G. David Felt

I get your take on this. One way to convert to an EV fleet faster is by allowing businesses to take advantage of tax breaks as incentives. Example is that the private taxi drivers in Europe buy high end BMW and Mercedes auto's as they are allowed to write off 50% of the cost in the first year and the rest in year 2 as long as they drive over 100,000 kilometers each year. Easy for a taxi driver, gives them a nice new auto to drive, cleaner for the passengers and helps create multiple jobs. Here in Washington state, there are incentives like this for the private companies that contract with school districts to convert over to alternative energy school buses that started in 2015. The number of Diesel had been dropping while CNG, Hybrid had been increasing and as the school districts have stated a move to EV school buses will be embraced once a return to in school classes after the pandemic is over. Yes everything costs, but what price can you put on a child's life in comparison to breathing toxic diesel fumes? In this regards, I consider everyone's life far more precious than the cost of leaving what has been efficient transportation for cleaner better transportation as we improve ourselves via education, science and technology.

Nascar

Seattle Refrigeration Company

Beechers Mac n Cheese

Craft Beer

Same here, freezing weather this weekend with the start of Snow in the Mountains Saturday Night and then snow moving into the low lands for Seattle by monday.

Porsche is doing what every company does with new tech to recover R&D costs. Daimler is who you should be worried about as they DO NOT have that huge R&D budget you keep talking about as they have clearly cut back due to Diesel gate and I will remind you that Daimler stated in October 2020 that they were cutting car models and cutting R&D 20% a year across the board. If they truly focus on taking Mercedes upmarket, then I doubt the prices even on their EQA is going to be price competitive for the masses. Daimler to cut fixed costs and take Mercedes more upmarket | Reuters

I am still enjoying the REO brothers cover music. REO Brothers - YouTube Listening to this now.

GM has announced a major change to a Canadian manufacturing plant. CAMI will become Canada's first large scale electric delivery vehicle manufacturing plant. The first auto to be produced there replacing Chevrolet Equinox production is the BrightDrop EV600 delivery van and the EP1 electric e-pallet product. GM to Invest Nearly $800 Million To Convert CAMI into Canada’s First Large-Scale Commercial Electric Vehicle Manufacturing Plant

Crazy is as Crazy does. Seems Jeep will launch their 2021 Jeep Wrangler 4xe plug-in hybrid in Europe first. As such, they have a web site for people to register so that they can reserve/order one first. No time line for the US has been announced, but prices are a bit shocking. Quote: Black, Granite Crystal, and Bright White are the only options on the First Edition palette. Jeep points out they're the three colors that European customers prefer. LED headlights, Granite Crystal accents, 18-inch wheels, and a hard cover for the spare tire are also found on the list of standard features. Inside, the launch model offers an 8.4-inch touchscreen with navigation, smartphone connectivity, and an information screen in the instrument cluster. Jeep made no mechanical changes to the First Edition, so it's powered by a gasoline-electric plug-in hybrid powertrain that consists of a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine and an electric motor integrated into the eight-speed automatic transmission. The system's total output checks in at 375 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque. It weighs nearly 5,000 pounds, yet it posts a six-second sprint from zero to 60 mph. Significantly, the electronics (including the 17-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack) are fully protected from the elements. Like the non-hybrid Wrangler, the 4xe is capable of driving through up to 30 inches of water. Cost: France - Starts at $87,300 Germany - Starts at $92,500 Switzerland - Starts at $96,000 Clearly a luxury auto in Europe. 2021 Jeep Wrangler 4xe First Edition detailed for the European market | Autoblog

Tesla Model Y has fueled Tesla's 63% increase in registrations for the past year. While Model Y sales and registrations have jumped, records do show that Tesla Model 3 car sales and registrations dropped in the 2nd half of 2020 by 34% showing the increased trend for people to move to SUV/CUV type auto's. Tesla Model Y fuels brand's 63% jump in California registrations | Autoblog

Not sure which Alternative or Regular segment this should be in due to Renault not saying what will power it other than alternative forms of Powertrain which means it could be ICE, Hybrid or EV. Renault seems to want to take on Jeep in Europe and possibly Ford as they showed off their brand new Bigster Concept SUV. While not much is known other than them showing it off and saying it will take you to places that most auto's including the competition cannot take you. Clearly a little X-Terra, Wrangler, Bronco, etc. can be found in the SUV. Dacia introduces Bigster concept | Autoblog

Seems that a Subsidiary of Lamborghini is bringing out an updated DMC-12 auto. Whether or not it is just a tribute to the original DeLorean car or not is unknown. I do wonder if it will have a Lambo Engine, Hybrid or EV? A new DeLorean DMC-12 seems possible as Italdesign teases future plans - Roadshow (cnet.com)

Wine Coolers

Thanks to a very cool science project that proved air quality in Diesel School buses was not just bad, but terrible as the science project proved that Diesel CO2 fumes in buses were 10 times higher than the recommended EPA limits. As such Miami has applied to get their share of the State VW Diesel Gate settlement and will use it to start buying EV buses to replace diesel. The school districts admit that the cost is 2 to 3 times higher than Diesel buses up front, but that maintenance costs on EV buses are 80% less than Diesel buses. EPA lists that 350 ppm is normal, 450 ppm is acceptable and anything over 2,500 ppm causes adverse health effects. Testing on the school buses showed that concentrations were as high as 5,000 ppm which has adverse affects on young and old people. Current EV school buses take about 6hrs to fully recharge as they have a 100 mile range but tend to run less than a 50 mile route. EV buses allow the drivers to hear the students better and have a better driving experience with less to have to check and deal with compared to current Diesel buses. Charged EVs | Miami middle-school student inspires school board to electrify its school bus fleet - Charged EVs Latest JD Powers study on people who went from ICE to EV shows that EV owners will not go back to ICE even if their EV has not been the best experience as they still find greater customer satisfaction over ICE auto's. Chevy Bolt is rated #2 for Mass Market EVs, was surpassed by the Kia Niro EV last year. Tesla continues to hold the crown for Premium EVs. Survey shows EV owners will not go back to gas, brand loyalty is a bit ‘fickle,’ and Tesla leads (electrek.co)

BMW i4 EV sedan is in final tweaks for production and coming to market late in 2021. It would appear they want to return to a Ultimate Driving Machine. Be interesting to see what people think.

Excellent read on the EV cost versus CO2 benefits. They do clearly say that the high cost of EVs is an impediment to converting over when you compare the equal ICE version. You can even play with the carbon counter by filtering the results to see specific facts. As they state, for those that can afford the higher up-front cost of an EV, the carbon counter project allows you to visualize how the cost advantages pencil out over the years. https://www.carboncounter.com EV cost vs. CO2 benefit: Updated tool helps navigate the numbers for 2021 (greencarreports.com)

2021 should be an interesting year as multiple sites are talking about the points that have been stated by the new US administration. The following seems to be on tap and will be watched to see what all gets done. Quote of the Top 10 Auto Items: Rebooting Cash for Clunkers Expanding / Extending EV tax credits Revisiting Fuel Economy requirements Accelerate Public fleets to all-electric. Focus is to transition the US entire fleet of 500,000 school buses to EVs within 5yrs. Rapid build out of Charging infrastructure. Plan to add 500,000 rapid chargers coast to coast with feds working with local states. Reduce charging deserts and energy poverty through a National policy to update / expand the energy grid everywhere. Cleaner, sustainable and resilient energy grid. The focus is to invest in Americas Infrastructure to build a redundant greener electrical grid coast to coast. Expanding green energy production. EV-manufacturing transition through financial support to help transition the US manufacturing plants to cleaner EV manufacturing. Support for nurturing smaller US EV companies. This is making sure startup like Rivian, Lucid and Lordstown have access to intellectual guidance and as needed to financial means to ensure they can succeed in bringing their products to market. Return to tariff stability Wild card stated is the way Auto companies attempt to rewrite history as they now will have to deal with California CARB especially since half of the auto companies selling in the US sided with California in saying they could meet the requirements of CARB while the other half was divided into two camps with half saying they could not and half not taking a position. How the Biden presidency will accelerate change to electric cars: 10 talking points (greencarreports.com) Interesting times for sure in the auto industry. Interesting VW story on their new Trinity EV project, next generation platform that will allow for a even smoother and faster building of entry level to uber luxury EV auto's. On top of this, the Wolfsburg plant which was one of VWs largest ICE assembly plants is being converted to EV production to support increased EV demand in Europe. VW CEO teases Trinity project to rival Tesla, revamp Wolfsburg plant for EVs (greencarreports.com)

EV and ICE fans

OUCH Ford, Recalling 2006 to 2012 auto's for Airbag issues. $610 Million charge. Ford to spend $610 million to recall 3 million vehicles (cnbc.com) QUOTE: The impacted vehicles range from model years 2006 through 2012. They include Ford Ranger (2007-2011), Fusion (2006-2012), Edge (2007-2010), Lincoln MKZ/Zephyr (2006-2012), MKX (2007-2010), and Mercury Milan (2006-2011) vehicles. The recall will affect approximately 2.7 million vehicles in U.S. and approximately 300,000 in Canada and other locations, the company said.

Let's not forget he has his mom in a Kia on top of those two auto's he posted are not built in America last time I checked by Korea. Porsche has their less than $80,000 Taycan with the current battery pack, so prices are coming down. Mercedes's has the Cost of Diesel gate hitting the bottom line and as such has been cutting back everywhere both ICE and EV. Will be interesting to see how they do as right now they are more focused on China and Europe with additional delays in the US.

ICE fangurls After all you cannot have it one sided!

Very cool tech that I agree should be on every auto out there. Ford's Door Edge Protector Was A Brilliant Little Thing That Should Be Standard On Everything (jalopnik.com)

Interesting first and current reviews on the Tesla 3. At the start of production Tesla 3 was equal to Kia in the early 90's in fit n finish. Still has a long way to go, but getting better. Engineer Who Compared Tesla Model 3 Quality To 'A Kia In The '90s' Buys Another Model 3. Here's What He Found (jalopnik.com)

Sorry about that, I thought I had copied it when looking at the wilder metallic color. Seems a few are out there but everyone seems to take a picture in the shade or a rainy day, so no good picture of what this color really looks like. Agree that the others you state I think still have options that make this Cadillac a hard sale.