Hey Shakers, a great week this week for some of the EV stocks, a lot of movement in the Chinese markets. We talk about Toyoda's recent poke at Tesla in the Toyota Q3 earnings call, GM adding 3000 tech jobs, Chevrolet Bolt recall, and more.
A Misunderstanding
Last week on the Toyota earnings call Toyota President Akio Toyoda took a moment to talk about Tesla, touched on their high valuation, and made a strange kitchen comparison, which didn't make much sense. However Toyoda said in the earnings call that they have much to learn from Tesla in regard to EV adoption, manufacturing and regulatory credits.
An interesting take from a Legacy Automaker on Tesla's success in the EV Market, check out the full article in Clean Technica written by Johnna Crider and see for yourself. What do you think?
GM Adds 3000 New Tech Jobs
GM is ramping up their efforts for building better EV's and technology to support those systems. Last week GM President Mark Reuss announced “As we evolve and grow our software expertise and services, it’s important that we continue to recruit and add diverse talent. This will clearly show that we’re committed to further developing the software we need to lead in EVs, enhance the customer experience and become a software expertise-driven workforce."
The focus of GM's vision is to implement Zero Crashes, Zero Emissions, and Zero Congestion which will result in more job openings for "electrical system engineers; infotainment software engineers; developers for Java, Android, iOS and other platforms; controls engineers;" according to the article.
GM is also working with diverse communities who otherwise wouldn't have STEM careers and giving them opportunities that aid GM in the advancement of their technology.
Read the full article here.
Silicon Hype
After Tesla announced the ability to use silica in lithium ion batteries, Altech Chemicals is planning to ride the wave. In an article for Renew Economy "The company said on Tuesday that it had signed a collaboration agreement with Spain-based outfit Silico Ferrosolar which has been developing tailor made, high-grade silicon powders, for use on the anode of Li-ion batteries."
We will start to see more industrial companies getting on this bandwagon as the demand for silicon in cells increases. The demand will stem from other auto manufacturers who continue to develop new and more efficient cell technology.
GM Recalls Over 60,000 Bolts
In an article for the Detroit News written by Kalea Hall, "General Motors Co. is voluntarily recalling 68,667 Chevrolet Bolt EVs manufactured between 2017-2019 as it works with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to pinpoint what caused multiple battery fires."
How many incidents? "five confirmed incidents of battery fires on the Bolt when the batteries were either at full-charge or almost fully charged."
What caused it? GM doesn't know just yet what have caused the fires but believes it could be related to the amount of charge the battery has and they type of produced at the LG Chem plant in Korea. However the cells in the 2020 models were produced elsewhere and GM isn't recalling those as they don't seem to be an issue.
A Solution? GM is working on an update that should be released November 17th that should fix the issue. Another benefit as to why why "over-air" software updates are the future of auto manufacturing.
👁 On The Market
A good week for the markets after the US announced the Pfizer vaccine, we saw a surge in share prices climb up several percentand a slight drop before close on Friday for a fewmarkets.
$TSLA ended the week down -0.79%
$NIO after a considerable jump in share price dropped -7.74% yet sitting higher than the previous week.
$XPEV down -6.13%
$LI down -1.83%
$VWAGY up +2.07%
$Arcimoto up +10.70%
Remember you can follow my live EV Dashboard on Koyfin for 24/7 access.
What I'm Reading
Tesla TSLA Signs Long-Term Agreement for 4680 Cell... written by Eva Fox on Tesmanian
After watching the pilot to the Long Way Up Apple TV Original on the all electric bike journey I did some reading, check out this article, if you haven't watched it give it a shot.
Tesla Taxis Trickle Into NYC... A nice breakdown on the the cost of owning a Tesla as a taxi by Zachary Shahan found on Clean Technica.
That's a wrap for this week Shakers, I would appreciate your thoughts on this more condensed type of newsletter, the goal is to continue to supply you with a weekly recap of the top EV news from the previous week. Hit me up on Twitter or reply to this email. Have a great week!