Listen to “AD #3407 – Lithium Prices Set New Record; Lincoln Loses Dealers as It Goes Electric; Ram Ready for Mid-Size Pickup” on Spreaker.
Follow us on social media:
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
Visit our sponsors to thank them for their support of Autoline Daily: Bridgestone, Intrepid Control Systems, MEDC and Schaeffler.
This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
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.
Thanks to our partner for embedding Autoline Daily on its website: WardsAuto.com
Seamus and Sean McElroy cover the latest news in the automotive industry for Autoline Daily.