Lucid Motors seeks a $3 billion lifeline from its major Saudi investor amid production struggles. NHTSA proposes expanding mandatory automatic emergency braking to higher speeds and pedestrian detection, aiming to save lives. BYD breaks EV sales records, surpassing one million new energy vehicles sold this year. Toyota and Honda ramp up US EV production and battery manufacturing investments. Ford CEO predicts EV cost parity post-2030 and launches a Mustang Mach-E lease program for Uber drivers. Chevy revives the off-road Colorado ZR2 Bison with enhanced capabilities, joining a surge of midsize off-road trucks. Jeep teases an autonomous off-road system in testing.
Topics:lucid motors fundingnhtsa aeb mandatebyd ev salestoyota ev investmenthonda ev productionford ev cost parityford uber partnershipchevy colorado zr2 bisonmidsize off-road trucksjeep autonomous off-road
- Lucid Raises $3 Billion - NHTSA Proposes AEB Mandate - BYD NEV Sales Top 1 Million In 2023 - Toyota Invests $2.1 Billion More In U.S. EV Production - Honda Builds 30 Millionth Engine in Ohio - Farley Says EV Cost Parity Will Happen After 2030 - Ford Offers Leases to Uber Drivers - Chevy Brings Back Colorado ZR2 Bison - Jeep Testing Autonomous Off-Road System
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Lucid Motors has struggled to ramp up production of its Air sedan, but it's about to get another lifeline. It says it plans to raise another three
billion dollars through a stock offering, but most of that will come from its biggest investor, the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which already holds a sixty percent stake in the Evy startup. While the announcement sent shares tumbling, Lucid said
the investment will ensure it survives a couple more years, but only if it starts spending less money. In twenty sixteen, twenty automakers made a deal with
NITZA and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety to voluntarily install automatic emergency braking equipment in most of their vehicles by twenty twenty two. Now NITZA wants to mandate
the technology for all vehicles and expand its capability. Under the voluntary agreement,
AEB tests by the IIHS are done between twelve and twenty five miles an hour for front to rear collisions with other vehicles, but the new NITZA proposal will mandate that the technology work at speeds up to sixty two miles an hour and will require pedestrian protection, including avoiding them at night, and if it gets adopted, automakers will have three years to meet the requirement after it goes into effect. NITZA says the new AEB rule will save three hundred and sixty lives
a year and reduce injuries by at least twenty four thousand annually. By D
is racing up the sales charts and just broke its own record for an EV sales. The automakers sold more than two hundred and forty thousand b evs and
plug in hybrids in May, which is up a whap one hundred and eight percent compared to last year. That's about five thousand more vehicles than its previous
record, and for the first five months of the year, BYD has sold more than a million ne evs, which is nearly double what it sold last year, and about four hundred and ninety thousand of those were pure b EV sales. I don't think there's any denying that there's been a greater focus on
electrification at Toyota since its new CEO Kojisato took over in April, and now the automaker is ramping up EV production in the US. Toyota is investing an
additional two point one billion dollars at its new battery manufacturing site in North Carolina for new infrastructure that will support future expansion. That brings its total investment into
the facility to nearly six billion dollars. It's slated to be up and running
by twenty twenty five, and we'll have six production lines, four for hybrids and two for b evs. Toyota also announced it will build an all new
three row fully electric suv at its plant in Kentucky, which will get batteries from that new plant in North Carolina. That means the new electric suv will
be out in twenty twenty five as well, so it can get those new batteries. Honda's biggest engine plant in the world is being retooled to help support
its electric future. The Ana Engine plant in Ohio just made its thirty millionth
engine, a two lead hybrid unit that's used in the accord In CRV.
But it's also going to get the ability to make casings for battery modules, which will be used in Honda and accurate evs built in Ohio. The Ana
plant is part of a seven hundred million dollar investment that will turn Ohio into Honda's EV hub. And if you didn't know, Honda's presence in Ohio is
huge. It employs over fifteen thousand people across five plants and has the capacity
to produce nearly seven hundred thousand vehicles, one point two million car engines, and a million transmissions a year. Many analysts have predicted that evs will reach
cost parity with internal combustion powered cars as early as twenty twenty five, but Ford CEO Jim Farley believes it's going to take a little longer than that.
He says it won't be until after twenty thirty that they reach parity. When
second and third gen evs hit the market. Farley says costs will come down
from quote lower labor content because it will be easier to build evs with fewer parts and they'll have smaller batteries with less expensive materials. He also says distribution
costs will be cheaper with evs by selling them online. And speaking of Ford,
the automaker is forming a partnership with Uber to lease Mustang Moches to its ride sharing drivers called for Drive. The pilot program will allow Uber drivers to
lease the ev between one and four months. The drivers can manage payments and
services through an app, and four dealers will provide maintenance. The program is
currently only available in San Diego, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, and Hertz also has a similar deal with Uber to rent testlas to the ride hailing companies drivers. Chevy is bringing back the Colorado ZR two Bison for the twenty
twenty four model year, and is making it a little more capable. The
off road truck still uses multi Maddox spool valve dampers, but they've been retuned.
It also gets a slight suspension lift and has more ground clearance compared to the standard ZR two thanks to a set of thirty five inch tires that wrap around seventeen inch beadlock wheels. Under the truck are a set of steel skid
plates instead of aluminum ones, and the front rear bumpers are steel too, just in case customers bash into a rock or something. Look for the Colorado
ZR two Bison to go on sale before the end of the year and think about this for a moment. Ford revealed the US version of the Ranger Raptor
on May tenth, Toyota revealed the all new Tacoma and the trdpro version on May eighteenth, and now Chevy is showing off the Colorado ZR two Bison.
So that's three midsize performance off road trucks shown off in less than a month.
And there might not be a better time to be a truck fan then right now. And speaking of going off road, JEEP is giving us a
little flavor of an autonomous off road system that it's developing for future models.
It's not providing many details yet, but it's been testing the system in Moab, Utah with a couple of modified Grand Cherokee four by ease. If I
had to guess, I would say there's a guided function where the vehicle follows a path itself, a lead in follow function where the vehicle follows the one ahead, and maybe the ability to control the vehicle through an obstacle without anyone inside using a phone or tablet. But we'll know for sure when JEEP reveals
more this summer, and be sure to join John and Gary for Autoline after Hours. This afternoon. The show kicks off at three pm Eastern Time on
our website and YouTube channel. That's a rap for this show. Thanks for
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