GM, Rivian, and Fisker News

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[00:01:24] Hello everyone and welcome to Kilowatt a podcast about electric vehicles, renewable energy,

[00:01:39] autonomous driving and much much more. My name is Bodhi and I am your host and on today's episode

[00:01:46] it's going to be short. A couple of different reasons for that. One is I have to put my cat down today

[00:01:54] so I'm recording at six o'clock in the morning so I can make sure to be there at 745 for the appointment

[00:02:03] which is a bummer. The other reason it's going to be short is there just wasn't a lot of news

[00:02:08] to choose from and so we have a fix for that because Alison and Steve Sheridan are so kind. They

[00:02:16] continue giving me content when they were at CES. I genuinely have no idea how they're able to get

[00:02:23] all of this content. I got maybe eight interviews total when I was at CES. They got, I don't even know

[00:02:30] how many. I think they've given me eight interviews to this point and Alison has a lot more on the

[00:02:35] NoCilla cast so I'm going to encourage everyone to go listen to the NoCilla cast, go subscribe and

[00:02:41] we'll talk about that a little bit later but I'll make sure to put a link in the show notes.

[00:02:46] All right let's get into our EV news. I want to start off with a correction.

[00:02:51] And Alison pointed this out to me yesterday. Last episode I said that BP Pulse was going to order

[00:02:59] one million superchargers, V4 superchargers from Tesla. What I should have said was they were

[00:03:06] ordering 100 million dollars worth of V4 superchargers from Tesla and if you don't know who BP Pulse is

[00:03:16] that's British petroleum EV charging side of the company. All right. I think what we're going to do

[00:03:23] here is we are going to do our Tesla news first because we don't have very much Tesla news at all.

[00:03:29] Just two stories and then we'll move on to our EV news. Elon said on X that he thinks the Tesla

[00:03:36] Optimus robot would cost less than half of what a Tesla car costs which is a pretty wide range when

[00:03:43] you think about it because a Tesla car could cost anywhere between 40 thousand dollars and 160

[00:03:50] thousand dollars so someone on X asked if the price would be around 25 thousand to 30 thousand to

[00:03:57] kind of get some clarification. Elon said that it would be even less than that over time.

[00:04:03] We will see I would feel comfortable paying between 14 and 20 thousand dollars for a robot

[00:04:13] that could do all of my housework that would do all of my yard work and would also do all of the

[00:04:22] cooking that I didn't want to do. I actually enjoy cooking. I don't enjoy the other things

[00:04:28] but it would have to be like flawless and work every single time. I'm not going to buy something

[00:04:35] hoping that it will work and all it will do is vacuum and it can't walk upstairs or downstairs.

[00:04:41] That's that's not something I'm interested in. Next up full self driving version 12.3

[00:04:50] acts more like a human driver according to some so according to the article I read

[00:04:57] it makes riskier choices at times like a human wood such as turning in front of oncoming traffic

[00:05:02] with tighter gaps instead of waiting excessively. So I have experienced this with older versions of

[00:05:10] FSD. For example, I was in my oldest car with her boyfriend and they were showing me some of the

[00:05:19] new features and we came up to a intersection four-way intersection with a light

[00:05:26] and it's a busy intersection and we needed to make a right turn. The full self driving would not

[00:05:33] make that right turn even though it was safe. It just was really hesitant to do that.

[00:05:38] So we were like you know what let's go around and do it again. Second time it did the same thing

[00:05:44] and they were trying to show me something specific and I don't remember exactly what it was so

[00:05:49] we went around a third time and the third time we went to that same intersection it was much busier

[00:05:55] and then the car decided that it was like not a full speed but at a very fat speed make that

[00:06:01] same right turn. The point of that story is to say is that in none of the cases in the three times

[00:06:08] that we tried to accomplish this task did the car act like it was a human. It did not act in a way

[00:06:17] that any of us there's three people in the car would have expected it to react. So apparently version 12.3

[00:06:25] is more human like so it would react in a way that you would expect and that's good because

[00:06:31] you don't want to be surprised as the quote unquote driver but also there's a certain expectation

[00:06:37] from other drivers on how you're going to react in certain situations because we've created

[00:06:42] social norms when it comes to driving. So anyway moving on with this FSD 12.3 is better at detecting

[00:06:50] pedestrians and obstructions there is still some issues with critical disengagement related to

[00:06:56] the system not properly recognizing or handling things like closed roads but overall it sounds

[00:07:02] like version 12.3 is a big improvement which is what you want to see when you have software you don't

[00:07:09] want to see degradation you want to see improvements. All right let's move into our EV news. Rivion

[00:07:16] is shedding down their normal Illinois factory from April 5th to April 30th for retooling. The whole

[00:07:22] purpose of this is to reduce production costs and increase production rate they're going to increase

[00:07:27] the production rate by about 30% and I don't know if we'll see this or not but I'm hoping that we see

[00:07:33] the change to the next connector on Rivians at this time. I could be wrong like that's nobody's

[00:07:40] nobody's even reporting that that's just the me thing I'm really hoping we see that.

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[00:08:17] Hi this is Bachelors Clues from Game of Roses of course and I want to talk about club

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[00:08:29] almost 70 resorts worldwide ranging from beach side destinations in the Caribbean in Mexico

[00:08:36] to exotic locations like the Maldives and Morocco or even the mountain destinations like Japan

[00:08:43] and the European Alps. Dine on delicious gourmet cuisine, enjoy more than 20 activities

[00:08:49] and make memories with your family. For more information visit clubmed.us or call 1-800-clubmed

[00:08:57] or your travel advisor. Solid State battery developer QuantumScape has delivered prototype alpha 2

[00:09:08] cells to automotive OEMs for testing according to QuantumScape the alpha 2 cells are more energy

[00:09:15] dense than the alpha 0 cells thanks to a higher cathode loading and more efficient packaging I would

[00:09:24] hope so. The OEM customers are going to test the performance parameters and reliability ahead

[00:09:31] of the release of QSE-5 which is the this is what alpha 2 will eventually turn into so they're

[00:09:41] going to have some build samples of QSE-5 batteries in 2024 when I first started this podcast

[00:09:50] Solid State batteries which don't have a liquid electrolyte that's why they're solid state. Solid

[00:09:54] State batteries were like the holy grail in battery technology because they're less likely to catch

[00:10:00] on fire I know a few weeks ago we have Dave Mullin of Mullin out of Motovon and he said Solid State

[00:10:06] batteries don't catch on fire that is not true anything with energy in it can catch on fire but it's

[00:10:11] much less likely to catch on fire with Solid State batteries and then Solid State batteries they

[00:10:18] don't have as much of a charging curve so you can charge to 100% and there's not as much degradation

[00:10:25] in that battery but also that charging curve that you get with our standard lithium ion batteries

[00:10:30] that we have now is it goes really fast to about 80% and then it's really slow to get the rest of the

[00:10:37] way. It's not quite as dramatic with the Solid State batteries they can be fully charged more quickly

[00:10:45] and then finally the batteries can be much smaller and lighter and more energy dense which we all

[00:10:50] know for an EV that's really important so if quantum scape can make a Solid State battery work

[00:10:56] that's that's huge. Speaking of batteries GMs in talks with CATL to license the battery companies

[00:11:03] more affordable LFP battery technology if the deal moves forward GM and CATL will actually build

[00:11:12] a factory in North America. Last episode we talked a little bit about Stellantis laying off

[00:11:18] around 400 employees was looking now like Stellantis is offering voluntary layoffs with the folks

[00:11:25] in their Fiat plants in Italy. Stellantis is signed deals with the unions so I don't exactly

[00:11:32] I don't fully understand what voluntary layoffs include but I would guess that you can just

[00:11:39] volunteer not to work there anymore to get some sort of severance package. Speaking of reducing

[00:11:46] the number of workers for it is reducing the number of workers in their Jairborne Michigan plant

[00:11:51] and more specifically the plant that builds the Ford F-150 Lightning. F-150 Lightning sales have

[00:11:59] slowed they only sold around 24,000 lightenings in 2023 I figured there would have been not more than

[00:12:05] that but I was wrong. Currently Ford has 2,100 workers building the F-150 lightenings so 700

[00:12:13] workers are going to remain at that plant. 700 workers will move over to build the Ford Ranger

[00:12:19] or the Bronco and then 700 workers will either take a retirement package or they can be reassigned

[00:12:27] to another factory in Southeast Michigan so it's good to know that these folks aren't necessarily

[00:12:34] losing their jobs they have other opportunities to make money in different plants. It's sad a little

[00:12:40] bit that they are not selling as many F-150 lightenings as they could. I wonder how much the dealers

[00:12:49] play into this because dealers are overcharging for EVs by about $7,500 which happens to be with

[00:12:57] that IRA tax credit is the federal tax credit here in the United States but there are some dealers that

[00:13:03] are even charging more than that over what the sticker price is. A Hyundai dealer was charging an

[00:13:10] additional $20,000 for the Ionic 5 in which is the performance model of the Ionic 5 and I'm sure

[00:13:19] that dealer has some justification as to why they're charging $20,000 more than it should cost

[00:13:25] but from this consumer standpoint my standpoint it looks like greed and I don't like it. Let's move on

[00:13:33] Kia will start producing their EV9 electric SUV in the United States this May which is very

[00:13:41] exciting they're going to build it at their West Point Georgia factory and Kia expects that the

[00:13:48] US built EV9 will qualify for the full $7,500 tax credit in 2025 not before that in 2025 and actually

[00:13:59] what they said was buy 2025 but let's just assume that it's in 2025 that way you know what you're

[00:14:08] getting into but the EV9 might be the first vehicle that qualifies for the $7,500 tax credit here

[00:14:15] in the United States from Kia or Hyundai or Genesis. I know that you can get the tax credit if you lease

[00:14:23] some of these vehicles so you know check with the IRS website and your dealer to make sure that

[00:14:29] that is the case but this would actually qualify for the full tax credit if you bought it there's

[00:14:35] different rules for leasing and I don't exactly know why but anyway if you're looking for a really

[00:14:41] nice big SUV the Kia EV9 is a good option man I feel really worthy today. I feel like I have to

[00:14:50] say a lot of words to say something very simple maybe it's just because it's a very early in the

[00:14:56] morning and I can't I haven't finished my coffee and I'm also slurring my words and I swear to

[00:15:00] you I'm stone cold sober I'm just very tired I had a very long night. Let's move on to our final

[00:15:07] story which is all about Fiskar let's start off with something you're probably not expecting and

[00:15:13] that is Fiskar misplaced millions of dollars worth of customer payments so you paid for your car

[00:15:22] Fiskar lost that money they have no idea where it went they launched an internal audit

[00:15:27] that spanned several months to find these missing payments and I don't even know if they found

[00:15:32] all of them some of the checks were not cashed at all or some just weren't cashed in a timely manner

[00:15:38] some were just lost which is a huge problem we mentioned on a recent show the consumer reports

[00:15:45] recently bought a Fiskar ocean and Fiskar's actually went back and said hey we can't find the $68,000

[00:15:53] dollar check that you sent us can you send us another one which is that's you know problematic

[00:16:01] Heinrich Fiskar is a really accomplished designer he doesn't seem to be a very good CEO and I'm not

[00:16:06] saying that to be mean or anything like that he said I think three automotive companies at this point

[00:16:12] two for sure and they have not worked out and honestly I don't want to talk a bunch of trash about

[00:16:18] Fiskar or their team or Gita Gupta Fiskar I don't have no desire to talk trash but anybody from the

[00:16:28] Fiskar team but when you're a new startup you can't make these kinds of mistakes

[00:16:33] you just can't there there's there's not a world where this is going to work out in your favor

[00:16:39] these processes need to be in place so that you get every single dime that you are due and if you

[00:16:46] don't put these processes in place you are letting down your shareholders you are letting down

[00:16:52] your employees and you're letting down your customers and I should say if I haven't said it already

[00:16:58] this was temporary it sounds like they've found most if not all of the money but still that

[00:17:05] that's an unforced error all right we have one more Fiskar story Fiskar has reduced the price on

[00:17:13] some of their existing inventory the 2023 models you can now purchase a Fiskar Ocean Extreme for

[00:17:21] $37,500 which is down $24,000 that's a insane price drop you can get a Fiskar Ocean Ultra for

[00:17:34] $35,000 which is down $18,000 and then you can get the Ocean Sport for $25,000 which is

[00:17:44] down $14,000 from the original price at the moment Fiskar is currently sitting on right around

[00:17:52] $200 million worth of inventory that if they were actually able to get rid of it to sell it

[00:18:00] that would put them in a slightly better financial position than they are currently

[00:18:06] would you purchase one of these Fiskar Oceans email me bodiebediode at 918digital.com

[00:18:16] all right next up we have a clip from Alison and Steve Sheridan who again were so kind to share

[00:18:24] their CES content with me in this interview Alison interviews the folks from pack motor which is

[00:18:30] PAC motor about their electric motor for kayaks and I'm not going to lie I instantly like this

[00:18:39] product for one reason and one reason only is I've been seeing a lot of content on TikTok with people

[00:18:47] being in their kayaks like cruising around and then a shark comes up and either takes a bite out

[00:18:52] of the kayak or bumps it or is just swimming around I realize this device probably won't get you

[00:18:59] away from from the shark and it will probably irritate the shark to attack you more but for whatever

[00:19:05] reason if I was in a kayak in an area with a bunch of sharks I would want something like this just

[00:19:11] because I'm a coward so yeah so let's go ahead and listen to the interview and then I have a

[00:19:17] special deal for you on the other end of the interview so make sure to stay tuned.

[00:19:23] The last night we learned about a portable outboard motor that was an electric motor for boats or

[00:19:29] for using as a scooter now I'm in the pack motor booth I'm with Michael and Matthew Becker who are

[00:19:35] going to tell us about a dual thruster motor control system for kayaking. That's right so

[00:19:42] we have a dual motor system for any kayak one size fits all and it actually fit on a paddle board

[00:19:48] and canoe anything like that and you know if you wanted to put the paddle aside and just

[00:19:55] play around with the drone there you go. So I'm going to describe this visually too because

[00:20:00] there's an audio audience as well so it looks like it kind of clamps around a the kayak and then

[00:20:05] it has two bars that come down each with little little thrusters on the on the ends of those.

[00:20:10] Yeah yeah that's correct so we made it design wise really easy to install so within five minutes you

[00:20:17] can expand the pack motor slide onto your kayak and be ready to go so we wanted it to be where you

[00:20:23] don't have to use bolts or screws into your kayaks you don't have to actually alter your kayak at

[00:20:27] all. You can just attach it and uninstall it without any damage and pack motors joy stick controlled

[00:20:35] there's dual thrusters so you can turn on a dime and it's very fun to use. Yeah I was playing around

[00:20:40] with the remote control it's just a little joystick to just flip it around and it's yeah

[00:20:44] yeah all right okay let's see if I do it right Steve. Just one motor. Yeah that's

[00:20:51] oh yeah so wait a minute but everything I'm doing they're all going. So hit to the right

[00:20:57] okay I will go forward this one going first. Okay I'm turning okay but how do I do you set

[00:21:03] I could do one motor at a time? You got to go in an angle for that one. Oh that's the tricky one okay

[00:21:08] I'm gonna try to turn this is great for the oh there we go there we go look at me go you can actually

[00:21:12] feel the one fan one way yeah all right cool so just when you drop this down on top are you

[00:21:20] sliding onto the kayak you said yes yeah you slide it on the back of the kayak but if you have a

[00:21:24] situation where you want it in the front you can also put it into the front as well okay that's

[00:21:28] cool so now it looks like this folds up pretty compact right and that's how we got the name

[00:21:33] pack motor actually because you can pack it up and put it in a backpack and you can carry it on

[00:21:37] a plane or anywhere it's it's it's okay to fly with I lifted it up it's not that heavy what's it

[00:21:42] weight? No what's it with? 10 pounds under 10 pounds. I got more than that in my backpack today

[00:21:48] no what about how was this powered? It's powered with any 12 volt to 18 volt battery and so we

[00:21:56] wanted to do that so that people could go to the store and buy their own battery and marine battery

[00:22:00] and hook it up with the leads no problem but we also sell lithium ion battery that's higher voltage

[00:22:05] I gave you a little bit more thrust okay so that's a rechargeable battery rechargeable

[00:22:10] crazy and now that's kind of in a black box where does that go? You just throw that over the side?

[00:22:14] yeah you can just throw it over the back of your kayak and you can strap it down it's waterproof

[00:22:19] box so if it falls in the water it's so the okay and it floats. The thing is if you do throw it

[00:22:23] over the side you'll be all right. Oh really? Hey it's an anchor too so uh the does the box this

[00:22:29] box I'm seeing that you've got the 12 volt battery and is that does that come with the device or

[00:22:33] that's something you buy separately? You buy that separately yeah that's product line it's optional

[00:22:37] like you said you can you can just stop it Walmart and pick up a 12 volt battery. Could you put a

[00:22:41] 12 volt just a regular Walmart 12 volt battery in that? Absolutely okay that's cool. So it gives you

[00:22:46] a lot of flexibility well this is really nifty uh what's your delivery date on this? We're actually

[00:22:52] already in the manufacturing now and we have a batch being in transit to us now 200 units

[00:22:58] and we've already sold 200 years before that one on Kickstarter so we're we're 500 units in

[00:23:04] right now and we're getting more orders every day. So can people buy them today? Yeah you can

[00:23:08] visit us right online packmoder.com in place in order. And that's PAC-MOTOR. Okay PAC-MOTOR.

[00:23:14] All right well thank you both you gentlemen this was a lot of fun this looks cool I like it I'm lazy

[00:23:19] I think I'd like to do this. Try it out. Thank you Allison. What a cool interview and I want to

[00:23:24] think Allison and Steve for sharing their content with me. Now I said that I had a special offer

[00:23:29] for you here is my offer go subscribe to the Nozilla Cast podcast send me a picture that shows that

[00:23:38] you're subscribed and I will enter you into a drawing for a kilowatt mug a free kilowatt coffee mug

[00:23:45] as many of you know that mug is absolutely priceless so if you would like to win a kilowatt

[00:23:52] coffee mug go subscribe to Allison's podcast Nozilla Cast I'll put a link in the show notes

[00:23:58] and send me proof that you did and I will ensure you into that contest for the coffee mug. So send

[00:24:04] a proof to Bowdie B-O-D-I-E at 918 digital dot com and we will run this contest from let's see

[00:24:13] starting today let me look my calendar here and we'll do the drawing on April 9th so you have

[00:24:21] I don't know what is that nine days or so to get your 10 days to get your

[00:24:27] entry in so go subscribe to Nozilla Cast send me proof and I'll enter you into the contest

[00:24:33] all right everybody that is it for me this week hope y'all had a wonderful week next

[00:24:38] Friday we have a really cool episode where I interviewed some very smart people just a little teaser

[00:24:43] for that I think you're gonna enjoy it anyway I should say goodbye have a wonderful week and I will

[00:24:48] talk to you on Tuesday

[00:24:51] oh

[00:25:08] and just a side note for let's you go we did not have to put her cat down today

[00:25:13] you just wanted to tack that on to the end because I know I started off the show with that

[00:25:17] she got some medicine she got some fluids she's resting comfortably so just wanted to give you that update

[00:25:28] hi this is bachelor clues from Game of Roses of course and I want to talk about club med

[00:25:34] everybody knows club med has been the pioneer of the all-inclusive resort since 1950 with almost

[00:25:41] 70 resorts worldwide ranging from beach side destinations in the Caribbean in Mexico to exotic

[00:25:48] locations like the Maldives and Morocco or even the mountain destinations like Japan and the

[00:25:54] European Alps dine on delicious gourmet cuisine enjoy more than 20 activities and make memories

[00:26:01] with your family for more information visit clubmed.us or call 1-800-clubmed or your travel advisor