AD #3202 – Rivian Gets Nice Welcome to Stock Market; Meet Subaru’s 1st BEV; Lucid’s Drive Unit Packs a Punch

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

Today is Veteran’s Day in the United States and we want to declare our appreciation for all of those who have served….especially to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. And if you were ever shipped out, but are back now, Welcome Home. Now onto the news.

RIVIAN GET ROARING WELCOME TO STOCK MARKET
Rivian began trading publicly yesterday and the market gave the EV startup a roaring welcome. The company thought it might achieve a $70 billion valuation, but when the dust settled at the closing bell it was worth $86 billion. That raised over $11 billion for the company, which gives it a sizable war chest to plot its next moves.

FBI ACCUSES ANOTHER UAW LEADER OF STEALING
The FBI found another rat in the UAW. This time it’s the treasurer of UAW Local 412 in Warren, Michigan, who stole $2 million from the union. A guy named Tim Edmunds, 53 years old, used the money to buy guns, cars and pay for gambling sprees in casinos. He faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty. Numerous UAW officials, including two past presidents, have been convicted of corruption. But since then, the union established much tighter financial oversight, and union investigators actually collaborated with the FBI in this latest bust.

ELON MUSK TAKES ANOTHER SHOT AT THE UAW
But Elon Musk couldn’t resist taking another dig at the union. He tweeted out that the new UAW slogan is, “Fighting for their right to steal money from workers.” As you know, Elon and the union don’t like each other. The UAW made a run at trying to organize Tesla’s plant in California but failed. And Mr. Musk is openly against Congress giving $4,500 in extra subsidies for EVs made with UAW labor. And unfortunately for the union, it keeps giving Elon more ammunition to continue his attacks.

FORD OFFERS GT500 ENGINE AS CRATE MOTOR
The Predator could be yours and there’s no need to call in a special forces team lead by Arnold Schwarzenegger to take care of it. You only need your checkbook. Ford Performance is offering the monster 760 horsepower supercharged 5.2L V8 out of the Mustang GT500 as a crate motor. It includes practically everything that bolts to the motor, including the A/C compressor, but not the associated control module, sensors or wiring harness to make it all work. Price for the motor is a hair under $26,000, which is only a few thousand dollars less than what a base Mustang costs.

BUICK TEASES SMART POD CONCEPT
Buick is going to have another interesting concept at the Guangzhou auto show. It calls it the Smart Pod and says it’s a vision for future hub-to-hub luxury travel. That sounds a bit like an eVTOL to us and this teaser kind of looks like a landing pad. But it also says the vehicle will leverage its autonomous technology as well as its Ultium electric vehicle platform, which sounds less like an eVTOL and more like a mobility shuttle. So, we’re wondering what you think Smart Pod is going to be? Let us know in the comments and we’ll see who has bragging rights when it deuts next week.

DAIMLER TEAMS W/ TOTALENERGIES ON HYDROGEN INFRASTRUCTURE
When it comes to long haul trucking, Daimler is placing its bet on fuel cells. And to make sure those trucks have the proper fueling infrastructure, the company is teaming up with oil and gas company TotalEngergies in Europe to develop it. The partnership includes hydrogen sourcing and logistics, developing hydrogen powered trucks and establishing a customer base. By 2030, TotalEnergies plans to open 150 hydrogen stations in five countries in Europe.

SUBARU REVEALS ITS FIRST BEV
Subaru is finally jumping into the BEV segment. The Japanese automaker just unveiled its first ever all-electric vehicle, the Solterra, which was jointly developed with Toyota. The SUV features a 71.4 kWh lithium-ion battery pack which provides 530 kilometers or 330 miles of range for front-wheel-drive models and 460 kilometers or 285 miles for all-wheel-drive versions. Those ranges are based on the WLTP cycle. AWD models feature an electric motor for both the front and rear wheels. Subaru will launch the Solterra in the middle of next year in Japan, the U.S., Canada, Europe and China.

Be sure to join us for Autoline After Hours this afternoon. John and Gary will be digging into the top news this week. And Bob Gritzinger from Wards Intelligence will be joining them. That’s at 3 pm eastern time on Autoline After Hours.

CATL DOMINATES CHINA’S BATTERY MARKET
Battery production is surging in China. Through the first ten months of the year, battery makers produced nearly 160 GWh of batteries, an increase of 250% compared to a year ago. And CATL is by far and away the leader in China. So far this year, the battery maker has accounted for 50.7% of China’s installed battery capacity or in other words batteries that have been equipped in vehicles. BYD is a distant second at 16.6% of China’s total volume.

LUCID’S COMPACT DRIVE UNIT PACKS A PUNCH
We got to take the Lucid Air for a test drive yesterday and we’ll have more about that tomorrow. But here’s something to whet your appetite. Take a look at the drive unit. This is the electric motor, the inverter and the gearbox all in one unit. It’s very compact, about the size of a small microwave oven. But the stats are eye-popping; 163 pounds, or 74 kilos; 670 horsepower, or 500 kilowatts; and 4,400 pound feet of torque. From a volumetric standpoint, 23 horsepower per liter. From a gravimetric standpoint, 9 horsepower per kilogram. At the moment, that’s the best in the business. And a key reason is that it’s a 900 volt system. Also, here’s a look at how Lucid packages its cylindrical, 2170 batteries. The cells are made by LG, but Lucid makes everything else. Remember, Lucid makes the battery packs for Formula E, and all the learning that came out of that racing series went right into the Lucid Air production car.

TOYOTA SAYS SOME MARKETS NOT READY FOR BEVs
Toyota is going to piss off the environmentalists again. As we reported yesterday, it was one of several automakers that didn’t sign a climate pledge for all new vehicle sales to be zero emission globally by 2040. Toyota says it’s not signing because markets in Asia, Africa and the Middle East don’t have an environment suitable for zero emission vehicles right now and it will take more time to make progress. Toyota is right that there’s still large parts of the world that aren’t ready for zero-emission vehicles. But that’s not going to satisfy the environmental community, which thinks that Toyota is dragging its feet when it comes to electric cars.

And that wraps up today’s report, thanks for watching.