All posts by Francis Mitterrand

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Toyota will recycle vehicle parts

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Toyota Motor Europe has announced that it will start a circular economy that involves recycling used parts at its Burnaston factory. The project is called the Toyota Circular Factory, and will start in Q3 2025.

The Circular Factory will operate in a way that, after inspection, some components will be returned to the market through retailers or parts distributors, while batteries and rims will be evaluated for reuse or recycling. Other components such as copper, aluminum, steel and plastic will be recycled to produce new parts. This will reduce the cost of purchasing raw materials.

Toyota expects it to become a center of excellence for future recycling operations across Europe and globally. The plan is to recycle 10,000 vehicles per year and remanufacture 120,000 parts. It is also expected to collect 300 tons of plastic and 8,200 tons of steel.

According to Toyota Vice President Leon van der Merwe, the company plans to expand this project throughout Europe and is ready to cooperate with other companies that share the same principles of environmental responsibility.

Source: Toyota

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Tesla activated Sentry Mode on all cars in showrooms

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In the last month, Tesla has been facing a large number of attacks on its cars and showrooms, and Elon Musk has decided to confront vandals. According to the latest information, Tesla will activate Sentry Mode on all its cars in its showrooms.

Sentry Mode uses external cameras on cars and continuously records everything that happens around the vehicle. It is particularly effective in preventing attacks and determining the responsibility of the perpetrator. Anyone who approaches Tesla showrooms with the intention of damaging cars could be recorded in the act without even realizing it.

The announcement that this system will be activated gives vandals the advantage of covering their faces to make it more difficult to establish their identity. Also, this system uses battery power, and some studies have shown that Sentry Mode uses 10 to 15 percent of the battery per day, which could be an additional problem. Tesla recently offered an upgrade that reduces battery consumption by 40 percent, which could help when using Sentry Mode.

Some stakeholders believe that it is necessary to increase the number of security guards, who would protect all showrooms and service centers in the US and Canada 24 hours a day, at least until the situation calms down. It remains to be seen whether the company will decide on both options.

Source: Reuters

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US firefighters extinguish fires on EVs with a special blanket

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Getting a fire under control and extinguishing it is anything but a simple and easy job, especially when it comes to electric cars on fire. Firefighters in Washington have found an effective solution – a specially designed blanket.

When combustion cars are on fire, firefighters usually use large amounts of water, but when it comes to EVs, the process is a little different. In the case of fires in electric vehicles, a lot of heat is generated, and unlike cars with combustion engines, these fires can burn without oxygen. There have been many cases in which the fires have been reactivated several weeks after the original. To reduce the risk, local firefighters transport the vehicle to a storage facility, where it does not pose a threat.

Earlier this week, firefighters in Granite Falls, Washington, were called to extinguish a fire in an electric vehicle. The car caught fire on the road, and when firefighters arrived on the scene, they put a blanket on the car while dousing the battery with water.

Statistics show that in the United States, for every 100,000 electric vehicles sold, 25 of them catch fire. This is negligible when we consider that for the same number of combustion cars sold, 1,530 of them catch fire.

Source: Reuters