On today’s show… Uh-oh, the driving range of the Chevy Bolt EV could drop dramatically over time, Scania tests wireless charging with buses and we’ll show you which automakers spend the most money on research. All that and more coming right up on Autoline Daily.

This is Autoline Daily the show for enthusiasts of the automotive industry.

EV BATTERIES DEGRADE
All of us with smartphones or laptops know that the battery degrades over time. Well, the same is true for electric vehicles. Just ask some Nissan Leaf and Tesla owners. To make sure owners are aware of this issue, Chevrolet put a note in the owner’s manual of the new Bolt EV that says the battery could lose 10% to 40% of its capacity over the 8-year warranty of the vehicle. That 40% would bring the EVs range down from 238 to 143 miles. Of course it all depends on how hard you are on the battery and this is the most extreme case, but that’s still a huge reduction. And just imagine if you live in a place where it gets cold. Low temperatures can reduce the range by another 40%. That would bring the total range down to about 86 miles.

WIRELESS CHARGING FOR BUSES
Wireless charging is nothing new. Many smartphones and other battery-powered devices can be charged up this way. The auto industry is already adapting the technology for vehicles. For example, GM offers a wireless charging mat for phones in some of its vehicles and automakers and suppliers are developing EVs that can be charged wirelessly. And now commercial truck and bus maker Scania is doing the same for that side of the market. But instead of charging the vehicle while it isn’t being used, Scania is testing charging buses while they’re at a stop. So when the bus stops to pick up passengers, it parks over a charging surface located under the road and it starts charging automatically. The tests are being done in Sweden with a diesel hybrid bus. The company says seven minutes of wireless inductive charging is enough to power the bus for its 10 kilometer route.

Still to come… we’ll take a look at which automakers invest the most on research and development.

FORD’S RETURN-TO-PARK
You may have heard about FCA’s issues with some of its electronic shifters, so Ford is looking to avoid those problems. All 2017 Fusions now come standard with a rotary shift dial and to reduce the chance of a rollaway it comes with an automatic Return to Park feature. The system monitors data from sensors that watch the transmission, shifter, driver’s door and seat belt to determine if the driver is getting out of the car. If it thinks so, and the car is not in park, the shifter automatically rotates itself back to “P.” This is the same system that won’t let you shift into reverse while driving over 5 MPH, but just adapted for this new use, which should help reduce injuries and maybe save a life.

AUTOMOTIVE R&D SPENDING
The auto industry spends over $100 billion on research and development every year. But do you know which automakers invest the most in R&D? You don’t? Well you’re in luck because we poured through the OEMs annual reports to find out. Volkswagen is by far and away the leader. In 2015, the company spent $13.1 billion on R&D. But it will be interesting to see what impact the diesel scandal is going to have. Our guess is that number will drop. Way behind VW is Toyota, which spent close to $9 billion and not surprisingly General Motors is third at $7.5 billion. But looky here, at number four on the list is Daimler, just behind the top three automakers in the world. And rounding out the top 5 is Ford, which spent $6.7 billion on R&D. We don’t want to bore you to death with a bunch of numbers, so if you want to see where the other top manufacturers rank, just look for the full list in today’s transcript. If you’re watching on YouTube just look for the link to the transcript in the description box.

And now it’s time for some of your feedback.

We are so grateful for all the congratulations that poured in as we celebrated Autoline Daily number 2000. Two thousand of anything is a lot!

Mark summed it up nicely, saying “Congratulations on episode 2000! I love your program and watch it every day. Keep up the good work!”

Landon Thomas said, “I hate it when u guys go on hiatus. I rely on you guys for pretty much everything I know.”

There were so many of you who wrote in and we want to thank JWH, BARRY RECTOR, WineGeek, George, Lex, G.A.Branigan, Buzzerd, Jon M, gary susie, Roger Blose, GM Veteran, Kit Gerhart, Gene E, Tuck&Roll, Marshy, merv, Rick W, Landon Thomas, Mik Wind, Steve Carmichael, Fred Perkins, Lovejazz01, Knuckle Buck, John DiLiberto, Mark K, Hellodlo, gurkeerat sidhu, oconnor993, citroNord, the list goes on, so thank you to everyone.

Ok, back to your questions. Don B. wants to know, “When inventories go unsold, what really happens to the vehicles? We all heard stories of the being crushed after a few years. Or being shipped to other countries and being sold.” The true story is that every car that gets made, gets sold. They don’t disassemble them and send the parts back to the suppliers. The longer they go unsold, the more the price goes down. Some dogs may take a year or two to get sold, but they all get sold.

Roger T heard our report that November sales in the U.S. did not set a new record like most people reported. We showed you that on a daily selling rate basis, sales actually fell more than four percent. Roger says, “Elections impacted car sales in Nov, no one went out to buy that week. That explains the daily dip.” You could be right. I think Hillary’s supporters are so depressed that the last thing they felt like doing was going out and buying a shiny new car. But I think the main reason is that car sales are slowing down. As we also pointed out, the slowdown is now a 3-month trend, not something that only happened in November.

Lex says, “It is hard to believe that GM is losing $9K for every Bolt manufactured. Does that number factoring in the EV Credits GM receives?” No it does not. And remember under the current ZEV mandate, GM would not be able to sell conventional vehicles where it does make good money, unless it sold electric vehicles. That 9K number relates to the manufacturing cost, though some people dispute that number. They think it’s way too high.

MARSHALL want to know, “Why 9 & 10 speed transmissions? Just a couple years ago we heard from the experts in the automotive magazines that transmissions with more than 8 gears made no sense for consumer/passenger vehicles.” I think the difference is that we’re seeing much smaller displacement engines going into cars. I mean who ever thought you’d see Cadillac’s biggest sedan offered with a 2-liter, 4-cylinder engine? Yes I know it’s a boosted engine, but still, more gears make those little engines perform a lot better.

And finally, G.A.Branigan saw our report on the air quality index of several major cities. He says “I don’t care what anybody says, the city pollution numbers speak for themselves. The USA has done an outstanding job in reducing air pollution. LA @ 65,and Detroit @ 27? This is good.” You’re right GA. Sometimes we forget that we’ve made amazing progress on the environment. We still have a ways to go, but probably all of you watching right now have never breathed air as clean as you’re breathing right now.

Again, thanks for all your questions and comments, and for your kind words on our 2,000th birthday. With that we wrap up today’s show, please join us again tomorrow.