G. David Felt

I have to agree that I think Oil is grossly overvalued. Citi: Oil Is Overvalued By $50 Per Barrel | OilPrice.com

GM has announced that they will invest $81 million into the Global Technical Center for building the CELESTIQ. CELESTIQ using defining design, technology and performance will challenge the ultra-luxury auto space. Helping to achieve this will be the use of GM's extensive additive manufacturing capabilities and supplier network, featuring 3D printed parts, the most used in any of GM's vehicle programs to date. Since 1956, GM's GLobal Technical Center has been the heart of the company's engineering and design efforts and will now host vehicle production with the hand built CELESTIQ, Cadillac's Flagship sedan signifies a new, resurgent era for the brand per Mark Reuss, president of General Motors. Mark Reuss had this statement to say about the CELESTIQ: “Each one will be hand-built by an amazing team of craftspeople on our historic Technical Center campus, and today’s investment announcement emphasizes our commitment to delivering a world-class Cadillac with nothing but the best in craftsmanship, design, engineering and technology.” The CELESTIQ will be built on the Ultium Platform that is at the heart of GM's EV strategy. CELESTIQ embodies Cadillac's commitment to reimagine what's possible and sets a new standard for the artful integration of technology. CELESTIQ roof is expected to be the first to feature a four-quadrant, suspended-particle-device smart glass. With this Smart Glass, each occupant of the vehicle can set their own level of roof transparency. The driver and front-seat passenger will enjoy a pillar-to-pillar freeform display with active privacy to help mitigate driver distraction GM Global Technical Center Campus has allowed Cadillac to establish itself at the forefront of functional and aesthetic 3D-printed components in the auto industry. Cadillac CT4-V and CT5-V were the first autos to benefit from additive manufacturing with parts that included the shifter emblem, transmission components and HVAC ducts. Gerald Johnson, executive vice president of Global Manufacturing and sustainability had the following to say: “This investment is a great example of our commitment to GM’s EV transformation as we apply our manufacturing expertise to a one-of-a-kind, ultra-luxury vehicle for the Cadillac brand," “The advanced manufacturing technology and tools we are utilizing on CELESTIQ will help our team deliver the highest quality vehicles to our customers.” With the teaser image released on June 8th, Cadillac will release additional images throughout the summer leading up to the cars debut. It would seem that Cadillac is returning to their original roots of "Standard of the World" which meant luxury and prestige. View full article

Style is a personal preference as each will find what they like. I am not interested in buying a Blazer SS myself, but I think it looks way better than the blah EQB which is the bland Jellybean style Mercedes has adopted for all their EVs. Toyota Rav4 I get, fits in the family and they seem to sell everyone that hits the lots so over styling seems to be desired by the public, yet not a good-looking Hybrid to me. The Toyota EV, that I honestly just cannot understand, totally agree with @ccap41 that the black plastic crap over the wheel wells needs to go, paint it. The bottom air vent to cool the battery I get has to stay, but they could have done so much better with that over all flat blunt nose they have. Like Tesla, seems someone was not happy with the auto and punched it flattening the front end. Rivian, I love the style of, I also love the style of the Chevrolet E full size pickup. Will be interesting to see what and how the EV auto's morph as traditional ICE autos go away. I do love that GM is using the same names so that as ICE goes away you still have Blazer, Silverado, etc. No need to use bizarre character names that no one can figure out what it means without being told by someone in the trenches of that product line. Anyone know what BZ stands for? I get the 4X as that indicates all-wheel drive.

Guess it really is Alligator Dominion time! Very interesting read on Bosch thoughts on Tesla Battery Tech. Tesla tab talk | Bosch Global

@smk4565 @ccap41 ccap41 I see what you are talking about, we know it is not 20 or so pieces for that front end, the bumper is clearly visiable since they put the SS on it, but the fake airvents are pretty common across the industry even Mercedes has them and it is the most BLAH of the designs. It is for sure a personal take as when I compare the following style images side by side with the following competition products, it is pretty equal and yet I find the Chevrolet the most pleasing of these three. 2023 Toyota BZ4X that has fake front air vents, the bottom vent is real as Toyota is using air cooling of the battery pack much like the Nissan Leaf. Have to say Toyota seems to have taken style from the Lexus predator but used the Tesla front end smooth affect and it is Hideous imho.

Ouch, this sucks when you are excited for your new ride and then end up with a lemon. Sadly, this seems to be more and more common for Tesla, lemon quality. https://www.autoevolution.com/news/tesla-enthusiast-buys-a-brand-new-2022-model-y-says-the-car-is-unacceptable-191198.html

@smk4565 @ccap41 Please define what you both mean by over styled? This is not the current mess of Toyota, nor the predator hell of Lexus and it is way better than the Blah jellybean of Mercedes, what areas are over styled? I agree, now that you point that out, it look familiar but I could not put my finger on it, but your right more Equinox than Blazer.

Very cool if true, I have found nothing on any of the VW media sites on this, but it seems VW is moving away from their MEB platform to a even better flexible EV platform. ID.4 Sedan Heralds New VW Product Development Process (wardsauto.com) There is lots of hints at this here at VW subsidiary CARIAD – Automotive Software for Volkswagen CARIAD | Brands & Models of the Volkswagen Group (volkswagenag.com) Media | Volkswagen Group (volkswagenag.com)

Seems we have more electric package options for the BOLT EUV this summer, Redline. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CeRFHJojAEr/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

@Drew Dowdell @balthazar Did Cadillac not compete in their past in this category of auto? Custom hand-built coach building I thought was their area in the past? Liking the SS Video Chevrolet released today also.

Cadillac CELESTIQ will be a completely hand built Ultra Luxury auto as Drew stated. They had a small press release this week and 4 images. Cadillac CELESTIQ Show Car: A Magnetic First Impression QUOTE: Today, Cadillac shared a glimpse of the CELESTIQ show car, which represents the purest expression of Cadillac design, technology and performance. From first approach, the striking silhouette of the CELESTIQ show car leaves a lasting impression, challenging the ultra-luxury space with the spirit of futurism and the avant-garde. Cadillac’s signature lighting design rises to a new level on the CELESTIQ show car. Unmistakably Cadillac, but with a modern edge, a lively and soulful choreographed symphony of light boldly invites each passenger into the vehicle. “From its unique proportions and a new effortless, sophisticated form language, to the precision and attention to detail, CELESTIQ is unlike anything on the road today,” said Magalie Debellis, manager, Cadillac Branded Advanced Design. “From its inception, the CELESTIQ show car was crafted to reincarnate the ‘Standard of the World.’” Follow General Motors Design on Instagram for more early looks at the CELESTIQ show car throughout the summer. Very excited for the 2024 Chevy Blazer EV. This could be my daughters first new auto to replace her 1999 Durango.

Thank you Drew, this is a perfect example of solid leadership and another is the former CEO of IBM Lou Gerstner who not only built a deep bench of managers and turned IBM around to be one of the best service tech companies today still with the largest Main Frame computer business, but when he retired, he took his severance package which was over half a billion dollars over the next 10 years as he believed he had built and would be leaving a management team in place that would continue to lead IBM forward with solid growth and proved it by staking his retirement on it. To this day, he is a true visionary and leader who brought into an ailing and failing legacy company only a few people as he believed the existing staff just needed leadership that could inspire them and believe in them with the right guidance to lead their own teams. This I believe he delivered on in excess. A great American Company. Lou Gerstner - Wikipedia

There are two types of CEOs that are hands on. Those that hire competent folks to lead their divisions and report to the CEO on what is going on and allow the CEO to give back their thoughts, directions wants, etc. to those division leaders and let them act on it. Then you have the Micro Manager CEO that feels they have to be hands on in everything and while it works in the short term, long term it is draining on the person but also a hinderance to solid profitable growth of a company and the divisions. Musk is the micro manager that is too much hands on and distracted by still wanting to be in the mud. If he wants to be that heavily involved in the day to day projects, then it would be best to step down as CEO and focus on where his passion lies in creating things. There is a difference between a visionary and a micro manager and Musk falls in the later category now.

Thank you for proving the point of Common sense is not so common. Since you clearly cannot or are not willing to look at the big picture of all the distractions for a startup versus a well-established business. I listed from big to small the distractions and you can only focus on a small clothing section and then jump to Nascar rather than the distractions of Space-X, Boring Company, Solar, Powerwall that are much more financially draining distractions on top of his current favorite pet project the Tesla Bot. These all drain from him the ability to look at the bigger picture of Tesla only in making sure it is a leading-edge quality auto company. At this point, I predict 2025 Tesla will be a has-been company compared to legacy auto makers that will surpass it and Tesla will have to start looking at merging with another company to survive.

Totally agree with what ccap41 has said, I do not see the delivery service centers not having a test model. Tesla currently has this ability, Rivian is on record as saying they will as they open up their delivery/service centers have demo units. Ford pushing to go fixed price, order online and pickup at a customer deliver/service center has also stated that demo units will still be an important part for customers. I expect some might try to not have demo units, but then I think they will cut off a certain segment that will want this before buying.

This is why I have to test fit my body in as the actual measurement figures supplied can be manipulated and us big folks do not always fit in what others call spacious. BMW is anything but spacious to me.

Welcome rkmdogs Yes, very possible that newer battery tech is what the bulk of upcoming EVs will be built with.

I could care less about Musk tweets, Tesla is hurting from growing bigger due to the distractions that Musk seems to think Tesla has to have. A list of Distractions currently and there could be more. Space X The Boring Company Boring Company Flamethrowers Variety of Tesla Toys Tesla Tequila Tesla Bot Tesla Giga Belt Buckles Tesla Cyber Whistle Tesla Cyberquad ATV for kids Tesla Radio Flyer electric Model S kid car Tesla Powerwall Tesla Solar Roof Tesla Surf Boards Tesla diecast model cars Tesla Desktop Supercharger Tesla Desktop Powerbank Tesla Hats Tesla Shirts, Coats, Hoodies, etc. Clothing line Cyber Currency Speculation I get that established companies sell supporting stuff to their fans, but in this case before getting the company profitable and then even when accounting has been used to show the company to be profitable, the leadership rather than focus on fixing fit/finish quality issues, the smoke and mirrors show goes up on deflecting from promised actual products to delivering auto's that do not have the problems Tesla has today. Lets also not forget the big lie of self driving that has not yet been actually delivered and yet sold for the last decade to people and has cost people their lives due to alpha and beta testing of the auto software on the customers. Do not forget all the sexual harassment issues Tesla is trying to hide because of their erratic CEO. On top of the fact that since you focused on his social media tweeting, his manipulation that if you or I did, would for sure have our butts in jail.

Your right that GM has had their fair share of problems with existing, past and all-new auto's. Big difference is you have leadership that is working to fix and build better auto's rather than focus on erratic behavior and narcissistic tendencies in blending their personal life and professional job. While I have not heard of any GMC Hummer issues, I would not be surprised to hear that the first few Hummers out the door have hit issues. Real world tends to do that and with that, those spending 6 figures on a bleeding edge technology like the GMC Hummer have to expect bumps in the road.

Considering that the BOLT is over all a well-engineered EV excluding the battery pack. The BOLT has not had the large amount of quality problems such as rear bumpers ripping off when water from the road hits them or roofs flying off as they drive onto a freeway, or how about just bricking themselves into a non-movable EV. Yes, BOLT battery fire is serious, and GM did the right thing in shutting down production, focus on rooting out the problem, starting up battery productions, swapping out existing battery packs and then starting BOLT production up again as they focus on moving all EVs to the Ultium platform. I would say Marry is leading much better than Musk. As I have stated, Tesla gets credit where credit is due, but right now the house is a mess with far more issues than GM and the BOLT battery pack.

Tesla needs to fire the idiot CEO they have who is playing in way too many ponds and get someone to run the company and focus on quality. They have some of the best powertrain, controller and battery tech out there, but the lack of leadership is pathetic. Who cares about Tesla Robots, Tesla distraction stuff. Tesla under Musk has failed on so many fronts to deliver on so many promises. Yes Tesla deserves all the credit for doing what GM should have done in the late 90's on moving EVs forward, yet Musk is Failing Tesla on leadership and delivering a quality product. This will be their death if they do not nip this in the bud.

We'll we now know how Mercedes did the 621 miles using Sila new Silicon Lithium-Anode material in the battery pack cells.

There is a war that has just started in the auto industry, and this is the transformation from ICE or internal combustion engine autos to EV or electric vehicles. The battle ground will be as much in the variations of the EVs that come from the global auto companies as will it be the power train and especially the battery packs. Sila the material solutions company spent the last 10 years perfecting their material science to move away from rare earth elements as much as possible and to increase density of today's lithium-ion battery packs. To move into the next decade as a material solutions company, Sila has purchased a 600,000-square-foot warehouse in Moses Lake, Washington home to Carbon fiber manufacturing used by Boeing and BMW. Moses lake can now add lithium-anode battery materials to their manufacturing portfolio. Sila HQ is based in Alameda, CA, but like all things, they wanted as green as possible production of their new lithium-anode battery materials and was attracted to Washington state due to the abundant hydropower. Here Sila will manufacture their silicon-based anode battery material that will allow them to produce enough material yearly to power 500 million mobile phones and up to 500,000 EVs yearly with growth on-site to produce enough material to power up to 10 million EVs per year. Depending on the size of the cells, power density will be increased greatly as the next-gen batteries and the Sila Lithium-Anode battery material drops straight in to replace old graphite anode battery material without changing the process or equipment battery cell manufactures have in place, enabling battery suppliers to increase density and factory output without any real downtime. Due to density improvement with Lithium-Anode material, the batteries get smaller while keeping the same power or if size is perfect, the density allows the small batteries to get more powerful. Best part is this new Lithium-Anode material allows all batteries to charge quickly as it is compatible with current DC fast charging technology up to 800V. Gain to all industries that use this new anode material, but especially to the auto industry where longer range is achieved in the same battery footprint, faster charging performance equaling efficient charge times and lower cost batteries due to material drop into existing production systems helping to push down the cost per kWh. Example of the gains made is in the WHOOP 4.0 personalized digital fitness and health coach wearable devices and the first to use the Sila Lithium-Anode material. The gain made for this device (WHOOP 4.0 Press Release) was a 17% energy density improvement in a smaller battery, 33% reduction in device size, 5-day battery life with a waterproof battery pack for on-the-go charging and more. WHOOP Body | Optimized for Any-Wear™ Heart Rate Monitoring Sila Lithium-Anode material is in wear-able products and will soon be on the market in mobile phones, they talk about EVs, but who will be their first customer? Mercedes-Benz has chosen Sila as their Lithium-Anode material supplier for the production EQG electric G-Class SUV giving this SUV their most advanced battery pack with more than 800 Wh/I at the cell level. The testing of the Sila Lithium-Anode battery material made headlines in the real world road test of the VISION EQXX cover here earlier by Cheers and Gears. Per Mercedes the G-Wagon will be available for sale mid-decade, so around 2025 or so. The Sila Lithium-Anode battery technology while starting in the EQG electric G-Wagon will eventually get pushed into all of the EQ product line as Mercedes uses this to replace their current battery cell tech that is being sold in the first release of their EQS sedan. Mercedes has stated that as their principal Lithium-Anode supplier, depending on model of the EQ product line, their EVs will have up to a 40% increase in power density depending on model chosen. Sila has committed to America global leadership in the transition to new energy storage era as this new production facility sits on 160 acres of land close to rail lines for convenient and efficient shipping to all types of companies wanting to buy their material solution. This gives them plenty of long-term growth as the initial 600,000-square-foot facility will support up to 50 GWh of cell production with the production line coming online in the second half of 2024 with full production by the start of 2025. This site has the ability to grow up to 750 GWh of production depending on use allowing this American based company to excel in both innovation and manufacturing of silicon lithium-anode battery material for global consumption. For those that are wondering if Sila is getting any federal government help as the current U.S. administration has made climate change and ramping up of U.S. battery manufacturing a focus point, Sila CEO Gene Berdichevsky has state Sila is NOT receiving any federal help for this new factory and the production of Silicon Lithium-anode material that will replace the graphite currently used in Lithium-Ion cells. View full article