Alternative Fuels & Propulsion RANDOM

[G. David Felt]

Seems Jeep Hybrid SUV/CUVs will be called 4xe

https://www.autoblog.com/2020/01/02/jeep-hybrid-4xe-plug-in-compass-renegade-wrangler/

[G. David Felt]

Seems Amazon is pushing big into the Auto Industry as they show off their eco system of Alexa with GM, Rivian and FCA making Alexa enabled standard in all the auto's for 2020 and moving forward.

https://www.autoblog.com/2020/01/06/amazon-ces-alexa-rivian-gm-fca/

Pretty good read, seems you can pay for gas at exxon / mobile gas stations with saying Alexa pay for gas when in a gas station.

Amazon will allow access to a next gen fire kindle in your auto for use in reading books.

GM showed off a new build tool that will allow potential buyers to build the auto of their dreams, go to the dealer and then look at auto's that most closely match their dream auto. This is in use by Audi where Audi increased the average transaction price in 2019 by $1,200.

Seems plenty of Amazon cool tech is coming to an auto near you soon.

[balthazar]

I question whether Fiskar can survive financially at that price tier, but if buyers bite, this potentially strong-arms all other EV CUVs in pricing.

[G. David Felt]

7 minutes ago, balthazar said:

I question whether Fiskar can survive financially at that price tier, but if buyers bite, this potentially strong-arms all other EV CUVs in pricing.

Agree, it will be interesting to see if Fisker can survive. They have much less money than Rivian, not really sure if anyone else other than Saudi Arabia will fund them once they burn through their initial Billion dollars of investments.

[G. David Felt]

CES is going into full swing and boy are there some very cool auto stuff being announced.

Sony has shown off their first electric car concept at the show and to quote them: Sony claims the car is capable of delivering 400kW (536hp) of power through an all-wheel-drive system powered by two electric motors.  This allows 0-100km/h (0-62mph) acceleration of 4.8 seconds and a top speed of 240km/h (149mph).

https://electrek.co/2020/01/06/okay-so-even-sony-is-showing-off-ev-concepts-now/

It gives me a rip off of Porsche in the style.

 

 

Very cool new Vauxhall Electric Corsa and the digs at the US and especially big Oil is too funny. Should get @ocnblu goat  

 

[G. David Felt]

Seems the Sunnyvale California Ford location has over 100 reservations for the new Mach-e with 80% of them opting for the extended range battery, 300 miles range.

https://electrek.co/2020/01/02/fords-dealership-claims-100-orders-for-mustang-mach-e-in-teslas-backyard/

Wish they would take the Mach-e on a tour of dealerships and let more people test fit in it and check it out.

Story above says there is equal interests in the Tesla Y and Mach-e as consumers are wanting the CUVs over cars.

Seems even Motorcycles are coming in all types of WELL ENDOWED flavors at CES.

https://electrek.co/2020/01/03/curtiss-hades-electric-motorcycle-redesign/

[Robert Hall]

11 minutes ago, dfelt said:

Seems the Sunnyvale California Ford location has over 100 reservations for the new Mach-e with 80% of them opting for the extended range battery, 300 miles range.

https://electrek.co/2020/01/02/fords-dealership-claims-100-orders-for-mustang-mach-e-in-teslas-backyard/

Wish they would take the Mach-e on a tour of dealerships and let more people test fit in it and check it out.

Story above says there is equal interests in the Tesla Y and Mach-e as consumers are wanting the CUVs over cars.

 

 

Makes sense in Sunnyvale, though..heart of Silicon Valley.   I bet it's a different story at rural Ford dealers in East Dullfield, Indiana or Shitstain, Alabama.. 

Edited January 7, 2020 by Robert Hall

[G. David Felt]

Batteries, Batteries, Batteries, that is the big news at CES this year. Seems Solid State is finally here to make a big difference. First is the company ProLogium from Taipei. They showed off their new Solid state batteries that are 56% denser power than traditional Lithium batteries without having the fire issues of current EV batteries.

Some very cool videos of how strong these new batteries are even when cut up.

 

 

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ces-2020-prologiums-solid-state-battery-for-two-wheeled-vehicle-favored-by-european-and-japanese-manufacturers-300980805.html

http://www.prologium.com/

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/ces-2020-prologium-s-solid-state-battery-for-two-wheeled-vehicle-favored-by-european-and-japanese-manufacturers-1028792982

Fisker has also finally delivered their production Solid State Battery pack for EVs at the 2020 CES.

https://www.autoblog.com/2018/01/09/fisker-emotion-ev-solid-state-battery-ces/

 

[G. David Felt]

Nissan showed off their Global EV platform at CES this past week. Great thing about this is it is a complete all new platform, first in the last 10 years for Nissan and will be shared with Renault and Mitsubishi. Base Platform is a 300 mile electric crossover.

There will be three types off this, EV, Motor driven Hybrid and Engine & Motor driven Hybrid.

Interesting details to read, check it out here: https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1126757_nissan-evs-will-share-platform-with-infiniti-renault-mitsubishi

[G. David Felt]

Seems GM is wanting to drive BOLT Leases, so they have up to $10,000 off a fully loaded Bolt for a monthly Lease of $169 a month, $2,219 due at signing.

The $10,000 breaks down as follows: $8,500 discount for all customers, $1,500 loyalty bonus or $1,500 conquest bonus.

According to the story, seems some dealerships in Oregon, California and Florida have put additional money on the hood withBolt Premiers having a final Lease price below $30,000 for a $45,000 fully loaded EV. Seems reports are up that people are finding the Bolt LT below $24,000.

https://ww.electrek.co/2020/01/14/chevy-is-offering-10000-lease-discounts-on-bolt-ev/

Great deals if your wanting a decent daily driver for work / errands at a low price.

[G. David Felt]

Future meets past in the Lightyear One, an EV with a 60kWh battery pack and solar panel roof that gets 450 miles of range for a 4 Door Sedan.

https://ww.electrek.co/2020/01/14/lightyear-one-first-look/

This 450 Mile range EV is AWD with 4 independant in-wheel hub motors, a .2 drag coefficient, a Aluminum / Carbon fiber body and frame. Unlike the Solar panel on the Nissan Leaf that draws barely enough power to power a Casio Calculator per the story, the hood and long roof to the rear generates 1kW of power for use by the auto.

Gotta love the rear wheel covers bringing back auto's of Yore. Has the latest approved side video cameras rather than traditional mirrors that cause drag.

If you do not take into account the Solar panels, this company has gotten an impressive 7.5 miles per kWh, incredible efficiency.

The biggest draw back is that people are hesitant to drop large money on an EV and this one can be yours for a base price of $165,000.

Seems I can hear Crickets right now.

[balthazar]

^ Honda Clarity looks, for a Maserati GranTurismo price.
Great business model.  ?

[ccap41]

16 hours ago, dfelt said:

Seems GM is wanting to drive BOLT Leases, so they have up to $10,000 off a fully loaded Bolt for a monthly Lease of $169 a month, $2,219 due at signing.

The $10,000 breaks down as follows: $8,500 discount for all customers, $1,500 loyalty bonus or $1,500 conquest bonus.

According to the story, seems some dealerships in Oregon, California and Florida have put additional money on the hood withBolt Premiers having a final Lease price below $30,000 for a $45,000 fully loaded EV. Seems reports are up that people are finding the Bolt LT below $24,000.

https://ww.electrek.co/2020/01/14/chevy-is-offering-10000-lease-discounts-on-bolt-ev/

Great deals if your wanting a decent daily driver for work / errands at a low price.

For that little money, I would absolutely jump on this if I had a garage and it was wired for a charger. 

Shet, that's a good deal.

I can't click that link but if for me to do that, it would also have to be 12,000-15,000 miles/yr. Those low-mile leases of 8,000-10,000 miles wouldn't cut it. 

[G. David Felt]

28 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

For that little money, I would absolutely jump on this if I had a garage and it was wired for a charger. 

Shet, that's a good deal.

I can't click that link but if for me to do that, it would also have to be 12,000-15,000 miles/yr. Those low-mile leases of 8,000-10,000 miles wouldn't cut it. 

Agree that it is a great program, sadly 10,000 miles is not enough for me either. I went and built a Premier with 15,000 miles and the cost jumped to $366 a month.

[ccap41]

Oh dang, unfortunately that instantly becomes unattractive. The efficiency of the vehicle makes $166/month w/ $2200 down very attractive but more than doubling the monthly payment makes it not so pretty. Oh, and another $400 down... 

[G. David Felt]

I like this and agree that these 5 trucks will challenge Tesla and it will be interesting to see who wins.

 

Good write up on the EVs that go on sale in 2020 and their range.

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/every-electric-car-ev-range-audi-chevy-tesla/

[balthazar]

A $40K, $53K, $70K and $125K pickup in no way, shape or form compete with one another.

[balthazar]

Apparently Tesla is under a 500,000 vehicle NHTSA investigation for sudden acceleration.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-could-face-nhtsa-probe-173658343.html

[G. David Felt]

14 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Apparently Tesla is under a 500,000 vehicle NHTSA investigation for sudden acceleration.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-could-face-nhtsa-probe-173658343.html

No one ever said making auto's was easy!  

[ocnblu]

14 minutes ago, dfelt said:

No one ever said making auto's was easy!  

Proper use of apostrophes is also extremely difficult.

[Robert Hall]

On 1/17/2020 at 6:49 PM, balthazar said:

Apparently Tesla is under a 500,000 vehicle NHTSA investigation for sudden acceleration.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-could-face-nhtsa-probe-173658343.html

Beyond ludicrous mode...

[riviera74]

Please read this article concerning EV ownership: https://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2020/01/evs-less-expensive-than-you-think-says-aaa/

[G. David Felt]

Gotta Love this EV Conversion of a 1969 Dodge Truck.

 

3 hours ago, riviera74 said:

Please read this article concerning EV ownership: https://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2020/01/evs-less-expensive-than-you-think-says-aaa/

Very cool read and I have to agree that many issues people have before they buy do go away once they have their EV and change a few habits on how they charge, when and use. Over all, excited to see EVs finally move off 1% once we have more options out there.

[balthazar]

^ They have moved off 1%!  They're at 2%.
EDIT :: Oh that's right; sales declined last year. But don't worry! EVs will still be 50% of the market by 2025!
- - - - -
Those 2 towns are 120 miles apart.
My assumption is they're walking that entire way... with nothing.
And look- the guy just dropped his cell phone.

Edited January 22, 2020 by balthazar

[balthazar]

5 hours ago, riviera74 said:

Please read this article concerning EV ownership: https://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2020/01/evs-less-expensive-than-you-think-says-aaa/

Article just barely brushes over the #1 issue- purchase price, quickly dismissing it with "there may be an initial price premium". Ya think? And what of depreciation- that albatross somehow limited only to IC vehicles?
These are the lion's share of the cost to own an EV, and it's patently ignored here. It's actually more likely it's MORE expensive than you think.

[Robert Hall]

There are definitely hurdles to mass adoption of EVs..  will be interesting to see how the reality is in 5 years, 10 years...

[oldshurst442]

 

[balthazar]

I wonder if anyone actually gives a shit what Koenigsegg thinks about 'the best pedestrian family sedan'.
Also, isn't his comment more a slam of his own product??
- - - - -
"The world is full of small inconveniences that people simply profit off of." says guy in $57,000 car where AWD cost $9000.

BTW, shouldn't a self-proclaimed "luxury" car have more than 5 paint colors (and 4 colors other than white are $1000 more, and the red is $2000 more) and 2 wheels to choose from??

The same basic Red Tintcoat on a 400% larger GMC Sierra is like $500.

Edited January 22, 2020 by balthazar

[oldshurst442]

Different views for different people adapting and adopting different hurdles of and for different fuel propulsions.   Like I said in another post, its up to the people to decide for themselves how much and how far they are to accept and change for EVs. 

In my neck of the woods, the citizens, the government, the local businesses and our local economy are on the same page regarding EVs. Its to everybody's benefit in our community for us to adapt and adopt EVs. 

Ill agree with the "who gives a phoque what Koenigsegg thinks", but Koenigsegg doesnt really build pedestrian family sedans therefore not really slamming his own products.   

PS:  I dont give a phoque what he thinks of the Tesla Model 3 myself if I wasnt clear enough. 

But...Ill say this about that...HIS attention to detail in his products are second to none in the automotive business. Tesla...not so much.  Well....the electronics and software and stuff, Tesla is second to none. The finishing details...are admittedly lacking.

The world IS full of small inconveniences and  God Bless capitalism for allowing everybody a more or less equal chance of profiting from that.  But then again...unchecked capitalism is also responsible for incredulous business practises.   Is a 9000 dollar option for AWD one of these incredulous instances?  A fool and his money and buyer beware are two of my favorite sayings.  I dont know about anybody else though, if they share those thoughts...   But then again, capitalism does dictate market value for some of these things some find incredulous. Others find need and pay for it negating the negative feed back...

Tesla products are luxury only in price and the luxury in question is the technology. 

Luxury as in precious metals and excessive comfort is not a Tesla quality. 

State of the art technology however...

 

 

 

 

Edited January 22, 2020 by oldshurst442

[ocnblu]

LOL thanks Autoblog, aka Captain Obvious...

https://www.autoblog.com/2020/01/22/deloitte-survey-consumer-attitudes-vehicle-technology-cost/

[G. David Felt]

49 minutes ago, oldshurst442 said:

Different views for different people adapting and adopting different hurdles of and for different fuel propulsions.   Like I said in another post, its up to the people to decide for themselves how much and how far they are to accept and change for EVs. 

In my neck of the woods, the citizens, the government, the local businesses and our local economy are on the same page regarding EVs. Its to everybody's benefit in our community for us to adapt and adopt EVs. 

Ill agree with the "who gives a phoque what Koenigsegg thinks", but Koenigsegg doesnt really build pedestrian family sedans therefore not really slamming his own products.   

PS:  I dont give a phoque what he thinks of the Tesla Model 3 myself if I wasnt clear enough. 

But...Ill say this about that...HIS attention to detail in his products are second to none in the automotive business. Tesla...not so much.  Well....the electronics and software and stuff, Tesla is second to none. The finishing details...are admittedly lacking.

The world IS full of small inconveniences and  God Bless capitalism for allowing everybody a more or less equal chance of profiting from that.  But then again...unchecked capitalism is also responsible for incredulous business practises.   Is a 9000 dollar option for AWD one of these incredulous instances?  A fool and his money and buyer beware are two of my favorite sayings.  I dont know about anybody else though, if they share those thoughts...   But then again, capitalism does dictate market value for some of these things some find incredulous. Others find need and pay for it negating the negative feed back...

Tesla products are luxury only in price and the luxury in question is the technology. 

Luxury as in precious metals and excessive comfort is not a Tesla quality. 

State of the art technology however...

I totally agree with you and the west coast is very much the same as your area of Canada with state, county, city govs in sync with residents on EV's / Hybrids. Most want full size truck/SUV BEVs. As such, I think once these come to market we will see a dramatic move to EV's at least here on the west coast.

I still think the Governments drive to have a cleaner climate is what will drive the change from ICE to EV. China especially will drive this.

[oldshurst442]

Quebec lost ground in EV infrastructure to British Columbia, California and Washington. Due to the PQ (Parti Quebecois) Government  that was elected as a minority government in 2012.   The PQ cut all subsidies and EV investments in infrastructure  and distanced themselves with the idea of a better economy with EVs. But in 2014...there was another election and the Liberals won and the government invested its energy (*pun intended) back  in informing the citizens that EVs might be good for the Quebec people.  But...not enough monies were invested for the infrastructure.  Subsidies for EV purchases only.  

A new government was elected in 2018 (the CAQ...50% separatist values  (kinda like the PQ party, but less radical),  25 % liberal values and 25%conservative values... but these guys actually do listen to the voice of the people...the pur sang Quebec people...the true blue Frenchies...and maybe not the English voices LOL) but where the Liberals left off with EVs, the CAQ goes even further.  They actually inform the people of Quebec on how EVs benefit our economy. Monies are given to local businesses, homes, to establish an infrastructure.   The CAQ government is working with Hydro-Quebec to not raise its prices, to give discounts to those who actually charge their EVs at home...to also encourage people to not be wasteful of electricity and so forth.  Subsidies for the purchase of EVs has also been prolonged, and the rebates increased all for the purpose to get more EVs on Quebec roads.  For green purposes but for Quebec's economy also. 

The people of Quebec are starting to see the benefits of EV ownership versus ICE on multiple levels....  We have discussed these benefits ad nauseam @ Cheersandgears...no need for me to revisit this.

The Model 3 is everywhere in Montreal.  The Model S too.  The Model X not so much...

But...the Kia Kona EV is also a very popular EV in Montreal.   Tons of hybrids. From the Fusion Hybrid to the Chevy Volt to the different Toyotas that have the Toyota Hybrid Drive. 

The Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Bolt were once dominant in Montreal, but since the Model 3 has arrived and now wait times are no longer an issue for the Model 3, the Leaf and Bolt are not as popular. The Model 3 is just steamrolling along. 

The Federal government is offering up to 5000 and the Quebec government is offering another 8000.   That figure was for EVs costing less than 75 000. But now, as of April 1st 2020,  that 8000 max is for EVs costing less than 60 000 MSRP.  

A Model 3, with an MSRP of less than 60 000 (which was the standard price) could be potentially had for 47 000...   And now...I think the standard price for the Model 3 in Canada IS 47 000... Well...we know that Elon likes to overcharge for some stuff...OK...but with rebates like in Quebec and in Canada...the Quebec rebate pays for the AWD and the Canada rebate pays for the mundane shyte that Elon charges for but other OEMs gives us for free...(yeah...its not as if GM or Ford or Honda dont force you into higher trim packages for the mundane shyte you want but are stuck in upgrading trim packages just to get that mundae shyte but now are forced to have other mundane shyte you really dont care for...) 

https://vehiculeselectriques.gouv.qc.ca/english/rabais/ve-neuf/programme-rabais-vehicule-neuf.asp

 

 

 

Edited January 23, 2020 by oldshurst442

[G. David Felt]

Seems Bridgestone and Michelin will offer Airless tires on 2024 model auto's in 2023 via GM. Also Bridgestone will have tireless bikes this year for the 2020 summer Olympics before going on sale globally.

https://www.autoblog.com/2020/01/22/bridgestone-airless-tire-commercial-vehicles/#slide-2202494

Seems the era of airless tires is finally here after 20 years of research.

[G. David Felt]

Diamler wanted to sell 25,000 EV's in Europe in 2019, but was only able to build and sell 7,000 due to battery shortages. Ramping up production ready battery packs seems harder than Daimler realized as they have halved production already for 2020 from the planned 60,000 EVs for Europe to 30,000 now due to EV parts shortage production especially around ramping up the battery production part. Daimler blames LG for not being able to ramp fast enough to produce the cells needed for their battery packs.

https://www.autoblog.com/2020/01/23/mercedes-halves-eqc-production-battery-shortage/

While Daimler is failing to meet emission required levels as their emissions have gone up on their auto's as Europe has introduced reductions  that Daimler must meet, currently they are up at 130.4 grams fleet average and need to be at 103.1 Grams fleet average by Jan 1st 2021.

Daimler is also blaming Tesla who bought Grohmann Engineering for delays in building up their own battery production sites.

Seems Tesla is wanting to build an inner city compact EV for China.

https://www.autoblog.com/2020/01/21/tesla-city-car-china-design-center/

[balthazar]

On 1/23/2020 at 11:17 AM, dfelt said:

Seems the era of airless tires is finally here after 20 years of research.

Tire OEMs have been working on airless tires since at least the early 1960’s.

Scratch that- since the 1920s.

Edited January 29, 2020 by balthazar

[ccap41]

Some Rivian news:

https://www.motortrend.com/news/rivian-readies-production-electric-trucks-suvs-ford-lincoln-amazon/

 

[G. David Felt]

Virginia is on a 5yr plan to replace all their school buses with EV buses. https://chargedevs.com/newswire/dominion-energy-selects-thomas-built-jouley-for-electric-school-bus-initiative/

Dominion Energy is going to buy Thomas Built Buses that use Proterra technology so that the buses will have a 220 kWh battery pack for a range of 134 miles. They will be adding 200 buses a year to replace all diesel buses over the next 5 years.

Health of the children is the principle focus removing the toxic waste exhaust that the kids currently are exposed to on the buses.

[balthazar]

^ how much price dollars?

[G. David Felt]

18 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

Some Rivian news:

https://www.motortrend.com/news/rivian-readies-production-electric-trucks-suvs-ford-lincoln-amazon/

 

That is very cool read, excited to see the Luxury SUV that Rivian is building for Lincoln.

12 minutes ago, balthazar said:

^ how much price dollars?

That they have not stated, usually they say how much but the cost over the next five years to replace the complete diesel fleet is not stated nor on the state web site either. We be in the dark on this.

This is a cool read on what a potential Electric Hummer might look like.

https://www.motortrend.com/news/hummer-ev-rendering-photos-details/

[ccap41]

16 minutes ago, dfelt said:

That is very cool read, excited to see the Luxury SUV that Rivian is building for Lincoln.

It's interesting to see them already into so many different things yet they are able to use their same basic skateboard-style platform for everything. This is a very promising business strategy. 

[balthazar]

45 minutes ago, dfelt said:

...they have not stated, usually they say how much...

When we discussed a similar story last year, a diesel bus was $60-70K, and whatever EV bus company was involved, the cost was $250K.

What’s going to be on the budgetary chopping block for the children in order to pay for exploding the bus budget?? How many other programs or benefits or basics are going to have to be discontinued?

[G. David Felt]

53 minutes ago, balthazar said:

When we discussed a similar story last year, a diesel bus was $60-70K, and whatever EV bus company was involved, the cost was $250K.

What’s going to be on the budgetary chopping block for the children in order to pay for exploding the bus budget?? How many other programs or benefits or basics are going to have to be discontinued?

Agree that it will make an interesting study on costs. The Proterra buses have come from the $250K that we discussed a year ago down to $175, but still about double the diesel. I am wondering if they are looking at it in the same 10 year cycle of charging costs compared to maintenance cost of the diesel to justify the cost?

[balthazar]

Well, $175K is two and a half times a diesel; when you base number is 70,000 and you're talking about multiples (a fleet), it adds up quick and is worth getting correct.

Where EV buses can offset their extreme purchase costs is, if school boards/governing bodies allow them to run longer service intervals (years) or not. That determination is too often tied up in status quo contracting, rather than any direct examination of a particular buses' condition.

Add to that a marked unwillingness for elected officials using taxpayer money to be remotely cost effective ('It's not OUR money!'), and I wonder if the interval would in fact ever get any longer. If even justified. Frankly, I believe the service intervals of current buses is too short as it is- they should be able to get an easy 500K out of a diesel bus. That would equate to 42 years. Why are they replacing buses at only 20-25% of their lifespan?

Oh; I already answered my own question, above.

[riviera74]

Virginia can wait about a couple of more years on school buses if only for prices to fall significantly.  In 2023 those buses could become a lot more price-competitive with a new diesel bus.  Now if diesel bus makers were smart, they would already build diesel-electric buses to head off full-fledged EV buses and undercut those on price.  But that would be too smart on the incumbents to actually compete on lowering emissions.

[G. David Felt]

EV News, Seems China Owned Karma is joining the ranks of everyone else with throwing their hat into the ring for a full size electric truck and suv. Concepts will be unveiled this coming fall of 2020 with production slated for fall of 2021.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-27/karma-fisker-s-reincarnation-plans-an-electric-truck-and-suv

Looking to make a difference in PHEV Sales, Mitsubishi is bringing a much needed improvement to their Outlander PHEV with more power, longer battery life for pure electric drive mode doubling from the current 22 miles to almost 50 plus a much needed update interior and exterior.

https://www.autoblog.com/2020/01/27/mitsubishi-outlander-phev-more-power/

Good News on the Battery front for EVs. In 2010 if you bought an EV, you paid an average price of $1,100 per Kilowatt Hour compared to at the end of 2019 the price had fallen to $156 per Kilowatt hour. 87% price drop in 9 years and expected for the 2023 model year of EVs the price will be at $100 per Kilowatt hour. Industry trends and goals is to get battery packs down to $61 per kilowatt hour by 2030 if not sooner. EVs are expected to be on price parity with ICE auto's by 2024.

https://about.bnef.com/blog/battery-pack-prices-fall-as-market-ramps-up-with-market-average-at-156-kwh-in-2019/

[G. David Felt]

How do you take a drivers enjoyable car with lack luster HP/Torque and make it a blast to drive?

Convert it to Electric. Latest project is one that took a Toyota 86, a car well known for driving dynamics much like a Miata and removing the lack luster ICE powertrain and going Electric with one from a Nissan Leaf. Yes they say they could have gone straight 6 of LS V8, but in this case it was easier and more straight forward to change out to the Nissan Leaf EV powertrain.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/31967/nissan-leaf-swapped-toyota-86-is-an-electric-torque-monster

 

[G. David Felt]

Seems GM has their new Logo ready for the growth of Hammtrack and the product line.

[balthazar]

^ That can't be a logo. Way too generic.

They could take from the Volt and make an angle of the 'M' into a lightning bolt that overlaps the GM 'box'.

Yer welcome, GM. PM me to find out my PayPal addy.

Edited January 28, 2020 by balthazar

[G. David Felt]

Loving that GM is being very clear that they cannot survive on Vaporware and must deliver competitive priced class leading quality EVs.

https://electrek.co/2020/01/28/gm-president-on-its-electric-future-we-cant-get-away-with-vaporware/

[balthazar]

Questions is, who's surviving on EVs now?