Supercomputing, Tax Credits, and 2024 EVs

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[00:00.000 --> 00:26.280] Hello everyone and welcome to Kilowatt, a podcast about electric vehicles, renewable [00:26.280 --> 00:33.640] energy, autonomous driving, and much, much more. My name is Bodie and I am your host. And on [00:33.640 --> 00:39.820] today's episode, we are going to talk about new EVs that are coming out, EVs that are yet [00:39.820 --> 00:45.120] to be announced. We're going to talk a little bit about some DC fast charging. It's going [00:45.120 --> 00:51.640] to be a good show. So let's go ahead and start off with our Tesla news, this episode, only [00:51.720 --> 00:57.640] because we don't have that many Tesla stories to talk about for this episode. So starting [00:57.640 --> 01:02.960] off, Tesla has shipped some cyber trucks to China. Now they're not selling them in China, [01:02.960 --> 01:10.400] they're just there to be ambassadors for Tesla. They're there to be demo trucks and show them [01:10.400 --> 01:16.720] off in the Tesla stores. I guess trucks are becoming big in the Chinese market. So sounds [01:16.720 --> 01:23.560] like Tesla would like to spur up some interest over there in China. Next up, I think we talked [01:23.560 --> 01:30.880] a little bit about this on Friday's episode, Tesla is releasing version 12 of FSD full self [01:30.880 --> 01:36.440] driving to customers that is rolling out slowly. If you haven't got it yet, don't worry, you [01:36.440 --> 01:43.640] will eventually they're doing it slowly. My kid, Sierra, she has full self driving on her [01:43.680 --> 01:48.720] model three. So as soon as version 12 comes out, she said that I can take her model three, [01:48.720 --> 01:53.360] as long as I give her my model why, so that she can so that I can test it and she can drive [01:53.360 --> 02:01.480] a car that she wish she would have bought instead of her model three. Let's see here, Tesla is [02:01.480 --> 02:09.760] investing $500 million to build a dojo supercomputer at their New York Gigafactory in Buffalo, [02:09.840 --> 02:15.480] New York. Normally that factory is known for building solar panels. So apparently they're [02:15.480 --> 02:22.360] going to start building a dojo supercomputer there as well. New York Governor Kathy Holcholl. I [02:22.360 --> 02:27.400] know I just pronounced that wrong. I had it before I started recording. But anyway, the governor [02:27.400 --> 02:35.920] of New York announced this during a hearing on economic developments in New York City. Elon went [02:35.920 --> 02:41.960] on X to confirm and also mentioned that $500 million is a sizable amount of money. But [02:41.960 --> 02:45.840] in the grand scheme of things, it's a pretty small investment. When you compare that to [02:45.840 --> 02:54.080] how much money they're spending on the Nvidia H 100 systems. So this is what Elon said on [02:54.080 --> 03:01.080] Twitter. The governor is correct that this is a dojo supercomputer. But $500 million while [03:01.080 --> 03:09.640] obviously a large sum of money is only equivalent to 10,000 H 100 systems from Nvidia. Tesla [03:09.640 --> 03:15.680] will spend more than that on Nvidia hardware this year. The table stakes for being competitive [03:15.680 --> 03:24.840] in AI are at and then dot dot dot you needn't finish. So I'm guessing pretty important stuff. [03:24.840 --> 03:32.080] It's weird that they kind of downplayed dojo at their earnings call. And now we hear that [03:32.080 --> 03:38.680] they're making a half a billion dollars investment in dojo. And he wants like a slow roll. Seems [03:38.680 --> 03:42.720] like a lot of money, but it's not really a lot of money. So don't look too much into this. [03:42.720 --> 03:50.840] I'm curious as to what's really going on with dojo. Alright, let's move on to our final [03:50.920 --> 04:00.800] Tesla story. This episode, if you bought a Tesla in North America in 2023, how do you get your IRA [04:00.800 --> 04:06.600] tax credit? When we're because you know, tax season's coming up. How do you get proof that you [04:06.600 --> 04:13.440] purchase that car? New or that you purchased it at all? Well, I have the steps for you. And there's [04:13.440 --> 04:18.560] also a link in the document to the article that I got this from. And I followed these steps and it [04:18.640 --> 04:27.080] did work. So you log in to Tesla.com forward slash contact us. There's a ask a question screen [04:27.080 --> 04:34.160] that pops up in a drop down menu. You choose generate 2023 IRA document. Then you enter your [04:34.200 --> 04:40.560] VIN number for me it auto populated. So for you, I would assume it would also auto populate. You [04:40.560 --> 04:46.840] choose whether you're the primary or secondary registrant. I'm the primary. So I chose that. I put my [04:46.840 --> 04:52.760] social security number in there. And then I submitted the request. And I got this message back, [04:52.760 --> 05:01.840] your documents will be available in the documents section on your Tesla account within 48 hours. So [05:02.160 --> 05:08.040] we'll see. If I don't get it, I'll let you know. But I have a feeling that I will get it. So yeah, [05:08.040 --> 05:15.000] that's how you get it if you bought a Tesla this year or in 2023. Alright, let's move on to our EV [05:15.000 --> 05:21.520] news because we actually have way more EV news to talk about canoe is delivering six lifestyle [05:21.520 --> 05:28.840] delivery vans to the United States Postal Service by the end of Q1 2024. If you're not familiar with [05:28.840 --> 05:35.800] the canoe vehicle, you should go look at it. It looks a lot like a spaceship. Six by the end of 2024, [05:35.800 --> 05:43.000] which is great for canoe canoe has some partnership with NASA. Now they have a partnership with the United [05:43.000 --> 05:49.960] States Postal Service. This is fantastic. I want to throw no shade at canoe. But for a bit of [05:49.960 --> 05:57.880] perspective, the United States Postal Service will take delivery of 9,000 Ford E transit vans in 2024. [05:57.920 --> 06:03.840] So, you know, in the next three quarters, canoe really needs to step up their game to be competitive [06:03.840 --> 06:10.280] with where Ford's at in the transit vans. I'm hoping one of these canoe vans ends up in my [06:10.280 --> 06:15.800] neighborhood or at least in my area so that I can see it. We have Rivian delivery vans running [06:15.800 --> 06:24.840] all over the place. Nissan Arias. I've seen Fiska oceans, Rivian R1s's R1T's like my area is a hotbed [06:24.840 --> 06:32.120] for EVs, Kia EV6's, Kona's. Every time I go out, I see an electric vehicle in my neighborhood. And I [06:32.120 --> 06:38.520] don't know if that is just where I live or if that's happening where you live as well. Let me know, [06:38.520 --> 06:47.080] Bodie B-O-D-I-E at 918digital.com. Are you with the question really is, are you seeing more EVs in [06:47.080 --> 06:54.520] your area? Speaking of EVs in my area, I see a lot of pole stars too. So pole star is cutting 15% of [06:54.520 --> 07:01.240] its workers, which is going to be around 450 people total, which sucks. I never like it when people [07:01.240 --> 07:06.040] lose their jobs. I hope all of these people are well taken care of by pole star and fine jobs soon. [07:07.000 --> 07:14.040] Pole star said the reason was challenging markets. I'm going to take, this is completely a guess here, [07:14.040 --> 07:19.720] but I'm guessing they made this decision before they heard that Bart Buschots would be purchasing [07:19.720 --> 07:25.320] a pole star three in the coming months. This would have been a totally different outcome in terms of [07:25.320 --> 07:30.120] layoffs. If someone from pole star listened to this show, so the only thing I could really say is [07:30.120 --> 07:35.800] Bart hurry up and buy your car so more people don't lose their jobs. It's on you, Bart. All on you. [07:36.600 --> 07:44.520] Moving on, Peter Rawlinson said that a $50,000 Model 3 slash Model Y competitor is coming [07:44.520 --> 07:50.840] sooner than you think. My thoughts in general was they would never ever ever ever get here. [07:50.840 --> 07:56.280] So if it comes at all, it's sooner than I thought. I'm just teasing a little bit, but not much. [07:56.840 --> 08:05.320] Lucid also showed off its newly expanded AMP 1 factory. So the factory started off as at 800,000 [08:05.320 --> 08:11.160] square feet, which is a large building. It now sits at 3.8 million square feet. [08:11.960 --> 08:17.720] So we will definitely have to listen to Lucid's earnings call. Now speaking of new products, [08:17.720 --> 08:27.080] Rivian is planning a worldwide product launch on March 7th. Rivian owns the South Coast Theater [08:27.080 --> 08:33.400] in Laguna Beach, California, and they renamed it the Rivian Theater. But this is one of their [08:33.400 --> 08:39.720] flagship stores in California. Rivian recently went to the Laguna Beach City Council and they [08:39.720 --> 08:46.520] asked if they could just please display six vehicles along a grassy area, along the Laguna Beach front. [08:48.600 --> 08:54.520] I guess it's called Main Beach Park. So I'm not that familiar with Laguna Beach. But basically [08:54.520 --> 08:59.000] Rivian's pitch was, hey, listen, this isn't going to be a party. We're just showing off the cars. [08:59.000 --> 09:02.840] It's not going to be a big deal. There's not going to be lights. There's not going to be a sound system. [09:02.920 --> 09:07.400] We're going to keep it real small, real, and formal. Is that okay? Can we do that? And the City [09:07.400 --> 09:13.080] Council said yes. However, some Laguna Beach residents were like, what now? You want to do what? [09:13.080 --> 09:18.600] No, thank you. We don't want any part of that. We would like our community to remain quiet. [09:18.600 --> 09:24.920] But they lost in Laguna Beach. City Council said, yeah, go ahead. So I'm looking forward to [09:24.920 --> 09:31.080] seeing what they announced. Right now, we know that Rivian has the R1T, the R1S, [09:31.160 --> 09:38.200] and two different sizes of delivering van. So maybe we'll see four vehicles that we already know about [09:38.200 --> 09:43.800] and two that we don't. Maybe we'll see two vehicles that we know about in the R1T and the R1S [09:43.800 --> 09:50.120] and four new vehicles. Or maybe we'll just see all new vehicles, just, you know, slightly different [09:50.120 --> 09:57.640] trims. I'm genuinely excited to see what Rivian is planning. So stay tuned. I'm going to. [09:58.440 --> 10:06.760] Moving on to Stellantis. Stellantis unveiled their STLA large platform. The STLA large [10:06.760 --> 10:13.560] will use a four and 800 volt architectures. We'll use 400 volt and 800 volt architectures, I should say. [10:14.360 --> 10:20.120] It will feature a three and one electric drive module. This is something similar to what Rivian [10:20.120 --> 10:25.080] and some other companies are doing. So the three and one module will include a motor, [10:25.080 --> 10:31.800] power inverter, and gear reduction. This three and one drive module can be configured for front [10:31.800 --> 10:38.920] wheel drive, rear wheel drive, and all wheel drive. So it can be used in any configuration that, [10:38.920 --> 10:47.080] you know, Stellantis thinks up. In terms of battery, the STLA large platform will accommodate an 85 [10:47.080 --> 10:53.240] kilowatt hour battery all the way up to 118 kilowatt hour battery. Initially, they'll be rolling [10:53.240 --> 11:00.200] these out in Jeep and Dodge EVs in North America. But then after that, it's going to come to Alpha [11:00.200 --> 11:08.680] Romeo, Chrysler, and Maserati. Stellantis says it's planning on releasing and delivering eight vehicles [11:08.680 --> 11:16.360] between 2024 and 2026. We'll see fingers crossed. Also, this new platform isn't just for EVs. It [11:16.360 --> 11:20.920] will be used for electric vehicles, obviously, because we just talked about that hybrids and [11:20.920 --> 11:27.480] ice cars, if you can believe it. So really hold it on. Stellantis really hold it on. [11:28.920 --> 11:35.960] Let's talk a little bit about DC fast charging. Freewire is partnering with GM energy, General [11:35.960 --> 11:43.160] Motors energy. That was hard for me to say. This will ultimately help out fleet operators who use [11:43.160 --> 11:50.360] GM's energy management solutions, according to the inside EV article that I read. Freewire is a DC [11:50.360 --> 11:58.920] fast charging company. They make the electric vehicle supply equipment, the EV SE. But Freewire [11:58.920 --> 12:05.160] does it a little bit different than they have a built-in battery. So if you want to put a DC fast [12:05.160 --> 12:11.160] charger at your business, let's say your grocery store, but you don't have enough electrical capacity [12:11.160 --> 12:19.080] at the panel, you can put in one of these Freewire EV SEs because they have a built-in battery system. [12:19.640 --> 12:26.760] So when somebody pulls up and they charge their car, they're going to get whatever that charger [12:26.760 --> 12:30.600] can give them. I don't want to say it because I can't remember and I didn't write it down, so I don't [12:30.600 --> 12:39.240] want to be Smurch Freewire's good name here. Anyway, because the Freewire has a battery, [12:39.240 --> 12:46.040] it doesn't require as much capacity at the panel because that battery acts as a little bit of a buffer. [12:46.040 --> 12:54.040] So you come in, you charge your car up, you drive away while the charger is waiting to be used again [12:54.040 --> 13:00.760] to that battery is refilling. So I would imagine this becomes a problem or a little bit more of a [13:00.760 --> 13:05.800] problem if you get a lot of people hitting the charger one right after another. It's going to [13:05.800 --> 13:14.440] eventually slow down to whatever the panel will supply the cabinet. But overall, I think this is a [13:14.440 --> 13:21.480] good way of installing a DC fast charger without breaking the bank. The install costs on these [13:21.480 --> 13:30.600] Freewire cabinets are lower than a normal DC fast charger installed by about 20% and the operating [13:30.600 --> 13:38.520] costs are up to 70% less than other DC fast charging cabinets, according to the article. [13:39.320 --> 13:46.920] If you want to know more about Freewire, I did chat with Freewire's founder and CEO RKD Sausanov [13:46.920 --> 13:53.800] back in October. You can check out the episode. It's 4.28. It's a great episode. RKD was such a lovely [13:53.800 --> 13:58.360] human being. I really appreciate the fact that he was willing to come on and talk to me about all this. [13:58.360 --> 14:07.160] And Freewire has a product that is coming out soon. RKD mentioned it in the article and I thought we'd [14:07.240 --> 14:13.000] hear more about it at CES. And I haven't heard about it yet. So if I missed something, let me know. [14:13.000 --> 14:18.680] But yeah, I'm sure we'll be talking about Freewire again. And when that product comes out, maybe we [14:18.680 --> 14:24.920] can sit down with RKD one more time and chat about that as well. I like what Freewire is doing. [14:24.920 --> 14:31.800] I'm glad they're partnering with GM. I really do want Freewire to be successful as well as a [14:31.800 --> 14:37.560] bunch of other companies. So when I see partnerships like this, it gives these, for lack of a better [14:37.560 --> 14:47.320] word, smaller guys, a stronger hold in the market. Let's move on to the 2024 Honda Prologue EV. [14:47.320 --> 14:53.560] The Prologue is coming to the US market in March of 2024. So just a little bit more than a month [14:53.640 --> 15:00.840] from now. If you didn't know, Honda and GM General Motors are partnering on Honda's electric vehicle [15:03.240 --> 15:08.520] aspirations, this is in the right word products, I guess, on their vehicles. GM's [15:08.520 --> 15:14.760] helping them out with the LTM platform. The Prologue will come in an 85 kilowatt hour battery [15:14.760 --> 15:21.400] with all configurations. The range is going to be between 273 miles and 296 miles depending on [15:21.960 --> 15:30.360] the configuration of the vehicle and the trim. It starts at $47,000. Honestly, I think that's actually [15:30.360 --> 15:36.760] pretty good. I'd like to see a little bit more range, but I'm not going to be too angry about it. [15:36.760 --> 15:44.120] Just all in all, this is well priced. It's got decent range. We'll have to see how the car does [15:44.120 --> 15:50.920] overall. But again, I'm excited to see how it does. I wasn't convinced that anybody was going to buy [15:50.920 --> 15:57.160] the Nissan Aria because of how expensive it was and what the range ended up being. [15:58.520 --> 16:05.400] I mentioned this a little bit earlier, but I see Nissan Arias. I saw one today when I was driving [16:05.400 --> 16:10.920] to Best Buy. I see Nissan Arias all the time and they're not the same color. They're different [16:10.920 --> 16:16.840] cars. I might see the same three or four and think they're 80 different cars, but I see at least four [16:16.840 --> 16:23.000] of them in my area. I feel like that's a lot based on the fact that I didn't think anybody was [16:23.000 --> 16:27.800] going to buy that car. I always have the same reaction when I see him. By the way, it's like, [16:27.800 --> 16:34.600] oh, I really like that car. What is it? Oh, it's a Nissan Aria. Maybe we'll see something similar [16:34.600 --> 16:43.560] with the Hyundai Honda Pro Log. I kind of like it. Looking forward to seeing what they do. [16:43.720 --> 16:50.840] Also, speaking of cars, I didn't think we're going to sell very good. The 2024 Subaru Solterra [16:50.840 --> 16:56.680] is getting some new features. First of all, it's got some driver assist features. There's hands-free [16:56.680 --> 17:04.200] driving at speeds up to, which means lower than 25 miles an hour, which is a start, I guess. [17:05.080 --> 17:10.040] They'll have lane change by activating just the turn signal and the car will automatically [17:10.040 --> 17:16.040] lane change for you. I don't know if this is technically driver assist systems. I guess it is. [17:17.080 --> 17:22.680] There's a front traffic alert and there's something called driver-focused distraction mitigation system. [17:23.480 --> 17:26.440] I'm guessing it's a camera making sure you're paying attention to the road. [17:27.160 --> 17:32.200] The Subaru Solterra, all of the models will be all-wheel drive, which is great. [17:33.000 --> 17:41.480] Right around 220 miles for all trim, which is not great. Let's see, charging 10% to 80% [17:42.360 --> 17:48.840] DC fast charging in 35 minutes, which is a significant improvement because the previous model [17:48.840 --> 17:57.320] was 10% to 80% charge in 56 minutes and they credit better battery management system for that. [17:57.960 --> 18:05.080] Now it's going to start at $46,000 for the base model. I want to go back here. $47,000 for the Honda [18:05.720 --> 18:13.960] prologue. $46,000 for the Subaru Solterra. Now, if you're a fan of Subaru's and my mother-in-law [18:13.960 --> 18:20.840] into Subaru and is actually a really fun car to drive, go for it. Get with your heart desires, [18:20.920 --> 18:29.320] but for $47,000, you're going to get around 273 mile range, which will really end up being like 220 [18:29.880 --> 18:37.080] or for 46,000 miles or $46,000, you can get a 220 miles range, which will end up being closer [18:37.080 --> 18:44.520] to 180, maybe even a little bit less than that in reality. Seems like the prologue's a better deal. [18:44.520 --> 18:55.320] Let's talk about Fisker. This is our final story here. Fisker built over 10,000 ocean EVs in 2023. [18:55.880 --> 19:04.520] I am shocked. I think I mentioned this in a earlier episode or previous episode of Killewad. What I [19:04.520 --> 19:10.600] don't think I mentioned is, and if I did forgive me, but I don't think I mentioned this, it delivered [19:10.600 --> 19:19.720] half or less than half of those cars. It delivered about 4,700 cars, and this is mostly due to Fisker [19:19.720 --> 19:25.800] struggling when it comes to the infrastructure to deliver the cars. They just don't have the [19:25.800 --> 19:31.320] infrastructure in place, and they don't have the partnerships, and they just have an hard time. [19:31.320 --> 19:36.920] I don't think it's for lack of people wanting to own these cars. I'm assuming there's over 10,000 [19:37.000 --> 19:43.000] people who have a reservation and who would like to purchase their Fisker Ocean. It just so happens [19:43.000 --> 19:48.360] that Fiskers just having a hard time delivering them. To fix this, and we've talked about this [19:48.360 --> 19:53.000] in the past, they're partnering with dealerships. Right now they have over 100 dealerships in Canada, [19:53.000 --> 20:00.040] US and Europe who are interested in a partnership with Fisker. That does not mean they've made any [20:00.040 --> 20:05.880] deals. That just means, yeah, we're open to chatting with you if you want. Fisker is going to try a [20:05.880 --> 20:12.520] direct and dealership approach to selling their cars in 2024. I wish them the best of luck, to be [20:12.520 --> 20:19.800] honest with you. Now, that seems like a negative Fisker story. I kind of think it's a medium in terms [20:19.800 --> 20:27.000] of sentiment one way or the other, but I have a good Fisker story. Fisker had a breaking issue [20:27.000 --> 20:32.360] with their vehicles that ended up getting the attention of the National Highway Transportation [20:32.360 --> 20:38.120] Safety Authority, and they were looking into it. They launched a probe. Well, Fisker was able to use [20:38.760 --> 20:45.720] an over-the-air update to fix the breaking issue. No harm, no foul. Fisker gets a really bad rap when [20:45.720 --> 20:54.040] it comes to their software, and maybe some of that is justified. But they made a huge deal about [20:54.920 --> 21:01.880] how important over-the-air updates were in terms of their plan for the car, for the Fisker [21:01.880 --> 21:10.120] Ocean. And you know what? It paid off. So I'm saying this without any sort of sarcasm or malice in my [21:10.120 --> 21:20.760] voice, like, I'm glad. Good job, Fisker. It's definitely not a big deal in terms of you're the first company [21:20.760 --> 21:28.760] to do it, but you made your promise and you followed through, and it worked. And none of the cars got [21:28.840 --> 21:33.720] bricked in the process, which is something that unfortunately happened to Rivian a couple of months [21:33.720 --> 21:42.200] ago. So overall, good job. All right, everybody, that is it for me today. If you want to email me, [21:42.200 --> 21:50.440] you can. It's Bodie, B-O-D-I-E at 918digital.com. You can also find me on Twitter at 918digital. [21:50.440 --> 21:57.640] I apologize if my voice got louder and quieter during this. It is going out. I do a lot of talking [21:57.640 --> 22:04.760] into this microphone lately, and I think I need to take a little bit better care of my vocal cords [22:04.760 --> 22:09.800] because they're strained. But I hope you all enjoyed this episode. I want you all to have a [22:09.800 --> 22:13.560] wonderful week. I will talk to you on Wednesday and Friday. [22:57.640 --> 23:04.840] To work, custom loads under a sign-up on com testing. I is at an app on com. Transcription results written to '/home/forge/transcribe.sonicengage.com/releases/20240210005325' directory

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