AD #3867 - EV Push Will Hurt Plant Output; BMW Calls E-Fuels "Bogus Solution"; Dodge Reveals Pricing for 1st EV

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.

Speaker 4: Trusting hires designed for the long haul because you'll always go the distance for friends. That's what really matters. Bridge

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Speaker 5: So when we did our research for the talent that we need for this program, Michigan was really the top of the list. In order to be successful in this space,

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.

AD #3867 - EV Push Will Hurt Plant Output; BMW Calls E-Fuels "Bogus Solution"; Dodge Reveals Pricing for 1st EV

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