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Ford to follow Tesla Cybertruck with electrical tech in new EV pickup

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Ford to follow Tesla Cybertruck with electrical tech in new EV pickup


Early renderings released by Ford Motor of its next-generation, electric pickup truck, based on its upcoming universal electric vehicle platform.

Courtesy Ford

DETROIT — Ford Motor‘s $5 billion “bet” on its next generation of all-electric vehicles will feature a budding technology that Tesla commercialized in the U.S. on its Cybertruck, the Detroit automaker said Tuesday.

The system, known as a 48-volt electrical architecture, had been discussed in the automotive industry for decades but Tesla was the first to bring it to consumers in 2023.

The auto industry has historically used a 12-volt system with a lead-acid battery for all vehicles to power the car’s accessories — but that’s been problematic and caused recalls for many EVs. The new architecture instead uses the EV’s high-voltage battery to power everything.

The 48-volt system improves efficiency, allows for additional electrical bandwidth and saves weight through the reduction of wiring, officials have said. The power also can be “stepped down” to 12 volts, when needed, through the use of new electronic control units, or ECUs, that handle different groups of an EV’s architecture.

The new electrical system is one of many innovations that Ford believes will allow its next-generation EVs — starting with a $30,000 small electric pickup truck in 2027 — to compete against Tesla as well as rapidly expanding Chinese brands in global markets.

“At Ford, we took on the challenge many others have stopped doing. We’re taking the fight to our competition, including the Chinese,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said during an August event at a plant in Kentucky that will produce the unnamed electric pickup. “For too long, legacy automakers played it safe.”

Farley has called it a “Model T moment” for the company, referring to the company’s flagship vehicle that came out more than a century ago and led to the mass adoption of vehicles during the early 1900s. He’s also called it a “bet” for Ford given the amount of changes it will make to the EVs as well as the company and its processes.

Ford expects the new EVs, which will be based on a common “Universal Electric Vehicle,” or UEV, to have comparable costs to gas-powered vehicles through new technologies and efficiencies. Currently, the massive batteries that power EVs have made them far more expensive to produce and have been infamously unprofitable.

The Detroit automaker has said the new EVs will reduce parts by 20% versus a typical vehicle, with 25% fewer fasteners, 40% fewer workstations dock-to-dock in the plant and 15% faster assembly time.

“It represents the most radical change on how we design and how we build vehicles at Ford since the Model T,” Farley said at the plant. “Now is time to change the game once again.”

Ford CEO Jim Farley speaks at the Louisville Assembly Plant as the company shares its plans to design and assemble breakthrough electric vehicles in the United States, Aug. 11, 2025.

Courtesy: Ford

Ford said those improvements, as well as price points that are more similar to gas-powered models, will lead to greater adoption of EVs. That’s despite a significant slowdown in U.S. EV sales amid changes to federal support by the Trump administration as well as less-than-expected consumer adoption.

U.S. EV sales peaked in September, ahead of the federal incentives ending, at 10.3% of the new vehicle market, according to Cox Automotive. That demand plummeted to preliminary estimates of 5.8% during the fourth quarter.

Those market conditions recently led Ford to announce $19.5 billion in write-downs, largely related to a pullback in EV plans, but the company said it will continue to invest $5 billion for its new UEV platform through 2027.

“Our focus has been on giving them everything they would get in a nice vehicle and more, and we think that that will allow us to ultimately not just make an affordable vehicle, but make one that’s extremely desirable,” Alan Clarke, Ford’s executive director of advanced EV development, said during a media briefing.

48-volt system

The 48-volt system provides significant benefits to other parts of the vehicle aside from just the battery and is expected to continue to do so as the bandwidth of 12-volt batteries gets maxed out, according Clarke, a former Tesla executive.

“It’s less expensive, has smaller wires and is the future of automotive,” he said. “So, if you want to future-protect this platform to exist for more than a decade … it’s very clear that 48 made the most sense.”

Alan Clarke, Ford’s executive director of advanced EV development, during a video presentation on Ford’s Universal Electric Vehicle platform.

Courtesy Ford

Ford said the wiring harness in the new midsize truck will be more than 4,000 feet shorter and 22 pounds lighter than the wiring harness used in Ford’s first-generation electric SUV.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk sent competitors such as Ford and General Motors a “how-to” guide on developing a 48-volt system in 2023.

Clarke said Ford had already decided on a 48-volt platform before getting the letter but that it “certainly added fuel to the fire” and was a “helpful starting point to see how they thought about” it. It also helped suppliers get ready to assist with 48-volt systems, he added.

Gigacastings

In addition to the 48-volt system, the company on Tuesday released additional details on how it’s achieving its targets with the new EV through aerodynamics, team “bounties” to increase vehicle efficiency and turning to Tesla-pioneered “gigacastings.”

Gigacasting is a manufacturing process that can replace dozens of traditionally small, stamped parts with larger pieces. The process requires massive machines to pressurize large sheets of metal into parts such as a vehicle’s facia or underlying structure.

A Ford F-150 Lightning next to a Tesla Cybertruck.

Michael Wayland / CNBC

Ford said the new pickup will only have two structural front and rear parts compared with 146 such components on its current gas-powered Maverick small pickup.

Ford also said its aluminum castings for the upcoming EV are more than 27% lighter than those features on a Tesla Model Y.

“We’re still on a really steep decline of EV costs, and you can only get that by innovating, and you can only get that by system level, optimizing into what eventually becomes a product that a customer wants,” Clarke said.



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Yotta Bets Big On Nvidia’s Latest Chips To Build Asia’s Largest AI Supercluster

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Yotta Bets Big On Nvidia’s Latest Chips To Build Asia’s Largest AI Supercluster


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Yotta Data Services to spend $2 billion to deploy Nvidia’s latest Blackwell chips in India, building one of Asia’s largest AI superclusters

Yotta Infrastructure's Greater Noida data centre park (Photo Credit: Yotta's website)

Yotta Infrastructure’s Greater Noida data centre park (Photo Credit: Yotta’s website)

India’s data centre sector is entering a new era of scale. Yotta Data Services said Wednesday, February 18, that it will deploy Nvidia’s most-advanced artificial intelligence chips in a $2-billion project that will establish one of the largest AI computing hubs in Asia, positioning the country as a serious contender in the global race for AI infrastructure.

The investment centres on the first-ever deployment of Nvidia’s Blackwell B300 graphics processing units in India, to be housed at Yotta’s hyperscale campus in Noida, just outside New Delhi. The supercluster is expected to go live by August.

Anchoring the project is a four-year agreement with Nvidia valued at roughly $1 billion, under which the chipmaker will establish one of Asia-Pacific’s largest DGX Cloud clusters within Yotta’s infrastructure. Sunil Gupta, managing director and chief executive of Yotta, told The Economic Times that Nvidia will deploy approximately 10,300 GPUs through the arrangement to serve its global Asia-Pacific customers and run its own models and services. “Nvidia is creating one of Asia’s largest DGX Cloud clusters on our supercluster,” Gupta said.

The deal underscores a broader shift in how hyperscalers and chipmakers are approaching India. Global cloud providers, including Microsoft and Amazon, have been expanding AI data centre capacity in the country, drawn by surging demand for generative AI services and government pressure to localise advanced computing infrastructure, according to Reuters. Nvidia’s direct commitment within Yotta’s facility goes a step further, signalling confidence in India as a viable hub for serving enterprise AI workloads across the region.

A significant share of remaining capacity will be dedicated to India’s national AI Mission, which has received more than 500 applications from start-ups seeking affordable compute access. Gupta told The Economic Times that the expansion will increase the country’s compute capacity “by almost five to six times”, addressing what he described as enormous pressure on existing resources. The infrastructure will support state-backed Indian language model initiatives, including Bhashini, Sarvam, BharatGen and Soket, all aimed at building foundational AI models trained on Indian-language datasets.

Yotta currently holds around 10,000 advanced Nvidia GPUs, accounting for nearly 75% of India’s GPU compute capacity. With the new deployment, its total GPU count will rise from roughly 40,000 to more than 75,000 over the next two years.

The capital push is being funded through a combination of debt and equity. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Gupta said the company is targeting a fundraise of close to $1 billion to support its current phase of GPU deployment. Yotta has already invested over $1.5 billion in infrastructure and expects to commit an additional $2 billion toward advanced chips. A pre-IPO equity round is underway, with the company aiming to enter public markets within the current financial year.

Yotta is part of Indian billionaire Niranjan Hiranandani’s real estate conglomerate and operates data centre campuses in Mumbai, Gujarat and near New Delhi. Additional capacity from its Mumbai facility will supplement the Noida supercluster.

The timing of the investment is notable. US export controls have reshaped global supply chains for advanced AI semiconductors, pushing technology firms to deepen partnerships in markets that remain accessible. India, which has cultivated strong ties with Washington and positioned itself as a neutral beneficiary of great-power competition in technology, has emerged as one of the cleaner plays for companies looking to expand AI compute outside China.

Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Gupta said that India’s AI ambitions are grounded in practical outcomes, with the goal of delivering impact across agriculture, healthcare, education and climate. He drew a comparison to the Unified Payments Interface, suggesting AI-led transformation could similarly reshape how services are delivered at scale across the country.

For Nvidia, the DGX Cloud anchor at Yotta is the latest in a string of sovereign and commercial AI infrastructure deals across Asia, as the company works to deepen its footprint ahead of any potential tightening of chip export restrictions.

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Stock market today: Nifty50 opens near 25,700; BSE Sensex flat in trade – The Times of India

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Stock market today: Nifty50 opens near 25,700; BSE Sensex flat in trade – The Times of India


Stock market today (AI image)

Stock market today: Indian equity benchmarks opened flat in trade on Wednesday. While the 50-share index Nifty was near 25,700, the 30-share BSE Sensex was down marginally. At 9:16 AM, Nifty50 was trading at 25,716.35, down 9 points or 0.035%. BSE Sensex was at 83,438.94, down 12 points or 0.014%.Experts believe that the stock market is likely to remain steady with a positive undertone in the near term, supported by global trends.Dr. VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Limited says, “The better-than-expected Q3 results and indications of continuing momentum in earnings growth, going forward, are positive factors that will keep the market resilient. The volatility in IT stocks may continue, in response to incoming news relating to the sector. Overall, IT stocks may remain weak since uncertainty surrounding the sector is huge and large institutional investors are unlikely to invest big time in IT stocks, unless valuations become compelling. There can be churns away from IT towards other sectors like banking and financials, automobiles, telecom, pharmaceuticals etc where there is good earnings visibility.”“This is the time to gradually increase exposure to equity. But many retail investors are increasing investments in gold and silver ETFs, which is a risky game in the present context. Early signs of a shift in the investment strategy of FIIs are visible now. In the cash market, FIIs have been buyers in eight out of the last thirteen trading days. This trend and improving prospects for corporate earnings bode well for the market.US equities ended marginally higher after a weak start to the session, helped by a rebound in technology stocks and support from financial shares. The recovery followed earlier volatility as investors assessed the outlook for artificial intelligence after recent turbulence that had pulled major indices away from record levels.Asian markets also posted modest gains in thin holiday trading. Investor sentiment remained cautious as markets continued to digest recent swings in global equities linked to concerns around AI-driven disruptions.(Disclaimer: Recommendations and views on the stock market, other asset classes or personal finance management tips given by experts are their own. These opinions do not represent the views of The Times of India)



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DISCOs seek additional Rs10.8b | The Express Tribune

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DISCOs seek additional Rs10.8b | The Express Tribune


Iesco stood on top in the wake of its plausible performance to curb losses, improve recoveries and act in line with the time frame for new connections. PHOTO: FILE


ISLAMABAD:

The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) on Tuesday held a public hearing on the second quarterly adjustment for the current fiscal year, where power distribution companies (DISCOs) sought additional charges of Rs10.76 billion that could translate into a nationwide tariff hike of 43 paisa per unit, including K-Electric. Electricity companies pressed for recovery of costs mainly linked to the capacity payments made between October and December 2025.

Officials told the regulator that Rs24.25 billion was being sought under capacity payments for the Oct-Dec quarter. However, Nepra was also informed of a reduction of about Rs13.5 billion in other components, including operations and maintenance, use-of-system charges and the so-called incremental consumption package.

Nepra officials said the net impact of the adjustment could result in a tariff increase of 43 paisa per unit, but stressed that the authority would review the figures before making a final decision. Any determination will be applicable to consumers across the country.

The hearing drew strong criticism from consumer representatives, who accused the government of shifting the burden of flawed policies on to the general public. Several participants said the incremental consumption package was benefiting selective industries while harming others, arguing that the data shared under the scheme was misleading.

“Without real growth in industrial demand, how can consumers benefit from such incentives?” a hearing participant asked, urging Nepra to reassess the figures submitted by the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA).

CPPA officials said around Rs431 billion in capacity payments would be required for the quarter, compared with Rs459 billion needed by distribution companies in the previous year. Of the total capacity payments to the independent power producers (IPPs), there was a shortfall of Rs24 billion due to low electricity consumption, which would be recovered from the consumers. They also told the regulator that furnace oil-based power plants would not be operated in the future as the government shifted away from costly generation sources.



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