Our newsletter this week includes news about Ram, Jeep, Waymo, Cruise, Lucid, and more.
Jeep is about to enter the 100% electric market. Jeep and Stellantis plan to launch a passenger EV under the Jeep brand by 2023. There are limited details, but we do know what the first all-electric Jeep will look like.
In other EV News
- Lucid recently finalized agreements in Saudi Arabia to build a full production factory. Lucid’s motivation for the plant is the global demand for its EVs. The plant will be located in King Abdullah Economic City and Lucid expects to produce up to 150,000 vehicles per year at its peak.
- Did Rolls Royce launch an EV? Not quite. One man in Richmond, B.C. took it upon himself to convert his Rolls Royce into an electric vehicle though. Motivated by his daughter Gloria’s refusal to ride in the gas-powered vehicle, Vincent Yu spent four years converting his Rolls into a more environmentally friendly luxury vehicle. Now he and his daughter can cruise the streets together.
- Toyota thinks they have the answer with a special coolant that doesn’t conduct electricity easily. According to Toyota’s project manager, the company is focusing on balancing three factors: cruising range, battery degradation, and charging speed.
- We recently noted that Ford was looking at separating its EVs division. Late last week, Ford's CEO said there were no plans to do so.
- BYD has launched a joint venture with EV Direct and Eagers Automotive to establish a dealer group in Australia. The goal is 20 retail locations by 2024.
- The new Ram 1500 has been teased. The Ram 1500 is a full-size electric pickup and should arrive in 2024. Ram also has plans for an electric heavy-duty truck that will also be offered with a fuel cell. Eventually, Ram plans on a midsize electric truck.
- Rivian aims to take 10% of the share in the EV market by 2030 and announced the company is “making progress” in the increase of production in their assembly plant in Normal, Illinois.
AV Corner
The California Public Utilities Commission issued permits to General Motors’ self-driving unit, Cruise, and Alphabet Inc.’s AV sector, Waymo. The permits will allow the companies to launch passenger service in autonomous vehicles with human drivers present as a backup. Prior to this, Cruise and Waymo were only allowed to test with passenger service and weren’t allowed to charge customers.In other AV News
- Embark Trucks, an autonomous vehicle start-up company, has partnered with Alterra Property Group to tackle the issue of the lack of space for transportation hubs in the nation, especially across the Sun Belt states. The two companies will establish a network of outdoor storage sites to serve as terminals and transfer points.
- Tesla has begun testing its Full-Self Driving data software in Canada with approximately 60 cars. CEO, Elon Musk, hopes to increase the number of test vehicles in the coming days.
- Mercedes-Benz plans to roll out an automated driving system on U.S. highways by the end of 2022. The company’s DRIVE PILOT system is designed for highway use. The system is able to alert the driver to resume manual drive in a variety of cautious situations.
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