The discussion covers a wide range of automotive industry trends, including China's push in humanoid robots, a surge in used EV sales in the US driven by affordability and federal rebates, and Volkswagen's battery plant scale-back amid slower EV growth. Highlights include GM's autonomous vehicle partnership with Uber, Hyundai's innovative energy-efficient heating and cooling tech, and China's growing EREV market with Avatar's advanced range extender engine. The episode also teases a next-gen Corvette surpassing the ZR1 in power with hybrid tech, reflecting fierce competition in high-performance vehicles.
Topics:humanoid robotsused electric vehicle salesbattery production cutsautonomous vehiclesdriver assistance awarenessenergy-efficient vehicle techextended range electric vehiclescorvette performance upgradeschina automotive marketelectric vehicle incentives
- China’s Pushes Big into Humanoid Robots - Used EV Sales Up 70% - VW Slashed Battery Plans - Italy Warns Stella To Build Battery Plant, Or Else - Wuling Sales Up 30% On Cash for Clunkers - GM Cruise Partners with Uber - UK Car Owners Oblivious to ADAS - Hyundai Window Film Extends EV Range - Geely Reports $1.5B H1 Profit - Avatr’s Impressive EREV Engine Specs - Next Corvette Will Top the ZR1
"... a three hundred and twenty five thousand dollars GTD, we think there's a really good chance we see thi..."
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Speaker 2: The show's dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.
China has a massive workforce who are paid wages that are far lower than workers earn in the US or Europe, and yet China is putting a massive effort into dominating the global market for humanoid robots that could replace humans and factories. Reuter's reports that at the World Robot Conference
in Beijing this week, over two dozen robot companies showed off their humanoid robots. Goldman's Sex estimates that the materials
needed to make a humanoid robot cost about one hundred and fifty thousand dollars right now, not including the R and D investment that went into it. That's about what
a UAW worker will be earning at the end of the current labor contract. But one Chinese robot company says
it expects to get the cost down to about thirty thousand dollars. Tesla claims it will have a thousand of
its Optimus robots working in its factories next year, and we've reported on several other automakers testing humanoid robots. Goldman
estimates that the market for these types of robots will hit thirty eight billion dollars a year by twenty thirty five, with one point four million being made every year. Sales
of electric cars have slowed dramatically in the US, but that's only for new ones. Cox Automotive reports that sales
have used evs shot up seventy percent in the first half of the year and are now running at nearly eighty thousand units a quarter. A key reason for the
surgeon sales is that the average price of used evs drop below thirty thousand dollars. While used evs that costs
more than that can sit on a dealer lot for months, used EV's price between twenty and thirty thousand dollars only take thirty to thirty six days to turn, and that compares to thirty nine days from most ic cars. And remember,
used evs that are at least two years old and our price below twenty five thousand dollars are eligible for a four thousand dollars rebate from the federal government, which makes them even more affordable. The EV slump in Europe
is forcing Volkswagen to scale back battery production. It planned
to open six battery plants globally by twenty thirty that would produce a combined two hundred and forty gigawatt hours a year, but VW is cutting that back to three plants in Germany, Spain and Canada with a combined capacity of one hundred and seventy gigawatt hours. If needed, VW
says it can ramp that back up to two hundred gigawatt hours, but it's another sign of how automakers believe the EV segment will take longer to grow than they originally expected. And along those lines, Italy's industry minister is
threatening to pull funding for a Stalantis battery plant if the automaker doesn't come it to opening it. Stillant has
partnered with battery maker acc to open three plants in Europe, but earlier this year, Stillant has delayed two of them, ones in Italy and Germany, due to the slowdown in EV sales. The plant in Italy was supposed to start
making batteries in twenty twenty six, and now it's unclear when it will start. Italy wants an answer now, or
it's threatening to pull all government subsidies for the plan.
China has a cash for clunkers like program that looks like it's really working, Customers can get roughly two eight hundred dollars for turning in a clunker and buying an NEYV.
New car sales are expected to be up seven percent compared to the month before, and any vs could hit nearly a million units, which would account for over fifty three percent market share. Brands like Wooling that sell cheaper
cars are doing particularly well. Its sales are up thirty
percent so far this month, and we expect other cheap cars like.
Speaker 1: The BYD Seagull to also do well.
Speaker 2: But those increases are likely short lived, as the cash for Clunkers program will eventually dry up. After running into
a buzzsof problems this year, GM crews finally got some good news. Starting next year, Uber riders will be able
to choose to take a trip in an autonomous cruise vehicle.
Cruse and Uber entered into a multi year deal, but they didn't reveal where the Chevy Bolt based avs will be deployed. Uber has a similar partnership with Weimo and
started offering autonomous rides in Phoenix in October of last year. Apparently,
drivers in the UK have no clue about some of the tech in their cars. JLR commissioned a survey of
two thousand UK car owners to ask them about their driver assistant systems, and it found that forty one percent have no idea how to eight ass works and can't even locate the sensors on their cars. That last part
is even more important because nearly twenty percent of people didn't know that dirty sensors can reduce how while the systems work, but some just don't care. Even after finding
that out, twenty percent said they still don't plan to clean their car more often.
Speaker 3: Knowing that when it's time to unplug, your tires were built to get you to the place you recharge. That's
what really matters. Reached down to runza Evy tires with
a fifty thousand mile limited warranty.
Speaker 2: What's the first thing you do when you get in a really hot or really cold car? You blast the
AC or the heat right? Well, what if that wasn't
completely necessary? The Hyundai Group is showcasing a number of
technologies that will keep car interiors and passengers more comfortable while also improving efficiency. One is a film that gets
applied to the windows. It has three layers that help
block out infrared radiation. While still allowing heat to escape.
But it's not a window tint, it's clear, and it can keep an interior up to twelve and a half degrees celsius or over fifty four degrees fahrenheit cooler compared to vehicles with regular glass. Next, expect to see more
radiant heating and Hyundai and Kia vehicles, especially their Eves, picture heating elements baked into the steering column, doors, center console, and glovebox that radiate heat onto the passengers.
Speaker 1: This is already an option on the.
Speaker 2: Key to EV nine, and because it gets a person up to a comfortable temperature faster, you can conserve up to seventeen percent more energy than just using the HVAC system.
Speaker 1: The group says expect to see.
Speaker 2: Radiant heating on more models in the future. And lastly,
it filed patents for metal coated heated glass technology that would replace regular tungsten wire heating elements, but it says it's completely invisible and can still block out up to sixty percent of solar energy. It's designed to work with
a forty eight volt system and can defrost glass four times faster and use ten percent less energy. The group
says it also plans to launch this tech on future.
Speaker 1: Vehicles as well.
Speaker 2: Chinese automaker gly had an impressive first half of the year.
It's sold about nine hundred and fifty six thousand vehicles, up forty one percent from a year ago. New energy
vehicles and hybrids accounted for three hundred and twenty thousand of those sales, up one hundred and seventeen percent, and exports were a big contributor to that growth as well.
That big boost in sales push revenue up forty seven percent to fifteen billion dollars and net profits surged five hundred and seventy five percent to an impressive one and a half billion dollars, and Jeli expects to have a strong second half as well. It's targeting two million sales
for the year with a seventy percent increase in new energy vehicles and exports up forty five percent. While new
energy vehicles are the fastest growing segment in China, extended range evs or eres are the fastest growing part of that segment. Many Chinese consumers like the idea of a
range extender to eliminate range anxiety. That's why we were
interested to learn about the EREV technology that Avatar just unveiled for its seven SUV.
Speaker 1: Avatar calls it Kunlan.
Speaker 2: The Range Extender is a supercharged four cylinder one and a half liter ic engine with one hundred and fifteen kilowatts of power that's one hundred and fifty four horse power.
It has an amazing fifteen to one compression ratio and an equally impressive forty four point five three nine percent thermal efficiency, making it one of the most efficient engines in the world. Power comes from a two hundred and
thirty one kilowatt or three hundred and nine horse power electric motor. Avatar, whose largest shareholder is Changan, claims the
engine runs at only seventy five decibels using electronic controls.
The engine starts using the piston lowest in a cylinder because it will have the lowest cylinder pressure, which can reduce vibration. Avatar claims it's reduced vibration by ninety percent.
Avatar worked with COTL, one of its other joint venture partners, to develop a thirty nine kilowatt hour battery, specifically four erevs, so it still performs well with the low charge. The
seven can do repeated zero to sixty kilometer in hour runs in about five point nine seconds with a low charge, or about one second slower than the regular time, while most other eras will lose about four seconds when the battery is low. Avatar also uses the car's connectivity to
anticipate when it will be stuck in stop and go traffic, and it runs the IC engine before that to charge the battery, so the car will be in a quiet electric mode for a more comfortable experience. While Chevy just
recently revealed the fastest most powerful Corvette ever, the ZR one, there's an even more extreme version coming. A source tells
Autoline that a version of the ZR one with an electric motor on the front axle and a much more aggressive aero package has already completed some testing. We don't
know if it will use the same front motor as the Eray, but that puts out one hundred and twenty kilowatts or one hundred and.
Speaker 1: Sixty horse power.
Speaker 2: If you combine that with the twin turbo flat plane crank V eight from the ZR one, total power output could be over twelve hundred horsepower. This same source told
us about the ZR one well before the ZR one was officially revealed, so hopefully they're right about this possible all wheel drive monster Corvette. And with Ford having a
Mustang that tops the Corvette in price and track readiness with a three hundred and twenty five thousand dollars GTD, we think there's a really good chance we see this vet.
But that brings us to the end of today's show.
Thanks for making autoline a part of your day and I hope that you have a great weekend.
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