🦄Autowist Report 85

NIO aiming at Audi Plant?, Trouble at Northvolt, Linux Realtime Change, RISC-V powered Auto Chips, VW China Problems

Author

Harikrishnan Radhakrishnan
September 23, 2024

IN TODAY’S REPORT

💼BRIEFING

Chinese carmaker Nio is reportedly exploring the purchase of Audi’s underutilized Brussels plant in Belgium. The move would help Nio avoid a 20 percent import tariff on electric vehicles entering the EU and UK from China. The Brussels facility currently produces the Q8 e-tron, which Audi plans to discontinue due to sluggish sales. Nio’s executives recently toured the plant and are preparing to bid for it before a September 23 deadline. With rising tariffs on Chinese-made EVs, relocating production to Europe could be a strategic advantage for Nio.

In the last week I wrote about how BYD is cheaper even after tariffs:

➡️Despite a new 100% tariff on electric vehicles imported from China, BYD is expected to maintain the lowest-priced EV in the US, with its cheapest model projected to be under $25,000.

➡️Here is how BYD is able to achieve this

1. They are vertically integrated to an extent that no other EV OEM is even close. They are capable of manufacturing most of the core components right from the battery to the complete vehicle chassis. They even own ships that they use to transport their vehicles to their end market.

2. Early experience in core technologies like battery manufacturing. A key differentiator for BYD is its early investment in battery technology, a foundational component of EVs. They were also supplying batteries to Nokia and Motorola in the late 90s.

3. Economies of scale: BYD enjoys a large market share in China and in most other markets. This creates a virtuous cycle that they enjoy compared to other EV manufacturers.

  1. This is even without the strategy that NIO is trying to employ. They want to actually “build” in Europe.

  2. Volkswagen had earlier announced that they will look at shutting down plants and the tipping point to all this is if the plants get bought by Chinese OEMs.

  3. If this trend picks up, this will tip the balance in Europe. I am finding it really hard to imagine a scenario where European OEMs will be able to keep up with China.

  4. I don’t think the local EU unions would welcome this change. They have always been stubborn on moving about ownership of European companies to abroad.

NIO 6-K SEC Filling

Trouble at Northvolt

Northvolt announced plans to scale back its workforce and exit a battery materials production site due to challenges in ramping up its gigafactory plans amidst a tough macroeconomic environment.

The company, known for its focus on producing environmentally friendly batteries, has raised over $14 billion in capital but is now reevaluating its operations. This includes placing its Skellefteü cathode active material facility into care and maintenance and selling its Borlänge production site.

Northvolt has also faced setbacks, such as BMW canceling a €2 billion battery contract due to delays.

Additionally, the company will streamline its operations by integrating its California-based subsidiary Cuberg into Northvolt Labs and seeking partnerships for its Poland battery assembly facility.

These moves come as European automakers, like Volvo, are also adjusting their electrification strategies, citing challenges such as infrastructure rollout delays and the withdrawal of government incentives.

  1. All European OEMs have in some way or the other revised their electrification strategies.

  2. Ford has postponed the release of certain EV models and reduced its EV development budget by $12 billion due to cost concerns.

  3. Similarly, Mercedes-Benz has delayed its target for achieving 50% EV sales from 2025 to 2030, citing market conditions.

  4. Volvo and Volkswagen have also scaled back their EV ambitions.

  5. Automakers refocus on hybrids as a transitional solution toward full electrification.

  6. The sentiment also extends to heavy vehicles: During an OEM panel at this year’s ACT Expo, executives from Daimler Truck North America, Navistar, Peterbilt, Volvo Trucks North America, and Mack Trucks were conscious of the fact that the internal combustion engine was not yet ready to fade into the background.

  7. Similar to other OEMs, Northvolt is also facing a correction given the reduced demand of EVs which in turn means reduced demand for batteries. However, their Chinese counterparts are steaming ahead in full speed.

NACS introduced in Android Auto

It’s really funny that they have to mention NACS as “non-Tesla”. Google is really sure that Tesla will not use Google Maps, Google Automotive Services, Android OS and Android Auto in their vehicles.

Android Auto Update for EV Charging:

Google is rolling out an Android Auto update (version 12.9.143804) that adds support for the NACS charging standard used at Tesla charging stations.

Previously, Android Auto’s "Electric vehicle settings" supported J1772, CCS, Type 2, and CHAdeMO chargers, but lacked NACS support.

The new update allows non-Tesla EVs to use NACS chargers more easily via Google Maps, as Tesla vehicles do not officially support Android Auto.

This update is particularly useful as companies like GM recently approved NACS adapters for their electric vehicles, allowing users to toggle both NACS and CCS charging options on Android Auto.

EVs using Android Automotive are unaffected by this update, as their charging settings are managed differently.

Volkswagen’s China Problems

Volkswagen and SAIC JV Factory Changes in China:

Volkswagen, in partnership with SAIC Motor, plans to halt production at one of its combustion engine car plants in Nanjing, China, due to overcapacity in the market.

Production of Passat cars will be shifted to another factory in Jiangsu, with no definitive timeline for closure or sale of the Nanjing plant.

Volkswagen is facing declining market share in China and working with partners, including Xpeng, to introduce new competitive models.

Audit of Volkswagen's Xinjiang Plant:

An audit of Volkswagen’s plant in Xinjiang, China, failed to meet key international standards regarding labor practices, according to the Financial Times.

Interviews with workers were live-streamed, and only managers were asked about forced labor, raising concerns about the audit's integrity.

Volkswagen hired Loening Human Rights & Responsible Business GmbH to conduct the audit, using the SA8000 standard as a basis, but neither Loening nor its partner law firm were accredited for such audits.

Investors have expressed concerns and urged further checks, as some senior Loening staff distanced themselves from the audit.

Linux Realtime change

  • Linux has become a real-time operating system (RTOS) with the integration of PREEMPT_RT real-time kernel support in Linux 6.12, after 20 years of development. Normally, the Linux kernel isn’t designed for hard real-time tasks, meaning it can be interrupted, which is fine for general use but unsuitable for real-time scenarios.

  • PREEMPT_RT makes the Linux kernel more predictable by allowing it to prioritize high-priority tasks with minimal delay, enabling low-latency performance. The kernel becomes fully preemptible, allowing almost any part of the system to handle urgent tasks immediately, essential for precision industries.

  • This eliminates the need for a separate real-time OS, allowing normal applications to run alongside real-time processes on the same Linux kernel.

  • The patch is useful for industries requiring strict timing guarantees, such as automotive systems, audio/video processing, medical devices, and robotics.

Can Linux be considered as a suitable candidate for Automotive Applications?

  • Although PREEMPT_RT adds a very important feature to the roster, Linux is far from being an RTOS.

  • An RTOS is specifically designed to meet the tight task deadlines and is usually purpose built.

  • That said, the new PREEMPT capability also means that you can build more temporally stable platforms on top of Linux. Within the context of today’s automotive E/E architectures, there is space for Linux OS for certain applications.

  • The pitfall that I see in many new waves of technology is the tendency to conform it to the previous generation. Lot of OEMs get stuck in architectures using High performance ECUs, simply because they are trying to bend the system to work like a legacy micro-controller based ECU. Another common example is adding tons of abstraction layers both on the ECUs side and the transport side to make ethernet behave like a CAN bus.

Are RISC-V Powered Cars Just Around the Corner? (Link)

On September 20, Wei Jianjun, Chairman of Great Wall Motor (GWM), announced the successful "lighting up" of the company's independently developed Zijing M100 chip, the first automotive-grade chip in China based on the RISC-V architecture.

RISC-V is an open-source instruction set architecture allowing for more flexibility and reduced reliance on European and American technologies.

The Zijing M100 chip achieved a CoreMark of 2.1, with its silicon intellectual property, wafer manufacturing, and packaging all completed domestically in China. The Zijing M100 will first be used in the X55 headlight controller platform and is planned to be installed in over 2.5 million vehicles within five years.

The Zijing chip series includes different versions:

1. M100 (body applications) for air conditioning, headlight control, and wireless charging.

2. M200 (power and chassis applications) for electric power steering and electronic stability.

3. M300 (power, chassis, and domain control) for integrated brake control and body control modules.

4. S300 for central gateway applications.

GWM has faced chip shortages from 2021 to 2022, reducing its vehicle production by 24.5% in 2021 and 16.5% in 2022.

Zijin M100 Launch

  1. ARM is generally better than RISC-V: ARM has a very established ecosystem developed over years. They have a thriving business model where they sell IPs to their designs to vendors. They have a wide range of offerings focused both on performance and efficiency. Their designs offer chip designers to fine-tune it per application.

  2. Maturity of RISC-V: RISC-V is still developing its ecosystem, performance optimization, and market adoption in mainstream consumer products.

  3. Geopolitical reasons: RISC-V being open source is a really good option to not be tied in European and American technologies. Given how the China-US-Taiwan situations is, there is a strategic advantage to go for RISC-V over ARM, a Taiwan based company

  4. Do cars even need custom built silicon in the first place: For most parts, no. However, specific applications can only be unlocked with custom hardware and that is still not a good enough reason to bet hundreds of millions in creating a custom chip. So why is GWM doing it? They have managed to accumulate the resources to actually build the chips. But what they realize along the way is that there are many new players in the Automotive space both within China and in Europe who would be willing to use an external platform built end-to-end. In this scenario, GWM is in a unique position to cater to those customers.

⚡ROUNDUP

  • 20 years later, real-time Linux makes it to the kernel - really (Link)

  • Chinese smartphones employ 3nm chips, exacerbating Qualcomm and MediaTek competition (Link)

  • Volkswagen to halt ID.4 production in the US following nearly 100,000 vehicle recall (Link)

  • Europe's great battery hope Northvolt fights for survival (Link)

  • Volkswagen plans stop to production at jointly-owned China plant (Link)

  • Volkswagen's audit of Xinjiang plant failed to meet international standard, FT reports (Link)

  • NIO’s (NIO) new low-cost electric SUV paves the way for a ‘brand revival’ analyst claims (Link)

  • Mercedes slashes outlook again as China market cools (Link)

  • Nio CEO Refutes Rumors of Audi Factory Purchase in Belgium (Link)

  • Nio Wants Audi’s Belgium Plant To Dodge EU Tariffs (Link)

  • Latest Android Auto update adds support for EVs that use Tesla’s NACS charger (Link)

  • Northvolt Sells Battery Materials Site, Reduces Workforce in Tough EV (Link)

  • Continental makes SDVs shut to non-public computer systems on wheels (Link)

  • Drivers Trick Autopilot-Like Systems To Engage In Distractions, Study Shows (Link)

  • Great Wall Motor’s Zijing M100 RISC-V based automotive-grade chip lit up, CEO says (Link)

  • The tech secrets behind Audi's most aerodynamic car ever (Link)

  • How To “Grow” New Supply Of Nickel For EV Batteries (Link)

  • Ford’s new Digital Experience brings Android and Apple into balance (Link)

  • Volvo CE rolls out some new hotness at Volvo Days 2024 (Link)

  • Volkswagen Troubles Deepen Across the Globe As Sales Shrink and Massive Layoffs Loom (Link)

  • US announces $3 billion in funding for new battery projects (Link)

The last primary nickel mine in the U.S. will close in about 10 years, potentially disrupting the supply chain for EV batteries.

Metalplant, a U.S.-based startup, is using plants that naturally extract nickel from soil, a process known as phytomining. Phytomining involves plants called hyperaccumulators, which absorb large amounts of metals like nickel from soil without harm.

Metalplant's modified Odontarrhena chalcidica plant can accumulate up to 2% nickel, similar to concentrations found in conventional ores.

The company uses pyrolysis to extract nickel sulfate from the plants, which can be used for EV batteries or steel production. A byproduct, biochar, can be used as a soil enhancer, adding further value to the phytomining process.

ARPA-E has launched a $10 million funding program to support phytomining innovations, particularly for nickel, a critical material for EV batteries.

Seven finalists, including Metalplant and Verinomics, are developing plant-based solutions to enhance nickel extraction for EV batteries.

Metalplant aims to use photosynthesis in phytomining to convert low-grade ore into a high-grade nickel supply for sustainable EV battery production.

🐦FROM TWITTER

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