Drew Dowdell
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Everything posted by Drew Dowdell
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Ford's "man" step: Chevy's step Chrysler swivel seats. Nearly every electronic shifter that isn't just a dial.
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There have been plenty of automotive options that fit that definition
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Will fossil based products still be in production in 2050? Yes, almost certainly Will their production per capita be substantially lower than today? Also yes, almost certainly Will they be the primary fuel for personal (non-commercial) transportation? No, almost certainly not. All of us here are tainted with the specialist point of view. We're all automotive enthusiasts. We see the world in Camaros and Mustangs, S-Classes and CT6es, F-150s and Silverados..... But auto manufacturers have a very different viewpoint. They see the world in Fusions, Camries, Accords, Focuses, Corollas, and Civics. Those traditional sedan sales may be plateauing, but take away the marketing malarky, and what is an Escape really? It's just a tall Focus with an inflated price. Ditto Corolla / RAV4...or even Dart / Compass So once one stops separating those models and admits they are essentially the same vehicle, you realize that the market is, by far, a whole bunch of bland beige 4-bangers. 99.99998% of people who buy those cars do. not. care. what powers their car as long as it gets them from point a to point b, is reliable, and is cheap. I know I've said it before, but the moment a manufacturer is able to deliver on that EV trifecta while being priced similar to an ICE, the countdown timer on the ICE will have started. It doesn't matter what those of us on automotive enthusiast sites think about it.
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oh this is totally a "lifestyle" truck option.... You know, someone who needs a 1500 to haul their kayak and 6 bags of mulch.
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Reach and lifting. Having the tailgate swing out puts you 18" - 24" closer to that bag of mulch you're trying to reach without hopping up into the bed.
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I want to repeat that I didn't ditch the gas mower for any grand ecological reasoning. It was a 14 year old Craftsman with a Briggs engine that caused me lots of trouble. I probably put more money into parts for it over the last few years than it would have cost me to buy a new one, but it was always $25 here, $45 there, so individually the repairs made sense. The last breakdown happened only an hour after I had replaced a part that I had waited a week for and I was simply fed up. I got a service to do my rentals and I had the spare Black and Decker corded electric to fill in. If I can find a new blade for it (it's enough out of balance to matter) I'll just use it till it dies and then get another electric. I have a number of other newer gas powered tools still around that won't be replaced for a long while.
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The average homeowner isn't going to need more than one battery. 60 minutes of actual mower operation is a lot of yard. Such a homeowner will be of distinctly above average income. I prefer to think of it is as being flexible. You want to talk about all the whatabouts aside from car emissions... We're doing just that. Feel free to bring up cow farts again in this thread if you want.
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Yes, it's one big door, not split like the Ram. Yes, it swings out or folds down like the old wagons. I immediately saw the usefulness of it when I tried it out.
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Neat idear. I was really intrigued when I tried out the swing out tailgate on the Ridgeline.
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I know there will be a new Escalade coming soon, but realistically, they could give the current one an exterior visual refresh and a substantial interior refresh and keep it on the market a while longer. The powertrain is still more than competitive, especially now with the 10-speed.
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I bill my private consulting clients $75/hour. All that battery needs to do is save me 4.6 hours of swearing like a sailor at a gasoline mower to be worth it. It would have earned it's keep in August 2017 alone. Yes there is a higher dollar cost to these electric mowers, but time is also money. That said, I could probably do my lawn plus the lawns at my rental properties on a single charge.
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I do like that green.
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They can deregulate coal plants all they want, it doesn't change the economics that natural gas is easier to get out of the ground and that it is much more efficient to produce electricity. It doesn't need to be shipped by train or barge, just build a pipeline. Just the construction of a gas plant is cheaper, and certain types called peakers can be small enough to fit in a shipping container.
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I finally retired my gasoline powered lawn mower just yesterday. It wasn't out of any desire to be green, I just got tired of it constantly breaking down. My father-in-law gave me a very basic electric mower years ago when they moved out of a house into an apartment and that has been doing my lawn just fine. If that goes (it's really old, I can't find blades for it), I'll probably replace it with another electric just so I don't have to deal with all of the maintenance involved in a gas mower. The problem with electric rail power is that in the more remote areas, maintenance of the wires becomes very costly and sometimes problematic. GE and EMD have been working on Hybrid locomotives for years. Norfolk Southern built an entirely EV locomotive, but they powered it with old style lead acid batteries that weren't up to the job. It just got auctioned off and will probably finish its life doing basic switching work at some industrial plant somewhere. The GG1 still has yet to be matched by any electric locomotive for combined power and reliability. Unfortunately none of the ones remaining will ever run again because the electrical systems are incompatible with the modern setup.
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