Driving with Dunne

Think of batteries for electric cars as the most important American industrial movement since WWII. Investors are pouring more than $100 billion into new battery plants across the country, from South Carolina to Georgia, from Ohio to Michigan. There's new battery factories coming up in Kansas, Texas and Arizona, too. These battery manufacturing sites are supported by a growing pack of new companies hell-bent on building out America's battery supply chains - minerals, processing and recycling. America's explosion in battery manufacturing is an urgent response to the competitive threats posed by a dominant China. There are national security concerns. There are worries about economic dependence on an increasingly hostile adversary. Our special guest this week is Chris Berry, founder, House Mountain Partners, a research and advisory firm based in Washington DC. Chris is a highly respected expert on batteries and global battery supply chains. Listen in as he paints a picture of America's transportation future, one dominated by electric vehicles and the batteries that power them.

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You may not know it yet but there is a great battle underway for your eyes and for your ears inside the car. That battle is taking place between two powerful competitors. In this corner, we have current hardware and software giants like Apple and Google. Most of us are already addicted to their weapons - smartphones. In that corner, we have giant global automakers who are racing to build up their software capabilities. Automakers like Mercedes-Benz envision a future world where you are so impressed with your digital experience inside the car - navigation, entertainment, communication – that you forget all about your iPhones. The automakers are taking this battle very seriously. Our guest today is Magnus Ostberg, Chief Software Officer at Mercedes-Benz. I had dinner with Magnus at CES earlier this year. And I was highly impressed with his expertise in software. Let's learn how Magnus and his team are getting that done. On this week's Driving With Dunne podcast.

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Drive the streets of San Diego and it will feel like the whole world is going electric. Here is a Tesla Model 3. There is a Hyundai Ioniq 5. Look at that Lucid Air. Or that cyber orange Mach E. Take your driving to the northern climes, like Detroit, Michiganor Green Bay, Wisconsin, and the picture looks totally different. There full-size pickup trucks and SUVs powered by gasoline engines rule the road. Electrics are simply hard to find, like some endangered species. What explains the dramatic difference? Why is California covered in EVs while people in the north are hanging onto their gasoline powered vehicles? For this week's Driving With Dunne episode conversation, we speak to Andy Minckler, a regular listener to the podcast. Andy lives in New Hampshire about an hour from Boston. He is tempted to go electric. But something is holding him back. What are his concerns? And what might make him change his mind?

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Ms. Lu Zhang moved from Inner Mongolia to the United States at the age of 20 to study material sciences at Stanford. Shortly after graduation, she founded her first company - one that made her independently wealthy. Today she leads Fusion Fund, a Palo-Alto based venture capital company that focuses on early stage investments. Ms Zhang is recognized as one of the top 25 leading female entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. I met Lu at a private gathering of venture capital leaders gathering earlier this year. She struck me as an exceptionally smart and driven individual. In this episode, we will learn how Lu thinks about risk and how she picks winners. We will also discover the meaning of her name and what kind of cars she drives. Hint: One is German and the other is made in America. Lu Zhang, Founder, Fusion Fund, on the Driving With Dunne podcast.

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Electric vehicles are expensive, out of reach for most customers. The average price of EVs sold in America last year was $65,000. The story in Europe was similar. China offers more affordable EVs. But they are driven by batteries that deliver dramatically lower range or power – or both. Who wants to buy an EV that is not quick off the start ? Or one that causes you range anxiety? Are we stuck in EVs-are-too-damn-expensive land forever? No, at least not for long, according to Vincent Pluvinage, the fascinating scientist, physicist and co-founder and CEO of OneD Battery Sciences. Born in Belgium, educated at Michigan and Stanford, Dr. Pluvinage now spends his time at the OneD labs in Palo Alto devising ways to make batteries less expensive. The secret ingredient is silicon. But as you will learn from listening to Vincent, making better batteries is never simple or easy.

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Most modern cars come with adaptive front lighting, park assist, surround-view and rear view cameras, lane departure warning, automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, and collision avoidance. But how do these magical powers work? These systems use image sensors that continuously sample the vehicle’s operating environment. A machine vision processor in the system controller analyzes the data and determines what actions the car should take. Yes, we humans are still behind the wheel but the car is doing a lot of the work for us. That is where Scottsdale Arizona-based onsemi comes in - designing, engineering, manufacturing, testing and packaging smart sensors. Billions of them, every year. How smart are the sensors? How reliable? And how safe from cyber attacks. Ross Jatou, GM at Onsemi's Intelligent Sensing Group walks us through today's tech promises and realities.

Powerhouse Ventures invests in early-stage software companies that save energy, save time – or both. Of the 33 companies in Powerhouse portfolio, several operate in the battery and electric charging arena. A few years ago, Ms Thompson made a monumental shift from the oil and gas industry in Texas to the clean energy focus that defines her work at Powerhouse. In our conversation, she introduces us to her approach to assessing software startups. What does she look for in the founder? And what does she look for in the business model? What are some examples of software companies that are making a real-time impact on the overall battery and charging experience?

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Electric vehicles remain expensive, out of reach for most customers. The average price of EVs sold in America last year was $65,000. The story in Europe was similar. China offers more affordable EVs, but they are driven by batteries that deliver dramatically lower range or power – or both. Who wants to buy an EV that is not quick off the start ? Or one that causes you range anxiety -- and sometimes range panic? Are we stuck in EVs-are-too-damn-expensive land forever? No, at least not for long, according to Vincent Pluvinage, the fascinating scientist, physicist and co-founder and CEO of OneD Battery Sciences. Born in Belgium, educated at Michigan and Stanford, Dr. Pluvinage now spends his time at the OneD labs in Palo Alto devising ways to make batteries less expensive. The secret ingredient is silicon. But as you will learn from listening to Vincent, making better batteries is never simple or easy. Let's find out why.

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In late 2022 and early 2023, customers from Ford, Rivian and Bolt separately reported an unusual and slightly terrifying experience while fast charging their vehicles. In the middle of their charge sessions, customers recalled hearing a large boom, then a pop. Seconds later, their charging stopped and their battery ceased to work. Tow trucks were summoned to take their vehicles to the nearest service center. EV expert John Voelcker joins us today to go deeper into what exactly happened. And he sheds light on why we are still far away from a good experience at most public fast-charting locations in America. What are the stubborn barriers to a better experience? And how long must we wait before fast charging will be stress free? Listen to John Voelcker on this episode of the Driving With Dunne podcast.

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Graphite is a core component of lithium-ion batteries, accounting for up to 30% of the value of a battery cell. Today, Chinese companies utterly dominate refining, producing 93% of all processed graphite globally. America is now hell-bent building its own batteries and battery supply chains. Since 2021, American car makers and battery manufacturers have announced more than $60 billion in new battery plants across the United States. Still, the US is totally reliant on China for graphite. But that is changing fast. Meet Nico Cuevas, Founder, Urbix Resources, a Mesa Arizona startup specializing in clean and efficient graphite processing. Founded in 2014, Cuevas and his co-founders are racing to scale up innovative processing of graphite that they import from dozens of mines around the world, including from Brazil, Turkey and China. Will Urbix be able to compete with China, the graphite beast?