G. David Felt

Easy today, the winter storm fried all the pumps at the Shell Station in my Neighborhood. All 12 pumps dead till further notice according to the sign. Yet when I ran to get the grocery shopping done for my senior parents at Fred Meyers which was out of power this morning also, the Tesla Super Charger station was fully functional this afternoon. Dead Gas station Working EV Station. Goes both ways I know. Still a factor as the pre-orders all came with 3yr free charging, which 3 years has not come up yet, so lots of peeps still using the free charging. Yes as of today, Tesla has no free charging on any model they sell. Yet as sales dip, Tesla seems to throw this out as an incentive. Research shows the cheapest charging is home charging even with the cost of a 220V charger.

Keep in mind that the preorders of Tesla 3 all included free charging. As such, while the auto's all come with a 110V wall plug charging cord, I would have to think that they are hung up on free power over convenience of charging over night and having a full battery in the morning. I also do know that some of my coworkers figure that since they can do email and slack or teams chat with coworkers via their phone, might as well use the Super Chargers to cover getting a battery pack charged while they also work via their smartphone. But as @surreal1272 pointed out, way too small a pool of people to make an observation on without asking pointed questions. @ccap41 Totally agree with you that while the chargers might have a stated rate, the installation might have not been in support of that rate and does need to be rectified. Also broken or out of order charging points need to be fixed ASAP. Gassed up the SS at Costco and saw that they had 1 diesel and 3 regular / Premium pumps out of order. I asked the attendant and he said 2 had electrical issues with the interface, 3rd one was broken as the person filled up, then got in and drove away breaking the quick connect and still took the hose with them never realizing they never pulled the fuel hose. Diesel was broken as it would not pump so mechanical inside.

We had a major wind and rain storm over night. Winds clocked at gusts up to 121 MPH at Snoqualmie pass. I90 freeway. At Deception Pass that goes over the water to the island of Oak Harbor, a USPS truck was blown over onto the railing and they had to wait a few hours as crews cleared downed trees before they could right the truck. No damage or USPS mail lost, but during the constant 60 to 65 mph windows, the truck looked like it could blow over even though the bridge had upright beams that would keep it from going. Mail semi nearly blown off Deception Pass Bridge during windstorm (msn.com)

Beautiful woman with a very lovely voice, thanks for posting!

@balthazar @ccap41 I think depending on where one lives, getting a constant high speed electric stream into the battery pack can be a challenge especially for states that have poor electrical grids compared to other states where they have the flow. Yet with that said, while it does affect how fast one recharges on a road trip, most people I believe will charge up at home always having a full battery pack in the morning to start. We are also in the early stages and while some standards have been set, I think there is still plenty of room to grow the quality and reliability of the stream of power to hit the designated rate of recharge. It might mean that they need a battery pack to hold the power to help with quick recharging. In regards to the cost of fueling an electric car, always been some people who come up with these crazy formula's and state it is 2 to 3 times more expensive. Real world has proven this to not be true. I question that persons use of Tesla as an example due to how many people get free charging or prepay at a very competitive rate to home charging. Again real world charging across the west coast does not bare out that crazy almost $9 per gallon equivalent cost. West coast has a maximum charge allowed on public charging stations so that example is very invalid even Tesla has stated that using the public listed prices is unusual for most tesla owners. Even the story link says that this is the exception rather than the norm where most people charge at home at ultra cheap rates.

I missed this in the GM presentations at CES 2021 yesterday, but the VP of Cadillac announced an all new luxury 2 person EV car will be coming from Cadillac. GM Confirms New Two Seater Cadillac EV Concept Is On The Way | GM Authority

Seems Honda and Acura will now be GM as GM and Honda has signed an agreement to use GM's new Ultium batteries and powertrains to power their EV CUVs for both badges. GM Will Build Electric Crossovers for Honda and Acura | The Drive More CES news, seems bigger is better as BMW and MB have both decided to show off their future dash displays that will go from side to side. CES 2021: The Future Might Be Even Bigger Touch Screens In Your Car (thedrive.com)

Seems Australia is even more conservative about what you have in a commercial as they stopped this commercial from playing due to the drift done in the commercial. Australia Bans 2021 Toyota Yaris GR Commercial Over the Briefest of Drifts (thedrive.com)

More news of the Auto Industry changes happening as CES 2021 Virtual Show kicks off this week. GM has anounced a new startup called Bright Drop that will have an Electric pallet system and Electric Cargo Van with first deliveries of the EV Van going to FedEx this fall in the US. GM reveals an electric van, launches a new business for electric cargo delivery (greencarreports.com) This is followed up by Hyundai Ioniq 5 EV Teaser with built in 3.5 kW Generator for powering all kinds of stuff. More pictures at the link below. First Hyundai Ioniq 5 EV teasers reveal concept car looks, generator capability - Roadshow (cnet.com) Further proof that GM is coming out with even more EV fun is the Video talking about their future EV plans and in the background of a wide variety of EVs is what looks like a C8 inspired CUV. Check out the story for the video and more pictures. Is This Proof Chevy's Working on a Corvette Electric SUV? (motortrend.com) Did GM Just Show Off a Chevy Corvette SUV at CES? | The Drive

GM News, Due to overwhelming demand for Midnight, Sport and RS SUV's, these packages will be expanded to meet customer needs as GM acknowledges that Customer Choice is the Competitive advantage for Chevrolet allowing customers to choose the packages that give them the custom look and Technology they want. Chevrolet to Expand Availability of Midnight, Sport and RS Packages on SUV Portfolio Due to Overwhelming Success

CES 2021, GM teases New Bolt EUV with SuperCruiser video. New Bolt and Bolt EUV will come out February 2021. Chevrolet Shares Preview of 2022 Bolt EUV Steering Wheel Bolt-EUV-SuperCruise.mp4

Seems Ford is pulling back in their restructure to be a profitable auto company with higher ATP's. As such 5,000 people will loose their jobs as Ford closes manufacturing in Brazil. They will still keep sales, but auto's will be brought in from Argentina and other places around the globe. Ford ending manufacturing in Brazil, continuing South America operations (detroitnews.com)

I agree with you on the first two points, but the 3rd I think many have missed the comments that they wanted to see if this could be done and how. The battery pack on the inside is not what is planned and will either be encased between the frame underneath or as you mention some sort of cover over the battery pack inside so the space can still be used. I could see a steel strength plastic cover over the battery pack if you wanted it inside like they did for this concept experiment. I suspect since they do have a wide range of e-crate motors and battery pack options coming that you will have choices on how you package or place the battery in an auto that is converted. I see in the comments that people were asking when the 1,000 HP 3 motor e-crate would be available. This it sounds like is the same electric motor package that will be in the Hummer EV.

Richie Rich

Chevrolet Performance e-Crate Story. This is a very cool video, Lovely Truck and Blazer EV style.

FYI, while I agree that the Buick Envision is a bit pricey, as long as you do not mind color, you usually can get the fully loaded Buick Envision for about 1/3rd off at the end of the year. I helped my oldest sister a little over 2 years ago get a fully loaded Envision for $39K including tax and license out the door compared to the sticker price of $51K that was on it. I see even now a fully loaded Premium II that still stickers for $51K is currently on sale for $44K. I would expect with the all new 2022 coming out this spring that you can get the last model pretty cheap.

Wine @ocnblu Beer was an important staple in Egypt. So important that it was one of the most common goods placed in tombs with the Sarcophagus so that they could enjoy a beer in the After Life!

Based on how deadly this virus is, the long term 6months on average symptoms stick around with all kinds of crazy side affects, I will PASS, HARD PASS on auto shows for this year. Sad, but reality. Plus I think with most tradeshows being virtual and the amazing success they were last year that it is going to be interesting to see how if ever they come back. I hope so as I really want to get back to an auto show and test drives.

Beer

Good Read, seems Ford nailed the mileage. 2021 Ford Mustang Mach-E range test: At 70 mph, true to EPA highway results (greencarreports.com)

Pyramid

Some funny posts of the Pandemic changes and impressions.

The new numbering system will make more sense for EVs than the current ICE product. Cadillac should stay with C.I. or C.C. and leave the Torque to the EVs.

My wife and I did one 500 mile road trip, the North Cascade Loop. North Cascades Scenic Highway (scenicwa.com) We only stopped in a true Western Cowboy town, still has wood sidewalks, horse tie up posts, etc. Winthrop (Scenic Washinton | Best Small Towns in Washington | Winthrop) to use the bathrooms, otherwise we had all our food with us in the Escalade and only stopped at places where no one else was at to stretch legs and look at the beautiful scenery. Lucky for me the Escalade can make the loop on a single gas tank, so minimal people interaction there too. This is the kind of road trips we will do in 2021 planning to minimize any interaction with other people during this pandemic.

Totally agree with you, I have NEVER seen any marketing for the Cadillac XT6. I talked back in November when I got the oil change done on my Escalade and my sales rep informed me he was retiring due to the pandemic and decided to stay safe in the woods. I asked him how the XT6 was doing and he said that they had sold maybe 6 for all of 2020 at the time compared to the dozens of XT5 and Escalades over the year. Problem he saw was that people seem to like many other options out there better than the XT6 and the interior. He said which I agree with that the fit n finish is good but GM did not give it the luxury level that people are expecting for the price. In fact he said the weird part is people have a better luxury impression of a Denali equipped CUV over the XT6 as his sister GMC/Buick store was selling gang busters all they could get of CUVs. It is sad as while I was excited for when Cadillac talked about it, was disappointed when I actually saw it and the rushed job to just get it to market and have another niche filled with a product. GM needs to stop doing this if they want Cadillac to grow. Focus on the Luxury and let GMC/Buick fill in all the Niche areas for appliance sizes.