G. David Felt

I am NOT Going Political, focus on the Auto portion of this please. The Biden administration made a Major change this week on Monday to the Buy America executive order. Something no other president has done to date, in fact this portion has not changed since 1954 which is what Defines Goods and Services. Auto's MUST have a minimum of 50% of the auto components made in America from the raw materials to the final component. President Biden via executive order has laid out a long term plan to replace all 645,000 federal vehicles with net-zero emission auto's Made in the USA! Components must be a minimum of 50% from raw material to final assembled component made in the US and the auto must be assembled in the US. This is open to all auto companies from around the world, but must adhere to the Made in the USA requirements. The executive order points to replacing existing federal trucks with electric from Ford, Rivian, Tesla and GM. One question that is unanswered is how Canada will fit into this equation since GM has committed to the city and unions in changing over this year the plant that builds the Chevrolet Equinox to be the assembly point for BrightDrop EV600 delivery van. The federal government does have a large Van pool that is used to move packages and mail between the various federal buildings especially in DC. To clarify this executive order will now require the Window sticker on vehicles using the American Automobile Labeling Act (AALA) which places a greater mathematical weight on the domestic content calculation on components that are more expensive and labor-intensive in being required to be followed. Currently the AALA shows that the Tesla Model S and Model 3 have the highest Domestic content under tally. This will also help to clarify where the auto is made and just how much is truly built in North America / USA. To clarify, this also will include the 173,000 military vehicles which GM has submitted a Hydrogen solution on their mid size trucks that has been posted here in the past. This also will cover and defines the 225,000 USPS vehicles. Currently just the USPS and Military consume 375 million gallons of gas and Diesel a year at an annual fuel cost of $4.4 Billion dollars. According to one estimate from the government GSA or General Services Administration, this will cost about $20 billion to replace the vehicles. One interesting note is the average age of the USPS delivery auto is 28 years old. GSA has stated this is a long over due update to the USPS that will enhance tax payer cost savings in the long run. Current USPS delivery auto's have no airbags, no anti-lock brakes and no air conditioning in addition to many things that are no longer used by any other auto's in the industry driving up maintenance costs to be higher than any other federal auto maintenance program. American-made and all-electric: Biden plots out the future for the federal vehicle fleet (greencarreports.com) Charged EVs | President Biden announces plan to update federal vehicle fleet with US-made EVs - Charged EVs

GM and Navistar are getting in bed together to build 2,000 Class 8 Semi Trucks. This will create additional jobs as GM ramps up production. GM has also stated that the HydroTEC Fuel Cell Power Cubes are a perfect fit for use in a wide range of applications from Marine to earth-moving and mining equipment as well as Locomotives and power generators. The current Power Cell is good for 500 miles of heavy load use with a refueling time of 15 minutes. This allows for the use in both short and long haul applications. GM states they will have additional announcements coming. GM to Supply Navistar With Hydrotec Fuel Cell Power Cubes for Electric Vehicles UPDATE - Forbes has a story too, this will not affect the arrangement to supply Power Cell Cubes and motors to Nikola for their Hydrogen truck. Hydrogen Truck Convoy: GM, Navistar Form Fuel Cell Alliance (forbes.com) Navistar has recently undergone a restructuring and is focusing on becoming a global leader in Hydrogen and EV based commercial trucks. The Hydrogen Class 8 Semi trucks will go on sale as a 2024 model in 2023. Currently they are rebuilding an existing Diesel assembly line into a Hydrogen truck assembly line and will move forward with in depth testing of the production mules using the GM Fuel Cell. Navistar Collaborates with General Motors And OneH2 To Launch Hydrogen Truck Ecosystem - Jan 27, 2021 To quote Navistar News Release: Under its partnership agreement with Navistar, OneH2 will supply its hydrogen fueling solution, which includes hydrogen production, storage, delivery and safety. In addition, Navistar is taking a minority stake in OneH2. Through its affiliates, OneH2 plans to kickstart substantial hydrogen heavy truck refueling infrastructure by incorporating more than 2,000 International® RH™ Series FCEVs into existing truck fleets in the near term. "We're excited about the opportunity to partner with Navistar," said Paul Dawson, OneH2 president and CEO. "We believe strongly that hydrogen fuel is the future of zero- emission renewable energy in the heavy truck market, and are pleased that this agreement will provide additional scope for its application. Under this agreement, we will be able to offer fleets a zero-emission truck with total cost of operation lower than diesel in key segments of the industry." These newly announced collaborations with General Motors and OneH2 represent important milestones in Navistar's phased development of hydrogen fuel cell solutions. These technologies leverage Navistar's battery electric vehicle platforms and provide the customer with a single-source, fully integrated zero-emission solution that includes vehicles, fueling and service.

Very first auto I drove was our 1970 Mercury Station wagon.

@William Maley Is that Sport Mode or a Sport Model if you want less body roll? In regards to the body roll, is it like the older Cadillacs and Lincolns of the 70's to 90's being a cushy lux cruiser so body roll was expected? Is the adaptive suspension like the Magna ride of Cadillac or just a quick responding traditional shock suspension? Rear door looks much longer than the front, does this equate to more leg room inside or just an easier time getting in and out? How was the tactile feel of the knobs and buttons?

Linus

Public Transit buses seem to be just as stinky if they are older ones. Never a fan of the Diesel bus, yet I acknowledge the need for public transit and school buses. We just need to move to cleaner safer buses over todays dinosaur model.

This is NOT a Conspiracy Theory, the Diesel exhaust have been known to leak into the school buses. Children are not dropping dead, but they are breathing fumes that are pretty high levels and is not healthy. Plenty of studies that show the dangers on School buses from colleges and other science sources. You can believe what you want, but the way school buses are built, cheap and very uninsulated and loose, we now have the science that proves how toxic they are to our kids. 04.04.2005 - More exhaust inhaled by kids inside school buses than by others in the area, says study (berkeley.edu) School Bus Fumes - Science Updates - Science NetLinks More Exhaust Inhaled By Kids Inside School Buses Than By Others In The Area, Says Study -- ScienceDaily Study from 2001 that has been pounding on the importance to move away form diesel school buses due to the toxic nature. The Long Road to Safer School Buses | NRDC "Diesel Exhaust and School Bus Idling (EPA-420-F-03-021, June 2003)" All About School Bus Exhaust Leaks | Mechanics Hub Children's School Bus Exposure and Mitigation Studies | California Air Resources Board There are so many more studies from across the US, Canada and Europe that proves how toxic the bus fumes are inside the bus and why Schools should have been moving away from Diesel decades ago or at least demanding better built buses that do not leak inside.

@oldshurst442 I totally agree with you that the Tesla Tunnel is NOT EFFICIENT! The only reason it was approved and done was that Musk owns the tunnel system, it is not a public system. Private system and I think more of a Tesla Marketing system to have people experience EVs Tesla style. Sadly, I think it is a FAILURE out of the box as I cannot fit in the Tesla 3 compared to the electric trains. I think many people will not be impressed on fitting in. More negatives over the long term than in the short term. As with anything new, it will be cool for a few months to maybe a year or two and then people will be saying the same thing you have stated above. Seattle Lite Rail is better than the Tesla Tunnel as it is both under ground in places and above ground and even goes over our floating bridges.

Valid points, but I do think as people see more EV options, drive them and depending on where you live, I see the V8 being enthusiast more than anything in about 15 years.

I give a less than 25% chance of Tesla Delivering. Their semi and Truck plus the new Plaid power train upgrade to the S and X models will come before a limited production Roadster happens. Issues with Tesla 3 also are going to hit hard if they do not update to incorporate the Model Y improvements into the 3. Tesla is as usual years behind delivering Roadster 2.0. With Rivian, Ford and GM coming on strong, I expect Tesla to take a major hit. Many reviews by Tesla owners who are getting their Mach-E and talking about how much better it is than Tesla. Tesla is gonna have major headaches later this year if they do not get their butt in gear to update and have a better quality built auto.

Seems musk completed the underground tunnel system in Las Vegas to get folks from the Convention Center to the Strip. Will use Tesla 3's driving in autonomous mode to get folks back n forth over the 1 mile tunnel. Found a full story on it. Elon Musk Shows off the Mega-Tunnel He Built in Las Vegas and Promises Themed Opening Party (entrepreneur.com)

If this was true, Tesla would be selling more EVs in Europe than VW, but then that is not happening yet.

No different than many other survey's done that cover the auto industry and more. Still interesting info.

Anima

Erin Gray Was so hot in Buck Rogers!

Maybe this blazer will come back as an EV and then @ocnblu will have a new CUV to mock. Chevrolet Blazer XT-1 1987 Concept

OUCH Porsche pricing for the Panamera is Crazy. While the base still starts at $88,550, prices for options have jumped considerably and if you want the Panamera Turbo SE Hybrid Executive edition, that will start at $190,450 and run up from there. 19 different trim levels from base to the Executive edition on top of a crazy assortment of woods, leathers, etc. Seems maybe Porsche is looking to go Rolls Royce for their top of the line sedan? 2021 Porsche Panamera pricing is here, so gird your wallet - Roadshow (cnet.com) R.I.P. in piece Shop-Vac, a company the Pandemic took in September 2020 according to Honda. Honda has offered for years a family favorite, a built in Shop-Vac system to clean the interior of the Honda Odyssey Mini-Van. Sadly the Shop-Vac company closed it's doors last fall with Zero Notice to employees and Honda has not found an a replacement supplier and as such moved up their 2022 Mini-van with no built in vacuum system. Honda Odyssey loses nifty in-van vacuum option after supplier shuts doors - Roadshow (cnet.com)

Europe is truly leading the way in reducing reliance on fossil fuels to create electricity as the European Union for the first time replaced Fossil Fuels with Renewables as the leading form of electricity generation. In EU electricity first, renewables overtook fossil fuels in 2020 - Electrek

Tesla, YOU HAVE A PROBLEM! While the current owners do not seem to care as much about the fit n finish of their Tesla auto's or that Tesla is buying fake wood trim pieces to hold together the Heat Pump in the auto or any of the other rubber band issues that have been discovered with the Tesla auto, the larger auto market does care. Cox Automotive did a consumer research on Electric Pickup Trucks. In 2020, a pandemic year, 2.9 million pickups were still sold in the US. The focus was what buyers thought of electric versus ICE, age demographics and more. As expected, those in the 18 to 34 age group were more than willing to consider and look at EV and ICE compared to the older age groups. Then as our Yoda of Old @balthazar has repeatedly pointed out from cost to design will play a point in how well the EV sells. As such, Cox Automotive did this comparison. Interesting is how Technology plays between ICE and EV as well as Horsepower. Then we get into what I consider the Meat and Potatoes of the study and that is clearly pointing to the first 4 big companies to release an EV pickup. Ford, Hummer, Tesla and Rivian and so see who is in last place right now should not surprise established auto company buyers, but should make Tesla Concerned as winning the hearts and minds of the American Consumer is no small thing. Ford has only one real issue and that is Tech Advances where they are just barely above Tesla compared to Hummer in 1st place and Rivian a very close second. Focusing on just an EV pickup purchase only gives the following some interesting numbers and if Ford Delivers, should do them well in their move to electrification for their whole product portfolio. Final interesting comparison is in how appealing potential buyers find the current EV trucks based on what pictures have been shown to date. Again, this should be telling Tesla, that your Cyber Truck is DEAD ON ARRIVAL! Consumer Snapshot: Electric Pickup Trucks - Cox Automotive Inc. (coxautoinc.com)

As we know, Government entities love to talk about numerical numbers and set numbers for things that have to be done. Rarely do we see them actually meet those set numbers. City of LA is celebrating reaching a milestone two years ahead of plan. In 2018 the city of LA offered a wide variety of rebates for businesses to apartment complexes to install fast chargers or commercial chargers. At the time 55% of the people living in LA were renters. As of the start of 2021, LA has 11,045 commercial charging locations opened to the public and businesses. That is 1,045 chargers more than the goal set of having 10,000 by the end of 2022. Cool part is that at the end of 2019, 60% of the rebates applied for were for commercial chargers installed in apartment complexes. LA has now set new updated goals, 25,000 chargers by 2025, 28,000 by 2028. This does not take into account Tesla charging stations or for profit private charging stations networks. Charged EVs | LA reaches 10,000 public chargers, two years earlier than planned - Charged EVs

Amazing the quality of photoshopping some people have now.

21st century racing

Over the last 4 years, the DC machine has held up the final rules on Low Volume Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Act (HR 2675) now that the current administration released the rules that were being held up, it appears we just might see an actual Electric DeLorean "time machine" revival now a possibility with replica rule (greencarreports.com) According to this, the Texas company, yes same one that @balthazar pointed out in regards to this had shown off in 2012 an EV version where everything was just like the original except the power train. In 2012 they showed this auto exactly like the original but with electric power train, 200 miles battery pack and a 0-60 mph under 5 seconds. The company now believes they can build these auto's to be even faster, keeping true to the original auto and rather than go ICE, go EV with a far better performance and fun factor. Should make for some interesting production as Tesla has moved to Texas, DeLorean is now looking to go into production with their EV time machine. Interesting times we live in.

@oldshurst442 It is interesting at how slow Tesla is moving to embrace the Model Y improvements into the Model 3. This could be what causes Tesla to have to possibly partner up with another Auto OEM or ends up getting bought out by say the Chinese as Tesla is moving slower than the other OEMs in this industry and this story is a perfect example of just how challenging it is going to get. Will BMW i4 outdo Model 3 in handling performance? (greencarreports.com) BMW has clearly set their i4 sedan on outperforming the Tesla Model 3 and if they nail it, Tesla will be in trouble.

I get your take on this. One way to convert to an EV fleet faster is by allowing businesses to take advantage of tax breaks as incentives. Example is that the private taxi drivers in Europe buy high end BMW and Mercedes auto's as they are allowed to write off 50% of the cost in the first year and the rest in year 2 as long as they drive over 100,000 kilometers each year. Easy for a taxi driver, gives them a nice new auto to drive, cleaner for the passengers and helps create multiple jobs. Here in Washington state, there are incentives like this for the private companies that contract with school districts to convert over to alternative energy school buses that started in 2015. The number of Diesel had been dropping while CNG, Hybrid had been increasing and as the school districts have stated a move to EV school buses will be embraced once a return to in school classes after the pandemic is over. Yes everything costs, but what price can you put on a child's life in comparison to breathing toxic diesel fumes? In this regards, I consider everyone's life far more precious than the cost of leaving what has been efficient transportation for cleaner better transportation as we improve ourselves via education, science and technology.