AD #3610 – U.S. Doubles EV Charging Ports; Software Glitches Delay Volvo EX90 EV; Mahindra Wins Jeep Lawsuit

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

U.S. DOUBLES EV CHARGING PORTS 
One of the biggest complaints about electric cars in the United States is that there aren’t enough charging stations. But that’s changing fast. The U.S. Energy Department says that the number of chargers doubled in the past three years. There are now more than 140,000 public EV charging ports in the U.S., which refers to the number of individual outlets to charge an EV. That number is increasing roughly 5% every quarter, which means the number would almost double again in the next three years. There are also over 20,000 private charging ports, which includes workplace and commercial charging, not residential, and that’s growing about 1% to 2% a quarter.

100℉ REALLY HURTS EV RANGE
There’s been a lot of focus on how much range EVs can lose in cold weather. But really hot weather can be almost as impactful, especially when temperatures go over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, or 37 degrees Celsius. A company called Recurrent, which is based in Seattle, analyzed data from 17,000 BEVs and PHEVs. It found they lost about 2.8% range at 80 degrees F or 26 C, and lost 5% at 90 degrees F, or 32 C. But when temps went over a 100, range plummeted by 31%. Automotive News reports that Recurrent says Tesla’s EVs lost the least amount of range thanks to their use of a heat pump that manages the battery’s temperature.

IT’S OFFICIAL. AUDI GOING WITH CHINESE EV PLATFORM
A couple of weeks ago we reported that Audi was in talks with SAIC in China to buy an EV platform. And we said that if that did happen, it would be like a slap in the face to the engineers in Germany who develop EVs. Well, guess what? It’s official. Audi is going to get an EV platform from SAIC. The reason why Audi is doing this is that things are a mess at the Volkswagen Group. Its software division, called Cariad, ran into all kinds of problems, which delayed all of the Group’s future EVs. Audi was going to have to wait until 2029 for a new platform, and it obviously decided it couldn’t afford to wait that long. Audi’s current EVs, branded as e-tron, aren’t selling that well, especially in China.

MAHINDRA WINS JEEP LAWSUIT
It looks like Mahindra’s long legal battle with FCA, now Stellantis, is finally over. A court in Michigan ruled against Stellantis’ last efforts to block Mahindra from building and selling the Roxor in the U.S., claiming it looked too much like a Jeep. But I’m not sure why Stellantis didn’t just give up in 2020 when the Roxor got its most recent update? This is what it looked like when it first came out, but this is what it looks like now. Mahindra has changed the design so much that there’s no mistaking the Roxor for a Jeep anymore. And so Mahindra now has the legal authority to keep producing, selling and distributing this version of the Roxor in the U.S. But I think you could seriously question: who actually won this battle?

TOYOTA AIMS FOR THE MOON
Talk about long term strategy. Toyota reportedly maintains a 100-year strategic plan, which may be one reason why it’s exploring mobility on other planets. It’s now entering the early stages of development for a lunar rover that it will send to the moon in 2029. Toyota is working out how to apply current technologies, like fuel cells, into the rover, but it also expects its work to affect the vehicles we drive down here on earth. That includes improving fuel cells, but other areas that you might not expect as well, like off-roading. Test vehicles are taking advantage of in-wheel electric motors and helping Toyota figure out things like proper torque distribution. It’s also working on rollover prevention and even autonomous off-road driving. So, some of Toyota’s future technology will literally be out of this world.

IRA HELPS OFFSET TESLA’S PRICE CUTS
At the beginning of the year, Tesla slashed the price of its vehicles to help boost sales. And while its gross profit margin did take a bit of a hit because of that, EV tax credits enacted by the Biden Administration helped to offset part of the price cuts. Reuters reports that Tesla is earning between $900 to $1,400 on every vehicle sold in the U.S. in the second quarter, thanks to battery tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act. The company also earns another $600 per vehicle from selling federal emission credits to other automakers to help meet emission standards. And when combined, the subsidies offset most of the $2,500 price cut for the Model Y.

EV BATTERY RECYCLING RAMPING UP FAST
And circling back to those Inflation Reduction Act incentives. There’s a clause in the legislation that automatically qualifies EV battery materials recycled in the U.S. as made in the U.S., regardless of their origin, which means they’ll earn subsidies. And because of that, Reuters reports that companies are scrambling to recycle batteries in the USA. China currently dominates the global EV battery recycling market and the goal of the IRA clause is to bring more recycling to the U.S. The global market is expected to jump to $18 billion by 2028, up from $11 billion last year. And by 2040, some industry analysts believe that 40% of the battery used in new EVs will come from recycled materials.

SOFTWARE GLITCHES DELAY VOLVO EX90 EV
Volvo’s new EX90 electric SUV was supposed to go into production at the company’s plant in South Carolina by the end of the year. But now the company’s CEO, Jim Rowan, says it’s delaying the launch by 5 to 6 months because they’re having trouble integrating the Lidar system into the vehicle. He blames the “complexity of the software code.” That means it could be until the third quarter of next year when it makes its debut. That’s a huge delay and it just goes to show how automakers are struggling with the complexity of integrating software into their cars.

EVTOL MARKET HEATS UP IN U.S.
Back in June the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration or FAA starting giving out its first flying certificates to eVTOL companies. They’re Special Airworthiness Certificates, which limits the kind of flying they can do and places they can do it, but it has kicked off a lot of activity in the eVTOL community. And a Japanese startup, called SkyDrive, says it just got two pre-orders for its aircraft, called SKYDRIVE, which more closely resembles a helicopter. One order is from Austin Aviation, a charter company out of South Carolina, who will buy up to five of its aircraft. SkyDrive, the company, has also opened a facility in South Carolina and has plans to build a complete Advanced Air Mobility infrastructure in the state. Its other order is for 100 eVTOLs from a Vietnamese company, called CT UAV.

And that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for making Autoline a part of your day and I hope you have a great weekend.