AD #2919 – Volkswagen Dumps Bugatti; LG Chem Spins Off Battery Business; Ferrari Debuts Portofino M
September 17th, 2020 at 12:00pm
Listen to “AD #2919 – Volkswagen Dumps Bugatti; LG Chem Spins Off Battery Business; Ferrari Debuts Portofino M” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 10:39
0:07 GM India Plant Sale to Great Wall Delayed
0:49 Volkswagen Selling Bugatti to Rimac
1:41 LG Chem Spins Off Battery Business
2:20 ChargePoint Close to Going Public Through Reverse Merger
3:36 Ford Retools Plant for Electric F-150
4:26 ZF Shares Wrangler PHEV Performance Numbers
6:12 Electrify America Switches to Charging by kWh
8:42 Ferrari Debuts Portofino M
9:37 Cadillac Dealers Have to Spend 200K to Sell EVs
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
GM INDIA PLANT SALE TO GREAT WALL DELAYED
Border tensions between India and China are impacting General Motors. It wants to sell its assembly plant in India to China’s Great Wall Motors. The deal, which was worth between $250 to $300 million, was expected to close in the second half of the year. But India and China are engaged in an arms buildup on a disputed part of their border. And India is not exactly keen on bringing a Chinese car company into the country right now. The deal will likely still happen but it’s up in the air as to when. And this shows why you really have to pay attention to geopolitical events to know what’s going to happen in the global automotive industry.
VOLKSWAGEN SELLS BUGATTI TO RIMAC
Big news in exotic sports cars today. The Volkswagen Group is going to sell off Bugatti to specialty maker Rimac. Bugatti is clearly not a core asset for VW. It only sold 82 cars last year. Even with an average selling price over $3 million, Bugatti only generates about $250 million a year in revenue. Just to give you an idea, that’s not enough to pay for designing a new transmission. And Bugatti is not the only brand VW is looking to get rid of. CAR magazine reports that Lamborghini, Seat, Bentley, Ducati and ItalDesign could also go on the auction block. VW burned through billions of euros due to its diesel cheating scandal, and it has to invest heavily in electric cars, and one of the fastest ways to get cash is to sell off assets.
LG CHEM SPINS OFF BATTERY BUSINESS
Talk about potentially unlocking the value of a company. LG Chem says it’s spinning off its battery business into a new company, which will include batteries for smartphones and laptops, as well as electric vehicles. Even though LG Chem’s battery business has never posted an annual profit, it did post one in the most recent quarter. And the company believes that growth will continue due to automakers introducing more and more electric vehicles. The new company, called LG Energy Solutions, will launch in December and is aiming for $25.5 billion in revenue or more by 2024.
CHARGEPOINT CLOSE TO GOING PUBLIC THROUGH REVERSE MERGER
Another day, another reverse merger. This time it’s the EV charging network ChargePoint, which is closing in on a deal to go public with Switchback Energy Acquisition. The deal could value ChargePoint at more than $2 billion. For those of you that don’t know, a reverse merger is where a company that is already listed on the stock exchange goes bankrupt and sells its assets but keeps its legal standing and then another company that wants to go public can merge with it. This has become very popular with automotive startups recently. Nikola Motors, Fisker, Lordstown Motors, Velodyne and Proterra have all gone or are trying to go public with reverse mergers.
FORD RETOOLS PLANT FOR ELECTRIC F-150
Ford is investing $700 million in its historic Rouge plant to build an electric version of the F-150 pickup. That includes a new separate building for final assembly and battery pack assembly. The truck will use the existing body shop and paint shop, but Ford wants a separate building for final assembly so the electric version doesn’t reduce manufacturing capacity for the ICE version. The electric truck will use two motors and Ford brags, it will have the most horsepower and torque of any F-150 as well as the fastest acceleration and best towing capability. Last year Ford showed a prototype towing a train. Ford execs also gush that it will have a massive frunk because the EV powertrain is so much smaller than an ICE one.
ZF SHARES WRANGLER PHEV PERFORMANCE NUMBERS
We’re learning more about the plug-in version of the Wrangler. But the information is not coming from Jeep, it’s coming from ZF. That’s because the giant German supplier is making the 8-speed transmission for the Wrangler that incorporates a powerful electric motor. It cranks out 100 kilowatts of power and 245 Newton meters of torque. That’s about 145 horsepower and 180 foot pounds of torque. ZF says the 8-speed is a modular design and can fit a variety of applications so we expect it to be in all of Jeep’s PHEV models, and probably on other FCA models.
Speaking of ZF, we’re going to have Jorg Trampler, the head of engineering in North America, on Autoline After Hours later this afternoon. As we keep pointing out, automotive suppliers are a fountain of innovation. Bill Visnic from SAE Automotive Engineering will also be on the show. So get ready for a really good nuts and bolts discussion of powertrain and drivetrain technology.
Then mark down your calendars for next Wednesday at 11 am eastern time. We’re going to do a special, live hour-long post mortem of Tesla’s Battery Day. And we’re bringing Bob Galyen and Sandy Munro on board to give you some of the smartest insights from two of the foremost EV experts in the world. If you have questions you’d like to pose to Bob and Sandy, send an email to viewermail@autoline.tv or send a tweet to @Autoline.
ELECTRIFY AMERICA SWITCHES TO CHARGING BY KWH
Electrify America is rolling out a new pricing structure in the U.S. and the District of Columbia that will make users of its charging network happier. It’s switching from per-minute pricing to charging by the kWh. That rate is $0.31 per kWh, if you pay a $4 monthly fee. It’s $0.43 per kWh without the fee. And that’s no matter the charging speed, from 1 to 350 kW, or the location you’re in. Well, sort of. Some states don’t allow charging by the kWh, so per-minute pricing is all that’s available to EV owners. It has something to do with state regulation that won’t allow entities to resell electricity. I believe there’s currently 30 states that allow charging by the kWh. Electrify America will offer the pricing structure in 23 states, presumably because it doesn’t have charging sites in the other seven states. California also enacted legislation that will require stations to charge by the kWh. But this is really the best way to go. It’s the EV equivalent of dollars per gallon. What you put in is what you pay for. At per-minute charging stations it can be something of a crapshoot. For example, you still pay the same price even if it’s freezing cold out and the station is charging your EV at a slower rate than if it were warm. Almost all EV owners seem to agree with Tesla who says charging by the kWh is “the most fair and simple method.” Electrify America even says right in its press release it switched to the new structure based on customer feedback that it’s the best way to charge for charging. In our opinion it should even help in the adoption of EVs because it’s more transparent and so similar to paying by the gallon. In the remaining states where per-minute pricing is still the only option, Electrify America is simplifying and reducing its rates. It’s $0.12 a minute for charging at 90 kW and below and $0.24 for anything above that. Oh, and don’t think we’d leave you hangin’. According to Tesla’s website, it charges $0.28 per kWh. And, of course, we’d love to know what any of our EV owning viewers are paying to charge their vehicle.
FERRARI DEBUTS PORTOFINO M
Ferrari introduced a new version of its hard-top convertible the Portofino, called the Portofino M. The ‘M’ stands for ‘Modificata,’ which in the Ferrari world means a model with significantly boosted performance. In the Portofino M’s case that means about 20 more horsepower from its turbo V8, which now makes about 620 horsepower. All that power is pumped through a new 8-speed DCT and then routed out a new exhaust system, which is less restrictive and boosts sound. Unique styling elements, in the form restyled air intakes, a new air vent in front of the wheel arch, aluminum slats in the grille and a more streamlined rear end, help convey that this is a special Ferrari. No word on pricing but a standard Portofino starts at $215,000.
CADILLAC DEALERS HAVE TO SPEND 200K TO SELL EVs
Cadillac dealers are going to have to pony up some dough if they want to sell the automaker’s EVs. The Detroit News reports that dealers will have to spend an estimated $200,000 so “they can meet customer expectations and have the right facilities and infrastructure in place.” That amount includes tooling, training and installation of charging stations, which they’ll have to start preparing for by the 2nd quarter of next year. Cadillac wants its dealers ready for when the Lyriq launches in the U.S. in late 2022. And while 200-grand might seem like a lot to you and I, it’s really not all that big of a deal for a decent-sized dealership.
But that wraps up today’s show. Thanks for watching.
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Comments (42)
September 17th, 2020 at 12:32 pm
It certainly makes sense to charge by the kWh for EV charging, but they might also want to charge by the minute, if you leave your fully charged car there very long. Gas stations would have a big problem if people filled their tanks, and then left the car there for a couple hours. The same would be the case with EV charging, as more EVs are on the road.
September 17th, 2020 at 12:33 pm
Caddy Dealers: $200 grand is a WHOLE Lot if they waste it AND they end up selling even fewer ( a whole lot fewer) Misspelled Lyrics than Chevy Dealers have sold Bolts (and they SURE have sold very few, and most sales went to GM’s Cruise division, at little, if any, profit)
September 17th, 2020 at 12:34 pm
2 PS the last time I heard of some automaker asking dealers to cough up 200k was the ill-fated Mahindra betrayal of its dealers. The crooks at Mahindra asked the dealers to waste the $, they DID, and Mahindra never gave them its (truly lousy, anyway) product.
September 17th, 2020 at 12:36 pm
1 If a nation really wants to put drivers in BEVs, it should not charge one cent for electricity, especially if it is off-peak hours.
September 17th, 2020 at 12:38 pm
Volkswagen’s selling Bugatti makes complete sense, but dumping Bentley would be a big mistake. Bentley is a prestige brand, but also has reasonable volume, and is much more part of the “real world” than a company that makes fewer than a hundred cars a year, selling for two million dollars each. Even more than Ferarris, no one actually drives Bugattis. They are mainly bought be extremely rich people that just buy them “because they can.”
September 17th, 2020 at 12:43 pm
Most Cadillac dealerships in Ohio do not even have Level 2 charging. With EV GO $7/monthly fee I have charged 2018 CT6 plug-in for 1.5 hours at 5.7 cents kW. Our Meijer’s west of CLE is new and free. So is Whole Foods and local outdoor shopping mall(just pay garage parkkng rates- first 30-mknutes is free). I even met a friend at a Nissan dealership and plugged in for free. The Plug Share app will locate even residential house who have a wall outlet or some advertise Tesla or 14-50 RV outlet.
I pay .05 at home all day long for reference.
September 17th, 2020 at 12:57 pm
The last time I charged our BMW i3-REx at an Electrify America station in Manchester TN, I had to pay $1 just for the privilege before a single kWh of charge. Driving on electricity to Nashville cost $25 but the return trip on gas cost $6.
In contrast, the two tiered, Tesla charging, cost closer to $3 and change. With up to 170 kW, peak charging, it takes about 13 minutes to add 100 miles.
September 17th, 2020 at 1:26 pm
6. Aren’t you in Huntsville, which would be about 80 miles from Manchester, TN? It sounds like it costs 2-3 times as much to drive an i3 on that trip, than it would to drive a monster pickup or SUV. More than I realized, it looks like non-Tesla BEVs make sense only if you do nearly all of your charging at home, or at a work place that has free charging.
September 17th, 2020 at 1:29 pm
2
The Bolt was not a serious attempt by GM to get into the EV business. The Bolt was mainly a way to test their tech.
GM has waited diligently before jumping with both feet in the EV business. Now that GM has the battery and the rest of the technology that goes along with it, GM is roaring to be the leader. Like it or not, that’s the way it is.
September 17th, 2020 at 1:31 pm
7 Why would anybody buy a non-Tesla SUV even if they came with free juice. They are so vastly inferior and uncompetitive price-wise with the Teslas.
September 17th, 2020 at 1:33 pm
8 NOTHING was and nothing will be a serious attempt by GM to get into the BEV business.
Not only did LUTZ admit here on AAH that GM will rob its SUV and Truck buyers to subsidize its loser BEVs,
NOW the fools at GM made a deal with the CROOKS of Nikola, who offered GM NOTHING. When the first BEV truck by GM is made, Nikola’s CEO will be in jail.
What a sad joke.
September 17th, 2020 at 1:48 pm
9. The point of my post #7, was that, with juice from Electrify America, it apparently costs 2-3 times as much to drive an i3 on that trip, than a Suburban or F-150.
September 17th, 2020 at 1:55 pm
I fully understood your point the first time, but I doubt if you understood my reply, given 11.
September 17th, 2020 at 1:57 pm
12 for example, compare the (very expensive w hen it came out) i3 and the Model 3. WHo in his right mind would buy the i3, even if BMW pays lifetime juice unlimited miles? It is so vastly inferior to the Model 3. THe only reason people bought it (at almost 50k for an ugly hatch!) was that back then, the Model 3 was not available.
September 17th, 2020 at 1:58 pm
3, actually that was Global Vehicles, a U.S. company founded by John Perez that had an agreement with Mahindra & Mahindra to import two of their diesel powered trucks. Sadly, it was not a very good agreement and Mahindra took advantage of that, unethically slowing down all of their commitments until the company went bust, leaving the dealerships that paid for franchises with nothing.
September 17th, 2020 at 2:00 pm
4 – I’m not aware of any nations that are selling electricity, just companies. And giving away electricity is not just a bad business strategy, its downright fuelish!
September 17th, 2020 at 2:08 pm
Once you have 600 horsepower, would you even notice an extra 20? This just seems like a way for Ferrari to cash in on the seemingly endless line of enthusiasts that want to get a reservation for the “next model”.
I think EV charging is a lot like drinking whiskey. Its always cheaper to do it at home. Charging companies have a big investment to pay off, so it will always be more expensive than charging at home. It should only be done when on a long trip or if you forgot to plug in last night at home.
September 17th, 2020 at 2:11 pm
Larry might have a point if Tesla actually made an SUV. But, they don’t. They are crossovers at best. The Model X costs a lot more than the Chevy Suburban but can’t begin to haul as much. Lifetime ownership costs would be lower with the Suburban too. Few people buy an SUV for its 0-60 time, so let’s call the Tesla humpback cars what they really are: crossovers.
September 17th, 2020 at 2:21 pm
Todays show proves the point that buying an EV doesn’t make sense from an cost savings aspect. The initial cost is higher and operating cost will end up being a wash.
Ford to jump into the EV truck market that no one asked for.
September 17th, 2020 at 2:23 pm
13. In CR’s charts, the i3 rides better, is quieter, is more comfortable in the back seat, stops shorter, and has better controls. The base price is about $45K, about $5K more than the current base price of the Model 3. The i3 may still be eligible for a tax credit.
Also, the i3 REx like Bob Wilson has can keep going without charging, as long as you make a short stop for gas every 100 miles or so. Yes, the Model 3 is quicker, and looks better to most people.
September 17th, 2020 at 2:31 pm
16. I like your EV charging/whiskey drinking analogy. It also applies to drinking wine and beer.
September 17th, 2020 at 2:45 pm
@EV charging cost, what a large mark up for operating what seems to me a simple charging station: the average retail price in the U.S. is $0.13/kWh; businesses may be able to get it for less.
September 17th, 2020 at 5:24 pm
Maybe charging stations have high markup, because they have very low dollars of electricity delivered per hour, compared to dollars of gasoline delivered per hour by a gas pump.
September 17th, 2020 at 6:45 pm
In the end, owning any type of vehicle will cost more. One way or another, someone will make sure any costs will go up not down.
September 17th, 2020 at 7:16 pm
Across America the utilities are purchasing electricity from the wind farm companies for less than 3 cents kWh. I realize it takes a lot of infrastructure to get it to the consumer that now has to pay 30 cents. I would suspect that infrastructure gets paid for in 4 to 6 years and after that it’s a licence to print money. That’s why it’s good to have shares in those Utilities. Dividends are regular and the investment goes up in value.
September 18th, 2020 at 3:16 am
<> “Fuelish”. Hilarious, thank you.
Texas is the leading US state by far when it comes to installed wind power (29GWh and counting, about half Germany’s that accounted for a quarter of electricity generation in 2019).
TXU Energy have a “Free Nights and Solar Days” plan that’s 100% renewable sourced.
September 18th, 2020 at 3:19 am
16 – GM Veteran – my response above was for you. The comment system is garbling my responses and I haven’t adapted yet.
September 18th, 2020 at 3:21 am
- Errata – 29 GW, of course. Sigh.
September 18th, 2020 at 9:19 am
26,28. Do you know if that is 29 GW “average” output, the amount if all the turbines have wind velocity for maximum power, or ?
September 18th, 2020 at 9:46 am
16 this is probably because you never traveled outside your little town. If you did, you would know that
1. China, the biggest BEV market, has serious pollution problems and promotes BEVs, depending on region, to an extreme extent. AND it sure makes most of its electricity itself, the government. Affected and affluent mega-cities like SHanghai, Beiging and 4 others, do not even ALLOW NEW dirty ICE cars to register, and when they make an exception, they ask for a $15,000 license fee, WHILE the same fee is $0 for any BEV.
2. THe second biggest BEV market will still not be the US but EUROPE, who had gone to the other extreme 30 years ago, promoting DIESELS even in its tiniest cars and taxing gasoline far more than diesel fuel until today. I just filled my tank BTW this morning, paid 78 Euros for 71 liters diesel. IF I had a gas car I would need 150 EUros for the same mile driven, Both because of the 30% higher efficiency of the Diesel AND the 35% LOWER prices of Diesel vs Gas fuel. ALL this will END soon, as many many EU governments promote BEVs.
This may explain also why TESLA stock has gone thru the roof recently. They are ideally positioned to make a killing in BOTH these markets, and they ALREADY have utterly dominated the US BEV market.
September 18th, 2020 at 9:52 am
30 PS In reality, I did not pay 78 Euros for my 71 liters, but $0.00, as I used my “return” feature in my local debit card, where I am awarded ‘return euros’ on top of the meager interest rates my 3 month euro savings account gets. I have a surplus of about 300 euros left, and more coming, so I will never pay a dime for fuel for the rest of the year here.
Also, besides the Central Government, state and local govs should, if they are serious about clean cars, ie BEVs, provide breaks for the fuel instead of the ridiculous situation Kit thought it would cost twice to fuel a BEV than a… Suburban dirty ICE.
Even EMPLOYERS, If I was an employer in CA or other seriously polluted states, I would offer free juice to all my employees and free charging at work. Even if I was a business owner, restaurant especially, who have been hard hit by CV, I would allow patrons to refuel for free when parked, and even park their BEVs free in my lot.
September 18th, 2020 at 10:04 am
31. What I stated with an EV costing twice as much to fuel as a Suburban was based the trip Bob Wilson took, using Electrify America, and their very high “markup” compared to the usual ~12 cents/kWh from your home utility.
September 18th, 2020 at 10:25 am
https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/tesla-wins-case-against-former-employee-accused-hacking-transferring-data?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20200918&utm_content=article9-image
Crook Trevor Milton is next… lol
September 18th, 2020 at 10:27 am
32 Yes, this is what I was referring to. BTW FOrd claimed that its BEV F150 will have half the operating or fuel cost of the gas (or diesel?) F 150,but the statement is vague since it does not state its assumptions about the cost of electricity.
September 18th, 2020 at 10:43 am
34 Probably Ford is making their claim based on average home electricity cost of 12-13 cents/kWh. Maybe they are also factoring the lack of oil changes into the lower operating cost.
September 18th, 2020 at 11:15 am
31 The problem with offering free charging in cities like L.A is parking is a premium and for a restaurant or many other business they often have less parking than they have seating capacity. So to take a valuable parking spot or two and designate it strictly for BEV charging would be a hard pill to swallow.
It means the valuable parking spot sits empty unless a BEV is at your place of business and in need of a charge. Also means you need to make sure non-BEVs don’t park there or when a BEV is fully charged it then has to be moved and your customer needs to drive around and find a new spot possibly in the middle of eating?
Not to mention dealing with Tesla’s that have a different charging port than everyone else. Or anyone stealing or vandalizing your charging station/cord. If I was a business owner not sure I would be eager to provide free charging to gain that one to two customers in for coffee and a free charge.
September 18th, 2020 at 11:40 am
It has been 17 years since I lived in the LA area in the summer of 2003, had a small home sublet in Long Beach and commuted to a Boeing research facility in Anaheim, 26 miles, and it was like Paradise, no need for A/C in the house (I did use it in the car at times). However, a couple days ago my third PhD student, who went from MI to a very successful career at the U of New Orleans (not a top tier place and the pay sucked) to NY getting millions from the Govt for BS “six sigma” research, and now he says he is an adjunct prof. at USC, and complained to me about the air quality. I told me he should live closer to the ocean. WIth the $ he made while in NY, he should be able to afford it.
September 18th, 2020 at 11:45 am
35 this is what they should have done, but I would not necessarily trust them to have done that. This reminded me when the Chevy VOlt first came out, and I was listening to a team presentation who worked on the VOlt project, there were some GM sponsors and assorted bigwigs there too, and the team repeated GM’s claim that the VOlt would get ’230 MPG”. they did not even say “MPGe”, although I am sure its MPGes were half that claim or less. So, annoyed, I asked them under what assumptions they got the 230 MPG, and I doubted the validity of the figure. Of course they could not give me any serious justification. Our industry liaison, worried about GM’s funding of our student teams, a white-haired former GM brass, took me aside after the presentation and told me I should not have pressured them.
September 18th, 2020 at 11:56 am
https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/eus-proposed-tougher-co2-target-criticized-auto-industry?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20200918&utm_content=article2-image
Fresh evidence for my piece about Europe in 30 and its policy in favor of BEVs and against its 30-40 year love affair with diesels.
September 18th, 2020 at 1:46 pm
I was at 999 mpg on Voltstats last month 2ith a CT6E. If all you do for 30 days is use battery mpg is infinite.
September 18th, 2020 at 3:04 pm
29. Kit – Off the top of my head I’d say that’s max power. But capacity factors have risen in line with rotor size and height. And TX is now getting serious about solar too. I think storage is another story due to some specific regulation. Very interesting example of doing things quite differently and always worth keeping an eye on.
September 20th, 2020 at 7:05 pm
So, VW Group “bought” stock in a private company, so that company could then buy one of their brands?! Now VW Group has say in not only the company they invested in, as well as use of their hyper exotic EV tech, but also Bugatti, the brand they sold. Seems to me that VW just made Rimac another supercar brand of their portfolio, while losing nothing in return. One thing Rimac gets would be reduced cost for test parts from VW, saving them money and much more stable footing as an automaker. In the end, VW has enough control of Rimac, to have a strong influence on both it and their decisions with Bugatti.