G. David Felt

Latest on a Coast to Coast drive in the Mustang Mach-E

Edmunds and Car and Driver according to InsideEV are saying that the EPA needs to change the way EV's are tested for auto mileage after testing shows Tesla FAILS to deliver on their battery pack range over and over. Tesla And EPA Are Wrong When It Comes To Range, Says Ben Sullins (insideevs.com) Edmunds Tested: Electric Car Range and Consumption | Edmunds Very cool Video of a F-150 Rivian powered truck racing Suzuki's ATV's.

Breaking News Hyundai has released the investigation showing that the Kona EV fires are caused by folded Anode tabs. As such, Hyundai has announced they will use the SK Innovation batteries in the new Ioniq 5. This sets up a battle between LG and SK as well as a bigger problem due to SK stealing billions of dollars worth of battery trade secrets for use in their battery packs. As such SK was banned from building and selling battery packs in the US which means they would have to shutdown their $2.6 Billion dollar plant they just built with a planned total $5 billion in the Georgia Battery production plant now being up in the air depending on what the current administration does about the past administrations fine and ban on the SK plant. This new SK Plant is supposed to supply battery packs for the Ford F-150 EV Truck and the VW ID.4 EV. Hyundai Officially Confirms Folded Anode Tab Caused Kona EV Fires (insideevs.com) Interesting news on Rivian and how their charging port opens as well as the push to allow them to sell directly to consumers in Georgia rather than have to build stores or dealerships.

Breaking News Oshkosh has invested $25 million in Microvast who will be the supplier of the battery packs for the new USPS BEV's. Oshkosh Corporation - Oshkosh Corporation partners with Microvast to strengthen electrification capabilities

Breaking News Montgomery County, Maryland which operates 200 schools and a fleet of over 1,400 diesel buses has signed a contract with Highland Electric Transportation for phase 1 of a massive bus fleet transformation. Over the next four years, Highland Electric Transportation will deliver 326 electric school buses and electrify all five of the MCPS's bus depots including a V2G or vehicle-to-grid component. The buses will have a 226 kWh capacity power train from Proterra with a 135 mile range. Charged EVs | Proterra to deliver over 320 V2G-equipped school buses to Montgomery County, Maryland - Charged EVs

Piano

On What side?

Very exciting review on the VW ID.4 with both positives and negatives that I agree with and that the reviewer was a 6'6" tall long leg guy who actually tested being comfy in the front seat and then getting out and testing the back seat. Cool Read. Hopefully VW will take his input to heart as they get ready to start production here. 2021 VW ID.4: 5 hits and misses, up close with the electric car for the masses (greencarreports.com) With the New 2022 Bolt released, 2021 Bolts have gotten crazy cheap especially for Costco members. Get $3,000 up front cash to use as a down payment and $107 a month lease rate with 12,000 miles a year for 36 months. Cheapest new-car lease is all-electric: Chevy Bolt EV lease deals as low as $107 per month (greencarreports.com)

Tesla chooses to go with a proprietary standard and yet has already converted to the SAE J1772 for Europe and China. Nissan still pushing their dying, almost dead CHAdeMO standard, but has stated they will also go with the SAE connection for their first mainstream BEV under Infiniti label. Other than Tesla, everyone else is supporting the SAE standard. Who is not, as I have not seen anyone else announce a different connector for Level 1, 2 and 3 chargers. I have seen you can get a converter on Amazon for allowing your Tesla to connect to the SAE chargers. SAE J1772 - Wikipedia Search for 'J1772' - SAE International

Summer

THANK YOU, Yes this is a excellent example and plenty of parallels can be taken from this. The one thing to point out is that technology from 49 to the 1980's was so minuscule compared to where technology is at today. I do not see a 30 year slow tech change that happened for the lowly bar code. We already have much superior electric motors and battery tech that is changing much faster. I believe just like the computer industry that started slow in the 90's with consumer models and then exploded in the last 15 years will be a much more modern way that BEVs will happen IMHO.

That gets my UP VOTE 1,000,000 times!

In reading the USPS news release it says the first ones will be delivered 2023, not when in 2023, but just the start of the 50,000 will start in 2023. In regards to the last purchase, thanks for including the date, I thought I had read somewhere that it was a 30 year purchase compared to this 10 year contract.

A little Cherry Bomb while working.

@balthazar @oldshurst442 Honestly, I think ZETA is wanting this contract to go to one of their supporting companies so they can direct sales to their own agenda. Right now anything would be better than what the USPS is currently driving and burning down. Sad that we went this long on these auto's. I am honestly glad this contract is a 10 year contract and not like the last one that was 3 decades long contract to keep buying old, out of date junk.

Business Insider is reporting that Tesla is bleeding market share almost 100% to Ford as people dump their Tesla and buy a Mach-E. This report comes from Morgan Stanley, This same time a year ago Tesla had 81% market share in the USA for EV sales. Year later Tesla is only 69% EV market share. Sales are up 40% for BEV sales. Morgan Stanley is projecting Tesla to drop below 60% EV market share this year 2021 and to drop below 50% in 2022 as more and more EV auto choices come out from the various OEMs. Tesla Is Bleeding Battery EV Market Share To Ford's Mustang Mach-E: Morgan Stanley | Markets Insider (businessinsider.com) Ford Mach-E had 3,739 units sold in February 2021 compared to just 238 units sold in January 2021 and a symbolic 3 in December 2020. Currently the Mach-E accounts for 2.4% of Fords auto sales in the U.S. Ford Mustang Mach-E U.S. Sales Exceed 3,700 In February (insideevs.com)

Thoughts on what a Russian companies idea for a two door Body on Frame blazer or K5 would sell? Новый Chevrolet Tahoe 3-door - КОЛЕСА.ру – автомобильный журнал (kolesa.ru) Web site above is in English and the details are great on this. I personally love this idea. NEWS BREAK CEO of Stellantis Carlos Ravares has announced they are engaged in dialogue with the Cherokee Nation of it's use of the Name on two of their SUV models. The CEO has confirmed that they will do what ever is needed to resolve this up to the point of potentially dropping the name and renaming the affected SUVs. Jeep is open to dropping Cherokee name, says CEO | Fox Business

Chevrolet fans, want a Raptor equal? Yes you can as PaxPower now builds the Chevrolet Jackal as a Raptor Beating truck for those that want the ultimate off road Chevrolet Truck. PaxPower Jackal the answer to the missing 442? PaxPower V8 Raptor Diesel Raptor F150 Jackal SIlverado Ranger Raptor Course some might like PaxPower Raptor conversion on the Ranger.

Oshkosh Defense was awarded a 10 year contract by the USPS to create, build and deliver up to 165,000 auto's for postal delivery across the United States of America. These auto's will be made up of traditional internal combustion engine, Hybrid and electrical vehicles. These purpose built, right-hand-drive vehicles will be used for mail and package delivery. A minimum of 50,000 to a maximum of 165,000 auto's over a 10 year time frame was agreed upon contract for a modern AC equipped NGDV or next generation delivery vehicle. Under the initial $482 million up front payment to Oshkosh Defense is the commitment to finalize the production design of the NGDV on a undefined new platform that will support ICE, Hybrid and battery electric powertrains. This is to include in this initial payment plant tooling and build-out of the U.S. manufacturing facility where final vehicle assembly will occur. According to the press release by the USPS, the following is to be included in the final design of the NGDV. Modern air conditioning and heating Improved ergonomics Advanced vehicle technology to include 360-degree cameras advanced disc brakes traction control air bags front and rear collision avoidance system visual, audio warning automatic braking increased cargo capacity with standing room in the back Modern powertrains to meet the needs of extreme rural to inner city delivery The contract is an indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract. The USPS will have the ongoing ability to order more NGDV over the 10 year period. This is part of the current USPS Boards plan for a 10 year plan to transform the USPS into a efficient preferred delivery service provider for the American Public ZETA or Zero Emissions Transportation Association which is made up 51 major companies from the Auto industry to the electrical and high tech industry have come out in protest to this contract. ZETA has come out protesting the locking in of the worlds largest government fleet of auto's for the next 40 years at a time when some of the largest industry leading companies are working to reduce over the next 20 years to be carbon neutral. This move by companies to be BEV leading from UPS, FedEx and Amazon shows that our own USPS needs to also move to a pure BEV. ZETA questions if the U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has the USPS best interests at heart and mind with this decision which is seen as a reckless contract awarded to a company driven by building petrol powered military vehicles. ZETA is asking companies across the U.S. to speak out and call on Congress to act on what is best in the U.S. interest for clean air. View full article

Be interesting to see as the Ford pic looks to be a photoshop into the desert picture and true sunlight plays games on the blue/grey look especially on my Son's Jeep. Comparison is they might be close in color.

FedEx has committed to being Carbon-Neutral by 2040 by going Green Globally with an initial investment of $2 Billion dollars for auto electrification, sustainable energy and carbon sequestration. FedEx has started their corporate march to a greener cleaner planet by pledging $100 million dollars to Yale University in establishing the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture. In the drive to offset current airline emissions which is a big part of FedEx business, they are heling to support the research into various methods of carbon sequestration at scale. This is where they scrub the CO2 emissions from our air and lock it away much the way trees and plants take it in and capture it inside the tree or plant which does not get released till you burn the wood or plant and release all that CO2. FedEx has put forth an ambitious carbon neutral goal with the following key points in this Carbon-Neutral plan. Quote Vehicle Electrification. By 2040, the entire FedEx parcel pickup and delivery (PUD) fleet will be zero–emission electric vehicles. This will be accomplished through phased programs to replace existing vehicles. For example, by 2025, 50% of FedEx Express global PUD vehicle purchases will be electric, rising to 100% of all purchases by 2030. Sustainable Customer Solutions. FedEx will work with customers to offer end-to-end sustainability for their supply chains through carbon–neutral shipping offerings and sustainable packaging solutions. Sustainable Fuels. FedEx will continue to invest in alternative fuels to reduce aircraft and vehicle emissions. Fuel Conservation and Aircraft Modernization. FedEx will build on its successful FedEx Fuel Sense initiatives designed to reduce fuel consumption in its aircraft. Since 2012, the FedEx Fuel Sense and Aircraft Modernization programs have saved a combined 1.43 billion gallons of jet fuel and avoided over 13.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Facilities. FedEx will continue efforts to make its more than 5,000 facilities worldwide more sustainable through continued investments in efficient facilities, renewable energy, and other energy management programs. Natural Carbon Sequestration. FedEx funding will help to establish the Yale Center for Natural Carbon Capture to support applied research into natural carbon sequestration solutions. Per FedEx own statement, since 2009 they have reduced their own CO2 emissions by 40% while package volume has increased 99%. FedEx has also ranked first in the industry on Just Capitals 2021 list of "America's Most Just Companies" for environmental category as well as first for the travel, transport and logistics sector of Newsweek's "America's Most Responsible Companies 2021". FedEx is leading the way for businesses who have a large impact on CO2 in reducing it and the affect on climate change. FedEx Press Release FedEx Commits to Carbon-Neutral Operations by 2040 View full article

@Robert HallLooks like some serious rust on the back door and that sliding door. WOW, agree with you that I have not seen one of these in a decade or longer.

That looks like Jeep Rhino color.