G. David Felt

After working all week in the house and not going much of anywhere, today is food run and pharmacy run to get the wife her meds. Will be nice to get out for a brief time.

I would take a Korean or Japanese auto every day over German built crap. Reliable and will not leave me stranded nor gouge me at $1,500 for a replacement head light. German Built Auto's, Over Priced, Over Rated!

Cool, but sad as it does not look like it was well cared for based on all the junk put in it and around it.

Sad that Cadillac has never really optimized taking their concepts to market and given much less than they could in the luxury segment. Yet still Genesis is way better, but not perfect than many out there and a side profile comparison shows that Genesis nailed it for the most part.

@balthazar Seems various universities are constantly creating new maps as are news outlets. Associated Press asked the University of Chicago if they could build a map that tracks Covid-19 infections and deaths by county across the whole US. Thought this was very good . https://chicago.suntimes.com/coronavirus-data/2020/4/1/21203507/united-states-coronavirus-map-cases-by-county-live-updates The story points to AP chart by County of Infections / Deaths based on John Hopkins University data in association with the WHO. https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/nRyaf/23/ Just move your mouse over each county and the data pops up. WOW ?

Just before shutting down all Rivian facilities they made this video to give an update on the whole business. They are still focused on production starting this fall.

Love these gif album covers: Where's Waldo Social Distancing version:

Stay Safe and distant my friend. Wishing you all the best as you move around in this crazy pandemic world. New Music albums taking social distancing into effect.

I disagree that GM felt Oldsmobile was an embarrassment. I grew up with this logo: and Yet I think the best Oldsmobile logo was the following: The one thing I hate about my SS is the stupid GM square logo on the door. Honestly you should be able to sell a model based on it's name without having to say Olds, Oldmobile, Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac, etc. I honestly think GM marketing was onto something of using a logo with auto name to drive individual product line awareness. Sadly too much company politics and waste of money into far too many different sell Oldsmobile versus selling Aurora. Who cares about the brand name if they do not know the products. I honestly think Genesis could take their logo and just have a Giant G in the middle and that would be good enough.

Bet @ocnblu is in the far back seat causing a ruckus!

Weird the Tesla main blog area states 1 to 2% a month if not plugged in. In regards to the battery, Tesla you are right does have a deep cycle 12V battery, but originally with the Roadster it used the main battery and in 2010 according to this detailed blog changed to a 12V battery to keep things set for electronic settings. Very weird considering you could do it with the Lithium. Need to dig into this more to find out why as I am curious. https://teslatap.com/articles/12-volt-battery-compendium/ Good info here on the Tesla's and the various 12V batteries each version uses along with a detailed image of where this battery is located. Chevrolet Bolt when looking at the web site does not indicate any 12V battery, but I thought about it and dug up an owners manual and it does have a standard 12V battery for basic such as settings in the auto and access into the auto. Very weird as I would think they could use the auto main battery better for this. Page 22 of the owners manual states it does have a 12V battery in addition to the main power systems battery. https://my.chevrolet.com/content/dam/gmownercenter/gmna/dynamic/manuals/2018/Chevrolet/Bolt/2018-chevrolet-bolt-ev-owners-manual.pdf @Robert Hall I am sorry, I am wrong both Tesla and the Bolt have 12V lead acid batteries for basic settings in the auto info saving and access into the auto. if something happens to the high power system, you can still get into the auto via the 12V battery. In regards to the discharge of the main high power battery pack, Chevrolet and Tesla official web sites are stating 1 to 2% reduction for just sitting. As @ykX has mentioned, looking around I do see Tesla owners who have posted up to 30% depletion upon sitting and it is clearly based on where one lives as the heavy drain seems to be common in cold weather areas.

There is a new Business for you, build quality unique replacement push button covers for the Mach e and what appears to be push button access on the up coming Cadillac. Very cool I think to go back to this type of access.

Robert, due to technology with battery conditioning, depending on where one lives, an EV can sit for a month and only loose 1 to 2% of charge unless it is very cold or very hot and the management system to keep an optimized temp kicks on and then at most 10% of charge. Both Chevrolet and Tesla have sections on their sites about battery conditioning and battery life. No different than over time, GAS will evaporate a small amount out of your tank, batteries will loose charge. The better the design of the electronics, the longer the battery pack will hold a charge. This is one area where I am interested to see how well the engineering is as my Escalade ESV Platinum, if it sits for a month, the battery will be dead. Cadillac has like every other luxury make a wide variety of devices that need a trickle charge to keep everything saved and ready for use. GM supposedly on their new High flow electrical system took this into account and the 2021 Escalade's are NOT supposed to have the electrical drain. Ford also has stated that they have built into the Ford Mach e capacitor holding capacity to keep the auto electronics stable for up to a month with no connected charging. As such, the trickle drain on traditional 12V batteries in auto's that do not get driven much should be minimal for those with updated modern electrical systems and especially in EVs. Hope this helps answer your question. No, The electronics in both the Bolt and Tesla models have large capacitors to store power to keep settings and power up quickly, etc. All power comes from the main single battery pack.

AAA is reporting that the National average for a gallon of gas has hit $1.997 per gallon. First time since early 2000's that gas has become this cheap. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/03/31/gasoline-prices-2-dollars-gallon/

BYD of China is launching their updated Flagship EV sedan in June using a Lithium Iron semi-solid type of Blade Battery with 50% increase in energy density. The fire resistant battery pack will have a range of 376 miles at 40% less size than competitors battery packs. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/03/30/byd-blade-battery-han-ev-safety/ We are living in interesting times of Tech Change.

Seems Jeep is moving forward with a Full EV / Hybrid assault as they will have the fastest and most capable off road and on road SUV's across the planet. Jeep clearly says there is a market and they will continue to make Hellcat versions of all their auto's, but they also need to move to cleaner emissions and that is where the EV's and especially hybrids will benefit everyone especially those that do go off road and need range plus the ability to power devices like cameras and laptops in the outback or on the Rubicon trail. Hybrid Wrangler will become the fastest on pavement and off road as it uses a pure electric drive train with generator for range plus increasing the ability that the wrangler can do off road by allowing the controllers to turn only those wheels that have actual grip giving better off road capabilities while reducing wear on the planet. Very cool tech coming. @Robert Hall Seems your next GC could be a high Mileage Hybrid that would get crazy gas mileage. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/03/31/jeep-hybrid-electric-plans/

BMW is also going to give Hydrogen another try with a new Hydrogen X5 CUV out in 2022 as a 2023 model with a new 374 HP Hydrogen power train. I question that this will go anywhere but they have a commitment with the German Government and Co-developed with Toyota who is paying for the research to deliver a working power train model with so many auto's to be built. Toyota is looking to use it in medium duty trucks which will help remove toxic diesel particles. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/03/30/bmw-hydrogen-technology-detailed/

HISTORY TIME - Very cool writeup on when SAAB actually tried to build Electric Auto, the SAAB Mail Delivery van from the 1970's during the oil crunch with the Arabs. Lots of pictures as it is in the official SAAB museum which went with the company when it was bought to become a pure electric auto company. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/03/30/saab-1970s-electric-van/

Very cool on how Ford is keeping the development moving forward for the Mustang Mach e. https://www.detroitnews.com/story/business/autos/ford/2020/03/30/ford-mustang-mach-e-development-doesnt-stop-coronavirus/2925506001/ Love the way the new doors on the Mach e open. Round buttons are embedded in the B and C pillars to open the doors. Push the Disk and the door pops open 1.5 inches. Then you grab the door and pull it the rest of the way open. Front doors have a small hook as a grab-assist. Have to say the 58 photos at the link above really show the quality that Ford is putting into the Mach e. Excited for this auto to come out.

My home office.

I have to disagree, I HATE Google and Amazon open space work area with all the noise and no privacy. I was at Legato which was bought out by EMC and we had the normal 5ft cubicle walls but every other cubicle was a different color as the company had 3 colors in their logo. They then had 4ft of clear plexi glass wall above so you could cut out the noise of the coworkers. All lights were day light equal indirect bulbs. So you had a sun equal bright work area with no direct harsh glare. It was great cause you could stand up, see people but the noise level was tolerable. I been in areas where you have sales folks and in an open concept, the noise is destructive as all those Alpha Sales peeps are talking louder and louder to be heard over everyone else. So for me, NO, I want walls and quiet. I loved my time at Microsoft as everyone had their own office, 450 sq ft of solitude and yet big open spaces in the center of the building for working with others when needed, plenty of meeting rooms, etc. There are better ways than the Google / Amazon cheap hell of open concept work space. Google and Amazon have started to build with clear Plexiglas office space that goes away from the open concept as at first it is very novel, but then the noise level makes it hard for many to concentrate. The open concept was very 1960's dictator type management and it has not worked as studies show productivity goes down. I wish you all the best when you go back in as I suspect in a few months after you been there, noise levels and distractions will affect over all productivity. Great deals and it does help with focus and removal of distractions as you go into work mode, sit down and you are away from your house distractions even when in your own house. Always good to have an office. Your back yard is big enough, consider adding another room as an office setup for you to optimize your work and have a door to the back yard so you can step out when it is nice to take a break.

Halo ? Nope this Halo

My wife is Korean, I went to college in Japan and Park Min Young is Korean actress, singer and Model, Triple threat who I discovered in the K-Drama "City Hunter" which I highly recommend. Good fun action show with cliff hanger endings. A good weekend marathon to watch the series on NetFlix or any of the streaming services. FYI, Amazing how long the legs look as she is only 5'4" tall.

Virtual Woman! Park Min Young