Recent content by exxxviii

This is not the first car where Kyle got sketchy results and acknowledged that something did not look right. His recent R2 range tests were abysmal and inconsistent with every other range test that others published. Everything he documents about his tests looks fine, but there is something...

"A vehicle with a fully charged battery is driven continuously over the EPA city cycle until the battery is depleted and the vehicle can drive no further. The distance driven is recorded." Fuel Economy and EV Range Testing

Yep. And one more little nuance... The average speed of the EPA protocol is not 48 MPH, it is 33 MPH. The average speed of the Highway Cycle is 48 MPH and the Urban Cycle 20 MPH. The two are weighted 45%/55% when calculating EPA range, so average speed swings heavily toward the Urban Cycle...

One more thing to add to to the above is the Edmunds range tests. Edmunds tries to emulate the EPA protocol, so it should be an "accurate" EPA range. Normally, Edmunds gets higher range than EPA, because automakers are allowed to sandbag de-rate their EPA ranges. I have only seen a tiny number...

This is actually an excellent result! The EPA range is tested at relatively low speed. And then, automakers are allowed to de-rate their range numbers, so the EPA range becomes a useless number for comparison. One rubric to think about, is that 70 MPH highway tests get around 85% of accurate...

I don't follow... What do you think I am confident in? I have followed Lucid's stock and dug into their financials a few times. It is a very unhealthy company whose sales are slipping, it costs them $200K to build a $100K car, and they are burning through cash.

Packaging decisions are almost always designed to maximize profit by: Reducing permutations which simplify build costs. Grouping items that are sufficient to encourage people to pick an entire package and spend more than they might have versus à la carte.

Yes. A Gravity (configured the way I want it) lease total cost is a little over half the MSRP. That is probably in the ballpark of the car's likely depreciation, so that is why I call it a neutral lease. If I am going to lease, I prefer that the total lease cost be significantly below 50% of...

Yes. Much lower percentages are pretty common if your name isn’t Porsche. Except for select models, the mainstream luxury brands are closer to 40%. Cars like the iX3 and Macan EV lease worse than the Gravity, but that’s about it. By contrast, a $120K i7 leases at 38%. If a lease is neutral, it...

When I priced a 2027 the way I want it, the total lease outflow was 52% of MSRP. That is an absolute deal killer for me. My max is 40%, but I prefer lower.

I never said I wanted something like a 911. I was responding to a couple of posts comparing the size and feel of a Macan to a Gravity and iX. I happened to have driven all three back-to-back-to-back, so I have first-hand experience. Yes, the Macan looks and drives much smaller than the Gravity...

The Macan looks and drives much smaller than the Gravity and iX. Like I said, when I dove the three back-to-back-to-back, the iX and Gravity felt relatively similar while the Macan felt much more like a 911 in comparison. Steering responsiveness in the Macan is immediate, while the Gravity and...

That was my exact experience when I test drove the Gravity. I parked my iX next to it, and I was surprised by how similar the two are in size. And the Gravity felt like a responsive, agile car. The Macan is tiny compared to the Gravity. I test drove the Macan electric right after my Gravity...

Because it is a poor brand experience when customers have range that is lower than EPA range and efficiency. It is a marketing strategy. It never occurred to you that some cars meet or exceed their EPA rating at 65 MPH or 70 MPH. That is impossible, unless the EPA range and efficiency are...

Yes, they absolutely can and do. Your posts only cover half the problem, that the EPA protocol is based on a 38 MPH mostly city driving. This is peak efficiency for a BEV. The other half you may not know is that after the automakers conduct the tests that follow the protocol, the automaker can...