AD #4325 - Slate Prices Electric Pickup At $24,950; Honda Revives the Element; Automakers Threaten to Halt California Sales

AD #4325 - Slate Prices Electric Pickup At $24,950; Honda Revives the Element; Automakers Threaten to Halt California Sales Autoline Daily · Jun 24, 2026

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Brand

Slate

Slate is a new company making an electric pickup. They’re selling it in a basic form first, and you can pay extra to add parts that change it into a different kind of vehicle.

Term

LFP battery pack

LFP is a type of EV battery chemistry. It’s generally considered safer and long-lasting, which is why some EV makers choose it.

Term

kilowatt hour

Kilowatt-hours (kWh) tell you how much energy is stored in the EV battery. Bigger numbers usually mean more potential driving range.

Car

The Ford Maverick is a small pickup truck. It’s meant for everyday driving but still has a bed you can use to carry items. In the podcast, it’s mentioned to help compare how big and heavy something else is.

Concept

vehicle tracking

Vehicle tracking means using the car’s electronics to figure out where it is. The episode says California is trying to limit tracking to protect people in domestic violence situations.

Topic

California sales

This segment is about automakers threatening to halt sales in California due to a new connected-car privacy/safety law. It’s framed as a major business risk because California is described as the largest car market in the US.

Term

remote access to connected vehicle services

Connected vehicle services are the internet/app features in a modern car. The law discussed would let someone request that another person’s remote access to those features be turned off.

Term

bi directional charging

Bi-directional charging lets an EV send electricity back to the grid (or to a home) instead of only charging from the grid. This turns the vehicle into a kind of energy storage resource, which can be used to balance demand and potentially earn money for the owner.

Brand

Volkswagen

Volkswagen is testing a bi-directional charging offering in Germany and plans to expand it to other models and markets. The episode also mentions expected launch timing and how the program could aggregate EV storage capacity at the grid level.

Term

WLTP test cycle

WLTP (Worldwide Harmonized Light Vehicles Test Procedure) is a standardized testing method used in Europe to estimate EV range. It’s intended to be more realistic than older test cycles, but real-world range can still vary with weather, speed, and driving style.

Brand

Scota

Scota is the company behind a new electric SUV called the Peak. The episode explains what kind of SUV it is and what battery/range options it will offer.

Term

MEB platform

MEB is Volkswagen’s electric-car “platform,” meaning the shared design underneath the car. It helps the company build different EV models more efficiently using common parts.

Term

kilowats

Kilowatts are a way to measure how much power a motor makes. It’s the EV version of horsepower, just using different units.

Term

all wheel drive

All-wheel drive means the car can send power to all four wheels. That usually helps it grip better on wet, snowy, or rough roads.

Term

diagnostic trouble codes

Diagnostic trouble codes are like a car’s error messages stored in its computer. They tell a mechanic what system is having a problem so the fix is faster.

Company

Ad Intrepid

Ad Intrepid is a company that makes software and systems that help car makers test vehicles. They use cloud tools to find car error codes and defects so problems can be caught before cars go into production.

Term

DTCs

DTCs is the acronym for diagnostic trouble codes. In vehicle testing and production, manufacturers use them to detect which cars have faults and to verify that software and hardware changes didn’t introduce new issues.

Car

Honda Element

The Honda Element is a quirky, box-shaped Honda that was known for being practical and easy to use. This episode says Honda plans to restart the model after many years, and it’ll sit between two other Honda crossovers.

Car

Honda Hrv

The Honda HR-V is a small SUV-style vehicle. It’s designed to be practical for daily driving and to carry people and cargo. The podcast mentions it to show where another vehicle will fit in the lineup compared to the HR-V and CR-V.

Brand

Jaguar land Rover

Jaguar Land Rover is the car company mentioned here. They’re showing a sustainability concept that uses recycled materials and is designed so parts can be taken apart for reuse and recycling.

Term

CO two equivalent

CO2 equivalent is a single number that lets you compare different greenhouse gases using carbon dioxide as the reference. It’s used to estimate how much climate impact a project has overall.

Term

Cornerstone

Cornerstone is a named sustainability project by Jaguar Land Rover. It’s about making car parts from more recycled materials and designing them so they can be taken apart for recycling and fixing.

Term

lithium iron phosphate

Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) is a type of EV battery. It’s generally considered safer and more stable, and this episode says the price of LFP batteries is going up.

Term

LFP batteries

LFP batteries are a specific kind of lithium battery used in some EVs. This episode says their prices are rising because of higher material costs and strong demand.

Term

sodium ion batteries

Sodium-ion batteries are another type of rechargeable battery that doesn’t use lithium. This episode says they can work in very cold weather and may be safer, but they store less energy than lithium batteries.

Company

China COATL

China COATL is a battery company mentioned in the episode. They’re saying their sodium-ion batteries will go into tens of thousands of vehicles and can work in very cold temperatures.

Term

energy dense

Energy density is how much “battery power” you get for the battery’s size and weight. If it’s lower, you usually need a bigger battery to get the same range.

Term

thermal runaway

Thermal runaway is when a battery gets too hot and the heat keeps making it worse. The episode says sodium-ion batteries are less likely to get into that dangerous runaway situation.

LIVE

Speaker 1: This is Autoline Daily, the show dedicated to enthusiasts of the global automotive industry. EV startup Slate revealed pricing for

its pickup truck. Sticking to its word, it starts at

twenty four nine fifty dollars, but that doesn't include destination charges, which it didn't provide. If you opt for the kit

that converts the truck into a five seat suv, it's an extra five thousand dollars. Those are the prices for

the bare bone versions called the blank Slate. These come

with steel wheels, crank up windows, and there's no touchscreen, radio or speakers. However, there are more than two hundred

customizable accessories, eighty percent of which are under five hundred dollars, and more will be added over time. The truck features

a sixty five kilowatt hour LFP battery pack and a one hundred and thirty five kilowatt rear mounted motor, with the setup providing an estimated two hundred and five miles of range. Wise, it's about two feet shorter than a

Ford Maverick, but the truck weighs just over four thousand pounds, while the suv tips the scales at forty three hundred and fifty pounds. Pre Orders start today, which requires a

three hundred dollars non refundable deposit, and production and deliveries are expected to begin later this year. Automakers are threatening

to stop selling cars in California over a new law that aims to prevent vehicle tracking, mainly for domestic violence survivors.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, a group that represents most automakers in the US, says if the rule isn't delayed, automakers will be forced to stop selling both new and use vehicles in the state on July first. The law

requires automakers to set up an online process that allows a person to seek termination of another person's remote access to connected vehicle services, which automakers have already done, but it also requires there's an in vehicle shut off switch, and automakers say they need more time to make that happen since it requires extensive engineering, testing, and integration across different makes and model years. California is the largest car

market in the US, and halting sales would have a huge impact. Volkswagen is gauging customer interest in Germany for

its bi directional charging package that basically turns an EV into a storage device that the grid can tap into.

Owners can turn this access on and off whenever they want, but the more their vehicle is available, the more they can earn up to seven hundred and twenty euros in the first contract year, according to VW. On top of that,

the grid will benefit too. If you bundle all of

the automaker's evs with bi directional capability together, they have a combined storage capacity of several dozen gigawatt hours. That's

just the VW group. If you bundle everything together, studies

say by the directional charging could reduce costs in the European power system by up to twenty two billion euros a year by twenty forty. VW expects to launch its

charging package in Germany in the fourth quarter of this year, first with Volkswagen and Cooper models, but also has plans to expand to other group brands and markets in the future, including France. In the UK, speaking of the VW group,

Scota revealed its new top of the line model and all electric suv called the Peak. This is meant to

be like the electric alternative to the large Kodiak suv and is based on the stretched version of VW's MEB platform, offering seating for up to seven Two battery sizes are available fifty nine and eighty six kiloot hours, the latter providing up to six hundred and thirty kilometers or about three hundred and ninety miles of range on the WLTP test cycle. The smaller pack only comes with rear drive.

Right now, the motor making one hundred and fifty kilowats are about two hundred horse power. The eighty six kilowatt

hour battery has either rear or all wheel drive, but the single motor output is boosted to two hundred and ten kilowats or two hundred and eighty horse power. The

all wheel drive version makes two hundred and twenty kilowats or roughly two hundred and ninety five horse power. In

the UK, prices will start at nearly fifty two thousand pounds or close to seventy thousand bucks. Orders open in September,

with deliveries expected in the beginning of next year.

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non compliant vehicles in real time using analytics, part numbers, DTCs, and organized secure cloud based data. All of these steps.

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Speaker 1: A Honda model that was beloved by owners is making a comeback. Sources tell Automotive News that the element will

return to the automaker's lineup after eighteen years of being away, slotting between the HRV and CRV. Production is expected to

start in the second quarter of twenty twenty nine at Honda's manufacturing hub in Ohio, with the target of making one hundred thousand units in its first full year, but that would be a big jump. Sales of the old

model peaked at just under sixty seven five hundred units in two thousand and three and fell every year after that.

To not suffer the same fate. We think styling and

packaging will be key to the new model's success. The

original element was boxy and a bit quirky looking, with small rear doors that you could only open if you open the front doors first, but with no b pillar.

Owners love the wide opening those doors created and the versatility you could get in a relatively small package. Jaguar

land Rover is showcasing a new concept vehicle to demonstrate its progress and sustainability. The automaker partnered with more than

forty suppliers to create forty nine components that use recycled or bio based materials that were designed to be taken apart for recycling and repair. The project, called Cornerstone, has

delivered more more than a metric ton of CO two equivalent savings and increase the amount of recycled material in a vehicle by one hundred and forty kilograms or three hundred and eight pounds, and some of the components developed during the project, like new headlamp tech, lower emission steel, recycled door glass and seat foam will be making their way into upcoming vehicles. The cost of lithium iron phosphate

or LFP batteries is skyrocketing in China due to higher raw material costs and growing demand. A four hundred kilogram

LFP battery now costs around three thousand, seven hundred dollars, up from fifteen hundred bucks a year ago. In addition

to evs, the LFP batteries are used for energy storage systems, which is also seeing a huge growth in demand, and prices are likely to remain high because supply isn't keeping up with that demand. And speaking of batteries, China COATL,

the largest EVY battery maker in the world, says it's sodium ion batteries will be used in ten to twenty thousand vehicles this year. The batteries are able to perform

in temperatures as low as minus thirty degrees celsius or minus twenty two fahrenheit. While sodium batteries aren't as energy

dense as lithium ion, they're less prone to thermal runaway, and they're more affordable because of the abundance of sodium.

That brings us to the end of today's show. Thanks

for tuning in.

Speaker 4: Auto Line Daily is brought to you by Bridgestone Solutions for your journey CSP The composites solution partner Intrepid Control Systems.

Over the Air Engineering Boost your game and thanks to the following YouTube and Patreon Members.

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0:00

9:27

Slate

LFP battery pack

kilowatt hour

Ford Maverick

vehicle tracking

California sales

remote access to connected vehicle services

bi directional charging

Volkswagen

WLTP test cycle

Scota

MEB platform

kilowats

all wheel drive

diagnostic trouble codes

Ad Intrepid

DTCs

Honda Element

Honda Hrv

Jaguar land Rover

CO two equivalent

Cornerstone

lithium iron phosphate

LFP batteries

sodium ion batteries

China COATL

energy dense

thermal runaway

About this episode

Original notes