The Enemy Of My Enemy Is My Friend

Is Automotive Adopting An ‘The Enemy Of My Enemy Is My Friend’ Strategy?

Or Are They Sleeping With The Enemy? Or Both?

Previous automotive competitors are exploring partnerships in an effort to accelerate the development of cost-effective electric vehicle platforms and keep the threat of cheap Chinese-made EVs at bay.

Earlier this year, GM CEO Mary Barra and Ford CEO Jim Farley openly discussed that partnership and technology sharing between the two long-standing rivals was not off the table. reuters.com

This week, Japanese competitors Honda and Nissan made news as they sought to partner on EV production and technology. “Honda and Nissan have put aside the “traditional approach” of fierce rivalry to join forces and work together on electric vehicle technology as Japan’s carmakers try to catch up with Chinese competitors.” theguardian.com, reuters.com, autonews.com, theglobeandmail.com

Honda is already working with Sony on their Afeela EV. autoblog.com

Nissan already manufactures under the Venucia badge in partnership with DongFeng Motor in China. technode.com

There is a long list of established manufacturers who have picked a dance partner in China.

The Chinese government recently approved Stellantis’ investment in Leapmotor. reuters.com

Thanks to their long-standing joint venture with SAIC, GM sold over 100K EVs in China last year. electrek.co, wikipedia.org

Ford was trying to build a battery plant with CATL in Michigan but got caught up in some policy, political and regulatory complications. Ford also has a history with Changan and JMC. reuters.com, wikipedia.org, wikipedia.org

Volkswagen is building an SUV with Xpeng, building the ID7 S with FAW, and expanding its joint venture with JAC. reuters.com, carscoops.com, reuters.com

For all of their “we won with hybrids” talk in the US, Toyota builds EVs with FAW using BYD batteries in China. cnevpost.com

BMW works with Brilliance. wikipedia.org

JLR works with Chery. wikipedia.org

Hyundai Group and Mercedes both work with BAIC. wikipedia.org

Mercedes also holds a 10% stake in Denza (while BYD owns the rest). wikipedia.org

Don’t forget the Geely foursome, including Zeekr, Volvo, and Polestar. wikipedia.org

Although they’ve had their ups and downs (mostly downs), GAC Group will sign a joint venture with anyone (ask Toyota, Hino, Honda, Stellantis, and Mitsubishi.) Most of which haven’t ended well. wikipedia.org, stellantis.com, reuters.com

We’ve now entered an era of “reverse joint ventures” where Chinese EV tech is sought out by the rest of the automotive world, who’ve somehow been left standing on thin ICE.

China’s Automotive Expansion

BYD announces a new, even more cost-effective EV platform that it expects will kick off a “liberation battle” against gas-powered vehicles. electrek.co

BYD, the “Tesla of China,” doesn’t like to be compared to Tesla, says BYD Europe CEO Michael Shu. "BYD has a vast portfolio of brands and technologies — including our state of the art plug-in hybrids -- while Tesla is electric cars only with a single brand. We are two very different animals." europe.autonews.com

Nio is looking for beta testers for their new AI voice assistant “in the hope that AI will improve the passenger-vehicle conversation experience.” cnevpost.com

Must Know Musk News

The Boring Company has a new digging machine “designed for rapid continuous mining” all lined up at Tesla Giga Factory Texas to start making some holes in the ground. teslarati.com

Elon said his artificial intelligence startup, xAI, would open-source its ChatGPT challenger "Grok" this week. But to my knowledge, that hasn’t happened yet. techcrunch.com, reuters.com

SpaceX’s Starship and the Super Heavy Rocket, the biggest rocket ever made, reached orbit. They did some tests. They made history. And then they lost the ship. techcrunch.com, arstechnica.com

Wall Street analysts believe Tesla is “years away” from manufacturing a low-cost Model 2 EV. fortune.com

Tesla is offering LFP battery retrofits on early Model 3s. electrek.co

Don Lemon signs a deal with “X”. Does an interview with Elon. Musk cancels the contract via text message. No one is sure if the agreement was signed in the first place. Rumours suggest Lemon asked for some crazy shit (millions of dollars and a Cybertruck). Don still plans to release the interview on “X.” Elon gratuitously uses lemon emoji in “X” posts. And the world keeps spinning. nytimes.com, cnn.com, cnbc.com, nypost.com, twitter.com

Energy

Mitsubishi-owned Pyxis Ocean is a bulk carrier vessel with a unique wind-propulsion technology. After successfully testing its “WindWings” over six months, an estimated 11.2 tonnes of C02 emissions were saved. bbc.com

Alberta has forgotten that it loves energy and that business is business. Their renewable energy restrictions may cost the province $11 Billion, and 6.3 gigawatts of capacity the province could have used this past winter. reuters.com

China added more solar energy to its grid last year than the US did in all of its history. bloomberg.com

Start-up Coreshell thinks it knows how to build cheaper, 500-mile range LFP batteries. techcrunch.com, coreshell.com

But Wait, There’s More

RAM steps in the electric van ring. autonews.com

Volvo has software that will improve EV charge time. electrek.co

Some people are really excited about the Porsche Macan EV. insideevs.com

GM is using AI to figure out where to drop charging stations. arstechnica.com

Mercedes built a humanoid robot to help out in their factories. theverge.com

Ford learns that math is hard (and expensive when you get it wrong). reuters.com

Van manufacturer Morgan Olson is working with Rivian to build electric vans. One of their first customers is likely to be Canada Post. cleantechnica.com

Red Bull is building a $6.3 Million hypercar. motortrend.com

Canadian 2023 Zero Emission Vehicle sales hit over 10%, according to data from Statistics Canada. “New-car buyers continued to favour battery-electrics over plug-in hybrids in 2023, though PHEVs made up ground.” canada.autonews.com

Lordstown Motors, reborn as Nu Ride Inc., is ready to resume its legal battle with Foxconn. techcrunch.com

Uber and Lyft exit stage left in Minneapolis over the city’s new ride-share driver minimum wage law. theverge.com

Amazon-funded robotaxi company Zoox starts operating at night. theverge.com

Goldman Sachs is clear: the future of transportation is electric. goldmansachs.com

Everyone’s driver assistance tech is kinda ass. reuters.com

ICYMI

Two words: autonomous snowplows. caranddriver.com

Other Interests

Strangely stunning 3D printed data center building built in 140 hours. newatlas.com

Dr. Fei-Fei Li urges the US federal government to invest in academic computing power, so their post-secondary educational institutions aren’t left behind in the virtual AI dust.washingtonpost.com, twitter.com

Alchemy is not dead. Scientists figure out how to make gold out of electronic waste. independent.co.uk

Kick Out The Jams

Some entirely unnecessary links to music for your listening pleasure. Enjoy.

Here is a new track from one of my all-time favourite bands, The Jesus and Mary Chain. youtube.com

Wonderful new-ish music from MGMT. youtube.com

Interpol announces a UK tour, during which they plan to play their 2004 album “Antics” in its entirety. nme.com, youtube.com

Nine Inch Nails adjacent track of the week “Too Late, All Gone.” youtube.com

See Me IRL (In Calgary)

I’ll be moderating a panel at the sold-out “Dealer Huddle West” event in Calgary on March 19th, 2024. eventbrite.com