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Drew Dowdell

Editor-in-Chief
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Everything posted by Drew Dowdell

  1. Drew Dowdell
    The new Traverses make me double take as I think they are a Tahoe at first but then something in the back of my brain will click and say "WRONG". The difference between Equinox EV and Blazer EV is range, performance, and sportiness.
  2. Drew Dowdell
    How is it running for everyone so far? It seems a lot snappier to me.
  3. Drew Dowdell
    Ugh, and most of the Marriott properties use glass tops on their desks, meaning I have to go find some magazine or something to use as a mouse pad since optical mice don't work on those.
  4. Drew Dowdell
    As a swimmer, I concur. The pools are so tiny I can't even get one stroke in before the end of the pool. I'm 6 - 10 strokes per breath, which means I breathe as little as once per 25 yards. Most of the hotel pools are no more than 5 yards.
  5. Drew Dowdell
    And we're done. Four hours exactly. I need a break from the computer for a bit, but lots more to come.
  6. Drew Dowdell
    The other sites are moving quite swiftly, and I've got a good sense of what will need to be done tomorrow. The only difference for C&G is that it's 200 times the size, so getting the file and the database zipped up and then moved takes a lot longer. The good news is that even the smaller sites are worlds faster.... This site software is chonky, so it will never be the fastest site out there (until the next major version at least), but it will be a lot faster than now.
  7. Drew Dowdell
    We're going to have one more scheduled outage starting tomorrow morning for about 4 hours as we make one final jump to a stable server. I got us put back together, but we're held together with bubblegum and a wish at the moment. I'm moving some smaller sites first to get the process down before I move all 26 gigs of this beast.
  8. Drew Dowdell
    Well.... that was painful. The new server we moved into in March went tits up. It was an extremely tedious process of rescuing the data. But we should be all good for now.
  9. Drew Dowdell
    I configured them like for like. 10k was the base lease. But for 12k and $1,999 down 36 months, the rates are Ioniq 6 SEL $356 / Sonata SEL $355 / Sonata Hybrid SEL $426. Still easy math. Hyundai clearly wants you to only take a 2-year/10k lease on the Ioniq 6 because it is heavily subsidized down to $289 and 12k is $307.
  10. Drew Dowdell
    This has been resolved.
  11. Drew Dowdell
    There is a major outage at a data center in Northern Virginia due to a cooling system issue. This data center stores most of the images and some of the code for the site. I have been informed that the restoration of that data center could last as long as 4 p.m. on May 31st. The site will appear in a broken state until the data center is back online. Thank you for your patience. Click here if you'd like to follow the restoration status.
  12. Drew Dowdell
    True for the Kia, not as true on Teslas. Once NACS and the IONNA charging network and Walmart Charging Network roll out, I expect to see a lot more competition on rates. EA and Chargpoint have non-Tesla drivers by the junk these days with rates because there's no real alternative. Once you put the purchasing power of Walmart and 6 of the major automotive manufacturers behind two competing networks, EA and Chargepoint will need to relent. On a recent Tesla trip, I got as low as 24 c/KwH at a supercharger. At those rates, even public charging is cheaper than fuel. As someone who worked in this industry, be very careful with this if you decide to go forward. The loans on the install are NOT transferable to new owners and often have early payoff charges. This can cause big headaches if you go to sell your property even 10 years down the road. Additionally, unless you're in an area with extreme utility rates like California, the solar cells don't add enough value to the home to cover the cost of the install, meaning you can potentially put yourself under water on the value of your home. I love the IDEA of solar, I hate what the financing structure has done with it. They make all their money on your loan, and very little on the installation and electricity sold. They might not even talk to you if you offered to pay cash for it. Unfortunately, it is likely that Tesla is going to end up saving that industry, too, because they're the only ones who don't structure the financing that way. There's a 2-3 year wait for them and they're focusing on only certain states.
  13. Drew Dowdell
    There won't be any that are MSRP cheaper than an ICE, but with certain lease rates, there are several that are cheaper to lease then the equivalent ICE. Model Y versus BMW X3 is the first that comes to mind. Now we can quibble over which one has a nicer interior (The BMW) and build quality (The BMW), but Tesla doesn't try to charge you a subscription for heated seats and nickel and dime you for accessories like active cruise. These two are pretty close in terms of carrying capacity and price. The Teslas routinely lease better, that's why they are outselling BMW. The Kia EV9 is a 7/8ths sized Tahoe and it is lock-step price equivalent to a Tahoe all the way up the trim and options sheet. Is it a size equivalent to a Traverse? Sure, but it's got the power of the Tahoe, so the comparison gets murky. Several EVs have cheap lease deals right now. The Subaru Soltara, the Kia EV6, the Ioniq 5, and certain trims of the Ioniq 6 are just some examples. Right now, an Ioniq 6 SEL is $2k down and $289 for a 24-month lease. A Sonata SEL is $2k down and $348 for a 36-month lease, 24 isn't even an option. Sonata SEL Hybrid is $418/month - $2k down. A loaded Ioniq 6 Limited with $2k down is $442/m - 36 months. That's pretty easy math when one fill-up per month in the mid-range Sonata Hybrid puts you over the lease rate of a loaded Ioniq 6.
  14. Drew Dowdell
    I hated it for what it wasn't... a comfortable luxury vehicle. But for what it was meant to be, it was fine. Besides, the Prologue is mostly GM tech and interior bits.
  15. Drew Dowdell
    Of note, Rivian is rumored to be adding CarPlay and Android Auto on the R1 refresh.
  16. Drew Dowdell
    GM. It is an incredibly consumer-hostile move they are taking with their stance on phone projection. This will probably swing me to the RAM electric when it's time. I still have a reservation, but I'm inclined to cancel it now.
  17. Drew Dowdell
    Oh I'm going to blast them for that.
  18. Drew Dowdell
    My bad, missed the original context. because of the substantial cost difference, I fill up almost exclusively at Costco and Sam’s. Around here that can save me 35c to 50c a gallon. On 27 gallons that makes a big difference. The downside is that there’s almost always a wait.
  19. Drew Dowdell
    @ccap41 and @G. David Felt - to expand on this a bit. Even if I didn't have a Level-2 charger at my house (which I don't), for the average daily commute, even a Level-1 charger can be sufficient if you plug it in every night. For most use cases, you'll be able to start each morning fresh with an 80% battery.
  20. Drew Dowdell
    I'm riding in The Distinguished Gentlemen's Ride tomorrow, raising money for colon cancer and men's mental health. So tonight, Gunther got a bath.
  21. Drew Dowdell
    The Avalanche has a 27 gallon tank. The problem isn’t the fill up time, the problem is the wait for the pump. I do notice that the pumps slow down when they are busy. But the problem is both side of this argument miss the point. If I had an EValanche, I’d never even make the trip to fill up in the first place. It would charge while I sleep. If I was on a long trip, I’d charge whenever I needed to stop for food or bathroom and then leave when I was done, not when the truck was done. I’ve done trips like this in a short range Model-3, driving from Pittsburgh to NYC to Philly to Pittsburgh. 10-15 minute bathroom and/or food breaks is enough to keep the range within the comfort level even on 150Kw chargers which is all the faster the Model-3 SR can pull power. Something that charges at 250Kw or 350 Kw would be even easier. The EValanche can take on 150 miles of range in 15 minutes. I can burn 15 minutes waiting for my food at a Sheetz pretty easily.
  22. Drew Dowdell
    You need to watch the charger from the app or when you're in the car to see the charge speed you're getting. And, it is odd that it would say "no conditioning needed". Even in 80 degree weather in Florida, the Tesla would condition the battery on the way to the supercharger.
  23. Drew Dowdell
    This sounds like a difference in KWh in chargers more than what percentage you started at. Plus, you also need to make sure you always use the NAV to tell the car you are heading to a charger. This preconditions the batteries so they will accept the charge faster. You should always enter the charging station into the NAV even if you know the way there.
  24. Drew Dowdell
    That’s not what I was asking. I think there’s a way to set up your EA profile, either through the car or on your app, that all you do is plug it in and go. You don’t even need to tap.
  25. Drew Dowdell
    I thought this had plug-n-charge?
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