As the EU takes aim at Russian oil, European leaders are bracing for the economic toll that increased gas prices will take on their own citizens. Germany has responded with a radical three-month reduction in prices for public transit that some hope remains permanent. New York City is also desperately trying to get more people to ride the bus by taking more space away from cars.
Fiat Chrysler pleads guilty to duping regulators over emissions from its diesel engines. AV startup Pony.ai loses its driverless permit in California. Elon Musk is under investigation from the SEC (again) over his attempted acquisition of Twitter. Meanwhile, advocates are asking when California regulators are going to go after Tesla for its questionable marketing of “Full Self Driving.”
Among the interesting questions prompted by this week’s news: Can scooter-sharing be profitable? Has the Coors family discovered a realistic way to power trucks, trains and planes by hydrogen? Can a company make money selling insurance policies for as little as 10¢ a day? Can India become a major EV manufacturing hub? How serious are the world’s largest companies about fighting climate change.
E.U. hits Russia with oil embargo: The 27-member bloc agrees to gradually phase out imports of Russian oil, with a goal of reducing imports by 90% by the end of the year. There are a number of exceptions, however, most notably a total exemption for Hungary, and an exemption for oil imported by pipeline. There is little doubt that the embargo, even with its exceptions, will hurt Russia, as intended, but it’s far from clear how much pain it will inflict. Similarly unclear is what the economic and political implications will be in Europe, which gets over a quarter of its crude oil from Russia.
Fiat Chrysler pleads guilty: Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, a division of Amsterdam-based auto conglomerate Stellantis, plans to plead guilty and pay a $300 million fine for evading emissions regulations on diesel-powered vehicles. The U.S. Justice Department has accused the automaker of installing devices on its cars that allowed them to trick regulators into believing the cars were producing emissions below the legal limit. Stellantis may very well face legal consequences in other jurisdictions, but at this point it appears that the financial damage is peanuts compared to the many billions VW paid over its own diesel scandal…
Another Musk investigation: Elon Musk is once again in the crosshairs of the Securities and Exchange Commission. The agency is investigating whether he disclosed his 9% stake in Twitter within the required timeframe and whether he misled the company and regulators by reporting that he planned to be a passive investor only a couple weeks before offering to buy the company.
One Moore job: CJ Moore, who nine months ago left his role heading Tesla’s autopilot division to oversee Apple’s autonomous driving unit, has been hired as VP of software for Luminar Technologies, the LiDAR company. Luminar also snagged Tanner Ozcelik, who founded Nvidia’s autonomous software unit, as well as Chris Lubeck, Tesla’s chief intellectual property counsel. Watch this space…
An Africa-sized milestone: Uber announces it has clocked up 1 billion rides in Africa, traveling over 10 billion kilometers in the process. The company still only operates in 50 cities across eight of the continent’s 54 countries: South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, Tanzania, Uganda, the Ivory Coast and Ghana.
A green pledge at Davos: Leaders representing 50 large companies pledge to seek out steel and aluminum that is manufactured from processes that emit little or no carbon. Sounds good, anyway.
Insurance for Kenya’s boda boda drivers: A startup in Kenya seeks to offer affordable insurance for the 1.4 million boda boda drivers who earn money giving rides on motorcycles. MotiSure is offering premiums as low as 10¢ a day –– or $3 a month –– to drivers for policies that cover up to $6,000 in medical expenses and pay for loss of income in the event of a hospitalization or injury.
Pony.ai loses permit: Back in November California regulators suspended the startup’s permit to test autonomous vehicles without a safety driver after a suspected software malfunction led one of its cars to crash into a lane divider. Now the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles has revoked its permit to test even with a driver present after discovering “numerous” traffic violations among its safety drivers. Oops.
New Stellantis battery plant in Indiana: The parent company of Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot announces a joint venture with Samsung SDI to invest $2.5 billion into a new EV battery plant in Kokomo, Ind. The city is a natural choice, since Chrysler already has extensive manufacturing operations there, but the state of Indiana sweetened the deal with incentives worth $186 million.
Georgia on their mind: The Korean automaker will invest $5.5 billion into a new EV plant near Savannah, Ga. This comes six months after Rivian announced similarly expansive plans for a plant 50 miles from Atlanta. A day after joining Hyundai executives to unveil the factory plans, Gov. Brian Kemp trounced his opponent in the Republican primary, David Perdue, who had vocally opposed the Rivian plant. Along with Elon Musk’s newly announced embrace of the GOP, perhaps this is a sign that EVs do not have to become yet another battle in America’s ongoing political-cultural war.
Tata fills in for Ford: Indian automaker Tata Motors, which counts Jaguar Land Rover among its subsidiaries, will buy a Ford assembly plant in the western state of Gujarat to make EVs. Ford halted production in the country last year after struggling for two decades to penetrate the Indian auto market, but recently toyed with the idea of using its Gujarat facility to make EVs for export. It eventually abandoned that idea as well.
Utah sees surge in demand for on-demand: The Utah Transit Authority, a regional transit agency that oversees public transportation in and around Salt Lake City, Provo and other cities in north-central Utah, reports a huge surge in customers taking advantage of on-demand “microtransit” services.
In the absence of cheap gas…cheap trains: Trying to help people cope with high energy costs that will likely go even higher if the EU puts an embargo on Russian oil, Germany is offering deeply discounted public transit this summer. Starting June 1, Germans will be able to get a monthly transit pass giving them access to any metro, tram, bus or regional train for only 9 euros. That’s about 98 euros less than what the same level of access would typically cost a Berlin resident. Of course, many hope that what began as a temporary measure in response to an energy crisis will result in a permanent paradigm shift in favor of low-cost public public transportation, much in the way that the “slow streets” movement that caught on in the early stages of the pandemic has led major cities to permanently reallocate space from cars to pedestrians and cyclists.
The Coors take on hydrogen: CoorsTek, a privately-held company led by members of the Coors brewing dynasty says they have discovered an extremely efficient way to make hydrogen. The company says its use of a nickel-based glass-ceramic proton membrane yields hydrogen results in much greater energy efficiency than the conventional steam reformation and electrolysis method. It hopes to commercialize the technology in the next few years to be used for heavy duty trucks, planes, ships and other large vehicles that are unlikely to be powered by a battery.
Where’s the FSD investigation? A year after the California Department of Motor Vehicles said it would investigate Tesla for making misleading claims about the capabilities of its Full Self Driving software, politicians and activists are wondering why the agency hasn’t acted.
The GOP campaign against green businesses: Even as Republican governors in Texas and Georgia eagerly welcome EV manufacturers to their states, GOP-run legislatures around the country are punishing companies for acknowledging climate change or moving away from fossil fuels.
Can Scooternomics work? Bloomberg CityLab delves into the recent performance of micromobility operator Lime. The company’s ridership, which was initially devastated by the pandemic, has climbed back to 2019 levels despite charging much higher prices. Those higher prices, along with scooters that last much longer, may allow Lime to be profitable.
Boosting buses in the Big Apple: Buses in New York have long played second fiddle to the subway. It’s not hard to understand why: they get stuck in traffic. Even before Covid buses were facing big challenges from Uber and Lyft, which were poaching its riders and exacerbating New York’s traffic problems, resulting in even slower buses. The MTA is forging ahead with ambitious plans to speed up buses with dedicated lanes and redesigned routes.
Enjoy the Week in Review? Get it delivered directly to your inbox by signing up for the CoMotion>>NEWS newsletter.
