Electric cars run on electricity instead of gas. They use batteries to power an electric motor, which makes them cleaner for the environment because they produce less pollution.
Battery electric vehicles are cars that only use batteries for power and don't have any gas engines. They are charged by plugging them into an electric outlet.
A plug-in hybrid is a car that can use both electricity and gasoline. You can charge it like an electric car, but it also has a gas engine for longer drives.
The ZEV mandate is a rule that says car makers have to sell a certain number of cars that don't pollute, like electric cars. It's meant to help the environment.
The Tesla Model Y is an electric SUV made by Tesla. It's popular because it's fast, has a long battery range, and offers plenty of space for passengers and cargo.
Car
Hyundai Alexio
The Hyundai Alexio is a new SUV from Hyundai that runs on electricity, making it a good option for families who want a spacious and budget-friendly vehicle.
The Hyundai Kona is a small SUV that is great for families and everyday driving. It comes in regular gas versions and also as an electric car, which is good for people who want to use less gas and help the environment.
The F-150 Lightning is an electric version of Ford's popular F-150 truck. It is designed to be powerful and useful like a regular truck but runs on electricity instead of gasoline.
The Ford Mustang is a popular sports car that has been around for a long time. It's known for being fast and stylish, and many people love it because it represents a fun driving experience.
CA2 rules are regulations in Europe that require car manufacturers to lower the amount of carbon dioxide their vehicles emit. This is done to help the environment and reduce pollution.
Electrification means changing cars to run on electricity instead of gasoline or diesel. This helps reduce pollution and is better for the environment.
Alpetronic is a company that makes fast chargers for electric cars. They help provide the charging stations needed as more people switch to electric vehicles.
DC fast charging is a way to charge electric cars quickly using a special type of electricity. It helps drivers recharge their cars much faster than regular chargers.
The Mercedes-Benz CLA is a small luxury car that looks good and has lots of tech features. It's popular among younger drivers who want something stylish.
And Hyundai claims a range of 546 kilometers on WLTP,
88 kilowatt hour pack and an efficient front motor.
Are we going a long way to that big mileage?
With its timing, though, specification and pricing,
it fills the gap between Hyundai's compact Kona and the larger premium Anik 5.
Hyundai gains a clearer EV ladder for Australian buyers choosing between size,
price and range.
Not the cheapest of vehicles, though, at 60,000 dollars.
Could it find an audience, I wonder.
Now, Ford's business in America expanded last year,
as its electric ambitions have well and truly been put on the back burner.
The company sold 2.2 million vehicles in the US, up 6%.
Battery electric vehicles were the weak spot, though.
Of the total, 84,113 were fully electric, down 14.1% from 2024.
December, just 5,500 EV sales about the same as November,
but again, really down year on year as the tax credit expired.
Those incentives were distorting demand, sales more than doubled in July
and topped 10,000 in August and September as people rushed to get the vehicles.
After its strongest quarter of the year for EVs, Ford then reported its weakest.
In the fourth quarter, it sold a few electric vehicles in America
and that was probably what led to the cold water being poured on their EV ambitions.
You would have to say they fortunately cancelled the F-150 Lightning program
and they continued to improve the Mustang Mach-E,
but otherwise had nothing new to sell you for a couple of years.
We'll take a break, we'll come back in a minute and talk about Europe's EV charging and Nvidia.
Stick around, back in a moment.
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All right, welcome back to the podcast.
Now, the European Union's retreat from the strict CA2 rules
and carmakers' slower electrification plans
are causing some problems for the EV sector.
Yet electric lorries are close to launching on scale really
and fast-charging infrastructure is expanding quickly.
In this landscape, the head of Alpetronic sees opportunity
but also some risk.
Their hyperchargers began as the brand for its high-powered DC units
and become a kind of a shorthand really for rapid charges amongst many.
A few years ago, ABB, EVbox, Tritium, EFSEC.
Don't see many of those around anymore.
And Siemens are all jostling for space today.
If you turn up at a large charging station
and you see the Alpetronic hardware all lined up,
you know you're in probably for a good charging session.
They are almost the standard bearers these days for good charging hardware.
And the chief executive, Philippe Sainonet,
arguing that physical infrastructure is not the bottleneck.
Interesting to hear what he has to say actually.
He says, and I quote,
Simply put, we need more electric vehicles per charging point, end quote.
So public debate, he reckons, should shift from the culture wars
to dense city charging, using parking spaces better
and filling in coverage gaps.
What the sector lacks in his view is certainty.
Carmakers, fleets, charge points, investors, he says, plan on the long term.
While politics moves in increasingly shorter cycles,
calling for a reliable framework.
The shift by several manufacturers from EV only strategies
to either rolling them back or now mixed powertrain roadmaps
has complicated demand for Alpetronic.
He says the answer is really clear, though, we need breadth.
They're pushing into megawatt charging to account for heavy duty trucks.
The ramp up that the EU's fleet CO2 rules
will make incredibly likely that we'll have all of our groceries
and goods delivered by pure electric trucks.
Alpetronic say that's the big opportunity now
because there is clear regulations around that.
He's wary of overreacting to the political mood swings
or temporary dips in EV registrations.
For him, he says tightening climate policy, corporate decarbonization
targets and improving cost of ownership still point to one direction.
The question he says is not whether Europe electrifies road transport
but how quickly and efficiency it efficiently it does.
Isn't that interesting?
One of the big names in charging talking a lot about certainty.
I've echoed that for a very long time.
I'm a nobody.
I'm selling out the CEO of a big company.
But the political swings, whatever they may be,
wherever your alliances lie politically.
I do think that if one lots promise something,
the next lot should stick with it, even if they don't agree with it.
But you've told the industry one thing.
Otherwise, every four years here, it's five years our election cycle.
She's going to swing wildly one way or the other.
And that's there's no way to run a business.
No way to run a country.
But what do I know?
I know nothing.
Right.
Nvidia will finish us off.
They have introduced their take on artificial intelligence in cars.
Alper Mayo, the chief executive of Nvidia.
Jensen Quang calling it the world's first thinking and reasoning AI in a car.
And obviously this got the attention of Tesla fans and even the chief executive
himself because Tesla really dominate the conversation in terms of this.
And now Nvidia want a slice of that.
The first production deployment is during American roads this year
in Mercedes Benz CLA showing the system meant for near term use.
Alper Mayo is a vision language action architecture.
All right.
What's that mean?
Then that sounds full of jargon instead of perception, prediction
and planning modules all being separate.
They said that these models fuse things like seeing, reasoning
and acting in a single loop the way they're thinking about autonomy
is different to others.
The system is trained end to end mapping camera input directly to vehicle control
similar to Tesla's approach.
He also had very good words to say about Tesla system as well.
They wasn't combative in any way was full of praise effusive for full self-driving.
Alper Mayo marries large reasoning models with simulation tools.
The Bombard the system with edge case scenario designed to work with open
datasets for training and validation.
The initial model is called Alper Mayo one.
It works on 10 billion parameters.
If that means anything to you, it's outputs driving trajectories and detailed
reasoning developers can look at both the chosen path and the logic
that led to the car going in that direction and auditing it as it were.
The company is pitching Alper Mayo as a foundation as a platform as not
ready to go yet, but will be this year and taking the fight ready to Tesla
in terms of the conversation around self-driving and autonomy.
These days the buzzwords of course AI and on that bombshell.
I'll leave you.
Thank you very much for listening and thank you as always to our premium
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About this episode
The UK has reached a significant milestone with 33% of new car registrations being electric vehicles, showcasing a shift towards mainstream EV adoption. Meanwhile, Tesla faces a downturn in European sales, with registrations dropping significantly across major markets. The episode also discusses Hyundai's upcoming Elexio SUV for Australia, Ford's struggles with EV sales in the US, and the evolving landscape of EV charging infrastructure in Europe. Additionally, Nvidia introduces its AI technology for cars, aiming to compete with Tesla's self-driving capabilities.
