AD #3569 – Henrik Fisker Disses Gigacastings; Tesla Roadster Delayed Again; Mercedes Reveals New Van EV Architecture

  

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

TESLA SHAREHOLDER MEETING HIGHLIGHTS
Tesla held its annual shareholder’s meeting yesterday and here are some bullet point highlights from Elon Musk:

• He said Tesla will eventually make 250,000 Cybertrucks a year, and the truck goes on sale this year. But he also hinted that the price will not start at $40,000 as originally promised.
• Tesla is working on two all-new models that could collectively sell 5 million units a year. Presumably at least one of those models is the $25,000 model that will slot in below the Model 3. 
• The Roadster is getting delayed again with production “hopefully” starting sometime next year.
• Tesla will experiment with some advertising. Musk did not say when or where, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see ads appear on Twitter, which he owns.
• He said the global economy will be difficult over the next year and that Tesla will be affected by that.
• And he said he will not be stepping down as CEO of Tesla

HENRIK FISKER DISSES GIGACASTINGS
Meanwhile, Henrik Fisker, the CEO of Fisker Inc, dissed gigacastings. He told the Reuters Automotive Conference yesterday that his company won’t use large castings because cars using them could get scrapped after an accident since they’re expensive to repair. Instead, he said Fisker will combine multiple steel stampings into a single stamping. The CEO also said he’s looking for additional business partners to boost scale and market share faster. He said he’s interested in talking to automakers, suppliers or tech companies to get on board.

U.S. & CANADA TO BUILD EV CHARGING CORRIDOR
The U.S. and Canada are going to build an EV charging corridor between the two countries that will stretch nearly 900 miles. Called the Binational EV Corridor, it will run between Quebec City and Kalamazoo, Michigan. EV chargers will be placed every 50 miles or 80 kilometers along the route. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and government officials from Michigan and Canada made the announcement. But they did not say when they’ll start building the corridor or how much it will cost. We just have one question, why does it stop at Kalamazoo and not run all the way to Chicago?

   

THACKER PASS LITHIUM MINE GETS APPROVAL
General Motors just got some good news. It got the go-ahead for a lithium mining project at Thacker Pass mine in Nevada. A big concern in the U.S. is getting through regulatory red tape to open new mines to get raw materials for EV batteries. Lithium Americas, which is GM’s partner on the project, says there’s enough lithium in that mine to make 1 million EVs a year.

LYFT CEO SAYS AVs ARE CLOSER THAN YOU THINK
There are plenty of people who are skeptical that autonomous vehicles will become a reality. But Waymo and Cruise recently expanded their services in the U.S. And now Lyft’s new CEO, David Risher, says self-driving cars aren’t that far off. Risher says Lyft doesn’t have plans to introduce autonomous vehicles to its ride-hailing fleet in the near term but it is preparing for the technology. In an interview with CNBC Risher said “it’s not going to be tomorrow, but you might be surprised that it comes over the next couple of years a little faster than you think.”

MERCEDES REVEALS NEW EV PLATFORM FOR VANS
Mercedes revealed an all-new dedicated electronic architecture for future mid-size and large vans. And not only that, it’s going to launch proper Mercedes passenger vans, meaning they’ll come with the same kind of luxury appointments you’ve come to expect from its cars and SUVs. The new VAN.EA platform features three modules. The front module is consistent across all variants. It features an electric powertrain and front axle. The center section will house the battery packs, which will come in different sizes and provide up to 500 kilometers or 310 miles of range. And the rear module has two versions; one without a motor for FWD models and one with a motor for AWD. VAN.EA also supports OTAs and autonomous driving of Level 2 to Level 4, depending on the segment the van is launching into. By using a common platform, Mercedes says it will be able to cut the number of variants in its van portfolio in half. VAN.EA models start launching in 2026 and by the end of the decade Mercedes want to have a 50% share of the EV van segment. To do that it’s expanding in the U.S. and China, which will get one of those personal luxury vans. Mercedes says other plants will follow behind Poland, Germany and Spain, where it currently makes vans, and we wouldn’t be surprised if that expansion includes the U.S. and China.

VW & HYUNDAI OUTSELL FORD IN U.S. EV SALES
Tesla dominates sales of EVs in the U.S. market but how is everyone else doing? We combined first quarter registrations from Experian that were reported by Automotive News and dug into company sales numbers to come up with this chart. The real surprise for us is that the VW and Hyundai Groups are outselling Ford. Another surprise is that the Volvo Group, which includes Polestar, is outselling Nissan. At the current sales rate, EV sales are on track to top one million units in the U.S. by the end of the year. 

JAPANESE OEMs PARTNER TO DEVELOP HYDROGEN IC ENGINES
Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha are all coming together to research the development of hydrogen-powered IC engines. As you could probably guess these would be used in small vehicles, like motorcycles and kei cars and they hope to tackle issues like unstable combustion and a refueling system. There’s no indication of how long they plan to study hydrogen-powered ICEs, but once they’re done, Toyota will take all the research results and apply it to developing engines. 

 

TOYOTA INTRODUCES ELECTRIC MINI COMMERCIAL VANS
Speaking of Toyota, it’s also working with Suzuki and Daihatsu to come out with all-electric mini commercial vans for the Japanese market. Daihatsu will produce the vehicles, which go on sale before the end of Q1 next year. Each company will get their own version and the vans feature Toyota’s EV tech, which provides up to 200 kilometers or 124 miles of range. That’s about all the details we have for now, but the vans make their global debut sometime between tomorrow and Sunday.

And that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for making Autoline a part of your day.