AD #3109 – Panasonic Pockets Billions on Tesla Share Sale; Ferrari’s New PHEV; Next-Gen XC90 Coming Standard w/ AV Tech

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

BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE PLAN REACHES TENTATIVE DEAL
President Biden and a group of Democrat and Republican senators reached a tentative deal on infrastructure spending. It’s a five-year, $579 billion proposal of which $312 billion will be spent on transportation, including rebuilding roads and bridges and improving public transit. $15 billion of that is also earmarked for electric vehicles. Half goes to electric buses and transit vehicles and the other half will be spent on improving the EV infrastructure. The proposal still needs to be approved by Congress before President Biden can sign it but with it being a bipartisan deal it has a pretty good chance of passing.

PANASONIC POCKETS BILLIONS ON TESLA STOCK SALE
Tesla’s shares have been soaring over the last year and Panasonic decided it was a good time to sell its entire stake in the company. Panasonic, which supplies batteries to Tesla, bought 1.4 million shares of the EV maker for $30 million back in 2010 but it just sold it for a cool $3.6 billion. The two companies have had a bit of a rocky relationship but Panasonic says the sale won’t affect its partnership with Tesla. Earlier this week Panasonic said it’s willing to make a big investment in the EV maker’s 4680 battery cell, which its currently developing prototypes of.

AWS STEALS FORD’S CTO
Ford is losing one of its top executives. Dr. Ken Washington, the chief technology officer, is leaving to join Amazon. Washington played a leading role in Ford’s development of EVs, AVs and connected car technology. Amazon Web Services is making a major push into the auto industry with its cloud services, so getting a top technology executive who knows the auto industry is quite a coup. Data collection and monetization with private and fleet vehicles could become a major source of revenue worth tens of billions of dollars by the end of this decade.

NEW PACKAGE IMPROVES WRANGLER’S 4X4 CAPABILITY
Jeep is upping the Wrangler’s 4X4 capability. The Wrangler Xtreme Recon package offers 35-inch tires, 17 x 8-inch beadlock wheels, a more than 4.5:1 axle ratio and a 1.5-inch suspension lift with uniquely tuned shocks. That setup helps it achieve what Jeep claims is best-in-class approach angle, departure angle, ground clearance and water fording capability. If you’re interested, you can now order the Xtreme Recon package for the Wrangler Rubicon 4-door and Rubicon 392 models. Production kicks off this August. Jeep will also offer a 4.88:1 axle ratio for the Wrangler Rubicon and when paired with a six-speed manual transmission it delivers a best-in-class 100:1 crawl ratio for off-roading. The new axle will be available to order later this year. Jeep will show off the new Wrangler options at the Chicago Auto Show in mid-July.

MAHINDRA FIGHTS FOR THAR IN AUSTRALIA
In related news, Mahindra continues to fight for its vehicle that Jeep says looks too much like a Jeep. It was taken to federal court in Australia over plans to launch its Thar SUV in the country. The Thar is very similar to the off-road-only ROXOR, which is sold in the U.S., but it still has its vertical 7-slot grille. Mahindra has agreed to hold off on launching the Thar without first alerting FCA Australia, Stellantis’ subsidiary for the region. The move allows Mahindra to avoid a trial right now, but still bring it up at a later date. It wanted to do that because India, where the Thar is made, is currently going through a second wave of coronavirus and production has significantly slowed. As you’ll remember, Mahindra was initially forced to stop building and selling the ROXOR in the U.S. because it looked too much like a Jeep, but that was later overturned after Mahindra updated its styling. It says it still plans to launch the Thar in Australia and we guess it makes the same design changes and then brings its argument back to the courts.

STMICROELECTRONICS PARTNERS WITH RENAULT & ARRIVAL
Chip maker STMicroelectronics is going to supply its technology to both the Renault Group and mobility startup Arrival. The latter will use ST’s automotive microcontrollers for its electrical architecture, which will make its vehicles connected and give them OTA update capabilities. ST will also supply Arrival with smart-power and battery management devices. These technologies will be used in its entire portfolio, including its van, bus and car that it is designing with Uber for ride-hailing. ST’s deal with Renault is similar. The two will collaborate on the design, development, manufacturing, and supply of products that will reduce power losses and improve efficiencies of Renault’s hybrid and electric vehicles. If the name STMicroelectronics sounds familiar, that’s the company where Ferrari’s new CEO Benedetto Vigna was recently hired away from.

FERRARI’S 1ST V6 ROAD CAR IS A PHEV
And that’s a nice segue to our next story. Ferrari introduced its first road car with a V6 engine, the 296 GTB. But the real story is that this is a plug-in hybrid that pairs a nearly 170 horsepower electric motor with that twin-turbo V6. Together they put out over 840 horsepower, which is sent exclusively to the rear wheels. That’s more power than some of Ferrari’s other models and helps this 2-door go from 0-100 km/h in just 2.9 seconds. A 7.45 kWh battery pack is mounted under the floor and provides up to 25 kilometers or about 15 miles of pure electric range. Ferrari says it hopes to attract new customers with the 296 GTB, which starts at 269,000 euros or a little over $320,000.

 

CT4-V BLACKWING HAS HIGHEST DOWNFORCE IN V-SERIES HISTORY
Cadillac developed a new aero package for the CT4-V Blackwing. And while it’s providing a detailed list of the package, it’s keeping the most important spec top secret. Engineers spent over 300 hours doing simulations and 500 hours in the wind tunnel to develop it. Most importantly, they used a 5-belt rolling ground plane, which allows the wheels to turn for more accurate aero testing. The components they added include a front underwing to develop a low pressure zone under the nose. Front dive planes increase downforce and create vortices downstream for better airflow. The rear spoiler includes a Gurney flap to create a clean detachment point. There’s a front splitter, a rear diffuser and rocker panel extensions to reduce lift. The cooling ducts for the brakes are 3D printed. And the underbody is flat to minimize turbulence. An optional carbon fiber package adds even more bits and pieces. So how much downforce does this all create? We don’t know. Cadillac won’t say. We contacted them to get the specs, but were told the engineering team will not release the numbers.

 

LOTS OF COBALT ON THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN
Most of the cobalt that’s used to make EV batteries comes from the Congo. It’s a controversial source, with illegal child labor used to do a lot of the mining. But there’s another source of cobalt that has not been exploited yet, and that’s the floor of the oceans. Jack Lifton is an expert in materials mining and here’s what he had to say about it on Autoline This Week.

“The audience needs to know that the accessibility of these materials is actually the largest known source of cobalt on the planet, much, much larger than the terrestrial resources. So this is not to be ignored. Because if we’re going to do EVs we’re going to need cobalt. And most of the cobalt is on the ocean floor in the form of these manganese nodules.”

There is a ton of great information on that show which you can watch right now on our website or our YouTube channel.

NEXT-GEN XC90 COMING STANDARD WITH AV TECH
Volvo announced that its next-generation electric-only XC90, which is being revealed next year, will come standard with Lidar from Luminar and an autonomous driving computer powered by NVIDIA. These technologies will enable Volvo’s Highway Pilot system, which allows a vehicle to drive autonomously on the highway. To provide even more safety, back-up systems for things like steering and braking will also be standard. Like Tesla, it sounds like customers will be able to pay to unlock these features and will have the ability to update over time. Volvo even says in the future the vehicle will take over from the human driver to prevent collisions.

But that’s all for today and this week. Thanks for watching and we’ll see you again on Monday.