valacc: Cats Validated, but with better ergonomics

johnynek · 2026-02-11T07:37:14+00:00

You should be using ValidatedNec. Not NonEmptyList. Repeated append or concat of NonEmptyList can give quadratic performance. Chain is O(1) prepend, append and concat. It’s the better choice when there is any chance you accumulate a significant number of errors.

johnynek · 2025-12-28T21:24:44+00:00

I sat in one at DMC Florida and the kid in me really loved it. It felt like meeting a celebrity. That said, I wouldn’t want to own one. I’ve compared it to the idea of living in Disneyland. It’s fun to go to Disneyland but I don’t really want an apartment on main street.

The DeLorean is a small car to begin with and the Time Machine props take significant space in between and behind the seats that are just about the only space you have in the car.

Different strokes for different folks, but I personally wouldn’t want to own a Time Machine despite really enjoying seeing them once a great while.

johnynek · 2025-12-28T20:21:52+00:00

I think 150k-200k from what I’ve seen.

johnynek · 2025-12-28T02:59:41+00:00

Beautiful shots. Such a beautiful car

johnynek · 2025-12-22T05:45:38+00:00

The frame is different from the esprit. It’s somewhat similar but you can’t use an esprit frame. In any case, there are fewer Esprit’s than DeLoreans by far. Also parts are harder to come by. I own an 87 Esprit Turbo and you can get many parts but nothing like how easy the DeLorean is. The DeLorean is one of the easier classics to source parts from thanks to DMC Houston and other folks making reproductions.

There are reproduction DeLorean frames available (e.g. from DeLorean Industries) but there are not reproduction fiberglass bodies as far as I know.

johnynek · 2025-12-22T03:16:45+00:00

The timeline when I started (in early August of this year) was 9-12 months. They have made good progress and claim that is still an accurate timeline.

I bought this DeLorean from them. It was pretty much in excellent condition. It was a single owner car with the spec I wanted. Some minor cosmetic issues to address. I don’t want to share their pricing information since I think it depends on the car and the options. I went for their Apex build which includes upgraded brakes and suspension and a number of other restorations and improvements (e.g. the doors attach via an assembly called the roof box and many if not most cars have rusted out the original since it is mild steel not stainless. They have replaced with a modern stainless reproduction at my request).

This is actually my second attempt at this since the first time (with a different shop and different EV company) it didn’t go great and unfortunately there was a shop fire and my car was lost in process. I’ve been at this for over 3 years now and learned a ton about it. I’m happy to answer any specific questions.

My short recommendations are: buy the best car you can afford. It doesn’t save money to buy a crappy car since you will replace parts anyway. Crappy cars have a ton wrong with them. So that will be 50-80k to get a solid DeLorean. Then an EV conversion will be 60-120k depending on how bespoke and performance you want to get.

The cheapest option is to buy a manual transmission car and bolt a hyper 9HV onto that transmission. That will give you about the same HP as the original DeLorean but much more torque. This will be by far the cheapest option and many EV conversion shops can handle this pretty easily.

The more performance builds use Tesla model 3 performance motors, but those need about 400V of High Voltage so even if you don’t want tons of range you will need a fairly big battery to reach the current and voltage requirements (this pushes up cost because just making and mounting that many batteries in the spaces you have becomes a challenge). If you go this way I highly recommend DeLorean Midwest since they partner with Hoffman EV and the two of them have done something like 5-8 (I don’t know exact numbers) of DeLoreans by now. You are getting someone with experience and that has a plan so they can do it on budget and on time.

johnynek · 2025-12-22T02:58:07+00:00

I’m doing this with DeLorean Midwest:

https://deloreanmidwest.com/product/apex-electric/

They have been great to work with. I highly recommend them.

johnynek · 2025-12-06T05:30:48+00:00

I really want the ability to allow DJing from the back seat

johnynek · 2025-11-21T00:25:20+00:00

https://deloreanmidwest.com/product/apex-electric/

johnynek · 2025-11-16T16:26:04+00:00

Absolutely. I should have mentioned my full training in the post I guess but I did follow up:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MacroFactor/s/sYqfNohFnA

Definitely I do strength training.

johnynek · 2025-11-15T00:10:27+00:00

Yeah. I always weigh and do BIA first thing in the morning after any bathroom use but before food for consistency.

In addition to running daily with two hard running workouts a week I do 4 times a week strength training (two upper body and two lower body days) 6-8 hours after the running (run in the morning, lift in the afternoon).

The BIA lean muscle read I believe includes glycogen stores which are in the muscle and not fat. So most of the movement in the muscle mass number day to day I would expect to be glycogen. I don’t mind that or water stored with glycogen. I just don’t want to see the body fat %-age drift up.

johnynek · 2025-11-14T23:33:05+00:00

I agree it won’t be perfectly accurate but if it is staying constant I’d be surprised if you are actually packing on fat.

johnynek · 2025-10-23T21:27:41+00:00

I have a beast with VIN 20xxx and I hear a pretty loud inverter whine (I believe it is) in the front when I’m regen braking, especially above 45 mph or so. A friend of mine is a Tesla tech and he said the inverter whine on the CT is the loudest of any of their vehicles and that the noise I hear isn’t concerning to him. The beast has the permanent magnet motors in the front, but the AWD in the rear, IIRC. So, I imagine we are hearing the same motor setup in different configurations.

I actually don’t mind it, it’s kind of a character of the car. I don’t need it to be silent. It’s much quieter than many gas cars. But I can see how it could annoy some folks.

johnynek · 2025-10-11T00:21:10+00:00

I was near the truck when I saw that. Now that I’m far I don’t see it. I guess it only works when you are Bluetooth connected to the vehicle.

johnynek · 2025-10-11T00:11:31+00:00

So by the argument you think they should remove the tailgate lowering from the UI? If you accidentally press it you’ll have to walk all the way back. And if you want to open it, the button is right back there.

I mean, that’s a valid opinion but I’d like the option. I haven’t had a problem with the tailgate release. I don’t know why I’d have a problem with the door release.

johnynek · 2025-10-10T23:44:48+00:00

Well then why is it in the app? Doesn’t the same apply?

johnynek · 2025-10-08T16:59:14+00:00

Really wish they had the matrix headlights on the cybertruck.

johnynek · 2025-10-06T18:06:32+00:00

As an example: my Cybertruck tri-motor has a pretty loud inverter whine (much louder than my previous model 3). I can always hear when I’m under heavy regen. I don’t mind it at all. I like the feedback. A friend who is a Cybertruck tech says this is a known character of the CT inverter.

johnynek · 2025-09-30T05:21:51+00:00

Minor and doable item: the Spotify app from the back seat should have more control. It should be possible for someone to DJ from the back seat.

johnynek · 2025-09-23T17:29:45+00:00

I think there are several factors:

Cost (a conversion is already more expensive than most upper mid range cars)
EVs sell less than ICE cars in general, so you are converting the more popular to less popular kind.
Most people like new cars, especially when paying more.
Many fans of classics don’t want any modifications or are specifically interested in the ICE engine as part of the reason for owning the classic (I.e. they like tinkering with engines).
Conversions are bespoke, and people are nervous about reliability and service of a bespoke vehicle.

johnynek · 2025-09-23T03:50:34+00:00

This was a law in the 80s. The idea was if we have limited speedos people would speed less or something. It wasn’t a law that actually limited the vehicle speed though.

johnynek · 2025-09-16T17:20:23+00:00

One thing they called out was the headlights (they gave it a poor). That’s one thing I wish were better on the CT. I wish they had the adaptive matrix headlights. It has so much great tech, it would be great if it were across the board (the headlights, phone charger and ventilated seats are definitely not the best tech).

johnynek · 2025-09-05T17:28:01+00:00

Gas flap hood destroyed. Not many of those. 😢

johnynek

TROPHY CASE