MARCH 2022
MEMBER RIDE FORD FALCON XM UTE
CAPRICORN
Stars
CAPRICORN RISING STARS IS BACK WHY YOU NEED TO NOMINATE YOUR APPRENTICES IN 2022
GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR CAPRICORN MEMBERSHIP IN 2022 Check out our tips.
COULD EQUIPMENT FAILURE LEAVE YOU UNABLE TO TRADE? What’s your Plan B if a piece of equipment fails.
SIX FUTURE MOBILITY TRENDS FROM IDTECHEX RESEARCH Where to from here?
IT’S 9,000 PLUS AUTO REPAIRERS... ...who have each other’s backs
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Capricorn Members can access mutual protection that unlike profit driven insurance, is owned by and run for, the same auto repairers who are part of it.
See how you’re better off with mutual protection through Capricorn Risk Services. 0800 555 303 | info@capricornrisk.com | capricorn.coop/risk Products sold through Capricorn Risk Services Pty Ltd include discretionary risk protection and general insurance products. Discretionary risk protection is issued out of Australia by Capricorn Mutual Ltd. Before deciding to acquire discretionary risk protection you should consider the Product Disclosure Statement to see if it is appropriate for you. This can be obtained from Capricorn Risk Services via capricornrisk.com. General insurance products are issued by a range of insurers and are available through Capricorn Risk Services Pty Ltd as a member broker of PSC Connect NZ Limited. Capricorn Risk Services is a registered financial services provider (390466) and a corporate Authorised Representative (No. 460893) of Capricorn Mutual Ltd (AFSL 230038).
TM
CONTENTS MARCH 2022
David Fraser Group CEO
CEO’s message
What’s the atmosphere like in your workshop? Are your employees happy and productive? Does everyone get along? Or is it tense? Are you constantly battling laziness and incompetence? Is there one member of the team who causes trouble? Is staff turnover high? While there are many factors in business that play into all of those scenarios, there is one constant that has a dramatic effect on all of it: workplace culture. When a workplace has a positive culture, it raises morale, improves teamwork, increases productivity, reduces stress and enhances the retention of staff. When it has a poor culture, all those things start to break down. That cultural break down can happen quite quickly, or it can happen over a period of time. Either way, arresting it, and fixing it, is key to improving the fortunes of any business. And turning it around needs to come from the top. If you’re the business owner, or the manager, that means you. So, how do you do it? For my money, one of the most important things you can do is open up the communication channels with your team. It starts by creating a clear set of core values that are communicated effectively and discussed with employees, so that they feel part of it. Then it’s about sharing information, having a daily or weekly meeting, or keeping a whiteboard, whatever it is that works for you and your business. It’s also about understanding that communication runs two ways—you want your staff to come to you with problems, suggestions and improvements. Values is another big factor that is too easily neglected. Have a defined and inclusive set of values that every team member should live by. Everyone should feel safe, welcome and accepted at work. These values should pervade every part of the business, including your internal and external business dealings. When you’re hiring, don’t just look at skills, ask yourself whether the person shares your company values.
5 Could equipment failure leave you unable to trade?
7 Get the most out of your Capricorn Membership
8 Tesla Model 3 Long range EV Review
14 New Nissan Z
coming to a showroom near you
16 Rising Stars is back Why you need to nominate your apprentice in 2022.
18 A lifelong love affair with classic cars
Is it possible to get nostalgic about cleaning a carburettor?
20 Seven More Years Of The Singapore Sling
I also put great store in reward and recognition. We all feel good and respond positively when someone says, “Hey, you did a great job today”, or when they thank us for going the extra mile. When someone does something good, acknowledge it. If it’s for something small, it might be a quiet, one-to-one “well done”. If it’s for something bigger, perhaps it’s a round of applause at a staff meeting, buying in that Nando’s lunch on a Friday, or even a bonus in the form of cash or training.
22 Planning ahead is
These are just three ideas. There are plenty more out there, and certainly many Capricorn Members are doing great and innovative things to create a positive culture in their workshop. This month we’ll be sharing a lot of those ideas— because it’s in all our interests to make every workshop as happy a place to work as possible.
trends
Yours in cooperation,
a good Covid treatment
24 Future mobility From the National Collision Repairer and IDTechEx.
28 How to treat your staff like rockstars
David Fraser Group CEO
And why it pays off.
28 Do your customers trust you?
And how to ensure they do. CAPRICORN IGNITION MARCH 2022 3
WORK SHOP & OFFI CE SUPPL IES
New Year’s Resolution Reset
It’s still early in the year, making it the perfect time to check in with the resolutions you committed to at the start of 2022. Capricorn Rewards has products that will support you in making your resolutions a reality. Whether that means new fitness equipment for you to up your game with, a Garmin watch to inspire consistency or a kayak to get you out in nature, you can find it and more at capricorn.coop/rewards.*
Fitbit Versa 3
Garmin Vivo Fit
Punching Bag
Fitbit Ace 3
T7 Kayak
Pro Runner
Sports Rower A udio Technica
Sport 50BT Bluetooth In Ear Headphones
Participation in the Capricorn Rewards Program is subject to the Capricorn Rewards Program Terms and Conditions which can be found via the Capricorn website.
capricorn.coop/rewards 4 CAPRICORN IGNITION MARCH 2022
*Products subject to availability.
TM
Could equipment failure leave you unable to trade? When you think about the kind of things that can interrupt your business operation, you probably imagine major events like fires and floods.
Rob said while business protection for equipment failure doesn’t cover for “wear and tear”, it is an incredibly valuable form of protection against some major risks.
But not everything that could bring your business to a grinding halt is the kind of event that makes the news. Often, it’s something much closer to home — a piece of equipment you rely on to trade goes kaput.
“Say you’re a smash repairer and you’ve got compressors, welders, spray booths and other electronic equipment,” Rob said. “It’s worth a lot of money. Some spray booths can be worth around $100,000 or even up to $200,000. When you add up all the electronic equipment in your workshop it can be worth well above $20,000 and upwards of $50,000 or more.
So, what would you do then? What’s your Plan B if a piece of equipment fails and stops you being able to operate as normal? Capricorn Risk Services’ New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory Sales Manager Rob Sedkey said while more than half of Members have business interruption protection, only 30% have the kind of protection that covers them in the event of equipment failure. “In the insurance brokering industry, they call it machinery breakdown or electronic equipment breakdown, but at Capricorn Mutual we call it engineering,” Rob said. “It doesn’t just relate to you being an engineer, it relates to any machinery, or electronic component.
“What happens if there’s a power surge or a major malfunction due to an unforeseen circumstance? You could be out of pocket tens of thousands of dollars.” Rob said business interruption protection for equipment breakdown includes not just traditional pieces of machinery but also electronic equipment like laptops, air conditioners and even CCTV cameras. “We had one Member who had a really large workshop and, therefore, really quite an intricate CCTV system they’d spent a lot of money on,” Rob said. “Believe it or not, a possum climbed into one of the nearby
substations, so the power company had to turn off the power to fix things. “When they turned it back on it created a major surge to many businesses in the area — and we’re talking major voltage — that was so powerful the kill switches in the workshop couldn’t stop it. It fried about seven cameras.” Rob said the claim amount to replace the CCTV cameras came to about $26,000 and was covered by the Member’s ‘Engineering section’. Business interruption can happen in ways you don’t expect and couldn’t foresee — like one poor possum making a bad decision. To avoid the heartache of business interruption, Rob recommends creating a checklist of all the machinery and electronic equipment in your workshop, or associated with your business, and then calling your Risk Account Manager to make sure you are protected. Call your Capricorn Risk Services Risk Account Manager today.
Contact Capricorn Risk Services 0800 555 303 I info@capricornrisk.com I capricorn.coop/risk Products sold through Capricorn Risk Services Pty Ltd (NZBN 9429041139813) include discretionary risk protection and general insurance products. Discretionary risk protection is issued out of Australia by Capricorn Mutual Ltd. Before deciding to acquire discretionary risk protection you should consider the Product Disclosure Statement to see if it is appropriate for you. This can be obtained from Capricorn Risk Services Pty Ltd by phoning 0800 555 303 via email info@capricornrisk.com or by visiting website capricornrisk.com. General insurance products are issued by a range of insurers and are available through Capricorn Risk Services Pty Ltd as a member broker of PSC Connect NZ Limited. Capricorn Risk Services Pty Ltd is a registered financial services provider (390446) and a corporate Authorised Representative (No. 460893) of Capricorn Mutual Ltd (AFSL 230038).
Using your diagnostic time effectively Using your diagnostic time effectively Vehicle information and data is slowly becoming more accessible than ever. So how do you make sure you are using your diagnostic time effectively? Here are some quick tips. Talk to Your Customer Initial communication with the customer is crucial in identifying and understanding an issue. A few extra minutes of enquiry could save you hours in diagnostic time. As some customers won’t have the vocabulary to properly explain the issue, asking the right questions will ensure you get all the relevant information, helping you diagnose the issue faster.
Invest in Training Training your staff to specialise and fine tune their diagnostic skills will save time in the long run, while also increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty. Investing in training will increase your staff’s ability to diagnose an issue quickly and confidently, reassuring your customers that they are in the best hands. Diagnostic proficiency is an opportunity to create a significant point of difference for your workshop, increasing efficiency and providing a strong competitive edge.
Utilise Available Resources Capricorn Service Data is one resource that is available to all Capricorn Members that will significantly reduce diagnostic time, giving your workshop a competitive advantage. Instead of spending hours manually searching through logbooks or researching online, Capricorn Service Data gives you instant access to the most comprehensive range of online service information covering thousands of vehicles. It has manufacturers' service schedules, service illustrations, repair times and an estimate calculator. Powered by Autodata, whose global database features 34,000 vehicles from over 60 manufacturers, Capricorn Service Data is an exclusive Member service provided at no charge.
PREFERRED SUPPLIER PROFILES NEW ZEALAND
Canterbury Landrover Limited
2.5
YEARS PREFERRED SUPPLIER
canterburylandrover.co.nz
Canterbury Landrover Limited have over 30 years of experience in servicing and repairing all makes and models of Land Rovers. Originally established in 1986, the small team of six are enthusiastic and passionate about providing customers with the highest quality service. With qualified staff who are knowledgeable about all things Land Rover, Members will receive service and advice that ensures their needs are met. Canterbury Landrover offers full mechanical repair, servicing, restoration and spare parts supply for a range of Land Rover models. While being based in Canterbury, the company offers nationwide parts distribution.
6 CAPRICORN IGNITION MARCH 2022
GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR CAPRICORN MEMBERSHIP IN 2022 You’re a Capricorn Member, which is awesome. You’re putting a lot of your purchases on your Capricorn Trade Account and reaping the Rewards. But it could be even better. Make sure you’re getting the most out of your membership by checking out the tips below. Check out other sections of the Purple Pages When we say, ‘if it’s in your business, it’s in the Purple Pages’ we aren’t kidding. Check out other sections of the Purple Pages to find everything you need to run your business and make it easier by putting it all on one statement.
retain the automotive leaders of tomorrow is to nominate your apprentices in the Capricorn Rising Stars competition. There is more than $20,000 in cash and prizes to be shared amongst the overall winner, the top 5 finalists and the workshops that nominated them*.
Simplify your business fuel payments3 Capricorn Member's and their employees can enjoy the convenience and savings offered by the Capricorn Fuel Card and earn valuable rewards points with every fuel purchase made.
Make sure you’re well protected with Capricorn Risk Services^
Get all of your tools with Mitre 10
Capricorn Risk is your one stop shop for protection and insurance from people in the industry. Not only do you get top level protection products, and a dedicated Risk Account Manager, but you also earn those precious Rewards points.
Pay less at participating Mitre 10 stores with your Capricorn Mitre 10 card, allowing you to purchase from Mitre 10’s extensive product range using your Capricorn Trade Account. Enjoy the value and convenience of special discounts available to Capricorn Members, earn Rewards points and consolidate more everyday business expenses.
Making a big purchase? Check out CAP ezi-finance~ CAP ezi-finance provides easy and convenient finance options for Members looking to purchase new equipment. For anything over $2,500 and with repayment terms over 60 months, CAP ezi-finance is a great way for Members to grow their business with new equipment. Contribute to the future of the industry by nominating your apprentices The skills shortage is real, and we’ve been talking about ways to help close the gaps for a little while now. One of the best ways to
Once you’ve earned all those reward points – treat yourself2 So you’ve been through the list, you’ve found some new Preferred Suppliers, you’ve joined Capricorn Risk Services, and you’ve booked a holiday. You will likely have a nice little nest egg of Capricorn Rewards Points saved up. Log into your myCAP Portal to check out the amazing range of options you can redeem your points on. From BBQs to gifts cards, and even entertainment, there’s something for everyone at Capricorn Rewards.
*For more information visit capricorn.coop/tc and click on ‘Capricorn Rising Stars 2022 Terms and Conditions’. ^Products sold through Capricorn Risk Services Pty Ltd (NZBN 9429041139813) include discretionary risk protection and general insurance products. Discretionary risk protection is issued out of Australia by Capricorn Mutual Ltd. Before deciding to acquire discretionary risk protection you should consider the Product Disclosure Statement to see if it is appropriate for you. This can be obtained from Capricorn Risk Services Pty Ltd by phoning 0800 555 303 via email info@capricornrisk.com or by visiting website capricornrisk.com. General insurance products are issued by a range of insurers and are available through Capricorn Risk Services Pty Ltd as a member broker of PSC Connect NZ Limited. Capricorn Risk Services Pty Ltd is a registered financial services provider (390446) and a corporate Authorised Representative (No. 460893) of Capricorn Mutual Ltd (AFSL 230038). ~Capricorn Finance offers business equipment finance through Capricorn Society Limited (NZBN 9429038593185). Fees & charges, terms & conditions and lending criteria apply. 2 Participation in the Capricorn Rewards Program is subject to the Capricorn Rewards Program Terms and Conditions which can be found via the Capricorn website. 3 Applications and use of the Capricorn Mobil Fuel Card are subject to the NZ - Capricorn Mobil Card - Terms and Conditions which can be found at https://www.capricorn.coop/TC.
CAPRICORN IGNITION MARCH 2022 7
DRIVELIFE
2021 Tesla Model 3 Long Range EV Car Review
Photos and article by DriveLife
When Rob tested out the Tesla Model 3 Standard Range (as it was known then) two years ago, he had mixed feelings. Some glitches occurred with the test car, the range was a problem, and build quality was a little lacking.
Last up is the 2021 Performance model. Still dual-motor, of course, but it will get to 100km/h in 3.3 seconds, has a WLTP range of 547km and was priced from $95,900, with a drive-away price of $97,932. Updates over the previous model we tested in 2020 include:
But that was an American-built 2021 Model 3. Tesla gave us a Chinese-built 2021 Model 3 Long Range for a 3-week drive over the Christmas period. Will having the car sourced from another country make it better? Will it reach its WLTP rating for a range of 614km? What’s In The 2021 Tesla Model 3 Range? There are three 2021 models in the 2021 Model 3 range; the base is called the Rear-Wheel Drive and has a single electric motor, obviously, driving the rear wheels. It has a WLTP range of 491km and can get to 100km/h in 6.1 seconds. The cost of this model is from $66,900, so it easily qualifies for the Clean Car Scheme subsidy of $8,625. The drive-away price (pre-subsidy) was $68,923, making it a tad over $60K after the subsidy. Next up is the 2021 Model 3 Long Range (tested); it is a dual motor (so all-wheel drive), has a WLTP range of 614km and gets to 100km/h in 4.4 seconds. The cost of this model was from $82,900, with a drive-away price at $84,932. The extra costs are outlined below.
8 CAPRICORN IGNITION MARCH 2022
EXTERIOR UPDATES Trim Updates ● Satin black side repeaters, door handles and brightwork Wheel/Tyre Updates ● More efficient tyres across the range ● Updated 18/19” Sport Wheels ● Model 3 Performance with new 20” Uberturbine wheels Power Trunk ● Opens at the touch of a button on the trunk itself, from the touchscreen or by using the Tesla app. INTERIOR UPDATES Updated Trim ● Matte black finish replaces the gloss ‘piano’ black finish ● Satin black sill plates
There’s a small range of 5 colours to choose from for your new Model 3. White is standard, while any other colour attracts an additional cost. Solid Black, Midnight Silver Metallic, and Deep Blue Metallic are all $1,700 extra, while Red Multi-Coat is $3,300. Our review car’s total price was a base of $82,900, then $1,375 for a delivery fee, $400 for an order fee and $257 for registration, for a drive-away price of $84,932. For a full list of specs and options available for the Tesla Model 3 jump on over to the Tesla New Zealand website. First Impressions of The 2021 Tesla Model 3 Long Range
Graphite finish seat controls Metalised scroll wheels on steering ●
●
When I went to pick up our test Model 3, there were 5 other Tesla models there - all of them white. That’s the visual cost of charging for any colour other than white. Admittedly, white does suit the Model 3. It’s not changed too much externally from last year and still looks modern and fresh, and shouts EV at you from most angles.
Sun Visors Magnetic closure to snap back into place Redesigned Centre Console ● Fixed inductive charging mats for two smartphones ● Updated front compartment with sliding lid USB Ports ● Two additional high-powered USB-C ports for high-speed device charging ● Plus, an additional USB-A port in the glove compartment to use for storage devices for Sentry Mode and Dash Cam footage
Visual changes over the previous model include a move to black trim around the windows, the door handles are now black too. This has lifted the appearance of the Model 3 more than I would have expected, and this simple change has modernised it quite a lot. It also still turns heads. We’ve had Teslas in New Zealand for quite a while now, but people still look as you drive past. Nowhere near as much as when we were in the Hyundai Ioniq 5, however. What’s The Interior Like in The 2021 Tesla Model 3 Long Range? There have been some welcome changes in the interior of the new model, with the piano black console being changed to a new, matte grey to show fewer fingerprints. The sill plates and door handles are changed in trim as well, and I love the new magnetic sun visors that simply lock into place when you get them close enough. No more jabbing around to try and lock the sun visor in its home position, after moving it from the side. In front, there are now two wireless charging pads, side by side, and this is the first car I have seen this on. I’m really hoping it will become the norm, as I used them both all the time when I had passengers. The whole centre console has had a redesign, and it’s a lot more usable now. There’s still a huge cubby up front, behind the wireless charging pads. It’s extremely deep and goes forward as well. Under the armrest is another massive cubby, with 2 USB-C ports in it. This goes under the cup holders and is just as big as the front one. As before, rear-seat passengers are spoilt for both leg and headroom. There is a copious amount of space back there, and like the previous model, the centre
cool. I had it set as low as 19 degrees sometimes, just to try and keep cool. I think part of this may be down to those sexy, full-width air vents stretching across the dash; while you can go into the AC settings on the centre screen and adjust the height and direction of the flow of air, there just wasn’t enough coming out of the vents to keep me cool. Then if I switched the AC to manual and had air coming out for both feet and face, it reduced the airflow too much and didn’t cool me anywhere near enough. Hopefully, we’ll see this fixed on the next release, as it’s one of the things that would put me off buying a Model 3.
console has a cut under it, so your middle passengers have more room for their feet. Simple, yet effective. Fit and finish on this Chinese-built Model 3 is a big improvement over the previous (US-built) one we tested, with better attention to detail and more even gaps around trim joins. It actually looks like an $82K car now, with regards to build quality. I still spotted a few panel joins that weren’t perfect, but a massive improvement over our last test car, the Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus. Like the previous Model 3 we tested, there are no grab handles for your passengers. I’m not sure about the logic of this, as surely they aren’t an expensive item to include. A number of passengers commented on the lack of them. New for this model year is an electric boot lid. There’s a huge boot on the Model 3, and even the dual electric motor (all-wheel-drive) versions have another large area under the floor to store more stuff in. Of course, it still has a trunk and it’s a decent 88 litres in size, far larger than the tiny one on the Inoniq 5. As before there is no spare tyre or any sort of toolkit in the Model 3. If you get a flat, you can call Tesla up and they will come and tow you to the nearest place to get it fixed. Speaking of the boot lid, the design flaw in this car hasn’t been addressed. You’ll need to be careful if it’s raining, as if it’s raining heavily enough, water running down the back window will go straight into the boot if you have it open. The seal below the back window is too small to stop this from happening, and it’s such an obvious issue I wonder why Tesla hasn’t resolved this yet. What’s The 2021 Tesla Model 3 Long Range Like To Drive? While the Model 3 comes with two credit-card-sized keys, once you’ve set up the Tesla app and linked your phone to the car, that’s all you need. Just walk up with your phone in your pocket, and get in. One feature I love about the Model 3 is that there’s no ignition to turn on or off; you simply get in and drive. It’s the same when you leave the car. I had our test car set to auto-lock on walking away, and the auto-locking would also turn the car off. So simple. With that big glass roof and large side windows, heat can build up on the inside of the car when you aren’t using it. Some days when it was 25 degrees outside, it was over 60 degrees inside. Everything was hot to the touch, and the vegan leather seats felt uncomfortable to sit in. The AC fixed that, but if I were buying any Model 3, I’d spend the $90 on the clip-in blind to try and help reduce those interior temperatures. The glass roof does have infrared and ultraviolet protection, but it’s not enough in New Zealand. On the subject of aircon, when Rob drove the last model he noted that it seems either too hot or too cold in the car. This hasn’t changed, with the AC in our test car struggling to keep the interior 1 0 CAPRICORN IGNITION MARCH 2022
In saying that, I did get into the habit of either setting a scheduled departure time on the Tesla app so it would cool the car down in advance or using the ‘vent’ button on the app which lowers all the windows down a couple of inches. But a blind is still the way to go, better off trying to reduce the interior temperatures in the first place. This newer model now comes with double-glazed windows and it’s had a huge impact on noise inside the car. Regardless of it being an EV, wind and road noise are now down to very low levels. This is probably the biggest change I noted between this Model 3 and the last one. Those Hankook Ventus ST EVO tyres get a bit vocal on coarse chip seal, but that can be said of most tyres on the market. The bottom line is that the 2021 Model 3 is now almost silent inside. Rob noted some technical glitches with his 2020 Model 3, as did I. How was our test car over the 1,500km I drove it? Far better, with no notable issues. Building the cars in China seems to have paid off. Actually, the whole car feels a lot tighter, and the driving experience has improved over the last one I drove. Kudos, China. Our test car had no options, although I would have liked to have tested the $11,400 ‘Full Self-Driving Capability’. This is the option that also has Summons mode, which will bring your car to you in a carpark, to save you from getting wet in the rain (for example).
The full package includes: ● Navigate on Autopilot ● Auto Lane Change ● Autopark ● Summon ● Full Self-Driving Computer ● Traffic Light and Stop Sign Control
the account holder. This means that if I buy the Full Self-Driving Capability package and then sell my Tesla, that package will stay with the car, end of story. Still, the standard adaptive cruise control (Autopilot) is one of the best, and I used it often. Since your speed is only shown on that centre screen and the digits are not that big, it seemed prudent to use adaptive cruise to save getting speeding tickets. On speaking with another Tesla owner, he did the same thing for exactly the same reason. Oh, for a heads-up display in the Model 3, at $83K, it doesn’t have one and it’s not even an option. It’s not even fitted to the $95,900 Performance model, and that’s very surprising. All Model 3s have the Auto Steer function, which will assist the driver to stay in their lane, essentially steering the car for you, but you need to keep your hands on the wheel at all times of course. It’s still one of the best, and other than a few times passing through Patea where the car wanted to turn into a side road, it was near-on faultless. It really is the benchmark for self-steering systems.
Tesla says that soon, Autosteer on city streets will be added to the Full Self-Driving Capability package.
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While the title says “Full Self-Driving”, it really isn’t. So, what does Full Self-Driving actually mean? This is from the Tesla website: Navigate on Autopilot (Beta): Actively guides your car from a highway’s on-ramp to off-ramp, including suggesting lane changes, navigating interchanges, automatically engaging the turn signal and taking the correct exit Auto Lane Change: Assists in moving to an adjacent lane on the highway when Autosteer is engaged ●
Autopark: Helps automatically parallel or perpendicular park your car, with a single touch ●
Summon: Moves your car in and out of a tight space using the mobile app or key ●
Smart Summon: Your car will navigate more complex environments and parking spaces, manoeuvring around objects as necessary to come to find you in a parking lot. ●
●
Traffic and Stop Sign Control (Beta): Identifies stop signs and traffic lights and automatically slows your car to a stop on approach, with your active supervision “While using Autopilot, it is your responsibility to stay alert, keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times and maintain control of your car.” You can read all about Autopilot and the Full Self-Driving capability on Tesla’s website. To buy the Full Self-Driving Capability package, a Tesla owner simply ticks a box on the Tesla app on their phone, pays, and then the packages will be installed over the air - so there is no need to go to a Tesla shop to get anything done. We get a lot of questions around buying the Full Self-Driving Capability packages, or any other package a Tesla owner might purchase over the air. What happens when the car gets sold? Does the new owner get the package, or does the package stay with the person who paid for it? According to Tesla New Zealand, any package purchased over the air belongs to the car, and not
Adaptive cruise will set the car’s speed to whatever speed you are driving, but if you tap down on the gear stalk again, this will turn Autosteer on. Autosteer will maintain the speed you have set, but if the speed limit changes and goes down, it will automatically change your set speed down to the new limit. Nice! It won’t go up though, so if you change speed limits up, you’ll need to tap the new speed limit on the centre screen to set it higher. The only issue with this is the traffic sign recognition in the new model. It’s a bit flaky at times, and simply won’t read overhead gantries on the motorway. I found this very surprising, as Tesla generally has been the trendsetter for traffic sign recognition. You kick-off voice recognition by pushing in the right-hand knob on the steering wheel. Generally, it’s pretty good, but it did struggle sometimes with my accent (I have an accent?). For example, I tried three times to say “Navigate to Eastern Hutt Road” and it came out 3 times as Easton Heights Road. I gave up at that point. Otherwise, the voice recognition system was eerily accurate, and I used it often. For example, rather than searching through menus on the screen to do something, you can simply say, “open the glovebox”, and it opens. A cool party trick. Other party tricks include Fart Mode, and Caraoke, which Rob covered off in his previous review. While I was testing the Model 3 Long Range, it was time to head to Hawera as part of our Project V8 Sunbeam Rapier Fastback. This meant a 574km round trip, perfect for seeing just how close we can get to Tesla’s range figures for this model. The WLTP range on the 2021 Tesla Model 3 Long Range is 614Km. On the dash, there is a range meter that can be switched between % remaining in the batteries and km you can drive. With this 614km range in mind, I fully charged the Model 3 Long Range at home and set off for Hawera, a 297Km drive one way. The dash showed me 545km of range, so I was hoping I’d at least get close to this. I hit the road at 6am, used Autopilot nearly the whole way and it was an effortless drive. Although, the lower-rear of the seat felt like it was pushing in on my back too much, even with lumbar adjust backed right off. I notice that Rob mentioned this same thing on his drive on this same route in 2020. I also notice other Tesla drivers are a friendly bunch, almost all of them waving as they drive past me. Nice. Four hours later, I arrived in Hawera with 190km range left (34%) and 289km driven at 16kWh/100km. That’s a very reasonable number, and a little less (better) than we got from the Hyundai Ioniq 5 recently. After a night’s stay in town, I left Hawera in the wet, now with 23% left and SatNav showing me arriving at the Tesla Supercharger in Palmerston North with -13% battery left. That meant a Plan B, so CAPRICORN IGNITION MARCH 2022 1 1
2021 TESLA MODEL 3 LONG RANGE
I decided to stop in at Whanganui on the way, a drive of 67km. The Model 3 said I should arrive with 3% battery left. Challenge accepted. In fact, I did arrive with 3% left at Pak ‘n Save Whanganui, plugged into the Chargenet charger and paid 25 cents per minute and 25 cents per kilowatt to charge. It would have taken 2 hours total charge time charging at 240km charge per hour, but at 31% and now with 175Km range, I stopped charging, paid my $13.44 and hit the road to Palmerton North. I didn’t really need to go to Palmerston North, as I could have simply stayed in Whanganui and charged up enough to get back to Wellington, but decided to drive to Palmy for two reasons: 1: I’ve never had to use a Tesla Supercharger 2: It would be free to charge up (for our test car) It would be a 90km drive to the Supercharger, and ten minutes from Palmerston North the display changed to say it was now preconditioning the batteries in preparation for using the Supercharger. How cool is that? I’ve got to say even with the SatNav directions to the Supercharger, I struggled a bit to actually find it. After asking someone working in the car park where the Superchargers are located, they were there, but not obvious until you get right to them. After plugging in, the charging started all by itself, putting in 920km/ hour of charge. Compare this to the 240km/hour at the Chargenet charger, and I’m getting almost four times the amount of charge. At 50% charged, this dropped to 745km/hour. Still, after 20 minutes I had easily enough charge to get home, and I hit the road. Generally, for most Tesla owners to use a Supercharger they pay between 40 cents and 80 cents per kilowatt of charge. You can read more about Tesla’s Superchargers on the Tesla NZ website.
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ECONOMY
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I didn’t get the 553km suggested range that the car told me or the WLTP figure of 614km for the Long Range mode. Instead, I got around 477km. In the scheme of things, this wasn’t too bad. We rarely match a manufacturer’s figures for a petrol or diesel car either. Reflecting on my 550km trip, the quality of the ride in the Model 3 Long Range is a stand-out; it’s superb, as is generally handling and steering. The steering feel is a little lacking, but it’s a very quick steering system at 2 turns lock-to-lock. Overall, I covered 1,500km in the Model 3 Long Range, and it averaged 16.0kWh/100km, a little less than the 16.5 suggested by Tesla. The 2021 Tesla Model 3 we tested is a big improvement over the last one we tested that was built in the USA. Fit and finish is hugely better, the whole car feels tighter. Honestly, I thoroughly enjoyed my three weeks with the car. The sheer ease of driving can’t be beat, and the price is a relative bargain. Yes, it’s $85K but compared to others in our table, that’s good value for what you are actually getting. There are many Tesla naysayers out there, but I’m a convert. If I was looking to spend around this much on an EV, it would be a major struggle for me to choose between the front-wheel-drive MercedesBenz EQA and the Model 3 Long Range. If you remember that the Model 3 Long Range has a bigger battery, all-wheel-drive, and a bigger boot, as much as I love the EQA, it’s almost a no-brainer. The contents of and any opinions contained in this article do not reflect the opinions of Capricorn Society Ltd and Capricorn makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or reliability of any material in this article.
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FUTURE RIDE
NEW NISSAN Z COMING TO ING T NEW NISSAN Z COM A SHOWROOM NEAR YOU A SHOWROOM NEAR
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While the world’s automakers, understandably, focus on the gearshift to electric vehicles, it seems consumers are still chasing something with a bit of old-fashioned grunt. When that grunt is as sleek as the new Nissan Z, who can blame them? This isn’t some pipedream concept car fantasy, the latest Nissan Z is very real—not only is it currently in production, new Z coupes expect to be sitting in the showrooms and forecourts of car dealers across Australia. The interest, according to Nissan, has been “extreme”. Are we surprised? Not really. The “Zed” has long been an extremely popular model with the nation’s petrolheads. Let’s pop the bonnet on the latest edition of this absolute classic. The Nissan Z runs on the Infiniti Q50 and Q60 Red Sport’s 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6, with its 298 kW of power (that’s 400 hp in the old money) and 475 Nm of torque at 5,600 rpm. (That’s up about 15 per cent in both power and torque on previous models.) The Z coupe is available as a nine-speed automatic, complete with paddle shifters, or as a six-speed manual with synchronised rev control for faster shifting. The six-speed close-ratio manual transmission includes an EXEDY high-performance clutch and a carbon-fibre composite drive shaft, increasing the connection between man and machine. The nine-speed automatic transmission is tuned for quick response and faster acceleration, and pairs with aluminium paddle shifters. There’s plenty of tech, too: an eight-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone integration and a fully customisable 12.3-inch TFT meter display. You
can also toy with the design mode to “match your driving mood” (it’s mostly about where the tacho and speedo are displayed). It has a suite of Nissan’s Intelligent Mobility safety systems, with front and rear parking sensors, rear-view camera, intelligent cruise control, predictive forward collision warnings, forward emergency braking and pedestrian detection, blind spot warnings, rear cross traffic alerts and lane departure warnings. There’s also noise cancellation technology to lock out road, wind and tyre noise. The Nissan Z takes its design cues from its extremely popular predecessors. The headlights are inspired by the 240ZG of the 1970s, while the rear of the coupe is more reminiscent of the 300ZX. It’s timely here to mention that there will actually be two models of the Nissan Z coming our way. The first, the standard, is as described above. But there’s also an upgraded version, the Z Proto Spec. It’s the same engine and the same performance, but cosmetically Nissan promises it’s “the ultimate expression of the new Nissan Z”. What does that mean, practically? It means that the Z Proto Spec has 19-inch bronze-forged alloy wheels, yellow brake calipers, yellow trim accents to the black interior treatment and a two-tone paint option. According to Nissan (as reported in CarExpert) there has been “an absolute ton of interest” in the new Zed, with a large number of pre-orders and more than 70 of those for the six-speed manual. The new Nissan Z is a car with heritage, a car with a solid fanbase, and a car with grunt. The buzz around it was always going to be electric (even if the car never was).
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CAPRICORN RISING STARS IS BACK WHY YOU NEED TO NOMINATE YOUR APPRENTICES IN 2022 Attracting and retaining apprentices in the automotive industry has never been more important. That’s why Capricorn Members are being encouraged to recognise and reward their hardworking apprentices with a Capricorn Rising Stars, Apprentice of the Year nomination. We know being an apprentice and training an apprentice can be a great opportunity for both apprentice and employer. However, it is no easy undertaking. Not only does supporting an apprentice take time and effort, but it also takes a lot of passion, commitment and sacrifice from our apprentices to achieve their qualification. The Capricorn State of the Nation report showed 39% of Capricorn’s 23,000 plus Member businesses currently employ an apprentice. So, there is a huge pool of talent waiting to be rewarded and recognised for their commitment to the future of the automotive industry. Here are five important reasons you should nominate your apprentice: 1. Keep your apprentice committed to a career in auto
3. Rewarding outstanding people, no matter what stage of the journey they are at Capricorn began the Capricorn Rising Stars awards to recognise aspiring auto repairers who demonstrate their automotive passion, a positive can-do attitude and a strong commitment to forging a long and rewarding career in the service and repair industry. This unique judging criteria creates a level playing field for first to fourth year apprentices across all automotive service and repair disciplines. This means Capricorn Members can nominate any of their apprentices who demonstrate outstanding potential and character as they continue to learn their craft and display eagerness to develop their skills. 4. Great prizes to be won Everyone loves to be rewarded! The 2022 Capricorn Rising Stars prize pool has something for both the winning apprentices as well as the workshops that nominate them. These prizes are once again thanks to the generous support of our industry sponsors. 5. Everyone is recognised!
Learning a new trade is a big commitment and takes a lot of passion and dedication. Provide the ultimate encouragement to your apprentice with a Capricorn Rising Stars nomination and keep your apprentice engaged and passionate about their apprenticeship.
Every nominee will be sent a certificate to formally recognise their accomplishment. With your apprentice’s permission, you can display the certificate in your reception area to let your customers know about the high-quality team you are nurturing in your workshop.
2. Build a positive workshop culture, through advocacy and recognition
Nominate your apprentices by visiting cap.coop/stars
High performing teams often work well as they trust one another and reward each other for hard work. By nominating your apprentice, you’re not only rewarding them but letting them know that you’ve got their back, building trust as an advocate.
MORE THAN $20,000 IN CASH AND PRIZES TO BE WON! Capricorn thanks long-term program sponsors Castrol, Repco and Workshop Whisperer, who have donated these fantastic prizes. For more information on the Capricorn Rising Stars competition, including competition Terms and Conditions, visit cap.coop/stars. 1 6 CAPRICORN IGNITION MARCH 2022
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CAPRICORN
Stars $20,000 IN CASH AND PRIZES UP FOR GRABS! ENTRIES CLOSE 30 APRIL 2022 NOMINATE YOUR APPRENTICE AT CAP.COOP/STARS
For more information visit capricorn.coop/tc and click on ‘Capricorn Rising Stars 2022 Terms and Conditions’.
A lifelong love affair with classic cars Is it possible to get nostalgic about cleaning a carburettor? What was once a regular task in any workshop is now a rare treat for most mechanics. But not for Capricorn Member Garry Tomlinson. He owns Kenwick Automotive Performance in Perth’s eastern suburbs, and he specialises in servicing vehicles he calls “the old-school classics”. “I just like the simple cars,” he said. “It’s like going back to basics. You know you can open the bonnet and see the motor. It’s not wrapped in plastic and hasn’t got 15 million sensors on it.
“I bought it from one of my customers,” he said. “He’d brought his XC ute in and I was doing some work on the carby, and he said he had an XM ute he wanted to sell. “He showed me some photos and said he’d bring it the following Saturday to show Vicki ‘because she’ll like it’.” It turns out, Vicki and Garry both liked it, and he bought it.
Did you just get that whiff of nostalgia? (Or was it petrol?)
“It’s got a 170, three-speed manual gearbox with a column change,” Garry said. “I’m in the process of rewiring her at the moment — we were driving home not long after we bought her and she ran out of headlights!”
Garry and his partner, Vicki, live and breathe classic cars. In fact, Garry has recently bought a 1964 Ford Falcon XM ute, which he’s using as his workshop vehicle.
Garry has recently installed an aftermarket aircon unit which mounts under the dash and has plans to upgrade to disc brakes on the front wheels. But otherwise he said the XM was in good
“I just love the old-school cars. I grew up with them.”
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condition, with “just a few bits to tidy up”. (That tidy up, not surprisingly, included new halogen headlights.) Ford introduced the XM series Falcon in 1964. Based on the XL, it boasted a swathe of improvements including stronger ball joints in the suspension, new front upper wishbones, bigger axle shafts and tougher engine mounts. The model was produced for only a year before it was superseded by the XP Falcon, with its torque box steel subframe. Garry had previously owned both an XM sedan and an XP – suggesting something of an affinity with the X series. “The very first one I bought was XP, which was the last of that four-model range of that shape, but that needed a lot of rust cutting out,” he said. “While I was looking at fixing that up, I bought the XM (sedan). I prefer the XM styling — it’s the shape of the headlights and the grill.” In between the XM sedan and the XM ute, Garry owned a 1969 Ford ZC Fairlane sedan for several years. He’d intended to use that as his workshop vehicle, but when his customer offered him the XM ute, he couldn’t resist returning to his beloved X series. The Fairlane was sold to his cousin’s son, who is restoring it. And the ute is now freshly sign written and ready to advertise Kenwick Automotive Performance around the streets of Perth. The Kenwick business isn’t Garry’s first. He’s had it for about four years but has owned other workshops previously. The workshop had been doing a lot of luxury sport vehicles when Garry bought it, but the client base soon evolved thanks to Garry and Vicki’s involvement in the classic car scene. (Vicki has been driving an XL model Valiant Charger for the past 14 years.) Now 62, Garry reckons he’s been playing with cars since about 1970. “I changed my first head gasket when I was 12,” he said. “It was my brother’s 1958 Holden.” But his brother wasn’t exactly standing over his shoulder, making sure young Garry got it right. “He was down the pub. So was my father. After I fixed it, I was driving it around the backyard when my Dad came home, and I got in trouble for touching his tools!” Among the vehicles hanging around Garry’s Kenwick workshop on the day Ignition called were Vicki’s 1972 VH Valiant, a 1960 DeSoto, a ’73 Cadillac and a ’66 Mustang. He said most of the vehicles that drive up onto the apron are still carburettor-powered. Which is great news. “I love playing with carbies,” he said. For Garry, that’s not nostalgia; it’s a way of life.
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SEVEN MORE YEARS OF THE SINGAPORE SLING by Paul Marinelli
After a pandemic induced two-year absence, one of the most exciting sporting events in the Southern Hemisphere is returning from 2022. The loss of Formula One’s original and most spectacular night race, after the 12 incredible events staged in the Lion City since 2008, was a bitter pill to swallow for motor racing fans from all over the world. This event had global television ratings sky rocket and was a tourism magnet year after year. Affectionately referred to as the “Monaco of the Orient”, this Formula One event had developed a level of prestige normally afforded to far more historically significant events on the global calendar. This was due to its spectacular location and unique format, which at the time of its launch made it Formula One’s first ever night race. Some 268,000 spectators attended this event when it was last held in 2019, marking the second highest attendance for the race. There is no doubt that the Singapore Grand Prix remains one of the most highly anticipated events on the racing calendar, given its spectacular five kilometre street circuit that runs through the heart of this vibrant city.
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This is the fourth Formula One contract renewal for the Singapore Grand Prix and the seven-year duration of this agreement is its longest. This event has featured an unparalleled line-up of lifestyle and entertainment programs, which have helped to attract more than 550,000 thousand tourists (many of them Australian) since the launch of the event. The off-circuit entertainment provided is arguably unrivalled by any other Formula One event and has made it extremely popular amongst locals as well. Many current major recording artists or bands have performed as a part of the non-stop four-day festival of music, speed and entertainment. Many international musical acts and their promoters simply did not consider Singapore to be a viable touring venue until it became the host city of a Formula One Grand Prix – now they line up to be a part of it. It comes as no surprise that, since its debut in 2008, this Formula One race has generated more than S$1.5 billion in incremental tourism receipts. When you consider how small Singapore really is, (the city is the entire country), this is an extraordinary achievement.
More than 90% of the race organisation is sub-contracted annually to Singapore based companies, while several Australian companies and consultants also provide specialised services to the event. This makes perfect sense given our regional proximity, along with Australia’s long term and highly successful experience in Grand Prix and major sporting event organisation. There is even talk of our Gen3 Supercars being a major support category of this event in the near future, similar to the popular high profile role the sport plays at the Australian Formula One Grand Prix each year. It may interest you to know that the Singapore organisers approached Supercars Australia several years ago to ask our major racing category to be a part of this amazing event, only for the teams to knock back the invitation, largely due to the fear of damaging their cars. This knock-back had ramifications for several years afterwards. There may be an opportunity to remedy the situation soon, now that Supercars has a new owner and the teams are no longer a voting part of the sport’s decision making process. While there is no escaping the fact that this night race consumes incredible amounts of fossil fuelled generator power, the Singapore Grand Prix is working to reduce the carbon footprint of the event by switching to renewable energy sources, increasing recycling efforts and switching to sustainable materials.
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Planning ahead is a good Covid treatment by Geoff Mutton
The new year has not started well as hopes for an end to Covid interruptions have been dashed. Workshops around the nation are still facing staff shortages and supply chain interruptions. However, getting work is not the problem because most workshops are extremely busy. The problem everyone is facing is how to plan income-producing work while coping with the above challenges. One of the solutions is that workshops need to be as organised as possible, beginning with planning your day a day ahead.
It is imperative that every staff member is trained on how to take a booking and document the minimum customer details, which are: • name • contact number • vehicle details and registration • job requirements • drop-off and pick-up times Even these basic details will help with job planning and preparation and mean the customer can be contacted for rescheduling or to check fault details.
Here are some tips that will help daily planning:
Understand the hours available and hours booked
Confirm booking details
Job prices can vary from $50 to $5,000, so determining your workshop's booking capacity only on the number of jobs booked in will not be the best approach.
A lot of unnecessary and timeconsuming mistakes can be traced back to inadequate or insufficient customer information being gathered and documented at the time of booking in a vehicle.
It would be much better to calculate how many labour hours you have available each day and subtract the estimated hours per job as each booking is received.
This is by no means fool proof, but it can often be accurate, ensuring just the right amount of work booked in to fill the hours comfortably. This methodology can be automated for those booking straight into an electronic diary.
Review vehicle history Traditionally, this is a task best done when the customer drops in their vehicle, after the booking has been made and confirmed. By reviewing a vehicle's history with them, in person at the workshop, you will be more likely to get the go ahead on repair items that might have been flagged in previous invoices. However, given disruptions to the parts supply chain, it may be preferable to do the review when the customer books the car in. This means that pre-approval to go ahead on repairs will give the workshop time to pre-order required parts.
Pre-order parts Suppliers are also suffering from supply chain interruption and stock shortages, so it makes sense for workshops to review the diary at least one or two days in advance so that parts required can be pre-ordered.
Send booking reminders Customers not showing up can put a big dent in your sold hours. As Covid-19 moves through the community, there will be an increased likelihood of this happening The best way to reduce the frequency of no-shows, is to send out 24- or 48-hour booking reminders. It’s much better to know well in advance if a customer can't make it and makes managing the diary a lot easier. Managing the type of work booked in The natural tendency has been to book jobs in on a first come, first served basis. Obviously, any job is better than nothing, but when bookings are starting to fill the diary a day or two in advance, you are in a position to start allocating work to days that will match the technicians and resources you have on hand. For example, a day booked with only diagnostic work and timing belts on late model vehicles will most probably result in junior staff standing around doing very little. In this instance, space could be left in the diary for general servicing and repairs and more advanced jobs can be booked in at the last minute.
Daily toolbox meetings Workshops can be a very busy place in the morning, with customers dropping off vehicles and technicians getting started on jobs. This hive of activity is great, but if everyone is just working away in their own little world it can be less productive than it looks. To ensure nothing is being missed, it is a good idea to bring the team together for a quick five-minute toolbox meeting. This will make the entire team is more aware of what the job priorities are and is an opportunity to warn them of any potential issues.
Be strategic with cancellations If you do need to cancel bookings due to staff shortages in this challenging business environment you could be justified for prioritising jobs based on what is best for your workshop. For example, it could be that you prioritise simple service and repairs jobs to keep the workshop income flowing as opposed to those larger and more complicated breakdown jobs. Hopefully everyone will have learned to adjust to life with Covid-19 and emerging variants by the end of the year but in the meantime, spending an extra ten minutes or so every day planning for the day ahead will help to minimise costly disruptions.
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SIX FUTURE MOBILITY TRENDS FROM IDTECHEX RESEARCH
Since the turn of the century, electric vehicle startups have moved from obscurity into some of the world’s most valuable companies. Most traditional automakers have committed to an electric future and flying electric taxis have started to leave the pages of science fiction. So, where to from here? The rapid pace of change is enabled by technological leaps in underlying componentry and materials, from Li-ion batteries to LiDAR. But there is still a long way to go as the industry strives to close the performance gap with internal combustion engines, increases in safety, lower costs, and overcoming regulatory barriers. Here are six future mobility trends worth watching.
Electrification is global and happening in all sectors A decade ago, IDTechEx predicted 1.5 million battery-electric car sales by 2021. This turned out to be an underestimate by over half, as China, the US and Europe all grew their markets last year. The sheer volumes and successes of electric vehicles in the automotive market are driving down costs and creating opportunities for many other mobility sectors. On the waterways, electric ferry deliveries have boomed to ~80MWh yearly as battery pack costs fell below $600 per kWh, energy densities improved and thermal management innovations vastly increased safety. Similar drivers are pushing investment into electric air-taxis, with American Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, United Airlines, UPS and Avolon having all placed preorders. Electrification is not so much unstoppable as inevitable and will continue to play a dominant role in the decarbonisation of mobility.
Autonomous vehicles will transform the automotive industry – again Just as the industry grapples with massive changes in powertrain technology, IDTechEx expects commercial autonomous cars -or robotaxis- to be market-ready and match or exceed human safety by as early as 2024. Projecting forward current safety data, the implication is autonomous cars will be capable of fulfilling the world’s mobility needs without a single collision before 2050.
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As a result, autonomy will have a profound impact on the travel habits of consumers: having removed the highest cost of current popular ride-hailing services – the driver – robotaxis will enable affordable mobility services, driving the market to grow at a 30% CAGR. Private car ownership will become a relic of the past for new generations, and since one autonomous car has the capability to serve multiple people a day, fundamental demand for new cars is expected to fall, even as global passenger-miles increase.
Lithium-based batteries will continue to be the great enabler for electrification Without the popularisation of the Li-ion battery by Sony in the 1990s, electric vehicles would still be the horse that lost the race to the internal combustion engine. Battery technologies are evolving rapidly and there are many important market developments taking place. As battery costs level, the key focus for the industry will be increasing sustainability of raw materials and supply chains whilst ensuring there is still enough supply to meet the huge demand. Later in the decade, a move beyond Li-ion, towards the holy grail of solid-state and lithium-metal batteries, is critical for a step-change in safety and performance, and to open the door to new applications such as electric longhaul aircraft.
Advanced motors and power electronics are key to lowering cost and increasing range Improving the efficiency of power electronics and electric traction motors is key to either increasing range or downsizing batteries (reducing costs). Two important trends in these areas are market convergence on permanent magnet motors and a transition towards wide bandgap semiconductor devices. Due to their high performance and superior efficiency, permanent magnet motors are the default technology for traction applications and their market has naturally grown with the runaway success of electric cars. However, magnets make end-of-life recycling difficult and raise concerns regarding price volatility and sustainable mining practices, with most material mined and sourced in China. Long-term reliance solely on permanent magnet machines is looking increasingly unsustainable, with warning signs starting to
show in high neodymium prices – the primary ingredient of rare earth magnets. Magnet-free and even copper-free motor solutions are gaining interest and momentum. While motors are not as materially diverse as batteries, in a similar way we expect automakers to diversify their strategies to adopt several technologies to balance performance, sustainability, market demand, and cost. Meanwhile, a switch to wide bandgap power electronics is well underway, predominantly with silicon carbide MOSFET (metaloxide semiconductor field-effect transistor) devices. By 2030, roughly half the electric car market will have switched to these efficient devices, enabling efficient high voltage powertrains. Early in 2022, Mercedes showcased the Vision EQXX concept capable of 1,000 km. While there is a lot of technology behind this concept, including solar bodywork, design (drag factor), silicon anode batteries, and axial flux motors, a key enabler is the 900V platform – something that is only practical with silicon carbide.
Powertrain safety via thermal management will be critical as the market matures As OEMs scramble towards electrification, battery safety is sometimes missed or not fully realised. This was publicly highlighted in a big way during 2020–2021 thanks to the safetyrelated recall of GM’s Bolt, costing approximately $1.9 billion – and they aren’t the only automaker to have had EV recalls relating to potential fire risks. The way in which batteries are designed is evolving, at both a cell and a pack level. Battery chemistry is evolving with higher nickel cathodes being adopted, LFP (lithium iron phosphate) batteries making a resurgence and more attention being paid to solidstate batteries. These changes have a profound impact on the requirements around thermal management and materials in EV batteries. Outside the cell, we see OEMs transitioning towards cell-to-pack designs, with announcements from Tesla, Stellantis, BYD, VW and more.
This fundamental change in battery pack structure leads to changes in how thermal strategies and materials are incorporated, including thermal interface materials, coolant channels and fire protection. Whilst much attention is focused on the battery, electric motors and power electronics are literally the driving force behind EVs and present their own thermal management and materials challenges. Permanent magnet motors require a specific operating temperature to avoid damage. Additionally, allowing the copper coils in a motor to get too hot can lead to reduced efficiency or damage to the winding insulation. The silicon carbide transition in power electronics is also presenting a host of package-level thermal challenges to deal with the increased junction temperatures, including wire bonding, die-attach, and substrate technologies.
Hydrogen fuel cells are the last piece of the puzzle to decarbonize land transport While the race is being led by battery electric vehicles, battery solutions can’t always deliver for cases that require significant range, high loads, brief downtime, and high operational flexibility (e.g. long-haul trucking and high milage city bus operations). In addition, while demand is high and outstrips supply, batteries will be prioritised into light-duty sectors where they are most profitable. All this is creating opportunities for fuel cells, and giants like Toyota, Hyundai, GM and Daimler are continuing to pump millions into improving fuel cell system technology and wider hydrogen infrastructure. Fuel cells have many weaknesses compared with batteries but should not be discarded in heavyduty segments to help meet climate goals. The National Collision Repairer has reproduced this article compliments of Luke Gear, principal analyst IDTechEx. The contents of and any opinions contained in this article do not reflect the opinions of Capricorn Society Ltd and Capricorn makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or reliability of any material in this article
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How to treat your staff like rock stars (and why it pays off)
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Giving your customers the VIP treatment is the single best way to ensure they become loyal supporters of your business. But how do you ensure your employees are giving every single customer the rockstar treatment they expect? If you’ve been running a successful workshop for a while, you’ll already know the answer to this question. According to customer service expert and New York Times bestselling author Shep Hyken, the answer is simple: when you treat your employees well, they will treat both your customers and their colleagues well, too!
How to treat your employees like rock stars So, how do you treat your employees like rock stars? The first thing to know is you don’t have to break the bank. While grand gestures are nice, some of the best ways to treat your employees are either free or cost next to nothing. Take a look at this range of ideas and see if any would work for your team.
Provide an unforgettable experience If you’re looking for a grand gesture, check out experience websites like Red Balloon or Adrenalin and find something the team will love – like hot laps in a race car or a paintballing day. You could take them to a car show, the speedway, a footy game, or buy a table at Capricorn’s yearly Gala Dinner and treat them to a night out
Pizza parties and free lunches They won’t be an everyday event but Shep recommends the occasional free lunch for staff to recognise someone’s birthday and other milestones. It shows the team you care about the things they care about - and everyone loves a free lunch. Another option is to finish a little early once a month and have team drinks or a BBQ.
Provide a “three-thirty-itis” chocolate bar Go around the team at that midafternoon slump time, around 3.30pm, and offer everyone a small chocolate bar. It’s a little sugar rush pick-me-up, to get them through until closing time.
Give individuals their time to shine Offer praise to team members who have done particularly well in any given week or month. And offer that praise in front of their colleagues, perhaps at your weekly team meeting. Acknowledgement can be enough, or you might like to offer some kind of reward. A great way to foster apprentice loyalty and demonstrate their value to your business is to recognise them for the great work they do. Capricorn Rising Stars is all about recognising effort and rewarding hard work to help workshops retain their future leaders. Unlike other apprentice competitions
that focus purely on the technical proficiency of nominees, Capricorn Rising Stars prioritises rewarding apprentices who demonstrate a passion for all things automotive and have a positive can-do attitude and a strong commitment to forging a long career as a repairer. Check out cap.coop/stars for more information on how to nominate your apprentices.
Empower staff (in ways that make your life easier) When you give employees responsibilities, it shows you trust and value them. This, in turn, is likely to make them happier. Empower them to make decisions. Give them ownership over processes and procedures. It can be as simple as putting up a list of all the training courses available over the next year and asking team members to put their names against the ones they’d like to do.
Instil the passion for your customers in your team It’s only natural that you should feel passionate about your customers’ happiness and satisfaction, but instilling that same passion in your team can take your workshop’s customer service to the next level. Treating your employees like rock stars is a simple way to achieve that. Is it time to take a step back and look at how you can build that passion and commitment to your customers in your workshop? CAPRICORN IGNITION MARCH 2022 2 7
Do your customers trust you? Thirty-one per cent of Australian Members told State of the Nation 2021 they don’t think their customers do. Although the situation was better in New Zealand, it was still almost one in five. Yet trust is considered so important that 39% of Members told us earning the respect of customers was a marker for success in an automotive business. So, how do we earn that trust? Capricorn asked Perth-based customer service expert Chris Smoje for his best advice.
Flipping the negative perception The first point to note is that the public perception of mechanics and workshops might not be as bad we think it is. Each year a company called Edelman does a massive global survey looking at 2 8 CAPRICORN IGNITION MARCH 2022
who is trusted and who isn’t. They look at sectors as diverse as government, entertainment, health care, technology and, yes, automotive. The 2021 report gave the auto industry a 60% trust ranking, which puts us above the energy and financial services industries but behind technology companies and (by one percentage point) telecommunications companies. Chris said there is a stereotype about some industries and the businesses within them and, unfortunately, automotive workshops tend to fall into that category. But the secret to earning trust is to understand that stereotype and use it to your advantage.
companies have a negative stereotype of overseas call centres, scripted responses, multiple call handling, long waiting times, finding loopholes to sell you a new contract, the list goes on. Some businesses recognise this and have literally brought their call centres to Australia. “The RAC (WA) campaign, that’s out right now, is all about how local they are— they’re all local, not in the eastern states. “So, the advice here is to look to the negative stereotypes. Even if they aren’t true, that’s at least what some customers think. Then flip their expectation.” (We’ll get to how to do that in a minute.)
“The businesses that earn trust back are the ones that look at the negative stereotypes and literally flip them,” he said. “For instance, telecommunications
What can auto workshops do to build trust with customers? “Broadly speaking, the chasm of trust increases over time—just like it did with taxi drivers until Uber came along,” Chris said. “Businesses that innovate these days are literally looking at pain points like these so they can come in and disrupt them.” In short, work out how you can disrupt the stereotype, surprise your customer, and provide a superior service. Take, for example, the stereotype that mechanics will take advantage of women who don’t know about engines, cars and so on. (Forget about whether it’s true or fair for a second; what’s important is that it’s a stereotype some people believe.) How can you disrupt that stereotype and provide a superior service? Here are three ideas. • Involve your customer as much as possible (e.g., run the diagnostics in front of them) • Communicate clearly and be open and honest, including about the bill (TaTBiz has some tips here) • Become an accredited Female Friendly workshop (do the training, earn the accreditation, promote it, and live by it). Chris argues that trust is a two-way street. Both parties have to do their part for the relationship to work and for trust to grow. The good news is that trust can be earned. Think about ways you can disrupt the stereotypes, involve your customers more and provide a better service. The trust will follow.
What’s causing the auto industry’s trust problem? So, how did we end up with a trust problem and a negative stereotype? Chris suggested State of the Nation might provide some answers there, too. “I think the very reasons customers are sometimes turned away by mechanics actually arise out of that lack of trust,” Chris said. “One of the effects of damaging trust is that the customer can become a little bit more difficult. They’re second-guessing things, they’re going to re-ask things. “You can’t have a relationship without trust. If as a customer I’m confident that you can do something, I will typically trust you. A customer wants to feel secure when they’re with their mechanic; they want to feel that you’ve got their best interests at heart. “People lose trust because they’re not involved in the process. For example, if a car is taken away and diagnosed without the customer being involved. The customer really needs to play a part. Otherwise, they’ll leave and you’ll lose the business.”
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