August 9, 2023 • 39 mins
Amy King hosts your Wednesday Wake Up Call. ABC White House Correspondent Jay O’Brien comes on the program to discuss the Supreme Court reinstating regulation of ‘ghost guns.’ Amy speaks with KFI's Tech Reporter Rich DeMuro on this Wired Wednesday to talk about Lyft wanting to get rid of surge prices, Google making text messages on android phones more secure by default, and LG’s wireless TV price tag. Jane Wells joins the show for a new edition of Biz Buzz and talks about ESPN launching a sportsbook in partnership with Penn Entertainment, Rocket Lab results matching estimates, and Tesla vs Rivian. The show wraps with ABC Tech Reporter Mike Dobuski talking about Cadillac unveiling an electric Escalade in Manhattan.
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(00:00):
You're listening to wake Up Call ondemand from kf I AM six forty KFI
hand KOST HD two, Los Angeles, Orange County. It's time for your
morning wake up call. Here's AmyKing. This is your wake up call
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for Wednesday, August ninth. Goodmorning, I'm Amy King. I dig
that music always gets me going.Have you ever thought that you were prepared
for the day and then at thevery last second you remember that you forgot
something. Yeah, I just didthat. We were about ready to go
on the air, and I waslike, I don't have my headphones.
And if you know anything about radio, and even if you don't, I'll
(00:49):
tell you you have to wear headphonesor you can't hear what's going on aside
from your own voice, So youcan't hear like I couldn't hear you Kono.
Yeah, headphones are a big prior. I know I wouldn't be able
to hear Anne handle Wayne, anybodywouldn't be able to hear my sound bites.
So I'm a little winded, butI'm centered. I got my coffee,
(01:11):
glad you're breck. Thank you.My oatmeal is stewing. I'll be
eating that soon. And here's what'sahead on the wake up call. More
than eleven thousand la City workers areexpected to return to their jobs today,
a day after staging a twenty fourhour strike over contract talks that delayed trash
pickups, snarled traffic at Laxton causedsome of their service disruptions around the city.
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Voters in Ohio have voted down anissue that would have required a sixty
percent majority to pass constitutional amendments inthe state. Preduliminary results show fifty seven
percent of voters were against it.There is a Megamillion's jackpot winner, but
it's not you unless you're listening inFlorida. Someone in Florida has the winning
ticket, worth one point five eightbillion dollars. It's the third largest jackpot
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in US history. Let's get startedwith some of the story is coming out
of the KFI twenty four our newsroom. As I mentioned, thousands of city
workers in la have wrapped up aone day strike demanding a fair labor contract.
More than eleven thousand members with SCIULocal seven twenty one hit the streets,
rallying from lax to city hall.This worker says LA's in the middle
(02:17):
of a labor movement and It's timefor the city to step up and make
a real offer. We tired thehassle and you know, playing around with
our money in our livelihood, becausewe deserved this day for the promises a
contract, and they're just playing withus. Garbage went uncollected and city pools
were shut down yesterday as crowds marchedin solidarity. Mayor Bass says the city
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is willing to bargain in good faith. Chris Adler KFI News. La County
supervisors have approved an ordinance requiring moreprotections for hotel workers in unincorporated areas.
The ordinance approved yesterday caps the squarefootage attendance can clean before the hotels have
to start paying them double time.Supervisor Lindsay Horvat says it also requires hotels
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to give room attendance panic buttons.Hotel workers play an important part in the
success of our county's tourism industry,and therefore we must ensure that hotels protect
and honor the work which those employeesperform. The rules don't go into effect
just yet. The ordinance does needanother vote and then the rules can go
into effect. An eyewitnessed to thatmid air collision of two firefighting helicopters in
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Riverside County, says he's still processingwhat he saw. Terrence says he was
driving his eighteen wheeler westbound on theten just before the Morongo Casino when he
noticed all of the aircraft dropping waterand retarded on a brush fire in Cabazon.
But moments later, he says hesaw a small helicopter come up under
a larger helicopter. I was waitingfor it to pull up. I thought
it was leaving on a pull upor swing out, and I'm watching it.
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I'm thinking in my headlight, Ithink they're going to hit. That's
when the bell four oh seven andthe skycrane collided, and that's when Terrence
says he couldn't believe what he'd seen. The bell went into a tailspan in
Jess just dropped. I saw ithit the mountain. I saw the ball
of fire and then the black smoke. He says, that's the first time
you'd ever witnessed anything like that.A few minutes later, he pulled over,
and I'd just had to get outthe trucking kind of gather my senses
(04:10):
of what I just watched. Happenedpretty sure. I just watch somebody die.
That tanage shook me up. TwoCalFire employees and a contract pilot died
that Sunday afternoon. Terrence says hereached out and told his story to the
NTSB. Steve Gregory ca if Iknows. Cases of westyle virus have been
confirmed in San Bernardino. The infectionsmark the first local human cases in the
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county of this year. The virusis transmitted through the bite of an infected
mosquito. The CDC says about onein five infected people will develop symptoms like
a fever, headache, body aches, vomiting, rash, or diarrhea.
The owner of a cemetery in Carsonhave abandoned the property, leaving people unable
(04:53):
to visit grave sites of loved ones. The gates of Lincoln Memorial Park Cemetery
have been closed since last month whenthe owners stopped paying for the properties licenses.
The Cemetery and Funeral Bureau says thecity or county will likely take over
and assign a temporary manager. Officialssay it's one of the oldest cemeteries in
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the US. The soldiers from theCivil War buried there. It's five zero
six on your wake up call,let's say good morning now to ABC's Jay
O'Brien. Jay, ghost guns werefront and center for the Supreme Court.
What did they rule and what doesit do? So this all ties back
to that regulation that you heard Presidentbuying and called for a while back,
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which says that he wants ghost gunsto have serial numbers and background checks from
people who buy them in things ofthat nature. So that all gets instituted
that rule by the ATF in twentytwenty two, and then gun manufacturers and
gun rights groups sue and a severaljudge in Texas agrees with what they have
to say, and the judge inTexas eventually says, okay, but the
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parts of a gun are not agun, And so that case gets sent
all the way through the appeals courtprocess, it goes all the way to
the Supreme Court on an emergency basis, and the government says, okay,
while this broader case plays out,can we still enforce the rule. All
of that is a long explanation tostay with the Supreme Court yesterday did and
said, yes, Government, youcan enforce this rule requiring these regulations around
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ghost guns while this broader lawsuit ofwhether or not the government can't even have
this rule plays out. Okay,so the issue isn't settled, but until
it is, the rules will beenforced exactly until it is. If you
buy a ghost gun, that partof a ghost gun, because a ghost
gun is various parts of a firearmthat are purchased, sent through the mail,
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and assembled at home. Those partshave to have serial numbers, they
have to have background checks for youto buy them. Just like if you
were to walk into a gun storeand buyer a firearm, A lot of
the regulations around that would now applyto ghost guns. Now, the argument
again is that the parts of agun are not a gun. That's the
argument that the gun manufacturers did.But the government has said, look,
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these are being used to assemble realguns. They started statistics saying about nineteen
thousand had been recovered from crime scenesacross the country in twenty twenty one.
So they say this is a realproblem that needs to be addressed. And
while the debate rages us whether ornot the government can have this rule,
they can still enforce it while thatcase plays out. Okay, and you
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mentioned the nineteen thousand. That's ahuge increase in the number of ghost guns
from just a couple of years before. So it's not a little issue.
I mean, it's becoming a biggerand bigger issue. No one having this
regulation is a centerpiece of the president'sgun violence policy. This is one of
the biggest swings he took, andso if he were to lose at the
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Supreme Court and not be able toenforce this, that would be a significant
blow to the administration. So whathappens next is this goes to the appeals
court, the broader case does theSupreme Court, The Appeals Court hears it,
and once it comes to from theAppeals Court, no matter what the
decision is, you can expect eitherside here to appeal to the Supreme Court.
So there's a very high likelihood thatthis broader case lands on the steps
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of the Supreme Court, not justthe emergency part of it. Okay,
And is there any kind of atimeline you set now it goes back to
a lower court and they'll fight itout. Do we know when that case
gets started or is that just sortof in limbo right now? Yeah,
they hear arguments on it in September. Again, how long it takes to
them the rule is still very muchunclear. This is a pretty complex case.
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And then of course that after thathappens, it's expected to either side
is expected to appeal to the SupremeCourt. It's going to be up to
the Supreme Court whether or not theywant to take it. And this is
a court that you really don't knowwhere they're going to go with this stuff
because they granted this emergency order.But in the past, this is a
court controlled by conservative justices that havegutted other gun laws in the past.
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New York's gun law is a goodexample. So very much unclear where we
go from there. Okay, soyou mentioned the justices in the makeup of
the Supreme Court. Any surprises inhow the justices voted because you had to.
It was a five four ruling,so you had to get a couple
of conservatives to side with you.Yeah, you knew where I was going
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with this. So there are theChief Justice John Roberts, who's a conservative.
He sided with the three liberals toput this over the goal line.
But the other person who's side atthe three liberals is Amy Coney Barrett,
who's a Trump appointed justice. Shesided with the liberals on the court as
well to again grant this emergency orderthat lets the government enforce this rule while
the broader case plays out. Theother four conservative justices Kavanaugh, Thomas,
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etc. They opposed this. Nobodygave their reasoning, which is pretty common
when it's this emergency kind of petition. They don't write it out in the
whole opinion like we're used to seeing. But if this case does land on
their doorstep, they will have theopportunity to write their whole opinions and we'll
see what they think of this lawfrom a legal perspective. Okay, So
for now, the rules are backin place while they fight it out in
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the lower courts, and we'll bewatching. Thanks so much for your time,
Jay, appreciate your insight into whathappened in the Supreme Court yesterday.
Thank you. All right, let'sget back to some of the stories coming
out of the KFI twenty four hournews room. A Mega Millions lottery tickets
sold in Florida has hit a nearlyone point six billion dollar jackpot. The
cash payout option would be in estimatedseven hundred eighty three million dollars, not
(10:24):
too shabby. Tickets matching five ofthe six winning numbers worth a million dollars
or more were sold in Texas,Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Florida, North
Carolina, and Central California. Nothingin southern California. The last time anyone
won the Mega Millions top prize wasApril eighteenth. Judges in la and San
Diego have ordered two US Navy sailorsaccused of spying for China to remain in
(10:48):
jail as their court cases begin.The active duty sailors appeared in court yesterday.
Both judges found the men are flightrisks and dangerous to the community for
allegedly selling military secrets to China.In one case, a defense lawyer says
his client thought he was dealing within investment operative and not an agent of
China. The judge hearing the caseagainst former President Trump in Washington, DC's
(11:11):
ordered lawyers from both sides to meetin court Friday to talk about proposed restrictions
on what Trump can and cannot publiclydisclose. Trump has promised to talk about
the criminal charges he faces over effortsto overturn the twenty twenty election. Federal
prosecutors want him borrowed from revealing certainevidence gathered in the Special Council's investigation.
A former Chapman University professor and exlawyer for former President Trump, wants his
(11:35):
disbarment hearings put on pause. JohnEastman's lawyer claims Eastman was called an unnamed
co conspirator and Trump's latest indictment notan unindicted co conspirator. The motion filed
Friday, claims that omission could meanEastman will soon be indicted and therefore disbarment
hearing set for later this month canwait. Eastman defended his theory to overturn
the twenty twenty election results because ofvoter fraud in recent interviews with Tom Klingenstein.
(11:56):
In each of the swing states,the number of ballots that are provably
illegal or circumstantially illegal exceeds the marginin each of those sis. He says
that plus similar irregularities in other swingstates resulted in thousands of mail in and
absentee ballots being counted with weak signatureverification. As for claims, these are
just conspiracy theories. Trying to stopan illegal election is not a coup,
(12:18):
but trying to a thwart a coup, but the fact that that true narrative
is being censored and shut down sothat the false narrative can prevail because I
think part of the existential threat.Multiple state recounts in Supreme Court lawsuits have
all debunked those claims. Corbin Carsonkf I News. Okay, if you
heard of the movie Sound of Freedom. It has been sort of a surprise
(12:41):
box office success. It's over onehundred million dollars now, and somebody wants
you to see it. The organization, co founded by In and Out Burger's
owner and president, is hosting freescreenings of the Sound of Freedom. The
free screening is at seven tonight atthese theaters at the AMC Montebello in Montebello,
(13:03):
at AMC Tustin in Tustin, andAMC San Diego. To get tickets,
you can register at slave the numbertwo nothing dot org slash movie dash
tickets. They're available on a firstcome, first serve basis that you didn't
get that address, I think wecan put that on the wake up call
(13:24):
page. You could probably also googleit. But free screenings for Sound of
Freedom. I've heard the movie isreally great, supposed to be based on
a true story. Haven't seen ityet. It starts Jim Kavazol and always
really love him. Right now,it's time for tech Talk with KTLA tech
reporter Rich DeMuro and the host ofRich on Tech right here on KFI.
(13:46):
Rich starting off with some welcome news. Lift may stop the surge. Yeah,
and anyone who's been to the TaylorSwift concert in the last couple of
days probably has experienced that surge pricing, or any time you leave somewhere where
there's a lot of people. It'snot fun because you check the price before
you go and it totally changes.But Lifts says they don't like it,
which is surprising because drivers love it. They make a lot more money when
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it's surge pricing. Uber does itas well. They sort of invented the
genre of surge pricing, but Liftsays they want to get rid of it.
They have enough drivers to do it, and they think that it would
be a differentiator over Uber if theycan say, look, our prices kind
of stay the same all the time, so you can trust us and know
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that you can go somewhere and takea lift and say, I almost said
Uber, and you could take liftback knowing that you're not going to be
surged on the way home. Thatmight bump me over to Lift you know,
I took Lift exclusively for about threeyears, and I recently switched back
to Uber. And you know,I switched to Lift because I thought that
they kind of treated drivers a littlebit differently. Drivers were a little bit
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more you know, interested in thecompany, like they kind of stuck to
them, and you know, drivetaking both, I really don't know if
there's a huge difference. I thinkthat's the problem here. They need a
differentiator because these two brands are almostinterchangeable. Do we know what the markets
market share is like the split betweenthem. That's a good question. I
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don't have that information in front ofme, but I can tell you how
many riders if I can figure outhow many writers Uber had versus Lift.
So Lift had in the last quarterlooked about two million riders, so you
know, Uber probably more than that. I'm guessing. I was just curious
because I I don't really even thinkof Lift except when I see their little
(15:37):
signs in the windows. Well let'sbe okay. So according to some notes,
I have Uber about seventy percent,Lift about thirty percent. And here's
the thing. I think a lotof people, depending on the credit card
they have, the you know,the perks they get choose one versus the
other. Like I know that,for instance, the Chase visas have a
deal with Lift while the American Expresseshave a deal with Uber, and so
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that makes a big difference. Obviously, it's habit, and I think just
you know, what people have beenusing over the time, and you know,
I think price comparison is a littlebit to do with it. I
think some people will compare the pricesof both and go with what's cheaper.
But I'm not sure that's a huge, huge growth area for these companies.
Yeah, do we have a timelinefor when they might make this final decision.
(16:23):
It seems like they want to doit pretty quickly because I think the
pandemic is sort of wearing off,and I think, you know, they
said it was down. The shareof rides affected by surge pricing was down
thirty five percent from the first quarter, So you're talking that's a pretty sizeable
drop, And it seems like theycan get this eliminated pretty quickly. But
(16:45):
I don't know. The drivers mightnot like it because they of course make
more money. Well, we'll haveto wait and see. So Google is
making Android phones more like the iPhone. Yeah, this is This is a
big thing because you know, obviouslyhere in the US, I message is
king. It is the number youknow, maybe not the number one way,
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but it is the way that peoplecommunicate over text, and so there's
a lot of benefits to it.It's very private. You could send big
video files and big pictures and highresolution and people think of Android, you
know, when you get that greenbubble, it doesn't work as well.
Now, Google has been making stridesbetween Android to Android phones with something called
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RCS, which is pretty much,very very similar to I Message except for
Androids. And so now they announcedthat number one, this is going to
be unable to buy default for allusers. So this was something that you
previously had to turn on, whichis kind of a pain. And now
it's going to be end to endencrypted, and so that means that it's
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just as secure as I Message,which means nobody else, not even Google
themselves or your cell phone company,would be able to read your texts.
So why is this all important?Well, this is all great, but
here's a thing. This only mattersif you're going Android to Android, iPhone
to iPhone. What we truly needhere in the US is a way for
these two systems to work across iPhoneand Android, and I'll be honest,
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it's Apple that's holding that up.They do not want to. RCS standard
is the standard that is across theworld. Apple has so far not implemented
it in its iPhone. Why notbecause they know if they do a cross
messaging solution that works really well,people would be more apt to drop the
iPhone and maybe check out Android.And traditionally Apple kind of doesn't like to
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play in the sandbox with others.Oh you, how do you? Oh
wow, maybe you should be atech reporter because I'm glad that you know
that, just you know, fromyeah, casually observing. So absolutely,
one hundred percent. Apple likes todo their own thing. And the reason
why it works is because Apple's beenvery very successful in making their own proprietary
stuff and having lots of customers touse it, and so far it's not
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been a problem, whereas other companieslike Samsung and Google are very much working
on open source standards or at leastopen standards that work across all devices across
a variety of manufacturers. Okay,so this is good news if you already
have an Android, but if youare just working on regular communication between the
two doesn't really make a difference.Yeah, we're still waiting for that.
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That will be a big turning point. Okay, I'm excited about this thing
because I just saw that there.LG is coming out with a wireless TV.
Yeah, which is nice, butwhen you hear the price, you
might put your card back in yourpocket. Ninety seven inch OLED TV.
This is called zero Connect technology.So this is a TV we first saw
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at CS earlier this year. It'sa signature Old M which means and LG
is known for having the best oled TVs in the world, so these
are really really nice ninety seven inchTV. This is going to cost a
whopping thirty thousand dollars. Okay,never mind. So here's how it works.
You put the TV, you hangit anywhere. Now there is a
(20:03):
plug, which I find comical aboutall this. So it's a wireless TV,
but you still have to plug itin obviously. But you put this
little box anywhere in your living room, so you can put it in the
corner, you can put it ina closet whatever you want, and then
you can put all your cable boxand stuff there and then it wirelessly transmits
the video and audio to the screenat a pretty high quality four K one
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hundred and twenty hurts, which isvery high end. And so that means
that you know, you don't havecables hanging off the back of the TV,
and you don't need to you know, put him through the back of
the wall whatever. But again youstill need to plug this thing in.
Well that sort of defeats the purpose. But I was excited about it because
I just recently I'd be very proudof me rich, because tech is not
my thing. I got a biggerTV and mounted it on the wall yourself.
(20:48):
Well I had help? Oh okay, well, like I mean like
professional or did you like actually helphang it? Oh? I helped hang
it. Oh very good. Ilove that. My brother came over.
We got the we got that swingingarm so it can swing out into the
room and stuff and it hasn't fallenyet. Yes, that's I did this
in my now. The TV Iinstalled was only like a thirty two inch
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or something. I started small.It was for like an office. But
I was so I mean, I'msure you had the same experience where you
probably woke up in the morning andyou check the TV to make sure it
was still on the wall. Oh, I still check it because I didn't
do a thirty two Rich, Idid a fifty five inch TV. Nice.
Well, once you get it inthe stud you know, once it's
drilled in there, it's like it'spretty much like. I was impressed that
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I was able to do this.But yes, I've had other ones professionally
hung and it is a nice feelingif you could do it yourself. But
the beauty and congratulations for doing it. The beauty of this wireless TV.
I know it's expensive, it willbe coming down in price and wireless TVs
will be a thing in the future, which will be nice for all of
us. Absolutely, thank you somuch, Rich, appreciate all your information.
(21:55):
And I'm gonna wait till the pricescome down just a little bit,
all right, trapping me amy?Okay, that's uh KTLA's tech reporter Rich
DeMuro, host of Rich on Techhere on KFI Saturdays from eleven to two.
You can follow Rich on Instagram atrich on Tech. His website is
rich on tech dot. TV hascome into the economy because of her concerts,
(22:15):
you know, and before she doesshe do anything wrong, I mean,
she's giving her truck drivers all thisone hundred thousand dollars easion they're going
on or whatever it is, andher millions being spent for her backup dancers
and the crew. She's sharing thewealth. Does she do well? I
wouldn't want to be her boyfriend becauseI wouldn't want to date her. No,
No, but she's amazing, absolutelyabsolutely so. Jane Wells, thank
(22:41):
you so much for your time thismorning. A If you want to check
out Jane Wells, she has asubstack, it's Jane Wells dot substack dot
com and we'll talk to you nextweek. Great, all right, take
care, all right, thank you. Let's say good morning now to a
VC's Mike Debuski. Cadillac is unveilinga brand new electric escalade MIC that may
not be able to leave New YorkCity. Yeah, that's right, Amy.
(23:03):
So Cadillac, yes, as youmentioned, is unveiling it's brand new,
an all electric version of the Escaladehere in Manhattan later today, in
just about an hour or so,I'm going to head down there. And
this is an escalade and if youknow what that means, you mean,
it means it's big, it's fullof luxury, appointments and features, and
it's kind of brash. It standsout from a styling perspective. And the
(23:27):
all electric version, again, ithasn't debuted yet, but we can kind
of make some assumptions based on GM'sstrategy with electric vehicles in the past.
We expect this to run on GM'sultium battery technology, which is their branding
for their modular electric vehicle architecture.Essentially, they can make small versions of
this platform to underpin entry level electricvehicles like the Chevy Equinox and the Chevy
(23:49):
Blazer. If you saw Barbie,there's a Chevy Blazer in that movie,
and it could also underpin bigger thingslike this escalade, the three hundred thousand
dollars Cadillac limousine called the Celeste,and the GMC Hummer EV. GMC resurrected
the Hummer name a few years ago, and that truck, amy I think
is actually kind of the closest analogwe have to this new electric escalade.
(24:12):
The thing about the Hummer EV itruns on an eight hundred volt charging architecture,
which is a very big battery.That means we are expecting this thing
to have a pretty big range.North of four hundred miles possibly, and
that does come at a cost though. Nine thousand pounds is how much the
Hummer EV ways you can imagine withthis Cadillac and all its luxury features and
(24:34):
appointments and that sort of thing,it's going to come in somewhere around there.
And a fun fact, just tokind of New York City local history
fact, the Brooklyn Bridge which connectsBrooklyn to Lower Manhattan where this truck is
being unveiled. The max weight limitper car on that bridge three tons six
thousand pounds. So technically speaking,if you live in Brooklyn and you work
in Lower Manhattan, you can't takean escalade over the Brooklyn Bridge. It
(24:56):
doesn't work. Nobody has a carin New York anyway. Well, you'd
be surprised, I would say,as a cyclist there are more people with
cars than you would expect. Butyeah, no, you're right, and
to be fair to g and thereare other bridges in other ways to get
into work. But I think itdoes kind of underscore something that we're learning
about this new kind of Cambrian explosionof evs for manufacturers is that these things
(25:18):
are pretty heavy. We're trying tofigure out exactly how these things fit into
our lives. One of those thingsis is the weight, and that affects
things like efficiency. It also affectsthings like our infrastructure, our roads.
These things are pretty heavy. Youknow what else it affects is the tires,
because they're so heavy. You can'tjust go buy a seventy five or
hundred dollars tire. I have afriend who had who has a Tesla,
(25:41):
and he was like, oh,yeah, I've just spent eight hundred dollars
a tire or something crazy. Idon't remember the exact amount, but the
tires are really expensive because you needlike industrial strength tires because those batteries weigh
them down so much. Absolutely.I think that's that's one of the costs
that we're going to have to takeinto consideration as we make this transition over
to electric power. Another one Ithink that is interesting to talk about is
(26:03):
efficiency. We kind of just maybethink of electric vehicles as like, oh,
they're electric, they're good for theenvironment, they're efficient. You know,
they go so and so amount ofrange, and that's enough. But
if you think about the size ofthe battery versus how far you can go,
well, this is an eight hundredvolt battery that goes we're thinking four
hundred miles, maybe a little bitmore. That's maybe not as much as
(26:25):
it could go if it wasn't soheavy. If this thing was lighter,
it would not have as much stuffto propel, and therefore it could be
be a little bit more efficient onrange. Again, another one of those
considerations as we make this huge shiftand propulsion in the automotive world, how
long does it take to charge thatmonster battery? Again, we don't know
specifically, but you know, electricvehicle batteries they're not like gas tanks.
(26:48):
I think that's maybe not the greatestcomparison because when you fill up a gas
tank, it's linear, right,you know, you go from empty to
full and then you move on.With batteries, it takes like longer to
fill up the edges of the tank, if you will. In other words,
it's much faster to charge your carfrom ten or twenty percent charge up
to eighty percent charge than it isto charge it from eighty percent to one
(27:11):
hundred percent charge. So there's thatmiddle section that is kind of where you
get the vast majority of your chargingdone. At the top end. You
know, some of the most sophisticatedevs on the market can do that ten
to twenty to eighty percent charge insomething like twenty to twenty five minutes,
which is very good. It's stilllonger than it would take you to fill
up at a gas tank, butyou know, even still like that,
(27:32):
time has come down pretty significantly inrecent years, and you can expect it
to get better in the years tocome. But again, it's just one
of the many different ways that we'rechanging our relationship to the car as we
make this transition. Yeah, andwith the with the batteries being so heavy
and you are they working on technologyto make them lighter. Now, that's
that's another kind of interesting question.We haven't really seen a lightweight EV out
(27:56):
there, with one exception. Sothere's a fish automaker called Caterum, and
they're a niche automaker. They makevery small sports cars, kind of lightweight
weight, track focused vehicles, andthey're they're kind of neat looking. They
look like they're straight out of thenineteen sixties and they have like, you
know, roundel numbers on them andthey look like stripes and all this kind
of stuff. It's very interesting froma you know, car guy perspective to
(28:18):
look at that company recently showed offa lightweight EV. It's just a concept
car, it's just a prototype atthis point, but that's kind of the
first time we've seen an automaker,albeit a small one, really experiment with
sort of the lighter end of EVpropulsion. And you know, again,
I just think it's a really interestingtime to be into cars because on the
(28:40):
one hand, you know, theautomakers that you are putting out gas powered
cars now, they're kind of thelast generation of gas powered cars, given
how long it takes to develop newvehicles, so their runout specials we're seeing,
you know, on the other endof GM's you know, Cadillac portfolio,
there's the Escalade V, which isa six hundred and eighty two power
(29:00):
supercharged V eight, you know,full size suv, this huge, kind
of crazy muscle truck of an suvthat is not particularly great on guests,
and it's very loud, and it'svery fast and all this, you know,
kind of exciting stuff. But onthe other side, we're making this
huge transition over to an entirely newform of propulsion. So yeah, it's
really just interesting to see what peopleare doing with it again. Lightweight is
(29:21):
I think going to be one ofthe next big conversations we have, you
know as we do this. Okay, two quick questions because I know we
got to run. Uh. Yousaid that this new ev, the new
escalator is going to be nine thousandpounds. What's a normal car? Wait,
depends on what we're talking about.I don't have the gas powered escalate
in front of me. But youknow, again this is just to be
(29:41):
fair to general motors. There areplenty of cars that don't that are not
technically able to cross the Brooklyn Bridgewith its three son weight limit. But
we're talking like full size trucks andpickup trucks and SUVs and that sort of
thing. Nine thousand pounds is veryheavy, right, That's on the top
end of kind of what we've seenin the past. Mostly, you know,
if you're talking about your your ToyotaCamrays, you know, your your
(30:04):
Honda Chords, maybe your Honda Pilotstrucks, that sort of thing. We're
talking you know, two tons,you know, four thousand pounds if not
a little bit more than that.So you know, just as a point
of comparison, But again, youknow, I don't want to directly compare
like a camera to an escalade,because it's kind of a different thing,
but you know it just as apoint of sort of reference there. Okay,
cool, Well, you I knowyou gotta run because you gotta go
(30:25):
and see that brand new sparkly car. So have fun at the unveiling and
hopefully we'll talk to you again soon. Thanks so much. Mike Dubusky from
ABC. This is KFI and kostHD two Los Angeles, Orange County.
We lead local live from the KFItwenty four hour newsroom. I'm Amy King.
This has been your wake up callfor Wednesday. You've been listening to
(30:47):
wake up call? You know youcan always listen live kf I AM six
forty weekdays from five to six am, and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
You're listening to wake Up Call ondemand from kf I AM six forty KFI
hand KOST HD two, Los Angeles, Orange County. It's time for your
morning wake up call. Here's AmyKing. This is your wake up call
(00:27):
for Wednesday, August ninth. Goodmorning, I'm Amy King. I dig
that music always gets me going.Have you ever thought that you were prepared
for the day and then at thevery last second you remember that you forgot
something. Yeah, I just didthat. We were about ready to go
on the air, and I waslike, I don't have my headphones.
And if you know anything about radio, and even if you don't, I'll
(00:49):
tell you you have to wear headphonesor you can't hear what's going on aside
from your own voice, So youcan't hear like I couldn't hear you Kono.
Yeah, headphones are a big prior. I know I wouldn't be able
to hear Anne handle Wayne, anybodywouldn't be able to hear my sound bites.
So I'm a little winded, butI'm centered. I got my coffee,
(01:11):
glad you're breck. Thank you.My oatmeal is stewing. I'll be
eating that soon. And here's what'sahead on the wake up call. More
than eleven thousand la City workers areexpected to return to their jobs today,
a day after staging a twenty fourhour strike over contract talks that delayed trash
pickups, snarled traffic at Laxton causedsome of their service disruptions around the city.
(01:32):
Voters in Ohio have voted down anissue that would have required a sixty
percent majority to pass constitutional amendments inthe state. Preduliminary results show fifty seven
percent of voters were against it.There is a Megamillion's jackpot winner, but
it's not you unless you're listening inFlorida. Someone in Florida has the winning
ticket, worth one point five eightbillion dollars. It's the third largest jackpot
(01:57):
in US history. Let's get startedwith some of the story is coming out
of the KFI twenty four our newsroom. As I mentioned, thousands of city
workers in la have wrapped up aone day strike demanding a fair labor contract.
More than eleven thousand members with SCIULocal seven twenty one hit the streets,
rallying from lax to city hall.This worker says LA's in the middle
(02:17):
of a labor movement and It's timefor the city to step up and make
a real offer. We tired thehassle and you know, playing around with
our money in our livelihood, becausewe deserved this day for the promises a
contract, and they're just playing withus. Garbage went uncollected and city pools
were shut down yesterday as crowds marchedin solidarity. Mayor Bass says the city
(02:38):
is willing to bargain in good faith. Chris Adler KFI News. La County
supervisors have approved an ordinance requiring moreprotections for hotel workers in unincorporated areas.
The ordinance approved yesterday caps the squarefootage attendance can clean before the hotels have
to start paying them double time.Supervisor Lindsay Horvat says it also requires hotels
(03:00):
to give room attendance panic buttons.Hotel workers play an important part in the
success of our county's tourism industry,and therefore we must ensure that hotels protect
and honor the work which those employeesperform. The rules don't go into effect
just yet. The ordinance does needanother vote and then the rules can go
into effect. An eyewitnessed to thatmid air collision of two firefighting helicopters in
(03:24):
Riverside County, says he's still processingwhat he saw. Terrence says he was
driving his eighteen wheeler westbound on theten just before the Morongo Casino when he
noticed all of the aircraft dropping waterand retarded on a brush fire in Cabazon.
But moments later, he says hesaw a small helicopter come up under
a larger helicopter. I was waitingfor it to pull up. I thought
it was leaving on a pull upor swing out, and I'm watching it.
(03:46):
I'm thinking in my headlight, Ithink they're going to hit. That's
when the bell four oh seven andthe skycrane collided, and that's when Terrence
says he couldn't believe what he'd seen. The bell went into a tailspan in
Jess just dropped. I saw ithit the mountain. I saw the ball
of fire and then the black smoke. He says, that's the first time
you'd ever witnessed anything like that.A few minutes later, he pulled over,
and I'd just had to get outthe trucking kind of gather my senses
(04:10):
of what I just watched. Happenedpretty sure. I just watch somebody die.
That tanage shook me up. TwoCalFire employees and a contract pilot died
that Sunday afternoon. Terrence says hereached out and told his story to the
NTSB. Steve Gregory ca if Iknows. Cases of westyle virus have been
confirmed in San Bernardino. The infectionsmark the first local human cases in the
(04:32):
county of this year. The virusis transmitted through the bite of an infected
mosquito. The CDC says about onein five infected people will develop symptoms like
a fever, headache, body aches, vomiting, rash, or diarrhea.
The owner of a cemetery in Carsonhave abandoned the property, leaving people unable
(04:53):
to visit grave sites of loved ones. The gates of Lincoln Memorial Park Cemetery
have been closed since last month whenthe owners stopped paying for the properties licenses.
The Cemetery and Funeral Bureau says thecity or county will likely take over
and assign a temporary manager. Officialssay it's one of the oldest cemeteries in
(05:14):
the US. The soldiers from theCivil War buried there. It's five zero
six on your wake up call,let's say good morning now to ABC's Jay
O'Brien. Jay, ghost guns werefront and center for the Supreme Court.
What did they rule and what doesit do? So this all ties back
to that regulation that you heard Presidentbuying and called for a while back,
(05:38):
which says that he wants ghost gunsto have serial numbers and background checks from
people who buy them in things ofthat nature. So that all gets instituted
that rule by the ATF in twentytwenty two, and then gun manufacturers and
gun rights groups sue and a severaljudge in Texas agrees with what they have
to say, and the judge inTexas eventually says, okay, but the
(06:00):
parts of a gun are not agun, And so that case gets sent
all the way through the appeals courtprocess, it goes all the way to
the Supreme Court on an emergency basis, and the government says, okay,
while this broader case plays out,can we still enforce the rule. All
of that is a long explanation tostay with the Supreme Court yesterday did and
said, yes, Government, youcan enforce this rule requiring these regulations around
(06:23):
ghost guns while this broader lawsuit ofwhether or not the government can't even have
this rule plays out. Okay,so the issue isn't settled, but until
it is, the rules will beenforced exactly until it is. If you
buy a ghost gun, that partof a ghost gun, because a ghost
gun is various parts of a firearmthat are purchased, sent through the mail,
(06:44):
and assembled at home. Those partshave to have serial numbers, they
have to have background checks for youto buy them. Just like if you
were to walk into a gun storeand buyer a firearm, A lot of
the regulations around that would now applyto ghost guns. Now, the argument
again is that the parts of agun are not a gun. That's the
argument that the gun manufacturers did.But the government has said, look,
(07:05):
these are being used to assemble realguns. They started statistics saying about nineteen
thousand had been recovered from crime scenesacross the country in twenty twenty one.
So they say this is a realproblem that needs to be addressed. And
while the debate rages us whether ornot the government can have this rule,
they can still enforce it while thatcase plays out. Okay, and you
(07:26):
mentioned the nineteen thousand. That's ahuge increase in the number of ghost guns
from just a couple of years before. So it's not a little issue.
I mean, it's becoming a biggerand bigger issue. No one having this
regulation is a centerpiece of the president'sgun violence policy. This is one of
the biggest swings he took, andso if he were to lose at the
(07:48):
Supreme Court and not be able toenforce this, that would be a significant
blow to the administration. So whathappens next is this goes to the appeals
court, the broader case does theSupreme Court, The Appeals Court hears it,
and once it comes to from theAppeals Court, no matter what the
decision is, you can expect eitherside here to appeal to the Supreme Court.
So there's a very high likelihood thatthis broader case lands on the steps
(08:13):
of the Supreme Court, not justthe emergency part of it. Okay,
And is there any kind of atimeline you set now it goes back to
a lower court and they'll fight itout. Do we know when that case
gets started or is that just sortof in limbo right now? Yeah,
they hear arguments on it in September. Again, how long it takes to
them the rule is still very muchunclear. This is a pretty complex case.
(08:33):
And then of course that after thathappens, it's expected to either side
is expected to appeal to the SupremeCourt. It's going to be up to
the Supreme Court whether or not theywant to take it. And this is
a court that you really don't knowwhere they're going to go with this stuff
because they granted this emergency order.But in the past, this is a
court controlled by conservative justices that havegutted other gun laws in the past.
(08:56):
New York's gun law is a goodexample. So very much unclear where we
go from there. Okay, soyou mentioned the justices in the makeup of
the Supreme Court. Any surprises inhow the justices voted because you had to.
It was a five four ruling,so you had to get a couple
of conservatives to side with you.Yeah, you knew where I was going
(09:16):
with this. So there are theChief Justice John Roberts, who's a conservative.
He sided with the three liberals toput this over the goal line.
But the other person who's side atthe three liberals is Amy Coney Barrett,
who's a Trump appointed justice. Shesided with the liberals on the court as
well to again grant this emergency orderthat lets the government enforce this rule while
the broader case plays out. Theother four conservative justices Kavanaugh, Thomas,
(09:41):
etc. They opposed this. Nobodygave their reasoning, which is pretty common
when it's this emergency kind of petition. They don't write it out in the
whole opinion like we're used to seeing. But if this case does land on
their doorstep, they will have theopportunity to write their whole opinions and we'll
see what they think of this lawfrom a legal perspective. Okay, So
for now, the rules are backin place while they fight it out in
(10:03):
the lower courts, and we'll bewatching. Thanks so much for your time,
Jay, appreciate your insight into whathappened in the Supreme Court yesterday.
Thank you. All right, let'sget back to some of the stories coming
out of the KFI twenty four hournews room. A Mega Millions lottery tickets
sold in Florida has hit a nearlyone point six billion dollar jackpot. The
cash payout option would be in estimatedseven hundred eighty three million dollars, not
(10:24):
too shabby. Tickets matching five ofthe six winning numbers worth a million dollars
or more were sold in Texas,Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Florida, North
Carolina, and Central California. Nothingin southern California. The last time anyone
won the Mega Millions top prize wasApril eighteenth. Judges in la and San
Diego have ordered two US Navy sailorsaccused of spying for China to remain in
(10:48):
jail as their court cases begin.The active duty sailors appeared in court yesterday.
Both judges found the men are flightrisks and dangerous to the community for
allegedly selling military secrets to China.In one case, a defense lawyer says
his client thought he was dealing within investment operative and not an agent of
China. The judge hearing the caseagainst former President Trump in Washington, DC's
(11:11):
ordered lawyers from both sides to meetin court Friday to talk about proposed restrictions
on what Trump can and cannot publiclydisclose. Trump has promised to talk about
the criminal charges he faces over effortsto overturn the twenty twenty election. Federal
prosecutors want him borrowed from revealing certainevidence gathered in the Special Council's investigation.
A former Chapman University professor and exlawyer for former President Trump, wants his
(11:35):
disbarment hearings put on pause. JohnEastman's lawyer claims Eastman was called an unnamed
co conspirator and Trump's latest indictment notan unindicted co conspirator. The motion filed
Friday, claims that omission could meanEastman will soon be indicted and therefore disbarment
hearing set for later this month canwait. Eastman defended his theory to overturn
the twenty twenty election results because ofvoter fraud in recent interviews with Tom Klingenstein.
(11:56):
In each of the swing states,the number of ballots that are provably
illegal or circumstantially illegal exceeds the marginin each of those sis. He says
that plus similar irregularities in other swingstates resulted in thousands of mail in and
absentee ballots being counted with weak signatureverification. As for claims, these are
just conspiracy theories. Trying to stopan illegal election is not a coup,
(12:18):
but trying to a thwart a coup, but the fact that that true narrative
is being censored and shut down sothat the false narrative can prevail because I
think part of the existential threat.Multiple state recounts in Supreme Court lawsuits have
all debunked those claims. Corbin Carsonkf I News. Okay, if you
heard of the movie Sound of Freedom. It has been sort of a surprise
(12:41):
box office success. It's over onehundred million dollars now, and somebody wants
you to see it. The organization, co founded by In and Out Burger's
owner and president, is hosting freescreenings of the Sound of Freedom. The
free screening is at seven tonight atthese theaters at the AMC Montebello in Montebello,
(13:03):
at AMC Tustin in Tustin, andAMC San Diego. To get tickets,
you can register at slave the numbertwo nothing dot org slash movie dash
tickets. They're available on a firstcome, first serve basis that you didn't
get that address, I think wecan put that on the wake up call
(13:24):
page. You could probably also googleit. But free screenings for Sound of
Freedom. I've heard the movie isreally great, supposed to be based on
a true story. Haven't seen ityet. It starts Jim Kavazol and always
really love him. Right now,it's time for tech Talk with KTLA tech
reporter Rich DeMuro and the host ofRich on Tech right here on KFI.
(13:46):
Rich starting off with some welcome news. Lift may stop the surge. Yeah,
and anyone who's been to the TaylorSwift concert in the last couple of
days probably has experienced that surge pricing, or any time you leave somewhere where
there's a lot of people. It'snot fun because you check the price before
you go and it totally changes.But Lifts says they don't like it,
which is surprising because drivers love it. They make a lot more money when
(14:09):
it's surge pricing. Uber does itas well. They sort of invented the
genre of surge pricing, but Liftsays they want to get rid of it.
They have enough drivers to do it, and they think that it would
be a differentiator over Uber if theycan say, look, our prices kind
of stay the same all the time, so you can trust us and know
(14:30):
that you can go somewhere and takea lift and say, I almost said
Uber, and you could take liftback knowing that you're not going to be
surged on the way home. Thatmight bump me over to Lift you know,
I took Lift exclusively for about threeyears, and I recently switched back
to Uber. And you know,I switched to Lift because I thought that
they kind of treated drivers a littlebit differently. Drivers were a little bit
(14:52):
more you know, interested in thecompany, like they kind of stuck to
them, and you know, drivetaking both, I really don't know if
there's a huge difference. I thinkthat's the problem here. They need a
differentiator because these two brands are almostinterchangeable. Do we know what the markets
market share is like the split betweenthem. That's a good question. I
(15:13):
don't have that information in front ofme, but I can tell you how
many riders if I can figure outhow many writers Uber had versus Lift.
So Lift had in the last quarterlooked about two million riders, so you
know, Uber probably more than that. I'm guessing. I was just curious
because I I don't really even thinkof Lift except when I see their little
(15:37):
signs in the windows. Well let'sbe okay. So according to some notes,
I have Uber about seventy percent,Lift about thirty percent. And here's
the thing. I think a lotof people, depending on the credit card
they have, the you know,the perks they get choose one versus the
other. Like I know that,for instance, the Chase visas have a
deal with Lift while the American Expresseshave a deal with Uber, and so
(16:00):
that makes a big difference. Obviously, it's habit, and I think just
you know, what people have beenusing over the time, and you know,
I think price comparison is a littlebit to do with it. I
think some people will compare the pricesof both and go with what's cheaper.
But I'm not sure that's a huge, huge growth area for these companies.
Yeah, do we have a timelinefor when they might make this final decision.
(16:23):
It seems like they want to doit pretty quickly because I think the
pandemic is sort of wearing off,and I think, you know, they
said it was down. The shareof rides affected by surge pricing was down
thirty five percent from the first quarter, So you're talking that's a pretty sizeable
drop, And it seems like theycan get this eliminated pretty quickly. But
(16:45):
I don't know. The drivers mightnot like it because they of course make
more money. Well, we'll haveto wait and see. So Google is
making Android phones more like the iPhone. Yeah, this is This is a
big thing because you know, obviouslyhere in the US, I message is
king. It is the number youknow, maybe not the number one way,
(17:06):
but it is the way that peoplecommunicate over text, and so there's
a lot of benefits to it.It's very private. You could send big
video files and big pictures and highresolution and people think of Android, you
know, when you get that greenbubble, it doesn't work as well.
Now, Google has been making stridesbetween Android to Android phones with something called
(17:27):
RCS, which is pretty much,very very similar to I Message except for
Androids. And so now they announcedthat number one, this is going to
be unable to buy default for allusers. So this was something that you
previously had to turn on, whichis kind of a pain. And now
it's going to be end to endencrypted, and so that means that it's
(17:48):
just as secure as I Message,which means nobody else, not even Google
themselves or your cell phone company,would be able to read your texts.
So why is this all important?Well, this is all great, but
here's a thing. This only mattersif you're going Android to Android, iPhone
to iPhone. What we truly needhere in the US is a way for
these two systems to work across iPhoneand Android, and I'll be honest,
(18:11):
it's Apple that's holding that up.They do not want to. RCS standard
is the standard that is across theworld. Apple has so far not implemented
it in its iPhone. Why notbecause they know if they do a cross
messaging solution that works really well,people would be more apt to drop the
iPhone and maybe check out Android.And traditionally Apple kind of doesn't like to
(18:33):
play in the sandbox with others.Oh you, how do you? Oh
wow, maybe you should be atech reporter because I'm glad that you know
that, just you know, fromyeah, casually observing. So absolutely,
one hundred percent. Apple likes todo their own thing. And the reason
why it works is because Apple's beenvery very successful in making their own proprietary
stuff and having lots of customers touse it, and so far it's not
(18:56):
been a problem, whereas other companieslike Samsung and Google are very much working
on open source standards or at leastopen standards that work across all devices across
a variety of manufacturers. Okay,so this is good news if you already
have an Android, but if youare just working on regular communication between the
two doesn't really make a difference.Yeah, we're still waiting for that.
(19:18):
That will be a big turning point. Okay, I'm excited about this thing
because I just saw that there.LG is coming out with a wireless TV.
Yeah, which is nice, butwhen you hear the price, you
might put your card back in yourpocket. Ninety seven inch OLED TV.
This is called zero Connect technology.So this is a TV we first saw
(19:40):
at CS earlier this year. It'sa signature Old M which means and LG
is known for having the best oled TVs in the world, so these
are really really nice ninety seven inchTV. This is going to cost a
whopping thirty thousand dollars. Okay,never mind. So here's how it works.
You put the TV, you hangit anywhere. Now there is a
(20:03):
plug, which I find comical aboutall this. So it's a wireless TV,
but you still have to plug itin obviously. But you put this
little box anywhere in your living room, so you can put it in the
corner, you can put it ina closet whatever you want, and then
you can put all your cable boxand stuff there and then it wirelessly transmits
the video and audio to the screenat a pretty high quality four K one
(20:26):
hundred and twenty hurts, which isvery high end. And so that means
that you know, you don't havecables hanging off the back of the TV,
and you don't need to you know, put him through the back of
the wall whatever. But again youstill need to plug this thing in.
Well that sort of defeats the purpose. But I was excited about it because
I just recently I'd be very proudof me rich, because tech is not
my thing. I got a biggerTV and mounted it on the wall yourself.
(20:48):
Well I had help? Oh okay, well, like I mean like
professional or did you like actually helphang it? Oh? I helped hang
it. Oh very good. Ilove that. My brother came over.
We got the we got that swingingarm so it can swing out into the
room and stuff and it hasn't fallenyet. Yes, that's I did this
in my now. The TV Iinstalled was only like a thirty two inch
(21:10):
or something. I started small.It was for like an office. But
I was so I mean, I'msure you had the same experience where you
probably woke up in the morning andyou check the TV to make sure it
was still on the wall. Oh, I still check it because I didn't
do a thirty two Rich, Idid a fifty five inch TV. Nice.
Well, once you get it inthe stud you know, once it's
drilled in there, it's like it'spretty much like. I was impressed that
(21:32):
I was able to do this.But yes, I've had other ones professionally
hung and it is a nice feelingif you could do it yourself. But
the beauty and congratulations for doing it. The beauty of this wireless TV.
I know it's expensive, it willbe coming down in price and wireless TVs
will be a thing in the future, which will be nice for all of
us. Absolutely, thank you somuch, Rich, appreciate all your information.
(21:55):
And I'm gonna wait till the pricescome down just a little bit,
all right, trapping me amy?Okay, that's uh KTLA's tech reporter Rich
DeMuro, host of Rich on Techhere on KFI Saturdays from eleven to two.
You can follow Rich on Instagram atrich on Tech. His website is
rich on tech dot. TV hascome into the economy because of her concerts,
(22:15):
you know, and before she doesshe do anything wrong, I mean,
she's giving her truck drivers all thisone hundred thousand dollars easion they're going
on or whatever it is, andher millions being spent for her backup dancers
and the crew. She's sharing thewealth. Does she do well? I
wouldn't want to be her boyfriend becauseI wouldn't want to date her. No,
No, but she's amazing, absolutelyabsolutely so. Jane Wells, thank
(22:41):
you so much for your time thismorning. A If you want to check
out Jane Wells, she has asubstack, it's Jane Wells dot substack dot
com and we'll talk to you nextweek. Great, all right, take
care, all right, thank you. Let's say good morning now to a
VC's Mike Debuski. Cadillac is unveilinga brand new electric escalade MIC that may
not be able to leave New YorkCity. Yeah, that's right, Amy.
(23:03):
So Cadillac, yes, as youmentioned, is unveiling it's brand new,
an all electric version of the Escaladehere in Manhattan later today, in
just about an hour or so,I'm going to head down there. And
this is an escalade and if youknow what that means, you mean,
it means it's big, it's fullof luxury, appointments and features, and
it's kind of brash. It standsout from a styling perspective. And the
(23:27):
all electric version, again, ithasn't debuted yet, but we can kind
of make some assumptions based on GM'sstrategy with electric vehicles in the past.
We expect this to run on GM'sultium battery technology, which is their branding
for their modular electric vehicle architecture.Essentially, they can make small versions of
this platform to underpin entry level electricvehicles like the Chevy Equinox and the Chevy
(23:49):
Blazer. If you saw Barbie,there's a Chevy Blazer in that movie,
and it could also underpin bigger thingslike this escalade, the three hundred thousand
dollars Cadillac limousine called the Celeste,and the GMC Hummer EV. GMC resurrected
the Hummer name a few years ago, and that truck, amy I think
is actually kind of the closest analogwe have to this new electric escalade.
(24:12):
The thing about the Hummer EV itruns on an eight hundred volt charging architecture,
which is a very big battery.That means we are expecting this thing
to have a pretty big range.North of four hundred miles possibly, and
that does come at a cost though. Nine thousand pounds is how much the
Hummer EV ways you can imagine withthis Cadillac and all its luxury features and
(24:34):
appointments and that sort of thing,it's going to come in somewhere around there.
And a fun fact, just tokind of New York City local history
fact, the Brooklyn Bridge which connectsBrooklyn to Lower Manhattan where this truck is
being unveiled. The max weight limitper car on that bridge three tons six
thousand pounds. So technically speaking,if you live in Brooklyn and you work
in Lower Manhattan, you can't takean escalade over the Brooklyn Bridge. It
(24:56):
doesn't work. Nobody has a carin New York anyway. Well, you'd
be surprised, I would say,as a cyclist there are more people with
cars than you would expect. Butyeah, no, you're right, and
to be fair to g and thereare other bridges in other ways to get
into work. But I think itdoes kind of underscore something that we're learning
about this new kind of Cambrian explosionof evs for manufacturers is that these things
(25:18):
are pretty heavy. We're trying tofigure out exactly how these things fit into
our lives. One of those thingsis is the weight, and that affects
things like efficiency. It also affectsthings like our infrastructure, our roads.
These things are pretty heavy. Youknow what else it affects is the tires,
because they're so heavy. You can'tjust go buy a seventy five or
hundred dollars tire. I have afriend who had who has a Tesla,
(25:41):
and he was like, oh,yeah, I've just spent eight hundred dollars
a tire or something crazy. Idon't remember the exact amount, but the
tires are really expensive because you needlike industrial strength tires because those batteries weigh
them down so much. Absolutely.I think that's that's one of the costs
that we're going to have to takeinto consideration as we make this transition over
to electric power. Another one Ithink that is interesting to talk about is
(26:03):
efficiency. We kind of just maybethink of electric vehicles as like, oh,
they're electric, they're good for theenvironment, they're efficient. You know,
they go so and so amount ofrange, and that's enough. But
if you think about the size ofthe battery versus how far you can go,
well, this is an eight hundredvolt battery that goes we're thinking four
hundred miles, maybe a little bitmore. That's maybe not as much as
(26:25):
it could go if it wasn't soheavy. If this thing was lighter,
it would not have as much stuffto propel, and therefore it could be
be a little bit more efficient onrange. Again, another one of those
considerations as we make this huge shiftand propulsion in the automotive world, how
long does it take to charge thatmonster battery? Again, we don't know
specifically, but you know, electricvehicle batteries they're not like gas tanks.
(26:48):
I think that's maybe not the greatestcomparison because when you fill up a gas
tank, it's linear, right,you know, you go from empty to
full and then you move on.With batteries, it takes like longer to
fill up the edges of the tank, if you will. In other words,
it's much faster to charge your carfrom ten or twenty percent charge up
to eighty percent charge than it isto charge it from eighty percent to one
(27:11):
hundred percent charge. So there's thatmiddle section that is kind of where you
get the vast majority of your chargingdone. At the top end. You
know, some of the most sophisticatedevs on the market can do that ten
to twenty to eighty percent charge insomething like twenty to twenty five minutes,
which is very good. It's stilllonger than it would take you to fill
up at a gas tank, butyou know, even still like that,
(27:32):
time has come down pretty significantly inrecent years, and you can expect it
to get better in the years tocome. But again, it's just one
of the many different ways that we'rechanging our relationship to the car as we
make this transition. Yeah, andwith the with the batteries being so heavy
and you are they working on technologyto make them lighter. Now, that's
that's another kind of interesting question.We haven't really seen a lightweight EV out
(27:56):
there, with one exception. Sothere's a fish automaker called Caterum, and
they're a niche automaker. They makevery small sports cars, kind of lightweight
weight, track focused vehicles, andthey're they're kind of neat looking. They
look like they're straight out of thenineteen sixties and they have like, you
know, roundel numbers on them andthey look like stripes and all this kind
of stuff. It's very interesting froma you know, car guy perspective to
(28:18):
look at that company recently showed offa lightweight EV. It's just a concept
car, it's just a prototype atthis point, but that's kind of the
first time we've seen an automaker,albeit a small one, really experiment with
sort of the lighter end of EVpropulsion. And you know, again,
I just think it's a really interestingtime to be into cars because on the
(28:40):
one hand, you know, theautomakers that you are putting out gas powered
cars now, they're kind of thelast generation of gas powered cars, given
how long it takes to develop newvehicles, so their runout specials we're seeing,
you know, on the other endof GM's you know, Cadillac portfolio,
there's the Escalade V, which isa six hundred and eighty two power
(29:00):
supercharged V eight, you know,full size suv, this huge, kind
of crazy muscle truck of an suvthat is not particularly great on guests,
and it's very loud, and it'svery fast and all this, you know,
kind of exciting stuff. But onthe other side, we're making this
huge transition over to an entirely newform of propulsion. So yeah, it's
really just interesting to see what peopleare doing with it again. Lightweight is
(29:21):
I think going to be one ofthe next big conversations we have, you
know as we do this. Okay, two quick questions because I know we
got to run. Uh. Yousaid that this new ev, the new
escalator is going to be nine thousandpounds. What's a normal car? Wait,
depends on what we're talking about.I don't have the gas powered escalate
in front of me. But youknow, again this is just to be
(29:41):
fair to general motors. There areplenty of cars that don't that are not
technically able to cross the Brooklyn Bridgewith its three son weight limit. But
we're talking like full size trucks andpickup trucks and SUVs and that sort of
thing. Nine thousand pounds is veryheavy, right, That's on the top
end of kind of what we've seenin the past. Mostly, you know,
if you're talking about your your ToyotaCamrays, you know, your your
(30:04):
Honda Chords, maybe your Honda Pilotstrucks, that sort of thing. We're
talking you know, two tons,you know, four thousand pounds if not
a little bit more than that.So you know, just as a point
of comparison, But again, youknow, I don't want to directly compare
like a camera to an escalade,because it's kind of a different thing,
but you know it just as apoint of sort of reference there. Okay,
cool, Well, you I knowyou gotta run because you gotta go
(30:25):
and see that brand new sparkly car. So have fun at the unveiling and
hopefully we'll talk to you again soon. Thanks so much. Mike Dubusky from
ABC. This is KFI and kostHD two Los Angeles, Orange County.
We lead local live from the KFItwenty four hour newsroom. I'm Amy King.
This has been your wake up callfor Wednesday. You've been listening to
(30:47):
wake up call? You know youcan always listen live kf I AM six
forty weekdays from five to six am, and anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Wake Up Call with Amy King News
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