Reminds me of these!

So those garages are for show only, right? No way you could actually use them to park cars.

I saw some driveways exactly like those in Fayetteville AR. I don't understand how they were sold like that.

I fear fire problems with any chargeable device. About 20 years ago a camera got too hot to touch after use and then sitting aside for a while. I got the SD card out and tossed the camera in a creek. Some time later it was cool and I opened it up. The battery inside had indeed been hot and scorched. So with phones, tools, any other chargable lithium battery, beware

***Reviving an old thread***



***Clickbait title of article*** “Ford stuns by bringing back 'badass' car feature scrapped decades ago... but it will confuse younger drivers”

Really? This is what you think we want?



Ford has just filed a patent to bring back a classic driving experience - but only 18 percent of Americans would know how to use it.

The automaker has submitted paperwork to bring stick shifts to electric vehicles.

Manual transmissions have all but vanished from the American new car market. Last year, less than 1 percent of new vehicles sold in the U.S. had manual gearboxes.

In 1990, that figure sat between 25 and 30 percent.

The patent application, published on March 20, outlines a system designed to replicate the tactile experience of shifting through gears – even though there are no actual gears to shift.

The setup includes a traditional-looking shift lever mounted in a raised console, similar to the ones found in gas-powered sports cars.

But instead of mechanical linkages, the system uses electronic signals to adjust the EV's driving feedback based on how the driver moves the stick.

Ford believes the feature could help address one of the biggest criticisms of electric vehicles: a lack of driver engagement.

-more at linky

Oh sooooo cooool! Right up there with fake engine noise!

Son got a stone chip in the windshield. The guy who fixed it was ecstatic when he called me to let me know the repair was done because it was a manual transmission.

Yesterday, I drove my dad to his cancer treatment in my son’s car. Moffit is on the same campus as my son’s university, so I could swap his car back for my truck on the same trip. I pulled into the valet lane and asked the lady if she could drive stick. She said, “Oh ya, I can drive stick.” Then she says, “Wait, stick? I can’t drive stick!” She flagged down someone who could. The guy that brought the car out when my dad and I were leaving was absolutely giddy about the car, again because it was stick.

You’d have thought I was driving a Duesenberg.

Not necessary…

Maybe they have a EV coupe in their pipeline.

I have a SUV.

quote:

Originally posted by bcereuss:
The automaker has submitted paperwork to bring stick shifts to electric vehicles.

Manual transmissions have all but vanished from the American new car market.

Toyota already did this. Sounds like Ford is copying them and going to bring the gimmick to market first. So lame. You quit making “real” 6MT’s but now you’re going to make fake ones.

quote:

Originally posted by bcereuss:
The setup includes a traditional-looking shift lever mounted in a raised console, similar to the ones found in gas-powered sports cars.

But instead of mechanical linkages, the system uses electronic signals to adjust the EV's driving feedback based on how the driver moves the stick.

I don't see any mention of a clutch pedal. It has to stall if the driver does it wrong.