If you’re into hot hatches, you’ll remember the all-wheel-drive Volkswagen ID.X concept car. It debuted back in May. Now, this little hot hatch will go into production as the Volkswagen ID.3 GTX. Two other GTX variants have already been announced.
The Volkswagen ID.3 GTX is the performance version of the all-electric hot hatch
VW ID.X concept with CEO Ralf Brandstatter | VW
Volkswagen will produce the ID.4 GTX SUV and ID.5 GTX. So this performance ID.3 GTX will be peppier but it has already been confirmed will not be anything like the Golf R. That’s a shame.
What it will have is a dual-motor system with 295 hp. The concept was spec’d at 329 hp. With the twin-motor configuration, the GTX is likely to have the same powertrain as the ID.4 GTX SUV. So that means 60 mph in under six seconds.
Could there be a Volkswagen ID.3 GTX-R?
VW ID.X concept | VW
But because it doesn’t have the performance of the concept doesn’t mean this is the ID.3s limit. Volkswagen could still conjure an “R” version. And Volkswagen is eyeing more than a possible predecessor to the Golf R.
Volkswagen CEO Ralf Brandstatter has expressed the desire to see an ID.3 convertible. He told Auto Express, “A decision has not yet been made, but we are creating the concept.”
Volkswagen’s CEO Ralf Brandstatter wants an ID.3 convertible
Volkswagen ID.3 concept convertible | VW
Brandstatter went on to say, “I’d love to have a cabriolet. I drove an electric cabriolet concept and it’s so cool to go outside with nature but you hear nothing – only the wind, the acceleration, and you. That’s a completely different feeling, it’s really nice.”
The downside to all of this news is that the US won’t be getting any ID.3 models. Volkswagen is said to be developing a crossover version of the ID.3. It will be based on the same MEB electric platform as the ID.3. But the hatchback will not make it to our shores.
Is the ID.3 available in the US?
Volkswagen ID.3 concept | VW
The first of the ID all-electric Volkswagens in the US is the ID.4. It is a slightly larger version of the ID.3. There must have been many internal discussions that resulted in this decision. But from our outside perspective, it makes sense to import an entry-level EV that is more of an ancestor to the iconic Beetle.
For now, we’ll need to be satisfied with the ID.4 and ID.5, and even more so the GTX performance versions.
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Travis Scott got a school bus for Stormi, and Twitter was not happy
Travis Scott and Kylie Jenner with their daughter Stormi in August 2019 | Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Netflix
Recently, Scott got a big yellow school bus for Stormi because she was “obsessed” about riding one, Glamour reported.
And as you might expect, the Twitterverse had some thoughts. The consensus among users seemed to be that Jenner and her family were doing “middle-class cosplay” and were out of touch with reality.
One user tweeted that “rich people are literally so far from reality they bought a school bus for Stormi to sit on.”
Another Twitter user wrote, “Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott surprising their daughter with a yellow bus called me poor in many different ways.”
Other users wrote, “Stormi got to play make-believe poor today” and “Stormi is so rich her dad Travis surprised her with a yellow school bus so she can act middle class for the day.”
Another asked, “What’s weird about a kid wanting to ride a school bus?” to which another user replied, “I didn’t say Stormi was weird. Renting a school bus for your 4-year-old and then showing it off is.”
But what many critics didn’t realize was that Scott did not buy the bus.
Here’s how much it costs to rent a yellow school bus like the one Travis Scott and Kylie Jenner’s daughter got
According to reports, Scott did not purchase the yellow school bus; he rented it for the day. But it likely wasn’t cheap — at least in non-celebrity budget terms.
In Southern California, where Scott and Jenner live, the average cost to rent a school bus for a minimum of five hours is $460 to $700, with each additional hour costing $85 to $90, according to Metropolitan Shuttle.
So, if Scott rented the bus for, say, 12 hours, it would cost $1,050 to $1,330. For many families, that’s rent or mortgage payment.
What other factors affect the price of renting a school bus?
Travis Scott came through with the yellow school bus for his baby girl Stormi after she kept talking about riding in one!! pic.twitter.com/vSYbjynZNR
In addition to the length of time you’ll rent the school bus, location can affect the price. According to Bus.com, when you plan to rent a school bus is also important.
Prices are higher during certain times of the year and on specific dates. In fact, there’s a new trend of renting school buses for weddings and large family gatherings. Additionally, expect to pay more on weekends than in the middle of the week. And, as with most things, higher demand means higher prices.
Though many people thought it was ridiculous for Travis Scott to rent a school bus for his and Kylie Jenner’s daughter and show it off on Instagram, riding in a yellow school bus can bring back (mostly) good memories for people.
So if you’re looking for something memorable and relatively unique to give your event an interesting touch, a big yellow school bus might be just the thing. Plus, you (probably) won’t get Twitter-shamed.
https://news.usamotorjobs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Travis-Scott-Kylie-Jenner-Stormi-Webster-1024x723-1.jpg7231024Gabrielle DeSantishttps://news.usamotorjobs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/logo-usa-motor-jobs-white.pngGabrielle DeSantis2021-09-07 19:47:002021-09-07 19:56:14Here’s What It Costs to Rent a School Bus Like the 1 Travis Scott and Kylie Jenner Got Stormi
Despite what some naysayers still believe, electric cars do cut down on vehicle air pollution. However, while EVs are cleaner than ICE cars in some ways, in others they’re less environmentally friendly. But that doesn’t mean automakers, suppliers, and researchers aren’t trying to improve things. For example, EV batteries are ditching cobalt and becoming increasingly recycled. Batteries, though, aren’t what Nissan is about to start recycling. Instead, it’s eying a key ingredient of electric car motors: rare-earth metal.
Why are rare-earth metals so important for electric car motors?
A pile of rare-earth metal oxides recovered via Nissan’s recycling process | Nissan
If you asked someone to name a metal associated with EVs, lithium would likely be their first response due to batteries. But lithium isn’t the only metal EVs depend on more than ICE cars. Nickel is also vital. Plus, iron and aluminum aren’t limited to chassis or body panels: they’re in batteries, too. And while electric cars don’t have catalytic converters with precious metal catalysts, they do rely on rare-earth metals, aka rare-earth elements.
Know those two separate bottom rows on the periodic table? The first one contains the lanthanides, which are all rare-earth metals. And right above where the lanthanides slot into the table are scandium and yttrium, the last two rare-earth metals.
Like the platinum, rhodium, and palladium in your catalytic converter, these metals are often used as catalysts, Geology.org explains. However, you’ve likely seen them in another context: magnets. Rare-earth metals emit incredibly strong magnetic fields, which is they make great magnets. And that makes them perfect for electric car motors.
An American Solar Challenge race car electric motor | Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Corbis via Getty Images
At the heart of an electric car motor is a circular housing, the stator, that holds a rotating shaft, the rotor, MotorTrend explains. Each contains either permanent magnets or electromagnets; the specific arrangement depends on the motor. Regardless, when the two interact in the presence of an electric current, their clashing magnetic fields rotate the shaft, creating motion. Regenerative braking basically reverses this process.
Today, one of the most common electric car motors is the permanent-magnet synchronous motor, MT says. As its name implies, it relies on stator-mounted permanent magnets to work. And for maximum strength, suppliers use rare-earth metals to make those magnets.
Despite their name, rare-earth metals aren’t technically that rare. Even the rarest two are almost 200 times more common than gold, Geology.org says. But unlike gold, these metals are rarely found in concentrated spots.
That makes them difficult—and expensive—to mine. So much so that “a genuine shortage may lie ahead” as EV production grows, Reuters reports. And that’s before complex geopolitical issues, such as what’s going on with China, which controls 90% of the world’s rare-earth metal resources, come into play.
However, it’s not just scarcity and expense that make these metals a problem for EV owners. For one, extracting and purifying specific metals from ores is a complex process with “noxious byproducts” beyond just CO2, Reuters explains. And secondly, as with cobalt, rare-earth metal mines are often run using unjust and exploitative measures, Roadshow says. In short, putting these materials in electric car motors has significant costs outside of the monetary ones.
Luckily, there are ways to resolve these issues. And Nissan’s new recycling process might be one of them.
Nissan and Waseda University have a new way of recycling rare-earth metals from EV motors
The rare-earth metal recycling process developed by Nissan and Waseda University | Nissan
Electric car motors, like their batteries, are technically recyclable. However, it requires manual disassembly and part removal, which takes up time. And even after all that work, the extraction isn’t always perfect. Nissan, together with Japan’s Waseda University, hopes to tackle both limitations.
Nissan’s new recycling process revolves around pyrometallurgy; in other words, getting the metal really hot. The electric car motor heats up in the presence of pig iron and a carbon-heavy carburizing material. When it gets to at least 1,400° C (2552° F), it starts to melt. Then, iron oxide is added to oxidize the rare-earth metals. Adding a borate-based flux causes the molten mixture to separate into two liquid layers. The top one contains the dissolved rare-earth oxides. This top layer is then poured off and allowed to cool.
Nissan claims this new recycling process is 50% faster than the current method, in part because there’s no disassembly involved. Plus, the automaker says it recovers 98% of the original rare-earth elements. That means cheaper materials with less need for mining, which also cuts down on carbon emissions and other pollution.
In addition, Nissan says its recycling process can recover other suppliers’ rare-earth magnets that don’t meet production specs. That means less raw material goes to waste, further reducing emissions, mining needs, and costs.
How soon will Nissan take its recycling process full-scale?
Nissan and Waseda University have been collaborating on this rare-earth metal recycling process since 2017. However, the team didn’t finalize the procedure until March 2020.
As of this writing, Nissan is ramping up testing in its large-scale facilities. If testing goes well, Nissan hopes to “enable practical applications by the mid-2020s.” And that includes recycling other companies’ electric car motors, not just Nissan ones.
This news comes right as governments are pushing for greater EV adoption, making rare-earth metals even more important. Automakers have started reducing how much they use, but these metals are still vital—and dirty—resources. But hopefully, this new recycling method can clean them up a bit.
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A major change just took place at the Chrysler brand. When the Stellantis merger happened CEO Carlos Taveras promised all of the brands would have 10 years to see results of a solid business plan. That seemed hard to envision for Chrysler as it only sells the Pacifica minivan and very old Chrysler 300 sedan. But now Stellantis has just announced a new CEO for Chrysler.
Christine Feuell will become Chrysler’s dedicated head. This helps to alleviate concerns that brand’s days were numbered. Of course, there is always the chance her role is just to fold up things at what was once the top tier of the Chrysler Corporation.
A new Chrysler CEO means a new direction to pull the brand back
2021 Chrysler Pacifica | Stellantis
But her background shows that she is there to spark things and not to help bury the brand. She is formerly chief commercial officer for Honeywell Safety and Productivity Solutions according to the Detroit Free Press. She also spent time at auto seating manufacturer Adient, Johnson Controls, and 14 years in various capacities at Ford.
So there is automobile experience in her past. Her last position there was as director of global marketing strategy for two years. Stellantis says she provided leadership “with a strong track record of delivering profitable growth through integrated products, software, and services.”
In its simplest form, the brand going forward will absorb some of the products from sister companies Peugeot and Citroen, among others. Both had plans to enter the North American market before the merger. Now, they offer a lot of product options to “Chryslerize” without having to develop new models from scratch.
Stellantis has to differentiate what each of the 11 brands will produce
Chrysler | Getty Images
Tavares and the product teams are determining what each company’s product lines will focus on, to avoid overlapping vehicles. Depending on that internal organization Chrysler has a lot of segments it can cherry-pick from. There are luxury vehicles, sporty sedans, SUVs, and city vans to possibly rebrand as Chryslers.
Chrysler was once an important brand in America, but over the last decade, it has lost models and been drifting aimlessly. Its 300 sedan is built on the same platform as the Dodge Charger. The Pacifica minivan, though it shares little with the Dodge Caravan, is of a similar size and dimensions. So, without a compelling difference, anything that Chrysler sells can be found with the Dodge brand.
It is an odd predicament that might have made some sense within the former Fiat Chrysler, but from the outside, it appears that the brand was slowly being killed off. Now, it has one last chance to regain some of the product and prestige that it once held.
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