Upscale car hopping
Mercedes added a ‘jumping’ mode to help you get out of sand and mud, but it turns out it’s pretty fly when pulling into your high end neighborhood too.
2015 Subaru Crosstrek maintenance schedule
This page has a great rundown of the 2015 Crosstrek maintenance schedule.
Remove Subaru Crosstrek window switches
If you have a 2015, 2016, 2017 Subaru Crosstrek and need to pull/replace your window switches – this is a good video on how to do it. You have to unscrew the door panel screw in the inside handle recess and pull the door panel off to access the 2 screws and the wire harness you’ll need to access to remove the trim piece and associated windows controls.
Hacking the original XBox and Tesla
This is a great video on the various issues that led to the hacking of the original XBox.
It turns out, a similar method by causing a processor fault has recently been used to hack Tesla cars recently.
Police chases in Brazil
This crazy motorcycle chase from São Paulo, Brazil looks like something out of a recent James Bond movie.
My favorite part is when the cop catches up to them and just laughs. Darn kids!
BMW e-ink paint job
BMW demoed a black and white e-ink paneled body at CES in 2022.
In 2023, they upped the game by creating a colored e-ink version:
Spinna face from way back
I ran into this guy a few times on the Last Thursday Alberta street festivals around 2010. Part DJ, part spinner, he went by the moniker of Spinnaface. He had a good schtick going:
Sadly, he wasn’t exactly the best DJ and I never really saw him again in later years. Still, it was an interesting time in Portland’s history of good natured keeping it weird before the city’s sharp decline in the 2020’s.
Who sells the most electric cars?
It’s no longer Tesla – it’s BYD from China. BYD sold 1.86 million cars in 2022 which surpassed Tesla’s 1.3 million cars. This wasn’t unexpected – back in the financial crisis of 2008’s, Berkshire Hathaway invested a hefty $230 million in BYD stock. How has that gone? Charlie Munger of Berkshire has said the investment was one of his best investments and is doing ridiculously better than Tesla. (paywall free) That outlay has ballooned more than 1,570%, and even after the most recent selldown of it’s holdings in late 2022/early 2023, Berkshire’s remaining stake is still worth around $4.5 billion. BYD is looking to expand it’s reach in Japan and Europe.
BYD has made batteries for commercial and industrial purposes for years – and now they have developed their Blade Battery that seems to handle puncture and temperature tests much better than current EV batteries that have a bad tendency to catch fire and explode in accidents. Tesla plans on using a blade battery in its car in upcoming models.
BYD hasn’t come to the US, but are (obviously) selling quite well in China and Europe. Middle class Chinese customers are flocking to the $14,500 and $29,000 price tag instead of Tesla and other EV makers. So what do these cars look like? Their more recent dual motor flagship model the BYD Han is quite nice. It sells for $42,000 in China and 70,000 Euros in the EU. The interiors and ride is about as nice as the fact it can do 0-60 in 3.9 seconds.
Some of the other offerings from BYD, and a whole host of other makers if you’re curious:
Apple Car – sometime between 2024-2028. Maybe.
Over the last couple of years, there are different estimates of when the Apple Car (Project Titan) might finally make it to market. The estimates have ranged from 2024 to 2028. Now the latest report predicts a debut in 2026 with a custom Apple Silicon chip, no self-driving, and a price tag under $100,000 (after previously considering pricing it above $120,000).
Back in 2017 after several years of work, it appeared Apple had given up on producing a physical vehicle and was ready to focus on autonomous vehicle software.
However, at the end of 2020, Apple pivoted back to working on producing an actual car powered by its own software. You can read more about the current rumors here.
Links:
Apple Car 1 concept ideas
The oft hinted Apple Car seems to have had some rocky development over the years with various starts/stops. The estimate is Apple’s next generation EV is projected to be revealed in 2024 with production starting 2025 – 2028.
At least some folks are coming up with designs for the automobile.
