This is out Aligned Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Sales of electric cars are growing strong and major markets around the world.
The International Energy Agency says sales will shoot up thirty five percent this year, hitting fourteen million evs. That represents eighteen percent of the global passenger car
market, up from only four percent just three years ago, and if things continue at this pace, evs would account for about fifty percent of all passenger vehicles in about four years. The agency predicts that evs will hit cost parity
with ice vehicles in about two years, and that evs will cut global oil demand by five million barrels a day by the end of the decade. It
looks like Stillantis decided it doesn't have time to wait to get ready for the transition to electric vehicles. It's going to offer buyouts to thirty five hundred UAW
workers and wants to see them start leaving at the end of June. Interestingly,
Stilantis did not announce this. It was reported on Facebook by the president
of UAW Local twelve sixty four, which represents a Stilantis stamping plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan. The company will offer fifty thousand dollars buyouts to employees hired
before two thousand and seven, and others will get an unspecified lump sum.
Manufacturing evs doesn't require as many jobs, so that maybe one reason why Stilantis is offering the buyouts. Another reason is that it will start negotiating a new
labor contract with the UAW this fall, and it probably wanted this off the table. And social media is increasingly becoming the go to way to make an
announcements, and yesterday on Twitter, Kyle Vote, the CEO of GM Cruise, announced they are now operating twenty four hours a day, seven days a week in San Francisco. Up till now, Cruise could only legally operate from
ten pm till six am. Vote says that their machine learning systems have proven
their autonomous cars can work in San Francisco and that they're going to expand to other cities soon. We want to know what drives you're testing. OTA Connected
Car Diagnostics Remote Testing. Intrepid Control Systems is here to help you work from
anywhere. Intrepid Control Systems driven by your data. Lucid first hit the market
with its SEDAM called the Air, but soon, it's going to add an suv to its lineup. They call it the Gravity, and it's undergoing final
testing on public roads in the US right now. Lucid didn't reveal any specifics
about the car, but it did say it will set up to seven people, have the driving dynamics of a sports car and the longest electric range of any suv on the market today. Now, all the company needs to do
is make sure can build them in volume. It's still going through its own
production hell with the air, and as one EV is entering the market, another is going away. GM will shut down production of the Bolt EV and
EUV at the end of the year. The plant where the Bolt is made
in Orion, Michigan will get retooled to make the Chevrolet Silverado EV. Fisker
just got approval from European regulators for its Ocean electric crossover, which means it can start delivering the EV to customers. The first deliveries will start on May
fifth, and it's aiming to deliver all of its launch edition models by the end of September. Presumably US deliveries will follow Europe, but Fisker didn't give
a specific time frame. Tesla is launching a pilot program in China to open
its charging network ten non Tesla owners. It will include ten supercharger stations and
one hundred and twenty destination charging locations, which will be available to thirty seven non Tesla models. Tesla currently has sixteen hundred supercharger stations and more than ten
thousand supercharger connectors in China. Tesla's profit margins took a hit due to recent
price cuts, so by opening up its charging network to others, it will help generate more revenue and profits. And speaking of foreign automakers in China,
Toyota's second Bez model, the Bez three, just went on sale. Like
the Bez four X, it's based on the automakers ETNA platform, but unlike that model, the main drive system is Chinese Car News China reports that it formed a partnership with BYD to use its Blade battery and sourced its motors from a BYD subsidiary. The battery packs come in fifty and sixty five kilowatt hours
and provide up to six hundred and sixteen kilometers or three hundred and eighty two miles of range, and there's two electric motor outputs. The top one being
one hundred and eighty kilowatts or two hundred and forty one horsepower. In China,
the electric sedan sells for the equivalent of twenty four thousand, five hundred dollars at Schiffler we Pioneer Motion Electrifying mobility, manufacturing smarter, reducing CO two emissions, making energy production clean Scheffler Pioneer's Motion to advance how the World moves.
BMW is introducing tech in the all new five Series that will allow owners to control the car with their eyes. It will be available with level two
hands free driving that includes automatic lane changes, and if the driver looks at one of the outside mirrors and traffic is clear, the car will change lanes to that side. The system works up to eighty five miles an hour or
one hundred and thirty kilometers hour, and the turn signal can activate auto lane changes as well as I control. BMW also revealed a few other details about
the all new five Series that premieres in quote just a couple of weeks, like that it will include ice plug in hybrid and pure electric powertrains. Because
of that, the chassis tuning is model specific and features a new control system for electronic dampers on the I five BV. That model will come standard with
a heat pump that supplies the drive system, battery and interior, and BMW says it paves the way for more rapid charging. Speaking of new luxury sedans,
Mercedes revealed the all new E class styling is not a radical departure from the current car, but you'll notice plenty of new design accents, including around the grill, and we especially like how the Mercedes three pointed Star is picked up in the rear tail lights. One thing that might only be picked up
by current owners is a longer wheelbase because it provides more trunk in rear seat leg room, and the interior of the new E Class is like a mix of the EQE in EQE SUV. It has the upright digital driver's cluster like
the EQUE, and the center and passenger display under one piece of glass that covers the rest of the dash is like the EQE SUV. Perhaps one of
the biggest changes is a new electronic architecture that Mercedes says is more software based, which means, among other things, the car will have more OTA capabilities.
Depending on the market, the E class is available with gas, which are all mild hybrids, diesel and plug in hybrids, as well as rear an all wheel drive, but no matter what, they're all paired with the nine speed automatic transmission. Other highlights include level two hands free capability and available
air suspension system and rear wheel steering. The new E class will be on
sale before the end of the year. Silicon carbide chips are a hot commodity
because they can make electric vehicles even more efficient, so Bosch is buying an American chip company, TSI Semiconductors, which is based in California. It will
start making silicon carbide chips in twenty twenty six. Bosch plans to invest one
and a half billion dollars at the site, but it says it will be heavily dependent on receiving federal funds through the Chips and Science Act, as well as incentives from California. And that brings us to the end of this show.
Thanks for making Audoline a part of your day. Altoughline Daily is brought
to you by Bridgestone Solutions for your Journey, Intrepid Control Systems over the Year, Engineering Boost your Game, and by Scheffler we pioneer Motion
About this episode
Electric vehicle sales are surging globally, projected to reach 50% market share in four years as cost parity with ICE vehicles approaches. Stellantis offers buyouts amid EV transition, while GM Cruise expands autonomous operations in San Francisco. Lucid tests its new Gravity SUV, and GM ends Bolt production for Silverado EV. Tesla opens its China charging network to non-Tesla EVs, and Toyota partners with BYD for batteries. BMW debuts eye gesture controls and advanced driver assistance in the new 5 Series, while Mercedes updates the E-Class with enhanced digital features and OTA capabilities. Bosch invests in silicon carbide chip production to boost EV efficiency.
- EVs Headed For 50% Global Market Share - Stellantis Offers UAW Buyouts - GM Cruise Now Operates 24/7 In San Francisco - Lucid Readies Its First SUV - GM to Drop Chevy Bolt - Fisker Gets EU Ok to Sell Cars - Tesla Testing Chargers for All in China - Toyota bZ3 Uses BYD Tech - BMW i5 Uses Eye Gestures - Mercedes Unwraps New E-Class - Bosch Buys U.S. Chip Plant
