Video Summary
- Car prices are predicted to go higher due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.- The price of metals like palladium, aluminum, and nickel, which are important for car manufacturing, is rising.
- Russia is a major source of palladium, aluminum, and nickel.
- Palladium prices have hit an all-time high.
- Aluminum prices increased by 60% in the past four months.
- Nickel prices have hit their highest price ever, costing over $100,000 a metric ton.
- European and US daily rental car companies are thinking of buying Chinese electric cars due to good quality and cheaper price.
- Europcar wants 20% of its fleet to be electric or hybrid by 2024.
- Volkswagen wants to buy Europcar, which would end Chinese purchases for its fleet.
- NIO ET7 is generating buzz in the auto industry.
- Nio is implementing battery swapping technology in China and Europe that takes a couple of minutes to put a freshly charged battery in a car.
- Ford CEO Jim Farley is splitting the company into BEV and ICE business units and cites Tesla and NIO as companies Ford has to catch up to.
- Ford Pro, Ford’s commercial division, is offering fleets six types of chargers. They provide software services, financing and installation services. The Ford Pro hardware and software will work with other automakers' EVs. Ford’s Blue Oval Charge Network has over 20,000 public locations.
- GM is developing a way for its electric vehicles to provide on-demand power for homes and is collaborating with Pacific Gas and Electric for bidirectional charging.
- Hino, Toyota’s truck company, is testing the e-axle on its XL heavy-duty electric truck with Allison Transmission. It uses two electric motors with 860 peak horsepower.
- New, renewable materials are being used for tires. One example is Continental, which will have materials that make up 35% of the tire that are renewable, like dandelion rubber and silicate from rice husks.
- A law regarding the quantity of potatoes being transported in vehicles in Australia has been repealed.
