Electrical grids aren't keeping up with the green energy push. That could risk climate goals

DAVID McHUGH
Mon, October 16, 2023 


Heavy machinery is used to cut trees to widen an existing Central Maine Power power line corridor to make way for new utility poles, April 26, 2021, near Bingham, Maine. Stalled spending on electrical grids worldwide is slowing the rollout of renewable energy and could put efforts to limit climate change at risk if millions of miles of power lines aren't added or refurbished in the next few years. The International Energy Agency said in a report Tuesday that the capacity to connect to and transmit electricity isn't keeping pace with the rapid growth of clean energy technology like solar and wind power, electric cars and heat pumps.

 (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)


FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Stalled spending on electrical grids worldwide is slowing the rollout of renewable energy and could put efforts to limit climate change at risk if millions of miles of power lines are not added or refurbished in the next few years, the International Energy Agency said.

The Paris-based organization said in the report Tuesday that the capacity to connect to and transmit electricity is not keeping pace with the rapid growth of clean energy technologies such as solar and wind power, electric cars and heat pumps being deployed to move away from fossil fuels.

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol told The Associated Press in an interview that there is a long line of renewable projects waiting for the green light to connect to the grid. The stalled projects could generate 1,500 gigawatts of power, or five times the amount of solar and wind capacity that was added worldwide last year, he said.


“It's like you are manufacturing a very efficient, very speedy, very handsome car — but you forget to build the roads for it,” Birol said.

If spending on grids stayed at current levels, the chance of holding the global increase in average temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels — the goal set by the 2015 Paris climate accords — “is going to be diminished substantially,” he said.

The IEA assessment of electricity grids around the globe found that achieving the climate goals set by the world's governments would require adding or refurbishing 80 million kilometers (50 million miles) of power lines by 2040 — an amount equal to the existing global grid in less than two decades.

Annual investment has been stagnant but needs to double to more than $600 billion a year by 2030, the agency said.

It's not uncommon for a single high-voltage overhead power line to take five to 13 years to get approved through bureaucracy in advanced economies, while lead times are significantly shorter in China and India, according to the IEA.

The report cited the South Link transmission project to carry wind power from northern to southern Germany. First planned in 2014, it was delayed after political opposition to an overhead line meant it was buried instead. Completion is expected in 2028 instead of 2022.

Other important projects that have been held up: the 400-kilometer (250-mile) Bay of Biscay connector between Spain and France, now expected for 2028 instead of 2025, and the SunZia high-voltage line to bring wind power from New Mexico to Arizona and California. Construction started only last month after years of delays.

On the East Coast, the Avangrid line to bring hydropower from Canada to New England was interrupted in 2021 following a referendum in Maine. A court overturned the statewide vote rejecting the project in April.


IEA: World must add 50,000 miles of power lines by 2040 to hit climate targets

Tue, October 17, 2023

The world must double existing power grid networks to 100,000 miles globally by 2040 to avoid missing the internationally agreed temperature rise targets and eroding energy security, the International Energy Agency warned Tuesday. 

File Photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI

Oct. 17 (UPI) -- The world must double existing power grid networks to 100,000 miles globally by 2040 to avoid missing the internationally agreed 1.5 degrees Celsius temperature rise target and eroding energy security, the International Energy Agency warned Tuesday.

Efforts to combat climate change and guarantee electricity supplies could be at risk unless policymakers and businesses take immediate action, including adding 50,000 miles of new grids, to cope with a demand surge from additional electricity production as the world transitions away from fossil fuels, the IEA said in a news release.

In what the IEA said was the first-of-its-kind stocktake report of grids around the world, the inter-governmental agency said it had found they were failing to keep pace with the rapid growth of key clean energy technologies such as solar, wind, electric cars and heat pumps.

"Without greater policy attention and investment, shortfalls in the reach and quality of grid infrastructure could put the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius out of reach and undermine energy security," it said.

Achieving all national climate and energy goals required adding or replacing 100,000 miles of power lines by 2040 -- an amount equal to the entire existing global grid -- according to country-by-country in-depth analysis carried out for the report.

With investment in new grids largely flat, funding needed to begin to be invested with a doubling of spending on grids to more than $600 billion required by 2030 as well as building resilience through digitalization of distribution grids and providing flexibility through demand response and energy storage.

Renewable projects nearing completion slated to produce 1,500 gigawatts of electricity -- equivalent to five times the amount of solar and wind capacity that was added worldwide in 2022 -- are awaiting connection to the grid.

"The recent clean energy progress we have seen in many countries is unprecedented and cause for optimism, but it could be put in jeopardy if governments and businesses do not come together to ensure the world's electricity grids are ready for the new global energy economy that is rapidly emerging," said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol.

"This report shows what's at stake and needs to be done. We must invest in grids today or face gridlock tomorrow."

A scenario tested in the report that examined what would happen if slow grid investment and regulatory reforms hampered the rollout of renewables found cumulative CO2 emissions between 2030 and 2050 would be almost 60 billion tons higher due to additional fossil fuel consumption equal to the global power sector's total CO2 emissions since 2019.

The extra CO2 would put the global temperature rise well above the Paris Agreement target of 1.5 degrees Celsius, with a 40% chance of exceeding 2 degrees Celsius, the IEA warned.

The need for decisive action was urgent because modernizing and extending grids takes as much as 15 years from planning and commissioning to going live compared with 1 to 5 years for new renewables projects and less than 2 years for new charging infrastructure for electric vehicles.

Stronger international cooperation was vital given the shrinkage in investment in recent years in emerging and developing economies -- China excepted -- despite strong growth in demand for electricity demand.

"Ensuring the developing world has the resources it needs to build and modernize electricity grids is an essential task for the international community," Birol said.

"By mobilizing financing, providing access to technology and sharing best practices on policies, leading economies can help improve people's lives, strengthen sustainable development and reduce the risks of climate change."

We're Screwed If We Don't Get Serious About Replacing And Upgrading Our Aging Power Grid

Collin Woodard
Tue, October 17, 2023 



Unfortunately for those of us currently stuck living on planet Earth, climate change is real, and human activity caused it. And if we don’t do anything about it, millions of people are going to suffer and die unnecessarily. So moving away from fossil fuels is an incredibly important mission, and being able to use clean, sustainable fuel sources is a big part of that. At the same time, though, we also desperately need to upgrade our electrical grid if that’s ever going to be possible.

The Verge reports that the International Energy Agency recently released a report that found “[g]overnments and utilities need to add or replace the equivalent of virtually all the world’s power grids by 2040 to reliably keep the lights on while cleaning up pollution from the power sector.” Yes, you read that right. Basically, the whole thing needs an overhaul, with about 50 million miles of infrastructure needing significant upgrades. And if that doesn’t happen, it’s highly likely that climate-related disasters will only continue to get worse, displacing or killing millions of people.

“The recent clean energy progress we have seen in many countries is unprecedented and cause for optimism, but it could be put in jeopardy if governments and businesses do not come together to ensure the world’s electricity grids are ready for the new global energy economy that is rapidly emerging,” IEA executive director Fatih Birol said in a press release.

Connecting new solar and wind farms to the grid has been a major bottleneck. The report found 1,500 gigawatts’ worth of advanced projects, five times the global solar and wind capacity added last year, “waiting for the green light.” In the US, it takes an average of five years for a new energy project to connect to the grid. It’s a problem the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is trying to tackle by changing its process for reviewing new energy projects

It would be great if this was something one genius could solve, but sadly, upgrading the global electrical grid is going to take an incredible amount of cooperation, as well as money. And while there have certainly been some positive developments lately, actually making it happen on the kind of scale that’s needed to address the seriousness of the problem is going to be a huge challenge. Considering how many people in the U.S. see limiting future climate disasters as a partisan talking point, it’s hard to be optimistic. You never know, though, there’s always the chance, no matter how small, that we might actually pull this off and create a better future for our children and grandchildren.

More from Jalopnik

Mexico will help, provide oil to Cuba, Lopez Obrador says

Reuters
Mon, October 16, 2023 

FILE PHOTO: Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and Chile's President Gabriel Boric (not pictured) deliver a statement to the media at La Moneda government palace in Santiago, Chile, September 10, 2023. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado/

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico will help Cuba, including providing it with oil, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday.

Mexico began regularly shipping crude oil to Cuba at the end of the first quarter of this year. Since then, it has shipped about 2.8 million barrels to the island, which suffers from frequent power outages and fuel shortages, according to independent data.

"However we can help the people of Cuba, we're going to do it," said Lopez Obrador in a regular press conference.

He said Mexico did not have to request permission from any foreign government to aid Cuba, which he said suffered from an "inhumane and unjust" embargo.

"If they tell us, 'Sell us oil, because we don't have any way of getting it,' of course we're going to do so," Lopez Obrador said, ruling out that the aid could cause frictions with the United States.

Cuba was put under a U.S. economic embargo after Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution.

(Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez; Editing by Anthony Esposito)

Kawasaki sparks debate after revealing specs of its first-ever electric motorcycle: ‘This is a joke…’
Jeremiah Budin
Tue, October 17, 2023

Japanese motorcycle manufacturer Kawasaki has released some details about its first-ever electric motorcycles, eliciting quite a reaction from commenters on the internet — although it probably isn’t quite the reaction the brand was hoping for.

The electric motorcycles, named the Kawasaki Ninja e-1 and Z e-1, are about to be launched in the United States, Canada, and the UK.

However, these vehicles’ specs make it clear that they are nowhere close in performance to Kawasaki’s gas-powered motorcycles. The range of the bikes is under 40 miles, and their top speeds are around 55 miles per hour, making them “purely urban-oriented motorcycles,” according to Electrek.

While the prices are fairly competitive, starting at $7,599 and $7,299, respectively, in the U.S., the overall package certainly did not impress Electrek’s commenters, many of whom were left in disbelief.

“This is a joke,” wrote one commenter. “It’s a $7,500 electric bicycle without pedals. Absolutely no one should buy this, not only because it’s a terrible product and complete waste of money, but to send a message. A message that a company can’t just release a terrible product and people will buy it anyway just because of the name on the side.”

“Ya I had high hopes for this bike but it is less powerful, heavier, and slightly faster than my $3,800 Talaria xXx supermoto which is more ebike than emoto so I can ride it anywhere a bike goes,” wrote another.

“Some way to go before the battery tech becomes viable for motorcycles. Have to be patient,” a third commenter contributed.

Luckily for those commenters and anyone else hoping to buy a real electric motorcycle in the near future, some other companies have them in development and may be closer to meeting the market than Kawasaki currently is.

Those include the Verge TS from Verge Motorcycles (which can reportedly go 233 miles on a single charge at a significantly higher price point), and a Kenyan company called Roam that has plans to produce 50,000 electric motorcycles per year.

Europe is looking to fight the flood of Chinese electric vehicles. But Europeans love them

KELVIN CHAN
Tue, October 17, 2023 
 

LONDON (AP) — When Laima Springe-Janssen was looking to replace her French-made gasoline-powered SUV with an electric car, she considered models from Volvo and Nissan.

The Volvo extras she wanted would have busted her budget, while the Nissan lacked the “wow factor.” The Copenhagen, Denmark, resident ended up buying a compact SUV from China’s BYD.

“I really, really love the car,” Springe-Janssen said. For the equivalent of about $50,000, the Atto 3 SUV came with “all these goodies” like a 360-degree dash cam, two years of free charging and an extra set of winter tires.


Her husband likes it so much he’s considering buying another BYD to replace their other car, from Volkswagen’s Skoda brand.

“I’m sorry, Europe. Go home,” she said. “China has a better offer.”

Her enthusiasm underscores how Chinese automakers are winning over drivers as they make major inroads into Europe’s electric vehicle market, challenging long-established homegrown brands in an industry that’s key to the continent’s green energy transition.

The competitive threat has spurred the European Union to launch an investigation into Beijing’s support for its EV industry. That adds to tech-related tensions between the West and China, which is one of Europe’s biggest trading partners and the world’s biggest auto market.

China’s EV onslaught, along with massive U.S. clean energy funding that has drawn investment away from Europe, shows how the 27-nation bloc is caught in the middle of the global race for green technology.

Chinese EV makers are drawn to Europe because auto import tariffs are just 10% versus 27.5% in the U.S., independent auto analyst Matthias Schmidt said. Europe also has the world’s second-biggest EV battery market after China.

Nevermind the geopolitics. Climate-conscious car buyers in Europe who are grappling with an increased cost of living rave about how Chinese EVs are affordable yet packed with features and stylish design. Concerns about the threat to local carmakers and jobs just aren’t a factor for them.

British retiree John Kirkwood replaced his Volkswagen Passat three years ago with an MG5 station wagon because the 30,000-pound ($36,000) price tag “wiped the floor” with its nearest rival — a Kia that cost thousands more.

“It’s nice. It’s quiet, it’s refined” and very quick, Kirkwood said, adding that he had few qualms about British brand MG’s Chinese ownership.

MG — owned by SAIC Motor, China’s biggest automaker — is the largest Chinese EV player in Europe. BYD, backed by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, is growing fast. There’s also Geely, which owns Sweden’s Volvo and a stable of EV brands including Polestar, Lynk & Co. and British sportscar maker Lotus.

Behind them are a slew of startups, like NIO and Xpeng.

Their combined sales are a sliver of the 9.2 million vehicles sold in Europe every year, but they have been gobbling up a piece of the smaller EV market at an astonishing pace.

Chinese automakers account for only about 3% of Western Europe’s overall car market but 8.4% of the EV market, up from 6.2% last year and almost nothing in 2019, according to Schmidt’s data.

The surge is stoking fears about Europe’s automotive industry, an economic powerhouse centered in France and Germany that employs millions of workers, staying competitive as it transitions from fossil fuels to electricity.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says “global markets are now flooded with cheaper Chinese electric cars,” with prices “kept artificially low by huge state subsidies.”

The commission, the EU’s executive arm, formally opened its investigation this month, saying it would take up to 13 months and could result in import duties.

Beijing voiced “strong dissatisfaction” and vowed to “firmly safeguard“ Chinese companies’ rights. The Chinese Commerce Ministry said the EU probe is based on “subjective assumptions,” lacks enough evidence and goes against World Trade Organization rules.

Complicating matters, global automakers build vehicles in China and have exported 164,300 this year to Europe, including BMW’s iX3 SUV made in northeastern Shenyang and Tesla’s Model 3 and Y produced in Shanghai, according to Schmidt’s data. That means one in every five EVs sold in Europe is a Chinese import.

A commission spokesman said the investigation is looking at China’s EV exports “regardless of the brand.”

Stellantis, which owns French auto brands Peugeot and Citroen as well as Italy’s Alfa Romeo and Fiat, is vowing to fight back against China’s EVs. In a recent earnings call, CEO Carlos Tavares said the world’s No. 3 automaker is responding to a “Chinese invasion in a European market” with a new Citroen e-C3 cheap compact.

Stellantis faces added pressure from a union strike in the U.S. over EV battery plant jobs.

Executives at Shanghai-based Aiways, a startup headed by Volvo’s former China sales chief, rejected accusations that Beijing provides a helping hand.

“We’re not selling inside China, we’re not being subsidized in China,” said Alexander Klose, vice president of overseas operations. “Yes, we obviously have some subsidies for putting a plant somewhere, which is, I think, what everybody has in Europe.”

Aiways is focusing on Europe and Israel instead of China, where the auto market is so crowded that “we don’t think it makes sense to compete right now,” Klose said.

The EU should be working on getting to a green future “rather than keeping competition out,” he said.

One reason Chinese companies can offer high-quality cars at affordable prices stems from the rules to enter the Chinese market. Global automakers had to team up with local companies, providing them crucial automaking knowhow.

“They were kind of like the sous chefs to the Western companies,” said Schmidt, the auto analyst. “The situation now is those sous chefs are opening up their own restaurants and, in some cases, better than their masters’ restaurants.”

Also helping level the playing field is battery-powered motors being less complex to build than internal combustion engines and requiring fewer workers. That’s a problem for European brands with big workforces that will need years to revamp operations, Schmidt said.

Chinese EV makers, meanwhile, are trying to stand out in a crowded field.

SUV maker Great Wall Motors’ EV sub-brand Ora is targeting women, with cars it says are designed for their body sizes and daily needs.

The Ora Funky Cat, with throwback round headlights, an exclamation mark on its hood badge, and a 32,000-pound ($38,600) price tag, appealed to British scriptwriter Justin Nicholls, who bought one for his wife.

“The looks are awesome, and the tech great. It’s so easy to drive, yet feels like a lot larger car and feels premium,” he said.

It also appealed to Nicholls because it’s different from the Volkswagens, Peugeots and BMWs common on British roads: “I think it is a lot more quirky than European cars.”

Europe China EV Battle
A visitor walks near the P7i electric sedan from Chinese automaker Xpeng at a show room in Beijing, Thursday, April 13, 2023. Chinese automakers are winning over drivers as they make major inroads into Europe’s electric vehicle market, challenging long-established homegrown brands in an industry that’s key to the continent’s green energy transition. The European Union has launched an investigation into Beijing’s support for its EV industry, adding to tensions between the West and China. 

(AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)

Ford lays off 700 who were building electric version of F-150

NOT BECAUSE OF UAW STRIKE

Chris Isidore, CNN
Mon, October 16, 2023 

Jeff Kowalsky/AFP/Getty Images


Ford is laying off about 700 workers who build the F-150 Lightning, the electric version of its best-selling pickup truck, and unlike other recent layoffs this one has nothing to do with the ongoing strike by the United Auto Workers union.

The company said it will temporarily cut one of the three shifts at its Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan, near the company’s main headquarters. It will rotate the layoffs between the three shifts.

Ford had temporarily closed the plant this summer to upgrade its production capability, and the company said this latest layoff is related to “multiple constraints, including the supply chain and working through processing and delivering vehicles held for quality checks after restarting production in August.”

Sales of the Lightning fell 45% in the third quarter compared to a year earlier, the company reported earlier this month, though Ford said it expected to post an increase in sales during the final three months of the year as capacity increases at the plant take effect. The company said overall demand for its electric vehicle lineup remains strong with a 65% increase in the third quarter.

The UAW’s targeted strike at a total of five assembly factories at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis have prompted all three companies to lay off workers.

Ford announced an additional 500 layoffs spread across five component plants as of Monday, due to the UAW’s expansion of the strike at its largest factory, the Kentucky Truck Plant, last Wednesday. On Thursday, company executives said there could be a total of 4,600 layoffs by the end of this week at its various plants due to the expansion of the strike to Kentucky Truck. It has laid off nearly 2,500 workers so far, not counting those who had been building the Lightning.

Stellantis also expanded its layoffs on Friday to 780 employees at two plants in Kokomo, Indiana, bringing company-wide layoffs since the start of the strike on September 15 to 1,420.

GM has laid off 2,300 workers that it attributes to the impact of the strike, although no additional layoffs have been announced in recent days.

Workers laid off due to the strike are ineligible for unemployment benefits in most states. The workers also are ineligible for so-called “sub pay,” which is paid by the companies. Together unemployment benefits and sub pay covers 74% of their normal pay while laid off. But the F-150 Lightning workers who are laid off will be eligible for both unemployment and sub pay, according to Ford spokesperson Jessica Enoch.

The union has challenged the companies’ claims that it needed to lay off workers whose work was affected by the strike at other plants, but said the laid-off workers are entitled to the same $500 a week in strike benefits as the nearly 35,000 now on strike at the three companies.

“That’s them trying to put the squeeze on our members to settle for less,” UAW President Shawn Fain has previously said about the layoffs. “With their record profits, they don’t have to lay off a single employee.”

GM delays EV truck production at Michigan plant by year

David Shepardson and Ben Klayman
Updated Tue, October 17, 2023 

FILE PHOTO: Logo of GM atop the company headquarters


By David Shepardson and Ben Klayman

DETROIT (Reuters) -General Motors Co said on Tuesday it will delay production of electric pickup trucks at its plant in Michigan's Orion Township by a year as the No. 1 U.S. automaker grapples with flattening demand for electric vehicle.

The move is the latest sign that electric vehicle production and demand may not be as strong as forecast. GM had been set to begin production of the electric Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra in late 2024 at the suburban Detroit plant. The company said the plan now is to start it in late 2025.

GM said the change was being made "to better manage capital investment while aligning with evolving EV demand" but said the move does not impact its battery plant plans. GM said in July battery production at the Ultium joint venture plant Ohio has been hampered because "our automation equipment supplier is struggling with delivery issues."

The automaker in July reiterated a previous target of building 400,000 EVs from 2022 through the first half of 2024, and projected EV revenue of $50 billion in 2025. GM has said it is targeting production of roughly 100,000 EVs in the second half of 2023.

Reuters reported in July that the U.S. electric vehicle market is growing, but not quickly enough to prevent unsold EVs from stacking up at some automakers' dealerships.

GM's rival Ford said on Friday it was temporarily cutting one shift at its plant that builds the F-150 Lightning EV. Ford said in July it would slow the ramp-up of electric vehicle production and forecast a full-year loss of $4.5 billion on its EV unit.

A GM spokesperson said the decision announced on Tuesday was unrelated to the ongoing talks with the United Auto Workers for a new labor deal. Some analysts worry a more costly contract could crimp the company's spending plans.

GM still plans a significant boost in EV production in 2024 including adding a new shift at a Detroit-Hamtramck factory that is currently building EV SUVs and pickup trucks. GM is set to begin building the GMC Sierra EV next year in Detroit.

General Motors said on Tuesday it still plans to end production of the Chevrolet Bolt EV at the end of 2023. GM, which vows to end the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2035, sells few EVs in the United States outside the Bolt. Just 2.8% of its total U.S. sales this year are EVs.

(Reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit and David Shepardson in Washington, Editing by Will Dunham, Franklin Paul and Chizu Nomiyama)

GM delaying EV pickup expansion by a year

Yahoo Finance and Pras Subramanian
Tue, October 17, 2023 

General Motors (GM) is delaying production expansion of the Chevrolet Silverado EV and GMC Sierra EV, which the company was planning to produce at its Orion Assembly plant in Michigan. This comes after Ford (F) cut a production shift for its F-150 Lightning EV. A recent Yahoo Finance-Ipsos poll found that 57 percent of respondents were unlikely to purchase an EV as their next vehicle.

Yahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian, Josh Schafer, and Alexandra Canal discuss consumer concerns regarding EVs. For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.
Video Transcript

ALEXANDRA CANAL: Another day, another new development, that EVs are not doing so hot right now.

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Yeah. Our Head of News, Myles, was talking about how-- whether I wrote the same story over again. But this time, used GM.

Well, in this case, GM now following Ford, in the sense that they are actually pushing back production of the EV Silverado, and also the Sierra EV, that they're going to make at this plant in Orion, Michigan. They said that they want to quote, better manage capital investment with aligning, with evolving EV demand. That's the big thing there, evolving EV demand. Potentially, what Ford is doing, when they cut a production shift for the Lightning, they're not seeing that demand there, potentially. Maybe they're cutting supply, rethinking pricing, and maybe changing the strategy.

Maybe GM is seeing that as another-- as a harbinger of what they might see in the future. They're not going to stop making the truck. They're actually making it right now in a different plant. But they're not going to expand as much as they thought they were going to.

JOSH SCHAFER: It seems like being careful with where they're investing at a time where they do have the strikes ongoing too, right? Just as far as-- GM only has so much money to go around like all companies only have so much money to go around. And when you have less workers literally working for you, and you're trying to think about how to be more efficient, maybe EVs just isn't the space of efficiency for these car companies right now, especially the car companies that have been creating traditional vehicles for so long.

It's not like they're Tesla, and they're cutting back on EV production. So they're cutting back on all car production. They're still producing other cars. They're just saying, we got to be a little bit slower with the EV thing. And as Pra's just said, reminds us of our Yahoo Finance survey right, where people weren't that willing to move over to EVs. We were all pretty surprised by those numbers.

ALEXANDRA CANAL: Yeah. The demand picture, I think, is very interesting to me. And you're seeing on your screen now.

57% said they're not likely to purchase an EV in our survey, compared to 11% that were unsure and 31% that were likely. And some of the big concerns here revolves around pricing, revolves around infrastructure. Driving range, another big factor there. And it makes me wonder if we overestimated how many people would be interested in EVs, and the tax credits we can get with those cars. I think that all is going to factor into it, because right now with interest rates so high, a lot of volatility in the economy right now, spending a ton of money on an EV just doesn't seem top of mind for consumers.

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: Yeah. Two big things you guys mentioned. So interest rates, high prices. Those are weighing on demand. If you get these cars are cheaper, they'd probably sell better, right?

But a big thing, I think, is there's a bifurcation between your Model Ys and smaller EVs, and your big pickup trucks. They're more money. Huge batteries.

They need to be filled up with power, probably more frequently, and their charging infrastructure just isn't there yet. So I think there's more concern about that, whereas a Model Y can go 300, 320 miles. You don't have to worry about charging.

JOSH SCHAFER: So I was going to ask. Traditionally, we think of pickup trucks as gas guzzlers, or is it the same for EVs? They take up a lot more battery. And therefore-- range anxiety. People you don't want to get a pickup EV. You'd rather get a Model Y.

PRAS SUBRAMANIAN: For instance, the Model Y probably has about a battery that's probably half the size of a F-150 extended range battery. And they probably get around similar range. But the Model Y will get a bit more, depending on the situation.

So you're basically-- your efficiency is half, meaning you've got to charge more. It's going to take more-- it's going to cost more to fill up the battery. So it might be the fact that just that use case of an EV pickup not going to happen, or not happening right now.

JOSH SCHAFER: Interesting to see how we've shifted over the last couple of years on maybe how big that potential TAM is for EVs. It seemed like you go back a couple of years. And it felt like it was as big as anything, just an impossibly big TAM.


GM delays $4B EV truck factory plan by another year
Kirsten Korosec
Updated Tue, October 17, 2023 

Image Credits: Chevrolet

General Motors is pushing its $4 billion plan to convert its Orion Assembly plant into an EV truck factory to late 2025, a year later than scheduled.

GM's reasoning behind the delay — which will mean Orion will sit idle for two years — is "to better manage capital investment while aligning with evolving EV demand," the company said in a statement sent to TechCrunch. The company also said it's identified engineering improvements that will be implemented to increase profitability of its products.

In other words, EV demand has changed and maybe isn't as strong as expected. That softening demand, which we've seen at other companies such as Lucid's deliveries numbers reported Tuesday, is forcing automakers to adjust timelines and plans to pour billions into new factories or conversions of existing ones.

GM's Orion Assembly Plant, with some 1,271 employees, is currently where the Chevy Bolt and Chevy Bolt EUV are assembled. GM plans to end production of those two vehicles at the end of the year. Union employees at Orion will be offered other jobs in Michigan, including positions at Factory ZERO Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly, where the GMC Hummer EV pickup and SUV, Chevrolet Silverado EV and Cruise Origin are being produced. Factory ZERO workers will also start making the GMC Sierra EV next year. GM said production at this facility has been increasing with plans to add a second shift in 2024.

GM announced in January 2022 it would invest $4 billion to convert the Orion factory to produce electric trucks using the GM-developed Ultium Platform. The project, as originally outlined, would include expanding the existing facility, adding new body and paint shops as well as new general assembly and battery pack assembly areas.

That conversion is part of a larger $7 billion investment in four Michigan factories focused on battery cell and electric truck manufacturing, including a third plant with partner LG Energy Solutions.

Bill Ford Says Electric Vehicles Are Being Politicized Like the Vaccine

Craig Trudell
Wed, October 18, 2023 


(Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co.’s executive chair pointed to polarization in US politics as one of the reasons the automaker is slowing production of its first electric pickup.

“Blue states say EVs are great and we need to adopt them as soon as possible for climate reasons,” Bill Ford said in an interview with the New York Times. “Some of the red states say this is just like the vaccine, and it’s being shoved down our throat by the government, and we don’t want it. I never thought I would see the day when our products were so heavily politicized, but they are.”

Ford announced last week it was temporarily cutting a shift at its Dearborn, Michigan, plant that assembles F-150 Lightning pickups, citing quality checks and supply chain issues. On Tuesday, General Motors Co. said it would delay opening its second electric-truck factory in Michigan “to better manage capital investment while aligning with evolving EV demand.”

US President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have starkly different views on EVs. Biden wants half of new-vehicle sales to be electric by the end of the decade and has signed several laws in his first term that offer incentives to consumers, car and battery manufacturers and charging operators. Trump skipped a Republican presidential candidate debate last month to argue to blue-collar voters in Michigan that shifting to EVs will doom the auto industry.

EVs also are becoming part of the culture wars at the state level. Whereas California and other states mandate that zero-emission vehicles make up an increasing share of manufacturers’ sales, lawmakers in Wyoming introduced legislation early this year that would have banned the sale of EVs in the state by 2035. The bill didn’t advance.

Conservative Radio Allegedly Fueled Attack on Palestinian American Boy

Josh Fiallo
Mon, October 16, 2023 


Prosecutors on Monday alleged that Joseph Czuba, the 71-year-old white man accused of fatally stabbing a Palestinian mother and boy in a Chicago suburb over the weekend, had become paranoid listening to conservative radio segments about the war between Israel and Hamas.

Czuba was arraigned on Monday, making his first court appearance in an orange jumpsuit with matted hair, The New York Times reported. He faces charges of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, two counts of a hate crime, and an aggravated battery charge for allegedly stabbing his tenants, 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume and his mom, Hanaan Shaheen, inside their home.

In court documents obtained by the Times, prosecutors allege that Czuba had become fearful that their Palestinian background made him a potential target for violence.

Impaled Palestinian Mom Posted About Dead Son Just After Chicago Attack

Czuba’s wife told investigators that her husband “listens to conservative talk radio on a regular basis” and had become obsessed with the Middle East war, NBC reported.

Prosecutors reportedly said Monday that Czuba had texted Shaheen on Wednesday and demanded that she “move out of the home” she was renting from him.

Czuba’s alleged hate took a violent turn on Saturday. Prosecutors say he confronted the mother and son outside their home and said he was enraged by the situation in Israel. Shaheen tried to plead with Czuba, prosecutors said, but it was to no avail: Just seconds after she said “let’s pray for peace,” prosecutors claim she was chased into her home and stabbed repeatedly.

A judge denied a request for bail by Czuba on Monday, saying he remains a threat to Shaheen—who is still recovering from stab wounds in the hospital—and “the community in general.” His next court date is on Oct. 30.

Czuba’s arraignment took place the same day mourners gathered at a funeral for Al-Fayoume. The boy’s body was placed in a small white coffin that was draped in a Palestinian flag.

Nazmi Hannon, a close family friend who described the father as a “brother” to him, spoke to The Daily Beast from the site of a funeral service on Monday.

“I just remember all the little things. How he smiled, how he played, how he ran around,” he said. “He was running around playing just last week, and now he’s in a casket.”

Landlord charged with killing boy claims he felt in danger after listening to right-wing radio on Israel-Hamas
Graeme Massie
Mon, October 16, 2023

A landlord charged with fatally stabbing a six-year-old Palestinian American boy and wounding his mother had been listening to right-wing talk radio coverage of the Israel-Hamas war before the shocking attack, say prosecutors.

Joseph Czuba, 71, appeared in Will County court outside of Chicago on Monday, accused of murdering Wadea Al-Fayoume after attacking the youngster and his mother, Hanan Shaheen.

Prosecutors told the court that the suspect had become increasingly concerned for his safety as he listened to conservative radio coverage of the Middle East conflict before his violent attack on Saturday, reported The Chicago Sun-Times.

His wife told investigators that he “believed he was in danger and she [Shaheen] was going to call Palestinian friends to come and harm them,” said Michael Fitzgerald, a Will County assistant state’s attorney.

Mr Czuba’s wife said her husband had also taken out $1,000 from the bank because he believed “the grid” was set to go down.

Wadea was stabbed 26 times and his 32-year-old mother more than 12 times in the shocking attack at a property in Plainfield Township, outside of Chicago.

Mr Czuba has been charged with one count each of first-degree murder, attempted murder, and aggravated battery, and two counts of hate crime.

Wadea Al-Fayoume, 6, a Muslim boy who according to police was stabbed to death in an attack that targeted him and his mother for their religion and as a response to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, poses in an undated family photograph obtained by Reuters on October 15, 2023. (via REUTERS)

The court heard that Ms Shaheen was having breakfast with her American-born son on Saturday morning when the suspect knocked on their door.

She told police that he then began to argue with her about the situation in the Middle East, and she told him “Let’s give peace a chance.”

Mr Fitzgerald said that is when the suspect launched his brutal attack.

Ms Shaheen told investigators that “Czuba is an angry man, but on the day in question, he came to the house and said he was angry at her for what was happening at Jerusalem,” Mr Fitzgerald added.

The home where a boy was killed and a woman critically injured after they were stabbed by a man who targeted them because they were Muslim is shown in Plainfield, Ill., Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023. (Anthony Vazquez)

Ms Shaheen, who remains in hospital in a serious condition, managed to get into a bathroom to call 911, during which time the suspect allegedly killed her son.

The youngster was found dead in a bedroom with multiple stab wounds and a knife plunged four inches into his abdomen.

The suspect was found in the back garden of the house with a cut to his face and wearing a knife holster on his belt.

Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations says that Ms Shaheen has lived in the US for 12 years and that her son celebrated his sixth birthday earlier this month.

Viral Misinformation Incited the Murder of 6-Year-Old Palestinian Boy, Officials Say

Thomas Germain
Tue, October 17, 2023 

A man accused of murdering a 6-year-old Palestinian boy and grievously wounding his mother in Illinois on Saturday was motivated by misinformation surrounding the Israel-Hamas war, officials say.

Joseph Czuba, a landlord in Plainfield Township, IL, allegedly drove himself into a violent frenzy about his Muslim tenants after listening to conservative talk radio, according to state prosecutors. Czuba was worried about rumors about an imagined Hamas plot that first spread on social media, Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Fitzgerald said at a Monday court hearing, according to ABC News.

The incident sparked national attention, including responses from federal officials. President Biden said he was “sickened” to learn about the murder in a statement Sunday. “The child’s Palestinian Muslim family came to America seeking what we all seek — a refuge to live, learn, and pray in peace,” Biden said. The Justice Department is investigating the incident as a hate crime.

Over the last week, misinformation about the supposed “global day of jihad” swirled on X, formerly known as Twitter, as well as Telegram channels and other platforms. WIRED reports the rumor stemmed from comments by Khaled Meshaal, the founder and former leader of Hamas. Meshaal sent Reuters a recorded statement Wednesday, calling for protests across the Arab world on October 13 in support of the Palestinians, adding “To all scholars who teach jihad ... to all who teach and learn, this is a moment for the application [of theories].”

Meshaal specifically called for protests in “the Arab and Islamic worlds,” but almost immediately, a mistranslation suggesting Meshaal had ordered a “day of rage” and a “global” or “international day of Jihad” spread across the internet.

The conversation soon turned to far-right calls for violence against Muslims. The global day of jihad rumor was parroted by influential conservatives and extremists, including Representative Marjorie Taylor-Greene and Rogan O’Handley, a lawyer turned far-right influencer who goes by DC Draino on X. Charlie Kirk echoed the misinformation on Instagram, where he posted “Day of Jihad? Arm up,” days before the murder in Illinois.

The increasingly insular social media landscape makes it difficult for researchers and regulators to understand exactly what’s happening on the internet in real-time. Still, the Israel-Hamas conflict is being described as a turning point for misinformation.

Collectively, the leading social media platforms say they’ve removed hundreds of thousands of posts for breaking rules about misinformation and depictions of violence. EU regulators sent letters to X, TikTok, Meta, and Google demanding details about the companies’ efforts to stem the flood of mis- and disinformation about the war. Meanwhile, users on Facebook and Instagram accused Meta of suppressing pro-Palestinian posts. The company said it fixed a “bug” to correct the issue.

Czuba is being held without bail under charges including murder, aggravated assault, and hate crimes.

“As Americans, we must come together and reject Islamophobia and all forms of bigotry and hatred,” Biden’s statement reads. “I have said repeatedly that I will not be silent in the face of hate. We must be unequivocal. There is no place in America for hate against anyone.”

 Gizmodo

Plainfield landlord charged with hate crime in killing of 6-year-old Palestinian boy, stabbing of mom

Shardaa Gray, Tara Molina, Mugo Odigwe, Beth Lawrence
Mon, October 16, 2023 

CBS

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Plainfield Township landlord is accused of killing a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy and stabbing that boy's mother because they were Muslim.

Prosecutors said Joseph Czuba, 71, wanted the victims to move out of the home they rented from him, and believed he and his wife "were in danger," because he feared the woman he stabbed "was going to call over her Palestinian friends or family to harm them."

Czuba now faces several charges, including three counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated battery, and two hate crime counts. The two victims were targeted because they were Muslim and because of the war between Israel and Hamas, according to the Will County Sheriff's Office.

During his first court appearance on Monday, a Will County judge denied Czuba pretrial release, after prosecutors argued he was a danger to both the boy's mother and the general public.

The Justice Department has also opened an investigation into the case. The FBI is also now looking into federal hate crime charges.

The boy's mother, 32-year-old Hanaan Shahin, told detectives that on Saturday morning, Czuba, her landlord, attacked her with a knife as she ran to the bathroom to call 911. According to the Will County Sheriff's Office, Czuba stabbed her more than a dozen times and her 6-year-old son, Wadea Al-Fayoume, 26 times.

Will County prosecutors said Shahin told police Czuba knocked on her door Saturday morning, and the two got into an argument over the war between Israel and Hamas. Czuba told Shahin "he was angry at her for what was going on in Jerusalem," prosecutors wrote in a court filing.

When Czuba then attacked Shahin with a knife, she locked herself in a nearby bathroom to get away from Czuba, but was unable to get her son into the bathroom with her.

That's when Shahin called 911 and reported her son was being stabbed, and she said she did not come out of the bathroom until police arrived, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors said Shahin has two other children, who were later found to be with their father in Chicago, and were not at home at the time of the attack.

Detectives also questioned Czuba's wife, who said he frequently listened to conservative talk radio, and was "heavily interested" in the conflict in the Middle East. Czuba wanted Shahin and her son to move out of the home they rented from him, and believed that he and his wife "were in danger" and that Shahin was going to "call over her Palestinian friends or family to harm them."

Czuba's public defender said he was an Air Force veteran who was honorably discharged from the military, is self-employed, owns several properties in Plainfield, and was a longtime member of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Plainfield. He also has ongoing health issues due to a prognosis of prostate cancer.

Czuba is due back in court on Oct. 30.

The Council on American Islamic Relations said Wadea had just celebrated his birthday a couple of weeks ago.

"He was a lovely boy who loved his family, his friends. He loved soccer. He loved basketball, and he paid the price for the atmosphere of hate," CAIR Executive Director Ahmed Rehab said of how Wadea's father described him.

Neighbors like Eva Case saw the crime scene Saturday night. The gruesome details behind the stabbing left her in awe.

"I don't care what the situation was," she said. "Don't take it out on somebody that innocent of life."

Neighbors who live near Czuba said the mother and son moved into the home four years ago. Neighbors said they kept to themselves.

As for Czuba, neighbors called him eccentric, and said they were concerned at times about signs in front of the house. Some were political and religious.

"I see the man that lived there outside gardening all the time, every week. Every time I come home, he's outside," Case said.

CAIR said it just issued a release a few days ago warning about creating anti-Muslim atmospheres where someone could get hurt.

"He has no clue about these larger issues happening in the world, but he was made to pay for it," Rehab said of Wadea.

Family members said the little boy's father was at Saturday's press conference but was too shocked to speak. CAIR said it is disgusted not only by this horrible act but also by the exaggeration of Jihad Day. They said they believe if there were no anti-Muslim narrative, this would not have happened.

"This crime wakes up a fear inside us," said Wadea's uncle, Yousef Hannon. "We are not animals, we are humans. We want people to see us as humans."

Both Muslim and Jewish organizations have condemned the horrific attack, including the Chicago Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) and the Anti-Defamation League.

"It's horrific and absolutely unacceptable," said David Goldenberg with the Anti-Defamation League.

Goldenberg said the tragedy of the Plainfield boy puts a spotlight on the responsibility news outlets, social media companies and leaders have when using their platforms.

"How people get information and who they get that information from is really important," Goldenberg said.

President Joe Biden released a statement Sunday condemning the attack, saying, "As Americans, we must come together and reject Islamophobia and all forms of bigotry and hatred. I have said repeatedly that I will not be silent in the face of hate. We must be unequivocal. There is no place in America for hate against anyone."

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker also released a statement calling the attack "nothing short of evil." Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson shared his condolences, saying, "This despicable hate crime is a shameful reminder of the destructive role Islamophobia plays in our society."

Plainfield District 202 released the following statement:

"We send our deepest condolences to the family and our District 202 community on the devastating loss of our student.

Social work and grief counseling is available today and we will continue to provide support services to our students and staff in the coming days. Our staff will keep a close eye on students for any signs of emotional distress which will be addressed and supported."


CBS 2 has learned that Wadea's funeral will happen Monday at 1 p.m. at a mosque in Bridgeview.

The Middle East and the World After October 7,  and Israel’s War on Palestine

Summary: A global turning point has been reached, showing systemic fragility, but with genocidal repression looming over Gaza -- Editors

-- Approved as a Statement of the Steering Committee of the International Marxist-Humanist Organization

The October 7 attack by Hamas militants from Gaza into Israel, across one of the most closely guarded borders in the world, constitutes nothing less than a global turning point. Some 1300 Israelis were killed, military bases overtaken, parts of the world’s most sophisticated surveillance apparatus expertly dismantled, and 150 hostages transported back into Gaza. Nor did Israel’s vaunted international intelligence agencies, whether Mossad, Shin Bet, or military intelligence, let alone their counterparts in the CIA or European intelligence agencies, catch wind of what was coming.

Never has the delusion of rulers that they have created “security” for themselves and their regimes through repression and walling people in been exposed in so stark a fashion. Surely, this pertains not only to the nuclear-armed, technologically advanced, and militarily hyper-organized Israeli state, but also to those everywhere who rule over subject peoples through vastly superior force and relentless surveillance, from China to Turkey, and from Russia to the U.S.

The grand illusion of the U.S., Israel, and their allies and client states was that, after having been politically isolated, confined, and driven to despair, the Palestinian people would gradually disappear or acquiesce to the new “reality” in which even Arab states were increasingly normalizing relations with Israel in agreements that no longer even pretended to help Palestine, what even King Abdullah of Jordan called agreements that “fly over” Palestine. October 7 shattered that myth, showing that, as in Poland, Ireland, or South Africa in earlier times, or the history of the Jews themselves, oppressed peoples who’ve acquired a clear sense of identity and organization are capable of outlasting their oppressors, even in the face of decades and even centuries of setbacks. This too is reality.

It is also clear that Israel, which is lurching toward authoritarianism, even fascism, in recent years, is not launching a “surgical” operation to free the hostages grabbed by Hamas fighters. In fact, it is showing absolutely no regard for them. Instead, with full acquiescence from the U.S., a genocidal crackdown on the entire Palestinian people of Gaza is occurring. At this writing, thousands of Palestinians have been killed by relentless airstrikes, with tens of thousands, or even more, sure to follow. The Israeli military has indiscriminately levelled schools, hospitals, and mosques.

Israeli government ministers have called the Palestinians “human animals,” also beginning a medieval-style siege reminiscent of Sarajevo in the 1990s, which has cut off electricity, food, fuel, other supplies, and even water. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated openly that Hamas members are “dead men,” signaling to his military that no prisoners need be taken. Most ominously, the Israeli state is forcing Palestinians in the northern half of Gaza, home of some one million people, to flee their homes or die. This includes large hospitals and their patients, another clear war crime. Is Gaza as a whole to be ethnically “cleansed,” its 2.5 million people to be driven into the Sinai desert?

As these horrors transpire, with more to come, the U.S. government and its political class have unified around a policy of giving Israel a free hand, even more so than in previous conflicts. While highlighting Israeli deaths, they have ignored events like the October 9 death from Israeli bombs of 14 members of a single family in Gaza, let alone the thousands killed in reprisal by Israeli bombs since October 7. The European Union has had a remarkably similar response, with not only Germany, but even France, a purported ally of Palestine, banning all pro-Palestine demonstrations. Sadly, the Ukrainian government has sided with the forces of colonial occupation too, even as it battles Russian colonialism inside its own borders. Inside the large capitalist countries, the October 7 attack is solidifying a conservative and reactionary politics of militarism, vengefulness, and Islamophobia. In the U.S. and elsewhere, McCarthyite witch hunts are targeting voices that support Palestine, not only ones did not highlight Hamas atrocities first and foremost, but even those who postulate an equivalency between Hamas and the Israeli state. Blacklists of pro-Palestine students are being assembled by U.S. employers, and some have already lost their jobs.

Another regional war is a possibility, with two U.S. aircraft carriers now off the coast of Israel and Lebanon to “protect” Israel. Will the war extend into northern Israel and Lebanon, with Israel and even the U.S. vs. Iranian-backed Hezbollah?

At a general level, we must proclaim as a clear principle the right of the oppressed and the colonized to rise up. According to Elias Sanbar, a Palestinian diplomat and writer, “Yes, some actions committed in the course of military operations are war crimes. But public opinion needs to understand that we are also faced with a legitimate war against an occupying army” (Interview with Benjamin Barthe, Le Monde, Oct. 13, 2023). Thus, if we can support Ukraine, we also should support Palestine.

But we need to ask another question too: What has Hamas actually achieved with its October 7 incursion, dramatic as it was? Did Hamas think it could defeat Israel in fighting on the streets of Gaza with its 35,000 disciplined fighters? Or did it think in the end that because its fighters were “godly” that they would win? Did it even weigh in its calculus the mass deaths of Palestinians sure to follow from a regime like that of Netanyahu? For another lesson of history is that one can assassinate leaders or stage small-scale dramatic attacks, but actually achieving national independence, let alone real liberation from colonialism or capitalism, requires a truly mass movement, rooted in the working people, not a secretive cadre of dedicated young men substituting themselves for those masses. (For some astute critiques of Hamas from the Left, see Gilbert Achcar, “Initial Comments on Hamas’s October Counter-Offensive,” International Viewpoint, Oct. 9, 2023). Ultimate victory also requires a positive, humanist vision that would inspire those masses, including some inside the oppressor countries themselves. Massacring and taking civilians as hostages, all the while espousing a narrowly nationalist, conservative ideology, does not fulfill that need.

That said, it must be reiterated that the fragility of global systems of oppression and exploitation has been laid bare by October 7. This has led to gigantic demonstrations in Jordan and other Arab and predominantly Muslim countries, where a sense of despair and disengagement had followed the defeat of the Arab Spring of 2011. The same kinds of forces that touched off 2011 are now back on the streets. Around the world, too, young people are hitting the streets or demonstrating on their campuses in support of Palestine and against the impending genocide in Gaza.

Unfortunately, such liberatory forces are not at present strong enough to compel powers like the U.S. to stay the hand of Netanyahu and his accomplices in what is now a genocidal “unity” government including top generals of all political persuasions. For as is well known, a single call from Biden to the U.S.’s client, the Israeli state, could save untold lives.

We and our friends and allies need to be part of the broader movement of resistance, always putting forth a revolutionary humanist alternative to the powers that be. At present, that means doing all we can to support Palestine and to stay the hand of genocide in Gaza.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS OF INTEREST (with reviews posted on our Publications pages)


Raya Dunayevskaya's Intersectional Marxism: Race, Class, Gender, and the Dialectics of Liberation edited by Kevin B. Anderson, Kieran Durkin & Heather A. Brown (Palgrave Macmillan).

A Precious Residue: Poems that ponder efforts to spark a working class socialism in the 1970s and after by Sam Friedman (International Marxist-Humanist).

Marxist-Humanism in the Present Moment: Reflections on Theory and Practice in Light of the Covid-19 Pandemic and the Black Lives Matter Uprisings edited by Jens Johansson & Kristopher Baumgartner (The International Marxist-Humanist Organization).

Critique of the Gotha Program (New Translation & New Introduction) by Karl Marx, Peter Hudis (Introduction) , Peter Linebaugh (Foreword), translated by Kevin B. Anderson & Karel Ludenhoff (PM Press).

A Revolutionary Subject: Pedagogy of Women of Color and Indigeneity by Lilia D. Monzó (Peter Lang Inc.).

Dialectics of Revolution: Hegel, Marxism, and its Critics Through a Lens of Race, Class, Gender, and Colonialism by Kevin B. Anderson (Daraja Press).


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Fain: 'It’s Not The UAW And Ford Against Foreign Automakers. It’s Autoworkers Everywhere Against Corporate Greed.'

Andy Kalmowitz
Tue, October 17, 2023 


Good morning! It’s Tuesday, October 17, 2023, and this is The Morning Shift, your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know.

1st Gear: Billy Ford Thinks UAW Should Give In

Bill Ford, executive chair of the company started by his great-grandfather, wants United Auto Workers leaders to end their strike against the Big Three before it hurts them even more. He said the strike is hindering the company’s ability to compete with automakers like Toyota and Tesla.

UAW President Shawn Fain responded to Ford’s remarks with this statement:

“Bill Ford knows exactly how to settle this strike. ... He should call up Jim Farley, tell him to stop playing games and get a deal done.

“It’s not the UAW and Ford against foreign automakers. It’s autoworkers everywhere against corporate greed. If Ford wants to be the all-American auto company, they can pay all-American wages and benefits. Workers at Tesla, Toyota, Honda, and others are not the enemy — they’re the UAW members of the future.”

Last week, the union escalated matters with Ford at its largest and most profitable plant, Kentucky Truck. Fain said it was a “new phase” of talks with more unpredictability. The move more than doubled the number of Ford workers on strike to 16,600. That’s far more than the 9,400 striking at GM and 8,000 striking at Stellantis. The move comes even though Ford has offered the highest pay among the three automakers.

“Shutting down that plant harms tens of thousands of Americans right away, workers, suppliers and dealers alike,” Bill Ford said. “If it continues, it will have a major impact on the American economy and devastate local communities.”

The UAW has now gone longer without a tentative agreement than it did when it went on strike against GM in 2019. That year, the two sides reached a tentative deal on the 31st day of the strike, and the union disbanded its picket lines nine days later after ratification.

The strike against the Big Three started on September 15 with just three assembly plants suffering walkouts. Since then, it has expanded to about 34,000 workers at 44 facilities across the country.