Battery based electric vehicles of today and tomorrow.

[California]

Heat was something you got in summer. Winters? You just bundled up and toughed it out! It was brutal, and we loved it!!!

Did you have to send one of the kids under the dashboard as the seasons changed, to tighten all the loose screw connections for wipers, headlights etc? I think those were the basis for one of the first NHTSA recall campaigns. I had continual trouble with that, as the wires and screw-sockets were well scorched and charred when I bought the VW van. Wipers slow and a burning smell? Pull over and tighten the connector!

 

[California]

Unfortunately, in the bus, you sit over the front wheels. We used to joke that you're there before the accident.

Don't worry an early VW will always go off the road ass-end first.

But traffic accident? Good luck.

I got the van up on two wheels once, trying to get a run at a steep grade that I had to start after a right turn. Steering wide into the oncoming lane brought it back down. Barely. A kid hitchhiker we had in back (this was in Yosemite) said that's enough, I'll get out right here and wait for the next ride.

 

[goeduck]

Were you VW Van (station wagon) guys considered hippies?

My sister and her husband have a Mercedes van she calls a hippie van. I tell her the Mercedes is not qualified.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I have read VW now sells a drop in EV motor for the Bugs.

 

[California]

Were you VW Van (station wagon) guys considered hippies?

Who, me? My windowless commercial-version van had been for a dry cleaner's delivery or something. Bone simple. It looked like this.

An older authority-type guy said that's not a Love Bug! I replied wanna bet?

Showed him that a single bed mattress filled the back.

 

[Frankenkubota]

i got to wear i could pull the engine on a pre super beatle in 15 minutes....maybe less........ a few wires and linkages, 4 bolts, an empty tire (no wheel) under the engin and pull the exhaust.

gettin it back in was almost as easy.

 

[MossRoad]

Don't worry an early VW will always go off the road ass-end first.

But traffic accident? Good luck.

I got the van up on two wheels once, trying to get a run at a steep grade that I had to start after a right turn. Steering wide into the oncoming lane brought it back down. Barely. A kid hitchhiker we had in back (this was in Yosemite) said that's enough, I'll get out right here and wait for the next ride.

Funny you mention that. My mom put one of ours up on two wheels on a curve along the river. Not sure how she saved it, but we slammed down and then went off the road right between the sawed off telephone poles they had planted along the curve. Stopped in a parking lot in the park on the other side of the poles. Looked around, everyone was OK, and off we went again. YIKES!

Another time I was sitting in grade school during art class. My mom was the teacher. A kid comes bursting in the door and screams "MRS. M FLIPPED HER CAR! MRS. M FLIPPED HER CAR!" He then looks at my mom, Mrs. M, and changes his story to "MRS. K FLIPPED HER CAR! MRS. K FLIPPED HER CAR!" and he runs out.

My mom, Mrs. M, and another woman that lived in the neighborhood, Mrs. K, drove matching blue VW buses!
The only way you could tell them apart was my mom had a smiley face on her spare tire cover and Mrs. K had a Notre Dame Fighting Irish Leprechaun on hers.

So, the entire school runs out and sees Mrs. K's VW on its side on the curve on the hill behind the school. She was OK. The janitor and a bunch of 8th grade boys flipped it back onto it's wheels.

 

[MossRoad]

To this day I fondly remember taking long family drives in our VW van. I was the smallest, so they'd spread out a quilt in the back over the engine compartment and I'd curl up and fall asleep to the warmth and drone of the engine beneath me.

I also remember we'd drive from here to DC every year to visit my aunt and uncle and cousin. In the mountains of Virginia we'd be going up hill and slowing down. All 7 of us would start rocking forward and backwards shouting "I think I can! I think I can! I think I can!" We'd eventually make it to the top of the hill and scream WHEEEEEeee! as my dad would pick up speed for the downhill side. Great times!

 

[Grumpycat]

The 12-Best SUVs Under $40,000 - New Subaru Outback Now Scores Number 2 | Torque News

I am impressed with our used 2010 Forester base model but fancy it is not. The Outback promoted here with trim similar to a Tesla Model Y AWD with cash rebate is too close in price to go gas again. Apples to apples EVs prices are getting to parity with ICE options.

Hopefully the $25K Tesla will be visible in 2023. It should have the LFP battery that I prefer. I like BDY because they have the Blade LFP battery.

The Model Y is not a suitable substitute for an Outback until Tesla Kalifornia Metrosexual designers replace the 255/45-19 tires with something that doesn't crush the rims hitting potholes. They see Mercedes-Benz using those tires and think they can too. This is my ML320 255/45-19 tire on I-65:

Replaced the 2009 ML320 with a 2016 Subaru Outback. Much happier.

Marketing likes you. Likes how you can be fixated on buzzwords which have little meaning. You will throw your money at China for the latest buzzword battery technology. GM got bit buying promises from LG. Tesla battery technology disappoints media pundits because Tesla doesn't double battery range, halve battery price, and half Supercharger charge times every year. But Tesla has an enviable record in battery wear life.

 

[MossRoad]

The Model Y is not a suitable substitute for an Outback until Tesla Kalifornia Metrosexual designers replace the 255/45-19 tires with something that doesn't crush the rims hitting potholes. They see Mercedes-Benz using those tires and think they can too. This is my ML320 255/45-19 tire on I-65:

View attachment 714849

Replaced the 2009 ML320 with a 2016 Subaru Outback. Much happier.

Marketing likes you. Likes how you can be fixated on buzzwords which have little meaning. You will throw your money at China for the latest buzzword battery technology. GM got bit buying promises from LG. Tesla battery technology disappoints media pundits because Tesla doesn't double battery range, halve battery price, and half Supercharger charge times every year. But Tesla has an enviable record in battery wear life.

You do know that the LG is a Korean company, not Chinese?

The batteries that Chevy uses in the Bolt were made by LG in Korea, not China, until mid 2019, when production moved to Holland, Michigan, not China.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

The Model Y is not a suitable substitute for an Outback until Tesla Kalifornia Metrosexual designers replace the 255/45-19 tires with something that doesn't crush the rims hitting potholes. They see Mercedes-Benz using those tires and think they can too. This is my ML320 255/45-19 tire on I-65:

View attachment 714849

Replaced the 2009 ML320 with a 2016 Subaru Outback. Much happier.

Marketing likes you. Likes how you can be fixated on buzzwords which have little meaning. You will throw your money at China for the latest buzzword battery technology. GM got bit buying promises from LG. Tesla battery technology disappoints media pundits because Tesla doesn't double battery range, halve battery price, and half Supercharger charge times every year. But Tesla has an enviable record in battery wear life.

I replaced the stock wheels on my son's 2002 ram 1500 from 17 to 20 inch rims and it wasn't long till he had a cracked wheel. The greater the separation between the pavement and the metal is a plus in my view.

I do understand the logic for low profiles on EVs to reduce rolling resistance for the sake of battery range.

Today Tesla is ahead in all the ways that I can see. Sadly the price is greater but as they say quality only cost once but it is up front.

 

[sd455dan]

You do know that the LG is a Korean company, not Chinese?

The batteries that Chevy uses in the Bolt were made by LG in Korea, not China, until mid 2019, when production moved to Holland, Michigan, not China.

Yes , but some of the Hyundai Kona batteries now under battery replacement recall were made in LG's Nanjing China factory.

 

[Grumpycat]

You do know that the LG is a Korean company, not Chinese?

For all I care LG could be a Mississippi Corporation.

The batteries that Chevy uses in the Bolt were made by LG in Korea, not China, until mid 2019, when production moved to Holland, Michigan, not China.

My point is that rather than due diligence themselves, GM bought promises from others.

 

[Williy]

We purchased our 1967 VW bug in Germany
for $1375.00 including shipping to the states.
Another couple went with us to the mountains
in Italy as his wife never seen snow. Looking
for a hotel drove up to the hotel they got out
I drove around this cement flower bed over a
hundred feet long and the snow was over 4
feet deep as I was going around this big flower
bed had to back up several times bug would not
go forward so climbed out of the car sank in the
snow to over my waist had to crawl back into the
bug backed up turned the wheel went around and
parked and got in the hotel looked out the big bay
window seen this alfa romeo sunk up to half the
windows with 2 heads sticking out looking at my
tracks!
In the mountains Rocco Rosso Italy they never
plow the roads when any one gets stuck there are
always a lot of people on the roads and they push
the stuck cars, lots of skiers up there in the winder.

willy

 

[3930dave]

i got to wear i could pull the engine on a pre super beatle in 15 minutes....maybe less........ a few wires and linkages, 4 bolts, an empty tire (no wheel) under the engin and pull the exhaust.

gettin it back in was almost as easy.

Inexpensive to buy. Survives bad roads. Easy and inexpensive to fix....

Anybody that designed like that today would get "disappeared" PDQ.....

Rgds, D.

 

[Jstpssng]

Am I the only one who remembers the ad showing that Beetles will float?

 

[Williy]

I have seen many VW bugs float! You can cross small
streams if the water is very slow as with swift water you
better prepare for a ride.

willy

 

[Jstpssng]

This is the commercial I remember.

 

[California]

This is the commercial I remember.

Try that with a Tesla!

 

[goeduck]

I also remember we'd drive from here to DC every year to visit my aunt and uncle and cousin. In the mountains of Virginia we'd be going up hill and slowing down. All 7 of us would start rocking forward and backwards shouting "I think I can! I think I can! I think I can!" We'd eventually make it to the top of the hill and scream WHEEEEEeee! as my dad would pick up speed for the downhill side. Great times!

I think we were in the car behind you saying "I think they will pull over and let us pass! I think they will!"