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lunchbox 67

Alpine’s highest performance A110 yet, why North America’s busiest highway is in Toronto, pray for cheap EVs, and we 🖤 3D printing.

michael banovsky

04 Oct 2022 — 5 min read

Without further adieu, un bleu clair auto pour les circuits et les routes sinueuse… If anyone asks why I’m still attempting to learning French, c’est à cause des voitures comme ça… 💙

When the narrator starts emoting in French, are they reliable? Absolutely not. When they move to a French-speaking region in their late-’30s? ouain…

I can watch the promo video, read the specs, marvel at a sub 1,110 kg weight, and chuckle at the thought of hitting 285 km/h on the back of 1.8-litres of displacement. But my heart and gut says those fantasies can’t possibly compare with a drive in the real thing.

For this reason, and my sanity—I remind you the floor is always open for your thoughts on the Alpine A110 R.

ALL-NEW A110 R: R FOR RADICAL! • Alpine Cars

As a former resident of Toronto, the GTA, and then Toronto over more than a decade, I assure you it’s rare to see an entire region’s car use, transit, and urban planning summed up this perfectly.

Better still, Not Just Bikes uses actual archival footage of Toronto and the surrounding area. Car-spotting alongside Highway 401 in the ’60s isn’t exactly the treasure trove of exotic machinery, but for a local businesses’ Volkswagen Type-II truck.

Come for the vintage Volkswagens, stay for former (crack smoking) mayor Rob Ford.

How Toronto Got Addicted to Cars • Not Just Bikes

Initially designed for and built in the Indian market, the Renault Kwid was always destined for the lower end of the price scale.

Since its on-sale date in 2015, it has gone on to add an electric version (Renault K-ZE), a Dacia one (the Dacia Spring / Spring Electric), and upgraded made in Brazil ones for South American markets + Mexico (Renault Kwid, again).

Even in 2020, the Renault EV version was on-sale with a small forklift-shaming 44 bhp and a range at around 271 km, no typo. It’s never sold on safety (earning a whopping one * in Europe), features, space, looks, or cachet—only price.

However, Dongfeng has also been building its own version of the car in China, and not only releasing different versions of it (Venucia e30, Aeolus EX1, and Dongfeng Nano Box) but upgrading the platform along the way.

Now we, er, shoppers in China have the Dongfeng EV EX1 PRO. Upgraded further, with range closer to 330 km, the car is still modest but remains a brand-new electric car on sale for less than the average American spends on their vehicle in one year. This car costs less than 1/3 the average MSRP of a new vehicle in the U.S.

Sorry, I buried the lede: this is a brand-new electric car that costs approximately $8,000 Usd.

If it was possible, a U.S. transit rider could replace their ~$110 monthly pass with this small SUV and break even after little more than six years…and still have a car to drive around in. In other words: when legions of low-cost EVs land in North America, it’s going to get bloody.

Dongfeng EV EX1 PRO SUV Launched With Price of 7,800 USD • CarNewsChina

see also :: The Renault K-ZE (Dacia Spring Electric) Is A Tiny Electric SUV • wheelsboy :: Your Driving Costs 2022 • AAA (.pdf)

🔫 • Government regulations, legal frameworks, and political maneuvering made enthusiasts fear for the long-term future of their most prized possessions. These factors, coupled with emerging technologies, allowed a new and powerful—but largely unregulated—hobby to alter the future of an entire industry.

The hobby, however, just happens to be 3D printing firearms.

What Emily Velasco is doing—3D printing marker lights for a vintage truck that are unobtanium, anyway—is very different to making a ghost gun at home.

I fear the destructive power of future generations of ghost guns, but I embrace what Velasco as doing as both inspiring and crucial for the survival of classic cars.

Will manufacturers and parts suppliers allow people to cut in on their turf?

Here’s how I see legality: if a manufacturer can’t supply a part for a vehicle from within 100 mi. of a customer within a week, the customer should be allowed to have it professionally 3D printed or supplied locally.

Heck, vet shops that can machine an OEM or better replacement part nearby—reducing the need for transporting everything from overseas at a much great environmental cost.

Going after a blogger because of 3D-printed market lights is hopefully not on Toyota’s hit list, though for it or any another manufacturer, it one day could be. Legal arguments about proprietary designs and technology are just distraction.

A world with 3D printing has the potential to dramatically democratize the cost of motoring and add flexibility to repairs not seen since coachbuilding was de rigeur. Support 3D printing and local remanufacturing of auto parts, and support your local Right to Repair initiatives.