rperez817

Based on the Carscoops article, Florida hasn't yet finalized the funding method. Specifically, whether it's a flat fee or based on vehicle miles traveled (VMT). Oregon currently has a VMT program called OReGO, but it's voluntary. OReGO helps preserve and improve Oregon roads. | MyOReGO

jpd80 made a very smart and correct observation about VW, Stellantis, and the Japanese automakers in the "Ford is scaling down VW partnership for EVs" thread. Going back to the chart from Reuters, VW's advantage in profitability among the non-Chinese automakers is likely to erode rapidly due to exactly what jpd80 mentioned: the company is "acting like zombie corporates, just going through the motions in Europe and China but have no idea how to compete with Tesla". GM and Ford may actually be in the strongest position among the legacy automakers listed because despite their lower gross profitability, they both have more coherent business strategies and timelines for an all-electric future compared to VW, Toyota, and Hyundai.

That's correct bzcat. Ford is taking advantage of that, with all of its manufacturing plants in Europe already sourcing 100% of their electricity needs from renewable sources as of January 2023. Ford's plants in Michigan will achieve the same goal by 2025 or earlier. Ford Announces New Solar Power Plant as Further Step Towards Achieving Ambitious Sustainability Targets | Ford Media Center

Very nice dmpaul! e-bikes are indeed considered hybrids, as "hybrid vehicles" can be defined as those that use 2 or more separate sources of power. For e-bikes the 2 sources are human muscle and electric motor/battery just as you mentioned. I also have an e-bike (Trek Dual Sport+ 2) for commuting and pleasure use. Elektrek said last year that e-bikes outsold BEV and PHEV automobiles combined in the U.S., and in Europe, e-bikes are on pace to outsell all types of automobiles combined (BEV, hybrids, and ICE) in the next few years. Electric bicycles now outselling electric cars and plug-in hybrids in the US (electrek.co)

The awards keep coming for F-150 Lightning! Edmunds rated it "Best of the Best" in its 2023 Top Rated vehicle awards. Edmunds Top Rated Best of the Best 2023 | Edmunds

Good points Oacjay98 and bzcat. I hope Ford's effort to make Lincoln a distinctive, 100% electric car brand by the end of the decade is successful, because any major misstep could mean a "brand burying exercise" at least in North America.

Yes and no. At a high level, Tesla's super efficient, scalable, and agile techniques for automobile manufacturing remain as revolutionary now as they were in 2020. No other automaker has anything close. However, the specific elements of those techniques are very different now versus 2020, because the update cadence of Tesla's manufacturing processes is something like an average of 20 changes per production line per week. EV market analyst Alex Vogt described Tesla's techniques and processes with this example.

All of the non-Chinese automakers shown in the chart raised vehicle prices in the same timeframe. What really separates Tesla from the rest is that they reduced production costs dramatically by applying super efficient, scalable, and agile manufacturing techniques that both the legacy automakers and the Chinese EV startups have been unable to match.

The thread title matches the title of the Hotcars article in the OP. The subtitle is "PHEVs are slowly becoming less relevant, as owners are almost exclusively using the gasoline engine and not touching the electrical power. The ICCT white paper that Hotcars references is titled "REAL WORLD USAGE OF PLUG-IN HYBRID VEHICLES IN THE UNITED STATES" and summarizes its conclusions as follows. Real-world electric drive share may be 26%–56% lower and real-world fuel consumption may be 42%–67% higher than assumed within EPA’s labeling program for light duty vehicles These results demonstrate that real-world electric drive share is lower than labeled, but more data collection could provide greater precision and clarity There are many potential policy tools available to increase the electric drive share of PHEVs For the last point, ICCT recommendations are.

This Reuters article says Tesla is now doing what Ford did in the early 20th century and Toyota did late in that century, "using production-cost advantages to fund price cuts". Analysis: Tesla uses its profits as a weapon in an EV price war | Reuters

Toyota Motor Corporation announced major changes in its executive structure today. Akio Toyoda will no longer be CEO as of April 1, 2023. Koji Sato will assume that position. TMC Announces Changes to Executive Structure | Corporate | Global Newsroom | Toyota Motor Corporation Official Global Website Looks like Toyoda San tacitly acknowledges that Toyota is in an existential crisis nowadays. He was quoted as saying "I need to take a step back in order to let young people enter the new chapter of what the future of mobility should be like".

GM SuperCruise is now second. Tesla Autopilot is now only midpack. CR Rates Active Driving Assistance Systems - Consumer Reports Ratings for top 4 systems.

Your daughter-in-law is correct in her impression of PHEV compared to BEV. silvrsvt provided some examples regarding GHG emissions for Escape PHEV versus Mustang Mach-E. Additionally, criteria pollutant generation is of course higher for Escape PHEV versus Mustang Mach-E. Regarding maintenance, Escape PHEV's maintenance requirements according to the owners manual are more extensive compared to that for Mustang Mach-E. Escape PHEV. Mustang Mach-E.

The dominant player for hybrid vehicles, Toyota, tends to score high across the board in CR's reliability survey. The dominant player for BEV, Tesla, tends to score low in the same survey. Tesla Model 3 is among the more reliable BEV models, though. Other Tesla products (Model Y, Model S, Model X), Ford Mustang Mach-E, and Chevrolet Bolt all rate below average.

Good info dmpaul. False or incomplete information from dealerships and salespeople regarding plug-in vehicles (BEV and PHEV) is a real problem. In 2021, Ipsos found that "When it comes to electric vehicles (EVs), auto dealerships around the U.S. are struggling due to unprepared salespeople, limited vehicles and inconsistent sales practices". To a certain extent, this applies to PHEV too. Ipsos Study Finds Dealers Not Ready for Influx of EV Curious Shoppers | Ipsos