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Being an industry veteran,  I have been watching and following autoline for about 20 years. This is the first time I dare to ask a question because this issue has become important to many of us motorhome owners. 
 
Years ago there were many cars, SUVs and trucks with auto transmissions that are also flat towable. However in recent years the weight and cost reduction in the induction forced many automakers to eliminate the transfer cases in their 4×4 systems. Nowadays if a motorhome owner want to flat tow a 4000 lb vehicle w/o speed limit, he or she has only Jeep Cherokee or 2 dr Wagner to choose, nothing else An lightweight EV is ideal for a RV owner to tow and can be plugged in the campground overnight to charge up. However there is not a single EV on the market that is flat towable.
 
With the recent huge RV boom and popular class B motorhomes and younger owners are more environmentally conscious. The flat towable EV could be an important market for the automaker to tap into. SInce GM is starting a completely new EV strategy, I wonder if I should point out the potential market to the auto industry. 
 
The flat towable vehicles have been a popular topic in many motorhome owners forums. Most of the owners share my frustration about being ignored by the automakers. For example, there is not a single Toyota vehicle with autotrans that is flat towable
 
Respectfully,
Chi

I caught the podcast and honestly I do not think factually it was fairly presented in a number of ways.
 
1. Overall job numbers have been fairly steady on the monthly average– and these recent numbers are reflecting dues paid impacted by how the companies managed the chip shutdowns in December. The LM2 is a snapshot on Dec. 31 and does not actually fairly represent membership given how it is compiled.
2. The actual cost all in per vehicle last I saw that CAR calculated is only 7% of the cost of the product overall.
3. Your example on discipline did not include the fact that legally there is a duty of representation of all members on disciplinary matters.
4. I’m not aware that the 25% absenteeism you cited is or ever has been accurate – it’s rumor and hearsay. Companies actually under the contract can hire more temporary workers if absenteeism hits a certain threshold and they haven’t come to us at that threshold. That is even the case currently.
5. The absenteeism issue you argue is a headscratcher right now given the industry juggling over supply chain issues. It just is not what you portrayed it as.
6. Organizing is a lot more complex than what you portrayed. That is why the PRO Act is being pushed. Captive audience meetings and other anti-union tactics make it difficult for workers to succeed not just in auto. So too does turnover and temporary workers at non-union plants.
7. Musk currently has an NLRB ruling to reinstate workers he fired and other union avoidance tactics on federal appeal. The NLRB ruled he must take corrective action and he appealed. I wouldn’t say he was taunting. His tweet doesn’t match his legal filings. You have to admit there is a chilling effect when you fire workers for exercising their legal right to organize. I’m honestly surprised you failed to objectively recognize that significant fact and hurdle with Tesla.
 
I’m honestly disappointed in that podcast which no doubt you would expect. But in fairness, I don’t think it was objective or fair. I’m surprised you didn’t reach out ahead of time at least for accuracy input. It seems like there were a lot of loose anecdotes to me that don’t really capture the complexity of the topic you were discussing.
 
Given the significant jobs already announced and coming on line this year is one of growth already. It seems to me a very unfair piece that lacks key objective facts – even for an opinion piece.
 
Brian Rothenberg
United Auto Workers
Director, Public Relations

Very interesting shows as of late with questions on dealerships, right to repair.
You know my take as the auto industry is like a 3-legged stool: suppliers, manufacturer, dealerships. If all the legs are of unequal length, someone is not getting
their fair share, (suppliers) while another group gets too much (dealerships). Meanwhile corporate is angry with dealerships charging way over MSRP and will 
try to stop it with nasty notes. Realizing that won’t work Ford wants to cut out the dealerships entirely on their most in demand electric products. As if the dealerships
will lay down and let Ford roll over them. Meanwhile GM wants suppliers to foot the bill for the increase in shipping costs, which have gone up 3x.
It’s a Perfect Storm alright, and this wobbly little stool is going to be washed away. 
 
Plus, the solution of just passing costs to consumers will ultimately result is a consumer revolt which will drive down sales of all cars to heretofore unseen levels, except for the depression.
And their factories are antiquated and inefficient as is their corporate structure. But that’s another story. 

Hi John,
 
I guess you have heard about Felicity Ace the  large cargo vessel carrying cars has sunk in the Atlantic Ocean, thirteen days after a fire broke out on board. 
It made me sad to see all the cars go down to the bottom of the ocean and I started wondering if our current underground garages in many buildings of large cities for parking vehicles have the safety features to extinguish Lithium batteries on fire? I understand that today probably many of these garages have safety sprinkler system and foam based fire extinguishers such that gasoline vehicle fire could be put out, but what about all the safety upgrades that would be needed for EVs to park there? I think this would be a great topic for one of your after hours show. BTW- I love them all keep up the great work!
 
Best Regards,
Martin
 
Will all these parking garage places look a little like this cargo ship?

TESLA Melbourne hit-and-run blamed on Tesla Autopilot, could set legal precedent for new tech

To John McElroy
 
Did I miss the episode covering the info below
 
 
Going vertical.
Datasheet   3-31-22
 
Tesla is forcing yet another shift in the automotive world: less reliance on suppliers. As Reuters reported Thursday, several leading automakers developing electric vehicles plan to bring more sourcing, manufacturing, and software development in-house, mimicking the trailblazing Tesla’s approach. The shift toward vertical integration follows a decades-long practice of gathering parts and technology from suppliers across the globe, often in countries with lower labor costs. Ford, General Motors, Volkswagen, and Mercedes-Benz have all made moves to curtail supplier dependence in recent months.

From the article:

The investments by automakers in mines, motors, and batteries are a departure from decades of handing control over development and production to suppliers, who could produce steering controls, semiconductors, and electronic components at greater scale and lower cost for multiple vehicle manufacturers.

In the new world of electric vehicles, however, investors have decided that Tesla’s approach of buying raw materials directly, building its own batteries, and engineering its own software is the winning strategy. Tesla’s market capitalization has soared back above $1 trillion in recent weeks, outweighing that of Toyota, Volkswagen, GM and Ford combined.
 
Build or buy? Automakers chasing Tesla rethink dependence on suppliers
Reuters     March 31, 2022 
 

Automakers racing to develop battery-powered, software-driven vehicles to compete with Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) are confronting a new challenge: what technology to build themselves, and what to keep buying from suppliers….
 
Regards,
Rich

John, in some way and at some time in the future, I’d like to see Autoline explore temporary installations of supplemental battery packs to extend range (for that occasional coast to coast family trip), as well as removals of optional battery packs to lighten battery weight for more efficient inner-urban daily commutes (most of which are <50 miles roundtrip).   Tesla's initial gov-funded battery-swap experiment didn't go too well -- and was limited to a single pack per vehicle.  Nowadays, with so many urban Chinese living in apartments without dedicated charging stations, their government is committing more and more resources to battery-swap facilities and processes -- again, limited to a single pack per vehicle, so far.   Within your and my lifetimes, we probably won't get to standardized battery-pack sizes using a "best" technology/formula in the USA.  But I do think it likely that future designed-from-scratch BEVs are very likely to have more commonality to their power packs installed in horizontal pancake form between front & rear wheels and between left/right guard-rails/rocker-panels/chassis-frames/unibody-segments.  Whether we call it skateboard, floorpan, or whatever.   Which brings me to the idea of supplemental packs to add range or (upon removal) to lighten weight.   Although vehicle body mass/weight would vary some, the overall vehicle geometry would essentially remain the same -- with minor lowering of center of gravity.   IF home chargers transition to cordless automatic under-vehicle units, I could forsee an under-car unit that could raise/lower supplemental batteries for the DIY owner, while white-gloved folks could rely on local vehicle-service shops and/or auto-dealer maintenance/repair shops.   Pete   P.S.  My writing this down was provoked by GPratts talk about battery-pack size/weight broadcast locally earlier today

John, I heard you say the Subaru’s have the most annoying seat belt chimes. I have no experience with those, but the Subaru drivers are the most annoying drivers I have had the misfortune of driving around, now I will just blame the annoying chimes of getting them raging before they even hit the road!

John,
 
You guys do a great job and I really enjoy the new opinion segments on YouTube, specifically last week’s episode on the UAW.  You described the pros and cons well and with good examples.  
 
Second, I’m going to the Austin Gigafactory grand opening this week and would be happy to provide any information or try to ask specific questions, if you’d like.  I’m certainly not an insider, employee or other restricted party, but if there are tidbits you or Gary would like to know about line speeds, gigacastings, paint shop, etc. I’d like to help out.  Given the delivery numbers, everyone should be in a good mood!
 
Anyway, thanks again for releasing great shows daily along with the After Hours episodes.  Using podcasts and YouTube is perfect too; video for the designer guests and audio for the journalists or vendors.  The high quality of the guests make each episode valuable!
 
Thanks,
Alan
Columbia, SC

Time to build a Tesla EV: 10 hours
Time to build a VW    EV: 30 hours
 
Remember GM’s Bob Lutz saying in 2018 that Tesla would never be able to scale up and be cost effective too ? “Headed for the graveyard”:
 
Bob Lutz apparently didn’t pay much attention to Zip2, PayPal, and SpaceX. 

Regards,
Dave