AD #3587 – Toyota Launches All-Out EV Effort; GM to Make $50 Billion on ICE Investments; U.S. Treasury Scolded for EV Loopholes

  

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

TOYOTA LAUNCHES ALL-OUT EV EFFORT
Yesterday we reported that pension funds in the US and EU want Akio Toyoda thrown out as chairman of Toyota because he’s been dragging his heels on supporting EVs. Well, today Toyota unleashed a torrent of information about its new EV efforts that are being developed under its new business unit called the BEV Factory. Here are the highlights:
– Toyota is shifting more than half of its R&D budget away from ICE technology.
– It’s working on different battery chemistries and shapes including square batteries that will deliver 1,000 kilometers of range, or about 620 miles. They will charge from 10% to 80% in less than 20 minutes.
– Toyota is developing LFP bipolar batteries, where an electrode acts as both the anode and cathode, that will offer 20% more range than today’s LFP batteries, will cost 40% less and will charge from 10% to 80% in under 30 minutes.
– It’s also claiming a breakthrough in solid state batteries that solves their durability issues. And the solid state ones will charge to 80% in less than 10 minutes.
– Toyota says it wants to offer customers these different batteries so they can choose lower cost or higher performance.
– It will use silicon carbide chips in its battery inverters for higher efficiency.
– And the efforts go way beyond batteries. It’s also using hypersonic rocket technology to improve the aerodynamics of its EVs. Toyota says it can hit a coefficient of drag of only 0.1. The best cars today are around 0.2.
– It is shrinking the size of the rear e-axle so it can lower the roofline for better aero and not sacrifice any rear seat headroom.
– Like Tesla, Toyota will use gigacastings to make its EVs and says they will be made from only 3 main components.
– It’s going to get rid of moving assembly lines in its factories and will use self guided shuttles for far greater flexibility.
– Put it all together and Toyota says it can cut its EV production lead time, its manufacturing processes and its investment in half.
– Also like Tesla, the BEV Factory will have all its people in one location all reporting to one leader to improve communication and slash the time it takes to make decisions.
By 2030 Toyota expects to be making 3.5 million BEVs a year, 1.7 million of which will be from the BEV Factory.

FOR AKIO, IT’S ABOUT SAVING FACE
As we also said yesterday, there’s a snowball’s chance in hell that Akio would ever be removed as chairman just because some American and European asset managers are complaining. But in Japan, saving face is embedded deeply in the culture. So even if a small fraction of Toyota’s shareholders voted to remove him, it would be deeply embarrassing. Since the shareholder’s meeting is tomorrow, no doubt Toyota wanted to release all this information today, to convince everyone that the critics don’t know what they’re talking about.

GM TO MAKE $50 BILLION ON ICE INVESTMENTS
GM says it’s committed to an all-electric lineup by 2035. But it’s investing heavily in its IC vehicles which will bring in the profits needed to pay for those EVs. Over the last week, GM announced $3 billion in investments to upgrade plants in North America that produce light and heavy-duty pickups and SUVs. Reuters estimates that GM will produce those models for the next 10 to 12 years and could earn as much as $50 billion in profit during that time. GM’s plant in Arlington, Texas, which builds its full-size SUVs, is considered the most profitable plant in the world. According to an auto analyst at Benchmark, last year the plant generated $25 billion in revenue and $4 billion in EBIT, which is nearly 30% of the company’s total EBIT.

RENAULT TO OFFER BI-DIRECTIONAL CHARGING ON R5
Like most automakers making EVs, Renault is going to offer bi-directional charging, which basically allows the energy stored in an EV’s battery to be used for non-car-related activities. The Renault 5, which comes out in 2024, will be its first vehicle with this capability. But Renault says its bi-directional charger will be available on other future EVs as well. One way to tap into the benefits of the system will require an additional powerbox that attaches to the home. It’s essentially the brains of the system and will determine whether it should recharge the battery, sell energy back to the grid or power electronics inside the home all while factoring in incentives from the energy market and power providers. Renault will also offer a special adaptor that plugs into the charging socket on the vehicle and has a standard European outlet on the other side, so owners can power something right from the battery.

FORD OPENS EV FACTORY IN KOLN, GERMANY
Ford has said it plans to make 2 million EVs a year by 2026 and a good chunk of those are going to come from its newly opened Cologne Electric Vehicle Center in Germany. The plant was first founded in 1930, but Ford invested $2 billion to add a new EV production and battery assembly line as well as new tools and equipment. The first EV to come out of there will be the new electric Explorer, which launches next year and is based on VW’s MEB platform. The Explorer EV will be followed by a sports crossover and while it didn’t say if it too will be MEB based or not, Ford’s GM in Europe previously said it would probably have two vehicles that use the platform. Ford’s plant in Germany will eventually have the capacity to make over 250,000 EVs a year.

SEN. MANCHIN SCOLDS TREASURY FOR EV LOOPHOLES
Senator Joe Manchin is still ticked off how the Treasury Department interpreted mineral and battery component requirements for EV tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act. He says the Treasury’s guidance “deviates from the will of Congress in at least three major respects.” First he’s upset that percentages of critical minerals sourced or produced in the U.S. isn’t higher. He also argues that the Treasury’s interpretation of battery materials discourages domestic production of battery components. And lastly, Manchin is critical that the Treasury is allowing free trade agreements involving only battery minerals to count. He says a true free trade agreement removes restrictions for “substantially all” trade and not just “a mineral here or a mineral there.”

     

DAIMLER LAUNCHES EV SEMI IN EUROPE
Daimler is getting ready to launch the production all-electric long-haul version of its big heavy-duty commercial truck that it sells in Europe, the Actros. Its official name is the eActros 600 and that number refers to its 600+ kWh LFP battery pack. Range is expected to be “around” 500 kilometers or 310 miles, but it doesn’t say if that’s with a full load or not. The truck utilizes an 800 volt architecture, which will allow that big battery to charge from 20-80% in “well under” 30 minutes when using a charging station with an output of about one megawatt. The eActros 600 also features a new in-house developed eAxles that combines two electric motors for 600 kW of output or over 800 horsepower. Daimler says it put the truck through the same durability tests that it does with its diesel trucks.

MERCEDES LINES UP GREEN STEEL SUPPLIES
Mercedes-Benz has set a goal of having a net carbon neutral new car fleet by 2039. And to help meet that target, the automaker has made deals with several steel producers, to supply it with green steel. Within this decade, Mercedes plans to use more than 200,000 tons of CO2 reduced steel annually. Steel production creates a lot of CO2 and it accounts for up to 20% of the total CO2 emissions in the production of an EV.

And that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for tuning in.