AD #4383 – Bosch Tech Makes Pickups Cleaner Than Prius; VW EV Orders in Germany Outpace ICE Models; Tesla Secures Huge Electric Semi Deal

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

VW EV ORDERS IN GERMANY OUTPACE ICE MODELS
Volkswagen says it’s seeing so much demand for its EVs in Germany, it’s cutting shifts of gas-powered models at several plants. Orders for EVs now outpace ICE models in its home market. But that’s not the good news that it seems to be. VW isn’t growing its overall sales, it’s just replacing gas-powered sales with EV sales. And that’s likely eating into its earnings because its EVs aren’t as profitable as its ICE vehicles.

GM SECURES U.S. MADE MAGNETS FOR EVs
General Motor’s efforts to reduce its reliance on China for raw materials is slowly taking shape. Five years ago, GM signed a deal with MP Materials to supply it with rare-earth magnets. MP sources the rare-earth materials from a mine in California, which are then manufactured into magnets at a facility in Texas. And now GM says it will begin taking deliveries of the magnets this year, which will be used for its EV motors in North America.

 

U.S. LAGS CHINA IN AUTO LIDAR TECH
The Volvo EX-90 was supposed to be equipped with lidar from Luminar. But in a cost cutting move, Volvo decided to dump lidar and Luminar went out of business shortly after that. Rivian says its R2 will get lidar, but it’s not in production yet. That’s it as far as production vehicles in the U.S. with lidar goes. Compare that to the Chinese auto industry which installed over 2.2 million lidar units on vehicles in the first 6 months of this year, largely thanks to the price dropping to about $200 a unit. In China, lidar is no longer considered bleeding-edge technology, and is practically becoming standard equipment on cars equipped with driver assistance systems. And this is an example of how the Chinese auto industry is becoming a leader in technology that goes far beyond electric cars. 

TESLA SECURES HUGE ELECTRIC SEMI DEAL
Tesla just received a huge order for its Semi truck. The Zero-Emission Truck Shipper-Carrier Alliance Leading Electrification or ZET SCALE for short, announced it selected Tesla to supply its first 2,500 Class 8 semis. ZET SCALE is operated by Catalyst Mobility along with the Smart Freight Center and is basically a matchmaker and buying club that teams up the companies that need goods hauled with the companies that haul them, cutting through the high costs and risks to get electric semi-trucks on the road faster. Over time the alliance plans to add 10,000 electric Class 8 semis to its fleet, which will also include Volvo, Kenworth and RIDE trucks. Microsoft and PepsiCo are among the founding shippers of ZET SCALE.

NISSAN UNVEILS NEW SMALL PIXO EV
Nissan is taking advantage of its partnership with Renault to bring a new small car to Europe with an old name. The Japanese automaker is bringing back the Pixo, now a battery electric vehicle that’s based on the Renault Twingo. Designers efforts to separate the two models include different lighting, a flatter face on the Pixo and a more angular bumper on the rear. The upper part of the dashboard and door panels also have a few differences between the two. Specs on the Pixo include a 60 kW or 80 horsepower electric motor, a 27.5 kWh LFP battery pack and a WLTP rated 259 kilometers or 160 miles of range. We suspect pricing will be similar to the Twingo, which starts just under 20,000 euro, but we’ll know for sure just before deliveries kick off early next year.  

2027 GM PICKUPS GAIN BIG ENGINE UPGRADES
GM’s full-size pickups are getting a nice bump in power. The base 2.7L 4-cylinder turbo features a new turbocharger, upgraded fuel injection system, improved thermal management and redesigned pistons, which takes horsepower and torque from 310 and 430 up to 350 horsepower and 455 lb-ft of torque. The 3.0L diesel 6-cylinder remains the same, but the automaker increased displacement on its small block V8s, going from 5.3L and 6.2L to 5.7L and 6.6L. Along with other improvements the new 5.7L makes 402 horsepower, 47 more than the 5.3L, and the 6.6L makes 481 horsepower, 61 more than the 6.2L. They also make just over 40 lb-ft more of torque. With the Silverado and Sierra accounting for nearly a third of GM’s sales last year, it makes sense it’s investing in its full-size pickups.

BOSCH TECH MAKES PICKUPS CLEANER THAN PRIUS
Did you know that 70% of the emissions that an ICE vehicle emits occurs in the first 60 to 90 seconds of engine startup until the catalytic converter heats up? Automakers have known for decades that a pre-heater could help the cat reach optimal temperature faster, but they never caught on, until now, maybe. Bosch developed a 12-volt heater that heats up to 1,400-1,500° C, getting the converter to temperature within 15 seconds. That eliminates 60-70% of the emissions at cold start. And here’s where it hit the jackpot, it can help a full-size pickup truck or SUV achieve Tier 4 BIN 20 emission levels. Compare that to a Toyota Prius, which has an EPA rating of Tier 3 BIN 30. If you have no idea what that means, let me translate that. The higher the number, the cleaner the vehicle. So a full-size pickup with this catalyst pre-heater would have lower emissions than today’s Prius, which currently has the cleanest EPA rating of any car with an IC engine. Adding the heater does add cost. But it also reduces the expensive materials you need in the cat, like platinum, palladium and rhodium. So Bosch says the total system cost is a wash. And I think we could see this in production before the end of the decade.

The second installment of our video series with Chris Theodore will get posted this Friday and it’s all about design. If you want to learn terminology and about the design process, keep a look out for Chapter Two in Lessons From The Masters. And for all our YouTube and Patreon members you’re going to get the first part of Chapter 3, which dives into the topic of corporate management.

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