EV News Daily: ChatGPT in GM Vehicles, Hertz Electrifies Houston, Vinfast Delays Manufacturing Plans, Ford’s Electric School Bus

General Motors is Exploring the Use of  ChatGPT in its Vehicles

• GM Vice President, Scott Miller in an interview last week said, “ChatGPT is going to be in everything.”
• GM is looking forward to broadening its collaboration with Microsoft which is a multi-billion dollar investor in ChatGPT.
• Scott Miller further said, “The chatbot could be used to access information on how to use vehicle features normally found in an owner’s manual, integrate schedules from a calendar, and much more.
• Another spokesperson of GM said, “This shift is not just about one single capability like the integration of voice commands, but instead means that customers can expect their future vehicles to be far more smart and fresh overall when it comes to emerging technologies.”

Source: Reuters

Hertz Launches “Hertz Electrifies” in Houston

• Hertz Rentals CEO, Stephen Scherr and Sylvester Turner, Mayor of the city of Houston launched the “Hertz Electrifies Houston” initiative.
• The initiative is aimed to expand the availability of EVs, charging infrastructure, and EV awareness and training opportunities in Houston. 
• Hertz promises to bring over 2,100 rental EVs to Houston, nearly tripling its existing EV fleet in the city which will include models from Tesla, Polestar, and GM.
• In collaboration with BP Pulse, Hertz will support the installation of a large EV fast-charging hub at the Hertz location at Houston Hobby airport.
• Hertz through its “Hertz Charging Opportunity Index” will be sharing the anonymous, aggregated telematic insights from its fleet with the city of Houston to help inform the buildout of charging infrastructure.
• The rental giant will also be donating an electric vehicle and providing EV educational and training materials to Lone Star College-North Harris to encourage the school to incorporate EV technology into its auto servicing curriculum.
• Summer jobs will be offered by Hertz to young people in Houston, including through the Hire Houston Youth Summer Jobs program.
• Houston is the second city after Denver to partner with Hertz in its new initiative that will soon expand to other cities across the US to create economic opportunity and environmental benefits for local communities.
• BP Pulse is also developing a charging hub at BP’s corporate HQ campus in Houston.

Source: Hertz

VinFast Delays EV Manufacturing Plans in the US to 2025

• Vietnam’s EV automaker Vinfast has pushed back its plan to start manufacturing electric vehicles in the US until 2025.
• In its statement on the delay, Vinfast said, “We need more time to complete administrative procedures.” However, it did not specify when in 2025 the plant is expected to start operations.
• Vinfast had the ambitious plan to build a $4 billion EV manufacturing unit in North Carolina’s Chatham County on 712 hectares of land with commissioning targeted for July 2024.
• The plant is expected to create more than 7,000 jobs and will have an annual production rate of 150,000 vehicles a year.
• Last month, VinFast was also awarded an Air Permit from local authorities to start construction of the plant but it still needs a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Source: Reuters

Ford Showcases An All-Electric School Bus at Work Truck Week

• Ford showcased an all-electric Type A school bus at the 2023 Work Truck Week in Indianapolis, Indiana.
• The zero-emissions kid hauler from Ford is based on its best-seller E-Transit Electric Van.
• The Photo of the electric school bus was shared by Wanda Young, the Global Chief Marketing & Experience Officer at Ford Pro, Commercial Division.

Source: Wanda Young (Twitter)