Tag: cars

I Ditched Gas

Read to the end for a post about pasta shenanigans. I’ve written a bunch about electric vehicles (EVs) here on TimeMachiner. They’ve intrigued me ever since watching the film Who Killed The Electric Car? which chronicled the efforts of GM to bring an EV to market… to them take back every lease and crush them all. That movie took place in 2006 and boy have things changed. Here in 2024 it’s not like EVs are at a tipping point… yet. People love their trucks and vehicles of choice here in America. It’s no secret we’re a car-focused country and a…

Mercedes + Buc-ee’s = EV Love

Mercedes is getting serious with electric cars and, even more important for those on road trips, public charging where it’s needed. Late last year the automaker opened a flagship charging location in Georgia. To say it’s gorgeous is an understatement. But now it plans to expand these ‘premium charging hubs’ to one of my favorite chains: Buc-ee’s. Peter Johnson at Electrek has more. Buc-ee’s operates the “world’s largest convenience store,” that’s 74,000 square feet (because everything is bigger from Texas). In comparison, the average convenience store in the US is about 2,600 square feet. Where better than to build premium EV charging…

The NACS Have It

More dominoes have fallen in the auto industry’s switch to NACS, the Tesla plug for EVs. Toyota, who has basically zero EVs, has joined the club in adopting the North American Charging Standard in 2025. Of course this means future Toyota cars will also get access to the supercharger network too. Umar Shakir at The Verge has more. One of Toyota’s first vehicles to include a NACS connector is a future three-row SUV it is planning for 2025, which will be assembled at the automaker’s plant in Kentucky. Toyota is currently light on EV options compared to most other automakers…

This Flying Car is Electrical

The year is 2023 and we still don’t have flying cars. We likely never will and based on how many people drive, I am not optimistic it’s really a good idea. Heck, we’ve been here before. But that won’t stop companies from trying. As Natalie Neysa Alund reports at USA Today, yet another aspiring company looks to make this a reality. This week, Alef Aeronautics revealed its flying car “Model A” was granted legal permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to test run the vehicle on the road and in the sky − a move needed before it can be released to…

Rivian Joins the Plug Club

Last week I wondered how other EV manufacturers would fare in the sudden rapid adoption of Tesla’s “NACS” charger plug: “Only time will tell but the dominoes are falling.” https://timemachiner.io/2023/06/13/teslas-supercharger-superpowers/ Now today Rivian has announced they’ll switch from CCS to NACS beginning next year. This adds a third non-Tesla manufacturer to the list of companies outright changing the types of plugs on their cars. Jonathan M. Gitlin at Ars Technica has more. [T]oday Rivian revealed that it, too, is switching from CCS to NACS, Tesla’s competing standard, in 2024. Unlike the two automakers that preceded it, Rivian did not have…

Tesla’s Supercharger Superpowers

For all the ways in which Tesla’s CEO is a buffoon, there’s a prior stroke of genius reverberating today. In its attempts to be competitive in the EV space, Tesla built out its supercharger network and has used its ease as a major selling point. It has worked. For years, it’s been Tesla’s charging port (NACS) vs CCS plugs. Now though Tesla is about to become the de facto standard for all public charging in the US. Aarian Marshall at Wired has more Yesterday, it was General Motors CEO Mary Barra’s turn to make a Twitter Spaces appearance. (Barra had…

People Don’t Want Car Subscriptions

Investors demand automakers adopt in-car connected features for recurring revenue, but a survey by AutoPacific shows car buyers aren’t interested. Of 11 features, only 30% want to pay for a $15/month data plan for their car’s Internet access. Built-in feature subscriptions are a stupid idea that needs to stop.

Stamping Out Emissions

Slowly but surely, electric vehicles (EVs) are breaking through into the mainstream. As much as I hate to give credit to Lord Manchild, his company has been a difference-maker in this area. Now we’re seeing the government get involved here in the US. The United States Postal Service (USPS) is making strides toward electrifying its fleet of delivery vehicles, and it’s turning to Oshkosh and Ford to help make it happen. It announced plans to purchase over 100,000 electric delivery vehicles over the next decade. Mitchell Clark at The Verge has more. In an announcement post on Tuesday, the agency said it…

More Cars With More Subscriptions

I wish this wasn’t the first time I had to talk about cars with subscriptions to unlock technology already built into your car, but here we are. In the spotlight is once again BMW which is now forcing subscriptions to unlock the stuff in the (very expensive) car you already bought. Brad Anderson at Car Scoops has more. The marque has revealed that five vehicle features are now available through its subscription service, consisting of Remote Engine Start, Drive Recorder, Traffic Camera, Driving Assistance Plus with Stop&Go, and Parking Assistant Professional. Most of these features are available through either a 1-month,…

California Platin’

It only took fifteen years for e-ink to find another use besides the driving technology behind the Kindle and other eBook readers. A bill was signed into law recently in California allowing this tech to do something that will make life easier for everyone: be a license plate. Jonathan Gitlin at Ars Technica has more. Currently, there’s just a single approved digital license plate manufacturer, Reviver. The company’s product, called the RPlate, uses a monochromatic e-ink screen protected by a lens or cover that Reviver says is “six times stronger than glass.” The plate also includes Bluetooth low energy and…

NJ Slows Car Subscription Ambitions

A subscription for features in your car is one of the worst “you don’t really own it” ideas of the modern subscription-heavy world we live in. I’ve previously written about how horrible of an idea this is. Now, New Jersey is doing something about it. Jonathan Gitlin at Ars Technica has more. In late September, Assemblymen Paul Moriarty and Joe Danielsen introduced a bill that would prohibit car makers or dealers from offering subscriptions in New Jersey for any feature that uses hardware already installed on the vehicle at the time of purchase unless that feature would represent an ongoing…

Nissan Phases out Leaf EV

The Nissan Leaf was one of the first electric cars to sell en masse. The automaker made a big splash in 2011 with a car that was somewhat affordable, but also had decent styling. Now, the Nissan Leaf is no more. The company has announced they will be phasing out the car by 2025. Nathan Bomey at Axios has the story. After its debut in 2011, the Leaf quickly became the best-selling EV in the world. But it soon ceded the throne to Tesla, and never came close to achieving the vision laid out by former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn:…

NC Bill Demands Free Gas

I’m a big fan of electric vehicles (EVs). I used to talk about them extensively in my previous days as a podcaster. With the past decade ushering in actual EVs people can buy, some attention has been put on infrastructure. Some geniuses in North Carolina don’t like the idea of public charging. Now they are looking to stop those pesky chargers in their tracks. Nico Demattia at The Drive has more. Republican North Carolina State Representative Ben Moss has introduced a new bill, H.B. 1049, that would ban free public electric vehicle chargers, unless free gas and diesel pump alternatives…

This Sucker’s Electrical

It’s impossible to write TimeMachiner and not talk about the reveal of the “New Delorean”. For a few months the Delorean Motor Company (no relation to the original DMC) has been teasing something new. A couple of silhouettes were put onto their homepage and that was it. Some rumors were floating around on whether it would be stainless steel, how powerful it would be, and what it would price at. Now we have our answers. This new “delorean” is dubbed the Alpha5. It’s a fully-electric car sporting a 100kWh battery pack, a 2.99 second 0-60 and a $175,000 price. From…

Badass F-100

Ford’s F-100 pickup truck is pretty iconic. The design was one that was around for a long time. It was popular and has a retro-cool look to it that only few vehicles can achieve. Now, Ford is doing something awesome: putting a Mach-E motor into it. Umar Shakir at The Verge tells us more. Ford Performance, the automaker’s motorsports division, designed and commissioned the F-100 Eluminator and was built by MLe Racecars in Washington. And like many of Ford Performance’s other one-off projects, this F-100 won’t be available for purchase. It exists solely as an auto show car that displays…

GM’s Turn To Be Stupid

Yet again we are seeing a car company look to the world of recurring revenue to help boost sales. A GM subscription looks to be on the horizon. I hope like other attempts at a car subscription, it dies in a very large fire. Rob Stumpf at The Drive has more. General Motors expects consumers to fork over as much as $135 per month on top of their car note in the coming years just to pay for subscription features. Previously, General Motors’ Senior Vice President of innovation and growth, Alan Wexler, said that the company’s research indicated that consumers…

Stupid Summon

For all the whiz-bang features Tesla keeps pumping into its cars via software updates, there are many that do not live up to the hype. Full self driving with AutoPilot has been shown to still be in its infancy regardless of what Elon Musk promises. Another feature that is quite rough around the edges is the Smart Summon feature. This is supposed to summon your car to you automatically without anyone driving. The idea is if you want to get into your car but not walk to it, your car will come to you. Well, what everyone failed to realize…

Driverless Car Runs From Cops

You know you truly live in the future when robots are having encounters with police. Recently a Cruise driverless car was stopped by San Francisco police during the evening. Cue lots of walking around, trying to figure out what to do, and… the car driving off for a short distance to then stop again. Surely that’s something a driver IN the car would’ve been arrested for! Alexander Stoklosa at Motor Trend has more. The Cruise vehicle, which is based on a Chevrolet Bolt electric hatchback, initially stops for the officers attempting the traffic stop. Amusingly, not long after one of…

But Tesla Doesn’t Need a PR Dept

Tesla has been applauded for many things. They were the first to make a legit EV that is ‘sexy’. They had the foresight to know people wanted a reliable charging infrastructure and built one. Elon Musk has become a Founder / CEO visionary-type that uses charisma to get things done. But Tesla also has a lot going against it. Racism seems to be one of those. Lawrence Hodge reports on this at Jalopnik Three workers and their accounts are detailed in a lawsuit that was filed February 9 in the California Superior Court in Alameda. With over 4,000 Black workers…

Electric Buzz

After a very public and very humiliating experience with trying to get around car emission requirements, Volkswagen promised to do better. They also promised to go all-in on building electric vehicles. The ID4 was released with a nice look to it and now VW has dipped into the nostalgia well with the ID Buzz, an electric reimagining of the classic VW Bus. While the car only releases in Europe this year and won’t come to America for another 2 to 3 years, it is worth noting this is a production car and IS coming. The Buzz looks really cool with…

Reinventing the Wheel

I always say that we’re living in the future, we just haven’t realized it yet. More proof comes out of this report by Steve DaSilva over at Jalopnik. It recounts  Jón Schone’s attempts to 3D print a Mercedes wheel that would actually work on his car. He started it back in 2020 and only recently got it to function somewhat. Not only did the wheel support the weight of the Mercedes and the pressure of an inflated tire, it held up to driving, turning, and stopping. It may not quiteclear the Mercedes’ front calipers, judging by all the scraping sounds, but…

Hertz So Good

Katie Wedell and Laura Layden writing for USA Today with a bonkers story on how renting a car could literally turn you into a criminal. She’s [Paula Murray] now one of 230 plaintiffs suing Hertz for false arrest and in some cases prosecution. The lawyers for this cohort say they know there are more cases out there – warrants for arrest that people who rented from Hertz years ago don’t even know exist, like ticking time bombs waiting to explode their lives at any moment. USA Today This entire thing sounds like something out of a low-budget comedy, but it…

Standing Still

Toyota has been a long-popular car manufacturer. However, lately, they’re in the news for the wrong reasons. The car company announced that they have once again had to halt production of their cars due to a supplier getting hacked. Jonathan Gitlin at ArsTechnica has more. Toyota is becoming quite the frequent target for hackers. It was compromised at least three times in 2019, including a malware attack in Australia, a breach of 3.1 million customers’ data in Japan (and possibly Thailand and Vietnam), and a scam that cost a subsidiary $37 million. ArsTechnica Last year they were hacked through a…

Burning Rubber

It’s no secret that buying a car right now is a complete nightmare. You have dealerships marking up cars by $5, $10, $15k because of the increased demand. On the used side, there’s never been a better time to sell your car. Even Carvana is buying cars from people for more than their original sticker price. If you’re in the market for a VW or Porche, get ready to add another headache to your list because this news by Jonathan Franklin over on NPR hits hard. A ship carrying cars from Germany to the United States caught fire in the…

Fifty And Charge

In a further push to get electric vehicles into more driveways comes a plan by the US government to set up charging stations at set intervals. The first iteration of predictable stops to charge a car is set to build chargers every 50 miles along interstate highways. When those stations are built, they must contain a minimum of four chargers and each with the capacity to provide 150 kW. Tim De Chant at ArsTechnica has more. Once states have completed the Interstate charging network, they’ll be able to apply for grants to fill in gaps elsewhere. The Joint Office of…

Not Quite a Flying DeLorean

We’re seven years past 2015 and we still don’t have flying cars. It’s been predicted for decades. One company, Klein Vision, out of Slovakia has been building a car that literally transforms into a small aircraft in under 2-minutes. The “AirCar” was awarded an official Certificate of Airworthiness by the Slovak Transport Authority after completing 70 hours of “rigorous flight testing,” according to Klein Vision, the company behind the “dual-mode car-aircraft vehicle.” The test flights — which included more than 200 takeoffs and landings — were compatible with European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) standards.  Klein Vision The videos they’ve posted of…

Go, Ford Lightning

We seem to be reaching an inflection point for car manufacturers’ embracing of electric vehicles. Whether it’s for financial reasons, a response to customer’s embracing of Tesla, or other reasons we don’t exactly know, it’s great to see nearly every company make public statements. They are not designing prototype or “compliance” cars for California. They’re making full-fledged EVs for everyone. Personally, I believe a car needs to look normal. It should be electric as an “extra” in order to appeal to people. Nobody wants a Jetsons car. With the F150 Lightning, Ford is ready to make waves. Ford says its…

Blinding Lights

Have you noticed lately that every single time you’re driving at night, you can’t see behind you? No it’s not from fog or heavy rain or even someone moving your mirrors out of alignment. I’m talking about cars with headlights so bright they nearly burn your retinas out of your skull. Finally, something is about to be done with that. Peter Holderith writing for The Drive explains that a provision buried in the recently-passed infrastructure bill is a provision to address the scourge of blinding headlights The text that enables this change is relatively straightforward. Under section 24212 of the bill, which…

Tesla Thinks Their Customers Are Stupid

People have praised Tesla’s buying experience for years. It’s unconventional and one the company isn’t even legally allowed to offer in every state. No dealerships, no haggling, no nonsense. You configure your car online and it’s ready for delivery or pickup when it’s ready. Unfortunately the dreaded supply chain / chip shortage has caused Tesla to be short some key parts for their cars. But, they forgot to tell their customers. In some cases, there are only holes where the USB ports are supposed to be. That’s purportedly what’s been happening to some Tesla owners who got their cars delivered in November, and…