There are plenty of misconceptions running around about Chinese car quality. But with many ancient artifacts that survived thousands of years buried in the elements, it’s no wonder the Chinese can also deliver the level of quality displayed at the 2019 Shanghai auto show. Is China getting closer to the US market in terms of quality with new, smarter EV startups?
Electric scooters are the latest “new mobility” tech to disrupt the transportation sector. Chances are you’ve seen someone passing by on one of these small-but-nimble two-wheelers in a city near you. Following the explosive growth of bike-sharing and ride-hailing, scooters reached 38.5 million U.S. trips in 2018.
Tesla has requested an exemption from the 25% tariff that applies to the Full Self Driving (FSD) computer that is the heart and soul of its self-driving technology. “Not by the hair on our chinny, chin, chin,” said the Trump maladministration.
Xpeng invited us to come to the Auto Shanghai show to see how well its electric G3 was doing in China. I previously visited its San Jose USA headquarters, where part of its autonomous driving research department develops the G3 and now P7 experience. That’s where I met Xpeng’s founder and owner, Mr. He Xiapeng. I was surprised to discover the company’s wise strategy and took it as a sign of changing times for mobility startups.
Of the three e-bicycles I have been traveling on, the GenZe offers the most in terms of exercise. Even on the full electric assist, I find myself pumping and circulating my blood more than with the others. I love all of them for their electric assist, but one of the reasons I prefer to bicycle is for exercise. I was getting too complacent and lacking that exercise, so I felt that along with preventing emissions, I could save my body and brain from more rapid degeneration.
BYD unveiled the electric Song Pro, electric Song Pro MAX, E1, E2, S2, and E-SEED GT hybrid concept at the 2019 Shanghai Auto Show.
Sometimes, in order to find the truth that we did not find from facts, statistics, or specifications, we need to step aside and look at a topic in a different way and from a different angle. That’s what this love letter is about – it’s about experiencing a new perspective.
It’s time for another monthly checkup on US auto sales. Surprisingly, more than a million people are still buying the 21st century equivalent of horses every month. I think the most interesting takeaway, though, is quickly running through the companies and car divisions that saw their sales drop last month (compared to the same month in 2018) and then the companies and car divisions that saw their sales rise.
If Carbon Engineering is making e-diesel, driving the same distance in a freight truck would cost at least 6.5 times as much and have 16 times the CO2 emissions as just using electricity in a Tesla Semi.
This is the story of a 1200 mile journey taken in what’s basically the wrong car for the job. I decided to test the 2018 LEAF to the limits, in several different ways. Rapid charging repeatedly, going up one of the steepest interstate highway climbs in the US, some off-highway driving, and long journeys into places with no charging stations were just a few of the things I decided to take on. I thought that after more than a year with the car and almost 50,000 miles on the odometer I knew what the LEAF was made of, but it turned out that I still had more to learn.
