AD #4386 – EV Trucks Beat Diesel Operating Costs in Europe; New Fuel Standards Roll Back Biden Mandates; Ford Hires Falcon to Fight Pigeons

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

NEW FUEL STANDARDS ROLL BACK BIDEN MANDATES
NHTSA is going to officially release its new fuel economy standards today and they are going to be substantially lower than what the Biden Administration put in place. The current regulations mandate that by 2031 automakers need a fleet average of 50.4 miles per gallon, or 4.6 liters per 100 kilometers. Those are unadjusted EPA test lab numbers. In the real world that would translate to 38 miles per gallon. The Biden standards also assumed that electric vehicles would account for about 50% of all new car sales by then. Under the new regs, the requirements would drop to 34.5 miles per gallon, and automakers don’t need EVs to meet them. Even so, they do require automakers to continue ramping up fuel efficiency, just at a much lower rate than the Biden regs. Here’s our Autoline Insight. Obviously, this issue has been highly politicized with each side claiming the other side is harming consumers. But the bottom line is that the fuel efficiency of future cars will not drop below where they are today, they will simply increase at a much slower rate.

EV TRUCKS BEAT DIESEL OPERATING COSTS IN EUROPE
Due to soaring fuel prices, it’s now cheaper to own and operate an electric heavy-duty truck than a diesel one in several European countries. According to a new study from Transport & Environment, electric trucks are cheaper to operate than diesels in the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, France and Belgium, and those markets account for 46% of EU heavy truck registrations. The report found that over five years, electric trucks generate savings of nearly €100,000 in the Netherlands, €85,000 in Germany and €69,000 in Denmark, when compared to diesels. So operators in those markets ​can recoup the initial EV price premium in around two years. Transport & Environment also found that Chinese-made electric trucks are significantly cheaper than European trucks. A Chinese truck costs about €210,000 compared to €265,000 for a European one.

WAYMO ROBOTAXIS REPORT 95% FEWER CRASHES
Waymo says its robotaxis are safer than human drivers. In the top 5 cities where it operates, Waymo vehicles have driven customers over 271 million miles through June of this year and when compared to humans in those same areas its robotaxis were involved in 95% fewer crashes that resulted in serious injury or worse, 82% fewer crashes where the airbag went off and 82% fewer accidents that caused an injury. I don’t think these numbers are entirely accurate because Waymo’s vehicles do not operate everywhere that humans do, but I do think it’s notable that it was involved in almost no single vehicle accidents and significantly reduced crashes at intersections. 

FORD HIRES FALCON TO FIGHT PIGEONS
Ford hired a unique new security guard at its Hermosillo plant in Mexico, which makes the Maverick and Bronco Sport. The automaker had a problem with pigeons getting into the plant, flying around equipment, tripping up light beams on heavy machinery, pooping on freshly painted cars and overall just creating a health hazard for workers. After decoys and sounds of predators only proved to be temporary solutions, Ford hired a falcon, named El Charro, a common term for a Mexican cowboy. El Charro has already put in nearly 1,200 hours of work, recording more than 300 flights and reducing pigeon activity by 80%. 

GEELY AND NIO PARTNER ON BATTERY SWAPPING
We’re starting to see the beginnings of consolidation in the Chinese auto industry. We’ve already reported on GAC and FAW merging some of their operations. Now comes word that Geely and NIO are going to invest in each other’s commercial battery swapping businesses.  NIO will also get $95 million in cash from Geely, and Geely can now design its cars to use NIO’s battery swapping stations. On top of this deal, CATL invested in NIO’s battery swapping business last year as well.

DONGFENG AND HUAWEI EYE STRATEGIC TECH DEAL
Meanwhile, Dongfeng and Huawei are in talks for strategic cooperation and technology development. We think these developments are just the beginning of a major restructuring the Chinese auto industry is about to go through. There are simply too many automakers making too many cars in too many plants. That’s the root cause of why the Chinese auto industry is caught up in a vicious price war where most automakers are not making money or have paper thin margins. 

But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for watching.