AD #3310 – It’s Official: The Electric Corvette!; Lithium Shortage Threat To EV Market; Russia Lies About VW
April 25th, 2022 at 11:55am
Listen to “AD #3310 – It’s Official: The Electric Corvette!; Lithium Shortage Threat To EV Market; Russia Lies About VW” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 10:40
0:08 It’s Official: The Electric Corvette!
1:05 Lithium Shortage Threat to EV Market
2:09 April Sales Sag
2:39 U.S. Trucking Slows Dramatically
4:00 Audi Figuring Out How to Recycle Glass
5:21 Nissan Makes AV Progress
6:13 Russia Lies About VW Production
7:34 Nio Battery Costs
8:31 Control Your House from Your BMW
8:59 Fiat Topolino Could Make Comeback as EV
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
IT’S OFFICIAL: THE ELECTRIC CORVETTE!
GM dropped the bombshell this morning we’ve all been waiting for. An all-electric Corvette based on the Ultium platform is on the way. Even more, it looks like it will be the first all-wheel-drive Vette. Mark Reuss, GM’s president posted on LinkedIn that the Ultium Platform’s energy recovery system, a patented onboard system that takes the heat generated by EV batteries and uses it to warm the cabin, creates more efficient charging conditions, increases vehicle acceleration, and boosts range by about 10%. He says it’s a perfect example of how developing a ground-up EV platform like Ultium enables unique features not easily done with a retrofit.
LITHIUM SHORTAGE THREAT TO EV MARKET
As exciting as an electric Corvette is, the auto industry could be teetering on the brink of an EV crisis. There just is not enough lithium to make EV batteries. Prices jumped 280% last year and then doubled again in the first quarter of this year. Just last week Elon Musk and RJ Scaringe from Rivian warned there could be a shortage of lithium. And Bloomberg quotes lithium expert Joe Lowry as saying that demand is outstripping supply. He points out that while you can build a battery plant in two years, it takes up to a decade to bring new lithium mining and production up to speed. He says just look at the shortage of lithium we have right now with only 10% global EV market share. As automakers try to ramp up EV production, the shortage will only get worse. And while it will not get resolved this decade, he says it will start to look better after that.
APRIL SALES SAG
New car and truck sales in the US market in April are way down from a year ago. Wards Intelligence predicts that automakers will sell 1.2 million vehicles, far below the 1.9 million they sold last April. The SAAR will drop to only 14 million units, down from 18.3 million. And Wards says the biggest drops are coming from Honda, Toyota and Nissan and in that order.
U.S. TRUCKING SLOWS DRAMATICALLY
Even worse, the trucking industry in the US is slowing down dramatically. According to transportation data company FreightWaves, demand in trucking dropped sharply since early March and rates in the spot market, which handles on-demand trucking jobs, are also falling. It’s all because people are buying fewer things online. At the same time, fuel prices are surging. A few years ago, it used to cost 25 to 30 cents per mile to run a truck. Now it costs $1 per mile. The Wall Street Journal reports that trucking can be a leading economic indicator, and a fast drop off like this could be a signal that a recession is around the corner.
AUDI FIGURING OUT HOW TO RECYCLE GLASS
Audi says it wants to use secondary materials or recycled or used materials everywhere it can. And that applies to one area of the vehicle you probably don’t normally think of: the glass. On average about 90% of a vehicle’s content can be profitably recycled, except for most of the plastic and the glass. Glass doesn’t get recycled because of tinting, lamination and defrosting wires. Audi wants to change that. It’s launching a pilot project that will test the feasibility of turning damaged glass back into new windows for vehicles. First, select dealers will send in damaged glass from customer vehicles that’s broken up into small pieces to be processed. Then things like glue, plastic layers and heating wire are removed. Audi says it also might recycle the plastic layers in the future. But smashed glass granulate is finally sent to another location where 30- to 50% is used to make a new pane of automotive glass. That results in a 30% reduction in carbon dioxide compared to making new glass. Audi says the project will last for a year and if it’s successful it will start making windows for the A4 e-tron this way.
NISSAN MAKES AV PROGRESS
Nissan is showing off the progress of its autonomous vehicles. It demonstrated its latest AV performing safety maneuvers at a test facility in Japan. The car features radar, cameras and Lidar supplied by Luminar, which Nissan says it uses to create accurate, real-time information about the vehicle’s environment to enhance collision avoidance. But while it’s showing off the safety aspects of its system and doesn’t share what level it’s capable of, with a sensor array as extensive as the one Nissan is using it would suggest to us that it’s looking at a system that’s at least Level 3+, where the vehicle can do most of the driving. And that would make sense based on its timeline. Nissan doesn’t expect to complete development until the middle of the decade.
RUSSIA LIES ABOUT VW PRODUCTION
Looks like Russia is making up more lies. It put out reports that Volkswagen is trying to get around sanctions so it can continue making cars in Russia. But Volkswagen denies the Russian reports. VW suspended production in Russia and stopped all imports and exports to and from the country in early March in order to comply with sanctions. A Russian media report said VW could resume production this summer and that it is considering importing components to Russia through Turkey and Georgia. A VW spokesperson said the claims are false and that “there are no plans by Volkswagen Group Russia to import parts through other countries.”
NIO BATTERY COSTS
To give you an idea of what batteries cost, at least at retail, we’ve got some handy information from NIO. As you probably know, you can lease batteries for your NIO EV in China. Instead of paying for the cost of the battery up front, you pay a monthly lease fee. And then NIO cuts the price of the car by taking out the cost of the battery. So if you buy a NIO with a 70 kilowatt hour battery, they knock nearly $10,859 off the price. If you get a car with a 100-kilowatt hour battery they knock $19,840 off the price. In other words, on a kilowatt hour basis, you’re paying $155 per kilowatt hour for the smaller battery and $198 for the bigger one. The monthly fee for the 70-kilowatt hour battery is $150 a month and the 100 kwh one costs $230 a month.
CONTROL YOUR HOUSE FROM YOUR BMW
BMW i4 owners with the latest operating system can now control their Bosch Smart Home devices while driving using Apple CarPlay and the Siri voice assistant. So, no buttons to push. Users just have to say “Hey Siri.” This allows them to adjust the lights or temperature at home as well as make sure doors are locked and open or close windows.
FIAT TOPOLINO COULD MAKE COMEBACK AS EV
The original Fiat 500 is also commonly called the Topolino, which translates from Italian to “little mouse.” But that nickname means so much and had such a big impact that it could be making a comeback. And it would all be thanks to the Citroen Ami. Stellantis is trying to maximize the tiny, all-electric platform of the Ami by stretching it across multiple brands. Opel has one, called the Rocks-e. And it looks like Fiat will get one soon, too. The Ami has 75 kilometers or 47 miles of range and because it can be classified as a quadricycle in some markets it can be driven by people as young as 14.
WILL GEAR HEADS REALLY GO ELECTRIC?
Dodge says the next generation of Charger and Challenger will go all electric. Ferrari and Lamborghini are working on their first electric cars. And other performance brands are undoubtedly doing the same. But will hard-core gearheads really go for whisper quiet performance cars? Will they truly give up the exhilaration of the exhaust note? That’s the topic for this week’s Autoline After Hours, coming this Thursday.
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Comments (31)
April 25th, 2022 at 12:27 pm
Seems crazy that it took GM forever to go mid-engine and now that its here it will be replaced by an EV platform. Or will they produce both?
Hum raise gas prices, start paying $20 an hour to fast food joints and the price of almost everything goes up, then wonder why people are spending less and staying home more. Better get a top economist on this puzzle.
So if you have your home connected to your BMW then the valet can have access to your home while in possession of your car?
April 25th, 2022 at 12:33 pm
Not reported in Autoline’s presentation but in the news release on the upcoming electrified C8′s is that it will be offered as electric assisted AND all electric (Ultium) as well as continuing with ICE engines of various ‘dimension’.
April 25th, 2022 at 12:52 pm
i wonder how a corvette will do on a autocross or road race course with all that extra battery weight ??
April 25th, 2022 at 1:09 pm
Sean, In those battery swapping stations in China, has anyone said how many ‘spare’ batteries each station will have? If it’s many per station and many stations, you have to think that swapping can only make the battery materials shortage a lot worse. Maybe they should can the swapping idea and just use those batteries to keep the production line running.
April 25th, 2022 at 1:14 pm
Also, has anyone calculated how small a gas engine a PHEV could get away with? If the battery was used for all acceleration and gas used only for steady speeds and recharging, I would expect a Prius sized car could get away with a 10 or 20 hp gas engine; maybe 200cc. Might be a good stopgap until lithium production catches up to demand.
April 25th, 2022 at 1:19 pm
I saw information on electrified assist in 2023 – Have not seen any projected timing on full BEV.
April 25th, 2022 at 1:31 pm
@Kevin A – I didn’t know, but according to an article I read, they have anywhere from 5 to 13 batteries. Battery swapping has been pushed in China because many consumers don’t have access to “at home” or “overnight” charging. There’s still a lot of questions of whether or not it’s a viable service, including the one you raised. But it may be that it only makes sense in certain environments.
April 25th, 2022 at 1:39 pm
5. The BMW i3 had a small 34hp 0.6L engine to keep the car going after the battery was depleted. It failed to catch on I think mainly because of the small EV range and the 1.9 gallon gas tank. Talk about crippling the range, both EV and gas!
April 25th, 2022 at 2:07 pm
Well speaking for myself , I can tell you I’ll never view a EV as a Musclecar . We spoke about this earlier that to me those vehicles are a sensory overload. EV’s can only scratch a little of that itch. I want the noise and the smells and the vibrations that a lumpy V8 gives. I don’t care how fast of a glorified golf cart it is. The township I live in is having a community day with a car show for EVs only . I can’t wait to see all those pink Barbie Power Wheels lined up.
April 25th, 2022 at 2:11 pm
This gear head already electric, not giving up my ICE Corvette till the new one is in hand. Lithium shortage? I’ll just say 200 years ago aluminum was the most expensive metal on the planet only to be used by the finest royalty. Nickel, manganese and cobalt they will definitely in short supply. Saw John driving Plaid S on Munro Live don’t think I’ve seen a bigger smile!By the way how many super smart people are working on batteries to make them better faster smarter cheaper. How many expect to be using the same computer in 10 years? Battery swapping how much mechanical damage with every swap?
April 25th, 2022 at 2:12 pm
Lambo if GM is smart they better produce both and let the public decide which they want or else it’ll R.I.P. Corvette. I’m glad my Dad won’t have to see that happen. Some of my fondest memories were sitting in his roaring 67 convertible with a balanced and blueprinted 327 small block turning nearly 9 grand at redline. 4 Speed with a 456 rear gear was like being launched off a aircraft carrier steam catapult. Oh and glorius noise roaring from those gutted side pipes .
April 25th, 2022 at 2:24 pm
#8 – Actually we kept the BMW i3-REx and traded in the Prius Prime because it had too little battery. I had a daily, 20 mile work commute and the Prime only had 5 miles of EV range. The BMW had 52 miles which was enough to handle ordinary daily driving. EV range is critical in a PHEV.
On cross country, we coded the BMW to have 2.3 gallons of gas, up from 1.9 which meant driving like a motorcycle cross country trip. After an hour and fifteen minutes, we’d pull into a truck stop, bathroom break, and add 2.3 gallons for the next segment. Easily, less than 5 minutes if in a hurry. The engine was strong enough to maintain 70 mph without dipping into the battery. In contrast, the Prime forced biology breaks even when gas was not needed.
April 25th, 2022 at 2:25 pm
5,8 It would probably take ~40 hp, to make a Prius size car go a continuous 80 mpg, if the engine is connected directly to the wheels at highway speed. From what I can find, and i3 REx has about a 70 mph continuous speed with the battery depleted, using only the motor-generator. The i3 in gas mode has all of the loss of the generator and motor, in addition to the gearing from the motor to the wheels.
April 25th, 2022 at 2:26 pm
#12 – Correction, “the Pr9me 25 mile EV only had 5 miles available for other errands.” A PHEV needs cat least twice the normal, daily EV range.
April 25th, 2022 at 2:28 pm
I’ve been reading that there will be a hybrid 4wd Corvette in the next year or two. It will have a gas-electric hybrid system of some sort for the rear wheels, and will have an electric motor for the front wheels. I suspect there will be ICE, hybrid, and later, BEV Corvettes simultaneously, at least for a few years.
April 25th, 2022 at 2:35 pm
Could sodium be used in place of lithium for batteries? There is a lot of it, and it is just like lithium, only a little heavier.
April 25th, 2022 at 2:49 pm
12,14 Between Prius Prime, i3 REx, and Volt, the i3 is the best EV, the Prime is the best hybrid when running on gas, and the Volt is in between. The Prime is really not a very good EV, because the gas engine will run, even with a full battery, if you ask for much power.
https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find.do?action=sbs&id=40924&id=43746&id=44362
April 25th, 2022 at 3:16 pm
Fiat Topolino AA/FA
April 25th, 2022 at 3:27 pm
Sean,
I think that press release has been unintentionally misleading. The Corvette hybrid is being introduced but the eventual fully electric Corvette will be on the Ultium platform. Mark Reuss could likely be referring to the C9.
April 25th, 2022 at 3:46 pm
16 – Kit, I think you are right on the money. I have read several articles about sodium-based solid state batteries that are nearing production. Together with ramping up lithium production at existing plants and mines will probably get us through the crisis with only some inflated lithium prices for awhile.
I recall articles in the early 80′s citing proven reserves of petroleum running out by the late 90′s. Even though our consumption increased significantly, the fact that they kept finding and drilling new reserves meant that we have not run out of gas yet. I suspect the same principle will apply to lithium.
April 25th, 2022 at 3:49 pm
I laugh to myself every time I see an ad or article about controlling things like houselights, locks, thermostat, etc. from your car or phone. It looks very gee whiz. What they never tell you is how much additional electronic crap you have to buy, install and program in order for that gee whiz moment to be possible. Every item needs a controller and you need a master control unit or “home” that coordinates it all and connects to your phone.
Don’t even get me started on the hacking potential. I am fine with using the old fashioned light switch.
April 25th, 2022 at 3:57 pm
11 Yeah I hope they ease into electrifying the Corvette. With a vehicle that already has limited storage space and extra weight is always a negative, I’m not sure a hybrid will do much. I expect the Hybrid to be for limited launch uses and decrease the 0-60 times. Basically be a performance improvement, but not really much for MPG or handling.
The question posed by Sean and if gearheads will go for the whisper quiet BEVs. Sure! You’ll always have a group that are after the speed, and that alone is all they need. However I think there are enough purists that enjoy the whole package of a fuel automotive experience. Same guys that turn off traction control cause the smell of burning rubber is part of the experience. I recently saw a video of a guy who took his wife to a top fuel drag race for the first time. She even had ear muffs on but her reaction when that car launched. The sound is not only deafening but you feel it in your chest. Its that experience that speed alone cannot replicate.
Personally I remember my first car at 16 with a 350 V8 and 2 barrel carb. So not super fast but one day the exhaust had finally given out and I went from a stock exhaust to strait pipes in a single push of the pedal. The car wasn’t really any faster but it sure felt like it. It sounded faster too. It was ridiculous and I did get it fixed, but for a couple days it was obnoxiously fun. Just something you don’t forget and I just cant imagine what sounds little kids will make playing with there Hotwheels. Buzzzzz whirlllll
April 25th, 2022 at 4:07 pm
it is just a plan to sell stock in GM and have it known as a tech company not a car builder of ICE engined vehicles. everyone is looking to invest into the next tesla.
April 25th, 2022 at 4:16 pm
19 Here’s an AW article. Yeah, the EV would be a C9, or C10, but it sounds like the hybrid might arrive soon. I doubt that I’ll be in the market for either.
https://www.autoweek.com/news/future-cars/a39813395/chevrolet-corvette-hybrid-confirmed/?source=nl&utm_source=nl_aut&utm_medium=email&date=042522&utm_campaign=nl27485604&utm_term=AAA%20–%20High%20Minus%20Dormant%20and%2090%20Day%20Non%20Openers
April 25th, 2022 at 4:37 pm
@ #21 all that connected tech gives me too much of a Orwell vibe. I’m not that lazy that I can’t turn on a light from a switch. Also you can use motion detector or timer controls which I do for certain things. I avoid any connection to the web for those kind of things. I see the ads for home surveilance systems that have cameras inside your house connected to the web or cloud or whatever the hell they use and there is no way I’m letting that in the house. It’s bad enough a lot of theses smart appliances are always listening and some claim watching as it is.
April 25th, 2022 at 5:30 pm
25 I don’t use any of it. I work my light switches manually.
April 25th, 2022 at 7:37 pm
At least we can for the most part be certain, that the BEV Corvette will not be an SUV or CUV! LOL
While an EV Vette might not have some of the frills and thrills of the ICE Classic, IMHO, there could still be a lot to love about it. It may look the same, but it will most definitely not drive the same! Learning to drive this new type of Vette fast (or slow) sounds exciting. Then, a Corvette enthusiast has an excuse to have more than one, and more then one type, parked in their garage! It might not have the sound of a thumping V8, but it could literally make the sound of anything the owner wants! When you look at the lighting packages and paint jobs that many are adding to their vehicles, they could easily incorporate your own personal soundtrack to their Vette. I didn’t expect a 800hp Vette to blast the theme song to ‘My Little Pony’, but when you look at all the angles of the current C8, the Darth Vader theme music springs to mind! LOL
I’m surprised that they haven’t come up with a way to recycle glass already! With glass being made mostly from sand, separating addictives from crushed glass, on the surface, doesnt seem that like it would as difficult as it actually is! Recycling (and not reusing) a battery from an EV, to an average person like me, seems as if there would be more to that then recycling an automotive window and windshield. Yet, with the battery pack or cells, designed to be recycled from the beginning, that must make all the difference! With all passenger vehicles using glass in same way, form or fashion, finding some inexpensive way to reuse it could no doubt help an OEMs bottom line. The flip side of that is, it’s not like they’re running out of materials like sand! So the saving would have to come in the cost of energy, time and resources to recycle the glass, versus buying it new.
April 25th, 2022 at 8:01 pm
“Electrified” is not “Electric:” Chevrolet reported in April 2020 that one version will be called the E-Ray Corvette as part of the C8 Corvette generation. It has been under development, and will have two small motors, one for each front wheel with a small battery, and an ICE engine to drive the rear as it is now on all C8s. Being “electrified” is not the same as being “electric.” I suggest that the fully electric Corvette will probably be a C9 generation Corvette and it will be several years before that makes production. After all Mary Barry said all GM will be electric by sometime after 2030. Really no surprise to those who pay attention. GM is probably talking about it (again) to get more spin.
April 25th, 2022 at 9:19 pm
28 A hybrid C8 with a motor or two in the front, probably losing the frunk, will arrive fairly soon. The electric Corvette built on the Ultium platform is a whole nother animal, and is years away.
27 Recycling glass bottles is easy, if you don’t care about color. I remember a trip to Czechoslovakia in 1992, and I had Pilsner Urquell and Budvar beer in bottles which varied in color from almost clear to various shades of green, to various shades of brown. That is what you get when you do basic recycling of glass. You couldn’t get by with that color for car windows. Also, as the show mentioned, plastic laminate and defogging grid complicates things.
It turns out that the varying color bottles I mentioned above were returnable bottles, but were probably made by melting down other returnable bottles that had been broken.
April 26th, 2022 at 6:42 am
The truck shipments lead the last recession but the red flags have been there for over a year. Not that anyone cared to notice, especially the Fed that sat on their hands and let inflation take hold with zero action. A lot will change when the recession starts to bite. Anything expensive will sit for months unsold. Anything cheap will sell quicker but will be a hard sell. People think that the current trajectory in automotive will go unabated. Everything will change on a dime during this recession as consumer priorities shift to cash conservation and away from extravagant purchases. Companies that only sell vehicles in the $50k+ category are in for a rough time.
My only hope from this pending recession is that people learn to stop overspending for cars and homes. I also hope it stays just a recession and doesn’t fall into a depression where everyone loses. The FED is the key here. They can course correct but it is going to be very painful for a year or two.
April 26th, 2022 at 1:58 pm
The BEV car heat pump dates back to Saturn EV-1 days. But back then it probably didn’t offer much in saving battery life.