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My WTF car dealership moments of the week

I assume this was a joke right? If this was a real risk, every rechargeable lithium battery would go burn up whenever someone left laptops, cell phones, power tools, flashlights, etc..... on the charger after it reached 100%.
It's known as "sh#t happens". I'm pretty sure when the ICE was developed, and refined oil was turned into gasoline, "sh#t happened". Until the bugs were worked out and people became more knowledgeable of the dangers. Was waaay before my time, but, still. Sooo with new tech., sh#t's bound to happen. Mac🤷‍♂️
ETA: I F around with LiPo R.C. batteries, and yes, I pay attention and never leave them unattended. So, there's that.
 
I don't need 100% of 500 miles. A recharge time of 20 mins for 300-350 miles, and I'd be good. As the batter approaches 100% charge the internal resistance increases, meaning you get more mileage per minute of charge at lower levels of charge. That last 20% takes the longest time to charge.

The latest advance I read was the introduction of the tabless 4680 batteries. Increased energy density, decreased charge time.
My milestones are just that. Mine.

If you're happy with less, that's great.

I'm not.
 
Pretty much all chargers for vehicles are microprocessor based and are programmed to monitor and control the charging and the state/health of the battery.

The software however, is written by ?

Hint; Humans.........

Huh. Well guess I learned something new today. So we would need to wait until the frequency of cars exploding is less than that of ICE?
Excluding the Pinto from that equation of course.
 
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A reliable, effective Battery Management System is *critical* for Li battery safety, beyond quality of individual cells.

Did y'all know you shouldn't charge Li batteries if they're too hot or cold, lest you potentially damage them? Me neither, until I was looking at them to replace flooded acid golf cart batteries on my off-grid system. Thankfully BMS takes care of that for us, and BMS has only gotten better in the last few years.

From my mower's manual:

56V RAPID CHARGER — CH550016CHARGING A HOT OR COLD BATTERY PACKIf the battery pack is out of the normal temperature range, LED1 will shine red. When the battery pack cools down to approximately 135°F (57°C) or warms to more than 37°F (3°C), the charger will automatically begin charging and the 4 LEDs will sequence normally.

The battery pack will fully charge if left on the charger, but it will not overcharge. If the battery pack remains on the charger for one month or more, it will perform self-maintenance and drop to 30% charge capacity. If this occurs, reinstall the battery pack on the charger to recharge it full
 
" Every major business is putting in free charging stations"..........

No such thing.....the end user is getting the power at no charge, but I'd bet my ass the electric company is not giving it away. In the Kansas City area the electric company is installing these free charging stations...........I'm relatively certain that anyone who pays an electric bill is contributing to these "free" charging stations.
 
I can tell you that during the 60's-80's in Ohio we had three of the largest power shovels in the world 🌎 and they were electric.
Look it up sometime because the technology was way ahead of its time.


Then came the Silver-Spade and the Big-Muskie.
They dwarfed the three shovels above.
Fun time to be a kid


I live in the area of this strip mining. The coal mining companies all had their own power transmission lines and they might have generated their own power. I don't remember for sure. I'm sure this would have guaranteed more reliable power than commercial sources.

I never let my gas tank get below half. How would that work with a battery powered car? Will somebody make a small "gas can" you can carry to a power source when you run out of battery?

For those of you who read the link about the strip mining and reclaiming, the reclaimed land has been used well. A few things are https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt_Valley_Wildlife_Area https://thewilds.columbuszoo.org/ and https://www.texaslonghorn.com/
 
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Will somebody make a small "gas can"...........when you run out of battery?
They have.
5221E28E-D722-469A-BD21-0A33950D923C.jpeg
 
I don't need 100% of 500 miles. A recharge time of 20 mins for 300-350 miles, and I'd be good. As the batter approaches 100% charge the internal resistance increases, meaning you get more mileage per minute of charge at lower levels of charge. That last 20% takes the longest time to charge.

The latest advance I read was the introduction of the tabless 4680 batteries. Increased energy density, decreased charge time.
Myself, I'd want 900 mile range with no recharge, because that's what I get now with no refuel. Anything else is a huge move backwards, and a waste of my time. Open road travel for me is typically 600 to 850 miles a day with maybe 15 minutes in stops. I can do that easily now, and have mo desire to give it up because some electrotard bought into the myth . . . and is ramming it into everyone else. You know, either "One size fits none" or "One size fits all - poorly!"
 
wifewent to check out the 21 yukons today to see what they look like on inside. sticker online was $82k (which is already absurd). no additional ad ons that i noticed. but because demand is so strong and all the rich californians moving in, they felt they needed to slap a 'sale' price on it to move it. (someone waswaiting to look at it after her, and they bought it at the 'sale' price.
 

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Batteries and charging have come a long way in the past 10 years.

battery power tools now outperform the plug in models. Mostly because that’s where all the research and development has been going.

I have no doubt that the battery and charging will get where we need them to be.

Imo the battery/charging is a smaller issue than how to get all that power to the house. We can barely keep the lights on as it is in the summer/winter. How the fuck are we going to get enough power online to charge all these damn cars when we can barley keep the AC running as it is.

the power for these EVs gotta come from somewhere. More spinning blades clogging up the country side isn’t going to cut it.
Musk's idea is to create huge battery storage centers for power. This is one of the things they are looking to grow with his new ATX facility. Still not sure where he's going to get the power to store though, because I agree with what you've said above.
 
wifewent to check out the 21 yukons today to see what they look like on inside. sticker online was $82k (which is already absurd). no additional ad ons that i noticed. but because demand is so strong and all the rich californians moving in, they felt they needed to slap a 'sale' price on it to move it. (someone waswaiting to look at it after her, and they bought it at the 'sale' price.
After watching the latest and geatest in whiz bang Car unveiling I can see why they cost so much and why the chip shortage has effected the making of these machines.

like “phones” these new cars are computers above anything else. Heck they are literally self piloting robots.

I saw the Ford Lighting has a feature that continues to scan for signs and will adjust the speed to match the signs automatically.

they said you can over-ride but it’s deep in the menus.

heck even my car has “traction control off” and deeper in the settings is “advanced traction control off”

RIP speeding and hooning (as the kids say)
 
I saw the Ford Lighting has a feature that continues to scan for signs and will adjust the speed to match the signs automatically.

they said you can over-ride but it’s deep in the menus.

My Explorer has this. It has 3 cruise control modes: normal, adaptive, and intelligent. Intelligent matches the speed limit signs the camera reads. Its a combo of GPS and cameras. I run adaptive which will run your chosen speed and when you run up on somebody it will follow them at a set distance. Works great. I have read the intelligent has issues and sometimes on access/service roads it will try to run the 70-75mph speed limits on the adjacent highway when the camera picks up a sign.
 
My Explorer has this. It has 3 cruise control modes: normal, adaptive, and intelligent. Intelligent matches the speed limit signs the camera reads. Its a combo of GPS and cameras. I run adaptive which will run your chosen speed and when you run up on somebody it will follow them at a set distance. Works great. I have read the intelligent has issues and sometimes on access/service roads it will try to run the 70-75mph speed limits on the adjacent highway when the camera picks up a si

First time I hit the interstate and engaged cruise-control I knew we would not get along. Pulled in the emergency lane and figured out how to by-pass pretty quickly.
 
" Every major business is putting in free charging stations"..........

No such thing.....the end user is getting the power at no charge, but I'd bet my ass the electric company is not giving it away. In the Kansas City area the electric company is installing these free charging stations...........I'm relatively certain that anyone who pays an electric bill is contributing to these "free" charging stations.
Chargepoint is nation wide, not just KC. Chargepoint is in the EV charging point business, so they are getting paid. The way this works is, they install the charge stations at stores, businesses, or locations they contract with. Evergy gets paid for the power, Chargepoint gets paid for the charger. The business they contract with is footing the bill. There is a tax incentive to it, but these places use it as incentive to draw customers to their business. It's marketing. It's a write off. It's not free. I think Biden latest plan, contributes a large portion to these EV charge stations, so the tax payer will be footing that bill.

Here is interesting deal when it comes to renewable energy. So, as a remote location of a larger corporation, you get graded by those large corporations for your green initiatives. The goal is to get as close to 100% renewable energy as possible. However, installing "green" shit on your campus is costly. This is where Company X comes in. They build a huge windfarm. This windfarm sells their power to the energy company at a premium price, but not specifically to the energy company. Say, they create a 100MW windfarm. They sell chunks of this energy in 20 year blocks to users at a premium rate. So, you are this remote location of a larger corporation, you buy this 20 year block of this windfarm for a premium price, you pay the utility a higher price. You purchase, say 5 MW or the qty in which you think you will use, and now, you get to report to your parent corporation, you are 100% renewable energy. 100% renewable, because you paid a premium for the windfarm power, but its not really windfarm power, or maybe it is. However, you can claim all your power is 100% renewable energy!
 
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First time I hit the interstate and engaged cruise-control I knew we would not get along. Pulled in the emergency lane and figured out how to by-pass pretty quickly.

In a Ford? Which mode where you in?

I think mine came from the factory in "adaptive" which I have grown to prefer as its pretty hands off when you run up on slower traffic and will get back to your set speed as soon as it clears or speeds up. As soon as i read what "intelligent" was though I was like "oh fuck no"...

I sat in the car for about 30 minutes going through every option in the menu's, reading the manual, and understanding what each thing did and setting everything up for my style.

I definitely had to read up on the "forward collision alert/brake assist" which can be turned off in the Exploder. I left it on. Basically if that screen pops up and starts beeping, if you tap the brake it will engage it 100%. I have not had it come on in the Explorer YET... but in our Prius it has popped up occasionally when you come up on somebody turning in front of you and it judges closure rate as to high. I havent hit the brakes yet in that circumstance to see what 100% brake application feels like...and I dont plan on it.

Our Exploder has the "copilot 360" and it has lane centering(not the same as lane keep assist or whatever)... Its ok but I dont use it hardly ever because sometimes it drifts to far left in the land for my comfort. It also, at every exit, will try to follow the right line for like a foot to the right, realize its an exit, and then recenter itself...it does it EVERY FUCKING EXIT... So I tend not to use it ever.
 
That article is retarded. Only a fucking moron buys an electric car without installing a 240V charger at home. But I expect nothing else from Californians.

My EV tripping point has three milestones
  • 500 mile range
  • Public charging station density similar to that of gas stations today
  • Charging time from 10% to 100% in 10 min or less
Once we're there I'm done with internal combustion engines and all their maintenance bullshit and failure points.
How about "not made (mostly) in China? I looked at the VW ID4 on the dealer's lot, I think about 60% was made in China. That's a hard no...
 
How about "not made (mostly) in China? I looked at the VW ID4 on the dealer's lot, I think about 60% was made in China. That's a hard no...

I think the Tesla Model 3 actually just won the award for "most American car"... It might have been the Model S though.
 
Yes, I see that. Interesting that for 2020 the top vehicle was the Ford Ranger, this year it doesn't even make the top 10. And Honda has 4 in the top 10, something it seems they have been pretty consistent with the past few years. Gotta wonder what Ford did to drop the US content...unless the others now have more US content than previously.
For all the ballyhoo about Germany and "alternative energy", the fact that VW had to obtain so much content from China is disappointing...and a bit funny.
 
I use the manly stuff the taught me to use in the men's department of theNavy.
I'm not going to get into debating you because you know about $0.50 worth a million things and in the real world that doesn't get shit done.
In the real world I get paid handsomely because I get shit that's worth a couple million per job done.

So your lack of approval means shit to me.
 
In a Ford? Which mode where you in?

I think mine came from the factory in "adaptive" which I have grown to prefer as its pretty hands off when you run up on slower traffic and will get back to your set speed as soon as it clears or speeds up. As soon as i read what "intelligent" was though I was like "oh fuck no"...

I sat in the car for about 30 minutes going through every option in the menu's, reading the manual, and understanding what each thing did and setting everything up for my style.

I definitely had to read up on the "forward collision alert/brake assist" which can be turned off in the Exploder. I left it on. Basically if that screen pops up and starts beeping, if you tap the brake it will engage it 100%. I have not had it come on in the Explorer YET... but in our Prius it has popped up occasionally when you come up on somebody turning in front of you and it judges closure rate as to high. I havent hit the brakes yet in that circumstance to see what 100% brake application feels like...and I dont plan on it.

Our Exploder has the "copilot 360" and it has lane centering(not the same as lane keep assist or whatever)... Its ok but I dont use it hardly ever because sometimes it drifts to far left in the land for my comfort. It also, at every exit, will try to follow the right line for like a foot to the right, realize its an exit, and then recenter itself...it does it EVERY FUCKING EXIT... So I tend not to use it ever.

Toyota. I hate that adaptive crap. I don't want to slow down 150 yards behind the vehicle ahead, but I may not want to shift lanes just yet, either. Toyota made it pretty simple; press and hold the button for a few seconds and cruise turns on without the adaptive feature. I'd rather drive my car.
 
Our Subaru has that adaptive cruise control and it is pretty easy to get lulled into following someone going way slower than you would otherwise like. It is a great feature when there is no one in front of you, or when someone in front of you is going as fast as you like. But, like EddieNFL said above, I don't want to slow down as early as it prefers, and may not be ready to move over either.

If I can find a 'rabbit' I like to set the cruise 5 mph faster than I would otherwise go, then use the adaptive feature to keep a respectable distance from the lead car, without following too close or losing them.
 
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Can't you set the distance you want the adaptive to kick in? My wife's VW has that feature
 
Can't you set the distance you want the adaptive to kick in? My wife's VW has that feature
Sure it does. But, my following distance is substantially different depending upon whether I am following or preparing to pass. There is no pre-defined following distance in the adaptive cruise control that is appropriate for "I'm about to pass your sunday driving ass..."
 
Around here a lot of interstates are 2 lanes....so you end up just sitting in line until you get past the bottle neck. For passing, we just use the pedal on the right :p
 
Around here a lot of interstates are 2 lanes....so you end up just sitting in line until you get past the bottle neck. For passing, we just use the pedal on the right :p
Yeah, that’s the point. If I want to pass on a 2 lane road, I need to be pretty close to the car in front of me- substantially closer than a ‘respectful’ following distance. However, on a 2 lane road, there may be considerable traffic in the opposing lane, and passing windows may be both narrow and fleeting. And, I may need to be in ‘passing position‘ for a while before the opportunity arises. But, the adaptive crusie will see someone doing 55 in a 70 and keep my vehicle well out passing position. And and, it does it subtly so that you barely notice you are following grandma on her way to nowhere until you‘re puttering right there behind her, 300 feet back. Even the closest following distance is too far back. Adaptive cruise sucks for those intermittent slow drivers on an otherwise open road. It is ok in traffic where everyone is getting slowed down and speeds are universally variable- except that it can leave holes large enough that others are constantly merging in front of you and you keep slipping further into oblivion. It is also great on open roads where you can grab a rabbit and follow them.

I admit that I am a bit ambivalent with regard to this particular feature. I miss it when I am driving my pickup that does not have it, but curse it when I am driving the Subaru that does.
 
Interesting thread. I read through it all (no small feat). Some take-aways. Prices are going crazy; but this may be regional. I haven't priced local new car prices, but have seen inflated Used car prices. The key thing decided was, I love my old used cars. The market has shifted to "cheaper to fix the old Gal, than replace it".

The past few years my focus has been on paying off debt. I was worried about future inflation and job stability. With higher inflation came the risk of increased credit card interest rates. The race to get it paid to zero is on. I have always been Phobic of signing loans, the past few years has pushed that to a fevered pitch. Being highly skilled is no longer a guaranty of employment in some markets. I am old enough to remember buying HOUSES for half of what most pick-up trucks cost new today.

My view on "electronic nannies" has been consistent through the past decade. They are for inattentive and poor drivers. At the track, most of the fast-lap time drivers disable all of them (including anti-lock brakes). But at the track, races are won by a tenth of a second... so in that environment it makes sense to disable the overly cautious electronics. Even for street driving, a rental car I drove recently almost put me in a bad situation when it tried to slow me down during a well-timed passing event on the public streets.

For those who mentioned that our electrical grid is inadequate to cover our peak needs PLUS a surge in Electrical Car charging, you are spot on! California sent out a plea to the public to avoid charging their electric cars during a heat wave. Their grid could not handle the total load. Charging during off-peak times was not a solution, as the state's solar panels produce no electricity at night. Wind speed/power normally reduces at night as well.
 
The past few years my focus has been on paying off debt.
Do not get distracted. When the wife and I married (decades ago), we both had a moderate-ish amount of debt. We decided it had to go. Buckled down for just over a year and we we're debt free. Other than mortgages (four at 16 years or less) we've been debt free since. Paid cash for our retirement home last year. Screw CC interest. They pay me to use their card.
 
Yeah, that’s the point. If I want to pass on a 2 lane road, I need to be pretty close to the car in front of me- substantially closer than a ‘respectful’ following distance. However, on a 2 lane road, there may be considerable traffic in the opposing lane, and passing windows may be both narrow and fleeting. And, I may need to be in ‘passing position‘ for a while before the opportunity arises. But, the adaptive crusie will see someone doing 55 in a 70 and keep my vehicle well out passing position. And and, it does it subtly so that you barely notice you are following grandma on her way to nowhere until you‘re puttering right there behind her, 300 feet back. Even the closest following distance is too far back. Adaptive cruise sucks for those intermittent slow drivers on an otherwise open road. It is ok in traffic where everyone is getting slowed down and speeds are universally variable- except that it can leave holes large enough that others are constantly merging in front of you and you keep slipping further into oblivion. It is also great on open roads where you can grab a rabbit and follow them.

I admit that I am a bit ambivalent with regard to this particular feature. I miss it when I am driving my pickup that does not have it, but curse it when I am driving the Subaru that does.
Follow to close and you'll wake up as you see my brake lights light up for your ass being on it
 
Follow to close and you'll wake up as you see my brake lights light up for your ass being on it
Yeah, I get that. There is a sweet spot between 'tailgating' and 'following'- that's 'preparing to pass...'

And, everyone's a bad ass until they get jerked out of their driver window for causing a collision...
 
Brake checks are legally problematic in most states today. Most states have changed "fault rulings" to include "contributory negligence". i.e. A brake check which results in an accident can make the guy who slammed the brakes equally at fault". If it can be proven the brake check was done with Malice, then that gives the guy who got "checked" gains the opportunity to seek Triple damages. In most states the old "I got rear-ended and it is automatically HIS fault" has fallen by the wayside.
 
Brake checks are legally problematic in most states today. Most states have changed "fault rulings" to include "contributory negligence". i.e. A brake check which results in an accident can make the guy who slammed the brakes equally at fault". If it can be proven the brake check was done with Malice, then that gives the guy who got "checked" gains the opportunity to seek Triple damages. In most states the old "I got rear-ended and it is automatically HIS fault" has fallen by the wayside.
DID YOU READ "SLAM" in my comment I said "SEE". If you've had an deer or elk come through a window, someeone following is in almost as much danger so I'll back you off for me I could care less about you
 
...for me I could care less about you

If it bothers you enough to activate you brake lights (giving benefit of the doubt), apparently you do care...or don't care if your involved in an accident.

Watch a few of those youtube videos. Nine of ten times, the person following too closely makes it a point to ride even closer or pass and retaliate.
 
I think the Tesla Model 3 actually just won the award for "most American car"... It might have been the Model S though.
BEIJING, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc's (TSLA.O) Shanghai factory is expected to produce 300,000 cars in the first nine months of the year, capped by a delivery rush in the end of the July-September quarter, despite a global semiconductor shortage, two sources said.

 
BEIJING, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc's (TSLA.O) Shanghai factory is expected to produce 300,000 cars in the first nine months of the year, capped by a delivery rush in the end of the July-September quarter, despite a global semiconductor shortage, two sources said.


Well shit. You post that after I got done reading the "where to get ammo now" thread.
 
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BEIJING, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc's (TSLA.O) Shanghai factory is expected to produce 300,000 cars in the first nine months of the year, capped by a delivery rush in the end of the July-September quarter, despite a global semiconductor shortage, two sources said.

Tesla Shanghai is mainly producing cars for the Chinese and European car markets. That's until GigaBerlin comes online. Model 3 in the US mainly come from the California plant. Not sure yet if GigaTexas is going to be producing Model 3. I think it's going to be mainly the Cybertruck and Semi.
 
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Government subsidized economic growth and the inflation that goes with it will seriously fuck all of people that don’t understand what’s going on right now. I was house shopping over the last few month. I put 13 offers in all 10-30k over ask (30k over was on a forever home I would have stayed in till I died so I wasn’t worried about overpaying too bad) most sold for 50-75k over ask.... fuck that
Yup. I got lucky and had a 5k over asking offer accepted. It was the 7th or 8th house I put an offer. What a shitshow we're in right now.
 
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After watching the latest and geatest in whiz bang Car unveiling I can see why they cost so much and why the chip shortage has effected the making of these machines.

like “phones” these new cars are computers above anything else. Heck they are literally self piloting robots.

I saw the Ford Lighting has a feature that continues to scan for signs and will adjust the speed to match the signs automatically.

they said you can over-ride but it’s deep in the menus.

heck even my car has “traction control off” and deeper in the settings is “advanced traction control off”

RIP speeding and hooning (as the kids say)
With proper programing you can actually turn traction control off. They "turn it off" but give you super slow throttle body speeds and things like that because 380hp is to much for most.
 
In order to sell cars in China, they MUST be manufacture IN China. But sleepyJoe won't tell you that.
 
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My Camry reads road signs. Doesn’t adjust the speed, just displays the speed on the dash display. It’s actually a pretty nice feature.