AD #3187 – Tesla Looking Very Impressive; BMW & Volvo Invest in Green Steel; Maverick Hybrid Beats EPA Estimate
October 21st, 2021 at 11:52am
Listen to “AD #3187 – Tesla Looking Very Impressive; BMW and Volvo Invest in Green Steel; Maverick Hybrid Beats EPA Estimate” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 11:04
0:07 Tesla Posts Impressive Q3
0:48 Tesla Holding Back New Models Until Full Capacity
1:13 Other Details from Tesla’s Earnings Call
2:58 BMW & Volvo Invest in Green Steel
4:29 Kia Teaser is All-New Sportage
5:27 Chevy Corvette Z06 Teaser
5:43 Chevy Reveals Biggest/Most Powerful Crate Engine Ever
7:13 Improving ADAS with AI
9:02 More Cuts Due to the Chip Shortage
9:56 Ford Maverick Hybrid Beats Fuel Economy Estimate
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
TESLA POSTS IMPRESSIVE Q3
Tesla posted its 3rd quarter earnings and the numbers are extremely impressive. Revenue was up 57% over a year ago. Net profit of $1.6 billion generated a net margin of 11.7% which is the best in the business. And that happened even though the average selling price of Tesla’s cars went down due to a greater mix of Model 3s and Ys. Car sales were up 73% despite a chip shortage that is crippling production for all other automakers. The company generated $3 billion in cash and is paying down debt.
TESLA HOLDING BACK NEW MODELS UNTIL FULL CAPACITY HIT
In one way Tesla is starting to act like traditional automakers. It’s trying to minimize complexity by holding off on new models until it gets existing models up to full capacity. The Cybertruck will be the next model to launch, but that won’t happen until Tesla can be sure it has enough battery cells, according to Lars Moravy, Tesla’s VP of Vehicle Engineering.
OTHER DETAILS FROM TESLA’S EARNINGS CALL
Other tidbits from Tesla’s earnings call:
- It built 430,000 cars at the Fremont plant over the last 12 months, but thinks it can boost that by 50%.
- It thinks it can grow sales and production by 50% a year, with the ultimate goal of making 20 million cars a year–about the same as Volkswagen and Toyota combined.
- Tesla will switch to LFP cells–lithium iron phosphate–in all standard range cars. For now those cells will come from China, but Tesla plans to localize production in the US and Europe.
- It increased its number of service centers by 35%, and its mobile repair units by 40%.
- It doubled the size of the Supercharging network over the last year and a half and plans to triple it in the next 2 years.
- If you already paid for Full Self Driving and buy a new Tesla, that will be applied to the cost of the new car.
- One thing that was weird, though, is that Elon Musk was not on the earnings call with analysts. That makes us wonder if he is starting to step back from his day-to-day involvement in Tesla. Sure looks that way. Tesla is running so well right now that it’s going to free up Elon to work on other things.
BMW & VOLVO WORKING WITH GREEN STEEL
Not only are automakers trying to clean up emissions coming from their vehicle’s tailpipes, they’re trying to make manufacturing more sustainable as well. And there’s a new term you should get used to hearing, Green Steel or Fossil-Free Steel. This refers to steel that is made from renewable energy, like electricity generated by wind or solar, which means it doesn’t use fossil resources and produces much less CO2 emissions. In March we reported that BMW had teamed up with a company, called Boston Metal to source CO2-free steel and now it’s expanding its supply of the material even further. BMW will get supplies of steel produced with green power from a Swedish startup, called H2 Green Steel starting in 2025. The two companies are also setting up a closed-loop system to recycle excess material, like off-cuts from a press. And it turns out Sweden is a good place to produce Green Steel. It has high-quality iron ore, plenty of renewable sources and a major seaport. That’s probably one of the reasons Volvo is also more heavily involved with the steel. It teamed with another Swedish company, called SSAB, to make a huge load carrier for mining use, out of Fossil-Free Steel. While this is just a concept, Volvo says more vehicles and small-scale production will begin next year and mass production will follow after that.
KIA TEASER IS ALL-NEW SPORTAGE
Kia is teasing an all-new SUV for the U.S. market that will debut next week that it says will go on sale early next year, will have a range of gasoline engines and either front- or all-wheel drive. But it didn’t provide many more details. But if you’re like me, you might say, ‘hey, those headlamps look pretty familiar.’ And they should. This is the new Kia Sportage that was revealed globally earlier this year. So, that means we can tell you one of those engines will likely be a turbocharged 1.6L unit that makes roughly 180 horsepower and is mated to a 7-speed DCT. There will also be hybrid and plug-in hybrid versions available. One other tid-bit Kia did provide is that the new model will have a more off-road focused variant that has increased ground clearance, multiple terrain modes and beefier tires. We’ll learn more next week.
CORVETTE Z06 TEASER
Speaking of teasers, Chevy has this little teaser of the all-new Corvette Z06, which also debuts next week, that shows its magnificent engine redlines at 8,600 RPM. Again, more coming next week.
CHEVY REVEALS BIGGEST/MOST POWERFUL CRATE ENGINE EVER
But the heart-stopping performance from Chevy doesn’t stop there. It also revealed a new crate engine, code named ZZ632. You might have already thought it, but that 632 refers to the amount of cubic-inches of this engine, which makes it Chevy’s largest crate engine ever, and its over 1,000 horsepower and 876 lb-ft of torque also makes it the most powerful. No price was revealed, but the engines go on sale next year.
We invite you to join us this afternoon on Autoline After Hours when we’ll have the head of Cadillac design, Brian Smith, on the show, along with Tristan Murphy, the head of interior design at Cadillac. Henry Payne, the car critic from the Detroit News will also be on. So join John and Gary for some of the best insider news in the automotive industry.
IMPROVING ADAS WITH AI
ADAS or advanced driver assistance systems can be very helpful and prevent accidents. But they can also be annoying with all those warning buzzes and chimes. That’s why researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada are performing a study on human driving behavior and using artificial intelligence to make the systems less intrusive. On Autoline This Week, Mark Crowley, an assistant professor of the machine learning laboratory at the University, shared some insight into the study.
(Clip from ATW #2524 can only be viewed in the video version of today’s show.)
CHIP SHORTAGE CONTINUES TO IMPACT PRODUCTION
Earlier in the week, we reported that Toyota is once again cutting production due to the chip shortage. But it’s not the only automaker being clobbered by it. Reuters reports that Volkswagen has only built 300,000 vehicles at its main plant in Wolfsburg, Germany so far this year, its lowest level since 1958. Over the last ten years that plant on average has produced 780,000 vehicles. And Reuters also reports that Renault will build 300,000 to 400,000 fewer vehicles this year because of the chip shortage. That estimate is up from the 220,000 vehicles it forecasted to lose back in September. And IHS Markit predicts that automakers will produce 11 million fewer vehicles this year because of the shortage.
FORD MAVERICK MORE FUEL EFFICIENT THAN ORIGINAL PREDICTIONS
Ford announced the EPA rating for the new Maverick hybrid pickup. It’s rated at 42 MPG in the city, 33 MPG on the highway and 37 MPG combined. And it has an estimated 500 miles of range. The hybrid setup consists of a 2.5L Atkinson cycle engine mated to a CVT and a lithium-ion battery. But good luck trying to get one. Ford says it expects the pickup to be fully reserved by early November and it won’t start taking orders again until next summer. But if you were lucky enough to reserve one, you should get it sometime in January of 2022.
But that’s it for today, thanks for watching.
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Comments (27)
October 21st, 2021 at 12:54 pm
In inside evs news today says Teslas design center is now complete and will soon be working on prototypes of the baby Tesla, the $25,000 hatchback form probably and there is a chance that model might see the light of day by 2023, and it will be probably made in China and Europe as those markets use a lot of small cars, by the millions, so there goes the small Honda and Toyota small car sales.,Interesting times ahead.
October 21st, 2021 at 12:56 pm
All this is good news for Tesla! The thing that should have them concerned, though, has nothing to do with their product, sells or service. It’s the fact that Sean said that the Tesla is ‘beginning to act like a regular’ OEM! LOL Seriously, Tesla has a lot to be proud of and should have the respect of the industry. The scary part for them and other automakers is, after having been considered an upstart for all most 20 years, they may soon be seen as just another OEM, but without as much legacy! While not apart of the Detroit Three, will Tesla go on to make up what may be called the Big Four?
October 21st, 2021 at 1:12 pm
The chip shortage has not dinged Tesla as they use newer chips. The legacy mfg that have hung onto the older larger format chips(ie: dinosaur); should have taken the past year to move to what is available and reprogram. They will have to do it someday anyway, why did they waste this opportunity…? Well it’s free market anyway. Except for where things are mandated.
October 21st, 2021 at 1:18 pm
Tesla will use the LFP packs to free more energy dense formulations for higher end products,LFP chemistry also allows charging to 100% without degradation and has longer life cycle and is much cheaper in costs, Tesla is battery agnostic and will use cheapest and safest batteries for the job, plus develop its own chemistries and form format, this is what separates Tesla from legacy auto, they are nimble and can and will adapt and be Vertically integrated, for a long , long time, Good luck to GM with its Ultium battery packs.
October 21st, 2021 at 1:26 pm
A bit surprised GM is bothering with Zo6 teasers with all the videos that are already out on You Tube.
Also Motor trend did an article on that 1004 HP crate motor and indicated it would be around 20K which is about what a Hell cat motor costs.
The impressive thing about GM’s motor is it naturally aspirated and runs on pump gas.
October 21st, 2021 at 1:54 pm
@2: TESLA is in fact one of the Big 3, since Stellantis is in fact not one of the Big 3.
October 21st, 2021 at 2:15 pm
I’m curious about those 430,000 cars Tesla built. Now is that what rolled off the assembly line complete. or does that number include all the subassemblies like stampings and the like? I guess I’m asking are these final assembly numbers ? I’m tryin to figure out long it takes for them to build a car complete including every subassembly and stamping and painted body.I imagine if you’re just bolt in complete assemblies into painted bodies the time is rather quick.Would be interested to know how much each process takes.
October 21st, 2021 at 2:29 pm
6 Stellantis is number 2 or 3, globally, In sales volume.
October 21st, 2021 at 2:32 pm
@5 Have I done the math correctly that the 632 engine is 10.2 liters? What would an engine like that be used for? High performance power boats? For what else?
October 21st, 2021 at 2:32 pm
On the green steel; Will we ever get away from using the false term “fossil fuels”? Oil and gas are organic and contain no fossils. Plankton and algae really are the originators of oil and gas not dinosaurs.
October 21st, 2021 at 2:33 pm
@TESLA: what an American success story. I am very happy they have made it this far and are now posting good financial results.
October 21st, 2021 at 2:37 pm
9 Yep is a high rev-ing big block. Shares the block with the 572 crate motor but increased the bore and stroke. Bore is like .040 over and they increased stroke by .375 I believe.
Who would think a big block with a 7000 RPM redline.
October 21st, 2021 at 2:57 pm
9 It’s probably primarily for some types of drag racing.
October 21st, 2021 at 2:58 pm
@Sean, on green steel. You mentioned green steel is made using renewable energy sources, wind and solar power. I believe hydropower is currently probably the most important renewable source used for such an application. Just like it is for producing aluminum.
October 21st, 2021 at 3:00 pm
@12 wow
October 21st, 2021 at 3:01 pm
@13 yes, that makes sense. I had not thought about that.
October 21st, 2021 at 3:02 pm
12
7000 rpm would be quite high for an engine that big. GM says it will do more than 200 drag strip runs, 50 miles, so it doesn’t last very long if you run it to 7000 rpm. Probably most of them will end up in street rods, and rarely see more than 3000 rpm.
October 21st, 2021 at 3:17 pm
a 632 copo camaro for the street,I’d buy one…lol
October 21st, 2021 at 4:10 pm
18 It might need to be a 25 year old Camaro to be legal, but would be cool.
October 21st, 2021 at 8:59 pm
Tesla teases MBA business schools:
Revenue was up 57%
profit of $1.6 billion
margin of 11.7%
sales were up 73% despite a chip shortage
generated $3 billion in cash
paying down debt
MBAs are the bane of industry and seeing Tesla’s latest numbers is likely to get a mob of them to think ‘building EVs is easy and makes a bunch of money.’ But they are NOT Elon educated.
They’ll grab a bunch of capital and setup junk EV car assembly lines and wonder ‘Where are the customers?’ It is really hard to make an EV from scratch but it takes technical insights the MBAs lack.
October 21st, 2021 at 9:18 pm
#7XA351 gt, Tesla #s are delivered cars, as in sold to owners, direct sales and no dealers that will hold the car, so those are completed cars, and in driveways.
On the subject of Megacasts, those are like the subframe on each end, where suspensions and the Drive motors Bolt on to, it simplifies assembly,eliminating dozens of stampings and welding,possibly eliminate 30 welding robots as well, which occupy a lot of real estate in the factory floor, Sandy Munro explains this in Munro Live,and John McElroy has once said legacy Auto might have to adopt that technology to compete. Cycle rate for each Megacast piece is around 80 to 90seconds if I heard right. 40 to 45 completed castings per hour/ 1000 castings per day, look it up under Tesla Indra Giga Press.
October 22nd, 2021 at 4:10 am
Remarkable results from Tesla, the only other US car company with global sales, and attractive products that flow from a mission to make things e-tter (ouch).
Tesla still is fundamentally a mission and engineering-driven problem solver. With a stellar balance sheet too.
If ICEs go out with a bang, we’ll need every 632 we can get. It’s too late for Cadillac or Lincoln to build a V12, after all. While north of 10 liters is not even a third of a Spitfire Griffon engine’s displacement… 2239 cubic inches for the win.
What I’d like to know: is there any compelling reason to make LiFe battery cells cylindrical? The blade batteries that BYD designed seem perfect from a packaging standpoint.
Will watch AAH tonight, hopefully. Go Lyriq!
October 22nd, 2021 at 8:52 am
22 It always surprised me how much those V12 aero engines weigh. A Griffon weighs about 2000 pounds. They are big, though, and maybe the long steel crankshaft would, itself, weigh hundreds of pounds.
October 22nd, 2021 at 9:05 am
9) Literally the only real use is a drag car where the long term reliability of the motor is not a thing. They expect to replace engines frequently. If they didn’t have to replace the engines, the engines would be over-engineered, heavy, and the car slower than the competition.
There is no use of this engine in a street car. Unless people want to replace a $25,000 engine every 500 miles. It won’t stop some people with too much money from putting this engine in a street car for “bragging rights”.
October 22nd, 2021 at 9:37 am
24 Yeah, using that engine in a road car would be purely for bragging rights, but if you don’t routinely use the 1000 hp and rev it to 7 grand, it should be reliable enough. It would be thirsty, though.
October 22nd, 2021 at 10:16 am
23 Kit – I would have guessed more than that weight. The Rolls-Royce (there) Griffon had a hollow crankshaft!
I like to get some handle on stats, so that translates to 167 lb per 187 cubic inch cylinder, delivering at least 167 hp (it was a roughly 2000+ hp engine).
One of these days, someone will sneak in a modern build between 3D-printed rocket engines.
October 22nd, 2021 at 11:05 am
It says on the website that the GM engine is not for street use as it doesn’t meet emission requirements. However we all know that in areas that do not have emission testing it can find its way into a street car. Would be difficult to find a drivetrain that handle that much power without going into the race car bin. Would make a build pretty expensive.