Leaderboard

My vacation this year was at Rehoboth Beach. Once I parked the Chrysler, I didn’t touch it again until we left because we walked everywhere. 3 chargers within east walking distance of my hotel.

Then don’t. When I was in Denver last December and had a Kia Niro EV, I plugged it in while my friend and I went to lunch (it wasn’t necessary, but I did it as an experiment) and the next morning I went to breakfast in Boulder and charged while I ate and strolled Pearl Street (the tourist part of Boulder). I went and enjoyed my trip rather than having to stop for gas. And I didn’t have to stop to charge before I returned the rental… just dropped it. So it was a next savings in time and money.

I never thought of it that way. And guess what? You are correct! Yes. The 747 is a beauty. Still after all these decades. I know your heart is in San Franc Seattle...and Ill agree to a point that the A380 may not be as attractive and pleasing to the eye as the 747. She is a bit of a hefty girl. But she needs to be that way. She is a double decker all the way through. She has adopted an oval (egg) shape all the way through JUST like the 747 is only like that on its 'hump'. I get your Seattle pride, but...the A380 is beautiful in its own unique way. And its fine that you dont like her. Aside Airbus' several mistakes on her The timing of her launch was miscalculated as jumbo jet flying for most airlines was coming to an end as single engined wide bodies and flying preferences changed the game. Airbus actually DID initially design her as a transport plane, but changed the cockpit placement at the last minute negating a transport version. Had they stayed the course and made the cockpit above the nose to open up like the 747, the 747 would have died almost immediately. Airports WOULD have spent money to accommodate the A380. Airlines, despite Boeing's effort with the 747-8 would have balked at it and the A380 would have taken its place. Despite her girth, heft and sheer size, she flies elegantly... So put THAT in your Boeing pipe and smoke it!!!

I was hunting around for Airbus 340 vids. How I miss this plane. Back in its heyday, if I got on an Airbus 340, I was sort of steamed I didn't get onto a Boeing 747. Now, I wish I had ridden on more of them. This video is sort of long, but very educational. For one, it pointed out that the Airbus 330 (twin) and Airbus 340 (quad) were developed at the same time and share a lot of parts ... both are 2-4-2. The 340 (quad) fell out of favor, while the 330 (twin) keeps spawning new variants, the latest of which is the -900 neo. They made 4 of the Airbus 340 - 200, 300, 500, and 600. One saw a lot of 300s and then a lot of 600s. I've flown on both. The 300 "looks" better. Yes, it was the current time's answer to the very dated Boeing 707 and its skinny engines. The 600 roars and those big engines get that disproportionately long fuselage (longer than a 747, IIRC) to rotate fairly quickly. Just great! A cool 300 version, flown by Swiss and obviously in Swiss airspace. Did I mention that I miss this plane?

I couldn't photograph it, but I saw a near perfect silver Saturn Aura sedan today. I don't see those often. I'm guessing they were possibly on the same platform as the Grand Am and Alero, but they did a nice job with this car. Toward the end, Saturn was making some nicer looking cars, quite a step up from the spartan jellybean products they initially rolled out. Some dog/car sightings ... all this afternoon: 1. I went to the AAA to load up a travel card and a little black lab puppy was hanging his head out of the car window near where I had parked and was wagging up a storm. 2. I was sitting there getting coffee and, looking at the drive through, a guy driving out of it with one of those whipped coffee drinks let his dog in the passenger seat take the first big lick out of all that whipped garbage on those drinks ... don't give your dog sweets. 3. I saw an upline SUV from which a German Shepherd had hoisted himself up via the console and was sticking his head out of it. They are all goofy critters.

then with ranges of 300 - 400 miles on many new EVs, why does anyone care about range? Even if you rent and can’t plug in at home, all Walmarts, GM dealers, Nissan dealers, Ford dealers, many malls, grocery stores, and parking garages have or are getting chargers. GM dealers were told by GM to reach out to local communities and install chargers. I have a meeting with a local Chevy dealer coming up to discuss charge points in the town I work for.

Calm your jets. None of this is that big a deal. What everyone needs to remember is that you do not need to charge to 100% every time you plug in. And everyone needs to slow the eff down on their trips. None of us here are doing the Cannonball run. I don't know who on this site has covered the most distance in road trips, but any list of the top 5 is gonna include me. I've done Pittsburgh - Miami in a single run without stopping to sleep and it's killed me every time I do it. I am dead to the world for the next two days, so it really puts a damper on any vacation activities. I've done it in as little as 17 hours and as much as 24 hours when stopping somewhere to sleep. Forget about what fuel you're using... it's just not good for your body to do trips like that. That said, I have done the trips enough times that I know approximately where my regular stops are. With the new high(er) speed charging that is coming with the next generation EVs (EValanche, the Cadillacs, Blazer, etc), they can add 100 miles of range in 10 minutes. Starbucks can't even make my order that fast. Now, because I've done the trip so many times and I know the range of the EValanche, I already know the truck can make the trip to my hotel in Columbia SC with one 15 minute recharge in Princeton West Virginia. I also know that my body can't make it all the way to Columbia without at least two more bathroom stops. And with EV trip planning, as with everything... there's an app for that. Plug-Share says I could do the trip to my parent's with just 5 stops to recharge. Now my parents don't have a charger, so I'd need to add a 6th stop in there somewhere, but Jacksonville to Miami is such an awful boring part of the trip I'd need to stop for my own sanity and bladder relief. Click to enlarge. It is set to GMC Hummer EV and I artificially bumped the range to 350 miles per charge which is still under the 400 mile range anticipated for the Silverado EV. I filtered the search to 70kw chargers or better for the best charging speed. The point I'm making here is that I couldn't do this trip, in this few stops, even in my current gasoline truck. My truck has a 550 mile range tank, and it can make it in just two fill ups. I do the drive twice a year and it is awful. Thursday I'm doing Pittsburgh - DC area. I can pick any one of these three DC fast chargers for a 15 minute break and be fine. But I'm also traveling with my elderly in-laws, so I know I'll be stopping at least once in Breezewood, PA and Berkley Springs, WV for bathroom breaks and probably their McDonald's coffee. So again, even in a gas car, I'll stop more than is technically necessary in an EV. My FIL is mostly disabled, so just getting him from the car into the McDonald's can take 10 minutes. Can we not put requirements on EVs that we don't put on our gas cars please?

@DavidI legitimately appreciate your civil discussion where we can go back and forth without the childish name calling. Not trying to be a smart@ss but you did mention not being able to fit into the previous generation of EVs, have you gotten to test fit a Hummer EV yet? If so, do you think you'll pull the trigger on one yet? I know you like pretty much everything about them. @David, I was out running Friday and saw one of these! Funny enough, I managed to see an R1S before I’ve seen an R1T. Aaaaalso, funny enough, a day later I saw my first R1T but j was driving so I couldn’t grab a picture of that one. I had to zoom in quite a bit because it took a couple seconds to get my phone out and camera open so it’s pretty bad quality.

Me, after seeing this one page...

I would not call @ccap41 Tucker as some might confuse it with the great auto pioneer Tucker and his dream car that the Legacy OEMs destroyed. He has a right to see how he sees things as do you and me. Honestly it has been a good debate, you and I see no problem with a little longer time to re-charge an auto just like we do for our laptops, phones, etc. Others find change hard. In @ccap41 point he sees the benefits of EVs for home use, local driving, he just does not see it for rentals and that is fine. If he visits Hawaii after 2030, his only choice will be an EV for rental as the Islands are doing everything they can to change to green energy and reduce emissions by requiring all rental places to have EVs starting with 2030 for rent. I honestly think we will see more rental companies watch Hertz and over the next few years start buying EVs for rent as people get more comfortable. Some folks like myself love living on the edge of technology and change, others want more comfort in what is established and known. Others yet are willing to die to keep things stagnant and that is how great societies have died and fallen. We have history to prove this as you look at the Egyptian empire, Roman Empire, Persian Empire, Gangu's Kaan Empire, Russia and the great cold war and the fall of Communism and how now Russia wants to rebuild their empire thinking they can force humans back into the old ways. Too late, too little, society will always move forward and those that resist change eventually fall to the wayside.

@ccap41 @oldshurst442 Due to the ease of adding chargers, this is becoming far more popular and will help with the transition to EVs over the crazy cost and EPA requirements for gas stations. Campgrounds with EV charging stations in North America (chargehub.com) Jeep EV Charging Stations at Off-Roading Trails to Be Built (businessinsider.com) Jeep Wrangler 4xe Charger & Charging Station | Enel X Way Rivian has published a map showing the off-road areas they are going to install or have installed Fast Chargers at like MOAB, Rubicon Trail, etc. Electric Bolt shows where they are installed already on the map. Charging - Rivian Update, Nation Parks have started to post all the charging stations and when new ones open due to the ease of installing chargers compared to fuel stations. electric vehicle charging stations - Grand Canyon National Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov) Seems Camping web sites are tracking this too. 6 National Parks With Convenient EV Charging Stations - Campendium

Trolling some people is what GM does from time to time. Remember the 1960 Corvair? They essentially trolled Ralph Nader by continuing production after his book was published until 1970. The new Hummer, like the ICE version before that, is meant to troll environmentalists who only want public transportation ONLY (and at best want only FIAT 500 and Mini Coopers on the road)! As for its off-road capabilities, they are probably very good for those who are willing to buy it.

Regardless, it's still atrocious. I'd say the same thing if it were an ICE with 1000hp/tq getting 8mpg. It's one of those vehicles that's comically inefficient.

Been a long time since I have seen the old plastic H2 hummer SUV on the road.

I dont get the hate it got. I hate Trump as much as the next guy, and he didnt even come up with it...as you pointed out and @David showed us with his link, it is a beautiful livery. And quite presidential. Modern would be another adjective. The guy is a conman, but that doesnt mean he doesnt have taste. OK...I take that back... So phoquing gaudy. I like showey showey myself, and Im quite loud and egotistical, but yeah...Im not into the King Midas gold thing... And the French Provincial thing on the side and that chandelier, man.... I was born in 1973, not 1773 or even 1873... Neither was he... I like the robin egg blue and gold accents. It looks good on a 747. But I think that that livery's time has come. A more modern take would be great. I am Canadian so maybe MY voice should be hushed on that matter... I understand the darker colours being problematic with heat retention and electronics, it is a shame that the proposed livery is a no-go.

I like the baby powder blue of the current Airforce one, but I also suspect that is from my engineering background on light colors are better than dark ones for how heat is dealt with. Amazing how much hotter a black auto is compared to the same auto painted white. The rest of the plan is cool, but I have to wonder what will get overlooked as they try to make a commercial plan hardened for being Airforce One. We already know that the wings will be taken off so they can strip all the existing wiring to replace it all with hardened wiring to withstand a nuclear explosion. Then there is the hardening of the hydraulic system, hardening of the windows, fuel tank, control center for the plan on top of a proper command control center that is added to the second floor after delivery, what will be missed in this retro fit? I think the order should have been new plans from the assembly line to begin with.

I've actually timed filling my MKC up with 13 gallons (15.1 gal tank) in 3 minutes. You are full of it thinking it takes 10 minutes to pump 15-20 gallons or 33 gallons in TWENTY MINUTES. I'm not trying to be a smart@ss here, but will you record this next time you fill up? I'm just curious to actually see how slow that pump is flowing. "Light passenger vehicles pump up to about 50 litres (13 US gallons) per minute[5] (the United States limits this to 10 US gallons [38 litres] per minute[6]); pumps serving trucks and other large vehicles have a higher flow rate, up to 130 litres (34 US gallons) per minute in the UK[5] and 40 US gallons (150 litres) in the US. This flow rate is based on the diameter of the vehicle's fuel filling pipe, which limits flow to these amounts."

Call me Tucker, CNN, Fox News, whatever. It's still more of a hassle to rent an EV than an ICE vehicle. You guys can go rent your EVs and show me how convenient it is. As a wise man once told me:

To be honest, I don't think anybody was talking about road-tripping..

Because there's nothing more that I want to do on my vacation or work trip than spend time at a Nissan dealership (or any car dealership but Nissan is the worst) charging my car. You can't honestly tell me that it is equally or more convenient to rent an EV than it would be to rent a comparable ICE vehicle.

If it works out perfectly that you want to eat next to a charger, that's absolutely perfect.