G. David Felt

Guess I am not alone in hating to pay tolls. Seems this trucker who drives between NJ and NY hated it so much he would flip his license up to avoid having it snapped at the toll booths.

Chairman Bill Fords daughter Alexandra Ford English has joined the board of Rivian cementing a deeper and long term co engineering strategy for Ford with Rivian in building EVs for Fords product portfolio. To quote the news story: "Our strategic partnership with Rivian plays an important role in the future of fully networked battery electric vehicles,” said President and CEO Jim Hackett in Ford's announcement. “With Alexandra’s experience in mobility and self-driving services, she will bring a unique perspective to Rivian’s board during this transformational time in our industry." “Alexandra and I share a deep passion for mobility and electrification, and her connection to Ford’s long family role in transportation is something special. I am looking forward to working closely with her and the perspective that she will bring to the Board,” said Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/05/01/alexandra-english-rivian-board/

No oil changes ever, no major maintenance every 100,000 miles let alone the still tagged mid 45 to 50K maintenance auto's still list. Leaf and Bolt give far more than 50 miles in 30 min when on a fast charger and the tech is constantly improving. Chevrolet lists for the 2020 and earlier models 90 miles in 30 min. But the 2021 as a 2022 model on the new bev platform is stated to be considerable faster, more inline with gassing up an ICE auto. So all things change and improve just as ICE did over the last 100 plus years. 2020 Nissan Leaf gives 80% battery capacity in 40 min for a Quick charge connection. Yet, plug in at night at home and always have a full battery in the morning. EV's DO NOT need tires more often than an ICE auto. You sound like SMK about his MB love affair. I get it you love ICE auto's, nothing wrong with that, but the future is changing so get used to it. Chevrolet Bolt Maintenance Schedule: Here is the excellent Chevrolet VOLT Maintenance Schedule: Equal in Size, Chevrolet Trax Maintenance Schedule: So let's try again about which auto is more expensive to maintain between EV and ICE.

I totally disagree as Morris sees the future and where we will move to and how people want less maintenance than ICE requires along with cleaner emissions. As such, I believe he is right, once you have EVs in all price tiers, that cost less out of pocket for each paycheck, people will change. West coast has chargers everywhere, July 1 2016 is when charging mandates went into effect and why the West coast is ahead of the east coast in charging infastructure. https://apps.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?cite=51-50-0427 This regulation states that 20% of all available parking in any structure or area such as parking garage, apartments, condo's, etc. is to have charging installed. As such it is very easy to recharge an EV far more than driving out to find a gas station.

Naw, Mid Size trucks are still way too big for inner city ownership and parking. I know many coworkers who live in Seattle and ended up buying old Chevrolet Luv, Datsun, Original Mini Ford Rangers as they only wanted a 2 person pickup to use for going to Home Depot, running the occasional garbage run, etc. Mini Pickups I believe have always had a place in society. Just look at the Ford ranger long life and how many bought it while it was still a mini pickup compared to the bloated mid size version now. I believe there is room for all 3 size trucks. If done right on a global platform, then the truck is a winner winner chicken dinner.

Those of us that have been around in the auto industry for a while remember the Ford Maverick car. Some loved it, some hated it. Now it would seem that evidence is mounting based on trademarks, filings, etc. that Ford is bringing out a mini pickup truck to the US market and the name chosen for the Ford Rangers little brother is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MAVERICK https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/ford-ranger-maverick-small-pickup-truck/ https://www.tfltruck.com/2020/04/leaked-2022-ford-maverick-truck-could-this-be-the-next-ford-ranger-or-bronco-based-pickup/

This is a review of the 82 kW electric motorcycle Zero SR/F 2020 model. These are the companies that could kill off companies like Harley Davidson and other older established OEMs who are not able to deliver low cost long range electric options.

According to Ken Morris, VP and head of the Electric / Autonomous vehicle division at GM, Mr. Morris believes GM will be ALL ELECTRIC Sooner rather than later in what people think. To quote the write up at Electrek web site: Projections out to 2030 say that we’re only going to have 15% electric vehicles on the road by 2030. I believe and we believe the number will be much higher once people start to experience electric vehicles. He was asked if he believed we would have to wait a full decade before we saw vehicles customers would want to buy. My hope and gut feel is that there’s going to be an inflection point in the mid-2020s where suddenly people are going to be buying these at a faster rate than anybody expects, just because the driving experience on these vehicles is fantastic. And when you get used to charging your vehicle like a phone at night, when you charge it, and you don’t worry about it, you never have to stop at a gas station. There’s a lot to be said for that kind of lifestyle. They posted a statement from him a year ago when he was head of Global Product Integrity. I would say GM’s speed of that transition in terms of volumes is probably less huge than you would expect. IHS data says 90% still ICE 10 years from now. But you never know what’s going to happen when really good electric vehicles come out in volume, and the infrastructure starts coming around. He was then asked if the collapse of oil prices would kill GM's EV program. If you can sell a vehicle that doesn’t use any gas at all for the same price of a vehicle that does burn gas, you don’t have to do that math of, is it worth the payback or not? We’re not there yet. Today we’re getting much closer, the research does tell us that for now a customer will pay a select premium for an EV vehicle, but they’re not going to pay a big premium. And so, our job is to get those things as close together as we can. Morris wants GM to offer EV at a “broad band of price entry point.” He said that range of prices will come, and be profitable, “very quickly between now and 2025.” Morris was asked if the Pandemic would slow down or kill any part of the GM EV Program. We’re working from home, so engineers are working from home, and designers are working from home, but they’re going through extraordinary lengths to make sure that we’re maintaining the timing on the programs. We’re constantly going full-throttle to maintain timing on these programs. My guess is when we’re able to come back to work, and we’re able to get our hands on hardware and clay models and all those things, we may have to work harder, maybe put more resources on these programs to keep them on time. But there’s no slowdown, none. But a shift to electric vehicles is not possible at all without a fervent belief in the technology. Morris believes. With each statement about an “all-electric” future, GM raises the stakes. We’re still more than a year away from production of the GMC Hummer EV pickup, scheduled to begin in late 2021. By that time, the 2022 Bolt EUV will launch. The Cadillac Lyriq luxury SUV launches in 2022. Other GM EVs scheduled for production are the GMC Hummer EV SUT, two Buick SUVs, and a hand-built flagship Cadillac sedan dubbed Celistiq. That mid-2020s inflection point is quickly approaching. https://electrek.co/2020/05/01/general-motors-says-it-will-be-all-electric-sooner-than-people-would-think/

Interesting read, very thought out on how to deal with what the medical community is saying will be a 24 month road map of Coronavirus. It will take that long to get to 60 to 70% immunity in society before they will consider the worst over. https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/national-coronavirus-response-a-road-map-to-reopening/ https://ethics.harvard.edu/covid-19-response Harvards paper is very in-depth but good info on this. They should be briefing the nation as they work with John Hopkins on what the best things are and how to work and move around safely.

Pounds

With 30 million unemployed, the worst since the Great Recession of the 1930's, I think we are far from over. Things are going to get worse before they get better sadly. I actually think we could see about 35 million unemployed. Interesting is that in states that are opening up, the up tick in infections is also going up again. Reports from various Virus Medical professionals are saying expect 2 more years of Coronavirus problems. This is due to the fact that even if they find a cure in the next month or so, it will take 30 to 90 days to test on animals, then human trials. Once approved, they then have to ramp up production and then get the shots across the glob to inoculate people. So 24 months is totally understandable.

Biblical

Vintage Seattle Winter 1916

Splits

Jeans

Stupidity of teens on HWY 129. East coast.

I think that is a Smirk of "Wait till I get you home!" ?

Official GMC announcement about the delay of their Hummer by GMC reveal date. Development stays on track, production stays fall 2021 still with availability in first half of 2022. Reveal will happen once GM gets their folks back to work. https://media.gmc.com/media/us/en/gmc/home.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2020/apr/0429-hummer.html

Beginning

Old Age

Seems while we have a delay on the Hummer by GMC, they did release an updated teaser video. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/04/29/gmc-hummer-ev-reveal-postponed-teased/ Excited to see removable roof panels and the story says that it will have the multi-gate that is on the Denali Trucks. Excited to see one and test drive it and who knows could end up buying one.

There are some nice wine fridges that can hold 50 bottles with double doors so you can have reds on one side aging nicely and cold whites / Roses on the other. I did forget to mention my wife has a 50 bottle wine fridge full of her whites nicely chilled so any time she wants, she can get what she wanting in a white including her lovely but sweet Ice Wines. Costco sells a couple fridges for this, Home Depot sells a few also. There is a wide selection online you can order. They really do make life nice to have a selection of wines chilled and ready especially with summer coming on.

Aches

Joints

I also hate face masks as they fog up the glasses and make the face hot and uncomfortable. I understand the logic and science behind why we should wear one, but I have to say that so far be it the type of mask you are wearing in this photo, more advanced ones that are being sold, cloth re-washable ones or even the commercial face masks with canister filters. They all make my face hot, sweaty and totally uncomfortable on top of fogging up the glasses. Maybe we should all get Nasa outfits and just wear a spaceman helmet!