G. David Felt

Awesome info Dwight, and Yes, TOTALLY AGREE with you on the questions you ask about the German V8. I did not know that it did not rev like the other german V8's which does beg the question why?

Now this is a perfect example where like Slack instant messenger, you can post multiple emoji responses. The First line earns - ? Thank you, very interesting to know. Line 2 & 3 - ? Line 4 - ? Stay Warm Line 5 - ?

I can respect that, but as you said, a $28 dollar part with a $1,000 labor bill. That right there is a deal breaker for me, would rather support an American company with much cheaper parts and usually able to do the work myself or still way cheaper labor for Cadillac over Audi. I respect your choice and agree with the huge discount that is a great deal, but my GM V8's have proven to be far more durable than dealing with a ticking Grenade of German engineering design. Take a Pushrod V8 over over rev'd DOHC German V8 any day. I find it interesting that we do not find German V8's with 200,000 to 300,000 miles on the road unlike Ford and GM trucks, SUVs and cars. It makes me question that superior German engineering attitude.

Rereading the review, I have to agree that Ford has done better than Tesla in keeping certain things traditional in which people going from ICE to EV will appreciate. Example is the windshield wiper which is on the stalk on the Steering wheel column compared to Tesla which has the windshield wipers as a menu option in the big screen. I do appreciate that this guy clearly talks about headroom in the back seat being much better than in the Tesla Y and how that space matches up from cargo to front between the Mach-E and Tesla Y. He makes clear the 3 things he finds as Head Scratchers but over all a equal and in some areas superior EV to Tesla. To quote: As a Tesla Model Y owner who wanted to validate my purchase decision, I wanted the Mach E to be significantly less of a car overall. It wasn’t. On the contrary. In many meaningful ways, the Ford Mustang Mach E is a better vehicle than a Model Y, and more importantly for Ford and the EV industry, it is an exceptional vehicle overall. I imagine a lot of people who aren’t ready for the leap to Tesla will find the Mach E every bit as exciting and more of an easy step from the ICE car they are coming from. Especially Ford owners. The Mach E isn’t perfect and I imagine in the coming years, Ford’s designers will reconsider some of the quibbles mentioned above. But as a package, Ford has to be congratulated on their first and very important effort. The Mach E has tons of room for 5 + dog, looks amazing, and pays homage to Ford’s Mustang, drives like a bat out of hell, and can be had for a starting price of about $35,000 after federal tax savings. It costs less in states with their own and utility incentives. Maybe the Mach E is too good to be called a Mustang? State of Tennessee has just passed a major bill to fund a Statewide EV Fast Charging network. This is a $20 million dollar investment in the State to help drive adoption of EVs. The new charging network is to be completed by 2024. Tennessee funds statewide electric vehicle fast charging network - Electrek

I am really digging the look of the Mach-E as this is just sharp to me. This is a very interesting review especially as the reviewer is an 8 year and running Tesla owner in a current Tesla Y so he makes some interesting comparisons. Also I think he has a valid point, he is not going to debate the is this a real Mustang or not as he states, it is the only Mustang built all New since his birth that he is super excited about. The Electrek Review: The Mach E is Ford's most important Mustang in 56 years - Electrek

For those in the Mid-West, STAY WARM. News here says your supposed to have below freezing temps all weekend with wind chill in the 30-50 below zero range. ?

I am gonna try this recipe, sounds and looks so good. I Tried Marcella Hazan's Bolognese Sauce | Kitchn (thekitchn.com)

Very cool Video, what is the white stuff you think he painted on the cut areas?

Nothing seems to indicate the power nor have I found anything that says this is a Blackwing, just the V badging. I will say the two tone interior looks good. Anyone that says this is not luxury compared to German or Asian competing products needs to step back from the Koolaid! IMHO, I still think this is a MISTAKE on how they finished this section on the car.

I would totally agree that numbers do not lie, just different body types will clarify if that works or not for said person. Example is myself with long legs and arms compared to my body core. As such, seats always have to go all the way back and this is usually where an auto will fail cause if no one can sit behind me, the interior numbers are a failure to me on just how much room they have. I can attest that a CT4 & CT5 can fit me, though no comfortably and NO ONE can sit behind me. So why I love speed and aggressive driving, these cars while awesome and way better IMHO over German and Asian cars in the same class, would never be on my buy list since I cannot get my family in them. Another issue with the numbers is when you have a person like my daughter, she is 5'8" tall, but long body, shorter legs and arms. As such, she pulls seats up close to the steering wheel to reach everything and usually will hit her head on the roof in cars compared to SUVs. As such, she loves her Durango, hates her friends cars and always offers to drive so she is comfy. Yes, all Cadillacs have it which I believe is WRONG for ICE cars, they should keep the liter size and leave the newton/meter badging to the EVs. Clarification, the current V's have it on the lot when I was there at my dealership, the marketing images shown on the web site for the Blackwings I have not seen it yet. Looking around to see if what kind of marking there is.

Dell

I can understand the outrage for those that will see it, deep ocean wind farms have so much more potential since the winds are far stronger than when they are close to land. The ability to replace ALL AMERICAN energy production with Wind from deep ocean wind farms is a reality that is being worked on. These farms would NOT be seen from shore thus removing the anger. Supposedly, we could with what the DOE has researched so far produce 2000 GW of power a day supplying far more than the country consumes. Floating Wind Farms have huge benefits over current wind farms that need shallow water. US has only one offshore wind farm, but that's about to change (cnbc.com) This also has Great high pay job potential for off shore oil drilling workers who can use their skills to build the off shore wind farms be them built into shallow bed rock or floating farms farther out. It will also support many jobs locally in the marina's that have boats going out to the wind farms. Very Green, renewable clean energy.

Ford has just announced a doubling of investment into EVs development to spending $22 billion from the $11 billion originally committed. Ford had a $2 billion loss. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/ford-reports-quarterly-loss-tops-2-billion-increases-investment-in-electric-vehicles-11612474055

Ford is now also having to cut production on their most profitable item, the F150 due to chip shortage. The plants are now closed till Feb 15th when they expect to return to 3 shifts per plant, but that can change depending on supply constraints. Ford F-150 production cut due to semiconductor chip shortage (cnbc.com)

Dodge Challenger racing Tesla 3 causes crash and all caught on the Tesla cams.

Seems the semiconductor chip shortage that started last year and hit German and Asian auto companies are now hitting all companies including gm as they report the need to shutdown plants. Quote: “Semiconductor supply for the global auto industry remains very fluid,” he added. “Our supply chain organization is working closely with our supply base to find solutions for our suppliers’ semiconductor requirements and to mitigate impacts on GM.” Affected GM vehicles include the Chevrolet Malibu sedan, Cadillac XT4 SUV, Chevy Equinox and Trax, and GMC Terrain SUVs and the Buick Encore small crossover vehicle. All auto companies have reported that production plans are being scaled back due to chip shortages. EXCLUSIVE-GM hit by chip shortage, to cut production at four plants | Reuters

Imagine how flat the surrounding area becomes when they back fill in the hole with the hills around it. ?

Mass transit

@ykX @ccap41 @balthazar thanks for the info guys, here is where Washington State is at, we have the final Coal power plant scheduled for decommission in 2025. The huge 1000 acre open pit coal mine is being leveled as it will be covered in Solar panels to replace the power created by the coal power plant. They are also installing in one area that is tall hills with strong winds wind turbines. Currently our states electricity is produced in the following: % from Coal = 8.9% % from hydroelectric = 63% % from natural gas = 8.6% % from nuclear = 8.6% % from solar = .1% % from wind = 9.2% Total MegaWatts produced = 9,248 In Washington, a Coal-Fired Power Plant Will Put Its Money on the Sun | NRDC Washington - State Energy Profile Analysis - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

cross country

I work with a team in Cork Ireland and with the lock down, only a single family member is able to go out once a day to shop for needed items. They said if it cannot be delivered to you via Amazon or some other company shopping is pretty much dead right now and a good chance that there will be an extension of the lock down due to the mutation of Covid-19 that is killing more than the old one did there. The team says they are all waiting in their homes, working where they can till the gov comes to their home or directs them to a site for vaccination. Crazy, but seems to be really bad. Some of the guys said that so many ignored the warnings and went about doing xmas as usual and that just spiked the infections. Scary times for sure.

FORD CEO Jim Farley gave an interview on CNBC today and has made a commitment to the stock holders and public that he will "Lay out the Entire Picture" of the companies EV plans over the coming couple months. This plan will provide a clear and decisive plan for the company as the auto industry transitions to an all electric auto portfolio. In the first 4 months as CEO Ford stock are up 60% as the public are excited with where Ford is going, paying off debt and having a clear and decisive vision for the company. Per CEO Farley, "2021 is our year of Action". The CEO has accelerated the $11 billion global restructuring plan launched under his predecessor in 2018 that Farley helped design as second in command at the time. This included the shedding of 14,000 jobs, revamping global operations and ending auto production in Brazil. Ford is focused on ensuring the best quality of build for the Mach-E, F150 EV and the Transit Van EV. Mr. Farley also said that fans of ICE auto's should enjoy the next couple of years as they launch the final generation of engines in new products such as the Bronco. Jim Farley also stated that EVs need to be open to everyone and Ford has a plan to deliver from entry level EV to Luxury level allowing all to move to an EV. In the interview it was clearly pointed out that Ford seems to be working under two out of sync clocks compared to GM which has heavily restructured, pulled out of money loosing markets and embraced a full EV plan for the current decade which has left GM with a market value of almost $80 Billion compared to Fords Market Value of $40 billion. This has Morgan Stanly upgrading GM in the near term and downgrading Ford in the near term. Farley has stated that he plans to deliver such proof to show that the Mach-E is not a one off success and that the rest of the company can transition sooner than later to an EV portfolio that will deliver world class auto's for both on road and off road use. Farley points to the announcement earlier this week with Google which saw the Ford Stock price jump 8.6%. Morgan Stanley does see that this tie-up will generate a estimated $9 billion revenue stream of which $5 billion is to be a profit for Ford. Investors have criticized Jim Hackett for his lack of urgency and transparency with a 5yr restructuring plan, investors seem to be much happier with CEO Farley who accelerated the plan from 5 into 3 years. With major costs having hit in Q4 of last year so that things will be much more profitable moving forward sooner. Ford CEO promises 'year of action' for restructuring and EVs (cnbc.com)

Tesla had stated that they would only sell the Tesla Model Y in markets when local production could start. Tesla has started production and delivery of Model Y CUVs in China. They have now updated the progress on their German manufacturing site that production of Model Y and 3 EVs will begin for Europe in mid-2021. Tesla updates Model Y timeline in Europe, hints at Gigafactory Berlin to start production 'mid-2021' - Electrek

Many states including WV and WY have retraining programs for dying industries. Yet even with that, not everyone will take advantage of change. As the old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but cannot make it drink. As such, it dies. Same with the changes in various industries. Posting this in both random forums as it is valid for how the industries of auto production will also change. The latest Morgan Stanley report on the US Power Generation by source is predicting that Coal will be a dead industry in the US for power production by 2033 due to submission of decommission applications to the US Energy Administration. While Coal will still be taken from the ground, it will be for use to China and other countries that are still dependent on coal for electrical production. The report goes on to say that 55% of US electrical production will be from Green sources of energy such as Solar, Wind, Hydro and the rest will from from Natural Gas and Nuclear. Why is this important to the auto industry, easy with the change over to EVs, the electrical production industry is planning for the need for redundant power sources to fuel everything from EVs to cell phones, homes and businesses. Coal will be gone from US power by 2033 – Morgan Stanley - Electrek Even with worker retraining, not everyone will be willing to change and that is no one else fault but their own. Stop learning and changing with society and you get left behind. POWER Dislocated Worker Grants - Resources for Coal Miners | U.S. Department of Labor (dol.gov) Training Available for Dislocated Coal Miners and Dependents « UMWA Career Centers, Inc. (umwacc.com) Plenty of money being spent to retrain coal workers for new jobs, but again, they are not being forced, if they do not realize that the news is accurate on this industry dying, no one else to blame but themselves. Same with Auto Union workers, retrain to build EVs or eventually your job disappears.

The latest Morgan Stanley report on the US Power Generation by source is predicting that Coal will be a dead industry in the US for power production by 2033 due to submission of decommission applications to the US Energy Administration. While Coal will still be taken from the ground, it will be for use to China and other countries that are still dependent on coal for electrical production. The report goes on to say that 55% of US electrical production will be from Green sources of energy such as Solar, Wind, Hydro and the rest will from from Natural Gas and Nuclear. Why is this important to the auto industry, easy with the change over to EVs, the electrical production industry is planning for the need for redundant power sources to fuel everything from EVs to cell phones, homes and businesses. Coal will be gone from US power by 2033 – Morgan Stanley - Electrek First it does have to do with the existing and still in production of T230 Diesel versions and now they have Electric versions that are expected to replace diesel. Sunlight still comes through the clouds and reflects off the suspended particles. Light is light.