why don’t you drive an EV?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFHvq-8np1o

https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/vw-id-buzz-price-electric-van/

ugly as sin & far too expensive

like a schick razor married a cuisinart

https://www.atlasevhub.com/weekly_digest/the-march-continues/

sales on the west coast approaching 20%

just talking to a guy from a big european car maker who says flatly that level 5 autonomous driving will never exist

he says level 4 will, and will save a lot of lives if it's done right

but we're still very far from level 3 at the moment

check back in five years for him to tell you level 4 will never exist

https://blog.codinghorror.com/the-2030-self-driving-car-bet/

coding horror... i havent heard that name in a long time

Almost exactly 90 days later after purchasing the Mach-E, I received my check from the California state clean energy program - $4500 thank you for giving up the gas burner. Yay! It all gets redirected to Ford Credit.

Meanwhile, the recall notice (see: "Ford Mustang Mach-E Electric Vehicles Recalled for Power Loss While Driving") has unsurprisingly kicked over an anthill of fear, uncertainty, and doubt on the forums and subreddits. One class-action lawsuit is already in progress and everyone is taking sides. Hilariously, Mach-E internet fandom has acronymed the issue to - - - HVBJB. You may know it stands for High Voltage Battery Junction Box, but as for the rest of the internet? Neither NASA nor the CIA ever had a KICKME program, but saying it right now may just quantumly invoke into being a file inside some cabinet somewhere in sub-level 8 in a disused but fortified office building.

The OTA update mentioned in the Consumer Reports link doesn't really solve the issue, it only improves the fail-state conditions to something more graceful. The word seems that Ford will swap out the low-tolerance *ahem* HVBJBs on the GTs, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Mach-E Internet has already ID'ed the Ford part number for the beefier HVBJB, documented getting it done at the dealership, etc.

I *think* my driving habits won't invoke the problem. I don't really fast charge. I mostly just plug-in into my 110 level 1 at home or at the free level 2 in downtown Pasadena. Protip: open up PlugShare and filter for >50 kWh and uncheck Show Pay Locations.

F-150 Lightning Internet Fandom highly recommend that potential Lightning buyers get the max towing package. Even if you have no plans you tow anything, the extra cooling/warming hardware for the battery is worth the cost.

Meanwhile if you can wait and check your need for giant F-150, there are signs of an electric Maverick truck on the way.

a ranger EV too as i understand it

4k used EV credit?

The deal includes a methane fee and a 4K tax credit for the purchase of used EVs, among other provisions per two Dems familiar with the agreement https://t.co/pUr9Bd56Rr

— Marianne LeVine (@marianne_levine) July 27, 2022

From that article about the Merc that did over a thousands k's on a single charge:

"The roof-mounted solar panel is fashioned from a lightweight composite."

How come EVs don't all have solar? Seems like the most obvious thing ever. Most have rooves that look like solar panels anyway.

you mean the transparent glass? There were designs to coat glass with absorbers/re-emitters that would guide to the edge and be absorbed by cells there.

I googled, pretty interesting analysis here

https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/electric-cars-solar-roofs/

Dodge debuts a Charger Daytona SRT EV concept. I guess I appreciate the effort to make a Hot Wheels car, but I already pre-hate and mock the loudspeaker engine noise.

there it is

California air regulators are expected Thursday to issue stringent rules to ban the sale of new gasoline cars by 2035 https://t.co/qW5hl4xRcD

— CNN (@CNN) August 24, 2022

whole industry is now free to step on the... accelerator

I think this is going to piss off some people even though CA flexing their muscle is not new in this area.

good

in a global context this is not super weird. the EU ban comes in 2035. and the uk will actually be 5 years earlier. car companies are already preparing for this.

For sure.

(another good trend in CA that's been happening in plain sight)

California cities ban new gas stations in battle to combat climate change

whoa

Few realize how explosive the growth of EVs has been in China in the last 24 months. EVs now account for 26% of all car sales, up from just 3.5% in Q1 2020.

Below is a short 🧵 on this highly consequential revolution. (1/8)

Cc: @Noahpinion @ramez @JesseJenkins @paulg @erikbryn pic.twitter.com/t0UCBiemPo

— Science Is Strategic (@scienceisstrat1) August 30, 2022

usa: i guess well adopt evs to help the environment in like ten years
china: we will adopt evs now for business reasons

you can only tip your cap

https://jalopnik.com/doctor-plugs-surgical-equipment-into-rivian-r1t-to-perf-1849499736

appreciate the can-do spirit!

I got to drive a F-150 Lightning last week. It's technically impressive and somewhat unsettling driving something with so much mass that can move quickly - like an aircraft carrier driving like a slot car. I miss the old C-10 I had in the 80s.

It took two days at the dealer to get the Mach-E recall resolved, but afterwards over-the-air updates are coming through regularly. A user on MachEForum with a Ford FDRS account has been running VINs and checking module updates for board members and sure enough, bugs are getting fixed. Six months in, it's a great car - better than anything else I've owned.

the hybrids with big batteries approach is very reasonable, so many parts inside the car tho

Fascinating how quickly the "EVERY VEHICLE MUST BE 100% ELECTRIC ALWAYS AT ALL TIMES" orthodoxy is crumbling in favor of a far more reasonable approach: electrifying the local trips that make up most of our miles, while retaining the freedom of gas on rare road trips. https://t.co/yw4S9LWesy

— E.W. Niedermeyer (@Tweetermeyer) October 25, 2022

love to maintain my rarely-used ice engine

i think probably what will happen is that as more people get evs theyll realize that they just almost never drive too far and that on the occasion they do the charging isnt that bad since they do it so infrequently

150 mile range is prob fine for most people

all this is of course dependent on companies producing evs that cost less than 100k at some point

but people choose evs like they vote for tax policy, i.e. on the basis they will one day be affected by the extreme upper tail.

they do now but what im theorizing is that with more experience theyll be willing to trade range for lower cost

if car companies ever build lower cost evs

i hope so.

in the meantime i am v sympathetic to the idea that we would meet our climate goals quicker if people switched to hybrids.

yeah seems like it would be a good idea, at least as a stopgap

ignoring them feels a bit like getting rid of nuclear power tbh

dont get me started!

saw a polestar out today pretty cool kinda generic looking but did make me go wait whats that, has very little branding logo on the front is body colored basically cant see it then i figured it out by the slightly more visible logo on the back but thats all theres no text anywhere

they’re cool cars. unfortunately i don’t see them ever making anything i could afford. i think i’ve said before that the interior is a weird shape, like stepping in and out of a bathtub. because they share the same chassis as volvo ICE cars there’s still a quite intrusive ridge down the middle of the interior that ordinarily would house the driveshaft. in this case polestar has filled it up with pieces of battery. theoretically you don’t need it there at all but people are used to that shape i guess so they don’t mind or maybe even notice.

kinda weird volvo decided they needed to make their own tesla, volvo already makes luxury electric cars, wonder if itll last

was considering a volvo polestar t8, since the electric-only mode has enough range to get me to work and back daily, and covers all of my weekly drives as well. then i found out last year’s allotment for the entire usa was like a couple cars each at five dealerships total

this is likely a good thing. i understand there are some next-gen samsung batteries on the way, plus they’re about to get all the lithium out of the salton sea, so probably better to lease something sensible (like an hybrid accord) in the short term

i would much prefer something with a low wheelbase (and an extra pillar, why do americans hate wagons) but the rav4 prime is surprisingly nice. alas it is also one million dollars

rav4 primes also hard af to find iirc