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Electric vehicle battery startup Our Next Energy will supply its new energy storage products to a $500 million Berkshire Hathaway Energy solar-powered manufacturing hub in West Virginia.

It will also open a factory to build the systems at the industrial complex.

BHE Renewables selected the Novi, Mich., battery company to help supply power to the 2,000-acre solar-powered industrial site in Ravenswood, W.Va., the company said. The complex broke ground on Saturday.

BHE will utilize ONE's new Aries Grid energy storage units, which will store solar-generated electricity during the day for use on the site at night. The units will help power the site's first factory, a Precision Castparts Corp. plant that will assemble titanium products for the aerospace industry.

The Aries Grid makes use of the same lithium iron phosphate battery technology that the company employs for electric commercial vehicles. One Aries Grid unit contains 78 Aries I EV battery pack…

The way Harold White sees it, customer surveys conducted by automakers and independent companies often provide an opaque picture of how well a store is satisfying its customers.

So, White, general manager of Robin Ford in Glenolden, Pa., since 2013, decided to use the equivalent of a magnifying glass on the customer survey process. He added two specialists to his store's call center. Their only job: Call Robin's new-vehicle, used-vehicle, service and commercial customers to seek immediate feedback. The calls usually take place a day or two after the customer visit.

Each morning when White turns on his work computer, the first file he looks at is the one containing reports that detail what customers are saying about how they were treated, if repairs were done properly and if they experienced anything that might cause them to look elsewhere for their next vehicle or service visit. White said he reads 150 to 200 reports per week.

The privately owned store…

One day, auto lenders might not need to call the repo man when their customers stop making payments.

Instead, the car could just drive itself to an impound lot, according to a patent application filed by Ford Motor Co. engineers.

The patent application lists a number of methods that could be used to shake down customers, starting with reminders and warnings sent to the vehicle display or a smartphone. Further nonpayment could lead to some features being disabled, including cruise control, window and seat controls, the infotainment system and climate control. The vehicle eventually could lock out the customer or play an "incessant and unpleasant sound" whenever the owner is inside it.

The application, first reported last week by The Drive, notes that there could be a way to unlock the vehicle in case of emergency. An onboard camera and "neural network" would be used to determine if the situation is urgent. The system could be used on any vehicle with a…

WASHINGTON — Toyota Motor Corp. is recalling about 144,000 Tundra full-size pickups in North America because the tonneau covers might detach from the vehicle while driving.

The recall affects certain 2022-23 Tundra pickups equipped with optional Toyota-genuine tonneau covers. Toyota said about 130,000 of the vehicles are in the U.S.

"A tonneau cover that detaches from a vehicle could increase the risk of a crash or injury," the automaker said in a statement Friday.

Toyota declined to comment on whether it was aware of any injuries, crashes or deaths related to the issue.

The automaker is advising owners of Tundra pickups with the truck bed accessory to remove it until a remedy is available and installed.

Owners of involved vehicles will be notified by late March and will be contacted again once a remedy is available, Toyota said.

In a separate recall report Friday, about 9,000 Tundra pickups, including hybrid versions, from the 2022-…

An "inventory efficiency index" created by software company Cloud Theory can tell manufacturers exactly how well their vehicles are selling in real time.

The index allows automakers to view supply and demand across all makes and models instantaneously to better see what is and isn't selling — and allocate their resources accordingly.

"Cloud Theory is collecting information via the indexing of dealer websites," Cloud Theory Vice President Rick Wainschel told Automotive News. "We have about … 99.7 percent of franchise dealers in America. We know what inventory is on their lots or on its way to their lots."

A score for manufacturers is created based on a relationship between a make or model's market share and "competitive supply situation." A score of at least 100 means a manufacturer is selling vehicles at above-average efficiency, while a score below 100 shows that supply is stronger than demand.

While manufacturers typically know their inventory p…

General Motors is considering the former Palace of Auburn Hills in suburban Detroit site for a large space for suppliers, according to Crain's Detroit Business, an affiliate of Automotive News.

GM would not confirm on Thursday evening it was looking at the centrally located 110-acre property that used to house the Detroit Pistons, but did say it was considering Auburn Hills, along with other "multiple locations for a supplier park to support its Orion Assembly Plant, which will be expanded to produce electric pickup trucks."

But a source requesting anonymity and briefed on the matter told Crain's that GM was looking at the Palace site.

Auburn Hills Mayor Kevin McDaniel said no plans have been submitted to the city to redevelop the site.

The Orion Assembly Plant is at 4555 Giddings Rd., and consists of 4.3 million square feet on 433 acres, currently producing Chevy Bolt EV and EUV, and Cruise AV. The official plant website says it is "positioning i…

Self-driving truck company Embark Technology is shutting down.

The company announced its closure Friday in an email from CEO Alex Rodrigues to Embark employees.

This is the second recent major failure of autonomous technology company. Argo AI Inc. folded in October after its main backers Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen decided to pull the plug on the autonomous vehicle technology startup.

Rodrigues cited an inability to raise capital and delays in "the prospect of scaled commercial deployment" of autonomous trucking for the closure.

"I am writing to you today with a heavy heart. The last nine months have been tough for the autonomous trucking industry, and for Embark — the capital markets have turned their backs on pre-revenue companies," Rodrigues said.

"In challenging times, it is the whole company's job to be flexible and optimistic in pursuing a sometimes-changing direction — and it is the job of the CEO to navigate the challenges and ma…

In a surprising development, Subaru has appointed Atsushi Osaki as its next CEO, and says Tom Doll will step down as CEO of Subaru of America. Volkswagen Group will build its Scout Motors assembly plant in South Carolina. Plus, a look at how vehicle affordability and interest rates might affect F&I sales in 2023.

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DETROIT -- Ford Motor Co. on Friday said it was studying ways to boost output of gasoline-powered and hybrid F-150 trucks at a Michigan factory as part of a broader plan to boost production of several models.

The No. 2 U.S. automaker also said it is increasing production by more than 80,000 vehicles for its Bronco Sport and Maverick this year, up from 225,000 in 2022.

The automaker reiterated that it is still on track to triple F-150 Lightning EV production this year, targeting an annual production run rate of 150,000 by the end of 2023. The automaker was forced to halt production in early February after a battery fire, and plans to resume production on March 13.

Ford's U.S. F-150 sales fell 9.9 percent in 2022 to about 654,000, including 15,617 F-150 EV trucks, as the company struggled with production and supply chain problems.

General Motors last month said it would idle the Fort Wayne, Ind., assembly plant that builds Chevrolet Silverado and …

Electric vehicle pioneer Tesla has trimmed some of its sticker prices to capture an even larger share of the U.S. EV market. But one of the segment's newest entrants — Swedish electric brand Polestar — has no intention of chasing the front-runner.

Polestar CEO Thomas Ingenlath told analysts Thursday on an earnings call that his focus is carving out a niche in the higher-margin, luxury end of the EV market.

While Tesla "is very much concentrating to go mass market in the future to compete with the likes of Volkswagen and Toyota, Polestar's ambition is to go fully into this premium, luxury sports car segment," Ingenlath said. "We are not aiming to produce 10 million cars per year."

Ingenlath's approach is pragmatic.

Polestar has neither the brand awareness nor the profit margin to launch into a market share war with segment heavyweights Tesla and Ford. The Volvo affiliate began delivering its first and only mass-market EV, the Polestar 2 fastback,…

Vietnamese automaker VinFast has delivered its first electric vehicles to U.S. customers, marking its official entry into the North America market.

VinFast, which cut prices on its VF 8 crossover last month, handed over the first 45 units of the midsize EV to customers at its nine California stores on Wednesday, the company said in a press release.

The vehicles were part of a shipment of 999 vehicles that arrived in California in late December. Deliveries were delayed until this month in order to install a software update, VinFast said.

"It's extremely gratifying in fulfilling our delivery promise and to witness the excitement our customers have for the VinFast brand," said Gareth Dunsmore, deputy CEO for global sales and marketing.

The first batch of VinFast crossovers are a limited version called the VF 8 City Edition, available only as part of a $399 per month lease. The lease promotion was cut from $599 per month in February.

VinFast sa…