Good Morning, this is your Electric Daily. The email that gives you a daily jolt of electric vehicle trends, insights, and predictions, in 5 minutes or less.

In Today's Email:

• 💣Russia vs. Ukraine

• 💸Why Electric Cars are So Darn Expensive

• 🚗 Toyota is Stick-Shifting Into The Future

• 🔥 DeLorean Takes us Back to the Future...Literally

• 🗒️ Three Nuggets

—Riz Nwosu

Russia vs. Ukraine

You have probably been inundated with the news of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and expect me to do the same but I wont and here's why:

My mother always told me "If you don't have anything good to say, keep your mouth shut.

In this case, "good" means informative, accurate and insightful.

So on a day like this, its best to keep my mouth shut because I and not well versed on the nuances of geopolitical affairs. I don't know the first think about Ukaraine except for my experience with outsourcing to developers in the country.

Hmm... I guess I can say I do know that Ukraine has some of the best developers you can find for a fraction of what they would cost you in the US.

See what I just did there, if the topic was about Ukranian developers, I would have something tangible and insightful to say. Anything else about Ukraine, and I will just be bloviating.

Thus, I'm not going to pretend to suddenly become a geopolitical expert with a minor in former KGB agent profiling - that's CNN's job. So we’ll leave foreign wars and politics stuff out of this newsletter as much as possible.

Am I happy that this war will inevitable lead to so much bloodshed, pain and suffering? Absolutely Not.

Do I have anything insightful to share? Absolutely Not.

Do I still believe that humanity should move away from burning fossil fuels for energy and transportation, which coincidently would at the very least ease some of the repercussions of conflicts like this? Absolutely. 

 *pause for the applause*

OK then. Let’s keep Electric Daily focused on the EV industry's progress towards achieving that goal.

Why Electric Cars are So Darn Expensive

Many people like the idea of electric cars until they see the prices and get a severe case of sticker shock. Battery-powered cars are significantly more expensive than their ICE counterparts. This is a huge barrier for potential EV owners, even though they stand to save on fueling and maintenance costs over the long run. 

Batteries cost a lot

The battery is one of the key components of an electric car because there is no getting from A to B without it. Modern EVs use lithium-ion batteries and are the single most expensive part of the vehicle. Batteries typically take up one-third of the total cost of materials. 

Many companies including Tesla have been researching cheaper ways to make batteries. As a result, battery costs have been dropping steadily. For example, Tesla’s battery costs have been estimated to have dropped by almost 45% between 2016 and 2019. As the batteries become cheaper, EVs will become more affordable and comparable in cost to ICE vehicles.

EV makers focus on higher-end models first

Tesla knew it had to secure the bag first, and so it entered the market with a top-of-the-line model. While this helped generate buzz and revenue to expand production, it meant their EVs were priced much higher than many could afford. Since then, most EV startups have copied Tesla’s strategy of targeting the top end of the market by first releasing more expensive models packed with lots of features and luxury. Rivian and Lucid have also taken Tesla's lead with this strategy.

When these companies turn their attention to less expensive models, as Tesla is doing with the Model 3 and hopefully will with a rumored Model 2, EV prices will surely come down. But let's not jump the gun here. We are still waiting for the affordable-ish Cybertruck that Elon promised us 2 years ago. It's been so long that I should be earning interest on my deposit. Like for real dude, where's my car?

Scale of production

Electric vehicles are becoming more popular with sales increasing yearly. For example, Tesla shipped more than 900,000 cars in 2021. However, compared to the number of ICE cars sold globally, the EV industry is still considered a niche. Without the benefit of mass manufacturing and demand, production costs tend to be higher, which are ultimately passed on to buyers.

Similarly, legacy automakers switching to EVs have to retool or upgrade their production plants, and the buyers ultimately bear the cost.

These problems are expected to wane over time as more companies get into EV production, especially the legacy ICE OEMs. It is encouraging to see the likes of GM, Ford, Volkswagen, BMW, Toyota, Volvo, etc., committing to making zero-emission cars which will eventually account for 100% of their production. 

Toyota is Stick-Shifting Into The Future

First, we discovered that Ford had patented an electronic clutch. Now, one of our snitches at BZForums has discovered not one, but eight Toyota patents describing a manual transmission for an electric car.

Check out the patent drawing below and in case you missed it, the gearshift is #26/#36.

I don't recall "Not having a stick shift" as one of the reasons people are not switching to EV. In fact, I would argue that getting away from the stick-shift and clutch system is one of the selling points of an electric vehicle. 

I guess Toyota wants us to go back to this:

A spokesperson for Toyota explained that the goal is to simulate a manual gearbox in an internal combustion automobile. The system would compute motor torque based on inputs from a "pseudo clutch pedal" and "pseudo gearshift."

I thought that's what the Metaverse was for - fake shit that is supposed to make you feel good but doesn't really do anything tangible.

Delorean Takes us Back to the Future...Literally

DeLorean Motor Company ReImagined LLC posted a video teasing an upcoming EV; no word on a release date.

Am I the only one getting some major Star Wars Kylo Ren Command Shuttle vibes from this teaser image? 

From the image, it seems the Delorean Motor Company (DMC) is planning on making a comeback as an EV company. According to Bloomberg, this is the result of a Texas team of engineers working with Stephen Wynne. Wynne controls the DeLorean trademark and sells components for the approximately 6,000 existing Deloreans around the world.

Do you wanna see the video in all of its 15-second glory? Trust me, there isn't much to see but if you insist, here you go:

Sorry, wrong video 🤣 here you go:

I'm no scientist but I think I figured out where Delorean borrowed its grille design from. Somebody better Tesla that Delorean is all up in their grille...literally 🤣 .

This announcement is absolute catnip for me as it combines both the signature OG Model S grille and the Model X falcon-wing doors aesthetic, two of my favorite Teslas that I own. Let's hope Mr. Wayne and the Texans can pull it off.

Oh, and by the way, about the two Teslas, I've got receipts:

5 Nuggets

• Ford Emphatically Denies EV Spinoff, Reportedly Plans Brand Reorganization - [Read more here]

• The Darker Side Of The EV Revolution - [Read more here]

• Michigan to get 200 more EV chargers, 100 of which will be fast chargers, by 2024 - [Read more here]

• EV ads dominated the Super Bowl, but don't expect to buy one anytime soon - [Read more here]

• Who wants Biden's EV-charging money? Everybody - [Read more here]

Consider yourself 80% charged. Why 80%? Well, according to legend, charging your battery to 100% repeatedly will damage it faster than you can say...[Insert clever saying here]. See ya tomorrow!

What'd you think about today's email?

• ⚡⚡⚡⚡⚡ Fully charged

• ⚡⚡ Meh - was ok

• ⚡ Not even close

Written by Riz Nwosu

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