Flying68

There are a lot of valid reasons to eliminate dams, which were constructed a long time ago on the premise of flood control and irrigation when historical water flows and rainfall were much higher compared to the historical record of the southwest. Those reasons no longer exist, and the existence of many of those dams is killing the downstream ecosystems because there isn't enough water flow anymore. Hydro power was a byproduct.

For sedans and CUV / SUV I can see it making a significant difference. With a pickup, I don't think there is all that much to be gained or lost, it is just packaging. The optimization would be in the manufacturing cost, not necessarily the function or capability. As a traditional truck has a ladder frame, the battery pack placement is dictated by fitting within the existing frame rails. An optimized design would push out the frame rails wider in the center and use the battery pack structure to provide the torsional stiffness, leading to a bit less weight, however the function of the pickup is not going to be altered that much. I would venture to say that the TE1 platform based Lighting will still look like an F-150.

Tooling is already paid for and amortized out on the older cab. Switching to a newer cab would mean new tooling and redesign as the 650/750 aren't dimensionally the same as a 450/550/600.

Those are the advanced process nodes, i.e. graphics processors and cpu's. TSMC scaled up considerably their advanced fab capability during the crypto boom and are now left with excess capacity on those fabs as demand cratered. Automotive chips are still built on older fabs. It would actually benefit the auto industry to consolidate their IC's to newer, more modern chips.

More like a BMW i3. The gas motor would be optimized to run a generator and isn't connected at all to the wheels. The current Volt is a standard PHEV with a direct mechanical linkage. Even the gen 1 volt had a clutch pack that could lock up to provide wheel torque in high speed driving. A range extender though can't do anything more than charge the battery and usually at a level of charge below what the drive motor power draw is.

Just an FYI for everyone, tint below the AS1 line on a windshield (or 4 to 6" below the top depending on the State) is illegal in every state.

$TSLA is still trading at close to a 40x EPS multiple compared to ~20 for Toyota and ~10 for GM and Ford. Much of their higher multiple had been predicated on their near monopoly in EV's and the promise of fully autonomous vehicles. As investors have not only seen increased competition and shrinking market share but also have come to realize that FSD will not ever be more than level 2 driver assistance for the foreseeable future, they have been driving the price down. Once the share price is around 25x EPS, it will be a buy. Elmo's lack of focus on operating Tesla is not helping either. Tesla needs a full time CEO, not one running 2 other companies.

From the rear shot you can see the u-bolts on the axle where the spring perches would be. I don't know of any coil spring design that would use those.

Just looked up what mine was, it had a paint code of DM for Peacock Blue and Wimbledon White. Interestingly enough, peacock blue cross references to winter park turquoise and pagoda green for Ford. So many blueish colors look identical to me.

The internet changed things in favor of consumers. Dealers who don't compete on price and service should rightfully die. If a small dealer in a small market wants to survive they don't necessarily have to be the lowest price, but they need to be priced where it isn't cheaper to go elsewhere, i.e. don't make it cheaper for your customer to fly somewhere to buy than to buy from you. In the old days, dealers could charge whatever they wanted because it was harder for the consumer to get pricing and inventory data, now not so much. I firmly believe orders should be 1st come, 1st serve no matter who you ordered from. In some ways this may sting big dealers (with large overhead costs) harder than little ones.

My 68 is the that same color with the white cab top, it wasn't nearly in as good of condition though. It is now sitting with my dad's red 68, both collecting dust.

It was more the fact that Old GM had the franchise agreements. New GM was created out of the bankruptcy and was free then to negotiate new agreements or not with the dealers. It was more a function of the bankruptcy law than anything.

The 6.2 in my dad's '19 F250 did just fine pulling an 8000lb camper up and over Berthoud Pass this summer. Gas mileage wasn't great ~8 mpg roundtrip, but I wasn't lacking power. I wasn't blowing past people like some of the diesels do, but was able to maintain the speed limit, which is fast enough going up and down the pass. Interstate I kept it at 75 on the flatlands. I would have been curious to see if the 10 speed would have improved things vs the 6 that it had.

2 thoughts here. 1st you would need to make sure a 17" rim will clear the front brake calipers. Even if the steel spare is 17" doesn't necessarily imply a 17" aluminum wheel will. 2nd thought is if you do go down on the rim size, a 265/70R17 is identical in tire diameter to a 265/65R18. Tirerack has 132 tires listed at 265/70R17, with 77 of those being AT and 44 of those being 3PMSF rated.

The capless filler port is pretty convenient, and it prevents vandalism by using a double flapper valve (second one doesn't open unless the first one is completely open), which is why you have to use the special filler nozzle that is included if you need to fill with a gas can.

How would one classify a vehicle that is 4 doors, rwd, 155 to 165 in long, 103.5 in wheelbase, 67 in wide, and 70.9 in tall, and sits on 19 in rims with low profile tires?

He needs to check with the dealer to confirm his is actually affected. The recall is specific to build dates through July 9th. If his was built after that date it should be good to go. He can run his VIN through the NHTSA recall website and see if it applies. Either his truck was built much earlier than the delivery (more than a couple months), or the dealer is doing something wrong (not verifying it applies to that unit or hoping he will cancel so they can sell at a markup).

If you think that is shocking just wait until you see how much local schools spend on gasoline and diesel to power those school busses. A gallon of gasoline equals 33.7 kW-hrs, according to the EPA's conversion factor. A gallon of diesel becomes about 37.1 kW-hrs. So say the industrial electricity rate is $0.12/kwh you get electricity that equals $4.04 / gallon gasoline or $4.45 / gallon diesel, but EV powertrains are about 90% efficient vs 30% for gas or diesel so your net electrical cost is 1/3 that of gas or diesel.

There are whole swaths of the country where there is limited cell coverage and no FM radio stations. AM radio travels a lot further than FM and is sometimes possible to get reception a couple hundred miles away. There can't be that much cost savings in dumping AM radio. I can already see GM putting out commercials saying they can still get AM in their truck but you can't in your Ford, so you missed out on the latest crop report, market report, or weather alert and now your livelihood is in danger because you couldn't get reception on the only local radio station.

He wasn't referring to the size of the receiver. He was specifically referring to the configuration of the chain hoops and the hitch to frame connection which is updated for 2023.

What do you mean "LONG ago?" I believe he was specifically referring to the chain hoops, which now have a bump out to make it easier to connect to and also updated the connection to the frame.

First of all the Lightning in Hoovies video is a standard range, so it isn't going to have all that much range to begin with. 2nd point is towing anything cuts your range in half, just look at all the fuel mileage testing on gas pickups. The only difference between BEV and gas is the speed of the fill-up. Larger heavy duty trucks don't suffer as much as the engines tend to not be very efficient at lighter loads because they are optimized for under load conditions. So they don't suffer as much of a drop in fuel efficiency when towing. The standard range Lightning would be like having an gas F-150 with only a 13 gallon tank.

Um, isn't that what I said??? Fixed duty cycle vehicles with known energy demands should be easily doable now (even accounting for a 30 to 40% range loss in cold temperatures). It will be more problematic for vehicles that don't have fixed duty cycles, or those whose duty cycles exceed what current battery technology can reasonably deliver. Boom trucks, tree trimmers, power line trucks, where their isn't a fixed route and where there is often towed equipment or constant operation of external equipment are where you will run into issues. Class 2B, and class 3 to 5 vehicles that are intended to tow long distance (rv's, hot shots, farm and ranch) will be much further out.

Moving to BEV for Class 1 (Ranger, Canyorado, Tacoma, etc..) and even 2A (F-150, Sierrado 1500, Ram 1500, Tundra) should be doable. Moving to BEV for commercial delivery vehicles / box trucks and vans should also be doable (lower range requirements, fixed duty cycle). Moving to BEV for class 2B, Class 3, and higher trucks that do a lot of towing, high load demand work, or run PTO equipment will be more problematic because the energy density is not there for batteries yet and may not be for another 10 years.

Disappointed that they aren't offering a hybrid version. A 7.3 or 6.8 mated to an electric motor would provided diesel like torque with the benefits of gas, plus add the killer feature of the powerboost onboard power system, which would be awesome for campers and smaller rv's when boondocking. Put in a large enough battery that would provide the needed capacity to pull up the mountains and you have a great daily driver that would easily handle the rigors of towing a 10k lb trailer.