Autoline Daily Mar 17, 2026

AD #4255 - Tesla Buys $4.3B LG LFP Batteries; Buick Launches $70K Luxury EV Van; New Kia Telluride Hybrid First Drive

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Car

Toyota Highlander

The Toyota Highlander is a type of SUV made by Toyota. It's a popular family car that many people like because it's reliable and comfortable.

Car

Toyota Tundra

The Toyota Tundra is a big truck made by Toyota. People use it for carrying heavy stuff and for tough jobs because it's strong and reliable.

Car

Honda Passport

The Honda Passport is a medium-sized SUV made by Honda. It's bigger than some of their other SUVs and good for families or people who want extra space.

Car

Acura Integra

The Acura Integra is a small car made by Acura, which is Honda's luxury brand. It's popular because it's fun to drive and looks nice.

Car

Nissan Murano

The Nissan Murano is a medium-sized SUV made by Nissan. It's designed to be comfortable and stylish for everyday driving.

Company

LG Energy Solution

LG Energy Solution is a company that makes batteries for electric cars and energy storage. They work with many car companies to supply these batteries.

Term

LFP batteries

LFP batteries are a kind of battery used in electric cars and energy storage. They are safe and last a long time, which makes them good for these uses.

Car

Tesla Megapack

The Tesla Megapack is a big battery system that stores electricity. It helps keep power available when people need it, especially from solar or wind energy.

Car

Volvo EX30

The Volvo EX30 is a small electric SUV made by Volvo. It started selling in 2023 but will stop being sold in the US after 2026 because not many people bought it.

Term

tariffs

Tariffs are extra taxes that a country puts on things it buys from other countries. This can make cars from other countries cost more money.

Company

Nvidia

Nvidia makes computer chips and software that help cars drive themselves. Uber is using Nvidia's technology for its self-driving taxis.

Concept

robotaxi

A robotaxi is a self-driving car that can take passengers around like a taxi, but without a driver. Companies want to use these to give rides in cities automatically.

Car

Nissan Leaf

The Nissan Leaf is an electric car that runs on batteries instead of gas. It's used by some companies for self-driving taxi tests.

Car

Lucid Air

The Lucid Air is a fancy electric car that can go far on a single charge. The company works on self-driving car technology too.

Brand

Hyundai Group

Hyundai Group is a big car company from South Korea that makes cars and works on self-driving car technology.

Car

Volkswagen ID. Buzz

Volkswagen makes an electric van called the ID. Buzz that looks like an old-school bus. It's used for electric and self-driving car projects.

Concept

humanoid robots in manufacturing

Humanoid robots are machines that look and move like people. They help in factories by doing jobs like lifting heavy parts so workers don't have to.

Company

Renault

Renault is a car company from France that is using robots that look like people to help build cars faster.

Company

Wandercraft

Wandercraft is a company that makes robots that can help build cars in factories.

Car

Buick Enclave EV

The Buick Enclave EV is a big electric van that you can buy in China. It has a large battery that lets it drive far and can charge quickly.

Term

kilowatt hour (kWh) battery pack

A kilowatt hour battery pack is how much electricity a car's battery can hold. The bigger it is, the farther the car can drive.

Term

EPA test cycle

The EPA test cycle is a way to test how far a car can go or how much gas it uses, so buyers know what to expect.

Car

The Chevrolet Volt is a car that can run on electricity and gas. It can drive using electricity for short trips and switch to gas when the battery runs low, so you don’t have to worry about running out of power.

Term

900 volt electrical system

A 900 volt system means the car's battery and charging parts work at a higher power level, so it can charge faster.

Term

acoustic glass

Acoustic glass is special car window glass that helps keep outside noises from bothering you inside the car.

Car

Jeep Wrangler

The Jeep Wrangler is a type of car made for driving on rough roads and trails. It is built to handle tough outdoor conditions and is often used for activities like camping and off-road driving.

Car

Ford Bronco

The Ford Bronco is a type of SUV made for driving on rough and uneven roads. It is designed to be tough and is good for outdoor activities and off-road trips.

Term

pitch mitigation in hybrid vehicles

Pitch mitigation means the car stops you from feeling like you're tipping forward or backward when it speeds up, so you feel more comfortable and less sick.

Company

Intrepid Control Systems

Intrepid Control Systems makes tools that help car makers find problems in their vehicles quickly. They use cloud technology to check if cars have any issues before they are sold.

Term

diagnostic trouble codes

Diagnostic trouble codes are like warning messages from your car that tell mechanics what might be wrong. They help find problems faster.

Term

fleet testing

Fleet testing means checking many cars together to make sure they work well and are safe before selling them.

LIVE

Speaker 1: This is Outoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry, and just wanted to say a happy Saint Patrick's Day to everyone out there before we started the show. Now, let's kick things off. The war

and I ran as causing gasoline prices to jump at the pump. The Triple A reports that regular gasoline in

the US is up twenty three percent in the last month, now averaging three dollars and eighty cents across the country, and that diesel prices are up thirty seven percent, hitting five bucks a gallon. That's really gonna hurt trucking companies.

In the UK, prices jumped to one hundred and forty pence per liter or six dollars in seventy cents a gallon, while diesel rose to one hundred and fifty nine pence or seven dollars in fifty eight cents a gallon. As

we've been warning since the war broke out, a sudden price surge at the pump will skew the kinds of new cars that people buy, and that threatens sales of all those high profit SUVs and pickup trucks to earn export credits and to help ease the sixty four billion dollar trade deficit in goods and services that the US has with Japan. Toyota, Honda, and Nissan will start exporting

American made vehicles to Japan. Toyota will ship Cameras, Highlanders

and Tundra pickup trucks. Honda will ship Passports and Acura Integras,

while Nissan will ship Moranos. The Japanese government recently eased

import restrictions for USA made vehicles, but here's our auto line insight. We don't think this is gonna last very long.

These vehicles all have steering wheels on the left side, while most Japanese cars have them on the right. Once

upon a time decades ago, having a car with a steering wheel on the left was a status symbol in Japan because it was obviously imported. But that only appealed

to a very small group of status seekers. So that's

why we say you watch. Whenever this trade pressure eases up,

those exports will come to a screeching halt. LG Energy

Solution is going to supply Tesla with four point three billion dollars worth of LFP batteries for its energy storage business.

Production of the battery cells is expected to start next year at LG's plant in Lansing, Michigan, which will require an additional line at the facility to fulfill the order.

The batteries will be used to power Tesla's Megapac three energy storage systems, which are made in Houston. The Lansing

battery plant was originally a joint venture between LG and General Motors, but GM sold at stake last year to LG as part of its decision to scale back its EV production. Volvo had high hopes for its small electric suv,

the EX thirty, but now the model is being axed.

In the US, sales will be discontinued after the twenty twenty six model year. However, the Ex thirty will continue

to be sold globally, including in Canada and Mexico. The

model launched in the US and twenty twenty three and was meant to be the company's volume EV, with a starting price initially targeted at thirty five thousand bucks, but more expensive, higher end versions launched first, and tariffs have pushed the starting price closer to forty thousand bucks. As

a result, car buyers never really warmed up to the model.

And Volvo sold just five thousand, four hundred ex thirties last year in the US, which was only four percent of its overall sales.

Speaker 2: We help businesses respond decisively to their most critical challenges, from urgent performance improvement to enterprise wide transformation. We work

across the full value chain in automotive and in industrials, helping by its navigate disruption, drive innovation, and unlocked sustainable growth ALEX partners. When it really matters.

Speaker 1: Uber must see huge potential in robotaxi services because it's been investing so heavily in the tech, and it could soon become the biggest provider of driverless rides in Nvidia announced it's going to start supplying Uber with its end to end autonomous driving stack in the first half of next year. They'll first deploy the system in Los Angeles

in San Francisco, and then plan to expand into twenty eight markets across four continents by the end of twenty twenty eight. We know for sure one of those other

markets will be Japan and will include those leaf based robotaxis that we've been talking about recently, which are part of a partnership with Nissan and av company Wave but on top of that, Uber will also work on robotaxis with other tech companies including neuro Waimo, we ride in zoops, and it has partnerships with automakers like the Hyundai Group, Lucid and Volkswagen Tesla. Hyundai, Mercedes, Toyota, and BMW have

announced plans or already have pilot programs testing out humanoid robots in their plants, and now Renault is joining that list.

The French automaker will deploy three hundred and fifty humanoids at its plants starting next year. The robots were developed

with French startup Wandercraft, which Renault holds a minority stake in.

Called Calvin forty. The robots can carry up to forty

kilograms or ninety pounds and perform repetitive tasks like lifting tires and carrying panels in the body shop. They can

also be trained to pick out parts from bins, but that's still limited because of a lack of speed and dexterity.

Renault says the robots are part of its effort to reduce production hours her vehicle by thirty percent. Buick is

expanding its luxury van lineup in China with the all electric and Kasa it launched the plug and hybrid version at the end of last year, but now the EV is hitting the market with a price tag of roughly seventy thousand dollars, which is about seven thousand dollars more than the p have. A good chunk of that extra

cost is likely tied up in the ninety six kilowatt hour battery pack, which we estimate would return about two hundred and fifty miles or four hundred kilometers of range on the EPA test cycle. Thanks to a nine hundred

volt system, the Incasa EV can also charge significantly faster than the plug in hybrid, capable of going from ten to eighty percent in just under twelve minutes. But we

think the real highlight of this van is the interior, with large display screens for front seat passengers and big, comfy reclining seats in the second row. An EV's like

pes and evs, make up more than fifty percent of the van segment in China, and Bueck claims it's the number one van seller in China. You're gonna start seeing

a lot of stories about the new Kia Tell You Ride today because the medium Bargo just lifted and here's our quick impressions. This vehicle is impressively quiet, and Kia

went to great lengths to make it so. The engine

compartment is almost completely sealed off, the doors have triple seals, and the windshield and side glass for the first and second rows have acoustic glass. At steady cruising speeds, we

think it's nearly as quiet as an ev. The hybrid

version is rated at thirty six miles per gallon or six and a half liters per one hundred kilometers, which is quite impressive for a vehicle of the size. The

x pro trim line is capable of doing some off roading, and while it's not going to keep up with the likes of a Jeep Wrangler or Ford Bronco, it will get you threw some surprisingly rough terrain. One feature of

the Tale Ride that we've never heard about on any other vehicle is that Kia uses the two electric motors in the hybrid system to mitigate the pitch of the vehicle during acceleration. By cutting torque in relation to pitch.

Kia says you can reduce carsickness. If you'd like more

info about the Tell You Ride, we'll be posting an article on the autoline website that contains a ton of information that's a rap for today's show. Thanks for tuning in.

Speaker 3: Auto Line Daily is brought to you by alex Partners.

When it Really Matters CSP the Composites Solution partner Intrepid Control Systems over the air engineering boost your game and thanks to the following YouTube and Patreon me.

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