AD #4152 - Ford F-150 Hit by Fire at Aluminum Supplier; China Makes Solid State Battery Breakthrough; Tesla FSD 14 Handles Point-To-Point De
Autoline Daily
AD #4152 - Ford F-150 Hit by Fire at Aluminum Supplier; China Makes Solid State Battery Breakthrough; Tesla FSD 14 Handles Point-To-Point De
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Speaker 1: This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. Shawn's out at the Jeep Design
studios today looking at some future jeep so I'm filling in.
China's Academy of Sciences announced a breakthrough in solid state batteries.
Cars News China reports that scientists created a flexible solid state battery that withstood twenty thousand repeated bends. And for
those of you who understand the chemistry of these things, the battery is made from polymer molecules, ethoxy groups and electrochemically active short sulfur chains. It also has a composite
cathode with an embedded polymer electrolyte that increases the energy density to eighty six percent. The new battery is still
in the research stage and probably has several years to go before it's ready for mass production, but solid state batteries gould be a game changer for electric vehicles, and this breakthrough could bring them one step closer to reality.
Automakers always plan for what they call black Swan events, something unpredictable that comes straight out of the blue and causes massive disruption. Well production of the Ford f one
fifty just got hit by a major black swan event.
Ford buys most of its aluminum sheets from Novellis, and it just had a massive fire at a plant in New York that will cripple production until early next year.
Ford is the biggest user of aluminum from that plant, and it's grambling to find other sources. But it's not
just Ford. Around a dozen other automakers get aluminum from Novellis,
which supplies about forty percent of the metal to the US auto industry. Those automakers will likely have to turn
to imported aluminum, which now carries a fifty import terra and the Trump administration sure does love those tariffs. Now
it's going to slap twenty five percent import tariffs on medium and heavy duty trucks, and that's got GM and Ford together in a lobbying battle against Stalantis. Light duty
trucks have had a twenty five percent tariff since nineteen sixty four, but it did not apply to mediums and heavy duties. Ford currently makes its bigger trucks in the US,
though it is tooling up a plant in Canada to make them. General Motors makes most of them in the US,
but import some of them from Canada and Mexico, whilst De Lantis makes them all in Mexico. Stella wants some
sort of exemption from the tariff, but GM and Ford say that would put their US made trucks at a disadvantage.
Last year, the US imported over twenty billion dollars of medium and heavy duty trucks, mostly from Mexico and Canada.
So we're going to have to wait and see how the Trump administration settles this, but for an now that tariff starts on November one. Later today, Tesla is supposedly
going to release the details on a cheaper version of the model hy, with speculations suggesting it's going to have a thirty thousand dollars price tag. That's going to be
big news. But the company also just released a significant
upgrade to its full self driving stack called FSD fourteen.
It adds a bunch of features that come straight out of the company's experience with its robotaxis. For example, it
will automatically pull over for emergency vehicles like fire trucks and police cars. It can handle blocked roads and detours
that come up in real time. It will automatically clean
off camera lenses, but most importantly, it will now handle point to point delivery, including parking, as long as the driver is engaged and ready to take over. Elon Musk
has been promising a time when I'm as driving for an awfully long time, and FSD fourteen seems to be the closest thing to making that a reality.
Speaker 2: At CSP, we work with OEM engineers across the country on their journeys to lighter, safer, and more eco friendly vehicles.
Learn more at VCSP dot com.
Speaker 1: The Trump administration caused an uproar when it arrested and expelled four hundred and seventy five foreigners setting up the equipment at LG Energy's battery plant near Savannah, Georgia. LG
Energy vehemently denies that those workers, who were overwhelmingly from South Korea, were in the United States illegally. In fact,
most of them are now being let back in to finish their work. But the US isn't the only country
that's skittish about foreign workers. Spain is in an upr
over two thousand Chinese workers that coatl brought into the country to set up a battery plant. It also set
off concerns in the European auto industry that it's becoming too dependent on China. All we can say is that
two thousand workers is sure a lot of people. They're
not just going to set up that plan. They're going
to build the whole thing, and for a lot of people in Spain, that is just too much. Germany is
giving its auto industry some extra relief. Government officials, who
are alarmed at the automotive jobs that Germany is hemorrhaging, are planning on extending a tax exemption for new electric vehicles until twenty thirty five. EV sales are lower than
expected and stiff competition in the EV market is leading to thousands of job cuts. The German auto industry is
expected to lose one hundred thousand jobs by the end of the decade. But German automakers want more than just
EV subsidies. They're also demanding that the EU roll back
it's twenty thirty five ban on internal combustion engines. One
automotive executive told Autoline that the ban would end up handing half the European market over to Chinese automakers. Nissan
is leaning on its partnership with Renault to launch a new SUV in India. The model is called the Tecton
and its styling is inspired by the larger Patrol or what's also known as the Armada. While the Tecton will
not be fully revealed until next year, we know that it's based on a shared platform between Renaul and Nissan, which is used for other vehicles like the Dacia Duster.
You might also remember us reporting on an innovative new hybrid powertrain with a forty eight vote motor and a two speed gearbox for that model. No word yet on
whether that will power the Tecton, but there's a wide range of powertrain options for that platform. Renault will also
produce the new Nissan Suv at its plant in India before sales kickoff next year. The two automakers used to
jointly share that plan, but Renault bought out Nissans fifty one percent at the beginning of August, calling the move part of its ambition to make India a key pillar of its growth. Aerofujia, the aviation division of Chinese automaker Gili,
is showing off its first evetall or electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. It's called the eight E two hundred
and could hold six passengers. It's got a range of
two hundred kilometers or about one hundred and twenty four miles.
Aerofujia says the model is the first EVTALL in China and the second globally to successfully complete full tilt rotor transition flight tests. That's where an aircraft takes off vertically
like a helicopter, transitions to horizontal fixed wing flight, and then lands vertically again using a single rotatable tilt rotor system for the entire maneuver. Aerofujia says the next step
is to start manned flight testing in its effort to receive full scale certification, and that brings us to the end of today's report.
Speaker 2: But before we.
Speaker 1: Sign off, I want to send out a personal shout out to all our members who contribute to keep Outoline going.
Your support is really making a difference and it helps keep us on our mission to help everyone get a better picture of what's going on in the global automotive industry.
Speaker 3: Auto Line Daily is brought to you by Bridgestone Solutions for your Journey CSP the Composites Solution partner Intrepid Control Systems over the year engineering boost your game and thanks to the following YouTube and Patreon members.
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About this episode
A major fire at Novelis' aluminum plant disrupts Ford F-150 production and impacts the US auto industry, while tariffs on medium and heavy-duty trucks spark lobbying battles. China announces a breakthrough in flexible solid-state batteries, promising advances for EVs. Tesla releases FSD 14 with new autonomous features like emergency vehicle response and point-to-point delivery. Other highlights include concerns over foreign workers at battery plants in the US and Spain, Germany extending EV tax exemptions amid job losses, Nissan and Renault's new SUV plans for India, and China's Aerofujia unveiling an electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.
Original notes
- Chinese Scientists Announce Solid State Battery Breakthrough - Ford F-150 Hit by Fire at Aluminum Supplier - Ford and GM Gang Up on Stellantis Over Tariffs - Tesla FSD 14 Handles Point-To-Point Delivery - Spain In Uproar Over 2,000 Chinese At CATL Plant - Germany To Extend EV Subsidies - Nissan Uses Renault Tech for SUV In India - Geely VTOL Ready for Manned Testing
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