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GM cuts time beyond regulation shifts at two U.S. truck vegetation as a result of chip scarcity

Line workers work on the chassis of full-size General Motors pickups at the Flint Assembly facility in Flint, Michigan on June 12, 2019.

JEFF KOWALSKY / AFP / Getty Images

General Motors this weekend is cutting overtime production at two U.S. assembly plants that are producing their highly profitable full-size pickups due to the ongoing shortage of semiconductor chips affecting the global auto industry.

The plants in Flint, Michigan and Fort Wayne, Indiana make a mix of full-size pickups, including the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra 1500 and their larger siblings.

This is the first time the Detroit automaker has cut production delays on its full-size pickups due to months of chip shortages. GM has significantly reduced production at its auto and crossover plants in North America to give priority to chips for the company’s pickups as well as the company’s full-size SUVs.

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Business

Shares of EV start-up Canoo surge as a lot as 14% on new electrical pickup truck

The EV start-up Canoo presented its electric pickup on March 11, 2021.

Canoo

Electric vehicle startup Canoo’s shares rose as much as 14% during intraday trading Thursday after the automaker drew up plans for a new, bubbly-looking pickup truck.

The unnamed vehicle features a rounded front end with a snub nose and similar lighting and design elements to an electric vehicle that the company announced last year. Canoo said it designed the pickup truck to be “the most cabin-rich and space-efficient on the market, with massive loading capacity in a small space.” Auto website Jalopnik compared the design to a retro Volkswagen or pickup from the 1950s.

Canoo, which was formed in December through a reverse merger with Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp. went public is the latest company to announce plans for an all-electric pickup truck.

General Motors, Tesla, Rivian and Lordstown Motors are expected to start producing electric pickups later this year, followed by Ford Motor in 2022. Canoo plans to launch its pickup as early as 2023.

Canoo plans to launch its electric pickup truck as early as 2023, but production details have not been disclosed.

Canoo

Some of the products have been delayed due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and other circumstances. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, said in the company’s latest earnings statement, “So we’ve completed almost all of the cybertruck technology.” He added, “If we’re lucky, we can make some deliveries towards the end of this year, but I expect volume production will begin in 2022.”

Despite the amount of expected entries, EV pickups are a completely unproven vehicle segment. But older automakers like GM and Ford, which rely heavily on pickups for profit, are trying to defend their leading market shares against newer all-electric companies.

The EV start-up Canoo presented its electric pickup on March 11, 2021.

Canoo

While Canoo’s pickup stands out from the crowd with its bubble-like design, its advertised range of 200 miles is less than other competitors’. GM’s Hummer EV pickup truck will reach more than 350 miles, while Tesla has announced that its cybertruck will range from 250 miles to more than 500 miles.

Canoo’s first vehicles are expected to be fully electric consumer and delivery vans from 2022. The company has not announced any specific production plans, but has a strategic relationship with auto supplier and contract manufacturer Magna International.

– CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.

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World News

Tesla job openings for Semi truck manufacturing traces in Nevada

Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, shows the Tesla Semi as he introduces the company’s new electric tractor-trailer during a presentation on November 16, 2017 in Hawthorne, California, United States.

Alexandria saga | Reuters

Current vacancies show that Tesla is pushing ahead with its lengthy plans for its electric semi-truck, an initiative first unveiled in 2017.

Three current vacancies require employees to work on “semi-truck production lines” in Sparks, Nevada. Tesla is already producing batteries for its electric vehicles there in cooperation with Panasonic.

Tesla announced the Semi in November 2017, at the time it said it would deliver the trucks to customers in about two years. At that point, the company announced that it would sell a 300-mile version of the Semi for $ 150,000 and a 500-mile version for $ 180,000, and that the trucks with no cargo would go from 0 to 60 in five seconds Driving 0-60 miles per hour in 20 seconds with a load of 80,000 pounds.

After Tesla took reservations for the trucks from companies like Anheuser-Busch, DHL Group, PepsiCo, Pride Group and Walmart, Tesla announced delays in semi-production during a earnings call for the third quarter of 2019 and again in April 2020.

In June 2020, CEO Elon Musk sent an email to all Tesla employees requesting “mass production” of the Semi.

“It is time to do everything we can to get the Tesla Semi into mass production. So far it has only been produced in limited numbers, which has allowed us to improve many aspects of the design.” Musk also said in that memo, “Production of the battery and powertrain would take place in Giga Nevada, with most of the other work likely to take place in other states.”

However, in the company’s third quarter 2020 financial filing, Tesla mentioned its semi-initiative only twice, saying it was “in development,” and US locations for semi-production have not yet been determined.

In an interview at the European Battery Conference in November, Musk recently bragged that Tesla was aiming for a semi that could go further than originally promised on a single charge, saying, “You could use the range for a long range.” Trucks, easy up to 800 kilometers, and over time we see a way to achieve a range of 1,000 kilometers with a heavy truck. “

The company has some prototype semi-trucks that have been in operation for over a year. However, Musk has not disclosed when full production of the semi or longer range batteries could begin.

Today Tesla is taking refundable reservations of $ 20,000 to order a semi. (The initial reservation required was $ 5,000.) Base price for a 300 mile range version is $ 150,000 and for a 500 mile range it is $ 180,000. Potential customers can also order a Founders Series Semi for $ 200,000.

Meanwhile, Daimler is in small-scale production in the US with its heavy eCascadia electric vehicles, and Quebec-based Lion Electric is planning a SPAC, a new US plant, and has signed a contract to supply up to 2,500 battery-powered electric trucks to Amazon in the next five years.

Investors are likely to push Tesla for details on the status of its semi-program when the fourth quarter 2020 earnings statement is slated for Wednesday.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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World News

Truck Jam Eases at U.Okay. Port Days After France Reopens Border

LONDON – A huge truck traffic jam in the port of Dover in England continued to ease on Saturday, days after France lifted a border blockade imposed over fears of a fast-spreading variant of the coronavirus that has already spread to Europe and Japan .

Up to 6,000 trucks had lined up at the height of the day-long traffic jam, and many drivers spent a bleak Christmas in their vehicles when France demanded that everyone crossing the border provide evidence of a negative coronavirus test.

“It was shocking to see things like this happening in a G7 country like Britain,” said Benjamin Richtzenhain, a traveler who crossed the Channel on Thursday. He said authorities had poor communication with those stuck in traffic and that access to water, bathrooms and blankets was restricted.

The misery in the harbor added to a general feeling of darkness that permeated the holiday season in the country. Christmas came barely a week after the government announced the presence of a rapidly spreading variant of coronavirus that swept the country and imposed widespread lockdowns and other severe restrictions.

A short-term Brexit deal with the European Union on Thursday meant the UK narrowly avoided getting out of the bloc without an agreement, but also brought home a sense of isolation. And dozen of countries have restricted travel from the UK in hopes of ruling out the new variant of the virus and disrupting plans during one of Europe’s biggest holidays.

Despite the new restrictions around the world, the virus variant has already spread to France, Spain and Japan. According to Japanese media, the Japanese government banned non-Japanese nationals from entering the country on Saturday to prevent the new tribe from spreading.

On Saturday morning, officials from the UK Transport Department said that since Wednesday when authorities prepared the tests, at least 1,600 vehicles had remained in traffic jams near the port, while at least 8,000 had crossed the English Channel via the Eurotunnel.

At the port, officials worked hard on Saturday to test the remaining drivers in hopes of deleting the backup. More than 15,526 were tested, 36 of which were positive, the department said.

Hundreds of other military personnel were deployed on Friday to step up testing efforts and distribute food and water provided by a number of organizations.

But almost a week after the blockades of the sea, rail and air routes, the scale of the task made it impossible to predict when the delays would improve and whether the drivers would spend another day in limbo and sleep another night in their trucks would.

Thousands of police officers, civilian testers, council planners and dock workers gave up their Christmas celebrations to reunite drivers with loved ones, said Grant Shapps, the UK’s transport secretary, who praised their efforts.

London airports were fairly quiet on Saturday and there were no signs of a rush the day after the United States imposed new restrictions on people flying in from the UK. From Monday, passengers to the United States will have to provide evidence of a negative coronavirus test.

A Heathrow Airport spokesman said Saturday is not expected to have a large number of travelers and that the day after Christmas is usually a quiet day of travel.