Listen to “AD #3520 – EV Pickup Owners Use Trucks Differently; GM's Ultra Cruise Requires 15 Sensors; Lambo Upgrades Its Hybrid” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 10:58
0:00 Tesla Mexico Progressing at Lightning Speed
0:44 EV Pickup Owners Use Trucks Differently
1:32 GM’s Ultra Cruise Requires 15 Sensors
3:15 New Kona EV Has 300 Miles of Range
4:32 Hyundai Introducing Automatic Suspension System
5:41 Audi Wants To Recycle Old Cars Into New Ones
6:37 Mercedes Opens New Battery Recycling Plant
7:53 Honda AV Helps Make Work Easier
8:54 Lambo Upgrades Hybrid to 1,000HP
10:03 New Renault Espace Claims Largest Glass Roof
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
TESLA’S NEW MEXICO PLANT PROGRESSING AT LIGHTNING PACE
Tesla announced plans to build a plant in Mexico last week and it might not be too long before cars are rolling down the assembly line. Reuters reports that Tesla is close to receiving the permits it needs to break ground on the plant, which will be located near Monterrey, and it could start as early as this month. And according to a Mexican government official Tesla could start building vehicles at the plant as early as next year. Tesla is investing $5 billion to open the plant and in the future the site may also produce chips and batteries.
EV PICKUP OWNERS USE TRUCKS DIFFERENTLY
Ford’s all-electric F-150 Lightning is attracting a different buyer than the traditional ICE version of the truck. And they’re also using the pickup differently too. According to customer survey data collected by Ford, Lightning owners are more likely to use the bed than an ICE owner. 74% of Lightning owners say they use the truck for home projects at least once a month, compared to 50% of regular F-150 owners. Nearly half of Lightning owners go camping once a month, while 40% of ICE owners do so. And finally, more than half of Lightning buyers are coming from a non-pickup vehicle, compared to just a third of F-150 buyers.
GM’s ULTRA CRUISE REQUIRES 15 SENSORS
General Motors revealed more details of its Ultra Cruise hands-free driving system that debuts on the Cadillac Celestiq. It will provide destination-to-destination driving and GM says it will do 95% of the driving. For that last 5%, driver’s will have to get onto the street or when arriving at the destination, say the entrance to where you work or the parking entrance to a shopping mall, the driver has to take over again. The system should handle the rest. GM says that over time Ultra Cruise will work on almost every paved road in the U.S. and Canada, including city streets, subdivisions and rural roads, as well as highways. And it will deal with traffic signs and signals. The system is bristling with sensors, including seven cameras, four short range radars, three long-range radars, and a LiDAR located behind the windshield. Ultra Cruise is hands-free but not eyes-off. So we think it is still classified as a Level 2 system.
NEW KONA EV HAS 300 MILES OF RANGE
Hyundai pulled the wraps off the new Kona back in December, which we think took styling inspiration from the Seven Concept, and now we’re starting to get some specs on the crossover. It’s longer, wider and taller than the outgoing model and it’s available with an ICE, hybrid or pure electric setup. All the details we’re getting today are on the EV. It’s based on a 400 volt architecture and comes in either standard or long-range variants. Standard range comes with a 48.4 kWh battery pack, while the long range is 65.4 kWh and provides an estimated 490 kilometers or 304 miles of range on the WLTP cycle. Both are single motor 2-wheel drive setups. Now let’s shift to the interior, which features a layered dashboard and a surprising amount of knobs and buttons for a modern vehicle. It also comes with dual 12.3 inch displays and the shift selector has been moved from the center console to behind the steering wheel, which was done to clear up space. Production of the new Kona will kick off before the end of the year.
HYUNDAI INTRODUCING AUTOMATIC SUSPENSION SYSTEM
Speaking of Hyundai, it’s coming out with a new suspension system that will automatically adjust itself. Unlike air suspension systems, Hyundai’s Electronic Leveling Control system uses an electric hydraulic pump to control the height of the vehicle from all four wheels up to 6 cm or about 2.3 inches. So, it sounds more like Citroen’s old hydro-pneumatic system, but we’re not sure if each wheel can be controlled individually. It works by detecting changes to ride height as well as vehicle speed and weight to properly set the level. Owners can also manually adjust the height. Hyundai says this could help protect batteries under EVs, lower ride height for better aerodynamics and performance or to make entering or exiting a vehicle easier. It doesn’t say when the system will be out, only that it will be available soon. And in the future it could be tied into the front facing camera and navigation so it can make adjustments to the suspension before the vehicle ever encounters what’s in front of it.
AUDI WANTS TO RECYCLE OLD CARS INTO NEW ONES
More and more automakers are working to improve sustainability in order to reduce their environmental impact. Currently, most new vehicles don’t use materials recycled from old cars but Audi wants to change that. It’s participating in a pilot project to reuse steel, aluminum, plastic and glass from vehicles at the end of their lifecycle. The goal is to recycle those materials, so they can be used to produce new vehicles, without sacrificing quality. It’s now putting some of the things it learned from the test into practice. It was able to successfully create steel coils from recycled steel, which will be used to create 15,000 inner door parts for the A4. And Audi will now design parts and components, so they can be sorted more easily during end-of-life recycling.
MERCEDES OPENS NEW BATTERY RECYCLING PLANT
And in other recycling news, Mercedes-Benz broke ground on a battery recycling facility in Germany. The first stage of the plant will start by the end of this year and once it’s all up and running, the site will be able to dismantle batteries at the module level as well as shred, dry and process battery materials. It will use a hydrometallurgy recycling process, which is able to recover more than 96% of the materials. The plant will have an annual capacity of 2,500 metric tons and recover enough materials to produce more than 50,000 battery modules for Mercedes’ EQ models.
HONDA AV HELPS MAKE WORK EASIER
Honda continues to develop its Autonomous Work Vehicle or AWV that it first showed off several years ago. It’s now in its third-generation and is designed to move materials and supplies at construction worksites to help improve productivity. The AWV uses GPS for location, radar and lidar for obstacle detection and cameras for remote monitoring. Or it can also be operated with a remote control. New features for the third-gen include increased bed size to two pallets and larger maximum loading capacity of 2,000 pounds. It can now travel up to 10 MPH autonomously and it features a larger battery, which increased its operating time up to 10 hours. That’s roughly the equivalent of 28 miles of range depending on how it’s being used. Honda plans to commercialize the AWV but it still needs improvement, which requires more real-world tests.
LAMBO UPGRADES HYBRID TO 1,000HP
Lamborghini plans to come out with its first EV in 2028, but is upgrading its hybrids in the meantime. Its first hybrid, the Sian, debuted several years ago and features a V12 engine paired to a 48-volt electric motor, which combined for over 800 horsepower. But its new version is a plug-in hybrid setup that pairs its V12 with 3 electric motors that combine for about 1,000 horsepower of all-wheel drive fun. The 6.5L V12 is bolted to a new 8-speed dual clutch transmission that features an integrated electric motor, which can drive the rear wheels. The other two motors are in the front of the car and can drive the front wheels independently. A small 3.8 kWh battery with pouch cells is mounted in the transmission tunnel and can be charged directly by the V12 engine. It almost sounds like an Acura NSX on steroids. Lambo is only revealing the codename of the vehicle right now, LB744, but it’s likely to be a version of the Aventador or Huracan.
NEW RENAULT ESPACE CLAIMS BIGGEST GLASS ROOF
Renault has started teasing its all-new Espace, which will debut on March 28th, but it showed a teaser image that reveals the largest paneless glass roof that will be on the market. It’s 1.3 meters long by 84 cm wide or 4.3 feet by 2.7 feet. Renault says now every passenger will have a brighter interior and therefore a more pleasurable driving experience.
But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for tuning in.
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Seamus and Sean McElroy cover the latest news in the automotive industry for Autoline Daily.