G. David Felt

Sadly they had their first death on the first day of qualifying. I will have to say that it is an adrenaline rush junkies dream. http://www.thedrive.com/opinion/11287/the-isle-of-man-tt-is-the-worlds-deadliest-race-and-thats-why-people-come This brings to 254 deaths since the race was started in 1907. Crazy.

@balthazar Thought you would like this as the storm took down the doors to uncover this 1949 Ford Convertible. Interesting story and pics. http://www.thedrive.com/news/21186/virginia-storm-damage-reveals-abandoned-1949-ford-convertible-hidden-in-an-alley-garage DOH I even now read Escape and thought Focus. So weird of me. In regards to Panasonic, I would think they will want to at some time build their batteries there, but as an investor, their commitment is to Tesla first.

Seems Panasonic is aiming to remove cobalt from all their batteries starting with the ones they make for Tesla. https://www.autoblog.com/2018/05/30/panasonic-tesla-cobalt-ev-batteries/ Cool story on the 2020 Plug in Hybrid Focus https://www.autoblog.com/2018/05/30/2020-ford-escape-plug-in-hybrid/

eTron First Auto to Use Side Cameras en_MediaInfo_Audi_e-tron_prototype_Aerodynamics.pdf Audi has announced that with Europe and Japan supporting HD cameras as side mirrors, that the Audi eTron will be their first auto to do away with Mirrors and be shipped with high definition cameras showing up on a large screen inside the auto. A very cool tech feature that was shown on the Camaro concept as well as many other auto's over the years but is moving forward. It is expected that the US will approve side cameras as mirror replacements some time in 2018 and China is expected to follow suite by 2020. Based on the information provided by Audi, removing regular side mirrors and putting on a Golf Ball dimple underside to the auto dropped CD .07 to give a final drag coefficient of .28 for the Audi eTron. https://www.audi-mediacenter.com/en/press-releases/streamline-audi-e-tron-prototype-with-decisive-aerodynamics-10281

Another good read on this. https://www.autoblog.com/2018/05/30/fiat-chrysler-sergio-marchionne-ev-electric-hybrid/ Based on info from Reuters. I do like how they state that Sergio has in the past made good value for stock investors by doing spin offs, but to date has not ever been able to deliver on a turnaround plan. Analyst also say that Alfa Romeo is a bleeding cash cow that is not profitable. They imply it would have been better for Sergio to reinvest profits in his American name brands than to prop up Fiat and Bring back Alfa from the grave.

Yup, I know that GM came in during the bankruptcy period and cleaned house on all the stand alone places and now you have mega dealerships that are Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac. One Stop shopping which I like. I think FCA needs to clean house as well and it will cost them I am sure. Gonna be interesting to see what happens to some of these places as the Stand Alone Fiat place down south advertises how they have over 500 new fiats and over 100 used in stock. Best selection in the state. FCA cuts Fiat to one model and I do not see that store surviving on it's own, though I do think it just recently got bought up by a mega dealership, so guess they could survive that way.

We have one mega dealer with all those brands in one place in Kirkland Washington, but the rest are all stand alone all over. Kinda crazy, I think it would help FCA to merge them into a single location of all brands. Yup someone will loose out, they always do.

Be like Doctor Strange! He saw the ending of Infinity War 14 Million plus times and never said a Spoiler!

https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/chrysler/2018/05/30/sergio-marchionne-fiat-chrysler/651402002/ Interesting read on the same story as Bill wrote about above.

Sadly, FCA forced Fiat down the throats of existing Jeep,Ram,Dodge,Chrysler mega dealers. Fiat could not make it in the US and it was stupid to bring it back, just like it has been stupid to bring back to life Alfa. I suspect some kind of we pull your Chrysler dealership as you do not sell enough product when it is Sergio's own Stupidity as killing the label by starving of products. I can see merging it all under a Dodge label or officially killing off stand alone places by saying you have to be a mega merged dealership of those labels. A one stop shop of Jeep, Ram, Dodge, Chrysler, Fiat, Alfa, Maserati. etc. Why is an out of date CEO allowed to build the next 5 year plan? He was supposed to go this year and the story now says next year. So a year by year CEO job? ? More questions than answers by this story and the links.

Love this story on how OEMs are selling $27,000 dollar base cars as well as $71,000 starting top end versions. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/how-an-automaker-sells-a-dollar71000-version-of-a-dollar27000-car/ar-AAxYqac?li=BBnb7Kz Totally like this story and the variety of the Mustang, Camaro, Challenger. Very cool

Yup, corrected that, my fault posting before a meeting. LOL 48% were ICE sales. Weird as I find videos that show the Hellcat win with racing slicks on and then I find videos with the P100D in Ludicrous mode winning. So I guess it does depend on the tires and setup.

VW needs all the good press they can get and if converting some VW vans to self driving helps apple figure out the tech, then good for VW even if they are having to give all data and tech rights to Apple. This could be very good for VW EV auto line and maybe the very first iCar.

I wonder if this favors poor drivers with bad history for insurance costs? After all I have to think that at least $100 a month is covering insurance so that is $1,200 a year which I think is very high compared to private insurance. Then you also have maintenance, say another $50 a month so about $600 a year leaving you about $450 for the cost of the XC40 per month. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in comparison to leasing or buying.

Nope some smart engineering here that can make for some fun rides be it 4WD or 2WD. Bike seems cool.

Love this story on primer Rods and Classics show. http://www.automobilemag.com/news/primer-rods-classic-trucks-2018-lone-star-roundup/ Some very cool Turbo Diesel applications and love the dual motor quad Supercharger setup.

Found a good read on how Tesla is improving their Tesla 3 battery pack with the use of High Strength Steel in the car to protect a less protected battery pack. Interesting is the floppy battery cover they remove and they reduced weight by building the AC and DC to DC converters into the battery pack making it more efficient and less complex modules located around the auto. https://insideevs.com/what-makes-the-tesla-model-3-battery-pack-so-light/ https://insideevs.com/watch-as-tesla-model-3-battery-is-removed-and-disassembled/ Also interesting read on how Panasonic / Tesla are reducing their Cobalt needs heading towards zero cobalt. https://insideevs.com/tesla-panasonic-quietly-outmaneuvers-all-lithium-battery-manufacturers/

Smart move to keep the workers by giving them a 3 day weekend till sales pick up and new product goes into production. I hope our oncoming slow down is just a recession that allows debt to be paid off while keeping people employed even if it is on a reduced work schedule.

New Ring Drive adds AWD to Latest Honda Civic Type R Posted to Youtube a video on a california start up that believes it can build a better mousetrap. What mousetrap would that be? In wheel electric motors. According to the company's web, the average traditional hub motor is approximately 68lbs. The Orbis Ring Drive is 35lbs for a 70hp motor. The company does not state the torque but will give you full details if you sign an NDA. So adding AWD and 140 HP to the Type R basic 306HP FWD car brings you to a blistering 446hp AWD Type R Hybrid. Founder and CEO Marcus Hays with Co-inventor Scott Streeter are the brains behind this Ring Drive motor. Hays was the principle lead for development at EV Global Motors by Lee Iacocca. He left the company and started up his own 5 years ago developing the Ring Drive technology that he believes will also offer gains to be used by Motorcycles, powered bicycles, ATVs and military off road applications. ORBIS DRIVEN Web Site “The company’s brochure explains “the technology divides a wheel or cog into two essential parts, a stationary hub and a rim or ‘ring.’ The ring rotates about the stationary hub, driven by a lightweight, high-speed motor.” Hays says the ring drive is more efficient while reducing vehicle weight as much as 40% and driveline complexity by 75% compared to powertrains in which the electric motors (in-hub or in the driveline) power an axle.” Wards Auto Story InsideEVs Story

@balthazar Thought you would find this story interesting. Norway Gov has pushed hard on converting everyone over to EV auto's and setting an end to ICE auto sales as 2025. As such since 2014, the most electrified country now for road driving has seen a steady drop in oil / Gas sales. https://jalopnik.com/the-oil-industry-is-finally-being-affected-by-norways-e-1826368729 2017 52% of all new car sales were EV's with only 48% being ICE. Interesting footnote is that Norway is an Oil producer / exporter. ? Guess Carbon Neutral footprint? ?

1400 miles only Turbo MR2 for $500. Awesome story here: http://www.thedrive.com/news/21130/worlds-luckiest-mechanic-nabs-stolen-abandoned-1400-mile-toyota-mr2-for-500 Gotta say this guy came out smelling like roses. @Drew Dowdell Guess I was not the only one thinking of a Solar Car. Sono Motors is going into production with a solar panel body of a car. Total battery range of the EV auto is 155 miles with a normal charging port, but the solar panel body can give you 18 miles of range. They do say it goes down to only 3 miles of range on a dark cloudy day. https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1116932_sono-sion-solar-electric-car-promises-18-miles-of-range-from-solar-panels

This is too funny! Guess they had to do this since the car CANNOT beat a Tesla S P100D in a Drag race!

EV's are also getting some cool stuff. To celebrate selling their 100,000 leaf in Japan, Nissan built this special edition to gauge interest. Convertible leaf anyone? https://www.autoblog.com/2018/05/25/2018-nissan-leaf-open-car-convertible/ As of the story posted above, the Leaf has now sold 320,000 world wide. Yes a drop in the bucket but clearly there is interest and with China going Hybrid / EV, the future is what it is. ICE days are going to come to a close. Nissan says they are not going to build this, but it is a study and of course if the customers keep demanding a convertible LEAF, then it will happen since they clearly can build it.

Yes and you and @ccap41 also ignored the ending of the story and the points made near the beginning that many factors can and do affect battery range. If you are plugged in and the story does say that if you have a 220V home charger you DO NOT loose range as the plugged in charger also runs the battery heater to optimize the batter so that the cold does not reduce the range, yet the longer amount of time out side in cold or hot weather will still affect the battery range. ICE auto's are also affected by Heat or Cold. Especially cold where you get reduced MPG or in hot conditions also again you get some reduction in range due to the use of AC systems. The story also states that as each new generation, the batteries are getting more and more efficient and cold and heat are reduced in how it affects the battery. The story also clearly points out that they used two different Bolts, 2017 and 2018 one optimized for cold and the other for heat. Since the story was 2/3rds printed above by CCAP41, lets put in the last bit here: The battery heater also is active when the car is plugged in to the charger. If the battery temp is too cold, the battery heater will turn on and run at one-quarter power when charging. This, obviously, contributes to more electricity consumed per charging cycle. To avoid this additional penalty, we parked the Bolt in a heated garage while it charged after the highway run. If the battery gets colder than -13 degrees Fahrenheit, the heater operates at full power to protect the battery. This means if you are charging with a standard 120-volt outlet, all of the available power is going to heating the battery and not to replenishing its cells. That’s all the more reason to have a Level 2 charging stationif you live in a cold climate. With every new generation, EVs become more efficient, go farther between charges, and replenish their charge more quickly. Pretty soon the reduced winter range of an EV will be even less of a factor. Until then, keep an eye on the range gauge in cold weather so that your battery’s seasonal affective disorder doesn’t magnify your range anxiety—or the anger of your passengers. My wife will confirm that’s a good plan. EVs are already looking at moving to Solid State that does not have the diminished effects of cold or hot weather on them. We are already also moving into battery designs that are 4x as dense giving much more power to an auto to offset the use of heaters, AC, stereo's, etc. EV's today are where auto's were in the early 1900's and they have had 110+ years to improve and get efficient, we have already moved EV's far faster in the last 5 years than ICE auto's did in the first 20 years. At this rate, EV auto's and Hybrids will surpass what ICE auto's alone will have accomplished by 2025.