audio only,What Drives Us episode
#356 – Three Fifty Something
1) The Union of Concerned Scientists have completed their study and concluded that ride sharing (such as Uber and Lyft) introduce almost 70% more pollutants than the rides they are replacing. Not only the rides they are replacing but taking people off mass transit.
2) A study of vehicles interacting with pedestrians at a crosswalk showed that there is a direct correlation between how aggressive the vehicle is towards the pedestrians and how much that vehicle costs. So yeah, rich drivers are bigger jerks and the data backs it up!
3) The coronavirus is impacting the supply lines of vehicle manufacturing along with other appliance manufacturing. Couple this with Ford’s continuously declining stock price and market share and we’re starting to wonder whether Ford can avoid a bankruptcy or total liquidation.
4) Continuing our discussion about Tesla’s Buffalo, NY, factory, the state of New York is looking to sell some manufacturing equipment it had purchased for Tesla but was never used.
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#355 Solar Shakedown
- The guys get into a tussle over Tesla’s Gigafactory in Buffalo New York now that Panasonic has pulled out of the location. Will there ever be Solar glass?
- After 40 years of trying to figure it out, scientists have finally figured out why solar panels experience a 2% efficiency drop within the first hour of operation.
- Hyundai released images of a concept vehicle that is supposed to serve as inspiration for their upcoming EV vehicles.
- Ford allows drivers to sign up for insurance and use their connected cars to track their driving habits. Spoiler: if you’re being paid, you’re the product.
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Car, concept, connected, Efficiency, EV, first, Ford, gigafactory, Hyundai, insurance, LE, LED, new york, oil, rv, solar, Tesla, Vehicles
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#354 Ed Neidermeyer, Tesla, and Autonomy
1) Special Guest Edward Neidermeyer joins the panel to discuss his recent appearance on Bloomberg TV regarding Tesla. We also discuss autonomy (of course, in relation to Tesla).
2) Mark gives his report on attending the Toronto Auto Show.
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#351 Tesla FIGHT!
It all started so calmly. Russell just finished filming his review of the Lexus ES300h and promised to have that posted within a week or so. That transitioned to his and Tony’s very different opinions of the Lexus UX250h (spoiler, Tony’s right). From there, it went South: Mark mentioned the Tesla Earning Call. Paul questioned their profitability. Tony got hung up on the term Autopilot and the phrase “Full Self Drive”. Patrick insists that not enough people have read the official FAA definition of Autopilot and we try to figure where Tesla is in Autonomous Driving (Levels 1 – 5).
Fortunately, we ran out of time and had to call it a night before any punches were thrown.
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autonomous, autopilot, EV, Full Self Drive, LE, Lexus, oil, review, Tesla
#349 Whose Data is it, Anyway?
In this week’s show:
1) The current NTSB requirements for black box data is woefully short of all the data required to determine the actual situation of a modern-day crash. Manufacturers are not required to hand over additional data. Should owners be able to pull the data themselves to turn over to the police? Should they be able to pull data from a used car prior to purchasing it?
2) Tesla’s stock has soared recently to the point that the company is now valuated higher than GM and Ford, combined! It doesn’t help that Ford and GM have seen their own valuations dropping in the recent months.
3) The Boring Company’s 0.8 mile tunnel is completed under Las Vegas between convention centers. It’s likely not going to reach 140mph like previously advertised, it might use skates to move cars or not. Details are few and far between.
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autonomous, batteries, battery, boring company, bus, Car, CBC, Charging, concept, Convenience, Cyber Truck, Cybertruck, Diesel, Eco, Efficiency, electric, elon, elon musk, Employees, epa, EV, eVolution, FICA, Ford, FSD, fuel cell, Full Self Drive, General Motors, gm, Government, Gratification, hybrid, ID.3, id3, Incentives, las vegas, LE, Lexus, LimePod, lyft, Micromobility, mobility, Model S, model X, motorcycle, nissan, Oregon, Plug-in, porsche, Portland, Range Anxiety, RAV-4, RAV4, review, robots, rv, RVing, Software, solar, Starlink, tax, Tax Credit, Technology, Tesla, the boring company, Toyota, Tracking, TriMet, trump, tunnel, update, Updates, volkswagen
#348 Dieselgate Saves VW
This week:
1) States face roadblocks on path to lower tailpipe emissions.
2) BMW remains committed to ICE cars for at least 30 more years.
3) The Prius is no longer Toyota’s top-selling hybrid.
4) Sony shocks CES by unveiling a car.
5) The Fisker Ocean might actually be areal thing.
6) Tesla’s Gigafactory 4 has to tread lightly in the forest.
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autonomous, batteries, battery, BMW, bus, Car, CBC, Charging, concept, Convenience, Cyber Truck, Cybertruck, Diesel, dieselgate, Eco, Efficiency, electric, elon, elon musk, emissions, Employees, epa, EV, eVolution, FICA, FSD, fuel cell, Full Self Drive, General Motors, gigafactory, gm, Government, Gratification, hybrid, ID.3, id3, Incentives, LE, Lexus, LimePod, lyft, Micromobility, mobility, Model S, model X, motorcycle, nissan, Oregon, Plug-in, porsche, Portland, Prius, Range Anxiety, RAV-4, RAV4, review, robots, rv, RVing, Software, solar, Starlink, tax, Tax Credit, Technology, Tesla, Toyota, Tracking, TriMet, trump, update, Updates, volkswagen, VW, What Drives Us
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# 347 Robot Replacements
1) Tony reviewed the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid. Be sure to check out his two separate reviews:
Ride-along review: https://youtu.be/ed4CUB73QWE
Walk-around review: https://youtu.be/hty_KFkWZMY
2) At the beginning of the 2010s, Lithium-Ion batteries were projected to herald in the era of the electric vehicle. We discuss accessibility of battery components and the drop in prices.
3) Volkswagen has released conceptual animations of very cute little battery charging robots. You park your car anywhere in a parking garage and the robots will not only bring a mobile battery pack, the pack will plug itself into your car.
4) December saw a flurry of Tesla software updates. We pick them apart.
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autonomous, batteries, battery, bus, Car, CBC, Charging, concept, Convenience, Cyber Truck, Cybertruck, Diesel, Eco, Efficiency, electric, elon, elon musk, Employees, epa, EV, eVolution, FICA, FSD, fuel cell, Full Self Drive, General Motors, gm, Government, Gratification, hybrid, ID.3, id3, Incentives, LE, Lexus, LimePod, lyft, Micromobility, mobility, Model S, model X, motorcycle, nissan, Oregon, Plug-in, porsche, Portland, Range Anxiety, RAV-4, RAV4, RAV4 Hybrid, review, robots, rv, RVing, Software, solar, Starlink, tax, Tax Credit, Technology, Tesla, Toyota, Tracking, TriMet, trump, update, Updates, volkswagen, What Drives Us
audio only,What Drives Us episode
#345: Cheaper To Go Green Than Brown
We wrap up the Tesla lawsuit, Kacey talks about his hardware upgrade from Tesla for FSD, new energy storage methods and whether or not Starlink satellites are a curse to astronomers. All that and more!
CBC Videos:
https://youtu.be/inhyl3lMslA
https://youtu.be/9IngBHuwBoM
https://youtube/P63ZKVOC8vM
https://youtu.be/sUriPl497YE
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autonomous, batteries, battery, CBC, Cyber Truck, Cybertruck, Efficiency, electric, elon, elon musk, Employees, EV, eVolution, FICA, FSD, Full Self Drive, General Motors, gm, hybrid, ID.3, id3, law, laws, Lexus, LimePod, lyft, Micromobility, mobility, Model S, model X, nissan, Plug-in, porsche, Range Anxiety, RAV-4, Starlink, Technology, Tesla, Toyota, Tracking, trump, What Drives Us
audio only,What Drives Us episode
#344: Tesla Tesla Tesla
Aptera, autonomous, batteries, battery, California, Cybertruck, Efficiency, electric, elon, elon musk, EV, eVolution, General Motors, gigafactory, gm, Hummer, hybrid, hydrogen, Hyundai, ID.3, id3, Lexus, LimePod, lyft, Mary Barra, Micromobility, mirai, mobility, model 3, Model S, model X, nissan, Plug-in, Politics, porsche, Range Anxiety, RAV-4, RAV4, Taycan, Technology, Tesla, Toyota, trump, uber, Volkswagon, What Drives Us
audio only,What Drives Us episode
#343: Selling Out of EVs that Nobody Wants
1) At the LA Auto Show, a Toyota spokesman told a roomful of reporters that there is no demand for EVs. This certainly clears things up in terms of Tesla, the Leaf, Volt/Bolt, Rivian, etc.
2) Ford has reported that the 2021 Mustang Mack E is already sold out.
3) It’s our turn to provide our impression of the Tesla Cybertruck.
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Aptera, auto show, autonomous, battery, Bolt, bus, Canada, CTT, Cybertruck, electric, elon, elon musk, EV, Ford, funding, future, General Motors, gigafactory, gm, Hummer, hybrid, Hyundai, id3, las vegas, LE, Leaf, Lexus, lyft, mobility, model 3, Model S, model X, nissan, Plug-in, Politics, porsche, Range Anxiety, reveal, Taycan, Technology, Tesla, the boring company, Tokyo, Toyota, truck, trump, tunnel, uber, Vancouver, Volt, VW, What Drives Us