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<\/p>\nIf politics makes strange bedfellows, then surely trade policy creates its own weird pairings. Restrictions to market access in the form of tariffs and other levies have given a unique advantage to those with production capacity in the United States. Unsurprisingly, Stellantis continues to be the most polyamorous of automakers.<\/p>\n
The Morning Dump is starting off with a stretch, albeit a small one. JLR and Stellantis have signed a deal to discuss co-developing cars in the US, giving the former access to un-tariffed production. Stellantis has also started a JV with Chinese automaker Dongfeng, which will help Stellantis use its underutilized factories in Europe.<\/p>\n
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Not like having a factory is easy. In South Texas, an independent analysis claims to have found potentially carcinogenic chemicals in a drainage ditch used by Tesla\u2019s battery facility. In Hungary, a new government has found that BYD might have transported toxic soil against regulations in the building of its factory there.<\/p>\n
Can\u2019t life just be easier? Perhaps it will be one day. \u201cHey, Google, can I park here?\u201d is the question you might be asking your Volvo soon to help make parking simpler.<\/p>\n
Stellantis And JLR Sign An MOU for US Something, Something Stellantis has to convince investors it continues to be a good bet after all the, you know, Carlos Tavares (not pictured) drama<\/a>. It\u2019s going to be a tough market for cars, and the timing of the turnaround is bad, so one way to cover for this is to help show that the company can make deals to help use all of its plants and lower its development costs.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s start with the big one, via\u00a0Bloomberg<\/a>:<\/p>\n Stellantis NV plans to develop cars with Jaguar Land Rover in the US, the latest step in a deep overhaul for the maker of Jeep sport utility vehicles and Ram trucks.<\/p>\n Both companies will explore opportunities to collaborate on product development in the country, they said Wednesday. It\u2019s the first deal Stellantis Chief Executive Officer Antonio Filosa is striking in the US, a lucrative market the company is prioritizing.<\/p>\n But why, tho?<\/p>\n The latest deal may eventually give JLR, which is owned by India\u2019s Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd., access to Stellantis factories in the US. That would allow the British luxury-car maker to sidestep import tariffs in its largest market.<\/p>\n Neither JLR nor Stellantis are commenting further, but it makes a lot of sense. The UK has a decent trade agreement with the United States, but if Land Rover wants to expand its product lineup it\u2019s going to have to find somewhere to build more cars and who knows where else is going to work. With the US being a huge market for JLR it is logical to do something here, and not having to develop an entirely new facility makes sense.<\/p>\n Could we get the return of the Freelander? Could Discover production move here on a platform shared with Jeep? Is this just about powertrains? It\u2019s not clear that Stellantis or JLR even have an answer these questions. Of all the brands, though, it seems like Jeep maybe has the most potential capacity. Could Warren\u2013which builds the Jeep Grand Wagoneer\u2013be used to also make Discovers?<\/p>\n Over in Europe, Stellantis is tying up with Chinese automaker Dongfeng, as\u00a0Reuters reports<\/a>:<\/p>\n Stellantis NV and China\u2019s Dongfeng plan to form a joint venture in Europe, including potential production in France, the companies said on Wednesday, offering another glimpse into the French-Italian automaker\u2019s longer-term strategy.<\/p>\n The two groups signed a preliminary agreement that will cover sales and distribution, manufacturing, purchasing and engineering activities focused on Dongfeng\u2019s new energy vehicles. The JV will be owned 51% by Stellantis and 49% by Dongfeng.<\/p>\n Huh. Stellantis has a JV with Leapmotor to build small EVs in Europe, right? Dongfeng has a deal to make Nissan products. Everyone is in bed with everyone until all of this gets worked out, I guess.<\/p>\n Tesla And The Drainage Ditch The rendering above of Tesla\u2019s Lithium Refinery in the far western suburbs of Corpus Christi hits me hard. That\u2019s where I\u2019m from. That\u2019s where I have my first memories. That endless, low sky and corn tortilla flat plain is forever the landscape of my mind.<\/p>\n When I heard that Tesla was opening up a facility to source lithium down there I thought it was generally not a bad thing<\/a>. South Texas is almost indefinitely short on industry and the US is desperately behind in producing both the anode and cathode precursors necessary for modern battery manufacturing.<\/p>\n The situation in Corpus is quite desperate as they\u2019re running out of water, which is a thing necessary to keep people alive. Some of this is just drought and some of it, maybe, is data centers<\/a>. Either way, it\u2019s bad. Water is precious, as you need water to make the aforementioned tortillas.<\/p>\n So this, via the\u00a0Texas Tribune<\/a>, ain\u2019t great:<\/p>\n After Texas regulators said Tesla\u2019s lithium refinery near Corpus Christi wasn\u2019t violating its permits by discharging what local officials reported as black wastewater into a drainage ditch, independent water testing there this month found two toxic metals and other contaminants.<\/p>\n Eurofins Environment Testing, an accredited lab with locations across the globe,\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0traces of hexavalent chromium, a well-known carcinogen, and arsenic, an environmental poison. Nueces County Drainage District No. 2, which\u00a0manages the ditch<\/a>, commissioned the test.<\/p>\n Neither hexavalent chromium nor arsenic is included as an allowable discharge pollutant in Tesla\u2019s wastewater permit.<\/p>\n The Nueces County Drainage District No. 2 sent a cease and desist letter to the company, though so far nothing has changed and the state agency responsible for monitoring this sort of thing hasn\u2019t done anything. Here\u2019s a line that\u2019ll make you less nostalgic:<\/p>\n Nueces County groundwater is known to contain some arsenic, said Chris Cuellar, a retired chemical plant worker who spent 10 years managing wastewater operations at one of the region\u2019s largest industrial facilities. Eurofins tested the wastewater from the ditch, rather than from Tesla\u2019s outfall pipe, so it\u2019s possible there was residual arsenic from a nearby pond overflow that leached into the ditch, for example, rather than coming from the industrial process itself, Cuellar said.<\/p>\n Yikes. Lithium production is incredibly important and in a normal place, various agencies would investigate it, figure out what\u2019s going on, and then the company would mitigate the issue if one existed. Something like this happens with basically every car-related manufacturing facility at some point.<\/p>\n Texas isn\u2019t a normal place politically speaking and Tesla in general is averse to doing things the regular way. How this gets resolved, or if this gets resolved, is unclear, but\u00a0Autonocion does frame the central question<\/a> pretty well:<\/p>\n None of this is illegal as currently constituted, because the permit that was written does not require monitoring for the things the independent lab found.<\/p>\n What it should do, for any American driver whose next EV is going to be built around domestically refined lithium, is force a real conversation about what \u201cclean lithium\u201d actually means and who gets to define it.<\/p>\n Is Clean Lithium the new Clean Coal?<\/p>\n Hungarian Police Are Investigating BYD Over Environmental Issues BYD is sure having a hard time building plants outside of China. In Brazil, the company got in a spot of bother of the implication that it was forcing people to work in terrible conditions<\/a>. And now, in Hungary, the company is in trouble for potentially not following environmental regulations.<\/p>\n Per\u00a0BYD<\/a>:<\/p>\n The probe relates to the movement of toxic soil from BYD\u2019s construction site in the southern city of Szeged to an outside location, the police said in a statement on Wednesday, according to the MTI state news service.<\/p>\n The move suggests Prime Minister Peter Magyar\u2019s administration is taking environmental concerns in the country\u2019s burgeoning EV industry seriously after they were relegated under his predecessor Viktor Orban. Battery makers Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Ltd. and Samsung SDI have also faced scrutiny.<\/p>\n The police action was announced a day after newly installed Environment Minister Laszlo Gajdos said BYD was in \u201cserious breach\u201d of its environmental permit and called on the company to \u201cimmediately stop\u201d polluting activities. The new Hungarian government has vowed to make the enforcement of green regulations a priority for the EV industry.<\/p>\n Elections have consequences.<\/p>\n Google And Volvo Might Help You Park Your Car Google had its big series of announcements this week, and most of it had to do with more AI. If you love AI and would like for more websites to die<\/a>, this is great news for you (if you enjoy TMD, please become a member<\/a>).<\/p>\n
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<\/a>Photo credit: Land Rover<\/p>\n
\n<\/a>Source: Tesla<\/p>\n
\n<\/a>Source BYD<\/p>\n
\n<\/a>Image: Volvo<\/p>\n