Rivian (RIVN) clashes with Bosch in new legal battle over EV motors
EV maker Rivian (RIVN) is locked in a new legal battle with the world’s largest auto parts supplier, Bosch. Both sides traded lawsuits against each other as Rivian moves in its own direction.
In 2019, Rivian and Bosch signed an agreement to supply e-motors for its electric models, the R1T and R1S.
According to Crain’s Detroit Business, the two traded lawsuits after the relationship soured. With Rivian now producing its own e-motors, Bosch claims the EV maker was “secretly” planning to replace its product.
Rivian shot back, saying it was “choked off” by Bosch with insufficient supply, causing production issues and “cataclysmic” damage to the brand and its finances.
According to case files in Wayne County Circuit Court, the legal battle started in July after Bosch sued Rivian over breach of contract. On the same day, Rivian filed a lawsuit against the supplier, claiming breach of contract and damage to the brand’s value.
Bosch claimed the EV maker refused to pay reimbursements worth $204 million after Rivian began building its own e-motors.
Rivian blamed Bosch for its production woes that hampered output and led to only 24,337 vehicles being built in 2022.
Rivian and Bosch trade lawsuits as legal battle heats up
Bosch invested millions to revamp its plant in Germany as it geared up for e-motor production. It also established a new dedicated production line at its South Carolina plant (which I was invited to tour) to build electric motors for Rivian.
“Given these significant investments and that Rivian was an electric vehicle startup that had never manufactured vehicles before, Rivian contracted to reimburse Bosch for all its unamortized costs should Rivian cancel the program early,” Bosch’s lawsuit read (via Crain’s Detroit Business).
Rivian canceled the contract in September 2023, according to Bosch, as it developed its own e-motors. Meanwhile, the company was preparing to fulfill its 200,000-unit supply agreement for 2024.
After Rivian introduced its in-house Enduro drive units, Bosch claimed the EV maker was “secretly” planning to replace its business despite months of silence on its future plans.
“While Rivian’s choice to cut costs and develop a new product may be understandable, Rivian cannot simply ignore its contractual duties to reimburse Bosch…” the lawsuit read. Bosch also said Rivian “refused” assistance and treated it as “a competitor for e-motors and e-axles.”
Rivian fires back
“At the very heart of Rivian’s vehicle design were four electric motors,” Rivian’s lawsuit said. “To supply these mission-critical, custom motors, Rivian turned to the largest and most established supplier of automotive parts in the world: Bosch.”
Rivian’s lawsuit added, “That was a mistake,” as the supplier sent over “unqualified personnel” and invested “insufficient resources” in its program.
As a result, Bosch failed to live up to its commitment, supplying just 101,000 EV motors in 2022, less than half of the requirement.
The lawsuit claimed Bosch “choked off” Rivian’s production lines during one of its most crucial moments, damaging the brand and its finances.
“Bosch made a calculated gamble to overpromise to multiple start-up electric vehicle companies on the theory that at least some of them would soon fail,” the lawsuit read.
Although Bosch claims it tried to help Rivian, the EV maker told a different story. Rivian engineers said one of the lines was “in shambles” during a visit to Germany and claimed Bosch was not using “industry standard technology.”
“Instead, Bosch had apparently employed teenage interns to stand by the line holding flashlights for quality control,” Rivian’s lawsuit stated.
The lawsuit cited a letter from Patrick Hermann, Rivian’s former director of procurement, sent to Bosch, saying its failure to deliver e-motors was “the #1 threat to our organization’s success.”
Rivian said it shifted to in-house e-motor production “To keep costs down and to place Rivian more in control of its own supply chain.” The lawsuit added that doing so would help prevent “supplier issues from constraining Rivian’s production in the future.”
Meanwhile, the EV maker cut its production target for 2024 due to a supply shortage. Rivian expects to build between 47,000 and 49,000 vehicles this year, down from its previous target of 57,000.
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With the launch of the first-ever Class 8 vocational EV in the North American market, PACCAR Kenworth is raising the battery-electric bar and underscoring just how far the market has come since the Tesla Semi made its debut nearly a decade ago.
When Tesla pulled the wraps off its all electric Semi truck all the way back in November of 2017, the rest of the industry was hardly thinking about BEVs. Nearly a decade later, the world is still waiting for the Semi to begin regular production, and PACCAR is launching its second generation of HDEVs with the debut of this, the all-new Kenworth T880E vocational truck.
“The Kenworth T880E marks a groundbreaking milestone in Kenworth’s history as we bring to market the first Class 8 battery-electric solution built for vocational applications,” explains Kevin Haygood, Kenworth assistant general manager for sales and marketing. “The T880E is engineered to meet the evolving needs of operators and vocational fleets while still providing the durability, reliability and customization our customers expect.”
The new electric K-whopper is motivated by PACCAR’s in-house ePowertrain platform, capable of putting up to 605 hp and 1,850 lb-ft of peak torque to work, while delivering the same levels of drivability and dependability fleets expect from a Kenworth – but power and torque are only part of the T880E’s work-ready résumé.
Open to work
In addition to a stout, Class 8 electric chassis fitted with heavy-duty Kenworth brakes and axles, the T880E’s central drive eMotor allows for significant wheelbase flexibility so fleet buyers can spec out exactly the machine they need to get the job done. The T880E was also designed to enable lift axle installations from trusted Kenworth upfitters for a vocational-friendly BEV integration.
Additionally, the T880E features a wide selection of factory-installed options that include both high- and low-voltage ePTO (electric Power Take Off) ports, mechanical ePTOs, and the same wide array of body configurations as the ICE version.
Speaking of the ICE version, the electric T880E also can also be had in the same set-back front axle and set-forward front axle configurations with the same multi-piece hood construction. Inside the cab, the latest in driver-focused technology includes the Kenworth SmartWheel and a new 15″ DriverConnect digital touchscreen. Dash and vocational features like RAM Mounts and factory-installed PTO switches are available. The T880E is also offered with Kenworth ADAS packages for customers interested in DigitalVision Mirrors, Bendix Fusion, and Lane Keeping Assist.
It’s so big, you guys
The T880E was on static display at last week’s ACT Expo in Anaheim, California. Check with your local Kenworth dealer for availability.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Kenworth.
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The tire-blistering SU7 Ultra has been the Xiaomi brand’s flagship super sedan since its launch, but a controversial software setting has limited the car to “just” 900 hp in regular driving – resulting in an outcry from owners who ponied up for the big boy numbers. With its latest software update, that missing 648 hp is back on tap!
The SU7 Ultra made waves throughout the performance car world when a bright yellow striped example lined up alongside a white quarter mile king, the 1,000+ hp Tesla Model S Plaid, and promptly smoked it.
That wasn’t all. A preproduction SU7 Ultra prototype lapped the legendary Nürburgring circuit in just 6 minutes and 46.874 seconds, firmly stamping the 1,500+ hp Xiaomi’s alphanumeric into the track’s record books with a time nearly fifteen seconds quicker than a Rimac Nevera or, on the ICE front, either a Corvette ZR1, Viper ACR, or Porsche 918 (take your pick).
It’s hardly any wonder, then, that the customers who signed up – in droves, too – were disappointed to learn that the SU7 they were allowed to buy had been neutered by the safety nannies to the tune of nearly 650 hp. (!)
We’re so back
The outrage from SU7 Ultra owners was immediate. And, facing mounting pressure online and on social media, Xiaomi ultimately decided to withdraw the performance-limiting features while acknowledging the need for more transparent communication about future software updates they messed up, saying in a statement, “we appreciate the passionate feedback from our community and will ensure better transparency moving forward.”
So, rich people can rocket themselves down the road in 9 second hypercars again and all is right with the world. A happy ending – but one that sort of illuminates a fresh set challenges for automakers peddling “software-defined vehicles” to a market that still thinks of their cars as very much hardware defined products.
That’s evidenced by the resistance to pay for features by subscription and complaints by more informed customers that “software locked” range and convenience features just subsidize the cost of more expensive trim levels and pad profits for manufacturers and suppliers.
The new reality is playing out in real time now, and the Jeff Bezos-backed $20,000 electric compact pickup from Slate Auto is going the other way entirely – time will tell whether more, or less tech is the answer.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Xiaomi, via CarNewsChina.
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Tesla (TSLA) has started offering reduced interest rates on the new Model Y in the US — this equates to a direct discount on the brand new vehicle that was supposed to spark Tesla’s demand back.
The automaker has announced “1.99% APR or $0 Due at Signing available for well-qualified buyers” on the new Model Y in the US for the first time:
This amounts to a direct discount worth a few thousand dollars. It is the first widely available discount on the new Model Y coming just weeks after the cheaper non-Launch Edition launched in the US.
It follows a $2,000 direct discount that Tesla offered to early Model Y owners last week.
These discounts and subsidized financing point to soft demand for the updated best-selling vehicle in the US. Tesla just delivered a disastrous first quarter, which it mostly blamed on the Model Y changeover, resulting in lower inventory.
However, industry watchers, including Electrek, noted many signs that the Model Y changeover was not the only issue. Tesla added significantly to its inventory in the first quarter, and the wait times for the new Model Y were extremely short.
Now, the discount weeks after launching the new Model Y confirm the soft demand in the US.
It’s not as bad as Europe and China, where Tesla has already been offering 0% financing on the new Model Y for weeks.
Electrek’s Take
I think it’s clear by now: the new Model Y is not coming to save Tesla.
Let’s be honest: It will still be a significant vehicle program by volume. It just won’t help Tesla return to growth this year.
The RWD Model Y is still coming and has a chance to help in the US. It is already available in China, and it’s not helping Tesla much there, but that’s in a hyper-competitive market, especially at lower prices where the RWD Model Y operates.
Tesla’s performance in Q2 in China will be interesting since it is basically back to its regular lineup for the whole quarter.
The US appears to have been Tesla’s least affected market, but Q3 will be the real test with the full lineup and no backlog of demand for new Model Y.
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