By Gary S. Vasilash
According to AutoForecast Solutions, the top global vehicle types in 2021 were:
The firm has extrapolated what it sees coming in 2028:
In other words, a few more small CUVs and almost everything else just the same.
One could argue the future is now.
By Gary S. Vasilash
Electrify America, the company that was established by Volkswagen as part of its penalties associated with “Dieselgate,” is the network calculated to be best by umlaut, an organization that performs benchmarking, and Charged, an EV magazine.
Electrify America scored highest, with 702 of a possible 1,000 points.
Tesla came in second, at 649.
There were two primary categories:
The people performing the analysis drove some 2,100 miles in Connecticut, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. They drove in a Mustang Mach-E and a Tesla Model 3.
In the Digital Platform category, which looks at things like the website and the app, Electrify America came in with 275 points. Tesla was well behind, at 165.
In terms of Charging Location, which is about the actual act of charging, Electrify America scored 426.75 points while Tesla came in at 484.25.
So the biggest difference is not out there plugging in at a station but while on one’s phone.
Guess it comes down to what is more important, especially when you just want to get the damn thing charged and on your away.
The other charge point providers and their scores are: Charge Point (611), EVgo (578), Greenlots (548), Blink (505) and EV Connect (472).
By Gary S. Vasilash
Back in 2017 Bollinger Motors revealed two vehicles, the B1 a bona-fide SUV (it actually has a frame, which makes it more SUV than crossover), and the B2, a Class 3 pickup.
Both are electric vehicles.
What was absolutely remarkable about the two is that there is a design aesthetic that is all about straight-up functionality rather than either copying the design, more or less, of an existing vehicle with an internal combustion engine or going completely futuristic. As there are more announcements of electric pickups the B2 stands in a place of its own.
And in 2019, when the company announced the pricing for the fully electric, all-wheel drive vehicles, some took in a quick breath: $125,000.
Be that as it may, reservations came rolling in to the company that had moved from New York to greater Detroit in order to be in the midst of automotive development.
On January 14, 2022, Bollinger Motors announced a change in direction:
“We started Bollinger Motors in 2015 with a dream and a desire to make the best trucks possible,” said Robert Bollinger, CEO of Bollinger Motors. “We’ve put countless hours of hard work and passion into making something that makes us proud. However, today, we’re postponing the consumer trucks’ development and shifting our focus to commercial trucks and fleets.”
The company would be focusing its efforts on vehicles in the class 3-6 category, trucks that are typically bought by businesses in volumes of more than one.
Bollinger engineers had developed the underpinnings for electric trucks in terms of the battery system as well as the structure, so that, rather than the exterior sheet metal, is where the company will now be focusing its development efforts.
So why the change?
On this edition of “Autoline After Hours” Robert Bollinger explains the thinking behind addressing the commercial market first rather than pursuing the personal, or individual, market. He notes that the work they’ve done beneath the skin provides the solid workings for commercial vehicles, a place where he—and many others—think that there will be a significant deployment of electric vehicles.
It is worth noting that the B2 was from the start a robust truck and so that is just being amped up for these new applications.
Bollinger discusses this move with “Autoline’s” John McElroy, Greg Migliore of Autoblog, and me.
It becomes clear that Bollinger isn’t just the guy whose name is on the company but a man who is deeply committed to the development of first-rate vehicles.
That is something that makes a tremendous difference between builders who want to make a quick buck and those who want to make something that people will appreciate.
By Gary S. Vasilash
Vehicle naming protocols can be a tricky thing.
There is a tendency for OEMs to opt for metals when naming vehicles at the top end of their lineups. Platinum is exceedingly popular. The metal is 78 on the Periodic Table. Gold does it one better, however, at 79.
But somehow gold doesn’t seem quite as exclusive as platinum does. In fact it seems rather common (perhaps it has something to do with those late-night commercials from outfits offering to buy your jewelry).
But if platinum keeps being rolled out as a moniker, then it will become far too common. Soon it will become like, well, gold.
That said, the new Mercedes C-Class has a group of interesting trims:
The “Exclusive” name is the most amusing in that if something is truly exclusive do you have to tell someone? And if you have to tell someone, is it exclusive or obscure? (And unless you want to sell a whole lot of something, isn’t obscure, in some ways, better, more, well, exclusive without claiming to be?)
“Premium” sounds like an adjective used at outlet malls.
“Pinnacle” is good. Still, it seems a bit out of place for a sedan. Sounds like an SUV (e.g., Jeep Summit.)
But Toyota has just done Mercedes one better.
The 2023 Sequoia, a full-size, three-row SUV that is about the size of a small but stylish building (it can town 9,000 pounds, so think, perhaps, tiny house), comes in five grades, with the pedestrian Limited and Platinum (see?) and the Toyota-specific SR5 and TRD Pro.
But the ultimate, and really an outstanding choice for a vehicle of the Sequoia’s magnitude (remember, that comes from the name of that massive redwood), is:
Capstone
When you consider that the Sequoia is at the top of the Toyota lineup, the top trim for the model truly has to be called out as a crowning achievement.
(Were one to be snarky, it might be pointed out that “stone” isn’t exactly the sort of thing that one would like to ascribe to a vehicle that is meant to move, as that term can bring to mind mass, and while Toyota hasn’t released the specs for the 2023 model yet, the lightest 4WD 2022 Sequoia weighs 5,985 pounds, and the Platinum trim (go figure) comes in at an even three tons. But (a) we aren’t going to be snarky and (b) we really like the Capstone name.)
“Manufacturing is Tesla’s core competency.”—Tesla Q4 and 2021 Update
It is interesting to note that in its Fremont plant it has the capacity to produce 100,000 Model S/Model X and 500,000 Model 3/Model Y. In Shanghai, >450,000 Model 3/Model Y.
And it has Berlin and Texas on tap.
Yes, there is a lot of manufacturing capability at Tesla that sometimes gets overlooked by, well, everything else.
By Gary S. Vasilash
If you were to draw an inverted triangle between Liverpool, Manchester and Crewe, with Crewe being the point at the bottom, that gives you a sense of the location in northern England where some 4,000 people work building Bentleys.
Today it was announced that Bentley is making a £2.5-billion investment in sustainability, which includes building at Crewe what is being called a “Dream Factory” for the production of electric vehicles.
Bentley’s first EV will be built at Crewe in 2025, and by 2030, when the brand is fully electric, there will be four more vehicles.
As Adrian Hallmark, chairman and CEO of Bentley, put it:
“Our aim is to become the benchmark not just for luxury cars or sustainable credentials but the entire scope of our operations. Securing production of our first BEV in Crewe is a milestone moment for Bentley, and the UK, as we plan for a long-term sustainable future in Crewe.”
Automotive manufacturing in the UK needs all the help it can get, and clearly the Volkswagen Group, of which Bentley is a part, is giving it some.
Owl Autonomous Imaging has developed and patented “monocular 3D thermal imaging and ranging solutions.”
The company’s tech is applicable to automotive advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).
According to Owl, current ADAS systems generally use “mutually dependent visible-light cameras and radar” that can be negatively affected under certain conditions. Like night and/or rain.
So the Owl system is meant to overcome those limitations by using HD thermal imaging and the appropriate computer vision algorithms that are capable of creating “ultra-dense point clouds and highly refined object classification.”
In other words, objects like people and other animals generate heat and this system is able of detecting it.
Here’s the curious thing: the tech that Owl is developing for automotive use is predicated on “a thermal ranging solution developed under a challenge grant from the US Air Force to track missiles in flight traveling at over 1,000 mph.”
By Gary S. Vasilash
“Let’s determine what must be true to make it happen—and then let’s make it happen.”
Although it sounds rather simple, what Nicole Kraatz is referring to is the approach that she and her team took to product development under the restrictions that were presented to them because of COVID-19.
Business wasn’t as usual.
And what they were, and are, developing is something that is unlike what had been done before and absolutely important in the offerings of GM:
Kraatz is chief engineer of the Chevrolet Silverado EV.
Imagine: they had to develop a new vehicle while, in many cases, working at their kitchen tables, not the engineering center where there is immediate access to people and tech, not situations where you have to ask the kids to stop streaming because the Internet connection is wonky.
Determine what needs to be done. Then do it.
///
Pickup trucks are essential to the offerings of Chevy in particular and GM in, well, general.
In 2021 Chevrolet delivered a total 1,437,671 vehicles, of which 529,765 were Silverados.
GM sold a total of 2,218,228, vehicles, so Silverado is nearly a quarter of all of its sales.
In addition to which, GM is committed to transforming its vehicle portfolio to all-electric in the years to come, and is in the process of spending some $35-billion in transforming from combustion, including $2.2-billion at the Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Center, which has been transformed to Factory ZERO, where the Siliverado EV will be built.
The 2024 model is interesting compared with the cross-town rival’s F-150 Lightning in that the Chevy is a new vehicle from the tires up, with nothing being brought over from the conventional truck, while the Ford is largely the combustion-based truck that is electrified.
(In the case of the Chevy, the Ultium platform is being used, an all-new EV battery-based architecture that provides a range of modularity such that pickup trucks and midsize SUVs—as in the Cadillac Lyriq—and other vehicles can be based on it.)
The Silverado EV will come in two versions at the start: the WT and the RST. The former is the work truck version, the sort of thing that contractors would be interested in as it will offer 8,000 pounds of towing and 1,200 pounds of payload.
The RST is the truck that someone will boast to their neighbors about was it offers everything from four-wheel steering to automatic adaptive air suspension, and when the Wide Open Watts mode is activated, it will have a 0 to 60 mph time of less than 4.5 seconds. (Remember: this is a full-size pickup truck.)
Both will have an estimated range of 400 miles on a charge and be capable of handling DC fast charging (up to 350 kW).
The Silverado EV represents an opportunity to Kraatz and her team to take the learnings of more than 100 years of GM trucks and make it something new.
Kraatz talks all about the Silverado EV on this edition of “Autoline After Hours” with John McElroy, Joann Muller of Axios What’s Next, and me.
And you can see it here.
Although it is unlikely to make any difference to you, just so you know: On December 20, 2021 the Royal Dutch Shell board of directors decided to change the name of the company to Shell plc.
And today it officially happened.
You will still be able to get your V-Power at your local Shell station.
Did you actually know that the same place you buy your beef jerky and other assorted snacks once had “Royal” in its moniker?
By Gary S. Vasilash
At present, Stellantis has 33 electrified vehicles on offer to consumers. In the next 18 months it will be rolling out eight full battery electric vehicles.
By 2024 Abarth and DS will be all electric. Then Maserati in 25, Lancia in 26 and Alfa in 27. Opel and Chrysler go all electric in 28. Fiat and Peugeot in 2030.
Yet CEO Carlos Tavares was recently quoted as saying related to the European Union, “What is clear is that electrification is a technology chosen by politicians, not by industry.”
On the one hand, politicians are pretty much the last ones who ought to be making technical decisions.
On the other hand, given a choice between keeping the status quo and making a change, industry would opt for the former.
Were it not for the massive success of Tesla, what is the likelihood that either politicians or industry would be talking about electric vehicles?
Not very.
shinymetalboxes 