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Runtime: 9:21
0:00 Tesla Wins 1st Autopilot Lawsuit Involving Fatal Crash
1:04 Toyota Slashes EV Sales Forecast
2:20 Automakers Oppose U.S. Steel Acquisition
3:32 Ford F-150 Lightning Heading to Switzerland
3:56 Elon Musk Shares New Cybertruck Details
5:04 Rivian Owners Now Have to Pay to Use Charging Sites
6:06 Porsche Launches Bug Bounty Program
6:37 VW Holding Off on New Battery Plant
6:57 Renault May Delay EV Unit IPO Again
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TESLA WINS 1ST AUTOPILOT LAWSUIT INVOLVING FATAL CRASH
Tesla has faced a lot of scrutiny over the safety of its Autopilot driver assistance technology but the company just won its first trial involving a fatal crash in California. The lawsuit alleged that Autopilot caused a Model 3 to suddenly veer off the highway at 65 MPH, strike a tree and burst into flames, all within a matter of seconds. The driver was killed in the crash and two other passengers were seriously injured. The suit also claimed that Tesla knew the technology was defective when it sold the vehicle. But Tesla claimed the accident was due to driver error and said it was unclear if Autopilot was engaged at the time of the accident. And the jury agreed and ruled that the vehicle did not have a manufacturing defect. Tesla is facing several other similar lawsuits in the U.S., so this is a big victory for the company.
TOYOTA SLASHES EV SALES FORECAST
Toyota reported its earnings for the latest quarter and the numbers are rock solid. The company sold 2.4 million vehicles globally, up 13% from a year ago and that includes its Daihatsu and Hino subsidiaries. That helped its revenue grow 24% to $76 billion. It’s net income nearly tripled to $8.6 billion and its operating profit hit $9.6 billion, more than double what it was a year ago. And while its sales are going strong, the company is walking back its BEV forecast for the year. Toyota originally estimated it would sell 202,000 BEVs but now it only expects to sell 123,000 in the current fiscal year, which is a pretty shocking drop. But if you include all of its electrified vehicles, it expects to sell 3.9 million this year, a 42% gain. Hybrids account for the overwhelming majority of that figure. The company says electrified vehicles will account for 37% of its total sales, up from 30% last year.
AUTOMAKERS OPPOSE U.S. STEEL ACQUISITION
Automakers are once again voicing their displeasure about steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs proposal to buy U.S. Steel. If the acquisition goes through, it will give Cleveland-Cliffs, already the largest automotive steel supplier in the U.S., control of more than 50% of the auto steel market in the country. So the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a lobbying group that represents most major automakers in the U.S., sent a letter to Congress and other federal agencies saying the merger will increase costs for the industry “for both materials and vehicles.” The Alliance also says the takeover will give Cleveland-Cliffs 100% control of e-steel production in the U.S., which is used to make electric motors, and that will likely lead to higher costs for EVs as well.
FORD F-150 LIGHTNING HEADING TO SWITZERLAND
Ford is launching the F-150 Lightning in another country in Europe. The company announced it will be available to order in Switzerland starting this month. Earlier this year, Ford started selling the electric pickup in Norway. The Lightning will only be available in limited numbers in Switzerland and it ain’t cheap with a starting price of nearly $140,000.
ELON MUSK SHARES NEW CYBERTRUCK DETAILS
Speaking of electric pickups, Elon Musk dropped a few more details about the Cybertruck on comedian Joe Rogan’s podcast. The highlight of the experience was Rogan shooting the Cybertruck with a bow and arrow and leaving nothing more than a dent in the door, while the arrow was destroyed. Musk says at the reveal event at the end of the month, Tesla will unload a full Tommy Gun clip into the Cybertruck to show that it’s bulletproof. And even with those heavy stainless steel body panels, the Cybertruck weighs about 6,000-7,000 pounds depending on the setup, which is roughly the same as the Ford F-150 Lightning. One of the heavier setups will likely be the Beast Mode version Musk talked about, which he says will do 0-60 MPH in under 3-seconds. But the pace at which Tesla pumps out Cybertrucks won’t be that fast. Musk says Tesla aims to build about 200,000 a year. And with over a million pre-orders that means some customers will have to wait 5+ years to get their truck.
RIVIAN OWNERS NOW HAVE TO PAY TO USE CHARGING SITES
Rivian owners are about to lose access to free public charging. The EV startup announced it will start making owners pay to use its charging sites, called the Adventure Network. It did not say what it would charge, likely because it varies so much by area, but rates from other providers typically hovers around $0.30 per kWh. And at that rate it would cost $30+ to “fill up” an empty Rivian battery at its Adventure Network. The company currently has about 30 fast charging sites in its network with the aim to increase that to 600 over the next two years. I’m sure the free fast charging was a nice perk, but Rivian needs to start turning a profit and this will help it do that. And aside from its Adventure Network, the company is also building out 10,000 Rivian Waypoints, which are Level 2 chargers at popular locations, and next year owners will get access to 12,000 Tesla Superchargers.
PORSCHE LAUNCHES BUG BOUNTY PROGRAM
Porsche is launching a bug bounty program to try and find cybersecurity issues in its products and digital services. Basically, Porsche will pay hackers to find vulnerabilities in its systems and then it can fix those before they could potentially become a problem. It can be an effective way of discovering issues without a ton of investment. Tesla has been doing this for a long time and has reportedly found some big vulnerabilities this way.
VW HOLDING OFF ON NEW BATTERY PLANT
With demand for its electric vehicles lower than expected, Volkswagen is holding off on making a decision about a new battery plant. CEO Oliver Blume said because of market conditions, including a slow ramp up of the BEV segment in Europe, there is no reason for it to pick a new site for a battery plant right now.
RENAULT MAY DELAY EV UNIT IPO AGAIN
And the slower EV ramp up in Europe could push back the timeline for Renault taking its new EV division public again. It originally wanted to do an IPO with Ampere this month, but moved those plans to next spring. Renault is hoping for a valuation of up to 10 billion euros, but if forecasts put that number closer to 6 or 7 billion euros, Renault might not go ahead with the IPO next spring.
But that brings us to the end of today’s show. Thanks for making Autoline a part of your day.
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More related to yesterday’s discussion, but people keep talking about the price of cars going up 30.7% since 2019. That is very disingenuous as far as what is actually going on.
If you buy the same car, the price has not increased nearly as much as the “average” price increase. A 2019 Camry LE had an MSRP of $24,350. A 2023 is $26,320. That’s an 8% increase, and the 2023 probably has more standard safety gadgets. Yes, if you replace a Camry with a Lexus RX, that contributes to a big increase in “average” car price, and more people buying EVs contributes to the increase in “average” price.
Forgot to mention Toyota gave workers a $3-4 raise in light of the UAW contract negotiations. Which from a worker’s perspective may seem somewhat insulting. 1) Its not close to the increase the UAW folks will get. 2) If the workers deserved a raise, why were they not offered it before. 3) It basically appears as a tactic to keep the union out and not a sincere gesture. This might actually have the opposite effect they hoped for. As a worker at Toyota they have to be thinking “we only got raises cause of the union and we would have gotten more if we were unionized.
Rivian has sold less than 100,000 vehicles and they have already pulled the plug on free charging. They have the 105kw and 180kw battery & sounds like the $30 fill up is for the smaller battery with a range of 270 miles. So, it’s like getting 31mpg at $3.50 a gallon. So certainly, better than any gas truck but not the huge savings. In fact if gas was back to $2 a gallon the cost for 270 miles is about the same. So heads up folks EVs will not be any cheaper to drive per mile than ICE by 2035.
Is it even possible for unions to operate successfully in “right to work” states where most of the transplants are located? Even if they vote in a union, isn’t paying dues optional in those states, so everyone could “free load”? If I’m missing something about how it works, please inform.
The 6900 pound Rivian has the same “fuel” cost as a non-hybrid Camry. It’s hard to argue that EVs don’t save on fuel cost, especially if you have home charging. Of course, the cheapest Rivian costs $73K. Gas is not going to get back to $2 a gallon, unless there is another global pandemic that results in a huge reduction in miles driven.
Michigan is a right to work state.
Does MI law somehow “grandfather” the UAW, or am I missing something else about “right to work” states?
@Lambo your $30.00 recharge of the EV battery is in reality a $15.00 cost, because in virtually all cases the EV will drive less than 250 or 300 miles in a day (whatever the range is) and will be charged at home overnight.
Hold up the heck up sparkles….why is the head of a major manufacturer saying ‘slow ramp up of the BEV segment in Europe’. I thought Europe was going gangbusters for all BEVs and only the unenlightened US market is lagging.
@Joe G: The first part “I thought that Europe was going gangbusters for all BEVs.” You thought wrong: EV adoption in several Western European markets is substantial. Reality was faster than expected until a few months ago, right now it is slower than expected. Reality being different than forecasts always happens.
The second part “the U.S. market is lagging”: you are right about that.
Michigan’s new legislature (left leaning and beholden to unions) repealed Right To Work in March of this year… the 1st (and only?) state to do so.
Thanks Drew I hadn’t heard. I’m actually in Ohio but knew it was a right to work state a couple years ago.
Wim: charge at home or at a charging station you cant charge for free. Unless maybe you have solar panels or a wind turbine at home. So maybe the home rates are not as high as at a charger location, but Sean’s article stated the cost was $30 for a full charge.
Never say never but I don’t think that those 1,000,000 Cybertruck reservations are going to hold up (but you never know with the Tesla-ites out there). 😉 lol
Sean’s $30 number would be what you might pay at a commercial charger. It would be ~$10 for home charging where I am.
There will be a big wrap market for Cybertrucks. Not all buyers will like the institutional kitchen look.
14 Totally expected that non-union plants will get bumps in pay and benefits to keep the unions away, plus they don’t have to pay union dues, so even if the bumps aren’t real close to the union gains the non-union shops save on not having to pay the dues of union membership and don’t have to go out on strike, just let the UAW take care of it all.
Since the forum did away with the numbering system for comments I suggest we number our own and see how it works out.
Good idea Ziggy😄
@Lambo it also said $0.30 per kWh. At home over night I pay less than half of that.
15
@14 civil disobedience by Ziggy! I like it.
16 @11 (Chuck) my bet would be on 100,000 real buyers for the 1,000,000 pre-orders
17. Current UAW dues are 2 hrs pay/month, or 5%, set in 1967. The members are getting their money’s worth, as long as the companies stay in busineess.
This “right-to-work” thing is making less sense all the time. According to a law-related web site, and others sites saying essentially the same thing:
” more than half the states have enacted right to work laws. Under these laws, no employee can be required to belong to a union or pay union dues or agency fees as a condition of obtaining or holding a job with a union employer.”
Indiana is a “right-to-work” state, but all of the the hourly employees at Chrysler, er Stellantis in Kokomo are UAW members, or at least pay dues. What, really, does “right-to-work” mean? Are industries that are historically UAW “grandfathered” in Indiana? Can someone please explain this? Maybe Sean or John, if no one else explains it. Thanks.
Or could there be an option of working for minimum wage with no benefits if you don’t want to pay union dues? No one would do that, so it seems that everyone is a UAW member, or at least pays dues.
hey Kit Gerhart aka Gerschmuck ; you are a tool for the Biden cartel….case closed, you fool ….
Kit I know of one instance where a person gained employment where there was a union and they refused to join the union in a right to work state. They still received the same pay as the union members, but they are not provided the same benefits as paying members like union steward representation and they did receive a lot of pressure to join from other members. Eventually they did join are happy with the decision.
Wim; Regardless of what you pay for electricity now my point was, this was just a selling point to promote EV adoption that will not last. We are so early into this, and we are already seeing charging closing the gap to be almost equal to gas fill-ups. So absolutely by time ICE are mandated out I’m betting it will be basically the same to charge your EV as what we spend on gas. Thats why it’s silly to buy an EV if your sole purpose is to save on gas. It will be a wash in the end. In fact, manufacturers don’t even really tout that as a feature as much anymore. They know you need to buy one for all the other reasons cause saving fuel is a fallacy. Even oil independency is a joke because we use it for so many more things than just gas. But hey! if it makes people feel good about themselves to think they are making a difference because they don’t buy gas anymore good for them. But the economics of charging vs fuel just doesn’t make good sense.
I wish we didn’t mandate an end to one particular means of motive power.
However, I’m fairly confident that the cost of charging EVs will eventually end up being permanently lower than an equivalent refill. EVs can charge at any time they’re hooked to the grid, and utility-scale solar energy is already the cheapest. Onshore wind is competitive with natural gas, though the up-front costs currently favor it less. The best source I know for informative, well-researched and presented data remains:
https://www.lazard.com/research-insights/2023-levelized-cost-of-energyplus/
Incidentally, the US is one of the countries where utility-scale solar projects get built out the fastest, as measured from pending approval to completion, IIRC.
Is there anyone here with experience of ‘Free Nights & Weekends Electricity Plans’ in Texas? No other state built out wind power so massively.
https://electricityplans.com/texas/compare/free-time-electricity-plans/
I wouldn’t think people in a union shop should get any contract benefits if they don’t pay dues, whether pay, health care benefits, or anything else, but “should” and “would” could be two different things in the south. We may learn more about potential union organizing in “right-to-work” states if people at the transplants start noticing that they are getting less than 2/3 of what UAW people get in pay and benefits.
As far as charging an EV, now, the “fuel cost” for an EV is much lower than cost for gas, if you charge at home. At my utility rate in Florida, it would cost about $10 to charge a Tesla M3 long range, and you get 300 miles with some reserve. Even the most efficient gas sedan, a Camry hybrid, would need $20-25 in gas to go 300 miles, depending on how fast you go. A non-hybrid Camry or similar would use $30-35 in gas for 300 miles. Using public charging, the per-mile cost for an M3 and Camry hybrid would be similar.
The real hidden cost will be as electricity rates increase not only will the cost to charge your car go up but everything you power in your home will also cost more. So currently if you pay $100 a month for electricity at home and $200 a month for gas your out $300. Then you buy and EV and your electric bill goes to $200 a month but your not buying gas so you spend only $200. But I’m betting that our rates will increase to a point where you’ll be back to paying $300 a month for electricity and zero gas but then another $50-100 if you use public chargers to supliment your EV charge. So in the end we will spend more even if its cheaper now.
Electricity prices are projected to go down, not up.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/630136/projection-of-electricity-prices-in-the-us/
I’ll believe it when I see it.