Chinese automakers BYD and Geely have developed highly efficient 1.5-liter engines achieving 46% thermal efficiency, potentially the world's best, powering affordable PHEV sedans. VinFast delays its US plant opening amid low sales, while the EU considers raising tariffs on Chinese EVs amid trade tensions. Cadillac expands its EV lineup with the new Optic SUV targeting younger luxury buyers. BMW shifts the 3-Series to mild hybrids except for base and M3 models, enhancing efficiency and tech. Kenworth unveils a futuristic aerodynamic hybrid semi concept promising major fuel savings. Ford teases a high-performance electric F-150 Lightning for Pike’s Peak racing. China invests heavily in solid-state battery development to maintain EV battery dominance.
Topics:thermal efficiencyphev technologyvinfast production delayseu-china ev tariffscadillac electric suvbmw 3-series hybridkenworth hybrid semiford electric trucksolid state batteriesautomotive trade tensions
- BYD, Geely IC Engines Hit 46% Thermal Efficiency - ICE Is Very Inefficient - VinFast To Delay U.S. Plant Longer - EU and China Negotiate to Avoid Trade War - Cadillac Optiq Targets Global Market - BMW 3 Series Goes Hybrid-Only - China Invests in Solid-State Batteries - ZF Appoints Holdmann To Run Americas - Kenworth’s Super-Slick Class-8 Semi - Ford Teases Lightning-Based Super Truck
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This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
Two Chinese automakers want to lead the world in internal combustion technology. BYD
and gly each announced the development of new one and a half liter engines that have hit forty six percent thermal efficiency, which we think would make them the most efficient in the world. The engines are for p HAVE applications, but
even without any battery assist BYD claims its engine will deliver sixty two miles to the gallon or two point nine leaders per one hundred kilometers. With a full
tank in battery, it will deliver twenty one hundred kilometers of range or more than twelve hundred miles on the any DC test procedure. The p HAVE tech
goes into two sedans, the kin l and the Colo six, which range in price from only fourteen thousand to nineteen thousand, seven hundred dollars. Giele's
engine will go in its Galaxy series of vehicles and with Lincoln co and those models will be priced close to BYD's vehicles. P haves are now the fastest
growing segment in China, and many see them as the perfect bridge technology to a pure BEEV future, and it's amazing to see that two Chinese automakers now have the most efficient icy engines up until now. Toyota and Hyundai claim to
have the highest thermal efficiency at around forty one or forty two percent, and one thing to keep in mind, however, is that even at forty six percent thermal efficiency, that means that fifty four percent of the energy in a gallon of gasoline gets wasted as heat and emissions. And no matter how efficient
they get, icy engines are still very inefficient at converting fuel into power.
Vietnamese startup Vinfest may once again delay its plant in the US. The company
announced in twenty twenty two plans for a four billion dollar plant in North Carolina that would open in July of this year, but VinFast pushed back the start operations to twenty twenty five, and now a source tells Reuters that it's considering delaying the opening once again. VinFast has already broken ground on the plant,
which will have an annual production capacity of one hundred and fifty thousand vehicles, but it doesn't really need any extra capacity at the moment. It already has
a plant in Vietnam that has the capacity to build three hundred thousand vehicles a year, and last year VinFast sold fewer than thirty five thousand vehicles globally, and only one thousand were in North America. The EU could boost terrace on
Chinese evs as soon as next week, but Reuter's reports that EU and China officials are trying to come up with a deal to avoid a trade war.
The EU could boost hair tarriffs by as much as twenty five percent, up from ten percent today, and every additional ten percent increase will cost Chinese EV makers about a billion dollars based on twenty twenty three trade data. Last week,
China threatened to increase import tariffs on vehicles with engines two and a half liters are larger to twenty five percent. Analysts believe the two sides will make
a deal because each market is important to automakers. However, we think that
the EU is still likely to impose tariffs because of pressure from unions to preserve jobs. When the piece and quiet of your morning commute is as comforting as
your morning machiato, that's what really matters. Bridge Downe Taranzo EV tires less
noise for more quiet comfort. We think the Cadillac Lyric may be out selling
all other luxury e in the US market, and Cadillac wants to build on that momentum with the launch of the Optic. It's an all wheel drive,
two row SUV that's five inches longer than the Cadillac XT five. It features
an eighty five kilowaate hour battery pack that provides roughly three hundred miles of range, and it has three hundred horse power and three hundred and fifty four pound feet of torque inside. A giant thirty three inch screen dominates the dashboard.
The Optic is positioned below the Lyric and will start around fifty four thousand dollars compared to sixty grand for the Lyric. Customers can also get three years of
free Super crews. Cadillac is going after first time luxury buyers in the twenty
eight to thirty nine year old age bracket and will sell the Optic in ten regions of the world, including Europe, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Egypt, Israel, and Mexico. Cadillac sees the electric segment as a chance
to rebuild the brand as one of the top luxury names in the industry.
The BMW three series is going hybrid only except for the base four cylinder engines and the M three. However, these are not strong hybrids like most automakers
are turning to In the EV slowdown models with the two liter four cylinder, an inline six cylinder, and all diesel engines feature a forty eight volt mild hybrid starter generator, which adds an extra eight kilowatts or eleven horse power, so these engines now produce anywhere from one hundred and fifty all the way up to three hundred and eighty six horse power, which can be sent through the rear wheels or all four BMW also made upgrades to the plug and hybrid version
that's offered in Europe. It now comes with a higher energy density nineteen and
a half kilowatt hour battery pack, which provides about eighty to one hundred kilometers or fifty to sixty miles of range, depending on if it's two or all wheel drive. Minor chassis tuning and styling updates were made to the three series
as well, but the only other somewhat big change is a new curve display screen in BMW's latest infotainment system. As for the M three, the biggest
change is that the all wheel drive competition model gets a twenty horsepower bump thanks to a new engine management system, which takes total output to five hundred and twenty three horse power. China dominates the global EV battery market, and it
wants to keep it that way. According to a report from China Daily,
the country is investing nearly eight hundred and thirty million dollars to develop all solid state batteries. The project was launched earlier this year, and companies like COTL
BYD and g Lee are working on the tech. Solid state batteries are more
powerful, durable, faster charging, and safer than current EVA batteries. However,
they're not currently ready for mass production and commercialization is still years away.
ZETEF appointed doctor Peter Holdman to run its North and South American operations. He
joined the company in two thousand and rows through the management ranks. He had
been running the chassis and Quality group departments prior to this promotion. Holdman replaces
Martin Fisher, who elected to retire from ZEF as a board member. Fisher
told Outline that he's interested in becoming the CEO of a company, and so we expect to see him running a company at some point in the future.
Heavy duty truck maker Kenworth is showing off what it thinks the future of trucking could look like with the super Truck two concept. We would kind of describe
it like a testless semi on steroids. It has a central seating position,
a side stairs step like a large bus, and the overall shape is similar.
But the Super Truck two also features a diesel engine and is much more focused on aerodynamics, with fender and side skirts that go almost all the way to the ground. Presumably its automatic air suspension system would prevent it from curb
smacks, But the most distinctive feature to us is the fully enclosed front wheels.
Kenworth was able to package the forty eight volt mild hybrid diesel power train from parent company PACKR completely within the frame rails of the truck, which allowed it to narrow the front track and tuck the wheels under the bodywork. The
company claims a one hundred and thirty six percent improvement in freight efficiency, a nearly fifty six percent improvement in engine efficiency, and a forty eight percent aerow improvement but to be fair, this is compared to a truck that came out in two thousand and seven and was last produced in twenty sixteen. However,
it did manage to average twelve miles to the gallon, and that's better than most semis today, which average about six and a half to seven and a half miles to the gallon. Ford once again teased its high performance electric truck
that it's going to race up Pike's Peak in June. It's based on the
F one to fifty Lightning, but even in this teaser video you can see the upgrades are quite obvious and extensive. We see a massive rear wing hanging
off the bed, super wide front fenders with large louvers on top of them, and a fully independent rear suspension. We think it will come with a
similar setup used in last year's electric super Van four point two, which made about fourteen hundred horsepower, but I'm sure we'll learn more before the race.
And that brings us to the end of today's show. Thanks for tuning in.
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