Trucks | FoT: Baltimore, Ionobell, Basigo

FoT is the intelligence arm of Trucks Venture Capital 

Notable:

Baltimore’s Key Bridge collapsed after it was struck by container ship Dali, closing the city’s port indefinitely (link). The port handles major auto import trade (link): 'The disruption to the Port of Baltimore, which handled more than 750,000 vehicles in 2022, is expected to have a minimal impact on the U.S auto industry, early analysis shows.' An analysis of how ship size, weight and port depths have changed (link). 'The challenge for the port now is that the basic definition of “deep water” has changed. What was deep enough even in the 20th century is no longer deep enough.'

Tesla appears to be evolving its language on its Full Self Driving ADAS product, now referring to it as 'Supervised Full Self Driving' (link). Related: a new policy emerges where Tesla employees will be demo-ing ADAS features for customers (link). Tesla rolls out 1-month free trial to their Full Self Driving (FSD) ADAS (link).

The EPA's new emissions mandates for heavy-duty trucks were released on Friday (link). 'The Environmental Protection Agency projects the new rule could mean that 25% of new long-haul trucks, the heaviest on the road, and 40% of medium-size trucks, like box trucks and landscaping vehicles, could be nonpolluting by 2032. Today, fewer than 2% of new heavy trucks sold in the United States fit that bill. The regulation would apply to more than 100 types of vehicles including tractor-trailers, ambulances, R.V.s, garbage trucks and moving vans.'

Instead of the Apple car, consider the Xiaomi car (link). Cheaper than a Tesla Model 3, faster than a Porsche Taycan. The company received 50k orders in under 30 minutes (link). The SU7 will go on sale in 211 stores across 39 Chinese cities by end of this year, but it's unclear when Xiaomi will export the vehicles to other markets.

The next range bogey: >1000 mile plug-in hybrids (link). 'Geely, BYD Targeting 1,243-mile Range for New PHEVs.' A friend at a Detroit automaker calls this the race for the 'practical EV,' where the pure electric range gets you 100 miles, but the range-extender ICE gets you 10x that for long drives.

A Waymo ran a red light in San Francisco, reportedly under the command of a remote operator (link).

How Tesla and China built a symbiotic relationship (link). 'The company is so ensconced in China that Mr. Musk cannot easily extricate himself, should he ever want to. Teslas cost significantly less to make in Shanghai than elsewhere, a key saving when the company is in a price war with its competitors.'

Profile of Morris Chang, who started chip maker TSMC at age 55 (link).

Indonesia’s e-bike shops are building their own batteries (link). 'I can tell you that most people I know who use Gesit [Indonesia’s e-bike brand] no longer use the brand’s original battery.'

Stellantis CEO remains all-in on EVs as others retrench (link).

Single point of failure: America's GPS (link). 'Yet, unlike China, the United States does not have a Plan B for civilians should those signals get knocked out in space or on land.'

Video: First powered flight of Stratolaunch's Talon plane (link). Video: A custom-made LED NASCAR leaderboard for your living room (link). Video: Audi rally driver Michèle Mouton reacts to her victory at the 1982 WRC Acropolis race (link). Video: DJI's new drone docking system (link). Video: walkthrough of the new Xiaomi SU7 (link). Video: flat-pack $5k cardboard drone (link).

Behind the allure of the Hot Wheels 'treasure hunt' editions (link).

M&A / Deals / Changes:

Kenyan electric bus startup BasiGo raises $3M (link). Led by CFAO.

Silicon anode battery startup Ionobell raises $3.9M (link). Led by Dynamo and Trucks.

Assets of EV startup Arrival acquired by Canoo (link).

In U.S. first, Mitsubishi and Nissan team on EV, pickup, plug-in hybrid (link).

Lucid Motors raises $1B (link). Led by Ayar Third Investment.

Board Changes:

Oshkosh: John Shiely resigns from board (link).

Boeing: Steven Mollenkopf promoted to Independent chairperson, succeeds Lawrence Kellner; David Calhoun to depart as CEO and from Board Q4 2024 (link).

SkyWest: Jerry Atkin retires from board; James Welch promoted to chairperson (link).

New Stuff:

FAA clears JetZero's blended wing demonstrator for test flights (link). Via Weans.

New York MTA unveils its new subway app (link).

NYC announces new permitting process for AVs; safety driver required (link).

Amsterdam's Schipol airport conducts trials of AVs (link).

As Fisker teeters, prices for new Ocean models hover near $25,000 (link). The biggest concern? Getting stranded by software-enabled vehicle.

Cox Automotive rolls out VIN-level EV battery health tool (link).

Patents & Patent Applications:

Ford's patent application shows satellite-enabled off-road obstacle detection (link).

Statistics / Projections:

The environmental 'payback' time for EV vs ICE varies around the world, but in the US the number is around 25,000 miles (link). Via BNEF.

Only 38% of US EV owner survey respondents said they charge every night, while another 54% said they charge every second or third night (link). Via CDK.

U.S. EV battery recycling plants plan to have the capacity to recycle 1.3 million EV-equivalents of batteries annually, but only 341,000 will be available by 2030 (link). Via RPN.

Thank you:

Thank you to Carrie Collins (link), George Kalligeros (link), Paul Lienert (link), Tom O'Keefe (link), Sandeep Sehgal (link) and Sean Simpson (link) for offers of introductions to new founders, investors and friends over the last week.

Trucks portfolio companies mentioned in this issue:

Basigo (link), Ionobell (link), JetZero (link). View the full portfolio of Trucks companies (link).

See you next week,

Reilly Brennan