Trucks | FoT: Tailpipe targets, Lithium Americas, Moove

FoT is the intelligence arm of Trucks Venture Capital 

Notable:

The US EPA finalized (and eased, compared to the earlier previewed targets) tailpipe rules for light vehicles (link). 'The Biden administration on Wednesday slashed its target for U.S. electric vehicle adoption from 67% by 2032 to as little as 35%...The new rules, while softened, will nonetheless force dramatic emissions reductions. The EPA said the plan cuts fleetwide tailpipe emissions by 50% over 2026 levels and reduces greenhouse-gas emissions by 7.2 billion tons through 2055.' It's interesting to read the reports on the new EPA rules that Biden ‘caved’ or that the anti-EV crowd 'won.' In reality these are quite aggressive targets, but since they are eased from the preview numbers given over the last year, they allowed some lawmakers and policy groups the ability to claim a victory. And now you know how auto policy politics is done.

What US EV buyers want: sub 20-minute charging times, 350-mile driving range and $50,000 price tag (link). This is the 'tall, dark and handsome' wishlist of buyers, yet, 'only 1 EV on the market — the Hyundai Ioniq 6 SE RWD Long Range model — meets those thresholds.'

Why are there so many new car washes? Lots of PE money and the wonders of the subscription-based business model (link). 'Now, washes can take just 90 seconds, labor costs have been automated down, and recurring revenue from memberships has eliminated weather risks. Plus, the tax reforms enacted in 2017 by former president Donald Trump allowed car wash owners to claim 100% depreciation on new equipment — a generous subsidy to further investment. While that incentive was written to shrink over time, the tax proposal currently in Congress would restore the 100% depreciation allowance.'

How Hertz went 'too far too fast' on EVs (link). 'The PE firms offered Scherr 2% of Hertz’s equity if he could help it reach lofty stock market targets. Hitting the final incentive — a little more than doubling Hertz’s share price over five years — would have unlocked stock worth at least $498mn. But on Friday, after just 25 months in the job, Hertz abruptly announced that Scherr would be leaving at the end of the month. Gil West, a former chief operating officer of Delta Air Lines and General Motors’ Cruise self-driving car unit, will be replacing him.' What I find novel about this move is that Scherr wasn't even the one responsible for moving Hertz into the EV era -- that was done by the private equity leaders who took over the company after its bankruptcy. Scherr was hired in after the plan was already set in stone, but in this instance he is blamed for the strategy. Sometimes pivots need a fall guy.

GM announces that it will stop data sharing with LexisNexis Risk Solution and Verisk (link). Because the announcement specifically names the two data partners who were originally called out in a previous NYT piece (link), this does appear to leave some wiggle room for GM to, of course, share data with other partners not named LexisNexis Risk Solution and Verisk.

Considering the security implications of Chinese EVs in Israel, and elsewhere (link).

The story behind Carvana's rise, fall and slow climb back (link). Via Jamie.

One oven-stuffed Excel sheet does not make a Formula 1 team fast, as Williams proves (link). Via Diego.

Video: a remarkable visualization of how the SR-71 Blackbird works (link). Via JMIII. Video: Future Network Car video presentations (link).

A NY subway obsession that goes beyond a felony (link). Via Clara. 'Train-jacking is subway surfing for indoor kids. These mini joy rides, in which teens attempt to drive out-of-service trains stored underground or in yards across the city, are just as dangerous and just as illegal. But the break-ins also require a level of transit obsession and technical acuity that can read a lot like love.'

M&A / Deals / Changes:

Qualcomm ends $350M bid to buy Israel's Autotalks after antitrust probe (link).

Lithium Americas secured a $2.6B DoE loan for its Thacker Pass project, what's estimated to be the largest lithium deposit in the world (link). 'The project aims to produce 40,000 tons of battery grade lithium carbonate per year when the first phase of production begins in 2027, powering up to 800,000 electric vehicles.'

Germany automotive payments firm NX Technologies raises $24M (link). Led by Paypal Ventures.

Electric ferry startup Candela raises $25M (link). Led by Beneteau.

EV warranty startup Amber raises $3.2M (link). Led by Era and Primer Sazze.

African auto finance startup Moove raises $100M (link). Led by Uber.

French commercial EV finance startup Pelikan Mobility raises $4.4M (link). Led by Pale Blue Dot.

Airbus ends talks with Atos on deal for big data and security unit (link).

Mobileye plans to shut its aftermarket ADAS division, focusing solely on OEM fitments (link).

Robinson Helicopter partners with Rotor Technologies on autonomy trials (link).

Board Changes:

Hertz Global: Fran Bermanzohn resigns from board (link).

American Axle: Aleksandra Miziolek joins board (link).

Forward Air: Gil West departs board (link).

New Stuff:

US rolls out zero emission freight corridor strategy (link).

Researchers find security flaws in trucking ELD devices (link, link to research paper). Via Weans. 'The team also conducted a real-world, drive-by attack simulation on an empty airfield to demonstrate this attack. It used a 2014 truck, and the "attacker" drove a Tesla Model Y at 20mph with a laptop and an Alfa extended range wireless adapter. While both vehicles were in motion, in just 14 seconds the team connected to the truck's Wi-Fi, used the ELD's interface to re-flash the device, and started sending malicious messages causing the truck to slow down.' Video: researchers describe their findings (link).

Flightradar24 unveils GPS jamming map (link). Via Andre.

Shell to unload 1,000 retail locations in pivot to EV charging (link). 'Shell says it aims to increase the number of charge points it has from the 54,000 it operates today to 200,000 by 2030.'

Joby widens USAF partnership, will deliver two eVTOL aircraft to MacDill AFB (link).

Featured Jobs:

Software Systems Engineer at JetZero in Long Beach, CA, USA (link).

Senior/Staff Controls Systems Engineer at Faction in South San Francisco, 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.

Statistics / Projections:

US trucking's total costs for electrifying estimated to be close to $1T (link). Via Trucking Dive / Roland Berger.

Cargo thefts spiked 68% in Q4 2023, led by food and beverage freight (link). Via Freightwaves / CargoNet / Weans. Related: 'A brazen yogurt heist shows how cyber gangs are hijacking US goods' (link).

US loses ground to China and Europe in EV transition (link). Via Jato. 'US has failed to keep pace with China and Europe in the switch to electric. China remains the main driver of growth, accounting for more than half of global demand for BEVs, while Europe follows in second place with 22% of global demand. In contrast, the US accounts for just 12% of global BEV sales.'

By 2030, the US will need 28M EV charging ports to support 33M EVs (link). Via EPA.

Thank you:

Thank you to Bryce Dabbs (link), Harsh Dubey (link), Marco Friedrich (link), Kent Goldman (link), Alex Iskold (link), Gur Kimchi (link), Bharath Krishnamoorthy (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:

Faction (link), JetZero (link), Joby Aviation (link). View the full portfolio of Trucks companies (link).

See you next week,

Reilly Brennan