Listen to “AD #3275 – U.S. Gasoline Prices Soar; Elon Musk Demands More Oil and Gas Production; Detroit 3 Profits Threatened” on Spreaker.
Follow us on social media:
Runtime: 9:50
0:08 Russian Invasion Sends Gasoline Prices Soaring
0:48 Palladium Prices Shoot Up 79%
1:13 Detroit Three Profits Threatened
1:41 Elon Musk Calls for More Oil & Gas Production
3:01 Cradle-To-Grave: BEV Far Cleaner Than ICE
4:36 Cars & Trucks with Best Resale Value
5:25 Stellantis To Make Ethanol Hybrid
5:56 Peek Inside VW’s ID. Buzz
6:53 ELMS Runs into Real Problems
7:50 Battery Swapping in China Attracts Bosch
8:29 Continental Makes Video Screens Disappear
Visit our sponsors to thank them for their support of Autoline Daily: Bridgestone, Intrepid Control Systems and Schaeffler.
This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
RUSSIAN INVASION SENDS GASOLINE PRICES SOARING
The Russian invasion of Ukraine is sending oil prices higher than they’ve been in over a decade. And that means everyone is going to be paying more at the pump. In the U.S. gasoline now costs over $4 a gallon on average. That’s the highest it’s been since 2008, and 40 cents more than just a week ago. In many places in California it’s over $5 a gallon. And prices could go even higher. Legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives to ban the import of Russian oil. Roughly 8% of U.S. liquid fuel imports come from Russia.
PALLADIUM PRICES SHOOT UP 79%
And it’s not just oil that’s going up. The price of palladium, which is needed in catalytic converters, is skyrocketing. Russia produces 25-30% of the global supply of palladium. At the beginning of the year, an ounce of palladium cost $1,900. Now it costs over $3,400 an ounce and that is an all-time record.
DETROIT THREE PROFITS THREATENED
Here’s our Autoline Insight. Soaring oil prices are a real threat to automakers who rely heavily on pickups and SUVs. Sales of those vehicles always slow down dramatically when gasoline prices go up quickly. That could be a real problem for General Motors, Ford, Stellantis and even Toyota. Those companies need the profits from those big vehicles to pay for their investments in EVs.
ELON MUSK CALLS FOR MORE OIL & GAS PRODUCTION
Meanwhile, none other than Elon Musk is calling on the United States to immediately start increasing oil and natural gas production. “Extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures,” he tweeted out. He also said “Obviously, this would negatively affect Tesla, but sustainable energy solutions simply cannot react instantaneously to make up for Russian oil & gas exports.” With the war in Ukraine showing no signs of slowing down, and the global backlash against Russia only intensifying, we think Elon is right. Extraordinary times demand extraordinary measures.
CRADLE-TO-GRAVE: BEV FAR CLEANER THAN ICE
Maybe this will end the argument about whether BEVs are cleaner than ICE vehicles. According to a new study from Ford and the University of Michigan light-duty BEVs “have approximately 64% lower cradle-to-grave life cycle greenhouse gas emissions than (ICE) vehicles on average…” in the U.S. Researchers looked at three different 2020 powertrain options – ICE, hybrid and battery electric – from midsize sedans and SUVs and full-size pickups, taking into account vehicle production, fuel economy, annual mileage, vehicle lifetime as well as regional differences in the electricity grid and outside temperatures. They found that the more you go up in vehicle size, the bigger impact it has on reducing emissions. For example, replacing an ICE pickup with a BEV pickup saves 74 metric tons of carbon dioxide over the lifetime of the vehicles, compared to 45 metric tons if you did the same switch with a midsize sedan. And here’s something else we found really interesting. We know EV manufacturing produces more emissions because battery making is so energy intensive, but it only takes an electric sedan 1.2 to 1.3 years to offset those emissions. It takes an SUV 1.4 to 1.6 years and a truck will reach its breakeven point in 1.3 years.
CARS & TRUCKS WITH BEST RESALE VALUE
Detroit automakers are doing a good job of producing vehicles with good resale value. Six of the top 10 vehicles in Kelley Blue Book’s best resale value list for 2022 are from Detroit automakers. The models are the Chevy Corvette, GMC Sierra, Jeep Gladiator, Ford F-Series, Maverick and Ranger. And the non-Detroit vehicles are the Tesla Model X, Toyota Tacoma, 4Runner and Tundra. Toyota is the number one brand for resale value and Lexus is the top luxury brand. KBB says the average 2022 model year vehicle will retain 43% of its value after five years, while the models in the top ten will retain 56% or more.
STELLANTIS TO MAKE ETHANOL HYBRID
Stellantis is going to launch a bunch of new models in South America over the next few years, including a number of hybrid and electric vehicles. And Reuters reports one of those hybrids could use an engine powered by ethanol. It would be offered in Brazil sometime around 2025. Brazil has had 100% ethanol engines for decades, thanks to government policies to produce ethanol as a fuel. And the idea is starting to gain traction in other areas, like India.
PEEK INSIDE VW’S ID. BUZZ
Volkswagen’s new electric van, the ID. BUZZ, will be fully revealed on Wednesday, but it’s showing off a little more of the interior now. It talks about how it will feature sustainable materials, outlines of the van molded right into plastic panels and even winking smiley faces on some pieces. But we also see a little bit of the design with background lighting that comes in 30 colors or the two-tone paint theme that’s carried through to the seat panels, dash pad and door trim. Some of you may even notice some influence from the classic T1 camper van.
ELMS RUNS INTO REAL PROBLEMS
ELMS, or Electric Last Mile Solutions, is really struggling. The EV startup is going to lay off one out of every four employees. Its two co-founders, Jim Taylor and Jason Luo, resigned over questionable stock purchases. We heard well over a month ago that the company had stopped paying contract engineers. Here’s our Autoline Insight. The biggest problem ELMS ran into is that it imports truck cabs and frames from China, and you can’t put very many of them in a shipping container. Ever since Covid hit, the cost of shipping containers has skyrocketed. In fact, it’s very difficult to even get shipping containers. So if ELMS can’t assemble electric trucks in volume it has no cash flow. And with no cash flow it has to start laying off employees.
BATTERY SWAPPING IN CHINA ATTRACTS BOSCH
Battery swapping for EVs is getting a lot more interest from companies in China. And now Bosch, Mitsubishi and a Chinese company called Blue Park Smart Energy are joining forces to offer a battery-as-a-service business model. The service will be offered to fleets, and to finance companies which would lease the batteries. Blue Park makes the swapping machines, Bosch will supply cloud-based battery management and diagnostics, and Mitsubishi Corporation, not Mitsubishi Motors, has extensive experience in commercializing battery maintenance.
CONTINENTAL MAKES VIDEO SCREENS DISAPPEAR
Car designers are going for a cleaner, simpler look to the interior. So Continental developed a way to blend video screens right into the trim on an instrument panel. They call it Shy-Tech. When it’s off, the displays are invisible. All you see is the trim on the instrument panel. But they can immediately display a variety of things such as large navigation maps, or the speedometer, or even for a video that passengers can watch for fun. Continental says it can offer designers almost any color or pattern of trim they want, including wood, carbon fiber or leather. And the display can even run the entire length of the IP. The idea is to clean up the interior design by integrating video displays into the trim instead of having a bunch of black screens embedded in the instrument panel.
But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for tuning in.
Thanks to our partner for embedding Autoline Daily on its website: WardsAuto.com
Seamus and Sean McElroy cover the latest news in the automotive industry for Autoline Daily.