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Welcome back to The Station, your central hub for all past, present and future means of transporting people and packages from Point A to Point B.
Happy Thanksgiving to our readers. We’re grateful here at The Station for sticking with us over the years as we break down the week’s transportation news. We’ll keep it short because no doubt everyone is exhausted from the tsunami of family and food.
The Cruise the saga continues. Late last weekend, CEO and co-founder Kyle Vogt resigned from his post. Vogt co-founder Dan Kan also resigned. No one has been named to replace Vogt yet, but Mo Elshenawy, EVP of engineering at Cruise, is stepping in to serve as president and CTO. GM board member Jon McNeill has been named vice chairman of Cruise’s board.
The top dogs have been released a new business plan for beleaguered robotaxi in the future, a company that has scaled back to conserve cash and promote a culture of safety. The first step is to stop production of the Origin robotaxi until 2024. Cruise will continue to focus on its Chevy Bolt AV.
Cruise doesn’t plan to hit the road again anytime soon, but when she does, she’ll start in one city and go from there. This is a departure from the previous aggressive multi-city launch strategy that Cruise and GM had focused on in 2023.
Cruise has not announced any layoffs, but they should be coming soon. We expect to hear more about this in mid-December.
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micromobbin’
A quick word on what two cities near and dear to my heart do or don’t do in the way of micromobility.
In New YorkMayor Eric Adams announced a new design to turn the Hudson River into a “marine highway,” facilitating the delivery of goods to Manhattan’s wharves. A fleet of electric cargo bikes would then pick up these goods and transport them to their final destinations.
Meanwhile inside Aucklandthe Council this week voted in favor scrap a planned multi-modal micro-mobility center intended to be part of the redevelopment of a downtown car park. Auckland’s car-loving mayor Wayne Brown said the $28 million center had “no business case at all”, a clear attempt to ignore the hundreds of workers who might rather get to work quickly than sit in traffic only to waste time looking for parking. .
Cases like these two focus the need for smart urban planning to encourage more people and businesses to choose greener forms of transit such as micromobility. If policymakers want to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and create more sustainable cities, improving cycling infrastructure and supporting clean last-mile delivery solutions is imperative. Adding 200 more temporary parking spaces (the policy that Mayor Brown eventually supported) only exacerbates the problems of traffic congestion and air pollution.
Offer of the week
Kinterra Capital, a Canadian private equity firm, closed a oversubscribed capital of $565 million dedicated to securing critical mineral elements for battery development.
The company’s debut fund comes amid increasing government incentives to source and produce battery materials in North America. Biden’s deflation law is packed with incentives to boost domestic industry to power the energy transition and reduce dependence on China.
Kinterra’s co-founders said “structural underinvestment in critical minerals over the past decade” has resulted in “severely discounted valuations for exceptional assets” while also creating the need for capital investment. Basically Quinterra wants to strike while the iron is hot. The company will be on the lookout to invest in assets across North America, Western Europe, and Australia, including lithium mines, battery manufacturing plants, energy storage solutions, raw material manufacturing plants, and more.
Other offers that caught my eye…
BETA Technologies, an electric aerospace startup, received $169 million in funding from the United States Export-Import Bank. The funding was issued through EXIM’s Make More in America initiative, which is designed to help small and medium-sized businesses compete on a global scale. The startup said it plans to use the funds to help finance its new manufacturing facility in Burlington, Vermont.
Chinese battery giant CATL is According to reports looking at a second import in Hong Kong. The company is currently listed in Shenzhen.
HumanForest, a London-based e-bike company, has raised a £5 million ($6.3 million) Series A raise, raising it to £17 million ($21.4 million). The funds will be used to grow the e-bike fleet and further develop the startup’s ad tech platform and parking compliance software.
More like a no deal. Illuminated Founder and CEO Austin Russell’s bid to acquire Forbes Global Media Holdings it has finished. Forbes’ parent company, Integrated Whale Media Investments, terminated the deal with Russell after failing to secure the ideal group of investors required to close the deal.
Notable reads and other items
ADAS
A Florida judge found that there is “reasonable evidence” to conclude that Tesla and its managers, including CEO Elon Musk, knew its vehicles had faulty Autopilot systems and still allowed them on the road. Now the family of Stephen Banner, who died in an autopilot crash in 2019, can sue Tesla for damages.
Autonomous vehicles
Kinetic and Hyudai is co-developing production-ready releases; of the electric robotaxi IONIQ 5 in a new innovation center in Singapore. The robots are to be used for Motional’s commercial service in the US from 2024.
Electric vehicles, batteries & charging
Passage is shrinkage plans to build a factory in Michigan that makes cheaper lithium iron phosphate batteries using technology licensed from China CATL.
South Korean LG Electronics plans to enter the US EV charging market in 2024 with a new line of owner-operated AC and DC chargers. The B2B range will include Level 2 and Level 3 chargers aimed at businesses, municipalities and other public spaces.
Nissan will invest around 1.4 billion dollars to build three new electrification plants in the UK
Rivian Founder and CEO RJ Scaringe takes on his additional role head of products to the company as the current head of that function, Nick Kalayjian, moves into a consulting role.
Tesla charged congestion charges at select Supercharger stations across the US over Thanksgiving weekend. The $1 per minute surcharge will apply to Tesla owners who exceed the 90% charge when stations are busy.
Gig economy
Drivers for Uber and Lyft in Massachusetts who want the right to unionize have collected enough signatures to get their ballot to voters in 2024.
Difference
Chinese EV manufacturer Li Auto is ramping up efforts to build internal car chips. The company is recruitment of five positions in Singapore to develop silicon carbide power units.
