Silicon Valley answer to the EV question calls for less silicon
BloombergAs automakers scramble to make electric vehicles with longer ranges and speedier charging times, the chip industry has a message for them: You’re doing it wrong.Semiconductor companies are urging EV makers to ditch traditional silicon chips and embrace materials that will make cars more efficient, helping ease consumers’ “range anxiety” and someday making recharges as quick as a gas-station fill-up. But there isn’t an...
‘The doors are getting opened up’
BloombergWhen the first snub-nosed, electric van rolled off the assembly line earlier this month at the Electric Last Mile Solutions Inc. plant in Mishawaka, Ind., it was a proud moment for the company’s co-founder and chief executive officer, Jim Taylor. The van, one in a run of 1,000 scheduled for this year, is among the first of its kind in the U.S. market: a fully electric, light-duty vehicle meant for delivery workers,...
Restoration as an avocation
Valley News Correspondent ENFIELD — Bob LaCroix grew up in West Canaan and after graduating high school in 1967 he enrolled in the National Institute of Dry Cleaning, anticipating he would build a career in the business. But while his head may have been in dry cleaning — where he worked for a few years — his heart and mechanical mind were under the hood of automobiles.In the early 1970s LaCroix began working at a tire business and...
Repairing with the times
Valley News Correspondent HARTFORD — As it has become with most industries, computers have become a major, if not necessary, investment for collision repair businesses today.Long gone are the days of simply hammering out a dent, repainting a door or installing a new bumper or fender. Collision repair has had to keep up with advancements in automobile manufacturing, where cars are loaded with safety sensors and modules and give drivers...
‘I love the car business’
Valley News CorrespondentWHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Business has been strong at the Upper Valley Auto Mart where Brad Gilman, 61, sells used cars.But cars themselves are hard to find during the COVID-19 pandemic and prices are rising.“The challenge has been (just) finding inventory to sell to people,” Gilman said.Customers know they have to act fast. Waiting a week may mean losing the car, so Gilman has seen his customers go from inquiry...
More than just towing vehicles and repairs
Valley News CorrespondentTUNBRIDGE — Kyle Blakeman, owner of Blakeman’s Towing & Repair, started his business a year after he graduated high school in 2008.While working in construction, Blakeman worked with scrap metals, recycling old appliances or pieces of metal. Additionally, in his spare time, he aided area residents with his tow truck. After a while, he decided to start towing full-time and open a business.From flat tires to...
Automotive industry careers hit fast lane
Executive Director of the Upper Valley Business AllianceMy first car was an ‘81 Chevy Citation. I paid $700 for it in 1988. It was supposed to have power steering, but it took most of my strength to make a sharp left turn. The muffler was so loud that when I drove the car to Nashua from my college in Massachusetts to visit my boyfriend, his family joked that they could hear me cross the state line. It had a neat feature where I could...
‘We’re a mom-and-pop place’
Valley News Correspondent LEBANON — Steve Roberts started off in the auto industry as a kid, pumping gas on Saturdays at his parents’ garage.Although taking over the operation wasn’t always his plan, the concept evolved over time and came to fruition nearly 20 years ago.“I used to play golf with my dad every Saturday,” Roberts said during a recent interview. “We’d just talk business; I was never going to be in the family business. …...
