G. David Felt

Many have heard of AI and they think Terminator. Yet AI in the computer industry has allowed us to build computers and accessories faster due to the ability of AI to sift through data faster than humans can. This brings us to how AI is helping the Auto industry transition to EV's and how battery tech will change much faster than in the last two decades. IBM has announced their recent battery project is developing prototypes of new faster charging batteries that are free of Nickel and Cobalt thanks to AI. It has allowed them to quickly evaluate a set of 20,000 potential compounds for use in the Battery electrolytes. This would normally take 5 years via traditional human research and yet was accomplished in nine days using AI. GM Ultium batteries and Panasonic batteries have reduced testing from three years to about six months. This is going from a large number of time consuming charging and discharging cycles to using AI to cover what would be done manually in three years to six months. Gbatteries has used AI to build faster and more reliable DC fast chargers. InoBat from Slovakian has stated that AI is helping them to boost battery density by 20% with the batteries being sold in 2023. VW has stated AI is helping them lay out a new roadmap of lite weight materials for auto's including their own batteries that are in development. Dyson has claimed that AI is how they have brought Solid State batteries to market now. AI is going to help usher in the next generation of not only Auto's but phones, computers, etc. AI will touch just about every aspect of life for people. https://www.wsj.com/articles/electric-car-batteries-get-a-boost-from-artificial-intelligence-11604422792 https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1130221_report-ai-will-dramatically-speed-up-battery-development-and-thus-ev-adoption https://na.panasonic.com/us/press-releases

BBC

If you have seen Rebel Wilson when she started in the Pitch Perfect series of Movies as Fat Amy, she does have sculpted abs. The following picture was her at the Pitch Perfect 3 release just a little over a year ago. She has made amazing progress this year focusing on her health during this pandemic. Having a stomach sticking out past ones breasts is never good. I do agree with you that the bottom woman has rocked going from full figure to sculpted. For Rebel Wilson that has never done physical fitness, she has sculpted her abs finally but still has room to continue to improve.

Totally agree, retrofit old auto's with EV powertrain and electronics that goes crazy stupid in price is not sustainable to the masses and is a failure. Looking at the pricing of the Connect and Cruise ICE packages, if the Connect and Cruise EV packages are in the same price range, then I see value in having the options of ICE or EV. GM can surpass all these small shops doing custom conversions if they can line up the pricing to be a decent deal for those of us that like auto projects and want to modernize at the same time. Even I COULD NOT recommend anyone to go the route of the Mini above. Just crazy.

Yes it is except there is no hanging exhaust pipe and other stuff. Seems to be cleaner underneath the auto. To me that makes the design look cleaner and sleeker. I still think the tail lights should have been incorporated into the body lines to be clean and sleek. They were an after thought to me.

DUNE "Father the Sleeper will Awaken!"

I like the cleaned up look of the E-Type Zero, the electric converted version and that is what @balthazar tends to point out about all the junk hanging out like the exhaust pipe and other stuff. I do agree that the Tail lights could have been better incorporated into the sleekness of this car. They are like an after thought to me.

Right! I was shaking my head when I read A/C, Power Steering and Nav were optional. That must push this EV mini to $100K which is just stupid to me.

This next one is weird, Cell Phone Maker Kyocera has built this concept auto as a tribute to the auto industry history and to encourage new unique devices and systems for the mobility segment of the automotive market. This Japanese cell phone maker believes there is a market for a see-through dashboard on autonomous cars, even regular driven cars where people want to see everything right in front of their auto. Thoughts? https://www.autoblog.com/2020/11/06/kyocera-moeye-autonomous-concept-car/

Tequila anyone? How about a Tesla Tequila? Too bad, sold out in Hours as Tesla CEO Musk made good on his April Fools joke in 2018 and offered for $250 a bottle a Tesla Tequila. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/11/06/tesla-tequila-sold-out/

Seems that Formula E has continued to gain watching fans and they have decided to invest in Extreme E racing. Looks pretty cool to me. https://chargedevs.com/newswire/formula-e-makes-strategic-investment-in-extreme-e-off-road-racing-series/ Now this ICE custom build project is just ugly to me. But there seems to be people willing to order it up. Ram Trucks has a new customer in the form of Aznom Palladium SUV. A custom built auto. They took the V8, slapped two turbos on it and tuned it for 710 hp / 700 lb-ft of torque. The SUV weights 6,000 lbs. https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/pictures/ram-pickup-aznom-palladium/ https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/ugliest-car-a-ram-pickup/

There are those that Love their original Mini Coopers that made the original movie Italian Job so popular as well as the modern remake of the movie. Now comes a company that is offering one of two ways to take your old Mini and modernize it. You can buy a fully refurbished Mini Cooper from the British Company Swindon Powertrian for $88,000. This gets you a 110hp, 24kWh battery pack, usb ports, heated front seats. Optional features available are AC, Power Steering and Navigation. or you can go the project route and buy the components from them and refurbish the auto your self. Current Kit of component list and Price: Motor & drivetrain - $11,535 US Battery pack - $21,033 US Motor Controller - $5,074 Onboard Charger - $2,563 Total cost of kit - $40,205 US https://swindonpowertrain.com/documents/Classic_Mini_Kit.pdf https://swindonpowertrain.com/uk/index.aspx I honestly could not see spending this kind of money on an old Mini for the size, but some will I believe. If ya like adrenalin rushes, then this BMW powered Fly Suite is for you! According to this news story, it seems the first Yellow Tesla S taxi has hit the streets of New York. https://electrek.co/2020/11/06/first-tesla-model-3-official-nyc-yellow-cab/#more-154118

According to the latest news out of Bentley, they are changing their whole lineup to Plug-in Hybrid by 2026 with being full EV only by 2030. This comes after in 2019 a board member who is in charge of Engineering said there was no reason to spend any time with electrification. Bentley is the worlds larges manufacture of 12 cylinder auto's. It now seems that due to European and Asian changes supporting electrification and banning ICE that Bentley is seeing a need to change and with that changing fast for such a high end luxury auto maker. This does make me wonder about the CEO of Ferrari who said in his life time they would have a hybrid option but would not waste any time with electrification. Ferrari might not have a choice as governments move away from ICE to Hybrid/EVs. https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1130208_bentley-plans-to-go-all-plug-in-by-2026-all-electric-by-2030

Android

overpriced

Massachusetts passes right to repair bill meaning Tesla will have to open up their books allowing non-Tesla auto repair shops to work on Tesla auto's. Gonna be interesting to see how that goes over with Tesla CEO Musk. https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2020/11/massachusetts-passes-right-to-repair-protections/ Land Rover will not Confirm or Deny reports that their two door Defender SUV that has a Turbo 4 or inline 6 engine is getting a twin turbo V8 from BMW in their refresh of the two door SUV. https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2020/11/report-land-rover-considering-more-oomph-for-defender/

Ferrari 65 year old CEO says that in his life time Ferrari will not go pure EV only. He believes that customers still want the sound of their ICE motors and at the most they will offer for those wanting a bit more green in their exotic sports car a plug-in hybrid at most. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/11/05/ferrari-not-going-electric/

Rapid E

James Bonds (Daniel Craig's) new car for No time to Die!

British Humor

Same here @Robert Hall Wife, kids and I have not been in a restaurant since February. I do pickup an occasional curbside order from the couple places locally here to support our local small restaurants, but otherwise, we have been avoiding everything, but I do a once a week shopping trip to Costco. Yes I could have it ordered and delivered, but this keeps me sane getting out of the house.

Asian Cheerleaders

I do think that society is tired of this pandemic, yet by letting our guard down now we are seeing the last few days with 100,000 infections happening daily and thousands of deaths. A very sad time with loosing so much life needlessly. https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/us-map We still need to stay vigilant till we can vaccinate the country. I find this story very weird to me as they call the 19840Chevrolet Camaro Berlinetta, a Sports Car for Luxurious People. ? I remember this car and I never considered it Luxurious! 2.8L V6 with Automatic. https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2020/11/rare-rides-the-1984-chevrolet-camaro-berlinetta-a-sports-car-for-luxurious-people/ In reporting news, Ford is going back to Monthly sales reporting and leaving GM and Tesla to be the lone Quarterly reporting companies. https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2020/11/ford-returns-to-monthly-sales-reporting/ In tech news for ICE Auto's. Seems the blind spots are getting so big, that one company thinks the whole dash should see what is in front of the car. Not sure how that would help you not hit your front end., An IDIOT in LA stole a customer Velociraptor Ford 6x6 HD and then tried to evade police to a no wine situation. I really like this car from Jay Leno's garage.

EV update of the day. Tesla has secured a 150 Tesla Semi Trucks from a truck leasing company with options for 350 more surpassing Walmart's firm commitment to 130 Tesla Semi Trucks. https://electrek.co/2020/11/05/tesla-tsla-order-tesla-semi-electric-trucks-biggest-yet/ Australia has been struggling with brown outs this past year much like California has due to fires and extreme climate change. As such, South Australia has committed to what is being called the Worlds Biggest Tesla Battery for a green renewable storage system to insure power supply. https://electrek.co/2020/11/05/tesla-tsla-wins-contract-giant-battery-australia/ California has landed on a bumper crop of Lithium, enough to support 1/3rd of the worlds needs due to California's expansion of GeoThermal Power. Seems the Lithium is a by product of using GeoThermal to create power to supply the state. https://chargedevs.com/newswire/report-highlights-the-potential-for-lithium-recovery-from-californias-geothermal-industry/ FOR THE SPEED FREAKS, Audi has released their E-Tron GT details. Plenty more pictures and slides covering their tech at the story link at the bottom, but the car will have a 235 HP front motor and 449 HP rear motor for a total of 684 HP total but limited to 590 HP all the time and an overboost feature of 640 HP at this time. 0 to 60 time of 3.6 seconds. Rather than a 79 kWh battery pack or performance mode of 93 kWh battery pack like Porsche is offering, Audi is going with a 83.7 kWh battery. https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1130199_2022-audi-e-tron-gt-electric-car-details-battery-charging-performance

It is surprising to see that a Country would just turn over in this case an island and let them change the way auto's are used by the population. I totally agree with you that changing Transit, Municipal and commercial auto's can have a huge affect and give a much more decent time frame for conversion of the private residential auto's. I do get that they are wanting to reduce the chance of pollution into the local eco system, but a flip like this so fast is pretty surprising. I do wonder how the 1,400 permanent locals think about this. Did a Search and found more detailed writings about this carbon neutral mobility project. All power comes from burning fossil fuels and with 72,000 tourist a year as well as other ships stopping by the island, the need to reduce the carbon footprint has led the Greece government to the following conclusion, Government nor Private business can fix the problems, only working together with the local population can fix the problem. As such the Island residents have chosen this route in such a short time frame. Seems VW sustainability council working along with the Greece Government sustainability council and the local Island Council that is wanting to get to a Climate Neutral Mobility and power supply has chosen this path. Seems this is a 6yr plan according to the press release from VW and Greece is planning for the whole country to be Climate Carbon Neutral by 2050. ? https://www.volkswagen-newsroom.com/en/press-releases/volkswagen-group-and-greece-to-create-model-island-for-climate-neutral-mobility-6583