Good morning! It is Monday, May 6, 2024 and this is The morning shift, your daily roundup of the biggest automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. Here are the important stories you need to know.
1st Gear: Musk: Activating the additional range costs you
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Published on his social media page X that the Model Y with standard rear wheel drive The Car manufacturer The models on offer now actually offer a much longer range than the 260 miles they were sold at… if you’re willing to pay for it. Musk posted that this is still pending “Official permit“Buyers could access an additional range of 40 to 60 miles (depending on which battery they have) for “$1,500 to $2,000.” Out of The edge:
Tesla replaced the standard range Model Y with a 320-mile range version for $2,000 more. The car now starts at $44,990, or about $37,490 if you qualify for the $7,500 federal electric vehicle tax credit.
This isn’t the first time Tesla has locked the range of its cars using software. The company announced in 2016 that the 70 kWh battery was installed in the Model S 70 actually had 75kWh Capacity that customers could pay more than $3,000 to access. It’s possible that the current S and X models, which weigh the same as their longer-range counterparts, are also software limited.
The automotive industry generally tends to control access to cars’ existing features through paid software locks. Polestar began selling a $1,200 over-the-air update in 2022 to boost the Polestar 2’s performance. Mercedes-Benz charged the same amount, but annually, to improve the power and torque of the EQE and EQS. BMW once introduced paid, software-locked CarPlay and later heated seats (the company later). I gave up this plan). And of course, Tesla has demonstrated its willingness to remotely disable paid features when one of its cars is resold.
This is the CEO’s post, complete with a shitty meme.
I don’t know, man. I really don’t love Car manufacturers refine their cars from the factory So you can pay them a little more money to get features. I know that’s the way of the world, but damn. I do not agree.
2nd Gear: Lucid’s Q1 looks like crap
Clear continues to face concerns It’s the problem of burning money and the fact that the overall electric vehicle market is weakening ahead of the first quarter earnings report. The California-based electric vehicle manufacturer is expected to update investors on its launch plans the gravity crossoverits second line of vehicles to support the startup’s growth.
Already in February, Clear reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $654 million. This is not good. It’s also great if you look at 2023 as a whole. Lucid reported a net loss of $2.8 billion, almost double the net loss of $1.3 billion in 2022. I know it is pretty much unlimited money from Saudi Arabia, but damn. Out of Automotive News:
In the first quarter, Lucid reported production of 1,728 Airs and deliveries of 1,967. While sales increased 40 percent compared to the first quarter of 2023, Lucid’s production fell short of the forecast of 9,000 vehicles for calendar year 2024. Additionally, Lucid increased sales incentives in the first quarter through discounts, leases and special financing offers.
The company’s stock price has fallen sharply this year as investors see a slowdown in the battery-electric vehicle market and growing consumer interest in gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles.
[…]
Investor questions submitted for review on Lucid’s first-quarter earnings call include when the electric vehicle maker might reach profitability and whether a mass-market vehicle is in the works. “Are there plans for an affordable electric vehicle from Lucid?” asks a question submitted this week. “If so, what is the roadmap for that?”
The full-size Air sedan starts at $71,400 including shipping, and Lucid has said the three-row Gravity will start at about $80,000 before shipping. The company says it is developing cheaper luxury vehicles.
Some of the other questions submitted for the earnings call cover everything from how Lucid makes hybrid vehicles to flipping the gravity into a pickup truck. I was there Lucid’s headquarters in Northern CaliforniaI don’t think any of these things happen.
3rd Gear: Vice President Harris announces $100 million to transition to electric vehicles
The Biden administration gave away $100 million for small and medium-sized suppliers and manufacturers of auto parts modernize their facilities and train their workforce to do so the transition to electric vehicles. Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to make the announcement sometime today in Detroit. Out of The Detroit News:
The funds are the latest in a series of recent investments and initiatives designed to advance the transition to electric vehicles.
This transition has become a key political issue in Michigan, the longtime center of the U.S. auto industry and a crucial swing state in the 2024 presidential election. Knowing this, the Biden administration recently made several similar announcements to Michigan, lining up Harris high-ranking deputies for the announcement.
The new funding will provide $50 million to the Department of Energy’s Automotive Conversion Grant program to help small and medium-sized suppliers transition from making parts for internal combustion engine vehicles to making parts for the electric vehicle supply chain.
According to the White House, the program aims to “preserve good, well-paying, union jobs in the same communities where automakers and suppliers are moving to electric vehicle manufacturing here in America.”
The Energy Department’s Industrial Assessments Center Implementation Grants Program will receive the remaining $50 million to help automotive suppliers “improve the energy and material efficiency, cybersecurity or productivity of their facilities or reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” the White House said.
This big old chunk of change comes from Inflation Reduction Act and that Bipartisan infrastructure law.
Harris is also expected to announce new Small Business Administration efforts to facilitate private investment in the electric vehicle supply chain and expand credit lines available to small businesses through the SBA.
“These actions build on the Biden-Harris Administration’s ongoing commitment to ensuring that the workers and companies that built the auto industry remain anchors of the community for generations to come,” the White House said.
The vice president will be joined by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Department of Energy Secretary and former Gov. Jennifer Granholm, acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Steven Horsford, D-Nev.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar of Detroit and Michigan Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist II will also be in attendance.
Electric vehicles will play a big role in the upcoming presidential election. President Biden And former President Trump have offered shockingly opposing views on what the transition to electric vehicles means for workers and the U.S. as a whole.
Lest we forget: electric vehicles have woken up.
4th Gear: UAW ratifies labor agreement with Daimler Truck
United Auto Workers The members voted to ratify a new employment contract Daimler truck over the weekend. The new contract includes a general wage increase of at least 25 percent compared to the four-year contract. During the vote, 94.5 percent of people voted in favor of the new contract, which covers over 7,300 hours UAW workers After a tentative agreement was reached at the end of April, a strike was averted at the last minute. Out of Reuters:
The contract covers hourly workers at six plants in Southern states where unionization has traditionally been low, including four factories in North Carolina and parts depots in Georgia and Tennessee.
The deal with the German truck maker, which spun out of what is now automaker Mercedes, comes just about two weeks before a vote to join the UAW at a Mercedes assembly plant in Alabama.
The deal also includes profit sharing and cost-of-living adjustments for workers at the maker of Freightliner and Western Star trucks and Thomas Built buses, as well as the end of wage scales that paid bus makers less than heavy truck makers.
UAW President Shawn Fain said the raise was in line with what workers were earning with the union Detroit Three received in discussions last fall.
Workers will receive a 10% raise immediately, followed by 3% raises six months and 12 months later, Fain said.
The lowest-paid workers at Daimler’s Thomas Built bus division are getting raises of more than $8 an hour, and some tradesmen there are getting more than $17 an hour, Fain said.
This is just the latest extension of the UAW’s recent winning streak. First, it signed deals with the three major automakers last fall. Then it won a historic victory for Volkswagen workers at the automaker’s plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Coming out May 13th, Workers at a Mercedes-Benz factory in Vance, Alabama and a nearby battery plant in Woodstock will vote on whether or not to join the union.
Back: Rigid airships ruined for everyone
Neutral: Holy hell, that’s fast
On the radio: Olivia Rodrigo – “so American”