Ford’s Plans to Be More Efficient, Tesla’s Buffalo Union Fight, Superchargers For All

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Welcome to a beautiful Thursday as we talk about Ford’s plan to close a major EV financial deficit between competitors. We also talk about a unionizing fight brewing at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Buffalo as well as the impact of new legislation on that very same factory. 

• After Ford reported drab earnings last week, they’ve keyed in on closing an $8B cost deficit between them and their EV creating competitors, according to company executives
  • On the earnings call the company blamed chip shortages, supply chain disruptions, and ‘instabilities’ 
  • CFO, John Lawler said the company can save 2.5B through better management of production schedules and and anticipated drops in commodity prices
  • Facing an additional $5B in cost differentials, CEO Jim Farley says plans to close the gap by mid-decade include
    • Reducing Dealer inventories, driving more transactions online, increasing aerodynamics (thanks F1), increasing battery efficiency, and moving to large underbody castings, an approach pioneered by Tesla
    • "We have a bracket group," Farley said. "We have hundreds of engineers who make brackets. If you want to make 8% margins in EVs ... There's no bracket group."
      
      
• Tesla has fired dozens of workers at its Gigafactory in Buffalo, NY after an apparent unionization push at the factory that was originally a old steel mill.
  • According to the company’s website, the 1.2M sq/ft factory “... manufactures infinitely scalable clean energy generation and storage products – solar panels, Solar Roof, the Powerwall home battery, and the Powerpack battery system for commercial and utility-scale sites.”
  • In recent years the company has added almost a thousand workers who perform data annotation for Tesla’s Autopilot and self-driving efforts, 
  • Many of whom announced their intent to unionize stating they want better pay, job security, and less tracking at work
  • They are supported by Workers United, whom are known for unionizing workers at hundreds of Starbucks stores
  • In a filing with the US National Labor Relations Board, the union Workers United accused Tesla of illegally terminating the employees “in retaliation for union activity and to discourage union activity.” The union asked the labor board to seek a federal court injunction “to prevent irreparable destruction of employee rights resulting from Tesla’s unlawful conduct.”
    
    
• Yesterday, the White House announced measures to incentivize US made EV charging infrastructure spurring Tesla to double its amount of superchargers, made in … Buffalo, NY to around 7,500 
  • At least half will be along highway corridors
  • They will be providing a way for non-Tesla’s to charge providing a CCS “Combined Charging System” way to connect and charge
  • Congress has approved $5 billion for highway chargers, plus another $2.5 bill

Join Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier every morning for the Automotive State of the Union podcast as they connect the dots across car dealerships, retail trends, emerging tech like AI, and cultural shifts—bringing clarity, speed, and people-first insight to automotive leaders navigating a rapidly changing industry.

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