The episode explores the challenges automakers face with EV production, highlighting how plant utilization is expected to decline due to dedicated EV and ICE facilities, impacting profitability. BMW CEO criticizes Europe's e-fuels plan as ineffective without government support, while BMW also unveils a sustainable car seat innovation. Dodge reveals pricing for its new Charger Daytona Electric RT models, noting federal tax credit eligibility nuances. The episode also discusses issues with EV charging station reliability and previews an upcoming discussion on EVs, AVs, and ICEs with industry experts.
Topics:ev production challengesplant utilizationbmw e-fuels criticismsustainable car seatdodge charger ev pricingev charging station reliabilitychina ev marketelectric motorcyclesautomotive industry forecastsgovernment incentives
- EV Push Will Hurt Plant Output - China NEVs Top 50% Market Share - MG Announces Mexico Plant and R and D Center - Honda Supplying Yamaha with EV Motorcycles - BMW Calls E-Fuels "Bogus Solution" - BMW Makes Seat without Support Structures - Dodge Reveals Pricing for 1st EV - EV Charger Status Often Wrong
"tools used for developing zonal architecture and software divine vehicles. Speaker 1: BMW CEO Oliver Zipsa isn't happy with Europe's plan to allow ice vehicles to run on synthetic fuel or what are sometimes called e fuels after twenty thirty five. The EU originally planned to ban all ices in twenty thirty five, but it's considering an exemption for cars that run on e fuels. BMW isn't necessarily against the exemption, but Zipsa"
"...ure processes. Dodge revealed pricing for the new charger Daytona Electric RT. Models that produce four hun..."
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Speaker 1: This is Utderline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Most automakers already lose money on
every EV that they sell, and the push to electrification is projected to make their operations more inefficient, which will make turning a profit even harder. According to Global Data,
the average plant in North America builds about seventy percent of the vehicles that it's capable of. A rule of
thumb in the industry is that a plant becomes profitable right around eighty percent utilization, but that seventy percent is an improvement from the pandemic and chip shortage, which dragged it down to sixty one percent. However, as the need
to build more evs rises, plant utilization is projected to drop to sixty five percent by twenty twenty eight and keep going down to sixty three percent by twenty thirty three.
The problem is that some plants are only dedicated to building IC or EV so they won't be fully utilized, but some of that could be offset with an increase in sales. Global Data forecast that sales in the US
will rise to seventeen million units in the twenty thirties.
Which is a very healthy number. They haven't been that
hei since twenty nineteen, and it's a big increase from last year's fifteen point six million. In April, reports came
out that Mexico was holding off incentives for Chinese automakers to invest in the country under pressure from the US, but it looks like SAIC may have found a way around that. MG, a former iconic British brand now owned
by SAIC, announced that it's going to build a plant and set up an R and D center in Mexico.
It will use the facilities to expand into Latin America and the Caribbean, and says that IM, another brand under SEIC that makes premium evs, will also enter the Mexican market. However,
no word yet how much it's investing or when construction will start. And one reason Chinese automakers want to expand
overseas is because sales in their home market continues to fall.
According to the China Passenger Car Association, automakers sold a little over one point seven million vehicles in July, a drop of three point one percent compared to last year.
That decline came from gas and hybrid models, new energy vehicles, which includes Phebs and Beeves, saw their sales jump thirty seven percent from last year and finally cross the fifty percent market share milestone. July and EV sales also increased
even more over June sales, which itself saw a year over year jump. Honda is going to start supplying Yamaha
with electric motorcycles for Japan. Specifically, it will supply Yamaha
with versions of its em one and Benley models, which are powered by swappable bats Very packs. They're meant for
both personal and business use and fit into Japan's Class one category, which is a vehicle with two or more wheels and an engine displacement of fifty cc or less, or an electric motor with point six kilowatts or less, which is about er point eight horse power. No word
yet on when they'll go on sale.
Speaker 2: Intrepid's NEOVIPI allowing automotive engineers to interface, capture, and monitor vehicle data using Raspberry Pie. As a matter of fact,
it's the automotive industry's first robust platform for Raspberry Pie, featuring Intrepid canefting technology and Raspberry Pie compute module. The
NEOVIPI is designed for automotive environments, allowing use with relative power ranges and applications. In addition, the NEOVIPI enables you
to use the Raspberry Pie for compute while avoiding additional development to adapt to network environments. That makes the NEOVIPI
powerful enough to solve your vehicle network problems, yet small enough to fit in your backpack. One of many intrepid
tools used for developing zonal architecture and software divine vehicles.
Speaker 1: BMW CEO Oliver Zipsa isn't happy with Europe's plan to allow ice vehicles to run on synthetic fuel or what are sometimes called e fuels after twenty thirty five. The
EU originally planned to ban all ices in twenty thirty five, but it's considering an exemption for cars that run on e fuels. BMW isn't necessarily against the exemption, but Zipsa
called it a bogus solution. He doesn't believe the EU
is committed to the plan and says the government would need to provide funding to ramp up the use of e fuels without the assistance. Zipsa says the E fuel
exemption a actively remains an ic band quote through the back door. And we've heard similar concerns from other powertrain
executives at car companies that say E fuels will take too long to get to the market and will cost too much. And that's why Zipsa is calling for help.
And In other BMW news, the automaker just received an award for developing a lightweight and more sustainable car seat called the BMW M Visionary Material Seat. It features natural fibers,
fiber composites, leather alternatives, and LG based polymers. A new
additive manufacturing process also allowed engineers to completely eliminate support structures, chemical post treatment, and finishing, and thanks to the natural materials and manufacturing process, the seat CO two E footprint is ninety percent lower than BMW's current carbon bucket seats.
It's not clear if it will make it into production, but BMW says it will incorporate what it's learned into future processes. Dodge revealed pricing for the new charger Daytona
Electric RT. Models that produce four hundred and ninety six
horse power and four hundred and four pound feet of torque start just over sixty one thousand, five hundred dollars and scat pack models that crank out six hundred and seventy horse power and six hundred and twenty seven pound feet of torque start just over seventy five thousand dollars.
Both prices include destination charges and are for two door models which go into production this summer, and the models only qualify for the seventy five hundred dollars federal tax credit when they're least four door models go into production in the first half of twenty twenty five, but we don't know they're pricing yet. The Charger Daytona is equipped
with a one hundred point five kilowad hour battery pack and two electric drive modules at the front and rear.
Each module produces three hundred and thirty five horse power or two hundred and fifty kilowatts and three hundred pound feet of torque. The first Charger Daytonas will arrive at
dealerships in the fourth quarter of this year. We often
hear complaints about the lack of EV charging stations, but for the ones that do exist, there's another big issue.
They aren't accurately reporting their charging status. According to a
study from Charger Help, a company that handles and maintains EV chargers, more than a quarter of stations either appear out of service when they're functional, showed up as functional but were not operating, or appeared to be in use when they were actually available. The study also found that
chargers with payment issues were significantly more likely to be at stations that were down. The researchers recommended that station
operators keep data accessible and that the industry needs to develop a way to accurately report uptime and to build more chargers. Don't forget to tune into Auto Line after hours. Today.
John is off, but co host Gary Vassilash will get into the latest news with EV's av's and ices, and sam Abu Welsamid from guide House Insights and the Wheelbearings Podcast.
Stephanie Brinley from S and P Global and John Beltsnyder from Autoblog will join us and you can catch it all at three pm Eastern Time today. But that's it
for this show and I hope to see you later.
Speaker 3: Autoline Daily is brought to you by Bridgestone Solutions for your Journey, Intrepid Control Systems, over the Air, Engineering, Boost Your Game, MEDC where Michigan businesses are powering the future of mobility and by Tagent Automotive Technologies, the formula for better mobility.
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you really have to have the right people, the right mindsets, the right environments.
Speaker 3: There's nothing wrong with heavy metal. Hey light enough, but
with world class composite material, Taging Automotive Technologies makes vehicles lighter, safer, and more eco friendly.
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