Similar thing with aluminium production. Basically they drop alumina into big tubs and run extreme electrical currents through the tub, which melts the alumina and releases pure aluminium, which is then siphoned off.

My mother... The majority of her trips are 3 miles (nearest major mall), if she needs something really special she’ll drive to a larger shopping district 10 miles away, and the longest trip anyone can recall her driving the last decade is 15 miles. Let’s put in a huge safety margin and say she needs 30 miles of range…

Alas, as the mysteries are hidden in a “slideshow” they will remain mysteries.

After a party function I was walking one of our parliamentarians to his hotel. I asked him why they were so eager to put up road tolls instead of just increasing the existing fuel taxes, which unlike road tolls would incentivize people to buy frugal cars, would cost practically zero to implement unlike the physical…

An Audi A4 that wasn’t mine, on all-seasons.

Since before covid, my “commute” has been a 5-minute walk that crosses exactly one street, so I’ve not really noticed anything this time.

We had the government pretty much put out a hit on a company that was manufacturing synthetic diesel that was among other things 100 % sulphur-free and would cause far less local pollution, ideal for city buses. The manufacturing costs were high, so even given that it unlike regular diesel wasn’t hit with various…

We’re allowed to start practicing under adult supervision, so on the very day I turned 16, my dad came home early from work while there was still daylight so we could go for a little drive. The next 1.5 years were spent driving a lot with my dad, and very little with my mom, who is of the nervous type. Dad eventually…

A friend came home from Afghanistan with money burning a hole in his pocket, put the equivalent of a decent used car into Bitcoin, then worked a civilian job for a couple of years, and suddenly retired in his early 30s.

Most sold electric cars historical cumulative, by September 2020:
1. Nissan Leaf
2. VW E-Golf
3. BMW i3
4. Tesla Model S
5. Kia Soul
6. Tesla Model 3
7. Renault Zoe
8. Tesla Model X
9. Audi e-tron
10. Hyundai Ioniq

Can confirm. Here in Norway BEVs passed the 60 % mark for new car sales nationwide in October 2020, and even in our coldest, remotest region, which makes the Dakotas seem densely populated, BEVs were 46 % of the sales.

Fun facts: For certain models and years, the Flying Spur has the same water pump as the Audi A4. It gets even worse for the knock sensor, which it shares with such decidedly proletarian means of transportation as the VW Up, Skoda Fabia and Audi A1.

Some plastic types also get welded, as per the recall document linked in the article: “If the plastic weld ...”.

2nd: Toyota should learn from BMW. Make the ICE component of their hybrid system a 3.0 turbo inline six. The Yaris would still be awful, but in a much more amusing way.

4th: I’m glad that’s not how the system works in Norway. When using my private car for business, I get reimbursed a fixed sum per km driven, plus road tolls. How frugal my car is, or what fuel it uses, does not come into the equation. If I have a PHEV with a huge battery and charge it before leaving, or a tiny diesel,…

I guess that varies with the market. Here in Norway the regular V90 wagon is sold normally, and sells very well.

I no longer remember which car it was, but one I used to drive (may have been a Mazda, but more likely something German) had a needle that would go well beyond full when filled up, take forever to proceed to a point just below full, then drop the rest of the distance so fast one could almost see it move.

Business continues completely as usual, yesterday I had a long drive (4 hours total) to a customer in a different city, but traffic flowed normally everywhere. Anyone trying to cancel work or school because of “snow day” would find themselves involuntarily committed, or at least ridiculed.

My Audi has extras I not only didn’t want, but truly would have preferred it didn’t have. However, at least at the time, it seems it was not possible to get the sports seats without getting either sports or air suspension. My body is busted, so very firm, supportive seats on their own are helpful - but the car itself…