G. David Felt

Wishing everyone here on Cheers and Gears a HAPPY 4th of JULY!!!

silly

Wow, so someone BBQ a Predator favorite meal. Alien impregnator.

Please expand, never heard of a fish plate on a frame. Thank you,

This is a very cool story and proves that Tesla and their blathering CEO is idiots about the history of companies that already did cool things like the yoke on the Tesla S Plaid that came out on a Mercury 5 decades earlier. Mercury “Wrist-Twist” Steering Tried a Tesla Model S–Style Yoke in 1965 (motortrend.com) Plenty of reasons and more from better tech to less complexity and maintenance. Quieter, faster, better balanced with a lower center of gravity for a lifted SUV and a hug FRUNK! Plenty of reasons to ditch the old stuff for better newer stuff.

Maybe he can have it welded or cut, insert a sleeve on the inside and weld back together much like Toyota did with the FJ cruisers

I am more than happy to convert my 1994 Suburban to a BEV. Time to leave the smell and mess of ICE behind.

Since you guys started this discussion, I go by the numbers, so had to see what they were. If we go by the reports, then this is the list of longest lasting auto's going past 200,000 miles. Longest-Lasting Cars to Reach 200,000 Miles and Beyond - iSeeCars.com

Perfect reason to just update your existing auto you love with EV powertrain and avoid the government crap mandates.

This is a video of the north end Lite Rail overpass that is going in by my neighborhood. I am less than 1/2 mile away from this north. The lake seen is the local lake here in Mountlake Terrace. More pics here if your interested in what the area looks like and our lite rail that is going in. Fresh pics: Lynnwood Link rising along Interstate 5 | Sound Transit

Possibly 1 of 250 Tesla S Plaid has self destructed according to this story. All the details are not in yet, but it does seem based on visual info that this Tesla S that burned to the ground this week was 1 of 250 Plaid models delivered so far. 2021 Tesla Model S Plaid Fire (jalopnik.com)

In 2019, the European Union passed a law quietly that will have many shocked mad. Starting in 2022 across all European Countries, new auto's ICE, Hybrid, BEV, etc. must have speed limiters technology installed. This is a combination of GPS and local maps stating what the posted speed limit is so that the computer then will not let you go over the posted speed. Lucky as the story states, rare chance that speed limitation will come to North America for now. Are Speed Limiters Coming to American Cars? (thetruthaboutcars.com) According to this latest story, seems the chip shortage is adding another item no longer available on GM trucks/suvs, HD Radio. The Ongoing Chip Shortage Just Added HD Radio To Its List of Victims - GM-Trucks.com

For $11,850 US Dollars you too can have this 155 mile range sporty EV bike. Europe's newest long-range, low-cost electric motorcycle is production-ready and looks good - Electrek

Was gonna write this up, but just too much going on this week, so you can read all about it here at the press release: Nissan unveils EV36Zero – a £1bn Electric Vehicle Hub (nissannews.com) Short version, Nissan is killing off all ICE production in the UK. They are investing $1 billion euros in Sutherland UK to build a complete EV production facility with parts supporting vendors to build BEV for the UK and export to Europe. QUOTE Production in Sunderland will create 909 new jobs at the plant, and more than 4,500 in the UK supply chain, while safeguarding a further 75 R&D jobs. The transformational project takes the total capital investment by Nissan into the plant past £5bn, and also includes: R&D at Nissan’s European Technical Centre in Cranfield, Bedfordshire Support for UK suppliers to transition to electric vehicles Plant competitiveness and environmental improvements Skills development in the Nissan workforce for future technologies

Power

With our Heatwave this week Cora spent plenty of time on the cold wood floor napping.

@oldshurst442 Those are some weird looking auto's. I think I would rather have one of these:

Crazy their recall levels. 4 pages for 2020 alone Check for Recalls: Vehicle, Car Seat, Tire, Equipment | NHTSA This is a PDF that was filed on Toyota Recalls currently. RCMN-20V012-7781.pdf (nhtsa.gov) Out of curiosity, I looked up 2020 mercedes and the first two pages is recalls on their vans. Total Garbage, but then you have a total of 7 pages of recalls with the largest series being on the E-class and then the SUVs they make. Their numbers are like 10 times worse than Toyota.

You were really wanting this: Poor Mustang!

Me not like being a red state! What is this about again? ?

Beaver What were you expecting?

Yes I agree that I do not get the appeal, but then change is hard for some and it seems Toyota customers really hate change. The Land Cruiser I would agree will show up as a less than competitive Lexus version I think unless Toyota is truly looking to bring in a BEV to cash in the crazy cost they can charge.

GM announced today that April 2022 will be the last month of Chevrolet Equinox production at CAMI Assembly plant. Production at other plants will be increased to cover Chevrolet Equinox production as BrightDrop equipment will be installed over a 4 month period allowing for large scale production to begin of the BrightDrop EV600 van beginning in November 2022. This comes as gm works with Merchant Fleet that is ordering 12,600 BrightDrop EV600s for last mile delivery service. Merchant Fleet expects the EV600 to enter fleet use starting in Early 2023 making them the second large scale last mile Major Customer. Merchant Fleet plans for the EV600 to by 50% of their mobility fleet by 2025 in North America allowing them to be one of the largest last mile delivery companies with a focus on being 100% electric fleet by 2030. Merchant Fleet HQ is in New Hampshire with their innovation center located in Chicago Illinois. gm Canada is leading gm push into the full commercial EV market with the new BrightDrop division of commercial electric e-pallet's and EV vans allowing commercial fleet operators to reduce costs as they move to zero-emission fleets. The CAMI Assembly plant is scheduled to start with a single shift of EV600 assembly and move to two shifts at the start of 2023 and market permitting three production shifts as soon as the start of 2024. BrightDrop is allowing gm to reimage commercial delivery and logistics with an all-electric future. CAMI Assembly plant will be instrumental in allowing gm to offer commercial customers an ecosystem of connected / electrified products and services that allow delivery/logistic companies to move goods and services more efficiently, driving down costs while reducing harmful emissions in cities and on congested streets. CAMI Assembly will play a critical role in gm's vision for a zero emission future. GM’s CAMI Assembly Accelerates BrightDrop EV600 Production Merchants Fleet is Slated to be BrightDrop’s Second Major Customer (gm.com) Merchants Fleet to be BrightDrop’s First Fleet Management Customer View full article

One would have to assume that if a person leaves their long-term spouse for a life with another, it is due to change that could not work for that individual. Change is change and for some it is good, for others it is to cling to a resistance of change. I have personally found those that change are usually resistant to change compared to those that talk out their issues and work through the changes to embrace a better life with their long term spouse together. Course some change as they want better and need to change due to the resistance to change of the spouse. I am going to go out and say that those that want to stay with their long term spouse will work through the issues which usually does include change to embrace a better life. I also acknowledge that not all do. Let me ask this question; How is life better if we stop learning, stop improving ourselves, our society, our life? Stagnation is what kills society, life and people as proved by science. Those societies that thought they have achieved the best and needed no further change have died and are now history notes in human history. IMHO The auto industry is the same, without change, companies die! Change and improvements to the products and services provided is what allows companies to survive decades if not millenniums.