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Runtime: 10:57
0:00 Polestar Reveals Future Product & Technology Plans
2:47 Fisker In Talks With 5 Automakers to Boost Production
3:26 Biden Backs UAW’s Unionization Efforts
4:41 BMW To Offer L3 Autonomous Driving in Germany
5:29 EV Growth Causes Palladium Prices to Plummet
6:02 Volvo Trucks Snaps Up Proterra’s Battery Business
6:31 VW To Offer Sub-$35,000 EV In U.S.
7:00 Ford Trucks to Test Fuel Cell Vehicles
7:33 Hyundai Opens Smart Mobility Hub in Singapore
8:14 GM Gets Access to Tesla Superchargers in China
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POLESTAR REVEALS FUTURE PRODUCT & TECHNOLOGY PLANS
Polestar held its Polestar Day yesterday where it laid out the company’s plans and future technology. It will finally be adding another car to its lineup when the Polestar 3 starts rolling down the line at a Geely plant in China early next year as well as at Volvo’s U.S. plant in South Carolina in the summer of 2024. The 3 will be followed by the Polestar 4 with production starting in the second half of 2025. The model will be made at Renault’s plant in South Korea, which will be the first EV that plant has ever made. No word on how many examples it expects to build, but the plant has a capacity of 300,000 vehicles a year. This move comes from Renault’s partnership with Geely, which I thought was mostly an ICE partnership, but it will clearly extend to EVs as well. The 3 & 4 are going to be followed by the Polestar 5, which is based on the Precept Concept and also starts production sometime in 2025. Before we go on to the tech Polestar showed off, I just wanted to add a little side note that I think its naming is a little odd because the Polestar 4 will slot between the 2 & 3 in both size and price. Ok, onto the tech. The company says it’s testing bidirectional charging with the Polestar 3. Specifically, it talked about setting up a virtual power plant that can look at the total battery capacity of all its EVs that are plugged in, the demand on the grid and then charge or discharge the batteries. Tesla has been doing the same thing with its stationary storage or Powerwalls for years and its generated hundreds of millions of dollars for those that have opted into the program. Polestar is also working to bring more automated driving into the 4. It’s partnering with Luminar for Lidar and Mobileye for its Chauffeur platform, which it says will allow for eyes-off, hands-off driving on the freeway and eyes-on, hands-off driving for other environments. And the last bit of news is a couple of battery deals. Polestar is working with SK On for high-nickel battery cells and StoreDot for its extreme fast charging technology. Instead of a traditional lithium-ion graphite anode, StoreDot replaces it with nano-particles and other organic compounds to allow a battery to add 100 miles or 160 kilometers of range in just 5 minutes.
FISKER IN TALKS WITH 5 AUTOMAKERS TO BOOST PRODUCTION
While Polestar was able to nab a new contract manufacturer in Renault, Fiskers says it’s still looking for another partner to help make its next models. Its current model, the Fisker Ocean, is produced by Magna in Austria and it’s supposed to have a deal to build a smaller crossover, called the Pear with Foxconn in Ohio. But CEO Henrik Fisker says it’s in talks with 5 traditional car companies to get even more production capacity. As of September, Fisker had only made about 5,000 Oceans, so it will be interesting to see if it can support building more vehicles.
BIDEN BACKS UAW’S UNIONIZATION EFFORTS
Yesterday, we reported that the UAW is going to target all non-union autoworkers in the U.S. And it just received a big endorsement for that effort. President Biden said he “absolutely” backs the UAW’s effort to unionize Tesla and Toyota and said he wants all autoworkers to receive the same deal the UAW just made with GM, Ford and Stellantis. Biden made the remarks before a rally with UAW workers at Stellantis’ plant in Belvidere, Illinois. Biden also supported the UAW strike back in September, joining the picket lines. But even with the President’s support, it’s going to be an uphill battle. The UAW has unsuccessfully tried to organize the transplants for the last 40 years, which is why union president Shawn Fain said it is “going to find creative ways to get to workers.”
BMW TO OFFER L3 AUTONOMOUS DRIVING IN GERMANY
BMW announced it is going to offer SAE Level 3 hands free driving to its customers in Germany. The automated driving technology will be available in the new 7 Series starting next year and costs 6,000 euros or about $6,400. The system only works at speeds up to 60 km/h or 37 MPH on divided highways. BMW plans to roll the technology to other markets but did not say when it will. As you probably remember, Mercedes was the first automaker to offer Level 3 driving, which is also available in Germany as well as California and Nevada. And like BMW’s system, Mercedes’ DrivePilot only works at speed below 40 MPH.
EV GROWTH CAUSES PALLADIUM PRICES TO PLUMMET
Electric vehicles are one of the fastest growing segments of the auto market. And because consumers aren’t buying as many ICE vehicles, it’s driving down the price of palladium, which is used in catalytic converters. Spot palladium is down 45% so far this year and is now at $943 an ounce, which is a five-year low. A surplus is expected next year, which is causing the price to tumble. And if EV sales continue to grow, demand for palladium is expected to continue to drop.
VOLVO TRUCKS SNAPS UP PROTERRA’S BATTERY BUSINESS
Earlier this summer, Proterra, a startup that made electric buses and battery packs filed for bankruptcy because it was unable to reach manufacturing scale. And now Volvo Trucks will scoop up its battery business. The truck maker said it won an auction to buy the unit for $210 million as part of Proterra’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy process. Volvo says it expects to finalize the deal next year.
VW TO OFFER SUB-$35,000 EV IN U.S.
Volkswagen wants to sell affordable electrics in the U.S. Instead of scaling back the number of EVs for the market, VW says it wants to offer an electric model for under $35,000 in the next 3-4 years. It would have to be built somewhere in North America, likely the U.S. or Mexico, and VW will also look to source the batteries from the region so the vehicle will qualify for IRA tax credits.
FORD TRUCKS TO TEST FUEL CELL VEHICLES
Ford Trucks, the automaker’s international heavy-duty commercial truck brand that operates in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, is partnering with a German company called Quantron to study fuel cell technology. Quantron’s technology, including e-axles, high-power batteries, fuel cell stacks and energy management systems, will be tested in Ford’s F-Max vehicles starting next year. Ford Trucks is aiming to be zero-emissions in heavy-duty truck production by 2040.
HYUNDAI OPENS SMART MOBILITY HUB IN SINGAPORE
It sounds like the Hyundai Group may be making a similar move as Toyota. It’s opening the first of what it calls a smart urban mobility hub in Singapore. Basically, it will come up with new production methods and customer experiences. One specific example, it says production methods will be significantly evolved from traditional conveyor-belt manufacturing. To me that sounds very similar to how Toyota will have vehicles drive themselves down certain sections of the production line. No word on when Hyundai will start testing the system, but Toyota plans to launch it on its next-gen EVs in the next few years.
GM GETS ACCESS TO TESLA SUPERCHARGERS IN CHINA
Tesla isn’t just opening up its Supercharger network in the U.S. CarNewsChina reports that GM and its Chinese joint venture partner SAIC are getting access to Tesla’s charger network in China before the end of the year. EVs from Buick and Cadillac will be the first to be able to use them. While not as big as its network in North America, Tesla operates more than 1,800 Supercharger stations with roughly 11,000 individual chargers in China.
But that brings us to the end of today’s show and this week. Thanks for tuning in.
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It appears that Polestar has some work to do. I just read CR’s article for the Polestar 2, and they were not impr
essed. The ride was bad and the controls even worse than Tesla M3, whose controls they don’t like very well. Apparently you need to go through multiple menus to do almost anything with the infotainment system.
I personally couldn’t see spending $1000 let alone $6400 for AV that can only be used on the highway under 40mph. So, basically allows you to let the car take over in a traffic jam. Probably helpful in Cali but around here I would use that maybe twice a year.
I really have to wonder if those recharge stations like the one shown in todays segment can actually fast charge cars at all the stations at the same time? That picture showed about 60 chargers. Each one could pull 350kW to charge in like 12 min x 60 thats 21,000 kW. Thats like 700 homes. Maybe my math is off.
I saw somewhere else that the Polestar 4 is ditching the rear window (because they wanted to gain some headroom in the back seat and needed to move the structural brace more rearward). Total number of cameras is at 12 around the whole vehicle, so other than not having the window to look out of, visibility should remain adequate. And thus, another simple execution will need to rely upon technology. Some people don’t care for rear view cameras because they have to shift their focus differently than a mirror (but maybe that’s something easy to get accustomed to). The interior (dashboard) is sort of minimalistic but not as much as the Teslas’ but the Polestar does have minimal dials/switches so relies on the center touchscreen (not my favorite way of adjusting preferences).
Some cars, like a C8, will show a rear camera on the inside rear view mirror, or you can use it as a regular mirror. The camera eliminates blind spots, but I’ve rarely used it, because my eyes need to re-focus between looking out the windshield and that camera display. Using the mirror as a mirror, that doesn’t happen. Young people probably wouldn’t experience that.
Biden has become quite the UAW pitchman of late. He has parroted many of the union’s most popular themes. And yet, curiously, the union has not endorsed him as a presidential candidate yet. Makes you wonder what it will take, and who else Fain might consider endorsing?
I think that an aggressively priced and styled small hot hatch EV could really put VW back on the map. They can have a second bite at the GTI apple. I imagine it would have to be built at their Mexico plant to make the math work. It would be nice to see a stylish small EV that would be great for commuting, grocery runs and other errands. Kinda like the Bolt, only much better. Come on Vdub, you can do it!
Lambo, so far, the maximum charge rate of Tesla chargers is 250 kW, but yeah, if 60 of them are charging at that rate, it would take a lot of power, 15 MW. I doubt if all of them would be able to charge at full power at the same time. It would probably be more than 700 homes, under most conditions, unless the homes have electric heat running.
VW’s earlier attempt at an EV, the eGolf, was slower than a Bolt, and had half the range. They need to ratchet things up a lot from that.
I’ve had VWs, most recently a 2004 TDI Jetta wagon, but the GTI is the only thing they are selling now that appeals to me. If it were my only car, my Mini probably would have been a GTI, having substantially more room inside.
Of course Biden backs UAW expansion ,The UAW is a big donor to the Democrat party. One hand washing the other. I don’t think Elon will go for that easily and Toyota may do a study to see if it’s just cheaper to import and pay the tariff than to be held hostage by the UAW every several years. That is the tight rope the union is walking . They may wind up driving jobs back out of the country. and in this case it wouldn’t be their jobs they’d be losing it would be someone else’s that had nothing to do with it. The transplants have proven that they treat their employees decently and why they have continually rebuffed the UAW advances. Administration policies have caused this cascading economic issue. Prices go up ,and wages go up to cope and prices go up to cope with higher wages , A vicious cycle started when the legs were cut from under the US energy sector.
GM Veteran I believe the UAW maybe thinking Joe will drop out and then they’ll have to see who the DNC will promote possibly Newsome from a lot pundits opinions.
Picking which charger to use is important. Most share a power source between two or more chargers (boxes). If you are by yourself, you get all the beans but if others join on the same power source (not even the same charger box) you share the electricity. Yet another hidden gotcha.
With our Bolt EV its charging is so slow it makes no difference where we plug in.
Heads up displays can simulate showing information at a longer distance than the windshield so I expect in time the camera rear view mirrors will be able to do the same. Only time I use the rear view camera in the mirror is when it’s a bad snow storm. It gives a clearer and wider angle view than the small mirror.
XA351 GT — The UAW “may wind up driving jobs back out of the country”, because they fought for higher wages and benefit for the employees they represent? Yet, since 2008/2009 the leaders of the Detroit Three have been making more money and compensation for over a decade since and that has not stopped them from sending jobs “out of the country”, anyway! I guess Toyota will be sending jobs “out of the country”, since they immediately increased their workers pay 20%, after Ford and the UAW reached a deal of their contract negotiations! So the affect of the UAW was felt, even though the UAW has not spoken a word to the transplants or their employees. Why? It’s because they want to keep them out. Yet, if the UAW or the threat of them did not exist, the transplants would have no reason or incentive to “treat their employees decently” as has been suggested! Again, why is it okay for the leaders of a company to constantly make more, but their employees can not?! Or the company is doomed and the employees greedy, to seek to benefit a little more when the company thrives?! During hard times and the leaders say that the company needs to ‘tighten it’s belt’, who are the ones that are hurt the most when that happens? Not the leaders of the company! If everyone has to give when a company is suffering, is it fair for leaders to imply ‘you just need to be happy you have a job’, when the company is successful? Why can’t everyone enjoy the benefits, when the business is excelling?!
The charge curve determines how much grid sharing occurs. So a typical Tesla (and others) have a triangular curve with a high peak that ramps down, So my initial 178 kW soon reaches 80 kW. In 15-20 minutes there is enough charge to reach the next SuperCharger 2 hours away. Overlap the charging with biological needs, and long distances are easy.
Just curious, is the market for stolen catalytic converters softening?
wmb, I know reading can be hard ,but what i said was if the UAW try to unionize TESLA and TOYOTA .TOYOTA may find it CHEAPER to import and pay the tariff. Those are the jobs that would be lost . read all the words not just every 4th one.
I don’t know wouldn’t those generous profit sharing checks they get count. The problem is everyone wants CEO money for doing minimum effort.
So if they do compensate fairly why would they need the UAW ? If the threat of the UAW is what does keep them on the up and up They don’t need the UAW then do they . So they become useful , but if the workers THINK that the UAW can get them even more TOYOTA may say see ya go back to whatever crappy job you had before.
Albemarle, can you see which chargers are connected together, or is all of the wiring hidden underground so you can’t tell visually?
I suppose the transplants could move to Mexico if they feel too threatened by unions in the US, but it seems the Asians have mostly avoided Mexico. From what I find, Tacoma, HR-V, and Versa are about the only US market vehicles from Mexico.
That’s Tacoma, HR-V, and Versa are the vehicles from Asian companies imported from Mexico. There are lots of Fords, Jeeps, Chevys and Rams coming from Mexico.
Certainly, Fain would like to grow the UAW membership, but I also believe Tesla and Toyota will do as much as necessary to keep them out. Which is exactly the benefit of the union to non-union shops. They will get raises they wouldn’t normally get to keep the union out. They can thank the union members for the trickle-down effects of their strike. Do they appreciate it enough to join? Thats the big question and how far can they push before it makes more sense to just build elsewhere?
The UAW might succeed in a few plants but I doubt it. They’re getting the raise without doing anything.
Kit, I don’t have a clue how you tell which chargers are linked. It might be easy (or not). Since we only use public chargers on a lark (last time was a free one in 2022) I am not an expert on this. Read it in a bunch of places. When I plug in at home in the garage I make sure to keep the overhead light off. 😀
I don’t see any chance for Unifor to be successful at unionizing the Honda or Toyota plants in Canada.
Ian
XA351 GT — LMBO! I must apologize if my reading and comprehension, is not up to your literary standards! I never said union workers should get CEO money and I believe leaders of the company SHOULD get more! I even said in an earlier post this week, that I’m not suggesting that the leaders of the company do not deserve what they are paid! Yet, if the argument is that the Detroit Three will not survive or will not remain competitive with other OEMs, if they pay their employees more, that same argument holds true for the leaders of the company! If the union employees are greedy for wanting more, then the same is true when you look at the compensation and benefits of those who run the companies (which run into the millions)! It seems that all I seem to hear from some, is that corporate greed is OK, but when the employees ask for more, that’s intolerable! And, could someone explain to me this “minimum effort” that so many speak of? Not all assembly workers may be college educated, but some make it seem like they are just sitting around, doing nothing, playing tiddlywinks or something. So many of them sacrifice their bodies like those in construction and other forms of heavy industry! Carpal tunnel for repetitive motion in the hands, arms, backs and knees, as a result of grabbing, bending and stooping for sometime 9-to-12 hours at a time (mandatory overtime)! Also, please explain how that is “minimum effort”? If it’s wrong for the employees to ask for more for the work that they do, if that makes them greedy, why is it okay for the leaders of the company to MAKE SO MUCH MORE, as they sit in their comfortable corporate offices and just steer the company! “So if they do compensate fairly why would they need the UAW ?” That is the point XA351 GT, employees of the Detroit Three gave up a lot, back in 2008/09 to keep the companies afloat and have only gotten some of what they gave up back, in the strike this year and from the one a few years back! If the UAW did not exist, the D3 and the transplants would have no incentive to treat their employees fairly. GM and Ford’s decision to import certain Cadillac, Buick and Lincoln’s to the US from other countries, had nothing to do with the union contracts, for they were made long before negotiations even started! It was a business decision to send jobs elsewhere. The contract the UAW just negotiated, is forcing the D3 to keep work here and not leave the country. Think about this, analysts have said that the new contract will the cost the D3 $10 million (whether that is collectively or per company, I don’t remember), or less than a thousand dollars added to the hood of a vehicle on average (or about $20 added to financing). That is less then 1/3 of what the GM CEO took home for the year! If paying the employees collectively $10 million, makes the company uncompetitive, or will doom the company, what does that say when they pay the CEO of that same company $34 million dollars?! I do not agree with the way Fain handled UAW negotiations and his ‘victory lap’ is very off putting, IMHO, but that doesn’t mean that the UAW is the enemy, or that the automakers are innocent victims either!
wmb, according to Reuters, the new contract will cost GM $7 billion over 4.5 years in higher labor costs. I don’t know where your $10M came from. GM sold 2.27 million vehicles last year, so the contract would add an average of $685 cost per vehicle. The bottom line is that, as long as GM (and Ford) can keep selling lots of monster trucks for high profits, the companies will be ok. If the market changes dramatically, they will be in deep trouble. The contract cost ~50 times Mary Barra’s admittedly, obscenely high pay, if my calculations are correct.
‘A vicious cycle started when the legs were cut from under the US energy sector.’
I can never link to proper energy sources here, but in 2023, natural gas, crude oil, and petroleum exports from the US all hit absolute records (source EIA).
While in TX, renewable energy supplied 28% of electricity in 2021 (source comptroller’s office, fiscal notes). Add nuclear, and you’re at well over one third greenhouse-gas free grid power over the entire year. On a continuing upward trend.
KIT — I was listening to a report on NPR and this was early days, not long after Ford and the UAW had reached a tentative deal. As much more information has come out and more detail and clarity on the specifics, I stand corrected and thank you. Those numbers quoted may also be in addition and over what the OEMs already pay to their union workers, over the course of the four year contract. Yet, over $30 million is what Barra took home in one year! Is it fair, though, to call the employees greedy, if all they are asking for is a bigger slice of the pie? If you can hand out that kind of money to the leaders of these companies, I don’t see how one can say that in good conscience, because it would go both ways! I’m not saying they don’t deserve the compensation, but wouldn’t the employees deserve a little more too? If doing so dooms the company, leaders should take less as well! Figuring out a way to move the company along successfully, during a constantly changing landscape, preparing for the future AND sharing the wealth is not easy, so I command those taking the lead in those businesses. Keeping their employees and those that they work with happy/content is important too! These “record contracts” will definitely impact their decision making, but I’m sure they are up to the challenge. That’s why they make the big bucks!
To me, company CEOs are more overpaid than sports stars, because they would be easier to replace. There are probably thousands of people who could run a car company as well as Farley, Barra, or Tavares, but there would not be thousands of people who could play football as well as Tom Brady during his career, or basketball as well as Michael Jordan during his time. Of course, there could be an argument that sports have no useful purpose.
23.48% of electricity in Texas is from wind, but 0% in Florida.
ChuckGrenci, maybe you know something about this.
The predicted temperature for the Las Vegas GP is 40-50 F, and since the race and qualifying is in the middle of the night, the track temp won’t be very much above ambient. Will any of the tires work that cold, or will they need to find some all season road car tires the right sizes to run the race? OK, not serious about using road car tires, but it seems that the cold could be a problem for normal F1 tires.
Kit, thanks for the heads up. I knew about the night race but didn’t take account for the temperature, just figuring desert temperatures would still be moderate. I too see projected temps in the upper 40’s to 50; we will have to see. I suppose, the ‘softest’ sets will work okay but I haven’t heard any ‘chatter’ about this situation.
I don’t know what normal temps are in Las Vegas this time of year, but I was there once in March and it was cool. In the summer, about 115 F is normal.
Kit, I did a little poking around and found out that the biggest concern(s) will be getting the temps up (for tires and brakes). The long straights might present some caution due to lack of grip (due to cooling tires just running the straight-a-way). And on a side note, the coldest (previous) grand prix was in Canada (don’t remember the year) where the temp got down to 41 degrees (there may be a chance that Las Vegas (could) get lower.
The late night running will mean a cold track, even if it is a sunny day. It will be interesting.
Haven’t watched a GP in many years. Sounds interesting, given that the time is a good fir for overseas viewers, but I’d have to stream it.
Texas is building out solar power too now, while Florida is nowhere when it comes to renewables – and utility-scale solar is the cheapest electricity around. So it’s clearly political.
Darn, where did the edit button go? Got to sit in the updated Model 3 yesterday (showroom here is in the middle of downtown, they made it an event), and it’s nicer than I expected. The new headlights don’t quite fit the overall design language, and the car lost some character (long-term problem for Tesla), but it looks very sleek and modern inside out. Just needs stalks. I wonder how much Tesla could save by doing away with the expensive ‘FSD’ computing hardware?
I went by the local Tesla store, and they have a lot of inventory, but no new Models 3. They had an S without a turn signal stalk that I sat in. The turn controls on the wheel weren’t awful, but why are they doing that? People will be hitting the wrong button, especially when they have been driving with their hands other than at 3oclock, 9oclock on the wheel. Between deleting the turn signal stalk and calling something “full self driving” which clearly isn’t, it seems that Tesla is just trying to see what they can get away with.
Just herd this morning that Honda is increasing employee wages and fast tracking employees to top pay! I guess the question for Toyota and Honda came down to whether they wanted to be more competitive then the D3 and keep assembly worker pay the same, move production out of the US or increase worker pay and hope to keep the UAW out? I guess they have made their choice!
The D3 will probably still have much better health care benefits. I wonder what BMW, MB, VW and Hyundai will do.
Kentucky Ford workers voted down the contract. I guess it’s time to move truck production to Mexico.