EV inFocus weekly newsletter 28 Jul '23

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Big announcements on future US charging

Following the flurry of announcements on Tesla charging sharing comes the follow-up, seven automakers - GM, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes, Stellantis, and BMW - have announced a JV to create 30,000 new DC fast charging stations across the US highway network and urban environments.?This is a lot – at around one sixth of the anticipated need for the c.40mn EVs expected to be on the road by 2030.

Also this week, EV advocacy group the Zero Emissions Transportation Association (Zeta) discussed the charging future. The report was positive about the potential for renewable power generation and the grid capacity to meet demand, but more sanguine on the preparedness of the charging infrastructure.

This highlights a crucial question for the mass market EV future. How exactly will mainstream EV users keep their vehicles topped up?

Clearly at home, near home and commercial/highway charging all have a role to play; but it is hard to call where the balance will lie, and what that will mean for the owners of forecourts and the everyday EV user experience.

Stellantis going to war on EV future

Stellantis Q2 results provided plenty of material for EV watchers. Firstly in Europe, where CEO Carlos Tavares referenced a "Chinese invasion" of the European market that the e-C3 at a target price point under €25,000 aims to repel.

While the language is punchy, Tavares is smart to put things in these terms. The threat of cheaper Chinese competition in the current tariff environment is very real, so announcing a true value for money, mass-market vehicle with a not-so-subtle appeal to European policy makers seems pretty smart.

Tavares also discussed Stellantis' plans for the US market, where its ownership of Chrysler also covers the Dodge, Jeep and Ram marques. Tavares is promising a?"BEV offensive" in North America, with a plethora of new models - such as the Dodge Charger Daytona, Jeep’s Wagoneer S and Recon, and the Ram 1500 Rev - all coming to market.

And he promises eight BEV options by 2024. “A lot of great highly appealing product is coming under the banner of the BEV offensive in the US,” the Stellantis chief trumpets.

GM talking electric

GM appears to be embracing the EV future more than ever, with a couple of key pledges at its Q2 earnings this week:

• Firstly, the Bolt will live on. GM is, to the surprise of probably no-one, working on a new version of its bestselling EV. Given the Bolt regularly represents 90pc of GM's EV sales in the US, this announcement seems eminently practical. The only question is whether its hybrid approach keeping some of the existing elements but grafting them onto the Ultium platform is better than a new bottom-up Ultium product with the Bolt name on it.
• Secondly, GM discussed its optimism on e-pickups, and in particular adding the Chevrolet Silverado to its existing GMC Hummer EV. Short story, GM is committing more and more to electric; and will have a much broader EV line-up in 12 months time

With all these new commitments, it is perhaps no surprise GM has pledged to stick to its guns on margin, citing back orders on its EV range and fast sales where units are not already allocated. This is in contrast to Tesla's price moves, and reading between the lines, one wonders if this might be a practical choice driven by a constrained supply curve at the incumbent OEM.

A big call

What's the least smart thing to do in the EV world? As plenty of legacy OEM leaderships have found to their cost, underestimating Elon Musk and Tesla's ability to bend the global car-buying world to their will is right up there.

So why is EV inFocus concerned about the Cybertruck? Well, we're definitely not saying it's likely to fail. But what we are saying is it is worth bearing in mind that the Cybertruck is not the Model Y, it faces some very different challenges, and it has a very different recipe on how to succeed. We will see, but it is worth remembering that past performance is never a guarantee of future returns, in any game.

Other news from EV inFocus

Also from EV inFocus this week, Elon Musk again discussed the transformative potential for fully automated self-driving (FSD) vehicles.

FSD is hard to call, and while Tesla is charging $15,000 for the facility this is not necessarily being supported by the used market as yet. What is not in doubt however, is that FSD has vast transformative potential, both for how people do mobility in general, and for the gross margins of FSD winners, who will charge a premium for such a life-transforming technology with paramount safety requirements.?

Fisker announced it was producing 100 limited edition vehicles for the Indian market. It's a somewhat odd announcement given the low quantity, but there may be logic in targeting a potentially big market that is less in focus for others. Of course, it remains to be seen how many Indian consumers will be looking to buy EVs in this price bracket.

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