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smk4565

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Everything posted by smk4565

  1. smk4565
    True, but some larger apartment complexes or parking garages could put in level 2 chargers, maybe even level 1 for places like an airport extended parking. If people have their car sit 12 hours at their apartment, or 8 hours in a parking garage while at work, there is opportunity there also for charing without having to build out expensive super chargers. And really it is rural America that should be embracing EV's way more because there aren't many gas stations when you get into farm country, you might have to drive 30-40 minutes to find a gas station in some parts of rural America, but they have houses with electricity and can easily charge.
  2. smk4565
    This is good news, they need to get these chargers built because even though most people would charge at home, you still need the charge network big enough so range anxiety isn't a thing. Because really people have charge anxiety, I think 300 miles is plenty of range and all these EV's do that, Ford's research I think said people drive more than 150 miles in a day only days per year. So no sense buying cars with huge batteries that are super expensive, if the chargers are there and you can easily recharge if out away from home.
  3. smk4565
    That's an exciting purchase, EV is tempting to me, but I still think all these current Gen EV's are too expensive compared to ICE cars. If they can cut weight and cost 15% then I think the flood gates open on EV sales.
  4. smk4565
    But none of these cars with headlights in the bumpers look good. It isn't like the Hyundai Kona, this Enclave, Mitsubishi Outlander, Kia Rio, etc are ranking up there with a Ferrari 599 or Aston Martin DB9 for best styled cars of the past 20 years. And it adds parts cost too, when you they should be trying to cut cost to make a more competitive priced car.
  5. smk4565
    Another problem is no rear window, in addition to the styling and everything on a touch screen. Polestar keeps putting out new models but none of these actually sell. Maybe they should build 1 car that people want to buy, rather than Polstar 1-7 that combine to sell like 1,000 cars a year.
  6. smk4565
    Not a fan of the new look of Buick with the big grilles, but I wasn't a fan of old Buick styling either. Also, STOP putting headlights in bumpers! The 2015 Cherokee did it, then no the car in history ever should have done it.
  7. smk4565
    Yawn.
  8. smk4565
    Plastic cladding = off road. Instead of killing the Sonata, they should just put plastic body cladding down the side and raise the price by $10k and call it the Sonata HD Overlander X. Instant hit.
  9. smk4565
    I think it looks kind of dated because they are stuck with an old frame and body, they can put a lot of new on top, but the old bones are still in there. I don't see this as jump starting the brand, Infiniti looks more dead than Nissan is, because neither brand has anything new or exciting. It is a lot of carry over powertrains, carry over chassis, that they just keep trying to dress up. And I wonder if in 5-10 years time, luxury cars will have physical buttons, and not all these screens. Because sub $30k Kia's are loaded with touch screens now, the cheap cars are all screens all over the place because they are cheap. Designing and having actual physical buttons and tactile things you can touch costs money.
  10. smk4565
    Not just Tesla, but the F150 Lightning and Silverado EV were going to be $40k, then were like $70k. The Ford Maverick was $19,995 promised and is now about $25k with destination. Car companies like to create buzz at a launch, and promise one thing, then deliver another.
  11. smk4565
    Potential home run if they really do charge $45,000 for it and it gets the $7500 tax credit. Then we are talking $37,500 starting price, that will undercut a well equipped Ford Escape or Toyota Rav4. But not available until 2026? 2 years away so I wont' be surprised if the price is $50k by the time it comes out because all these companies oversell the base MSRP then the price skyrockets.
  12. smk4565
    Dodge CEO said a police version is “on their radar.” So it sounds like they will do another police version, they probably need to poll departments and see how much demand there is and whether they want to do it as EV or ICE. Personally I would think EV so these police departments can save on gas and the Explorer kind of corners the ICE market but the EV police car market isn’t really tapped.
  13. smk4565
    That could be true, they might give up on the Charger Police car and just let Ford have that market.
  14. smk4565
    Bigger battery for a $400 price cut is a nice deal. All these first gen EV's need more battery and lower cost and I also feel like anyone buying a 2023 EV is going to have a really dated cat come 2028 when the battery tech really gets better and the prices drop.
  15. smk4565
    Jaguar is dead, I don't know how the dealers go 1 year with just the I-Pace in production even if they have old stock of ICE cars lingering around a while. And I feel like EV launches are always delayed, so mid-2025 could be fall 2025, and a GT car like the Taycan probably won't sell because no one wants a big Jaguar sedan and it will probably cost twice as much as a Tesla Model S and half half the range and performance. I just think the product planners are Jaguar are clueless and the brand hasn't really been relevant for 10 years. They brand will be gone in 5 years.
  16. smk4565
    I think the front looks a little off, like if you put a red light bar across the front it would look like the back of the car. Kind of looks like a rear bumper on the front of the car. Overall it looks like it would appeal to Charger fans, the interior looks on par with the price point they are going for in a large car. This is a pretty large car though over 206 inches long I think and over 5800 lbs for the EV version. I don't know how much appeal there is for a huge, 3 ton sedan but I guess we will find out. I imagine they'll come out with a turbo 4 version in a year or two for the fleet sale crowd, or a the 4XE powertrain for the police package to help drive some volume.
  17. smk4565
    Rivian is probably the last EV start up that will make it. I doubt Lucid makes it long term unless the Saudi's want to keep wasting money on it. Fisker and anyone else moving forward is too late to the game, and won't be able to scale fast enough to be profitable. To be profitable you either need to be making $250,000 cars or be selling a million cars a year.
  18. smk4565
    It was obvious to everyone except Henrik Fisker that Fisker would go bankrupt. Maybe Nissan, Renault and Fisker can all merge and all go bankrupt together, because I think all of them are in trouble when the Chinese manufacturers hit the European and American markets and undercut everyone in price.
  19. smk4565
    Total waste of time and money to develop this. There is no Hydrogen network and people aren't ever going to buy Hydrogen power cars. The only case a Hydrogen fuel cell may work is on class 8 semi trucks in a fleet operator where the home base could have a hydrogen refueling area or a sea port or shipping port where the trucks only run in that port and you can refuel in the same port. And in either case, Honda isn't Freightliner.
  20. smk4565
    I imagine in 5 years time, all the big hotel chains will have charging, we see Wal-Mart doing it, Target and other big box stores will do it, McDonalds I think is putting chargers in. Plus the Ionna charge network should be up and running by then. I don't think range anxiety is an issue, it is charger anxiety, and soon that will go away. Plus there will be EV's that aren't super expensive and I think the flood gates open for EV sales.
  21. smk4565
    People are leaving sedans because they aren't as practical as SUVs, so some car makers like this Chrysler see the answer to make a less practical, swoop sedan that is going to have even less interest. The Mercedes CLS is dead, and I feel like the BMW 8-series grand coupe and Audi A7 won't be far behind it, they are just behind the curve. And here comes Chrysler, 20 years after the original CLS trying a sweeping roofline coupe, sort of looks like he Mercedes EQXX concept. I doubt they actually build this, and it won't have level 4 self driving tech since the only car with level 3 tech is the S-class (and EQS) and Chrysler is probably a decade behind the S-class. Best to move the Pacifica to rename it Dodge Grand Caravan, close up Chrysler.
  22. smk4565
    I did read that Ford is working on a low cost EV platform. That is what they really need, because you need volume to make EV's work, and you can't get volume with $100,000+ products. What about domestic built SUVs? The BMW X7, Volvo XC90, Toyotas, Mercedes GLS are made in the USA, Stellantis makes SUVs in the USA. But Toyota or Volvo would never put that kind of power in anything, and Mercedes is going to axial flux motors, and ditching the radial motors it seems, so that rules them out.
  23. smk4565
    The upmarket Jeeps aren't selling either. The Dodge Hornet and Alfa Romeo Tonale are on the Compass platform, which neither of them are selling, but I wouldn't be surprised if they keep those around for another 8-10 years.
  24. smk4565
    But most AWD "SUVs" are operating 90-95% FWD and sending maybe 10% of torque to the rear wheels, a lot can't even send more than 50% power to the rear. That AWD Kia Seltos is probably not any better in snow than a FWD Malibu with snow tires. Different story if the AWD system can send 100% power front or rear and has diff lockers and things of that nature. But it is still 4 wheel drive, not 4 wheel stop, and it seems like when it snows, it is the pick up trucks you see sliding off the road more than cars do.
  25. smk4565
    That's actually too much power I think for the rear axle because you'd have to have a front motor would a few hundred horsepower for all wheel drive. I heavy SUV with even 700 hp, let alone 900 will go through a set of tires every 5,000 miles. But everyone wants to win the EV horsepower wars and have 1,000+ hp. Hopefully the horsepower wars end soon and they put their effort into developing lighter weight and lower cost batteries. Ford has an almost 8 month supply of Mach-E's sitting on dealer lots right now. They don't need bigger, more powerful, more expensive EV's, they need cheaper ones.
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