Yeah, it’s worth noting that the upgrades to the trunk, glass, heat pump (not to mention the recent free range increase) really just make the normal $38k model that much better of a deal. Not terribly surprising that they are getting rid of the $35k off-menu model for a while until they sell enough of the…

Right. I’m biased since I’m an engineer who designs wind tunnels for a living (though I’m not an aerodynamicist), but it seems like a bad idea to ban wind tunnels because it’s just forcing the designers to use different, worse, and potentially much more expensive methods of validating their designs like on-vehicle…

In other words:  HD is running out of money and they’re retreating to their core competency of making slow, poor-handling nostalgia-scooters.

Very interesting.  There’s lots of subtle hints that they’re going all in on EVs soon.  I think they got burned by dieselgate at the perfect time to shock them enough to get real about the future.

Well, as a practical matter, CFD results aren’t ‘scrapped’ if they disagree with the wind tunnel results. They’re more ‘tweaked’ to adjust some of the necessary assumptions to try to get to the point where they agree, then making the remaining analysis more reliable. CFD is ‘pretty good’ if the aero engineer has lots…

Exactly.  Big tunnels take big power.  That’s why scale models are generally used.  Wind tunnels capable of 1/4 scale are generally well under 1MW of continuous power at automotive airspeeds.  It’s also worth noting that a test doesn’t really take that long, so it’s not really that much power unless you’re running a…

Yeah. Where’s the roof-speed arms race that we’re all hoping for, automakers? I won’t be satisfied until I see a spring-loaded folding hardtop or JATO-assisted Targa.

Exactly. Not on autopilot (for nearly a minute before the crash) and the driver’s foot was on the throttle. This is a bad driver story, not a Tesla story. The only reason we’re talking about it is because Teslas have cameras built in and they capture bad driver behavior and go viral.

Exactly. Not on autopilot (for nearly a minute before the crash) and the driver’s foot was on the throttle. This is a bad driver story, not a Tesla story. The only reason we’re talking about it is because Teslas have cameras built in and they capture bad driver behavior and go viral.

Well, you’ve got me there. Once we start theorizing about infinite big bangs my head starts to hurt. I can only conceptualize one universe at a time.

Exactly, using hydrogen requires at least 2 extra inefficient steps (electrolysis to generate the hydrogen and the Fuel Cell conversion back to electricity to go into the vehicle’s battery).  It can’t be at price parity with electricity by definition unless someone comes up with a new way of generating H2 besides…

Is it green?  Yes.... Very.

It’s SBA’s entire schtick when it comes to EVs. ‘it’s never been done before, so it must be impossible’.

I think Toyoda is just salty that they sold their stake in Tesla for pennies on the dollar in 2017... oops.

Exactly. Bad for small car enthusiasts, but necessary for Ford’s business model. We’re likely past peak car in terms of total new car sales year over year, and these established car manufacturers have TONS of debt and financial obligations that they can’t afford to service in a shrinking market without higher profit…

It seems like a pretty easy decision to make if you have two vehicles and one’s a gas or hybrid for long trips.  Otherwise, just educate them about the competitive charging networks and the long distance trips aren’t really intimidating.  Most people are ready for a 20 minute break after several hours in the car…

I hope you like dirty-looking tires!

GMC HUMMER LITE.  ALL THE TASTE, HALF THE CALORIES.

Pretty sure that’s a Lambo, dude.