Charged: Tesla developing support for Apple’s CarPlay

Institutional investors and professional traders rely on The Fly to keep up-to-the-second on breaking news in the electric vehicle and clean energy space, as well as which stocks in these sectors that the best analysts on Wall Street are saying to buy and sell.

From the hotly-debated high-flier Tesla (TSLA), Wall Street’s newest darling Rivian (RIVN), traditional-stalwarts turned EV-upstarts GM (GM) and Ford (F) to the numerous SPAC-deal makers that have come public in this red-hot space, The Fly has you covered with “Charged,” a weekly recap of the top stories and expert calls in the sector.

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CARPLAY SUPPORT: Tesla is developing support in its cars for Apple’s (AAPL) CarPlay system, Mark Gurman and Ed Ludlow of Bloomberg reported on November 13, citing people with knowledge of the matter. Tesla has started testing the capability internally, sources told Bloomberg. “Adding CarPlay would mark a stunning reversal for Tesla and Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk, who long ignored pleas to implement the popular feature,” write the journalists.

MADE IN CHINA: Tesla now requires its suppliers to exclude all components made in China when manufacturing its cars in the U.S., Raffael Huang and Yoko Kubota of The Wall Street Journal report, citing people familiar with the situation. Earlier this year, the company decided to stop using China-based suppliers and is now aiming to switch all components to those made outside of China within the next two years, some sources added.

LAWSUIT: California Superior Court Judge Peter Borkon determined that 6,000 Black staff at Tesla’s flagship assembly plant cannot sue the car maker over alleged racial harassment as a class, overturning an earlier ruling, Reuters’ Daniel Wiessner reports. The judge ruled that the 2017 lawsuit could not proceed as a class action because the plaintiffs’ lawyers were unable to find 200 class members willing to testify, the author notes.

JV TECHNOLOGY: Volkswagen (VWAGY) stated that the technology it is developing with U.S. electric-vehicle maker Rivian could eventually be applied to its internal combustion engine vehicles, Reuters’ Abhirup Roy and Rachel More report. The company faces challenges in unifying software and electronics across its brands due to delays at its in-house software unit, Cariad.

RARE-EARTH MATERIALS: China plans to restrict the flow of rare earths and other materials to the U.S. by creating a system that will exclude companies with ties to the U.S. military while fast-tracking export approvals to other companies, Jon Emont and Raffaele Huang of The Wall Street Journal report. citing people familiar with the matter. The “validated end-user” system would allow China to follow through on Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s pledge to President Trump to facilitate the export of rare-earth materials while preventing them from ending up with U.S. military suppliers, the sources added. The Fly notes that companies involved in the development and mining of rare earth minerals include Nova Minerals (NVA), Ioneer (IONR), Lynas Rare Earths (LYSCF), MP Materials (MP), Energy Fuels (UUUU), NioCorp (NB) and VanEck Vectors Rare Earth/Strategic Metals ETF (REMX).