Panasonic Corporation (OTC: PCRFY) is looking to restart production at Tesla Inc.’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) New York manufacturing plant on Wednesday, the Verge reported Tuesday.
What Happened
The Japanese electronics giant will spend the first two days performing equipment checks, and standard manufacturing will start Friday, Panasonic North America Solar Energy Division President Mark Shima said in an internal email accessed by the Verge.
Shima told the employees that the company has “completed preparations under close collaboration with Tesla, such as preparation of masks, sanitizers and wipes, set new protocol for entrance, new rules in cafeteria and production floor, new seat assignment in the office area in order to keep 6′ to the next person.”
It isn’t immediately clear if Tesla is also restarting production at the solar panel manufacturing facility.
Why It Matters
A majority of manufacturing at the New York gigafactory has…
BEIJING/TOKYO (Reuters) – U.S. electric carmaker Tesla Inc <TSLA> plans to slash on-site staff at its Nevada battery plant by around 75% due to the coronavirus pandemic, the local county manager said on Thursday.
The move comes after its Japanese battery partner Panasonic Corp <6752.T> said it would scale down operations at the Nevada factory this week before closing it for 14 days.
The factory produces electric motors and battery packs for Tesla’s popular Model 3 sedans.
“Tesla has informed us that the Gigafactory in Storey County is reducing on-site staff by roughly 75% in the coming days,” Austin Osborne said in a post on the county’s website.
No further details were available and it was not clear how many employees work in the factory. Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The Reno Gazette Journal, which earlier reported the planned suspension, said Panasonic has about 3,500 employees at the Nevada plant.
Tesla said last week it would temporarily suspend production at its vehicle factory in San Francisco Bay Area from end of March 23, as well as at its New York solar roof tile factory.
However, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company will reopen the New York plant “as soon as humanly possible” to manufacture ventilators for coronavirus patients.
Two employees of Tesla have tested positive for coronavirus but have been working from home for the past two weeks and had not been symptomatic at work, Tesla said in an email to employees on Thursday. It did not disclose which unit or at what location the employees work.
(Reporting by Yilei Sun and Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Himani Sarkar)
DETROIT (Reuters) – Ford Motor Co is putting more chips on a bet that it can profit from selling electric vans to delivery businesses that need to reduce carbon emissions.
Ford will roll out an all-electric version of its Transit van for North America in model year 2022, mirroring the timetable for launching a similar model for the European market, the company said on Tuesday in conjunction with the NTEA Work Truck Show in Indianapolis.
“Our electric bet as a company is different than our competitors,” Ford Chief Operating Officer Jim Farley said in an interview. “The most critical bet we will be making over the next several years will be our commercial vehicles.”
Two of three electric vehicles Ford has announced as part of an $11.5 billion investment in electrification through 2022 are aimed at commercial customers – the Transit and an electric version of the company’s best-selling model, the F-150 pickup.
Ford’s Mustang Mach-E electric SUV represents a low-volume challenge to electric luxury vehicle market leader Tesla Inc.
The electric Transit and F-150 will play in market segments Ford dominates in the United States and Europe.
“Half of the vehicles doing work in the U.S. are Ford Motor Co vehicles,” Farley said. Ford is also the No. 1 commercial vehicle brand in Europe, and has led the commercial van market in Britain, which is Europe’s largest, for 55 years.
Regulators in Europe and in some U.S. cities are stepping up pressure on businesses to replace diesel or gasoline-fueled delivery vans with electric models to reduce pollution in city centers.
In the United States, Amazon.com Inc, has ordered 100,000 electric delivery vans from start-up Rivian, the first of which will be delivered in 2021 and built in Normal, Illinois. Ford has a separate partnership with Rivian.
The electric Transit will not be related to the Rivian van, said Ted Cannis, Ford’s director of electrification.
The new Transit will be an early test of the company’s efforts to deploy new connectivity technology and services to go with it, Farley said.
Ford said the electric Transit will be built in America and cost more than the gasoline-powered version, which starts at $34,500. Research firm Auto Forecast Solutions said it will be built in Kansas City, Missouri, along with the gasoline version.
Supplier sources who asked not to be identified said Ford will launch production in late 2021, with plans to build around 2,000 that year and increase to 14,000 annually by 2023.
(Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit; Additional reporting by Paul Lienert; Editing by Richard Chang)
BERLIN (Reuters) – A German court on Sunday ordered Tesla Inc to stop clearing forest land near the capital Berlin to build its first European car and battery factory, a victory for local environmental activists.
The U.S. electric carmaker announced plans last November to build a Gigafactory in Gruenheide in the eastern state of Brandenburg.
The court ruling, by the higher administrative court of the states of Berlin and Brandenburg, comes after the state environmental office gave a green light to clear 92 hectares of forest for the plant.
Planning permission has not yet been granted to build the Gigafactory, however, meaning U.S. entrepreneur Elon Musk’s company is preparing the ground at its own risk.
In a statement, the court said it had issued the order to stop the tree-felling because it would have only taken three more days to complete the work.
Otherwise the clearance would have been completed before judges made a final decision on the complaint brought by a local environmentalist group called the Gruene Liga Brandenburg (Green League of Brandenburg).
“It should not be assumed that the motion seeking legal protection brought by the Green League lacks any chance of succeeding,” the court statement added.
Lawmakers from the pro-business Christian Democrat and Free Democrat parties have warned that the legal battle waged against the Gigafactory would inflict serious and long-lasting damage on Germany’s image as a place to do business.
Local and national lawmakers have been caught out by the strength of opposition to the Gigafactory, with hundreds of demonstrators protesting over what they say is the threat it poses to local wildlife and water supplies.
Tesla currently has two Gigafactories in the United States and one in Shanghai, China.
Tesla shares have surged 340% since early June as more investors bet on Musk’s vision.
(Reporting by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
FILE PHOTO: A sign welcomes visitors to the General Motors Lordstown Complex assembly plant in Warren, Ohio
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Electric pickup truck start-up Lordstown Motors is pursuing a $200 million loan from a U.S. Energy Department program to retool a former General Motors <GM> factory in northeast Ohio, Chief Executive Steve Burns told Reuters.
Burns met with Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette on Monday for about an hour and the company was holding additional talks with officials on Tuesday from the Energy Department’s Loan Program Office.
“We think we are worthy of government help. We don’t want a handout – we want a loan,” Burns told Reuters in an interview. “It’s just going to be more jobs faster if we get it. We are viable without it.”
Burns disclosed the company plans to unveil a drivable version of its electric truck at the Detroit auto show in June. It hopes to begin production by year-end.
The Energy Department declined comment.
Burns said the company hopes to receive funding from the Energy Department’s Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program that in 2009 awarded loans to Ford Motor Co <F>, Tesla Inc <TSLA> and Nissan Motor Co <NSANY> to retool factories, but has not issued loans since 2011. Nissan and Tesla previously repaid their loans.
The fate of the sprawling plant became a political lightning rod after GM announced its planned closure in November 2018, drawing condemnation from U.S. President Donald Trump and many U.S. lawmakers.
A bipartisan group of Ohio lawmakers wrote Brouillette last week offering “strong support” for the loan, saying northeast Ohio was dealt a “severe blow” by the plant closing.
Lordstown Motors Corp, which is 10% owned by Workhorse Group Inc <WKHS>, bought the plant and equipment for $20 million as part of its ambitious plan to begin building electric pickup trucks by the end of 2020.
“It’s cool to bring something back to life,” Burns said.
The company is working to raise additional funding and is in advanced talks with a large strategic investor, Burns said.
GM last year agreed to loan Lordstown Motors $40 million to acquire and retool the plant. Burns hopes to repay GM’s loan “in a few weeks.”
Burns plans to start crash-testing vehicles in July, hiring about 400 hourly workers in September and to begin production in November or December.
Electric vehicle startup Rivian, backed by Amazon.com Inc <AMZN> and Ford, plans to build an electric pickup truck and companion starting in late 2020. GM plans to build its first electric pickup truck starting in late 2021. Tesla plans to start building its electric Cybertruck in late 2021.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Nick Zieminski)
BERLIN (Reuters) – Around 250 Germans on Saturday protested in the outskirts of Berlin where electric car startup Tesla is planning to build a gigafactory, saying its construction will endanger water supply and wildlife in the area.
The U.S. carmaker announced plans last November to build its first European car factory in Gruenheide, in the eastern state of Brandenburg.
Politicians, unions and industry groups have welcomed the move, saying it will bring jobs to the region, but environmental concerns drove hundreds of locals to the streets on Saturday.
“We are here, we are loud, because Tesla is stealing our water,” protesters called.
Saturday’s protest came after a Brandenburg water association on Thursday warned against “extensive and serious problems with the drinking water supply and wastewater disposal” for the proposed factory.
Anne Bach, a 27-year-old environmental activist, said Tesla’s plans published earlier this month showed it would need more than 300 cubic meters of water per hour which would drain the area’s declining reserves.
“I am not against Tesla … But it’s about the site; in a forest area that is a protected wildlife zone. Is this necessary?” Bach said.
“In such an ecological system like the one here and with the background that climate is changing, I cannot understand why another location was not selected from the beginning,” said Frank Gersdorf, a member of “Citizens’ Initiative Gruenheide against Gigafactory”, a local group that organised Saturday’s protest.
Environmentalist protests in Germany have previously halted and delayed major companies’ plans such RWE’s lignite mining at the Hambach forest, near Cologne, which has become a symbol of the anti-coal protests.
Saturday’s protest, which Gersdorf and Bach said developed spontaneously from a 50-people forest walk demonstration, highlighted the deforestation of around 300 hectares to build the factory and its impact on wildlife, including birds, insects and bats.
People were also protesting against an expected “enormous” increase in traffic on a nearby highway and through the villages.
Next to the protest, on the other side of the street, around 20 people carried banners welcoming Tesla in their village, with children chanting, “We are here, we are loud, because Tesla is building our future.”
Bernd Kutz, a Gruenheide local, said Tesla would bring improvement to the area, create jobs and give chances to young people.
“I am here because I don’t understand those demonstrators who shout and show us the finger,” Kutz said. “Why has it always to be negative?”
(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa; editing by Christina Fincher)
‘You’re stealing our water’: Germans protest against Tesla gigafactory Demonstrators hold anti-Tesla posters during a protest against plans by U.S. electric vehicle pioneer Tesla to build its first European factory and design center near Berlin
Volkswagen logo is seen on a Teramont X SUV displayed at the second media day for the Shanghai auto show in Shanghai
HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) – Volkswagen AG <VWAGY> is set to take a 20% stake in Chinese electric vehicle battery maker Guoxuan High-tech Co Ltd, two sources told Reuters, as the German firm accelerates its electric push into the world’s largest auto market.
The deal would mark Volkswagen’s first direct ownership in a Chinese battery maker and comes as the Wolfsburg-based automaker strives to meet a goal of selling 1.5 million new energy vehicles (NEVs) a year in China by 2025, including plug-in hybrid cars.
The top foreign automaker in China plans to acquire the stake in Shenzhen-listed Guoxuan via a discounted private share placement in the coming weeks, the two sources with knowledge of the matter said. Based on Guoxuan’s market capitalization of $2.8 billion, a 20% stake in the company at present is worth about $560 million.
The deal’s details have been mostly finalized and the two firms are waiting for new Chinese regulatory rules on private share placements that will provide a more flexible pricing mechanism and shorter lock-up periods for majority shareholders, said one of the people, speaking on condition of anonymity.
After the stake purchase, Volkswagen will become the battery maker’s second-largest shareholder with a 20% stake, behind Zhuhai Guoxuan Trading Ltd, a firm controlled by Guoxuan’s founder Li Zhen, which currently holds 25%.
Guoxuan is among a swathe of mid-tier Chinese battery makers behind CATL and BYD. It is based in China’s eastern city of Hefei, where Volkswagen is also building electric vehicles with JAC Motor, one of a number of its Chinese joint venture partners.
A third source, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter, said Volkswagen has long wanted to control a battery maker to better manage its supply chain.
Volkswagen declined to comment. Guoxuan and the China Securities Regulatory Commission did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
To achieve its NEV sales goal in China, Volkswagen has built a new $2.5 billion electric vehicle plant with partner SAIC Motor that will have annual output capacity of 300,000 cars and is also revamping manufacturing facilities in China’s southeastern city of Foshan to build electric cars with partner FAW Group.
Volkswagen has also identified CATL as a strategic supplier and Volkswagen board member Stefan Sommer told Reuters in July last year that it could even build its own battery cell manufacturing plants in China.
“By holding a stake in the top Chinese battery makers, carmakers can gain more bargaining power on battery prices,” said Yale Zhang, managing director of Shanghai-based consultancy AutoForesight. “Foreign carmakers are now catching up with their Chinese counterparts on securing battery supplies in China.”
Volkswagen’s rivals in China include Tesla, which earlier this month began delivering cars from its $2 billion factory in China. The U.S. electric car maker eventually plans to manufacture 250,000 vehicles a year in the plant’s first phase.
China has been a keen supporter of NEV – pure battery electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrids – and has started implementing NEV sales quota requirements for automakers.
However, cuts to subsidies have dealt the market a blow, with NEV sales contracting for the first time last year. Sales this year are likely to be flat or rise only slightly, according to China’s top auto industry association.
(Reporting by Julie Zhu in Hong Kong and Yilei Sun in Beijing; Additional reporting by Zhang Yan and Zhang Xiaochong in Beijing; Editing by Brenda Goh and Richard Pullin)
Workers leave the General Motors CAMI car assembly plant where the GMC Terrain and Chevrolet Equinox are built in Ingersoll
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – General Motors Co <GM> will revive the Hummer name to sell a new family of electric pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles and will tout the return with a Super Bowl ad featuring NBA star LeBron James, two people briefed on the matter said on Friday.
The vehicles will be sold under the GMC nameplate. Reuters reported in October that GM planned to build a new family of premium electric pickup trucks at its Detroit-Hamtramck plant beginning in late 2021 and was considering reviving the Hummer name, citing several people familiar with the plans.
The Wall Street Journal reported GM’s decision to move forward earlier on Friday. GM declined to comment.
The electric truck and SUV program is the centerpiece of a planned $3 billion investment in the Detroit-Hamtramck plant to make electric trucks and vans, and part of a broader $7.7 billion (5.9 billion pounds) investment in GM’s U.S. plants over the next four years that was part of a new contract signed with the United Auto Workers union last year.
The investment moves the automaker into a part of the EV market that is largely untested and where GM has a higher likelihood of turning a profit, analysts said.
Reuters reported GM plans to first build EV pickups in late 2021 and then an electric SUV in 2023.
Tesla <TSLA> CEO Elon Musk in November unveiled an electric pickup called “Cybertruck” it plans to build starting in late 2021.
Rivian, a start-up electric company backed by Amazon.com <AMZN>, will begin building 100,000 electric delivery vans for Amazon starting in 2021.
Hummers were rugged civilian utility vehicles with low gas mileage that were inspired by military vehicles and were popular with such celebrities as actor Arnold Schwarzenegger but derided by environmentalists as gas-guzzlers. GM shut down its Hummer brand after a deal to sell the SUV-line to an obscure Chinese machinery maker was blocked by Chinese regulators in 2010.
Michael Harley, executive editor for Kelley Blue Book, noted “the original Hummer was ostracized out of showrooms for being heavy and ponderous with an insatiable appetite for gasoline. An all-electric powertrain essentially exonerates the truck on all charges.”
Electric pickups and SUVs – the heart of the U.S. market – could help Ford Motor Co <F> and GM generate significant sales of EVs needed to meet tougher California emission standards and electric vehicle mandates.
The Trump administration is moving to roll back those standards – and eliminate extra credits that automakers receive from EV sales but electric trucks are a hedge if California prevails.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Sandra Maler and Alistair Bell)
FILE PHOTO: A 2018 Tesla Model 3 electric vehicle is shown in Cardiff, California
OSLO (Reuters) – The sale of new electric cars in Norway rose by 30.9% last year amid soaring demand for Tesla Inc’s <TSLA> vehicles, but the pioneering U.S. firm faces rising competition from rival auto makers in 2020.
Fully electric cars made up 42.4% of sales in the Nordic nation last year, a global record, rising from a 31.2% market share in 2018 and just 5.5% in 2013, the Norwegian Road Federation said on Friday.
Seeking to become the first country to end the sale of fossil-fueled cars by 2025, Norway exempts battery-powered vehicles from the taxes imposed on petrol and diesel engines.
This year, as many as six in 10 of all new cars sold in the country could be fully electric, said Volkswagen <VWAPY> distributor Harald A. Moeller AS, which is preparing to launch several models in 2020.
“The electrification of the car market is accelerating … we forecast electric vehicles to hold a 100% market share in 2025,” the importer said of the outlook for Norway.
The country’s best-selling car in 2019 was Tesla’s mid-sized Model 3 sedan, which retails from 384,900 Norwegian crowns ($43,721.74), racking up an 11% market share in the California-based firm’s first attempt at addressing the mass market.
(Reporting by Victoria Klesty and Lefteris Karagiannopoulos, writing by Terje Solsvik, editing by Gwladys Fouche)
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Tesla’s announcement earlier this month that it will build its first European factory near Berlin will draw further companies from the electric mobility and energy storage sectors into Germany, a state premier told newspaper Die Welt.
“They are already on their way. I’m hearing there are further inquiries with the communities and the regional business development programme. Tesla will cause other companies to follow,” said Dietmar Woidke, premier of the eastern German state of Brandenburg that surrounds Berlin.
He said Brandenburg was already in talks with other companies, declining to identify them due to confidentiality agreements. “I expect that we can announce it before Christmas,” Woidke said.
Tesla’s move is a big boost for Germany as a centre for manufacturing after BMW and Daimler in recent years chose to build new factories in Hungary, and after its auto industry was hit hard by Volkswagen’s admission in 2015 that it cheated U.S. diesel emissions tests.
(Reporting by Christoph Steitz; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Brandenburg’s PM Woidke speaks speaks to the media on Tesla European factory in Potsdam
