Trucks | FoT: Motional, Zeekr, Tesla Charging

FoT is the intelligence arm of Trucks Venture Capital 

Notable:

Tesla's staff reductions on charging unit confuse customers, partners (link). 'Musk’s decision to lay off the 500-member team responsible for installing charging stations, and to sharply slow investment in new stations, baffled the industry and raised doubts about whether the number of public chargers would grow fast enough to keep pace with sales of battery-powered cars. It put the onus on other charging companies.' WSJ reported that the layoffs have brought construction of some new sites to a stop: 'the layoffs halted construction work at a dozen Supercharger sites in Texas' (link). From an FoT reader at an automaker with a Tesla charging-related agreement in place: 'our contacts responsible for charging had their emails bounced so we tried to find their gmail addresses to at least speak with them.' Conceivably this could push more manufacturers to join the Ionna charging alliance (link), made up of 7 OEMs globally, although Ionna hasn’t posted anything in a few months and their website footer still says Copyright 2023.

By 2029, all passenger cars sold in the US will be required to have automatic emergency braking (AEB) up to 90 mph (link). 'Around 90% of light-duty vehicles on the road today come standard with automatic emergency braking, or AEB. But the new rule requires automakers to adopt a more robust version of the technology that can stop vehicles traveling at higher speeds and detect vulnerable road users, like cyclists and pedestrians, even at night.'

CarPlay 1 yes, but CarPlay 2 maybe not: Mercedes Benz has confirmed that it has no plans to support the next generation of CarPlay (link). 'So far only Aston Martin and Porsche have signed up to implement Apple CarPlay 2.0 which is ironic because neither of them was on the original list that Apple showed in June 2022.' Is this the case until customers start to expect CP2, or is it a more permanent cooling on the deeper forms of CarPlay?

McElroy: I've changed my mind about hydrogen (for trucks, ships and planes) (link). 'The reason why hydrogen fuel cells make sense in long-haul, heavy-load trucking is that far fewer fueling stations are needed compared to passenger cars. The state of California, for example, estimates it would only need about 60 hydrogen stations to meet the needs of long-haul truckers. And there are billions of dollars in subsidies from the Inflation Reduction Act to pay for a big chunk of it.'

EV makers get 2-year reprieve on tax-credit restrictions (link). Via Rodrigo N. 'Treasury Department extends eligibility for cars containing Chinese graphite through 2026.'

Video: Trailer for Netflix's new Senna series (link). Video: BYD YangWang U8 tank turn (link). Video: wavy trunk bass (link). Via Carlos T. Video: a new video of a Waymo going the wrong way on a street again (link).

'My mission to find the best truck of all time' (link). An argument for the first-generation Toyota Tundra.

M&A / Deals / Changes:

AV startup Motional secures nearly $1B in financing from Hyundai, ultimately buying out Aptiv’s remaining stake (link).

Canadian off-road vehicle startup Potential Motors raises $2M (link). Led by Brightspark Ventures, Build Ventures, and the New Brunswick Innovation Fund.

Rivian wins $827M incentive package from Illinois for R2 production (link).

Geely's Zeekr brand plans to raise $367M at $5B valuation in upcoming US stock listing (link). 'Zeekr was last valued at $13 billion after a funding round in February last year.'

EV charging fleet software startup Sawatch Labs acquired by Wex (link).

Georgia EV charging network EnviroSpark raises $50M (link). Led by Basalt.

Estonian ride hailing startup Bolt raises $200M in credit (link). Led by Citigroup.

LiDAR maker Luminar reduces team by 20% in recent layoff (link).

Board & Executive Changes:

Paccar: Pierre Breber, Brice Hill, Luiz Pretti join board (link).

Rivian names Volvo's Javier Varela as COO (link).

Featured Jobs:

Digital Marketing Manager (Remote) at Denim (link).

Software Product Manager at BasiGo in Nairobi, Kenya (link).

Mechanical / Aerospace Engineer at Auriga Space in Long Beach, CA, USA (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:

Uber faces £250M lawsuit from London’s black-cab drivers (link). 'The action, which will be filed in London’s High Court on Thursday on behalf of more than 10,500 cab drivers, alleges that Uber improperly obtained a license from Transport for London in 2012. The license meant the San Francisco-based company unlawfully took business away from other drivers, according to RGL Management, a litigation claims management company representing the drivers.'

Ontario Tech University researchers develop snow accretion predictions for autonomous vehicle operating conditions (link).

Natron Energy begins production of its sodium-ion battery line in Michigan (link).

Marelli previews LiDAR within headlamps (link).

Waabi opens texas terminal as hub for AV trucks (link).

How do car owners familiarize and adapt to unfamiliar vehicle technologies? (link). 'It is not rare for drivers to misinterpret typical ADAS responses as technical issues.'

Patents & Patent Applications:

Ford's patent shows deployable screen surfaces when body panels are removed (link).

GM's patent application shows auto-sensor alignment and calibration (link).

Statistics / Projections:

Drunken-driving deaths are up, but DUI arrests are down (link). Via Weans / MSN. 'DUI arrests in recent years have sunk to multidecade lows, Federal Bureau of Investigation figures show. They dropped from just over a million in 2019 to about 780,000 in 2020. The FBI said there were 788,000 such arrests in 2022, the latest data available.'

US dealer group Sonic says their new-vehicle days supply in the first quarter, including EVs, grew to 50, up from 37 the previous quarter, while days supply of EVs specifically was about 70 units (link). Via Automotive News.

Independent repair shops now say access to data is their biggest business problem (link). Via ACA. '84% of independent repair shops view vehicle repair and maintenance data access as the top issue for their business, surpassing other timely considerations, like technician recruitment and retention and inflation.'

EV sales in the U.S. saw an increase of 60% year over year from 1 million in 2022 to 1.6 million in 2023 (link). Via Marketwatch.

Thank you:

Thank you to Shahin Farshchi (link) and Michael Molitor (link) for offers of introductions to new founders, investors and friends over the last week.

Trucks portfolio companies mentioned in this issue:

Auriga Space (link), BasiGo (link), Denim (link). View the full portfolio of Trucks companies (link).

See you next week,

Reilly Brennan