Mark Rober debunk

A YouTuber, Mark Rober, recently published a video where he claimed he could fool Tesla's autopilot. Here's a video debunking his claims: https://youtu.be/7cxTO8g47_k?si=wuF3_sHwiXDagFkt

My next EV

Mommy, I want a Maserati EV!  https://youtu.be/tSS8a4lC3Q8?si=74RvmwhVWNjZjo-Z 

Happy Passover!

Happy Passover this weekend (Saturday, April 12) to all who celebrate!

A hybrid EV from 1916!

Check out the rarest hybrid EV I've ever heard of, as well as an astounding vehicle restoration possible only with the resources of Jay Leno: 

https://youtu.be/LYQ2PiX_Z9o?si=9RpNFaitARk4sfkO .

Spring break from Denver & Chicago to St Louis, MO

My wife and kids worked out a spring vacation (and birthday celebration) for the 6 of us, originating from Chicago and Denver, and staying in a 3 bedroom Airbnb in St Louis, MO.  My now-6-year-old granddaughter has her birthday during this school spring break, and they researched and found lots of museums/parks/libraries/playgrounds to visit.  My kids take their 2 kids to lots of playgrounds, museums, indoor and outdoor activity centers to keep them active, moving, and not just sitting around watching TV.  Most of the time, including our time in St Louis, we walk to nearby parks – there are lots of parks/playgrounds in Chicago that are walking distance from their apartment, including the beach at Lake Michigan which is only 2 blocks away from their home.

The trip from Denver is about 14 hours with charging in my 2021 Model S Plaid – no, didn’t do any launches.  FSD was almost flawless and we did the trip out in 1 day.  That estimate using ABRP and on-board navigation was quite accurate, even accounting for winds.  We did alter the planned charging stops so that we avoided Goodland KS - no food services since Steak-n-Shake closed.  Charging was too fast in some cases, we charged a few minutes more than necessary because of other needs.  We charged in Limon, Colby, Russell, Abilene, Topeka (dinner at Texas Roadhouse across the street), and Columbia MO.

FSD issues:

•         speed limit signs are still not actually read/interpreted by the car – it still uses [sometimes faulty] GPS/map data speeds

•         not lowing the max speed when the posted speed limit drops – yet the on-board speed limit updated properly

•         max speed not maintained unless ‘Hurry’ profile is selected – and even then I still had to press the accelerator occasionally

•         ‘Hurry’ profile sometimes follows to close to the car in front for my comfort – or doesn’t allow enough clearance when changing lanes in front of another vehicle

•         hugs the inside lane line of a curve a little too close for my comfort

FSD positives:

•         honors metering lights at highway on-ramps

•         honors emergency vehicles on the shoulders of highways by moving over and slowing down

•         honors pedestrians and bicycles on the shoulder of highways by moving over a bit

In St Louis, we went to 2 places that had destination charging in the parking lots.

The first parking lot with charging was at City Museum – pay to park,  pay to charge – it was a Tesla HPWC at $0.27/kWh, charged to my Tesla account.

City Museum is kinda like Meow-Wolf in that its hands-on and stream-of-consciousness, using materials (stone, iron, rebar, gargoyles, …) from old buildings.  Lots of slides including one that was 5 stories high, spiral stair cases, metal sculptures from old rebar that could be climbed into/on, … . https://citymuseum.org/

The second parking lot with charging was at MADE for Kids – free to park, pay to charge – had both Chargepoint J1772 and Tesla HPWC at $0.50/kWh, again charged to my Tesla account.

Lots of real hands-on activities with hot-glue, sewing machines, paper rockets launched by compressed air via a hand crank, electric circuits with a hand-crank generator, 4 lane lego car timed downhill derby racing, … . https://www.magichouse.org/made-home/

On the way back to Denver, we did the trip in 2 days in order to spend more time with the family on the last morning together.  The onboard navigation had us avoiding Limon and going through Kit Carson as it was showing the wrench icon, and tapping the SC showed ‘reduced service’.  At one point it showed units 5A 5B 5C 5D out of service, then later it showed units 4A 4B 4C 4D out of service.  We decided to go to Limon and take our chances.  When we got there, a crew of 2 Tesla Energy folks, one in a Y, one in an ICE van, were doing maintenance.  No issues in charging using  the working units.

We saw two interesting Teslas in Concordia MO.  One was a HW1 light green Model X.  The other was a HW1 with a nosecone Model S, and it had a significant problem that we didn’t realize until a tow truck showed up.  It was facing back toward the supercharger plug, but too far away to plug in.  The tow truck pushed the S close to the plug, and the driver plugged it in.  My guess is that it ran out of motive power before it could move close enough to the plug.  The 12V must have been OK because the door handles presented and could be opened, and the car was able to go into neutral.  Pushing the S closer by  hand would have been problematic because the concrete roadway had a slight rise approaching the plug.

Trip stats: 1684 miles, 338.1 Wh/mi.

 

-Dan Rosenblatt

April 3, 2025 

Aptera efficiency!

 Check out another video by Aptera: https://youtu.be/Kvpn7cteW5U?si=XISCgLbw0bSaDVPG .

Aptera road trip!

Check out a road trip in an Aptera: https://youtu.be/o0zwgV3sn4E?si=iTXmNnvnhW-7Y53E