Listen to “AD #3136 – Kansas City Testing Lamppost Charging; Alfa 1st Stellantis Brand Going All Electric; Mercedes EQS Orders Open Up” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 9:20
0:07 Tesla Exports Most China-Made Models in July
0:49 Kansas City Testing Lamppost Charging
1:31 Cadillac to Start Taking Reservations for Lyriq
3:00 Alfa Romeo is 1st Stellantis Brand Going All Electric
3:52 Mercedes Opens Up Orders for EQS
6:09 VW Updates Its U.S. Lineup
7:51 Chevy Helps Create Unique Baseball Snack
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TESLA EXPORTS MAJORITY OF CHINA-MADE MODELS IN JULY
July was a bit of a mixed bag for Tesla in China. The EV maker sold nearly 33,000 made-in-China vehicles last month, but more than 24,000 of those were exported. That means Tesla only sold about 8,600 vehicles locally in China, down from more than 28,000 in June, a drop of nearly 70%. However, Tesla’s sales in the first month of the quarter are usually down compared to the following two months. And July was a down month for the entire Chinese auto industry. According to the China Passenger Car Association, sales were down more than 6% compared to a year ago.
KANSAS CITY TESTING LAMPPOST CHARGING
One of the things holding back EV adoption is the lack of a charging infrastructure, especially for people who live in apartments in cities that don’t have a place to charge overnight. That’s why Kansas City, Missouri is launching a pilot program to install chargers in streetlight poles. It’s a three-year project that will see 30 to 60 chargers installed by the end of the year. The poles will be fitted with Level 2 chargers and cost 22 cents per kilowatt hour, the same amount charged at Kansas City’s public charging stations. KC isn’t the first city to experiment with this but so far it hasn’t caught on.
CADILLAC TO START TAKING RESERVATIONS FOR THE LYRIQ
Cadillac is going to start taking reservations for its Lyriq SUV soon. Interested buyers can place a reservation online starting September 18th. It has a listed starting price of $58,795, excluding destination charges, that’s about $1,200 cheaper than the company originally announced. The model will be built at GM’s Spring Hill, Tennessee plant starting in the first quarter of 2022. And customers will start receiving the model sometime in the first half of next year. The Lyriq is Cadillac’s first all-electric model and the first in GM’s lineup to use its Ultium platform.
ALFA IS 1ST STELLANTIS BRAND GOING ALL ELECTRIC
With the merger of PSA and FCA more firmly in its rearview mirror, Stellantis is starting to lay out its electrification plans. And if you had to guess, which one of its brands do you think will be the first to go fully electric? You might guess volume brands like Jeep, Peugeot or Ram, but it’s actually Alfa Romeo, who will reach the goal in 2027. It makes some sense Stellantis would choose Alfa first. It won’t be forced into producing a ton of them and it should be able to charge more than it would with one of its other brands. Maserati would have afforded the same benefits, but clearly there’s some advantage in going with Alfa. However, Stellantis’ other brands won’t be far behind. Opel will go fully electric in 2028 and Fiat will follow in 2030.
MERCEDES OPENS UP ORDERS FOR EQS
And in other EV news, Mercedes is now taking orders for the first versions of the EQS. The rear-drive 450+ with 245 kW of power starts at a little over 106,000 euros in Germany or about $124,000, while the all-wheel drive 580 4MATIC with 385 kW starts at 135,500 euros or roughly $159,000. But those prices can easily be pushed much higher. From the jump the EQS will have a number of over-the-air updates available to customers. They’ll be able to unlock things like additional sound experiences, mini-games, special driving modes and even a greater rear axle steering angle of 10-degrees, compared to the standard 4.5-degrees, which costs over 1,500 euros. Other features like its giant Hyperscreen are quite costly too. It’s standard in the 580 4MATIC but costs almost 8,600 euros to have it equipped in the 450+. There’s an even bigger breakdown of what all the accessories for the EQS will cost in the press release and we’ll provide a link if you’d like to check that out. Customer deliveries will start at the end of September in Germany and in the 4th quarter in the U.S.
VW UPDATES ITS U.S. LINEUP
Volkswagen is updating a good portion of its lineup in the U.S. Most models now come standard with VW’s Digital Cockpit and its IQ.DRIVE driver assistance technologies are now standard or available on most models. You may have seen on our channel that the Tiguan has been refreshed for this year, but the Jetta will also get freshened up for the 2022 model year, which will be revealed at a later date. The Arteon is packing quite a bit more power. It gets a new 2.0L that makes 300 horsepower. That’s up from 268 horsepower in the previous model. A new 7-speed dual clutch transmission replaces an 8-speed automatic and it also features a new 18-inch wheel design. Volkswagen is going to need as strong of a lineup as it can put together if it’s going to be able to afford its massive push into electrification.
The Biden Administration wants to see electric vehicles account for 50% of sales by the end of the decade. But if the charging infrastructure isn’t in place, people are not going to buy EVs. That’s why the Change Wind Corporation thinks it has the answer: a combination of solar and wind towers that can be located almost anywhere that can recharge multiple EVs at the same time. So you get green power without ever hooking up to the grid. Want to learn more? So do we. We’ve got Jim Baird, the CEO of the company coming on Autoline After Hours this Thursday. So join John and Gary as they try to figure out if this could be the breakthrough we’ve been looking for.
CHEVY HELPS MAKE UNIQUE BASEBALL SNACK
Chevrolet used to use the catchphrase “baseball, hotdogs, apple pie and Chevrolet” in old commercials. But now the company is literally bringing that line to life. The automaker partnered with celebrity chef Guy Fieri, to create an Apple Pie Hot Dog snack. Yes you heard correctly. It features a hot dog, apple pie filling and bacon jam, wrapped in a pie crust that’s drizzled with apple mustard, apple pie spice and sugar. The Apple Pie Hot Dog will be exclusively available at the MLB at Field of Dreams Game in Iowa this Thursday. The game will be played on a field inspired by the movie Field of Dreams. But if you can’t make it, there’s a recipe available if you want to try and make it yourself.
But that’s it for today, thanks for watching.
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Seamus and Sean McElroy cover the latest news in the automotive industry for Autoline Daily.