Getting Out Of Dodge

Getting Out Of Dodge

Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares abruptly “quit” earlier this week. stellantis.com

His departure happened nearly 18 months before his contract with the company was supposed to end. caranddriver.com

Was it a jump, or was it a push?

Reuters reported that the Stellantis board recently decided “unanimously” that Tavares needed to go. reuters.com

Which is curious because a month earlier, that same board had articulated their commitment to having Tavares ride out his contract to completion (after the CFO was fired). apnews.com, fortune.com

What prompted the abrupt falling out?

Was it the faltering stock price? finance.yahoo.com

Was it the handling of labour issues? apnews.com

Was it the challenged relationship with the Italian government? finance.yahoo.com

Was it a disagreement related to their transition to EVs? autonews.com

Was it the inventory bloat in North America? freep.com

Was it the angry dealers in the US who like to write angry letters? autonews.com

Or was Travares being too “aggressive” with internal targets (whatever the fuck that means)? reuters.com

The board had their reasons.

If you’re looking for work, the company hopes to find a replacement CEO in the first half of 2025. But I’m not sure you want the job.

What will Carlos do with himself?

It will probably be an adjustment for the man who was voted “World Car Person of the Year” four short years ago. worldcarawards.com

But I don’t think we need to worry about him.

In addition to whatever exit package he might be owed, he’s probably still riding high off his nearly forty million dollar pay package from last year. It’s not an Elon-level pay package, but it’ll do. reuters.com

Bruised ego aside, I suspect that Carl (can I call you Carl?) will be just fine.

In Other Stellantis News

For now, Carl’s place at Stellantis's helm will be taken by board chairman and Fiat heir John Elkann. fortune.com

Dodge trash-talks other EVs in their new Dodge Charger video. youtube.com

Stellantis signs an agreement with Zeta Energy to develop cheap lithium-sulfur batteries for EVs. reuters.com

The US Energy Department committed over seven billion to a joint venture between Stellantis and Samsung SDI to produce EV batteries. driving.ca

Stellantis recalls over 300,000 Ram trucks in the US due to a problem with the hydraulic control unit that may cause systems, like the anti-lock brakes, to fail. reuters.com

A Good Week For Charging

This week, a lot of progress was made to expand, simplify and open up access to more EV charging in North America.

The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), the auto industry, and Biden’s Joint Office of Energy & Transportation announced that Universal Plug & Charge will come in 2025. This will radically simplify the EV charging experience across different charging networks. theverge.com

The SAE also recently announced that it had released the J3400 charging connector, the new open standard based on the Tesla charging technology. “With an emphasis on compatibility, SAE J3400™ will advance an interoperable charging network that will make it easier for drivers to access charging infrastructure without the need for multiple adaptors or proprietary systems.” sae.org

Rivian began to open up its charging outposts to other manufacturers. electrek.co

GM and EVgo announced that they’ve installed their 2,000th public EV charging station. theverge.com

USPS Duck Truck

As part of the US Postal Service’s ongoing commitment to electrifying America’s largest and oldest federal fleet, their new duck-nosed electric trucks started rolling out earlier this year. usps.com

And guess what? US Postal Workers love their new duck-nosed electric trucks. nytimes.com (paid subscription required)

Just as their love affair with EVs starts to flourish, “Donald Trump's transition team is considering cancelling the U.S. Postal Service's contracts to electrify its delivery fleet, as part of a broader suite of executive orders targeting electric vehicles, according to three sources familiar with the plans.” reuters.com

The Donald knows why we call it “going postal,” right? latimes.com (paid subscription required)

China’s Automotive Expansion

Making history, BYD became the first OEM to produce ten million plug-in vehicles (PHEVs, EREVs, BEVs). autoblog.com

BYD, Leapmotor, and Xiaomi smash annual delivery targets ahead of schedule. cnbc.com

Thailand's consumer watchdog has cleared BYD of wrongdoing related to discounting and pricing practices. reuters.com

In other news, did you know that BYD also makes iPads for Apple? wsj.com (paid subscription required)

Chinese OEMs may have found a loophole that lets them get around EV tariffs… sell more hybrids. reuters.com

Must Know Musk News

A Delaware judge rejected Elon’s multi-billion dollar pay package… again. theverge.com, bbc.com

Tesla pauses Cybertruck production. businessinsider.com

Sales of China-made Teslas fell 4.3% YoY in November. reuters.com

Tesla's latest Full Self-Driving update enables their EVs to drive themselves to superchargers (a human is still currently needed to plug it in). thedriven.io

Rise Of The Machines

Inspired by a cat’s ability to twist and land on its paws, researchers from the Harbin Institute of Technology developed a robot capable of leaping across rugged surfaces. interestingengineering.com

Amp Robotics raises $91M to build more robot-filled waste-sorting facilities. techcrunch.com

A new aerial bird-plane drone called the RAVEN (Robotic Avian-inspired Vehicle for multiple ENvironments) jumps to take off. newatlas.com

ARX Robotics claims it can turn old military trucks into AI-driven autonomous-driving vehicles. techcrunch.com

Energy

Researchers at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz and the University of Siegen in Germany have found a way to store solar energy in chemicals for several weeks or even months. cleantechnica.com, eurekalert.org

San Antonio’s grid is getting charged up with a new 120-megawatt, 480-megawatt-hour battery storage project electrek.co

The Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council gave the green light to what will be the US’s largest solar and storage project. electrek.co

Kiwetinohk Energy plans to build a 460-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant southwest of Rimbey, Alberta. reddeeradvocate.com

Enbridge has cancelled plans to build a natural gas pipeline project in northern British Columbia. financialpost.com

But Wait, There’s More

Built for Europe, Ford’s new Puma Gen-E looks like a mini-Mustang Mach-E, gets 376km (233 miles) on a full charge, and can charge from 10 to 80 percent in 23 minutes. theverge.com

GM takes a five billion dollar ($5,000,000,000) write-down hit from their money-losing Chinese operation. wsj.com (paid subscription required)

Infiniti lets US dealerships co-locate with Nissan in an effort to survive. autonews.com

Toyota delays the launch of their next crop of EVs again. electrek.co

ICYMI: VW workers in Germany went on strike. arstechnica.com

Brazilian labour prosecutors charged VW with subjecting farm workers to conditions akin to slavery decades ago. reuters.com

Honda has a fuel tube problem. reuters.com

Consumer Reports data puts Rivian (ahead of both BMW and Tesla) at the top of the list for customer satisfaction. electrek.co

The next Popemobile will be an EV built by Mercedes. theverge.com

TELO lists their funky new tiny EV truck with a starting price of $41K USD. electrek.co

Three-wheeled EV start-up Aptera isn’t dead yet. electrek.co

Waymo plans to expand its robotaxi service into Miami. theverge.com

Car Wow did a review of the new Jaguar Type 00 Concept. youtube.com

In November, 93% of all vehicle registrations in Norway were electric. electrek.co

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