AD #3298 – Test Drive Opinions: Hummer EV; The Chevy Bolt Is Back! (Finally); Porsche Invests In eFuels

This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.

THE BOLT IS BACK! (FINALLY)
It sure took a long time, but the Chevrolet Bolt EV is back in production. GM stopped making them last August after the company had to recall every single one because the batteries could catch fire. To kick off the relaunch, GM is rolling out a new ad campaign during Major League Baseball’s Opening Day. The company expects to break the Bolt’s sales record of 24,000 this year, and said that next year will be even better. Both the Bolt EV and EUV are getting price cuts of $5,000 and $3,000 respectively, to make them more competitive, since GM no longer qualifies for the $7,500 federal EV tax credit.

TOYOTA RUNS OUT OF EV CREDITS
And Toyota is next in line to run out of EV credits. Once an automaker sells 200,000 EVs and/or plug-ins, the credit starts to phase out. Toyota has sold 198,000 of them so it will run out of credits about the time its first in-house BEV, the bZ4X, hits the market in June. GM and Tesla have hit the cap, and Ford is getting mighty close.

MANHEIM TESTS EV BATTERIES
EV batteries last a long time. In fact, they keep 90% of their charge after 100,000 miles of driving. Manheim, which is the largest auction house for used cars in the United States, started testing batteries in EVs and hybrids before those cars started rolling down the auction lanes, so that buyers could be confident they were bidding on a car that would not need an expensive battery replacement. Last year Manheim auctioned off 102,000 EVs. Surprisingly, it forecasts that by 2030, 50% of the cars it auctions will be BEVs. Manheim tests the batteries for a number of things and rates them on a scale of 1 to 5. Most of them score a 4 or 4.5.

BIDEN ADMIN MEETS WITH AUTO EXECS
Wow, don’t you wish you could have been a fly on the wall listening in on this meeting? Yesterday representatives from the Biden Administration met with leaders of the auto industry, and it was a who’s who of executives. Reuters reports that Mary Barra from GM was there. So was Elon Musk. And Jim Farlely from Ford, as well as Carlos Tavares from Stellantis, and Peter Rawlinson from Lucid. Executives from Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai and Kia, Mazda and Subaru also attended. On the Administration’s side Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was there as well as Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, National Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy and Infrastructure Coordinator Mitch Landrieu. We don’t know what they all talked about but they did put out a statement: “there was broad consensus that charging stations and vehicles need to be interoperable and provide a seamless user experience, no matter what car you drive or where you charge your EV.” Sure sounds like that was directed at Tesla since it’s the only one with a different style of charger.

PORSCHE INVESTS IN EFUELS
eFuels or synthetic fuels may be the only way to save the piston engine because they don’t emit any CO2 emissions. That’s why Porsche is investing $75 million in a company in Chile called HIF Global to produce eFuels. Starting this year, HIF, along with Siemens Energy and ExxonMobil, will begin producing eFuels made from hydrogen and CO2 using wind energy. Porsche plans to use eFuels first in racing. In the future, it could use it to fuel up its vehicles at the factory and at Porsche Experience Centers. But don’t expect to find efuels at your local gas station anytime soon. Powertrain executives have told Autoline they expect that efuels will be quite expensive, and that availability will be quite limited.

CIVIC TYPE R SETS SUZUKA LAP RECORD
Sticking with internal combustion for the moment, Honda set a lap record for a front-wheel drive car in the all-new Civic Type R at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan. It did it in a little over 2 minutes and 23 seconds, which actually beats its own record. That was set by a Limited Edition version of the 2021 Civic Type R that features a number of lightweight components and special equipment. So, Honda says the new record shows improvements were made with the all-new Civic Type R. And you can look for it to make its debut this summer.

BRONCO RAPTOR GETS NEW DIGITAL CLUSTER
The new Bronco Raptor debuts Ford’s all-new digital instrument cluster. Its design and layout are different from everything else Ford offers and features a unique illustration for each drive mode. There’s all kinds of information drivers can choose from, including gear state and engine speed for people that like to off-road. The Bronco Raptor will be in showrooms this summer and we’d expect a similar display to make its way into other models.

TEST DRIVE OPINIONS: HUMMER EV
The GMC Hummer EV now has over 66,000 reservations, so there’s clearly some interest in the vehicle. But does it live up to the hype? We got the chance to drive one last week and now we can finally talk about it. These were Edition 1 models we drove, which means they featured the air-ride suspension system that’s used for things like Extract Mode, three electric motors that combine for 1,000 horsepower and 1,200 lb-ft of torque, all-wheel steering and the big 205 kWh battery pack. And this is a big truck to fit all that battery. Easily the size of other full-size pickups and significantly bigger than the Rivian R1T. But with all that big-ness the weight really starts to add up. The Edition 1 tips the scales at more than 9,000 pounds. While that is a whole lot and we wonder how well the tires will hold up over time, you don’t really feel that weight while driving. In fact, this is the best riding, i.e. the smoothest, pickup truck I have ever been in in my life. Chalk that up to the air suspension. It’s also the nimblest. That’s the 4-wheel steering, which can turn the rear tires up to 10-degrees. This is a god-send both on and off-road. The Hummer EV fits in spaces you’d never think were possible with a truck this big. It feels more like you’re driving a Honda Civic. 4-wheel steer also enables the truly unique Crab Walk mode, which allows the truck to move diagonally. It’s a trippy feeling and it’s almost like the truck is skating or sliding across the ground.

Another cool piece of technology in the Hummer is Super Cruise. This is GM’s hands-free highway driving system, but is the second-generation version, which now includes upgrades like automatic lane changes. Out of all the systems I’ve experienced, Autopilot a few years ago and Ford’s BlueCruise a few months ago, Super Cruise is the most intuitive to use and provides the best feedback to the driver, i.e. big, bright lights indicating when it’s operating and messages that tell you why it shut off. So, at this point, I hope you’re getting the impression that the Hummer has a lot to offer. But as you know, all those goodies add to the price and this is no cheap truck. The Edition 1 rings up at nearly $109,000. And as we said earlier in the show, GM no longer qualifies for federal EV tax credits, so that’s the price customers are going to pay. But here’s the thing, despite all I’ve said of this being the best riding, nimblest and having all that cool tech, I never once felt like I was in a $100,000 truck. The materials are really nice, but didn’t have that luxury feel. And same goes for the design of the interior. It looks more utilitarian than luxury. I also find its efficiency really disappointing. The Edition 1 provides 329 miles of range, which is pretty good and competitive with other EVs. But remember it has that big 24-module, 205-kWh battery pack. That means it only gets 1.6 miles per kWh. The really good EVs are over 4 and most are over 3 miles per kWh. But here’s the other thing. I think the people that actually buy this truck are going to love it. On top of all those good things I said before, the Hummer EV is big and bold and it provides you with an experience. People are willing to pay for experiences. For example, its launch mode, which is called Watts to Freedom. I’ve done a number of hard launches in other EVs and they all plant you back into the seat. But it’s kind of a lifeless experience without much sound or the vehicle doing much. Not the case with the Hummer. Bose especially tuned the sound system for each drive mode and Watts to Freedom is no different. It’s kind of like an outer space sound with a gutteral element added to it. Not only that but the suspension squats in the back, the front end lifts up and the big truck tires squawk as your head plants into the headrest and you rocket from 0-60 in roughly 3-seconds. It’s things like that that will have people loving this truck.

We invite you to join us for Autoline After Hours today with Daryl Adams, the CEO of the Shyft Group. That’s a company that makes specialty trucks and it’s developed an interesting electric van. Mark Williams, our colleague who covers trucks, will also be on the show. John and Gary will also be getting into the news behind the headlines. So join them for some of the best insights into what’s going on in the automotive industry.

But that’s a wrap for this show. Thanks for joining us.