AD #3758 - Automakers Says 2035 ICE Ban Won't Work; Boston Installing Curbside Charging; BYD Mexico Plant Won't Export to the U.S.
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This is underlying Daily the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
California has a mandate to ban the sale of all new ICE vehicles in twenty thirty five, and eleven other US states are adopting the same mandate. But
the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which is the lobbying group for most of the automakers operating in the United States, says the ban is not going to work in those eleven other states. It just doesn't believe enough consumers will buy enough
evs, plugin hybrids, or fuel cell vehicles to comply with the ban.
But one thing's for sure, we'll have plenty of warning to know how feasible this is. At least in California. By twenty twenty six, thirty five
percent of all the new vehicles sold in California have to be electric, plug in or hydrogen fueled. Last year, it hit twenty five percent. By
twenty thirty it has to be at sixty eight percent and then hit one hundred percent by twenty thirty five. In terms of actual sales, last year,
four hundred and forty five thousand evs were sold in California. That has to
jump to six hundred and thirty four thousand in another two years and one point two million by the end of the decade. If that many are sold,
then the icban will work. If not, then it's going to have to
go back to the drawing board. Speaking of California, a state senator introduced
legislation that would mandate all new cars have speed limitters to prevent them from going ten miles an hour over the speed limit. It would use technology called Intelligent
Speed Assist, which would be mandated in twenty twenty seven, and would rely on GPS to determine the posted speed limit wherever a car is driving. The
technology was actually recommended by the NTSB or the National Transportation Safety Board. Europe
has allus A ready adopted the technology, but it relies on annoying chimes to get a driver to slow down. The California approach would automatically prevent a car
from going ten miles an hour over the limit, although emergency vehicles would be exempted. Meanwhile, in Europe, more cities are trying to get rid of
traffic congestion. In Ireland, Dublin is going to ban cars from driving through
the city center. The goal is to get rid of sixty percent of the
traffic, and in Greece, Athens is expanding its subway lines to try and get rid of fifty three thousand cars from driving through the city every day.
So the automobile sure is coming under a lot of pressure to where it can drive, how fast it can go, and what kind of fuel it has to run on. US politicians are growing more and more concerned about Chinese car
companies entering the market by importing vehicles through Mexico. But BYD, which wants
to build a plant in Mexico, says it has no plans to export vehicles from that plant to the US. The CEO of BYD America says the market
is too complicated due to political backlash against Chinese car companies and due to slowing ev demand. But that's what BYD is saying now, and there's no reason
it couldn't change its mind in the future. And that makes us wonder with
so much excess capacity in China, why would BYD build a plant in Mexico if its long term goal wasn't getting into the US market. One of the
biggest complaints about evs is the lack of a charging infrastructure especially if you live in an apartment or a condo in the city. That's why Boston is going
to install two hundred and fifty curbside EV chargers around the city. It's partnering
with two companies, It's Electric and green Spot, which will work with building owners to tap into the building's electricity for level two chargers, and they share the revenue that they generate with the owners. That means the city won't have
to pay to install the chargers and the chargers don't need more power lines from the electric utility. The difference in the two companies is that It's Electrics chargers
don't have cords attached. Instead, it provides EV owners with a portable cable
which can be plugged into any charger around the city. Green Spot, on
the other hand, has built in cables. Boston building owners will start installing
the chargers over the next two years. W customers in Germany and France are
able to unlock more in car entertainment features. Owners of models with Operating System
eight and higher can now activate things like a Wi Fi hotspot, video streaming for front seat passengers and Amazon fireTV for seven Series owners that have the rear seat theater screen. It's all done through their MYBMW app and cost is ten
euros a month for unlimited data. Most major automakers think they can generate billions
with subscription services, but it's still early days and they're trying to figure out what people will actually pay for. We believe it needs to be quite compelling,
and it has to be something that can't easily be done on your phone or tablet. Earlier this month, Volvo handed most of its stake and Polstar
back to its parent company gly because it couldn't afford to keep propping up the premium EV brand finance, Polestar says it needs one point three billion dollars to keep the lights on until twenty twenty five, which is when it expects to become cash flow positive, and now it has most of that funding. The
company announced it raised nine hundred and fifty million dollars from twelve global banks to help keep its twenty twenty five goals on track. Polestar expects big growth in
the second half of this year, when the Pollstar three to four reached full production, and by the end of the year, Pollstar says it expects to achieve a double digit gross profit margin. Real craftsmanship takes time, and in
the case of one Rolls Royce client, it took four years to complete their custom coach built car. This is the fourth car and Rolls as Droptail series.
It's called Arcadia Droptail and we think it has the most dramatic execution of the rear end with the top up. But just to create the woodwork,
Roles had to come up with unique lacquer that can stand up to multiple environments and had to develop a carbon fiber substructure to lay the wood veneer over so it would be strong enough not to crack, and that alone took more than eight thousand hours, and it took another five months to get the clock just right. Even so, Rolls had a record year last year, selling more
than six thousand vehicles, and one way it keeps attracting more customers is with custom models like the Arcadia Droptail. Honda is putting VR together with its UNA
one, which is like a Segway scooter that you sit in debuting at south By Southwest, you play a game where you're floating in the sky or gliding down a halfpipe. The UNA one responds based on whichever way you lean in
the seat, which should make it feel like you're more a part of the game. Honda says it could see a day when it offers an experience like
this at theme parks, sporting events, and even stores. And that's a
wrap for this show. But don't forget to tune into Auto Line after hours
at three pm Eastern Time today and I hope to see you there. Auto
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