AD #3110 – VW To Dump ICEs in EU by 2035; Honda Names Electric SUV; Tesla Builds Own Supercomputer with NVIDIA
June 28th, 2021 at 11:44am
Listen to “AD #3110 – VW To Dump ICEs in EU by 2035; Honda Names Electric SUV; Tesla Builds Own Supercomputer with NVIDIA” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 9:58
0:07 Honda Names Electric SUV Prologue
0:54 VW To Dump All ICEs in EU by 2035
1:18 Renault To Get Big Battery Plant with Envision AESC
2:08 Nissan To Open Battery Plant in UK
3:05 Wards Predicts June Sales Will Fall
3:50 China Sees Sales Drop Because Of Chip Shortage
4:09 Tesla Builds Own Supercomputer with NVIDIA
6:20 Making Cars with Biomaterials
8:29 Don’t Dump Your Car Junk
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HONDA NAMES ELECTRIC SUV PROLOGUE
We kick off this Monday with a lot of news about electric cars.
Last week Honda finally admitted that EVs are the future of the auto industry. This week, it’s letting us peek under the tent a bit. We knew that General Motors will build several EVs for Honda and Acura in 2024. Now we know the Honda will be called the Prologue. Both models will be built on GM’s Ultium platform, which is also being used for the new Hummer and the electric Chevrolet pickup. In the second half of the decade, Honda will launch a new series of EVs based on a new e:Architecture of its own. Honda wants to be fully-electric in North America by 2040.
VW TO DUMP ALL ICEs IN EU BY 2035
Speaking of going all-electric, Volkswagen says it will no longer sell internal combustion engine cars in Europe by 2035. It’s aiming to have electrics account for 70% of new car sales in Europe by 2030. And by 2050 at the latest, the automaker’s global fleet will be CO2-neutral.
RENAULT TO GET BIG BATTERY PLANT WITH ENVISION AESC
Renault just landed a deal with a Chinese battery company, Envision AESC, to build a battery factory in France. Envision will spend as much 2 billion euros on the plant, which will have a capacity of 9 GWh in 2024 with the goal of hitting 24 GWh by 2030. Envision AESC started out life as part of Nissan and it now owns the battery plants that Nissan used to make the first-generation Leaf. Renault also formed a partnership with a startup called Verkor to develop high-performance batteries. They’ll open a pilot line next-year and aim to open a plant in 2026 with a capacity of 10 GWh.
NISSAN TO OPEN BATTERY PLANT IN UK
And speaking of battery plants, Renault’s alliance partner, Nissan, is expected to announce it will open a battery plant in the UK sometime this week. That’s all we know for now, so we’ll have to wait for the formal announcement to learn more.
WARDS PREDICTS JUNE SALES WILL FALL
Wards Intelligence is forecasting that new car sales in the US for June will be down. But that’s not because consumer demand is dropping. Just the opposite. Demand is sky high, but automakers just can’t make new cars and trucks fast enough because of the chip shortage. While the seasonally adjusted sale rate hit a strong 18.4 million rate in March and April, the SAAR will drop to only 15.8 million for June. And Ward’s doesn’t see any improvement for months to come. So with demand high and supply low, you know what that means, don’t you? Prices are going through the roof.
CHINA SEES SALES DROP BECAUSE OF CHIP SHORTAGE
New car sales in China are also getting hammered by the chip shortage. They’re probably going to drop nearly 5% compared to a year ago, according to the China Passenger Car Association. It says Chinese consumers will buy just under 1.6 million new vehicles.
TESLA BUILDS OWN SUPERCOMPUTER WITH NVIDIA
To supercharge its development of Artificial Intelligence, Tesla built its own supercomputer. You may have heard that it’s probably the 5th fastest supercomputer in the world. NVIDIA just released some of the details because it’s GPUs, called the A100, are at the heart of the system. And they provide up to 20x higher performance than before. Many of you Tesla fans already know there is a neural network running in “shadow mode” in all Tesla’s cars that captures data and makes predictions while the car is driving, without actually controlling the vehicle. These predictions are recorded, and any mistakes or misidentifications are logged. Tesla engineers then use these events to train the neural network in how to deal with difficult driving situations. The neural network then runs through all these scenarios over and over again until it operates without a mistake. Then it’s sent back to the vehicle and begins the process again. It’s all about developing autonomous vehicles. But that means capturing a ton of data: 1.5 petabytes which is 1.5 million gigabytes. That takes massive computing power, and that’s why Tesla built its own supercomputer.
MAKING CARS WITH BIOMATERIALS
One way to make cars and trucks more sustainable is to make them with biomaterials. Those are materials that are made from fibers from plants. And that’s the topic on the latest episode of Autoline This Week. I asked Doctor Mohini Sain, from the University of Toronto, what are some of the best applications of components that can be made from biomaterials. Take a look.
“This is an engine beauty cover as you can see here. This is actually made from fiberglass in the normal way. But here we did not use any fiberglass. We used microfibers from the forestry process. And it gave us two things. It reduced the weight. It increased the green fiber content inside. And also it allows much more noise and vibration decrease. Normally it will have this foam (on the back). Now with this particular material you can use without having that foaming application in there. So it can give you a property that will allow you to get less vibration and noise when you are using it for an engine cover, an engine beauty cover.”
That engine cover is intriguing. Lighter, less NVH, and because you can get rid of that foam backing, it’s cheaper. There’s more fascinating information about biomaterials and biocomposites that you learn about on that show, and it’s available on our website or YouTube channel.
FORD MAVERICK ON AFTER HOURS
We get a lot of the best insiders in the industry to come on our shows and if you’d like to learn more about the new Ford Maverick pickup truck, then join us this Thursday for Autoline After Hours. We’ve got Trevor Scott, the marketing manager, and Chris Mazur, the chief program engineer, coming on the show. And if you’ve got a question you’d like us to ask them you can Tweet it to us, or drop an email to [email protected]
DON’T DUMP YOUR CAR JUNK
Do you have any automotive memorabilia hanging around the house? Well, don’t dump it! It could be worth something, says H&H Classics, a UK auction house that’s dedicated to collector cars and motorcycles. Recently, it held an auction for automotive collectibles and the pieces brought in more than 156,000 pounds or more than $217,000. Some of the items include this Morgan Pedal Car, which sold for $1,600. This Steve McQueen artwork sold for about $1,500. And this vintage hand-operated gasoline pump fetched $2,700. So the next time you’re cleaning out your attic or basement, think twice about getting rid of that memorabilia.
That wraps up today’s report, thanks for watching.
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Comments (27)
June 28th, 2021 at 12:25 pm
Yea the chip shortage continues to affect us, Fairfax down until August now. That’s about 6 months its been shut down.
June 28th, 2021 at 12:41 pm
You could see the right on the wall for VW and it dumping of ICE’s! The huge investment in BEV’s, then it was said that they would build their next gen ICE vehicles from their new EV platforms, which is the exact opposite of what some OEM’s are doing today! Now the audiencement that they are dumping all ICE vehicles, so others are not far behind.
June 28th, 2021 at 12:52 pm
John; Really confused how just last Thursday you guys reported that Bloomberg expects used car prices to drop in the next couple weeks. Then today you say that new car prices will continue to rise with the chip shortage. So what would make anyone think used car prices are going to drop anytime soon? They seem to go hand in hand and either the Bloomberg guys are smoking some strong stuff or just are a bit out of touch.
June 28th, 2021 at 12:59 pm
I haven’t watched last weeks AW but I wonder if they discussed the other properties of bio-material like flammability and longevity?
I remember when they tried to go green on wiring using a soybean product for the insulation but found it attracted mice and they had issues with mice wanting to eat the coating off the wiring in cars.
June 28th, 2021 at 2:14 pm
Good news from Stellantis- we had more than enough chips to build your Jeep. Bad news- it’s now under 4 feet of water
June 28th, 2021 at 2:55 pm
Honda had better ramp-up their BEV, hybrid and PHEV production. In the Prologue press release, Honda said about their electric vehicle presence “We haven’t been perceived as leaders in recent years…” Yep, very true.
June 28th, 2021 at 4:51 pm
6 Maybe Honda and Toyota are both doing “wait and see” with EVs, to see how the market will sort out. For now, I see them mainly as one vehicle for multi-vehicle households, used mainly for commuting and use within range of charging from home.
June 28th, 2021 at 5:24 pm
A lot of people in high rise apartments and very rural areas cannot use BEVs as their primary cars. No place or distance to recharge.
June 28th, 2021 at 5:42 pm
8 Exactly. That applies to me 7 months of the year. No place to charge at my FL condo.
June 28th, 2021 at 6:40 pm
#9 sell condo buy a residential home that solves the problem.
June 28th, 2021 at 7:32 pm
10 I couldn’t afford a house 1/2 mile from the beach. Also, with the condo, I can just lock the door and leave, without having to arrange mowing, etc.
June 28th, 2021 at 11:16 pm
Engine covers appear to be a thing of the past. Ford just did away with them on many models this year.
June 28th, 2021 at 11:40 pm
Will electric vehicles need engine covers?
June 29th, 2021 at 6:37 am
Engine covers never made sense in the first place. Isn’t that what the hood/bonnet is for?
June 29th, 2021 at 7:11 am
12) Agreed. I never liked engine covers in the first place. Just some bits of plastic you have to remove to do maintenance. I imagine that it is more environmentally friendly to not have a piece of plastic on the engine then it is to have this new material.
June 29th, 2021 at 7:29 am
13) They technically already have an engine cover in the front. They just call them a “frunk”. The plastic tub is there to both have extra storage and cover up the high voltage Electric Drive components. You don’t really want to risk someone accidentally doing something and electrocuting themselves. So win-win is to give both safety and functionality with a bit of plastic.
June 29th, 2021 at 7:32 am
10) Use to be a time when the car would fit into a persons lifestyle. I guess we are at the point with E-Drive where your lifestyle has to change dramatically just to have a car. Very interesting times.
June 29th, 2021 at 8:22 am
17,10 Those of us who can’t charge them at home just aren’t buying EVs. In 25-30 years when new ICE cars will be harder to find, there will probably be “charge everywhere” infrastructure, or nearly so.
June 29th, 2021 at 8:23 am
12 Engine covers became popular with injectors that made a clicking noise that was difficult to mask. I’ve taken mine off and can hear the clicking but its pretty minimal. I suppose without it some people would complain. But with EVs they’ll be gone anyway.
June 29th, 2021 at 8:37 am
I agree and its pretty obvious that EVs have some shortcomings that make them an okay 2nd vehicle for many homes. Until the charging times and infrastructure is in place they just don’t meet the needs for many as their primary only vehicle. Which is why 25% of Californians go back to ICE after owning a EV. Those shortcomings are a hassle. Within a few years or a decade or two that will probably all change. But until then they work for a percentage of what people need a car to do.
Which is why I think its crazy that analysts talk like EV sales as if they will completely replace ICEs. They only appeal to a small percentage of customers that have access to charging locations at their home. Their cost limits many consumers and for most it needs to be a second car leaving them 1/2 their vehicles still ICE for traveling.
Mark my words many of the automakers that claim to stop making ICE by 2030 or 2035 will backtrack and be making them far longer unless we have a huge change in battery technology in the next 5 years.
June 29th, 2021 at 8:39 am
20 was in reference to #7
June 29th, 2021 at 9:32 am
20 I don’t have data, but I suspect a lot of those 25% in California going from EVs back to ICE cars live in apartments without home charging and bought EVs, thinking that public charging would serve their purposes, and found that not to be the case.
June 29th, 2021 at 9:59 am
22) A report I read a while back actually stated that as the number 1 reason for switching back to an ICE/Hybrid.
June 29th, 2021 at 10:07 am
23 Thanks for the info. I suspected it, but hadn’t read it.
June 29th, 2021 at 11:09 am
22 Sorry I’m pretty sure the article I read said 25% but here is one that states its only 20% which is still high but the reasons are infrastructure.
https://www.motor1.com/news/504872/ev-owners-switch-back-charging/
June 29th, 2021 at 11:46 am
25 Thumbs up for being precise! It’s what I remember too from diverse articles wafting about the web.
In the same vein, Bloomberg Hyperdrive featured an article about the Chinese city Liuzhou where many [?] of the popular miniature EVs are manufactured, and that expressly set out to hasten their adoption. Very interesting! Those things are beyond cute (though a Daihatsu Capuccino still takes the frosted cake).
I don’t think they found an answer to the apartment-charging conundrum either, but 30’000 charging points isn’t anything to be sneered at (in a city of nearly 4 million…).
See https://bloom.bg/2SFGJte
June 29th, 2021 at 11:49 am
Addendum, quote: almost 30% of the cars sold in Liuzhou last year were electric