AD #4082 - Natural Hydrogen Could Be a Game Changer; What? An Electric Motorcycle from General Motors?; UAW Missed Out On $80 Million
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Speaker 1: This is out Aline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Elon Musk predicted that Tesla
would have complete autonomy as early as twenty seventeen, but yesterday the company finally launched its robotaxi service in Austin, Texas.
A small fleet of Model Wise without a driver are now roaming around a roughly thirty square mile area in the southern part of the city. If riders choose a
destination outside of that geofen zone, the vehicle will drop them off at the edge of its operating area. So far,
only a small group of Tesla supporters have been invited to use the service, which is limited to two riders and currently costs a flat rate of four dollars and twenty cents. Also, the rides are limited to a certain
amount of time. The vehicles won't operate if weather is
bad enough and there's a human monitor in the front passenger seat, as well as a remote vehicle operation. There
have been a few incidents already, but many users say that the system operates smoother, like coming to a stop and going over speed bumps, compared to supervised FSD. We
haven't seen any word yet as to when Tesla might launch the robotaxi service to the public and in other robotaxi news, CTL, the biggest evy battery maker in the world, formed a new joint venture to deploy level four autonomous driving technology, including robotaxis. It teamed up with Chinese companies
Hello an ANT Group to establish Shanghai Zoufu Intelligent Technology, which will develop vehicles off a CTL skateboard platform. CTL
will also provide the batteries, while Hello provides the mobility services and ANT Group the AI and software. However, no
word on when it might kick off operations yet, and all this ties in nicely with our latest autoline poll.
We asked our Patreon and YouTube members what they think about robotaxis. Six percent say you've used them, love them,
and we'll use them again. Forty eight percent say you
can't wait to try one, but thirty four percent say you have no interest in robotaxis, while the remaining twelve percent have other opinions. Ac Held says there is probably
a use case for them somewhere, but I don't think there is a compelling need given the plethora of Uber drivers and Jeffo's makes a great point quote unless robotaxi rides are significantly less than Uber, I'm not sure what this fixes for the consumer. Quiet storm X has this
advice for everyone, quote take public transportation like the bus or subway like in the DC metro area, short bus rides from subway station and free transfer two no extra charge.
And Scott Stevenson has some good insight into Tesla's Robotaxi.
I think it's a great idea, But the idea that the actual tiny robotaxi vehicle with no windows and a low seating position is going to attract buyers and riders, I'll believe it when I see it. Meanwhile, Zeus is
getting it right. A high visibility, easy exit vehicle that
feels like a high tech airport shuttle. That's the one
I'll choose. And we want to thank our members for
providing their insight. And if you'd like to provide your
opinions to the auto industry through our polls, please consider becoming a member, which only costs a few dollars a month and gets you access to a lot more information.
Foreign car brands are going to continue to lose market share in China, according to a new study by alex Partners, local Chinese brands will account for seventy six percent of new car sales by twenty thirty, up from sixty seven percent this year. European brands will have fourteen percent market
share by the end of the decade, down from seventeen percent, and Japanese and US companies will control the remaining ten percent.
It also forecasts that fully electric vehicles will make up fifty percent of the market by the end of the decade, while ices will decline to nineteen percent. On top of that,
the researchers say that the price war will change from direct price cuts to offering incentives like insurance subsidies, zero interest financing and advanced technology at no extra cost. And
not only are Chinese car brands going to grow in China, they're going to grow in Europe and European brands are going to end up losing sales and market share. Alex
Partners is forecasting that Chinese automakers will sell eight hundred thousand vehicles a year in Europe by twenty thirty, and though it says the European market will grow a bit by then, it also expects European automakers to lose four hundred thousand and sales.
Speaker 2: Knowing that a little rain won't slow down your day.
That's what really matters. Breachedone toronsa Quia tract hires confident
Control in wet conditions.
Speaker 1: Antonio Fellosa officially took over the rains at Stalantis today and he named a new leadership team, though most executives stay in their current positions. The leadership team includes thirteen members,
and in addition to that, four other executives will report directly to Felosa, including Ralph Giels, the head of Design, and Olivier Francois, the head of Marketing. All told, Falosa
will have sixteen direct reports compared to the thirty three that reported to former CEO Carlos Tavares. The most significant
change is the departure of Maxine Picat, who is the head of Purchasing and the former head of Europe. The
COT is rumored to replace Luca Demeyo as CEO. Renau
the UAW is in the headlines for the wrong reasons again.
According to a report from Reuters, the union missed out on eighty million dollars in potential stock gains during the strikes against the Detroit three and twenty twenty three, the union used investment funds to pay striking workers. By the
union's own rules, those funds should have been reinvested once the strike ended, but they weren't reinvested for more than a year, and it's not clear why. The issue first
came to light late last year when union board members questioned why it's portfolio games were so small relative to the big gains in the stock market, and early this year, the union did an analysis that found it would have earned eighty million dollars more had its funds been invested properly, according to UAW board members. The discrepancy is now being
investigated by the federal monitor overseeing the union. UAW President
Sean Fain and Secretary Treasurer Margaret Mock both declined to comment.
In what could turn out to be one of the most significant discoveries of our time, geologists have identified underground rock formations that could contain large amounts of hydrogen for years.
Scientists believe the only way to get large amounts of hydrogen was to manufacture it, like steam reforming or electrolysis, but those take a lot of energy, which is why making hydrogen is far more expensive than gasoline or diesel. However,
in nineteen eighty seven, a large underground reservoir of hydrogen was discovered in Mali, which is in Africa. Then two
years ago, huge reservoirs were found in France and Albania, and that kicked off a global search. They call it
natural hydrogen, geologic hydrogen, or white hydrogen, and now we know it's created by the interaction of iron rich rocks and pools of underground water. They call the process to
extract it serpententization, and startup companies are jumping into what could turn out to be a modern day gold rush.
The US Geological Survey estimates there's enough hydrogen available underground to meet global energy needs for the next two hundred years.
And obviously there's an automotive angle to all of this.
If hydrogen becomes cheap and abundant, then fuel cell vehicles or even ic engines running on hydrogen have a better chance of spreading into the market, and that would be a game changer. So we're keeping an eye on how
this all develops. Could we see a motorcycle with the
GM badge on it? The automaker recently filed a patent
for an electric two wheeler that looks like a light off rotor with a rear in wheel hubmotor if this thing will ever go on sale, but GM has dabbled in e bikes before, so maybe a motorcycle is the next step. But that brings us to the end of
today's show. Thanks for making autoline a part of your day.
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