All posts tagged: automaker

Ford EV and tech chief leaving automaker

Ford EV and tech chief leaving automaker

Published by skeptic

Doug Field, the high-profile executive who shaped Ford’s electric vehicle (EV) and technology strategies over the past five years, is leaving the automaker. Field’s departure was announced Wednesday as part of a broader reorganization of the company’s leadership. Field joined Ford in 2021 with a robust resume from Silicon Valley that included leading Apple’s special projects team and serving as senior vice president of engineering at Tesla. His hiring was more than just a return to his professional roots. (Field began his career at Ford as a development engineer from 1987 to 1993.) The hiring was meant to drive Ford CEO Jim Farley’s vision to turn the legacy automaker into a leader in software, EVs, and other advanced technology. Field directly reported to Farley, tasked initially with overseeing the company’s embedded software and hardware operations, covering vehicle controls, enterprise connectivity, features, integration and validation, architecture and platform, driver assistance technology, and digital engineering tools. In practice, this made him responsible for the design, development, and implementation of the entire tech stack used in Ford and …

BYD is open to building cars in Canada and acquiring a rival automaker

BYD is open to building cars in Canada and acquiring a rival automaker

Published by skeptic

BYD’s Executive Vice President Stella Li confirmed the world’s largest EV maker is studying the Canadian market for a wholly owned manufacturing plant, and signaled it could acquire a struggling legacy automaker to accelerate its global expansion. The comments, made during an interview in São Paulo, mark BYD’s most aggressive public posture yet toward North American production and consolidation of weaker rivals in the global auto industry. BYD wants full control — no joint ventures Canada has been actively courting Chinese automakers to invest in local production, pushing them toward joint ventures with Canadian companies. BYD isn’t interested in that arrangement. “I don’t think a JV will work,” Li told Bloomberg, adding that BYD would insist on owning and operating any Canadian facility outright. The company’s preference for vertical integration — it manufactures its own batteries, motors, power electronics, and semiconductors — makes shared ownership a poor fit for its operating model. Advertisement – scroll for more content The timing makes sense. In January, Canada agreed to slash its 100% tariff on Chinese EVs down …

Another automaker joins BYD with ultra-fast 1,500 kW EV chargers

Another automaker joins BYD with ultra-fast 1,500 kW EV chargers

Published by skeptic

ZeekrPower EV charge station (Source: Zeekr) BYD’s Flash Chargers can charge an electric vehicle just as fast as filling up at a gas station, but it’s not the only automaker with ultra-fast 1,500 kW EV chargers. Geely joins BYD in unlocking the 1,500 kW EV charger The era of megawatt charging is upon us, enabling EVs to charge up in under 10 minutes. BYD shook the industry last week with its Blade Battery 2.0 and Flash Charging technology. With the ability to deliver up to 1,500 kW of peak power, BYD’s new Flash Charging system can charge an electric vehicle from 10% to 70% in 5 minutes. To go from 10% to 97% takes just 9 minutes (See a video of it here). Even at temperatures as low as -30°C (-20°F), recharging only takes 12 minutes. While BYD stole the spotlight, another Chinese automaker just unlocked EV chargers with a peak power of 1,500 kW. Advertisement – scroll for more content According to China’s Autohome, Volvo owner Geely announced on its website that its self-developed …

Lamborghini is the Latest Automaker to Pull the Plug on Luxury EVs

Lamborghini is the Latest Automaker to Pull the Plug on Luxury EVs

Published by skeptic

I ask if Winkelmann can explain why luxury EVs are failing so badly when lower price points in the sector are doing so well. “First of all, there is no need to buy a car like Lamborghini. Then, for sure, there is the experience with electric cars on purchase price, resale value and residual value, and also in terms of technology.” Here Winkelmann is referring to the eye-watering drops in value some high-end EVs are experiencing, with brands like Porsche losing up to half the car’s value in just a year. Meanwhile, other marques had lux EVs that lost more than $600 each day. “Then there is the fact that technology, in the eyes of our customers, is going to be obsolete in 10 years from now,” says Winkelmann, “because there’s a lot of new tech. This is the idea of the majority of our customers, and the experience they have had with electric cars, even in different segments, and charging times.” Winkelmann says he does not know if fast-charging and high-capacity solid state battery …

Tesla fared worse than any automaker in EU in 2025, even as EVs outsold petrol

Tesla fared worse than any automaker in EU in 2025, even as EVs outsold petrol

Published by skeptic

Sales of electric cars outnumbered petrol-powered ones in Europe in December for the first time, even as Europe loosened rules to allow automakers lenience to pollute more. But the huge increase in EV sales, led by BYD, was not accompanied by a similar boost in Tesla sales, with the company still seeing huge year-over-year declines in its global sales performance. December and full-year sales numbers for Europe came out today, published by the European Automobile Manufacturer’s Association (ACEA), with great news for EVs. Overall auto sales grew by +1.8% over the previous year, though sales have not yet recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Advertisement – scroll for more content But more importantly for us here at Electrek, EV sales positively boomed in the region, particularly at the tail end of the year. In December, battery electric (BEV) sales were up +51% over the previous December, with plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) increasing +36.7% and conventional petrol hybrids increasing +5.8%. Meanwhile, sales of petrol-only cars dropped by -19.2% and diesel cars dropped by -22.4%. That year-end 51% boom was …