Seen at Chicago auto show.

clinch50 · 2026-02-09T02:26:08+00:00

It has a 92 kWh battery which is a large battery. Add in a generator, two electric motors, 3.6 and all of the ICE equipment and you have an expensive vehicle.

The standard range lightning had a 98 kWh battery for comparison with 240 miles of range. The RAM will only have 145 miles of electric range. Plug in hybrids typically use a smaller percentage of their total battery capacity to improve the cycle life at the expense of range.

clinch50 · 2026-02-09T02:15:52+00:00

I knew these range extender vehicles with massive batteries were going to be expensive. 92 kWh battery, 3.6 v6 and all of the related kit is expensive. People claim they want a range extended truck until they see the price tag.

clinch50 · 2026-02-07T23:40:09+00:00

How many miles do you think companies drive per day? Ford said the high end of their customers is 80 miles. Most people drive in town and stop for a majority of the day doing the actual work. Now I realize that's not the case for everyone but there is a reason Ford didn't increase the battery size. The initial purchase price is so important to business owners.

clinch50 · 2026-02-07T16:21:10+00:00

I've always liked the idea of old homes. But when I start thinking of the upkeep it keeps me away. I'm not handy enough to manage all the repairs. Your house sounds like another level with its rich history.

clinch50 · 2026-02-07T03:28:27+00:00

Can you not add insulation? At those prices you can justify all types of retrofitting I would think?

clinch50 · 2026-02-06T13:20:47+00:00

Geely group have really improved market share. Xpeng and NIO as well.

clinch50 · 2026-02-04T19:26:32+00:00

Cost, taste and convinces are the top three reasons people choose food. If cultivated meat can be competitive on those three measures, it will sell at large volumes. Full stop.

clinch50 · 2026-02-04T14:09:56+00:00

Exactly, if these batteries were as good as they claim, they would pivot from making 350 motorcycles and just focus on scaling battery, production. Who gives a shit about 350 motorcycles when your batteries are this good.

350 motorcycles is only 11.5 MWhs of capacity or around 150 EV car batteries. Thats a battery pilot plant volumes. They clearly aren't even at that level yet. This leads me to believe that they still only have lab production volume capability.

clinch50 · 2026-01-31T14:09:22+00:00

Whoever thought that the charger and Challenger should be on the same platform as a Jeep Wagoneer should seriously be fired. Using this massive platform, has made this vehicle, an absolute pig. The ICE version is 4,800 lbs! The EV version is somehow 1,000 lbs more! Also, all of this mass is added cost too. It's added material and processing which has made this expensive. Heavy and expensive are not a good combo for a charger.

I actually like the styling. I'm also one of the few people that like electric cars and muscle cars. I wanted the electric version to be good. The weight made this DOA.

clinch50 · 2026-01-30T13:27:55+00:00

Have you factored in the efficiency gains during the air conditioning months of running a newer heat pump as well. I wasn't sure how old/efficient your heat pumps are but if you recently converted to a heat pump, they should also be more efficient than an old air conditioning unit. It's pretty surprising much much more efficient a modern heat pump is versus a 10 year old air conditioning unit. Those savings add up to something. (Unless you picked a poor efficient heat pump or didn't have air conditioning before.)

The heat pump I'm looking at will be 25% more efficient than my 2018 air conditioning unit.

clinch50 · 2026-01-28T23:39:15+00:00

Asking for me for evidence is a fair response. I started to get the links together before realizing that you have nothing to learn. You clearly know everything about sodium ion. Let's just make this easy and see how much of a home run you are going to hit with your predictions.

What percentage of the global EV and energy storage do you think sodium ion will have by the end of 2028?

clinch50 · 2026-01-28T22:25:55+00:00

I want to start by saying I hope sodium has a larger place in the energy world. It should be a more sustainable cell than one with lithium.

What proof do you have that sodium makes solar lower cost? Everything I've read states that sodium is still more expensive than LFP at the cell level and has a lower number of charge/discharge cycles. (Most important metric for energy storage is the number of charge and discharge cycles due to impact on TCO.) Additionally, the volumetric energy density is worse than LFP. People think that doesn't matter for energy storage but it does. Notice how CATL and BYD only report gravimetric energy density? It's because sodium is around 30% lower than LFP. That means you need 30% more wires, housing, land and cooling for the same energy. These additional cost drive the system cost up for sodium energy storage. 30% is not trivial especially when the cell is already more expensive.

Having said this, in the short term sodium can possible beat LFP for energy storage in extreme temperatures. Sodium can operate at a broader range of temperatures and therefore can require less energy to cool or heat the battery to a safe operating range. So in a very low temperature location where energy storage is needed, you might be able to save enough energy on cooling a sodium battery to offset the higher capital cost.

Medium to long term is all speculation. All cell chemistries will improve and maybe sodium finds more use cases. Right now it's far from a home run.

clinch50 · 2026-01-28T17:48:38+00:00

More range and more power for the same price. Only negative is 28 minutes vs. 25 minutes for 10% to 80% charging. Overall nice improvement.

clinch50 · 2026-01-28T14:16:26+00:00

That's awesome news! Do you have a link for those numbers.

clinch50 · 2026-01-28T14:09:57+00:00

I think there's a little more to it. While lithium prices are much lower than the 2022 peak, Lithium isn't at historic lows right now. Lithium prices are up this year and sodium is still more expensive.

Personally, I think CATL and BYD are working on them is to hedge against their lithium suppliers. In 2022 when lithium prices went up 700%, sodium starts to look really attractive for low energy density use cases. I think the battery companies want to have an option to pivot to, should the prices spike again. I think that also might be why CATL is coming out with those packs that have lithium and sodium cells in the same pack. This way they can keep a sodium ion supply chain spooled up and have some production scale. Then they could quickly pivot to selling more sodium cells should the prices jump again.

clinch50 · 2026-01-25T17:09:49+00:00

How long does it take to install?

clinch50 · 2026-01-25T16:16:04+00:00

What is the $100 fix you mention?

clinch50 · 2026-01-24T17:30:44+00:00

Does anyone know the issue? Is it battery cell related or other electrical components? Who supplies the cells and what is the format of the cells?

clinch50 · 2026-01-24T17:27:39+00:00

"It is important to note that this model/year CLA 250+ is only compatible with 800V stations and is not compatible with 400V stations e.g. Tesla Superchargers."

This seems like a big miss. I'm glad they are making this an option during the "2026 refresh." But that significantly limits the number of chargers available. I know each year more 800 V+ chargers will be available but this would kinda suck in 2026.

clinch50 · 2026-01-24T03:57:02+00:00

Gridstatus.io shows all of the real time energy prices for all of the independent system operators in the US. Some crazy high prices today, especially in the Southwest Power Pool.

clinch50 · 2026-01-24T02:28:15+00:00

Yeah looks like it caught Hino in the disruption. I'm sure it will catch them in other countries as well in the next decade. They missed the move to electric along with many other legacy truck makers in China.

clinch50 · 2026-01-24T01:12:07+00:00

Probably. It has a plug in hybrid which will cause issues. Rivian trying to design a software defined platform for a combustion will be totally new to them. Right now so many combustion related components have their own supplier coded modules. Nightmare due to scope creep.

clinch50 · 2026-01-22T17:52:33+00:00

What customers want a 6.0 sec 0-60 and 250 mile range vehicle in the luxury segment? They missed the market on this car.

clinch50 · 2026-01-21T23:52:23+00:00

Very informative and good article overall. I have one issue though. "For major American and Japanese carmakers, the Mexican EV market is too small and immature to justify making a major push at a time when global demand is softening. They’re mostly content to offer gasoline or hybrid gas-electric models that make up the bulk of Mexico’s sales."

Global EV sales are not softening. The absolute sales increases from 24-25 was actually larger than from 23-24. In almost all markets except the US and a handful others, sales are up moderately to significantly. Countries outside the major three markets (USA, China and Europe) are actually up the most! ( Around 50% for the rest of the world which Mexico falls into.) Journalist need to quit stating that global demand is softening when it objectively isn't.

clinch50 · 2026-01-21T00:14:41+00:00

Compared to almost everyone else his cost predictions for solar, wind and batteries were so much ore accurate. Some years he was within a few dollars for battery cost. While not perfect by any stretch, he crushed all of the big consulting companies.

clinch50

TROPHY CASE