G. David Felt

This is where a dash cam comes in helpful as you could have turned the video footage over to the police and they could ticket them for littering and for aggressive behavior possibly.

In reading the write up at electrek, this got me to thinking about the current state of Li-ion batteries where China controls the world Li-ion supply by owning 75%. As such all major battery production companies produce a heavy amount of their batteries in China and ship across the world. The current 46th administration of the US has committed $400 billion to buying / using US made batteries in a wide range of products, auto's military, etc. and part of this is to spur investment by US tech startups to drive forward aggressively in moving into solid state battery packs that use various minerals that are not controlled by China. To quote the story at the link below: Wall Street believes this too, as it has recently backed battery startups in going public. Analysts are quite optimistic that EV sales have nowhere to go but up in the next decade. These startups include silicon valley based Sila Nanotechnologies Inc., which just raised $590 million in new wall street funding. Romeo Power went public last year and is developing lithium-ion battery technologies out of California. Meanwhile, Lithium Americas Corp. is based in Canada but also operates in the US. This startup recently sold $400 million worth of stock in a public offering in order to finance a new lithium project in Nevada. Wonder if any other automakers are working on batteries in Nevada? Most of the funding for these startups is going toward factory construction and streamlined battery manufacturing processes. However, while these tremendous rounds of public funding are encouraging to the future of a US EV battery market, small companies lack the battery resources required to scale toward genuine competitiveness. In support of gm's EV agenda, LG Chem is building a massive battery production plant in Ohio. Tesla is drastically expanding production in Nevada. While China is the leader big time with control of the Lithium, Nickel and Cobalt and a grow influence in graphite, the US startups have found numerous ways to build solid state batteries using other elements from copper, aluminum, etc. Creative alternatives focused on solid state batteries which has many numerous advantages over the Li-ion battery packs could make a huge difference. Chattanooga Tennessee is on the map as multiple large scale battery production plants are being built to support various auto companies. An Australian-based company called Novonix LTD. has built a factory in Tennessee. They are using Synthetic graphite they produce for their own anodes. Here they have already made a huge inroad as they will produce in the US for shipment to Korea for use by Samsung SDI Co. in their Samsung batteries replacing China made graphite. The US companies are small and clearly need to grow and ramp up fast. As the article states below, the US has a fighting chance by ramping up on battery capacity, shorter and more efficient supply chain (yes China uses lots of manual labor compared to robotic labor) and innovative alternatives to current Li-ion battery materials. Sounds off and let us know what you think. Can the US take a larger share of the battery market? How the US plans to capture the EV battery market - Electrek

Some Day I plan to travel a nice cross country road trip and meet as many members as possible.

Popeye

Tuesday

Awesome info Dwight, and Yes, TOTALLY AGREE with you on the questions you ask about the German V8. I did not know that it did not rev like the other german V8's which does beg the question why?

Now this is a perfect example where like Slack instant messenger, you can post multiple emoji responses. The First line earns - ? Thank you, very interesting to know. Line 2 & 3 - ? Line 4 - ? Stay Warm Line 5 - ?

I can respect that, but as you said, a $28 dollar part with a $1,000 labor bill. That right there is a deal breaker for me, would rather support an American company with much cheaper parts and usually able to do the work myself or still way cheaper labor for Cadillac over Audi. I respect your choice and agree with the huge discount that is a great deal, but my GM V8's have proven to be far more durable than dealing with a ticking Grenade of German engineering design. Take a Pushrod V8 over over rev'd DOHC German V8 any day. I find it interesting that we do not find German V8's with 200,000 to 300,000 miles on the road unlike Ford and GM trucks, SUVs and cars. It makes me question that superior German engineering attitude.

Rereading the review, I have to agree that Ford has done better than Tesla in keeping certain things traditional in which people going from ICE to EV will appreciate. Example is the windshield wiper which is on the stalk on the Steering wheel column compared to Tesla which has the windshield wipers as a menu option in the big screen. I do appreciate that this guy clearly talks about headroom in the back seat being much better than in the Tesla Y and how that space matches up from cargo to front between the Mach-E and Tesla Y. He makes clear the 3 things he finds as Head Scratchers but over all a equal and in some areas superior EV to Tesla. To quote: As a Tesla Model Y owner who wanted to validate my purchase decision, I wanted the Mach E to be significantly less of a car overall. It wasn’t. On the contrary. In many meaningful ways, the Ford Mustang Mach E is a better vehicle than a Model Y, and more importantly for Ford and the EV industry, it is an exceptional vehicle overall. I imagine a lot of people who aren’t ready for the leap to Tesla will find the Mach E every bit as exciting and more of an easy step from the ICE car they are coming from. Especially Ford owners. The Mach E isn’t perfect and I imagine in the coming years, Ford’s designers will reconsider some of the quibbles mentioned above. But as a package, Ford has to be congratulated on their first and very important effort. The Mach E has tons of room for 5 + dog, looks amazing, and pays homage to Ford’s Mustang, drives like a bat out of hell, and can be had for a starting price of about $35,000 after federal tax savings. It costs less in states with their own and utility incentives. Maybe the Mach E is too good to be called a Mustang? State of Tennessee has just passed a major bill to fund a Statewide EV Fast Charging network. This is a $20 million dollar investment in the State to help drive adoption of EVs. The new charging network is to be completed by 2024. Tennessee funds statewide electric vehicle fast charging network - Electrek

I am really digging the look of the Mach-E as this is just sharp to me. This is a very interesting review especially as the reviewer is an 8 year and running Tesla owner in a current Tesla Y so he makes some interesting comparisons. Also I think he has a valid point, he is not going to debate the is this a real Mustang or not as he states, it is the only Mustang built all New since his birth that he is super excited about. The Electrek Review: The Mach E is Ford's most important Mustang in 56 years - Electrek

For those in the Mid-West, STAY WARM. News here says your supposed to have below freezing temps all weekend with wind chill in the 30-50 below zero range. ?

I am gonna try this recipe, sounds and looks so good. I Tried Marcella Hazan's Bolognese Sauce | Kitchn (thekitchn.com)

Very cool Video, what is the white stuff you think he painted on the cut areas?

Nothing seems to indicate the power nor have I found anything that says this is a Blackwing, just the V badging. I will say the two tone interior looks good. Anyone that says this is not luxury compared to German or Asian competing products needs to step back from the Koolaid! IMHO, I still think this is a MISTAKE on how they finished this section on the car.

I would totally agree that numbers do not lie, just different body types will clarify if that works or not for said person. Example is myself with long legs and arms compared to my body core. As such, seats always have to go all the way back and this is usually where an auto will fail cause if no one can sit behind me, the interior numbers are a failure to me on just how much room they have. I can attest that a CT4 & CT5 can fit me, though no comfortably and NO ONE can sit behind me. So why I love speed and aggressive driving, these cars while awesome and way better IMHO over German and Asian cars in the same class, would never be on my buy list since I cannot get my family in them. Another issue with the numbers is when you have a person like my daughter, she is 5'8" tall, but long body, shorter legs and arms. As such, she pulls seats up close to the steering wheel to reach everything and usually will hit her head on the roof in cars compared to SUVs. As such, she loves her Durango, hates her friends cars and always offers to drive so she is comfy. Yes, all Cadillacs have it which I believe is WRONG for ICE cars, they should keep the liter size and leave the newton/meter badging to the EVs. Clarification, the current V's have it on the lot when I was there at my dealership, the marketing images shown on the web site for the Blackwings I have not seen it yet. Looking around to see if what kind of marking there is.

Dell

I can understand the outrage for those that will see it, deep ocean wind farms have so much more potential since the winds are far stronger than when they are close to land. The ability to replace ALL AMERICAN energy production with Wind from deep ocean wind farms is a reality that is being worked on. These farms would NOT be seen from shore thus removing the anger. Supposedly, we could with what the DOE has researched so far produce 2000 GW of power a day supplying far more than the country consumes. Floating Wind Farms have huge benefits over current wind farms that need shallow water. US has only one offshore wind farm, but that's about to change (cnbc.com) This also has Great high pay job potential for off shore oil drilling workers who can use their skills to build the off shore wind farms be them built into shallow bed rock or floating farms farther out. It will also support many jobs locally in the marina's that have boats going out to the wind farms. Very Green, renewable clean energy.

Ford has just announced a doubling of investment into EVs development to spending $22 billion from the $11 billion originally committed. Ford had a $2 billion loss. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ford-reports-quarterly-loss-tops-2-billion-increases-investment-in-electric-vehicles-11612474055

Ford is now also having to cut production on their most profitable item, the F150 due to chip shortage. The plants are now closed till Feb 15th when they expect to return to 3 shifts per plant, but that can change depending on supply constraints. Ford F-150 production cut due to semiconductor chip shortage (cnbc.com)

Dodge Challenger racing Tesla 3 causes crash and all caught on the Tesla cams.

Seems the semiconductor chip shortage that started last year and hit German and Asian auto companies are now hitting all companies including gm as they report the need to shutdown plants. Quote: “Semiconductor supply for the global auto industry remains very fluid,” he added. “Our supply chain organization is working closely with our supply base to find solutions for our suppliers’ semiconductor requirements and to mitigate impacts on GM.” Affected GM vehicles include the Chevrolet Malibu sedan, Cadillac XT4 SUV, Chevy Equinox and Trax, and GMC Terrain SUVs and the Buick Encore small crossover vehicle. All auto companies have reported that production plans are being scaled back due to chip shortages. EXCLUSIVE-GM hit by chip shortage, to cut production at four plants | Reuters

Imagine how flat the surrounding area becomes when they back fill in the hole with the hills around it. ?

Mass transit

@ykX @ccap41 @balthazar thanks for the info guys, here is where Washington State is at, we have the final Coal power plant scheduled for decommission in 2025. The huge 1000 acre open pit coal mine is being leveled as it will be covered in Solar panels to replace the power created by the coal power plant. They are also installing in one area that is tall hills with strong winds wind turbines. Currently our states electricity is produced in the following: % from Coal = 8.9% % from hydroelectric = 63% % from natural gas = 8.6% % from nuclear = 8.6% % from solar = .1% % from wind = 9.2% Total MegaWatts produced = 9,248 In Washington, a Coal-Fired Power Plant Will Put Its Money on the Sun | NRDC Washington - State Energy Profile Analysis - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

cross country