AD #3407 – Lithium Prices Set New Record; Lincoln Loses Dealers as It Goes Electric; Ram Ready for Mid-Size Pickup
September 16th, 2022 at 11:53am
Listen to “AD #3407 – Lithium Prices Set New Record; Lincoln Loses Dealers as It Goes Electric; Ram Ready for Mid-Size Pickup” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 9:58
0:08 Lithium Prices Set New Record
0:37 EU Welcomes Rising Car Sales
1:20 Lincoln Loses Dealers as It Goes Electric
2:44 Ford Teaches the Mustang New Tricks
3:58 Yes, BEVs Are Really Cleaner Than ICE
4:47 Lightyear Claims Aerodynamic Record
6:51 Vitesco Lands Major 800V Inverter Order
7:38 IRA Pushes Hyundai Mobis To Make More EV Components in U.S.
8:22 Ram Ready for Mid-Size Pickup
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LITHIUM PRICES SET NEW RECORD
Uh-oh, this is not good news for electric cars. Bloomberg reports that the price of lithium just set a new record, $71,315 a ton. That’s three times higher than it was just a year ago. A lithium mining company in Chile, which is the second largest producer of lithium in the world, says prices will go up a bit more this quarter and it expects them to stay there at least through the end of the year.
EU WELCOMES RISING CAR SALES
OK, now for a bit of good news for automakers in Europe. Car sales were up in August, the first year over year increase in 13 months. According to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, sales in the European Union totaled just over 650,000 units last month, a gain of 4.4%. And while it’s nice to see a boost, the total is still well below pre-pandemic levels and it was down about 88,000 units from July. Overall for the year, sales are down nearly 12% in the EU, mainly due to low inventory caused by the chip shortage.
LINCOLN LOSES DEALERS AS IT GOES ELECTRIC
Yesterday, we reported about Ford’s EV strategy for its dealers but that doesn’t apply to Lincoln. Ford is offering dealers options on if, or how quickly, they want to transition to selling EVs. But Lincoln’s President Joy Falotico told Automotive News that it doesn’t “need to have a multi-tiered approach because it’s a smaller brand.” But like Ford, Lincoln won’t be offering buyouts to its dealers. Falotico says that while the brand is consolidating its network, the switch will happen voluntarily and it will be up to dealers to decide if they want to stick with the brand or throw in the towel. By the end of the year, Lincoln expects to have fewer than 600 dealers in the U.S., which is down from more than 1,000 five years ago.
FORD TEACHES THE MUSTANG NEW TRICKS
Whenever an automaker redoes an iconic car they always reach out to current customers to see what improvements can be made and how they can incorporate cool new tech, likely something no one has done before or is new to them. One such thing on the new Mustang that Ford thinks customers will get a kick out of is Remote Rev, which allows them to rev the engine with the key fob. But there’s another new piece of tech that we think will resonate more with customers. And that’s an electronic parking brake that can also be used as a drift brake lever. Standard for customers that choose the Performance Pack, which includes things like a limited slip diff and Brembo brakes at all four corners, the system actually adds another brake caliper on the rear. Tuned with the help of drifting specialist Vaughn Gittin Jr. it was designed to help novice drivers learn and improve their drifting skills while providing people that already know how to drift with a system that they don’t have to upgrade themselves. Of course, it can be used as a regular parking brake, but the system boosts brake pressure by 4-5 times to get the rear tires to lock up while trying to drift.
YES, BEVs ARE REALLY CLEANER THAN ICE
Are electrics really cleaner than internal combustion vehicles? A comprehensive study that was done by the engineering firm Ricardo, and funded by the Fuels Institute, says they are. Ricardo looked at the greenhouse gas emissions that vehicles generate, including sourcing the materials to make them, manufacturing the vehicles, operating them on the road and recycling them at the end of their lives. It found that when it comes to tons of greenhouse gasses, BEVs catch up to ICE vehicles after only 19,000 miles of driving and surpass them after that. And once those vehicles hit 200,000 miles BEVs have generated 40% fewer tons of greenhouse gasses than ICE vehicles.
LIGHTYEAR CLAIMS AERODYNAMIC RECORD
The GM EV1 and Volkswagen XL1 may be dethroned as the most aerodynamic production cars ever made. Lightyear, the company that’s making a $250,000 solar EV, just finished up in the wind tunnel with its 0 car and got a drag coefficient of 0.175. The EV1 was rated at 0.195 and the XL1 came in at 0.186. The benefit of having a slippery car cut through the air is that once a car goes over 40 miles an hour, wind drag becomes the greatest source of friction. So a point-one-seven-five CD will help improve the range of the all-electric Lightyear 0. But it still has to go through WLTP testing to receive its official certification and the drag coefficient of a car can easily change from one wind tunnel to another. And Lightyear might not hold its title for long. Aptera, another solar EV, is aiming for a drag coefficient of 0.13.
VITESCO LANDS MAJOR 800V INVERTER ORDER
In a sign of how the auto industry is transitioning to electric vehicles, the supplier company Vitesco, says orders from car companies for EV components are skyrocketing. Andreas Wolf, the CEO of Vitesco, says in the last two years, 45% of the new orders the company was getting was for electrification. This year it’s 81%. The company has €6.7 billion in new business on its order books, including a €1 billion order for 800-volt silicon carbide inverters that it got from an American car company. Andreas Wolf declined to identify which company it is but that means it’s likely GM or Ford since Tesla makes its own inverters.
IRA PUSHES HYUNDAI MOBIS TO MAKE MORE EV COMPONENTS IN U.S.
It’s amazing how quickly we’re seeing EV investments in North America since the Inflation Reduction Act or IRA was passed. Hyundai Mobis, which started out as the parts arm of the Hyundai Group, but now supplies to other automakers and is the 6th largest supplier in the world, announced it’s going to expand its operations in North America. It currently has facilities located in Alabama, Georgia, Ohio, and Michigan, but will construct more EV dedicated sites, invest in EV components, and battery system assemblies. So far this year Hyundai Mobis’ orders have totaled $1.7 billion and it hopes to grow that with this expansion announcement.
RAM READY FOR MID-SIZE PICKUP
It looks like Ram will finally jump back into the mid-size pickup segment in the U.S. The CEO of the brand, Mike Koval, told the Detroit News that he’s considering showing a concept to its dealers at a meeting in March and says he’ll “see what they say, and go from there.” And he also hinted it could be electrified in some way. The last mid-size pickup in the company’s lineup was the Dodge Dakota which was axed in 2011 due to poor sales. Koval also said he would like to bring the 1200 compact pickup that will be built in Brazil to the U.S. but says there are challenges with taxes and homologation to sell it in the American market. The mid-size and pickup segments are growing and it makes sense for Ram to be a part of it.
But that’s it for today’s show, thanks for watching and have a great weekend.
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Comments (24)
September 16th, 2022 at 12:18 pm
There are lots of reasons for RAM to get back into the small or mid size trucks segment, are there any against?
September 16th, 2022 at 12:28 pm
It is hard to believe that Ford’s lawyers OK’d the electronic drift brake for the new Mustang. I for one can’t wait to see the first Mustang drifting around corners late at night on the streets of my nearest city. NOT! It is beyond stupid to put such a feature on a street car.
September 16th, 2022 at 12:30 pm
I still blame Dakota for ruining the compact pickup truck of old. The others had to compete with the midsized Dakota, made their offerings bigger and then they never looked back. Mindful that the midsized trucks of today are terrific, however, they are also the size of the full-sized pickup of old. I would welcome the return of a smaller pickup (as I’ve said in the past, ad nauseum) but maintain that wish.
September 16th, 2022 at 12:36 pm
i love the idea of a drift brake. Growing up and still living with snow and unpaved roads, I have missed the handbrake for efficient travel. Glad to see it coming back.
September 16th, 2022 at 12:51 pm
Many Mustang owners asked for the rev feature on the key fob, their neighbours??? Not so much. I like the e brake, should be more popular, especially with vehicles driven in the winter. I think Subaru does or did but that feature in the Impreza.
September 16th, 2022 at 1:55 pm
I wonder how that chart for bev and ice would look like if the ice was running on E85, i would like to know if anyone can tell me where to find out, i have a van that runs on E85 but Maine stations do not carry E85
September 16th, 2022 at 2:16 pm
6 You aren’t missing much by not having E85 available, because it’s normally not enough cheaper to make up for the lower mpg you get. E85 needs to be less than ~75% of the price of E10 to make fuel cost per mile lower.
September 16th, 2022 at 2:16 pm
I wonder how plug-in cars fare with lifetime carbon footprint. Double the hardware, mixed use with emissions. Probably still ahead of straight ICE, but break even miles is likely to be much higher.
September 16th, 2022 at 2:18 pm
I’m thinking that Lincoln is on the road of ” Death by a thousand cuts”. No excitement in and at the brand. I wonder if this is a planned retreat.
September 16th, 2022 at 2:21 pm
2 I’m sure that having a car with the capability to drift doesnt exclude anyone from law enforcement. Its the same for Ford Raptor having ability to rock climb or Challenger Hellcat having 1/4 mile times in the 10 sec range. Anyone foolish enough to utilize those features on public roads take the risks of a reckless driving ticket. Yeah doesnt mean it wont happen, but I also dont think they shouldnt offer it to appease the few whiners.
September 16th, 2022 at 2:23 pm
I wouldn’t know how to use that electric “drift brake,” but I know how to use a mechanical hand brake on ice and snow. Those are getting rare, though. Current Corvettes, Porsche Caymans, and Toyota Highlanders have electric parking brakes that are intended to be used when parking, and nothing else. I never use them, except when parking on hills.
September 16th, 2022 at 2:40 pm
8 One of the aspects of BEVs they dont really talk about is the recycling part. An engine block and even transmission is a series of castings and machined metal parts. They can be melted down separated and reused fairly simple. Recycling batteries is very time consuming and labor intensive. After all its a stored energy device. It involves hazmat suits and a very careful dismantling. They contain hundreds of small lithium cells and the recycling process using the pyrometallurgy technique shreds them into a black mass then they are heated, and the chemicals and lithium and manganese burn off leaving the heavier metals Copper, Nickel and Cobalt are left behind. These are separated using acid baths.
If my math is correct it takes about 35 lbs of lithium to make a 100Kw battery. So at the price in todays show about $1,257 of the battery is lithium and that used to be $377. Going to make it really hard for them to get the prices down at this rate.
September 16th, 2022 at 2:41 pm
@11 That’s exactly what I was thinking, E brakes in snow are a lot of fun. The old cars you could get a little sideways in turns, it was great but all the new cars have electronic nanny’s the kill all the fun.
September 16th, 2022 at 2:41 pm
thank you 7 but is it that much cleaner then gas? I have had 2 E85 vans and wondered if they run that much cleaner, it seem 10 t0 15 years ago that was the way to go to cleaner engines.
September 16th, 2022 at 3:04 pm
14 I’d expect exhaust to be a little cleaner with E85, but I haven’t seen actual information. As far as “good or bad for the engine,” the car companies selling flex fuel vehicles say E10 and E85 are equal.
September 16th, 2022 at 3:35 pm
If I remember right the Ford Focus RS (350hp AWD hot hatch) had a drift setting on its traction control menu. I thought the option was stupid but still lusted after the car.
September 16th, 2022 at 3:41 pm
thank you 15
September 16th, 2022 at 4:14 pm
I have run E85 on a GM Ecotec 2.0T and enjoyed the cleaner air on cold morning starts. It is usually a $1.00 cheaper to run than premium but still higher octane that turbocharged engines love. You could probably do a search on gas buddy app to find prices.
The PHEV can work in your favor for shorter daily driving. Our 2018 CT6 2.0E plug-in usually sees 40-50 miles on EV only and 40 mpg when running 2.0T engine. We regularly see 3,000 miles per tank and over 200+ mpg. The cost to charge the battery at home overnight is .85 cents for those 40 miles. It would cost over $3.60 for a gallon of gas to go 40 miles. So the pay off can be really quick.
September 16th, 2022 at 4:24 pm
18 The CT6 PHEV seemed like a nice “alternative” option that would work well for a lot of people, as it does for you, but they sold it in the US only briefly. Maybe they still sell it in China.
September 16th, 2022 at 4:54 pm
Wow! I had a question about what Lincoln dealerships yesterday and today, that question was answered! Thanks Sean, you and your team at AL, keep up the good work. We appreciate all the effort that goes into keeping us in know! Thanks again!
September 16th, 2022 at 5:49 pm
Lincoln has been losing dealers for a long time. Years ago, the local Ford, Lincoln, Toyota, Honda dealer dropped Lincoln, or were forced to. Maybe it coincided with the Jaguar-based LS, though the T-bird would have been similar.
September 17th, 2022 at 4:53 am
Speculation but the price of battery elements is probably driven by sudden demand by legacy manufacturers. The premium ICE market, traditionally a high profit margin product, is being dominated by higher performance, quieter, affordable EVs by companies that have no legacy, ICE overhead costs.
The newer EV companies can and have to a greater or lessor extent, optimized their supply chains for batteries and business practices that minimize dealer and union costs. Inexperienced like Lucid and some shady operators like Nikola are unlikely to succeed. But as Deming said,’Survival is not guaranteed.’
September 17th, 2022 at 4:26 pm
22 Lucid has a great car, and the Saudi government’s money, so I expect them to keep going. Yeah, Nikola and some others, probably not.
September 19th, 2022 at 8:57 am
19) I heard the CT6 PHEV went out of production in Feb 2020, due to poor sales and that’s when GM retooled the Detroit/Hamtramck facility for the electric Hummer.