G. David Felt

GM stated a few years back that they were all in on EVs and would prove that by bringing to market a number of EVs that would meet the needs of the retail market. Chevrolet started with the Silverado EV RST edition, delivering an estimated 440 miles of range on a full charge with 754 horsepower and 785 lb-ft of torque with a 0-60 mph time of less than 4.5 seconds, DC fast charging up to 350kW and a 10,000 pounds of trailering with 1,500 pounds of payload. The Silverado RST was a fully loaded truck that has many features and yet Chevrolet also stated that two other modules would also be available by the end of 2024, 4WT with a 450-mile range, 3WT with 393-mile range, and a Trail Boss edition. Full details could be viewed here: The First-Ever Silverado EV | Electric Truck | Chevrolet WT EV Truck Trail Boss EV truck GMC was soon to follow with their Sierra EV Denali pickup 1st Edition that delivered 460 miles of range with 760 horsepower and 785 lb-ft of torque with the same 0-60 mph time, charging, hauling and trailering specifications. GMC also stated that by the end of 2024 or early 2025 you could buy a Sierra EV AT4 edition or Sierra EV Elevation edition. Full details can be seen here: The All-New 2024 Sierra EV Denali Edition 1 | Electric Truck | GMC GM has added a Max Range battery option to their truck lineup in the following: Chevrolet WT Max Range 492 Miles EPA-estimate Chevrolet RST Max Range 390 Miles EPA-estimate GMC Sierra EV Denali Extended Range 390 Miles EPA-estimate GMC Sierra EV Denali Max Range 460 Miles EPA-estimate Both Chevrolet will offer additional range packages for the LT series of EV pickup in 2025 as will GMC expand extended range and Max Range to the rest of their family of EV pickups in 2025.   View full article

The U.S. military asked for a new tactical vehicle that could run silent for what the military calls silent drive and watch, technologies to make it very hard to detect. Enter GM Defense LLC that took the Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD ZR2 truck with GM's 2.8L Duramax turbo-diesel engine, add a 12 module battery pack, electric motors front and rear for awd and a total armored exterior allowing GM Defense to meet the requirements of a Silent drive and watch tactical vehicle prototype for the 21st century. GM Defense ensured the vehicle would have a stealthy ingress and egress for success in high threat zones, delivering onboard power to support high-energy-demand sensors, shooters and a Soldier kit. A "Next Gen" tactical vehicle that delivers: active and passive safety features Including roll-over protection anti-lock braking electronic stability control four and five point seat belt harnesses 360-degree camera capabilities in HD This "Next Gen" tactical vehicle was designed to support using existing sustainment benefits: Fuel Demand Reduction Existing JP8 fuel infrastructure Lower maintenance from reduced parts, subsystems in the propulsion system This vehicle can be ordered in two, four, and six seat configurations allowing it to support multi-mission capabilities including command and control, launch efforts, network extensions, counter unmanned aerial systems, casualty evacuation and other critical mission needs. This vehicle will be on display and available for test driving at the Oct 14-16th AUSA 2024 tradeshow in Washington D.C. booth #7809. View full article

Seems the GMC EV Pickup much like the Chevy version now has a max range offering too, 460 miles of range for the AWD EV Pickup. 2025 GMC Sierra EV Denali offers more range and more choice

Getting our first Atmospheric river storm and it is supposed to drop a ton of water in the lowlands here with flooding, but temps have dropped and at 4,000 feet and above, early heavy snow is forecast this week. California Atmospheric River Forecast: 'Big Changes' in Storm Path Expected (msn.com) Atmospheric river forecast for western Washington region (mynorthwest.com)

That deserves a Corvette Summer Rebuild!

I am excited for the Kia EV3 that will be a low $20K ev, mid $20K ev in AWD form. I also find it amazing that what I stated on February 7th about BYD surpassing Tesla could very well come true by the end of the year. BYD is 124,077 EVs away from surpassing Tesla and if you include plug-in hybrids, they have surpassed Tesla. Tesla remains ahead of BYD through the first nine months of 2024. The EV leader has delivered 1,293,656 vehicles so far this year, compared to BYD’s EV sales of 1,169,579. BYD shatters Q3 and September sales records (electrek.co)

Very cool, the Nasa satellites that are monitoring the earth and reporting Green House gas eruptions can be checked here: Dashboard | Carbon Mapper

Lexus for the 2025 model year has taken the LX600 SUV to the next level with the LX 700h hybrid. Since 1995 Lexus has served as the Toyota Luxury arm for their SUVs providing comfortable ride quality, luxurious amenities and uncompromising off-road performance per Lexus. With improvements to the LX600 for the new model year and the first ever hybrid, Lexus has pushed Luxury and off-road to a new level with the Overtrail grade trim level. 2025 Lexus SUV points of interest Hybrid Powertrain for 2025 LX 700h equipped with 3.4L twin-turbo Hybrid V6 10-speed direct shirft automatic transmission with Multi-Terrain select 457 horsepower and 583 lb-ft of torque Overtrail grade available exclusively on LX700h with two or three rows Lexus Safety System+ 3.0 now standard across the LX lineup Up to 8,000 lbs. towing capacity The Lexus LX 700h brings the brand to 12 hybrid options for customers to choose from allowing Lexus customers to explore the road less traveled in luxury with ultimate efficiency per their press release. The 2025 LX is offered in five trim levels: Premium, F Sport, Luxury, Ultra Luxury and Overtrail. The LX is the only vehicle in the Lexus lineup that is offered with F Sport and Overtrail. What does Overtrail offer over the four lower levels: Front and Rear Locking differentials Allows 50:50 power splitting between front and back differentials 2,400W AC inverter Off-road all-weather floor liners 33-inch BF Goodrich All-Terrain tires on 18 inch rims Front Skid Plate protection Overtrail Appearance package Matte grey grille Black door handles Dark gray roof rails Dark chrome window trim Dark bumper trim Black overfenders Active Height Control with Adaptive Variable Suspension Multi-Terrain Monitor giving a panoramic view of front, sides, back and under images. Electric Power Steering and Electrically Controlled Braking Crawl Control Downhill Assist Control Lexus LX comes with 12.3-inch Touchscreen and added LX-exclusive 7-inch lower touchscreen, cloud navigation, intelligent assist, remote connect, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, Traffic Jam Assist, Safety Conect, Service Connect, Standard Head-up display, Mark Levinson 25 speaker surround sound, and so much more.  Interiors below start with Ultra Luxury, F Sport and then the standard interiors. The LX 700h comes exclusive with Advanced Park and Remote Park. View full article

Some very cool and informative reading: Who knew that the NACS is already aware and capable of up to 1000kW charging stations. Future built in for faster charging. Why Tesla's EV Charging System Won the Race to Become America's Standard (motortrend.com) Cool stuff coming for EVs Battery Show Detroit 2024: Affordable Axial Flux, Solid State Updates, and More EV Breakthroughs Coming Soon (motortrend.com)

For those with Pets, You gotta try this out. @Robert Hall Would love to see some of your pets after using this site with a photo of them. Venomize My Pet My sisters Golden Retriever Before My sister Golden Retriever after

Very cool, as one that does not get into planes, those kind that can land on land and water all look the same to me. Reminds me of the Indiana Jones Movie plan that was on water too.

That plane makes me think of the Expendables Movie series. I think it is the same plane model.

Very cool, Hyundai just celebrated their 100,000,000,000 millionth auto built globally which is an N edition EV. Hyundai Motor Hits Major Milestone with 100 Million Vehicles Produced Globally

Awesome job Drew, looking so good!

A friend moved from Seattle to Texas, Bayou Vista which is right next to Galveston. Has parents that have Dementia so moved to care for them. Bought a new house on the water. Was surprised as the house is built on Galvanized pilings into the bed rock and the stairs take you up 20 feet to the front door so there is nothing to flood or get damaged. I cannot seem to quickly find the picture of their house, but it is like this one that came up on the web. Nice Home but clearly built to handle water coming in from the Hurricanes. All homes need to be built this way to handle the 100 yr storm as you stated.

Hopefully the rebuild will require the homes to be on rockbed installed posts so it can handle the storm surge.

Love the driveway, should have it all pressure washed in the spring to be nice and clean. I do that with my large driveway, always nice to keep it from being slimy in the spring or fall. Reminds me of @balthazar Pontiac, I wonder if he ever finished the motor rebuild and got it on the road?

Saw a 1995 Buick Road Master Special Edition Station Wagon with fake wood siding and all the trimmings, seen better days, driven by a boomer and even had the crazy bumper sticker of "Trump is My President" ?

The Hyundai / Waymo multi-year strategic partnership will see the Hyundai Ioniq 5 enter autonomous taxi service with the IONIQ 5 being built for Waymo on the Hyundai Georgia assembly line and testing to begin by late 2025 with Waymo customer riders having access in the 2026 calendar year. To quote Jose Munoz, global COO of Hyundai Motors and President and CEO of Hyundai Motor North America: “Hyundai and Waymo share a vision to improve the safety, efficiency and convenience of how people move. Waymo’s transformational technology is improving road safety where they operate, and the IONIQ 5 is the ideal vehicle to scale this further. The team at our new manufacturing facility is ready to allocate a significant number of vehicles for the Waymo One fleet as it continues to expand. Importantly, this is the first step in the partnership between the two companies and we are actively exploring additional opportunities for collaboration.” Chang Song, President and head of Hyundai Motor Group's Advanced Vehicle Platform (AVP) stated the following: “There is no better partner for our first agreement in this initiative than industry-leader Waymo. We recently announced the launch of Hyundai Motor Company’s autonomous vehicle foundry business to provide global autonomous driving companies with vehicles capable of implementing SAE Level 4 or higher autonomous driving technology.” AVP has stated the following: Hyundai Motor details a flexible response approach to market conditions and focus on electrification through its ‘Hyundai Way’ strategy Targeting 5.55 million annual global sales by 2030, up 30% from 2023 Aiming to sell 2 million EVs per year globally by 2030 Plan to introduce new EREV models, a new type of EV with a range of more than 900 km (559 miles) on a single charge, in North America and China Aiming to offer a full lineup of 21 EV models by 2030, ranging from affordable to luxury and high-performance Introducing enhanced next-generation hybrid system with improved performance and fuel efficiency Plans to expand HEV offerings to 14 models from the current seven; Genesis luxury brand will also offer hybrid models Continuously pushing for battery technology internalization; develop affordable NCM batteries and strengthen safety technology Plans to commercialize autonomous driving vehicle foundry business; to supply autonomous vehicles to global autonomous driving software firms Aiming to secure top-tier energy leadership during the energy transition period by strengthening Group-wide hydrogen technology capabilities across the value chain Plan to make a significant investment of KRW 120.5 trillion through 2033 to support the ‘Hyundai Way’ strategy Employ new target shareholder return (TSR) of over 35% and rollout of a share buyback scheme of up to KRW 4 trillion from 2025 to 2027 Per Hyundai, the strategic relationship will see an implementation across the Hyundai Family of auto divisions with Level 2 through Level 4 autonomous driving in both Hyundai and Genesis products starting in 2026 with EREV playing a prominent role in bridging the move to electrification for global customers. EREV are electric vehicles with a gas generator to optimize long distance driving. With WAYMO already have multiple self driving taxi services in select cities, this strategic partnership would imply that Hyundai is ready to leapfrog Tesla in having their auto's be truly self driving and with Waymo tech at a Level 4+ of autonomous driving, this would imply just that. Do you think Hyundai will Leapfrog Tesla? View full article

Toyota Motor Corporation has joined the IONNA network to support their EV auto's is the first part of what has happened with IONNA, but the next is that IONNA broke ground on building their first 10 Covered Stall Fast Charging station that will offer both CCS and NACS along with a place to relax and refuel the body. The 10 stalls will offer charging at up to 400kWs and 800+volt charging service. The location of this first station is APEX North Carolina. Ionna has also finally appointed a CTO for the company, this person is Jackie Slope as CTO of the new venture.   View full article