Electric Cars

Nice! A 4 wheel electric Isetta!

I’m also into the Rivian R1S just because I need the 7 seater option. I also love Bollinger’s essential design but not a true fan of how it looks. Just mixed feelings about it, i guess I would have to see it in person.

Not a pickup person, or an SUV person, but I really love the R1S. I know there are several designers there who used to work for Jeep, and I can’t help but think this is what they would have done with a Jeep Cherokee if given more freedom. It gives me a similar stout and sturdy feeling as the first generation Jeep Cherokee.



Glad you brought it up. I also spent some time a while back looking into the Grand Cherokee L. I find the straight lines appealing.

The R1S is gorgeous. Because all of the news outlets are focusing on the R1T, I hadn’t seen too many pictures of the S until recently.

The things that really do it for me (aside from the generally clean surfacing) are the profile and forms of the rear end. So many modern SUVs try to make their rear ends look “fast” by lopping off the hatch at an angle and artificially pinching the third window. Their forms are simultaneously un-functional - the forward angle of the hatch dramatically reduces usable interior space - and dishonest - the rear window shape often does not follow the actual shape of the car (again, because “fast.”) It is styling for styling sake, and I can’t stand it.

The R1S, by contrast, uses the upright rear end forms to reinforce the fact that it is first and foremost a utility vehicle. Styling is secondary to and supportive of function. Now if we can just work on that $70k price tag… :wink:

YES! It’s a really dumb trend.
VW Atlas

VW Atlas Cross Sport! (Look! We cut the back off! It’s sporty!)

Audi Q7

Audi Q8! (Look! Sporty!)

Piech GT, coming soon. Very pretty, but looks like a rebadged Alfa 8C. Weird that it has a giant hood over 1 motor and 2 motors squished in the back. Batteries are T-shaped in the middle. Must be able to load 4 sets of golf clubs in the front. This is exactly why I’m critical of these designs…

It took a long time for the automobile to not look like a horseless carriage. You’re not wrong, these things just take time to move culturally.

If you want your EV to look like a normal car, Volvo C40 has you covered. Interestingly, only available as an EV, but looks like a cool Rav4.

Desten claims 900-kW fast-charger adds 300 miles of range in under 5 minutes:

Some pretty bold claims.

I redid my electrical entry last year to add a heat pump and get ready for an electric furnace. I asked him about car charging. He said I could put a 240V charger in the garage with what I have, but anything more and I need a new entry (thousands of $$$), plus the chargers are proprietary and expensive. It’s like buying another car.

Coincidentally, we just priced out replacing my gas furnace and AC unit with a heat pump and my gas hot water heater with a heat pump water heater yesterday… expensive but now that we have a solar system with battery back up on our home we are converting all of our appliances to electric. Once those two go we will just have our gas range and a gas fireplace in the basement we never use.

7 questions with Ford F-150 Lightning engineer Linda Zhang:

Toyota seems to be entering a serious contender. Reportedly 310 miles of range for the 2 wheel drive version… and it has an option of a yoke steering wheel … not sure about that…

The design is not for me of course, but seems like a good set of specs from one of the largest brands in the world. I could see it selling well.

More details:




Cars need to transition to joysticks. Or at least cool yoke like this '86 Oldsmobile concept.

Now I know where they got the inspiration for the interior of Kylo Ren’s ship!

:relaxed:


MORE BUTTONS!

I feel like cars are going to be getting bigger just to make the screen bigger. It looks like I’d bang my knees in that Toyota!

Something struck me yesterday playing Gran Turismo. The Type S is the only EV that I makes me emotional. I’d have to say the Bolt comes closest of the rest (it almost looks like a hot hatch).

I saw that last night too. It’s more the size of something that I would like, but unfortunately has that Chinese paste-together aesthetic. It looks like Micra with a 911 front end.

  1. What’s a Type S? Tesla Model S?
  2. Emotional from a driving perspective?
  3. What version/platform of GT are you playing? I’ve spent literal man-months on that game in the past, what a luxury.

First one I’ve seen in the wild. What’s the verdict on this brand? 50% owned by Volvo, really clean surfaces, somewhat odd stance as the straight lines seem to make it look tall. Nice though and at least so far in SEA you don’t see yourself coming and going all the time.