G. David Felt

Yet you struggle to not stay focused on the FACT this was about the Cadillac CT4 & 5 V-Blackwing edition. Everyone time someone points out how Daimler is now BEHIND Cadillac, you have to throw in EVERYTHING else NOT RELATED to this focus on this thread. What does Rolls or Maybach have to do with the BlackWings? NOTHING, you could ignore and just stay focus and would be better for it, but you have to flitter off into the back 40 Upper 40 Lower 40 to play smoke n mirrors about the fact that Cadillac Luxury maker has a pair of high quality LUXURY Speed Demon cars and Daimler is now BEHIND them. Normal as everyone leap frogs in this industry. You would rather bring in CUVs, FWD Appliance auto's that have been heavily massaged by their AMG division of lower level or higher level than seeing where these auto's truly are. What Ever! ?

This is a Freakin Cool Car and I love the cars in this story. 6 full-size alternatives to muscle cars | Hagerty Media

Interesting, guess I missed this concept Idea Dodge had to make AWD Off Road capable MiniVans. Meet the ’90s Dodge Caravan Off-Road Minivan That Almost Made It to Production (thedrive.com)

I can respect and understand what is posted here. I also think this is based on a rather small, YES SMALL available data due to a limited variety of EV / BEV auto's. I actually expect things to change drastically once Full Size Truck and SUV EVs become standard and people continue with their live driving a BEV versus ICE and then we will see the reduction that science has projected based on scale. I think anyone that wants static numbers at this point is silly as until we have replacements for all the ICE Trucks and SUVs, we will not see any real change. That does not mean it cannot happen once people have the options of what they want to drive in a BEV available from their favorite dealer.

And there you go moving the field goal around the yard to justify you avoiding answering real questions and pushing your own Kool-Aid Daimler agenda. ?

@Drew Dowdell Hate to make assumption but I believe your talking in regards to this: Demand-side management programs save energy and reduce peak demand - Today in Energy - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Seems to be working just fine here in Washington state as we take down more dams and improve fish spawning to rebuild fish runs. Plus the replacement by Solar and Wind seems to be picking up any slack and we have plans for far off coast wind farms where stronger winds exist allowing for more energy production than the dams can produce.

WOW, That is a big task especially after we removed 2 dams already on the Elwha River and replaced the power generation with green solutions. Seems a couple more dams are also coming down on the Pilchuck River here as well. Washington dam removal means 37 more miles of salmon habitat restored (phys.org)

Tesla Aliens are coming! Tesla doing a large fleet wide firmware update before shipping to Europe. Tesla updating software of a fleet in parking lot looks like the aliens are coming - Electrek

Define what is bad ass about the CLA45? I think your meaning AMG CLA45 and even then that is just a turd of a Jellybean style wise. Nothing that makes it look any hotter compared to the Cadillac. And dare we say a true from the start RWD for Cadillac, True from the Start FWD for the CLA! AMG CLA45 CT4-V CT4-V Blackwing

Loving this commercial

Where are you getting this mythical options list since they have not released anything other than saying the CT5-V Blackwing will start at $84,990 per the news release. It seems it will have few options not an ala-cart long list based on their new release. V-Series Blackwing: Ultimate Track Capability, Zero Compromise (gm.com) Based on this second news release this is the following only interior options that will be available. Just 2 option packages and that is it! V-Series Blackwing: Designed to Perform (gm.com) If ya do not believe me check out the full Cadillac News release page. News (gm.com)

Right now, my random thought is for this tomorrow at Stevens Pass, supposed to be a Pow Pow Day! Back Side of Stevens Pass Ski Resort in the Bowl.

Up Vote the Zoom Meeting of Auto Enthusiast. Love it!

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. ?