AD #3909 - GM Killing Ultium EV Brand; Stellantis Files 8 New Lawsuits Against UAW; High Prices Hurt PHEV Sales

Speaker 1: This is Ouderline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry.

Speaker 2: Who didn't expect this.

Speaker 1: General Motors is killing off the Altiam brand and is getting rid of its one type fits all battery pack.

Moving forward, it's going to use different types of battery chemistries, a variety of shapes and cells in different ways to package them. The head of Batteries, Kurt Coulty, a former

Tesla executive that GM hired earlier this year, told Bloomberg that it's able to develop more batteries thanks to two new battery labs that it opened. Culty says GM can

now develop new batteries and get them into production in about eighteen months, which is a year faster than before.

In addition to that, he says GM's next gen batteries will have less parts, weight, and cost. But we'll learn

more about GM's battery strategy at an investor day later. Today,

it's almost daring to feel like the contract negotiations from a year ago to me or something new is happening every day. STILLANTIS revealed that it not only filed one

lawsuit against the UAW to prevent a strike at a part Center in LA but eight additional lawsuits against the union and twenty three local chapters. As you might expect,

the company says those eight additional lawsuits prompted a meeting with the UAW, at which time, it claims, the union proposed giving full pay to workers that were temporarily laid off when it idled its Belvidere plant, which would also include nine hundred employees that have already transferred from Belvidere and are working at other locations.

Speaker 2: Staalantis claims this is.

Speaker 1: Like the jobs bank that started in the mid nineteen eighties and was a contributing factor to Chrysler's bankruptcy in two thousand and nine. It says the new proposal would

put the company's future in jeopardy, so that's why it filed the new lawsuits. The UAW you disputed those claims,

calling them a false comparison. Stillanta says it remains available

to speak with the union about these issues, but also added quote if necessary, the company intends to see this litigation through to conclusion and will hold the UAW and its locals responsible for lost revenue, which could amount to tens of millions a day, and other damages. Resulting from

loss production due to an unlawful strike end quote. Plug

in hybrids or p haves have been hailed as the perfect bridge technology between IC and pure electric, but they're just not catching on in.

Speaker 2: The US yet.

Speaker 1: According to JD Power, despite more models being available to customers than regular hybrids, the market share of PEVs in the US is less than two percent, compared to ten point seven percent for hybrids and nine point four percent for beevs. It cites price is part of the problem.

The average price a customer paid for a plug in Compact SUV this year was nearly forty nine thousand dollars, and that includes any discounts like the EV tax credit.

A similar hybrid that doesn't get any EV tax credits.

Speaker 2: Was eleven thousand dollars less.

Speaker 1: And a comparable BEV was even less than that at roughly thirty seven thousand dollars. And even when a manufacturer

gets a customer to buy one of their phebs, they're not as satisfied with their purchase as someone who.

Speaker 2: Buys a BEEV.

Speaker 1: Let us know your thoughts about plugins in the comments, and also, do you think that extended range electrics or e revs will take over as the perfect bridge technology.

As expected, China is preparing to retaliate against the EU's new tariffs it just imposed on Chinese made evs. China's

Ministry of Commerce released a statement saying that it's looking at raising tariffs on imported vehicles with large engines and that it's going to start collecting duties on brandy from Europe.

The tariff on vehicles with large engines will hit the German automakers the hardest. Last year, export of German vehicles

to China with engines two and a half liters are larger totaled one point two billion dollars. And this all

stems from EU countries voting last week in favor of raising tariffs on Chinese made EVAs to as high as forty five percent. But the EU and China are negotiating

a deal to avoid those tariffs before they go into effect next month, so there's still hope a trade war can be avoided.

Speaker 3: Making the life full of memories one road trip at a time, that's what really matters.

Speaker 1: Richdong weather Peak tires with.

Speaker 4: The seventy thousand mile womened warranty.

Speaker 1: German auto supplier Continental is getting closer to spinning.

Speaker 2: Off its automotive business.

Speaker 1: Bloomberg reports that the company has hired JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs to help it restructure. Continental plans to keep

its tire business and Conti Tech, which specializes in active safety in vehicle networking technology. The part that would be

spun off makes brakes, chassis parts, and other components. Its

auto business employs one hundred thousand people and generates twenty billion euros a year in sales, but it's struggling due to weaker than expected new car sales and higher investment costs.

Last month, BMW, Ford and Honda launched a new EV charging joint venture in the US called charge Scape, and now Nissan is joining the JV and will become an equal twenty five percent investor in the company.

Speaker 2: Charge Scape isn't for public EV chargers.

Speaker 1: Instead, it's for bi directional charging to make the grid more efficient. Cars will automatically charged when demand for electricity

is low, and will feed electricity back into the grid when it's high. Car owners can earn money by selling

that electricity back into the grid, and they can specify at which time a day they want their car fully charged so it's ready when they need it. In February,

we had Larry Burns on Autoline After Hours. He was

previously head of R and D at General Motors, where he was part of a team that developed the very first skateboard architecture and also led groundbreaking work in autonomy and fuel cells. During that show, Larry envision to hydrogen

future where canisters could be delivered to your house not only to power your car, but also parts of your home as well. And that's almost exactly what Toyota just

debuted at the Japan Mobility Show. It developed portable cartridges

that are small enough to lift by hand but still carry a decent amount of hydrogen. These could then plug

into a special port on your car or be used in a hydrogen powered cooker. I'm sure you could come

up with a bunch of other applications for hydrogen cartridges as well, and if Larry Burns is right, they'll be delivered with your next Amazon order. Ev startup, Lucid Motors

set a record for deliveries in the third quarter. It

delivered two thousand, seven hundred and eighty one air sedans, up ninety one percent compared to a year ago. It's

the third straight quarter of record deliveries for the company.

Its production rows sixteen percent in the third quarter to one than eight hundred and five vehicles, which means it relied on inventory to boost deliveries and incentives as well.

The model starts at seventy one four hundred dollars, but according to Motor Intelligence, Lucid offered up to nineteen thousand, four hundred bucks off the air sedan, an increase of twenty eight percent incentives. Through the first nine months of

the year, Lucid has delivered more than seven one hundred vehicles, which puts it ahead of its target to make and sell nine thousand vehicles this year and could Chevy run into the same pricing problem as Lucid. It revealed that

the retail version of the Silverado EV will start just over seventy five thousand dollars including destination charges, but before any incentives.

Speaker 2: The commercial version, called the Work Truck.

Speaker 1: Or WT, starts at just over fifty seven thousand dollars.

Both have best in class available ranges of four hundred and sixty and four hundred and ninety two miles, respectively, but so far the market is shown there's not a ton of demand for higher priced electric trucks and that brings us to the end of today's show. Thanks for

making autoline a part.

Speaker 2: Of your day.

Speaker 4: Autoline Daily is brought to you by Bridge Own Solutions for your Journey, Intrepid Control Systems, Over the Air Engineering Boost Your Game, Tajan Automotive Technologies the Formula for Better Mobility, and by z F There's nothing wrong with heavy metal.

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Speaker 3: Hi. I'm Don Hatfield from Trapping Control Systems and I'm

presenting the Wireless BEMS solution from Intrepend Control Systems of Come and see us end this demo at Booth twelve oh one at the Battery Show, and also Analog Devices will be there as well. We'll be happy to talk

to you and help you with your solution.

Lucid Air

Chevrolet Silverado EV

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