AD #3145 – China Sets Regs. to Protect Personal Info; Chevy Recalling All Bolts; Porsche Getting Rimac Tech
August 23rd, 2021 at 11:54am
Listen to “AD #3145 – China Sets Regs. to Protect Personal Info; Chevy Recalling All Bolts; Porsche Getting Rimac Tech” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 9:49
0:07 China Sets Regulations to Protect Personal Info
0:49 Chevy Recalling All Bolts
1:24 New Bolt Recall to Cost GM $1 Billion
2:35 Corvette Z06 Teaser Hints at New Engine
4:02 Porsche Getting Rimac Technology
4:54 Mazda Still Serious About Rotary Engines
5:25 Updated QX80 Adds Big Center Screen
6:50 China’s Charging Outlets Top 2 Million
7:29 Ford Helps Charging Company Locate Faulty Charger
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CHINA SETS REGULATIONS TO PROTECT PERSONAL INFO
China is setting strict regulations regarding personal information that is generated in cars. The regulations affect any data on car owners, drivers, passengers, pedestrians, and any information that can be used to identify individuals or their personal behavior. It includes data collected at EV charging stations, as well as any data from mapping, data about vehicle types and traffic flow, as well as video data that includes faces, voices and license plates. The regulations apply to the entire life cycle of a vehicle and they go into effect on October 1.
CHEVY RECALLING ALL BOLTS
Last month, GM recalled Chevy Bolts built from 2017 to 2019 over potential battery fires. Now GM is expanding the recall to include all Bolt EVs from 2019 to 2022, including the new Bolt EUV. The automaker found defects in the batteries that can lead to fires, and until it can get replacement packs its recommending owners not charge vehicles over 90% state of charge, don’t let the vehicle get below 70 miles of range and to park the vehicles outside over night.
BOLT RECALL TO COST GM $1 BILLION
The recall will cost GM $1 billion but it’s going to pass most of the bill on to LG Chem, which built the batteries. That sent the Korean battery maker’s shares down 11%. Earlier in the year, Hyundai also had to recall EVs over potential battery fires that were equipped with LG batteries.
CORVETTE Z06 TEASER HINTS AT NEW ENGINE
Since its introduction in 1954 GM has produced more than 100 million small-block V8s and one thing in that entire time has never changed; their cam-in-block overhead valve design. But with the teasing of the new Corvette Z06, which debuts on October 26th, it sure sounds like something new is in the works. The exhaust note is like nothing we’ve heard from a small-block before. There’s been a lot of speculation that it’s a flat-plane crank V8 that shares roots with 5.5L V8 Chevy races in the C8R. WardsAuto predicts the engine will be topped with overhead camshafts and 4 valves per cylinder that help push power output to 600 horsepower and 450 lb-ft of torque. The engine could be coded LT6. Wards takes speculation a step further that the ZR1 ‘Vette will get a twin-turbo version of the engine that makes 850 horsepower and 800 lb-ft of torque. While that car is not expected to be out until 2025, there could be even more versions of the Corvette than ever before. We’ve seen a number of spy photos of a camo ‘Vette testing alongside an Acura NSX. There’s rumors this could be a hybrid version of the Corvette, called the e-Ray.
RIMAC TECH HEADED TO ‘HIGH-VOLUME’ PORSCHES
When the Volkswagen Group sold off a controlling stake in Bugatti to Croatian automaker Rimac that’s what made all the headlines. Reported less is the fact that Porsche holds a 45% stake in the new Bugatti-Rimac company as well as two supervisory board positions. On top of that Porsche owns 24% of Rimac. So, you could say the two are pretty well tied up together. And that partnership is about to run even deeper. In an interview with Bloomberg, Rimac’s CEO said “We are already developing stuff that will be soon in high-volume Porsches. Not special projects, but the mainstream.” The terms of that were not revealed but Rimac provides electric components like batteries to competitors Koenigsegg and Pininfarina.
MAZDA STILL SERIOUS ABOUT ROTARY ENGINES
It looks like Mazda is still serious about reviving the rotary engine. According to the Hatena Blog in Japan, Mazda applied for eight new trademarks and four of them hint at the company’s xEV technology which uses a rotary engine in a hybrid powertrain as a mild hybrid, full hybrid or range extender. It even trademarked this logo for the models. Mazda is also rumored to be working on a hydrogen powered rotary.
QX80 REFRESH ADDS A BIG CENTER SCREEN
The new Infiniti QX80 made its debut. As you can see the exterior styling remains the same but the interior gets a new look. Most notably, the new 12.3-inch touchscreen, which includes Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, now floats on the dash. Leather seats for all three rows, heated front seats and second row captain’s chairs are all standard. It comes standard in rear-wheel drive and it’s also available in four-wheel drive. The QX80 is still powered by the same 400 horsepower 5.6L V8 engine that’s mated to a seven-speed automatic transmission.
CHINA’S CHARGING OUTLETS TOP 2 MILLION
Over the last year, China added 32,000 EV charging outlets every month. It has over 2 million charging outlets, which are called charging piles in China. 950,000 of those charging piles are public, with the rest being private. And about 40% of the public ones are fast DC chargers. There are also 763 battery swapping stations, but nearly half of them are in two cities: Beijing and Guangdong. And all this EV infrastructure is really going to help sales of electric vehicles.
FORD HELPS CHARGING COMPANY FIND FAULTY CHARGER
Meanwhile, in the U.S., there are a lot of teething problems with the EV infrastructure. People often find that the public charger they want to use doesn’t work. Darren Palmer, the head of all battery electric vehicles at Ford, tells how his engineers had to help one of the charging companies pinpoint a charger that wasn’t working. Darren was talking last week to a group of journalists at the Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit.
“The story I mentioned is that while monitoring the network we found a software problem on one make of charger in one network. And we asked the company, ‘Please could you fix this for us?’ And they told us it’s a software update but it has to be done manually. And we said, “Great, can we get that done in the next 4 days?’ And they said, ‘I’m afraid not, it’s going to take 3 months.’ And so we thought about it together and said, ‘We cannot send a customer there if it doesn’t work because then you’re stranded.’ So we decided, ‘I’m sorry if they’re not fixed in the next 4 days we’ll remove them from the network.’ So they actually said, ‘The problem is we’ve got thousands of sites and we actually don’t know which ones are that make of charger. It wasn’t recorded at the time, so we can’t tell you which ones to remove.’ So our team, Ryan’s team (Ryan O’Gorman, Energy Services Manager, Ford)–there is a picture of each on Plug Share, online–so they used AI on pictures that were available and they identified which one was the bad make and we removed it from the network in 4 days.”
You know we have a long way to go when a car company has to tell a charging company where it has a faulty charger.
And that wraps up today’s report. Thanks for watching, we’ll see you tomorrow.
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Comments (28)
August 23rd, 2021 at 12:31 pm
GM Bolts “LG Inside” defective battery included.
August 23rd, 2021 at 12:34 pm
Seems it should be pretty easy to place sticker on all chargers with a call or text number on the charging stations. Allow a users the ability to let the company know when a charger isn’t working. They’ll get notified immediately and know which one is the problem.
August 23rd, 2021 at 12:49 pm
All Corvettes have had the pushrod V8 with the exception of the first three years of production, which had a 235ci blue flame I6.
Actually pretty amazing that its been around since 1955 in various versions of big block and small block. The new engine sounds great though.
I like the direction the Chinese are headed with personal information.
Mazda can bring back the rotary engine but it had better last a long time. Good luck finding anyone to rebuild it.. But car engines are pretty much disposable anymore. No one rebuilds them except racers anymore.
Sean I really hope you guys have more from the dream cruise than this.
August 23rd, 2021 at 1:10 pm
Let’s hope Chevy spends a little more time on it and comes up with something more imaginative than eRay.
August 23rd, 2021 at 1:14 pm
3 The C4 ZR-1 had a DOHC engine built by Mercury Marine.
August 23rd, 2021 at 1:15 pm
Let’s not be so quick with the snarky comments. Production defects happen to everyone, especially as new types of technologies are coming to market. After all, its not like Tesla hasn’t produced more than their fair share of $100,000 marshmallow roasters.
August 23rd, 2021 at 1:41 pm
3. You are forgetting the C4 ZR1 which had the LT5 DOHC engine designed by Lotus.
August 23rd, 2021 at 1:45 pm
On faulty chargers – I drove a Volt for a few years, and was only able to charge it on paid public stations one time, after calling and troubleshooting. Everytime I unavoidably ran out of patience before I could make it talk to my car, even when I planned with subscriptions, card, pre-balance, the whole thing. I was lucky I had a backup plan (gas engine) for that car. Even if the situation now is significantly better I would be very hesitant on regularly relying on public infrastructure with anything other than a Tesla, just because of my personal experience.
August 23rd, 2021 at 1:53 pm
The Infiniti QX80 looks 3 generation behind the competition (particularly far behind the Genesis GV80)… just a subjective observation.
August 23rd, 2021 at 2:05 pm
Only one that can collect personal information in China without your knowledge and consent is the Chinese Communist Party.
August 23rd, 2021 at 2:10 pm
Ford and the 3d party charging company revealed how vulnerable their EV customers are. The easy, expensive fix is to arrange 24×7, fast DC chargers at every Ford dealer. It is a shadow of the Tesla solution but good enough.
August 23rd, 2021 at 2:13 pm
5&7 Thanks! I wasn’t really sure if anything else was ever offered but I knew someone here would know for sure.
August 23rd, 2021 at 2:18 pm
I suspect that the corvette motor is a flat plane DOHC V8 in either NA or supercharged form. With the huge rear end the corvette has, they have room to fit a DOHC motor. They no longer need to rely on the package efficiency of pushrods to fit the engine underneath a low sloping hood line. A twin turbo would not “scream” as turbos do a great job at dampening volume. A naturally aspirated or supercharged DOHC flat plane would “scream” though. At least that is my guess.
And E-Ray is a bad marketing name. Sounds like something a 1st year marketing student would come up with.
August 23rd, 2021 at 2:27 pm
Is there something sinister with the chip shortage??? How can all the companies who make them be shut down?? Or am I just too Mistructing???
August 23rd, 2021 at 2:28 pm
sorry Mistrusting
August 23rd, 2021 at 2:47 pm
11- I think that idea is a good one. Easy enough to locate a Ford dealer almost anywhere and if you know there is a fast charger there it could go a long way in reinforcing the advantage of a dealer network to support the product vs none. It would be easy enough to identify a Ford vehicle is plugging in via the Ford Pass Network phone app. I work at a Ford dealer and it would also help us to demonstrate the fast recharging capability to prospective customers uneasy about making the switch to EV’s.
August 23rd, 2021 at 3:15 pm
8 A Volt would be a good plug-in car to have, if you depended on public charging, since you have the convenient backup of an engine that will take you, what, 350-400 miles on a tank of gas.
August 23rd, 2021 at 3:28 pm
11,16 It would be great to have DC fast charging at every dealership, with availability for everyone to use. Not having home charging in Florida, the Ford (and Chevy) dealers would not be very convenient, being ~20 miles and a bunch of stop lights away, but the Chrysler and Lincoln/Jaguar/Land Rover dealers are only about 4 miles away. The Cadillac place is about midway in between. I might consider an EV if I could fast charge it at the Chrysler dealer, even at 20cents/kWh, about twice the utility’s rate.
As far as Tesla, unless things have changed, they don’t have fast charging at their recently opened store near the Chrysler and Lin/Jag/LR places. Most of the Tesla owners would primarily charge at home. I suspect lack of charging at my condo is why there are zero EVs of any brand at the complex with 240 units.
August 23rd, 2021 at 7:00 pm
18) Wouldn’t it be great if dealershios had a supply of vehicles to sell and not marked up and overloaded.
It is just too strange not to thing the chip shortage thing isn’t deliberate.
The biggest thing wrond in building EV’s is the battery. Seem like the manufacturers are paying a heafty price for this learning curve.
Only proves to me that the wise stay away from them for awhile longer.
August 23rd, 2021 at 9:09 pm
19 I don’t know about now, but normally you can order a GM, Ford, or Chrysler vehicle any way you can spec it on the web site and get it in 4-6 weeks. You don’t have to buy an “overloaded” vehicle. Well, not as overloaded as the ones normally on dealer lots, though you don’t have any real option choice like you did as recently as the 1970s. Unfotunately, you can’t actually order a Toyota, or I have been lied to by two different dealers.
August 24th, 2021 at 5:36 am
The ZR-1 was instantly recognizable from the rear due to its subtly squared-off lights.
I think gm needs to step up effective communications – including from the very top – about the Bolt battery mishap and recall, or else all their imminently arriving new EVs’ sales are at risk. Call it an auto-da-fé.
August 24th, 2021 at 8:03 am
A year or two after the C4 ZR-1 arrived, all Corvettes started using the squared tail light rear end, which didn’t make ZR-1 owners happy. Those ZR-1s had spectacular performance, for the time, but today’s base ‘Vettes have 100 more hp, with pushrods, albeit with an extra half liter of displacement.
August 24th, 2021 at 8:13 am
21 Sean, do you know if they plan to replace all of the batteries in the Bolts? Is it conclusively determined that defective cells have caused the fires, or could there be something else, like faulty electronics overcharging some of the cells? I suppose that may be hard to know, with only about 10 fires out of ~80,000 cars.
August 24th, 2021 at 10:56 am
Kit – I’d completely forgotten the C4 ZR-1′s taillights were copy-pasted. A real sin.
As for the Bolt ‘situation’, I’m clueless. Good of you to mention the current count for its spontaneous combustion.
Here’s a link to the gm corporate news blurb:
https://bit.ly/2WmGPal
Since they can seemingly determine which modules are faulty, replacing all modules in all cars certainly smacks of insecurity.
They should at least attempt to have a tiger team updating the software so the Bolt may safely run with one updated module (which isn’t ideal electrically, but obviously potentially faster and substantially less expensive).
There must be clarity about these issues and resolution before the new EVs are out.
August 24th, 2021 at 11:06 am
#6 GM vet , the difference is Tesla buys its cylindrical cells by the thousands per car, does its own BMS , each cell is fused, if it fails, it is isolated from the rest of the other cells,has a very negligeable effect on the pack itself.To date there hasnt been any falling out between Tesla and Panasonic,and Panasonic is glad to have Tesls as a client, it battery business with Tesla hax made it weather the hardships that the Samsung and LG appliance and Electronics share by those two S Korean taken
August 24th, 2021 at 11:18 am
#25 The S Korean Chaebols have stolen a lot of the Japanese market share in Electronics, Home Entertaiment stuff, and appliances, need proof ? Go to Home Depot, survey the appliances there 25-30% are LG and Samsung and hardly any Panasonic, even your GE is Chinese owned, by the Midea group, oh most of those Whirlpools and Maytags and Fridigaires and others are Made in China,with a few from Mexico.Check out where those split type ACs are made , all MIC, heck all mh American brand power and cordless tools
August 24th, 2021 at 11:23 am
#26, all my cordless Milwaukee tools are MIC,Dewalt= “made in USA with global materials”
Harbor Freight? You’ll get a fright ,if you check .
August 24th, 2021 at 12:00 pm
According to the gm press release I linked to above (24), quote: “Out of an abundance of caution, GM will replace defective battery modules in Chevrolet Bolt EVs and EUVs with new modules,”.
So not entire packs, but individual modules?