G. David Felt

Will have to say that the dash is a technical masterpiece. Really loving it.

Also, I am loving all the new colors, but really digging this purplish color.

Love the split converter so you can maximize the charging at 400V chargers.

Very cool that they have a new 19.2 kW onboard controller allowing you to home charge on 220V/240V in 4.8 hours for full recharge compared to the first-generation model of 9.5 hours.

On 2/5/2024 at 3:54 PM, smk4565 said:

I sort of forgot the Kicks was still around.  I think the Soul, Versa and Mirage are due to be discontinued in 2024.

Also if Tesla really does deliver on a sub $30,000 car that has a point of sale $7500 credit, I think a $22,500 Tesla will sell in ridiculous volume when you look at some of these cars are about that price.

At the rate Tesla is ignoring their customers when their products new catch fire and they say file an insurance claim as we are not being responsible to cover it under warranty, then Tesla days are numbered.
Tesla ‘caught fire' while idling at home - and Musk's company has yet to explain why (msn.com)

This is proof that Tesla is loosing customers due to the way Musk has ignored customer service and quality.

I can see other Auto makers besides BYD surpassing Tesla this year or next.

Charted: Tesla's Global Sales By Model and Year (2016–2023) (visualcapitalist.com)

OUCH, I just read this: Tesla warning that 2024 growth rates in vehicle deliveries would be "notably lower" than 2023 levels and Wall Street analysts trimming their revenue forecasts, job cuts are likely inevitable. 

Elon Musk mimics Big Tech as Tesla delivers harsh warning to workers (msn.com)

Reviewing Magna press release, I missed their CES press release of their all new 800V eDrive unit that can be used as a primary unit or as a secondary unit to any of their other 800V drive units.

At 250 kW / 5000 Nm which is 335 HP / 3688 lb-ft of torque this could make a very complimentary front AWD unit to this for Lincoln.

Magna Unveils Next Generation eDrive at CES 2024

46 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

But most AWD "SUVs" are operating 90-95% FWD and sending maybe 10% of torque to the rear wheels, a lot can't even send more than 50% power to the rear.  That AWD Kia Seltos is probably not any better in snow than a FWD Malibu with snow tires.   Different story if the AWD system can send 100% power front or rear and has diff lockers and things of that nature.  

But it is still 4 wheel drive, not 4 wheel stop, and it seems like when it snows, it is the pick up trucks you see sliding off the road more than cars do.

Depending on how much you pay you get better or worse AWD based on features. You also just picked an entry level model in the Seltos. If you look at the bulk of AWD in SUVs where people are paying about 40 to 60K for one, they have the ability now due to software to send torque and HP where needed among all the wheels.

Yes, I can afford an Escalade, AWD system that is far superior to what you find in the Seltos. 

Your AWD is overrated comment is wrong as you brush a wide stroke with that comment. One could say that all insurance companies suck and are all the same as they only want to make money for their CEO and screw us.

All RWD auto's suck in the snow

All FWD auto's suck in the Snow

We can go down the path of broad stroke of the brush in statements like that. 

It would be better to say that based on the class of auto, some AWD autos without snow tires are no better than a RWD or FWD with Snow tires.

We could for sake of this argument just say that if you cannot afford any decent mid to full size upper level auto, if it rains outside and especially snows you should just stay home as you will be a problem on the roads.

One cannot just make these broad stokes and think it is OK.

How would you like it if due to the experience of one bad insurance adjuster at your work, all adjusters are trash and your company should be avoided like the plague.

13 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

AWD is overrated, what you or other people need are snow tires.  

AWD with proper snow tires is far superior to a 4x4 or 4x4 with snow tires and especially FWD or RWD with snow tires.

Very cool to see how many new EV charging stations were built.

The US Installed More Than 1,000 EV Charging Stations Since Summer - Bloomberg

Interesting that 1.2 million EVs were added and electricity use went down.

The US Added 1.2 Million EVs To The Grid Last Year, & Electricity Use Went Down - CleanTechnica

17 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

This is a dual rotor.

Yes the MX30 concept is a dual but then Mazda talks about the future being a single rotor generator is how I took it, but then I could totally be off base due to the way they talk about it.

Totally can see this as a Lincoln Navigator EV. I wonder what they will do to make it an AWD unit.

Good chance that a full-size SUV could have the room underneath for two of these bad boys, so you have a near 2,000 hp and 11,000 plus lb.-ft of torque. That would be a crazy awesome SUV EV.

56 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

I sort of forgot the Kicks was still around.  I think the Soul, Versa and Mirage are due to be discontinued in 2024.

Also if Tesla really does deliver on a sub $30,000 car that has a point of sale $7500 credit, I think a $22,500 Tesla will sell in ridiculous volume when you look at some of these cars are about that price.

As long as your under 5'6" tall then people will fit in a Tesla. Worst design of an auto ever with piss poor interior space for a car or CUV.

2 hours ago, surreal1272 said:

And “two mode” may be the wrong term here but they are trying the RAM playbook only RAM was smart enough to leave in an already existing powertrain as opposed to slapping in a totally new one. Again, the costs are going to be stratospheric here. 

Do you mean dual rotor rotary motor which was in the RX-8 compared to this single rotor rotary generator?

Plenty of good options for a first car for people.

COMPLEXITY, Right, not what the public wants, but some will say Hybrid is better than pure EV. 

I will acknowledge that for some a Hybrid will be better than a pure EV and this will probably be the last Hurrah for the Rotary till we get proper deep solid-state batteries into production.

Interesting movement in Tesla Stock and not a good one.

Tesla Stock Just Made A Death Cross As Market Sentiments Shift (msn.com)

Every automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) has their own platform, or they have signed an agreement with another OEM to use their EV platform.

The following chart lists all of the current North American Automotive OEMs and the platform details that they have released.

While there are a few oddball platform voltages such as the Toyota/Lexus/Subaru platform with a 355-volt system or the Lucid with a 924-volt system, the bulk of the OEM auto manufactures have gone with a 400-volt or 800-volt system. Many of these OEMs are already planning or have moved to an 800-volt platform such as Tesla with the production start of their Cybertruck that is based on an 800-volt system running a 48-volt electrical system compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) autos that run a 12-volt system to run electronics while burning gas or diesel. 

While the chart above pretty much answers the question of what is the voltage as of today for every North American OEM platform, this still leaves the bigger question of does the voltage make a difference?

In short YES, voltage does make a difference in how the battery pack of an EV charges.

The transition of moving from 400-volts to an 800-volt EV charging system offers the following advantages:

• Weight savings
• Enhanced performance
• Increased efficiency and charging power

The largest drawback if you consider this a drawback is the need to convert existing charging stations to support the higher 800-volt specification and the need to redesign electrical components to support the higher voltage system. Lucid has one such platform as they say it can handle over 1000-volts though it is officially rated at 924-volts.

The current leaders of an 800-volt architecture are as follows:

• Porsche
• Audi
• Hyundai
• Genesis
• Kia
• Volvo
• Polestar
• Bentley
• Lamborghini
• Tesla Cybertruck only

What makes up an EV Charging system? For this I use a diagram from the ev charger design website.

The basics are pretty simple that make up the EV charging system:

• Battery
• Motors
• Controller
• Sensors
• Wires
• Electrical paraphernalia

As one can see above in the diagram you have two types of charging, DC fast charging which is a connection right into the battery pack delivering the largest and fastest charge possible. Second is the AC Charger, this can be from level 1 or 2 public chargers or from your own place of living, home, condo, townhouse, apartment and goes through an on-board controller and then into the battery pack.

Now that we have covered the basic of an EV charging system, let's take a look at what makes up the charging of a battery system. Charging of a battery system breaks down into a simple 4 stage system.

• Stage 1 Constant Current - Voltage rises at constant current
• Stage 2 Saturation charge - Voltage peaks, current decreases
• Stage 3 Ready mode - Charge terminates
• Stage 4 Standby Mode - Occasional topping charge

As the battery cells get saturated with power, the current drops off and this is why charging slows down as the battery pack fills up.

DC Fast charging will power up the battery pack till it reaches a preset charge level that is usually set by the EVs built-in software and then charging stops, and nothing is ever added as to why some public charging stations including Tesla stations now charge for connections that are not charging to an auto as they want to free up the charger for other EV users.

AC charging will charge up a battery pack to full but has the ability to sense if the battery level drops to top off the battery pack. This comes in to be very useful in extreme hot or cold environments where the battery pack needs to either be chilled or warmed up. End result is when you go to leave in your EV, you always have a full battery pack, based on the setting of the EV software. This could be 80%, 90%, etc. that you the end user chooses.

800-volts is the future replacement for the current 400-volt systems in use by the majority of auto OEMs. So what does this 800-volt system get us?

• Faster charging power
• Performance enhancement
• Efficiency
• Weight reduction

End result is that the 800-volt system reduces the amount of time it takes to charge a battery pack, getting one on the road that much faster. This equates to the minimal time it takes to fill a gas tank in a traditional internal combustion engine auto.

Currently the average gas fill-up takes approximately 5 minutes per the U.S. government.  This in comparison to the average charging time of an EV:

• Level 1 charging can take 2 to 3 days @ 110 volt
• Level 2 charging can take 7 to 15 hours @ 240 volt
• Level 3 charging can take 15 to 45 minutes to reach 80% state of charge on a current 400-volt system

The charging information above is based on a 60kWh battery pack from empty to full (80%) using a 7kW charging point. This can for level 1 and 2 change based on each EVs built in controller speed. See the chart above for controller charging speed by OEM.

If the EV built in controller was to handle 14kW, then the Level 1 charging time would be 1 to 1 1/2 days. Level 2 charging would be 3 1/2 hours to 8 hours. Reduced even further the higher the controller kW is capable of handling.

Faster DC charging also allows for EVs to have smaller battery packs (weight reduction) when you can quickly charge up the battery pack allowing for reduced battery pack size. Even with the average commute of auto owners being between 30 to 50 miles, range anxiety is an issue that has been blown up in the media depending on each media's agenda in support or against EVs. This is where weight increases have come from as people tend to have come to feel having 300 miles of range is a must in an auto.

This also brings up the future of Solid-state batteries that in early prototype have shown to be four to ten times energy dense as current lithium-ion batteries. This allows the OEMs to then reduce the overall size of batteries, thus reducing weight of an EV.

Another benefit that comes with 800-volt battery packs is the ability to charge in serial or parallel mode. This multi-charging system allows ease of working with all formats of 400-volt or 800-volt charging stations.

Per a Harvard research release, solid-state batteries will dramatically reduce charging times. Researchers have proven that Solid-state lithium batteries can last 20 years with minimal degradation while recharging in minutes. They used the example of a 110kW battery pack that would be equal to today's 60kW lithium battery fully charging in only 10 minutes at 800-volt and could be reduced even further if charging was pushed to 1,200-volts or higher.

Here we end up with smaller battery packs and faster charging by using 800-volt systems, add in solid-state batteries and you end up reducing the size and weight of the battery along with speeding up charging times.

Yes, there are plenty of writeups showing the pros and cons of 400-volt to 800-volt with the biggest con being that money has to be spent by the companies to upgrade their auto design, components, etc. to handle the higher 800-volt charge, yet if they want to be competitive, then they cannot sit on the sidelines.

End result is faster charging for all with an 800-volt system over the 400-volt systems allowing for a far superior experience by end users.

Auto EV Platform Info 2023.xlsx

View full article

43 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

This will be a big income stream for Tesla and they are already working on a massive rollout of V4 chargers as it’s the only way to get reasonable charge speeds in the Cybertruck. There have been loads of Superchargers and other network chargers built near me in the last year.

Agree, it will be a huge income stream for Tesla. This year will be interesting as the courts struck down Musks pay package, and he is now in the new today threatening to leave Tesla and the board is scrambling. Yet comments seem to be that folks are ready for him to go and be a more normal auto company.

I remember when I first read this back in 2023.
Tesla opening up Supercharger network is upsetting some owners, but in line with the mission | Electrek

The responses are interesting. 

But with that said, I do agree that it is a good thing for Tesla, and I thought this write up from Dec 2023 that I read over my PTO was a well-done article on the opening up of the Tesla Supercharger Stations.

Opening Up the Supercharger Network Will Be Good for Tesla (caranddriver.com)

36 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

 Was never in them back to back to notice. 

I can say with confidence that @surreal1272 is correct. I had a brand new only 14 miles on it as a rental in Kauai for 2 weeks. I could sit comfortably in the front, middle or even get into the 3rd row. I honestly was shocked at how roomy the Flex was. Shame it is gone as that was an outstanding comfy auto.

The two tesla stations by me are always full, usually a couple Tesla waiting to charge. It will be interesting to see how bad the wait gets once all the OEMs are able to use the Tesla Supercharging network.

1 hour ago, Drew Dowdell said:

I know it's been since 2015, but this thread still gets a lot of hits from Google (and Pinterest!??).  I still think it would be neat to have a Thoronado.  I need to win the lottery and do it.

I can understand that, looking at both Bing and Google Search results, EV conversion is very popular right now as more interest in converting an old auto to EV than updating to current gas motors.

Then we have stories like this that continue to drive interest.

Converting gas-powered cars to EVs is a booming business (cnbc.com)

On top of this is the continued growth in Warp EV Motor sales as they are very easy to connect up to an automatic transmission.

Might be good to do an update on this with current pricing to compare what conversion back in 2015 was to today in 2024.

WOW 8 plus years ago. Crazy.

28 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Was the 2020+ model or the prior one?  The 2020+ model had really cheapo feeling door plastics.

It was a 2017 Explorer against the 2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Alex test drove both with the family and we all were not impressed with the interior of the Ford.

WOW, so an oversized kidney grill that makes it ugly imho on top of a driver's seat with a raised nutcracker center spot on the driver's seat. I am really thinking that BMW has a bunch of ballless engineers. Not impressed.

Will have to take a wait and see approach to this as when my son went SUV shopping in 2017 the Jeep Grand Cherokee won over the Explorer as the interior fit n finish was a huge difference between the too and now with the Jeep issues he ran into, he traded it in on a Kia Telluride. 

Ford Recalls and poor interiors have a wait and see approach to their autos for my household.

This Jelly Bean will not be missed by me.

Nice looking SUV, really am enjoying the current style of the GMC portfolio.

I have to say that every auto is going to have a huge price increase due to the negotiations that took place last year with the suppliers during the height of the inflation. I have to think this will have to be addressed as sales drop this year.

Saw two oldies today on my way to my yearly physical. A Saab Station wagon but could not see the actual model and a Ford Comet 4 door.