Good morning! It’s Wednesday, November 15, 2023, and that is The Morning Shift, your day by day roundup of the highest automotive headlines from around the globe, in a single place. Here are the essential tales it’s essential to know.
1st Gear: Thousands Of UAW Workers Reject Deal
After a six-week-long strike, the United Auto Workers union lastly reached a tentative settlement for a brand new deal between its members and Stellantis, Ford and General Motors. The deal promised wage hikes, higher working circumstances and, in some circumstances, funding in services, which was sufficient to deliver members off the picket line and again onto the manufacturing unit flooring. Now, as members vote to ratify the brand new deal, it seems hundreds of employees aren’t pleased with its phrases.
Autoworkers on the Big Three are voting to ratify their contracts, however NPR warns {that a} “sizeable minority” are saying no to the offers, which secured 25 p.c raises and elevated retirement contributions. The choice to vote no comes as some employees really feel that the raises nonetheless “only partially make up for what was lost” prior to now. NPR stories:
Jerry Coleman, who’s labored on the Stellantis Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio, as a brief worker since 2018, says he’s a particular no vote.
“If I could vote no ten times, I would,” he says.
A big a part of it’s mistrust. After studying the contract language, he’s not satisfied Stellantis will observe via with what’s been promised, together with a conversion to everlasting standing for temps like himself.
Workers saying no to the contract argue that circumstances nonetheless aren’t nearly as good as they have been in 2007, earlier than the monetary crash hit and pay packets, retirement funds and different advantages have been slashed by Ford, GM and Stellantis.
Because of that, a excessive share of employees in any respect three corporations have voted towards the deal. At Ford, 34 p.c of the 25,000 votes solid are towards the deal, whereas at GM and Stellantis it’s 48 p.c and 18 p.c towards respectively.
There’s nonetheless a protracted option to go, nonetheless, and hundreds extra employees are but to vote on the deal.
2nd Gear: EVs Are Still Too Expensive, But That Could Change Soon
There was some excellent news within the electrical automobile house this week because it was introduced that the U.S. is on observe to promote 1 million EVs for the primary time in 2023. However, we would have reached that milestone so much faster if there have been extra reasonably priced choices available on the market.
That’s one concern that’s hitting Europe’s pivot to EVs, the place Reuters stories patrons are holding off on taking the all-electric plunge whereas they anticipate cheaper choices to hit the market. What’s extra, hesitant adopters who maintain off a couple of extra years consider they’re more likely to get their fingers on a greater automotive after they lastly do make the swap, as Reuters stories:
“The main problem is uncertainty,” mentioned Thomas Niedermayer, head of a 45-year-old family-owned Bavarian automotive dealership.
“Many assume that the technology will improve and would rather wait three years for the next model than buy a vehicle now that will quickly lose value.”
So when can patrons anticipate to have the ability to purchase a do-it-all EV that received’t break the financial institution? Well, it’s in all probability nonetheless a couple of extra years away but. According to Volkswagen, a €20,000 EV won’t be accessible in Europe till the “second half of decade,” stories Reuters. In America, the German firm thinks it’s nonetheless three to 4 years till we get a funds EV that folks truly need to purchase.
Despite such a automotive nonetheless being a couple of years off, VW CEO Oliver Blume advised Reuters that it stays his firm’s “responsibility to bring the right products at the right price onto the market.”
third Gear: Lithium Mining Comes To Arkansas
In order to make all these low cost EVs that Americans will little doubt purchase in droves, we’re gonna want quite a lot of uncommon earth metals to make use of in batteries and different elements. To meet this imminent increase in demand, oil big Exxon is shifting into mining and has plans for a lithium mine in Arkansas.
At its new facility, Exxon plans to pump lithium-rich brine from underground lakes which can be about 10,000 ft under the floor, stories Ars Technica. Once pumped to the floor and refined, the lithium created on the website might assist assemble batteries for 1 million EVs a 12 months by 2030. Ars Technica stories:
“Lithium is essential to the energy transition, and ExxonMobil has a leading role to play in paving the way for electrification,” mentioned Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions. “This landmark project applies decades of ExxonMobil expertise to unlock vast supplies of North American lithium with far fewer environmental impacts than traditional mining operations,” he mentioned.
Assuming all goes to plan, Exxon desires to start producing lithium by 2027, with an output ample to construct one million EVs yearly by 2030.
The rush to open lithium services in America has come about following president Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which set strict Made In America targets for any EV hoping to be eligible for a $7,500 tax break.
The tax credit accessible for EVs at the moment are linked to the home content material in its battery pack, which has inspired automakers like Hyundai and BMW to pursue battery manufacturing services of their very own right here in America.
4th Gear: Cruise Suspends Even More Taxi Services
After pausing its self-driving taxi providers in America after a probe into the security of its providers, GM-backed autonomous automotive firm Cruise has now halted all its U.S. choices, together with rides in automobiles with a security driver on the wheel.
Starting instantly, Cruise will droop all supervised and guide automotive journeys within the U.S., stories Reuters. The transfer comes because it seems to “rebuild public trust” following a spate of severe crashes and incidents involving Cruise automobiles. Reuters stories:
“This orderly pause is a further step to rebuild public trust while we undergo a full safety review,” Cruise mentioned in a weblog submit. “We will continue to operate our vehicles in closed course training environments and maintain an active simulation program in order to stay focused on advancing AV technology.”
As effectively as pausing its providers, Cruise will conduct a evaluation into its practices after considered one of its automobiles hit a pedestrian and pinned them beneath the automobile.
The probe will see the corporate work with an impartial engineering agency to undertake a “comprehensive review” of its security techniques and know-how. The firm can even rent an exterior security skilled to evaluation the corporate’s operations and tradition. This will all be along with an investigation into Cruise that’s being carried out by the NHTSA.
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Source: jalopnik.com