Alternative Fuels & Propulsion RANDOM

[balthazar]

^ I expect the Ford-Rivian venture to dissolve also. Company A cannot successfully compete with Company B by buying Company B's product and revamping it. Plus, don't forget Ford's in-house truck EV platform under development.

[A Horse With No Name]

3 hours ago, David said:

GM DID Look at investing in Rivian but they wanted Rivian to themselves and wanted Rivian to dump Ford and Amazon which I do not agree with. Rivian CEO is wanting the tech to many companies and so GM choose to stick with their own platform.

It will be interesting to see which way Ford goes as they will have two platforms, Rivian for a Truck and possibly future SUV and then the Mach E platform. 

Exciting times we live in.

Agree. I do think Rivian should do well.

3 hours ago, balthazar said:

^ I expect the Ford-Rivian venture to dissolve also. Company A cannot successfully compete with Company B by buying Company B's product and revamping it. Plus, don't forget Ford's in-house truck EV platform under development.

F150 buyers different to certain extent from Rivian buyers. That being said...with you looking at new half tons...stopped by a Chevy dealer to check out Silverado 1500. Really liked the interior and the overall feel if the Truck. Think crew cab diesel engine combo sounds good with the 3.0

[G. David Felt]

3 hours ago, balthazar said:

^ I expect the Ford-Rivian venture to dissolve also. Company A cannot successfully compete with Company B by buying Company B's product and revamping it. Plus, don't forget Ford's in-house truck EV platform under development.

I suspect Ford will use the Rivian platform  to learn from unless they have already moved the Mach E platform into multiple other SUV autos to come. For sure Ford will make money on their $500 million investment for stock shares once Rivian goes public.

[balthazar]

Question: does the nature of BEV platforms push these vehicles to being Body On Frame (vs. unibody)?

Ideally, the 'skateboard' concept GM pioneered would be ideal to reducing costs of building variants.

[G. David Felt]

1 minute ago, balthazar said:

Question: does the nature of BEV platforms push these vehicles to being Body On Frame (vs. unibody)?

Ideally, the 'skateboard' concept GM pioneered would be ideal to reducing costs of building variants.

Gm has stated that it would be a body on frame design, but looking at the way the Ultium platform is setup, it does mirror their earlier skateboard setup to my eye.

[G. David Felt]

Hyundai has announced they will have Ten models electrified for 2022. Moving up from a planned 8 models earlier in the year.

[G. David Felt]

Seems 42 companies have asked the Federal Government for action on Climate change and the acceleration to EVs. Japan is the latest country that is looking to ban ICE auto sales by mid 2030's or earlier moving to a country that supports Hybrid / EV auto sales only.

EGEB: Ford, HP, Amazon, others call for govt climate action - Electrek

Daimler has announced starting with January 1st 2021 to December 31st 2025 they will invest $85 billion in moving their product line of trucks, buses and personal auto's to EV's and or Hybrids.

Daimler announces $85 billion investment, mostly toward accelerating electrification - Electrek

[A Horse With No Name]

This kind of investment shows that people are serious. Kudos to those who want to adult in our society.

[G. David Felt]

Interesting, but I swear that this new Hyundai E-GMP modular electric platform is a copy of GM's Ultium platform.

Hyundai Motor Group reveals E-GMP electric platform for Ioniq 5, et al | Autoblog

Mini has confirmed they are developing an electric John Cooper Works performance version.

No More Tail Pipe for the Performance Enthusiast. 

An electric Mini John Cooper Works model is in development | Autoblog

[A Horse With No Name]

Given that BMW can't build a gas powered car to save itself, an elctric mini seems awesome. 

 

Interesting test...

 

 

 

[A Horse With No Name]

Hybrid does worse than Diesel....but the Jeep is 66 Grand fully loaded....

29.8 out of the hybrid on the Highway with no trailer...impressive for a full size truck. 

Tesla...

 

[A Horse With No Name]

 

[G. David Felt]

Very Cool, the First fully EV Charging station with Rapid Charge terminals has opened in the UK. This is the first of 100 new EV focused charging stations that will open over the next 5 years and the roofing is all solar to support the charging as well as pulling power from Green energy sources.

Cool fact to quote the writeup:

There is also a 6 MWh battery onsite which helps to balance the local energy grid and shift energy to periods when it is more valuable. For example, on windy winter nights the battery can store enough energy to drive 24,000 miles in electric vehicles the following day, helping to maximize the value of renewable energy resources, stabilise the grid, and keep prices low.

 

UK opens first fully electric vehicle service station, powered by solar, today - Electrek

[A Horse With No Name]

8 minutes ago, David said:

Very Cool, the First fully EV Charging station with Rapid Charge terminals has opened in the UK. This is the first of 100 new EV focused charging stations that will open over the next 5 years and the roofing is all solar to support the charging as well as pulling power from Green energy sources.

Cool fact to quote the writeup:

There is also a 6 MWh battery onsite which helps to balance the local energy grid and shift energy to periods when it is more valuable. For example, on windy winter nights the battery can store enough energy to drive 24,000 miles in electric vehicles the following day, helping to maximize the value of renewable energy resources, stabilise the grid, and keep prices low.

 

UK opens first fully electric vehicle service station, powered by solar, today - Electrek

The wave of the future...

[G. David Felt]

The State of Georgia and yes , the same state that is being contested by the current president of the US has opened the first Solar Roadway in the US. 

Located in the Atlanta Metropolitan area, Peachtree Corners using Wattway solar panels by French road-builder Colas Group has installed as a real world test panels over the whole road. They are installed on top of the existing road surface and provides comparable levels of Grip to conventional paving. This is an 18 mile road and will help to prove a better way of economical, environmentally safe helping to reduce emissions. This is one of the largest outside of France road installations as testing will allow long term viability by seeing how it holds up to Semi Trucks on down to Motorcycles.

The road way is expected to produce 1,300 kilowatts-hours of electricity which will be used by a FREE Level 2 Charging station at the City Hall and open to all EV drivers who wish to use it. An energy storage system is also installed to insure charging is available for nighttime use.

Georgia gets first solar roadway in the US (greencarreports.com)

[G. David Felt]

Lexus has been lagging behind the EV race as they focused on their Prius Hybrid Powertrain going into everything they could. Now we have this. This is an update to Toyota's EV announcement last year with their new platform reveal at the end and the Tease of Toyota's new EV SUV that will come out next year. Interesting 13 minutes.

 

 

[balthazar]

Had a ride in a lexyoter UX250h Sunday. Ugly little spud; I think the Bolt looks better here. Very cramped inside. Super-loud whine in reverse & taking off from start in electric; C&D stated both the gas engine & the electric motor have 'poky' acceleration & makes 'course noises'.
So much for 'electric = silent'.

[G. David Felt]

1 hour ago, balthazar said:

Had a ride in a lexyoter UX250h Sunday. Ugly little spud; I think the Bolt looks better here. Very cramped inside. Super-loud whine in reverse & taking off from start in electric; C&D stated both the gas engine & the electric motor have 'poky' acceleration & makes 'course noises'.
So much for 'electric = silent'.

I totally agree, that UX250h is a POS auto and I truly believe due to it being in California for years before going nationally is the last of the compliance auto's still being sold. But it has the stupid L on the front end so badge snobs buy it, but it really is a UGLY SPUD as you say. Cramped, not comfy and NOT LUXURY! Totally agree with you here.

[balthazar]

Don’t know if you’ve been in one or not, but you’d also have to agree it’s much noisier than an IC vehicle.

[A Horse With No Name]

13 hours ago, balthazar said:

Had a ride in a lexyoter UX250h Sunday. Ugly little spud; I think the Bolt looks better here. Very cramped inside. Super-loud whine in reverse & taking off from start in electric; C&D stated both the gas engine & the electric motor have 'poky' acceleration & makes 'course noises'.
So much for 'electric = silent'.

iT IS AN UGLY LITTLE SPUD. 

 

[ykX]

10 hours ago, balthazar said:

Don’t know if you’ve been in one or not, but you’d also have to agree it’s much noisier than an IC vehicle.

My wife's car is a hybrid (Not Lexus) and it is actually quieter than ICE counterpart, and faster, and more economical.  Definitely not always the case between ICE and Hybrid car but that's why we got it.

Edited December 8, 2020 by ykX

[ccap41]

12 hours ago, David said:

But it has the stupid L on the front end so badge snobs buy it

You mean like buying an Escalade over a Tahoe/Suburban because of the badge? 

23 minutes ago, ykX said:

My wife's car is a hybrid (Not Lexus) and it is actually quieter than ICE counterpart, and faster, and more economical.  Definitely not always the case between ICE and Hybrid car but that's why we got it.

What is it, because that sounds like one heck of a combination? 

[ykX]

8 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

 

What is it, because that sounds like one heck of a combination? 

MDX Sport Hybrid.  More powerful than regular MDX with better transmission, it is definitely more quieter and gets at least 4-5 more mpg on average.  It is only $1.5k more than comparable regular MDX (well we bought dealer's car that was at the end of the year cycle and they used it in the dealership, had 2k miles but was significantly cheaper.  Officially we are the first owners)

I really don't understand why Acura doesn't make more of them but they are pretty hard to find.

Edited December 8, 2020 by ykX

[A Horse With No Name]

1 hour ago, ykX said:

MDX Sport Hybrid.  More powerful than regular MDX with better transmission, it is definitely more quieter and gets at least 4-5 more mpg on average.  It is only $1.5k more than comparable regular MDX (well we bought dealer's car that was at the end of the year cycle and they used it in the dealership, had 2k miles but was significantly cheaper.  Officially we are the first owners)

I really don't understand why Acura doesn't make more of them but they are pretty hard to find.

That's jsut it though....Hybrids are starting to go mainstream. Toyota can't keep RAV 4 Hybrid and stock, and Ford is starting to sell Kuga (escape) Hybrid in South America, where it should do well. 

[G. David Felt]

14 hours ago, balthazar said:

Don’t know if you’ve been in one or not, but you’d also have to agree it’s much noisier than an IC vehicle.

Yes, would totally agree with you on this, Sadly my wives youngest sister bought one.  Had to fold up my body and legs to get in. No one could sit behind me, Head was hitting the roof and it was the worst wine noise that even the radio could not hide. Sadly, Mia is a badge snob and she thinks Lexus builds the best. Even when I pointed out it was a rebadge of a Toyota and she could save money buying the Toyota badged version, she went off on an Ignorance of Lexus is luxury, better than anything Toyota builds and not part of Toyota. My wife was cracking up laughing at her. We warned her not to buy it, she still did and it is a shame. 

[G. David Felt]

3 hours ago, ccap41 said:

You mean like buying an Escalade over a Tahoe/Suburban because of the badge? 

Yes you are right, my Escalade is based on the Suburban. Yet unlike the suburban it does have many features that the Chevrolet Suburban and even the GMC Yukon XL did not have. Plus I saved a bunch on it when I traded my wives CTS in on it.

So far, not a bad investment considering that my Escalade ESV Platinum 2006 has 153,257 miles and is still like new, drives like new and I suspect will be with me for many more years even when I get an EV, I do not see myself getting rid of the Escalade any time soon. Some vehicles are just made better than others and in this case, the last year of my Platform seems to be the best year built yet. 14 years and going strong and nothing broken or not working right. Hard to pass up on that kind of Reliability.

[ccap41]

30 minutes ago, David said:

Yes you are right, my Escalade is based on the Suburban. Yet unlike the suburban it does have many features that the Chevrolet Suburban and even the GMC Yukon XL did not have. Plus I saved a bunch on it when I traded my wives CTS in on it.

You mean... exactly like her Lexus over the Toyota...? 

[A Horse With No Name]

 

[G. David Felt]

2 hours ago, ccap41 said:

You mean... exactly like her Lexus over the Toyota...? 

Yes but NO. If you were in my sister In-laws cheap Lexus, you would see everything cheap Toyota. Not even an attempt at luxury. Yes there are way too many similarities between the Escalade and Suburban of 2006, but still many things the Escalade had that the Suburban did not. From Bose system to heated and cooled seats, bigger V8 engine and both real wood and plastic wood simulation that the Suburban did not have.

2006 Escalade interior

2006 Chevrolet Suburban

Still take the Escalade features over the Suburban. At least GM attempted to give it a luxury feel where Toyota and their cheap hybrid auto did not try to do this.

[A Horse With No Name]

7 minutes ago, David said:

Yes but NO. If you were in my sister In-laws cheap Lexus, you would see everything cheap Toyota. Not even an attempt at luxury. Yes there are way too many similarities between the Escalade and Suburban of 2006, but still many things the Escalade had that the Suburban did not. From Bose system to heated and cooled seats, bigger V8 engine and both real wood and plastic wood simulation that the Suburban did not have.

2006 Escalade interior

2006 Chevrolet Suburban

Still take the Escalade features over the Suburban. At least GM attempted to give it a luxury feel where Toyota and their cheap hybrid auto did not try to do this.

They are hella alike though....hella alike...

 

[A Horse With No Name]

 

This is a thoughtful video. 

[ccap41]

2 hours ago, David said:

Yes but NO. If you were in my sister In-laws cheap Lexus, you would see everything cheap Toyota. Not even an attempt at luxury. Yes there are way too many similarities between the Escalade and Suburban of 2006, but still many things the Escalade had that the Suburban did not. From Bose system to heated and cooled seats, bigger V8 engine and both real wood and plastic wood simulation that the Suburban did not have.

2006 Escalade interior

2006 Chevrolet Suburban

Still take the Escalade features over the Suburban. At least GM attempted to give it a luxury feel where Toyota and their cheap hybrid auto did not try to do this.

Yours looks more similar to a Suburban than a UX 250H looks like a CH-R. You have the least amount of room to knock badge engineered vehicles. 

[Robert Hall]

Subsequent generations of Escalades have definitely done a better job in differentiating themselves from their Chevy and GMC siblings than the first couple generations did.   The very first Escalade was literally identical to the Denali other than grille and badging. 

Lexus has generally done a good job differentiating themselves from US market Toyotas...though the LX has always been pretty similar to the Land Cruiser besides the front end.   

[A Horse With No Name]

 

[G. David Felt]

So Musk has confirmed he has moved to Texas and is planning to move the Tesla HQ to Texas as well. He was not willing to answer if he will eventually move the Tesla factory from California.

Elon Musk confirms he's moved to Texas after a months-long fight with California (msn.com)

Sadly, he has forgotten that California is what allowed him to survive and grow to where he is today as without the CA Carb mandates and the money the state put into allowing people to buy his auto's with discounts both federally and state that gave thousands of people up to $15,000 discounts on buying a Tesla. Arrogant prick. I hope Rivian and GM put them in their place in the market place.

Yes Tesla has pushed to new levels the EV power Train. Other than that, his autos suck.

[ccap41]

Good on him. California can frig off. 

[G. David Felt]

6 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

Good on him. California can frig off. 

We could say the same thing about your state or any state. California is not perfect, but has led the nation in looking for better ways to insure people have a healthy life. Nothing wrong with working to ensure healthy air, drinking water, etc. One only has to look at how choked the skys of LA were in the 70's with leaded gas compared to now with seeing the mountain ranges.

70's compared to today.

[Robert Hall]

I loathe TexASS...shithole of a state.  So full of itself...

[G. David Felt]

4 minutes ago, Robert Hall said:

I loathe TexASS...shithole of a state.  So full of itself...

I will give kudos to the BBQ (Spring Creek BBQ) in Texas for the year I lived there with my family. The rest of the state outside of Austin sucks and I will leave it there. 

[ccap41]

13 minutes ago, David said:

We could say the same thing about your state or any state. California is not perfect, but has led the nation in looking for better ways to insure people have a healthy life. Nothing wrong with working to ensure healthy air, drinking water, etc. One only has to look at how choked the skys of LA were in the 70's with leaded gas compared to now with seeing the mountain ranges.

70's compared to today.

Hahaha no sh!t Illinois is a dumpster fire. Our lovely politicians haven't had a balanced budget since 2015. They firmly believe in raising taxes instead of cutting wasteful spending. They attempted to pull a fast one this past November with a "fair tax" bill. It was to "only raise taxes on people making over 200 or 250k" a year but had wording in it to allow them to increase every tax bracket at any time along with the ability to tax retirement accounts and pensions.  

Edited December 9, 2020 by ccap41

[G. David Felt]

5 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

Hahaha no sh!t Illinois is a dumpster fire. Our lovely politicians haven't had a balanced budget since 2015. They firmly believe in raising taxes instead of cutting wasteful spending. They attempted to pull a fast one this past November with a "fair tax" bill. It was to "only raise taxes on people making over 200 or 250k" a year but had wording in it to allow them to increase every tax bracket at any time along with the ability to tax retirement accounts and pensions.  

The whole taxing of retirement accounts and pensions is just wrong IMHO. Originally Social Security was to be tax free, but thanks to the IDIOTS in both Parties, we had taxes put on SS Benefits and then borrowing against it to give to defense contractors which is about bankrupting SS. One should not have to be taxed in your retirement years I feel.

I do feel those that are in the high income bracket should pay their fair share of taxes. I see no reason why a person who makes millions should only pay 16% tax when I bust my ass off and have to pay 28%. That is broken and needs to be addressed across the whole nation with everyone paying their fair share even the 1% crowd.

[Robert Hall]

10 minutes ago, David said:

I will give kudos to the BBQ (Spring Creek BBQ) in Texas for the year I lived there with my family. The rest of the state outside of Austin sucks and I will leave it there. 

There is great food and a lot of great musicians from there...but it's an ugly, horrible state otherwise... 

[G. David Felt]

Lordstown posted on Twitter a video of hard core testing of their awd in-wheel hub motorized skateboard that will have a truck body attached.

 

[G. David Felt]

Seems Mercedes-Benz electric Sprinter Van will hit the US / Canada market in Q3 of 2023.

Mercedes readies eSprinter in 2 body sizes, 3 battery options (autonews.com)

Also GM has actual Mules now that are testing the Hummer by GMC tech.

 

[balthazar]

On 12/9/2020 at 11:40 AM, David said:

I see no reason why a person who makes millions should only pay 16% tax when I bust my ass off and have to pay 28%.

Ahhh; the wiley ways of the Percentage Symbol!

[balthazar]

The top 1% pay a 27% tax rate. They also pay 37% of ALL income tax, when the bottom 90% pay 30%.

[Drew Dowdell]

On 12/1/2020 at 5:20 PM, balthazar said:

More 'uh-oh'. 
Might go toward explaining the police car EV / IC comparison showing EVs with much higher maintenance costs.  Buyer beware :

 

https://autos.yahoo.com/electric-cars-problems-latest-consumer-213700323.html

An Audi having electrical issues?!  I'm shocked! SHOCKED I SAY!

[G. David Felt]

15 hours ago, balthazar said:

The top 1% pay a 27% tax rate. They also pay 37% of ALL income tax, when the bottom 90% pay 30%.

If that was true we would not see people like Mitt Romney who only paid 16% on his $27 million in earnings in 2016. 

A stated rate and what they really pay is two different worlds. If the 1% did not abuse the system and were given loop holes, then Donald Trump would not be writing off a Billion dollar so called lose over decades.

[G. David Felt]

Hyundai EV video they released.

 

[oldshurst442]

5 hours ago, David said:

If that was true we would not see people like Mitt Romney who only paid 16% on his $27 million in earnings in 2016. 

A stated rate and what they really pay is two different worlds. If the 1% did not abuse the system and were given loop holes, then Donald Trump would not be writing off a Billion dollar so called lose over decades.

 

Ah...yes.   The good 'ole 

 

and

 

in 

  

 

(creative accounting and offshore banking in tax havens shenanigans...) 

Yes. Yes.  These kinds of things do NOT exist. Im sure these guys are all honest and our politicians dont turn a blind eye to what is going on...