AD #3571 – Silverado EV Gets 450 Mile Range; Toyota Tacoma Gets Hybrid; Pitfalls with Battery Recycling

May 19th, 2023 at 12:00pm

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Listen to “AD #3571 – Silverado EV Gets 450 Mile Range; Toyota Tacoma Gets Hybrid; Pitfalls with Battery Recycling” on Spreaker.

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Runtime: 11:21

0:00 Nio, Microsoft Invest in Nuclear Fusion
1:05 GM May Miss EV Sales Target
2:17 Hyundai-Kia Settle Class-Action Theft Lawsuit
3:15 Pitfalls with Battery Recycling
3:57 VW Wants PHEV For U.S. Market
5:16 Aston Martin to Launch 8 New Models
5:57 Silverado EV Gets 450 Mile Range
6:59 Toyota Tacoma Gets Hybrid

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28 Comments to “AD #3571 – Silverado EV Gets 450 Mile Range; Toyota Tacoma Gets Hybrid; Pitfalls with Battery Recycling”

  1. ChuckGrenci Says:

    I watched the AAH with Cirba Solutions and found it fairly interesting. What I would have liked, if it wasn’t proprietary, would have been some of the process for recovering the minerals, when separating the materials out; do they use electrical separation, chemical separation, centrifugal separation, physical separation, etc.; inquiring minds want to know.

    It was a pretty good synopsis of the new Toyota Tacoma p/u. One major omission was that it will be offered as an extended cab (six foot bed), front seat only with extra inside storage. And the four door version will be offered in 5 or 6 foot beds. (I’m mentioning these as I remember; I might be incorrect but I think I got it right).

  2. GM Veteran Says:

    I think its funny that Toyota (and other brands) brag about their off-road packages, super shock upgrades and disconnecting sway bars, but in their running footage they show the trucks driving on surfaces or dirt roads that any 15 year old Taurus could handle with ease.

  3. Lambo2015 Says:

    200 Million might sound like a lot of money to settle, but you’re also talking about 11 models over 5 years which was how many vehicles? Maybe 2 million. So if installing the immobilizer was more than $100 Hyundai/Kia are still ahead of the game assuming the Insurance suit gets tossed. Which if they followed Fed guidelines, then I can’t see how the insurance institute would have a case.

    So if you buy a Silverado EV and want the shortest charging times at home, I take it you will need to install two chargers?

  4. GM Veteran Says:

    3 – In the article, it mentioned 9 million units between Hyundai and Kia.

    The 350 mile range version of the Silverado EV will certainly cost less and have a shorter charging time. It just depends on what your needs are.

  5. Lambo2015 Says:

    4 Oh thanks I missed that. So 200 Million paid out to avoid installing immobilizer in 9 million vehicles. Thats $22.22 per vehicle. Doesnt seem so costly when you look at it that way.

  6. GM Veteran Says:

    I keep hearing about how a lack of charging infrastructure is holding back EV sales. I am calling BS on that. Here’s why.

    The vast majority of EVs on the road in the US and being sold each year are Teslas. That will change, but that is the situation now. Tesla has its own charging network, so their owners don’t really factor into this. Since they currently have 60% of the EV sales, that means that around 250,000 non-Tesla EVs will be sold this year.

    The vast majority of those sales will be to people that can charge in their garage. Most people will only want to use public charging when they absolutely have to because its so much more expensive than charging at home. As of now, there are plenty of charging stations available to meet that level of demand. And, more are being built all around the country at a furious pace. There are several public charging points in my town that are almost never used.

    So, I think that the hype of the media constantly talking about the lack of charging and the plans for more chargers to be built in the next ten years puts people off and they don’t even bother to look into the reality, which is that there is plenty of capacity for non-Tesla drivers right now. And, it will only get better.

  7. Kit Gerhart Says:

    6 Even Tesla drivers do most of their charging at home. Few people, like me, without home charging buy EVs.

  8. Sean McElroy Says:

    @GM Vet – I agree, but video of real rock crawling can be really boring to watch, especially for what we do. We tend to use shorter clips so you might only see the vehicle move a couple of inches.

  9. Sean McElroy Says:

    @Lambo – Unless they get hit with another lawsuit from insurance companies who say they’ve lost $600 million. And then tack on all those customers who are probably not going back to the brand. And I’d say it’s pretty costly.

  10. Kit Gerhart Says:

    I hope Toyota does a better job with the hybrid version of the new Tacoma, than they did with the Tundra. The Tundra hybrid gets barely better combined mpg that a non-hybrid 2.7t F150, and worse highway mpg than the Ford.

    https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/Find.do?action=sbs&id=45873&id=46159

    It’s nice that they will offer a manual transmission in the new Taco. I think it will be the only manual in any pickup in the U.S. market, except the Gladiator.

    There must be a lot of money in making all of these off-road trucks, most of which will never go farther off-road than a Prius or Corvette is capable of going.

  11. Bob Wilson Says:

    Kudos for reporting on fusion. Of the three leading plasma technologies, Tokamak, laser confinement, and plasma-pinch, I hope pinch gets there first. Smaller size leads to faster, distributed generators. But also look at liquid salt, thorium fueled reactors.

    They too scale to smaller, safer reactors but also can solved our existing nuclear waste inventory. They can ‘burn up’ the leftover fuel rods in water storage tanks and casks.

  12. Kit Gerhart Says:

    11 I remember talk 50 years
    ago of soon-to-arrive fusion reactors. Could that time now be near?

  13. wmb Says:

    I wonder if Chevy will stick to the original price the quoted for the WT Silverado BEV? While I can imagine them doing so with the 350 range version, but the 450 range might not be the $41K version they initially quoted. It is a good looking SUT, though!

  14. wmb Says:

    …the Tundra styling looks better on the new Taco to my eye! It looks a lot more substantial than the previous version, while still holding a family resemblance to the original.

  15. Roger T Says:

    3, 6, 7 – Silverado EV with 200KWh battery I think is a bad idea for a tradesman unless there’s regular access to fast charger. Common home chargers output is 4.8kW, so you could not charge it overnight at home on L2 (40+ hours). Assuming commercial use will buy the battery size they need for a day at the trade, they will also need to have fast chargers installed wherever they spend the night. For Hummer EV it works ok because people only use to go have an ice cream on the weekend, then they can charge in a garage for the rest of the week.

  16. Kit Gerhart Says:

    15 Commercial users who need faster charging can install faster charging, but yeah, I’d think most tradesmen would be ok with a ~100 kWh battery and L2 overnight charging.

    I thought the Hummer EVs were used for going to bars on Saturday night, not for ice cream.

  17. Ziggy Says:

    For you F1 fans hoping to see the Italian GP this Sunday I have some bad news, the race has been cancelled due to flooding in the region near the track and all F1 activity is a notta happenin.

  18. joe Says:

    GM will not reach it’s target this year. Really? I have to laugh when I read something like.Tesla is usually never on target and so little is ever said.

  19. Kit Gerhart Says:

    17 Yeah, they announced the cancellation a couple days ago. There is some really nasty flooding in the area. I haven’t heard if they are going to reschedule.

  20. Bob Wilson Says:

    #12 – I forgot the mention the gravity fusion generator 93 million miles away. Solar cells, wind, and hydro electrical power is coming from that fusion source.

  21. Bob Wilson Says:

    Late thought about fusion, the web link is to a Youtube video that explains the problem of fusion generated neutrons versus the machine. Fusion creates enough neutrons to make parts of the machine radioactive to dangerous levels.

    IMHO, molten salt, thorium fueled nuclear fission makes more sense. The higher fission temperatures means more efficient power generation with less waste heat. They can be smaller with passive, fail soft, safety and won’t make usable nuclear weapon material. Best of all, they can generate power while consuming the growing inventory of spent fuel rods that today are stored at nuclear power plants.

  22. wmb Says:

    …while the exterior styling of the Tundra may look better on the Taco, the interior of the Tacoma reminds me of Lego blocks. While not a bad thing and still good looking, it just seems that it would age quicker then some of its competitors.

  23. Kit Gerhart Says:

    I hope Toyota sells a lot of two door Tacos. That might convince some of the competition to join them in making mid-size pickups for hauling stuff, not just people.

  24. Kit Gerhart Says:

    You could get a Chevy S-10 with a 7 foot bed some, or most years of production.

  25. Lambo2015 Says:

    24 Doubt you’ll ever see the return of some great vehicles from the past. The small pick-ups like original S-10 and Ranger was they were cheaper than a full sized truck but were also limited in their weight towing and hauling capacity. Too many guys bought them that really needed a full sized truck. They would get then and try and put 1500lbs in the bed and they were only rated at like 950lbs. So with each refresh they got bigger and more capable. Hell even today you can go buy the small Ford Mavrick truck and it has a load capacity of 1500lbs. They learned that people wanted smaller but not less capable.
    The seatbelt laws have also played a part in the diminishing interest in 2 door vehicles. Back in the day you could pile 4-5 people into a regular cab pickup truck bench seat if needed. The toddler could sit on someone’s lap and often did. Today everyone has to be buckled in and kids in a car seat. So vehicles like a 2 door pick-up appeal to a much smaller audience. Even for the single guy or retired person it might be perfect for them but the resale is horrible and prevents anyone from buying them cause they wont be able to unload it without a huge loss.
    So as nice as it would be to see a small regular cab pick-up released I dont think you’ll see one in the US in any volume. I dont know if any of the mid or small trucks even offer a front bench seat so they would become as practical as a 2 seater sportscar.

  26. MERKUR DRIVER Says:

    I will look into a 2024 Tacoma. I like the packages that they are offering but particularly the suspension seats. That is very unique in any non commercial vehicle and enough of a reason for me to take a look at it. It also has a reasonable towing capacity for what I need. Throw in the manual transmission and I am definitely interested. I expect that I will have to special order the manual as a dealer is unlikely to stock it. I would have preferred a diesel over the I4 Hyrbid as my primary use will be towing, but overall not a deal breaker.

  27. Kit Gerhart Says:

    From what I’ve read, the new Taco will not have a bench seat in the front, just two buckets. They should have a bench as an option. S-10s and early Rangers offered bench seats, and they are narrower than the Taco.

    25 I never saw many people buy S-10s and Rangers when they needed full-size trucks, but I sure see a lot of people buying huge trucks, when they don’t need a truck at all.

    In the ’90s, they had some great lease deals on S-10s, $99/month, as I remember. A co-worker with a fairly long commute leased them, 4 cylinder automatic, and they worked well for his commute. He probably got mid-high 20s mpg for the moderate speed commute, not bad for the time.

  28. Lambo2015 Says:

    27 I just remember many guys in the trades that wanted to save money in gas and on the truck would buy an S-10 but then load em up and try and haul like they did with their full sized trucks. They were pretty hard on them and found out the limitations pretty quick. I knew a few that had them for a year or two and had to go back to a full sized truck. But again you think that way because you could tow quite a bit with even some sedans back in the day. Thats essentially gone. So anyone that has a camper or boat or wants to tow anything over 5000lbs and has kids they pretty much need a full sized SUV or a truck. And yes will drive around with nothing in the bed 90% of the time.

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