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Yea, I get there is inflation.... but what is making car batteries so flipping expensive? For a basic flooded battery, the technology hasn't really changed significantly in years, yet all regular retail is at $230 for a regular H7 flooded battery. Costco is a lot cheaper, but that's Costco. AZ, Oh-Reallys, Advance are all stupidly marked up. A flooded Interstate H7 from Costco is $147 after core while an AGM is $185 after core. Sam's (Duracell/East Penn) is similar though $4 higher. All of the standard automotive retailers range from $210 - $230 after core for flooded and $240+ for AGM and they're all manufactured by East Penn or Johnston Controls. Clearly, I'll go with the Costco Interstate AGM. I'm just observing the absurdity of these prices. I don't consider $147 to be that unreasonable these days. It's been a while since the sub-$100 car battery as is. But if Duracell/East Penn can sell to Sam's for less than $151, that's over $60/40% in markup over at AutoZone. I guess what's also bothering me is that except for the club stores, the prices of all of the retailers match to the dollar exactly when comparing like models. I know I shouldn't be shocked... but how is it not price-fixing? There are only about 4 major battery manufacturers out there. Johnston Controls (Now Clarios), Exide, Delphi, and East Penn.

I rarely watch tv with commercials, but over the weekend was watching a series on FreeVee about English country houses and the Browns-Texans NFL game yesterday, so I got to see new car commercials...the new ads for the Chevy Bolt EV and Equinox EV are good ('EVs for everyone') and the ads for the Cadillac Lyriq (one all red-tinted and one all gold-tinted)..it's a sexy CUV, looking forward to seeing one in person.

Just a good 'ole boy Russian style circa the late 1990s early 2000s. I present you the comrade Lenin Uncle Yakov's truck Cousin Irina's 2 door coupe and 4x4 Korolenko's Tow Truck Nikolai P. Volkoff's police car and Kapitan Sergei's convertible

East Bound and Down Euro style! to smuggle 400 cases of Löwenbräu beer From West Germany INTO East Germany. Munich to Potsdam. The speedy blocker Ban-One becomes the speedy Commie1 Big Enos Burdette's car is a red Bentley

No. No. But kinda. But no. But yes because reasons. But no. And to answer your question. https://www.motorbiscuit.com/american-european-semi-trucks/ Each has a distinct shape and style that serve different driving purposes. And because of differences in regulations and roads, European trucks wouldn’t work in the states, and American trucks wouldn’t work in Europe. Let’s take a look at the details and differences of semi-trucks from different parts of the world. American semi-trucks are large, and often livable In America, size matters, especially when it comes to semi-trucks. The bigger they are, the more they can tow, and the faster they can tow it. Not only that, but American semi-trucks often have living spaces. That conventional cabin design, where the engine is in front of the driver, allows for more room inside for sleeping space and amenities. There are two reasons many semi-trucks have living spaces. For starters, American semi trucks tend to drive longer distances, which means stopping overnight at rest stops. But the main reasoning for having sleeping quarters is that many truckers live out of their rig. They’re called owner-operators, and get jobs as they go along a route, charting their own course until, eventually, they’re back in their home state. And much of an American truck’s life is spent on the interstate system, where the lanes are wide and the roads are straight. For that reason, the long wheelbase of the truck is acceptable and typically makes the ride much more bearable. Considering they are allowed to drive up to 12 hours every 24 hours, whereas European truckers can only drive 9 hours, that extra comfort is important. European trucks are smaller, and more manuverable As mentioned earlier, stricter regulations in Europe make for different trucks. For starters, a European semi-truck can only be 18.75 meters or about 61 feet. Meanwhile, American trucks can tow multiple trailers at a time. Because of these restrictions, European trucks have to be smaller, so they can tow more cargo. Considering American cabs can be 20 feet long, that only leaves 40 feet of room for cargo. The cab over engine design of European trucks allows for the cab itself to be less than 10 feet long. And because owner-operators are rare, and the hours on the road are shorter, European trucks don’t require large sleeper cabins or living spaces. But the shorter cabin also creates a shorter wheelbase, which improves handling. Europe has an interstate system, but the roads are windier and the lanes are more narrow. That’s why it’s crucial that the truck can navigate skinny city streets, and a cab over design makes that possible. They also don’t need massive engines, since semi-trucks in Europe are limited to 55 mph.

? Built to be Bad Ass on Road and Off!

Flooded is the term used now to distinguish a regular wet cell battery from an AGM battery.

As I posted, the Lyriq is sexy as hell in person. Cadillac has a hit on their hands, and I am excited to see additional models added. Last week GM and LG quietly let out this press release: Ultium Cells LLC Announces Plans to Pr... | Ultium Cells LLC GM is investing an additional $275 million to expand their Spring Hill battery plant to go from the current 35 GWh of battery production to 50 GWh of battery production by the end of next year to support the growing demand for EVs. This also will add 400 new jobs to the plant for a total of 1,700 employees building batteries. This expansion along with the other plants coming online will have GM producing 130 GWh plus of batteries for EVs. To quote Tesla: Tesla’s Gigafactory makes around 38 gigawatt-hours of batteries a year, and more than 400 gigawatt-hours of capacity is under construction in the U.S. Tesla expects to have all their battery production online by 2027. GM has also just announced additional capacity, nothing yet from Ford, but clearly the future is Electric.

I so could see the Chevrolet Nomad Concept as an EV. The Forgotten Chevy Nomad Concept We Wish Made It To Production (slashgear.com)

Happy Birthday @riviera74 Sorry about the downtime today. We had a fiber optic cable damaged right at the server. The server is remote and it took me a while to convince support to send someone over to physically look at the server.

Happy B-day @riviera74