G. David Felt

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.

Weekend play toy and cruising or replacement for the current auto?

Saw this today walking around Mountlake Terrace. Sad that they let such a car just rot away.

The point and only point I am making is that if our elected gov worker hacks want to blow their horn of Making America Great again, then they should lead by example and not say one thing do something else. I agree with everyone here that what makes america great is the ability to buy what you want from who you want. With that said, everyone know here that I back up my support America first by buying America first especially auto's. Protectionist crap does not work and we have many communist and socialist examples of it's failure. Most of us know that NAFTA will keep these stupid tariffs in check for North America, but they are aimed at China more than anyone and this is where we need to think twice about how we run and lead a global economy.

You are so right, This could easily pass for an updated Matrix or Pontiac Vibe!

This kind of pictures screams IRS. They could have done a far better job if they really wanted to keep it less noticable. Very cool as you know this will go into the Yukon and Escalade.

Cool, I wonder what else is helping with R&D as the cost for such a limited production run car is gotta be high. ?

@Drew Dowdell Please comment as well. In regards to your falsehoods comment, nothing but actual research. Yes there is Wiki which also says this is a stretched widened version of the W211 platform from MB that is an enhanced W210 version. Then there is all the reviews from 2005 where Chrysler is quoted as staying they were given the MB E-Class platform and stretched it, widened it and made it better than the current W211 E-Class platform and reviews show that the 300 did handle better. I do see stories that say Chrysler has been replacing Benz parts as they continue to improve the 300 platform. Yet it seems to me that the begining of the auto started with benz.

Missing the Point my Friend, if your running on a platform of Making America Great Again, and you speak about bringing back jobs, restarting the coal industry, building up American manufacturing, Steel, etc. then walk the walk. He should be like Warren Buffett and buying American products including cars. Warren who I do highly admire and respect drives Cadillac and has stated he could buy many times over European luxury auto's, but as one that believes in America, he supports everywhere he can American companies. Trump Net Worth = $3.5 Billion Warren Net Worth = $87.5 Billion Which business man are you more inclined to follow? One who truly puts his cash where his mouth is at or one that says one thing and does another. That is the point I am trying to make. Potus as the leader of the free world currently should be leading by example of what he wants to attain. Starting a probe into what he believes is hurting American Manufacturing should also be led by examples of where he spends his money.

Actually the W211 Mercedes-benz platform is from 2002 to 2009, Chrysler was allowed to use it starting in 2005. The W211 is an enhanced version of their W210 platform that was all new starting in 1995. So this family platform ended in 2009 as it was replaced by the global W212 platform at MB. Chrysler continues to use it so if you look at the whole family, then you have 1995 to current on a W210, enhanced platform called W211 when given to chrysler. Pretty old platform no matter what. I agree with @ccap41 Green with bronze wheels is a lovely color.

Tax payers paid for it, I want him to dump his Euro Trash cars and buy American. After all, he does run on the phrase "Making America Great Again!" Though his actions are anything but. Back on Topic, I agree with Drew that as long as NAFTA is in effect, this is mostly aimed at the Chinese who are wanting to get into our market to try and dominate it.

Glad to see we are on the same page. I totally agree with you that the crossovers / SUVs that start coming off their 3yr lease will flood the market and like cars, will end up being great values to pickup.

My 1994 GMC SLE Suburban is worth more than what your 3 point star is worth and will out work it. Roomy, comfortable and road trip worthy while able to haul ass with 505 HP 551 lb-ft of Torque. Plus I can pull anything. So like you said my GMC is worth something plus a bit more.

I get what your saying, but in watching it again, he did say that the part he had that was printed was by GM. That was their approved printed part that would replace the stamped multi riveted part. I know that 15" is the max size for that guys printing system, but there are other commercial metal printing systems that can print much larger. I do wonder how long some of the other take. Be interesting to know. One takeaway is that this clearly is how some of the funky concept auto pieces I would have to think are being made. Interesting technology and who knew we had made this kind of advances in printing.

At least go to 8:30 and watch the couple min there where he shows the original stamped / cast part and the replacement part built by a Metal 3D printer. Amazing the difference. 11:34 is where they show a GM part that is made up of 8 individual stamped parts then fastened together compared to the replacement part that is 3D printed and eliminates tooling costs and other features. Over all cost is reduced over the traditional process. By 15 min you can unless interested, can ignore the rest of the 3D conversation.

Potus 45 could start truly representing Americans by dumping his Rolls and buying and driving american auto's, supporting American companies in many ways that he does not do so now and stop this stupid tax everyone BS.

@balthazar I was laughing at some of the Awe in the guy about the car. You know I like the EV's but also was a bit surprised about the inside room and you are right I question the headroom in the back seat seeing where those headrests are at. Best part of the Skyroof I thought was you could look up and dream of hover cars while in traffic. Thanks for confirming some of my own feeling about it.

1965 James Bond DB5 Aston Martin to go up for Auction July 13th. http://www.automobilemag.com/news/goldeneye-1965-aston-martin-db5-set-auction/ I would love to own this baby! ? Back to my original post on 3D printed auto parts. Found this on Autoline, very cool video to watch of actual auto parts and the ability to weld them and build a much better auto.