as Bloomberg reports:
Foxconn Technology Group will decide between Wisconsin and Mexico for the location of its first electric car plant this year, placing a big bet on the nascent business at a time when the tech giants, including major customers Apple Inc. intend to expand to vehicles.
The Taiwanese manufacturer already has operations in the central US state and in the Latin American country, and could use its existing structures, said the president of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Foxconn’s main unit, Young Liu, at a news conference in Taipei on Tuesday. Availability and accessibility of skilled labor and engineering talent will be among the deciding factors, he said.
[…]
In January, Foxconn signed a manufacturing agreement with the Chinese electric vehicle startup Byton Ltd., with the goal of starting mass production of Byton M-Byte in the first quarter of 2022. A week later, Foxconn and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. said they would join forces to provide production and consulting services to global automotive companies.
Last month, Foxconn signed another agreement with the American startup of EV Fisker Inc. in a car that will be built by Apple’s partner and will target several markets, including North America, Europe, China and India. Production of the vehicle, which will be sold under the Fisker brand, is scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2023.
None of this is a clear announcement that something, exactly, is going to happen. Still, I am intrigued.
3rd gear: VW follows Tesla at Boast quota
VW’s manual for entering the electric car world is still just “copy absolutely everything Tesla does” for VW having your own Battery Day copier this week. VW is now continuing this trend, mirroring Tesla’s arrogance. It is not enough to Ramp up electric cars, you see. You have to spend all your time promising even bigger EV plans.
“VW aims at global EV leadership by 2025 in platform push,” Bloomberg reports, with VW claiming it will be the largest electric car maker in no time:
The Volkswagen Group plans to scale up cost-cutting efforts by standardizing key technologies while the German manufacturer seeks to accelerate a seismic shift towards electric cars to fight Tesla and keep traditional rivals such as Daimler at bay.
VW is targeting 1 million sales of electric vehicles this year and aims to become the global leader in the electric vehicle market by 2025 at the latest, the company said. In 2030, the share of all electric vehicles in Europe is expected to increase to up to 60% of group deliveries.
To put this in perspective, here’s how the two companies are sitting right now:
If you’re in the electric car business, you must shout “This is just the beginning!” Forever and ever.
4th gear: Toyota explains why switching to EVs is not as easy as you think
Toyota is not big on the whole “electric car” thing, and it’s heavily invested in hydrogen instead of. (Japan, as a nation, is also big on hydrogen.) Does that make you very biased in this conversation? Of course! But you will not hear this direct truth from a company like VW, which is heavily invested in you thinking that EVs will magically fix all of our transportation and weather problems at once.
In any case, Toyota wants you to consider that doing EVs is not particularly easy, as Reuters reports:
A senior Toyota executive will express skepticism to U.S. senators on Tuesday about rival automakers’ aspirations to eliminate gasoline-powered vehicles, saying these goals must overcome many obstacles.
Robert Wimmer, director of Energy and Environmental Research at Toyota Motor North America, will testify at a hearing on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
“If we want to make dramatic progress in electrification, it will be necessary to overcome enormous challenges, including refueling infrastructure, battery availability, consumer acceptance and accessibility,” he will say according to an advance copy of his comments.
Okay, it’s less that Toyota wants to you to think that doing EVs is difficult. It’s more because Toyota wants the government to think about it and give it a little break.
5th gear: taxi protests in New York continue until the 8th
The New York Taxi Workers Alliance is taking to the streets today, as it did last week, protesting for debt forgiveness:
The city’s response so far to yellow taxi drivers drowning in debt that the city has only helped create is … donate tens of millions to a hedge fund in Connecticut.
Reverse: Hey, we should put people on top of one of these
Neutral: how are you doing?
I am building a raised planter on my back porch because I will do anything – anything – to see something grow and bloom as spring comes. All tips are welcome!