Alternative Energy Policies a Boon For Inflatable Electric Car 133
Brian Stretch writes with a story about the Mini Utility Vehicle prototype from XP Vehicles, an electric car that is partly inflatable. The recent struggles of the auto industry and a political climate that supports the development of alternative energy vehicles have given the car a better chance at actually hitting the market. Quoting:
"Building a car takes many years and tens to hundreds of millions of dollars traditionally. XP is able to cut a lot of the costs and timeframe because its car has 70 percent less parts than a regular car, and the company is using novel materials that require simpler factory devices, and production and manufacturing processes that lower the cost to deploy. ... The seat is inflatable, the dashboard is inflatable, and the internal structure and carrying racks are inflatable, or a mesh suspension. Instead of requiring six-axis robots, XP uses radio frequency welders that look like giant waffle irons. The factory equipment is much less expensive and the car simply has less parts that could fail. The motors are built into the rear wheels in most XP prototypes. The first cars to reach the market will have two rear hub motors and a motor controller, that's it."
A Boon? (Score:1)
It takes certain talent to imagine a boon in inflatable cars...
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What's worse than the blue screen of death? (Score:2)
"The seat is inflatable, the dashboard is inflatable, and the internal structure and carrying racks are inflatable"
A blue screen you just reboot. Replace "Blue Screen of Death" with "I have a flat".
Mind you, many slashdotters already have experience with inflatable racks via their blow-up "girlfriends."
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It'll be fine after SP3, just in time for it to be replaced by a bloated, road-hogging monstrosity.
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I know Windows bashing is frowned on
Hi, you must be new here. Welcome to Slashdot.
Re:Holy crap..where are the mods? That was funny ; (Score:2)
I know Windows bashing is frowned on...
If you see evidence of windows bashing in your inflatable car, you've probably lost your sound system. Check the dash.
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Imagining a boon in inflatable cars is bad enough, but a boon in inflatable electric cars?!
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Could be a whoosh joke in here somewhere.
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Whoosh. ;)
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wish I had mod point, definitely funny and very subtle.
ABOUT TIME! (Score:2)
I've been discussing such ideas with a physicist friend of mine for 10 years now! He actually built structures from compressed air for fun.
30cm thick Bridges that can hold trucks using steel cables wrapped (in a pattern) around essentially a balloon. Towers.... etc.
Some company even made an inflated airplane WING! yes-- a balloon airfoil for a wing. truly impressive-- (BTW they use a fair amount of structure in the balloon-- but its less material and weight than anything conventional.)
They should do more wi
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I imagine the voltage limitation has to do with preventing arcing between the windings. But so-called "DC brushless" motors aren't DC motors in the conventional sense; they're more like 3-phase AC motors run with actively switched DC instead of AC.
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Cool. I was wondering what the limitation could be and honestly never thought about resistance being a possible limitation. I thought it might be a heat issue due to the wire being too thin or something. Perhaps its a combo of all factors?? I don't see why a coating with enough resistance couldn't be found; but its cost or size might be a diminishing return problem.
What I'd like to find is some data from somebody trying to make an ideal motor for the situation-- lighter and with less copper being better (3
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No No No. Higher voltage not more phases. Higher voltage for smaller lighter wire in the motor.
hostel to the US (Score:2, Funny)
From TFA:
all of the Lithium is located in countries that are hostel [sic] towards the U.S. - which is a bit of a problem ...
... which I guess means that they only reserve substandard accommodation for their US visitors, whereas everyone else gets 5-star. Rough deal.
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all of the Lithium is located in countries that are hostel [sic] towards the U.S. - which is a bit of a problem ...
Bolivia, China, Chile and the United States are the main sources of supply.
Just Re-Tool... (Score:2)
Brilliant!
They can expand production facilities cheaply by buying up old whoopy-cushion factories and doing minimal re-tooling! They could even re-hire the old employees, as the same skill-sets would apply!
However, I don't think I'll be the first in line to buy a new "Whoopy-Mobile". It would simply be too embarrassing to deflate at a public parking facility.
Strat
I wish them the best in their endeavour (Score:3, Informative)
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I think that no one is going to trust an inflatable car. I do like the idea of removable batteries though. I've had it myself in the past- removable batteries sold at gas stations solves the refueling and infrastructure problems with minimal investment/retooling costs. Just drop off your old battery and pick up a new one. Charging doesn't even need to be done at the station, if the power requirements are too high- ship them to a recharger and back. But something like this needs to happen- if you can
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Yes, they aren't *that* heavy. Only 50 pounds or so. But that doesn't matter- you'd be bringing your car with you when you pick it up. So you make it so they slide in and out onto a special cart, and the only lifting you need to do is onto the cart. If you're too infirm to do so, the clerk can do it. That's an easily solvable problem.
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If you have a "refueling station" where you can swap the battery for a full one, fine.
But TFA explicitly talks about taking the battery to your apartment for charging. And since we're talking about a battery pack to drive a vehicle (not just start the internal combustion engine), the battery will be a LOT bigger and heavier than a traditional car battery.
Even with modern battery technology (some Li-ion variant) I guess the battery will be at least a 100 kg (about 220 pounds) part.
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Perhaps the cart could include a scissors jack mechanism. to raise and lower the battery pack from below.
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A diy electric car using deep cycle lead acids might get 40 miles on 400lbs of batteries. The telsa roadster gets almost 300 miles on around 1000lbs of lithium-ion batteries. You wont go very far on 50 lbs of battery, even in a very light weight car.
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Car batteries are made of lead, that's why they are so heavy. These are not lead batteries.
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"have you ever tried to pick up a car battery?"
How scrawny are your arms that this is a problem for you, anyway?
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"I think that no one is going to trust an inflatable car."
Why not? As they say in the article, a good chunk of your car is now your airbag. If they're confident enough to send a door panel for the police to shoot at, and can design a car that passes crash tests *without* writing it off, it sounds like they're on to something.
This is one to watch closely I think.
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I think that no one is going to trust an inflatable car.
If they show footage of it surviving major impacts that would crush other vehicles, and surviving a full clip of AK47 ammo without bursting, maybe they might. (the bullets just go straight through, though, so you might not survive...)
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(the bullets just go straight through, though, so you might not survive...)
Of course the same can be said of many regular passenger vehicles as well.
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It's not like the frame is inflatable. The parts that are inflatable are the parts passengers' heads tend to collide with in an accident, it's probably safer if those parts are inflated rather than solid.
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I think that no one is going to trust an inflatable car.
I would. Thick material under high pressure cann be extremely strong and durable.
if the power requirements are too high- ship them to a recharger and back.
Bad bad bad bad idea. There goes your carbon/energy savings. Now we have semis shipping depleted batteries across the country for charging. Want to know why we use power lines instead of semi-shipped batteries to power our homes? It's vastly more efficient.
Your right that this is important, but either charge overnight at the station or, if necessary, string more powerlines. If you have to burn diesel fuel to charge a battery at
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I for one would be rooting for them!
Aww, come on. This is soo obviously a fake. Read the article again, without i-wish-this-to-be-true-goggles.
An inflatible car that survives crash tests. A bullet proof car at less than 1.400 lbs. "The dashboard is a preinflated airbag that has a rear projection screen." With an OLED video screen. And all that with a cost to market of $70m.
Yeah, right.
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Why do you hate the future?
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Remove the bullet proof and it starts sounding more likely. Now note that they don't claim it's bullet proof, just that the bullets won't deflate the car like a beach ball when they go through it.
Much of the cost of developing a car is in the crash testing because they have to total the car. The XP is expected to remain serviceable after the test, so will cost a lot less to test.
The $70M probably doesn't include the cost of developing OLED projection technology itse'f, there are plenty of others who will ha
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The 4 door model Tesla Motors is working on will have removable batteries. They are working to get swap stations setup across the country.
In other news (Score:5, Funny)
Bolivia is suspected to have substantial stocks of WMDs; especially under Salar de Uyuni
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WOOOOOOOSH
less parts to fail.. (Score:4, Interesting)
never fear though - this is yet another imaginary product (they have nothing more than a computer rendering ffs), you need not fear that your car will deflate on you any time soon.
RTFA for such gem's as this "What we have discovered is that the insurance industry is not going to let electric cars run extension chords all over the place because you trip and fall" - genius, just pure genius.
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... means nothing when the few parts you do have are prone to disaster.
never fear though - this is yet another imaginary product (they have nothing more than a computer rendering ffs), you need not fear that your car will deflate on you any time soon.
Rigid Inflatable Boats (RIBs) have been around for quite some time.
Self-sealing gloop (like mountain bike tyres) FTW.
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Self-sealing MTB tires mostly don't work. They work against cactus spines and similar, but mostly nothing else. My local bike shop guy even runs normal tubes, and just scabs them every time they fail. (He doesn't sell normal tubes though... just the expensive ones. sleazy)
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If you fill it with Helium, will it float . . . ? (Score:2)
. . . maybe this is breakthrough that we have been waiting for on the "Flying Car" front?
Utah is the investment scam capital of US (Score:5, Informative)
State of Utah has more than its fair share of investment scams:
Here is one of several articles I have seen on the topic:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20070107/ai_n17107556/ [findarticles.com]
And after story about the inflatable car, I got the impression that these people were looking to scam investors, and/or the federal govt.
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Mormonism is why there are so many scams in Utah. Mormons trust Mormons. Mormons aren't all trustworthy.
Looks like a classic startup operation (Score:3, Insightful)
Develop a plan.
Execute it well.
Possibly get bought buy a larger rival. Or, the way things are going... build up resources until a 'larger' competitor with access to markets is bought.
No tears for GM or Chrysler, please; I'm a stockholder and I want to see honest, prudent, and environmentally responsible returns.
Release the Cruft.
God-speed!
I feel for the poor 6-axis robots (Score:3, Funny)
They are now too expensive as well, and their work will be outsourced to cheaper waffle irons that are presumably located somewhere in Belgium...
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They are now too expensive as well, and their work will be outsourced to cheaper waffle irons that are presumably located somewhere in Belgium...
And when the waffle irons get too expensive we'll return to Oriental [child] labour ?
new meaning to news items (Score:3, Funny)
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The car being "Un-Blown" would be worse: Think what a BB-gun or hypodermic needles would do, let alone one poke by a Laser beam!
Now really think about it... (Score:4, Informative)
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Most of the commenters seem to want a heavy, typical American concept which consumes a lot, of course. Now maybe it's a hoax, maybe not.
You're dumb. What the commenters want is to not die. Conceptually I would love to drive a tiny car like this if only I would fit in it (I am two meters tall) but realistically someone with a midsize car and no clue could come along and vaporize you. With vehicles like my super cab F250 on the road, and people who should in no wise be permitted to pilot a bicycle let alone an automobile often driving them, a small vehicle like that is mostly a pre-formed coffin.
Others are coming too. But will they be able to change US' customers mindset?
Nope. It's a chicken-and-egg situation. If you
Re:Now really think about it... (Score:4, Informative)
You know, this fallacy really needs to die. I saw a front end collision between a Smart car and an F450, yeah that super-big thing, all decked out with rims and everything. The F450 wound up on top of the smart car. And what about the Smart Car driver? He opened his door, and walked out. The F450 driver, hospital with major injury despite wering a seatbelt.
That was the day I realized that the "big cars are safe cars" idea was a complete fraud.
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That was the day I realized that the "big cars are safe cars" idea was a complete fraud.
Big cars are not automatically safe, nor are small cars automatically unsafe. The Smart is an excellent example of a well-engineered small car. There are numerous counterexamples, however; furthermore, they are far more numerous. I have a big unsafe car (1992 F250 4x4 Diesel... although if I took a front-end from one of those in a Smart I'd be worried about ending up with an International-Navistar Diesel V8 in my mouth) and a big safe car (1982 MBZ 300SD) and prefer to have some mass and some extended crump
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1. I'd rather avoid a collision than survive it. Smaller cars tend to be easier to manuever, so...
2. Larger cars tend to cost more and have more safety features as a result. I genuinely suspect it's dollars more than intrinsic size that determine any safety advantage that larger cars have here.
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They have the size, money and production facilities to make this work. Others are coming too. But will they be able to change US' customers mindset?
I think you nailed it on the head right there- the problem isn't technology but culture. Not just the culture of the consumer either, but the culture of the company in charge. Tata is, historically, a very socially-focused company. Its historical roots are deeply intertwined with the Indian people and it shows in a lot of the work they do. Amartya Sen has an excellent essay on the history of Tata in The Argumentative Indian. Americans and American companies need to learn to dream again.
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But will they be able to change US' customers mindset?
Probably depends on the price point. People bought Pintos - even used ones. But you're right: If this isn't vaporware, these guys have a lot of social inertia to overcome. I confess I'm surprised at how much resistance there is to the idea here - the general public will probably be much harsher.
Side note: What's wrong with you people?!? One hundred and nine comments and not a single Dr. Schlock [sluggy.com] reference?
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But will they be able to change US' customers mindset?
Absolutely not. Nobody is going to put their family in this inflatable go kart deathtrap; it would be humiliating to drive such a crappy little car. Americans prefer a larger, heavier, and safer vehicle (preferably stylish too although that is not always possible) above fuel economy. Do we complain about higher fuel prices? Sure we do. Is it enough to get us out of our SUV family haulers or large sedans? Of course not. The problem with the small-car people is that all of their arguments are bunko for the ty
That's 'fewer' parts, not 'less'... (Score:2, Funny)
So go ahead and call me a grammar Nazi. At least I'm not the illiterate clot.
Mod parent up. (Score:2)
Saved me from posting the same thing.
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less
determiner & pronoun 1 a smaller amount of; not as much. 2 fewer in number
(source: Compact Oxford English Dictionary)
Sounds like meaning 2 is correct in this situation. Yes, fewer is better, but I don't think less is actually incorrect.
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So go ahead and call me a grammar Nazi. At least I'm not the illiterate clot.
Screw the grammar, how about the spelling in the article?
"What we've discovered is that the insurance industry is not going to let electric cars run extension chords all over the place"
"all of the Lithium is located in countries that are hostel towards the U.S."
...that's it (Score:2)
The first cars to reach the market will have two rear hub motors and a motor controller, that's it.
You mean there is no batteries ? ;-)
Definitely a babe magnet (Score:4, Funny)
My inflatable date will just love it.
Does it run Linux? (Score:2)
No, seriously, there's no bloody way I'm getting into a car with a control system running Windows. I don't want the dashboard telling me "A fatal exception has occurred...".
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dude2: Oh my god! Are you OK!?
dude1: No, I meant.... Oh nevermind.
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I'm just imagining when a new skin turns out to have a virus. Every so often your speedometer pops up with "Your system is infected with 69 viruses, please purchase Antivirus 2009 to correct"
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A clever virus would just up your speed a few mph so you get ticketed frequently.
sorry, not going to change the world (Score:2)
The problems with fuel cells are numerous. Where do yo
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Do not say stupid things like "11th most numerous element in the ocean". (a It's a pain in the ass to extract the first two. (b relative abundance != abundance, and (c it's meaningless to determine how easy it will be to extract.
A much better number would be .1 to .2 parts per million (source: wikipedia). So to obtain 1 kg of lithium, you'd only have to process 5,000,000-10,000,000 kg of seawater. Gee, I wonder why no one is doing this?
Speaking of innovative body construction and drive (Score:3, Funny)
Speaking of innovative body construction and drive train technology, here [amazon.com] is car which is constructed almost entirely of injection molded parts, and whose biomass powered drive train qualifies it as a zero emissions vehicle.
On top of that, it has that elusive quality that makes a car a hit: style. Within the target market segment, its appeal is undeniable. Best of all, it's not a concept car. You can buy it today.
These guys have read way too much Sluggy Freelance (Score:1)
The web comic Sluggy Freelance ( http://www.sluggy.com/ [sluggy.com] ) has had an ongoing character for years that developed all sorts of inflatable tech. I was halfway expecting to see the name Dr. Schlock in the article.
Dave.
Badly Faked (Score:5, Insightful)
The pictures in the linked article are of a 2003 model MCC Smart [wikipedia.org]. It's been stretched out a bit, they didn't even bother to make the wheels fit into the wheelarches after stretching!
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Power is not measured in kWh... (Score:2, Interesting)
OK. The dashboard _concept_ is "interesting" but (Score:2)
is this really a need crying out to be filled? I thought a smart car was already plastic hung on a metal frame. Maybe for things like the seats materials science could come up with a durable and rigid foamed substance that was still light but wasn't actually inflatable? Same for the dashboard. Why not a rigid material?
The strongest parts of a car are it tires (Score:2)
I would rather like ... (Score:2)
I would rather like to have a RealCar.
I will read the article now.
Microsoft XP Vehicle (Score:2)
If it is so enery efficient, what will we sell? (Score:1)
Phase 3 -> Profit
I guess we will have to charge for the air to inflate the vehicle's parts!
-PIT
You just know.. (Score:2)
...It will be coolest to have a car that's partly deflated.
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Or be in when it goes "blue screen"...
Re:Just don't buy the upgrade (Score:5, Interesting)
Or be in when it goes "blue screen"...
Well, it does make prominent use of Microsoft Sharepoint, so color me skeptical on this point too.
[the] XP [car -edited] is basing its collaborative space around the Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server and also partnering with Autodesk
Too bad. Otherwise, I like the concept & business-model. I guess I'll have to wait for the open-source linux model to be developed. But as someone else commented, there's a so many Microsoft buzzwords thrown around, this could just be a hoax. The CEO's name is Redmond, and they use SharePoint prominently, and they make cars too? I'd like to see a prospectus.
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It may be legit, vaporware [wikipedia.org] so far but legit; if they get it into production, perhaps the DNF [wikipedia.org] should examine the operation!
Parent is making a reference - This is a Hoax? (Score:5, Insightful)
Doesn't this sound like a hoax? The CEO is named Redmond. The Car is called the XP. "XP started out with an investment from Microsoft, which offered a majority of its software products and a very large number of its licenses to build some process management." Aren't these some sort of reference to eXtreme Programming and and Windows XP?
Are they going to come out with a Sport Utility model called the eXtreme? Will the next models be called the Vista and the Seven?
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If they do I'm certain the XP model is going to be around for a veeery looong time.
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If they're gonna run Windows XP on it, better be XPe, just to be safe.
I sure hope it's not going to be internet-connected.
Anyone think it can be used to run *nix?
because just imagine it, riding your brand-new inflatable car to your wife then... it turns blue with 0x7B errors... lol
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From their website [myxpcar.com]. If you don't feel like reading the answer, it's "we haven't got one to show you".
Q. Where can I see one of your cars?
A. It takes many years and tens of millions of dollars to create a domestic automobile for the retail market. Our competitors, are, in many cases, showing "mock-ups" of cars they hope to raise funding for. When we have spent the time and the money on a real car, we will show that car to our customers. We may allow some documentation of our mock-ups but we will not represen
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From their website [myxpcar.com]. If you don't feel like reading the answer, it's "we haven't got one to show you".
Q. Where can I see one of your cars?
A. It takes many years and tens of millions of dollars to create a domestic automobile for the retail market. Our competitors, are, in many cases, showing "mock-ups" of cars they hope to raise funding for. When we have spent the time and the money on a real car, we will show that car to our customers. We may allow some documentation of our mock-ups but we will not represent those efforts as engineered, market ready vehicles.
That sounds suspiciously like some of the Agile programming stuff...
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Even if they are serious (Score:3, Interesting)
I doubt their ability to build the car, considering that they obviously don't understand the difference between power and energy. From the table in TFA:
-"Available power" given in kWh
-and three rows below a "hybrid power" for the Volt that is completely meaningless, considering that the Volt drives on electric motors and only uses the petrol engine for recharging.
Unless David Mantey, Editor, PD&D has cooked up this drivel on his own. In that case I apologize to the XP Vehicles Inc. crew and David Mante
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Not only that, this car will need patches all the time.