AD #3298 – Test Drive Opinions: Hummer EV; The Chevy Bolt Is Back! (Finally); Porsche Invests In eFuels
April 7th, 2022 at 11:55am
Listen to “AD #3298 – Test Drive Opinions: Hummer EV; The Chevy Bolt Is Back! (Finally); Porsche Invests In eFuels” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 12:17
0:08 The Bolt Is Back! (Finally)
0:51 Toyota Runs Out of EV Credits
1:23 Manheim Tests EV Batteries
2:15 Biden Admin Meets with Auto Execs
3:50 Porsche Invests in eFuels
4:43 Civic Type R Sets Suzuka Lap Record
5:19 Bronco Raptor Gets New Digital Cluster
6:25 Test Drive Opinions: Hummer EV
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
THE BOLT IS BACK! (FINALLY)
It sure took a long time, but the Chevrolet Bolt EV is back in production. GM stopped making them last August after the company had to recall every single one because the batteries could catch fire. To kick off the relaunch, GM is rolling out a new ad campaign during Major League Baseball’s Opening Day. The company expects to break the Bolt’s sales record of 24,000 this year, and said that next year will be even better. Both the Bolt EV and EUV are getting price cuts of $5,000 and $3,000 respectively, to make them more competitive, since GM no longer qualifies for the $7,500 federal EV tax credit.
TOYOTA RUNS OUT OF EV CREDITS
And Toyota is next in line to run out of EV credits. Once an automaker sells 200,000 EVs and/or plug-ins, the credit starts to phase out. Toyota has sold 198,000 of them so it will run out of credits about the time its first in-house BEV, the bZ4X, hits the market in June. GM and Tesla have hit the cap, and Ford is getting mighty close.
MANHEIM TESTS EV BATTERIES
EV batteries last a long time. In fact, they keep 90% of their charge after 100,000 miles of driving. Manheim, which is the largest auction house for used cars in the United States, started testing batteries in EVs and hybrids before those cars started rolling down the auction lanes, so that buyers could be confident they were bidding on a car that would not need an expensive battery replacement. Last year Manheim auctioned off 102,000 EVs. Surprisingly, it forecasts that by 2030, 50% of the cars it auctions will be BEVs. Manheim tests the batteries for a number of things and rates them on a scale of 1 to 5. Most of them score a 4 or 4.5.
BIDEN ADMIN MEETS WITH AUTO EXECS
Wow, don’t you wish you could have been a fly on the wall listening in on this meeting? Yesterday representatives from the Biden Administration met with leaders of the auto industry, and it was a who’s who of executives. Reuters reports that Mary Barra from GM was there. So was Elon Musk. And Jim Farlely from Ford, as well as Carlos Tavares from Stellantis, and Peter Rawlinson from Lucid. Executives from Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai and Kia, Mazda and Subaru also attended. On the Administration’s side Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was there as well as Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy and Infrastructure Coordinator Mitch Landrieu. We don’t know what they all talked about but they did put out a statement: “there was broad consensus that charging stations and vehicles need to be interoperable and provide a seamless user experience, no matter what car you drive or where you charge your EV.” Sure sounds like that was directed at Tesla since it’s the only one with a different style of charger.
PORSCHE INVESTS IN EFUELS
eFuels or synthetic fuels may be the only way to save the piston engine because they don’t emit any CO2 emissions. That’s why Porsche is investing $75 million in a company in Chile called HIF Global to produce eFuels. Starting this year, HIF, along with Siemens Energy and ExxonMobil, will begin producing eFuels made from hydrogen and CO2 using wind energy. Porsche plans to use eFuels first in racing. In the future, it could use it to fuel up its vehicles at the factory and at Porsche Experience Centers. But don’t expect to find efuels at your local gas station anytime soon. Powertrain executives have told Autoline they expect that efuels will be quite expensive, and that availability will be quite limited.
CIVIC TYPE R SETS SUZUKA LAP RECORD
Sticking with internal combustion for the moment, Honda set a lap record for a front-wheel drive car in the all-new Civic Type R at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan. It did it in a little over 2 minutes and 23 seconds, which actually beats its own record. That was set by a Limited Edition version of the 2021 Civic Type R that features a number of lightweight components and special equipment. So, Honda says the new record shows improvements were made with the all-new Civic Type R. And you can look for it to make its debut this summer.
BRONCO RAPTOR GETS NEW DIGITAL CLUSTER
The new Bronco Raptor debuts Ford’s all-new digital instrument cluster. Its design and layout are different from everything else Ford offers and features a unique illustration for each drive mode. There’s all kinds of information drivers can choose from, including gear state and engine speed for people that like to off-road. The Bronco Raptor will be in showrooms this summer and we’d expect a similar display to make its way into other models.
TEST DRIVE OPINIONS: HUMMER EV
The GMC Hummer EV now has over 66,000 reservations, so there’s clearly some interest in the vehicle. But does it live up to the hype? We got the chance to drive one last week and now we can finally talk about it. These were Edition 1 models we drove, which means they featured the air-ride suspension system that’s used for things like Extract Mode, three electric motors that combine for 1,000 horsepower and 1,200 lb-ft of torque, all-wheel steering and the big 205 kWh battery pack. And this is a big truck to fit all that battery. Easily the size of other full-size pickups and significantly bigger than the Rivian R1T. But with all that big-ness the weight really starts to add up. The Edition 1 tips the scales at more than 9,000 pounds. While that is a whole lot and we wonder how well the tires will hold up over time, you don’t really feel that weight while driving. In fact, this is the best riding, i.e. the smoothest, pickup truck I have ever been in in my life. Chalk that up to the air suspension. It’s also the nimblest. That’s the 4-wheel steering, which can turn the rear tires up to 10-degrees. This is a god-send both on and off-road. The Hummer EV fits in spaces you’d never think were possible with a truck this big. It feels more like you’re driving a Honda Civic. 4-wheel steer also enables the truly unique Crab Walk mode, which allows the truck to move diagonally. It’s a trippy feeling and it’s almost like the truck is skating or sliding across the ground.
Another cool piece of technology in the Hummer is Super Cruise. This is GM’s hands-free highway driving system, but is the second-generation version, which now includes upgrades like automatic lane changes. Out of all the systems I’ve experienced, Autopilot a few years ago and Ford’s BlueCruise a few months ago, Super Cruise is the most intuitive to use and provides the best feedback to the driver, i.e. big, bright lights indicating when it’s operating and messages that tell you why it shut off. So, at this point, I hope you’re getting the impression that the Hummer has a lot to offer. But as you know, all those goodies add to the price and this is no cheap truck. The Edition 1 rings up at nearly $109,000. And as we said earlier in the show, GM no longer qualifies for federal EV tax credits, so that’s the price customers are going to pay. But here’s the thing, despite all I’ve said of this being the best riding, nimblest and having all that cool tech, I never once felt like I was in a $100,000 truck. The materials are really nice, but didn’t have that luxury feel. And same goes for the design of the interior. It looks more utilitarian than luxury. I also find its efficiency really disappointing. The Edition 1 provides 329 miles of range, which is pretty good and competitive with other EVs. But remember it has that big 24-module, 205-kWh battery pack. That means it only gets 1.6 miles per kWh. The really good EVs are over 4 and most are over 3 miles per kWh. But here’s the other thing. I think the people that actually buy this truck are going to love it. On top of all those good things I said before, the Hummer EV is big and bold and it provides you with an experience. People are willing to pay for experiences. For example, its launch mode, which is called Watts to Freedom. I’ve done a number of hard launches in other EVs and they all plant you back into the seat. But it’s kind of a lifeless experience without much sound or the vehicle doing much. Not the case with the Hummer. Bose especially tuned the sound system for each drive mode and Watts to Freedom is no different. It’s kind of like an outer space sound with a gutteral element added to it. Not only that but the suspension squats in the back, the front end lifts up and the big truck tires squawk as your head plants into the headrest and you rocket from 0-60 in roughly 3-seconds. It’s things like that that will have people loving this truck.
We invite you to join us for Autoline After Hours today with Daryl Adams, the CEO of the Shyft Group. That’s a company that makes specialty trucks and it’s developed an interesting electric van. Mark Williams, our colleague who covers trucks, will also be on the show. John and Gary will also be getting into the news behind the headlines. So join them for some of the best insights into what’s going on in the automotive industry.
But that’s a wrap for this show. Thanks for joining us.
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Comments (31)
April 7th, 2022 at 12:15 pm
So GM is proving my point that the Government EV incentive was just a bonus profit for the manufacturer. They lost the government incentive and can magically drop the price of the Bolt $3,000-5,000.
Glad our tax dollars that posed as incentives to help buyers really just padded the bottom line of the manufacturers.
April 7th, 2022 at 12:19 pm
The battery efficiency is likely due to the immense weight of the Hummer. 9000 pounds is a lot of mass to move compared to say a Model S with half the mass. Takes a lot of power to move 9000 pounds of dry weight. I thought the Model S with the weight of a full size pick up truck was a portly fellow. Along comes the Hummer to blow right on by that go deep into the super obese category.
April 7th, 2022 at 12:20 pm
I’m sure the Hummer EV does just fine in crash tests into a wall or other stationary objects. What I would like to see, is use another vehicle like the Civic type R in your other story and lets see how they fair crashing into each other. 9000lbs is ridiculous and anyone that understands mass in motion (inertia) will know those in the Civic will not fair well.
April 7th, 2022 at 12:24 pm
9000 pounds!?!? No wonder the Hummer has such poor efficiency. That’s almost 3 times what my Golf weighs, and double a Model Y. SUVs are terrible to drive in general, but I can’t imagine trying to pilot that monstrosity, regardless of the fancy steering.
April 7th, 2022 at 12:27 pm
The Hummer is designed for the customer that wants to say mine is BIGGER, BADDER, and FASTER than yours!
April 7th, 2022 at 12:27 pm
3) That curb weight really is ridiculous. The Ford F550 curb weight is 8000 pounds. The F550 requires a CDL to pilot. But sure, we can put a heavier vehicle that accelerates quicker in the hands of the general public. The general public has no clue how to handle both massive weight vehicles nor how to handle super fast vehicles. Last I looked that was not covered on any drivers training classes when these people were teenagers. Not a great time to be someone driving a Chevrolet Spark.
April 7th, 2022 at 12:28 pm
I find it fascinating that GM is able to conjure up a great driving experience for the Hummer.
Is this new to them? It seems that way. Aside from a few new Cadillacs a “great driving experience “ seemed to be a foreign concept to GM
April 7th, 2022 at 12:29 pm
3 – take a look at how a passenger car fares against a heavy truck and you won’t far off. A bobtail Volvo day cab weighs about 9600 and would destroy a Civic without missing a beat.
April 7th, 2022 at 12:36 pm
1.With the cost of raw materials to make batteries more than doubling in the last year, GM is probably losing money on every Bolt. So why reduce the price? GM needs the ZEV credits from every EV they sell to offsite the ICE vehicles they sell.
A ZEV credit was estimated to be worth $3,300, which placed a value of $2.1 billion on Tesla’s current ZEV credit balance in California alone.
April 7th, 2022 at 1:38 pm
6 Good point and something I see every winter those folks with 4WD do get great traction to get going in the snow and ice. However 4WD does nothing for stopping. I cant imagine trying to stop 9000lbs on ice. Just pray your not in its path.
April 7th, 2022 at 1:49 pm
Don’t demise the old 6,000 Hummer H2!
https://youtu.be/16jYf0kj0vg
April 7th, 2022 at 1:53 pm
GM Bolt costs vs Tesla/Toyota Prius.
https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1110563_chevy-bolt-ev-costs-28700-to-build-tesla-model-3-a-bit-higher-analysis
April 7th, 2022 at 1:53 pm
9 Yes GM might be losing money on each Bolt for the purpose of gaining ZEV credits. However those ZEV credits have had a value that no doubt was factored into the price of the Bolt, regardless of the tax incentive. My point was someone looked at those numbers and decided it made sense to drop the price 3-5K to retain sales numbers.
Which tells me there is a price with margin or at a loss that GM has determined each Bolt sales is worth to them including the ZEV credit. However when tax credits go away to the consumer the price just drops while battery materials go up. Tells me the tax incentive is a cushion to manufacture EVs. Not just for the consumer.
April 7th, 2022 at 2:14 pm
If Autoline is correct in their thoughts that the meeting was to put pressure on Tesla to share their charging stations with the others . I hope Musk told them to stick where the sun doesn’t shine. Tesla spent the money to set up install their charging infrastructure and unless they charge the hell out of the others they should be able to keep it exclusive to themselves. This probably a big reason tesla showed little to no profit at first spending the money to design and install all their chargers , why the hell should they share or give anything to the others. Another example of this administrations hard left turn to socialism.
April 7th, 2022 at 2:17 pm
so in true Hummer tradition does it get 6 miles to the charge ?
April 7th, 2022 at 2:59 pm
If standardizing a plug is now socialism then I guess the entire world is such. Let’s keep the rhetoric to a dull roar please.
April 7th, 2022 at 3:06 pm
I just plugged my phone into its socialistic USB charger.
April 7th, 2022 at 3:11 pm
16 I don’t think it was the standardizing of charging plugs that XA351GT was referring to. It was the huge expense Tesla has foregone to provide a charging network that is partially why Tesla is way ahead of the competition. A huge expense that our government didn’t seem to be interested in providing. Putting pressure on them to allow other to now use that network could be viewed a socialism and far from rhetoric.
April 7th, 2022 at 3:17 pm
You couldn’t use the Hummer around here with spring time road weight limits.
Interesting to watch someone take it ice fishing. It could be an expensive dip.
April 7th, 2022 at 3:37 pm
Using amortization formulas, it’s easy to show whatever the manufacturer wants to show about profitability. After 5 years GM has written off all the R&D and fixtures to make the Bolt. They are making a profit on them because they haven’t changed.
I read that Tesla was originally part of the CCS working group but I believe left in frustration.
When Tesla started shipping to Europe, European governments had already specified one plug design, so all cars use the same plug there.
Standardization here at this point is going to be more expensive and somebody (us taxpayers) are going to foot the bill. Should have been done 15 years ago.
Personally, I don’t see it as a communist plot.
April 7th, 2022 at 3:37 pm
14,18 So how is this any different than the government making AT&T share their telephone lines across the country with all the new start up phone companies back in the 1980s? Just history repeating itself, and back then it was under a Republican administration, the so-called party of big business and good old Saint Ronnie. Or are you too young to remember such times?
April 7th, 2022 at 3:44 pm
7 GM has a number of cars that provide a great driving experience. I have one, a C8 Corvette. Camaros also drive very well, as do both Cadillac sedans, even in their most basic, non-V versions.
April 7th, 2022 at 3:51 pm
14 It would be a good deal for Tesla to share charging stations, up to a point. There are 8 “superchargers” in Kokomo, Indiana, and I’ve never seen more than one in use at a time. It would make Tesla money to sell expensive electricity to drivers of other cars. They certainly wouldn’t want to “share,” though, if it resulted in Tesla owners having to wait in line to charge their cars.
April 7th, 2022 at 4:03 pm
Was Electrify America, ChargePoint, and EVgo at the meeting? Were there anyone from the ‘standards’ societies there?
No mention of non-Tesla chargers means the EV makers need to take ownership of their non-Tesla providers. The ‘standards’ committees really screwed up both J1772 and CCS-1. For example, J1772 is similar in shape but does not have a credible, fast DC charging capability that the Tesla does.
Fix J1772 and the rest will follow. As for that Frankenpulg, CCS-1, the sooner it dies the better. It is a horrible design.
April 7th, 2022 at 5:05 pm
Sean. You did not need to tell us you enjoyed the Hummer launch test. The look on your face said it all.
April 7th, 2022 at 6:37 pm
The new Hummer, like the H1 and H2, is a disgusting hazard to other road users, but GM’s selling it won’t keep me from buying other GM products that are more appealing to me. Maybe someone else sells something as disgusting as a “personal use” vehicle. I guess I can’t think of it, though.
April 7th, 2022 at 9:13 pm
If I ever have an EV, I will probably charge it mostly with those “socialist” 120 and 240 volt outlets that are used universally in the US.
April 7th, 2022 at 10:28 pm
The Cyber Rodeo video (see link) is long yet seldom boring.
April 8th, 2022 at 8:12 am
Regarding the EV charging network, didnt the government require that all cell phones and electric devices, have the same plug port type?! While it might be expensive for Tesla to change, they are just going to add it to the price to use there charges, right? The more folks that use their network, the more it covers their costs and an additional revenue stream for them! They instantly become not just the biggest name in BEVs, but also in universal charging network. How is that a problem for them?!
Regarding the Hummer, as impressive as the vehicle is, what interesting to me is what that will mean for the Chevy versions (remember this Hummer is NOT a pick-up, it’s an SUV with the rear storage area cut off and extended!). The Silverado WT will probably not have all the batteries that the H1 have and there for not as much weight. If they could reduce the weight by a third or half and still get close to 300 miles of range, I can see why GM is so proud of their new electric architecture.
April 8th, 2022 at 8:28 am
21 Because AT&T basically held a monopoly on the phone lines from 1885 to 1982 and it only changed because of Cable TV and other companies wanted to use the poles for delivering Cable lines which could also later provide phone service. Don’t get me wrong I’m all for a standardized plug and if the rest of the auto industry adopts something different than Tesla it creates redundancy and the need for even more charging stations. However I also feel that Tesla shouldn’t be forced into sharing its charging network. As many pointed out, it could be very lucrative to Tesla as I also see many charging stations not being used.
My question would be how smart are these charging stations? Not everything can be charged at the same rate and voltage. So if for any reason there is a fire during charging is it the vehicle manufacturers fault or owner of the charging station? Which is why I could see Elon being reluctant to share his chargers.
April 8th, 2022 at 8:41 am
26 I’m with you. I’m not a fan of the Hummer EV but that doesn’t turn me off to GM.
Its just quite funny how the EV market has changed in such a short time.
1)EVs first started as gas alternatives econ-box great for the environment.
2)manufacturers soon learned consumers wont pay 50K for an Econo box and Tesla lauched the model S.
3)Everyone took note that an EV can be normal sized Sedan and sports car quick.
4) Sedans were falling out of favor as larger EV sedans were being launched so they still didn’t sell well.
5) Then they realized trucks and SUVs had the margin room to make an EV in a similar price range and package a battery easier.
6) So here we are with 6-9k lb EVs that are really nothing about the saving the environment other than lowering carbon emissions. Far from small, light, economical, or cheap to build.
7) Now a shortage of raw materials to make batteries will likely keep them from being cost competitive. So we will have a bunch of very large heavy and expensive EVs that most consumers cannot afford. And they’ll wonder why EVs are just not taking off like in China.