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Runtime: 12:44
0:00 UAW Targets All Non-Union Automakers
1:16 Musk Speaks Out Against Unions
2:16 Ford Lost $1.7 Billion on UAW Strike
2:35 EU Expects 40% Jump in 2024 EV Market Share
3:24 BMW iX Drives 978 KM with ONE Battery
5:00 Chevy Tahoe & Suburban Get a Face Lift
5:53 Jeep Sales Sagging, Gets Management Shakeup
7:11 Renault Tease R5 EV
8:03 EV Charging Road Opens in Detroit
8:52 Mercedes & BMW Forming Charging Network in China
9:19 Lotus Launches Self-Branded EV Chargers
9:50 Ford App Helps Cut EV Charging Costs
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UAW TARGETS NON-UNION AUTOMAKERS
The UAW went to war with the Detroit based automakers over a new labor contract. And now it’s going after all the others. UAW president Shawn Fain said he’s going to organize the Japanese, Korean and German automakers building vehicles in the US. Here’s what Fain said in the latest video posted by the union. “To all the autoworkers out there working without the benefits of a union, now it’s your turn. Since we began our Stand Up strike, the response from autoworkers at non-union companies has been overwhelming. Workers across the country, from the West to the Midwest and especially in the South are reaching out to join our movement and to join the UAW.” Fain offered no numbers or proof that the UAW is getting an overwhelming response from non-union workers. In the past the UAW said the same thing, only to lose election after election. But Fain is clearly a different union organizer. And we expect him to launch an organizing campaign very different from any of the earlier efforts.
MUSK SPEAKS OUT AGAINST UNIONS
But will the UAW go after Tesla? Last year Elon Musk famously dared the union to organize his workers and promised that Tesla would do nothing to stop it. Yesterday, at a forum put on by the New York Times, Musk had this to say about unions. “I think unions naturally try to create negativity in a company, and create a sort of lords and peasants situation. There are many people at Tesla who have gone from working on the line to being in senior management. There’s no lords or peasants.” Musk went on to point out that executives use the same parking lots and eat in the same lunch areas as the company’s line workers and it gives those hourly workers stock options that made some of them millionaires. He said if the UAW did organize Tesla then the company deserved it because that would represent some sort of failure.
FORD LOST $1.7 BILLION ON UAW STRIKE
Here’s another reason why Musk will fight any organizing effort. Ford says the UAW strike last month cost the company $1.7 billion and that the new contract will add $8.8 billion in labor costs over the life of the contract.
EU EXPECTS 40% JUMP IN 2024 EV MARKET SHARE
But let’s shift away from the U.S. and look over to Europe where EV sales are set to take off next year thanks to low-cost models. According to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, EV market share will grow by 40% in 2024, which will be driven by cheaper EVs equipped with LFP batteries. It predicts that the share will grow from about 14-15% this year to 20% next year.
BMW iX DRIVES 978 KM WITH ONE BATTERY
Are dual chemistry battery packs the answer to long-distance EV driving? Our Next Energy or ONE put its dual chemistry Gemini battery pack in a BMW iX and drove 608 miles or 978 kilometers on the WLTP test. That compares to a WLTP range of 380 miles or 610 kilometers for an iX with the same pack that it leaves the factory with. ONE’s Gemini battery combines LFP cells, which handle everyday driving, together with high energy density anode-free cells, which take care long distance. Those chemistries are also more environmentally friendly with a reduction of nickel and cobalt, 20% less lithium and 50% less graphite, which will help keep costs down as well. But there’s a few other important things to point out here. The Gemini pack is massive. It’s around 185 kWh. The battery from BMW is 111.5 kWh. And you would really need to do a lot more long distance driving than you do motoring around town. The LFP cells only provide a range of around 150 miles, the anode-free cells provide the remaining 450 miles to drive long distances. So, if you did a lot of city driving you’d be dragging around a lot of extra battery weight that you don’t really need to.
CHEVY TAHOE & SUBURBAN GET A FACE LIFT
Yesterday GM announced that it was cutting its profit outlook for the year a little bit, but it’s still going to make billions and the refreshed versions of the Chevy Tahoe and Suburban will be some of its biggest revenue generators. Both models feature new front fascias, updated front and rear lighting and swanky new 24-inch wheels. The interiors see some changes as well and is highlighted by a new 17.7 inch center screen. The engine lineup under the hood is mostly the same, but the Tahoe and Suburban get the new, more powerful 3.0L Duramax 6-cylinder diesel that first launched in the Silverado pickup. Chevy also says it put some effort into improving the ride and handling of the big SUVs. But interested buyers are going to have to wait with sales not kicking off until late next year.
JEEP SALES SAGGING, GETS MANAGEMENT SHAKEUP
Sales of new vehicles in the US market are up more than 11% this year, but not at Jeep. Its sales are down 9.5% this year, with 6 of its 8 models doing worse than last year. And this is a long-term trend. In 2018 Jeep sold 973,000 vehicles in the US. Last year it was only 684,000. And yesterday, Stellantis announced management changes at the Jeep brand. Jim Morrison, who was running Jeep in North America, is being replaced by William Peffer, who had been running Maserati in North America. Morrison will now be in charge of a business unit that was just created called Jeep Performance Parts. The changes at Jeep actually started at the beginning of this month, when the CEO of Global Jeep, Christian Meunier was replaced by Antonio Filosa. Jeep has been hit by a lot of competition, especially from the Ford Bronco and Bronco Sport. But we think it may also have suffered from expanding its line-up too quickly, especially with models designed for suburban parking lots instead of off-road trails.
RENAULT TEASES R5 EV
The all-new, all-electric Renault 5 won’t make its debut until next year’s Geneva auto show in late February, but it’s showing off a number of teaser pictures today. I think the coolest aspect of the design we’re seeing today is the hood. The spot where an air intake might normally be on an ICE car is now a charge indicator screen that displays the number 5 when it’s fully charged. Renault also revealed key details, like it will have two battery packs; one is 40 kWh, while the other is 52 kWh and will provide up to 400 kilometers or roughly 250 miles of range. The 5 will support bi-directional charging as well and it’s scheduled to go on sale sometime next year with a starting price around 25,000 euros.
EV CHARGING ROAD OPENS IN DETROIT
Everyone’s complaining about the EV charging infrastructure. But help is on the way in the U.S., the EU and in China. The first inductive-charging public road in the US just opened in Detroit. It allows EVs with an inductive receiver to pick up electricity as they drive down the road. It doesn’t really recharge the battery, it just replenishes the electricity the EV is using. The quarter-mile stretch of road features inductive coils that were installed by an Israeli-based company called Electreon. It has also installed charging roads in Sweden, Germany, Italy and Israel. The idea is to extend the range of EVs, allowing them to use smaller batteries to cut cost.
MERCEDES & BMW FORM CHARGING NETWORK IN CHINA
Moving over to China, BMW and Mercedes teamed up to open a fast-charging network in the country. The joint venture is aiming to build 1,000 fast-charging stations with around 7,000 charging ports by the end of 2026. The first stations will open next year, which will also be open to other brands but BMW and Mercedes will offer its customers exclusive features.
LOTUS LAUNCHES SELF-BRANDED EV CHARGERS
Sports car maker Lotus is launching its own branded fast-chargers. It has already deployed them in China and will open more in Europe and the Middle East next year. The 450-kW chargers can charge up to four vehicles at once and can add 88.5 miles or 142 kilometers of range to its Eletre EV in just five minutes. Some even feature liquid-cooled power cabinets at locations that require high energy like highway rest stops.
FORD APP CUTS EV CHARGING COSTS
And lastly, Ford has teamed up with a couple of companies to offer smart charging services to help European EV customers save money. Using a smartphone app, customers can input their desired state of charge and departure time while charging at home. Their cars will be automatically charged using tariffs that are designed to maximize cost savings and the use of renewable energy. The service is available in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Norway early next year, starting with Mach-E owners.
While that brings us to the end of today’s show. Don’t forget to also make Autoline After Hours a part of your day. We think there could be big trouble looming for electric pickups and that debate goes live at 3PM EST.
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I’m curious about the inductive road business model. Aside from this demonstration area, who pays for institutionalized installations? Also, I assume some method of charging (no pun intended) fees to the road user needs to be established.
Maybe part of why Jeep sales are dropping is that Cherokee is gone, and the “lower end” Jeep products, Compass and Renegade, are near worst-in-class, and maybe more people are starting to notice. Also, Wrangler and Gladiator aren’t that great either, unless you do hard core off-roading, or just want the removable top and doors. Yeah, Bronco is taking sales from Wrangler, and Bronco Sport is taking sales from most of the “compact” CUVs.
The in pavement inductive charging has the best opportunity for inner city busses. Lots of cites have designated bus lanes and limited routes. Could allow for a much smaller battery on the bus and not require it to go to a recharging station. Man, sure sounds a lot like cable trolleys from 100 years ago without the cables.
Kit- Right on! Jeep keeps raising prices and going after a more upscale SUV market. Plus, the Bronco has to have put the hurt on them as they went so many years unchallenged. It’s hard to tell around the Toledo area with the Jeep plant here About every 5th vehicle is a Jeep or RAM. So many people work there and get friends and family discounts. Add in to that the RAM is almost always the best priced truck of the major three. even before employee discounts. As you pointed out the Gladiator was way over-priced for the market it was in, and sales have been dropping as I expected.
Inductive charging sounds nice, but if there will be a problem with electric infrastructure, you can probably add another 30% or more for the horrible inefficiency of something like in-road inductive charging.
Lambo, about every 5th vehicle is a Jeep or Ram in Kokomo, IN too, with Chrysler being the largest employer in the area, now by a wide margin.
Kit- In reference to yesterday’s charging discussion. I did go back and read your link and again the problem I have with lots of these studies is they are done in California. Yea makes sense since they have the most EVs but when they speak about the infrastructure it was much later in Cali then the mid-west and east coast. So, the homes and infrastructure are most likely much better than the rest of the country. Some homes in the East were built before electricity and were retrofitted later. Take Boston it was founded in 1630 compared to Palo Alto from the article which was founded in 1894 just 264 years later. I still find homes in my area that had the old knob and tube with cloth wiring. Imagine charging a car with that old wiring.
Yeah, knob-and-tube wiring would only be usable for level 1, 120v charging, and if it is 12 gauge. Some knob-and-tube is 14 gauge, which should be fused at 15 amps, so even level 1 charging might blow a fuse.
The house next to mine in Indiana has a mix of Romex and knob-and-tube, but the detached garage has newer wiring adequate for any normal use, including level 2 charging. Their transformer, like mine, might be loaded above spec if a lot of high load items are running at once.
The IEEE article seemed to indicate that houses in Palo Alto had been converted from gas heat and appliances to electric. That would require immediate upgrade of transformers and wiring from substations if a high percentage of houses did that, never mind electric cars.
I too agree that JEEP is in trouble. I recently drove for a very long distance a new Wrangler Willys edition. It was pretty bare bones as I would have expected for a willys edition(which was bare bones in the day). The interior was loud, cramped, and had uncomfortable seats so driving long distances was not a pleasant experience. It also got terrible gas mileage so that was not good for a long trip either. On the positive it did have 4WD and removable roof and doors. Thank god it wasn’t a gladiator as my experience would have been 10 times worse. I thought, as bare bones as this thing is, it must be on the low end of the price spectrum. Well, it was at $42K. There is zero Wranglers I know of that are worth $42K brand new and yet that was scraping the bottom of the price barrel. Upon seeing that I figured that if I was in the market, I would get the roomier, more comfortable, quieter, and far more refined Bronco.
Then I looked at the rest of their line up. I could not see anything I wanted from them. You could have some horrific compact SUVs that are guaranteed to break 1 mile after the warranty expires. Or you could pay big dollars for more desirable Jeep models that are likely to break 1 mile after the warranty expires. I don’t see the point. Between a Grand Cherokee and a Highlander, I would get the Highlander every time. Between the compass and the maverick, I would get the maverick every time. Between the wrangler and the bronco I would get the bronco every time. Between the Wagoneer and the Tahoe, It is the tahoe every single time. I just don’t see any real value to the jeep line up. They need to be cheaper across the board to reflect the level of cheapness that they are producing.
To any Auto transplant workers considering the UAW , you need your heads examined. What did they really get for being weeks out of work a 6% per year raise when many of the Transplants got even more than that . All without missing a paycheck. Ask yourself how long it’ll take to get that money back ? Those transplant companies looking at what the D 3 lost in revenue can’t be saying yay let’s have some of that every 3 or 4 years. Fain needs to take a long walk on a short pier.
The Wrangler Willys costs $8K more than the base Wrangler Sport. The Willys has some stuff for off-roading, like a locking rear diff, but probably the same standard powertrain, the 3.6 V6/6-speed manual. Looking at the web site, I couldn’t figure why it would cost nearly $8K more. Extra doors cost $4K for most trim levels. The Sahara and the $90K+ V8 versions are sold only with 4 doors. I don’t understand why so many people buy Wranglers.
The Grand Cherokee is different from Highlander in being rear drive/longitudinal engine based. You used to be able to get a V8, and still can in the stretched GC. What I bought of those was the Highlander hybrid, great gas mileage, and reliability.
XA351GT, don’t the UAW people still have much better health care benefits than the transplants?
@Kit, Lambo, MERKUR on Jeep I own a Wrangler Rubicon EcoDiesel. I drive it on-road and off-road. Like all Wrangler owners I know I love it and planning on keeping it for a long time. I drive every year off-road in very rough terrain in West Virginia, including 55% inclines and descents on mud and gravel. I have driven over the years Wranglers and since two years ago also Broncos. As much as I love my Wrangler, let me tell you that the Bronco is “at least as good” off-road as the Wrangler. It has a more refined four wheel drive system which allows for turning tighter curves around trees and rocks than the Wrangler. The Wrangler starts bucking when you drive curves in 4 wheel Low mode; the Bronco doesn’t, it drives smoothly even in tight corners off-road in 4WD Low.
@Kit, Jeep Wrangler: you are looking at it rationally. The basic Wrangler is around $30 k. My Rubicon has additional equipment which costs a fraction of what the customer pays for it. I paid $67 k for mine three years ago. From a rational standpoint foolishness, but for a poser like I am totally worth it. “Money well spent”, as I told my wife who is a smart shopper and had undoubtedly looked up the prices herself.
We drive long road trips, probably 8,000 miles per year. My wife hates the Wrangler for long trips. In winter she wears demonstratively a huge hat and a ski jacket against the cold and the noise according to her. Her Mach-e is not good for long road trips, either. So I bought a great road trip vehicle: a 2018 Mercedes E400 4matic. My best friend’s mother-in-law had bought it for her house in California, driven it for six weeks and had a stroke upon return in Europe. She never returned to Cali and neither did the rest of the family. My friend went there in August and found two cars in the garage: a 1978 500 SL and the E400. He called me: “There are two cars here. The SL goes to my brother-in-law in Europe, the E400 nobody of us wants. Do you want it?” Of course I did, so I flew over and took care of it. It had driven 1,018 miles, which sounds better than it was: flat tires ($1,500), battery dead ($500), rat’s nest between engine and battery removed, one key fob lost ($800), complete service including flushing the brake system ($500). I drove it to Detroit and it drives like a charm. Very fuel efficient: 27 mpg.
@Wim, that E-Class would be a fantastic road car. My last 1100 mile road trip was in a Mini Cooper S. On good pavement, it isn’t a bad road car. The seat is comfortable, at least to me, and it’s not terribly noisy. Your Benz should be close to the ultimate road car. From my limited experience at highway speed in a soft top Wrangler, I’d probably wear ear plugs for a long road trip in one. I assume the hard top would be significantly quieter. I haven’t been in one at highway speed.
From the Jeep web site, it looks like they have reduced the powertrain options for Wrangler. The diesel appears to be gone, though they still show the Rubicon 392. At first, I didn’t see the plug-in hybrid, just the 3.6, manual or automatic, and the 2.0 turbo, automatic only. Looking further, the site shows the hybrid as a separate model, available only as a 4-door, but in 6 trim levels.
My wife had a Jeep GC bought new and it was a really nice vehicle. Comfortable and capable but really wanted to get a Wrangler. Mind you she has about a 40-mile commute to work a couple days a week. I kept telling her, No you dont! I had a CJ years earlier just to take camping. For that purpose, it was great. Soft top remove the doors and was basically a toy. Had the anemic 4cyl and struggled to maintain 70mph on the hwy. But despite my discouragement she still wanted to trade her Grand Cherokee in for one. Then we happen to be on vacation in Cozumel and wanted to explore the island. So I thought what a perfect opportunity to let her spend the day in a Wrangler. We hadn’t drove 15 miles before she changed her mind. Probably didnt hurt that the one we rented although fairly new and low milage was beat to hell (typical rental). But she quickly saw how much harder it was to get in and out of and so much less room inside and noisy while going down the road. I enjoyed my Jeep but I used it just for camping trips or an occasional run-around in the summer. They can get annoying for the long haul.
My sister had a first generation GC with the old Rambler I6. It was nice, for the time, and was mostly reliable. She leased it, but went over the miles of the lease, so ended up buying it.
Those old rambler I6 engines lasted forever. Not good on fuel and you couldn’t stop them from leaking, but they would go forever.
I know someone who put almost 300K miles on a Comanche pickup with that engine, with no major engine work that I know of. That’s pretty good for an ’80s vehicle.