G. David Felt

Coronavirus is having a positive impact on the planet in regards to one very important issue. AIR QUALITY - Considering that auto's and other ICE driven items like boats, etc. contribute to the increase in NOx levels especially in cities, the lock downs around the planet have seen dramatic reduction in NOx levels with some cities seeing the clearest skys in decades. Satellite images are showing dramatic changes in cities and industrial areas all around the globe. Italy's level of air pollution has dropped by 40%. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/23/coronavirus-pandemic-leading-to-huge-drop-in-air-pollution Play with the maps covering different countries and see the difference of air pollution via the link above. Just one example is China:

COOL NEWS - Jaguar iPace gains huge mileage using Magna e4 technology. https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1127584_prototype-drive-magna-e4-ev-is-a-300-mile-jaguar-i-pace-with-reworked-dynamics Yes, Jaguar gave one of the concept iPace EVs to Magna to show what they could do to help the company in supplying parts. Magna took the 292 mile range EV and turned it into a 367 mile range EV with more horsepower and torque using their new motors based on the WLTP European test cycle. In the EPA cycle, this goes from 234 miles to 300 miles of range here in the US. Jaguar iPace comes currently with the following specifications: 234 miles on the 90kWh battery pack 394 HP AWD via two 147 kw motors Jaguar iPace Configured using Magna e4 components: 300 miles on the 90kWh battery pack 429 HP AWD via two 160 kw motors Boost mode is 483 HP AWD via 160 kw motors that change to 180 kw. Added Magna inverter adding Torque Vectoring to the iPace which it did not have before. True Decoupling of rear wheels allowing to run in FWD mode increasing range of the Battery pack. Magna investigated 3 motors with 3 inverters much like GM is doing with the Hummer by GMC Truck and SUV which would have huge performance and mileage gains but the cost surpassed the goal of increasing performance while reducing costs. Using the Magna supplied parts reduced costs of the iPace while adding the following to the auto: 25% Battery range increase 12% better battery management due to the following 6% from Magna's reengineered propulsion system 4% from the AI system of managing the whole auto electrical system 2% from weight reduction of 200 plus pounds. Future tech that is being worked on, such as for slippery surfaces where one side of the auto uses regenerative braking while propulsion is on the other side to correct an auto out of a slide that gains energy recovery while adding protection of staying in control. Now interesting is the ending of the story, Jaguar DID NOT commission this engineering study at Magna. Magna builds the iPace, Toyota Supra and BMW Z4 at their Graz Austria manufacturing plant. As such, being familiar with the iPace, they took the concept and used it for their Engineering project. Magna being a supplier to Jaguar should become a win - win situation as Jaguar supplied the iPace and their internal Data to Magna. Magna built it even better and showed how it could be improved and returned that data back to Jaguar. As the Story ends, Jaguar has their hands full as they are in the middle of developing an AWD Electric XJ Sedan, larger jPace CUV and an equivalent Land Rover currently nicknamed Road Rover as part of their move to full EV portfolio. This looks like a decent mid-cycle refresh for the iPace as Jaguar has stated it will continue to be built for a normal model lifespan meaning a 5 to 7 year cycle. Mid-life refresh should be out for iPace by 2021, so Magna could very well increase their sales and supplies of parts for the iPace.

Very Cool read on REAL WORLD Testing of EVs in Norway. Bet Tesla will not be happy. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/03/21/electric-cars-cold-weather-testing/ The Norway testing showed that the best EV was the Hyundai Kona EV. It only lost 9% of it's real world range nudging it ahead of the Tesla 3 by 1 kilometer. On average, due to the cold, EV's averaged 18.5% reduction in real world driving range by the European testing standard. FYI, the EPA is far more conservative than the European testing cycle so usually EVs do much better than their posted range. Based on the consistent testing of all EV's Tesla still was near last as the Tesla model S lost 23% of it's range and the Tesla 3 lost 28% of it's range even though both auto's have the largest battery pack with the longest range according to this study. The worst performer was the Chevrolet BOLT known as the Opel Ampera-e as it lost 30% of it's range in the freezing weather test but was among the least expensive of the ev's also. Note is that GM has since updated the battery pack with longer range, faster recharging capability and enhanced cold-weather handling capabilities something that was not available on the model tested here. Very interesting read on charging, how EVs will actually keep you constant on power delivery right up to full depletion of the battery pack and one thing they learned is that with EVs, if you turn everything off and let it sit for 1hr, you will still have enough charge to get just the motor to run for a few kilometers, long enough to get home or to a charging station.

Seems real world racers are going online to stay sharp till they can get back into their auto's to physically race and are finding themselves outmatched by faster, quicker reaction of online gamers. Very funny read, but also has some very valuable lessons they could properly apply in their real race world. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/03/23/f1-nascar-virtual-auto-racing/

Taking a Porsche 911 and turning it into a Hybrid is something the folks in Germany will not do as they have their Taycan. Yet so many wonder if it can be done and for a mere $75,000 a company out of California has created a hybrid kit that only adds 170lbs of balanced weight to the auto, replaces the starter and flywheel as this special electric motor goes between the motor and transmission and keeps things for the most part all natural. Yet with this hybrid system, your 911 gains 150 HP / 150 lb-ft of torque and has various driving modes to help you optimize the power delivery. Over all, very cool read that they say they are looking to offer this on other auto's such as trucks that could help drive down the price. A shadow drive system that from an engineering standpoint would be a great boost to those auto's with smaller motors as it does not change anything in the original motor. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/03/25/porsche-911-hybrid-vonnen-shadow-drive/ Toyota plans for the future just got leaked on Facebook. Seems the all new BRZ and GR86 will get a 255HP turbo motor on a RWD new platform as we will also see a hybrid Sienna fall 2020, New Hybrid CUV fall 2020, Lexus is KILLING OFF V8 motors in any auto under $90K and more, read about it here:

VW 411 & 412 were interesting and corner case auto's that sadly were too little too late to the industry and just wrong time for the era. Cool that they are being covered in a book. Hopefully those that are into the auto industry will enjoy that book. Very cool, thanks for posting it @axlon

Loved Grumpy Cat too, R.I.P. Grumpy Cat.

Wishing you all the Best in surviving this period. Sucks to be jobless and hope a decent focused on Americans rather than a free handout to the big businesses Pandemic package is passed by the house and senate and signed by the president to help those out that have been most affected.

Had my updated Influenza shot in 2019 during my yearly physical. So while I do not know my blood type, with my workouts, healthy eating for the most part and keeping social distance, I think I am doing good. Only thing that sucks is a family history of high cholesterol. I have mine under control lucky for me. Hopefully I can resist the little corona virus bug. Squash it out.

Seems Men and Type A Blood are the most common for getting sick and dying. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/coronavirus Seems men more than woman are hit hard and JHM has not figured out why but some men end up sterile. https://www.menshealth.com/health/a31265159/men-coronavirus/ Italy is 3 out of every 4 cases are men compared to China where 106 men to every 100 woman are struck with the virus. Course in older individuals, more men again. I think young men need to be very careful if you want kids, protect the family jewels.

Manhattan Island is reporting 100 deaths now. Not so sure dense city living is the way to live. Just saying 1918 influenza and the black plague hit cities very hard.

Seems Gas has hit a new low, 2002 style with 99 cents per gallon at a BP in Kentucky. Most places could see by summer gas averaging $1.49 according to the investment community.

Despite Covid-19 issues around the World, Polestar has started production of their Polestar 2 EV car being assembled on the same production line as the Volvo XC40. https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/polestar-2-ev-production-availability-covid-19/

We were way over due for a stock correction. But now it is just fear selling, fear buying like all the crazy idiots that are buying up guns and ammo with no training. They will probably hurt their family, loved one, friends, etc. before actually defending their home if things got really crazy like the 1918 Influenza death totals and then why would someone want to go into a house where they could possibly catch the virus and die. Just some real crazy stupid stuff going on.

Some very interesting news in the Electrical front: Seems Austria has isolated 53 employees of their electrical Utilities to insure that they keep the electrical grid up and running during this pandemic. This has made our own politicians bring up for discussion requiring electrical companies to isolate employees to insure the electrical grid stays up in this country. https://electrek.co/2020/03/23/egeb-austrian-utility-employees-isolate-us-new-york-state-green-energy-1-billion/#more-127387 Tesla's ELectric Semi truck was spotted coming back from Alaska from Winter Testing. What a dirt covered mess. LOL https://electrek.co/2020/03/23/tesla-semi-electric-truck-spotted-coming-back-winter-testing-production/#more-127369 Seems Tesla has found ways to optimize the battery pack as Musk says they are looking at 600 miles of range on a charge for a fully loaded truck. That is impressive. https://electrek.co/2018/05/02/tesla-semi-production-version-range-increase-elon-musk/ Tesla has committed to Semi production starting in summer 2020 with deliveries to start in the fall. The last interesting bit of info is who would spend $69,500 for a fully converted Classic T1 Samba Bus? This is a converted old VW Vans and they can convert all T1, T2 and T3 Microbus vans. I get that some really love their old VW microbus minivans, but I have to think that waiting for the ID Buzz Microvan that is 21st century EV would make a better deal but I guess the memory of the old vans is just too strong for some in California to not do this too. Crazy but cool too. https://electrek.co/2020/03/23/vw-and-eclassics-unveils-e-bulli-converted-electric-van-available-for-69500/#more-127324 eClassics web site where they are converting various old auto's to pure electric. https://murschel-electric-cars.de/eclassics-bulli/ I use chrome to convert the German web site to english reading. You Choice as it seems you can have them convert the Porsche Classic Speedster, VW bug, VW buggy or VW Samba microbus.

I guess being in the thick of things from both a Big Data storage point in the medical info point and with my background and talking to my sister daily and hearing what is being done and how they are being as protective as possible, I do not see what is so confusing about the facts of we are dealing with a Virus, cleanliness is important, social distancing is important, minimize contact with others at this point till we better understand this virus and the best way to attack it with drugs to help those that are more susceptible to being killed by it. Safety of mingling with family and friends that you feel comfortable around, safe with their personal hygiene and knowing who is and who is not sick is fine as long as people are aware. Using common sense and being alert to those that might be sick rather than just allergies from the spring start up. Example of this is my wife stays home right now as she has bad allergies and sneezes and her nose runs. Yes she takes Zyrtec D to help dry up and control her allergies, but anyone that is allergic to grass, trees, pollen, etc. can understand how the nose runs and the sneezing. Not sick, just allergies, as such so that others do not freak out, she chooses to stay home having me run the shopping to keep things going. I also for the safety of my senior parents who do have medical conditions, do their shopping and drop it off at the front door, then back off and have my mom get the stuff. Just being safe, even though I would love to hug them and give them a kiss on the cheek, just being vigilant in safety at this time for them and everyone else. Just trying to do my part and help others in this time of pandemic craziness. Wishing everyone else a great Monday and start of the week. In other news, have not watched any races as I was out in the yard working to get my garden going. I did find this fascinating as it was considered to be unique, not one of the first Hybrid auto's, but one of the first on 6 Wheels, YUP 6 WHEELS. Built on the Heels of the 1979 oil embargo and Jay Leno's Garage got them to take it out on the road for the first time since 1988. https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1127540_this-american-hybrid-concept-faced-spiking-gas-prices-with-six-wheels Briggs and Stratton built this 6 wheel hybrid. The Hybrid was actually quite advanced—and sophisticated looking—for its time. The vehicle has a parallel drive system, allowing the driver to manually select whether the vehicle is physically powered by the gasoline engine, the electric motor, or both. It could go up to 60 miles, fully electric, at 40 mpg or less in EV mode, with nearly 1,000 pounds of lead-acid batteries and an 8-hp electric motor. Very cool tech as the ICE motor was an 18hp, 694 CC 2 cylinder Air cooled engine with a 4sp manual transmission running on a 72 volt power system with regenerative braking. very advanced for the time considering it was 40 years ago. 3,200 lbs vehicle weight, 68 mph top speed and 30 mpg fuel efficiency. @dwightlooi What are your thoughts on this 1980 Hybrid Auto?

We shall learn soon enough unless GM kills it due to the world wide pandemic.

@trinacriabob @ccap41 I will say that with my own medical school background, having a sister who is an RN on the front lines as well as her best friend and as of this morning they are dealing with in home care of multiple seniors who have Covid-19. It is NOT something to take lightly. Also it is not less than the 1918 Influenza that killed 150 million world wide. We are at the start of a Global Pandemic that could match the 1918 death count if we do not use common sense. With 15,430 according to JHMC site or 15,419 from the world meter site either way we look at this, we are at the beginning of a reduction in population. It is sadly hardest on seniors with reduced immune system and men who smoke / drink heavy reducing their health. The important thing to take away from this is that we CAN SURVIVE it by doing the common sense things of cleaning surfaces, washing hands, coughing into your own shirt of a napkin so that we do not spew water vapor droplets out and about. Those that have healthy immune systems can survive just fine by also remembering to not touch your face, nose, mouth, eyes and ears. Yes all places that can allow the virus to get into your body. Strong personal hygiene along with just being aware of those around you can go a long way to keeping you virus free and safe. Being cautious is fine, but cabin fever as the spring weather gets nicer can drive one nuts if you do not get outside and at least go for a walk and be aware of those around you. Be safe, be clean and be alert and we will all get through this together.

Yes it is, while I like the John Hopkins site for the Medical Info, I have really enjoyed the link you shared with the base fact numbers they present. Thank you, War Time rules, GM, Ford and Tesla given green light to make Ventilators and medical supplies. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-ford-gm-tesla-given-ok-to-produce-ventilators/ar-BB11xm9r

Went to Costco today, good social distancing, they got this down as you get a sanitized cart or flatbed upon being let in. Clear signage of what is and is not available.

This is a great spot to check if you want to follow the count of infections, death, recoveries by country around the world. Clearly Coronavirus has surpassed SARS / MARS and is right behind the Spanish FLU, which is not what is truly is called but due to multitude of reasons is truly known in the medical community as 1918 influenza pandemic. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ SnapShot for you all: Much more info on the site, interesting how China has stopped reporting new cases as they say they do not have them among their own population from from those that traveled to their country and as such they do not claim them to be cases in China. Bizarre

That was FORD who is using used Coffee beans to build parts on their Auto's. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/04/ford-is-making-car-partswith-waste-from-mcdonalds-coffee-beans.html Yes I also get that you are poking at Rivian who is using recycled materials on the inside of their auto's. Great Read on what areas each auto maker is using recycled material in their auto's. The German Trio has had much of their over rated interiors using recycled materials as is others especially Ford. https://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2016/07/automakers-are-building-your-cars-with-interesting-recycled-materials.html

Huge Reconstruction project is rebuilding that whole complex and so all the stores, businesses and yes the 24hr fitness in that compex of downtown Kirkland are gone. That was the Parkplace compex. https://www.kirklandwa.gov/depart/planning/Development_Info/projects/Parkplace.htm Map of that area of what is being built there now. All the IDIOT College kids got a stern response from our Companies founder, CEO and Chairman. Do not apply to us, we do not want irresponsible employees like you. I am so behind his message and their lack of responsibility during this pandemic. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/19/michael-dell-to-spring-break-video-coronavirus-partiers-dont-apply.html Your new Golf Cart.

I have Ramen as a fast meal back up but still taking time to cook. Love fresh food. Missing my daily workout at 24hr fitness. ? Pesto Alfredo pasta with veggies Chapagetti with beef bites Home made Cinnamon rolls Harvested the last of my winter Leeks and made Leek soup. Love Grilled Sandwiches, so using Potato bread and only butter, mayo sucks to grill a sandwich and gives a weird taste/texture. Pepperoni and Havarti grilled cheese. Or start buying the 24 oz Monster with the screw top. Increased caffeine.

Pretty much every restaurant either has drive thru or they are doing pickup and a number of them have started delivery. Very weird not interacting with people. Been 3 weeks of working from home and only seeing the wife. Crazy.