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G. David Felt

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Everything posted by G. David Felt

  1. G. David Felt
    Missing the Point my Friend, if your running on a platform of Making America Great Again, and you speak about bringing back jobs, restarting the coal industry, building up American manufacturing, Steel, etc. then walk the walk. He should be like Warren Buffett and buying American products including cars. Warren who I do highly admire and respect drives Cadillac and has stated he could buy many times over European luxury auto's, but as one that believes in America, he supports everywhere he can American companies. Trump Net Worth = $3.5 Billion Warren Net Worth = $87.5 Billion Which business man are you more inclined to follow? One who truly puts his cash where his mouth is at or one that says one thing and does another. That is the point I am trying to make. Potus as the leader of the free world currently should be leading by example of what he wants to attain. Starting a probe into what he believes is hurting American Manufacturing should also be led by examples of where he spends his money.
  2. G. David Felt
    Actually the W211 Mercedes-benz platform is from 2002 to 2009, Chrysler was allowed to use it starting in 2005. The W211 is an enhanced version of their W210 platform that was all new starting in 1995. So this family platform ended in 2009 as it was replaced by the global W212 platform at MB. Chrysler continues to use it so if you look at the whole family, then you have 1995 to current on a W210, enhanced platform called W211 when given to chrysler. Pretty old platform no matter what. I agree with @ccap41 Green with bronze wheels is a lovely color.
  3. G. David Felt
    Tax payers paid for it, I want him to dump his Euro Trash cars and buy American. After all, he does run on the phrase "Making America Great Again!" Though his actions are anything but. Back on Topic, I agree with Drew that as long as NAFTA is in effect, this is mostly aimed at the Chinese who are wanting to get into our market to try and dominate it.
  4. G. David Felt
    Glad to see we are on the same page. I totally agree with you that the crossovers / SUVs that start coming off their 3yr lease will flood the market and like cars, will end up being great values to pickup.
  5. G. David Felt
    My 1994 GMC SLE Suburban is worth more than what your 3 point star is worth and will out work it. Roomy, comfortable and road trip worthy while able to haul ass with 505 HP 551 lb-ft of Torque. Plus I can pull anything. So like you said my GMC is worth something plus a bit more.
  6. G. David Felt
    I get what your saying, but in watching it again, he did say that the part he had that was printed was by GM. That was their approved printed part that would replace the stamped multi riveted part. I know that 15" is the max size for that guys printing system, but there are other commercial metal printing systems that can print much larger. I do wonder how long some of the other take. Be interesting to know. One takeaway is that this clearly is how some of the funky concept auto pieces I would have to think are being made. Interesting technology and who knew we had made this kind of advances in printing.
  7. G. David Felt
    At least go to 8:30 and watch the couple min there where he shows the original stamped / cast part and the replacement part built by a Metal 3D printer. Amazing the difference. 11:34 is where they show a GM part that is made up of 8 individual stamped parts then fastened together compared to the replacement part that is 3D printed and eliminates tooling costs and other features. Over all cost is reduced over the traditional process. By 15 min you can unless interested, can ignore the rest of the 3D conversation.
  8. G. David Felt
    Potus 45 could start truly representing Americans by dumping his Rolls and buying and driving american auto's, supporting American companies in many ways that he does not do so now and stop this stupid tax everyone BS.
  9. G. David Felt
    @balthazar I was laughing at some of the Awe in the guy about the car. You know I like the EV's but also was a bit surprised about the inside room and you are right I question the headroom in the back seat seeing where those headrests are at. Best part of the Skyroof I thought was you could look up and dream of hover cars while in traffic. Thanks for confirming some of my own feeling about it.
  10. G. David Felt
    1965 James Bond DB5 Aston Martin to go up for Auction July 13th. http://www.automobilemag.com/news/goldeneye-1965-aston-martin-db5-set-auction/ I would love to own this baby! ? Back to my original post on 3D printed auto parts. Found this on Autoline, very cool video to watch of actual auto parts and the ability to weld them and build a much better auto.
  11. G. David Felt
    Love the final pic of the Lawn Mowers in the Back. Never be late to your mowing job!
  12. G. David Felt
    Award Worthiness Confirmed for Motor Trend 2017 Car of the Year - Chevrolet BOLT Motor Trend plugged in their long term Chevrolet Bolt tester 13 months ago and today they announced that they have confirmed it lived up to every expectation of being the 2017 Car of the Year. It was not just a good affordable EV that eliminated range anxiety but after 17,000 miles deserved to be praised! They do state that the CUV was not perfect as they had two software updates that fixed issues and the shifter was replaced. With that said, maintenance for the year was $0. Cost of powering the EV CUV which had a total of 154 charges cost a total of $630.58 using 69 charges at the office, 47 charges at public for pay stations and 27 times at home. This compares to driving the same distance in a Toyota Prius that would cost $800 and a Kia Soul that would cost you $1,550 dollars. Over all the write up is very good with plenty of interesting info on living with an EV auto. As they state, the only EV available today for under $40,000 that you can go buy and drive off the lot same day. The motor trend staff is ready to make the switch. Breaking down monthly fuel costs: Bolt = $52.55 per month Prius = $66.67 per month Soul = $129.17 per month Motor Trend 2017 Car of the Year Story
  13. G. David Felt
    Cool customization job of a Tesla S that makes it an attractive auto. https://insideevs.com/meet-project-malibu-tesla-model-s-p100d-by-tsportline/ TS Sportline edition.
  14. G. David Felt
    Hits Keep Coming for Tesla 3 Edmunds two years ago put down a $1,000 deposit for the Tesla 3 and bought a $56,000 configured Tesla 3. This car to date has only been able to rack up 5,257 miles in 4 months due a very long list of problems and multiple service calls for what many call cutting edge EV. The goal was to rack up at least 1,700 miles a month in the Tesla 3, so 6,800 miles in 4 months yet the EV is sidelined again awaiting a service call. Edmunds has confirmed that the Tesla 3 met and at other times surpassed the EPA rating for the car. The list of issues is so long that they have a google doc to just keep track of them all. Most common issues is the annoying and repeated uncontrollable increase in stereo volume even when your not in the car to maximum sound. This is just a small issue compared to the keycards not being recognized, touch screen freeze up and interior parts falling off the car such as the vanity mirror, which has been fixed and yet still seems to fall off when you open it. As the story continues, after the last service call where numerous issues were fixed, they then left to go on a drive and had the auto lock them out of being able to shift into drive or reverse until the auto rebooted and powered up. This along with a message that the car is in limited regenerative braking mode and the message that the car cannot maintain vehicle power and may stop or shutdown. There are a few highlights in regards to storage space and speed, but the pictures are funny. Currently this long term drive test auto is leaving anything but a positive experience for Edmunds. Edmonds Story
  15. G. David Felt
    2020 Mid Engine Corvette. Very cool pics and read. https://www.motor1.com/news/242513/2020-mid-engined-corvette-spied/ Love the pictures and info on the XT6 from Cadillac. A 3 row CUV sloted between Escalade and XT5. https://www.motor1.com/news/242805/cadillac-xt6-spied-testing/
  16. G. David Felt
    Very cool Details on the build of the auto after a test drive. Very cool and worth the watch. So the dimensions of the auto put it in compact size external but internal is a mid class for space. Interesting listening to the 3rd part of the video where they discuss this not a real SUV/CUV and not a Car. @balthazar I be interested to hear from you what you think of their style design leader has to say about the i-Pace. 14:46 is where the style discussion starts.
  17. G. David Felt
    True, but think of efficient solar cells that send the power to a Graphene SuperCapacitor that they uses the stored energy for powering the auto. Possible ?
  18. G. David Felt
    Sad day, pristine restored Model A in the family for 45 yrs destroyed by woman on phone, distracted driving in a Toyota Corolla. http://www.thedrive.com/news/21056/distracted-driver-in-a-toyota-corolla-destroys-familys-treasured-1931-ford-model-a
  19. G. David Felt
    That was my thinking too, but I do understand from the engineering process where they are hoping to increase the efficiency of solar panels to where an auto could gather light, convert it and power the auto. Yes big leap of SciFi thinking, but I see where they are coming from. Dreams do some times become reality.
  20. G. David Felt
    iCar is a VW Mini Van According to story's at other sites, Apple is finally going to hit the road with their own autonomous auto. These auto's are going to be used to ferry employees around their new campus. Apple has partnered up with Volkswagen to use the T6 as their proof of concept in autonomous auto's. These vans will be outfitted at a VW assembly plant in Italy with the electric powertrain, sensors, software and battery packs. According to the NY Times story, Apple wanted to partner with Mercedes-Benz or BMW to develop their all electric self driving auto. This was all rebuffed after Apple wanted control and all data along with the design to be handed over to them according to people familiar with the talks. VW declined to comment on this matchup with Apple. Apple also declined to talk but insiders have said that Apples plans beyond getting these vans onto the campus is lacking in any direction and has led from the 1,000 person team of employees to just hundreds as others left for greener paths at Waymo and GM who both have autonomous auto's on the road now and will be expanding their fleet. Seems Apple who has a 50 auto fleet of Lexus SUV's that are daily testing their sensors and software and autonomous driving on ICE auto was unable to at first partner up with any auto company in the asian rim due to their requirements. Volkswagen behind in R&D compared to their german rivals and in the thick of a Diesel cheating scandal jumped at giving Apple all they asked for to gain a leg up in getting their EV auto R&D going. The original deadline to have these auto's on site and being used by the end of 2018 is going to be missed and first half of 2019 is more of a reality. Uber has announced the complete shutdown of their autonomous project and layoff of the 300 employees they had on this at their Arizona R&D office. NY Times Story Green Car Reports
  21. G. David Felt
    Seems recently a number of scientist are looking to replace the toxic Cobalt Cathode of Lithium-Ion batteries with a green solution that is actually plant based. https://www.zmescience.com/ecology/environmental-issues/green-battery-from-purpurn-04234324/ Seems the Madder Plant which has been used for thousands of years as a dye also is an excellent cathode component. Cobalt requires a large amount of heat to melt and mold into the proper Cathode component of Lithium-Ion batteries. Now at room temperature, the Madder Root can be saves all the energy spent on cobalt in a green approach to a cleaner battery. They admit they are years from a commercial production solution, but right now the results they have gotten even in testing of this organic green battery have been very positive in charging / discharging cycles with stable results.
  22. G. David Felt
    Found this story published in August 2017 "10 Alternatives to Lithium-Ion batteries". https://dgit.com/10-alternatives-lithium-ion-batteries-4242/ This covers both the pro's and con's of each one but the list goes as follows: Hydrogen fuel cells Lithium-Sulfur Graphene Supercapacitors Redox Flow Batteries Aluminum-Graphite Batteries Bioelectrochemical batteries Solar Panels Powered Roads Thin Film Batteries Solid State Batteries
  23. G. David Felt
    Currently the Nissan Leaf 2.0 uses No Cobalt as they use a Manganese / Lithium battery design. Tesla and GM are both looking at a Solid State replacement that would also not use Cobalt. I liked this story as it talks about Bye Bye Lithium / Cobalt, Hello Calcium Ion Batteries. Financial Post Story Yet while GM, Toyota, Hyundai, LG are all working on viable commercial production solid state Calcium Ion Batteries, the stepping stone seems to have come from a small start up in Tucson Arizona. Sion Power has come up with a commercial viable Lithium / Sulphur battery that provides double the energy density of existing Lithium-ion batteries today and improved safety. This company was infused in 2012 with a $50 million investment from German Chemical Major BASF to turn this idea into a commercial reality and they are now there. 2014 they tested the batteries with Airbus in a solar record breaking 14 flight using solar cells and these batteries for storage. Sion has now just LIcensed LG Chem TLD of Korea to start production of these new Lithium-Sulphur batteries for auto use. Example is that in a current Chevrolet Bolt battery pack at 238 miles of range for LIthium-Cobalt, now in a Lithium-Sulphur battery that would be 476 miles of range. Further info on Rechargeable Calcium-Ion Batteries can be found here: https://cen.acs.org/articles/94/web/2016/01/Rechargeable-Calcium-Ion-Battery.html So what was an Idea in 2012 for Lithium-Sulphur batteries, proven in 2014 and now in 2018 going into production for EV Auto's to come is what I believe we can see for Calcium-Ion Batteries. This means that we can possibly see these dense batteries in production for EV auto's around 2024 to 2026.
  24. G. David Felt
    Reuters Story - Hamburg Germany Diesel ban Seems that Hamburg has taken it upon themselves to address cleaner air, reduced acid rain and better quality of life by banning ALL DIESEL Auto's that DO NOT meet the Euro 6 diesel certification from their streets. With the Euro courts having ruled that cities do have the rights to ban polluting dirty auto's, Hamburg went to work on creating new signage and for the last few days been putting up the new signage as the ban goes into effect Monday May 28th. This has even bigger implications as Hamburg has asked the courts to rule in regards to allowing cities to ban all auto's that do not meet the Euro 6 standard from their streets. If the courts rule against the Euro 6 standard for ALL AUTO's, Hamburg is willing to drop back to Euro 5 standard from 2009 as the new default minimal emission standard. Even with a new Diesels must meet Euro 6 and all other auto's must meet Euro 5 standard of emissions for being allowed on the streets around Hamburg, this could have huge implications for classic auto's and especially older commercial trucks that pollute much more. From Paris to Mexico City to Athens, cities are watching this unfold in planning their own rules to remove polluting auto's from the roads around the planet. Nitrogen Oxide is known to cause respiratory disease especially in untreated diesel auto's or those using cheat software that would negate a emission cleaning system. How does this affect the auto's in Hamburg Germany? Currently there are 330,000 registered diesel auto's and only 116,000 meet the Euro 6 standard. This means 214,000 auto's come Monday will no longer be able to be driven in Hamburg. Police will do a random check and fine drivers $25 euro's ($30 US) and commercial trucks $75 Euros ($90 US) for violating the rules.
  25. G. David Felt
    I take this story with a grain of Salt. Yes it is expected that as a country matures and things get more expensive you have a limit on how many people can afford to buy and do things. China is the new market with millions every year buying more auto's and growing. https://www.statista.com/statistics/233743/vehicle-sales-in-china/ From 6.76 million auto's sold in 2008 to 24.72 million sold last year. They are on pace to sell close to 30 million this year in a country of 1.6 billion people. China the Future Growth engine of GM.
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