Autoline This Week - Video
Summary: Autoline This Week is the first stop for auto executives, insiders and consumers looking for the latest automotive news. Each week John McElroy, one of the deans of the Detroit automotive press corp, brings his expertise and analysis to the issues and interviews driving the automotive world. He moderates a panel of automotive journalists as they discuss the week’s news and interview top industry newsmakers
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- Artist: John McElroy
- Copyright: 2022, Blue Sky Productions
Podcasts:
Mark Rosekind is a former NHTSA administrator. Now he’s with autonomous vehicle startup Zoox, which was recently bought by Amazon. Zoox has a clever design for a vehicle that is going to be safer than anything that’s ever been on the road.
The auto industry is working hard to reduce its carbon footprint. And while everyone is aware of the big push to electric cars, there are other efforts underway. One of those includes making automotive components from biomaterials. These are materials made from plants and vegetation, not from petroleum. And they’ve reached a level of sophistication and development where they are lighter, cheaper and offer better performance.
China cornered the global market for the critical metals and minerals needed to make EV motors and batteries. Now the Biden Administration wants to develop a US supply chain. Is that even possible? And if so, how long will it take? Three experts in mining and processing talk about the challenges that lie ahead.
Over the next three years there will be a flood of electric vehicles hitting the market. Can the electrical grid handle the load? How about on hot summer nights when people are running their air conditioning? And will transformers at the neighborhood level be able to take it?
Autonomous vehicles are not years away from going into commercial operation. They’re already on the road today providing rides to the public. May Mobility and Beep are two of the pioneers in this technology. They’re growing their operations and see a bright future ahead.
The auto industry got clobbered by a shortage of chips. It could also face a shortage of critical materials needed to make batteries and motors for electric cars. The industry needs long term planning to avoid future shortages, and may need the federal government involved to make it happen.
At some point the pandemic will end and people will be able to go back to the office. But many will opt to keep on working from home. The auto industry is trying to figure out how it can accommodate both. In the meantime, it’s learning new processes and etiquette for how people work together online.
Automotive suppliers who make parts for piston engines know their future is threatened by electric cars. They have three choices. 1. jump on the EV bandwagon. 2. ride the piston engine into the sunset. 3. try to make parts for both. So which is the right strategy?
Connected car technology can dramatically improve vehicle efficiency and safety at the same time it slashes emissions. Better still, it costs a fraction of any other way to do this. Some cars already have the technology, and it’s only a matter of time before they all do.
A year ago the future of the Canadian auto industry looked doubtful. But then GM, Ford and Stellantis announced billions of dollars in investments to make electric cars there. Moreover, Canada has all the raw materials needed to make EV batteries and electric motors, as well as a green electric grid to manufacture them. All this transformed the outlook for the Canadian auto industry from bleak to bright.
Automakers must meet government mandates for Zero Emission Vehicles. They’re investing billions of dollars to develop battery electric cars. Yet last year EV sales came to only 1.6% of all vehicles sold. This show explores the challenges and opportunities to selling more electric vehicles.
Automakers around the world are struggling with a shortage of computer chips that is bringing their assembly lines to a grinding halt. How did the industry get caught with this shortage, how is it trying to cope, and how will the problem get resolved? Our panel of experts explains what’s going on, and what needs to happen.
Car dealers are creative and adaptive. They adjusted to lockdowns and social distancing caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and learned how to maintain sales with much lower levels of inventory. Auto analyst and retail expert Maryann Keller explains that they’re also going to outlast EV startups who try to sell direct to consumers.
The auto industry is transforming itself to make electric vehicles. But EVs need 30% fewer labor hours to manufacture and could eliminate tens of thousands of jobs. The UAW is keenly aware of this and is preparing for an all-electric future. Jeff Dokho, the director of the Research Department at the UAW, lays out the union’s plans to prepare for it.
Hydrogen fuel cell cars are not going mainstream anytime soon. But they make a lot of sense in other parts of the transportation sector, such as with semi-trucks, trains and ships. Wall Street is also waking up to the possibilities and investors are sniffing out investment opportunities. Bryan Pivovar, a Senior Research Fellow at the National Renewable Energy Lab, talks about the progress being made in hydrogen production and fuel cell development.