Het rommelt flink in de auto industrie en zelfs Ford wordt een beetje wakker met wat er momenteel allemaal speelt. Ford CEO Jim Fairley denkt dat Trump gelijk krijgt voor wat betreft ‘de elektrische auto’s’ en dat dit wel eens de genadeklap voor de auto industrie kan zijn.
Lees hieronder 2 berichten over dit onderwerp.
Ford CEO Jim Farley says EVS have become ‘a political football
Lees het bericht verder in het Engels:
To date, Ford’s EV strategy has helped it improve the automaker’s share in that particular market by a considerable margin, as The Blue Oval continues to rely on conquests in that segment while also continuing to focus on hybrids and ICE-powered vehicles. However, after an initial flurry of growth in terms of EV sales, things have softened a bit as of late, which prompted Ford to delay its goals of producing 600K EVs annually by 2024 and two million each year by 2026. However, electric vehicles have long been a controversial topic in the U.S. that are often politicized by both parties, with former president and current GOP front runner Donald Trump recently saying that EVs will “spell the death of the U.S. auto industry.” During a recent UAW negotiation update with the press, Ford CEO Jim Farley offered up his own response to this hot topic as well.
“And I want to say a few words about EVs. They have become a political football and that’s a shame,” Farley said. “I drove an F-150 with my son across the western U.S. this summer and I met so many people who love absolutely their EVs, like Lightning. Think about it. Tesla has become the most valuable auto company the world has ever seen, and they’re profitable and they’re growing.”
Ford Low Carbon Steel Supply
“Our customers love their EVs. They are new to our brand and they’re going to be blown away at our next-generation EVs. We’re also working on fantastic internal combustion vehicles, like Broncos and F-150s and F-150 hybrids and Expeditions. The bottom line is, customers are going to decide what kind of vehicle they buy from Ford, as they already do. Not all these people politicizing EVs.”
These comments also come in the wake of Farley accusing the United Auto Workers union of purposely delaying its negotiations with the automaker and negotiating in bad faith over its under-construction EV and battery plants, which he says are hampered by the potential for increased labor costs stemming from proposed union wage increases. However, UAW President Shawn Fain responded by claiming that Farley is “lying about the state of negotiations,” adding that the two sides remain far apart on topics including job security during the EV transition.
Source | Fordauthority.com
Ford Low Carbon Steel Supply
Ford ‘groene staal’ kan voorlopig worden gesmeed met aardgas
Ook over het ‘groene sprookje’, qua ‘groene staal’ lijkt alleen haalbaar als gebruik van gas is toegestaan. Is dit niet het geval dan dreigt ook dat plan volledig in het water te vallen.
Lees ook dit bericht verder in het Engels:
Aside from building more EVs, Ford has also committed to reducing emissions across its entire manufacturing footprint, with a series of “green” efforts taking place at its plants around the globe over the past few years. Those efforts also include utilizing low carbon steel – which uses green hydrogen and renewable energies in the production process – as the automaker signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with three suppliers last October, and then expanded that commitment by becoming a founding member of the sector commitment on low carbon aluminum shortly thereafter. However, according to Bloomberg, that so-called “green steel” may not be so green after all.
The problem stems from the fact that at least for now, the suppliers of this green steel – Thyssenkrupp AG and Salzgitter AG – must make it using natural gas – a fossil fuel – until the supply of green hydrogen improves. At the moment, as those companies are looking to use a combination of electric-arc furnaces and hydrogen to produce enough of this more environmentally-friendly metal to meet demand from automakers, and it seems as if the transition will be more of a gradual one than something that can be done immediately.
“Steel made with natural gas is not climate-neutral steel and that is what ultimately matters,” said Oliver Sartor a senior adviser at think tank Agora Industry, who suggests that a labeling system should be put in place to reveal the emissions performance of such products. This would mean that only steel produced using 100 percent hydrogen can be labeled as “near zero” in terms of its emissions generation.
This is also a point of contention for automakers, who are paying a premium for green steel – including Ford, which has pledged that at least 10 percent of its steel purchases will have a net-zero carbons emissions by 2030. Regardless, it is worth noting that while natural gas isn’t zero emission, its use in this process does slash carbon emissions by around 60 percent compared to coal-fired steelmaking.
Source | Fordauthority.com
