Driving with Dunne

Imagine you're in the market for a full size pickup truck. And you like the F-150, America's best-selling vehicle for the past 40 years. But, wait, there's a new twist in the decision-making process. Should you get a gasoline-powered F-150 or the electric F-150 Lightning? To get answers, we turn to our guest today, Darren Palmer. Darren is the Vice President of Electric Vehicles in Ford's Model e division. Darren reports to Doug Field, recently recruited from Apple, and Field reports to CEO Jim Farley. Put another way, Darren is way up there at Ford and knows the Lightning specs and performance better than anyone on the planet. In this week's Driving With tDunne conversation, I ask Darren a simple but tough question. If I choose the Lighting over the gasoline F-150, what am I gaining -- and what am I giving up? Palmer shares some remarkable data bophut F-150 Lightning customers. More than half of them never owned a Ford before. And close to 80% had never owned an electric vehicle. Palmer makes the compelling argument that the Lightning is a new product category, fundamentally different from the F-150s powered by engines. This episode lets you listen to Darren and make your own conclusions. #DrivingWithDunne / #ZozoGo https://twitter.com/Dunne_ZoZoGohttps://www.instagram.com/zo.zo.go/?hl=enhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-dunne-a696901a/

When she was an engineering student at MIT, Kristin Slanina led her team to victory in a solar car race through five states in America's northeast. That early achievement inspired Kristin, decades later, to launch Charge Across America, a contest featuring teams driving from New York to Los Angeles in five different electric cars. The main purpose of the competition was to assess the readiness of America's charging networks. How reliable, how fast, how convenient? In this episode Kristin recounts the highs and lows of the cross-country drive. And she also gives a grade to American's EV charging networks as they stand today. And what American can be doing to speed the pace of change to cleaner, greener, cheaper energy. #DrivingWithDunne / #ZozoGo https://twitter.com/Dunne_ZoZoGohttps://www.instagram.com/zo.zo.go/?hl=enhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-dunne-a696901a/

In Part I of this conversation, Reilly Brennan described how the days of late October, 2022 will go down in history as some of the most important in the history of autonomous vehicles. In the space of just a few days, one company (Argo AI) went out of business, Tesla was taken to court for its Autopilot system and Reilly Brennan experienced a transcendent "before and after" moment when taking the Cruise robotaxi on a flawless 40 minute trip through the street of San Francisco. In this week's Part 2 of the conversation we look at the next giant hurdle for autonomous vehicles: Profitability. Cruise, Waymo, Baisu and other AV companies are still plowing through tens of billions of dollars in development costs. When will these companies be able to scale up their robotaxi fleets in multiple cities and become commercially viable? Put another way, now that Cruise has established proof of concept on the technology front, how long before we see proof of profit? #DrivingWithDunne / #ZozoGo https://twitter.com/Dunne_ZoZoGohttps://www.instagram.com/zo.zo.go/?hl=enhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-dunne-a696901a/

Scour the planet and you are unlikely to find anyone who knows the business of autonomous vehicles (AVs & ADAS) better than Reilly Brennan, Co-Founder, Trucks Venture Capital. Over the past ten years, Brennan has taken rides in more than 100 autonomous vehicles. He and his partners at Trucks Venture Capital have also invested in dozens of startups in the AV ecosystem, including leading innovators like Gatik, May Mobility, AEye and NuTonomy. In this week's Driving With Dunne conversation, Brennan reveals why his recent 40 minute ride in a Cruise robotaxi through the streets of San Francisco was a mind-altering experience. What acts of technological magichad Cruise managed to perform? Where had Cruise broken through? Brennan also lays out in vivid terms the crucial distinction every driver should make between autonomous cars and vehicles that are enhanced through advanced driver assistance systems. #DrivingWithDunne / #ZozoGo https://twitter.com/Dunne_ZoZoGohttps://www.instagram.com/zo.zo.go/?hl=enhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-dunne-a696901a/

Almost half of all humans now live in cities. By 2300 that number will climb to 75%. With so much population density, how will people get around? Horace Dediu and Roman Meliska have some powerful ideas. The future of transportation in cities is smaller, lighter, quicker and smarter. There is a shift underway to new modes of transportation that they call Micromobility. It is not the end of the car. But perhaps the end of an era in which cities are built to accommodate cars exclusively. What are these alternative forms of transportation? How much do they save us in terms of money, time and the environment? And which cities are the pioneers of the Micomobility revolution?#DrivingWithDunne / #ZozoGo https://twitter.com/Dunne_ZoZoGohttps://www.instagram.com/zo.zo.go/?hl=enhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-dunne-a696901a/

StoreDot is an Israeli-based technology startup with deep expertise in charging batteries. The company is focused on extreme fast charging for electric cars. How extreme? StoreDot aims to deliver 100 miles of charge to your car battery in only five minutes. Among his financial backers: Samsung, Daimler, British Petroleum and VinFast. Doron and his team will demonstrate the "100 in 5" charge breakthrough in November 2022 at the high profile Web Summit in Lisbon, Portugal. In today's conversation, we look at how StoreDot will save us thousands of hours of charging time. #DrivingWithDunne / #ZozoGo https://twitter.com/Dunne_ZoZoGohttps://www.instagram.com/zo.zo.go/?hl=enhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-dunne-a696901a/

Reuters has just published a blockbuster forecast: Global automakers plan to invest $1.2 trillion in electric vehicles, batteries and supply chains between now and 2030. That is a massive, unprecedented number in the 130-year history of the auto industry. Just how big is 1.2 trillion? It is the equivalent to the GDP of Spain. It is also the same as Apple's market cap. Which companies are investing the most? Where are their investments concentrated? Is it in new vehicles, batteries, mining or something else? Author of this important report, Paul Lienert, tells us that the 2022 projection of $1.2 trillion in new investments is twice the 2021 number. What has caused the sudden spike in EV investing? And who will be winners and losers in 2030? #DrivingWithDunne / #ZozoGo https://twitter.com/Dunne_ZoZoGohttps://www.instagram.com/zo.zo.go/?hl=enhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-dunne-a696901a/

Li-Cycle is a lithium-ion battery recycling company co-founded in 2016 by Tim Johnston and Ajay Kochhar, engineers with deep experience in minerals and mining. By 2025, there will be 900,000 tons of end of life batteries that need processing in North America and Europe. Li-Cycle is ramping up capacity to meet that future demand with operations in Arizona, Alabama, New York and Ohio.There are also new headquarters opening in Switzerland and Singapore. In this episode, Austrlaian-native Tim Johnston walks us through what happens to batteries after their cells are depleted. Do they go to a giant battery junkyard? No, battery scrap material and end-of-life batteries are shredded and then recycled into materials for new batteries. Listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2021, Li-Cycle is now valued at close to one billion dollars.#DrivingWithDunne / #ZozoGo https://twitter.com/Dunne_ZoZoGohttps://www.instagram.com/zo.zo.go/?hl=enhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-dunne-a696901a/

Metis Engineering founder Joe Holdwarth got his start working on nuclear submarines. Today, he spends his days and nights finding ways to prevent thermal runaway events in electric cars. EV battery fires are rare. According to experts, fires occur just 5 times for every billion miles traveled. For internal combustion engine-powered vehicles, the number is 55. But when there is a thermal runaway event, the results can be catastrophic. A fire in one battery cell spreads quickly to hundreds of others. And because fires are fueled by chemicals, they are difficult to bring under control. Often firefighters can only let fires burn themselves out. Automakers, battery manufacturers and expert engineering companies worldwide are working to develop early warning systems that shut down the battery before a fire can begin. One such company is Metis Engineering based in Bristol, England. What is venting? And how do the sensors developed by Metis act as life-saving early warning systems? #DrivingWithDunne / #ZozoGo https://twitter.com/Dunne_ZoZoGohttps://www.instagram.com/zo.zo.go/?hl=enhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-dunne-a696901a/

What does living in a surveillance state look like? Well, now we know, thanks to a brilliant new book, Surveillance State, by Wall Street Journal veteran correspondents Josh Chin and Liza Lin. With more than 25 years on the ground in the People's Republic between them, Josh and Liza give us a firsthand look into how the Chinese government controls the behavior of 1.3 billion people around the clock. There is extensive and invasive policing using all forms of advanced technologies from millions of high resolution cameras to facial, voice and even gait recognition. There is nowhere to hide in the PRC. Will China attempt to export its social controls to other countries? Is your personal data already in Chinese hands? Josh and Liza, who are now persona non grata in China, deliver a candid and accurate picture of the what may become a global trend in social control. #DrivingWithDunne / #ZozoGo https://twitter.com/Dunne_ZoZoGohttps://www.instagram.com/zo.zo.go/?hl=enhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-dunne-a696901a/