Fisker’s Recall, VinFast VF3, and Ram’s First Electric Pickup

[00:00:21] [SPEAKER_01]: Hello everyone and welcome to Kilowatt, a podcast about Electric Vehicles, Renewable Energy,

[00:00:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Autonomous Driving and Much Much More.

[00:00:26] [SPEAKER_01]: My name is Bodhi and I am your host at this episode.

[00:00:29] [SPEAKER_01]: We have news to talk about but before we get to that it's been a little bit since

[00:00:34] [SPEAKER_01]: I've thanked our supporters on Patreon and our supporters on Acast.

[00:00:40] [SPEAKER_01]: So if you don't know, you can support the show by going to patreon.com for this

[00:00:43] [SPEAKER_01]: slash Kilowatt or support Kilowatt.com, you can also look in the show notes and you'll find a link

[00:00:49] [SPEAKER_01]: to our Acast Plus subscription service.

[00:00:53] [SPEAKER_01]: So it kind of works the same way as Patreon.

[00:00:55] [SPEAKER_01]: If you sign up at any level, you get an ad for the experience.

[00:00:59] [SPEAKER_01]: It's just whatever level you feel most comfortable with supporting the show at.

[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_01]: And let's start with our Acast Plus members.

[00:01:06] [SPEAKER_01]: We are going to start with Ravi, Sean, Giel Hole, Analytical Agnostic and I think that's

[00:01:13] [SPEAKER_01]: let me make sure.

[00:01:15] [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, that's everybody supporting us on the Acast Plus feed.

[00:01:22] [SPEAKER_01]: And then we're not going to read everybody off today on the Patreon feed.

[00:01:26] [SPEAKER_01]: I'll cover this over a couple of days.

[00:01:28] [SPEAKER_01]: Simply because we have a lot, we have a lot of supporters.

[00:01:31] [SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to recognize everybody and give them their place to shine rather than just

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_01]: lead a read up a bunch of names off all at once.

[00:01:42] [SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to start with our 2018 supporters all the way up to 2020.

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_01]: And of course, we'll start with James, our number one and first supporter of this podcast.

[00:01:54] [SPEAKER_01]: And you can also go check out James at true North EVs podcast if you are so inclined.

[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_01]: And then we have Mark, Nate, Cameron, Don Dale, Chris, Chip and Tomasso.

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_01]: Thank you all so much for supporting the show.

[00:02:10] [SPEAKER_01]: It really does mean a lot.

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_01]: And these are, I mean, many of you are OG supporters.

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_01]: These folks are OG OG supporters.

[00:02:20] [SPEAKER_01]: So thank you so much for supporting the show.

[00:02:22] [SPEAKER_01]: And if you didn't hear your name this time, don't worry.

[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_01]: Over the next couple of shows, I'm going to make sure to mention everybody.

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_01]: I do think it's important that you get the actual recognition and credit you deserve.

[00:02:35] [SPEAKER_01]: And if I read off all of these names, I think it would just get it to get lost in the shuffle.

[00:02:41] [SPEAKER_01]: So what I'm trying to do is I want to make sure everybody feels appreciated because I do appreciate you.

[00:02:47] [SPEAKER_01]: All right, we have some other things we need to cover before we get into our news.

[00:02:53] [SPEAKER_01]: The first thing is, as I mentioned Allison's podcast last week and I said it was

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_01]: to go to nozillacast.com or nozillacast.com to subscribe to her podcast.

[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_01]: It's podfeed.com because everything good begins with podfeed.com.

[00:03:09] [SPEAKER_01]: So please go to podfeed.com and subscribe to what Allison's working on.

[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_01]: And then I have a little recommendation for you.

[00:03:19] [SPEAKER_01]: So Patrick over at carswithcoords.net.

[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_01]: He has a really cool article about solar panel degradation.

[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_01]: It's short but informative and he is tracking the degradation of his two solar panel systems on his house.

[00:03:34] [SPEAKER_01]: The first one he had installed in 2017 and the second was in 2015.

[00:03:39] [SPEAKER_01]: This is particularly interesting to me because my solar panels, my first system was installed in

[00:03:45] [SPEAKER_01]: 2008, might have been 2009 it was real close into that.

[00:03:49] [SPEAKER_01]: And the second was installed in 2013 or 2014.

[00:03:53] [SPEAKER_01]: So we're real close on our panels as to when they were installed.

[00:03:58] [SPEAKER_01]: So this was good information and if you're interested in that kind of thing, go to carswithcoords.net

[00:04:05] [SPEAKER_01]: and I'll put a link in the show notes as well.

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_01]: All right, let's go ahead and start with our news.

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_01]: VINFAST has opened pre-orders on the VF3 in Philippines and in Vietnam.

[00:04:19] [SPEAKER_01]: So if you're not familiar with the VF3, this is their teeny tiny small super affordable SUV.

[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_01]: Like I'm talking like 15,000 US dollars affordable and it's probably that's probably high.

[00:04:31] [SPEAKER_01]: It's probably closer to $12,000 so if you live in those two countries, congratulations because

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_01]: you're going to get a really cool affordable car.

[00:04:43] [SPEAKER_01]: Good news if you put a pre-order payment down on a RAM EV pickup truck, RAM is getting ready

[00:04:49] [SPEAKER_01]: to start shipping its first electric truck the RAM 1500 rev.

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_01]: This isn't the cool concept that was introduced to CS in 2023 because that truck was

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_01]: not only was it stunning in person it was full of the coolest technology that you would want

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_01]: including wireless charging. This is a much more subdued version, looks like a regular RAM pickup truck

[00:05:15] [SPEAKER_01]: but it's got some pretty good specs in terms of electric pickup specs.

[00:05:21] [SPEAKER_01]: It's capable of towing 14,000 pounds. It has a payload of 2,700 pounds,

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_01]: 800 volt architecture which for the consumer all they need to know is it's going to charge really fast.

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_01]: We're talking 110 miles of range in 10 minutes which is impressive but I'd like to know

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_01]: how long does it take you to get to 250 miles and 300 miles. I bet you it's not an apple to apples

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_01]: comparison but the RAM 1500 rev is coming with a pretty sizable battery pack options so

[00:05:54] [SPEAKER_01]: it's still probably going to be pretty fast. You're looking at 168 kilowatt hours for the smallest

[00:06:00] [SPEAKER_01]: battery pack and 229 kilowatt hours for the largest that'll get you between 350 and 500 miles of

[00:06:08] [SPEAKER_01]: its expected to start in the upper 60,000 dollar range and they are coming to a dealership near you

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_01]: early 2025. I'm curious if anyone in the community is thinking about purchasing one of these trucks

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_01]: or if they put a pre-order down if you did or you want to purchase one of these vehicles

[00:06:28] [SPEAKER_01]: send me an email tell me why it's BODIE at 9188digital.com

[00:06:33] [SPEAKER_01]: like why are you interested in the RAM over the Ford or the Chevy pickup or even the Cybertruck

[00:06:39] [SPEAKER_01]: and Fiskar not Fiskar that's our next story. Even the Cybertruck or the Rivian R1T just kind of

[00:06:47] [SPEAKER_01]: curious as what your thought process is on it because I do think it's a good looking truck but it

[00:06:52] [SPEAKER_01]: looks like a regular RAM truck it's not. I was really hoping for the RAM rev concept that they showed

[00:06:59] [SPEAKER_01]: it's EES. Let's see Fiskar Ocean that's our next story. I'm actually working on a series of episodes

[00:07:08] [SPEAKER_01]: for the Fiskar Ocean so that's why I haven't talked about it a lot lately because there has been

[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_01]: Fiskar Ocean news I'm just collecting those stories and I'm working through the Fiskar Ocean

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_01]: timeline let's put it that way so I'm hoping to have that episode out sometime in closer to

[00:07:27] [SPEAKER_01]: holidays because it's a lot more work than I thought I was going to be but this is this one

[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_01]: particular story is a story that I cannot wait for we have to address it right now. Fiskar is issued

[00:07:39] [SPEAKER_01]: a few recalls some of the issues include a submassipower incorrectly displaying warning lights

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_01]: and reduction in region breaking those recalls can be resolved with a over-the-ear update.

[00:07:53] [SPEAKER_01]: The other two recalls that they have which are faulty door handles and a problem with electric

[00:07:59] [SPEAKER_01]: water pump those are going to have to go in and actually be repaired so initially Fiskar told owners

[00:08:06] [SPEAKER_01]: that Fiskar would pay for all of the parts but the cost of the labor would have to come out of the

[00:08:12] [SPEAKER_01]: owner's pocket which I'm going to be honest with you not very many Fiskar owners were happy with

[00:08:19] [SPEAKER_01]: that decision. Fiskar ultimately did reverse that terrible terrible decision and they have decided

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_01]: that they will pay for the labor as well which is you know the right thing to do. I am still rooting

[00:08:34] [SPEAKER_01]: for Fiskar to figure this out but goodness gracious it does seem like they keep kicking themselves

[00:08:40] [SPEAKER_01]: in the crotch. There is and I'm not going to talk about it here but there is a class action lawsuit

[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_01]: which is actually it's a class action lawsuit against Chase through some of the Fiskar owners

[00:08:53] [SPEAKER_01]: because Chase I guess was the preferred lender for the vehicles so there's a there's some lawsuit going

[00:08:59] [SPEAKER_01]: through right now or starting up. So if your Fiskar ocean owner you should you know look into that

[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure you've already received plenty of letters and phone calls but yeah we'll talk about

[00:09:12] [SPEAKER_01]: when we do our big Fiskar ocean our Fiskar motors episode but I do want to say that I really hope

[00:09:19] [SPEAKER_01]: that that particular episode has a happy ending for both Fiskar and Fiskar owners. It may be

[00:09:28] [SPEAKER_01]: out too early to tell for sure but yeah all right since we talked about one recall let's talk

[00:09:34] [SPEAKER_01]: about another recall Volkswagen has halted the sale of the ID for there's an issue with faulty door

[00:09:41] [SPEAKER_01]: so what can happen is water can seep through and the door handles an end up causing damage

[00:09:47] [SPEAKER_01]: to the printed circuit board and then in turn with this water damage it could potentially give

[00:09:54] [SPEAKER_01]: an open command to the door while the vehicle is in motion which we don't want doors just opening

[00:10:00] [SPEAKER_01]: randomly that's not good. The recall affects 98,886 ID fors the years affected are 2021 to 2024

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER_01]: despite they're being a recall VW doesn't have a Fiskiat but I do think it's important that

[00:10:16] [SPEAKER_01]: they are addressing this for sure. VW has also furloughed 200 employees from their chat and

[00:10:23] [SPEAKER_01]: you could Tennessee plant the employees will still receive benefits like insurance stuff like that

[00:10:30] [SPEAKER_01]: but they all have to go on unemployment during the furlough. VW has committed to make up the

[00:10:39] [SPEAKER_01]: years we'll receive their unemployment and then VW will kick in a certain amount to get them to 80%

[00:10:46] [SPEAKER_01]: of whatever their salary is and again they'll get to keep their benefits. What I do think is a

[00:10:53] [SPEAKER_01]: nearly best case scenario when you're looking at furloughing 200 employees

[00:10:59] [SPEAKER_01]: and then since we're kind of on the subject of Volkswagen Neo the Chinese automaker wants to take

[00:11:06] [SPEAKER_01]: over a manufacturing plant owned by Audi and located in Belgium in order to avoid paying up to

[00:11:15] [SPEAKER_01]: 38% in EU import duties or tariffs which is 38% is pretty high the European Union recently implemented

[00:11:26] [SPEAKER_01]: these import duties on Chinese autom manufacturers because of the amount of subsidies the

[00:11:32] [SPEAKER_01]: new automakers receive from the Chinese government so they want to create a level playing field

[00:11:38] [SPEAKER_01]: according to the folks making these decisions. Neo is not the only company that's doing this when we

[00:11:45] [SPEAKER_01]: talked to Bart last time but then we were going to talk to Bart soon. When we talked to Bart last

[00:11:50] [SPEAKER_01]: time he had mentioned that he thought BYD had a plant in Turkey which sounds like that's still happening

[00:11:57] [SPEAKER_01]: to avoid these tariffs I would imagine that all these manufacturers are going to start

[00:12:03] [SPEAKER_01]: spinning up plants in European Union countries so that they can avoid you know I don't know if

[00:12:09] [SPEAKER_01]: they still have to pay some tariffs on this but avoid paying as much of the import duties will say as possible

[00:12:17] [SPEAKER_01]: and then one more Neo story before we move on to Tesla Neo is delivering the recently revamped

[00:12:24] [SPEAKER_01]: EL8 SUV in Europe and it's not coming to all European countries yet but if you live in Denmark

[00:12:31] [SPEAKER_01]: Germany nor way Sweden or the Netherlands which I know we have a lot of listeners that live in

[00:12:37] [SPEAKER_01]: that region of Europe. Congratulations you're going to get a really cool car soon or you have the ability

[00:12:43] [SPEAKER_01]: to buy a really cool car soon and this new EL8 is built on the NT 2.0 platform so you're getting

[00:12:52] [SPEAKER_01]: the latest technology in this refresh for the EL8. Ok, but is it for our EV news let's go ahead and jump

[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_01]: into our Tesla news? The Tesla Power Wall 3 is now available in Western Australia and it costs

[00:13:10] [SPEAKER_01]: between 13,990 and 15,990 Australian dollars if this kind of ball depends on who's installing it

[00:13:19] [SPEAKER_01]: in your utility company you know that stuff there's a bunch of things in the art of cardacles that

[00:13:23] [SPEAKER_01]: all have had prices so I'm not going to go into that so if you want a power wall in the

[00:13:28] [SPEAKER_01]: Lebanon Western Australia be sure to check out you know whoever's your installer in your area

[00:13:34] [SPEAKER_01]: and get all the incentives that you possibly can these power walls are coming with a 10 year warranty

[00:13:39] [SPEAKER_01]: which I think is great. Cyberchart deliveries have started in Mexico and we'll start in Canada

[00:13:46] [SPEAKER_01]: next month and listen I think this is great that they are expanding to Canada in Mexico.

[00:13:55] [SPEAKER_01]: I have a little concern about demand here in the United States because we had let's see I

[00:14:05] [SPEAKER_01]: think it was November I'm going to look at November 30th 2023 was the big delivery event the Tesla

[00:14:13] [SPEAKER_01]: and a handful of people got their cyber trucks and then a few more owners received

[00:14:19] [SPEAKER_01]: theirs in the first three months of 2024 but it didn't feel like like production was really rampant

[00:14:26] [SPEAKER_01]: up until almost summer like April May of 2024 so I want to be really careful with how I say this

[00:14:33] [SPEAKER_01]: because I'm not saying that nobody wants to buy the cyber truck but I would be curious is

[00:14:38] [SPEAKER_01]: how much demand Tesla has for the cyber truck in the United States right now because I'm pretty sure

[00:14:47] [SPEAKER_01]: that the people at least early on putting down the reservations for the cyber truck were in the

[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_01]: US and you know Tesla had however many hundreds of thousands of reservations I don't think they've

[00:15:00] [SPEAKER_01]: delivered hundreds of thousands of cyber trucks at this point so what I'm saying is I'm not trying to

[00:15:08] [SPEAKER_01]: the cyber truck I'm trying to figure out where actual demand sits for this vehicle because Tesla

[00:15:16] [SPEAKER_01]: did offer a lower cost cyber truck for a short amount of time I don't even know if they built any

[00:15:22] [SPEAKER_01]: of them but they offered it and then they quickly decided they weren't going to do that so

[00:15:27] [SPEAKER_01]: there's a lot of questions that I have that need to be answered and maybe we'll get those in the Q3

[00:15:33] [SPEAKER_01]: 2024 earnings call or maybe even the Q4 2024 earnings call simply because you know Tesla's not

[00:15:41] [SPEAKER_01]: separating out the sales of the cyber truck the Model S and the Model X those are all together

[00:15:48] [SPEAKER_01]: so we don't really have any solid sales numbers on the cyber truck I just like to know where it is

[00:15:54] [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not saying I'm concerned I'm just saying I have questions

[00:15:59] [SPEAKER_01]: all right let's move on this is kind of a Tesla story here but and thank you to Steve Shared

[00:16:06] [SPEAKER_01]: and for passing this along GM EVs canal charge on the supercharger network this is great this is absolutely

[00:16:13] [SPEAKER_01]: great problem is when Rivion EVs got access to the supercharger network Rivion gave every owner

[00:16:21] [SPEAKER_01]: an adapter for free and Ford did the same thing they gave their folks a CCS or an ACS

[00:16:29] [SPEAKER_01]: a CCS adapter free for a certain period of time and then after that you'd have to buy it which

[00:16:34] [SPEAKER_01]: I think is fair GM customers are not going to get that they're going to have to pay $225

[00:16:39] [SPEAKER_01]: for the adapter but if they do that they will have access to 232,000 public charges

[00:16:48] [SPEAKER_01]: which don't all include superchargers there's only 17,800 of those that are superchargers

[00:16:54] [SPEAKER_01]: now here's the interesting bit that Steve passed along the Chevy Bolt can also charge on the

[00:16:59] [SPEAKER_01]: supercharger network the Chevy Bolt well it's a great car no shade to the Chevy Bolt it's a great

[00:17:06] [SPEAKER_01]: car or anybody who drives one because I recommend them to people all the time who are looking for

[00:17:11] [SPEAKER_01]: like affordable EVs and they they don't want to pay a lot and they're okay with buying used

[00:17:16] [SPEAKER_01]: Chevy Bolt's great unfortunately it's one of the slowest charging EVs even in DC fast charging

[00:17:23] [SPEAKER_01]: EVs on the market it's got like a maximum charger rate of 55 kilowatts which is really slow

[00:17:30] [SPEAKER_01]: like the model why or assuming the model 3 real rear wheel drive rear wheel drive

[00:17:37] [SPEAKER_01]: contiguous that is 170 kilowatts that was an inside joke so if only one person got that joke

[00:17:45] [SPEAKER_01]: that's all that that joke was for anyway my point is to this is there's probably going to be

[00:17:51] [SPEAKER_01]: some people who are unhappy to see the Chevy Bolt showing up and charging on the supercharging at

[00:18:00] [SPEAKER_01]: work just because it is so slow and depending on how the superchargers are configured

[00:18:08] [SPEAKER_01]: you know might be double parked in charging slow which is even gonna cause more frustration

[00:18:14] [SPEAKER_01]: I will say though that one supercharger that I was talking about that said the Home Depot close to my house

[00:18:21] [SPEAKER_01]: that one has the superchargers set up in a way that I haven't seen I don't think I've actually seen

[00:18:29] [SPEAKER_01]: any third party EVs charging there I think of only seeing Tesla's but I would like to see some

[00:18:35] [SPEAKER_01]: because it's got one that you can pull through so if you had a trailer you could actually

[00:18:39] [SPEAKER_01]: charge without having done hook your trailer and then the way they're configured it looks like it would be

[00:18:45] [SPEAKER_01]: more convenient to charge a Rivian or a Ford

[00:18:49] [SPEAKER_01]: because they have that charge port up front so because I own a nearly 40 year old house I go to

[00:18:55] [SPEAKER_01]: Home Depot a lot so I'll make sure to keep my eyes open over there and I'll make sure to report back

[00:19:00] [SPEAKER_01]: I might even jump outside my comfort zone and actually try to talk to somebody at the supercharger

[00:19:07] [SPEAKER_01]: that's unlikely to happen because I am introverted but I'll do it for you

[00:19:14] [SPEAKER_01]: all right let's get a move on here Tesla's producing nearly 546 80 battery sales a day

[00:19:22] [SPEAKER_01]: so just for a point of reference this is a good number but for a point of reference they produced

[00:19:28] [SPEAKER_01]: 50 million 4680 battery sales from September of 2022 to June of 2024 50 million in four years right just

[00:19:38] [SPEAKER_01]: under four years from June of 2024 to September they produced a total of 100 million cells so they produced

[00:19:47] [SPEAKER_01]: another 50 million cells in three months which basically they doubled production in 101 days

[00:19:56] [SPEAKER_01]: that's that's pretty good pretty good so congratulations to the Tesla team on that and then as we get

[00:20:03] [SPEAKER_01]: closer to the end of the quarter we're coming up on yet another push to sell cars and have people

[00:20:12] [SPEAKER_01]: take delivery of them Tesla's offering yet again the FSD transfer if you buy a new Tesla

[00:20:18] [SPEAKER_01]: on top of that they are giving you a thousand dollar discount off your car so Elon said

[00:20:24] [SPEAKER_01]: at the shareholders meeting oh we'll do it one more time I said that's nonsense they're

[00:20:29] [SPEAKER_01]: going to do it every time make suits them and is convenient to them and so far

[00:20:33] [SPEAKER_01]: I have been proven to be right on that so the deal is though if you want to take advantage of

[00:20:42] [SPEAKER_01]: the FSD transfer you're going to have to take delivery of your vehicle before the end of September

[00:20:47] [SPEAKER_01]: and you know what that thousand dollar discount you still you still got to take a delivery of the

[00:20:53] [SPEAKER_01]: vehicle before the end of September all right everybody that is it for me today I hope you all

[00:21:00] [SPEAKER_01]: had or have a wonderful weekend and I will talk to you on Tuesday oh yeah if you want to email

[00:21:08] [SPEAKER_01]: me you can it's BODIE at 918 Digital.com you can also find me on x at 918 Digital and now they said

[00:21:17] [SPEAKER_00]: that it's time to say goodbye. Can't do this to best morgens and eyelets he's channeled I'm

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[00:21:58] [SPEAKER_00]: rain just the disc in the dream and the rest that's after your washing machine

[00:22:03] [SPEAKER_00]: because you always have your best there are try now the best discs from Pasi out of the