Ram is planning to replace the V6 range extender in its electrified pickup with fuel cell technology produced by Symbio, aiming for production by 2025. Nearly 200 countries agreed at COP28 to phase out fossil fuels by 2050, marking a significant climate commitment. Battery swapping gains traction in China with Venutia's taxi fleet and partnerships for trucks, while GM is developing its own infotainment system, Altify, to improve safety and data integration. Tesla leads the US EV market, but legacy automakers like Hyundai and GM are gaining ground. Stellantis launches a battery design competition to cultivate new talent, and Scout Motors opens an R&D center in Michigan to tap into local expertise.
Topics:ram fuel cell range extendercop28 climate agreementbattery swapping taxis chinagm altify infotainmentus ev market sharestellantis battery challengescout motors r&d centerev battery technologyrenewable energy goalsautomotive talent competition
- Ram Pickup to Get Fuel Cell Range Extender - 200 Countries Agree to Ban Oil, Gas and Coal - Battery Swapping Taxis in China - GM Says There’s Safety Problems with Car Play and Android Auto - U.S. OEMs By EV Market Share - Stellantis Battery Competition Targets University Talent - Scout R and D Locating in Michigan - Kudos to You Who Knew Terex
"...alent as well. Scout is locating in the suburb of Nova because it's so close to so many other engineerin..."
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RAMS stunned the industry when it unveiled its electrified RAM pickup called the RAM Charger, with a three point six liter V six as a range extender.
That range extender gives the electric truck a claim six hundred and ninety miles of range or eleven hundred and ten kilometers. But it looks like that V six
could just be a stopgap measure. We think the long term plan is to
replace the V six with the fuel cell. Last week we reported that Stialantis
had started making fuel cells at a new plant that will eventually go into RAM pickups, and now we have a bit more information. That new plant is
in France and the fuel cells will be made by a company called Symbio, which is a joint venture between Stilantis, Michelin and for Via. Symbio also
has a joint venture with chef to make fuel cell components. The target is
to start building fuel cells in twenty twenty five, though it's unclear if they would go into RAM pickups at that time. Symbio is also targeting vans and
medium and heavy duty trucks, and it's searching for a US manufacturing site as well. For VIA's contributions are fuel cell components and hydrogen fuel tanks, and
it's working on a rectangular tank instead of using cylindrical ones, which would make packaging far easier. For VIA is also working with another vehicle manufacturer in the
US, but it declined to name who it is. While here's what could
be a seismic change. At the cop twenty eight climate summit in Dubai,
nearly two hundred countries agreed to transition away from oil, gas, and coal.
The goal is to achieve net zero carbon emissions by twenty fifty. The
countries also agreed to triple their renewable energy use by twenty thirty, accelerate efforts to cut coal, and promote carbon capture and storage. The deal is aiming
to limit global warming to one and a half degrees celsius or two point seven degrees fahrenheit over pre industrial times. However, it's now up to individual countries
to implement and invest in the goals of the deal. As we've seen in
the past, the ambitious goals set forth in these climate conferences usually fall well behind their deadlines. But even so, when the countries of the world decide
it's time to start getting rid of fossil fuels, it's a seismic change.
There's a lot of skepticism over whether or not battery swapping makes any sense, but we keep seeing more and more automakers looking into it. Venutia, a
Chinese brand that's part of the dong Fung Nissan joint venture, is partnering with the city of Guangzho to provide it with battery swap wopping taxis. The automaker
just delivered one hundred and fifty of those taxis and will provide the city with seven hundred in total. Venutia says its taxis provide more than thirty two hundred
dollars in savings compared to gas powered vehicles. And we're also starting to see
battery swapping spreading beyond passenger vehicles. You may remember that earlier this year,
CATL formed a partnership to build battery swapping stations for long haul trucks in China, and Stillantis is working with Ample to develop battery swapping for its evs at CES January ninth through twelve, twenty twenty four and Trumpet's looking forward to seeing you at our booth three six sixty sixth Las Vegas Convention Center in the West Hall. We'll be demonstrating the latest and greatest in the software defined vehicles and
zurnal architectures, automotive ethernet technologies like ten base two one s in Multi GI, Gibbit CUS CS twenty twenty four Las Vegas Conventions had and West Haulpbooth three six sixty six or visit INTERPIDCS dot com slash sales. GM says one of
the reasons it's dropping Android Auto in Apple CarPlay from its vehicles is safety.
Motor Trends spoke with GM's head of product for infotainment, who said that connection issues between those apps and the vehicle causes people to pick up their phone too often to see what the problem is. That was one of the motivations for
GM developing its own software platform called Altify, which integrates Google directly into the vehicle. That means interactions between human and car should be more seamless and the
system will have more capabilities. Not only will users be able to make phone
calls, send tax and set navigation, they could also adjust most of the HVAC settings with voice commands, but safety and better interactions are not the only factors for making the change. GM will get access to more of the data
generated by people inside of its cars as well, and there's other benefits of ALTAFI, like the ability to buy stuff from your car. By the end
of the decade, GM thinks people will spend as much as twenty five billion dollars a year on subscription services. Could this be a look at how automakers
will rank in the US market in the future. Experience The data and credit
reporting company published a list of automakers based on their EV market share. Not
surprisingly, Tesla tops the list with over fifty six percent of the EV segment, but it lost almost eight and a half points a share compared to last year. The Hyundai group did some of that damage with eight percent share,
which includes Hondai, Kia and Genesis. General Motors is next with six point
seven percent, followed by Ford at five point eight. Volkswagen and Audi combined
have five point three three percent, and Rivian rounds out the top six with three point seven. BMW and Mercedes are also doing well selling evs, but
we don't have market share numbers for them, and these numbers ought to cause concern for other legacy automakers who are not on the list because it represents a whole new ranking in the US market. Stillantis is kicking off a competition that
could help it find a new generation a battery talent. Along with the US
Department of Energy and Argonne National Lab, Stillantis announced the Battery Workforce Challenge, which is a three year competition where participants have to design, build, test, and integrate an advanced EVY battery into a future Stillanta's vehicle. Twelve universities
and vocational schools have been selected, and in twenty twenty six, the winning teams will get dozens of awards, one hundred thousand dollars in prize money, and chance of getting a job at one of these companies. Stillanta says the
vehicle used for the competition will be announced early next year, which we expect to be revealed that's ces. Scout Motors is opening an R and D center
in Michigan, something that will bother other automakers in the state since Scout will undoubtedly start rating them for talent. It already nabbed Chris Benjamin away from Stallantis
to become its chief designer and it will be after other top talent as well.
Scout is locating in the suburb of Nova because it's so close to so many other engineering sources. GM, four, Toyota, Nissan, and Hyundai
have large engineering in R and D campuses in the area, as do almost all of the global Tier one suppliers. Michigan has also landed fourteen billion dollars
in evy and battery investment, which is creating a large EV talent pool.
Looks like I need one of those Komatsu nine thirty ease just to hand out all the bonus points we offered to anyone who could name the division of General Motors that made mining trucks from nineteen fifty three to nineteen eighty one. Lots
of you were quick to point out the name of the company is Tarix.
It was founded by GM in the late nineteen sixties and later sold off.
But Trex is still making big trucks to this day, and I should award extra extra bonus points to anyone who brought up Euclid. It also made big
trucks and GM owned it before Tarrex. Euclid was founded in the early nineteen
hundreds and was purchased by GM in the early nineteen fifties, but due to an anti trust lawsuit, GM was eventually forced to sell Euclid and that's when it formed Tarrex. And with that little history lesson, we end today's show
thanks for tuning in. Auto Line Daily is brought to you by Bridgestone Solutions
for your Journey and by Intrepid Control Systems over the air engineering boost your game.
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