Good morning! It’s Thursday, December 21, 2023, and that is The Morning Shift, your each day roundup of the highest automotive headlines from all over the world, in a single place. Here are the vital tales you have to know.
1st Gear: Tesla 4680 Battery Holds Up The Cybertruck
Tesla just lately delivered the primary handful of Cybertrucks, however it’s nonetheless a methods away from full-scale mass manufacturing. CEO Elon Musk stated it will in all probability hit an annual manufacturing charge of 250,000 autos in some unspecified time in the future in 2025 (so you possibly can safely wager 2050.) However, one of many important causes Tesla has had bother scaling manufacturing is its 4680 battery packs used within the Cybertruck with its new dry-coasting expertise.
Right now, Tesla’s Gigafactory in Texas is just churning out 4680 battery cells at a charge that’ll energy about 24,000 Cybertrucks per yr. That’s solely a few tenth of the place they need to be, if Musk’s 250,000 items per yr estimate is to be believed. From Reuters:
Being capable of ramp up battery output massively by dry-coating electrodes – slightly than utilizing the slower, extra expensive wet-coating – was a key issue behind Tesla’s forecasts in 2020 that it will greater than halve battery prices, minimize funding considerably, and create smaller, greener factories.
The 9 individuals, who spoke to Reuters on situation of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, stated Tesla had but to crack dry-coating on the industrial scale wanted to make 4680 batteries quick sufficient to hit its manufacturing targets.
The individuals stated dry-coating the anode within the 4680 cells was not problematic however Tesla was fighting the identical method for the cathode – the costliest part in a battery.
Dry-coating anodes and cathodes is confirmed within the laboratory, in addition to for smaller vitality storage units corresponding to tremendous capacitors, and even some small batteries, based on Yuan Gao, a battery expertise marketing consultant.
“But no one has done it so far for large EV batteries at a mass scale and at a high enough speed. Tesla is the first one to try to commercialize this,” stated Gao, who has labored within the trade for 3 many years.
“The challenge is that not only does Tesla have to scale it up and speed up the process, it also must develop its own equipment and tools. It’s daunting to say the least,” he stated.
Reuters stories that three separate sources informed the outlet the 4680 batteries within the Cybertruck embody an estimated 1,360 particular person cells.
That means Tesla would wish to make 340 million cells a yr, or nearly one million a day, to produce 250,000 of the electrical pickups, that are getting into a sizzling market with rivals corresponding to Ford’s F-150 Lightning, Rivian’s R1T and an electrical Hummer from General Motors.
At the second, Tesla’s Austin manufacturing unit takes about 16 weeks to make 10 million 4680 cells, based on Reuters calculations based mostly on figures from Tesla, verified by the three sources.
That interprets to 32.5 million cells a yr, or sufficient for just below 24,000 pickups – and that’s just for the Cybertruck.
Tesla additionally needs to make use of 4680 batteries to energy different autos, most notably the $25,000 small automotive the corporate is scrambling to launch by the mid-2020s.
Tesla has some restricted manufacturing capability for 4680 cells in Fremont, California however its plant there’s primarily for pilot manufacturing. Panasonic, one among Tesla’s long-standing battery suppliers, is planning to construct a minimum of two crops within the United States however has solely simply damaged floor on the primary.
Two of the 9 individuals accustomed to the matter consider Tesla’s progress with scaling up 4680 manufacturing will possible acquire steam, particularly as soon as it achieves stability with the manufacturing know-how on one manufacturing line.
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Tesla’s battery tsar Drew Baglino stated in October that the corporate was now producing 4680 cells on two manufacturing traces in Austin and plans to put in a complete of eight traces there in two phases, with the final 4 resulting from be operating in late 2024.
Still, one of many two individuals stated replicating established know-how from one manufacturing line to the following is not any cakewalk.
The supply stated solely about 5% of cells made on worthwhile manufacturing traces are ditched however scrap charges might shoot as much as 30%-50% and hover there for a number of months as every new line will get going.
Sources informed Reuters that Tesla was struggling to combine the cathode supplies which embody lithium, manganese and nickel, with a binder and stick them to a metallic foil to supply a cathode with out utilizing any moisture. It apparently labored in small quantities, however the entire thing fell aside when Tesla tried to scale it up as a result of warmth melted the binder.
“If you melt the glue, pretty soon everything will become one big chunk of gooey mess,” one of many sources informed Reuters.
These are phrases to dwell by.
2nd Gear: Frontal Crash Prevention Systems Struggle
Frontal crash prevention techniques, like forward-collision warning and computerized emergency braking, are proving to not be very elective at stopping crashes with massive vans and bikes. If you concentrate on it, these two varieties of autos are just about on the intense ends of how huge autos on the street are.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety checked out greater than 160,000 crashes and located that entrance crash prevention techniques diminished rear-end collisions with medium- or heavy-duty vans by 38 p.c. Motorcycles faired barely higher at 41 p.c. However, each are considerably decrease than the 53 p.c discount in rear-end crashes that concerned different passenger autos. From Automotive News:
Researchers used police-reported crash information for 2016-20 model-year passenger autos with and with out computerized emergency braking and forward-collision warning techniques. The crash information was from 2017-21 and lined 18 states.
Medium- and heavy-duty vans, corresponding to supply vans and tractor-trailers, had been outlined as having gross automobile weight rankings of greater than 10,000 kilos and customarily excluded pickups and different gentle vans, based on the examine.
“These reductions are impressive for all vehicle types, but the safety benefits could be even larger if front crash prevention systems were as good at mitigating and preventing crashes with big trucks and motorcycles as they are with cars,” Jessica Cicchino, IIHS’ vp of analysis, stated in a press release Thursday.
If improved, these techniques might stop a further 5,500 crashes a yr with medium- or heavy-duty vans and one other 500 crashes with bikes, the institute stated.
“Motorcycles and large trucks present unique risks,” Cicchino stated. “Along with being hard for other drivers to see, motorcycles don’t have a steel frame surrounding and protecting the rider the way cars do. At the other end of the spectrum, large trucks are so massive that when a passenger car hits one, it’s more likely to be fatal to the people inside the passenger vehicle. The height of large trucks can also result in dangerous underride crashes.”
To additional deal with the expertise’s effectiveness, IIHS is conducting new vehicle-to-vehicle entrance crash prevention evaluations at greater speeds. The institute is rising the pace to 35 to 45 mph after discovering that the sooner take a look at — carried out at each 12 and 25 mph — represented solely a small proportion of the rear-end crashes the techniques are designed to mitigate.
The IIHS examine and take a look at comes as all 20 taking part automakers met a voluntary dedication to equip a minimum of 95 p.c of their light-duty vehicles and vans with computerized emergency braking techniques. We like to see it.
The final handful of automakers — General Motors, JLR, Maserati, Porsche and Kia — just lately met the deadline set within the settlement.
Other automakers, together with Ford, Stellantis, Tesla and Toyota, fulfilled the dedication in earlier years.
NHTSA in May launched a proposal to mandate computerized emergency braking, together with pedestrian detection, on all new light-duty autos. The company additionally set minimal efficiency requirements, calling for techniques that may stop or mitigate frontal crashes at greater speeds and work successfully at the hours of darkness.
If the proposal is adopted, almost all U.S. passenger vehicles and vans can be required to have crash-avoidance expertise that meets plenty of efficiency requirements three years after the rule is finalized. The regulation’s full set of necessities would take impact the next yr.
While I suppose any enchancment to crash security is an enchancment, I really feel like we’ve acquired some room to do higher if this tech is type of leaving bikes and greater autos within the lurch.
third Gear: Don’t Run A Forklift Into A Battery Pack
General Motors says it believes an accident with a forklift is what began that fireside at its Factory Zero plant earlier this week. From the Detroit Free Press:
“Our initial investigation indicates a forklift accidentally punctured a container with battery materials causing the fire,” stated GM spokeswoman Tara Kuhnen. “The investigation continues.”
Both the automaker and the Detroit Fire Department stated earlier they’re persevering with to analyze the reason for the hearth that occurred in a delivery dock space and concerned lithium ion batteries.
GM resumed manufacturing of electrical autos at Factory Zero on Wednesday morning after a hearth stuffed a lot of the plant with heavy smoke the night prior, prompting an evacuation of the constructing and a piece halt.
Kuhnen stated that “most departments are operational again at the plant, including vehicle assembly. All others will be notified by their leadership when to return. Safety remains our overriding priority.”
Kuhnen stated workers who work the primary shift resumed their jobs at the usual time of 6 a.m. Wednesday.
In the late afternoon of December 19, the Detroit Fire Department was referred to as for a three-alarm fireplace on the manufacturing unit. It introduced out 18 fireplace vans and 60 firefighters. The FD was reportedly capable of extinguish the hearth and evacuate the constructing with no accidents. Not too shabby, fellas.
This is the second fireplace on the plant in current months. According to paperwork the Free Press obtained below the state Freedom of Information Act, the Detroit Fire Department stated in an Oct. 25 report there was “an autonomous electric car fire” contained in the manufacturing unit that water sprinklers helped extinguish. The report acknowledged the air flow system was not working accurately and didn’t enable smoke to exit the constructing in a well timed method. The automotive fireplace consisted of a “battery fire, toxins and smoke was in the air.”
Kuhnen stated: “Our investigation into the incident on October 25th indicates all safety systems operated correctly. We learned that the cause was a non-battery related component that has since been corrected.”
I consider you probably have a 3rd manufacturing unit fireplace in the identical fiscal yr, it’s really free. Fingers crossed GM doesn’t have to seek out out.
4th Gear: Toyota Recalls 1.1 Million Vehicles
Toyota is recalling about 1.1 million Toyota and Lexus autos all over the world due to malfunctioning sensors that would stop the airbags from deploying in a crash. This is lower than best. From Automotive News:
The affected Toyota fashions are the 2020-21 Avalon and Avalon Hybrid; 2020-22 Camry and Camry Hybrid; 2020-21 Corolla; 2020-21 Highlander and Highlander Hybrid; 2020-21 RAV4 and RAV4 Hybrid and 2021 Sienna Hybrid.
Lexus fashions affected by the recall are the 2021 ES 250; 2020-22 ES 300h; and 2020-21 ES 350, RX 350 and RX 450h.
“The subject vehicles have Occupant Classification System … sensors in the front passenger seat that could have been improperly manufactured, causing a short circuit,” Toyota stated in a information launch. “This would not allow the airbag system to properly classify the occupant’s weight, and the airbag may not deploy as designed in certain crashes, increasing the risk of injury.”
[…]
To repair the defect, sellers will examine the sensors and substitute them as mandatory.
Vehicle house owners might be notified in February.
A spokesperson for Toyota declined to touch upon whether or not there had been any accidents, accidents or deaths associated to the difficulty, based on AutoNews.
Reverse: I Want An Alfa Romeo Spider
Neutral: Watch Me Slowly Make Myself Car Sick
On The Radio: Bing Crosby – “White Christmas”
Source: jalopnik.com