AD #3044 – Tesla Fights for EV Credits; 3D Printer Waste Turned Into Fuel Clips; GM’s BrightDrop Claims Big Benefits
March 25th, 2021 at 11:54am
Listen to “AD #3044 – Tesla Fights for EV Credits; 3D Printer Waste Turned Into Fuel Clips; GM's BrightDrop Claims Big Benefits” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 10:17
0:07 Tesla Fights for EV Credits
0:48 Ford Donates $100K in Unused Leather
1:36 Ford’s Massive Turbine Semi Found
3:17 3D Printer Waste Turned Into Fuel Clips
4:02 Bentley Reveals Performance Continental GT
4:57 Toyota Invests in AV Delivery Startup Nuro
6:11 How BorgWarner Will Transition to EV Tech
7:26 GM’s BrightDrop Claims Cost & Efficiency Gains
8:21 Benchmarking Competitors Can Make You Fall Behind
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TESLA FIGHTS FOR EV CREDITS
Tesla is fighting to keep revenue flowing in from its lucrative sales of regulatory credits. It’s urging a U.S. appeals court to immediately put back an Obama-era regulation for penalties for failing to miss fuel economy targets. The Trump Administration pushed the regulation, which more than doubles the amount automakers have to pay, back to the 2022 model year. Tesla claims the change will make credits less valuable. Selling credits has always been a part of Tesla’s business plan and last year alone it raked in more than $1.5 billion, so no wonder it’s fighting to keep that cash stream flowing.
FORD DONATES $100K WORTH OF UNUSED LEATHER
Ford is currently cleaning out its product development center in Dearborn, Michigan, to make way for its campus of the future it announced a few years back. While going through the facility, the company found $100,000 worth of leather hides that were used for interior prototypes. The hides were used to design seats for the Escape, Explorer, F-150 King Ranch and the Lincoln Navigator Black Label. But Ford isn’t keeping the leather, instead it’s donating it to two small businesses in Detroit, Pingree Detroit which is a leather goods company that employs veterans and Mend on the Move, a non-profit that employs women survivors of abuse. Ford says it will donate other items it finds during the cleanout that it doesn’t plan to use.

FORD’S MASSIVE TURBINE SEMI FOUND
In other Ford news, the folks over at automotive publication The Drive have spent the last several months tracking down a piece of the automaker’s history. Big Red is a massive gas turbine-powered semi truck Ford debuted at the 1964 World’s Fair alongside the Mustang. As we know, the euphoria around turbines quickly faded away and so did Big Red. It floated around the garage of Holman-Moody, a Ford-sponsored race team, for a while after a massive engine failure and it took ownership of the semi after a falling out with Ford. Holman later sold Big Red to its current owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, who then restored it, including a new turbine engine. Somewhere along the way, the trailers were lost, but one interesting fact is that the cab alone is estimated to weigh 20,000 pounds. There’s way more information to this story and you can find the link in the transcript or description box below.



FORD MAKING FUEL CLIPS OUT OF 3D PRINTER WASTE
While 3D printers are pretty efficient and minimize excess material created when producing a part, they still produce waste. That’s why Ford and HP partnered up to reuse 3D printed powder and parts and turn them into injection-molded components. The parts have the same durability and quality as parts made with conventional materials. The recycled materials are being used to make fuel-line clips in the Super Duty F-250. Ford has identified 10 more existing vehicles that can use the fuel-line clips and will likely use them in future models. The company says the clips have better chemical and moisture resistance than current ones and they’re 7% lighter and cost 10% less to produce.

BENTLEY REVEALS PERFORMANCE CONTINENTAL GT
Speed models have been adding performance to Bentley’s lineup since the 1920’s and it just introduced the 3rd-gen Continental GT Speed. It was able to squeeze about 20 more horsepower out of the car’s 6.0L 12-cylinder engine, which now sits at 650. That lowers the 0-60 time to 3.5 seconds, a tenth of a second faster than non-Speed models. It also features active air suspension, all-wheel drive, all-wheel steer, electronic limited slip differential and carbon ceramic brakes. This vehicle gave designers a chance to add a number of unique touches inside and out, which we think is highlighted by the exclusive 22-inch wheels and interesting use of material patterns and textures on the seats. Bentley has already opened orders for the new Continental GT Speed.

TOYOTA INVESTS IN AV DELIVERY COMPANY NURO
Toyota is investing in self-driving startup Nuro. Well, technically it isn’t Toyota, it’s Woven Capital, an $800 million investment arm of Woven Planet Group, which the automaker and its subsidiaries created to develop mobility solutions and other advanced technologies. Nuro, which has partnerships with Domino’s, Kroger, CVS and Walmart, is developing small autonomous delivery pods. Financial details weren’t disclosed. But it’s interesting to see Toyota invest in a startup, since it’s already developing its own autonomous technology. So, perhaps it thinks this is the better way to go.


HOW BORGWARNER WILL TRANSITION TO EV TECHNOLOGY
Yesterday, BorgWarner laid out its plans to investors as to how it will transition from a leader in combustion technology to a leader in battery electric technology. Here’s what Fred Lissalde, the CEO, told us about BorgWarner’s new capabilities.
“We’re one of the only ones in the world who can say we have products from stationary fast charging, to onboard charging, to battery management systems, to battery cooling and heating, to cabin heaters, flowing down to inverters, potentially DC to DC converters, motors and moving the wheels. So we understand all that supply chain of electrons, and we want to use as little electrons as possible…”
BorgWarner told the investment community it’s going to make another $2 billion to $3 billion in acquisitions for EV technology and divest more of its ICE business even though it does not expect to break even on its EV business until 2024. Maybe that spooked Wall Street. BorgWarner’s shares fell 2% on the news.
GM’S BRIGHTDROP CLAIMS COST & EFFICIENCY BENEFITS
We’re learning more about the Brightdrop electric van from General Motors and the EP1, that motorized pallet that goes along with it. In a Bank of America investor presentation, Travis Katz, the CEO of Brightdrop, said fleet owners will save nearly $7,000 a year using the EV600 van compared to ones with diesel engines. He said they did a pilot program last year with FedEx using the motorized pallets and were able to deliver 25% more packages per day. There are nearly 100 million packages delivered everyday just in the United States, so a 25% improvement is a game changer for the delivery industry. Travis Katz also said they’re going to create a new dealer network for Brightdrop. In other words, these vans will not be sold through Chevrolet or GMC.

BENCHMARKING COMPETITOR CAN MAKE YOU FALL BEHIND
Mike O’Brien, who used to run product planning for Hyundai and Toyota in the US, says benchmarking your competitors can cause you to fall behind. He says if you study the products your competitors have on the market today, you’re five years behind where you need to be. When he was on Autoline After Hours, he shared this insight with us. Take a look.
“One of the things you can do in benchmarking is you look at several generations of a nameplate. And you can see how they move. And therefore you can forecast where they’re going to move in the next generation. So you benchmark their current vehicle and say ‘For the last 4 generations they’ve increased it 2% in size, 1% in fuel economy or 3% in noise reduction.’ And you can kind of benchmark where they’re going to go based on their prior performance.”
Mike O’Brien reminds us of hockey great Wayne Gretzky’s advice. “Skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.”
Speaking of Autoline After Hours, Hein Schafer, the Senior Vice President for Product Marketing and Strategy at Volkswagen of America is coming on the show to talk all about the ID4 electric crossover. If you’ve got questions you’d like us to ask him, send them to viewermail@autoline.tv or tweet them to @Autoline. Sebastian Blanco will also be joining John and Gary when we get going this afternoon.
And with that we wrap up today’s show, thank you for watching.
Thanks to our partner for embedding Autoline Daily on its website: WardsAuto.com
March 25th, 2021 at 12:21 pm
Sean, If Tesla wants the EV credits to continue to have value, maybe the question to ask is “which manufacturer has the fewest, or no, future EV plans.” Do you know who they are? Whoever they are, Tesla should consider buying them, just for the EV credit value alone.
March 25th, 2021 at 12:22 pm
Yeah I could see where 1.5 Billion would make you want tighter emissions. For the greater good or for your bottom line? Guess Tesla better start preparing for when this government induced windfall goes away.
Sean 20k for a tractor is a little high but I believe the average weight is around 15k.
I really expected to see more vehicles like the Nuro to use autonomy and BEVs.
March 25th, 2021 at 12:30 pm
When benchmarking I wonder if they take into consideration that continued 2% growth of a vehicle and how it affects other models.
So many examples of Ford and GM growing a model until it takes over the sales of the larger model. Like how GM kept making the Malibu and CTS larger with each refresh until they basically killed the STS and Impala.
They have a bad habit of starting with Small Med and Large and grow the Small and Med until your left with nothing but Med and Large.
March 25th, 2021 at 12:59 pm
A business plan that includes a heavy reliance on a government incentive program is a very poor concept. A company should be able to make a profit on building and selling its products. Government incentive programs that provide an additional revenue stream should be incremental profit, not a core source of revenue. They are much too subject to the whims of political change.
March 25th, 2021 at 1:04 pm
I still say GM is making a big mistake in not making BrightDrop an elective franchise option for GMC dealers. In many cases, the customers BrightDrop will serve were likely customers of GMC medium duty truck dealers in the past when GMC had a lineup of four separate medium duty trucks. They sold an awful lot of small turbodiesel cab forward delivery trucks. The fulfilled the same mission as the new BrightDrop trucks.
Not only that, but many of those dealerships already have the proper type of lifts and ceiling height necessary to service these vehicles, and the technicians that have already had electrical service training for the Hummer EV and previous GMC and Buick hybrid vehicles.
March 25th, 2021 at 1:18 pm
“Uforia” Seriously?
March 25th, 2021 at 2:07 pm
Isn’t “uforia” what you get after a close encounter? By the way, the proper word is “euphoria”; I used to be a proof-reader, so this is me being picky!
March 25th, 2021 at 2:17 pm
#5. GMC and Chevrolet dealers can apply for the Brightdrop franchise.
March 25th, 2021 at 2:44 pm
6,7 I thought it was “youfouria.”
March 25th, 2021 at 3:48 pm
ford making fuel clips out of 3D printer waste? they need to be 3D printing some bronco tops!
March 25th, 2021 at 4:20 pm
Frank Markus has good article today on motor trend,ford exploring prechamber ignition technology, like maserati uses, on f-150. first ford that uses this technology, im a buyer.
March 25th, 2021 at 4:36 pm
11 What are its virtues? Maseratis aren’t so great with efficiency.
March 25th, 2021 at 5:21 pm
they say 20% gain in fuel economy with mahle,s jet ignition pre-chamber ignition heads that are used on the maserati engine
March 25th, 2021 at 5:24 pm
dont quote me on this but if i remember correctly just the addition of those heads and turbos are good for extra 100 hp
March 25th, 2021 at 6:18 pm
13,14 I’ll search for the articles when I get home.
March 25th, 2021 at 8:16 pm
11-15 I read three articles about it. Regarding the claims of 15% better efficiency, I’ll believe it when I see it. We will be hearing more, I’m sure.
March 26th, 2021 at 8:22 am
The Honda CVCC was a pre-chamber ignition system. Very crude because of the technology of that day; but it was a pre-chamber ignition. The Honda CVCC was considered pretty efficient for its day.
March 26th, 2021 at 8:25 am
11-16 When I was at Ford in the Global engine group over 6 years ago they were working on pre-ignition and valve lap and although you could get more power, emissions suffered. Maybe they have refined that process but like Kit said. I’ll believe it when I see it.
March 26th, 2021 at 8:57 am
I missed AAH yesterday, and am watching it now. It is obvious that VW USA is telling “traditional” VW fans to go to hell, as they drop the Golf and Jetta wagon, and won’t sell the ID3 in the US. Meanwhile, they are going in the direction of selling nothing but CUVs in America. Maybe they will hit it big with ID4, etc., but they still need more dealers if they want to be a “mainstream” brand in the US.
March 26th, 2021 at 10:00 am
@Kit, I don’t know the status of your C8 order but I found this youtube about ’21 orders. It is 15 minutes long, you can cut to the chase @ 2:25 but just having an order may not get you a car for ’21 unless it has been scheduled to be built, is ordered and falls within your dealer’s allocation, etc, etc. Just thought you might want to take a look. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kChFTeF5Nhc
March 26th, 2021 at 10:13 am
20 Thanks for the info. I called the salesman a couple weeks ago, and my car isn’t scheduled. The order was within the dealer’s allocation, but with the shut downs of the plant, etc., who knows. I’ll check out the video.
March 26th, 2021 at 10:38 am
20,21 I placed my order on September 18.