Today, Yoshi Mobility settled into three business lines: preventative maintenance, virtual vehicle inspections and electric vehicle charging.
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Pint-size pickup startup Telo Trucks finds unexpected niche in fleet customers
The young automotive company raised $5.4 million and added a Tesla co-founder to its board.
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A Tesla co-founder returns, TuSimple restructures again and Uber’s stickiness strategy
Welcome back to The Station, your central hub for all past, present and future means of moving people and packages from Point A to Point B.
It was another busy week in the transportation world and no surprise, Tesla was one of the headliners. The company held its annual shareholder meeting and as per ushe, CEO Elon Musk shared tidbits and musings about the company. While some of this was rehashing old information, there were a number of notable and newsmaker moments.
Top of the list? JB Straubel, a Tesla co-founder and former CTO, has returned as a board member.
Other items that got my attention included another delay for the next-gen Roadster, hints of two upcoming EV products and Musk’s decision to “try a little advertising.” Here’s a roundup of our coverage.
Speaking of Musk, he lost another bid to end a 2018 settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that requires oversight of some of his Tesla-related tweets. The upshot: The Twitter sitter (as some have described the role) must remain.
Alrighty, then. Onward!
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Micromobbin’
May is Bike Month and Friday was National Bike to Work Day, two reminders that bikes are not just for sports and recreation — they’re a viable form of transit. That’s especially true for e-bikes, so don’t let someone tell you you’re cheating if you don’t ride a push bike to work.
But remember, e-bikes and e-scooters should be treated with care and responsibility.
A shocking video of an e-scooter catching fire in a London home has been going around. The owner of the scooter bought it off Gumtree (a Craigslist-type site) and was charging it inside when the battery caught fire, which spread rapidly. This is a PSA for safe e-scooter practices!
Here are tips and best practices on owning and storing a scooter. A few that are especially important:
- Buy a scooter from a reputable company that equips its vehicles with batteries that are compliant with global standards.
- Don’t charge batteries overnight while you’re asleep or while you’re away from home.
- Don’t dispose of batteries in household waste or normal recycling. Find a battery recycling service.
- Avoid storing and charging e-scooters and e-bikes on escape routes or communal areas of multi-occupied buildings.
And with that, onto the news nuggets …
BackPedal is a new British startup that offers e-bike theft protection via a monthly subscription. Included in that subscription are things like an integrated GPS system with LTE and a retrieval team that tracks your stolen bike and calls the cops for you. My question for the company: Do the cops — who are busy these days with increased crime in major cities — actually do anything to help people retrieve bikes?
A study commissioned by Bolt found that about half of residents in the Netherlands, Germany and Portugal want to see more micromobility parking spots and fewer car parking spots. Same.
Christchurch, New Zealand, might be the first city in the country to back a campaign for e-bike subsidies.
Citi Bike has been around for 10 years. The iconic bike-sharing program has been a staple in NYC and other cities since before it belonged to Lyft.
General Motors, in partnership with SAIC-Wuling in China, is building a super cute tiny electric pickup for the Chinese market that’s expected to cost around $14,000. It’s about the size of a Fiat 500, and potentially a great solution for urban tradespeople.
India is considering slashing its electric two-wheeler subsidies from 40% of the sale price to 15%, ostensibly to spread the incentive to a larger number of vehicles (link to paywall site).
New York City announced a $30 million RFP to create and sustain high-quality public spaces, like plazas and Open Streets, in under-resourced neighborhoods.
As I mentioned last week, there have been rumors floating around about Tier pondering an acquisition. This week, Sifted reported that European transportation super app Bolt is in late-stage acquisition talks with Tier. Tier had reportedly also been in M&A talks with Lime, but those talks ended, according to Sifted, which cited a source close to the company. I reached out to Tier, but no comment. The company only confirmed that it recently raised a convertible note from the majority of its existing investors.
“We are well financed for 2023 and we are aiming to achieve EBITDA profitability this year,” Lawrence Leuschner, Tier’s CEO, told TechCrunch.
Yamaha announced a limited-edition e-bike to celebrate its 30th year of e-bike building. The YDX-MORO 07, priced at $6,499, has a dual twin frame design that holds Yamaha’s new, lighter and smaller PW-X3 drive unit with powerful torque. It’s an all-mountain bike that has compact control switches, a minimalist display and one-finger braking power.
Deal of the week
Instead of highlighting one deal this week, how about dozens of deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars?
According to data from PitchBook, automotive-related startups raised $402 million from investors in April, up about 2% from the previous month. That flatish result is actually worth cheering because investor activity has been falling since the beginning of the year.
In January, automotive-related startups raised $1.16 billion. That figure dropped to $690.5 million in February and $394.1 million in March.
This doesn’t mean everything is unicorns and rainbows now. The chaos surrounding the Silicon Valley Bank may have ebbed, but mobility startups are competing for investor attention and capital as other buzzy areas like generative AI takeover.
Other deals that got my attention this week …
Bird has decided to issue a reverse stock split, in an attempt to get back into compliance with the New York Stock Exchange after it received a delisting notice for trading too low. Bird’s stock closed Thursday at $0.11. When the market opened Friday, Bird began trading on a 1/25 split-adjusted basis. As of May 1, there were about 286.8 million shares of Class A common stock and 34.5 million shares of Class X common stock. After the reverse stock split, Bird will have about 11.5 million Class A shares and about 1.4 million Class X shares.
Brompton, a U.K.-based company that makes folding bikes, raised £19 million equity capital with investor BGF taking a minority stake.
Ethernovia, an automotive ethernet chip startup based in Silicon Valley, raised $64 million in a Series A funding round from a group of investors that includes Porsche Automobil Holding, Qualcomm Ventures and VentureTech Alliance.
Phantom Auto raised $25 million from private equity firm InfraBridge. The remote driving startup’s pre-raise valuation was $500 million, according to one source. And the CEO of ConGlobal, the rail terminal operator that is owned by InfraBridge and a customer of the startup, has joined the board.
Robert Bosch Venture Capital, the corporate venture capital entity of the Bosch Group, completed an investment in AutoCore.ai, a startup that develops automotive middleware. The company didn’t disclose the investment amount.
Stellantis acquired a 33.3% stake in Symbio, a zero-emission hydrogen mobility company. Faurecia and Michelin will remain shareholders with 33.3% holding each.
Toyota Research Institute said its collaborative research program with U.S. academic institutions has funded $100 million of research and generated more than 1,250 paper submissions since its inception in 2016.
Volvo Cars’ venture fund invested an undisclosed amount into smart home energy company dcbel.
Notable reads and other tidbits
Autonomous vehicles
Alibaba said its autonomous vehicle lab, which is under its Damo Academy, will merge into Cainiao, the company’s global logistics network. The lab will no longer operate under the basic research institute.
Cruise and Waymo are on the cusp of securing final approval to charge fares for fully autonomous robotaxi rides throughout the city of San Francisco at all hours of the day or night. The California Public Utilities Commission published two draft resolutions late last week that would grant the companies the ability to extend the hours of operation and service areas of their now-limited robotaxi services.
Ouster will supply May Mobility with lidar to power May’s autonomous vehicles.
TuSimple, the once high-flying autonomous trucks company that went public in 2021, is restructuring and laying off about 30% of its global workforce as it works to preserve cash and stay in business. One of the more interesting pieces of this restructuring (the second in six months) was the decision to keep its China subsidiary. The company was also at risk of being delisted from Nasdaq, but received a temporary reprieve from the exchange.
Electric vehicles, batteries and charging
BMW is working with Pacific Gas and Electric to test vehicle-to-grid technology to offset growing grid demand.
Mercedes-Benz Vans revealed more details on a new fully scalable electric vehicle architecture, called Van.EA. The new platform will be able to support a range of sizes, including midsize luxury vans and full-size cargo and camper vans. The first vans built on this platform will come to market in 2026.
QuantumScape, the solid-state battery company, is pivoting. The company is planning to focus on the consumer-electronics sector to bring in the capital it needs to commercialize automotive-grade cells.
Volvo said its upcoming all-electric EX30 small SUV will have a slew of safety features, including a driver monitoring system that detects eye and face movements around 13 times per second and an alert to help prevent drivers or passengers from opening their car door in front of bicyclists.
In-car tech
BMW also worked with Meta’s Reality Labs to explore how AR and VR can work inside a fast-moving vehicle.
Hyundai and Kia settled a class action lawsuit brought by owners of vehicles prone to theft for around $200 million. The trend of stealing Kias came from a viral TikTok “Kia Challenge” that provided demos for how to easily steal affected models in less than 90 seconds using a USB charging cord.
The U.S. International Trade Commission voted to institute an investigation into the unfair trade practices of Hesai Group based in Shanghai, China, following a patent infringement complaint from Ouster.
People
Austin Russell, the billionaire founder of lidar company Luminar, is getting into the media business. Yup, you read that correctly. Russell, through a consortium of foreign investors, is buying Forbes.
Autonomy, an EV subscription company, hired Leopold Visser as senior vice president of strategy and operations.
Flexport hired Bill Driegert, a former Amazon executive who previously headed Uber Freight, to develop the company’s trucking product.
Lyft has hired Erin Brewer, formerly of Charles Schwab & Co., as its next CFO. Elaine Paul is left the top financial position May 19. Lisa Blackwood-Kapral, the Lyft’s Chief Accounting Officer, will serve as interim CFO and principal financial officer until Brewer takes over July 10.
Mercedes-Benz USA appointed Melody Lee as chief marketing officer, Heike Scheuble as managing director of Mercedes-Benz Vans and Jee-Seop Kim as head of customer services.
Ride-hailing and other gig economy stuff
Lyft shareholders sent out a letter rallying other shareholders to vote against co-founder Logan Green’s position on the board. They argue he failed to address and rectify dangerous rideshare driver conditions.
Uber and Lyft drivers in Washington State officially have a right to paid family and medical leave, now that Governor Jay Inslee has signed HB 1570.
Uber held its annual Go-Get product event in New York City this week and the bevy of announcements showed a company hoping to grow through products and expanded consumer groups that reach every member of a family. In short: Uber wants its app to be sticky. Its plan includes opening the app up to teens, adding a group grocery feature and providing a 1(800) number for customers who don’t want to use the app at all to hail a ride.
Calling all early-stage startups! Apply to join the Startup Battlefield 200 cohort at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023. All finalists get expert training, VC networking, a booth at Disrupt, and the chance to compete for $100,000 in equity-free funds. Applications close May 31. Apply today!
A Tesla co-founder returns, TuSimple restructures again and Uber’s stickiness strategy by Kirsten Korosec originally published on TechCrunch
What the new EPA tailpipe regulations mean for investors
If there was any question as to whether the Biden administration is serious about the electrification of the U.S. economy, this week’s announcement of new automotive emissions regulations should put that to rest — along with any doubts investors have about where they should direct their investments.
The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing new rules that would take effect in 2027 and pave the way for a new vehicle market dominated by EVs. By 2032, two-thirds of car and light truck sales will have to be zero emitting along with 46% of medium-duty vehicles like delivery vans, half of all buses, and one-quarter of all heavy-duty trucks. The regulations are technology agnostic, meaning that green hydrogen vehicles would qualify, but in reality, the vast majority of those sales will be battery-powered.
The climate impacts promise to be significant. Just the light-duty emissions limits alone will slash 15.5% of U.S. carbon pollution, the EPA estimates.
The new regulations set targets that are significantly more stringent than those put forth in Biden’s 2021 executive order, which calls for 50% of light-duty vehicles to be electric by 2030. The other difference is the relative stickiness of the two. Executive orders can be easily rescinded by future administrations. EPA regulations, though, are harder to roll back once they’ve been implemented. States’ attorneys general and future administrations might try to sue or scale them back, but well-written, already implemented regulations are much harder to overturn.
The EPA was no doubt emboldened by actions taken in recent years by states and other countries to ban fossil fuel vehicles in the not-so-distant future. By 2035, polluting light-duty vehicles will be banned in several U.S. states and at least 20 countries, representing 25% of worldwide light-duty vehicle sales. (The agency literally devotes two paragraphs of the proposal to the trend.)
In other words, automakers have to be prepared regardless of what the EPA does. So why not make the move now so they have more certainty and are better positioned for success?
What the new EPA tailpipe regulations mean for investors by Tim De Chant originally published on TechCrunch
What the new EPA tailpipe regulations mean for investors
If there was any question as to whether the Biden administration is serious about the electrification of the U.S. economy, this week’s announcement of new automotive emissions regulations should put that to rest — along with any doubts investors have about where they should direct their investments.
The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing new rules that would take effect in 2027 and pave the way for a new vehicle market dominated by EVs. By 2032, two-thirds of car and light truck sales will have to be zero emitting along with 46% of medium-duty vehicles like delivery vans, half of all buses, and one-quarter of all heavy-duty trucks. The regulations are technology agnostic, meaning that green hydrogen vehicles would qualify, but in reality, the vast majority of those sales will be battery-powered.
The climate impacts promise to be significant. Just the light-duty emissions limits alone will slash 15.5% of U.S. carbon pollution, the EPA estimates.
The new regulations set targets that are significantly more stringent than those put forth in Biden’s 2021 executive order, which calls for 50% of light-duty vehicles to be electric by 2030. The other difference is the relative stickiness of the two. Executive orders can be easily rescinded by future administrations. EPA regulations, though, are harder to roll back once they’ve been implemented. States’ attorneys general and future administrations might try to sue or scale them back, but well-written, already implemented regulations are much harder to overturn.
The EPA was no doubt emboldened by actions taken in recent years by states and other countries to ban fossil fuel vehicles in the not-so-distant future. By 2035, polluting light-duty vehicles will be banned in several U.S. states and at least 20 countries, representing 25% of worldwide light-duty vehicle sales. (The agency literally devotes two paragraphs of the proposal to the trend.)
In other words, automakers have to be prepared regardless of what the EPA does. So why not make the move now so they have more certainty and are better positioned for success?
What the new EPA tailpipe regulations mean for investors by Tim De Chant originally published on TechCrunch
Mecanizou, now with $14.5M, plans to expand auto parts marketplace in São Paulo
If you’re a car maintenance do-it-yourselfer in the United States, it’s pretty easy to find auto parts with a simple internet search or of an auto parts store’s database. However, in Brazil, the experience is not the same. Mecanizou is out to change that.
The São Paulo–based startup is infusing data intelligence into the auto parts market to create a database connecting mechanic shops and resellers to automotive parts suppliers. Using proprietary parts identification technology, shops can find the correct items for their clients, thereby reducing costs and waste from incorrect parts.
Since the company started in 2020, it has amassed over 200 suppliers and 1,000 mechanics using the platform, which offers over 600,000 items in a virtual stock, Ian Faria, Mecanizou’s co-founder and CEO, told TechCrunch.
Faria and co-founder André Simões started Mecanizou during the global pandemic after seeing that mechanical services were considered an essential activity. They spoke with over 70 mechanics to learn how they operate and what their problems were in being able to fix cars. What they discovered was that there is a vast supply chain involved, but it has not evolved digitally.
“There are over 200 million SKU parts in Brazil, but if you try to look up a part, it is not digitized, so 10 years ago you might have called the retailer directly, or more recently, used WhatsApp,” Faria said. “Tech for us is the only way to connect mechanics with the supply chain.”
Here’s how it works: The mechanic types in the vehicle identification number, the plate of the car and name of the parts and Mecanizou answers with the parts, code and the price. Mechanics can make a purchase in one click and receive the parts in one hour.
Currently, the company operates in the northern region of São Paulo. In early 2022, Mecanizou closed on a $4 million seed round after which its growth took off — 70% month over month with the company growing in revenue 10x in 2022, according to Faria.
Looking to capture more of the market — Faria said the Brazilian replacement auto parts market has over 120,000 mechanic shops and 40,000 suppliers — it is his and the company’s goal to expand to other regions of the city, including the ABC Region and Guarulhos, by the end of the year.
To do that, the company went after a new round of funding last August, closing on $14.5 million (R$ 76 million) in Series A financing, led by Monashees, in November. The firm was joined by Alexia Ventures, FJ Labs and Dalus Capital. The company has now raised $18.5 million in total, including a $4 million seed round closed in January 2022.
In addition to expanding into other cities, the new capital will enable the company to focus on technology and product development and to start delivering parts itself.
“There are a lot of things we want to do as we increase the number of mechanics and distributors we work with,” Faria said. “We want to create algorithms and integrations to help them digitize and create a better ecosystem for the automotive industry.”
Mecanizou, now with $14.5M, plans to expand auto parts marketplace in São Paulo by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch
Don’t be silly, of course you can use EVs in cold weather
A publication that shall not be named (merely linked to) published an opinion piece that is the latest in a string of false narratives around EVs. This opinion (I mean act of subterfuge) couches EVs as a luxury item in cold-weather countries because the batteries don’t work as well as on the balmy shores of California. Please join me on this debunking tour. Sure, many EVs are, in fact, luxury vehicles; you’d be hard-pressed to find an EV that’s under $40,000. But the state of luxury is not down to their ability to operate in a dusting of snow and with a nip of frost in the air.
Put simply, all mechanical objects with liquids in them hate cold weather. Metals contract, liquids get goopy or freeze up altogether, and none of that is convenient. That includes cars. I grew up in Norway, and in cold weather, cars need to be plugged into a block heater. Yes, that includes diesel cars in particular (because they don’t have a spark plug, only a glow plug to get the cycle started), and gasoline cars. So, humans live in places where machines are unhappy, but we’ve been finding workarounds for as long as we’ve had machines to drive around in.
Indeed, batteries don’t love the cold either; their range can drop by 10% to 15% due to the temperature, and if you’re driving around with your heater on full blast so you don’t turn into an icicle yourself, that range drop can be significantly more significant. Not ideal, for sure, but in a universe where average commutes are a lot less than the average range of a modern electric vehicle, this isn’t nearly as big of a deal as you would think.
Besides, a lot of modern EVs (including Teslas) have the option to precondition the battery before you drive off. This effectively means that the car warms up the batteries before you drive off. Yes, that takes power, but guess watt, a lot of the time, your car is going to be plugged in and charging when the scheduled preconditioning happens. It uses a bit of power (much like that block heater I mentioned), but your car can charge while it’s doing that, so it’s taking the power from the grid rather than from the car’s batteries.
The main point I have an issue with in the original article is whether EVs are a luxury in cold climates. We are in a nascent but rapidly evolving world of electric vehicles. Like all emergent technology, there will be people whose use cases are compatible with the limitations of the new technology and there will be people who can’t live with the cons. Yes, it takes longer to charge an EV than it does to fill a gas tank. You can probably do a longer road trip in a gas car than in an EV. For hauling heavy loads, diesel is probably an easier-to-deal-with source of fuel than a truck full of batteries. For most drivers, though, now is the time to seriously consider an electric vehicle.
The biggest challenge is charging infrastructure, and the U.S. is lagging behind on that front; available chargers aren’t increasing as quickly as the number of EVs on the road. At-home chargers are tricky in areas where people don’t have dedicated parking spots, but that’s changing, too. London’s plan to put on-street infrastructure in place, for example, is looking promising. There are even companies that are using excess power from streetlights to enable load-balanced charging infrastructure, which dramatically reduces the need for new cabling. Work places are, more and more, putting EV charging infrastructure in place as well, which cuts the range anxiety in half; if you can get yourself to work, you can get yourself home again.
But here’s an important stat: When you think “cold weather country,” you’re probably thinking Scandinavia. Take Norway. The most recent numbers available suggest that more than 91% of all cars sold are electric vehicles. In Oslo (where most people live, and which isn’t even that far north, given the overall geography of the country), in December, January, and February, it freezes most nights, but people get by just fine with their electric cars.
Of course, Norway is not the same (economically or infrastructure-wise) as the U.S., but electrification of our personal transportation options will be a crucial part of ensuring that we stand a chance at battling climate change. Let’s be aware of the shortcomings and limitations of electric cars, but most of the arguments against them in cold weather are entirely surmountable.
Don’t be silly, of course you can use EVs in cold weather by Haje Jan Kamps originally published on TechCrunch
Nikola, Lucid latest EV SPACs trying to raise cash
Two EV manufacturers are seeking cash infusions this week to bring their delayed vehicles to market.
Nikola, a Phoenix-based electric truck maker, said in a securities filing Tuesday that it plans to raise funds through a $400 million stock offering. Luxury EV company Lucid filed a day prior for the right to issue up to $8 billion in new stock over the next three years.
The filings underscore the current struggle among EV makers that went public via mergers with special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). Both Lucid and Nikola went public in SPAC deals that analysts say overvalued the now-struggling startups.
The SPAC merger boom provided a cash infusion to a number of EV startups. However, those capitally rich days have disappeared as companies grapple with production bottlenecks, inflationary pressures and supply chain constraints. Downward pressure on shares have eviscerated valuations, making liquidity even more challenging.
Arrival, Canoo, Faraday Future and Lordstown are just a few of the EV SPAC companies to face a cash crunch. For instance, Faraday Future has issued several warnings this year that it needs more money to execute plans to launch three models in the coming years. The company, which went public in a 2021 SPAC deal, has delayed the launch of its first vehicle, the FF91, for years but said it will arrive by the end of the year.
Some, like Arrival, have turned to cost cutting measures and layoffs. Others, including now Lucid and Nikola are turning back to the market.
Nikola said earlier this month that it remains on track to deliver between 300 and 500 of the trucks by the end of the year. So far, it has produced 50 Nikola Tre BEVs in its Coolidge, Arizona, factory.
Lucid has lowered its annual production target several times this year, from 20,000 units to less than 7,000. Still, the company launched a $249,000 high-end version of its luxury Lucid Air sedan at Monterey Car Week in August. The Lucid Sapphire Air uses a three-motor powertrain to boost the car’s performance.
Ford reopens order bank and raises prices for 2023 Mustang Mach-E
Ford began taking reservations for its 2023 Mustang Mach-E on Thursday after a four-month hiatus due to short supply.
The automaker also boosted the battery-electric SUV’s range and upped the price amid economic headwinds such as inflation and rising costs for battery materials. Ford closed the order bank for the 2022 model year last spring when a global semiconductor shortage stymied production.
The new pricing, which goes into effect Thursday, is “due to significant material cost increases, continued strain on key supply chains, and rapidly evolving market conditions, and will continue to monitor pricing across the model year,” the company said in a statement.
Pricing for new orders will start at $46,895 for the rear-wheel-drive base trim with standard range (about a 7% increase) and just below $70,000 for the top-of-the-line GT Extended Range edition.
The Mach-E SUV’s Premium models with the Extended Range battery will be able to travel 290 miles on a fully charged battery, 13 miles longer than the outgoing model.
Ford is also adding its Co-Pilot360 Driver Assist Technology as a standard safety feature. The software will enable customers to receive future over-the-air updates for its Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), according to Marin Gjaja, chief customer officer for Ford’s Model e division.
The automaker, which aims to sell more than 2 million EVs annually by 2026, is investing tens of billions of dollars to boost its production capacity worldwide. Ford said Monday it plans to lay off about 3,000 salary and contract workers to manage costs.
“We are eliminating work, as well as reorganizing and simplifying functions throughout the business,” Executive Chairman Bill Ford and CEO Jim Farley wrote in a letter to employees.
Earlier this month, Ford raised the price of its F-150 Lightning battery-electric pickup truck with increases ranging between $6,000 to $8,500 depending on the trim. The 2023 Lightning will start at $46,974 and top out at nearly six figures.
EV laggards BMW and Toyota to partner on hydrogen fuel cell vehicles
BMW and Toyota will team up to produce hydrogen fuel cell vehicles starting mid-decade, according to a report in Nikkei Asia.
The two will begin producing and selling hydrogen fuel cell vehicles developed jointly as early as 2025, BMW sales chief Pieter Nota told the publication.
The automakers have worked together before, jointly developing the iX5 Hydrogen based on BMW’s X5 SUV, as well as the BMW Z4 and Toyota Supra sports cars in 2019.
Toyota has deep experience with fuel cell technology, with its eight-year-old Mirai mid-size sedan heading into its second generation. Instead of an engine or a battery, these cars use hydrogen and oxygen to create electricity.
Fuel cells offer advantages over battery-electric vehicles. They can be refueled in three to four minutes and travel longer distances. However, the U.S. network of public hydrogen stations is concentrated in California, and even there it’s not yet ready for mass adoption.
Despite BMW’s re-entry into the EV market with the i4 four-door coupe and iX SUV, the company has hinted that it would be pursuing hydrogen, too. In a recent earnings call, CEO Oliver Zipse said that the company’s next-generation platform, Neue Klasse, will likely be designed to accommodate the gaseous fuel in addition to pure battery power.
The company has pursued a similar all-of-the-above strategy before with a platform known as CLAR, which supported internal combustion, plug-in hybrids and full battery-electric propulsion. CLAR allowed BMW to move quickly on plug-in hybrids, but its more recent pure EV efforts have been delayed relative to its competitors. Neue Klasse may fall prey to the same problems, or it may solve them. The market will get to decide starting in 2025, when new 3-series sedans and X3 SUVs based on the platform go on sale.
The collaboration allows both companies to hedge their investments in zero-emission vehicles. BMW aims for EVs to comprise half of its corporate brand sales, including Rolls-Royce and MINI, by the end of the decade.