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UAW calls on US State Department to help with Nissan plant

The United Auto Workers is calling for reinforcements in its ongoing battle with Nissan at the manufacturer's Canton, MS factory, where the Altima, Armada, Titan and NV (and eventually, the next Murano) are built. The union has been attempting to organize the employees at the factory for several years, but it's been largely unsuccessful.
Now, Reuters is reporting that the UAW is teaming with the IndustriALL Global Union and requesting intervention by the US State Department, with both groups accusing Nissan of using "threats, intimidation and fear" to keep the 5,600 workers at the facility from organizing. The two unions say this violates the guidelines of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an international organization dedicated to stimulating economic growth.
The UAW and IndustriALL are asking the State Department's National Contact Point to serve as mediator with Nissan, to make sure things play out fairly. Speaking to Reuters, though, there's at least one Michigan-based labor adviser that's skeptical of the move.

Recharge Wrap-up: Nissan, Tesla report CO2 savings, rare earth metal recycling simplified

A new process simplifies the recycling of rare earth metals. While the strong magnetic properties of metals like neodymium and dysprosium make them useful in electric vehicles traction motors, there are concerns about their availability and the environmental costs of mining them. Researchers at University of Pennsylvania have developed an easier method to recycle those metals that is less energy intensive and more cost effective. "We have designed a way to separate the two metals by selectively dissolving the neodymium in a solution and leaving behind the dysprosium as a solid," says Justin Bogart, a graduate student working on the project. "This quick and easy method has allowed us to separate equal mixtures of the metals into samples that are 95 percent pure." Now the team is working to improve that level of purity. Read more from University of Pennsylvania. Nissan Leaf drivers in Europe have saved over 55,000 tons of CO2 emissions. Worldwide, the 178,074 Leafs sold account for the prevention of over 293,000 tons of CO2 emissions so far. That equates that to the neutralizing effect of 19 million trees. Besides the positive effects on environmental and noise pollution that switching to electric mobility provides, Nissan also points out that it's good business, too. EVs like the Nissan Leaf and e-NV200 cost about 40 percent less than combustion vehicles to maintain, and the cost of electricity is substantially lower than that of fossil fuels. Additionally, Nissan has published a video of the Leaf touring Bristol to celebrate the greening of European cities with the help of electric vehicles. See the video, and read more from Nissan. Tesla customers have driven a cumulative 1 billion miles. Together, nearly 75,000 Model S drivers have prevented more than 570,000 tons of CO2 emissions worldwide. To put that in perspective, a billion miles is the equivalent of 4,186 trips to the moon, and almost 40,000 trips around the Earth. In the UK, where the Model S is celebrating its one-year anniversary, drivers have already accumulated 6.6 million miles. Tesla is celebrating its milestone with the Next Billion Miles Tour, hosting hands-on events and test drives in 80 cities across North America, Europe and Asia. See the video from Tesla above, visit the One Billion Miles microsite and read more in the press release below.

Bug-eyed next-gen Nissan Titan spied testing

It's no secret that the fullsize pickup truck market is dominated by offerings from Detroit's Big Three automakers, the Nissan Titan and Toyota Tundra not able to outdo the Ford F-150, Ram 1500 or Chevy Silverado/GMC Sierra twins. A great deal of that has to do with the fact that, while the American trucks have all undergone evolutionary updates that include a range of body styles, fuel-efficient engines and excellent technology, the Japanese offerings are, well, really old. Toyota is offering an updated Tundra for the 2014 model year, and while we haven't driven it yet, we're already betting that it's still behind the pack in terms of competitiveness - the 2013 model placed fifth out of sixth in a recent PickupTrucks.com comparison test.
At the bottom of the pack lies the Nissan Titan, a truck that hasn't received any sort of substantial update since its introduction nearly ten years ago. But that's going to change - a new truck is slated to debut for the 2015 model year, and these spy shots of a Titan mule clearly show that things are moving forward.
While this tester relies heavily on the current truck's bodywork for testing purposes, the new Titan will have a revised design, some of which is evidenced by the bug-eyed front fascia of this mule. No, the production model isn't going to look all weird (we hope), but the higher, more outboard headlight placement suggests that the new truck will be a bit wider than the current model.