Listen to “AD #3054 – How U.S. EV Plan Will Be Divided Up; Tesla Mad at Germany; Caterham Sold to Japanese Company” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 11:00
0:07 How U.S. Infrastructure Plan Will Be Divided Up
0:47 Tesla Says Germany Is Dragging Its Feet
1:40 Panasonic Thinks It’s Best to Make 4680 Cells
2:43 How GM is Trying to Reduce Battery Costs
4:01 Caterham Sold to Japanese Company
4:37 Rolls-Royce Has Best Month Ever
5:15 Hyundai Reveals Kona N Powertrain Details
5:53 Volvo to Make Trucks with Fossil-Free Steel
7:07 New Minivans Don’t Drive Like Old Minivans
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HOW THE U.S. INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN WILL BE DIVIDED UP
Lots of news about EVs today, starting with President Biden’s plan to invest $174 billion to boost EV sales and production in the U.S. $100 billion of it goes towards rebates for new EV customers, which is good news to Tesla and GM who ran out of federal EV tax credits. Another $15 billion goes to building half a million new charging stations. $20 billion is for electric school buses and $25 billion is for zero emission transit vehicles. The final $14 billion will be used for other tax incentives.
TESLA SAYS GERMANY DRAGGING ITS FEET
Tesla is mad at Germany. It wants to start producing the Model Y at its plant in Berlin in July. But it still doesn’t have final approval from German authorities to finish the plant, even though it filed its application 16 months ago. And it still doesn’t have any idea when it will get the go-ahead. So Tesla shot off a letter to a regional court in Berlin criticizing the delay and calling for the country to cut red tape for projects aimed at fighting climate change. It says the pokey process discourages investments in clean-energy projects and infrastructure. We can see why Tesla is PO’d. It has a commanding lead in EV sales, and it’s counting on half a million cars coming out of that plant to keep that lead in Europe.
PANASONIC THINKS ITS THE BEST TO MAKE 4680 CELLS
Tesla is also counting on Panasonic to stay in front of everyone else, especially when it comes to its next generation battery. Panasonic believes it’s uniquely qualified to make those cylindrical 4680 batteries. They’re five times larger than the 1865 and 2170 cells that Tesla uses today. So instead of using 5,000 to 8,000 batteries in a car, Tesla will be able to use only 500. That means fewer parts are needed in the battery pack and that cuts cost. But their bigger size also means they’re more prone to overheating because it’s harder to get heat out of their core. Tesla is going to make these batteries in-house as well and is talking to other battery companies to make them. But Panasonic says the 4680 batteries are much more difficult to manufacture and that its experience in making 2.5 billion cells a year gives it a leg up on everyone else.
HOW GM IS TRYING TO REDUCE BATTERY COSTS
Now to General Motors, which wants to cut the cost of its batteries to well under $100 per kilowatt hour by 2025. And the key to getting there is by getting rid of as much cobalt, nickel and liquid electrolyte as it can. Instead, it wants to use silicon and lithium metal, and dry processing of the electrodes. Reuters reports it’s also exploring solid state batteries and high voltage electrolytes. GM is going to build its second battery plant with LG in Tennessee, where it will be making electric vehicles for itself and for Honda. That’s the plant in Spring Hill, which is where Saturn got started so many years ago.
CATERHAM SOLD TO JAPANESE COMPANY
OK, enough EV news for the moment. Let’s take a quick trip to the British Isles. Caterham, the iconic British car manufacturer, was just bought out by a Japanese company. VT Holding, which has been importing Caterhams to Japan since 2009 bought the company. VT’s CEO said, “We will protect and develop the Seven to meet the legislative challenges that lie ahead.” Caterham currently only sells the Seven and it’s only powered by an internal combustion engine. So, it sure sounds to us like the Seven is going electric.
ROLLS-ROYCE HAS ITS BEST MONTH EVER
Despite pandemic shutdowns and chip shortages, Rolls Royce is enjoying the best sales in its 116 year old history. In the first quarter the storied British brand sold 1,380 motor cars–as they call them. That’s an all time record and it’s strongest markets are in China, the US and the Asia Pacific region. Sure must be nice to work in that Rolls Royce plant. While mass production facilities crank out 60 vehicles an hour, Rolls assembles less than 3 an hour. And that is a lovely leisurely pace.
HYUNDAI REVEALS KONA N POWERTRAIN DETAILS
And now for a touch of performance news. And no surprise here, but Hyundai revealed that the performance version of the Kona, the Kona N, will have mostly the same powertrain setup as the Veloster N. It gets the 2.0L turbocharged engine that makes roughly 276 horsepower and is mated to an 8-speed DCT. It should also come as little surprise that it does not look like there will be a manual option. But 276 horsepower in a small crossover should be quite fun. Now we’re just waiting to see if this will be the first AWD N model.
VOLVO TO MAKE TRUCKS WIHT FOSSIL-FREE STEEL
There’s a big push in Europe to make steel and aluminum that is CO2 free. BMW is investing in clean steel. Audi announced that the wheels on the new e-Tron GT are made from sustainable aluminum. And now Volvo Trucks will produce the first commercial trucks made from fossil-free steel. It partnered with the Swedish steel maker SSAB, which produces the steel with renewable energy and hydrogen. Volvo will start making prototype trucks and components with the steel this year. Small-series production kicks off in 2022 and it will gradually ramp up to mass production after that.
NEW MINIVANS DON’T DRIVE LIKE OLD MINIVANS
No matter what people label them or think of their looks, minivans will always be the most versatile vehicle for growing families. And anyone that’s driven the latest crop will tell you they drive as good, if not better than most of the SUVs they’d be compared with. That point has been hammered home with test drives in the Honda Odyssey, Toyota Sienna and, most recently, the newly styled Chrysler Pacifica. The van still comes standard with a 287 horsepower 3.6L V6, but our tester featured one of the newest options to the Pacifica lineup, AWD. Before we go any further, because I’m sure it will come up, the van loses Stow N’ Go in the second row, but not in the third with AWD. But even with the extra weight the engine provides more than enough pull to give the driver confidence to move with and around traffic. And it still maintains a smooth ride over the road. Here this should help drive the point home. You can hit a cloverleaf at 50 MPH, in a minivan, and still feel completely in control, in a minivan. It was one of the few times I actually begged for snow with one of our test vehicles. While we didn’t get it, we did get one pretty cold day mixed in there, which brought up something we’ve never encountered before. Our model featured a decorative metal ring around the steering wheel. We suspect it’s part of the structure of the wheel because it stays really cold for a long time, even with the steering wheel heater on. Long enough that I had to shut the heater off because it was such a weird sensation to have one spot of your hand be really hot and another really cold. Although, the rest of the interior is so nice, I wonder if comments like that ever get back to the designers. And we had the best-of-the-best that Chrysler has to offer, the Pinnacle model. Those Caramel Nappa leather seats with perforations and diamond quilted bolsters really grab your eye, but it also uses its high quality materials smartly. You’ll find them in the common areas where you’re always looking, like around the door handles and center screen. And designers used contrast stitching on the doors and dashboard, which sounds somewhat simple but really helps to draw your eyes away from some of the cheaper materials. It’s clear Chrysler put a lot of investment into the interior and in my opinion the Pacifica’s is the best out there at the moment. But that comes with a cost. Our Chrysler Pacifica Pinnacle with AWD rang up at nearly $53,500.
Quick, before we go. Join us for Autoline After Hours this afternoon when John and Gary will be exploring the market for micro mobility with Matt Brueggeman, the CEO of Flux Mopeds is our guest. John Beltz Snyder from Autoblog Green will also be on the show. And it all gets going at 3 pm eastern time at Autoline.tv or on our YouTube channel.
But that’s all we’ve got for today. Thanks for watching.
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John McElroy is an influential thought leader in the automotive industry. He is a journalist, lecturer, commentator and entrepreneur. He created “Autoline Daily,” the first industry webcast of industry news and analysis.