Trucks | FoT: Cowboy, Hydrogen, Oxylus

FoT is the intelligence arm of Trucks Venture Capital 

Notable:

Volvo pushes back EV-only 2030 goal (link). VW's EV plan runs into soft demand and high manufacturing costs (link). It's likely we see that PHEVs and EREVs quietly grow in the next decade, which will allow both sides of ICE/EV debate to claim a victory. The BEV-only timelines for the ICE incumbents must have felt delicious delivering to Wall Street, but the market is the market. What sorts of regulatory penalties are ahead for missing targets? (link). Renault CEO: 'If electric vehicles remain at today's level, the European industry may have to pay 15B Euros in fines or give up the production of more than 2.5M vehicles.'

'China's global battery ram will be hard to stop' (link). I agree with Bill Gurley here: 'Been playing with the theory that broad vilification of China in the US is a huge blinder to understanding & recognizing our global competitive position. Like an athlete who thinks the other side is 'cheating,' you are much less likely to accept the fact that you are simply behind' (link).

America's roads are filled with cars that are too heavy, making our roads more dangerous (link). 'The Economist has found that, for every life the heaviest 1% of SUVs or trucks saves in America, more than a dozen lives are lost in smaller vehicles.' Most vehicles are overspecified.

Tesla sales stall in China as consumers increasingly demand hybrids (link). '(Tesla's) share of Chinese EV sales, including battery and plug-in hybrids, slipped to 6.5% in the first seven months of the year from almost 9% a year earlier...Tesla has not released a new EV in China since 2019, while other carmakers are launching more than 100 new models in the country this year alone.' For the US market, what if the growth strategy for BEV-native brands (Tesla, Rivian, Scout) is to expand with EREVs as a temporary driver of sales, then go back to BEV mid 2030?

Woman who drove drunk and killed pedestrians while using her Ford BlueCruise ADAS system charged with DUI homicide (link). If it's ADAS and the system is functioning properly as designed, the driver will be at fault in these. Not until Level 4 does this flip to being in the hands of the manufacturer (Like the legendary chupacabra, I don't believe that Level 3 actually exists).

Why can't America build ships? (link). 'It costs 2x to 4x as much to build a ship in the U.S. as it does elsewhere.'

Video: Huertas gives us the wobbly bike save of the year (link). Via Nick G. Video: Korean researchers create variable-stiffness wheelchair wheels (link). Video: man set up his own private toll road (link). Video: upside down GMC van cruisin' Woodward (link). Video: Tiny KG Motors ultracompact EV from Japan is very cute (link). Via AH. Video: Red Bull's homage to SF skateboard hill bombing (link). Via Marc J. Video: HPV (human powered vehicle) world championship footage (link).

M&A / Deals / Changes:

BMW and Toyota move forward on production vehicle plans for hydrogen development, including a new network of filling stations (link).

Belgian ebike startup Cowboy raises $5M (link). Led by Cypress Capital.

Boston area battery startup 24M raises $87M (link). Led by Nuovo.

Lyft cuts employees from its bikes and scooters group, will focus more on docked bike networks instead of floating (link).

SF based freight management software startup Portex raises $6.25M (link). Led by Footwork and Cowboy Ventures.

Synthetic fuel startup Oxylus raises $4.5M (link). Led by Toyota Ventures and Azolla Ventures.

Blended-wing aviation startup JetZero forms strategic partnership with British carrier easyJet (link).

Board & Executive Changes:

General Motors: Alfred Kelly joins board (link).

Freyr Battery: Tom Einar Jensen named CEO continues on board (link).

ConocoPhillips: Nelda Connors joins board (link).

Featured Jobs:

FPGA Engineer at Xona Space Systems in Montréal, Quebec, Canada (link).

Embedded Engineer at Tangram Vision, remote (link).

MobilityJobs is the No.1 job board for auto & transportation companies (link). If you are a startup you can use the job board for free standard listings — just enter 'Trucks' at checkout.

New Stuff:

Audi V8 swap for old Porsche Boxsters (link). Via Clay D. From a friend who works in vehicle design: 'This could be a whole new world of Porsche Outlaws'

The Lucid Air hit 523 mile range in recent testing, making it the longest-distance EV for sale in America today (link).

Volvo commits to OTA updates for older vehicles (link). But then I read their definition of older is only 2020 and newer, which made me feel old.

Lyft rolls out 'price lock' feature for $2.99/month (link).

Patents & Patent Applications:

Tesla's patent application shows wireless charging mat (link).

Statistics / Projections:

About 1/4 of public fast-charging stations in the US were installed in only the last 12 months (link). Via Bloomberg.

SpaceX now controls 2/3 of all active satellites (link). Via The Independent.

Against Uber and Lyft, Waymo's customer retention rate has been much higher (link). Via Earnest Analytics. 'Over 33% of Waymo customers returned 13 quarters after their first transaction, leading both Uber and Lyft.'

Thank you:

Thank you to Bharath Krishnamoorthy (link) and Adam Morath (link) for offers of introductions to new founders, investors and friends over the last week.

Trucks portfolio companies mentioned in this issue:

JetZero (link), Joby Aviation (link), Tangram Vision (link), Xona Space Systems (link). View the full portfolio of Trucks companies (link).

Take the Underground to Dragonham East,

Reilly Brennan