I have the only RWD car Subaru makes. I went 300 miles out of my way to buy a BMW 5 series so that I could have a non-awd turbo car for a family sedan.
I constantly look for RWD. I had to give up as there were no rear wheel drive options in my price range and the AWD versions have massive front bias...

question. do you consider that to be a bad thing?

Front wheel drive SUCKS. You can’t expect the same wheels to use all their traction for turning AND all their traction to propel the car. It isn’t better in snow or foul weather, it is worse... unless you have no idea what you are doing and are just pointing the wheels and flooring it. In that case, why do you care…

It’s a win for Barra, who has consistently proven to be one of GM’s best CEOs ever (although the bar for that is almost comically low),.

+1 kinja points for the Yakov Smirnoff joke reference

GAP insurance.

unless you have GAP insurance. Then you just lose whatever money you have into it, but have no debt.

I learned a new word today.

Shit happens... it’s entirely possible that the bellypan looked perfectly ok, but the fiberglass was cracking around the mounts under the paint.

You clearly didn’t see the quotes.
There are no rare earth elements in batteries.
Therefore, I would assume he’s confused with what is often perceived as rare elements used in batteries. I was correct, as he did reply and comment below....

But yeah. I can work the googles on the interwebtubenet

Lithium is not rare geologically. Its just sitting there on the surface in the form of salts, everywhere on earth.... its cheap, and we just add water to float them into the plant.

Clearly, you don’t live in Denmark.

Just to clarify. Most production EVs use some form of induction motor, mostly because neodymium magnets are expensive. Even if they did require it, they are not RARE to make, find, or mine, but they do use elements that are part of the scientific term “rare earth”...
Finally, there is no such thing as AC batteries,…

While you can argue how dirty coal and other US electricity is, you cannot say the process is “very inefficient” as they are using extremely efficient steam turbines and heat exchangers. For the amount of energy going in, most leaves as electricity. it’s impressive.... I don’t want to change that, only how the heat is…

What is scarce? Lithium is not.
The most scarce elements in cars are platinum and iridium, used in catalytic converters and spark plugs respectively.

I came here for this... wasn’t disappointed.

Well... you’re not WRONG. There is a northernly attitude that prohibits telling something unpleasant to your face but will hint all around it.

I got the same thing from my local Subaru dealership. They don’t deal, prices are set.. blah-blah-blah.... So I bought mine elsewhere.

California needs their special EPA privileges revoked. You either work with the whole country to get some domestic deal going, or it doesnt happen.
This is not because I hate CA ( I do but thats not the point)...
I like electric cars... but I don’t want just another run of compliance cars available only in CA. I don’t…

I’m curious what “rare earth element” you think needs to be mined for the batteries. I mean, considering that it uses very very little lithium, and that is not rare, not mined, and just picked up from salt flats...