G. David Felt

One Positive benefit that a Skateboard platform brings to Auto's is the ease of reconfiguration for local markets. Being drive by wire compared to past manual linkage of an auto, this should make configurations a much faster process.

Excellent question when we have this proof that it is anything but.

Acura Legend today and an Oldsmobile Aurora which was a surprise.

Seems really weird that no major big news outlet has the story about Daimler denying the battery shortage and their own press site does not say anything either. https://news.teamymz.com/daimler-denies-battery-supply-problems-plans-to-build-50000-eqcs-this-year/ This says they will build 50,000 this year, but even then that is short of the original stated goal on Daimlers web site of 60,000 and with only 7,000 built last year of a proposed 25,000 of their compact CUV, I have to question the lack of interest you state versus parts available and LG actual statement that demand is outstriping supply. When they build the auto the buyers really want in the right size they will sell big time and Ford F150 EV, GM EV Trucks / SUVs full size, Rivian, etc. will prove that out.

Lynnwood Mall updated their chargers. Free charging of quick charges.

Never smelled the ozone of the electric motors, but how quiet they are is sure nice.

I will say once your on a quiet EV public bus, you never want to go back onto a Diesel, propane or CNG bus again. I love the EV buses running around the streets of Seattle, hate it when you hear a noisy diesel bus from across county lines pull into a stop. The noise, smell just is terrible.

@surreal1272 That is really cool, thank you for updating us. I am excited to see that you moved forward to do this. I honestly think you like myself and others that made the move will love the ability to have your phone tied into the auto system.

Very cool tech, GM's eBrake for Trailering allows GM full size trucks with trailer to brake to a stop 40 sooner than on average. https://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/autos-trucks/gms-latest-trailers-that-brake-as-well-as-trucks/ar-BBZeuOj

They also do not take into account various state discounts for owning an EV. California give more discounts too plus free install of a 220V Level 2 charger at home. Course you also have in some states like Washington, no sales take on EVs and free home charging level 2 so those can all add up to making the auto on par with ICE. Plus unlike California, 6 cents per kWh for power is dirt cheap compared to $3 plus dollars per gallon of gas.

Thanks for posting, this is a good read on a even comparison of the Electric Kona to the Turbo Gas version and how both ended up liking the electric over the ICE. Not planning for charging, I can understand the stupid increase in cost, but so much more to like about the EV. Great Read!

Agree that it will make an interesting study on costs. The Proterra buses have come from the $250K that we discussed a year ago down to $175, but still about double the diesel. I am wondering if they are looking at it in the same 10 year cycle of charging costs compared to maintenance cost of the diesel to justify the cost?

That is very cool read, excited to see the Luxury SUV that Rivian is building for Lincoln. That they have not stated, usually they say how much but the cost over the next five years to replace the complete diesel fleet is not stated nor on the state web site either. We be in the dark on this. This is a cool read on what a potential Electric Hummer might look like. https://www.motortrend.com/news/hummer-ev-rendering-photos-details/

Virginia is on a 5yr plan to replace all their school buses with EV buses. https://chargedevs.com/newswire/dominion-energy-selects-thomas-built-jouley-for-electric-school-bus-initiative/ Dominion Energy is going to buy Thomas Built Buses that use Proterra technology so that the buses will have a 220 kWh battery pack for a range of 134 miles. They will be adding 200 buses a year to replace all diesel buses over the next 5 years. Health of the children is the principle focus removing the toxic waste exhaust that the kids currently are exposed to on the buses.

Oops, Seems Jeep and Suzuki have been caught with cheating on their Diesel auto's in Europe too now. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/01/23/jeep-grand-cherokee-suzuki-vitara-diesel-emissions-europe/ Jeep says they have a fix that will go out to all jeeps immediately while Suzuki does not have a solution yet.

Diamler wanted to sell 25,000 EV's in Europe in 2019, but was only able to build and sell 7,000 due to battery shortages. Ramping up production ready battery packs seems harder than Daimler realized as they have halved production already for 2020 from the planned 60,000 EVs for Europe to 30,000 now due to EV parts shortage production especially around ramping up the battery production part. Daimler blames LG for not being able to ramp fast enough to produce the cells needed for their battery packs. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/01/23/mercedes-halves-eqc-production-battery-shortage/ While Daimler is failing to meet emission required levels as their emissions have gone up on their auto's as Europe has introduced reductions that Daimler must meet, currently they are up at 130.4 grams fleet average and need to be at 103.1 Grams fleet average by Jan 1st 2021. Daimler is also blaming Tesla who bought Grohmann Engineering for delays in building up their own battery production sites. Seems Tesla is wanting to build an inner city compact EV for China. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/01/21/tesla-city-car-china-design-center/

Gotta love people selling restored auto's on Ebay. https://www.autoblog.com/photos/ebay-finds-for-the-cost-of-an-average-car-in-america/#slide-2202577

Seems Bridgestone and Michelin will offer Airless tires on 2024 model auto's in 2023 via GM. Also Bridgestone will have tireless bikes this year for the 2020 summer Olympics before going on sale globally. https://www.autoblog.com/2020/01/22/bridgestone-airless-tire-commercial-vehicles/#slide-2202494 Seems the era of airless tires is finally here after 20 years of research.

@balthazar MB also keeps saying that China and the US are key markets to grow. If so, then they will have to ramp up their sales here which I can see being ICE focused as they deal with the China forced EV change of ramping sales there. Europe also is not backing away from moving to Hybrid / EV of all auto's so they are going to have to invest and find a way to be profitable. Tesla is selling every 3 they build now in Shanghi and are getting on average of 20 new orders per day there, with a $20,000 drop in price it is amazing going from $75K to $55K how sales can jump.

Curious, who do you think looks better from the side or back as this is on par with everything from the Germans, Asians or Americans.

While cool to see, this dash SCREAMS at me busy busy busy and is not a well thought out layout of a Dash. Totally agree, love the attention to detail and yet simple clean dash design. Would love to see it restored without all the corrosion.

I am willing to bet that MB will pull such tactics also to get their EV line selling. Might not be free electricity, but they will have some other grab for possible buyers to get pulled into buying the EV badge. Just like Rivian is including the Tank Mode now for all AWD 4 motor auto's.

I totally agree with you and the west coast is very much the same as your area of Canada with state, county, city govs in sync with residents on EV's / Hybrids. Most want full size truck/SUV BEVs. As such, I think once these come to market we will see a dramatic move to EV's at least here on the west coast. I still think the Governments drive to have a cleaner climate is what will drive the change from ICE to EV. China especially will drive this.

Gotta Love this EV Conversion of a 1969 Dodge Truck. Very cool read and I have to agree that many issues people have before they buy do go away once they have their EV and change a few habits on how they charge, when and use. Over all, excited to see EVs finally move off 1% once we have more options out there.

Nope, at the beginning the S&X regardless of model and options were all free, but then later on only the top model versions or extended range batteries had charging for free. Later as @balthazar has pointed out, Musk turns the tap on and off depending on sales, models, etc. on the need to keep things going.