G. David Felt

Yawn, Sergio be LOCO, Believe it when you see it. The guy has ZERO Credibility!

I think this is a normal change due to how millennials buy products. The old shows of yesteryear are coming to a close and controlled media role outs and CES will be the new battle grounds as the Auto industry battles to capture the pocket books of young who are more interested in the latest smartphone and game or app.

Ouch, the start of draining their bank account. Wonder how the US will spend this money? Social overkill waste or actually paying some debt? No matter what, VW will be hurting for a long time.

G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com Indiana Slaps new fee on EV's. According to a post today by Green Car Reports, the state of Indiana has rolled out new fees for owning an Electric car being the second state behind Michigan with fees that cost more to drive an EV than a petro model. Indiana EV owners will have to pay a $15 increase over standard registration fees when buying the EV. Plus a year $150 fee. Indiana has also moved to increase their gas tax from .10 cents per gallon one of the lowest in the country to .28 cents per gallon an .18 cent increase. The State legislation says that based on an average of 12,000 miles a year, 25 mpg, the average Indiana state resident will pay about $134.40 per year in gas tax. A Toyota Prius owner would pay about $67.20 based on their 50 mpg rating. This means that the EV driver will pay more than either hypothetical driver the House Republicans have stated who sponsored the bill. These folks believe this EV bill will add $2 million a year in revenue to the general fund. The representatives stated this was needed to help cover the cost of highway projects and lost gas tax revenue.

G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com Samsung, The Next LG Battery Competitor? Samsung has decided to be the next major Li cell supplier to the auto industry and has decided to one up LG in their quest to be the top supplier of super high density Li cells. Back in September 2016 Green Car Report stated that in an interview with Samsung, that they wanted to be equal to if not replace LG as one of the largest Li cell suppliers to the auto industry. They currently supply the cells for the BMW i line of EV auto's. In this story Samsung announced a $400 million investment in a new battery plant in Hungary which would allow them to support the growth of BMW's EV auto plans into the next century. Samsung pointed to LG's leadership in supplying batteries to 25 top tier auto companies around the world which includes GM's latest darling the Chevrolet BOLT. In this story, it is stated that both LG and Samsung will supply Audi with cells for their Audi EV SUV that is slated to be out in 2018 as a 2019 model. It also states that Samsung has bought a 4% stake or $449 million dollar investment in Chinese auto maker BYD which to quote the story; " BYD produced more electric cars and plug-in hybrids than any other company last year, although only a small fraction were sold outside China. " Clearly Samsung is wanting to be at the leadership position of the EV revolution and is willing to invest in making sure they get the sales. Fast Forward 4 months to an updated story by Green Car Report which is based on a story only days earlier by techcrunch.com that Samsung has a new battery cell design that allows near full recharge in 20 minutes. This is not some lowly 50 to 70 miles, but based on their new cell design and the battery pack they have built which is equal to 372 miles, this battery pack would give you 310 miles as a quick charge in 20 minutes. The story states that Samsung's new battery design is 10% less cells and weight versus current battery production from SDI. Now Samsung does not state if this quick charge is based on existing DC charging or what the industry is calling the new XFS charging system. XFS stands for Extreme Fast Charge and is designed to handle a minimum of 350kWh charging or more. Energy.gov web site has stated that they are working with the auto makers and their own researchers to make a standardized system that can handle the heavy power safely for the public so that the energy load is balanced, reduces cost as well as mitigate time to charge issues on top of cybersecurity concerns about paying for the use of these XFS Charging systems. XFS Charging Station concept by Electrek End result to quote the Energy.gov web site post: " Extreme fast charging is poised to accelerate mass market EV adoption as DOE and industry stakeholders work to overcome technical, cost, and safety barriers. Implementing an XFC system capable of up to 350-kW charging has the potential to increase EV utility, which in-turn would provide Americans with greater freedom of mobility and energy security. "

G. David Felt Staff Writer Alternative Energy - www.CheersandGears.com UK Law Firm files Lawsuit against VW UK VW Owners Lawsuit A downtown law firm has filed a group class action lawsuit against VW on behalf of a potential 1.2 million TDI owners. To date according the Euro Autonews web site 10,000 have signed on to be represented. VW has taken a very different approach to Europe and with that, more and more countries are demanding compensation equal to what VW is doing in the US. Last year according to the story, a Spanish court found in favor of the owners that the local dealer was also responsible and judged in favor of the TDI owners that the dealerships owed them compensation. As such the Dealers have been told to pay each buyer $5000 Euro's in compensation. This is in addition to what ever they will get from VW as the country negotiates a similar deal like the US. The UK now seems to want to go down this same road also with VW but from the law firm side of things as UK citizens have accused British authorities of being slow to respond and the European Union is taking action against Germany, UK, and five other member states for failure to police emissions testing by the auto industry. Course VW states it will defend itself robustly in the case and that VW owners will not loose out due to the scandal. Course local resell of the auto's is showing a huge hit as is VW sales which are down 7.5% for 2016 at a time when the over all auto sales rose 2% over 2015. At the rate that countries have decided to go after American type settlements with VW. The current 7 countries could potentially bankrupt VW if each country gets similar agreements. After all, the US has only about 1/3 the TDI's that UK has and if VW settles for 14 Billion here, why would it not be a 42 billion settlement in the UK and more elsewhere? The next year to year and half is going to be very interesting for VW.

This should be an interesting mess. To quote CCAP41, " Hello Reliability!" Guess they have to figure out some way to justify the billions stolen for a platform that has not even sold what 100 cars here yet in the US? Sergio =

What the hell is that? A custom Aztec? Looks about as good as one! I actually expect more and more auto's to go with this type of simple switch setup. Cheaper and very flexible on transmissions over a moving gear selector. With everything being electronic anymore, no need for a column or floor mounted shifter that takes up room compared to the flexibility of pushing a button and better than a hockey puck shifter.

Bummer, Yea, if a person is hard set on a price and yet knows nothing about auto's and with the freezing issues you state, then your right only worth about 3-4K at most since the powertrain could easily eat up major money. Appreciate the info. Hopefully someone gets it and restores it, like stated before, waste if it ends up in the crusher.

RIP You will be missed. I suspect this is the last Hurrah for RWD performance sedan for Chevy!

I see easier entry and exit with suicide doors as both doors can open a nice big space to get in and out of.

So, Should Suicide Doors come back into the Auto Market? Seems more and more OEMs are having them on concepts, but then they never seem to make it into production. Should they come back into production? Is the safety less on these types of doors? Suicide versus Gullwing doors, which one makes more sense? Sound Off Peeps!

Thanks, good catch, updated the images to include the Escape. Still like the edge look over the escape look but would take the Terrain over both of them.

Remember Stew, the Cup is always half full and life is full of options and opportunities. Today might suck, tomorrow might blow, but life with each and everyone unique individual is an awesome day filled with learning and seeing things from each others perspective. Hang in there, life always gets better and something new and exciting is always happening!

So again, curiosity killed my cat again and I wondered, what would a full size SUV be like with a Floating Roof. Yes I SUCK at Graphics, but here is what I could do with MSFT Paint and I have to say if they did color the doors to match, this would be a killer look for the YUKON I think.

Once you re-find your local public transit email address, then ask the following: Is the Public transit authority going to be adding Proterra EV buses any time soon? Local inner city or long range commuter buses seem to be available. Send them the following link: https://www.proterra.com/

Is it me or is there some similarities of the CUVs to this 1939 4 door Buick? Yes I know one is considered a car and the others CUV, but the auto's back then really did sit up high and have space which is what more and more people are going for today.

Curiosity kills my cat every day, So here are the side profiles to compare of the following CUVs. 2018 GMC Terrain 2018 Chevy Equinox 2017 Ford Escape 2017 Ford Edge 2017 Nissan Murano Out of all of them I hate the coupe like roof of the Nissan, The Ford Edge has the best side profile of a CUV / SUV but I hate the rear door slant, like it to be more box like for maximizing the interior cargo space. In taking a over all look, I have to say that GMC did an awesome job and nailed it. I really like the floating roof line way better than the Nissan. I have to say it is a toss up for me between the Ford and GMC.

Hey CCAP, did you ever email them and get a response?

How much where they asking? If tight and clean, not worth flushing everything out in the spring time and seeing it if would fire up?

Sorry Ocnblu, on the color.

Lovely looking car, must have run recently as it is parked with a fairly new BMW X5 behind it.

Update, With the Proterra 400, 500 & 600 mile EV buses having been successful and with King County having finished testing of 9 EV buses on inner city routes, King County just signed with multiple EV bus companies to buy 100 EV Buses for delivery by 2020. This will put many of the 23 mile fast charge buses on inner city streets retiring diesel and hybrid buses and using the Proterra long range buses to move between major cities from bus hub to bus hub with Fast recharging stations at both ends. Seattle will in the short term have the largest EV bus fleet in the nation. The Federal Transit Administration is willing to cover 80% of the cost to have the county retire diesel and Hybrids and move to pure EV buses. King County is projecting about 30 million to be spent on charging systems and their cost of the buses. The battery buses are about $220,000 cheaper than Trolley buses and you do not have the cost of overhead wires and maintenance of the Trolly system. This will clean up the sky's and help to quiet the neighborhood runs as well as inner city runs removing partical pollution and noise. This is a drop in the bucket as King County Metro has over 1400 buses, but it is a start and will help to move the county to cleaner lower maintenance buses reducing costs to the tax payer and giving the riders a quieter, cleaner ride. Since 2000 King county has had a mandate to have the cleanest fleet in the nation by using Hybrid buses. EV buses will help them push past their 70% Hybrid / CNG bus fleet as they hope to be 100% by 2025 or later. The announcement by King County Metro was released tonight by the Seattle times. http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/coming-soon-to-a-transit-route-near-you-more-battery-powered-electric-buses/ This story covers most details but also does state that Tuesday morning King County will hold a press media meeting.

Interesting, but we have grown to huge powerful V8's and now it would seem the Gov's have forced us to small engines that put out power like a 1990's V8. Be interesting to see how long these engines truly last compared to an EV motor.