Good morning! It’s Wednesday, November 15, 2023, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know.
1st Gear: Thousands Of UAW Workers Reject Deal
After a six-week-long strike, the United Auto Workers union finally reached a tentative agreement for a new deal between its members and Stellantis, Ford and General Motors. The deal promised wage hikes, better working conditions and, in some cases, investment in facilities, which was enough to bring members off the picket line and back onto the factory floor. Now, as members vote to ratify the new deal, it turns out thousands of workers aren’t happy with its terms.
Autoworkers at the Big Three are voting to ratify their contracts, but NPR warns that a “sizeable minority” are saying no to the deals, which secured 25 percent raises and increased retirement contributions. The decision to vote no comes as some workers feel that the raises still “only partially make up for what was lost” in the past. NPR reports:
Jerry Coleman, who’s worked at the Stellantis Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio, as a temporary employee since 2018, says he’s a definite no vote.
“If I could vote no ten times, I would,” he says.
A large part of it is distrust. After reading the contract language, he’s not convinced Stellantis will follow through with what’s been promised, including a conversion to permanent status for temps like himself.
Workers saying no to the contract argue that conditions still aren’t as good as they were in 2007, before the financial crash hit and pay packets, retirement funds and other benefits were slashed by Ford, GM and Stellantis.
Because of that, a high percentage of workers at all three companies have voted against the deal. At Ford, 34 percent of the 25,000 votes cast are against the deal, while at GM and Stellantis it’s 48 percent and 18 percent against respectively.
There’s still a long way to go, however, and thousands more workers are yet to vote on the deal.
2nd Gear: EVs Are Still Too Expensive, But That Could Change Soon
There was some good news in the electric vehicle space this week as it was announced that the U.S. is on track to sell 1 million EVs for the first time in 2023. However, we might have reached that milestone a lot quicker if there were more affordable options on the market.
That’s one issue that’s hitting Europe’s pivot to EVs, where Reuters reports buyers are holding off on taking the all-electric plunge while they wait for cheaper options to hit the market. What’s more, hesitant adopters who hold off a few more years believe they are likely to get their hands on a better car when they finally do make the switch, as Reuters reports:
“The main problem is uncertainty,” said Thomas Niedermayer, head of a 45-year-old family-owned Bavarian car dealership.
“Many assume that the technology will improve and would rather wait three years for the next model than buy a vehicle now that will quickly lose value.”
So when can buyers expect to be able to buy a do-it-all EV that won’t break the bank? Well, it’s probably still a few more years away yet. According to Volkswagen, a €20,000 EV might not be available in Europe until the “second half of decade,” reports Reuters. In America, the German company thinks it’s still three to four years until we get a budget EV that people actually want to buy.
Despite such a car still being a few years off, VW CEO Oliver Blume told Reuters that it remains his company’s “responsibility to bring the right products at the right price onto the market.”
3rd Gear: Lithium Mining Comes To Arkansas
In order to make all these cheap EVs that Americans will no doubt buy in droves, we’re gonna need a lot of rare earth metals to use in batteries and other components. To meet this imminent boom in demand, oil giant Exxon is moving into mining and has plans for a lithium mine in Arkansas.
At its new facility, Exxon plans to pump lithium-rich brine from underground lakes that are about 10,000 feet below the surface, reports Ars Technica. Once pumped to the surface and refined, the lithium created at the site could help assemble batteries for 1 million EVs a year by 2030. Ars Technica reports:
“Lithium is essential to the energy transition, and ExxonMobil has a leading role to play in paving the way for electrification,” said Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil Low Carbon Solutions. “This landmark project applies decades of ExxonMobil expertise to unlock vast supplies of North American lithium with far fewer environmental impacts than traditional mining operations,” he said.
Assuming all goes to plan, Exxon wants to begin producing lithium by 2027, with an output sufficient to build a million EVs annually by 2030.
The rush to open lithium facilities in America has come about following president Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which set strict Made In America targets for any EV hoping to be eligible for a $7,500 tax break.
The tax credits available for EVs are now linked to the domestic content in its battery pack, which has encouraged automakers like Hyundai and BMW to pursue battery production facilities of their own here in America.
4th Gear: Cruise Suspends Even More Taxi Services
After pausing its self-driving taxi services in America after a probe into the safety of its services, GM-backed autonomous car company Cruise has now halted all its U.S. offerings, including rides in cars with a safety driver at the wheel.
Starting immediately, Cruise will suspend all supervised and manual car trips in the U.S., reports Reuters. The move comes as it looks to “rebuild public trust” following a spate of serious crashes and incidents involving Cruise cars. Reuters reports:
“This orderly pause is a further step to rebuild public trust while we undergo a full safety review,” Cruise said in a blog post. “We will continue to operate our vehicles in closed course training environments and maintain an active simulation program in order to stay focused on advancing AV technology.”
As well as pausing its services, Cruise will conduct a review into its practices after one of its cars hit a pedestrian and pinned them underneath the vehicle.
The probe will see the company work with an independent engineering firm to undertake a “comprehensive review” of its safety systems and technology. The company will also hire an external safety expert to review the company’s operations and culture. This will all be in addition to an investigation into Cruise that’s being carried out by the NHTSA.