1369: 09 Feb | President Biden Acknowledges Tesla - a podcast by EV News Daily

Show #1369

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Good morning, good afternoon and good evening wherever you are in the world, welcome to EV News Daily for Wednesday 9th February. It’s Martyn Lee here and I go through every EV story so you don't have to.

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- U.S. President Joe Biden publicly acknowledged the role of Tesla (TSLA.O) in U.S. electric vehicle manufacturing on Tuesday, after Chief Executive Elon Musk repeatedly complained about being ignored.

- Last month, Biden met with General Motors (GM.N) Chief Executive Mary Barra, and the White House has repeatedly praised the Detroit automaker's electric vehicle efforts, even though it is selling far fewer EVs than Tesla.

- After Biden's met with Barra in January and tweeted a video of the two talking, Musk replied "Starts with a T/Ends with an A/ESL in the middle" and then compared Biden to a "damp sock puppet.

- Asked in August whether the White House did not invite Musk because workers at Tesla are not unionized, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said: "I'll let you draw your own conclusion."

Original Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/after-months-complaint-by-elon-musk-biden-acknowledges-tesla-2022-02-08/

- VW Group is reportedly reducing the ordering possibilities of its dealers and introducing a quota system for sales partners. Accordingly, larger dealers will be able to order more vehicles than smaller ones.

- According to dealers, customers are currently waiting around twelve months for an ID.3, while Volkswagen itself speaks of a delivery period of “more than nine months”. The situation is similar for the Audi Q4 e-tron, also built in Zwickau: those who order now will not receive the vehicle until mid-2023, and according to the manufacturer they will wait “around twelve months”.

- In other words, large dealers can order more ID.3 and ID.4 than smaller ones. With an annual target of the distributor of up to 999 vehicles, 15 ID.3 and 25 ID.4 can be ordered, the letter says.

Original Source : https://www.electrive.com/2022/02/08/vw-considers-ev-quotas-for-dealerships

- . We are well on our way to achieve at least a 40% mix of BEVs by 2030, with strong margins and equal to our higher market share in the key high-profit, high-volume segments we compete. For example, the F-150 Lightning, if we had full production today to meet our current demand, we would rival the Model Y as the leading BEV nameplate in the U.S. market.

Original Source : https://www.fool.com/earnings/call-transcripts/2022/02/04/ford-f-q4-2021-earnings-call-transcript/

- This is kind of wild for people who have been following closely for a long time. Here Ford is basically saying “we would be selling as many EVs as Tesla if we were producing as many”. I would also be a billionaire if I had a billion dollars. But I think he is probably right. Ford could sell as many F-150 Lightning pickups as Tesla sells Model Ys in the US right now. And we are not talking about competing vehicles here since one is a small SUV and the other a pickup truck, but we are talking about popular BEVs.

Original Source : https://electrek.co/2022/02/08/ford-ceo-rival-tesla-producing-enough-electric-vehicles/

- Under pressure to hit fourth-quarter sales goals while coping with widespread semiconductor shortages, Tesla decided to remove one of the two electronic control units that are normally included in the steering racks of some made-in-China Model 3 and Model Y cars, according to two employees and internal correspondence seen by CNBC.

- Tesla did not disclose the exclusion, which has already affected tens of thousands of vehicles being shipped to customers in China, Australia, the U.K., Germany and other parts of Europe.

- It also means Tesla can’t turn all its existing cars into driverless vehicles with a mere software update, undercutting what CEO Elon Musk recently said on an earnings call:“My personal guess is that we’ll achieve Full Self-Driving this year at a safety level significantly greater than a person. So the cars in the fleet essentially becoming self-driving via software update, I think, might end up being the biggest increase in asset value of any asset class in history. We shall see.”

- Tesla employees said that adding “level 3” functionality, which would allow a driver to use their Tesla hands-free without steering in normal driving scenarios, would need the dual electronic control unit system and therefore require a retrofit at a service visit.

- The specific item omitted is an electronic control unit in the electric power assisted steering systems, which translate steering wheel movements into wheel turns on the street.

- Tesla removed the component because engineers deemed it redundant, primarily installed as a backup. Omitting the control unit will also save Tesla money near-term, as long as no problems arise as a result of the altered system.

- When Tesla made the decision to exclude an electronic control unit from its steering racks, there was an internal discussion about whether to notify customers, two employees told CNBC.

- Tesla vehicles can still use the current “level 2” versions of its driver assistance systems, Autopilot and Full Self-Driving (or FSD), without the dual-control steering system.

- Most of the cars with the single electronic control unit were going to customers in China initially, where FSD is not seeing significant uptake. According to internal communications seen by CNBC, just over 1% of all Tesla customers in China opted for the premium driver assistance package

- Most automakers would spend 1,000 hours on testing or more to make any big changes, he estimated. That can take upwards of four months. It can also take years for quality or safety issues to become clear after changes are made.Tesla employees told CNBC that the company spent less than a few weeks discussing the change before moving ahead and didn’t view it as a big deal -- more of a chip-famine survival tactic.

Original Source : https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/07/tesla-cut-a-steering-component-to-deal-with-chip-shortage.html

2022 TESLA MODEL Y: REAR-WHEEL-DRIVE MODEL UPDATED IN CHINA - DRIVE

 

Original Source : https://www.drive.com.au/news/2022-tesla-model-y-rear-wheel-drive-model-updated-in-china/

 Original Source : https://driveteslacanada.ca/roadster/franz-von-holzhausen-provides-update-on-tesla-roadster-development/

Original Source : https://cnevpost.com/2022/02/09/alibaba-backed-autoxs-robotaxi-fleet-reaches-1000-vehicles/

Original Source : https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2022/02/europe-s-grid-can-support-100-million-electric-vehicles-with-proper-planning-study-finds/

Original Source : https://www.whichcar.com.au/news/electric-volkswagen-beetle-hinted

Original Source : https://www.bmwblog.com/2022/02/07/bmw-i4-software-update-idrive-8/

Original Source : https://www.cityam.com/british-electric-van-maker-arrival-prepares-for-us-debut/

Original Source : https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-60286985

US ELECTRIC CAR PRICES: CHEAPEST TO MOST EXPENSIVE | INSIDEEVS

 

Original Source : https://insideevs.com/news/565883/electric-car-prices-us-20220207/

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