Einride begins fully-autonomous, commercial EV truck operations with GE Appliances
Autonomous EV freight developer Einride announced another key milestone today, deploying full-time, commercial operations with longtime partner, GE Appliances. The autonomous trucks are navigating between GE’s manufacturing facility and warehouse, demonstrating a case for scaled commercialization in the electric freight industry.
Today’s milestone is another notable achievement for a relatively young company like Einride, which was founded in Sweden less than eight years ago. In that time, we’ve followed much of the autonomous truck company’s progress, including partnerships with companies like Maersk and Beyond Meat, as well as expansions into new markets like Germany.
After announcing plans to set up a new headquarters in the US, we’ve seen Einride make huge strides in all-electric autonomous freight mobility the past two years. In June of 2022, the company received approval from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to begin piloting its Pod trucks – marking the first time a purpose-built autonomous, electric truck without a driver on board has received permission to operate on public US roads.
At the time, we reported that Einride’s client, GE Appliances would serve as the key partner in the initial US pilot program to both test and showcase the commercialization capabilities of the autonomous, electric Pod trucks.
18 months later, Einride has shared a progress update with GE in which the former has begun full-time autonomous truck operations between two of the latter’s facilities in Tennessee.
Einride’s autonomous trucks run daily for GE Appliances
Following a successful public road pilot program with GE Appliances last year, Einride reports that its zero-emission autonomous trucks are now operating in Selmer, Tennessee, Monday through Thursday – completing up to seven shuttles of finished goods per day.
The trucks autonomously navigate 0.3 miles between GE Appliances’ manufacturing facility and warehouse while being monitored by one of Einride’s Remote Pod Operators, who can take control of the EVs if needed. In this case, Einride’s first remote operator, Tiffany Heathcott is monitoring the trucks on-site, rather than from her usual hub in Texas.
A relatively short route to begin, yes, but still a milestone for autonomous freight, as Einride’s Trucks are successfully navigating public roads around the clock with no humans present. Henrik Green, Einride’s general manager of autonomous technologies, spoke:
We are very proud to partner with GE Appliances and be able to lead the industry in providing autonomous technology and deploying it in the strongest commercial use case today. We look forward to continuing this work to establish autonomous’ key role in transportation, both with GE Appliances and other partners across markets.
Einride states that its autonomous truck operation is part of a larger project in Selmer with GE, which also includes other industry partners with the goal of creating a freight logistics flow that is entirely automated.
For instance, GE Appliances has also partnered with TaskWatch, whose AI cameras trigger a control board that raises and lowers GE’s dock doors and dock plate, then locks the Einride truck into place. The system then notifies a robot that the autonomous truck is ready to load. The robots come from another GE partner – Slip Robotics – whose technology can autonomously load and unload the vehicles, reducing times by 80%.
Together, Einride and GE Appliances hope to demonstrate the potential of a streamlined holistic logistics system that extends well beyond autonomous, zero emissions trucks and into every single aspect of the process – from factory to delivery. Per Harry Chase, senior director of central materials at GE Appliances:
Our partnership with Einride in Selmer reflects our evolved approach to robotics and automation technology. We are moving from implementing one-off solutions addressing various challenges to creating interoperability among systems that can build consistency and streamline processes in our factories and throughout our supply chain. This implementation in Selmer is helping us reduce emissions, allowing our employees to focus on high value tasks, reducing traffic in congested areas to create a safer work environment, and eliminating some of the most challenging ergonomic tasks like climbing on and off a forklift and hooking and unhooking trailers. We believe robotics and automation technology should work with and for people to improve their jobs.
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A dozen Tesla vehicles burned at a store in Toulouse, France. Arson is suspected amid global protests and vandalism attacks against Tesla and Elon Musk.
Last night, a dozen Tesla vehicles burned down at Tesla’s retail and service location in Plaisance-du-Touch near Toulouse, France.
Firefighters arrived on the scene at around 4 a.m. and contained the fire to the vehicles. Eight of them were completely destroyed, and four were greatly damaged. The damages are estimated at over 700,000 euros.
According to the local news (translated from French), the police suspected arson as a hole was found in a fence, and threats had been made over the last few weeks. The Tesla location remained closed all day.
Tesla is currently being protested by anti-fascist groups around the world, especially in the US, where many are targeting Tesla to protest against Elon Musk’s involvement in the US government.
In France, there were a few protests planned, but some extremist groups are calling for widespread arson against Tesla stores:
I won’t share the link to the article since it gives step-by-step instructions on how to burn down Tesla stores without getting caught, but the manifesto explains that they are going after Tesla as a “symbol of capitalism,” although they also list a dozen other reasons including the fact that they think it’s “doable and cheap.”
Electrek’s Take
This is getting nuts. It’s not only dangerous, but it’s also not super effective in achieving the goal they claim to want to achieve.
Have they never heard of insurance? Tesla is having issues selling cars right now. You are burning unsold inventory that they can then claim to their insurance.
Sure, it disrupts their operations for a short period of time, but it’s not worth it.
Their manifesto does say to avoid violence and not to target vehicles owned by individuals – though it doesn’t sound like a strict rule for them, but I think these people are likely going to end up in jail for having achieved nothing.
The protests and boycotts are going strong. You don’t need to burn cars to make yourself heard.
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Environment
Ford F-150 Lightning sales have been falling for months: What’s going on with the EV pickup?
Is Ford’s electric pickup in trouble? Sales have been down for months, and February showed no relief. What’s going on with the Ford F-150 Lightning?
Ford F-150 Lightning sales drop again in February 2025
Ford’s US sales dropped by 9% last month. Although electrified vehicles, including EVs and hybrids, both notched double-digit growth, sales of Ford’s gas-powered (ICE) models, which accounted for over 85% of deliveries, fell nearly 13%.
Hybrids saw higher demand with sales up 27.5% to 15,357, while EV sales increased 15% to 7,326. The Mustang Mach-E was a bright spot with 3,312 models sold in February, up 13% from the prior year.
With 6,841 Mach-Es sold through the first three months of 2025, Ford’s electric crossover SUV remains a top-selling EV in the US.
Ford’s electric pickup didn’t fare as well. F-150 Lightning Sales were down nearly 15% last month with only 2,199 units sold. Through March, Ford has sold 15% fewer Lightning models than it did at this time last year.
Sales of the electric pickup have been slipping for months now. In the final three months of 2024, F-150 Lightning sales were down 10%.
The Lightning, alongside Rivian’s R1T, are no longer the only electric pickups on the market. Ford is facing new competition with the Tesla Cybertruck, Chevy Silverado EV, and GMC Sierra EV, arriving.
According to Cox Automotive, the Tesla Cybertruck slipped past the Lightning to become the fifth best-selling EV in the US last year with nearly 39,000 units sold. Ford’s Lightning was sixth with just over 33,500 models sold.
Ford extended its “Power Promise” promo earlier this year to boost demand, giving EV buyers a Level 2 home charger and other benefits, but Lightning sales are still down.
The American automaker cut Lightning production at its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center last year, citing slower-than-expected demand. A new report from Automotive News claims Ford is now ending a pilot program to stock and distribute EVs through regional hubs after it failed to catch on. It was designed to speed up deliveries.
Although Ford plans to launch a smaller midsize electric pickup, it won’t arrive until at least two more years. With new competition, like the Ram 1500 REV and Volkswagen Scout pickup, hitting the market over the next few years, Ford may find it even harder to attract buyers.
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Costco’s Auto Program recently introduced some new member-only incentives, and the 2025 Volvo EX90 BEV is now on its list.
Volvo is offering Costco Executive Members $2,000 off the 2025 EX90. Costco Gold Star and Business members are eligible for $1,500 off. The incentives are available on all versions of the Volvo EX90 for members who purchase or lease from February 24 to April 30, 2025. It’s the only non-GM EV that’s that’s eligible for an incentive through the EV program.
The offer is compatible with A-Plan pricing for employees, as well as Affinity Pricing for teachers and first responders. Costco members will have had to have been members as of February 23 and be the primary members on the Costco account to qualify.
However, CarsDirect gave the heads up on how buyers can get up to $10,000 off the EX90’s MSRP. As we stated, if you’re a Costco Executive Member, that’s $2,000 off. Then, add the $7,500 EV Lease Allowance and a $500 loyalty discount on leases if you currently own or lease a Volvo or have owned or leased a Volvo within the past six months.
With the destination fee included, the base EX90 MSRP starts at $81,290, so that brings it down to $71,290, a more than 12% discount, a pretty good deal.
The 2025 AWD Volvo EX90, which can seat seven passengers comfortably, has a range of up to 310 miles and is NACS-compatible. It has a 510 hp engine, 110 kWh battery capacity, and can go from 0-60 mph in 4.7 seconds.
Read more: Review: Volvo EX90 is a smooth AWD 7-seat luxury kid-hauler
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