Good morning! It’s Wednesday, October 23, 2024, and that is The Morning Shift, your every day roundup of the highest automotive headlines from all over the world, in a single place. Listed here are the essential tales you want to know.
1st Gear: Scores Of Folks Injured At Rivian Manufacturing facility
Employees at Rivian are coping with some actually nasty security considerations at its Regular, Illinois manufacturing unit. They’ve suffered accidents from cracked skulls and foot fractures to again lacerations that require surgical procedure and amputated fingers. One particular person even mentioned she complained to docs final yr about vomiting bile with a “Rivian blue” hue after portray R1s with no respirator.
Even if Rivian has only one manufacturing unit, it has racked up extra “critical” U.S. security violations than every other automaker because the begin of 2023. That’s… not nice. Employees on the plant say there are many incidents that don’t make it onto authorities experiences, too. From Bloomberg:
The electrical-vehicle maker obtained preliminary citations for 16 critical violations previously 21 months from the US Occupational Security and Well being Administration. Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co., Volvo AB, Nissan Motor Co., Common Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. every obtained not more than 10. Volkswagen AG, BMW AG and Subaru Corp. noticed none.
Fellow EV maker Tesla Inc. and Chrysler maker Stellantis NV, each with a lot bigger workforces than Rivian, additionally obtained fewer preliminary critical citations. However not like Rivian, Tesla additionally received three “repeat” violations, which carry heavier penalties, and Stellantis obtained two.
Rivian says that its report compares favorably with different producers. “The well being and security of everybody at Rivian is our prime precedence, and we’re pleased with our sturdy security report — which continues to enhance yr over yr,” the corporate mentioned in an announcement.
However authorities findings and interviews with present and previous workers at Rivian paint an image of a money-losing firm that struggled to place in place the procedures, tools and coaching required to maintain workers secure. The alleged security shortfalls come as the corporate ramps up manufacturing of supply vans for Amazon.com Inc. and $100,000 luxurious SUVs common with celebrities together with Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, and appears to entry lots of of thousands and thousands of {dollars} of state subsidies. In addition they spotlight potential challenges for the US authorities’s objective of accelerating EV output to create good jobs in economically underdeveloped areas and assist gradual local weather change.
The quantity of complaints, citations and critical accidents on the Rivian plant “are all purple flags,” mentioned Deborah Berkowitz, who reviewed the data at Bloomberg’s request. She served as OSHA chief of workers below President Barack Obama and is now a fellow on the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown College.
Rivian says it’s dedicated to employee security, saying it has committees that usually evaluate manufacturing unit processes and advocate adjustments. It additionally says workers can carry considerations to supervisors or report them anonymously. The automaker says its self-reported fee of work-related accidents and sicknesses this yr has really been higher than the trade common for gentle obligation producers in 2022 (the final full-year of knowledge out there.)
To be truthful to Rivian, OSHA itself mentioned that because it started inspections in 2021, the automaker has “has improved their security and well being crew and are very cooperative with the OSHA course of.”
Rivian says that as a part of settlements with the company, nearly all the violations OSHA initially labeled as critical had been finally downgraded from that class or dismissed. “Preliminary citations shouldn’t be confused as closing citations, and to counsel in any other case is extremely deceptive,” a Rivian spokesperson mentioned.
Former OSHA leaders, nevertheless, say preliminary citations — that are issued after the company has investigated a job website and thought of the corporate’s perspective — reveal extra about office hazards. OSHA agrees to downgrade citations as a result of its precedence is for firms to handle hazards, whereas litigating a dispute for years might go away them unresolved, in line with former OSHA head David Michaels.
“OSHA’s goal is to get the hazard abated,” mentioned Michaels, who ran the company from 2009 to 2017 and is now a George Washington College public well being professor. “And so OSHA is usually keen to scale back each the penalties and the variety of citations with a purpose to get that settlement.”
Settlements typically require the employer to make broader security enhancements along with the abatement required by the quotation, in line with OSHA.
Worker interviews have shined a light-weight on the hazards they face in Regular, the place Rivian has shortly grow to be one of many metropolis’s largest employers.
I actually don’t know what the deal is with these upstart automakers having such harmful working circumstances, however they’ve received to take higher care of their folks. The previous Silicon Valley adage of “transfer quick and break stuff” doesn’t work when its the employees’ our bodies which can be breaking.
2nd Gear: Trump Is Simply Saying Shit About Vehicles Once more
Donald Trump loves getting on stage and yapping. It’s what he’s finest at. Now, he’s yapping about making rates of interest on automotive loans for automobiles made within the U.S. tax deductible. Trump made the announcement in Michigan, an important swing state. From Automotive Information:
“I are not looking for it to profit different nations. I need it to profit us,” Trump mentioned Oct. 22 at a rally in Greensboro, N.C. “Deductibility of curiosity is nice, however provided that the automotive is manufactured in america.”
Trump has elevated his give attention to U.S. automakers in current weeks as he has sought to assuage voter considerations about home manufacturing jobs, repeatedly pledging to revive industries which have closed factories as provide chains have shifted abroad.
Trump mentioned his plan to permit automotive consumers to write-off the mortgage curiosity on their federal taxes can be a boon to U.S. automotive gross sales.
“Why the hell would we give them taxes in the event that they manufacture the automotive in China, Japan or a lot of different locations that stole our enterprise through the years?” Trump mentioned. “I feel that’s going to be nice for Detroit,” he added referring to the U.S. auto manufacturing hub, positioned in battleground Michigan.
Since that is Trump we’re speaking about, the plan lacks any particulars. He hasn’t mentioned something about tax breaks on automobiles made by international automakers right here within the U.S.
Along with tax breaks for automotive consumers, Trump has pledged to impose steep tariffs on automobiles and different merchandise made in Mexico, China and different nations. Economists have warned that might trigger family costs to spike and function a drag on financial development.
Trump’s give attention to manufacturing jobs comes as he and his Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris are in a decent race within the seven battleground states, with the previous president forward by 1.1 share factors within the RealClearPolitics common of polls.
Trump reportedly spoke of the “glory days” of the American automotive trade. He mentioned his slum lord father, Fred, thought-about the “definition of luxurious” was to purchase a brand new Cadillac each two years.
I’m so drained, people. We’re nonetheless two weeks away from this godforsaken election.
third Gear: There Are 200,000 Locations To Cost Your EV
There at the moment are 200,000 public charging ports out there throughout america, a quantity that has just about doubled because the starting of the Biden-Harris Administration. It means there at the moment are EV chargers in all 50 states, and it places the nationwide charging community forward of schedule to satisfy the Adminstation’s objective of half 1,000,000 chargers by 2030. From the Joint Workplace of Vitality and Transportation:
Marking essentially the most vital transformation to our transportation system in a century, the deployment of extra chargers is occurring due to each public funding and personal sector funding. New charging stations funded by the Nationwide Electrical Car Infrastructure (NEVI) system program, Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) program, and Electrical Car Charger Reliability and Accessibility (EVC-RAA) program have all come on-line inside the previous month or so, bolstering personal funding that’s bringing multimodal charging options to communities and creating quick charging hubs alongside key journey corridors. As of September 30, 2024, drivers can journey 57.8% of essentially the most closely trafficked corridors nationwide with the reassurance of discovering a quick charger at the least each 50 miles. By the tip of subsequent yr, we anticipate protection on 70% of these corridors.
The Joint Workplace has been working with states, native communities, and trade to construct a nationwide EV charging community that provides folks entry to the comfort, efficiency, and value financial savings of electrical automobiles. At the moment, plug-in EVs make up almost 10% of the U.S. light-duty automobile market, with much more automobile choices changing into out there to satisfy rising demand.
To make sure the nationwide public charging community’s reliability, the Joint Workplace has superior key requirements, together with the J3400 connector customary, which was not too long ago established as a beneficial observe. This customary will make a larger portion of the prevailing public charging infrastructure accessible to a wider vary of automobiles.
Our efforts transcend putting in new chargers. We’re upgrading damaged chargers and bringing the nationwide charging community—together with the nice paying jobs it entails—to each group, rural, suburban, or city.
I’ve received a small-ish EV highway journey on the docket this weekend, so we’ll see simply how good this infrastructure actually is. Please pray that I don’t get caught on the aspect of the highway in a Rivian.
4th Gear: 700,000 Hondas Recalled For Dangerous Gas Pump
Honda is recalling 720,810 automobiles within the U.S. due to a problem with a gas pump. Mainly, this high-pressure pump can leak, which may improve the chance of a hearth, crash or some kind of bodily harm ought to it ignite. Not good. From Automotive Information:
The recall impacts the 2023-24 Honda Accord and Accord Hybrid, 2023-25 CR-V Hybrid, and 2025 Civic and Civic Hybrid.
The gas pump, made by Hitachi Astemo in Japan, was improperly produced, resulting in cracking that may trigger the leaks. The issue is especially prevalent in lower-mileage automobiles, in line with NHTSA paperwork. A telltale signal of the defect is a gas odor wafting from the automobile whereas driving or idling.
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The solenoid, or magnetic coil, element at fault within the gas pump shall be changed with a brand new half with improved dimensions and baking circumstances.
American Honda mentioned in an announcement that it was encouraging house owners of affected automobiles “to take them to a certified seller for restore as quickly as they obtain notification.”
Honda says it has obtained 145 guarantee claims courting again to February of 2023. Fortunately, there have been no accidents or deaths associated to the problem.
