G. David Felt

Agree there are some states that represent their area of North America very well and others that totally blow at it. I will say that the Northwest Territories is a very cool plate in the shape of a Bear.

Cool, production to still start at the end of this year. Chevy Equinox EV Production To Start This Year In Mexico (gmauthority.com)

Weird, I cannot seem to find any post where I stated it would start under $30k

Interesting https://electrek.co/2023/11/01/ev-sales-still-rising-at-22-3-in-ca-tesla-cedes-lead-back-to-toyota/ Very interesting to see: Stellantis ousts Tesla in Q3 in Europe as Jeep, Ram EVs coming to US (freep.com)

Seems BMW is talking back at Tesla about Batteries. “Tesla Needs To Close The Gap With Us," Says BMW On New Cylindrical Battery Cells (insideevs.com)

Moving on to This is Muse, Awesome music!!!

Today has been a Black sort of day, especially music wise as I have been listening to this multiple times today.

As one that has been in both and driven both when your 6'6" tall, 300lbs. You then have a right to call a CX-9 cramped when it is and your legs are pressed into the dash as a passenger cause the seats do not use the space efficiently, but then in a Bolt, I have inches in front of my knees. So yes, my experience of living with a CX-9 for 2 weeks on a family vacation does give me the right to call it cramped. You all are more average size for North America and forget to put yourself in the shoes of those that do not fit the general population. When a subcompact gives more room for a big person in the front and back over a medium sized SUV, then the subcompact is roomier. This is not me being blindly GM supporting, but actually calling out poor packaging of a mid-size SUV by Mazda compared to a much smaller auto from GM. Sadly, most Japanese autos are built around much smaller people due to the country and average size of the people.

I do not blindly back GM. I am more than willing to call them out for their BS. You and another are hung up on a generalized term of About and the $30,000 compared to the competition that stated starts at. Big differences in those two terms. Any company is in their right to use general terms and put in statements as GM did at the Equinox announcement in January 2022 CES show that it would start around $30,000 MSRP is subject to change. GM clearly knew they were playing the marketing card to get attention and till just now did not state actual starting prices. They also did not realize how popular the Chevrolet BOLT would become and demand for it. As such, adjusting for room in the growing EV family is understandable. At least GM did not pull a Tesla in price, offer and then give weak ass excuses for killing it after a couple months or like Rivian, try to increase prices after taking deposits with set pricing that changed to reflect inflation. Those upset about this, appear to be fixated on $30,000 price point and not the actual product. Yes, ICE Equionox are priced cheaper, but even the LT1 Equionox EV has more content than the base ICE version. Inflation has made all things more expensive and consumers have demanded more content which makes things also more expensive. As such, things will be more costly and we will not be living in the 90's when gas averaged $1.34 per gallon and the average price of a new auto was $16,950. Average Cost of Car & Gas Prices (idrivesafely.com)

I do not see the FWD 250 mile range Equinox ever actually being produced as it is a smaller battery pack and as @oldshurst442 pointed out they increased the size of the battery pack to standardize on one size. Chevrolet Equinox EV - 2024 This would mean that the Equinox LT1 FWD 300 mile range EV would be the base imho. Interesting as their websites have conflicting info depending on which one you are on about this EV.

WOW, GM never said under $30K, it was around $30K. Chevrolet Previews Equinox EV January 5th 2022 press release that clearly states around $30,000 and a clear message at the bottom MSRP is subject to change. You can get upset all you want and that is fine about a product that was nowhere near release yet nor any actual firm pricing. To me it is a moot point that is no big deal as they never were sold or had a committed price yet. Go ahead and beat up GM over an around statement and a clear subject to change statement, will not affect the end result.

This is one that we will have to agree to disagree on as Starting at price with reservation deposits versus around price with no reservations/deposits are two very different things. GM was very clear that they were focusing on having a price around $30K for the base Equinox but would not be able to commit till farther along in their work when they first started talking about this at the 2022 CES show in January of last year and then said they would hopefully be around $30k for a starting price but again no commitment to the price or reservations allowed so it was just a goal. But we each take the verbiage differently. Starting Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster Around Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster I get that around is as defined with some approach to exactness versus starting is a set point or price. Yes I get that you see it as a semantic and that GM should have delivered a $30K Equinox. After instant rebate it is still a $27K EV.

I agree with you that it is BS, but I disagree with you that the wording of Starting at $35K or $67,500 for R1T or $70K for R1S versus around $30K. Legally GM can get away with this as they did not state a firm starting price. Both Tesla and Rivian as we well know had to deliver to the original order holders that starting price for their EVs as they committed to the price starting there and took reservation money based on that pricing. Around is not a commitment to $30,000 dollars even though everyone got excited with that price, even me. I have a sister and her partner that were wanting to buy, but here is where another difference is. GM NEVER took any reservations at a set price and the reservations do not open till November now that firm pricing is established. GM's initial Equinox EV to start at $49,000, get over 300 miles range (freep.com) I agree that you have the right to be pissed as does @ccap41 about a difference of $5K for a base starting price versus originally talking about pricing being around $30K. Just remember that GM has not done a bait and switch that did get Rivian and Tesla into hot water as Rivian and Tesla both took $1,000 deposits for EVs with a clearly stated starting price that they then tried to change. In Rivians case they honored the original pricing but for Tesla, they actually produced a few $35K Tesla 3 for a few months and then said that there was not enough demand to justify the price and production and killed it then raising prices across the board. To me, that is a big difference and if GM can truly reduce costs by delaying launch of the Equinox till Q1 2024, then who knows, we might all still see a lower priced Equinox. As it stands, with January 1st 2024 the tax rebate being an instant rebate at the time of purchase on the dealership lot, a base price of $34,995 not including the instant $7,500 rebate makes this a sub $30,000 EV or to be clear, a base price of $27,495 for the base Chevrolet Equinox EV with 300 miles of range.

Nope the General does not get a pass on this, they never committed to a firm $30K price, they stated around $30K was what they were aiming for and did not do what Tesla and Rivian did with setting a firm price and then raising the price after the fact that they could not deliver on that price. I agree with you that some folks will give certain brands a pass no matter what they pull, but I have to humbly disagree with you my friend that I have done this with GM. They have screwed up plenty of times and right now they very well might have lost out on any business from me with delays to their EV portfolio. The next few years will tell is the delays are warranted or not and if the idiots who think we should stay stagnant on ICE auto versus EVs win this or not. Interesting times we live in for sure.

Yes depending on the configuration of the R1T launch edition. According to the web this is what was stated at that time: The base model of the R1T pickup increased from $67,500 to just under $79,000, while the R1S base model had a similar jump, from $70,000 to $84,000. The new prices are effective for new customers, but early reservation holders will avoid the price hike. So the price jump was even more for those that had the truck or SUV configured up with the max battery pack and fully loaded options. Crazy

There are also still lots of options for parts online too. Amazon.com : 2003 buick park avenue parts 2003 Buick Park Avenue Aftermarket Parts & Accessories | CarParts.com

Yes, I would agree that it is time to take advantage of Black Friday and get some decent 4k resolution real estate. I have had some weird power issues with my own personal dual 30" 3K screens and am wondering if I should go with a large single screen or two modern screens where I have one in portrait mode. Liking the following: Dell UltraSharp 43 4K Monitor (U4323QE) - Computer Monitors | Dell USA Or maybe stay with dual monitors like I have maybe go with this: Dell UltraSharp30 Inch USB-C Hub Monitor (U3023E) : Computer Monitors | Dell USA But then the cost of dual monitors is pretty much the same as a single 43 4K monitor. The more I think on this now, I will go with a 43" 4K monitor when I have to replace my dual 30" monitors.

Agree that in today's inflation driven world, computers especially with AI CPUs should allow them to be far more accurate on pricing and since they could in 24 months totally design and virtual test a all new auto, they should have been able to have far better estimates. This is also where I feel companies need to post the additional information that prices are subject to market driven forces and could increase or decrease based on market fluctuations. I think this gives proper wiggle room to remind the world that what happens on wall street and stock exchanges around the world can grossly change things overnight or over a few months or a year. With that said I do love a state law we have here where if a retailer has a price posted on the shelve for a product and it rings up as more, they have to honor the price that is on the shelf, not in the POS (Point of Sale) system. I am all for having the federal government hold companies to honoring prices they advertise or state. Course in this case GM used the marketing gains of being talked about as a $30K EV by using the word AROUND $30K. Unlike Rivian where they stated a firm starting price of $XX,XXX. At least they did come back to honor those that had reservations at those lower prices. Big differences as Tesla said starting at $35K versus GM around $30K. Tesla honored for a short period the $30K EV price to keep from having more lawsuits than they have had.

Tesla Customers put money down and ended up with far more than a 5K price increase. The actual price when the 3 came out is what caused allot of my coworkers to cancel their reservation. I agree it sucks and one would think they could get more accurate pricing than this, but it was announced almost 2 years ago. This is not something that was earlier this year. Quote: The Chevrolet Equinox EV was announced for sale on September 8, 2022. The limited edition 2RS will be available in fall 2023, while the full lineup will be available starting spring 2024. The estimated MSRP for the Equinox EV is around $30,000.

Tesla had decades of bait n switch and GM as well as Ford got their EVs up and running mass production in 2 short years. So yes it is expected that prices would be vaporware based when they first announced them. News and many other sites all stated they would be surprised if GM kept to the $30K price point. Also while inflation did start going up, specifically: Value of $1 from 2019 to 2023 $1 in 2019 is equivalent in purchasing power to about $1.20 today, an increase of $0.20 over 4 years. The dollar had an average inflation rate of 4.75% per year between 2019 and today, producing a cumulative price increase of 20.39%. This means that today's prices are 1.20 times as high as average prices since 2019, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index. A dollar today only buys 83.333% of what it could buy back then. The inflation rate in 2019 was 1.76%. The current inflation rate compared to last year is now 3.70%. If this number holds, $1 today will be equivalent in buying power to $1.04 next year. $1 in 2019 → 2023 | Inflation Calculator (in2013dollars.com) Just one of the many sites you can reference to see the difference between 2019 and now in 2023, our dollar only gets us 83.33% of what it used to be. Same with this situation, GM probably did as you stated threw out a price to grab attention, no different than everything Musk says about Tesla or SMK says about Mercedes and Tesla. As they say, where the rubber meets the road, the real prices are finally here and as such at least we now have firm pricing on the Equinox. Nothing gets cheaper, only more expensive and we have to push ourselves to keep up or we drop in our ability to buy and live the quality of life we wish.

This reminds me as I watched an old movie that I like, the original Hitman where the president of Russia is assassinated and they are driving him around in a stretch Lincoln. Made me crack up considering that is not what Russia would have allowed for their own president when they have their own auto company brand to use. Great Movie - Hitman (2007) - IMDb That is a stretch Lincoln MKT produced from 2010 to 2019.

This is to be expected and not bad when you consider the inflation we have gone through since 2019. NO ONE and I mean NO ONE could have predicted the idiot response our government did with Covid as well as the rest of the world and how the shortages would have affected both long-term and short-term prices. When you consider what everyone is asking for, we will never see autos that are priced below 20K ever again as a new auto unless you're in a third world area where safety devices are not required, and they still make the auto pretty much manual everything and even then, that is becoming a thing of the past. It is the electronics that have made thing more expensive and consumer demand for them. While I hate unions with a passion due to my own experience with them and the failure they have done to the workers due to corruption in the 70's and 80's and it is still there now, I cannot deny the workers getting a fair piece of the pie from the corporations. As such, cost of living, cost of manufacturing, cost of employment, etc. etc. etc. is all adding up to higher prices for autos. Yes, we can all be upset if we only look at things through a stagnation point of view, but the reality is it is up to each of us to grow our skill set and our worth by shopping ourselves around to find those companies that value our self-worth and pay us what we are worth. This allows us to afford buying what we want. This is why I do not see a $5K price increase as that bad for something that a company just starting to setup manufacturing of said product had to increase to cover costs of production. This was all estimates of what they said they could produce it for at the start and now with contracts in hand, manufacturing set up, the actual prices are now firmed up. This is CHEAP compared to what Tesla Promised and then actually delivered. Remember the Tesla 3 was promised to be a $35K car in 2016, actual starting prices were $47,240 for the long range model and $53,240 for the performance model. Today in 2023 the Model 3 starts at $40,240 before the tax credit. How Much Is a Tesla Model 3? Cost History, Price Drops, Fluctuations (businessinsider.com) So Tesla has FAILED to deliver ever on their own original prices and a $12,240 price difference is way bigger than a $5k price difference on the Equinox EV that goes into production right after the start of the new year. There is still a chance we will see some auto company deliver a cheaper version like GM has committed to for the Bolt, but that is subcompact compared to compact and already the compact are bigger than they used to be in size due to the required safety features. That is how I see it IMHO.

Factorial loves to quote Thomas Edison who in 1883 said the following: "The storage battery is, in my opinion, a catchpenny, a sensation, a mechanism for swindling the public by stock companies." Factorial states that this sentiment is true and has been held over the last 138 years till now. Investing in solid-state battery R&D over the last 6 years has allowed Factorial to create their proprietary FEST (Factorial Electrolyte System Technology). Factorial held their grand opening ceremony at their state-of-the-art solid-state battery production facility in Methuen, Mass. Siyu Huang, CEO of Factorial stated the following: “We are thrilled to open our next-generation battery facility in Massachusetts as we scale our batteries for mass production,” said Siyu Huang, CEO of Factorial. “This facility will enable us to manufacture cells to meet the needs of our automotive partners and progress our mission to commercialize solid-state batteries. As a U.S. company, we’re also proud to contribute to the onshoring of battery manufacturing for EVs and advancement of battery innovation for a differentiated supply chain.” This opening represented a $50 million investment and creation of over 150 local jobs. The current footprint of this facility will enable Factorial to ramp up Solid-State battery production to a maximum output of 200MWh annually, making this the largest solid-state battery assembly line in the U.S. Former Chairman and CEO of Panasonic Corporation of North America and current Executive Chairman of Factorial, Joe Taylor made the following statement: “Factorial continues to drive the battery industry forward and this milestone is no exception, automaker demand for American-made batteries is high to produce electric or hybrid vehicles that qualify for incentives. Our facility will manufacture automotive-sized solid-state batteries at pre-production speed and volume, illuminating a clear path to mass production and reaching economies of scale.” Factorial quasi-solid-state batteries are designed for higher energy density and safety compared to today's lithium-ion wet batteries. Factorial Energy Press Release At the start of October 2023, Factorial started to ship to EV auto companies' samples of their 100+Ah lithium-metal battery cells sized to meet the needs of the auto industry and certified passing the UN 38.3 safety tests. Stellantis, one of the few auto manufacturers to go on record has stated that Factorial Energy solid-state batteries are 30% denser than today's lithium-ion batteries. This allows Stellantis to deliver two ways, lighter vehicles and those that have a much longer driving range. Stellantis back at CES 2023 keynote stated that they are working with Factorial to deliver a second-generation version that will be 50% denser than today's lithium-ion batteries. The 100 Ah solid-state battery cells are delivering on the promises Factorial has made and looks that a second generation battery cell expected by 2030 could give Stellantis and other auto companies that have invested a future of where the auto industry will be going in this decade as Factorial has stated that their solid-state cells will provide a 20 to 50 percent higher energy density based on use case and that it directly translates to a 20 to 50 percent greater range. Could this be a potential jump on finally moving society to EVs? View full article

This is very cool to read, GM has a press call today and it was very informative. Chevy Equinox EV priced at $34,995—with an estimated 319 miles (greencarreports.com)