AD #3044 – Tesla Fights for EV Credits; 3D Printer Waste Turned Into Fuel Clips; GM’s BrightDrop Claims Big Benefits

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

TESLA FIGHTS FOR EV CREDITS
Tesla is fighting to keep revenue flowing in from its lucrative sales of regulatory credits. It’s urging a U.S. appeals court to immediately put back an Obama-era regulation for penalties for failing to miss fuel economy targets. The Trump Administration pushed the regulation, which more than doubles the amount automakers have to pay, back to the 2022 model year. Tesla claims the change will make credits less valuable. Selling credits has always been a part of Tesla’s business plan and last year alone it raked in more than $1.5 billion, so no wonder it’s fighting to keep that cash stream flowing.

FORD DONATES $100K WORTH OF UNUSED LEATHER
Ford is currently cleaning out its product development center in Dearborn, Michigan, to make way for its campus of the future it announced a few years back. While going through the facility, the company found $100,000 worth of leather hides that were used for interior prototypes. The hides were used to design seats for the Escape, Explorer, F-150 King Ranch and the Lincoln Navigator Black Label. But Ford isn’t keeping the leather, instead it’s donating it to two small businesses in Detroit, Pingree Detroit which is a leather goods company that employs veterans and Mend on the Move, a non-profit that employs women survivors of abuse. Ford says it will donate other items it finds during the cleanout that it doesn’t plan to use.

FORD’S MASSIVE TURBINE SEMI FOUND
In other Ford news, the folks over at automotive publication The Drive have spent the last several months tracking down a piece of the automaker’s history. Big Red is a massive gas turbine-powered semi truck Ford debuted at the 1964 World’s Fair alongside the Mustang. As we know, the euphoria around turbines quickly faded away and so did Big Red. It floated around the garage of Holman-Moody, a Ford-sponsored race team, for a while after a massive engine failure and it took ownership of the semi after a falling out with Ford. Holman later sold Big Red to its current owner, who wishes to remain anonymous, who then restored it, including a new turbine engine. Somewhere along the way, the trailers were lost, but one interesting fact is that the cab alone is estimated to weigh 20,000 pounds. There’s way more information to this story and you can find the link in the transcript or description box below.

FORD MAKING FUEL CLIPS OUT OF 3D PRINTER WASTE
While 3D printers are pretty efficient and minimize excess material created when producing a part, they still produce waste. That’s why Ford and HP partnered up to reuse 3D printed powder and parts and turn them into injection-molded components. The parts have the same durability and quality as parts made with conventional materials. The recycled materials are being used to make fuel-line clips in the Super Duty F-250. Ford has identified 10 more existing vehicles that can use the fuel-line clips and will likely use them in future models. The company says the clips have better chemical and moisture resistance than current ones and they’re 7% lighter and cost 10% less to produce.

BENTLEY REVEALS PERFORMANCE CONTINENTAL GT
Speed models have been adding performance to Bentley’s lineup since the 1920’s and it just introduced the 3rd-gen Continental GT Speed. It was able to squeeze about 20 more horsepower out of the car’s 6.0L 12-cylinder engine, which now sits at 650. That lowers the 0-60 time to 3.5 seconds, a tenth of a second faster than non-Speed models. It also features active air suspension, all-wheel drive, all-wheel steer, electronic limited slip differential and carbon ceramic brakes. This vehicle gave designers a chance to add a number of unique touches inside and out, which we think is highlighted by the exclusive 22-inch wheels and interesting use of material patterns and textures on the seats. Bentley has already opened orders for the new Continental GT Speed.

TOYOTA INVESTS IN AV DELIVERY COMPANY NURO
Toyota is investing in self-driving startup Nuro. Well, technically it isn’t Toyota, it’s Woven Capital, an $800 million investment arm of Woven Planet Group, which the automaker and its subsidiaries created to develop mobility solutions and other advanced technologies. Nuro, which has partnerships with Domino’s, Kroger, CVS and Walmart, is developing small autonomous delivery pods. Financial details weren’t disclosed. But it’s interesting to see Toyota invest in a startup, since it’s already developing its own autonomous technology. So, perhaps it thinks this is the better way to go.

 

HOW BORGWARNER WILL TRANSITION TO EV TECHNOLOGY
Yesterday, BorgWarner laid out its plans to investors as to how it will transition from a leader in combustion technology to a leader in battery electric technology. Here’s what Fred Lissalde, the CEO, told us about BorgWarner’s new capabilities.

“We’re one of the only ones in the world who can say we have products from stationary fast charging, to onboard charging, to battery management systems, to battery cooling and heating, to cabin heaters, flowing down to inverters, potentially DC to DC converters, motors and moving the wheels. So we understand all that supply chain of electrons, and we want to use as little electrons as possible…”

BorgWarner told the investment community it’s going to make another $2 billion to $3 billion in acquisitions for EV technology and divest more of its ICE business even though it does not expect to break even on its EV business until 2024. Maybe that spooked Wall Street. BorgWarner’s shares fell 2% on the news.

GM’S BRIGHTDROP CLAIMS COST & EFFICIENCY BENEFITS
We’re learning more about the Brightdrop electric van from General Motors and the EP1, that motorized pallet that goes along with it. In a Bank of America investor presentation, Travis Katz, the CEO of Brightdrop, said fleet owners will save nearly $7,000 a year using the EV600 van compared to ones with diesel engines. He said they did a pilot program last year with FedEx using the motorized pallets and were able to deliver 25% more packages per day. There are nearly 100 million packages delivered everyday just in the United States, so a 25% improvement is a game changer for the delivery industry. Travis Katz also said they’re going to create a new dealer network for Brightdrop. In other words, these vans will not be sold through Chevrolet or GMC.

BENCHMARKING COMPETITOR CAN MAKE YOU FALL BEHIND
Mike O’Brien, who used to run product planning for Hyundai and Toyota in the US, says benchmarking your competitors can cause you to fall behind. He says if you study the products your competitors have on the market today, you’re five years behind where you need to be. When he was on Autoline After Hours, he shared this insight with us. Take a look.

“One of the things you can do in benchmarking is you look at several generations of a nameplate. And you can see how they move. And therefore you can forecast where they’re going to move in the next generation. So you benchmark their current vehicle and say ‘For the last 4 generations they’ve increased it 2% in size, 1% in fuel economy or 3% in noise reduction.’ And you can kind of benchmark where they’re going to go based on their prior performance.”

Mike O’Brien reminds us of hockey great Wayne Gretzky’s advice. “Skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.”

Speaking of Autoline After Hours, Hein Schafer, the Senior Vice President for Product Marketing and Strategy at Volkswagen of America is coming on the show to talk all about the ID4 electric crossover. If you’ve got questions you’d like us to ask him, send them to viewermail@autoline.tv or tweet them to @Autoline. Sebastian Blanco will also be joining John and Gary when we get going this afternoon.

And with that we wrap up today’s show, thank you for watching.