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Chevrolet will start replacing the batteries in the Bolt EV in October, the automaker announced this afternoon.GM started to recall the Bolt nearly a year ago over the potential for battery fire, later expanding the recall to every Bolt EV made to date and adding the Bolt EUV crossover as well, for a total of more than 140,000 vehicles.Along with replacing batteries, GM will install new diagnostic software to be installed in every Bolt to closely monitor batteries for anomalies.General Motors said Monday it will start replacing battery modules in its Chevrolet Bolt EV electric cars as soon as next month, now that its battery supplier LG is again producing the necessary cells and modules. The company will first prioritize 2017–2019 Bolts built during times it believes defective cells were most likely to have been produced.

The replacements are the first long-term fix to address a recall underway since last November, when GM first identified 50,000 Bolt EVs from those model years that could have defective cells. The recall ultimately expanded to every Bolt EV and EUV made, a total of roughly 141,000 cars. Drivers of those cars have been advised to limit their charging, how deeply they discharge their batteries, and where and how they park their cars [see sidebar]. Owner discontent has surged, to the point that some Bolt EVs have been bought back by the company. Now, a fix is in sight. GM said LG only resumed production of its cells and modules after it “implemented new manufacturing processes” in its plants in the Michigan cities of Holland and Hazel Park to eliminate two different defects in the cells, a torn anode tab and a folded separator, that could cause fires in the rare instance that both flaws occur in the same cell. The companies didn’t provide further details about how the defects occurred or what specific changes to build processes had been made to eliminate them. But Tim Grewe, GM global electrification and battery systems director, confirmed during a media call that “interaction between the two [defects] is what causes the issue.”

Those same new manufacturing processes will be rolled out to all LG plants that supply cells to GM, the company said. GM will increase its frequency of individual cell checking, and work closely with LG to share manufacturing expertise in areas that apply to cell fabrication and assembly processes. It will also work with LG to “review and enhance its quality-assurance programs” as part of an effort to “provide confidence in its batteries” in the future.GM said it is aware of 13 Bolt fires suspected to be linked to defective cells in the battery packs. No injuries or deaths are attributed to those fires, but all 141,000 Bolt EVs and EUVs built since December 2016 are being recalled. Meanwhile, GM has directed Bolt owners to follow specific recharging, usage, and parking protocols to reduce risk until their cars can be updated.Production of both the Bolt EV and the new, larger Bolt EUV model was suspended last month. GM confirmed the Orion Assembly Plant’s lines will remain idle at least through the week of October 11 but didn’t give a date for resumption of Bolt production.New Modules and Software ComingAs cell production under LG’s revised processes ramps up, GM will start to replace battery modules in existing Bolt vehicles. The company said it would “prioritize Chevy Bolt EV and EUV customers whose batteries were manufactured during specific build time frames” in which the company believes “the defects appear to be clustered.”Affected Bolt EVs will receive a full set of new battery modules. Owners of 2017–2019 Bolt EVs whose modules are replaced will see the rated range of their cars rise from 238 to 259 miles. That comes from replacing the cars’ original cells with a newer and more energy-dense cell, boosting pack capacity from 60.0 to 65.0 kWh.GM did not offer any estimates on how many vehicles it believed would require battery replacement, or how long the replacement of all affected Bolt modules would take. Chevrolet will notify “affected customers,” which is to say owners of existing Bolts, when new modules are available for their batteries.Monitoring Batteries More CloselyNow that LG will be starting to supply replacement battery hardware, GM will also roll out new diagnostic software to be installed in every Bolt that monitors an expanded set of battery performance data. The goal is to look at more indicators than the existing software does, so the cars can alert drivers of any unusual readings in its battery’s electrical performance.The program will detect “specific abnormalities that might indicate a damaged battery” and, GM says, will let the company prioritize damaged modules for replacement. Getting that software installed in a Bolt will require a visit to the Chevrolet dealership, however. Customers can start to schedule those visits in roughly 60 days, during the second half of November. Meanwhile, the new software will limit charging to 80 percent of rated capacity until it has fully analyzed the behavior of all modules. After that, future diagnostic software to come will gradually increase the charge percentage as the pack continues to perform appropriately, with the final goal being to offer recharges up to 100 percent of capacity once again. LG’s resumption of cell and module production under new, presumably defect-free, protocols may be the first shred of good news around the Bolt battery recall in quite some time. Since August 20, when the company expanded the recall to cover every Bolt built since 2016, Bloomberg reported that GM told some owners their Bolts should be parked at least 50 feet from other vehicles. That guidance has now been modified to “ample distance,” though how owners choose to interpret the advice will likely vary quite a lot based on their parking circumstances. Automotive News published an editorial suggesting the only way for GM to restore public confidence in its EVs would be to provide entirely new battery packs for all Bolts that are based on the newer Ultium cell technology GM and LG have jointly developed. That would be a remarkably lengthy and ambitious undertaking, given Ultium’s different cell size and shape, different module design, and entirely different battery-management system. Meanwhile, Bolt drivers have at least two months to wait before both new hardware and new software will be available for installation. What Should Bolt Owners Do?GM has not changed its guidance on how Bolt owners should park, charge, and use their electric vehicles. Until replacement modules can be installed, it said, Bolt drivers should continue to: Use Target Charge Level mode to set vehicle to limit recharging to 90 percent of battery capacity. If customers can’t make change that setting, or aren’t comfortable doing so, they should visit their Chevrolet dealer to have these adjustments made; Charge more frequently and avoid depleting the battery below roughly 70 miles of range remaining, whenever possible; Never leave a vehicle charging overnight while indoors;Park the car outside immediately after charging; and Leave “ample space” around the parked vehicle where possible.Bolt EV customers can visit Chevrolet’s Bolt recall site or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recalls site for more details about the recall.

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The 2022 Toyota Tundra and other historic Toyota trucks and SUVs appear in a fast-paced commercial.Along with the new Tundra, Ivan “Ironman” Stewart’s Trophy Truck and Marty McFly’s 1985 Tacoma from Back to the Future are in the ad.The one-minute commercial debuts at halftime during Sunday Night Football on NBC.Most people are familiar with Toyota, and many even recognize the full-size Tundra pickup, but not everyone knows about the Japanese automaker’s rich history of race trucks and popular off-road SUVs. Well, Toyota gives viewers a glimpse of some of its greatest hits as well as showing off the new 2022 Tundra in a fast-paced, one-minute commercial that airs during halftime of Sunday Night Football on NBC.

The above clip opens with a camera shot speeding toward what appears to be a sandstorm in an unidentified desert. Lo and behold, said sandstorm turns out to be a portal into epic shots of Toyota trucks and SUVs from different eras doing cool truck stuff. For example, the first thing we see is a 1984 4Runner SR5 sliding onto the scene with a posse of dirt bikes in pursuit. Then there’s a rhino charging across a savanna alongside a 1960’s Australian BJ45, also known as a “Troopy”, which was short for Troop Carrier. The sandstorm turns to a snowstorm as a Voodoo Blue 2007 FJ Cruiser caked in white powder speeds across the screen. In a cool transition from freezing cold to burning hot, the FJ becomes a 2017 Tundra SR5 driving through a fiery hellscape. However, this scene is a nod to the heroic nurse who used his personal truck to get patients to safety during the deadly “Camp Fire” in Paradise, California, that occurred back in 2018. Toyota rewarded the man by replacing his scorched Tundra with a brand-new TRD Pro.

Toyota

Next, we see a 2012 Tundra CrewMax with the 5.7-liter V-8 towing the Endeavour space shuttle. Toyota says the spacecraft, dolly, and towing mechanisms weighed a combined 292,500 pounds when the Tundra pulled them a quarter-mile across a bridge as a publicity stunt back in 2012.The following scene includes a pair of Toyota race trucks from the NASCAR Truck Series speeding down a racetrack. The shots wouldn’t be out of place in a Fast & Furious film, complete with close-ups of a tach needle racing toward redline followed by an obligatory dramatic shift sequence.

Toyota

Perhaps one of the most recognizable Toyota trucks appears in the next shot, as the black, jacked-up 1985 Tacoma that Marty McFly drove in Back to the Future appears in a cloud of dirt after executing an appropriately ’80s J-turn. For those unfamiliar with said driving maneuver, just YouTube “Rockford Files J-turn”, and thank us later.The third- and second-to-last scenes see a 1991 Australian FJ75 with a prominent snorkel thundering over the ground with a mob of kangaroos in tow before Ivan “Ironman” Stewart’s trophy truck of Baja 1000 fame launches off a sand dune in climactic fashion.

Toyota

The ad closes with an all-new 2022 Tundra TRD Pro emerging from the sandstorm. Its distinctive and massive maw are front and center, with quick shots of its engraved tailgate and grille-mounted light bar before a wide shot of it outrunning the sandstorm to end the ad. Click here for all the details on the new Tundra.
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The 2022 Toyota Tundra is finally here, and it has a new hybrid option, a coil-spring rear suspension, and a significantly improved interior with a massive 14.0-inch touchscreen to make it more competitive against American pickups.The standard powertrain is a 389-hp twin-turbocharged 3.4-liter V-6, but there’s also an available hybrid powertrain that makes 437 horsepower and 583 pound-feet of torque. It will go on sale by the end of this year in SR, SR5, Limited, Platinum, 1794, and TRD Pro models. The hybrid won’t be available until a few months after, Toyota says. Since the last new Toyota Tundra debuted 15 years ago, Ford redesigned the F-150 three times, Ram separated itself from Dodge as its own brand and released two new generations of its half-ton pickup, and Chevy redid the Silverado three times. All three of those American pickups have long outsold the Tundra by a wide margin, but now Toyota is finally launching a new generation of its full-size pickup that looks to be more competitive in this hugely important segment.
The new Tundra is built on Toyota’s TNGA-F body-on-frame platform, which will also underpin the next Tacoma mid-size pickup and Sequoia and 4Runner SUVs. Like the Ram 1500, the Tundra now employs coil springs, which should improve ride and drivability compared to the old truck’s leaf springs—a setup that the Ford F-150 and Chevy Silverado still use. Electronically controlled adaptive dampers are now available, as is a set of air springs on the rear axle that can raise the truck for low speed off-road driving or lower it to make loading the bed or hooking up a trailer easier. The off-road-focused TRD Pro model is fitted with 2.5-inch Fox dampers with internal-bypass chambers and remote reservoirs and 33-inch Falken Wildpeak all-terrain tires.

A new twin-turbocharged 3.4-liter V-6 engine replaces the previous model’s 5.7-liter V-8 engine and produces 389 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque, increases of 8 horsepower and 78 pound-feet over the V-8. It’s paired with a 10-speed automatic transmission. To compete with Ford’s new F-150 PowerBoost hybrid, Toyota is offering a hybrid version of the V-6 called iForce MAX, and this powertrain comes standard on the TRD Pro. It has a low-speed EV mode and uses an electric motor sandwiched between the twin-turbo 3.4-liter and 10-speed that’s powered by a roughly 1.5-kWh nickel-metal hydride battery pack. Its output is higher than the Ford’s, making 437 horsepower at 5200 rpm and 583 pound-feet of torque at 2400 rpm, but unlike the F-150 there’s no built-in generator. Toyota says it will announce fuel economy estimates in the coming months, and the aim is to beat the PowerBoost’s 25 mpg EPA rating.
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Tundras can tow up to 12,000 pounds, 1800 more than the previous-generation truck, but that’s still less than what some versions of the Chevy, Ford, and Ram half-tons are capable of. Max payload is rated at 1940 pounds, also less than the domestic trucks max ratings. An available 360-degree camera can help while towing, and an integrated trailer brake controller can detect the blind spot of whatever is hooked up. Every Tundra’s tailgate can be released by a button on the key fob, and crew-cab models come with either a 5.5- or 6.5-foot bed, while the extended cab configurations can be equipped with a 6.5- or 8.1-foot bed. Both rear- and four-wheel-drive Tundras are available. That colossal grille looks like it might be able to swallow a Prius, and different styles are available depending on trims and options. TRD Pro models have “Toyota” script across the top with an integrated LED light bar below that’s toggled by a button below the dash when the high beams are on. Toyota went for a more modern and jagged design with the Tundra’s third generation, and it’s drastically different than the previous truck. We’ll let the truck’s sales numbers determine if the new look is more attractive than the other half-ton pickups.
Interior improvements are significant compared with the old truck’s cabin, which featured many hard plastics and a small and dated infotainment system. To one-up Ford and Ram’s 12.0-inch screens and Chevy’s new 13.4-inch unit, the Tundra has an available 14.0-inch touchscreen (an 8.0-inch screen is standard). It’s the first Toyota to use its new Audio Multimedia interface, and its crisp graphics and simplified design are easy to use. Say “Hey, Toyota”, and it can give directions or pull up the standard wireless Apple CarPlay or Android Auto along with other commands. An analog gauge cluster comes standard on the base models, but a 12.3-inch digital screen is available on the higher trims and displays five different national parks upon start. A mobile app can save driver settings and remote start the truck.
A TRD off-road package is available (pictured above) and adds either 18- or 20-inch black TRD wheels, a TRD grille, Bilstein dampers, skid plates, mud guards, and a TRD leather shifter. Four-wheel-drive models with the TRD off-road package get an electronically controlled rear locking differential, MTS, and off-road cruise control. The TRD Sport package is exclusive to the SR5 model and adds 20-inch black TRD wheels, a TRD grille, lowered suspension, and the TRD shifter.The 2022 Toyota Tundra will be on sale by the end of the year in SR, SR5, Limited, Platinum, 1794, and TRD Pro models, and Toyota says trucks with the iForce MAX will arrive a few months after. Pricing, along with fuel economy estimates, will be announced closer to its arrival. It will be built at Toyota’s factory in San Antonio, Texas.
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Cars without people inside driving them have been cruising the streets of Berlin as a test for autonomous-vehicle company Vay.They’re not fully autonomous, instead using “teledrivers,” which is similar to human-in-the-loop autonomous technology, except drivers in a central location operate a connected vehicle to the location where a Vay user wants to be picked up. Then, the customer drives to their location before a remote operator drives the car away.Vay said it will start its ride-hailing service in Europe, and maybe the U.S., next year.Based on the original definitions of different levels of driving automation published by SAE International, Vay’s autonomous technology doesn’t exist. That’s because the strategy Vay is taking to develop autonomous vehicles involves not trying to make them totally autonomous, at least not right away. Fortunately, SAE recently updated the definitions to include remote drivers and remote assistants, and this is where Vay’s plan to involve what it calls “teledrivers” will fit in.

Vay, which is based in Germany, has been testing a slightly different technology on the streets of Berlin that relies on teledrivers doing most of the work, operating the cars from computer stations that have a basic driver’s-seat setup—including a steering wheel, pedals, and several monitors to see what’s around the car—alongside a network that, vitally, doesn’t suffer from too much latency.

Vay.io via YouTube

Others in the autonomous space have used the term HIL (human in the loop) to describe this kind of part-time human solution to autonomous driving. The basic idea behind HIL is that the car can handle the driving most of the time, but whenever it can’t navigate a particular section, the remote operator steps in to get the car past whatever hazard might be too hard for the automated-driving components to handle.

Vay.io via YouTube

Vay’s service will operate like a sort of humanless Uber and also a sort of car-rental service. Users will request a Vay ride, Uber style, and the remote-controlled car will arrive at their location. Then, the user will drive the car wherever they want to go and, finally, the Vay vehicle is teledriven to the next user. Bloomberg notes that Vay’s future plans include a fully remotely operated ride-hailing service so riders never have to be drivers. At some point down the road, the company’s mission is to help get Europe “back to the forefront of the race to develop driverless vehicles which will solve many of today’s transportation challenges, including air pollution, traffic jams, and traffic-related deaths, high costs of transportation and long commutes.” The company said it intends to launch a driverless certified “commercial-mobility service” on public roads in Europe (and maybe the U.S.) in 2022.Vay has already hired a fair number of Silicon Valley and automotive industry talent, Bloomberg said, including Google, Audi, and Elon Musk’s Boring company. Vay CEO Thomas von der Ohe previously worked at Amazon on its Alexa service and at self-driving startup Zoox, while Vay’s co-founders used to work at Skype. Bloomberg reported that Vay has so far raised around $30 million from investors. Vay is busy hiring and looks to bridge two worlds: “software and product experience from Silicon Valley and automotive hardware & safety engineering from Europe.” One of the positions is a principal video engineer who would be responsible for optimizing the cars’ video streams for maximum quality and low latency.
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