Apple has canceled its long-running electric vehicle program, shifting focus to AI projects amid concerns over profitability and market demand. Aston Martin delays its first EV, opting to focus on plug-in hybrids, impacting Lucid Motors' battery supply deal. The UAW claims majority support for unionizing workers at Mercedes and Volkswagen plants in the US, signaling a renewed labor push. Meanwhile, Honda introduces a more affordable fuel cell CR-V, and Huawei unveils ultra-fast EV chargers capable of adding 1 km of range per second. The episode also covers industry consolidation in China, Tesla's upcoming Roadster, and Nissan's autonomous taxi plans in Japan and the UK.
Topics:apple ev program cancellationaston martin ev delayuaw unionization effortshonda fuel cell crvhuawei fast ev chargingchina automotive consolidationtesla new roadsternissan autonomous taxisev market challengeslabor relations in auto industry
- Apple Kills EV Program - Aston Martin Delays EV - UAW Says Mercedes Workers Want a Union - EU OEMs Won’t Challenge ICE Ban - Honda Unveils FCEV CR-V - Changan Could Buy HiPhi - Huawei Claims 1 Km/Second EV Charging - Musk Says Tesla Roadster Will Launch Next Year - Nissan Jumps into Robotaxi Business
"...Musk says Tesla's aiming to come out with the new roadster next year. Of course, the CEO has made plenty of ..."
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This is Utolgne Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
Apple is pulling the plug on its electric car program. Bloomberg reports that
the tech giant told its two thousand employees that are working on the vehicle that it's canceling development of the EVE. Many of them will transfer to work on
the company's generative AI projects. Apple first launched its EV program back in twenty
fourteen, and it sense invested billions of dollars into it. However, Apple's
executives decided to pull the plug because they were concerned that it wouldn't provide high enough profit margins, and they were uneasy about continuing to invest in a product that may never reach the market. We also think that the slowdown in EV
demand, along with the EV price war, factored into the decision as well.
You know, this doesn't sound good for Aston Martin. It says it's
it's delaying its first electric car because it can't find enough customers who want to buy it. While it's not giving up on evs, Aston is going to
put more effort into plug in hybrids instead. It's not good news for Lucid
Motors either. ASTON is going to buy its batteries and electric powertrain from Lucid,
which will give it some badly needed cash flow, but obviously that will get put off for now. From a financial standpoint, ASTON is losing money,
but it's making progress and expects to be cash flow positive in the second half of this year. And one way it's probably going to be cash flow
positive is by delaying its first electric car. It was less than a month
ago that the UAW claimed that it got over fifty percent of the line workers at Volkswagen's US plant in Tennessee to sign cards saying they want a union, and now it says it's reached the same mark at Mercedes plant in Alabama.
The UAW really started its new effort to organize the non union automakers in the US at the beginning of the year, and it will either demand that an automaker recognize the UAW once seventy percent of the line workers sign union cards, or it will hold a vote with workers, which would be sanctioned by the National Labor Relations Board. The UAW has been able to claim it got a
majority of non union workers to sign union cards in the past, only to see its efforts get shot down when workers voted in secret at the ballot box.
But we also can't ignore the differences with the present situation. The majority
of line workers haven't got the kind of raises they deserve. There's new,
fresh and motivated leadership in the UAW and they're employing unique organization tactics. As
we reported last week, the Biden administration is caving to pressure from the auto industry to roll back emission targets in the US that are designed to boost EV sales, But over in Europe, automakers say they won't challenge the EU's twenty thirty five IC ban. Luca de Mayo, the ceover no in the head
of the ACEA, the lobbying group that represents Europe's automakers, said the fossil fuel ban is feasible as long as the right conditions are in place. He
said the industry has already invested billions in electrification and it would be a waste to soften the regulations. But the EU has already backed off its targets.
It initially wanted a full IC ban by twenty thirty five, but several countries successfully lobbied to allow the sale of ice vehicles that run on carbon neutral fuels.
After that date, we want to know what drives your 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. With Toyota slashing
the price the MARAE in the US by forty thousand dollars, bringing the starting price to just twelve grand, Honda's picking an interesting time to introduce a fuel cell powered version of the CRV, made at the automaker's US plant in Ohio.
It features the fuel cell system Honda and General Motors developed together. Compared
to the twenty nineteen Clarity, Honda says it slashed the overall cost of the system by a third. Power also comes from a one hundred and seventy four
horse power electric motor that drives the front wheels, which is fed by a small battery pack. The tanks and the fuel cell CRV are a little bit
smaller than the Marai, with a capacity of four point three kilograms. Overall,
the system provides an estimated two hundred and seventy miles or four hundred and thirty four kilometers of driving range, and the nearly eighteen kilowaate hour battery pack can provide almost thirty miles or forty six kilometers of range on its The battery also has its own separate charging port. The model will first go on sale
in Japan this summer, followed by the US before the end of the year.
Beyond passenger vehicles, Honda plans to expand fuel cells into areas like commercial vehicles, stationary storage systems, construction equipment, and even becoming a supplier.
Earlier this week, we reported that we might be seeing the first cracks in China's automotive industry. Netta Auto is delaying bonuses for executives and Hi Phi has
to stop production for six months, which are clear signs that those companies are running out of cash. And now media reports out of China say that chang
Gan might buy hi Pi. The city of qing Dao and the Saudi Arabia
Sovereign Wealth Fund reportedly would be part of the deal. Qing Dao, which
is a coastal city located roughly halfway between Beijing and Shanghai, is where Hi Pi has an R and D center. Changan builds cars for Ford and Mazda
in China, as well as its own lineup of vehicles, and we think this buyout could be the beginning of the great consolidation that auto experts have been predicting. In China, there are simply too many car companies with too much
manufacturing capacity for them all to survive, and so a flurry of mergers and acquisitions could be on the way. The Chinese company Huawei is famous in the
West because the FCC banned the company from selling any telecommunications in the US, and the US convinced a number of its allies to do the same thing.
They're all worried about that equipment being used for spying or shutting down during a political crisis. But Huawei is also a tech powerhouse in the EV sector,
and it's developing chargers that can add one kilometer of driving range per second, so a five minute charge would add about one hundred and eighty six miles of range. These are liquid cooled six hundred kilowat chargers with six hundred amps,
and while they're expensive to make, Huawei says they will deliver a lower cost per kilowat hour. Elon Musk says Tesla's aiming to come out with the new
roadster next year. Of course, the CEO has made plenty of statements like
this in the past, only to see those targets come and go, so we'll have to see what happens this time around. But he says that it
radically increased the design goals for the new Roadster, that production design is complete and it will be unveiled at the end of this year. Oh and must
also questions whether it can even be called a car. Last year, Honda
and GM's autonomous unit crews announced plans to launch a robotaxi service in Japan in twenty twenty six, and now Nissan is going to do the same thing starting in twenty twenty seven. It plans to start providing level four autonomous services in
three or four municipalities, including rural areas, and it's already in talks with a number of locations before it launches the service. Nissan will start tests in
Japan this year and expand the trials to more areas next year and twenty twenty six with the larger fleet. In addition to Japan, Nissan is also testing
autonomous cars in London and other areas of the UK. We've got one of
our favorite guests coming on Autoline after hours tomorrow. Jeff Stout with Young Fun
has great insights into future design and where this industry is headed. And we're
also going to have Paul Waddi from Auto Pacific the consultancy. So join John
and Gary for the insights, analysis and great conversation when the show gets going live at three pm Easter Time tomorrow. But that's a wrap for 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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