While Tesla is not directly involved in the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike affecting the Detroit Big Three automakers, it still looms large over the situation as both sides of the table feel the EV giant breathe down their necks.
The UAW strike has been going on for two weeks now and it is a pretty complicated issue.
It affects the “Detroit Big Three,” Chrysler (Stellantis), Ford, and GM, to varying degrees.
Tesla is the only major American automaker that doesn’t employ UAW workers, and therefore, it is safe in this strike, like some major foreign automakers that also produce vehicles in the US without union workers.
But despite not being directly involved, Tesla looms large over the negotiation table.
Tesla is responsible for pushing those three legacy automakers to accelerate their electrification plans, which is in fact one of the main points of contention.
The headlines are a lot about UAW asking for a 40% pay raise, a 4-day workweek, improved overtime and retirement benefits, but they are also looking for protection against factory closures as these legacy automakers opt for building new EV factories rather than converting existing internal combustion engine vehicle factories in most cases.
Electric vehicles are also simpler to build, and more labor efficiencies are expected to be discovered as production ramps and the products mature – making EVs a potential threat to UAW’s numbers, which have been dwindling for decades.
These automakers are all currently losing money on their electric vehicles while Tesla has industry-leading gross margins.
Therefore, any concession they make to UAW will make it even harder to catch up to Tesla.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk couldn’t stop himself from commenting on the situation. He believes that the pay raise and reduced hours that UAW is asking for would result in bankruptcy for the Big Three:
Morgan Stanley’s Adam Jonas seems to agree as he describes the situation as an “existential stand-off”:
It’s incredibly difficult to predict the duration of today’s strike given how far apart the 2 side appear to be, the motivations of the OEMs, and the broader political environment. In our view, even before a potential 30 to 40% rise in hourly worker labor costs, we questioned the ability of the D3 to be able to produce high volume EVs at a profit. An outlier inflationary outcome with the UAW merely earcerbates the issue. Our medium-term EV forecast for the D3 are far below management targets (i.e., one-third or one-fourth management’s targets) due to a variety of factors ranging from cultural to competitive… to cultural.
In short, Morgan Stanley doesn’t even see a path to profitability with EVs at scale for the big three, even if they achieve labor cost parity with Tesla, which sounds like it would not be possible with UAW’s demands.
Electrek’s Take
It’s hard not to sympathize with the workers, especially within this macroeconomic context. Inflation has hurt the working class badly over the last two years. A 40% pay raise sounds like a lot, but it’s not massive within the current context.
However, I can also understand the side of automakers, especially based on that analysis from Morgan Stanley.
The numbers are just not there on the sides of EVs, and that’s worrying those automakers as it becomes clear that it is the future of the industry.
It’s not clear to many based on the current profits that they are registering, but they are literally trying to find ways to survive the next five years. Those current profits are coming from their ICE business and providing parts for that ICE business. That’s gradually going away this decade, and if they can’t replace it with a healthy EV business, they are going to be gone.
That means that UAW is also going to be gone, which the union should keep in mind amid the negotiation. I know that’s hard to do when you see executive compensation and how the top leaders of the big three are filling their pockets without having a great solution to their EV problem yet.
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Multi-million-dollar grants adding up to more than $46 million from the US Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will help support electrification efforts at several American ports.
The Long Beach Container Terminal (LBCT) in Long Beach, California has received a $34.9 million grant from the FHWA to replace 155 on-site commercial trucks and buses with zero-emission vehicles (ZEV). The grant will fund both the purchase of new electric trucks and the necessary charging infrastructure to support them.
LBCT said the grant dollars will allow it to continue its multi-billion dollar investments in more sustainable logistical operations. “Our vehicle electrification project, coupled with previous investments, enables LBCT to achieve a unique status that is reframing the way the world views sustainable goods movement, enhancing community quality of life and climate change,” said Anthony Otto, CEO of LBCT.
“This investment is a huge win for clean air, electrification and the region,” said US House Rep. Robert Garcia. “These federal dollars will make our port cleaner, safer and help us meet our climate goals.”
Container ports used to be some of the dirtiest, most heavily polluted areas in the world. That was bad for everyone – but it was especially bad for the people who lived and worked near them. That’s why any positive change is good. Beyond just “positive change,” however, ports today seem to be leading the way when it comes to electric vehicle and hydrogen adoption.
How things change!
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German equipment manufacturer Kramer showed off a pair of zero-emission equipment options at the Paris Intermat show last week – the 5065e electric wheel loader and 1445e electric telehandler.
Kramer says the quiet operation of its new electric wheel loader and telehandler are ideal for noise-sensitive areas such as city centers, cemeteries and golf courses, hotels, and suburban parks and recreation areas, where it can operate without emitting harmful diesel particulate matter and other forms of air pollution.
Kramer-Werke GmbH is serious about promoting its new EVs in the French market. “That’s why Intermat is an important platform for us,” explains Christian Stryffeler, Kramer’s Managing Director. “We are also looking forward to showcasing our new generation of (electric) wheel loaders and telescopic wheel loaders here.”
Kramer 5065e wheel loader
The 5065e loader is powered a 37.5 kWh, 96V lithium-ion battery that’s good for up to four hours of continuous operation – which is a lot more than it sounds, considering idle time in an EV doesn’t drain batteries the way idling a diesel drains fuel. A 23 kW (30 hp) electric motor drives the electric wheel loader around the job site, while a 25 kW (approx. 35 hp) motor powers the machine’s 40 liters hydraulic system.
Kramer says the battery on its electric loader can be fully charged in just 5.1 hours using a “Type 2 Wallbox” (that’s an L2 charger to you and me). Max payload is 1750 kg, with a 2800 kg tipping load. Top speed is 20 km/h (approx. 12.5 mph).
Kramer 1445e telehandler
The 1445e telehandler uses a 96V battery architecture that’s similar to the one in the wheel loader, but in a smaller 18 kWh or 28 kWh pack. This enables a fleet manager to right-size their equipment’s batteries to provide four hours of run time in different types of work environments. And, also like the wheel loader, a 23 kW (30 hp) electric motor provides the drive while a 25 kW (approx. 35 hp) powers the hydraulics.
Level 2 charging comes standard on Kramer’s electric telehandler, enabling a full charge of the larger, 28 kWh battery in about five hours. Max payload is 1450 kg.
Electrek’s Take
It’s always good to see more manufacturers pushing out electric equipment options. It’s still the “wild west” out there, even more so than in automotive, and Kramer’s offerings seem to be a step behind in some ways (no DCFC capability) and ahead in others (96V where others are 48V), so it’s hard to know where they stand.
The robotics experts at ETH Zurich have developed an autonomous excavator that uses advanced AI to help it complete high-skill tasks without a human operator.
Dry stone wall construction typically involves huge amounts of operator labor. Doing it right requires not just hours of labor, but hours of skilled, experienced labor. At least, it used to. If the crew at ETH is successful, building stone retaining walls will soon become a “set it and forget it” task for robots to complete. Robots like their HEAP excavator.
HEAP (Hydraulic Excavator for an Autonomous Purpose) is a customized Menzi Muck M545 developed for autonomous operation that uses electrically-driven hydraulics to operate an advanced boom arm equipped with draw wire encoders, LiDAR, Leica iCON site-mapping, and a Rototilt “wrist” on the end that makes it look more like a high-precision robotic arm than a traditional heavy equipment asset.
ETH HEAP tech stack
Which makes sense. After all: the ETH guys are roboticists, not skilled heavy equipment operators. So, how does their robot do against skilled operators?
“We are currently outperformed by human excavator operators in placement speed,” ETH researchers wrote in Science Robotics. “Such operators, however, typically require string and paint references with which to register their construction and often a second or third person outside the machine to provide guidance and to insert small supporting stones, gravel, and soil by hand and shovel. In contrast, our process can build complex nonplanar global surface geometries without physical reference markers, does not require a skilled driver or small supporting stones, and provides a full digital twin of the built structure for better accountability and future reuse.”
Translation: the robot is slower, but it gets the job done.
You can watch the ETH HEAP put all its onboard tech to work building a 215 foot long, 20 foot high retaining wall all on its own in the video, below.
Autonomous excavator constructs dry stone wall
The completed project can be seen at Circularity Park in Oberglatt, Switzerland, and illustrates the potential for autonomous equipment to build with irregularly-shaped materials. And with skilled operators in short supply everywhere, the potential to free up operators so they can go where they’re really needed.
That said, the electrically driven hydraulics and high-precision Rototilt wrist on the end of the boom arm’s “claw” alone make this futuristic excavator worth some attention. As more and more manufacturers switch to full electric or even “just” electric drive, research into better solutions for existing hydraulic equipment and expertise could lead to big market wins.
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