AD #3324 – Cute as A Button $13,000 EV; Mercedes Issues “Stop Driving!” Warning; Renault To Spin Off EV Ops
May 13th, 2022 at 11:56am
Listen to “AD #3324 – Cute as A Button $13,000 EV; Mercedes Issues “Stop Driving!” Warning; Renault To Spin Off EV Ops” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 11:27
0:08 Renault To Spin Off EV Ops
0:46 Nissan Undecided on EV Split
1:26 India Dreams and Drags Its Feet
2:22 VW Commits €3.4 Billion To Dividends
3:41 GM Mexican Workers Get Big Raise
4:18 Cute as A Button $13,000 EV
5:17 Lexus UX Updates
6:02 Toyota Venza Upgrades
6:20 Audi Offers New Package for S6 & S7
7:42 Mercedes Issues “Stop Driving!” Warning
8:18 CFD Models Turbulence Around Wheels
9:50 Magna Integrates Camera into Mirror
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RENAULT TO SPIN OFF EV OPS
Renault made it official. It’s going to split off its EV operations. Officially, Renault is “studying” the idea, but it’s unlikely it would be announcing so much information about it, if it wasn’t going to do it. The EV side of the business would handle everything related to electrical and software technologies, including engineering and manufacturing. Renault says it could have more than 10,000 employees by next year. The ICE business would be dedicated to development of internal combustion and hybrid engines as well as transmissions. A formal announcement should come this fall.
NISSAN UNDECIDED ON EV SPLIT
Meanwhile, Renault’s alliance partner, Nissan, says it’s too early for it to consider splitting off its EV operations. Why? Because it says its market and product portfolios are too diversified right now. And maybe that’s true. But it’s also true that Japanese companies are very conservative and reluctant to make drastic changes. But Nissan may want to speed up its decision-making process. There’s growing speculation that Renault could sell off a chunk of the shares it owns in Nissan. Right now, Renault owns over 43% of Nissan, while Nissan owns 15% of Renault.
INDIA DREAMS AND DRAGS ITS FEET
India dreams of becoming an economic powerhouse like China. In fact, India has almost caught up to China in population. China has 1.4 billion people, India has 1.38 billion. India also wants to become a major manufacturing hub for electric cars. But the Indian government is dragging its feet on changing regulations that will attract automakers. Just a few months ago, Ford said it was going to build EVs in India for export, but then it abruptly scrapped those plans without any explanation. Tesla also wants to sell and build EVs in India. But it wants the government to lower import tariffs before committing to build a plant. But the government wants Tesla to make the commitment before it lowers the tariffs. So, Tesla put its plans on hold and is no longer looking for showroom locations in India.
VW COMMITS €3.4 BILLION TO DIVIDENDS
You might have thought that the Dieselgate scandal would have financially crippled Volkswagen. The bill came to at least $35 billion. Yet, VW has a rock-solid balance sheet, and it just committed €3.4 billion to renew its dividend to shareholders. They’re going to get 7 euros and 50 cents for every share they own. At the current share price, that’s a yield of about 3.8%, which will help a little bit, but not much. Just two months ago, VW shares hit a 5 year high of €309, but along with everything else they’re down to €190 a share, a 38% drop.
GM MEXICAN WORKERS GET BIG RAISE
General Motors workers in Mexico are getting a wage boost. The automaker and the new, independent union SINTTIA reached a deal to increase worker wages by 8.5%, give them bigger bonuses, plus a 14% increase in grocery vouchers and a mandatory day off on Christmas Eve. The deal also mandates that GM and the union form work groups to negotiate schedules, protocols for dealing with sexual harassment and a program to push back against inflation in the future. Workers will vote to approve the deal later this month.
CUTE AS A BUTTON $13,000 EV
Regular viewers will likely remember this little electric car we first saw at the Munich auto show last year. It’s called the Microlino from Swiss-based company Micro and it’s like a modern-day version of the Isetta. Well, we’re happy to report the first ones are rolling off the production line in Italy. The Pioneer Series will be limited to only 999 examples. They feature one of two colors; Atlantis Blue or Torino Aluminum. They get a 10.5 kWh battery pack that returns up to 177 kilometers or 109 miles of range. The base price is €12,500, or $13,000. No word yet when they’ll reach customer hands, but we should find out in a week and a half on May 24th at the Microlino’s virtual launch event. And we expect this thing to sell out almost immediately.
LEXUS UX UPDATES
Refreshes. Special Edition packages. They’re all about keeping a vehicle relevant and hopefully bringing in a little extra money for the company. And we’re seeing a number of those today. Let’s start with the refreshed Lexus UX. Styling is still the same, but interestingly, the structural rigidity of the crossover was improved by adding 20 more spot welds to the body. This also required a re-calibration of the shock absorbers and electronic power steering. A new, larger display screen with Lexus’ latest multimedia system is available and a safety system with more features is standard as well. Going forward, the UX will only be sold as a hybrid in the U.S. when it goes on sale this summer.
TOYOTA VENZA UPGRADES
Staying under the Toyota umbrella, the Venza will now be offered in a new Nightshade Edition. Toyota has used this on several other vehicles and it’s all about black accents, like on the wheels, mirror caps, door handles and interior as well. But no word on pricing yet.
AUDI OFFERS NEW PACKAGE FOR S6 & S7
However, we do know the pricing for Audi’s new Design Edition package for the S6 and S7. Only available in the U.S. and for the 2023 model year, it will add $2,500 in price to the performance sedans. It includes a special gray body color that’s set off with dark accents, unique 21-inch wheels, upgraded materials on the interior and red stitching. Orders for the S6 and 7 with the Design Edition package kick off in June.
MERCEDES ISSUES “STOP DRIVING!” WARNING
Mercedes is telling more than 290,000 owners in the U.S. to not drive their car because the brake boosters can rust, which could cause the brakes to fail. It affects ML, GL and R-Class models built between 2006 and 2012. Owners can take their vehicles to the dealer for inspection, if it fails the test, the company will replace the brake booster for free. Mercedes is taking this pre-emptive action even though it says there are no known accidents, injuries or deaths related to the problem.
CFD MODELS TURBULENCE AROUND WHEELS
Automakers have known about the benefits of aerodynamics or streamlining for over a century. The first car to go over 60 miles an hour was this torpedo-shaped car from Belgium called the Jamais Contente, which means “never satisfied.” By the way, it was electric and it set that speed record way back in 1899! Early aero development involved coast down tests. Engineers would get a car up to a given speed, put the car in neutral, and see how far it coasted. Later, they started attaching little pieces of yarn to a car so they could observe how the wind behaved over the body surface. And then came wind tunnels. In the 1990s-computer simulation came into the picture. It’s called CFD or computational fluid dynamics. And those computer simulations keep getting more and more sophisticated. Now, Rice University in Houston, and Waseda University in Tokyo have collaborated to use CFD to simulate airflow around moving wheels and tires. The researchers say their model is far more accurate and uses far less computational power than other methods. Automakers will continue to use wind tunnels, but CFD simulations like this will allow engineers to try out many different design iterations before they go in the tunnel. And that saves a ton of time and money.
MAGNA INTEGRATES CAMERA INTO MIRROR
Automakers keep adding more equipment onto cars, like driver monitoring cameras for hands-free driving. One way to try and keep costs down is to integrate that new equipment into existing components. So Magna came up with this clever design that integrates the camera into the rear view mirror. It’s amazing how sophisticated rear view mirrors are becoming. They used to be just a piece of reflective glass. Now they often incorporate automatic dimming, console lights and video displays, and some even have Homelink or OnStar buttons on them. Magna says that integrating components can also cut down on the number of computer chips that are needed. It’s pitching the idea to automakers to use the chips in its mirror to also control things like powered seats, electric pedal adjusters, and window lifts.
Well, that’s a wrap for today and this week. I hope you have a great weekend.
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Comments (26)
May 13th, 2022 at 12:30 pm
If the Microlino from Swiss-based company Micro which resembles a modern-day version of the Isetta is a success as a BEV, then VW has to bring back the BUG as a BEV priced around $20-30K USD depending upon trim.
May 13th, 2022 at 12:37 pm
Lex, if VW does a BEV Bug, you can bet Bug Zapper jokes won’t be far behind.
May 13th, 2022 at 12:59 pm
In my mind, using the term spinoff when describing what the auto companies have done with their EV operations is misleading. A spinoff is usually when a portion of a company becomes totally independent of the main company. A good example is when GM spun off its supplier operations as one big unit that became Delphi. You could buy its stock, it had its own management and was totally independent of GM other than for the fact that it had contracts to sell parts and components to GM.
In the case of Ford and perhaps now Renault, I think the better term would be division. Ford will have an EV division and an ICE division, each with their own name, but still totally owned and operated by Ford. And all employees of both will be Ford employees.
May 13th, 2022 at 1:27 pm
The EPA requires rigorous roll-down tests and shares the data in the ‘test car database’. It provides a way to calculate the drag force at speeds 20-80 mph using a quadratic formula. Multiplied by the velocity and a units constant, you get the drag power in HP or kW. This is very useful when comparing different cars and even model years.
May 13th, 2022 at 1:30 pm
So the Microlino gets 100+ miles of range with 10kWh? Something isn’t right, either max speed is 20 or that range number is not right
May 13th, 2022 at 1:57 pm
5 The top speed is 90 km/h, about 45 mph, and the vehicle is very small and light. Still, that range is higher than I would expect, for such a small battery. The range rating is presumably WTLP, which, in most cases, is higher than the EPA rating would be.
May 13th, 2022 at 2:14 pm
Alright Audi! Glad to see an automaker bucking the trend by introducing a special “Design Edition” without black wheels!!
I guess that hidden Magna mirror cam means no more covert nose picking behind the wheel.
May 13th, 2022 at 2:38 pm
7 It’s nice that Audi stayed away from black wheels for their “special editions,” but grey as the only paint color? Why?
May 13th, 2022 at 4:20 pm
So EVs have about two orders of magnitude, 1/100 th, moving parts. There are competing chemistry which spreads the resource risk. Yet the announced new EV models are years back ordered.
This would be a great subject for next week after hours but I have no clue who to invite. Certainly Sandy Munro would be credible.
May 13th, 2022 at 4:30 pm
I’d like to hear a discussion about why some EVs are much more efficient than others. I think I know part of it. Tesla’s motors are probably more efficient than most, and Jaguar’s “different” motors less efficient. Also, it looks like cylindrical cells are good, since Tesla and Lucid use them, and have good efficiency. What else is going on, like with the poor efficiency of Taycan and E-tron, and so-so efficiency of Mach-E?
May 13th, 2022 at 5:00 pm
#8 I agree. But it doesn’t surprise me entirely. Wasn’t the GNX version of the Buick Grand National offered only in black?
May 13th, 2022 at 5:00 pm
#8 I agree. But it doesn’t surprise me entirely. Wasn’t the GNX version of the Buick Grand National offered only in black?
May 13th, 2022 at 5:02 pm
…Which, btw, was the first car to look ‘good’ with black wheel, IMHO. Forget those lame-looking black hub caps on the Knight Rider KITT car.
May 13th, 2022 at 5:10 pm
12 Yeah, the GNX was black only, and maybe the Grand National. You could get the same powertrain in a Regal T-type in various colors. I guess you would also be able to get a regular Audi S6 and S7 in actual colors, but not the “special.”
May 13th, 2022 at 5:18 pm
13 To me, black wheels remind of of cars of my youth, after the wheel covers fell off and were lost.
May 13th, 2022 at 5:46 pm
that micro car is it a 1 man or 2 man coffin ??
May 13th, 2022 at 6:19 pm
Very few cars look good in black wheels IMO (they seem to look dirty all the time). I’ve seen a couple of bright green cars that looked good in black wheels and maybe a red one or two but generally not impressed with black.
May 13th, 2022 at 6:44 pm
I find it interesting that, while cars went from “nothing but black” Model Ts, to red and green cars with yellow wheels in the late 20s to mid 30s. How did today’s grey cars with black wheels thing come to be? I like color in cars, and other things.
May 13th, 2022 at 7:39 pm
#6 & 10 – thanks for your comment, it explains the range, they probably expect the ave speed to be very low.
Regarding efficiency, two areas are key – aero and drivetrain resistance. Tesla aero is among the best, then second would be rolling resistance (tire choice and bearings), third motor efficiency. Suggest you look at Aptera, lots of good information on this topic for that car. Info on YouTube. Thx
May 13th, 2022 at 10:35 pm
19 I checked out the Aptera site. Interesting. I hope they make a go of it. If they do, that should work for most of my driving in Florida, without home charging. It wouldn’t be good in a crash, but I’d chance it. I ride motorcycles, which would be much worse in a crash.
It turns out that Tesla compromises in one area, at least with the Model 3, which is rolling resistance. They use special foam lined tires to reduce road noise, while adding rolling resistance compared to other tires. The car is lighter than the competition, probably partly because they don’t have much sound deadening, which is why the use the special tires. In the end, the Model 3 is still about the most efficient EV available, and will be more efficient if you compromise a little on cabin noise, and use LRR tires when the original ones wear out. Bob Wilson who posts here mentioned doing that, and not noticing much difference in noise.
May 14th, 2022 at 7:00 am
LRR tires are good for economy but have been reported a compromise in wet traction. If the miles per energy spent is better, but without similar traction, I’d take the ‘hit’ and use the safer tires.
May 14th, 2022 at 8:50 am
21 LRR tires are somewhat of a compromise in both wet and dry traction, but I haven’t found it to be a problem. I tend to “take it easy” with cornering in the wet, regardless of tires, so I haven’t really tested the limit of wet traction. I’ve had LRR tires on Priuses and a Camry hybrid. In the end, I suspect there would be little gain in mpg, except with relatively efficient cars.
May 14th, 2022 at 9:23 am
Switched reluctance motors provide a way to reduce back EMF to reduce the drive voltage. Munro has pointed out the Tesla permanent magnets are industry leading strong. Also, SiC power switches are more efficient than cheaper silicon only. Tesla thermal management is very efficient.
May 14th, 2022 at 10:10 am
21,22 I just looked up the tires that came on my Highlander, and they are not LRR. That would indicate that LRR tires don’t improve mpg enough on a draggy vehicle like that to improve the EPA ratings, even on the highest mileage version, the FWD hybrid. Toyota probably would have used LRR tires as original equipment, if they would have gotten another mpg in the tests.
May 15th, 2022 at 2:20 pm
About Tesla Model 3 wheels and tires, they are the same for all variants though the EV power and gross weights vary. My Std Rng Plus is the lightest so replacement with lighter rims and tires saves both weight and wheel polar moment of inertia.
May 15th, 2022 at 4:16 pm
25 Narrower tires are good for efficiency, but sizes are limited, if you want to, say, go 10mm narrower, and from 65 to 70 aspect ratio. 70s used to be called “wide oval,” but now, they barely exist.
Your i3 has skinny tires, good for efficiency, but few are available in those sizes.