AD #2906 – GM Moves Corvette Engineers to EV Programs; Tesla Targeted in Cyber Attack; Bollinger Reveals Commercial Van

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

TESLA TARGETED IN CYBER ATTACK
Back in June, Honda had to suspend production at a number of its plants around the globe because of a cyber-attack. And now Elon Musk says Tesla’s gigafactory in Nevada was the target of a “serious” cyber-attack. The Justice Department arrested a Russian national and charged him with conspiracy to intentionally cause damage to a computer with malware. The Russian national tried to recruit a Tesla employee with a $1 million bribe to install the malware. However, the employee alerted the FBI which led to the arrest and thwarted the attack.

TESLA STOCK REACHES NEW HIGH
But this should make Elon feel much better. Tesla’s stock price hit another record high yesterday, closing at $2,240 a share. Its stock has risen more than 420% this year and it’s now the most valuable car company in the world with a market cap of over $400 billion.

ANOTHER UAW PRESIDENT CHARGED WITH EMBEZZLEMENT
Things are going from bad to worse for the UAW. Another union president was charged in the federal government’s investigation into racketeering and bribery at the union and Fiat Chrysler. Former President Dennis Williams was charged with embezzling union funds and faces five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. So far, the probe has led to 14 convictions, including the prior president Gary Jones, who pled guilty to racketeering and embezzlement. We’re likely to see more charges. U.S. attorneys say they’re not done and the years-long investigation is still ongoing, including at the Ford Motor Company. Unless the union comes up with dramatic reforms by the end of the year, it’s possible the feds will take over the UAW.

NHTSA ROLLS OUT NEW RECALL APP
If you’d like to be kept up to date on vehicle recalls, there’s now an app for that. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is rolling out a new app called SaferCar, which alerts you to vehicle recalls as well as recalls for tires, car seats or trailers. Once you download the app, just scan or enter your VIN and add in any other equipment you want to track and then opt in for notifications. When the app discovers a recall, it will automatically send you an alert. The app is free and it’s available for both Apple and Android phones.

CLARIOS MAKES LEAD ACID BATTERIES MORE EFFICIENT
In the era of electric cars with lithium batteries, you don’t hear much about lead acid batteries. But Clarios, the battery company that used to be part of Johnson Controls, hasn’t forgotten about them. It developed a new generation lead acid battery that uses what they call AGM, or absorbent glass mat. That allows the electrolyte to be immobilized within a mat so it will not leak out even if the battery is damaged. Automakers are keenly interested because it cuts the weight of a lead acid battery by 2 kilos or almost four and a half pounds. It’s also smaller. And it will accept 3 to 5 times the charge of a regular battery without degrading over time. Did you know that even though BEVs are jam packed with lithium batteries, they still use lead acid batteries? Those batteries run the accessories and even the electric power steering, because when a BEV gets in an accident, the traction batteries are automatically disconnected for safety reasons. But you may still need power in the car, and that’s why BEVs use lead acid batteries. 

GM MOVES TOP CORVETTE ENGINEERS TO EV PROGRAMS
There’s a fascinating story in today’s Detroit News about General Motors moving the top engineers from the Corvette program over to its electric vehicle programs. Those engineers will be working on GM’s electric SUVs and it sure sounds like there could be a Corvette SUV in the future. For those of you who still love the rumble of a V8, don’t worry; the V8 won’t go away. In fact, the C8 is going to get an overhead cam 5.5-liter flat plane crank V8 added as an option. It was derived from the C8.R–the racing version of the Corvette. And there’s talk of a hybrid version, called the Zora, that will have an electric motor powering the front wheels for a combined 1,000 horsepower. It’s named after the legendary Zora Arkus Duntov, who is considered the father of the Corvette. General Motors split its product development operations into two camps. One, called Global Product programs, keeps developing all internal combustion vehicles. The other, called Autonomous and Electric Vehicle Programs, does exactly what the name says, and that’s where part of the Corvette team is headed.  

IBEO TO SUPPLY GREAT WALL WITH SOLID STATE LIDAR
Level 3 autonomy just took one step closer to reality. Ibeo developed a solid-state Lidar that it will start shipping to OEM customers in October, and the first one to get it will be Great Wall, the largest manufacturer of SUVs in China. ZF, which owns 40% of Ibeo, is making the Lidar units. They will first go on Great Wall’s premium SUV brand called Wey in 2022.  

BOLLINGER REVEALS NEW COMMERCIAL ELECTRIC VAN
EV startup Bollinger Motors is expanding into new areas of the market. It introduced an all-electric, FWD van for the commercial segment. Called the Deliver-E, it will be available in a number of wheelbases, which puts it in vehicle Classes 2B through 5. Five battery sizes are available, ranging from 70-kWh to 210-kWh as is DC fast charging of up to 100-kW. One interesting aspect we noticed is that the rear track is much wider than the front. We think it’s probably to get the most cargo space possible, but we also wonder if it helps improve turning radius? What do you think? 

MUSTANG MACH-E SOUNDS REMIXED INTO MUSIC
You might hear someone say the sound of a roaring engine is like music to their ears, but what about an electric car? Can it evoke that same kind of emotion? Well, it did for Detroit-based electronic musician Matthew Dear. He remixed a new song, called New Breed, using the sounds generated by the Mustang Mach-E. Dear says the digital propulsion sounds made by the Mach-E are cinematic and sci-fi and thinks the song takes passengers on a voyage. If you’d like to hear more, click the link in the transcript or description box and help support Matthew.

VIEWER RESPONSES TO AUTONOMOUS PARKING
We got some good feedback about Ford, Bosch and Bedrock’s self-parking solution. Dlwatib says, “Dunno why Ford is so convinced that autonomy can only come by modifying the environment. That’s never gonna work, guys… waaaaaaaay too expensive. We want our autonomous cars to drive anywhere we can go manually, no help from transponders or V2V crutches, no special highway lanes, no special garages. There is zero interest in braindead autonomy.” It’s a good point, but here’s how the companies explained it to us, they know that most cars will not be autonomous for years to come and so they developed tech that could be applied to many vehicles quickly. Bedrock says that parking 20% more cars in its structures would pay for the tech, as well as attract more customers who would want to use the convenience. However, Ian Reid thought of one scenario that would be less than ideal. He says, “Can you imagine the Nightmare and wait times if everyone is leaving an event at the same time? This is going to prove out to be ridiculous in the real world.” Ian, I can imagine it and it’s stressing me out just thinking about it. And lastly, Mike Mc Allister has the perfect application for self-parking technology, “What we need are self-parking full size pickups, or at least ones with four-wheel steer.” Mike it’s funny you bring this up, John and I were literally just talking about this exact same thing the other day and we could not agree with you more. Keep the comments coming, we’re always reading through them to see what you all think. And I know for me there’s been plenty of times where someone out there thought of something or had a perspective I hadn’t and it has helped me form an opinion on a subject. So, thank you.

But that’s a wrap for this week. I hope you have a kick butt weekend and we’ll see you right back here again on Monday.