AD #2838 – New CATL Battery Reduces Cost; Tesla Working on Million Mile Battery; Renault Axing Sedans & Minivans
May 15th, 2020 at 11:54am
Listen to “AD #2838 – New CATL Battery Reduces Cost; Tesla Working on Million Mile Battery; Renault Axing Sedans and Minivans” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 10:21
0:07 New CATL Battery Greatly Reduces Cost
0:51 Tesla & CATL Working on Million Mile Battery Life
2:11 Renault Axing Sedans & Minivans
2:51 Head of Nissan North America Steps Down
3:19 Infiniti Appoints New Chairman
3:50 GM Plant Going 100% Solar
4:32 Price of Escalade Super Cruise Feature Revealed
5:03 New Escalade w/ V8 Engine Less Efficient
5:45 GM’s Cruise Makes Job Cuts
6:10 NVIDIA Shifts Focus from AV to ADAS
6:39 Still Get Your Classic Car Fix
7:26 IIHS’ Recommendations to Improve ADAS
9:26 IIHS to Livestream Crash Procedures
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NEW CATL BATTERY GREATLY REDUCES COST
Very important news in the world of electric cars today. Reuters reports that CATL, the giant Chinese battery maker, is coming out with battery packs that cost less than $80/kWh. The battery cell cost is below $60/kWh. The batteries use a lithium iron phosphate chemistry and no cobalt in the cathode. Automakers have said that pack costs at $80/kWh puts mid-market EVs at cost parity with traditional ICE powertrains. However, this battery chemistry is slightly less efficient, so the tradeoff for lower costs is lower driving range.
TESLA & CATL WORKING ON MILLION MILE BATTERY LIFE
And here’s where the story gets even more interesting. Tesla is working with CATL to develop an EV battery that will last 1 million miles. Elon Musk has talked about the million mile battery before, but never mentioned that it was being developed with CATL. Reuters says Tesla will launch the battery in China first, and will make the announcement later this month at its “Battery Day” presentation to investors and the public. It will be an NMC battery, or Nickel-Manganese-Copper chemistry with only 20% cobalt, and will start going into Chinese made Model 3s late this year or early next year. Eventually improved versions of that battery will make its way to other markets including the U.S. Reuters also reports that Tesla is going to unveil a new manufacturing process for batteries in massive Terafactories that are 30 times bigger than its Gigafactory in Reno, Nevada. These batteries will also be used for power storage for electric utilities and Reuters reports that Elon Musk is going to reposition Tesla as a power company that will compete against traditional electric utilities. Tesla stock jumped $36 a share after the story broke yesterday.
RENAULT AXING SEDANS & MINIVANS
Ford and FCA were criticized and even ridiculed for getting rid of most of their passenger cars in the North American market. But now the same thing is starting to happen in Europe. Renault is going to announce cost cutting plans that will see some well-known models get axed. Reuters reports that the automaker is targeting poor selling sedans and minivans so it can focus on CUVs and SUVs. The Espace, Scenic and Talisman reportedly will be the first to get axed. Renault will announce at the end of the month how it plans to cut 2 billion euros in cost over the next 3 years.
HEAD OF NISSAN NORTH AMERICA STEPS DOWN
We reported the other day that Renault’s alliance partner Nissan would announce similar plans soon and we may have seen the first casualty of that move. José Luis Valls, the head of Nissan North America announced he’s stepping down from that position, effective June 15th. Nissan hasn’t performed well in the American market and Valls was not likely to survive the restructuring. He is being replaced by Jeremie Papin, who will oversee the region as vice chairman.
INFINITI APPOINTS NEW CHAIRMAN
And Infiniti is appointing Peyman Kargar to senior vice-president and chairman of the company on June 1st. Kargar replaces Mike Colleran who will be head of sales and marketing for Nissan in the U.S.
GM PLANT GOING 100% SOLAR
Last month, GM announced that its facilities in southeast Michigan will be powered completely by wind or solar energy by 2023. And now it says that its plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, its largest in North America, will be powered by 100% solar energy by 2022. It partnered with the Tennessee Valley Authority to supply up to 100 megawatts of solar energy per year. The plant builds the GMC Acadia and the Cadillac XT5 and XT6, as well as several engines. This green initiative is part of GM’s goal to have its U.S. operations powered by 100% renewable energy by 2030.
PRICE OF ESCALADE SUPER CRUISE FEATURE REVEALED
The price of GM’s updated Super Cruise system in the new Cadillac Escalade will depend on the trim level. The feature is listed for $2,500, but for the two trim levels above the base model, it also requires the Driver Assist and Technology Package, which adds another $3,650 to the price. That package is standard on higher trim levels. Super Cruise will not be offered on the base 2021 Escalade.
NEW CADILLAC ESCALADE W/ V8 LESS EFFICIENT
Speaking of the Escalade, the EPA put out estimates for the SUV with its 6.2L V8 and the numbers aren’t good. With RWD it’s estimated to get 15 MPG in the city, 20 on the highway and 17 combined. That’s a 1 MPG improvement in the city over the outgoing model with the same engine, but 3 MPG worse on the highway. AWD knocks all those numbers down by 1 MPG, which returns the same city number as the old Escalade but is 2 MPG thirstier on the highway. With poor results like these, I think it’s clear why the Escalade is getting a diesel engine.
GM’S CRUISE CUTTING JOBS
The auto industry isn’t as bullish on autonomous vehicles as it was a couple of years ago. And that was before the COVID pandemic. Now, automakers and suppliers are cutting spending on autonomous technology in order to save cash during the crisis. Reuters reports that GM’s self-driving unit Cruise will lay off about 8% of its workforce or about 140 jobs.
NVIDIA SHIFTS FOCUS FROM AV TO ADAS
And the chipmaker Nvidia, which was developing technology for autonomous vehicles, announced it will instead focus on driver assistance systems. It’s developed a new chip that can support every level of automation. That way automakers can save on engineering and use some self-driving technology to improve driver assistance systems. The system can be updated through OTA updates and Nvidia expects to see it in production vehicles in 2023.
STILL GET YOUR CLASSIC CAR FIX
Another sad day for classic car lovers. The Concours d’Elegance of America held in Plymouth, Michigan is being postponed until July of 2021. But it’s not all bad news. Mercedes has a way for you to get your classic car fix. A Mercedes-Benz Museum guide is hosting episodes on Instagram TV that takes people through some of the dream cars from its collection. Each video is 6 to 9 minutes long and takes you behind doors and under hoods. The best part is you’ll probably see features that you wouldn’t normally see if going through the museum on your own.
IIHS’ RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE ADAS
Driver assistance systems are meant to aid the driving process, but at times they feel like they’re holding the driver back. The IIHS recently released a set of recommendations for improving these systems and in an interview with David Harkey, President of the IIHS, he shares how a feature like Lane Centering could be improved upon.
David Harkey, President, IIHS
“You want the system to help and assist you, hence its name, in keeping you out of dangerous situations. So, if you start to encroach over an edge line and perhaps start to run off the edge of the roadway, you want that system to correct that situation and put you back in the lane. Or if you start to get too close to a lane line encroaching perhaps onto another vehicle in the adjacent lane, you want that system to recenter you. But one of the things that happens with some of these systems is they are a little too aggressive and they do not like to share control with you as the driver. And so if you’re passing a large truck, for example, and you’re more comfortable being, not in the center of the lane but away from the truck a little more, sometimes the systems will not allow you to get out of the center of that lane and it will actually kick you out of the system at times. And so that’s one of the things that we think is really important, is that the system allows you to share control, for you to be in control as the driver. Remember these are supposed to be systems that assist you, not take over for you. And so we want it to take over when you’re in those dangerous situations but otherwise we want you to drive in a way that you feel comfortable.”
To get all of the IIHS’ recommendations for improving Advanced Driver Assistance Systems you can watch that entire interview right now on our YouTube channel.
IIHS TO LIVESTREAM CRASH PROCEDEURES
And speaking of the IIHS, if you’re interested in how it crash tests vehicles, it’s going to hold a livestream on its Facebook and YouTube pages on Monday the 18th at 1PM eastern time, to discuss its procedures.
But that’s it for today, thanks for watching and we’ll see you back here again on Monday.
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Comments (38)
May 15th, 2020 at 12:15 pm
The Escalade is a gas hog, even a little worse than the Lincoln Navigator with its turbo V6, but do people who buy these things even care? I’d guess they don’t, especially with the dirt cheap gas we now have.
May 15th, 2020 at 12:24 pm
Will Renault’s other brands like Dacia keep making cars, or will they abandon that market like Ford has in the US?
May 15th, 2020 at 12:32 pm
Nice to see GM being so proactive with energy consumption for their plants. Corporations that do things like that probably don’t get enough credit.
May 15th, 2020 at 12:32 pm
Now that GM has the best battery, of coarse Tesla has to brag that they will have something just as good or better. That’s how Tesla works. Tesla has a reputation of exaggerating anything and everything. Here’s a list of what I’m saying.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a31226611/gm-ultium-electric-vehicle-battery-revealed/
https://seekingalpha.com/instablog/1017993-bill-maurer/4998156-teslas-growing-failure-list-august-2019-update
May 15th, 2020 at 12:33 pm
$5,500 for Super Cruise give me a break and we get worse gas mileage than ever. This is a bargain, where do I get in line for this new Escalade!!!!!
May 15th, 2020 at 12:44 pm
Another sedan got axed today as well, John, Acura announced that 2020 will be the last model year for the RLX in North America. And all us TLX owners are hearing the fully redesigned TLX will debut on 28 May.
May 15th, 2020 at 1:07 pm
Made in China..forget about it.
Time to steak their intellectual properties for fun.
Payback is going to be a bitch for china.
May 15th, 2020 at 1:08 pm
Catl the Chinese company can kiss my american butt.
May 15th, 2020 at 1:11 pm
Intellectual property theft for years by the Chinese will allow America to rightly force pay back at massive levels.. as we Americans steal their intellectual properties and start ww3..!
The Chinese will go insane
Payback is a bitch
May 15th, 2020 at 1:17 pm
7 Agreed!
May 15th, 2020 at 1:21 pm
if tesla succeeds with new battery tech they’ll prove lutz wrong, they’ll have something nobody else has. new escalade V8 less efficient how could that be with cylinder de-activation? maybe they started with more than needed to begin with, just sayin.
May 15th, 2020 at 1:22 pm
With oil in negative price territory..I think we have a game changer going in unless you care about the environment…
Which sadly most consumers don’t when it comes to saving money.
Chinese electricity is generated from dirty coal facilities so basically it’s almost ironic
May 15th, 2020 at 1:40 pm
9. The new Escalade is bigger, including 3 inches taller than the outgoing one, which could partly explain the worse mpg. Also, tests seems to sometimes vary year to year. An example is that a “base” 2017 Corvette had worse ratings than a 2016, even there were no changes that I’m aware of.
https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find.do?action=sbs&id=36441&id=37870&id=36440&id=37869
If anyone knows of any actual powertrain changes between ’16 and ’17 Corvettes, let us know.
May 15th, 2020 at 1:51 pm
Good news that battery tech may achieve cost parity with ICE. I doubt that is going to translate into price parity for the consumer anytime soon.
I am also happy that GM is looking to renewable for their factory. They should be applauded for their effort on this. Beyond the marketing buzz they can get today, their investment should be fully paid for in 20 years. I am more impressed that GM would think that long term then I am with them installing solar panels. Lets hope other companies follow suit and come to the same conclusion.
May 15th, 2020 at 1:51 pm
@4, 7, 8, 9: Giga Factory, then Tera Factory. Since I am expecting this will be the next step by TESLA I already looked it up on Google: 1,000X Tera is … Peta! So forget about the Tera Factory, hold your breath for the announcement of the real thing, the Peta Factory.
May 15th, 2020 at 2:16 pm
So are we in the midst of a battery ‘war’; well probably not, though we are seeing some pretty good progress. There has also been rumblings of a near ready solid state battery so this should also give BEV a boost. I still see for the foreseeable future, co-existing ICE, BEV and to a lesser extent other alternative technologies.
The Escalade is just another choice a buyer can make; cost is almost inconsequential with this model, and with the 6.2 gas and the diesel a no cost option it will be interesting to see the take rate (and what that says about the buyer).
May 15th, 2020 at 3:06 pm
I’ll be surprised if the take of the diesel is very high. In CR’s tests of Silverado, the 5.3 V8 was a second quicker to 60, 6.9 vs 7.9 seconds. More importantly, the V8 was much quicker from 45 to 65 mph, 3.9 vs 5.2 seconds. The difference in the Escalade, using the 6.2 V8, would be greater. The diesel got 35% better “overall” mpg in the Silverado.
May 15th, 2020 at 5:18 pm
“Tesla is working with CATL to develop an EV battery that will last 1 million miles” John, what’s the point of an EV battery lasting 1 million miles when most vehicles don’t get driven more than 200-300 thousand miles? Seems like unnecessary overkill and adding needlessly to the cost of the battery and vehicle. What am I missing?
May 15th, 2020 at 6:00 pm
18 I wonder how many years you can take to drive those million miles miles. From my experience, years, as much as charge/discharge cycles determines battery lifetime.
May 15th, 2020 at 8:35 pm
nice hat John
May 15th, 2020 at 9:32 pm
20 John must have the only one in the world. At least I don’t see it in the Autoline store.
May 16th, 2020 at 6:05 am
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will battle for Ferarri in 2021 and 2022; link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfr2JbNJNHk
May 16th, 2020 at 9:45 am
IF the $80/kwh is true, this is TRULY EARTH SHAKING NEWS, but do not expect the likes of Jope and Cwolf and the other Tesla haters to ever appreciate it. COnventional wisdom was that the cost will converge to $100 /kwh, and that in some years from now, but as usual, conventional wisdom is WRONG and MYOPIC.
As I said and will keep saying MANY times, The Optimists are correct 99% of the time, while the Media ALWAYS love to feature the pessimists, even if they are unvetted CHARLATANS with no clue, as were the “peak oil” clowns 10 years ago.
May 16th, 2020 at 6:17 pm
22 I didn’t expect any news about that so quickly. I guess the next interesting driver news will be who goes to Renault.
May 16th, 2020 at 6:29 pm
I just drove about 660 miles from Cape Canaveral, FL to Athens Tennessee. A have a few observations. Apparently not many people drive Teslas on road trips, even though they have the best charging network in EV-dom. I saw zero Teslas during the trip. Meanwhile, I saw one Fiero, one Datsun 240Z (on a trailer), about a dozen Challengers, and a couple Corvettes. There were a zillion Nissans of various types on the road, considering “nobody buys them.” Of course, more than half of the vehicles on the road were various types and brands of CUVs and SUVs, along with a lot of pickup trucks and minivans. I was driving about at, or a little above the median speed.
May 16th, 2020 at 7:30 pm
25, Surprising you didn’t see any Teslas; would have figured you’d see some locals on their local roads at least. What was your route; past Daytona, Jacksonville (I-95) I wouldn’t think a Tesla would be so rare. Now heading towards Tennessee, and even on the interstates, the further from the coast, I would think less Teslas. Glad you had a safe trip.
May 16th, 2020 at 8:10 pm
26. I took I-95 to I-10 using the JAX bypass, and I-10 to I-75. I go to Jacksonville about every two months on the same stretch of I-95, and often see a Tesla, sometimes two, usually around Daytona, but not today. I was surprised to see so many Challengers, since total sales since the 2008 revival would be, what, 600K. Total Tesla US sales would be similar, but I guess most of them are in California.
I have about 460 miles to go tomorrow, to my destination in Indiana.
May 17th, 2020 at 11:22 am
25 Actually I am not surprised at all. First, this is not “Tesla Country”, and second, and most important, very few Tesla buyers use them on long trips, especially in regions of the US and overseas where the fast supercharger network is underdeveloped.
May 17th, 2020 at 11:26 am
On the topic of the 1,000,000 mile battery, I will not have driven 1,000,000 if I add all tne cars I drove AND will drive to the end of my hopefully very long life put TOGETHER.
I would be far more interested in a BEV with 800 mile Warm weather range (equal to my HWY range with my Merc diesel), translasting in more than 500-600 miles winter range, and faster superchargers available on all main roads.
BTW my obsolete 10 year laptop on which I still write this, never had a long battery life, 3 hours and if intensively used barely 2 hours when it was new, but now it is more like one hour and change.
(I understand Tesla batteries are quite different than my one big laptop battery, BTW)
May 17th, 2020 at 11:32 am
On Fri I did my weekly shopping and the (once in 45 days) gas at the same Kroger parking lot). This was the first time in 4 years I paid less than $2 for diesel (2.039 but my cc has a 2% cash back so it’s $1.99). $36 to fill the 21 gal tank, which was close to ‘reserve level” before I put gas (but that reserve is an ample 2+ gallons).
Oil prices have gone up as the demand has increased (not my own demand yet), and maybe thew refineries did what I suggested a month ago, produced less gas and more diesel.
Premium gas was more than diesel where I pumped, in case anybody cares to compare my diesel E320 to the gas E350.
May 17th, 2020 at 8:43 pm
28. There are enough superchargers to do the trip. I checked, out of curiosity.
https://www.tesla.com/trips#/?v=MS_2017_75D&o=PT%20CANAVERAL,%20FL%2032920,%20USA_32920%20PT%20CANAVERAL%20Brevard%20County@28.4076485,-80.621591&s=&d=Kokomo,%20IN%2046901,%20USA_46901%20Kokomo%20IN@40.50995,-86.15482689999999
They show a different route than I took this time, but I use their route sometimes.
May 17th, 2020 at 9:04 pm
30. For some reason, diesel is cheaper in MI than where I am in FL or IN. It is $2.399 at the cheaper places, about the same as premium, and ~60 cents more than regular.
29. I wish my Camry had your 21 gallon tank. I’d have 800+ miles of fast highway range with a safe reserve, and 1000 miles of range for some of my driving. Today, I put 12.2 gallons in the 13 gallon “official rating” tank. Maybe I ran it lower than I should.
May 17th, 2020 at 9:15 pm
31. A Tesla sure wouldn’t work for my usual mode of highway driving, adding 6 hours to a 16 hour trip. That would turn it into a 2 overnight trip for me, in my “old age.”
May 18th, 2020 at 7:44 am
More F1 news-rumors. Alonso to Renault, again.
Report: Fernando Alonso Signs ‘Pre-Agreement’ with Renault F1
https://www.autoweek.com/racing/formula-1/a32529432/report-fernando-alonso-signs-pre-agreement-with-renault-f1-team/?source=nl&utm_source=nl_aut&utm_medium=email&date=051720&utm_campaign=nl20346616&utm_term=AUT_Autoweek_Weekend_Racing_Wrapup_Newsletter_Subscribers
May 18th, 2020 at 9:31 am
32 Ι also wish I had the diesel all the years I drove the Pontiac 2000, the Accord or the 740 (which also had a 21.5 gal tank I believe, but with my 90+ MPH highway driving, it got only 23-24 MPG on long trips. I did a lot of trips to Wash DC, esp after 9./11 when flying became a pain) and other 500+ mile (one way) locations, and I always wished to do it on one tank, the other cars had about 500 miles of range, the accord had 17 gal tank and the pontiac 13+, (that should have less than 500 miles real range) but the min one way was 530 miles (to Wash DC). Now that I got the diesel, I never needed to do these trips any more.
May 18th, 2020 at 9:33 am
34, 2021 is going to be interesting and maybe 2020 if they can get going (but for different reasons). I would love to see an even abbreviated 2020 season if they can get going and be safe for all involved. I tried watching Darlington Sunday but just too long and typical; though I applaud NASCAR for getting back to business and seemingly in a safe format.
May 18th, 2020 at 9:35 am
31 there are enough of them on main interstates, but the problem is the time to charge while waiting in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes (in busy places like CA, LA to Vegas etc) most of the outlets will be occupied, meaning more wait to free one of them)
I am surprised there are not many more Teslas in RHode Island and CT and MA (and NJ) while they think of Texas as their next big market. The short distances in the NE states should make it ideal for them.
May 18th, 2020 at 9:59 am
Μοn Morn markets opened another 700 points higher on vaccine expectations. Meanwhile you can sharpen your skills by solving the following: since 1987, I have been allocating my supplementary retrirement contribution (SRA), not the regular one, of $400 a month, among a well known general US Stock mutual fund (whose legendary manager retired early and the fund was consequently not managed as well by his successors), $300 a month, and a Biotech Mutual fund, $100 a month. As of the end of last week, those two investments had accumulated amounts different by just $10k, despite the fact that the General Mutual Fund had almost $120k invested, and Biotech less than $40k (adding apples and oranges here, of course).
I found the FV function in XL very useful to calculate the average annual rate of return of the above, do not have the numbers in front of me but from memory, the general fund yielded barely more than 9% average annual rate, and the biotech one, 13+%. Maybe 13.45%.
Q: what were the two accumulated amounts as of this morning?