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Investing.com — Here’s your weekly professional roundup of the last week’s biggest headlines in the EV space: Tesla’s charging network expands national reach; China extends tax breaks for electric vehicles; and Ford gets a historic $9.2 billion loan.
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Rivian and others join Tesla’s charging standard
The third week of June for Tesla (NASDAQ:) started strong with American electric car company Rivian (NASDAQ:) announcing its decision to adopt Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS), allowing Rivian drivers to access to Tesla’s Supercharger network in the United States and Canada.
Rivian joins Michigan-based automakers Ford (NYSE:) and General Motors (NYSE:) who also recently announced agreements with Tesla to gain access to Superchargers.
“We are excited to work with Tesla and to see collaborations like this one help the world move toward carbon neutrality.” Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe said. “Adoption of the North American charging standard will allow our current and future customers to take advantage of Tesla’s extensive Supercharger network as we continue to build out our Rivian Adventure Network. We look forward to continuing to find new ways to accelerate EV adoption.”
Rivian wasn’t the only one embracing the Tesla standard this week. Not long after Rivian’s announcement, BTC Power, a privately owned California-based EV charger manufacturer, revealed that it will also adopt NACS in its EV chargers starting next year. The move follows similar ones at several rival charging companies, including ChargePoint (NYSE:) and Evgo (NASDAQ:).
“By including the NACS connector on our chargers, we are able to eliminate the need for unreliable and unpredictable adapters used by drivers who use our equipment,” said BTC CEO Frank Meza.
Analysts and investors alike await the next wave of adopters of the Tesla standard. Stellantis (NYSE:) has been quiet since revealing that they are considering their options on the matter.
Hyundai (OTC:) held its CEO Investor Day 2023 on Tuesday, where CEO Jaehoon Chang revealed that the South Korean automaker is also considering adopting the charging port, but has been halted because the company says they are taking the time to consider whether the change is in the best interest of your customers.
One problem, Chang said, is that Tesla’s current network of superchargers doesn’t allow for the faster charging that Hyundai EVs can achieve at other chargers.
“That’s what we’ll look at from a customer perspective,” Chang told analysts at the automaker’s investor day.
Chang told investors that Hyundai would consult with Tesla to determine if adjustments could be made to its charging system for Hyundai customers so they can charge faster.
Also on Tuesday, the Texas Department of Transportation announced that the state would require EV charging companies to include both Tesla’s standard and the nationally recognized CCS.
According to the department, all charging manufacturers building electric vehicle chargers for the state of Texas will need to include both connections on their units if they hope to be part of a state program to electrify highways with federal dollars.
“The decision by Ford, GM and now Rivian to adopt NACS changed the requirements for Phase 1” of the rollout, the Texas Department of Transportation said in an email Tuesday.
China’s extended tax policy energizes EV stocks
Shares of Chinese electric vehicle names Nio (NYSE:), Li Auto (NASDAQ:) and xpeng inc (NYSE:) saw a boost in trading on Wednesday after China extended a tax-free policy for new energy vehicles (NEVs).
Under the latest policy, the NEV purchase tax will receive exemptions for purchases made during the 2024-2025 period. For purchases made between 2026 and 2027, the tax will be cut in half to just 5%. In addition, the tax exemption amount per car must not exceed RMB30k during the period 2024-2025 and must not exceed RMB15k per car in the period 2026-2027.
In September 2014, China began granting NEVs a purchase tax exemption to encourage their growth. The policy was supposed to end in 2017, but was extended until the end of 2020, and then again in April 2020, this time until the end of 2022. In September 2022, the government dropped the news that the tax break for The NEVs will continue shooting until the end of 2023.
Historic Ford subsidy boosts electric vehicle production in the US
Ford has secured one of the largest auto industry subsidies in US history to boost production of electric vehicles, part of the Biden administration’s efforts to compete with Chinese manufacturing.
The US Department of Energy plans to loan up to $9.2 billion to a joint venture of Ford and South Korea’s SK On to help build three battery plants in Tennessee and Kentucky, the largest award ever awarded under the government program .
This is the sixth loan for battery supply chain projects from the ATVM program. Tesla received a $465 million loan in 2010 from the program that allowed it to open a plant in Fremont, California, and build the Model S electric car. It repaid the loan in 2013.
The head of the Department of Energy’s Office of Loan Programs, Jigar Shah, said in an interview that the department’s goal “is for people to choose to put these supply chains here in the United States, not in other countries, and to make it faster and more confident here.”
The project is expected to create 5,000 construction jobs in Tennessee and Kentucky, and 7,500 operations jobs once the plants are operational.
“Major technology transitions have always been accelerated by collaboration between the public and private sectors,” said Dave Webb, Ford treasurer.
BlueOval SK chief executive Robert Rhee said the loan will be used to “strengthen critical domestic supply chains and produce high-quality batteries for future Ford and Lincoln electric vehicles.”
It wasn’t all good news for Ford this week. On Wednesday, it was reported that the automaker is preparing to start another round of layoffs in the coming weeks.
The exact number of people Ford plans to let go is unknown. However, according to experts, the layoffs are expected to affect employees in Ford’s gasoline engine division, as well as teams in the electric vehicle and software department. They are expected to include primarily US salaried workers.
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