Interesting news from AML. Can I get my Aston serviced at Lucid?

https://media.astonmartin.com/aston-martin-to-create-industry-leading-ultra-luxury-high-performance-electric-vehicles/

St. Alban may actually start manufacturing Lagonda's? One can only hope.

 

This is great news imo. Lucid has some awesome technology in their motor efficiency, battery and infotainment stack. They are the mfg of reference for Formula E as well. I seriously considered replacing my Rapide S for a Lucid Air.

​​​​​​In the end, couldn't leave the Rapide S behind and decided to wait for the Lucid Gravity SUV. If AML underpins a larger 1000HP DBX like SUV on the Gravity, it'll be quite a sight
​

 

an automobile manufacturer\er with financial difficulties teams with another automobile manufacturer with financial difficulties. impetus for cooperation, "misery loves company", i guess. SMH.

AMGDF initial share price on 1/27/19: $38.07
AMGDF highest share price on 2/17/19: $38.24
AMGDF closing share price: $4.41

estimated production for 2023 is 7,000 units

LCID initial share price on 9/13/20: $9.89
LCID highest share price 11/14/21: $55.21
LCID closing share price 6/27/23: $6.10

estimated production for 2023 is 10,000 units

 

Or more like, misery likes the Saudi Wealth Fund

 

Interesting interview with more details on plans for a big brother to the DBX with >1500HP

https://www.autoweek.com/news/green-cars/a44361093/lucid-tech-aston-martin-ev-with-1500-horsepower/

 

Yawn. I just have no interest in electric vehicles. It's taken me 5 years to be ok with a turbo Aston and the exhaust muffling it causes. Guess this is the direction the world is going. We can all plug in these electric vehicles on our ROBUST and fully capable electric grid to get 100% clean energy from the windmills to charge them with ... /s.

 

Having owned an EV. They are much better for daily commuting.

 

as the owner of a vantage AND a BIG investor in tesla since 2013, i still have little incentive to buy one, until...i pull into a gas station. lord! would it be nice to never pull into one of those again!

 

Electric means state control. They can switch off your car anytime they want. Deny your ability to charge. Limit your range or where you're even allowed to go, for any reason or none at all -- grid capacity, traffic, anything. You're dependent on the grid and the network at all times. And it's only a matter of time before they drop the hammer on electric vehicles.

Gasoline is freedom. You can take your car anywhere you like, as far as you want, any time of day or night. Fill your garage up with barrels of gasoline if you want.

I test drove a Tesla last year and it was a blast. It would make a great third or fourth car. But I'll never give up on gasoline vehicles. After what the government pulled in the last few years I will not give them that kind of potential control over my freedom of movement.

 

It's an interesting point, and I share a lot of your opinions, but I somehow come to the opposite conclusion. Oil means foreign countries control.

Because oil is a global commodity, a ****bag dictator in Venezuela can influence the price we pay here by nudging the global supply by fractions of a %. Electricity is largely a Regional Commodity ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_entity ), and certainly not susceptible to extra-national actors for its pricing.

I'm ignoring western europe and gas prices last winter on purpose for the sake of argument! But if I were to, I'd point to how gas prices shot up globally when the war started, but my electricity rates didn't.

Furthermore, I can be off-grid and still charge with EV, but I can't run my own refinery to make gas. I can choose to power my car 100% independently via local offgrid (rooftop) solar. I have a 35kW Natural Gas whole house generator that I can use to charge my car (Gas stations shut down when there's no power for their pumps) , and I can fall back on local utility that's generating via Hydro, Nuclear (where I live), gas or even coal. With my setup, I can choose which power generation source I want depending on current pricing (time of day).

Politically, some large utilities (Texas and to a lesser extent Florida), even operate outside of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission mandates in order to be more independent and shielded from Federal level regulations (for better or worse) , this is to prevent the perceived larger 'foreign state control' over the resource.

Beyond even thinking that it's "green" (admittedly, not really a concern of mine since I have a loud, polluting, superb V12 ), an EV isn't as susceptible to the whims of geopolitical adversaries and changing administrations. There was a push for Energy Independence a few years ago where the US became a net exporter and it had great results economically. Gas and LNG/Propane prices were low. The current administration rolled that back in the name of 'green' and asked dictators to pump more dirty process oil (not so green!).. making gas, and its availability a state controlled commodity with availability and price under their control.
( https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-pla...il-11665005719 )

In the end, I think regardless of what you or I think, EVs will reach an affordability, packaging (design) and performance (range) threshold that will make mass adoption inevitable. Wouldn't be surprised if they overtake gas cars in total unit sales in the next 15 years

 

How does their previous stock split fit into your share prices? Their stock has doubled in last month or two.

 

In theory what you're saying is true.

In reality, electric cars are networked proprietary equipment and very easily rendered inoperable (or drastically limited) with a software command. You simply do not own them in the same way you own your other cars. It's just a fact. And the trend is towards even less ownership autonomy in these vehicles, not more.

And once these vehicles reach the inevitable critical mass you mentioned, the hammer will come down. The government will implement mandatory controls on their usage via software. A network permission will be required for all sorts of operations, from charging to range. Want to go to the beach today? Sorry there's a lot of traffic right now, network permission denied. Need to charge up? Sorry but there's too much stress on the grid, try again tomorrow. Want to go on a road trip? Sorry but you've used up your monthly mileage allowance. Want to start your car? Sorry but the IRS says you're late on taxes, your car is disabled until the matter is resolved... and so on.

This is the future of electric cars. Your ability to generate your own electricity is the absolute least of it. And if you have a five minute conversation with any of the people with regulatory authority in this country, you'll find they're not particularly shy about coming right out and saying it.

And while you cannot refine your own gasoline, it is a far more robust and resilient commodity than people tend to recognize. At no point have we ever been truly 'dependent' on foreign sources of petroleum, and domestic refineries have proven to be eager and available when we need them. Which is why there's been such a concerted effort to end domestic production entirely.

All of this is about control. Networked electric vehicles are the tool for total control these people have been dreaming about since Woodrow Wilson.

 

"your papers are not in order"

 

Methinks the future of the ICE car is going to result in an awful lot of investment into synthetic fuels by people that both recognize that it unrealistic to go fully electric, if not impossible, and that legacy ICE vehicles are going to remain a cash cow for decades to come even if half of new cars sold are electric. Where are we getting the electricity to double or quadruple the load on the grid? It's not going to come from windmills and solar farms.

There's a fundamental reality that if you can afford a new Tesla, great. If you can only afford a used one, well, I'd question your intelligence in considering it given that lifespan of batteries and how easily they total those things for minor fender benders.

Control is 100% behind electrification. I have a colleague that was erroneously charged with failing to pay a ticket, the city pr county notified the DMV and Tesla disabled her car until she sorted the mistaken ticket out. It's not a good direction if you value your liberties. There is zero way I am giving that level of control to the powers that be voluntarily.

That's not even getting into the 'they tend to explode and burn when they come into contact with salt water' in states that have hurricanes or coastal flooding....Frankly, after the last hurricane season I am surprised there has not been talk of banning them in certain locales.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/to...da/ar-AA12LMP6

 

On the way to lunch today, in our newish EV, I was talking to my wife about how I feel a little guilty for liking it as much as I do. It was supposed to be a who cares commuter car but I find I actually prefer it for a lot of day to day uses.

Even when I could drive the Aston, I don’t want to because the EV is so damn good at the commuting / grocery getting kind of jobs. It’s quiet, comfortable, torquey, has air conditioned seats and I can just plug it in at home once a week.

I think there is a place for both and it makes the dinosaur burners that much more special of an experience. For most people cars are just transportation, and EVs are great at being transportation. When you want something else and have a different job to do, use a different tool.

As for the connected car thing, I will say that the remote climate control function is nice in Phoenix, but I guess if the deep state gets carried away I can always take out the LTE antenna. The car works just fine in no service areas and it would be easy enough to make all areas no service.