SXSW 2022: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles Edition
American Airlines and Lucid Motors CEOs are building the future of Transportation, and Pete Buttigieg is using your tax dollars to pay for it.
If ten days of exploring the latest innovation in music, film, and technology are not enough, SXSW added planes, trains, and automobiles this year. A dedicated transportation track was added to the program and included discussions for hyperloops, autonomous vehicles, EVs, electric bicycles, and VTOL personal air vehicles. The takeaways were that EVs are booming, the Biden stimulus money is flowing, and airlines will make money no matter what happens.
Climate Change? Surging oil prices? War in Europe? No biggie, Americans still want to fly.
American Airlines CEO Doug Parker is retiring at the end of the month, but he seems to be leaving the company in good shape. “Demand for domestic travel is as strong as ever,” Parker says. “We are seeing full airplanes.”
Three of the five days last week were the highest revenue days in American Airlines’ history. There are fewer planes in the air and international travel is still way down, but it seems clear that people want to fly.
This is despite surging oil prices. “We have made money with prices above $100/ barrel and we will do it again,” Parker said.
When it comes to the climate impact of all that traveling, Parker said the company already does everything possible to limit fuel consumption. Aviation needs better, more sustainable jet fuel. “Let’s get a tax credit in place to stimulate some development of sustainable fuels,” Parker said. “That is the answer. It is the only answer.”
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg seems to be on the same page. “Every transportation system is a climate decision,” Buttigieg told the crowd. “Whether we realize it or not.” Buttigieg was taking a victory lap for the $1 trillion infrastructure bill, of which half will go to transportation. For example, it included $551 million to expand the nation's EV charging network.
One thing that did not make it into the infrastructure bill was the additional tax credits of EV purchasers. The Biden proposed an extra $4,500 credit for electric vehicles built in the U.S. with union labor, but it was cut from the final bill. Neither are there new provisions for the development of low-emission jet fuel. (Sorry, Mr. Parker!)
“This is not about short-term stimulus, it’s about getting ready for the long term,” Buttigieg said. “We are building cathedrals.” It is a good line. If Republicans knew the money was for Cathedral-building, they might have supported the full Build Back Better bill.
Beware of Gas Guzzling EVs
Lucid is not the first car maker you think of when it comes to electric vehicles, but that may change. Motortrend named the Lucid Air its Car of the Year. The Lucid Air comes with impressive stats, including 1,111 horsepower, 1,390 lb-ft of torque in the Air Dream P-edition, and up to 520 miles of EPA-official range. Prices start at $77K but go up quickly from there. Peter Rawlinson, CEO of Lucid, explained building the Lucid Air was never about pure performance: it was about efficiency.
“There is a such a thing as a Gas guzzling EV,” Rawlinson says. All EVs are zero-emission by definition, but they are not equally efficient. For EVs, efficiency is measured in Miles-per Kilowatt-hour. That number determines everything about both the vehicle and the user experience.
If you have a more efficient car, you can get the same range with a smaller battery pack. The battery can take up less space, which provides more interior room. Efficiency can also reduce vehicle weight, making for a more nimble driving experience. Perhaps most of all, efficiency can reduce the cost of the battery. EV batteries are the most expensive component in the car - most cost more than $20K to manufacture. ”If you have a 10% influence on battery size, that could be a $2K savings,” Rawlinson says.
Efficiency is paramount, but the Lucid Air is still fun to drive. “I wanted to create a Lotus or a Porsche driving experience with a Mercedes S class interior,” Rawlinson. “I think we got close on both counts.”
Designed for Peak Shaving
The Lucid Air is built for driving, but it is also designed to be useful sitting in your driveway. The Lucid Air’s 900-volt charging systems and battery pack are bidirectional. With a little software tweaking and a home adapter, the battery could power your home during peak usage. This would serve as a backup during service interruptions, but it could take pressure off the grid during peak usage, known as “peak shaving”. This kind of Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) solution is being tested in California, with Ford, GM and VW all running beta programs with PG&E
When Are Autonomous Cars Coming?
“Back in ‘17, I said it was years away and I still think it is many years away,” Rawlinson says. “It is an inevitability, but it ain’t coming any time soon.” The process will be gradual, most likely starting off with geofenced lanes that permit autonomous cars. Until that technology is ready, Rawlinson plans to scale up and drive down the costs of EVs.
Rawlinson says, “I thought all the fun in engineering was in the 1920s, but it is now.”
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