Battery supply chain – Page 18
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ArticleThe ethics of sourcing for electrics
As the march towards mass-market take-up of electric vehicles continues, there is a growing focus on the sustainability of the raw materials used in the EV and battery supply chain, such as copper, nickel, cobalt and lithium. Generally speaking, the social and environmental impacts of raw material production will depend ...
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ArticleSettling into steady growth
China has the biggest car market in the world and is expected to make 25.3m vehicles this year. The city of Chengdu has 4.5m of them driving around it, making it the second largest in China for vehicle numbers behind Beijing – and it was to Chengdu that delegates headed ...
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ArticleMercedes-Benz: Taking an end-to-end approach
It may have taken Mercedes-Benz around 120 years to reach 1m cars per year, breaching the mark around the turn of the 21stcentury. However, the recent surge in growth of the brand has seen it rise by around 1m units in sales and production in just five years, with passenger ...
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ArticleVolvo Cars: Outbound evolutions
The vehicle yard at Torslanda, at Volvo Cars’ global headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden, is just one part of the OEM’s growing global logistics operations, but it is a good place to glimpse some important changes and innovations. For example, the global shape of the Geely-owned carmaker’s expanding production footprint ...
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ArticleAudi’s logistics part 1: Prepared for a new reality
The recent history of the Audi brand is written deeply into the company’s supply chain and logistics, and can be read across the carmaker’s expanding geography, plant and parts handling operations
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Article2018 predictions: The hot spots
A year ago, previews of 2017 would have pointed to potential renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) and Brexit as two of the most obvious threats to global free trade and the smooth-flowing automotive supply chains that have become so embedded across the wider regions of North ...
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ArticleVW pushes its suppliers to raise supply chain sustainability
Volkswagen Group has said it is engaging in “intensive” discussions with its suppliers to determine how the sustainability of its supply chain can be improved, especially for the raw materials used in electric vehicles.“We are engaging in intensive dialogue with companies from the mine through to our direct suppliers. It ...
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ArticleSiemens Financial Services calls for careful investment in digitalisation
The automotive sector needs to invest carefully to reap the benefits of a potentially more efficient manufacturing and distribution model as the fourth industrial revolution – also referred to as industry 4.0 – takes hold, Siemens Financial Services (SFS) has warned.Advising the sector to get ready for “extended disruption” in ...
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ArticleHolding on to the hard-won gains in Brazil
The Brazilian economy has had it rough over the past few years, experiencing its deepest recession since the 1930s, with GDP growth shrinking for eight consecutive quarters. That contributed to a drought in new vehicle sales from 2013 through to 2016. This long crisis laid waste to many parts of ...
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ArticlePlugged in for progress
Evolution of CCS charging technology for e-cars towards 350 kW" width="500" height="500">The last two decades have seen the emergence of the alternative propulsion vehicle market from almost nothing. According to PwC Autofacts data, sales in 1997 across all hybrid and electric vehicles numbered about 6,000 vehicles. This year, the ...
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ArticleService parts part 2: Next-generation service
Executives we spoke to… BMW GroupWolfgang Baumann, vice-president of parts logistics management, has been with the company since 1985 and spent most of his career in sales planning and commercial operations in Germany, before moving into his current role in service parts logistics in 2010. While he claims ...
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ArticleProduction & logistics part 2: Questioning the future
This article is one of a series of pieces celebrating Automotive Logistics’ 20th anniversary issue that together take an extended look at the way top executives feel automotive production and logistics have changed in the last two decades – and where they see them heading in the future.
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ArticleNorthvolt picks Skellefteå in Sweden as home for battery factory
Northvolt has announced a partnership with the two Swedish municipalities Skellefteå and Västerås for the establishment of Europe’s largest lithium-ion battery manufacturing plant.After an initial assessment of eight Swedish and two Finnish municipalities, Northvolt narrowed its choice down to Västerås and Skellefteå. The company has since decided to base activities ...
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ArticleThis changing world…
Click here to access more Automotive Logistics 20th anniversary featuresOver the past two decades a number of major global events have had a significant impact on global automotive supply chains, from new technologies, external disruptors entering the industry, catastrophes (both manmade and natural), and political earthquakes.There is little doubt ...
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ArticleLiving in interesting times
With the shadow of a hard Brexit hanging over the UK, the question of how it will maintain a competitive automotive sector into the next decade is harder to answer than ever…
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ArticleUS car carriers: Driven to deliver
The US car market is forecast to contract slightly over the next two to three years, with sales set to fall from a high of 17.8m this year to around 16.3m in 2019, according to figures from industry analyst PwC. As OEMs cope with swelling inventory, the car carrier sector ...
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ArticleDaimler launches Fuso eCanter electric light-duty truck
Daimler's Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (MFTBC) has launched the Fuso eCanter, an all-electric, light-duty truck.The first vehicles will be delivered to customers in the US, Europe and Japan before the end of the year. The company is planning to produce a total of 500 trucks over the next ...
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ArticleVolkswagen joins global battery alliance aiming to clean up supply chain
Volkswagen has been named amongst a group of corporations and NGOs aiming to end child labour, hazardous working conditions, pollution and environmental damage in the global battery supply chain.The Global Battery Alliance was launched this week at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Sustainable Development Impact Summit and aims to create ...
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ArticleKN launches lithium-ion battery logistics service out of Asia
This year’s IAA motor show in Frankfurt, Germany was notable for the continued focus on vehicle electrification, with carmakers committing to more electric vehicle (EV) models and options in the coming years. Governments, meanwhile, from the UK and France to China, have recently announced plans to shift away from combustion ...
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ArticleNissan sells global battery business to Chinese private equity firm
Nissan Motor Company says it has sold its global electric battery business to Chinese private investment fund, GSR Capital, for an undisclosed sum.The sale includes Nissan’s battery subsidiary, Automotive Energy Supply Corporation (AESC), as well as battery manufacturing operations in Smyrna, Tennessee and in Sunderland, England.GSR, with offices in Beijing, ...