G. David Felt

Interesting how one comes into this thread which was on Alternative fuels and starts calling California Commies or specifically calling them commiefornia and I respond to his remark and he says I started the politics. ? So back to our Alternative Fuel Propulsion thread. Greece is working with VW to change over to pure electric auto's and renewable power starting with the island of Astypalea in the south Aegean Sea. This will be the start of the country converting all areas to clean renewable power and transportation reducing contamination from the environment by petrol. The current 1,500 ICE auto's on the island will be replaced with 1,000 EVs as well as all municipal and commercial auto's. Public transit is very limited as such the island will be setup as a sharing service for private EV use. VW did not confirm or deny that this is related to their diesel-emissions scandal, but this does mirror other settlement programs with other European governments and looks like what Renault also did with an island off France and another off Portugal where their own issues were settled out with those governments. https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1130195_vw-project-to-transition-greek-model-island-to-electric-vehicles-renewable-power

GM Defense was awarded in June a $214.3 million contract to build the all new Infantry Squad Vehicle or ISV which is based on the Chevrolet Colorado ZR2. GM Defense will build 649 ISV's with a extension of up to another 2,065 ISV's over eight years. The initial contract order of 649 ISVs makes each auto cost $330,200.31. If the full contract is full filled, the additional cost for the 2,065 ISVs is $681,863,636.36 or what is approximately a $900 million contract. The ISV is light enough to be sling loaded from a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter and compact enough to fit inside a CH-47 Chinook Helicopter for air transportability. More details at the link below. https://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/home.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2020/oct/1027-gmdefense.html GM-Defense-Delivers-First-Infantry-Squad-Vehicle-to-U-S--Army.mp4

Meet the hummer team, story at this link: https://plants.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/ev.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2020/nov/1102-hummer.html Cool vid on the Ultium Battery Pack. https://www.gm.com/masthead-story/ultium-battery-electric-future.html Battery-Pack-modularity-enables-range-variance.mp4

BMW has started production of their all new BMW ix3 EV suv in China and will export it to Europe for sale. Plenty of external and internal pictures at the link below. Quote from the story: BMW confirmed the specs of the iX3. The BMW iX3’s 80-kilowatt-hour battery pack — 74 kWh of which is useable — offers a range of 460 kilometers (286 miles) using the generous WLTP testing numbers. That likely translates to around 200 miles in real-world driving. The battery pack feeds a 210 kW/286 hp electric motor with a peak torque of 400 Nm (295 lb-ft). and acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h [62 mph] in 6.8 seconds. As for charging, the BMW iX3 can take a 150 kW DC fast-charge output. The electric SUV costs about €70,000 in Europe. As we previously reported, BMW canceled its plan to launch the iX3 electric SUV in the US, but the price would translate to about $67,000 USD before taxes and incentives. https://electrek.co/2020/11/04/bmw-ix3-electric-suv-price-specs-gallery/

Battery tech is moving forward at Warp Speed. The new SuperBattery using man made curved Graphene carbon material has the individual battery cell down to a 15 second recharge time. This is brought to you by Skeleton Technologies and KIT or Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. A $1 billion letter has been signed with an Automotive OEM to bring these cells to market. This would make a 40 kWh battery like what the Nissan Leaf uses recharge from empty to full in 6 minutes. https://www.skeletontech.com/news/skeleton-and-kit-are-developing-a-new-graphene-battery-charging-in-15-seconds

Consumer reports has published their latest report on auto cost savings for owning an EV over a comparable ICE auto. Seems the average savings on owning an EV to a comparible ICE is $6,000 to $10,000 with Tesla 3 being the best at $15,000 savings over it's lifetime. Average fuel savings is 60% alone. https://chargedevs.com/newswire/consumer-reports-popular-ev-models-cost-less-to-own-than-comparable-legacy-vehicles/

First Chinese made EV car EPA certified and cleared for use in California. Deliveries to start between now and the end of the year. The basic entry level EV car qualifies for the California $2,000 EV credit and the federal $7,500 ev credit giving it an effective cost of just $7,999 out of the customers pocket. Cheapest EV on the road. The Kandi K27 comes with an EPA rated 59 miles from a 17.7 kWh battery pack and a top speed of 63 mph. This micro subcompact car is clearly for inner city use for the most part. The 4 passenger car is only 136 inches long, more than a foot shorter than the Mitsubishi Mirage. Kandi K27 will have the following standard: backup camera 9" touch screen infotainment system bluetooth connectivity Before any credits this car costs $20,499 and right now for the first 1,000 customers, Kandi is offering a $3,000 discount which brings it to $17,499 then add the credits and you end up at $7,999 Kandi K23 is the more expensive and little bit bigger car that is $29,999 before incentives or discounts and has a rated top speed of 72 mph and 111 miles of battery range. The K23 will be available for purchase in California come 2023.

TBG SS is limited production, has a collectors status with high resale value even with the miles I have on it. Once I think I convert the Suburban, I will probably garage the SS for just weekend trips is my long term thinking. After all, how many TB SS do you really see, they stand out from the standard TB. Even now I get compliments and people are surprised when they learn it is a TB SS edition.

Yup, posted about it on the last couple of pages. I am excited that GM is going to use the Ultium family of batteries and motors for various connect and cruise packages that will have all the controllers, wires, cooling, etc. in a package that can be then used to convert any ICE to EV. Thinking of this for my 1994 GMC Suburban.

I miss you too! ?

Not to mention that the engines themselves have gotten much bigger and as an example, the Dreamliner 787 can fly for 5000 miles on 1 engine alone.

True, but I still do not think it is right or fair to jack up prices, I just shop elsewhere than deal with dealers like that. Very cool as the SAE j2954 wireless charging standard has been released and it includes V2G or Vehicle to Grid reverse charging which means you can have your EV plugged in and if you lose power at the house, the auto can supply power to the house. As a water proof charging pad, this makes EVs even easier as you just come home park over the pad and let it re-charge overnight. https://insideevs.com/news/450548/sae-j2954-wireless-charging-standard/ This is the actual standard site, but very techy, the story above is a nicely laid out clear explanation of the code. https://www.sae.org/standards/content/j2954_201904/#:~:text=The Recommended Practice SAE J2954 establishes an industry-wide,charging of light-duty electric and plug-in electric vehicles.

This is one of the most cool stories I have seen and read about how Michelin tests their tires. It has since been retired to their Museum. The special built car also had dual 23 gallon fuel tanks. This car would travel at 111 miles per hour and powered by duel Corvette C3 5.7L V8 engines. Car is 23ft long. Good read of all the details at the link below. https://www.thedrive.com/news/37188/michelin-built-this-freakish-10-wheeled-citroen-to-test-truck-tires-at-110-mph

My bad, I made an assumption here and should have clarified, battery packs that get usually attached between the wheels under the auto are sealed but use a cooling system to optimize the performance during hot or cold weather. As such, attached with the Electric Motor is an Electric Heat Pump that is used to both heat or cool the cabin plus regulate the battery pack. I disagree with you as your Buick project is a cool project but your modding various things to make them work just as you did with your truck. Same is to be said for any auto project whether you use an ICE or EV power train. Changes have to be made to allow a modern power train to work with an old auto.

Ford CEO Jim Farley in an interview said FORD will be moving forward with Making EV's affordable to the masses. As such, expect to see sooner rather than later Ford Electric Commercial vehicles as well as mass appeal affordable EVs. Ford on their Q3 results call said to not expect Ford to come out with a $100,000 plus off roader as they have that covered for now. Ford plans to make an even bigger impact with our EV strategy by ensuring our Ford Electric Transit Van family and F-150 work truck appeal to everyone from Businesses to retail users. Their Mach -E SUV went into full production last week and will ship by the end of the year to customers. Farley went on to state that Ford does not want to be just another auto company that transitions to EV's but wants to lead and right now to lead and support our commitment to the Paris Climate accord and in standing with California on CARB requirements, Ford will be moving to ensure everyone can afford an EV. Farley says this is not a propulsion story but an investment in the digitization of our business. Ford has stated to use a baseball analogy, that Ford is NOT in the first inning of electric transformation due to the cost challenges as they prepare to support the needs of affordable EV's with battery pack production as they are building in Canada. The second inning is where Ford will be seen as they expand the offerings in the commercial sector with di-directional charging, job site charging, connected servies, supporting roles for EV's that will help to lower ownership costs of EVs. Farley did not get into any other details of their business plan but did state that expect Hybrids across all product lines to come out next year and the future of SUVs is electric which will start with assembly at the Ford's Oakville, Ontario Plant. https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1130166_ford-is-betting-on-commercial-electric-vehicles-affordable-evs-says-ceo

Volvo has finally opened their dedicated EV Motor design lab in Shanghai and Gothenburg Sweden. Moving forward the company will use their own designed and built electric motors. which will make even the motors in the PoleStar auto's even more efficient and powerful. At this time, the existing motors they are using are about 50% efficient when compared to Tesla. The new global platform SPA2 platform will go with their new Recharge PowerTrain family and motors/platform will start with the all new EV XC90 SUV that will come out in 2023 as a 2024 model. The next EV will be their luxury top of the line XC100 Recharge also out in late 2023 or early 2024. https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1130165_volvo-is-developing-its-own-electric-motors-for-evs-in-sweden-and-china

I would disagree with you as there are clear religious groups that have the presidents ear and are manipulating it to achieve their own agendas in regards to Woman Bodies/reproduction rights as well as groups such as @Robert Hall points out that is attempting to get government to change to a certain way. I agree with you that at this time our constitution has protected all well be you one to follow religion or not. But we are in interesting times with fanatical groups and individuals attempting to change the country. This is no different than how we debate and discuss EV's versus ICE auto's here. Change is inevitable, some will embrace it while others will fight to keep any change from happening.

This is no different than your current auto project. For those that choose to go this way, you have the bulk of the parts and working components. Unlike keeping an old auto, to that old spec and trying to hunt and find ways to make it work, this comes with a long list of already working parts including the cooling system which is already mounted on the motor that goes in the existing engine bay. One of the benefits of connect and cruise is that it does limit how much you have to hunt down or create yourself as in regards to mounting brackets. Like the ICE connect and cruise packages you can buy, the EV connect and cruise will as with all auto projects have some modifications and custom making brackets, etc. if you go that route and do not do which lots of folks have in regards to using existing mounting holes. That extra cost is all up to the individual and if your doing this yourself, at least GM has already covered how to make the motor, controllers, wiring, cooling and battery pack connect and work together. How professional looking is up to you. Since these EV packages will connect to existing transmissions, there is no change in drive train components or brakes That is the benefit of a Connect and Cruise is a working powertrain that will take minimal effort for the auto enthusiast to install and make functional. One could take an existing auto, pull the engine and install the EV crate power train following their directions or one can go the complete way you are doing with your cool Buick and redo everything paying attention to details and taking years. Your right it is all about the money you want to spend, but this is no different than buying an ICE GM Performance Powertrain. ICE is just as expensive or even more so depending on the performance you want. Currently on sale, but normally $30,000 roughly for the Motor, Transmission, Wire harness, controllers, o2 sensors, etc. and if this is going into anything but a corvette, you have the same mod costs so this could if say you were putting it into a 1986 Monte Carlo SS, you still have plenty of modifications to do including hooking up the cooling, AC, etc. that you mention. One interesting observation is the Connect and Cruise Engines with Manual Transmission are anywhere from a few hundred dollars to thousands more over the engine with Automatic transmission. Example: https://www.gmperformancemotor.com/parts/CPSLT4DT56.html

Ford CEO Jim Farley is not shying away from stating that the Ford Mach e will be a true competitor to the Tesla Y long range AWD auto. I have to agree with the CEO that this being built from the ground up as an EV and not an ICE converted to EV auto gives them a good chance to compete and with Tesla no longer having the federal discount, Ford will have an advantage in the short term. I hope the dealerships do not attempt to put on the idiot stupid local deal markup pricing that adds crazy thousands to the price. The story at the link below had some interesting comparisons. https://electrek.co/2020/11/02/ford-ceo-mach-e-tesla-true-competitor/#more-153559 Tesla is either now or already has changed over their battery assembly line to support the new Panasonic cells that hold 5% more power but will have 20% more total by 2025 and a much faster recharge time according to Panasonic and Tesla's ex head of their battery department. Panasonic also is spending an additional $100 million to speed up production increasing output of battery cells by 10% by the end of this year. The real game changer is that the new battery cell's are expected to be able to rapid charge at 250 kW for 50% of the battery storage before it starts to slow down in charging the cells. While this is great news, I do have to wonder why when the Mach e and Hummer EV have 350 kW charging from the start that Tesla has not improved to match? https://electrek.co/2020/11/03/tesla-tsla-new-battery-cells-panasonic-faster-charging-capacity/#more-153642

Hot weather testing, very impressive. Anyone else watch Long Way Up? Have to say this makes both the Trucks and Motorcycles very impressive.

Do not forget the spin that Religion also plays in attempts for power and control. I wonder how many here ( The WHOLE US ) have really read our constitution and understand the rights we have as people.

Very cool, in Russia, air brushing one's auto for custom look is exploding. Have to say, some pretty cool art work. https://jalopnik.com/russias-airbrushed-car-scene-is-out-of-control-1843107995

Sadly, there are those in society that are much like a Horse with Blinders on and fail to see the benefits of a Multi-Cultural Society. Multi-Tech Society, etc. Sadly many countries will remember how terrible the US was to them far longer than how good we were and the bump of ignorance that hit for what I hope is only a 4yr road bump. We need to lead by example and by working with the world, not by fighting everyone as a bully on a school yard does. Old thinking, being complacent and wanting for the most part to have everything Stagnant is how society dies. Look at companies that have continued to grow and you find them global multi-cultural companies that are embracing working with everyone. Road Trips is what makes this forum so much fun as we see how various types of auto's make it out there and how they either work with society and mother nature or hurt it. I for one am very excited for both Hummer and Rivian and after watching the Rivian TV show on their trip from South America up through Central America and back to North America am looking forward to seeing how I fit in one and if the wife likes it. Could be that either the Hummer or Rivian is my first EV.

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Very excited that Connect and Cruise will use the Ultium battery and motors to offer various conversion kits with the controllers and wires. https://media.gm.com/media/us/en/chevrolet/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2020/oct/1029-sema360.html First Kit out next year: The 60-kWh Electric Connect and Cruise package, expected to be available in the second half of 2021, includes: 60-kWh battery pack 200-horsepower electric motor / 266 lb-ft of Torque DC-to-AC power inverter to drive the electric motor DC-to-DC power converter to power low-voltage systems Wiring harnesses, controllers and water pumps for battery heating and cooling This kit alone is more power than many 70's or 80's auto's had. GM will not confirm or deny, but someone let slip that this first conversion kit would be about $14,000. Not bad when you think of the motor, battery pack, controllers, wires, etc. Much cheaper to have an auto you want to drive that is EV than to buy new. As the media press release states, GM will continue to offer Connect and Cruise solutions from the LSX V-8s to eCrate conversion kits. Imagine putting in the 1000HP / 11,500 lb-ft torque motors and battery pack from the Hummer into my 1994 Suburban. AWD Awesome Power Performance!!! with the best part being fueling from home over night.