Listen to “AD #3378 – Musk Says More Gigafactories On the Way; How Cops Can Pull Over AVs; 7 Chinese OEMs On Fortune 500 List” on Spreaker.
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Runtime: 10:58
0:08 Musk Says 12 More Gigafactories On the Way
1:00 Tesla Uses Sunshine to Offset All Energy Use
1:18 BorgWarner Doubles EV Revenue
2:16 7 Chinese OEMs On Fortune 500 List
3:37 BP & CATL Build EV Charging Stations in China
4:26 NIO & Shell Build EV Battery Swapping Stations in China
4:56 Arrival Is Next Startup to Delay Production
5:38 Nikola Beats Wall Street Estimates
6:27 VW Comes Out with Cheaper ID.4
7:52 Scan Tool Lets Independent Repair Shops Work on EVs
8:35 BMW Gets Lithium from Australia
9:21 How the Cops Can Pull Over Autonomous Vehicles
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MUSK SAYS 12 MORE GIGAFACTORIES ON THE WAY
Elon Musk says the Model Y will become the best-selling vehicle in the world next year. And he says it’s already #1 when it’s measured by the revenue it generates. At the company’s annual meeting yesterday he told shareholders that Tesla is already at a 1.5 million vehicles a year run-rate and will end the year at 2 million. And then he dropped a couple of bombshells. Musk says the company might announce a new assembly plant by the end of the year, and could end up with 10 to 12 more plants that will make 1.5 million to 2 million vehicles a year. That puts Tesla right on track to reach Musk’s stated goal of selling 20 million vehicles a year, which would make Tesla as big as Toyota and Volkswagen put together.
TESLA USES SUNSHINE TO OFFSET ALL ENERGY USE
Elon also dropped this interesting factoid. All the solar panels that Tesla has sold have captured more energy than it took to manufacture and charge all the Teslas that have ever been built. And that includes home charging.
BORGWARNER DOUBLES EV REVENUE
Can legacy suppliers make the transition to an electric future? Sure looks that way. BorgWarner is best known for making ICE components, but it expects its EV related revenue to hit $850 million this year, which is more than double what it was in 2021. And by 2025, its EV revenue is estimated to jump to $3.7 billion. It also acquired EV charging company Rhombus Energy Solutions for $130 million. Borg will supply high-voltage coolant heaters to two automakers, one a global OEM starting in 2023 and the other a Chinese startup in 2024. Borg didn’t reveal the companies. And it will make a battery system for a European commercial vehicle maker beginning in 2024. And again, it didn’t name the automaker.
7 CHINESE OEMs ON FORTUNE 500 LIST
Chinese automakers are becoming more and more established. There are now seven Chinese OEMs on the Fortune 500 list. BYD is the newest entrant, the other companies include Geely, Dongfeng, SAIC, FAW, Beijing Automotive and Guangzhou Automobile. In total, there are 23 automakers on the list with Volkswagen, Toyota and Stellantis being the top three.
BP & CATL BUILD EV CHARGING STATIONS IN CHINA
Here’s something unexpected. Two of Europe’s biggest oil companies are investing in EV charging stations in China. BP just formed a partnership with Avatr to build a fast charging network in the country. Avatr is an EV joint venture between automaker Changan and battery maker CATL. The first stations will open this year in China’s major cities and by next year it will expand to 100 charging sites in 19 cities. The stations will have 480 kW of power, which is enough to provide 200 kilometers or 124 miles of range in 10 minutes. BP also partnered with ride-hailing company DiDi Chuxing back in 2019 to open an EV charging network.
NIO & SHELL BUILD EV BATTERY SWAPPING STATIONS IN CHINA
But it’s not just BP. Earlier this week, Shell and NIO also opened their first supercharging and battery swapping station in China. The site is equipped with two 180 kW charging piles and a battery swap unit. NIO and Shell plan to open 100 swapping stations in China by 2025. And they’ll jointly operate swapping stations in Europe starting later in the year.
ARRIVAL IS NEXT STARTUP TO DELAY PRODUCTION
Commercial EV startup Arrival is running into some problems. It has an interesting strategy where it wants to convert unused warehouses in the areas it plans to sell into little factories to build its vehicles. But it looks like it’s trying to expand too fast for today’s automotive environment. It eventually plans to have three vehicles in its lineup, but it’s delaying its bus and car projects, so it can save money and put more resources into its van, which is scheduled to start production in the third quarter. Investor uncertainty has caused Arrival’s stock price in the U.S. to slide 75% so far this year.
NIKOLA BEATS WALL STREET ESTIMATES
But it’s not all bad news for EV startups. Nikola said it delivered 48 Tre battery electric trucks to customers in a three-month period, which was behind targets, but each one sold on average $55,000 above what the company was expecting. That helped it post a positive net income for the second quarter, which beat Wall Street estimates. Nikola also revealed it will start trials with its Tre battery electric and fuel cell trucks with Walmart this month and next. And things are looking a little more positive for Lordstown as well. It announced it was able to cut costs and deliveries of its Endurance pickup are still scheduled to start in the 4th quarter of this year.
VW COMES OUT WITH CHEAPER ID.4
Volkswagen ID.4 sales are down significantly this year in the U.S., but help may be on the way. The new base version of the EV, which has a much smaller battery pack – 62 kWh vs. 82 kWh – also has a much smaller price tag. It starts at a little under $39,000, including destination charges, but before the federal tax credit. That’s about $5,000 less than models with the bigger battery. And the first examples are expected to start hitting dealer lots this fall.
SCAN TOOL LETS INDEPENDENT REPAIR SHOPS WORK ON EVs
Will independent repair shops be able to work on EVs? You bet they will, thanks to a scan tool developed by MAHLE that can perform diagnostics on EV batteries. They call it MAHLE TechPRO and it connects to the EV’s charging plug, then downloads data to the cloud for the diagnostics. It can even analyze the coolant that’s used with batteries and predict when it needs to be replaced. It also generates what Mahle calls an E-Health report that forecasts the remaining expected life of the vehicle. And this enables independent workshops to go after business beyond the internal combustion engine.
BMW GETS LITHIUM FROM AUSTRALIA
BMW is locking up the raw materials it needs for its future EVs. It signed a deal with an Australian mining company to supply it with lithium hydroxide, which will be used to make batteries in Europe. Those batteries are likely to be used in BMW’s next generation of EVs, which it calls Neue Klasse. According to CEO Oliver Zipse, the first model will be a 3 Series-sized sedan and the second will be a sporty SUV. But that Neue Klasse won’t be coming until 2025. BMW has relied heavily on converting old ICE platforms to make its EVs, so its been a bit behind on launching dedicated BEVs.
HOW THE COPS CAN PULL OVER AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES
A lot of people have wondered how the cops will ever be able to pull over autonomous cars? Well an autonomous startup called Embark claims it just did the first public demonstration of a police cruiser pulling over a semi truck. Embark has programmed its AV system to recognize the flashing lights of an emergency vehicle, as well as some other clues that it did not identify. Once the AV pulls over to the side of the road and stops, the police can get the vehicle’s documents from a lockbox. The cops just have to call Embark and get a code to open the lockbox. Embark tested the system for three months with the Travis County Sheriff’s department in Texas before it did this public demo.
But that’s the end of today’s show and this week. Have a great weekend.
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Seamus and Sean McElroy cover the latest news in the automotive industry for Autoline Daily.