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It's not really the electric cars per se I despise, it's the smug self serving zealots DEMANDING and trying to legislate that I be forced to give up my ICE cars!
One major reason I moved to Nevada decades ago was that the leading "Self driving car" tech at that time required sensors in the road.
80% of Nevada roads were unpaved, so unlikely to be self drive car friendly.
From my perspective the good news is that Nevada towns are still very often just too far apart for electric to be practical.
So my ICE cars are unlikely to be outlawed here in my remaining lifetime.
I really doubt electric is going to displace ICE for much more use than what could be done much cheaper with a current production ICE "City Car".
At least until slow capacitive discharge is perfected in place of the current fire-prone batteries.
That will render EVERY current electric obsolete, literally overnight.

This latest shiny object above running the 'Ring is more about propaganda than useful information.
I'm in Nevada, where the Tesla "Giga-factory" is now sucking up major resources while being exempt for the next decade from the taxes the rest of us pay.

I'm sure you are familiar with the window stickers showing Hobbs urinating on a Ford, Chevy, Toyota Etc. logo?
I had tee shirts custom made with the Tesla T!
So when this site gets the avatar function fixed I have the perfect pic.

You might find it hard to believe, but my newest car is my one-ton truck, a 1981.
I simply refuse to own anything newer, for me it's not about mileage or convenience features, it's the driving experience.
Nothing I own has cup holders, or a rear seat.

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If I must be a one-man PC free zone, so be it!

Lonnie said:

We bought a new daily driver for Gayle a couple of years ago. Her choice, which I resisted, was a plug-in hybrid Ford Fusion. I like the Fusion, we had owned a 2007 model, 4 cyl automatic previously. The plug-in hybrid part is what I was leery of.

Well, in short, I was wrong. The car is comfortable- it's a Fusion, not a small car to begin with, so it's a nice ride. And it has averaged 82 mpg over the 33000 miles we've driven it. It will go about 25 miles on battery charge alone after a plugged in charge-up. On road trips where we don't get to plug in and just drive in "hybrid mode" it will get about 50 mpg. Other than feeling the engine stop/start some of the time, it's pretty much "invisible" as a hybrid. Sometimes passengers kinda freak out when the car silently glides away from a standstill. That's cool... The best thing (to me) is that we get the benefits of the electric drive, but don't have the downside of short range and worrying about if we can get to somewhere to charge it up. As long as you put some gas in it, you can go.

I opted for the "slow" charger that came with the car (i.e. "I took the free one."). It uses a 120v outlet and takes about 7 hours to charge up if the batteries are completely depleted. I ran some conduit and installed a plug on the corner of the front porch. We plug it in overnight and it's good to go the next morning. If I'd bought the 220v charger, it would only take about 3 hours to fully charge.

Our power bill went up maybe $20 or $25 per month. Compared to the cost of gasoline to make the same daily commute in my F-150 (which is what we had been doing) the increase in the electric bill is minimal. Instead of $50 in gasoline about every 7 days, I fill the thing up (all 12 gallons of the tank) about once a month.

That said, I DO NOT agree with the tree-huggin' car hatin' regulation spoutin' bunch myself. But the plug in Fusion? Oh mannn, what a great car! The money I save with driving the Fusion plug-in goes to my racing budget... So, what's not to like?

My .02, IMHO, YMMV, to each his own, etc, etc.

JDK

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JD, father of Quinn, Son of a... Build Log
Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom

That's very interesting information, JD. I'm glad to hear it from a "non-tree-hugging source" too.

I can see the day coming when we'll want an electric or hybrid. I don't keep up on all the hybrid developments, but I think both Chevrolet and RAM are doing hybrid versions of pickup trucks. There is also a new pickup truck company in the MidWest whose only product is a purpose-built, hybrid pickup. Since pickups are the #1 vehicle in the country, it will be interesting to see how they fare in the next 10 years.

Being born in Southern California, I started life breathing fumes and SMOG. I might just shrivel up and die if they go away and I breathe real air.

Cheers,

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

Chevy had a hybrid pickup a long time ago, and I'm not sure why they stopped building them. I'll never buy a Chevy pickup because they're essentially a 1970's car under the skin (suspension and chassis wise) and don't stand up to what I need a pickup to do, but it seems a no brainer to me to add 500lbs of batteries and hybrid drive parts to a pickup that already weighs 6000lbs rather than to a car that only weighs 3000. It will have a way less noticeable effect on the driving experience handling wise, and even a 5% fuel economy increase with something that gets 12mpg would be great. Now if they would do a small diesel/electric hybrid in a full size pickup, that would be really cool. Just as an example, my work truck is a Ford F-250 with a 5.4 gas engine. It gets about 12 mpg and weighs 9500lbs with me and all my tools. 300hp is perfectly adequate for me, even with how heavy the truck is. I would love to have the same truck with say a 150-180hp diesel paired with a 100hp electric motor and regenerative braking. It would be a massive overall drop in my fuel bill, but the numbers are nowhere near as sexy as Prius and whatever they get for mileage now.
Kristian

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V6 in a book frame build. Now registered.
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[quote="GonzoRacer"

That said, I DO NOT agree with the tree-huggin' car hatin' regulation spoutin' bunch myself.
JDK[/quote]

Neither do I and I consider myself to be an environmentalist. They are believers and as someone said, when you start to believe, you stop thinking.

But they do keep things stirred up.

Bill

Mostly, because they couldn't sell 'em!

They were marketed as "work trucks" for construction crews and such. They were a pretty clever design, I thought, with the battery pack under the back seat (crew cab truck) and even a couple of 120v AC outlets for running power tools. I recall they were really expensive for a basically stripped truck with batteries. I'm sure the mileage was good, but I'm thinking lots of folks that ran small businesses and such weren't willing to take the risk of the "new fangled hybrid stuff" on their company vehicles.


JDK

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JD, father of Quinn, Son of a... Build Log
Quinn the Slotus:Ford 302 Powered, Mallock-Inspired, Tube Frame, Hillclimb Special
"Gonzo and friends: Last night must have been quite a night. Camelot moments, mechanical marvels, Rustoleum launches, flying squirrels, fru-fru tea cuppers, V8 envy, Ensure catch cans -- and it wasn't even a full moon." -- SeattleTom

I never did look at what they cost, but I know one guy that bought one. He seemed to think it was great, and on paper, I agree. It was one of Chevy's better ideas I though. Unlike the plastic pickup boxes or rear wheel steering that just quietly disappeared. Funny how the Chevy ads make fun of Ford for making aluminum bodies now when they used to make pickup boxes from plastic.
Kristian

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V6 in a book frame build. Now registered.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7587
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=18172

Wait, what, an American company is FINALLY making cars or trucks with ALUMINUM bodies?!
Only a few decades overdue.
Much better than all the lousy plastic and rubber now used by pretty much everyone.

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If I must be a one-man PC free zone, so be it!

F150's have had aluminum bodies for a while now, and the superdutys are following suit as of this year too. So much fearmongering about it when real trucks have been using aluminum body's for many years now.
Kristian

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V6 in a book frame build. Now registered.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=7587
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=18172

Well, it's here. This is the race version: C8R? It was photographed at Road America.



It looks like the following are confirmed, at least off-the-record.

1) The current C7 Corvette will co-exist with the C8, at least for some period of time. Take your pick at the dealer showrooms.

2) Over the first year or two of its introduction, three versions of the C8 will be introduced with varying engine types, sizes and horsepower.

3) A ~1,000 HP version will appear, but with a hybrid front drive, like current Le Mans cars, just as mentioned at the start of this thread, initially given as speculation. That car is going to be off-the-charts fast and wicked. How will Ford respond, I wonder?

Cheers,

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

Oh, this is getting more and more interesting all the time.

Do you remember the Corvette-based Cadillac XLR? It could be back, but this time using the new, 4.2L, twin-turbocharged, Cadillac V8 soon to debut in the 2019 CT6-V (https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a1951 ... info-news/).

Here's one magazine's rendering of the (possible) new C8-based, XLR.


What's more, it might yield the high-performance hybrid version of the C8 platform. The C8 program has been delayed 6 months for resolution of "electrical issues" according to unnamed GM sources. Other industry insiders say that's a smoke screen to cover development issues with the Cadillac version, which will be the hybrid (engine drives the rear, motors drive the front) C8.

Other factoids/rumors:

1) Caddy 4.2L, bi-turbo V8 will be produced at the Bowling Green, KY performance center along with the Corvette;

2) Corvette Racing (Pratt & Miller) may have a turbocharged V6 version of the C8 for head-to-head with new Ford GT;

3) Is Cadillac Racing (https://media.cadillac.com/media/us/en/ ... acing.html) going to field the 4.2L, V8/hybrid version of the C8 as an XLR for racing?

This could get very interesting.

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

That turbo V6 is a screamer, but unfortunately at the moment it is optimized for lower revving torque and isn't a revver, but a slight bit of tuning can fix that. Several have already done it without GM's help

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mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.

Here's a spy video of the new Corvette C8.R night testing at Sebring. It sure sounds like a turbocharged V6 to me. What do you think?

Cheers,

New C8.R Corvette ==> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfg71KgtxO4

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Damn! That front slip angle is way too large and the Ackerman is just a muddle.

Build Log: viewtopic.php?f=35&t=5886

They already have a twin turbo V6 464 hp/430 torques which is optimized for 6000ish rpm. If they were to tweak that for higher revs, as it sounds like in the video, it would probably have 500ish hp and would be an awesome engine.

I've talked with some GM people and begged them to make a baby vette with that engine and bring the weight in under 3000 lbs and size down to something smaller than the Camaro. The present Vette, while awesome looking, is just WAY too large. I've put down money on the last 2 versions and gone back and cancelled because it's just too damn big.

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mobilito ergo sum
I drive therefore I am

I can explain it to you,
but I can't understand it for you.

Sounds like a build plan!
Replica 53-55 bodies and trim pieces are available to bring the size into line AND have some actual style.

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If I must be a one-man PC free zone, so be it!