Hybrid | My Desultory Blog

New Volkswagen Seven-passenger CUV to be built in Tennessee

RichC | July 14, 2014

As hinted a few times before, Volkswagen has now officially announced that it will be building the new “yet to be named” seven passenger CUV in Chattanooga, TN. The attractive American-sized crossover will help VW compete in the popular SUV/CUV market come 2016. Many VW enthusiasts (and potential new customers) with growing families have […]

Category: Automotive, Diesel, Hybrid, Volkswagen | No Comments »
Tags: 2016, crossblue, cuv, diesel, hybrid, SUV, volkswagen

The Volvo V60 plug-in diesel hybrid in the US?

RichC | March 21, 2013

The Swedish automaker Volvo will be showing their new plug-in V60 diesel hybrid at the New York auto show later this month according to reports in the automotive press. This new information may hint that Volvo is considering bringing their pricey new hybrid to the U.S. after all; initially reports suggested it would only be […]

Category: Automotive, Diesel, Hybrid | No Comments »
Tags: diesel, ev, hybrid, volvo

Filler up! The Super efficient Volkswagen diesel hybrid XL1

RichC | March 13, 2013

The Volkswagen XL1 sure would be a different kind of car to own and would make stopping for fuel every 700 miles almost a pleasurable even. You could even spurge for “full service” and walk away with change from your ten dollar bill! (click for Autoblog “First Drive story) “The liquid fuel tank of the […]

Category: Automotive, Diesel, Hybrid, Volkswagen | No Comments »
Tags: concept, diesel, hybrid, volkswagen, vw

Comparing three efficient hybrid cars from Toyota and Ford

RichC | March 1, 2013

An automotive enthusiast friend of mine, Wayne Gerdes, is a noted “hypermiler” and posted a well documented write-up comparing three of the top selling hybrid cars for a CleanMPG report. His efficiently conclusion is about what my gut would have told me when looking at the car profiles in his photo above … Toyota Prius […]

Category: Automotive, Hybrid | 1 Comment »
Tags: c-max, ford, hybrid, prius, toyota

Volkswagen UP! may get the 261mpg XL1 powertrain

RichC | February 26, 2013

Not that the Volkswagen UP! is the sleekest looking VW model (image to right), but it may be the model getting the highly efficient 261mpg XL1 diesel-electric hybrid powertrain. According to Autocar.co.uk, the UP! minicar might be the 2-cylinder diesel and electric minicar produced en masse. I know VW enthusiasts would love to see the […]

Category: Automotive, Diesel, Hybrid, Volkswagen | No Comments »
Tags: diesel, electric, hybrid, up!, volkswagen, vw, xl1

Most Recent Posts

03/07/21: Sunday Filler: Thinking about our path as Christians
As someone who enjoys using tools and building things, the reference to pendulums and plumb lines in a Stand to Reason post speaks to me. It is also a good reminder to stick to the “plumb line of Scripture” rather… »
03/06/21: How are we doing in vaccinating our population? #COVID19
Immunization is picking up speed, but we are still struggling to get enough of the produced vaccinations in arms … especially in some states. This past week an article in Fortune posted a “tracker map”… »
03/05/21: Tech Friday: S̶t̶r̶i̶k̶e̶t̶h̶r̶u̶ (https://richc.us/strikethru.html)
A couple of weeks ago, someone asked me about using Strikethru coding for a WordPress blog (or for that matter, almost all webpages) .. and of course it is a simple html code solution and is fairly easy … just add:… »
03/04/21: Happy Birthday Annalyn. Thinking about my granddaughter.
Annalyn putting on her Frozen (the Disney movie) Birthday dress last weekend EDIT 3/5/2021… »
03/03/21: Why do so many on the political left deride America?
If all we do is listen to those who spew negativity and show distain for America, we might miss the fact that the US through Operation Warp Speed in coordination with private companies, have given us a COVID19 vaccine… »
03/02/21: Celebrating Ellerie (1) and Annalyn’s (4) Birthdays in Toledo
It has sort of become a tradition to celebrate birthdays in Toledo with the Oostra family. We certainly enjoy getting together with everyone and regularly reflex on just how blessed we are as a family. I mentioned to… »
03/01/21: Music Monday: Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show video. Yikes!
There are some 1970s songs that I’ve listened to and heard again and again over the years, but never really given much thought to what the band might have looked like performing on stage? Dr. Hook (& the… »
02/28/21: MyDesultoryBlog maintenance and WordPress 5.6.2 update
Just marking server and blog updates to end the month of February 2021. I’ve put this WordPress 5.6.2 update off a few weeks in order to be sure I had a full backup, etc. Note to self, check on the Seagate hard drive… »
02/27/21: Encore diesel repair and last minute haul out in February 2021
This past week was a semi-rushed haul out week for Encore in Florida. I headed south for 3 days of work on the “running hot” Volvo diesel auxiliary, as my assumption was that the heat exchanger was plugged… »
02/26/21: Friday Filler: A little duct tape humor (quack, quack) 😉
… »
02/25/21: Opinion: We need an all of the above energy plan in the U.S.
As an advocate of renewable energy, be it biofuels, hydro, solar, wind, etc for decades, I don’t understand why Americans can’t come together on a united “all inclusive” energy plan? I know a few anti-solar/wind… »
02/24/21: Woodworking Idea: A homemade Router Table Multi-Sled
After setting up my router for better, cleaner and easier woodworking dados last week, I started thinking about something better than using my table saw’s stock miter gauge for making “coping” style end cuts on… »
02/23/21: Is there a high quality, maintenance-free garage door and opener?
One of the most unappreciated attributes often overlooked when dating and looking for a life partner is that of a handyman, or to be a little more politically correct, a “handyperson.” I do know that having the… »
02/22/21: Music Monday: The Marshall Tucker Band – “Can’t You See”
The Marshall Tucker Band was one of my favorite groups in the 1970s and I mentioned them before. I was a big fan of modern country music as it inched towards what we know as southern rock. It really made inroads into… »
02/21/21: Thoughts on the passing of conservative icon: Rush Limbaugh
Rush Limbaugh died on Wednesday of this past week. It wasn’t a surprise to those who have followed his health challenges and in particular a stage 4 lung cancer diagnosis a year previous. He continue his radio work up… »
02/20/21: Woodworking: Tinkering on a prototype desktop book stand
The weather has been … well, wintery and I’ve been working on a self-designed prototype desktop bookshelf or bookstand with the thought of making a couple of them. Unfortunately desks … let alone books … are… »
02/19/21: Tech Friday: Switched our iPhones to Mint Mobile to save $$$
Well it is official, we are both with Mint Mobile. I’ve been using them for a month now and haven’t had any issues with their service (backboned on T-Mobile I believe) … and since saving money for the same service… »
02/18/21: Archive: The Howards and the Woodcocks in Florida #TBT
A couple of weeks ago I shared a 1990s photo of Brenda’s dad with a close friend Hugh Woodcock and saw another one from 1997 to archive for a Throwback Thursday #TBT. Both MomH (2017) and DadH (2013) have passed away,… »
02/18/21: Archive for posterity: Sold a little more fractional Bitcoin shares
Almost 1 year ago, I started to use the Chromium-based Brave Browser and an Uphold account to receive the BAT (Basic Attention Token). I convert to Bitcoin along with the income generated on MyDesultoryBlog.com …… »
02/17/21: The retirement dividend income plan was challenged in 2020
For those of us living in a post-pension world, planning for retirement comes down to how much can be saved in 401K and IRAs … and how to make it last once retired. Most people rely on the “multiple buckets… »
02/16/21: Workshop brainstorming for better chip and dust containment
It is time for a little more research on better dust and chip control in my basement workshop. Brenda can deal with the noise and giving me a place to escape, but she is not fond of the dust that makes its way upstairs… »
02/15/21: Winter weather for mid-February 2021. More snow.
Click here for ani-gif above for full 25 second iPhone slow-motion video The icy sleet on top of our existing snow and pre-cleared roads has made travel dangerous this Monday afternoon in southwest Ohio. Thankfully for… »
02/15/21: Music Monday: Steely Dan – “Peg” from their 1977 album Aja
Well I’m still stuck in the 1970s for today’s Music Monday, but this time it is some jazz rock from the group Steely Dan … and band leaders Donald Fagan and Walter Becker. I can still see myself (a bit younger and… »
02/14/21: Happy Valentine’s Day to friends and family, especially my girls!
Brenda packaged up a nice box of fun gifts for our granddaughters and they connected by FaceTime with high energy and happy faces – it was fun. Both Annalyn and Ellerie are camera “hams” and seem to enjoy what to… »
02/13/21: The coyotes in southwestern Ohio are healthy and active
We live in a fairly developed area and yet the variety of animals surviving amidst the traffic and people continues to amaze me. When we built in Liberty Township, Ohio in the mid-1990s you would have called our area… »
02/12/21: The pitfalls of Zoom meetings: “I am not a cat” #humor
It was the Zoom video that nearly broke the Internet this past week and it made me smile enough to save the mp4 video to my blog. Very funny. 😊 … »
02/12/21: Just how safe are your passwords and online security measures?
My friend Jeff is a cyber security guy and is regularly interrogating me about “best practices” online. I suspect he sees so much that it nearly frightens him away from putting anything online (which is nearly… »
02/11/21: What do you know about the Tennis Racket Theorem?
After reading about the Dzhanibekov Effect and seeing a demonstration, I just had to know more. The tennis racket theorem or intermediate axis theorem is a result in classical mechanics describing the movement of a… »
02/10/21: A snowy 2021 February stay-at-home day and a few idea photos
We received a surprise snowfall on Monday night this week and it caught most of us, including the weather people and snowplows off-guard. Brenda worked until close in Oxford, Ohio and it took her nearly an hour and a… »
02/09/21: Political venting and a new website called TheHustings.news
Did you ever have a political discussion or receive an email that generated a desire to reply and explain? That sort of happened to me this weekend … but I decided there isn’t an upside in the one on one reply. The… »
02/08/21: Music Monday: Gilligan’s Island theme mashed with Led Zeppelin
For those who grew up on one of my favorite TV shows, Gilligan’s Island … and in later years listened to the music of Led Zeppelin … here’s an interesting YouTube video for this week’s Music Monday. On a more… »
02/07/21: Congratulations to Tampa Bay, Super Bowl LIV champs
It wasn’t the most exciting Super Bowl or even a close game as most fans expected, but this year’s big game between Tampa Bay and last year’s champs the Kansas City Chiefs, it came down to leadership and… »
02/06/21: Woodworking Ideas: Thinking about a cyclone chip separator
Now that I have my new DeWalt DW735x planner working (and stored) in the pool detached garage with my ShopVac, I’ve been contemplating a better "chip separator" so that the filter doesn’t plug up… »
02/05/21: Tech Friday: New 1500mAh batteries for my Lumix GX8
When I pulled out my Lumix GX8 DSLR camera over Christmas, I noticed that the “cheap” batteries that I had purchased as backups to the primary Panasonic branded 1200mAh battery were no longer holding charges. They… »
02/04/21: Archive: DadH, Hugh Woodcock, Lynda and Mark photos #TBT
I always stop in to visit with lifetime friends of Mom and Dad Howard, Ann and Hugh Woodcock when I’m close, but hesitate to even tell them I’m nearby “in the days of COVID19.” I really hate putting it off… »
02/03/21: Filler: Workshop Waxed Canvas apron ideas–just #photos
… »
02/02/21: "Three on the Tree" (for car enthusiast or those of a certain age)
Earlier in the years, this image of a “Three on the Tree” manual column shifter-pattern was tweeted by a automotive friend and it triggered memories for me. Younger people nowadays might not even remember manual… »
02/01/21: Music Monday: The Cranberries – “Linger” (Irish Alt Rock)
No, I’m not purposefully moving out of my 1970s Music Monday comfort zone (rut) in selecting today’s 1993 Irish alternative rock song “Linger,” but enjoyed the music by The Cranberries enough while painting in… »
01/31/21: What goes around, comes around … and spins around
This past Christmas, Megan ordered a fancier turntable for Taylor, which arrived this past week. He was excited set up his gift and shared the photos. It looks nice. It is hard to believe millennials have gravitated to… »
01/30/21: Woodworking ideas: Workshop dust collection improvements
My basement woodworking shop is a dust-making mess in our house, but there isn’t much I can do about it now other than to improve how I collect and filter and keep dust from gravitating into the furnaces cold air… »
01/29/21: Tech Friday: Our small Echo Dot on the Home Theater ceiling
Now that the wiring in the basement is no longer laying on the floor in order to feed the kitchen television cable extender and ceiling repairs are finished up, I’ve been cleaning up and moving things back into the… »
01/28/21: Archive: Professional Brenda and the Hawk Migration #TBT
When searching for a photo of my 1996 Toyota 4Runner (never found one), I stumbled across a couple personal photos from 1997 and will archive them for today’s Throwback Thursday #TBT. One of “professional Brenda”… »
01/27/21: Do all grandparents love their grandchildren as much as I do?
January 2021 is already getting away from me and after receiving a cute photo from Katelyn of “Ellerie’s first pony” (tail) in a text message, I realized just how fast time is whizzing by. Before I could do the… »
01/26/21: Bubblicious, but I am not talking about bubble gum popping
All I can think about are the stock market “bubbles” from the past. I’d love to believe the upward trend we’ve seen this past years is genuine and built on an appropriate foundation, but suspect as most know, it… »
01/25/21: Music Monday: Lexington Lab Band does 1971 Chicago song
A few years ago (2013 and 2014), I mentioned that a talented classmate of mine from high school in Sidney performs regularly with the Lexington Lab Band. They play music that I enjoy and so will include a new video for… »
01/24/21: A Sunday filler post for those willing to pray for our country
"if my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."… »
01/23/21: These days, I have been upscaling my coffee and my toothpaste
Once upon a time, I was … or at least tried … to be frugal in most things. I’ve always shied away from buying higher priced brand names, when there were less expensive option. Coffee is a prime example … since I… »
01/22/21: The best part about Inauguration 2021: Memes of Bernie Sanders
Not being an advocate for those advocating bigger government, higher taxes, progressive policies … or most Democrats in general, I was not looking forward to the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the… »
01/22/21: Tech Friday: Look what arrived this week – the Wyze Cam 3
It was back in November when everyone was Black Friday shopping for gifts or ording Cyber Monday items … that is when the inexpensive security camera company Wyze, sent me an email about their new camera and motion… »
01/21/21: We love having our photo albums on the Echo Show #TBT
Both Brenda and I enjoy the hundreds (if not thousands?) of photos from our albums and digital archives that I’ve uploaded to the the photo section of the Amazon Prime storage cloud. We likely enjoy it more since it… »
01/20/21: Question: Can I get the COVID-19 vaccine in Ohio yet?
While talking with a customer on the phone today and talking about when I’ll be traveling to NE Ohio again, they asked me when they could get the Covid-19 vaccine? See Covid-19 Vaccination Program – LINK. So I… »
01/20/21: Woodworking: Collecting workbench hold-down ideas
It is common when woodworking on a bench to use some kind of vise or clamp to hold down a work piece. For longer boards I’ve always used either a couple of clamps on each end or my home-built vise and square hardwood… »
01/19/21: The US trend is politically left as opposing voices are squelched
It’s not “breaking news” that we live in a changing United States of America or that propaganda and control over speech is being used to steer large swaths of the population towards leftist ideology … but what… »
01/18/21: Music Monday: Early Pure Prairie League and Vince Gill
I’ve always enjoyed the Ohio-founded group called Pure Prairie League and most of their albums, as well as the other groups from their era who blended popular rock with the country music sound (including NGDB). For… »
01/17/21: Adding and storing cordless power tools and lithium batteries
In keeping up with lithium battery powered tools, those of us who have married into a brand have our reasons (battery warranty in my case).In reading most of the comparison literature and write-up websites, Price and… »
01/16/21: The wire from the TV signal box is now in the basement ceiling
My wife is great … and her decorating and building taste as to what “looks” nice grows on a person after nearly 40 years of marriage … but I still grumble about some of the decision she makes. One of them was… »
01/15/21: Tech Friday: Increased memory cheat on a smallish web server
Years ago when RAM was expensive, it was common to set up a SWAP space file for additional memory on computers and servers with plenty of fast hard drive space … especially when speed was not as important as… »
01/14/21: A bit disappointed in the 2021 LSSU’s Banished Words List
One of my favorite January traditions is looking at the Lake Superior State University’s Banished Words listing that get posted on December 31. I can’t believe LSSU has been doing it since 1976 and it is fun to… »
01/14/21: A Toyota 4Runner window sticker and missing a photo #TBT
While shuffling through a bunch of old scans and photos and uploading stuff to my Miami University .EDU Google Drive account for free cloud storage after downgrading my subscription to OneDrive (they refused to renew… »
01/13/21: Archive: On January 6, 2021, my nephew Ben, Emily, Liev and Ellis welcomed beautiful baby Lyra Eileen Skinner into the world
We don’t see my nephew and his family nearly enough, but a week ago, my nephew Ben, his wife Emily, and their two boys, Liev and Ellis welcomed a beautiful baby girl into the world. The boys baby sister, and Ben and… »

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March 2021

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