AD #4083 - Ford Commits to Embattled Battery Plant; Skoda EVs Outsell Tesla in EU; Uber and Waymo Expand Their Partnership
Autoline Daily
AD #4083 - Ford Commits to Embattled Battery Plant; Skoda EVs Outsell Tesla in EU; Uber and Waymo Expand Their Partnership
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Speaker 1: This is on a line daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Tesla continues to lose
ground in Europe. According to Data Force, Tesla's sales fell
twenty eight percent to just over fourteen thousand units, but despite the slump, the model Hy is still the best selling EV in the region. The Volkswagen brand was number
one in b EV sales last month with more than twenty three thousand sold, up fifty percent from a year ago. Scota,
which is part of the VW Group, saw its b EV sales sore one hundred and eighty one percent to fourteen thousand, nine hundred and twenty units, making it the number two brand in Europe. And remember it's the number
two EV brand despite only having two evs in its lineup.
But moving on, BMW was just ahead of Tesla in third place with just over fourteen thus nine hundred BEEV sales up two percent. Overall, automakers sold nearly one hundred
and ninety four thousand BEVs in May in Europe, up twenty six percent from last year. We don't talk about
South Africa much, but it's actually a fairly important automotive manufacturing center. At least nine automakers build vehicles there, including BMW, Ford, Volkswagen, Toyota, Mercedes, Nissan, Hyundai, Mahindra,
and Asuzu, while BAIC and Stilantis have plants under construction.
All told, those automakers have the capacity to make over six hundred and fifty thousand vehicles a year. They're mostly
pickup trucks, but it includes some sedans as well, and most of them are exported. But there's trouble brewing in
the South African industry. Auto workers want raises and are
threatening to strike worse the economy as we and the market is getting flooded with imports, primarily from India, and so there's yet another place in the global automotive industry that's coming under intense pressure. We've talked a lot recently
about the Evy battery plant that Ford is building in Michigan with help from CTL. That plant is coming under
withering political fire from local politicians who call it a Chinese national security threat, to national politicians who want to gut all ev subsidies, and even from some local citizens who don't want an industrial factory in their rural community.
But Ford says that it's committed to building that plant.
Speaker 2: Quote.
Speaker 1: When we invest, we stick behind our investments. Ford VP
Lisa Drake told reporters on a tour of the construction site. Quote,
Ford is a company that will weather the storm until we get there, she said. Ford is LICENSINGTL technology to
make prismatic LFP batteries for evs, but it will also consider looking at making batteries for energy storage if EV demand is soft. General Motors is another automaker committed to
moving forward with eves. Its next gen Chevrolet Silverado and
GMC Sierra electric pickup trucks are scheduled to go into production in twenty thirty one. Auto Fourcast Solution says that
both trucks, built on GM's BT one platform will continue to be made at its Factory zero assembly plant in Detroit.
There's been a flurry of activity with robotaxis recently, and today is no exception. Uber and Weimo announced that they've
launched an autonomous ride hailing service in Atlanta, Georgia. Starting today,
Uber riders will have the option to ride in a Waimo self driving Jaguar Ipace at no additional cost. Riders
are able to unlock the doors open the trunk and start the trip, all through the Uber app. The service
will initially cover sixty five square miles of Atlanta, but it will expand in the future. And In other robotaxi news,
the co founder and chief technology officer of Chinese autonomous ride hailing company pony Ai blasted Tesla's robotaxi. He says,
quote Tesla hasn't yet taken a seat at the L four poker table. L four is short for Level four,
which the SAE defines as a vehicle that can handle all driving tasks in most conditions, and according to the CTO, in order to be at the L four table, a company needs to achieve driverless operation and scaleability. He says.
Only three companies meet that standard right now, Waimo, by Dew and pony Ai.
Speaker 3: There's nothing wrong with heavy metal, hey light enough, but with world class composit material taging automotive technologies makes vehicles lighter, safer, and more eco friendly.
Speaker 1: Automakers in China now assemble more battery packs than the actual battery makers do. According to Gascu, in house production
of battery packs was more than fifty percent of the total volume in the first quarter of the year. BYD's
Finn Dreams battery is firmly in the number one spot, while Tesla is in third and Leap Motor came in at number nine. Even though battery makers CTL has a
good grip on second place, seeing several automakers on the list shows that a greater amount of in house development is being done. CTL and BYD also dominate total battery
cell production in China. Between the two of them, they
supplied nearly seventy percent of all the cells made in the first quarter, and when you add up all the top ten companies, they accounted for nearly ninety five percent of the battery market in China. We've got a couple
of quick follow ups to previous stories that we reported on.
All those teslas over two hundred at one point that were being stored in a parking lot not too far outside of Detroit have officially been removed. Their storage was
said to violate city code, but still required a court order to compel the property owner to remove them, and there's no word on where all those teslas were moved to.
Next up, the car hauling ship that caught fire earlier this month has sunk in the Pacific Ocean. It was
carrying about three thousand vehicles, including eight hundred evs from Cherry and Great Wall that were headed to Mexico. The
shipping company said that smoke was first seen coming from the deck holding the evs. Earlier this month, we reported
about a growing controversy in China over what's known as zero mileage use cars. It's a practice where automakers sell
new vehicles to their dealers, who then turn around and sell them as use cars even though they have very few or no miles on them. And now Reuter's reports
that local Chinese governments have been backing the exports of zero mileage used cars since twenty nineteen, which go to markets like Russia, the Middle East and Asia. Automakers do
this to meet sales targets and to unload inventory that they wouldn't be able to sell in China, while local governments are promoting the scheme in order to meet economic targets from China Central government. According to the China Automobile
Dealers Association, of the four hundred and thirty six thousand used passenger and commercial vehicles exported in twenty twenty four, ninety percent are estimated to be zero mileage. Like it's
done with other models, Neo is going to let customers of its entry level firef Fly brand rent their battery pack through a monthly fee, which can lower the starting price of the vehicle by over thirty percent. Instead of
paying for the entire vehicle outright, Firefly will let you rent the battery pack for fifty five dollars a month, so rather than a starting price of sixteen five hundred dollars, the vehicle can be had for just over eleven thousand dollars.
While this is currently a deal for Firefly's Chinese customers, Neo announced that it will offer the entry level brand in Europe, and Neo already offers its battery rental service to European customers as well. But that brings us to
the end of today's show.
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About this episode
Ford reaffirms its commitment to building a controversial battery plant in Michigan despite political and local opposition. Tesla's EV sales in Europe decline, while Skoda and Volkswagen see significant growth, with Skoda outselling Tesla despite a limited EV lineup. The South African auto industry faces challenges from potential strikes and import pressures. Uber and Waymo expand autonomous ride-hailing services, with debates around Tesla's robotaxi capabilities continuing. In China, automakers increasingly produce battery packs in-house, dominating the market. Additional updates include Tesla vehicle storage removal, a car carrier sinking, and Neo's battery rental program lowering EV costs.
Original notes
- Skoda EVs Outsell Tesla in Europe - South Africa OEMs Face Strikes - Ford Commits to Embattled Battery Plant - GM's Next-Gen EV Pickups Coming in 2031 - Uber and Waymo Launch Robotaxis in Atlanta - Pony.ai Disses Tesla Robotaxi - OEMs In-Source Battery Packs in China - Tesla Inventory Kicked Out of Suburban Parking Lot - Burning Ship with EVs Sinks - Zero-Mile Used Cars Exported from China - NIO Firefly Battery Lease for $55 a Month
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