And if they like 4Runners, they can walk into a dealership and say, “Hey this 2021 is just like our 2011, but with CarPlay.”

4th: Just for the record, the new car market in Germany is quite different than in the U.S.

And A pillars!

Agreed. It’s the corporate equivalent of “just one more Oreo cookie...” And then another. And another. It’s not bad in the long-term. The snazzy commercial told me so.

So much this. I liked the looks upon first glance but then... why is the hood so high? Pedestrian crash standards? How many pedestrians get hit because the driver can no longer see them?

LBNL re-releases a paper from late 2019: Long-haul battery electric trucks are technically feasible and economically compelling.

You’re spot on. From the automotive industry perspective, it’s anything from a (very) mild hybrid to a PHEV to a full electric to a hydrogen fuel cell. Those are all “electrified.” From the electric utility perspective, their definition is whether or not it plugs into the wall... PHEV and BEV.

You are aware of what goes into fuel cells, right? Hint: it’s not recycled newspaper and cardboard.

This is a great example of where hydrogen makes sense. It also does on big ocean-going ships.

There is a subset of utility customers today who take electric power today from transmission lines. This may be the case here for charging plazas. A single cruise ship when docked and connected to shore power is 5-10 MW.

So much this. Assumptions on fuel cell life vary widely.

This. There may be a role for hydrogen or other liquid fuels in long-haul trucking.

In all fairness, the eGolf is like the FIAT 500e (we had one) or the Chevy Spark EV - great for around town or commuting, but the ~100 mile range means it’s not good for long distances. Those were Gen 1 compliance cars.

Now we are on Gen 2. The Chevy Bolt and KIA Niro EV with their ~230 mile range plus fast charging ar…

Like Kodak? RIM? Nokia?

Ford said its average fleet customer drives ~75 miles each day. The USPS mail vans drive 20.8 miles each day. It’s hard to beat a battery with use cases like that. That’s even before you start looking at O&M.

Anyone done the napkin math for the big three auto markets of the world? Fund a fuel cell program for $XM a year, get the policy makers to jack up the incentives (no income cap on the California rebate) and credits versus developing an EV?

The electric delivery van is the next Cap’n Obvious segment for EVs with their known range, route, and cargo requirements. They also come back to the barn at night, perfect for overnight charging. Ford even said their average fleet customer drives ~75 miles a day. That’s why their electric Transit will start off with…

The mail vans average 20 miles a day (see above). The Ford e-Transit has a 120 mile range. That’s six days, call it a five to be conservative.

Yeah, this doesn’t work. People used to try this back in the “49 state car” days, i.e. the 1980s. DMV is already onto this.

This.