G. David Felt

The 2021 Ford Explorer Timberline edition is the most off-road capable Explorer ever due to increased ground clearance, improved approach and departure angles, steel skid plates, Torsen limited-slip differential, Bridgestone Dueler all-terrain tires, new shocks, springs and stabilizer bars. The Timberline sports a functional, capable appearance with unique front and rear styling combined with three rows of seating for everyone. Fords marketing data shows that over the last 10 years, SUVs have jumped to command 55% of the U.S. Market with sales growing from 4.6 million units in 2011 to 7.8 million for 2020. This same Ford data is saying that owners are reporting a 56% increase in off-road use over the last 3 years alone. Timberline was built to give customers more confidence and capability to get to the their next adventure be it fishing or a remote off the beaten path spot. A second very important trend is the data showing people are now participating in more outdoor activities and adventures than before due to the pandemic. 40% of all Americans surveyed say they spent more time outdoors since the pandemic began. The Ford Explorer Timberline off-road credibility starts with Ford's standard intelligent four-wheel drive. A system that automatically adjusts torque between the wheels based on conditions and driver inputs delivering best traction, pre-empting wheel slip with proper application of torque per wheel. Ford continues the off-road passion with the following details: Intelligent four-wheel drive Torsen Limited-slip rear differential Terrain Management System featuring seven drive modes (based on 2020 version, could be different on the 2021) Normal mode Eco mode Sport mode Slippery mode Deep Snow and Sand mode Trail mode Tow/Haul mode Standard Hill Descent Control for constant speed control between 2 to 12 mph maximum Timberline capability Heavy duty steel skid plates Enhanced steering calibration Heavy duty stabilizer bars and springs tuned for the Timberline Includes exclusive rebound springs in the front to prevent sudden jarring off-road Heavy Duty Shocks raises the ride height 0.8 inches (Developed for the Explorer Police Interceptor) Bridgestone Dueler P265/65R-18 All-Terrain tires Approach angle of 23.5 degrees and departure angle of 23.7 degrees Minimum ground clearance of 8.7 inches EcoBoost 2.3L engine producing 300 HP and 310 lb/ft of torque paired with a 10 speed automatic transmission giving a 5,300 lb towing capability. Ford only states a couple modes in their press release and as such it could be using the same 7 modes from the 2020 Explorer, but since this is the Timberline edition of rugged off-road prowess, it could be using the Bronco 7 G.O.A.T. modes which stands for Goes Over Any Type of Terrain. This would be the first 5 listed above and then would include a Mud/Ruts and Rock Crawl modes for the final two. Either way you will have a very capable off-road SUV. The Explorer Timberline edition launches a new Forged Green Metallic exterior color with a blackout treatment and red ember tow hooks rated at 150% gross vehicle weight. Ford has already incorporated a heavy duty wiring harness that allows Fords wide dealer network to install Ford Performance auxiliary lights giving an output of 160,000 candelas of illumination for nighttime trail riding. This equates to 2.5 times the brightness of the Explorer Timberline high-beam headlamps. Ford's Deep Cypress interior trim color compliments the new Forged Green Metallic exterior and includes the standard Co-Pilot360 with Assist+ technology featuring Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop and Go and Speed sign recognition, Lane Centering, Evasive Steering assist and voice activated touch screen navigation. Standard 360 degree cameras provide views of all potential obstacles including a front view camera to help with cresting hills off-road. Ford has partnered with Yakima Rooftop accessories for customer to take any and all the equipment they want on their adventure. 2021 Ford Explorer Timberline is available to order now and arrives at Ford dealers summer of 2021. Ford Grows Rugged SUV Lineup with New Ford Explorer Timberline – Most Off-Road-Capable Explorer Ever | Ford Media Center What’s New in the 2020 Ford Explorer Terrain Management System? (akinsford.com) Terrain Management System - Ford Technology| Ford KSA 2021 Ford® Bronco Sport First Edition SUV | Model Detail & Specs View full article

Seems J.D.Powers has a review of all the new apps being created for connectivity to your auto especially if it is a Hybrid or BEV and Tesla which used to lead the market is now falling behind as other OEMs bring their Hybrids / BEVs to market and release smartphone apps. U.S. OEM App Benchmark Study | J.D. Power (jdpower.com) Unfortunately to read more than the 60,000 foot over view, you have to pay and lucky for us various sites did pay to see what was said. Ford Authority seems to feel the review is praising the Ford app for all of Ford auto's. J.D. Power Praises FordPass In First-Ever EV App Benchmark Study (fordauthority.com) Then you have Green Car Reports that feels a bit differently about what the report says and does go into more details. I will say that the Tesla being synced to your apple watch so you can manage your auto is cool. Seems VW has two apps, one for ICE and one for EV and they are as different as night and day with ICE being more usable which is weird as the end users would want to do pretty much the same stuff be it an EV or ICE in regards to locking, unlocking, heating up or cooling down the interior. EV smartphone apps for Tesla and VW panned, Kia lauded in study (greencarreports.com) Over all an interesting review that shows software design is becoming a more important part to the driving experience than one would have thought.

Yes, I noticed that too, but I figure that could very well be due to the production shutdowns, chip shortage causing the production shutdown and an over all cautious buyers market. I would be surprised if more companies do not also show the same thing. With that in mind, I do hope this is just a quarterly blip on the falling cash flow.

gm reported strong Q1 2021 results. GM Reports Strong First-Quarter 2021 Results | General Motors Company GM Reports Strong First-Quarter 2021 Results Wed, May 5, 2021 DETROIT – General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) today reported first-quarter earnings driven by strong price and mix performance in North America, strong credit and residual value performance at GM Financial, and the industry recovery in China. The company is highly confident in its full-year 2021 guidance outlined earlier this year as it works to manage through the semiconductor shortage, which is impacting automakers globally. Based on information available today, the company expects to be at the higher-end of the EBIT-adjusted range. Downloads GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra's letter to shareholders Detailed quarterly results with year-over-year comparisons First-quarter 2021 results overview Revenue of $32.5 billion Net income of $3.0 billion, and EBIT-adjusted of $4.4 billion Net income margin of 9.3 percent, and EBIT-adjusted margin of 13.6 percent Automotive operating cash flow of $(1.1) billion, and adjusted automotive free cash flow of $(1.9) billion EPS-diluted of $2.03, and EPS-diluted-adjusted of $2.25* GM North America EBIT-adjusted of $3.1 billion, and EBIT-adjusted margin of 12.1 percent GM International EBIT-adjusted of $0.3 billion, including China Equity Income of $0.3 billion GM Financial EBT-adjusted of $1.2 billion First-quarter 2020 results overview Revenue of $32.7 billion Net income of $0.3 billion, and EBIT-adjusted of $1.2 billion Net income margin of 0.9 percent, and EBIT-adjusted margin of 3.8 percent Automotive operating cash flow of $0.3 billion, and adjusted automotive free cash flow of $(0.9) billion EPS-diluted of $0.17, and EPS-diluted-adjusted of $0.62** GM North America EBIT-adjusted of $2.2 billion, and EBIT-adjusted margin of 8.5 percent GM International EBIT-adjusted of $(0.6) billion, including China Equity Income of $(0.2) billion GM Financial EBT-adjusted of $0.2 billion *EPS-diluted and EPS-diluted-adjusted include a $0.08 gain from Stellantis (formerly PSA) and Lordstown Motor Corporation. **EPS-diluted and EPS-diluted-adjusted includes a $(0.28) impact from Lyft and Stellantis revaluations.

Cool Read, Latest survey of what people want as Priorities in BEVs. Survey: Electric Vehicles' Range Jumps to Top of Priorities for Consumers (autolist.com) Electric Priorities Consumers in the 2021 survey were asked to pick their top three biggest purchase considerations for an EV. Here’s a breakdown of what percentage of respondents chose each EV priority: Range: 61 percent Price: 50 percent Charging infrastructure: 43 percent Recharge times: 36 percent Battery efficiency: 35 percent Compare this to the 2019 Survey These results are notable for how they compare to Autolist’s EV survey from 2019. In that survey, the top five responses were as follows: Price: 58 percent Charging infrastructure: 44 percent Range: 43 percent Battery efficiency: 39 percent Recharge times: 32 percent Interesting response to the ability to charge from home: Autolist’s survey asked respondents how important to their purchase consideration was the ability to charge an EV at home. The results were conclusive: 70 percent of respondents said it was ‘Essential to their purchase consideration.’ 14 percent of respondents said it was ‘Somewhat important.’ Nine percent of respondents said ‘Unsure.’ Four percent of respondents said ‘Other.’ Two percent of respondents said ‘Not important at all.’ I do find this one question interesting in regards to Tesla: The Supercharged Elephant in the Room The importance of home charging to consumers was also reflected in their outlook on what makes Tesla EVs so appealing. When Autolist asked survey respondents to pick the three most appealing aspects of Teslas, only a quarter of shoppers that Autolist polled cited the automaker’s proprietary Supercharging network of charging stations (ranking it fifth out of 11 possible answers): Performance/handling: 42 percent Range: 36 percent Exterior/Interior Style: 32 percent Battery Efficiency: 30 percent Tesla's Supercharging Network: 25 percent Autopilot: 23 percent Price: 19 percent Recharge Time: 18 percent Resale Value: 15 percent Musk's Leadership/Vision: 13 percent Brand Cache: 9 percent

This is an awesome post of old GM auto show pictures. https://www.instagram.com/p/COimXkxpujY/

It is amazing that the ticket is not a major offense for not having mud flaps and so hydrolic auto's like this do not get pulled over nor lifted trucks.

Seems Tesla might just be headed to quarterly losses unless they can figure out a change in behavior due to the following story on Stellantis. Stellantis won't need Tesla emissions credits: EV maker set to lose hundreds of millions (greencarreports.com) To recap the full story above, Tesla has relied on selling their emission credits to the tune of $1.6 Billion a year to other auto makers that need them such as FCA which would spend half a billion buying Tesla Emission credits to make up for their lack of fuel efficient auto's. Hellcat and TRX are just two examples of high CO2 output, low MPG, yup 10 mpg city driving and as such FCA was the major buyer of Tesla Emission credits. Now that they have merged with PSA Group to form Stellantis, the BEV, Hybrid and fuel efficient micro cars and others on up now balance the FCA Portfolio to where they no longer have to buy credits. Tesla has a long term contract inked with FCA going back a Decade that ends in December 31st 2022. Stellantis CFO Richard Palmer has stated with the Financial Times that they will no longer have to buy emission credits since the global fleet is balanced, ending the Emission credit need. Tesla sold $518 million last quarter to make up for FCA emission issues. This gave them a quarterly profit of $438 million. One wonders how profitable Tesla will stay now that they lost their largest customer for their emission credits?

Yes in these early days, everyone seems to want to point the finger to the charger and yet you can Bing or Google and will find plenty of people that believe it is the software causing the problems in charging be it at EA or other charging locations. Plenty of Forums that seem to find issues but have to question if it is really EA or the OEM. Electrify America Mach-E Charging Issues | Ford Mustang Mach-E Forum - MachEforum.com Just like fueling where you have a pump and a basic system to move the liquid, electric charging systems are also pretty basic and straight forward and will push the full load unless they are informed of a limit by the auto. This is where I think Tesla, GM, FORD, Nissan and every other EV auto company will have challenges in the software that communicates with the charger to properly identify what speed the power can be pushed into the battery pack. I do believe this will get resolved much like how gas stations figured out they get water in their tanks and as such put filter systems to remove dirt, water, etc. as they pump fuel to an ICE. Software updates will have to be done to correct oversights of electrical communication.

It is FUNNY, you can find so many Tesla Channels and these hard core fans review the Mach-E and trash it for the most part. Now we come across a Ford Mach-E hard core fan from hair and cloths to their own YouTube channel all about how awesome the Mach-E is. They rented a Tesla Y for a couple of days and did a 1hr review of likes and dislikes and as we all know, when you drive a certain brand for a number of years, you become comfy with the controls. Video is worth a watch, but you can skip to the end and listen to their review on the Tesla Y. Some very valid points I believe. Hyundai before it becomes available for sale everywhere are already getting early builds out for review and people seem to be very impressed with their BEVs. We Drive The Hyundai Ioniq 5: It's Tech-Filled A Winner (insideevs.com)

Thanks Pa, I look and feel AWESOME!!! Sister made Swedish meatballs over pasta and broccoli ? for dinner and Cora is saying share with me! Cora wanting to help with dish cleaning.

Shortage of both new and used auto's is pushing prices up even for used BEVs. Used EV prices surge in the US and vary widely by model, region (greencarreports.com)

E-Transit registration opened today, Wednesday 5th of May 2021 for commercial customers highlighted by the fact that they have over 450 commercial customers showing purchase intentions. Pricing for all configurations start at $43,295 and go up to $52,690. Expanded details are available on Fleet Home Page (ford.com) Ford used more than 30 million miles of Ford Telematics data in confirming that the average commercial vans in North America only drive 74 miles a day. Ford also understands that there are days with long and shorter range as well as hot and cold weather. This allowed Ford to target the E-Transit with a starting point of 126 miles of range for the Cargo Van Low-roof models with larger battery packs available as needed. E-Transit is built without compromise according to Ford as the maximum payload is 3,800 lbs. of cargo for the van low-roof model on a regular wheelbase, 4,250 lbs. on a chassis cab and 4,290 lbs on cutaway. Ford also offers Pro Power onboard which provides a 2.4kW of power for recharging tools and powering tools like drills, saws, jackhammers, laptops and more. Keeping you powered to get the job done is the goal of Pro Power by Ford. Ford offers a very functional and accommodating interior. Ford redesigned the center console with a new rotary shifter and e-brake on the panel. improved walk-through, and a rear shelf delete giving even more head room when moving around the van. 12 inch touch screen with Available Sync 4 can make a perfect crew member with built in navigation and so much more. E-Transit is available in the following: three cargo van roof heights three cargo van body lengths Chassis cab and cutaway models The E-Transit is build to be driven and helps by having Ford Co-Pilot360 technology and Smart Acceleration Control. Ford has you covered with an 8 years or 100,000 miles (whichever comes first). According to Ford, demand is growing for electric vans based on Ford data, shows 70 percent of the full size bus and van business is going electric by 2030 representing over 300,000 BEVs annually in the commercial space. Demand for the wide range of configurations options is based on the history of Ford selling into the commercial space where Ford data shows 40 percent lean towards high-roof vans with the remaining 60 percent going with medium and low roof vans. The Ford E-Transit joins the growing family of electric auto's including the F-150e and Mach-E Ford Opens E-Transit Registration Site, Releases New Targeted MSRP as Top Fleet Customers Line Up for All-Electric Van | Ford Media Center 2022 Ford® E-Transit | All-Electric Chassis Cab, Cutaway & Cargo Van View full article

WOW, Some of the early Mustang concepts are butt ugly. Mustang Design Origins | Ford Media Center

Cool Semi Trucks of the Past! 1964 Ford Big Red Gas Turbine Semi Truck, Class 8 1964 Ford Big Red Gas Turbine Truck | Ford Media Center

I aim to provide a laugh on crazy auto articles. I honestly do like the looks of this car.

Very interesting read, seems three American autos are considered great for conversion to electric. The Five Best Classic Cars to Convert to Electric Vehicles (automobilemag.com)

One Mans Dream car is almost done. Best thing for MB auto's

Unlike many of the other companies where your right, broken or reduced performance for charging, Electrify America is very focused on delivery of performance especially since VW BEV's are tied to them at 800V Charging. EA has to also file quarterly reports to CARB on state and national performance. Press releases - Electrify America NEWSROOM Here is their annual report covering what they have done and it is impressive as they focus on educating the public as well as build awareness of all they do from public charging to home installed 220 / 110 charging. As of 4/30/2021 Cover Page Fixed (electrifyamerica.com) Mission statement: About Electrify America | Electrify America Locate a Charger and status of charger: Locate a public EV charger | Electrify America As per their FAQ, The Electrify America Customer Assistance team is also here to help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Dial the toll-free number at 1-833-632-2778.

@ccap41 @ykX Agree with both of you on the valid points you make. Right now not much to offer even by Tesla. These are the last 2 somewhat sporty 4 door sedans.

Electrify America has released that they will have 800 Ultra-Fast charging stations with 3,500 fast charging connections by early 2022 covering 47 states and the District of Columbia. Currently Electrify America is working on new Ultra-Fast charging stations in Hawaii, South Dakota, Wyoming and Vermont that will complete the 47 states. Electrify America says they are also opening additional stations in Montana, Minnesota and New Hampshire, states with a small EV charging network presence. States that have passed legislature such as Washington state which starting in 2030 will ban the sale of new ICE auto's will have significant expansion of Ultra-Fast charging stations. Electrify America Ultra-Fast Charging Stations support 150 kW charging which adds 7.5 miles of battery per minute for capable BEVs in metro stations and highway locations that support up to 350 kW chargers which add 23 miles of battery per minute. Select stations will have solar panel canopies that not only give shade to customers while charging but help to minimize the impact on the local electrical grid via a battery storage system. Electrify America Opens 600 Public Ultra-Fast Electric Vehicle Charging Stations in Less Than Three Years - Electrify America NEWSROOM View full article