Why Tech Leaders Want to Slow Down AI

Julie Chang (0:04)

Welcome to Tech News Briefing. It's Tuesday, September 15th. I'm Julie Chang for the Wall Street Journal.

Worried your electric vehicle might run out of juice before you find a plug? Automakers are betting on a new solution that's actually kind of old. We'll explore the tech behind extended-range EVs. Then we're diving into the AI doom debate. As some in the industry warn, AI could spell the end of humanity. What steps could tech giants take to stop it?

But first, extended-range electric vehicles or eREVs are the auto industry's latest attempt at solving driver's range anxiety. It's a fully electric car equipped with a gas-powered generator that can charge the battery on the go. But will drivers embrace this middle-ground technology? My colleague Amani Moise sat down with WSJ reporter Christopher Otts to talk about how eREVs work and whether extended-range will expand the EV consumer base.

Amani Moise (1:10)

Can you walk us through how these new eREVs work and how they're different from the hybrids most people are familiar with?

Christopher Otts (1:15)

Yes, the main difference is that these new eREVs are electric vehicles first, and the engine is only there to act as a generator charging the battery. The engine has no mechanical connection to the wheels. You cannot drive this car in the same way you drive a gas car.

What we've seen with most plug-in hybrids here to date is that they really are gas vehicles that figure out a way to fit in a battery and provide some all-electric range. But they're really fundamentally gas cars with a battery attached. And the range that they provide in terms of all EV driving has not been very much or very useful to most people. So these new EREVs will have much more electric range because they are fundamentally electric vehicles just with a security blanket of a gas engine.

Amani Moise (2:20)

So why are automakers suddenly so interested in these EREVs? What problem are they trying to solve?

Christopher Otts (2:26)

It's important to say that the concept is not entirely new. So General Motors did an EREV with the Chevy Volt back in 2010 It was really groundbreaking at the time.

And BMW had an EREV version of the i3. So it is kind of an old concept. Where it is coming back is in larger vehicles, big pickup trucks, big three-row SUVs. These big vehicles have had the most trouble going to electrification because of towing and the fact that they need gigantic batteries. So some automakers are hoping that the EREV functionality, where you never have to worry about running out of range, where you can tow a trailer because you have that security of the gas engine, will be the perfect answer for the particular problem.

Amani Moise (3:21)

And what kind of range are we talking about here? How often would the typical driver actually need to use the gas generator?

Christopher Otts (3:27)

These new crop of EREVs that are coming to the market will have, we're told, over a hundred miles of range. For the most part, you should almost never have to put gas in it. The gas generator is really only supposed to come into play on unusual situations such as long road trips, where maybe you're driving through the cornfields of Indiana, there's no charging station anywhere in sight, but you do have gas stations and you can complete the trip.

One of the big unknowns is how much range you get from that gas generator as well, how far you can go without having to refuel. These are things that we'll learn as these vehicles actually get rolled out, but that is for sure something to watch because while you could fill up at a gas station, it could also be inconvenient if the vehicle can't go as far between filling up as people are accustomed to.

Amani Moise (4:29)

Another hang up that consumers have had when it comes to EVs is the price tag. Are these EREVs going to help in that area?

Christopher Otts (4:36)

That's a great question. Another thing that is yet to be seen in terms of how these vehicles are priced.

But there's no doubt that while EREVs might be less costly than a comparable full electric vehicle, they will almost assuredly be more costly than the comparable gas vehicle. The question is, which consumers value having an EV and the EV driving experience enough to pay extra for these vehicles versus buying the same type of vehicle just in an all gas version?

Julie Chang (5:19)

That was WSJ reporter, Chistopher Otts, speaking with our colleague, Imani Moise. Would you consider buying an eRev? If you're a listener on Spotify, leave us a comment with your thoughts.