What did you miss? #WDYM Week 3 2023

?? Worldwide, sales of electric vehicles crossed a key milestone last year, achieving around 10% market share for the first time. Global sales of fully electric vehicles totaled around 7.8 million units, an increase of 68% from 2021. Tesla maintained the top spot in a global ranking of manufacturers by sales of all-electric vehicles, followed by Chinese manufacturers BYD and SAIC Motor Corp., and brands belonging to the VW group. Ford is now the second-largest maker of EVs by sales in the U.S., followed by Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Corp. Meanwhile, General Motors, VW and Nissan lost EV market share in the U.S. last year.

???? Tesla's retail sales surged in China in January after it slashed prices for its top-selling models earlier in the month. The average daily sales for Tesla in China during the Jan 9 to Jan. 15 period jumped 76% YoY to 12,654 vehicles.

?? Tesla Cybertruck’s stainless steel will have a non-directional finish for easy maintenance.

?? Tesla has filed for a $59 million diecast shop at Giga Texas. The 107,000 square foot facility is set to be constructed near the eventual Cathode Building.

? Tesla’s California Virtual Power Plant (VPP) has grown to over 5,700 homes from both PG&E and SoCal Edison customers. LastBulb Tracker estimates that ~577 MWh was contributed by the system during grid events in 2022.

?????? Car rental firm Hertz will make up to 25,000 electric vehicles (EVs) available to rent to drivers of ride-hailing company Uber in European capitals by 2025. Uber drivers in London will be the first to get access to the new EVs through Hertz, with drivers in Paris and Amsterdam soon to follow.?

?? Hertz is teaming up with the city of Denver to build out its EV-charging infrastructure. The rental car company will add more than 5,000 electric vehicles to its Denver fleet, will install public EV chargers and will offer tools and training in and around the city. Hertz hopes to strike similar deals with other cities around the country.

?????? Xpeng announced price cuts of up to $5,300 for some models in China. The move came after automaker Seres Group cut starting prices for its Aito electric cars by 30,000 yuan ($4,440) last Friday, following earlier price cuts by Tesla and fuelling expectations of a wider price war.

?? Volkswagen no longer building the ID.4 with a heat pump due to “semiconductor shortage”. Volkswagen customers will not be getting a credit or refund as the heat pump is an optional feature in the ID.4, so customer who ordered one will not have it included.

?????? ?? Audi won a copyright case against Chinese EV maker Nio, with a sales ban imposed on the Asian-based company’s ES6 and ES8 models in Germany. The Munich Regional Court ruled on Thursday that the name of Nio’s EVs are too similar and could be confused with Audi’s own S6 and S8 performance sedans.

?????? Ford is poised to cut its dependence on Volkswagen technology for its next generation of electric cars in Europe, unravelling a core part of the alliance formed between the rival carmakers two years ago. The US brand is preparing to launch two vehicles this year and in 2024 that use VW’s electric “MEB” system, which includes assembling VW-sourced batteries at Ford’s plant in Cologne, Germany.

?? Indian energy supplier Tata Power to build 25,000 charging over the next five years. The charging infrastructure will be monitored from Mumbai.?The new charging stations will complement Tata Power’s existing 3,600 public and semi-public charging points in over 450 Indian cities as well as over 23,500 chargers in private households.

???? BMW is planning to build a large assembly plant for high-voltage batteries in Bavaria. starting 2024.

???? UK battery start-up Britishvolt has collapsed into administration, with the majority of its 232 staff made redundant with immediate effect. The firm had planned to build a giant factory to make electric car batteries in Blyth, Northumberland.

?????? Recharge Industries has chosen Accenture as its engineering partner to push through with the construction of one of the world’s largest gigafactories in Australia. The large-scale lithium-ion battery cell production facility in Geelong, Victoria, will create up to 30-gigawatt hours (GWh) of storage capacity per year for the electric vehicles (EVs) and stationary energy storage industries when fully operational. Construction will commence in the second half of 2023 to produce 2 GWh of batteries per year by the second half of 2024 and 6 GWh by 2026.

?? Finnish state-owned mining company Terrafame to supply Stellantis with nickel sulfate to be used in batteries for electric cars for 5 years starting in 2025.

???? Indonesia is finalising agreements with BYD and Tesla to invest in electric vehicle production facilities in the Southeast Asian country.

?? Shell unit to acquire EV charging firm Volta for about $169 million.

?? Australian charging station manufacturer Tritium has received the largest order in its history from BP and includes fast charging stations of the RTM product series with 50 kW and PKM with 150 kW for use by BP Pulse in the USA, UK, Europe and Australia.

???? The government of the UK and Ofgem's new ‘Electric Vehicle Smart Charging Action Plan’ includes allowing drivers to power their homes using the electricity stored in their electric vehicle via V2G technology to potentially save up to ￡1,000 a year through smarter charging.

?????? VDL Bus & Coach to supply Dutch public transport company EBS with 193 new-generation VDL Citeas to operate the newly awarded Zaanstreek-Waterland concession from December 2023. VDL Bus & Coach to deliver 60 new-generation VDL Citeas type LE-122 and 135 VDL Citeas LE-135 from September. The vehicles will be equipped with battery packs with a capacity of 490 kWh (LE-122) and 552 kWh (LE-135).

?????? Ebusco to supply German KVS GmbH in Saarlouis with 15 Ebusco 2.2 12-meter and 5 Ebusco 2.2 18-meter buses. The delivery of these buses is planned for early 2024.

?? New Flyer will provide 14 ebuses and charging infrastructure to Central Ohio Transit Authority.

?? A group of GOP Wyoming state lawmakers want to end electric vehicle sales there by 2035, saying the move will help safeguard the oil and gas industries.

???? THOR to become the first RV manufacturer to work directly with SpaceX to add Starlink to their Airstream, Entegra Coach, Jayco & Tiffin brands.

???? Anuvu, a company that offers mobility markets internet connection services, announced it partnered with SpaceX to become a Starlink reseller for maritime customers globally. Anuvu has been assisting SpaceX with Starlink hardware installations on cruise ships, yachts, and energy industries since Starlink started to provide maritime coverage in July 2022.

?????SpaceX has requested authorization with local officials to operate Starlink in Tunisia.

?? ???? Dish Network and the International Dark-Sky Association have filed two separate lawsuits against SpaceX to stop the deployment of Starlink’s second-generation constellation.

?? ?? A SpaceX Dragon capsule is being modified on orbit to carry an extra astronaut home to Earth if need be.

?? ?? Microsoft plans to cut 10,000 jobs through March 2023.

?? Twitter is planning to run content sponsorship deals with more than three dozen news outlets, media companies and sports leagues in the first half of this year.