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G. David Felt

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Everything posted by G. David Felt

  1. G. David Felt
    Diamler wanted to sell 25,000 EV's in Europe in 2019, but was only able to build and sell 7,000 due to battery shortages. Ramping up production ready battery packs seems harder than Daimler realized as they have halved production already for 2020 from the planned 60,000 EVs for Europe to 30,000 now due to EV parts shortage production especially around ramping up the battery production part. Daimler blames LG for not being able to ramp fast enough to produce the cells needed for their battery packs. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/01/23/mercedes-halves-eqc-production-battery-shortage/ While Daimler is failing to meet emission required levels as their emissions have gone up on their auto's as Europe has introduced reductions that Daimler must meet, currently they are up at 130.4 grams fleet average and need to be at 103.1 Grams fleet average by Jan 1st 2021. Daimler is also blaming Tesla who bought Grohmann Engineering for delays in building up their own battery production sites. Seems Tesla is wanting to build an inner city compact EV for China. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/01/21/tesla-city-car-china-design-center/
  2. G. David Felt
    Gotta love people selling restored auto's on Ebay. https://www.autoblog.com/photos/ebay-finds-for-the-cost-of-an-average-car-in-america/#slide-2202577
  3. G. David Felt
    Seems Bridgestone and Michelin will offer Airless tires on 2024 model auto's in 2023 via GM. Also Bridgestone will have tireless bikes this year for the 2020 summer Olympics before going on sale globally. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/01/22/bridgestone-airless-tire-commercial-vehicles/#slide-2202494 Seems the era of airless tires is finally here after 20 years of research.
  4. G. David Felt
    @balthazar MB also keeps saying that China and the US are key markets to grow. If so, then they will have to ramp up their sales here which I can see being ICE focused as they deal with the China forced EV change of ramping sales there. Europe also is not backing away from moving to Hybrid / EV of all auto's so they are going to have to invest and find a way to be profitable. Tesla is selling every 3 they build now in Shanghi and are getting on average of 20 new orders per day there, with a $20,000 drop in price it is amazing going from $75K to $55K how sales can jump.
  5. G. David Felt
    Curious, who do you think looks better from the side or back as this is on par with everything from the Germans, Asians or Americans.
  6. G. David Felt
    While cool to see, this dash SCREAMS at me busy busy busy and is not a well thought out layout of a Dash. Totally agree, love the attention to detail and yet simple clean dash design. Would love to see it restored without all the corrosion.
  7. G. David Felt
    I am willing to bet that MB will pull such tactics also to get their EV line selling. Might not be free electricity, but they will have some other grab for possible buyers to get pulled into buying the EV badge. Just like Rivian is including the Tank Mode now for all AWD 4 motor auto's.
  8. G. David Felt
    I totally agree with you and the west coast is very much the same as your area of Canada with state, county, city govs in sync with residents on EV's / Hybrids. Most want full size truck/SUV BEVs. As such, I think once these come to market we will see a dramatic move to EV's at least here on the west coast. I still think the Governments drive to have a cleaner climate is what will drive the change from ICE to EV. China especially will drive this.
  9. G. David Felt
    Gotta Love this EV Conversion of a 1969 Dodge Truck. Very cool read and I have to agree that many issues people have before they buy do go away once they have their EV and change a few habits on how they charge, when and use. Over all, excited to see EVs finally move off 1% once we have more options out there.
  10. G. David Felt
    Nope, at the beginning the S&X regardless of model and options were all free, but then later on only the top model versions or extended range batteries had charging for free. Later as @balthazar has pointed out, Musk turns the tap on and off depending on sales, models, etc. on the need to keep things going.
  11. G. David Felt
    Yes for local trips, but if your on a road trip, makes sense to charge over lunch. Tesla is NOT free to Tesla 3 owners. Also many S & X owners have to pay too. They have not done free for everyone. Just select options / models.
  12. G. David Felt
    Costco is always fast, they keep their system running great and is the fastest to fill, Kroger sucks big time, I have never had more problems fueling than at a Krogers. Seems dirty filters and poor vacume recovery system of the fumes causes them to constantly turn off. With smartphones, I have seen so many start gassing and then play with their phone, bet it takes longer than most people realize. Will have to time my next fill up.
  13. G. David Felt
    I agree with you that Solid State Batteries will change the EV game as we are at the start compared to the 125 years of ICE evolution. ERROR, Cybertruck is NOT able to tow more than the F150. Ford has already proven that their Rivian based F150 can tow 1.25 million pounds and the Cybertruck is only rated at 300,000 pounds. Big difference between them, right now Ford and Rivian for the win at this point.
  14. G. David Felt
    Avereage brake jobs on Hybrids are lasting 100,000 miles so still much less maintenance than traditional ICE auto's. If you have a small car or CUV to Medium, then yes under 10 min to fill and you have stated you fill at half a tank so always quick to top off. I know I spend 20 min fueling at the gas station as the full size SUV's, aka Escalade ESV and Suburban SLE have way bigger tanks than your Jeep has. Anyone wanting a full size truck to pull with will and should always get the bigger tank option than the smaller ones. Plus depending on how the gas station services their own pumps and the dirty level of the filters, you can easily spend 10 to 15 min fueling at the pump on a mid size auto. Just my own observations IMHO. Yes all the wireless pads you can have installed are automatic. The 3rd party ones are compatible with the Leaf, Bolt, Volt, i3, i8 and Tesla. That removes the whole cord thing, just drive over it, get out, lock the auto and go in if outside, otherwise just get out and go about your life that night, next morning full battery charge. My plans are for the wireless pads in my garage once we buy an EV. Here is a good writeup about the current state of Wireless Charging: https://chargedevs.com/features/whats-the-current-state-of-wireless-ev-charging/ Nice thing is that with the auto's you do not have to be perfect just drive over it and they will grab and charge the battery as long as the bulk of the pad is somewhere under the auto.
  15. G. David Felt
    I do fit in it, you seen me in one. Just the Wife, ya know the other 50% of the couple equation hates the Black n White dash.
  16. G. David Felt
    This past weekend saw plenty of Leafs, Tesla and various hybrids up T Steven's Pass Ski Area. Saw my first Bolt up in the snow, handled real well.
  17. G. David Felt
    Very cool, I can see them being a big success with their Green based buyers. Should do them well.
  18. G. David Felt
    Do not forget Rusty!
  19. G. David Felt
    MSN posted the Best selling Cars in America by Brand. Very interesting to read. https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/research-guides/best-selling-cars-in-america-—-by-brand/ss-BBYPu65?li=BBnb7Kz#image=1 Acura RDS 62,876 Alfa Tomeo Stelvio 9,444 Aston Martin Vantage confirmed their top seller but refused to state sales number Audi Q5 67,516 Bentley Continental GT confirmed top seller, refused to state sales numbers BMW X3 70,110 Buick Encore 102,402 Cadillac XT5 49,879 Chevy Silverado 575,600 Chrysler Pacifica 97,705 Dodge Grand Caravan 122,648 Fiat 500 3,267 Ford F-series 896,526 Genesis G70 11,901 GMC Sierra 232,323 Honda CR-V 384,168 Hyundai Elantra 175,094 Infinity QX60 43,162 Jaguar F-Pace 15,491 Jeep Grand Cherokee 242,969 Kia Soul 98,033 Land Rover Range Rover Sport 25,768 Lexus RX 111,036 Lincoln Nautilus 28,573 Mazda CX-5 154,545 McLaren 600LT confirmed top seller, refused to state sales numbers Mercedes-Benz GLC 73,650 Mini Cooper 22,123 Mitsubishi Outlander 40,775 Nissan Rogue 350,447 Porsche Macan 22,667 Ram Pickup 633,694 Rolls-Royce Cullinan confirmed top seller, refused to state sales numbers Subaru Outback 181,178 Tesla Model 3 180,000 Toyota RAV4 448,071 Volkswagen Tiguan 109,963 Volvo XC90 35,760 Clearly the SUV/CUV and Truck is the rage of the auto selling world and some models are just printing money for their company.
  20. G. David Felt
    Here every business is required to have dedicated charging spots at work, but also at restaurants. As such, stopping at a place to sit down, you pull into one of the charging sports, plug in and go eat. I get the west coast is far more EV friendly than the east coast as such you are correct that you would not get a full 1hr charge if your having to find a charging place. In time more I am sure will get installed making it easier.
  21. G. David Felt
    I have thought of that and thank you for pointing it out, the Hybrid systems seem to be more efficient, your running a much smaller motor in generation mode than a big V8 idling all that time. Not sure who it was but I think it was @Drew Dowdell or @dwightlooi who pointed out that for a hybrid, you could have a very small 1L diesel generator that would be super efficient at recharging a battery pack. I still think hybrids can be more efficient than a city, county or state, heck even federal just buying a ton of V8 auto's.
  22. G. David Felt
    Bigger question to ask is how many people are just waiting for GM, Ford, FCA, etc to bring out the EV Trucks and SUVs to buy as they want to reduce the amount of maintenance an ICE auto requires. Here in the growth of High Tech Seattle, many folks are driving much older auto's awaiting electric options that they like. Plus with houses pretty much having 220 chargers in the garages as mandated by the state as well as Apartments and businesses plus all the rest stops from Vancouver BC to Baha California one can easily do road trips, I get it that for some of you here you refuse to wait for the charge time on top of the cost. But early adopters like doing other things and for me, I see no reason when you stop for a 1hr lunch to not charge to full the auto then. As @Drew Dowdell has pointed out for all things plug in, it is a change of habits and an adjustment to life style where you plug in at night when you come home and start full in the morning compared to running out to the gas station. Change is good, but not always easy for everyone and I get that there can be many points made against any technology and any change.
  23. G. David Felt
    Correct, the City of Seattle here averaged 28,000 miles a year on their fleet vehicles and during sporting events, the Seattle Police auto's are constant running at idle for 6 to 8 hrs. All that fuel is wasted.
  24. G. David Felt
    Yes that is very true, Lucky it seems Mary is willing to push that direction. the next 5 years should prove interesting to see if she does really reinvent GM or is just playing politics internally.
  25. G. David Felt
    For me, an Electric Challenger would be great as a weekend cruise car with the wife. 300 to 400 mile battery pack would cover the fun short road trips for me.
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