Tesla, the pioneer of the electric vehicle, is about to encounter a serious competition. In the next three years, dozens of electric vehicles will be available in the market. Existing electric car models such as the Nissan Leaf and BMW i3 are not in Tesla’s rival position due to the shortness of their range. However, the Jaguar I-pace, on sale since April 2018, and the launch of the Audi e-tron, marks the entry of the deep-rooted establishments of the industry into the electric vehicle industry. This development points out that Tesla will face a huge competition.
Honda to invest $ 2.75 billion in General Motors’ Autonomous Vehicle Unit
Honda Motor will invest $2.75 billion and take a 5.7% stake in GM’s autonomous vehicle unit aiming to improve its activities devoted to the autonomous vehicle sector. The agreement calls for Honda to provide engineering expertise extending cooperation between Honda and GM for high-tech products that have large costs and risk but no product ready for the market. The partnership between GM and Honda also includes the development of electric vehicles with hydrogen fuel cell that is expected to go on sale in 2020 under the same roof. On the other hand, Honda recently announced that they had been discussing a possible co-operation with Waymo, known as Google’s autonomous vehicle project, for two years and that they were planning to integrate Waymo’s autonomous vehicle technology into their own vehicles.
Getting Out of Diesel Business Porsche Steers for Electric Vehicles
In a statement by Porsche of the Volkswagen Group, said that the company will stop production of diesel versions of its cars, instead, it will focus on hybrid and electric vehicles. Following the shock waves generated by Volkswagen in the automotive industry, strict measures have been taken against diesel engines that pollute the environment. Automobile manufacturers around the world are trying to catch up with Tesla, the industry leader in this field, by increasing the budget allocated to EV. Oliver Blume, CEO of Porsche, said that diesel vehicles have always played a secondary role for them and that they are planning a future without a diesel vehicle as a sports car manufacturer. It was also mentioned that Porsche invested more than 6 billion euros (7.1 billion dollars) on EV by 2022, claiming that the demand for diesel models fell and that the share of Porsche cars in the world was 12% in 2017. Porsche, which sold diesel versions of its cars for nearly ten years, has no diesel vehicles in its product range since February. Next year, Porsche will launch the company’s first purely electric sports vehicle, Taycan.
Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Daimler, said Mercedes-Benz should invest more in manufacturing industry in North America in order to comply with the new trade rules. Although the German car manufacturer is already producing cars in the US, it imports many of the engine and critical parts from Europe. Under the new trade agreement between the US, Canada, and Mexico, automobile manufacturers have to procure 75% of parts for the vehicles produced in North America from within the region. Said ratio is currently at the level of 62.5%.In a statement by Porsche of the Volkswagen Group, said that the company will stop production of diesel versions of its cars, instead, it will focus on hybrid and electric vehicles. Following the shock waves generated by Volkswagen in the automotive industry, strict measures have been taken against diesel engines that pollute the environment. Automobile manufacturers around the world are trying to catch up with Tesla, the industry leader in this field, by increasing the budget allocated to EV. Oliver Blume, CEO of Porsche, said that diesel vehicles have always played a secondary role for them and that they are planning a future without a diesel vehicle as a sports car manufacturer. It was also mentioned that Porsche invested more than 6 billion euros (7.1 billion dollars) on EV by 2022, claiming that the demand for diesel models fell and that the share of Porsche cars in the world was 12% in 2017. Porsche, which sold diesel versions of its cars for nearly ten years, has no diesel vehicles in its product range since February. Next year, Porsche will launch the company’s first purely electric sports vehicle, Taycan.
New Vehicle Sales in Romania Up by 20%
The total new vehicle sales in Romania reached 105,700 units in the first seven months of this year, up by 23.8% compared to the same period of 2017, according to data from the Association of Car Manufacturers and Importers – APIA.
The Statistical Institute of Romania reported that in the first 9 months of 2018, new vehicle sales increased by 20% compared to the same period of the previous year and amounted to 135,000 units.
In this period, the number of passenger cars increased by 22.3% and amounted to 113,700 units while commercial vehicle sales increased by 9.7% to 21,100 units.
On the other hand, second hand vehicle sales decreased by 8.3% in the period and amounted to 347.000 units.
Mercedes Needs to Reduce Import Dependency to Comply with Canadian-US Trading Rules
Slovenia Ranks Seventh in World for Use of Robots in Auto Industry
According to a survey conducted by International Federation fo Robotics, in 2017, 144 robots were used in Slovenia per 10,000 workers, which is above the European average. Industrial robots are mostly used in the automotive sector amongst others.
Slovenia, with 1.075 robots entered in 2017 into Elite Club of countries using 1.000 robots per 10,000 workers in auto industry and ranked seventh in use of robots in the automotive sector behind South Korea (2,435), USA (1.200), Germany (1,162), Japan (1,158), France (1,156) ve Austria’nın (1,083).
South Korea, with 710 robots per 10,000 workers said to be the leader not only in the automotive sector, but also in the use of industrial robots in general.
China’s Steel Bar Exports Down 21.9 percent in January-August
According to data released by Chinese customs officials in August this year China’s steel bar exports volume decreased by 8.4 percent year on year to 1.03 million mt, steel plate exports down 14.9 percent year on year to 3.41 million mt and wire rod exports down 0.8 percent to 180,000 mt, angles/channels exports increased by 33.9 percent year on year to 320,000 mt.
In the first eight months of this year, China’s steel bar exports totaled 9.39 million mt, down 21.9 percent year on year, while its angles/channels exports decreased by 4.3 percent year on year to 2.41 million mt, while its steel plate export volume was 26.95 million mt with a decrease of 13.3, while its wire rod export volume increased by 1.4 percent year on year to 1.43 million mt.
As previously announced by Chinese customs officials, China’s finished steel exports in August totaled 5.88 million mt, down 0.19 percent month on month and down 9.9 percent year on year.
Spain aims to establish 50GW Energy Recycling Facility by 2030
José Dominguez Abascal, the State Secretary for Energy in Spain, in his statement at the “National Recycling Energy Congress” organized by the Association of Energy Industry Companies, stated that he is aiming to establish a 50Gw recycling energy plant in Spain until 2030, emphasizing that thereby ensuring 35% of Spain’s energy needs could be obtained from recycled energy sources. Currently, Spain can obtain only 17.5% of its energy needs from recycled energy sources.
Abascal added that they aim to be 4 - 5 million electric vehicles in Spain as of 2030. Bloomberg News Agency reported that during an interview, Spain’s State Secretary for Energy, José Dominguez Abascal stated that Spain would be able to obtain all its energy needs only from the recycled energy resources by 2050.
Riko to Build a Solar Power Plant in Ukraine
Slovenia construction company Riko announced that it will build a 9,5 million Euros 10MW solar power plant in Zhytomyr, Ukraine which would be the second large project of the company in the same town.
The latest project of the company is financially supported by the Center for International Cooperation and Development. According to the Russian press agency Interfax, Slovenia has received a grant of 3 million Euros for the project.
The solar power plant will be completed in two stages, first of which planned as the installation of a 6 MW facility and the second as a 4.79 MW facility. The 18-hectare project is planned to be completed by the end of next year.
