CSC Leasing’s Post

A variety of supply chain stories to pass along with no particular connections: * In the Axios story linked below, trucking AV firm Aurora reports that it raised another $483 million by selling another bunch of shares in the publicly traded company (Nasdaq: AUR). According to CEO Chris Urmson, this adds to their overall liquidity and will help fund the initial phase of driverless truck routes in Texas later this year. * Another supply chain tech company raised another $200 million in a Series C venture capital investment, bringing the value of Altana to "unicorn" status of $1 billion valuation (https://lnkd.in/grV9hCT6). Eric Johnson notes in his JOC Tech newsletter (subscribe already) this morning that Altana's success counters reports by McKinsey & Company that venture capital investments in supply chain start-ups were declining as of 2024 (https://lnkd.in/g-qmdrNu). Johnson wrote, "It’s too soon to tell whether this is a sign of purse strings loosening on the whole, or whether Altana is the outlier in a still-cautious market." *Finally, news this morning of the acquisition of Drivewyze by Bestpass-Fleetworthy, offering a broader suite of trucking operations solutions (tolling, weigh station bypassing, compliance and safety) as reported by Transport Topics (https://lnkd.in/g79dBUWA). Both companies will continue to operate as distinct brands and this builds on a partnership between the companies since 2023. Stay safe, dry and cool out there, LinkedIn peeps! #freight #trucking #technology #autonomousvehicles #CAV

These Southern California startups are part of a growing epicenter of EV truck production The state of #California has committed to zero-emission truck sales by 2035, with different sizes and options to begin transitioning next year. All trucks that travel California roads must be fully transitioned to clean #technology by 2045. While California’s EV registrations represent 39% of all EVs in the United States, the effort to electrify commercial trucks hasn’t garnered the same headline-grabbing attention. Nonetheless, the state is an early leader. Hundreds of such next-generation vehicles are part of a small but growing #electrictruck ecosystem taking shape in California ahead of broader zero-emission mandates. Class-8 EV drayage truck can travel about 350 miles when it’s fully charged, #hydrogen fueled and loaded with 80,000 pounds of goods. 4 Gen Logistics is one of myriad EV truck startups in Southern California that are taking advantage of billions of dollars in investor capital and government subsidies aimed at electrifying the nation’s massive truck fleet.

Nevoya is billing itself as the “first zero-emissions technology and trucking platform” in the U.S., and has raised $3 million in a seed round led by Third Sphere and RedBlue Capital, with Necessary Ventures, Ciri Ventures, and Never Lift coming aboard as well. The startup is exclusively buying electric trucks — all Freightliner eCascadias, so far — to offer to shippers who want to move goods cleanly. It’s also using artificial intelligence software to optimize the usage, routing, and charging of its trucks, which Nevoya says allows it to keep its prices lower than diesel. https://lnkd.in/eg4vsBgk

Trucking data startup FleetOps (CDL'18) has rebranded to Class8 and secured a $30.8M Series A round. Class8 is a freight marketplace that matches truck drivers with shipment opportunities using vehicle data and AI while providing transport companies with tracking, vehicle inspection reporting, fuel profitability calculations, and automated scheduling. #BuildSomethingMassive

Volvo Group Venture Capital AB invested in aifleet, a trucking company leveraging its unique AI-technology to reshape the future of trucking focusing on truck utilization and driver satisfaction. Founded in 2020, aifleet operates in the U.S. full-truckload (FTL) segment of the trucking industry, where a truck's full capacity is bought to ship larger freight between set destinations. The segment is currently fragmented and challenged by low driver utilization, and facing inefficiencies like empty miles in the supply chain. Powered by its proprietary AI-technology, aifleet is building a trucking fleet focused on increased driver satisfaction that boost truck utilization with better planning tools and smarter algorithms. By optimizing route planning and scheduling, and building end-to-end automation, aifleet's own operation generate over 40% higher driver utilization than industry average. https://lnkd.in/eyXbvszp

Kodiak, backed by Harpoon Ventures, has just made history by completing the first-ever driverless freight delivery across North America. That’s right, a self-driving truck actually hauled cargo from point A to point B! This is a huge deal. It proves that Kodiak’s self-driving tech is not only super smart but also reliable enough to handle the real world. And it means the company is shifting gears from testing to full-on operations. Get ready for even bigger news: Kodiak is teaming up with Atlas Energy Solutions to launch two self-driving trucks for commercial use next year. Talk about leading the pack! They’re turning science fiction into reality and showing the world what the future of trucking looks like: efficient, safe, and driverless.

"On the road to electrifying vehicles, cars and small trucks are getting there. Big rigs, however, pose bigger hurdles." "Now one startup, California-based Range Energy, is focused not on the tractor but on the trailer. They are introducing electrified trailers that power and propel themselves so the tractor has less to pull." #electrification #EV #transportation

Tuesday Thoughts 🤔...🧠Know💡 Your Market or Face the Consequences... ( 👀 It's a VINFAST in the Triangle! 🚗⚡) I've posted more than once about VINFAST- test driving in Irvine, why to stay away from it's IPO, and thoughts about Roy Y. Salisbury's posts about the multitude of issues the company faces. The Raleigh-Durham Triangle in NC was super excited about the massive factory that was planned to be built, ribbon cutting and all. The EV market was THE next big thing?!? 📈 Everyone was jumping on the bandwagon, from eager startups to established auto giants. 🏭 Investors were throwing money at anything with a battery and four wheels. 💰 Fast forward to today, and reality is setting in. 😬 Major manufacturers are scaling back their EV ambitions, and those once-promising startups are struggling to stay afloat. 😲 That includes Rivian, Lucid Motors, Fisker, and how can forget Nikola. What happened? 🤔 Did we get caught up in the hype, forcing a product down consumers' throats before they were truly ready? 🤨 Did we assume what the market wanted instead of listening to their actual needs? 🙉 Now they all have an assortment of issues, including fraud, stock manipulation, and more (I wished there was a place to bet on over/under dates as I would have cleaned up. I am now leaning on never as far as the VINFAST factory in Moncure NC goes...). One thing that they all failed to realize, is that you can't force feed a market product that they are not ready for, or do not want. The US has no ready infrastructure for mass EV usage. Our grid is fragile, as we see everywhere. One transformer blows and miles upon miles of homes and businesses blackout. California has rolling blackouts, insane energy prices, and a Governor who mandates total EV usage, yet tells you to NOT charge your car because the grid can't handle it. The lessons are clear: Understanding your market is CRUCIAL. 🎯 Don't build what you THINK they want; build what they ACTUALLY want. 💡 And, Can the existing world and infrastructure SUPPORT the product? Common Sense. I know with all the car related posts that I do, including the #DrivingwithBrian videos, some think I am a total EV hating, gas guzzling, hater of all things electric ⚡. Not at all. In fact I enjoy the positives of the Tesla daily driver I have. Super fast, just plug it in at night. I am also realistic, and not a fanboy. I am well aware of what SUCKS about them, and have also talked about this for years. Overall quality sucks. Lack of range and accuracy of range. Lack of support infrastructure. The HYPOCRISY about it truly being better for our planet. One more thing- the fear every night that the car charging will blow the electrical panel, and start a electrical fire🔥 that firefighters can't extinguish 👨🚒 🚒 . (Ok, just joking. Kind of. 🤣 ) Open your eyes! 👀

Truckers Tire Of Waiting For Tesla Create Own Electric Semi. "People have been asking how do a couple of truck drivers out of a tent shop in a parents backyard build an electric truck when billion-dollar companies struggle so this is the full history of Edison Motors." An interesting story of entrepreneurship. Edison Motors Ltd Chace Barber Eric Little #ElectricSemis #electrictrucks #hybridelectricvehicles #EVs #trucks #innovation #entrepreneuship #business #futurist #trendforecasting

Early this morning I took a 20-minute drive on I-5. I passed over 40 trucks. Of these exactly 100% of them were burning diesel fuel and 0% were electric. Almost all of these were short-haul trucks moving containers to and from the Seattle port—onward to local distribution centers. I find this deeply frustrating. We have all of the “hard” tech problems solved here—dense batteries, multiple truck manufacturers selling fully electrified trucks, high speed chargers. So why is everyone still burning diesel? Why are we spewing not just CO2, but also major localized pollution around the ports and nearby communities? It turns out that despite the hard physics problems being solved, the soft problems of coordinating, financing, and routing EV trucks remains. The traditional owner-operator model of short-haul trucking won’t be able to quickly transition to EV truck ownership. We need to optimize routes with charging, train drivers on new vehicles, and finance trucks in new ways. Enter Nevoya, a recent Stepchange investment. Anay and I met Sami Khan, John Verdon, and Thomas Atwood over the summer and were blown away by their grasp of the industry and how to unlock massive scale of EV trucking now and not in 10 years. This can't happen fast enough.