Honda Gets F#$king Serious About Electric Vehicles

Accused of being late to the EV party, Honda has stepped up to the electric vehicle plate with billions of dollars.

Honda plans to invest ten fucking trillion yen (US$65 billion) in its electrification strategy over the next decade. This includes developing new electric vehicles and motorcycles, production upgrades, retooling at key facilities in Canada, the USA, and Japan, and investment in software-developed vehicles. bnnbloomberg.ca, autonews.com, caranddriver.com

This overarching announcement is inclusive of previous announcements in Canada, including the collaboration with local governments to invest US$11 billion in an assembly plant and battery complex in Ontario and the ongoing drama with North American dealers about margin pull-back to help fund their EV transition. financialpost.com, carscoops.com, cnbc.com

As I mentioned in previous newsletters, Honda is collaborating with GM to produce their Prologue EV (a Blazer by any other name). motortrend.com

Meanwhile, in China, the Honda Ye P7 will be the output of the joint venture between Honda and GAC Group, and the Honda Ye S7 will be built by Dongfeng Honda, their joint venture with Dongfeng Motor. The Ye line of vehicles is expected in 2027. motor1.com, cnevpost.com, reuters.com

I’m excited to see how they evolve their electric motorcycle and other Honda Power products. Honda has been teasing us with EV dirt bike prototypes and electric scooters for years, and now it’s time for Honda to show Zero and Harley what a real electric motorcycle looks like. global.honda

Autonomous driving company funded by Hyundai cut about 40% of their staff in recent layoffs. techcrunch.com

GM and Cruise reached a US$8 Million settlement with the pedestrian that was dragged by one of their self-driving robotaxis. fortune.com

Waymo is under investigation for “unexpected behaviour” of their self-driving vehicles. Such behaviour included crashing, violating other traffic safety laws, driving in the wrong lane and driving into construction zones. techcrunch.com, reuters.com

In March, Tesla saw increased scrutiny over their full self-driving tech due to hundreds of accidents and dozens of deaths. theverge.com

Not surprisingly, people are now afraid of these driverless vehicles. autonews.com

Biden administration announces new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and tells China to build their dreams elsewhere. But maybe “elsewhere” is really just Mexico!? autonews.com, reuters.com

BYD announces PHEV Shark pick-up for Mexican market. Drops lifestyle video on YouTube to show off the vehicle. “I can’t wait to do karaoke in my new BYD truck,” said no one ever. autonews.com, youtube.com

Stellantis will sell Leapmotor EVs in nine major European markets. europe.autonews.com

Xiaomi plans to double production at their Beijing plant. carnewschina.com

IM L6 made a record-setting run at the “moose test”. Broke the record set by Peugeot’s Citroën 25 years ago. carnewschina.com

Turns out, if you disagree with Elon, he might fire you and your whole fucking team. reuters.com

A judge tells Elon that he can’t write his own copyright laws for Twitter (X). arstechnica.com

Elon pays too much attention to Gad Saad. wsj.com

SpaceX gets to space quickly but is slow to pay its bills in Texas. reuters.com

You can buy a Tesla Powerwall 3 in Canada now. teslanorth.com

Twitter is now fully “X” even though most of us still call it Twitter. wired.com

Tesla might partner to set up a data center in China for full self-driving AI model development. reuters.com

Creepy AI robot gives commencement speech at US university. usatoday.com

Former Cruise founder has a new home robot start-up. techcrunch.com

Unitree Robotics has a new humanoid robot for home tasks they sell for about $16,000. popsci.com, youtube.com

Maybe letting your drone carry you into the air is a bad idea. electrek.co

The Donald still hates windmills and wants them to go away. If re-elected, Trump vows to sign an ambiguous executive order to “make sure that that ends on day one,” he said in reference to wind power. bloomberg.com

US solar company First Solar’s market capitalization surpasses that of China’s Sungrow for the first time since 2018, making it the most valuable solar producer in the world. bloomberg.com

A new electrolyzer may be the key to cheaper, green hydrogen. newatlas.com

There’s turmoil in the biomass sector as the US produces more than it can sell domestically or afford based on available tax credits. Excess output is likely to be sold north into Canada or Europe. reuters.com

A Canadian university professor is seeking funding to demonstrate how we might force carbon from the atmosphere back into sandstone under the ocean floor. cbc.ca

Canada has a can-do attitude when it comes to nuclear energy. Ontario drops billions into refurbishing their Deuterium Uranium (CANDU) pressurized heavy-water reactors. reuters.com

New electrolyte makes cheaper zinc-based rechargeable batteries possible. interestingengineering.com, onlinelibrary.wiley.com

China’s first major sodium-ion battery energy storage station goes online. electrek.co

Putin wants to build a pipeline to China. reuters.com

If Mitsubishi builds this van and brings it to North America, I WANT ONE!!! motortrend.com, youtube.com

Subaru and Toyota collaborate on three new EV crossovers. europe.autonews.com

Toyota to drop billions into North Carolina battery plant. autonews.com

Toyota halts production in Mexico… again. reuters.com

Jaguar wants to be fancier. europe.autonews.com

Stellantis plans to make hydrogen-powered trucks in Mexico. electrek.co

The 911 hybrid kinda of sounds like gearhead blasphemy. europe.autonews.com

GM and LG reach $150 million settlement over Chevrolet Bolt EV battery fires. autonews.com

is your new daily driver a $275,000 Lamborghini hybrid? canada.autonews.com

Volkswagen ends talks with Renault. Says, sorry buh, we got this. electrek.co

VinFast gets nearly 30K orders for their low-cost electric SUV. electrek.co

Daimler Trucks and Volvo established a joint venture for software-developed vehicles and Truck operating systems. reuters.com

Bucking the trend, Alabama Mercedes workers opt not to join UAW. reuters.com

Dude puts a Ford badge on his Hyundai Sonata as an anti-theft mechanism. driving.ca

The EU has a new law to cut truck emissions. The law will require most new heavy-duty vehicles sold in the EU from 2040 to be emissions-free. reuters.com

“Tiny Electric Trucks Are Coming to a Bike Lane Near You.” curbed.com

Sam Altman wants to run a universal basic income experiment where the income payment is in GPUs (universal basic compute). businessinsider.com

I learned a new phrase this week, “malicious compliance.” And I’m kinda into it. cbc.ca

Slash has a new album. music.youtube.com

New music from Joywave. youtube.com

Billie Eilish likes… lunch. youtube.com

The 2024 Eurovision winner was Nemo from Switzerland. youtube.com

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