Off-Road, No Charger; Hope for the Waterless; Airport 2035; Sophisticated Engines, Catastrophic Failures

Start with a trail-ready EV that looks unstoppable—then ask the tough questions about energy. We break down the Vanderhall Brawley GTS: quad motors, a climate-controlled cabin, and a 40 kWh pack promising 140 miles. It’s exciting on paper, but what happens when the temperature drops, the trail gets tough, and there’s no charger for days? We explore the real challenges of off-road electrification and the planning mindset that can make or break an adventure.

The conversation shifts to water scarcity, where headlines and worries often overshadow engineering. Desalination has a reputation for damaging oceans, yet modern diffuser design, deep-water siting, and careful monitoring tell a different story. With the Carlsbad plant producing about 54 million gallons daily and multi-year studies showing healthy local waters, desalination seems less like a villain and more like a vital tool alongside conservation and reuse. Agriculture still consumes 70% of the world's freshwater; bridging that gap requires all of these solutions.

Next, we step into the airport of the future. Imagine seamless check-in, smart baggage that actually reaches the right plane, and biometric gates that eliminate lines. Personalized signage could guide you in your language from curb to seat. It’s efficient—and a bit uncanny. We weigh the convenience benefits against privacy, bias, and the risk of over-personalization. The key is invisible automation below the surface that reduces stress without turning terminals into surveillance zones.

We finish with the mystery of modern engine failures. Today’s aluminum, turbocharged, tight-tolerance powertrains deliver incredible efficiency—but they’re much less forgiving. Tiny machining debris, called swarf, can turn thin oil into grit, leading to recalls across major brands. We explain the physics, manufacturing challenges, and owner habits that matter: correct oil specifications, timely changes, and patience during warm-up. Precision drives the power; cleanliness keeps it going.

If this mix of advanced tech, real-world data, and practical insights hits your brain just right, follow The TechMobility Show, share it with a friend, and leave a review. Your feedback helps us go deeper into the stories that shape how we move—and how we live.

Chapters

• 1:19 Introducing the Vanderhall Brawley GTS
• 13:47 Desalination Explained: Modern Engineering, Water Scarcity, and Agricultural Demand
• 22:21 The Airport of the Future: Biometrics, Smart Baggage, and Privacy Concerns
• 33:21 Swarf Happens: The Microscopic Metal That’s Killing Modern Engines

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:07

Welcome to the Tech Mobility Podcast. Brought to you by Playbook Investors Network. Your strategic partner for unstoppable growth.

SPEAKER_01: 0:15

Visit pincommunity.org to get started. I'm Ken Chester. On the Docket. The realities of modern desalinization, the future of commercial airports, and power failure. The why behind massive engine recalls. To join the conversation, be to ask a question or share an opinion, or even suggest a topic for future discussion, call or text the Tech Mobility Online, that number, 872-222-9793, or you can email the show directly. Talk at techmobility dot show. For those of you who enjoy Substack, you can find me there too. At Ken C Iowa. That's K-E-N, the letter C I O W A. I am a proud member of the Iowa Writers Collaborative, and you should come check us out. From the Tech Mobility News Desk, I'm reporting on another manufacturer of an EV vehicle. The company is called Vanderhal Brawley, or I'm sorry, Vanderhal Motorworks, and the vehicle in question is called the Vanderhal Brawley GTS, and it's an EV. But it's no ordinary EV, it's an off-road EV. It's designed to be off-road. Now, at first blast, you might say, this sounds very British, Ken. Is this a British company? No, actually, it is not. Little history. Vanderhal Motorworks is an American vehicle manufacturer based in Provo, Utah, and it manufactures handmade three-wheel autocycles designed for sports driving, touring, community, and city driving. The power behind Vanderhal Motorworks was a fellow by the name of Steve Hall who founded it in 2010. He had been a CAD designer at Novatec, and he spent five years prototyping before offering his designs to the public. Each of these designs that he submitted and got approved by both NHTSA and EPA certification, which is required before you can sell it, happened in 2016. Initially in 2016, he offered three auto cycle vehicles: the Laguna, Laguna Sport Premium, and the Laguna Bespoke Motoring Experience, each featuring a 1.4-liter turbocharged GM family engine with a GM six-speed automatic transmission. And let me stop right here. That is not unusual. It makes sense for smaller manufacturers to outsource to a bigger company or a contract manufacturer the kind of stuff that would cost millions, if not billions, of dollars to develop. They developed it on their own. By buying the GM powertrain, it's already been validated, it's already been tested, it's built in volume, it's fairly reliable. He doesn't have to reinvent the wheel. You know, he may have to spend some money for software programming for the engine, but that's a few million as opposed to hundreds of millions of dollars or even a few billion to develop all that himself. He avoids having to create an engine plant, a transmission plant, because the numbers he's going to be selling at is nowhere close to even remotely close to break-even. You'd have to have to sell a minimum of a quarter of a million units to even run any plant like that. And it would take years. So to do this, and other manufacturers have done it, American Motors back in the day, they've done it. That's why in the 80s you saw Delco batteries in Toyotas and certain suspension systems from Toyota in GM vehicles. Happens. But to get back to Vanderhal Motorworks, what he's done now is he's decided to wander away from what he was doing and develop the Brawley GTS, an all-electric off-road vehicle, to customers in select U.S. regions. This is the official launch of their advanced off-road EV platform. And according to the company, the Brawly GTS is designed to set a new performance standard in the electric UTV market with enhanced power range in a premium climate-controlled cabin. And a look at it, you would call this a side-by-side in the off-road realm. And it does look like a smaller version of what you might see on the street. Four wheels, it's enclosed, it has a very high in business.

SPEAKER_00: 5:17

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SPEAKER_01: 6:18

To learn more about the Tech Mobility Show, start by visiting our website. I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. The website is a treasure trove of information about me and the show, as well as where to find it on the radio across the country. Keep up with the happenings at the Tech Mobility Show by visiting Techmobility.show. You can also drop us a line at talk at Techmobility.show.

SPEAKER_00: 6:43

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SPEAKER_01: 7:14

You have very high, I guess you would call them fenders for the mud and debris and things that you would encounter. It comes with a smallish battery. It's a 40 kilowatt hour lithium battery, and like I said, it gives you a range of 140 miles. 40 is a little bit small for a typical EV. Typically, they're 50 to 70 if it's a car, a little bit more if it's a truck, and if it's a full-size EV, probably in 100-120 kilowatt hours. It features a fully enclosed climate control cabin with seating for four adults, heating, and air conditioning. Let me stop right there. Remember, this was designed to be an off-road electric. Most of your side-by-sides that they built are open air. They're not necessarily enclosed. And I'm thinking about Polaris, I'm thinking about the Hondas, I'm thinking about those. That most of those are open air, which means if you are in the elements, sir, you are in the elements. The Vanderhal Brawley GTS is engineered for exceptional performance across diverse environments from rocky trails to sand dunes. Its quad motor system provides instant torque and acceleration, allowing for precise control and the ability to handle steep climbs and high desert, high desert, high-speed desert runs. Let me stop again. You heard me say a while back that they were using GM engines, and they did for their three wheels. This, the GTS, so we're clear, because I need to clarify this for you, has a motor at each wheel, an EV motor at each wheel. They're not using GM hardware here. This was developed by them. And that gives you incredible control. In fact, it's something that they mimic from your high-performance sports cars now that are EVs have motors at each wheel. That gives you phenomenal control, ridiculous torque, and the ability to do almost anything anywhere. My concern about this vehicle is if you are seriously going to be off-road for a while, I didn't see anywhere where it had some sort of ability to recharge in the wild, like solar panels or something like that, or even where it would have a gasoline engine designed to recharge the batteries. Which is a form of extension where the auto industry is going now, as they're rethinking EVs, they're saying we still want electric power to the ground. But in order to sustain it and still be more reasonable when it comes to climate change, if we re-engineer it so that the gasoline motor recharges the batteries and only needs to run when the batteries need to be recharged, then you're not going to run that motor as much or as often, unlike a gasoline car where it runs all the time. You're still doing EV and you're still getting it to the ground, and it gives you that safety measure of no matter where you're at or what you're in, you can always get out. With this vehicle at 140 miles of range, here's what we don't know. We don't know if the if this vehicle, it's the Brawley GTS, has some sort of preconditioning for the batteries. Why is that important? It gets cold. If you're off-road, it gets cold, it gets dank, it gets ugly. And temperatures, very hot or very cold, not only impact internal combustion engine, but really impact EVs. So is that a solid 140 with that consideration, or is it less? And if it's less, if I'm out in 40 degrees below zero wind chill out in the middle of the woods, how much range did I lose? And maybe I'm out hunting and I got this thing parked for a few days. How much did I lose with it just sitting there as I left base camp and came back? And what kind of options do I have to get out of it? Those are my questions. And the reason why I ask these questions is because the starting price for this vehicle is$49,950, which is a pretty good piece. And it says with various performance and drivability upgrades offered. And I gotta think if he's talking about drivability, it's got to be something to the effect that gives you options relative to just the EV powertrain. Because if it didn't, then going off-road, eh, I don't know. 140 miles is not that much. And right now, the way that these things are set up, extreme temperature will knock that down. So just how far and how long can I be off-road in this thing? The need for fresh water is great. Converting seawater has its advantages. You are listening to the Tech Mobility Show?

SPEAKER_03: 12:29

Can inspiration change your mood? Can luxury feel intimate and stylish? Yes. Can a 340-horsepower heavy make it move like this, drive like this, cost less than you'd expect, and still turn heads easily. The totally new Chrysler 300, starting at 23,595. Chrysler, inspiration comes standard.

SPEAKER_01: 12:56

The year was 2005, if you were wondering. And the Chrysler 300 got the nickname The Poor Man's Bentley. It was stylish, it was elegant, and it was exactly what it needed to be. Unfortunately, that was 20 years ago. And while the car got some facelifts and modifications down through the years, it didn't change that much. So by the time it went out of production a few years ago, it was pretty long in the tooth, and that's most unfortunate. Because with that car also went the brand, Stillantis thinks that they can re-establish the Chrysler brand. I'm not so sure. Because right now, all Chrysler offers with the Chrysler nameplate on it is the Pacifica minivan. That's it. If you want a brand new Chrysler today, it's going to be a minivan. That's the only model they sell. I'm rooting for them, but I'm not holding my breath. Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink. As global populations grow and climate change accelerates, water scarcity is one of the most urgent challenges of the 21st century. Desalination, the process of converting seawater into fresh water, has become a vital solution for many water-stressed regions. And as you might imagine, converting that much seawater would have negative consequences for the local ocean ecosystem in packing biodiversity, right? Maybe it's not as much as you think. This is topic A. When I think about the desalination, the art science process of converting seawater, brackish, salty, undrinkable, into fresh, drinkable, portable water, I have to think that any time you mess with the balance of nature to the millions of gallons, because we're not talking a couple, no, we're talking millions of gallons of water. I was under the mistaken impression that if you did that at scale, that for sure there would be problems with the brine that goes back in there because brine is a byproduct of desalination. As they take that salt out of the freshwater, it's got to go somewhere, they put it back into the environment they took it out of. And I would have thought, at least I did think, my assumption was that oh my goodness, this has got to be crazy. Oh, you know, you're you're playing with fire. This is not gonna go well. Not at all. But let me read you a number. As I was doing the research here, and I saw a number that kind of blew my mind, and I want to find it in this piece I've got. Oh yeah. Well, let me start with this number. Water scarcity is a present-day challenge for over 2.3 billion people worldwide. That's almost a third of the population of the world. By 2050, global water demand is forecast to rise by 55%, driven by population growth, industrial industrialization, and climate change. Traditional water sources are under immense strain, especially in arid and semi-arid regions, such as the southwestern United States, the Middle East, and the South American Pacific Coast, where climate models predict up to a 50% reduction, 50% reduction in fresh water availability by 2060. Obviously, in those areas, seawater desalination had become a vital climate-resilient solution, offering a drought-proof supply of high-quality water. And I didn't say this at the top, so let me say it right here. I am quoting from an article in Water World magazine. And you know me, I do a lot of research, I read a lot of different industry publications. Water World Magazine is an industry, water industry publication. So I'm getting this from people in the know. People that know how this works and what's going on. Here's something else you might not know. While water conservation and reuse are essential, they cannot alone reach the gap between supply and growing demand. Here's a fact that kind of knocked my socks off. Agriculture consumes 70% of global fresh water. 70%. And even aggressive conservation measures cannot offset the projected 40% shortfall in many regions. In other words, if mankind is to survive on this planet, desalinization has to be a growing part of the mix. They don't discount water conservation and reuse, that's also necessary, but you need it all. You need it all. Let me circle back to something I said earlier. I was concerned in passing about taking that much water out of the ocean and how that would mess with biodiversity of the ocean, the ecosystem in the ocean, which would mess with everything else, because we're all codependent on this planet. And if you mess with one part of it, it's gonna affect something else. This made me feel better. Again, quoting from Waterworld magazine. Modern desalinization plants employ advanced diffuser technology and leverage local oceanographic conditions to ensure rapid dilution and dispersion of the brine. They've done studies. They put these things in where you've got flow, you don't have still water, they've got deep, and that the patterns are such that it will disperse it quickly, and that any sort of negative result is temporary in nature. And as they've done studies, and they've done studies around the world for the last 30, 40 years on near desalination plants. As they got more sophisticated, it turns out that this doesn't have the impact that you would think at first blush. And that blew my mind. I'm not going to take you all the way into the weeds, because this will certainly go into the weeds, into where they're going. But I do want to do talk about a couple other things. We do have desalination plants in the United States, by the way. And actually the largest one, and you may not know this, is called the Claude Bud Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant. The largest seawater desalination facility. In the United States, and it generates portable water for San Diego County, California. How much? 54 million gallons a day. Every single day. They subjected this to studies over four years to find out what kind of impact this plant was having on biodiversity in the ocean and the ocean environment. Bottom line, they said the ocean water near the plant remains healthy with water quality consistent with regional patterns. No evidence was found that plant operations contributed to harmful algae blooms or degraded water quality. And they go on to talk about aquatic life and everything else. Bottom line, fresh water in the world is going to count on us taking more out of the ocean. As long as we do it in a responsible way, like they're doing and setting the standards, we got a chance. But it's everybody's responsibility, and I leave you with this the Colorado River, what we talked about over the last couple years, is a wake-up call. Airports have been around for a hundred years, relatively unchanged. The airport of the future will be different. This is the Tech Mobility Show.

SPEAKER_00: 21:25

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SPEAKER_01: 21:56

Did you know that Tech Mobility has a YouTube channel? Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. Each week, I upload a few short videos of some of the hot topics that I cover during my weekly radio program. I've designed these videos to be informative and entertaining. It's another way to keep up on current mobility and technology news and information. Be sure to watch, like, and subscribe to my channel. That's the Tech Mobility Show on YouTube. Check it out. The typical commercial airport's been around for about a hundred years here in the United States, and it's pretty much maintained the same layout, passenger touch points, or should I say pain points, and traffic flow. Some are reimagining the future of airports where seamless check-in, personalized terminals with a wealth of offerings, and automation what they call below the wing will be the norm. This is topic B. I think you might agree with me if you've ever traveled through a major airport, like I don't know, Chicago, O'Hare, Dallas, Fort Worth, LAX in Los Angeles, Boston's Logan Airport, heck, even Detroit Metro, I'll throw that in for good measure. If you, or Atlanta, I forgot about Atlanta. If you've traveled through any of those airports, you know how crazy it is. Trying to get from point A to point B. And I don't know about you, but it seems like for me, every single time I've got to make a connection at a busy airport, which out of Des Moines is anywhere I want to go, I've got to make a connection. My gate is on the other side of the airport almost always. So I got to deal with all of this and still make it in time, and it can't be stressful. Now, across the world, airports are reimagining what they are, what they could be, and how to make the experience less stressful, not only for people that are passing through, but trying to make it a destination itself for folks that even live in that community to come to the airport, even if you're not flying. This is where they're going. I can tell you here in Des Moines, we are in the middle of a 10-year project to totally reimagine our airport. They're spending millions of dollars. It's going to take years. We're the first two to three years into this so far. We got seven or eight more years to go before it has evolved. I can tell you here, again, using Des Moines as an example, how far it has evolved since I started flying back in the 80s out of here. That airport that we flew out of in the 1980s and the airport today in Des Moines, for example, looked nothing like each other. Yet, a lot of the same drama, you still got to press your way to the gate, you still got to go through the checkpoints, the security checkpoints, you still got to go through all of that. That hasn't changed. But they're talking about differences. Imagine walking into an airport and not waiting in line for anything. Your bags, to the extent that you have checked them, will be picked up by automated devices that can seamlessly deliver them to the aircraft or the baggage handling system. And may I add that it gets to the right plane at the right time going to the right destination. Imagine. One of the most stressful parts of the airport experience is security. Particularly if by the time you get done taking out your computer, taking off your belt, taking off your shoes, going through, standing with your hands over your head and coming out and saying, no, we still need to wind you down. That could be stressful. Particularly if you're in a hurry. Imagine this. In the future, it may not be necessary to stop at all. Biometrics will mean that your face is your new ID. No more physical documents like boarding passes or passports. And that would be true for check-in, security, and boarding. And I don't, you know, you know, I got questions about that. Because right now, the face recognition systems that they have available, some are flawed to the point where law enforcement will not use them. And in some, in some jurisdictions, by law, have been prohibited to use them because of the false positives. Can you imagine the new kind of problem? Because you kind of look like somebody else, but the face software says you're that person and not who you are. Can you imagine other folks getting now, maybe cosmetic surgery, to look like somebody else? Oh boy. But I digress. On the note of personalized terminals, a personalized terminal. The question is, how do we do more to create a personalized passenger experience? And while we all want something different, not just how you shop, but the items you want to purchase, but even how you want the information presented to you. This is something what I'm about to say is smack out of, and I keep coming back to this movie that was 20 years ago, but so much in that movie we're dealing with now. Minority report. Why? Why do I say that? When you're in the terminals, the signage will be completely personalized. The departure screen will know it's you. It'll reference you by name. Signs that know exactly where you're going will point you in the right direction, whether to a restaurant, club, or the gate. It will be in your language, whatever country you're in. It will help you navigate from the time you enter the airport and the time you board your flight. Um, is it anybody else besides me that thinks this is kind of creepy? Because again, I see in the minority report, that's exactly what it was doing. It was identifying, it was reading faces and identifying and projecting personal messages to the specific passengers as they walked by. Yikes. The folks envisioning this stuff says you can see airports helping with a ton of wayfinding. For example, AI can be used to make digital signage in the language of choice of the individual traveler, as opposed to in just two languages, English plus whatever the local language is. AI can digitize and personalize that and deliver a very specific experience if, say, you want your journey to be entirely in Turkish, German, Chinese, or whatever your preferred language is. Hmm. They go on. And oh, by the way, this is a white paper from McKinsey and Company. And you know from time to time I will reference them because they're kind of a think tank. They kind of take subjects and they think about what it could look like, what the future might be on different subjects. Here they're talking about the future of airplane travel and your interaction with a commercial airport in the future. My problem, and I gotta stop here, I do, is this I understand the attempt at goodwill, particularly. I've traveled overseas, and it's a challenge if you don't speak the language to find your way this and that, particularly if those instructions are not in English. There was one trip where I traveled to Sweden, Germany, Italy. Same trip. Can you imagine trying to figure out language in each? Thank God each of them offered at least English. But what if I wasn't English? That could be a problem. However, while they can do it, I don't trust AI enough yet. Just dumb. Because it can go weird from time to time. So I'm not sure I'm ready for it to get to a personalized experience. As a matter of fact, with all the pressure I'm under trying to travel, let me alone. I want to know where the gate is, I want to know where in terminal, I want to know what time it leaves. That's all I want to know. If I can get a cup of coffee that's decent, I'm good, that's it. That's it. But they want to do all this and fancy stuff. Below the wing. AI automating and taking over a lot of the behind-the-scenes process, baggage handling, tickets, all of that. That needs to be done. And it needs to be some help there. And anything that will help that get better, I'm all for. But Airline of the Future is going to be real different from the way you're traveling now. And I'm not talking 20 years. It could be as little as five or 10. They're building those airports right now. Today's internal combustion engines are power dense, fuel thrifty, and prone to fail. We explain what's going on next. We are the Tech Mobility Show.

SPEAKER_02: 31:22

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SPEAKER_01: 31:54

To learn more about the Tech Mobility Show, start by visiting our website. Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of The Tech Mobility Show. The website is a treasure trove of information about me and the show, as well as where to find it on the radio across the country. Keep up with the happenings at the Tech Mobility Show by visiting TechMobility.show. That's Techmobility.show. You can also drop us a line at talk at Techmobility.show.

SPEAKER_00: 32:25

In business, opportunity doesn't wait, and neither should you. At Playbook Investors Network, we connect visionary entrepreneurs with the strategies, resources, and capital they need to win. Whether you're launching, scaling, or reimagining your business, our network turns ambition into measurable success. Your vision deserves more than a plan. It deserves a playbook that works. Playbook Investors Network, where bold ideas meet bold results. Visit pincommunity.org today.

SPEAKER_01: 32:56

Did you know that Tech Mobility has a YouTube channel? Hi, I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. Each week, I upload a few short videos of some of the hot topics that I cover during my weekly radio program. I've designed these videos to be informative and entertaining. It's another way to keep up on current mobility and technology news and information. Be sure to watch, like, and subscribe to my channel. That's the Tech Mobility Show on YouTube. Check it out. The automotive industry's decade-long push for cleaner, more fuel-efficient engines has created an unintended consequence. Vinicky engines that are far less tolerant of manufacturing imperfections that older engines could survive. Independent of sophisticated engineering. There's one reason for the dramatic increase of modern engine failures. And this is topic C. There is a reason why the 300 CID 4 Straight 6, the Chevy 327 V8, the Chrysler 225 Slant 6 were indestructible. None of those engines were particularly sophisticated. Matter of fact, by today's standards, their horsepower output was incredibly low. But they ran. And they ran. And they ran. You could run them on almost no water, they ran. You ran them on almost no oil, they ran. Why is that? Well, let's start with their basic construction. Those engines I just mentioned had a cast iron block. Cast iron holds heat, doesn't warp, and it's heavy. But those heavy engines could take a lot of imperfections. Also, back in the day, we ran motor oil. We were running 1030, 1040 back then. It is a thick oil compared to today. My aluminum turbo 1.5 liter Chevy Equinox engine runs on its 020, 0W20. It's a thin, thin oil. And my engine is aluminum, not iron. Again, to save weight. Those two things make it less susceptible. Problem with aluminum, it's great for emission control because it can warm up real fast, cool off real fast, so they can control emissions, particularly coal start emissions. But they don't take to overheating very well. If you have a water problem in today's engines, you're going to warp it and you've got an expensive doorstop. With everything that the automakers are doing, they want these things power dense. I mean, give me an example. Back in the day, well, shoot, I'm going to go back 20 years. 20 years ago, a 5.7-liter V8 engine that would be, I'm sorry, a 5.3 liter V8 engine that would be in a GM half-ton pickup generated 305 horsepower. Fast forward, a 3-liter Ford V6 that goes into a Mustang generates that now. Back in the day, you were lucky to have V8 that was getting in the low to mid-hundreds, maybe 175, 200 horsepower. And that was a good mid-sized engine. Of course, you had bigger block engines that did more. Today, I can point to a Volkswagen 1.8 liter or two-point liter four-cylinder turbo generates 180 to 200 horsepower out of a four-cylinder mill. They've gone to turbocharging to boost the output. Problem is, as they've engineered these engines with tighter clearances, thinner oil, there was less room for mistakes. Everything had to be perfect. Enter in something called SWAT. SWAF is the small, small, small, almost infinitesimal machine bits of process of engine manufacturing. The grinding, the polishing, the manufacturing, the trimming. These are not necessarily particles you can see. That swath in these engines with the closer tolerances than the old engines, the thinner oil than the old engines. And now causing, if any of that gets caught in those little areas, it's like sandpaper and grit. And they fail. GM recalled. Let me give you the exact number. I think it was 600 and some odd six seven hundred and twenty-one thousand L87, six-point liter, V8 engines. SWAF. When you have an engine that is manufactured to that tight a tolerance, you can't have anything nasty in the oil. You can only do so much with polishing and everything, but it's the microscopic stuff that they're not seeing, that they're not catching in the machining and everything that is causing these very tight tolerance engines to fail. These engines are a sophisticated wonder in terms of they're able to give you horsepower and fuel economy. But the problem is, the downside is they are very precise. And they don't take in they don't take imperfection real well. Miss some swath, and it's like putting a bunch, you might as well dump sand in your engine. Because that's what's going to happen. That is what's happening. It reduces these bearings of sandpaper and they cease. Because these moving parts ain't supposed to touch. And when you've got tolerances that tight with oil that thin. And I ain't even begun to talk about typical American habits. We don't like to change our oil. So let's just assume that the automaker's done their part. These engines are so finicky now, if you are not on top of your oil changes, you're running the risk of blowing a motor eventually anyway, because it can't tolerate that level of dirt and contamination in the oil. The oil filter will only do so much. What does it do when it's full? Here's something you might not know that automakers do in their engines and transmissions. And I didn't notice this until recently. Do you realize that in every single one there's a small magnet on the inside? That magnet's job is to catch all these little shavings and metal particles that are unseen to the naked eye, that may be lurk in the oil, washed free as the engine gets up to running temp and gets broken in over time. But even those little magnets don't catch everything. Swath. Swaff. And if you're wondering, it ain't just GM. I got a whole list here from automotive news. Toyota had the problem with their V35A V6 twin turbo. Hyundai, five billion dollars for their Theta 2, Gamma, and new engines that go back almost 10 years. Honda, 250,000 of their J-35 V6s for the last two model years. Ford, they've had problems with connecting rod failures, oil leaks, and faulty fuel injectors. 700,000 vehicles. Even Stellantis, 112,000, 589,000 turbo four-cylinder engines, 23 to 25 Jeeps. It is not restricted to an automaker. The problem is the manufacturing processes and the fact you've got so many suppliers involved is not keeping up with the technical sophistication of the motors and the fact that it literally, literally, literally almost requires a clean room to put them together. They're not getting all these little remnants. Thicker oil could help. And in some cases, particularly for the GM models, that's what they're doing. But clean oil is the way, folks, and paying attention, it will lessen the chances, but may not always prevent them. And the automakers are scrambling right now to correct the problem. Swath and thin oil. Who knew? Who knew? That's where we are on all this that you've read about recently.

SPEAKER_02: 41:49

This is the Tech Mobility Podcast.

SPEAKER_00: 41:54

Every great business starts with a spark, but taking it to the next level takes strategy, connections, and capital. That's where Playbook Investors Network comes in. We're your strategic partner for accelerating growth, navigating challenges, and capturing market opportunities before your competition does. Your business is more than an idea. Let's make it an impact. Playbook Investors Network. Your future starts here. Learn more at pincommunity.org.

SPEAKER_01: 42:26

To learn more about the Tech Mobility Show, start by visiting our website. I'm Ken Chester, host of the Tech Mobility Show. The website is a treasure trove of information about me and the show, as well as where to find it on the radio across the country. Keep up with the happenings at the Tech Mobility Show by visiting Techmobility.show. You can also drop us a line at talk at Techmobility.show.

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You've got the drive. Now you need the right partner to make it happen. At Playbook Investors Network, we power ambitious leaders with the tools, insight, and investment connections to move faster, grow stronger, and lead markets. We're more than advisors, we're your co pilots in success. Because in business, standing still is not an option. Playbook Investors Network, fueling ambition, delivering results. Visit pincommunity.org.