#382 Nikola and GM Sittin’ in a Tree
Russell buys a used Prius from Paul and explains why he flew 1200 and drove for 17 hours to do it, GM and Nikola decide to make trucks, the Las Vegas CC buys a monorail, Puerto Rico plans out a better future, new ways to make energy and more.
Here’s awesome Google Doc Paul mentioned: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/1/d/1HflVng6sYIb6Gs4pOKiDGtqU5YJ2-hgdM4pRNaT62gs/htmlview?fbclid=IwAR3Xzeh-U5AVI_bcfcSAqx_PIBAVAoka3CYSkpaLZ1xKs_x2dqy8KU05NZA#
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (24.2MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS | More
#373 Body Bags are Extra
- American Airlines has started filling their planes to capacity during a pandemic.
- Toyota is severely limiting the supply of the RAV4 Prime for some reason.
- California is mandating that all commercial trucks be fully-electric by 2045.
- 2-sided solar panels that track the sun can increase energy production up to 30%.
- Minnesota is suing ExxonMobile and Koch Brothers for damages caused by their disregard of their own research.
- All Americans need to support the “Moving Forward” act.
- Hyundai has introduced an all-electric shuttle bus.
- Oslo is testing inductive charging for taxis.
- Electrify American has completed their first cross-country charging network.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (65.6MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS | More
bus, California, Charging, commercial, electric, EV, first, Hyundai, LE, prime, RAV4, solar, tax, Toyota, truck
#362 You Bought It But It’s Not Really Yours.mp4
On this week’s the panel discuss, electric RVs, what does it mean when you own something but the company that made the product controls it, Ford PHEV truck rumors and more.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (56.6MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS | More
audio only,Special Episode,Special Guest
WDU 1on1 #8 Matthew Klippenstein
Fuel cell engineer and sustainable energy expert Matthew Klippenstein comes on One on One to discuss the Nikola merger and what it means for Nikola, fuel cell and BEV semi trucks. A little aside on GM’s new announcements but mostly, why a diversified energy sector is a stronger one.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (37.7MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS | More
audio only,What Drives Us episode
#352 EVs Everywhere!
1) Russell teases that he’s been invited to a Toyota AWD event. More details in a future show.
2) Simon Wecker, a guy in Berlin, Germany, pulled 90 cell phones – all with Google Maps active – through empty streets. Why? Because Google interpreted all that data to mean that the streets were congested with 90 cars, all barely moving along. The result was empty streets thanks to Google routing everyone around Wecker and his wagon of phones.
3) Hyundai is doubling their Kona EV production be adding a second factory. This is in response to the Kona’s massive demand, which Hyundai is not able to keep up with.
4) The new US Building Codes will call for new homes in the US to be manufactured “EV Ready”.
5) Rivian and Amazon are designing and building a custom EV Amazon delivery van. It’s kind of cute.
6) We’re relatively excited to see that there are EV trucks coming to market. Americans love their trucks so if we want to win them over we’re going to need electric trucks.
7) Toyota is introducing new technology to safe stupid people from themselves. This new software will detect when someone mashes the accelerator rather than the brake and make sure the car doesn’t surge forward. Because, let’s face it, unexpected acceleration was really human error all along.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (62.7MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS | More
Car, Eco, electric, EV, future, german, google, Hyundai, LE, LED, Software, Technology, Toyota, truck, van
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.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (54.9MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS | More
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
#336 Hydrogen Double Take
- Florida Power & Light committed to 1,000 new EV chargershttps://insideevs.com/news/373803/florida-1000-charging-points/
- From Yahoo! Finance: Solar and Wind are now Cheaper than Coal in Most of the World:https://finance.yahoo.com/news/solar-wind-now-cheaper-coal-210000650.html
- Truly a new take or just flogging an old trope one more time?https://www.thedrive.com/tech/26050/exclusive-toyota-hydrogen-boss-explains-how-fuel-cells-can-achieve-corolla-costs
- This is going to be fun: The 2nd Gen Mirai will be out in 2020. They’re actually making a 2nd Gen:https://www.autoblog.com/2019/09/26/toyota-mirai-hydrogen-fuel-cell-car-second-generation/
- And speaking of Hydrogen:Engineers in Alberta think the’ve found a way for the oilseeds to produce clean fuel:https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/alberta-hydrogen-innovation-1.5290297
- Lane tape might be a cheap fix to help AV developmenthttps://www.on-sitemag.com/roads/marking-the-way-to-driverless-cars-ontarios-407-etr-3m-team-up-to-test-novel-road-tape/1003965295/
- Between 1990-2016, despite a sizable 35% increase in the overall fuel efficiency of our vehicle fleet, national emissions rose by 21%. Why? Because those improvements were accompanied by a 50% increase in driving.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Open-Forum-Electric-cars-won-t-save-us-but-a-14462534.php - Some people love car dealers (service)
https://www.autonews.com/fixed-ops-journal/survey-3-out-4-vehicle-owners-prefer-dealership-service
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (57.0MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS | More
2016, Aptera, bus, Charging, Corolla, Eco, electric, elon, elon musk, emissions, EV, hybrid, hydrogen, id3, las vegas, LE, Lexus, lyft, mirai, mobility, model 3, Model S, model X, nissan, oil, Plug-in, Politics, porsche, Range Anxiety, rv, solar, Taycan, Technology, Tesla, the boring company, Toyota, truck, trump, tunnel, uber, VW, What Drives Us
#335 Dunk Dunk Dink-Dunk Dunk
1) VW ID.3 would not sell enough in the US, or would it sell too much?
https://insideevs.com/news/371779/vw-canada-considering-sales-id3/
2) Amazon orders 100K delivery vans from Rivian
https://techcrunch.com/2019/09/19/amazon-orders-100k-electric-delivery-trucks-from-rivian-as-part-of-going-carbon-neutral-by-2040/
3) Lime shuts down car rental service, Limepod
http://mail01.tinyletterappcom/transportation/trucks-fot-wunder-farmwise-oslo/15282170-techcrunch.com/2019/09/19/lime-is-shutting-down-car-rental-service-limepod/
4) Waiting for Godot
https://www.teslarati.com/elon-musk-boring-company-las-vegas-loop-tunnel-update-pictures/
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (53.4MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS | More
2170, Aptera, Canada, CARB, electric, elon, elon musk, EV, hybrid, id3, las vegas, LE, Lexus, lyft, mobility, model 3, Model S, model X, musk, nissan, Plug-in, Politics, porsche, Range Anxiety, rv, Taycan, Technology, Tesla, the boring company, Toyota, truck, trump, tunnel, uber, update, van, VW, What Drives Us
#333 Turbo S
1) Volkswagon unveils the ID.3
https://www.motor1.com/news/369662/vw-id-3-unveiled-frankfurt/amp/
2) And a little information about the ID.4
https://insideevs.com/news/369758/vw-id3-electric-car-debuts-range-342-miles/
3) Speaking of VW, someone says they are below $100 per kWh battery price
https://insideevs.com/news/369923/rumor-mill-vw-cheap-battery/
4) COX Automotive makes a $350M investment in Rivian
https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1124989_electric-truck-hopeful-rivian-gets-350m-investment-from-cox
5) Russell wants to talk about the Porsche Taycan debut
https://www.porsche.com/usa/models/taycan/taycan-models/taycan-turbo/
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (60.4MB)
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS | More
battery, debut, electric, elon, elon musk, EV, frankfurt, hybrid, LE, LED, Lexus, mobility, model 3, Model S, model X, nissan, Plug-in, porsche, Technology, Tesla, Toyota, truck, usa, VW
audio and video,What Drives Us episode
#230 When A Mommy And Daddy Unicorn Love Each Other…
Podcast: Play in new window | Download ()
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Android | RSS | More
apple, autonomous, electric, EV, feature, featured, features, fuel cell, hybrid, hydrogen, Hyundai, LE, Plug-in, review, truck