AUTO TIDBITS—EV COOLANTS GO ROGUE,  A FERRARI EXEC FOILS A DEEP FAKE, MUSK SAYS “FIX MINE FIRST!” 

I CONTINUE TO READ AUTOMOTIVE NEWS as the best way to keep up with an industry that used to occupy me 24/7 for 33+ years. These days, I merely glean for tidbits, of which there are a’plenty. 

The Boss Says “Fix It!” Automotive News, July 22, 2024, cites a Business Insider tale describing workers assigned to improve Tesla Autopilot and Full Self-Driving functions: “Two people recounted having worked on data from a route going to and from a California mansion that they later learned was owned by Musk.”

Image from Bloomberg via Automotive News.

Automotive News recounts, “Former NHTSA senior safety adviser Missy Cummings said prioritizing certain drivers’ data could hinder Tesla in its efforts to resolve issues holding back autonomous vehicles: ‘It’s going to be hard to make a self-driving car for the masses if it’s only operating well around Elon’s house.’ ”

You’re telling me. 

Coolants Go Rogue in EVs. Richard Truett reports in AN, July 29, 2024, on conventional coolants in EVs: “The problem with ethylene glycol coolant in battery-electric and in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles,” Truett writes, “is that when it contacts the metals, plastics and other components in the system, it can, over time, become ionized. This means the coolant gains electrons, reducing the efficiency of BEVs and potentially causing major problems in fuel cell vehicles.”

Mustang Mach E electric vehicles are used to test low-conductivity blends of Prestone coolants. Image by Prestone via Automotive News. 

What’s called for is a low-conductivity coolant, and Prestone is on the case. Truett details, “Electrical conductivity in coolant is measured per centimeter in a unit called a microsiemen. Coolants for piston-engined vehicles have 3,000 to 5,000 microsiemens per centimeter, which creates high conductivity but is not an issue because the fluid doesn’t cool electrical components as it does for an electric powertrain.” 

Truett continues, “Most automakers are asking for fluid measuring 100 microsiemens for BEVs. For fuel cell vehicles, which use specialized membranes that combine hydrogen and oxygen in an electrochemical reaction to produce electricity for an electric powertrain, they would like a coolant that measures just 1.5 microsiemens, and have even asked about the possibility of lowering it to 0.5.” Coolants flow through the fuel-cell stacks themselves, potentially making for an FC “backfire.” 

To Some, Zero Emissions Ain’t Enough. Speaking of fuel-cell vehicles, I must report a lamentable tale recounted in “Hydrogen Toyotas at Olympics Irk Scientists,” Automotive News, July 26, 2024: “A group of 120 scientists, engineers and academics said Toyota should have supplied battery-electric vehicles to the Paris Olympics instead of cars powered by hydrogen.” 

Image from Toyota via Automotive News. 

AN writes, “Although fuel cell vehicles themselves don’t produce greenhouse gases, the letter notes that nearly all hydrogen used today is made from fossil fuels. And while Toyota has said it would power the Olympic fleet of 500 Mirais with hydrogen from renewable sources, the environmentalists argue that consumers who buy a Mirai will not.” 

Geez, it ain’t that a BEV’s inherently larger batteries don’t have environmental problems of their own. 

All Those EVs? Hold On There.… And while I’m in something of an “I told you so” mode, I will note the numerous—I mean numerous—references to hybrids along the lines of “Mercedes Pivots on Powertrain Strategy as its EVs Fail to Take Off,” Automotive News, August 4, 2024: Urvaksh Karkaria writes, “The automaker is backing off its electric vehicle push as U.S. consumers cool to its zero-emission offerings. At a meeting in April, Mercedes told retailers it would boost combustion engine and hybrid vehicle supply in 2024. The automaker plans to expand its plug-in hybrid offerings in the second half with the GLC.”

Ferrari Exec Foils Deep Fake. A favorite Automotive News tidbit recounts, “It was mid-morning on a Tuesday this month when a Ferrari NV executive started receiving a bunch of unexpected messages, seemingly from the CEO: ‘Hey, did you hear about the big acquisition we’re planning? I could need your help,’ one of the messages purporting to be from Chief Executive Officer Benedetto Vigna read.’ ”

AN says sensitivity of it all precludes identifying the executive involved: “The Vigna deepfaker began explaining that he was calling from a different mobile phone number because he needed to discuss something confidential—a deal that could face some China-related snags and required an unspecified currency-hedge transaction to be carried out.” 

AN says, “The voice impersonating Vigna was convincing—a spot-on imitation of the southern Italian accent.” But the canny exec “began to pick up the slightest of mechanical intonations that only deepened his suspicions.”

AN’s tale continues, “ ‘Sorry, Benedetto, but I need to identify you,’ the executive said. He posed a question: What was the title of the book Vigna had just recommended to him a few days earlier (it was Decalogue of Complexity: Acting, Learning and Adapting in the Incessant Becoming of the” World by Alberto Felice De Toni).”

“With that,” AN reported, “the call abruptly ended. Ferrari opened an internal investigation, the people said. Representatives for the Maranello, Italy-based company declined to comment on the matter.”

A good save, I’d say. ds 

© Dennis Simanaitis (the real one), SimanaitisSays.com, 2024