THE MORNING RANT: Global Electric Vehicle Sales Are Collapsing & Periodic Update on Other EV Follies

Electric vehicles are a niche product with limited appeal, and it has become quite clear that massive subsidies are the only way to get their sales volume above those of other exotic and novelty cars.

EV Sales Collapse As Subsidies and Tax Credits Come to an Abrupt Halt

The global electric vehicle (EV) market is reeling from one of the most dramatic collapses in monthly sales to date, with Rystad Energy Research showing that only 672,000 units were sold in January, almost half of December 2022 sales and a mere 3% year-on-year increase over January 2022. The EV market share among all passenger car sales also tumbled to 14% in January, well down on the 23% seen in December.

Governments literally have to pay people to buy EVs. Without massive subsidization, people choose gas-powered cars. In Germany, the market share of EVs dropped from 55% in December to 15% in January when the government reduced the amount of incentives it was paying consumers to buy EVs.

Electric Car Sales Plummet in Germany Following Subsidy Cut

Registrations of new electric vehicles collapsed in Germany following cuts in buyers’ premiums at the beginning of the year. Registrations for battery electric vehicles dropped about 83 percent to 18,100 in January from 104,300 in December…
The share of e-cars fell to 15 percent in January from more than 55 percent in December, while total car registrations dropped three percent…

Why did the government cut incentives?

The government decided in mid-2022 to reduce support payments for new e-cars, arguing they had become increasingly attractive for buyers even without support payments.

That’s funny. No, EVs are not attractive without support payments. There is not enough perfume or lipstick that you can slap on EVs to make them attractive without massive government subsidization.

EV sales are collapsing in China too…

Tesla Rivals Cutting Prices Amid Major Sales Slump In China; Ford and Volkswagen Are Both Offering $6,000 Discounts on EVs

The Wall Street Journal reports that manufacturers and dealerships in China are facing a sales slump. Ford, GM, Volkswagen, and others are now running EV promotions and cutting prices.
Ford has knocked $6,000 off its Mustang Mach-E, which puts the base model at around $31,000. This came after just 84 of the electric crossovers were sold in China in January 2023, as compared to around 1,500 in December 2022.

*****

So let’s say you bought an EV thanks to the generous government subsidy. You still have to insure it.

Electric Car Insurance: Why It Costs More [Forbes – 01/04/2023]

Insuring your EV will cost you a little more than a regular car, about $100 or so per year. Maybe you’re cool with that.

But what happens if you’re in a fender bender. You better hope there isn’t so much as a scratch to the battery case.

Scratched EV Battery? Your Insurer May Have to Junk the Whole Car [Reuters – 3/20/2023]

For many electric vehicles, there is no way to repair or assess even slightly damaged battery packs after accidents, forcing insurance companies to write off cars with few miles - leading to higher premiums and undercutting gains from going electric.

Why not just replace the battery?

Battery packs can cost tens of thousands of dollars and represent up to 50% of an EV's price tag, often making it uneconomical to replace them.

In Teslas, the problem isn’t just the exorbitant cost to replace a battery, it’s also due to the structure of the car.

The new, large 4680 cells in the Model Y made at Tesla's Austin, Texas, plant, are glued into a pack that forms part of the car's structure and cannot be easily removed or replaced, experts said.

Sending low-mileage EVs to the junk yard after a minor fender bender doesn’t sound very green, does it, considering all the energy and rare earth minerals that go into assembling one EV.

Lauterwasser [of Allianz Center for Technology] noted EV battery production emits far more CO2 than fossil-fuel models, meaning EVs must be driven for thousands of miles before they offset those extra emissions.
"If you throw away the vehicle at an early stage, you've lost pretty much all advantage in terms of CO2 emissions," he said.

Total losses also tend to have an unfavorable impact on your future auto insurance rate.

*****

I get some criticism for being so persistently negative about EVs, so a little credit where credit is due. Electric vehicles are pranksters, and they can play funny gags on their drivers. As a British radio DJ found out, EVs will sometimes lock you in your own car! That’s hilarious, and you certainly don’t see gas-powered cars pulling that prank.

DJ Scott Mills Misses Holiday After Getting Locked in Car for Five Hours [The Independent – 02/28/2023]

Scott Mills has revealed that he had to cancel a holiday after being locked in his electric car for five hours.
The BBC Radio 2 DJ shared the unfortunate anecdote with listeners during Monday’s instalment of his radio show.
Mills had set off on Friday, with his fiancé, Sam Vaughan, intending to spend the weekend together in Amsterdam.
However, a flat car battery meant that Mills and Vaughan were stuck inside his car near the BBC’s Wogan House studios.
“Get in the car. Car doesn’t start. In fact, nothing works. I go to get out of the car. I can’t get out. Sam tries his door. Nothing. Also cannot leave the car.”
According to Mills, he had charged the car’s main battery beforehand, but had allowed a secondary battery to run empty.

I thought spontaneous, un-extinguishable EV battery fires were terrifying enough before I read this story. God forbid your EV locks you inside it when it catches fire.

*****

Speaking of EV battery fires…

Ford F-150 Lightning Production Halt Was Triggered By Vehicle Battery Fire [CNBC – 02/15/2023]

Ford Motor expects production of its electric F-150 Lightning pickup to be down through at least the end of next week to address a potential battery issue that resulted in a vehicle fire on Feb. 4, the automaker said Wednesday.
The confirmation of the fire and updated timing comes a day after Ford confirmed production of the highly watched vehicle had been suspended at the beginning of last week.

Ford finally resumed production of the F150 ~~Conflagration~~ Lightning in mid-March.

*****

So how is Georgia Governor Brian Kemp’s EV boondoggle coming along? As you’ll recall, he got seduced by EV startup company Rivian into promising $1.5 billion in taxpayer funded incentives for a plant in Georgia.

The good news is that Rivian is doing so poorly that the proposed plant will likely never come to pass. In 2022 Rivian formed an alliance with Mercedes that fell apart in just three months. Most famously, Rivian announced that it would be providing 100,000 electric vans to Amazon. Now it wants out of that exclusive agreement. Why would it want out? It would appear that Amazon doesn’t want all those electric vans.

Rivian Wants Out of Exclusive Amazon Electric Van Deal [The Drive – 3/13/2023]

An exclusive agreement between Amazon and Rivian for 100,000 electric delivery vans is reportedly on its way to being scrapped. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that Rivian is negotiating its way out of the deal after Amazon asked for only 10,000 electric vans this year

OK, so Rivian’s partnerships with other companies keep falling apart. But how is it doing financially?

Oh.

Rivian’s $6.4 Billion Cash Burn Might Be a Record for Startups [Wall Street Journal – 3/01/2023]

Rivian electric trucks don’t burn gas, but they sure do burn cash.
Free cash flow for 2022 ended up at a negative $6.4 billion, according to results posted late Tuesday, as Rivian lost money on each car it sold while also investing for the future.

A business that loses money on every unit sold doesn’t sound like it has a viable business plan to me, but then again, I’m no Brian Kemp.

Rivian Stuns Investors With Very Bad News [The Street – 03/07/2023]

The fear of many investors regarding Rivian is becoming a reality.

What is that fear? It’s the fear that stockholders will see their investments evaporate as the company has to keep raising more capital to outrun the cash burn the company is going through.

At the rate at which Rivian was burning cash, the question arises whether the firm will have to raise additional capital to finance its operations and expansion by the end of the year as the automaker is building a second plant in Eastern Georgia and plans to start production of a smaller, more affordable vehicle, the R2 series, in 2026.

But consumers are buying Rivians, right?

CEO RJ Scaringe was not reassuring when he admitted that the company, which manufactures the R1S SUV, the R1T pickup truck and the EDV van at its Normal, Ill., plant, may have a demand problem.

“Demand problem.” Heh.

For those who have bought Rivians, how are they doing?

Rivian Addresses Battery Issue Stranding Drivers [Teslarati – 3/22/2023]

Rivian has released an announcement regarding a battery issue that is leaving drivers stranded.
The problem was initially reported by owners on Reddit, with some being stranded by their trucks in less-than-ideal locations. Rivian announced its plan to address the issue in a Reddit post on the company’s subreddit.

I have little expectation that Rivian will still be around a decade from now. I’m most curious if there will be a big empty building in the Georgia countryside standing as a reminder of Brian Kemp’s great taxpayer fleecing, or whether Rivian will have gone under before ground is even broken.

*****

Songs of the Season

The first day of Spring was earlier this week…and the temperature dropped down into the low 20s at my Tennessee home that day. Oh well, it looks like things are about to warm up.

To celebrate the arrival of Spring, here is a beautiful arrangement of the first movement of Vivaldi’s “Spring” as performed by the Classical Concert Chamber Orchestra.

Have a great weekend.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

Posted by: Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 "They're just claiming market share!"

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, being witty and sophisticated with Ernst Lubitsch at March 24, 2023 11:00 AM (LvTSG)

2 first sponge?

Posted by: SturmToddler at March 24, 2023 11:00 AM (Mkvkw)

3 And we're off and running

Posted by: Diogenes at March 24, 2023 11:00 AM (anj39)

4 Good riddance to oversized golf carts.

Posted by: Pudinhead at March 24, 2023 11:01 AM (tiR3O)

5 SPONGE!!!

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at March 24, 2023 11:01 AM (Wnv9h)

6 6th?

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at March 24, 2023 11:01 AM (DSB5h)

7 hiya

Posted by: JT at March 24, 2023 11:01 AM (T4tVD)

8 Bring back the Steamer!

Posted by: BignJames at March 24, 2023 11:01 AM (AwYPR)

9 It looks like Toyota and Nissan will be the only auto manufacturers in a few years, since they are not discontinuing building ICE cars. The rest will be bankrupt.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 24, 2023 11:02 AM (lTGtQ)

10 I've seen the Rivian. Those vertical oval headlights are not good.

Posted by: DB - gassing the hooptie at March 24, 2023 11:02 AM (geLO8)

11 God forbid your EV locks you inside it when it catches fire.

feature, not a bug?

Posted by: kallisto at March 24, 2023 11:02 AM (dCxaZ)

12 If an EV catches fire, and you are stuck in the three hour traffic jam, can you sue the driver and/or manufacturer?

Posted by: Diogenes at March 24, 2023 11:02 AM (anj39)

13 The government decided in mid-2022 to reduce support payments for new e-cars, arguing they had become increasingly attractive for buyers even without support payments after governments around the world announced that they would be banning the sale, purchase, and use of reliable, gas powered, vehicles.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at March 24, 2023 11:02 AM (uvymP)

14 10 I've seen the Rivian. Those vertical oval headlights are not good.
----------------
It looks like a Tranimal.

Posted by: Pudinhead at March 24, 2023 11:03 AM (tiR3O)

15 Get a horse!

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at March 24, 2023 11:03 AM (DSB5h)

16 I foresee the "big 3" here in the states going down the tubes within a decade... assuming this stupidity with EV's continues.

Which might be the intent.

You'll drive nothing and be happy.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at March 24, 2023 11:03 AM (Q4IgG)

17 Bring back the Steamer!
Posted by: BignJames

Cleveland ?

Posted by: JT at March 24, 2023 11:04 AM (T4tVD)

18 Non-nooding illegitimates.

Posted by: Duncanthrax at March 24, 2023 11:04 AM (a3Q+t)

19 FIRST!!!!!

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at March 24, 2023 11:05 AM (Zz0t1)

20 My state legislators recently tried to ban the sale of EVs in the state. I think it failed, but props for the effort.

Posted by: 496 at March 24, 2023 11:05 AM (GeFyf)

21 For many electric vehicles, there is no way to repair or assess even slightly damaged battery packs after accidents, forcing insurance companies to write off cars with few miles - leading to higher premiums and undercutting gains from going electric.

If you are involved in an accident in an electric vehicle, consider yourself lucky if the battery case does not crack. If the lithium is exposed to air, it will ignite. I used to work at a place that used lithium batteries. Weekly visits from the fire department.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 24, 2023 11:06 AM (lTGtQ)

22 Get a horse!

Save a horse, ride a cowboy!

Posted by: jewells45 fuck cancer at March 24, 2023 11:06 AM (wagHN)

23 But what happens if you’re in a fender bender. You better hope there isn’t so much as a scratch to the battery case.

Governments will solve this issue by mandating armor plating for battery cases which will add 10,000 pounds to the weight of the car and prevent proles from moving outside their 5 minute cities.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at March 24, 2023 11:06 AM (uvymP)

24 Electric vehicles are a niche product with limited appeal, and it has become quite clear that massive subsidies are the only way to get their sales volume above those of other exotic and novelty cars.

Tesla wouldn't be what it is today without government subsidies. Not even close.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at March 24, 2023 11:06 AM (Zz0t1)

25 Last month's electric bill was $98.10. Just paid it this morning. I am not hooking up an EV to my house.

Posted by: rickb223 at March 24, 2023 11:07 AM (GIBR7)

26 >>Electric vehicles are a niche product with limited appeal..

Indeed, the market spoke over 100 years ago, but it doesn't matter.

The decision to "transition" the world to EV's has been made by the Global Controlling Powers outside of representative democracy and is a fait acompli, they will not allow us to turn back.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at March 24, 2023 11:07 AM (n/8Ck)

27 It would appear that Amazon doesn’t want all those electric vans.

as goes AMZ so goes the world

Posted by: kallisto at March 24, 2023 11:07 AM (dCxaZ)

28 BMW is building a battery assembly plant about a mile from my house....site prep is underway.

Posted by: BignJames at March 24, 2023 11:07 AM (AwYPR)

29 Greetings:

If Electric cars were so great, wouldn't Thomas Alva have invented them ???

Posted by: 11B40 at March 24, 2023 11:07 AM (uuklp)

30 It's Solyndra all the way down.

Posted by: Maj. Healey at March 24, 2023 11:08 AM (DMyTF)

31 Without massive subsidization, people choose gas-powered cars. In Germany, the market share of EVs dropped from 55% in December to 15% in January when the government reduced the amount of incentives it was paying consumers to buy EVs.
++++
EVs are one or two of three things: Cool, a status symbol or an in-town runabout.

Of all of these, only the third can be cost-effective. It will still cost more than gas-powered equivalent (like a 2-door Civic or similar), but not so much that there can be no market for it among people who either want an EV or who don't want fuel and maintenance costs.

But the little in-town runabout is a small minority of the market and in this country, it almost doesn't exist because "city cars" made of papier mache aren't usually street legal here.

There is only so much money people are willing to spend on cool factor or a status symbol, and it can't support a large market. The only way to get there is with subsidies that are drying up. The EV market might become two-tiered as a result. Runabouts and status symbols. The middle of the market where it is neither a status symbol nor cost-effective? It vanishes in that scenario.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:08 AM (t0OGg)

32 Not to worry, soon the government will force you to buy an EV and and sales will be up.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at March 24, 2023 11:08 AM (ncXxy)

33 they had become increasingly attractive for buyers even without support payments after governments around the world announced that they would be banning the sale, purchase, and use of reliable, gas powered, vehicles.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic

Remind me again which section of the constitution contains the paragraph giving the government the right to tell the people what they are allowed to purchase.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 24, 2023 11:08 AM (lTGtQ)

34 ICE cars and trucks will NEVER cost you $35,000 to repair like a battery car will in a decade or less. Outside of the supercar realm, anyway.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at March 24, 2023 11:09 AM (Zz0t1)

35 33 Remind me again which section of the constitution contains the paragraph giving the government the right to tell the people what they are allowed to purchase.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 24, 2023 11:08 AM (lTGtQ)

========

We have a living constitution, comrade.

But it only lives in one direction.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, being witty and sophisticated with Ernst Lubitsch at March 24, 2023 11:09 AM (LvTSG)

36 @29

>>If Electric cars were so great, wouldn't Thomas Alva have invented them ???

Fun Fact:

The first automobiles were electric.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at March 24, 2023 11:09 AM (n/8Ck)

37 More important, at their hefty price, are EVs being created that can't be broken into?

I mean these aren't cheap, so there's no reason to skimp on the impenetrable security of the car!

Posted by: Axeman at March 24, 2023 11:09 AM (krQz2)

38 Hitler literally decided everyone was going to drive the same kind of car. Didn't work out too well for him either.

Posted by: sniffybigtoe at March 24, 2023 11:10 AM (UuD2k)

39 Remind me again which section of the constitution contains the paragraph giving the government the right to tell the people what they are allowed to purchase.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 24, 2023 11:08 AM (lTGtQ)

--------
But it's for your own good! And for the children who will inherit the earth! You don't want to hurt children do you?

Posted by: 496 at March 24, 2023 11:10 AM (GeFyf)

40 Mills had set off on Friday, with his fiancé, Sam Vaughan, intending to spend the weekend together in Amsterdam.
___

Is Sam short for Samuel or Samantha?

Pro-tip> fiancé is masculine, fiancée is feminine.

Posted by: Chuck Martel at March 24, 2023 11:10 AM (fs1hN)

41 I thought spontaneous, un-extinguishable EV battery fires were terrifying enough before I read this story. God forbid your EV locks you inside it when it catches fire.

Feature. Not bug.

-- Klaus Schwab

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at March 24, 2023 11:10 AM (uvymP)

42 38 Hitler literally decided everyone was going to drive the same kind of car. Didn't work out too well for him either.
Posted by: sniffybigtoe at March 24, 2023 11:10 AM (UuD2k)

=======

It was the people's car.

Also, Hitler was a small government libertarian.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, being witty and sophisticated with Ernst Lubitsch at March 24, 2023 11:10 AM (LvTSG)

43 Its mostly an upper middle class thing.

You buy a 75-100K car and get a tax break. Tax breaks for almost everything benefit the upper middle class.

Posted by: MJ at March 24, 2023 11:10 AM (zwDuR)

44 Okay for Rivian and "Tesla rivals."

How are Tesla sales doing?

Posted by: MartynWW at March 24, 2023 11:11 AM (Ur3df)

45 EV sales are collapsing in China too…
++++
The CCP sunk vast amounts of money into "new energy vehicles" and they have proliferated in Red China as a result. The problem is that it's a shell game, as it always has been. Former sales numbers were ... massaged quite a bit. They do sell and continue to sell in Red China, but there are gigantic subsidies (usually hidden) to enable it, and those are running out as that country starts running out of money. The money for subsidies is vanishing under the weight of overcorrection and outright corruption and theft (a lot of the latter), and the money for purchasing in the auto market in general is declining as the various economic crises (real estate, export production, banking, etc.) unfold.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:11 AM (t0OGg)

46 And again, it doesn't matter.

"Washington state to ban sales of new gas cars by 2035, following California

Massachusetts has also said it will follow California’s lead and more states are likely to. New York and Pennsylvania are among 17 states that have adopted some or all of California’s tailpipe emission standards, which are stricter than federal rules."

https://tinyurl.com/2zjntqo3

This is a done deal. They couldn't care less if you aren't buying them now. You WILL buy them because it's all they're going to make, because f*ck you.

And not one single politician is moving to stop it. The opposite, matter of fact. Republicans are crowing about how awesome it is that EV stuff is being built in their states, and giving tax breaks to the companies.

Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:11 AM (O69GV)

47 >Remind me again which section of the constitution contains the paragraph giving the government the right to tell the people what they are allowed to purchase.

Posted by: Thomas Paine

I'm no expert, but it seems the Commerce Clause has been interpreted by the courts to incorporate and determine all human activity

Posted by: DB - gassing the hooptie at March 24, 2023 11:11 AM (geLO8)

48 Songs of the Season

Time of the season for loving?
https://youtu.be/RBxK3CcOQD8

Posted by: The Zombies at March 24, 2023 11:11 AM (JCZqz)

49 Fun Fact:

The first automobiles were electric.

Posted by: Thomas Bender

That is correct. Then they were quickly replaced by a far superior and more efficient product.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 24, 2023 11:12 AM (lTGtQ)

50 Hitler literally decided everyone was going to drive the same kind of car. Didn't work out too well for him either.
Posted by: sniffybigtoe at March 24, 2023 11:10 AM (UuD2k)
---
No, the Volks Wagen was designed kinda like the Model-T, to be a dependable, affordable car for anybody making a blue-collar income.

Posted by: Axeman at March 24, 2023 11:12 AM (krQz2)

51 46 This is a done deal. They couldn't care less if you aren't buying them now. You WILL buy them because it's all they're going to make, because f*ck you.

And not one single politician is moving to stop it. The opposite, matter of fact. Republicans are crowing about how awesome it is that EV stuff is being built in their states, and giving tax breaks to the companies.
Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:11 AM (O69GV)

=======

Meh. They'll repeal or ignore it by then.

Banning something 12 years from now is theater. Call me when a blue state bans ICEs with a bill that goes into effect Jan 1 the following year.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, being witty and sophisticated with Ernst Lubitsch at March 24, 2023 11:12 AM (LvTSG)

52 My response after reading this juicy post chock full of i formation I plan to share with the EV evangelists in my circle... (Nicholas Cage meme) "YOU DON'T SAY?"

😁

Posted by: Chairman LMAO at March 24, 2023 11:12 AM (ssESX)

53 Governor Ron DeSantis Awards More Than $68 Million for Electric Transit Buses

Trump hates EV's. Thinks they are a total scam and do nothing for the environment.

Posted by: Maj. Healey at March 24, 2023 11:12 AM (DMyTF)

54 Like gas powered car manufacturers when the technology was starting, you will have many companies going the ev route. Many will fail, some will succeed. To me the big difference is that governments around the world are pushing evs big time. There will be way too many start-ups which will lead to a high number of failed companies. So many lost dollars to investors whether private or people investing in stocks. How many of them will be allowed to go under or will governments start propping them up with tax dollars? And yes I foresee some companies being to big to fail.

Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at March 24, 2023 11:12 AM (2NHgQ)

55 I'm no expert, but it seems the Commerce Clause has been interpreted by the courts to incorporate and determine all human activity

Posted by: DB - gassing the hooptie at March 24, 2023 11:11 AM (geLO

---
Unfortunately, you are correct.

Posted by: Axeman at March 24, 2023 11:12 AM (krQz2)

56 But the little in-town runabout is a small minority of the market and in this country, it almost doesn't exist because "city cars" made of papier mache aren't usually street legal here.
-------------
I believe BMW made a very small runabout gas car a few years ago. Smart Car or something like that. It was kind of cool but it was nothing more than redo of the original Honda, VW, Reneaut - an air cooled motorcycle engine with a body around it. Been done before - will be done again.

Posted by: Pudinhead at March 24, 2023 11:13 AM (tiR3O)

57 Sending low-mileage EVs to the junk yard after a minor fender bender doesn’t sound very green, does it, considering all the energy and rare earth minerals that go into assembling one EV.
++++
I am sure it's being reclaimed and recycled. It is almost certainly worth it to do that, so I doubt there are big sleds made of plastic-encased lithium sitting in dumps and junkyards. But it is a tremendous cost to the end user and his insurance company when a car has to be scrapped after an accident, so the stuff worth having (and that is repairable) can be painstakingly extracted and the metals recycled.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:13 AM (t0OGg)

58 EV sales are collapsing in China too…
++++
The CCP sunk vast amounts of money into "new energy vehicles" and they have proliferated in Red China as a result. The problem is that it's a shell game, as it always has been. Former sales numbers were ... massaged quite a bit. They do sell and continue to sell in Red China, but there are gigantic subsidies (usually hidden) to enable it, and those are running out as that country starts running out of money. The money for subsidies is vanishing under the weight of overcorrection and outright corruption and theft (a lot of the latter), and the money for purchasing in the auto market in general is declining as the various economic crises (real estate, export production, banking, etc.) unfold.

This reminds me of when everyone wanted to slavishly copy what the Japanese were doing, because we don't want to fall behind. Never mind if it's a good idea.

Posted by: Archimedes at March 24, 2023 11:13 AM (eOEVl)

59 I'll buy an electric vehicle when they are subsidized at 100% with a 20 year full coverage warrantee. Other than that, never.

Posted by: Reforger at March 24, 2023 11:13 AM (MnQTC)

60 Fun Fact:

The first automobiles were electric.

Posted by: Thomas Bender

Funner fact: first self propelled vehicle large enough to transport people and cargo was steam powered in 1771 in France. By 1784, the center of in ovation had shifted to Great Britain.

So even steam beat electrical.

Posted by: rickb223 at March 24, 2023 11:13 AM (GIBR7)

61 With the subsidies and incentives everyone who wanted an EV and could afford one, got one. They don't need a new car already. I'm betting that the sales would have tanked even if the incentives stayed in place.

I can see uses. Cities would be far quieter if in-town cars were mostly electric. I don't notice how noisy it is here in down town Albuquerque because it's just a indistinct roar. But I do notice that I can't hear my car lock beep behind me if I'm more than 30 feet away when I hit my fob button. So I have to look.

But gas is simple. It's safe. It travels. It can be stored in a can. Newer cars are far more automated than they need to be. Farm vehicles, tractors and trucks can be refilled and hardly stop for 24 hours during planting or harvest. When the power goes out you can still cook. Hydrocarbons are low tech. Low tech is always more reliable.

I'm not saying that just because I'm a petroleum exploration geologist in my day job. We still use 1911, more than 100 year old technology for guns. Suppose we developed sci-fi laser blasters? Would they actually replace the simplicity of a bullet in a cartridge with a primer and a pin?

Posted by: Synova at March 24, 2023 11:13 AM (BD/yx)

62 @49

>>That is correct. Then they were quickly replaced by a far superior and more efficient product.

Adam Smith's Invisible Pimp Hand works, it really, really works.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at March 24, 2023 11:13 AM (n/8Ck)

63 Two homos locked in an EV for 5 hours? That suspiciously sounds like the plot of a screenplay written by Barack Obama.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at March 24, 2023 11:13 AM (Jg7EG)

64 Greetings!
Electric cars are not new. The Blackhawk museum has several of them from the 1910-1920 period. The manufacturer was Briggs and Stratton. They do resemble a go cart, tho'.

Posted by: gourmand du jour, waxing foolisophical at March 24, 2023 11:14 AM (jTmQV)

65 So how is Georgia Governor Brian Kemp’s EV boondoggle coming along?
____

Larry Hogan>Brian Kemp

Posted by: Chuck Martel at March 24, 2023 11:14 AM (fs1hN)

66 For many electric vehicles, there is no way to repair or assess even slightly damaged battery packs after accidents, forcing insurance companies to write off cars with few miles - leading to higher premiums and undercutting gains from going electric.
++++
The implication in this statement is "the insurance companies are responsible for this problem." That strikes me as incorrect. The insurance company is likely behaving rationally. They don't know the risks - and can't find the risks out - and so they write it off. This isn't the insurance company's fault, this is the fault of the design and the underlying technology.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:14 AM (t0OGg)

67 You VILL live in ze fifteen-minute cities, und you VILL eat ze bugz!

Posted by: Klaus "Rump" Schwab at March 24, 2023 11:14 AM (B0ahs)

68 Meh. They'll repeal or ignore it by then.

Banning something 12 years from now is theater. Call me when a blue state bans ICEs with a bill that goes into effect Jan 1 the following year.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, being witty and sophisticated with Ernst Lubitsch at March 24, 2023 11:12 AM (LvTSG)

--

Manufacturers aren't going to run two lines producing competing products for long. They're re-tooling for EVs to meet China's demands. They've been telling us for the last decade that it's happening. It's time to believe them.

Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:15 AM (O69GV)

69 Rivian's primary service to the worlds economy is that it is siphoning off and destroying some of the excess cash that is flooding the world.

Lucky coincidence?

Posted by: So, there's that at March 24, 2023 11:15 AM (7i/f5)

70 This is a done deal. They couldn't care less if you aren't buying them now. You WILL buy them because it's all they're going to make, because f*ck you.

And not one single politician is moving to stop it. The opposite, matter of fact. Republicans are crowing about how awesome it is that EV stuff is being built in their states, and giving tax breaks to the companies.

Posted by: Daddy,

I actually disagree. Once a massive number of people are told they can't buy what they want, and will be forced to buy crap, the political landscape will utterly change. If it doesn't, there isn't any point in having a country anymore.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 24, 2023 11:15 AM (lTGtQ)

71 I'm no expert, but it seems the Commerce Clause has been interpreted by the courts to incorporate and determine all human activity

Posted by: DB

The Communism Clause?

Posted by: rickb223 at March 24, 2023 11:15 AM (GIBR7)

72 Banning something 12 years from now is theater. Call me when a blue state bans ICEs with a bill that goes into effect Jan 1 the following year.

Yes, but the car companies have to plan that far in advance, and they seem to be on board with investing huge sums in this boondoggle.

Posted by: Archimedes at March 24, 2023 11:15 AM (eOEVl)

73 ... the F150 Conflagration ...

--------

LOL. Thanks for the chuckle, Buck -- I'll never be able to look at an F150 the same way again.

Posted by: ShainS -- The Abolition of The West is from Men Without Chests at March 24, 2023 11:15 AM (+lwg5)

74 36 Actually, the first automobile was steam-powered. Invented by a Frenchman named Cugnot in 1770.

Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at March 24, 2023 11:15 AM (DSB5h)

75 I thought spontaneous, un-extinguishable EV battery fires were terrifying enough before I read this story. God forbid your EV locks you inside it when it catches fire.
Posted by: Buck Throckmorton

5 hours locked in an EV in AZ, SoCal, TX, or NV will ruin your day in the summer.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 24, 2023 11:15 AM (UCiQg)

76 I'm kinda glad I missed the Art Thread this morning...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 24, 2023 11:16 AM (YIVH2)

77 Festering penis >>>Larry Hogan>Brian Kemp

Posted by: Maj. Healey at March 24, 2023 11:16 AM (DMyTF)

78 There's a couple people in my general area who bought Rivians. I laugh every time I see one of them.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at March 24, 2023 11:16 AM (uvymP)

79 Oh no...Joe Xiden hit hardest

Anyway...

Posted by: browndog Official Mascot of Team Gizzard at March 24, 2023 11:16 AM (CCSxw)

80 It looks like Toyota and Nissan will be the only auto manufacturers in a few years, since they are not discontinuing building ICE cars. The rest will be bankrupt.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 24, 2023 11:02 AM (lTGtQ)
---
I love my Nissan and will probably be driving it until I retire in 14-15 years.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 24, 2023 11:16 AM (YIVH2)

81 EVs or not, it seems they want us on foot, bike or bus. Community is everything.

Safety & Security: Drive a Hyundai or Kia? More than half a million models pose a fire risk by Albert Khoury, Komando dot com, today

Posted by: Lola - free Jacob Chansley at March 24, 2023 11:17 AM (GshMh)

82 EV sales are collapsing in China too…

--

It's almost like they've had a long game in the works since the Global Warming nonsense started up and they know they can crash the American economy, productivity, lifestyle, etc. if they can keep the facade up.

Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:17 AM (O69GV)

83 Manufacturers aren't going to run two lines producing competing products for long. They're re-tooling for EVs to meet China's demands. They've been telling us for the last decade that it's happening. It's time to believe them.
Posted by: Daddy

And when people don't buy EV's for two years, the companies file chapter 11.

After the third year of no EV sales, the companies start getting parted out.

Posted by: rickb223 at March 24, 2023 11:17 AM (GIBR7)

84 5 hours locked in an EV in AZ, SoCal, TX, or NV will ruin your day in the summer.
Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 24, 2023 11:15 AM (UCiQg)
---
So you'll be fine in NM?

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 24, 2023 11:17 AM (YIVH2)

85 The harder FedGov pushes on EV's the more people and companies are pushing back. Amazon dropping EV's is sort of a big deal. When (if) the USPS also bails on their EV's is when I think the tide really turns.

Here my thought; the push really took off back in 2021 and a lot more EV's have actually "hit the road" since the initial nudge by FedGov. With more of them in use their shortcomings are becoming obvious, and are seriously giving pause to individual buyers and outfits like Amazon.

What's troubling is the shortsightedness of major ICE manufacturers. Obviously they're getting their marching orders from FedGov, and a huge payout, but they're going to be bankrupt in less than a decade if they keep it up.

Watch for executives suddenly cashing in their retirement and fleeing the Big 3.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at March 24, 2023 11:17 AM (Q4IgG)

86 I'm on a Teams call to listen to the bigs bloviate. The new HR person is wearing a mask. Seems to be the only one.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at March 24, 2023 11:17 AM (6lj/r)

87 72 Banning something 12 years from now is theater. Call me when a blue state bans ICEs with a bill that goes into effect Jan 1 the following year.

Yes, but the car companies have to plan that far in advance, and they seem to be on board with investing huge sums in this boondoggle.
Posted by: Archimedes at March 24, 2023 11:15 AM (eOEVl)

=========

Combine that with EV sales collapsing and car companies losing billions today.

Market share is going to keep going to ICEs over the years. Toyota is going to end up completely dominating the car market while EVs continue to trudge along at the bottom of the market.

And then CA is expected to ban all the cars 12 years later? I say...let 'em do it. They won't, but keep up the promise that at some point the people won't be able to buy cars anymore.

They have a plan. It's a bad plan that won't work, though. Almost like they're being run by people who vastly overestimate their ability to control things, manage people, or predict the future.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, being witty and sophisticated with Ernst Lubitsch at March 24, 2023 11:17 AM (LvTSG)

88 No, the Volks Wagen was designed kinda like the Model-T, to be a dependable, affordable car for anybody making a blue-collar income.
Posted by: Axeman at March 24, 2023 11:12 AM (krQz2)

My first car was a 59 VW.
Great car. 36 screaming ponies in the trunk and 70 mph if you had a tailwind.

Posted by: Diogenes at March 24, 2023 11:17 AM (anj39)

89 74 36 Actually, the first automobile was steam-powered. Invented by a Frenchman named Cugnot in 1770.
Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at March 24, 2023 11:15 AM (DSB5h)

I think we should take a 2nd look at steam power. But not as the primary system. A steam system that captures the heat from an ICE engine would be an interesting experiment.

Posted by: sniffybigtoe at March 24, 2023 11:18 AM (UuD2k)

90 The new, large 4680 cells in the Model Y made at Tesla's Austin, Texas, plant, are glued into a pack that forms part of the car's structure and cannot be easily removed or replaced, experts said.

Rich Benoit's "Electrified Garage" chain actually repairs Tesla battery packs, because the cells glued in are perfectly standard and can be pretty easily replaced if you're willing to put in the labor. They also can hack the software to give you upgrades that Tesla charges a lot of money for.

Posted by: Ian S. at March 24, 2023 11:18 AM (ZGrMX)

91 I miss my Isuzu Trooper II. Best car I've ever had.

Posted by: Pudinhead at March 24, 2023 11:18 AM (tiR3O)

92 Have a friend that bought a Tesla, used. He had a flat. Only Tesla is authorized to touch the vehicle, or you void any warranty. It does not come with a spare, so you have to contact Tesla via the phone app, or car tablet app. They will RENT you a spare, take the original wheel and tire back to the dealership and put a tire on it and return it to you and take back the rental spare. IF they feel you did something incorrect, you're charged.

The whole ordeal ended up costing him around $500.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at March 24, 2023 11:18 AM (Zz0t1)

93 And when people don't buy EV's for two years, the companies file chapter 11.

After the third year of no EV sales, the companies start getting parted out.

No, they we'll get calls to bail them out because Buy American. Sooner or later, you and I will pay for this.

Posted by: Archimedes at March 24, 2023 11:18 AM (eOEVl)

94 68 Meh. They'll repeal or ignore it by then.

Banning something 12 years from now is theater. Call me when a blue state bans ICEs with a bill that goes into effect Jan 1 the following year.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, being witty and sophisticated with Ernst Lubitsch at March 24, 2023 11:12 AM (LvTSG)

--

Manufacturers aren't going to run two lines producing competing products for long. They're re-tooling for EVs to meet China's demands. They've been telling us for the last decade that it's happening. It's time to believe them.
Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:15 AM (O69GV)

Unless they all coordinate to do it at precisely the same time and also get smaller automanufacturers on board (which won't happen because there are automakers in other countries) it won't work.

All US automakers stop making ICE vehicles? Toyota and Honda eat their market share.

It requires a very effective cartel to do so, OPEC doesn't work so effectively.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at March 24, 2023 11:18 AM (eYoxG)

95 Can we rewind the Toyota exec's quote a few years ago -- when all the other big automakers were rending their clothes and devoting their lives and profitability to EVs for the sake of the planet -- and he said, "Yeah... EVs are nice and all, but the technology just isn't there yet for viability"?

Fucking genius. Or, at least based -- and brave enough to speak the truth. Maybe this will be the time the Big Three finally go down in flames, sans bailouts, and the auto industry gets a major shakeup they've needed for a century?

Posted by: red speck at March 24, 2023 11:18 AM (Ny/Va)

96 President McKinley in 1901 was first pres to ride in an EV. It was the ambulance that took him to the hospital after an assassination attempt. He would later die of gangrene.

Posted by: Rex B at March 24, 2023 11:18 AM (iNLjp)

97 A business that loses money on every unit sold doesn’t sound like it has a viable business plan to me, but then again, I’m no Brian Kemp.

---------

"Hey, it worked for Solyndra! And WTF is our bail-outs, Biden?"

Posted by: ShainS -- The Abolition of The West is from Men Without Chests at March 24, 2023 11:18 AM (+lwg5)

98 Does anyone give a flying fuck that their Dominoes pizza is delivered in an electric vehicle?

Posted by: JT Smith at March 24, 2023 11:18 AM (FxdZx)

99 Lauterwasser [of Allianz Center for Technology] noted EV battery production emits far more CO2 than fossil-fuel models, meaning EVs must be driven for thousands of miles before they offset those extra emissions.
++++
Not just EVs. Modern IC engines are *extremely* clean and efficient. The amount of pollution is tiny. The amount of emissions in production are huge. Smelting, casting, transport, machinery, etc. on into infinity takes a lot of energy.

While the transaction on a low-use EV is deeply negative from a full-system pollution standpoint, this is also true between IC vehicles. The "greenest" car on the road is usually the one kept running the longest.

My big 2006 V-8 car in good repair is, on balance, far "greener" than the midsized 2017 4-cylinder car in good repair that sits next to it in the garage. The total per-mile emissions of the entire car production and ownership cycle go down with each mile driven. The longer you can keep a car on the road - and the more miles you can rack up - the "greener" that car. Reliability and longevity, not marginal emissions control improvements, are what improve the overall energy and pollution transaction.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:18 AM (t0OGg)

100 How much does AC/heat reduce the range?

Posted by: BignJames at March 24, 2023 11:19 AM (AwYPR)

101 35 33 Remind me again which section of the constitution contains the paragraph giving the government the right to tell the people what they are allowed to purchase.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 24, 2023 11:08 AM (lTGtQ)

========

We have a living constitution, comrade.

But it only lives in one direction.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, being witty and sophisticated with Ernst Lubitsch at March 24, 2023 11:09 AM (LvTSG)

People...PEOPLE...

We are post Constitutional now. Please do stay current...

Posted by: browndog Official Mascot of Team Gizzard at March 24, 2023 11:19 AM (CCSxw)

102 Audi and BMW say they will continue to build ICE cars.
It appears they are stepping back from EV cliff.

Posted by: cccp3o at March 24, 2023 11:19 AM (DPoVk)

103 I actually disagree. Once a massive number of people are told they can't buy what they want, and will be forced to buy crap, the political landscape will utterly change. If it doesn't, there isn't any point in having a country anymore.
Posted by: Thomas Paine

--

The country that sat by and let half of all small businesses close permanently while Walmart and Amazon stayed open (to sell Chinese crap) and church doors be locked for weeks/months because some people caught a cold?

Yeah, you're 100% correct. I couldn't agree more.

Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:19 AM (O69GV)

104 @66

>>This isn't the insurance company's fault, this is the fault of the design and the underlying technology.

EV's have 800 volt rails to power the motors and regenerative breaking.

So having a short, intermittency, or possibility of an uncontained, runaway chemical reaction being kicked off should be a deal breaker in insuring any EV after any accident not matter how minor.

Could you imagine the rust and corrosion that is going to take place on a Ford F150 Lightening.

The truck is going to be a time bomb in 10 to 15 years.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at March 24, 2023 11:19 AM (n/8Ck)

105 Ford lost $2 billion on it's EV sector last year.

Posted by: sniffybigtoe at March 24, 2023 11:19 AM (UuD2k)

106 My current employer is involved in an ancillary way with electric vehicles and manufacturers.

I can tell you unequivocally that the ONLY reason companies are building EVs is for the subsidy money, and the ONLY buyers of any note are government entities.

Literally nobody is buying these because of the product quality, nor are they buying because they think it will help the planet, other than a very, very few wealthy liberals who make up a fraction of a percent of the buyers.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 24, 2023 11:20 AM (lTGtQ)

107 Does anyone give a flying fuck that their Dominoes pizza is delivered in an electric vehicle?
Posted by: JT Smith at March 24, 2023 11:18 AM (FxdZx)

Well, if the crust is burnt...

Posted by: Diogenes at March 24, 2023 11:20 AM (anj39)

108
I didn't see the article but my wife said that some parking lots/garages in Philly prohibit EVs. Insurance companies are not stupid like our politicians.

Posted by: Divide by Zero at March 24, 2023 11:20 AM (enJYY)

109 Look there's Mister Mau Mau crying like Ironeyes Cody.

Posted by: sven at March 24, 2023 11:21 AM (Lzpvj)

110 If Mitch McTurtle is still alive, I bet he and his financial advisors supports EV's.

Posted by: Maj. Healey at March 24, 2023 11:21 AM (DMyTF)

111 Suppose we developed sci-fi laser blasters? Would they actually replace the simplicity of a bullet in a cartridge with a primer and a pin?
==
Do you use a microwave to boil water or do you put a pot on the stove?

They both heat the water. If your laser does equal or parity damage, with parity range, but is recoiless, noiseless, and you don't have ammunition shortages because you can plug it into a wall outlet that will offer some serious advantages. However if you are in a fire fight and you only get six or 12 shots before you have to recharge that's a downside. You'd better make spare battery packs that are light and easy to carry, and change out for a quick reload. Genuine innovation is appreciated by the market. Gimmickery is just faddish at best.

Posted by: So, there's that at March 24, 2023 11:21 AM (fReY2)

112 Free cash flow for 2022 ended up at a negative $6.4 billion, according to results posted late Tuesday, as Rivian lost money on each car it sold while also investing for the future.
++++
The appetite for large-scale cash furnaces is going to be increasingly dampened with higher costs of capital, let alone the other economic "headwinds" in the near-intermediate term.

This is *not* the time to be in the cash furnace business. Investor credulity ain't what it once was.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:21 AM (t0OGg)

113 If you glass windshield remains shatterproof for more than 5 hours, seek help from a certified EV mechanic.

Or an escape artist with a tire iron.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at March 24, 2023 11:21 AM (Jg7EG)

114 108
I didn't see the article but my wife said that some parking lots/garages in Philly prohibit EVs. Insurance companies are not stupid like our politicians.
Posted by: Divide by Zero at March 24, 2023 11:20 AM (enJYY)

=======

The parking deck next to the Charleston Cathedral has a sign out front that says that any EV other than Teslas can't park in it because of danger of fire.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, being witty and sophisticated with Ernst Lubitsch at March 24, 2023 11:21 AM (LvTSG)

115 Rivian has released an announcement regarding a battery issue that is leaving drivers stranded.

---------

As I've noted previously, I envision a glorious future -- especially in California -- where an EV tow truck is towing an EV tow truck, which is towing an EV tow truck, which is towing an EV vehicle like a Tesla or Rivian.

Posted by: ShainS -- The Abolition of The West is from Men Without Chests at March 24, 2023 11:21 AM (+lwg5)

116 Can we rewind the Toyota exec's quote a few years ago -- when all the other big automakers were rending their clothes and devoting their lives and profitability to EVs for the sake of the planet -- and he said, "Yeah... EVs are nice and all, but the technology just isn't there yet for viability"?

Akio Toyoda. He was forced to step down from the company that has his family name on it due to leftist pressure. (Is this a familiar refrain to anyone yet? Papa John? James O'Keefe?). Toyota is now cancelling new ICE development.

Posted by: Ian S. at March 24, 2023 11:22 AM (ZGrMX)

117 "ivian electric trucks don’t burn gas, but they sure do burn cash.
Free cash flow for 2022 ended up at a negative $6.4 billion, according to results posted late Tuesday, as Rivian lost money on each car it sold while also investing for the future."

it's ok, they'll make it up in volume...

Posted by: SturmToddler at March 24, 2023 11:22 AM (Mkvkw)

118 Thanks for the EV info Buck!

It strikes me as similar in some ways to solar energy for single family homes. It is very workable for some settings (off-grid, etc.) some lifestyles and some geographic areas with >300 days of sunlight. Not so much in northern tier states or Pacific NW. The upfront costs for panels, array, inverter, control modules and batteries are substantial and without govt subsidies are out of reach for large segments of the publicp. Upkeep, maintenance and equipment replacement have to be considered.

And it does not upscale well by centralizing the solar arrays and storage capacity. So at best it is a weak adjunct to other forms of power. These considerations parallel the issues you pointed out in your post (upfront cost, limited range vis-a-vis charging capacity, battery replacement costs, etc.)

I wouldn't install solar in Nantucket...

Posted by: Muldoon at March 24, 2023 11:22 AM (ykeLU)

119 112 The appetite for large-scale cash furnaces is going to be increasingly dampened with higher costs of capital, let alone the other economic "headwinds" in the near-intermediate term.

This is *not* the time to be in the cash furnace business. Investor credulity ain't what it once was.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:21 AM (t0OGg)

=========

"Fuck you, peasant. I'll invest is what I want."
-Bill Gates

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, being witty and sophisticated with Ernst Lubitsch at March 24, 2023 11:22 AM (LvTSG)

120 Does anyone give a flying fuck that their Dominoes pizza is delivered in an electric vehicle?
Posted by: JT Smith

If I'm the sixth delivery in line and the cocksucker's car runs outta juice before I get my pizza, yes.

I then do give a flying fuck.

Posted by: rickb223 at March 24, 2023 11:22 AM (GIBR7)

121 It's all because we didn't BELIEVE hard enough and clap loudly enough. Shame on us.

Posted by: It's all about the magic at March 24, 2023 11:22 AM (B0ahs)

122 Remind me again which section of the constitution contains the paragraph giving the government the right to tell the people what they are allowed to purchase.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 24, 2023 11:08 AM (lTGtQ)

Oh, my sweet summer child...

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at March 24, 2023 11:22 AM (uvymP)

123 Amazon stopped their ev purchase for one reason only, cash flow. They are going through the same biden economy as everyone else. Last month they killed their Smiles program and I am prepared for them to kill their points back program with Chase. I have reaped the benefits of both Smile and my Chase credit card. They are losing money after raking it in for years. Remember the days when Amazon didn't show a profit? Then they started expanding past their core competency when they had cash coming in. The party is over in this economy.

Posted by: neverenoughcaffeine at March 24, 2023 11:22 AM (2NHgQ)

124 104 Posted by: Thomas Bender at March 24, 2023 11:19 AM (n/8Ck)

Makes it exciting, I like the daily commute being a game of Donovian Roulette.

Posted by: sven at March 24, 2023 11:22 AM (Lzpvj)

125 Really opening a can of worms here, but does anyone have a battery powered lawn mower? I just bought a place with a small lawn. An E-go mower would have more than enough oomph for the place, but it's heavy as hell. I'm honestly thinking of a corded electric mower. I've used them in the past and found them to be pleasant enough without having to buy/store gas, change oil, use sta-bil, etc

Posted by: 496 at March 24, 2023 11:23 AM (GeFyf)

126 My brother in law bought a Tesla, and my sister let me drive it last time I visited. Cool car, and accelerates like nothing I've ever been in -- and that includes my buddy's nitrous-injected Mustang. No tire spin, no noise, no perceptible power band -- it just pulls until you let up. The fact that hundreds of thousands of complete idiots are driving CA roads in these things, it's remarkable there aren't Teslas wrapped around light poles everywhere.

Posted by: red speck at March 24, 2023 11:23 AM (Ny/Va)

127 The last two SAABs ever built are going to auction.
Forgotten about and abandoned when the Trollhattan factory closed, they sat alone in the dark for years after 2014 (Det Tjugonde århundradets Bilföretag).

They're automatics, dammit, but wife may still bid.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at March 24, 2023 11:23 AM (jYCXf)

128 121 Posted by: It's all about the magic at March 24, 2023 11:22 AM (B0ahs)

It is like Urkle and racial healing....you need to clap harder.

Posted by: sven at March 24, 2023 11:23 AM (Lzpvj)

129 The parking deck next to the Charleston Cathedral has a sign out front that says that any EV other than Teslas can't park in it because of danger of fire.
____

Smart.

I wonder how long before EV's are used intentionally as car bombs.

Posted by: Chuck Martel at March 24, 2023 11:23 AM (fs1hN)

130 Mercedes Benz has committed to "all electric" by 2030.

I think that's crap, and they know it's crap. They announced it now so they can sit back, produce a shit EV or 2, then when the market fails, they're still making regular, real cars.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at March 24, 2023 11:23 AM (Zz0t1)

131 I'm a Honda man and from what I've noticed about them they generally don't go along with trends they do a wait and see approach. If they do have one in the pipeline I bet they're rethinking it now.

Posted by: Augustine at March 24, 2023 11:23 AM (BDZWU)

132 Heh. Does anyone think that non-fags would allow themselves to remain locked inside a dead electric car for hours? Why didn't they break a window with their purse?

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 24, 2023 11:23 AM (tkR6S)

133 I wouldn't install solar in Nantucket...

Yes, but consider the lost limerick opportunities.

Posted by: Archimedes at March 24, 2023 11:24 AM (eOEVl)

134 Unless they all coordinate to do it at precisely the same time and also get smaller automanufacturers on board (which won't happen because there are automakers in other countries) it won't work.
All US automakers stop making ICE vehicles? Toyota and Honda eat their market share.
It requires a very effective cartel to do so, OPEC doesn't work so effectively.
Posted by: Red Turban Someguy

--

"It requires a very effective cartel to do so, OPEC doesn't work so effectively"

Ah, and there's the key:

June 2022:
"Supreme Court restricts the EPA's authority to mandate carbon emissions reductions"

August 2022
"The new law amends the Clean Air Act, the country’s bedrock air-quality legislation, to define the carbon dioxide produced by the burning of fossil fuels as an “air pollutant.”

That language, according to legal experts as well as the Democrats who worked it into the legislation, explicitly gives the E.P.A. the authority to regulate greenhouse gases and to use its power to push the adoption of wind, solar and other renewable energy sources."

That cartel can push that button any time they want to. Because f*ck you, that's why.

Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:24 AM (O69GV)

135 I didn't see the article but my wife said that some parking lots/garages in Philly prohibit EVs. Insurance companies are not stupid like our politicians.
==
The airlines don't want you checking lithium type batteries in the luggage. They want computer batteries in the carry on luggage. Why? F.I.R.E.S. Oh yeah, a EV battery is just a lot of computer batteries in series. So hundreds of additional chances for faults/fires.

Posted by: So, there's that at March 24, 2023 11:24 AM (ZuUv2)

136 What's worse than being locked in your EV for 5 hours is discovering you have a bad motivator and won't be able to pick up those power converters from Tosche Station!

Posted by: OG Star Wars Fan at March 24, 2023 11:24 AM (ssESX)

137 119 112 The appetite for large-scale cash furnaces is going to be increasingly dampened with higher costs of capital, let alone the other economic "headwinds" in the near-intermediate term.

This is *not* the time to be in the cash furnace business. Investor credulity ain't what it once was.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:21 AM (t0OGg)

=========

"Fuck you, peasant. I'll invest is what I want."
-Bill Gates
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, being witty and sophisticated with Ernst Lubitsch at March 24, 2023 11:22 AM (LvTSG)

Funnily I believe Bill Gates doesn't have a super growth/tech oriented portfolio.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at March 24, 2023 11:24 AM (eYoxG)

138 The parking deck next to the Charleston Cathedral has a sign out front that says that any EV other than Teslas can't park in it because of danger of fire.

Why? Tesla's started the whole "spontaneous combustion" thing in the EV world.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at March 24, 2023 11:24 AM (Zz0t1)

139 Really opening a can of worms here, but does anyone have a battery powered lawn mower?

My yard's too big for those, but I have a battery powered Ryobi weed whacker that's been great. Nice and quiet.

Posted by: Ian S. at March 24, 2023 11:24 AM (ZGrMX)

140 hey Jewell, haven't seen you all week, but wanted to let you know, that corned beef hash from the oven was awesome.

it's going on the rotation

Posted by: SturmToddler at March 24, 2023 11:25 AM (Mkvkw)

141 Have a friend that bought a Tesla, used. He had a flat. Only Tesla is authorized to touch the vehicle, or you void any warranty. It does not come with a spare, so you have to contact Tesla via the phone app, or car tablet app. They will RENT you a spare, take the original wheel and tire back to the dealership and put a tire on it and return it to you and take back the rental spare. IF they feel you did something incorrect, you're charged.

The whole ordeal ended up costing him around $500.
Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at March 24, 2023 11:18 AM (Zz0t1)
---
That right there is a great reason not to have an EV. If you can't even change a tire on the vehicle without written, notarized permission (in triplicate) from the dealer, then why bother?

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 24, 2023 11:25 AM (YIVH2)

142 on the bright side, once we're all forced into great reset cities, almost no one will need a car. don't worry, the ginourmous batteries in the buses won't catch fire too often.

Posted by: gnats local 678 at March 24, 2023 11:25 AM (kFrCu)

143 And it does not upscale well by centralizing the solar arrays and storage capacity. So at best it is a weak adjunct to other forms of power. These considerations parallel the issues you pointed out in your post (upfront cost, limited range vis-a-vis charging capacity, battery replacement costs, etc.)

I wouldn't install solar in Nantucket...
Posted by: Muldoon

And it damn sure doesn't scale up for commercial use. What's the kilowatt hours requirement for a 72 floor skyscraper? 24/7. What's the battery bank size? What's the solar panel farm size? Where do you put it? What's the line loss getting the juice from the panel farm to the building?

Now do the second downtown skyscraper.

Posted by: rickb223 at March 24, 2023 11:25 AM (GIBR7)

144 26 >>Electric vehicles are a niche product with limited appeal..

Indeed, the market spoke over 100 years ago, but it doesn't matter.

The decision to "transition" the world to EV's has been made by the Global Controlling Powers outside of representative democracy and is a fait acompli, they will not allow us to turn back.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at March 24, 2023 11:07 AM (n/8Ck)

but, there won't be enough rare earth minerals to make their nightmare a reality

Posted by: ziggggeeee at March 24, 2023 11:25 AM (AsMdZ)

145 Mercedes Benz has committed to "all electric" by 2030.

I think that's crap, and they know it's crap. They announced it now so they can sit back, produce a shit EV or 2, then when the market fails, they're still making regular, real cars.

Yeah, it seems like a lot of these companies are playing chicken, but are now realizing that most of them will never swerve. "Oh, crap, what do we do now?"

Posted by: Archimedes at March 24, 2023 11:25 AM (eOEVl)

146 2/22, it was announced GM hired Missy Owens as director of environment, sustainability and governance policy. She had served as The Coca-Cola Co.'s director of government relations previously. Owens is President Biden's niece - one of sister Val's daughters - and (they) held senior leadership roles in the Obama administration, too.

Posted by: Lola - free Jacob Chansley at March 24, 2023 11:25 AM (GshMh)

147 The CCP sunk vast amounts of money into "new energy vehicles" and they have proliferated in Red China as a result. The problem is that it's a shell game, as it always has been.

As I understand it, literally every aspect of the Chinese economy, outside of steal tech from the West, is a shell game. Why should this be any different?

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at March 24, 2023 11:25 AM (uvymP)

148 The E-go nameplate is the most appropriate branding I've ever heard of for virtue-signaling enviro-weenies.

Posted by: red speck at March 24, 2023 11:26 AM (Ny/Va)

149 I wonder how much of Rivian's cash burn is attributable to making failed gubernatorial candidate Kemp financially secure.

Posted by: Stacey Abrams, Topless at March 24, 2023 11:26 AM (gf7Ez)

150 131 I'm a Honda man and from what I've noticed about them they generally don't go along with trends they do a wait and see approach. If they do have one in the pipeline I bet they're rethinking it now.
Posted by: Augustine at March 24, 2023 11:23 AM (BDZWU)

The new Accord top 2 models are hybrids that are similar to diesel electric trains. No transmission at all. The engine only produces electricity and then clutches in at highway speeds.

Very clever design and lighter than traditional hybrids

Posted by: sniffybigtoe at March 24, 2023 11:26 AM (UuD2k)

151 I still think the best was, "can't afford gas? Buy an electric car!"

And all the media and the left--stalwart defenders of the working class and poor--yelled, "yeah! You losers should quit being poor and drop $50k on a unreliable, limited use luxury!"

Posted by: People's Hippo Voice at March 24, 2023 11:26 AM (/LGx4)

152 >>125 Really opening a can of worms here, but does anyone have a battery powered lawn mower? I just bought a place with a small lawn. An E-go mower would have more than enough oomph for the place, but it's heavy as hell. I'm honestly thinking of a corded electric mower. I've used them in the past and found them to be pleasant enough without having to buy/store gas, change oil, use sta-bil, etc
Posted by: 496

Neighbor has a very expensive battery mower, says it's a POS. Underpowered. He's getting a corded one.

Posted by: Maj. Healey at March 24, 2023 11:26 AM (DMyTF)

153 Another thing: if your EV breaks down on the side of the road, there's nothing you can fix. You can't hitchhike to an auto parts store and get a new radiator hose or a drive belt or something familiar like that, because your EV doesn't have parts like that. I wouldn't trust the thing to not strand me at any time.

Posted by: DB - gassing the hooptie at March 24, 2023 11:26 AM (geLO8)

154 Has anyone looked into Russel Brand lately? He's a nutso commie as much as he ever was, but he's really laying it on the psychotic left.

Posted by: Synova at March 24, 2023 11:26 AM (BD/yx)

155 Remind me again which section of the constitution contains the paragraph giving the government the right to tell the people what they are allowed to purchase.

Are you joking?

Posted by: Nanzi P. at March 24, 2023 11:27 AM (nfrXX)

156 Nice breakdown on the EV front. Looks like the nice pretty pictures people have been painting has a backside that is only canvas.

I saw A Rivian truck about 8 months ago. I never heard of them, however I might be able to get one cheap now. Bad news is I probably have to by 2 or three for spare parts.

Posted by: Picric at March 24, 2023 11:27 AM (13tTk)

157 My yard's too big for those, but I have a battery powered Ryobi weed whacker that's been great. Nice and quiet.
Posted by: Ian S. at March 24, 2023 11:24 AM (ZGrMX)
---
For a small yard like mine, battery powered tools make a lot of sense. One charge of the weedwhacker will take care of my yard. Same with the leaf blower. I still use a gas-powered lawnmower, though.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 24, 2023 11:27 AM (YIVH2)

158 That right there is a great reason not to have an EV. If you can't even change a tire on the vehicle without written, notarized permission (in triplicate) from the dealer, then why bother?

That's a specific Tesla problem. They treat their cars the way Silicon Valley treats computers and phones: you can't touch them in any way that might defeat their profits. Other makers' EVs aren't that way - you can actually buy replacement parts at reasonable prices (well, except for Audi/VAG, but that's true of their ICE cars too).

Posted by: Ian S. at March 24, 2023 11:27 AM (ZGrMX)

159 Really opening a can of worms here, but does anyone have a battery powered lawn mower?

My front & side yard is 1 acre. My back yard is 47 acres.

I'm not even trying.

Posted by: rickb223 at March 24, 2023 11:27 AM (GIBR7)

160 Akio Toyoda. He was forced to step down from the company that has his family name on it due to leftist pressure. (Is this a familiar refrain to anyone yet? Papa John? James O'Keefe?). Toyota is now cancelling new ICE development.
Posted by: Ian S. at March 24, 2023 11:22 AM (ZGrMX)
++++
They'll probably back off on that as the EV market cools and the new guy will take credit for a "rapid turnaround" of engineering and production systems.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:27 AM (t0OGg)

161 What is clear and obvious is that the Biden Administration has no plan for EVs (or Climate Change) because it has the look and feel of Helter Skelter ad lib-ing.

Any Republican candidate could easily use this to their advantage, but for some reason, they don't.

Posted by: Neo at March 24, 2023 11:27 AM (RovqD)

162 Really opening a can of worms here, but does anyone have a battery powered lawn mower?
Posted by: 496

--

I do. A Lowes house brand (whatever the blue tools/equipment is). I bought it so the kids could cut the yard and I wouldn't have to go out every time to fill the gas and check the oil. It's been great, but you'll only get 1/4-1/2 acre of very flat terrain out of it. And you don't want the grass to get high or it will struggle and the battery will die very quickly.

Watch for it on clearance. $400 is overpriced and you should buy a real mower. Under $150 and it's a steal.

Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:27 AM (O69GV)

163 Yet, they wonder why car thefts are skyrocketing.

Good thread; thanks.

Posted by: Lola - free Jacob Chansley at March 24, 2023 11:28 AM (GshMh)

164 I'm honestly thinking of a corded electric mower. I've used them in the past and found them to be pleasant enough without having to buy/store gas, change oil, use sta-bil, etc

Posted by: 496

For a small lawn, a corded electric will be ideal. It will last 15 years or more, which I can guarantee you is at least twice as long as a battery. I used to have one, but I missed the smell of gasoline.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 24, 2023 11:28 AM (lTGtQ)

165 I have some solar panels for when I am "off grid" and also for back up in case of power outage.
The difference between a sunny day and a cloudy one (or even a partly cloudy) is remarkable, like about 50%.

Posted by: gourmand du jour, waxing foolisophical at March 24, 2023 11:28 AM (jTmQV)

166 161 Posted by: Neo at March 24, 2023 11:27 AM (RovqD)

What me worry?

//WEF trained advisors

Posted by: sven at March 24, 2023 11:28 AM (Lzpvj)

167 There are two Rivians, one F-150 Lightning and a whole bunch of Teslas in town. I hardly see any of them during the winter.

Meanwhile, the biggest issue I have with my 20 year old diesel truck is small leaks here and there that never seem to stop but are solved by simply tightening a worm hose clamp.

I'll never buy an EV. If I have to, I'll grow diesel fuel in my backyard. I'll farm out fabrication for NLA parts. I will not surrender.

Posted by: Defenestratus at March 24, 2023 11:28 AM (sEHBt)

168 @156
And won't be able to get repairs more complicated than pulling ouy dents done.

Posted by: Chairman LMAO at March 24, 2023 11:28 AM (ssESX)

169 "It requires a very effective cartel to do so, OPEC doesn't work so effectively"

That cartel can push that button any time they want to. Because f*ck you, that's why.
Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:24 AM (O69GV)

The regulator isn't the companies in the market. Very frequently regulators end up just pushing market activity into a new corner, like how Dodd-Frank supercharged the private debt industry. The EPA might be able to drive the manufacturing overseas, but unless the US closes its borders they won't be able to kill off the ownership of ICE vehicles by Americans. Go down to Mexico and pick up a Toyota.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at March 24, 2023 11:28 AM (eYoxG)

170 Governor Ron DeSantis Awards More Than $68 Million for Electric Transit Buses

Trump hates EV's. Thinks they are a total scam and do nothing for the environment.
Posted by: Maj. Healey at March 24, 2023 11:12 AM (DMyTF)

But for range, damage to the streets caused by the weight, and fire hazard... I can see an argument for electric busses. Not sure why the state - rather than the affected city - should pay for it, though.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at March 24, 2023 11:28 AM (uvymP)

171 "Fuck you, peasant. I'll invest is what I want."
-Bill Gates
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, being witty and sophisticated with Ernst Lubitsch at March 24, 2023 11:22 AM (LvTSG)
++++
Sure, as will his hyper-rich buddies. But they don't have enough money to keep the cash furnaces fueled. There are too many of them, and they're burning too much. The total amount of VC capacity dwarfs the big individual tyrannical hyper-rich guys like Gates. And that is controlled by thousands (perhaps tens of thousands) - not dozens - of people.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:28 AM (t0OGg)

172 You can't hitchhike to an auto parts store and get a new radiator hose or a drive belt or something familiar like that, because your EV doesn't have parts like that.

EVs do have radiator hoses and radiators and fans. It's just the consequences of trying to keep driving after you overheat are rather more spectacular than just nuking your head gasket so the computer won't let you.

Posted by: Ian S. at March 24, 2023 11:28 AM (ZGrMX)

173 The electric motor is nice because its instant power.
It would be best in starting from a red light and getting the car into momentum so that the gas engine can take over in after it shifts into second gear or so. Gas engine milage takes the biggest hits when in first, second gear. Get the car rolling, engage the gas engine when its already rolling. That is less taxing on the electric engine, might even be able to get away with regenerative brake drag charging, rather than plugging in which actually does reduce total energy production needed by outside sources.

Posted by: So, there's that at March 24, 2023 11:29 AM (C0LZX)

174 but, there won't be enough rare earth minerals to make their nightmare a reality

--

Ah, NOW you're starting to catch on.

Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:29 AM (O69GV)

175 Akio Toyoda. He was forced to step down from the company that has his family name on it due to leftist pressure. (Is this a familiar refrain to anyone yet? Papa John? James O'Keefe?). Toyota is now cancelling new ICE development.
Posted by: Ian S. at March 24, 2023 11:22 AM (ZGrMX)

not sure that is the reason.
Perhaps, the change of leadership may have had been due to Akio Toyoda's health. He did die a few weeks ago.

Posted by: Neo at March 24, 2023 11:29 AM (RovqD)

176 I'm not even trying.

Posted by: rickb223 at March 24, 2023 11:27 AM (GIBR7)
-------
No doubt. Sounds like the only battery powered solution that would work for you would be a good tesla fire!

Posted by: 496 at March 24, 2023 11:29 AM (GeFyf)

177 I love the smell of gasoline in the morning

Posted by: DB - gassing the hooptie at March 24, 2023 11:29 AM (geLO8)

178 New Mossad assasination technique: rig the battery pack to rupture by remote control.

Posted by: Chairman LMAO at March 24, 2023 11:30 AM (ssESX)

179 Really opening a can of worms here, but does anyone have a battery powered lawn mower?

I'm interested in knowing morons' experience with this, since my lawn area is very small and I'd probably save a lot of money cutting the grass myself

Posted by: kallisto at March 24, 2023 11:30 AM (dCxaZ)

180 The decision to "transition" the world to EV's has been made by the Global Controlling Powers outside of representative democracy and is a fait acompli, they will not allow us to turn back.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at March 24, 2023 11:07 AM (n/8Ck)

but, there won't be enough rare earth minerals to make their nightmare a reality
Posted by: ziggggeeee

Before you waste all the earf's rare earf minerals on car EV batteries, you'd best make damn sure all the farm and delivery vehicles are ev.

At least that way, even the elites can eat.

Posted by: rickb223 at March 24, 2023 11:30 AM (GIBR7)

181 I am not totally down on battery-powered stuff with motors. I love (insofar as I can love something whose very existence I despise) my electric string trimmer, for example. I also love my electric leaf blower for small jobs throughout the summer. When it comes to real work - autumn work - it is not fit for purpose. The big 2-cycle backpack-style blower comes out for those jobes.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:30 AM (t0OGg)

182 "Governor Ron DeSantis Awards More Than $68 Million for Electric Transit Buses"

New Orleans (and other places) have had electric street cars for a long time. But the wires are overhead, no battery. Europe is big on the overhead wires for trains ... not sure why we do the diesel/electric instead, but imo the overhead wires are ugly.

Posted by: illiniwek at March 24, 2023 11:30 AM (Cus5s)

183 Coworker with today said saw a EV car fire chain other day, one sets off next like dominoes

Posted by: Skip at March 24, 2023 11:30 AM (VylS6)

184 Rivian's Normal, Illinois plant.

Snort!

Posted by: Cicero Kabom! Kid at March 24, 2023 11:30 AM (3Or4S)

185 Oh no...Joe Xiden hit hardest

Anyway...
Posted by: browndog

lol, thank you for that!

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 24, 2023 11:30 AM (UCiQg)

186 Electric mower is good- just don't run over the cord, and you're golden.

Posted by: DB - gassing the hooptie at March 24, 2023 11:30 AM (geLO8)

187 I'm honestly thinking of a corded electric mower.

Corded is fine for a small yard without too many obstructions to work around. Start near the outlet and work away from it to reduce the chance of running over your cord.

(* unduly proud of self for remembering to unsock before hitting post *)

Posted by: Oddbob at March 24, 2023 11:30 AM (nfrXX)

188 I want steam cars, with steam-powered horns. It would put society in a festive mood.

Posted by: Jimco Industries at March 24, 2023 11:30 AM (buTO7)

189 "The new law amends the Clean Air Act, the country’s bedrock air-quality legislation, to define the carbon dioxide produced by the burning of fossil fuels as an “air pollutant.”
____

CO2, which is plant food, is not a pollutant. Nitrogen use in farming is being regulated especially in Europe (Sri Lanka says, WTF?).

So they don't want us to eat meat, they are limiting our ability to farm for vegetables, soon we'll find that the bug farms that will replace ranching and farming is unsustainable, there will be famine. But the temperature won't rise beyond 1.5 C in the next 100 years.

I'm beginning to think our experts and elites might not have our best interests in mind.

Posted by: Chuck Martel at March 24, 2023 11:31 AM (fs1hN)

190 I'll never buy an EV. If I have to, I'll grow diesel fuel in my backyard. I'll farm out fabrication for NLA parts. I will not surrender.
Posted by: Defenestratus
====
This. Is. The. Way.

Posted by: INTENSIFIES at March 24, 2023 11:31 AM (GmlC8)

191 Really opening a can of worms here, but does anyone have a battery powered lawn mower?

-
I do and I quite like it. It's a push mower, not a lawn tractor. One charge usually mows both the front and back yards. My lawn may be slightly larger than average. I love that it's quiet and light.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at March 24, 2023 11:32 AM (FVME7)

192 The news isn't good enough. Even with collapses and subsidy cuts, somebody managed to move over 670,000 of these losers in one month, up 3% from last year. We need a real crash here, not 'bad numbers.'

There's still too much wiggle room for the fanbois.
Remember, batteries are getting better all the time!

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at March 24, 2023 11:32 AM (jYCXf)

193 174 Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:29 AM (O69GV)

I think my favorite is the Salton Sea lithium mining conundrum...

If they were serious about EVs they would open up the Salton Sea, and the Berkeley Pit in Butte would be a gold mine.

Neither are.

Posted by: sven at March 24, 2023 11:32 AM (Lzpvj)

194 I saw A Rivian truck about 8 months ago. I never heard of them, however I might be able to get one cheap now. Bad news is I probably have to by 2 or three for spare parts.
Posted by: Picric at March 24, 2023 11:27 AM (13tTk)

Good luck buying one for under $100k. On CarsAndBids.com they go for 6 figures regularly. For the life of me I don't understand why.

Posted by: Defenestratus at March 24, 2023 11:32 AM (sEHBt)

195 So you'll be fine in NM?
Posted by: "Perfessor"

They've been lib for so long I don't care!

(Actually I don't think most of NM is hot enough to kill you like the other listed States.)

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 24, 2023 11:32 AM (UCiQg)

196 Really opening a can of worms here, but does anyone have a battery powered lawn mower? I just bought a place with a small lawn. An E-go mower would have more than enough oomph for the place, but it's heavy as hell. I'm honestly thinking of a corded electric mower. I've used them in the past and found them to be pleasant enough without having to buy/store gas, change oil, use sta-bil, etc
Posted by: 496

We have the Ryobi 40 volt battery push mower. it works great for what it was designed to do. We mow the small back yard with it and it works fine for us.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at March 24, 2023 11:32 AM (ncXxy)

197 Manufacturers aren't going to run two lines producing competing products for long. They're re-tooling for EVs to meet China's demands. They've been telling us for the last decade that it's happening. It's time to believe them.
Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:15 AM (O69GV)

And Toyota, which isn't, will rule them all.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at March 24, 2023 11:32 AM (uvymP)

198 I thought spontaneous, un-extinguishable EV battery fires were terrifying enough before I read this story. God forbid your EV locks you inside it when it catches fire.

Same problem you would have if you pulled a Ted Kennedy. In all of my vehicles, in the center console there is a seat-belt cutter and glass break attached to a lanyard and a fluorescent yellow tag that is easily visible.

In case of an emergency, just grab the tag, open the center console and TOOLS to escape!

Posted by: Reuben Hick at March 24, 2023 11:32 AM (YXHzG)

199 190 I'll never buy an EV. If I have to, I'll grow diesel fuel in my backyard. I'll farm out fabrication for NLA parts. I will not surrender.
Posted by: Defenestratus

Are you referring to the Diesel Tree? You need lots of them and they grow in the tropics.

Posted by: sniffybigtoe at March 24, 2023 11:32 AM (UuD2k)

200 oh I see the answers upthread to the battery/electric corded mower question

my grass area is so small I probably could use a push mower

Posted by: kallisto at March 24, 2023 11:33 AM (dCxaZ)

201 New Orleans (and other places) have had electric street cars for a long time. But the wires are overhead, no battery. Europe is big on the overhead wires for trains ... not sure why we do the diesel/electric instead, but imo the overhead wires are ugly.
Posted by: illiniwek at March 24, 2023 11:30 AM (Cus5s)
++++
We have long distances through largely-empty space to deal with. Running the kind of high-voltage power required for overhead electric rail systems through that kind of environment isn't cost-effective. In denser places, it is. It's a good system for city transit rail or regional rail through dense populations. Some of the Amtrak commuter lines in the Northeast use it, too, IIRC.

But when you have to go through the Big Empty, it isn't effective. And if the same train that is going through the Big Empty later goes through a place with overhead power, it doesn't matter. You're on Diesel anyway.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:33 AM (t0OGg)

202 185 Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 24, 2023 11:30 AM (UCiQg)

Joe XiDen is mau Mau is he not?

//Single Glycerine Tear falling down those fine crafted Elizabeth Warren cheekbones

Posted by: sven at March 24, 2023 11:33 AM (Lzpvj)

203 Rivian is a prime example of what happens when the woke are put in charge of every aspect of a business.

Their admin sucks, as does the financial side, the advertising and the technical. It's crap all the way down.

The few execs who actually knew something about the business of building and selling trucks bailed last year.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at March 24, 2023 11:34 AM (Q4IgG)

204 I'm beginning to think our experts and elites might not have our best interests in mind.
Posted by: Chuck Martel

--

My favorite part of all of this is how people just lived through the COVID fraud, the lockdowns, the election steal, the forced firings over injections, churches being forced close while liquor stores and strip clubs could remain open, the schools closing and stunting the development of millions of children, and STILL saying "nah, they wouldn't do that."

Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:34 AM (O69GV)

205 There is no bigger problem being faced by fire departments around the world than EV fires. Lots of companies claim they have the technology to deal with EV fires but they don't. If the percent of EVs goes up significantly there is going to be a real issue with fire departments.

Posted by: JackStraw at March 24, 2023 11:34 AM (ZLI7S)

206 In a surprise move, California banned the sales of all DVDs except Prometheus .

Posted by: Darth Randall at March 24, 2023 11:34 AM (IweCS)

207 Really opening a can of worms here, but does anyone have a battery powered lawn mower? I just bought a place with a small lawn.

(sigh)

If you really want to virtue signal your Soldier For The Environment credentials, get a goat.

Posted by: Reuben Hick at March 24, 2023 11:34 AM (YXHzG)

208 Actually, the first automobile was steam-powered. Invented by a Frenchman named Cugnot in 1770.
Posted by: Bulgaroctonus at March 24, 2023 11:15 AM (DSB5h)

Misinformation. I recall seeing a documentary about neo-lithic people in an early human settlement named Bedrock who had cars. Sure, it used foot power to get started but, after that...

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at March 24, 2023 11:34 AM (uvymP)

209 Morning.

I've seen three Rivians on the road.

One of them was on the back of a wrecker.

Posted by: Robert at March 24, 2023 11:34 AM (1Yy3c)

210 Just how bad do you have to be at your job for Joe Biden to view you as incompetent. Joe. Biden.

https://tinyurl.com/3fk7yp7z

Posted by: Archimedes at March 24, 2023 11:35 AM (eOEVl)

211 ---
That right there is a great reason not to have an EV. If you can't even change a tire on the vehicle without written, notarized permission (in triplicate) from the dealer, then why bother?
Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 24, 2023 11:25 AM (YIVH2)

My thought as well. He talked to someone on the phone at Tesla and was told "nah, man. Take the tire to Discount and get it replaced. Return the spare and all is good." He mentioned that to the guy that actually got the tire and said "NO!!!! Do that and we'll charge you for violating the contract!"

He didn't do that and STILL got an invoice for 5 bills.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at March 24, 2023 11:35 AM (Zz0t1)

212 And Toyota, which isn't, will rule them all.

--

Where you going to buy the gas?
- The EPA

Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:35 AM (O69GV)

213 Burn baby burn!

Posted by: redridinghood at March 24, 2023 11:35 AM (NpAcC)

214 The overhead wires for trains leak electricity something fierce. Absolutely horrific losses. They do not want to talk about it.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at March 24, 2023 11:35 AM (jYCXf)

215 CO2, which is plant food, is not a pollutant. Nitrogen use in farming is being regulated especially in Europe (Sri Lanka says, WTF?).

So they don't want us to eat meat, they are limiting our ability to farm for vegetables, soon we'll find that the bug farms that will replace ranching and farming is unsustainable, there will be famine. But the temperature won't rise beyond 1.5 C in the next 100 years.

They'll find that having enough "bugs" to feed 7 billion people will spike the CO2 levels to unprecedented levels.

Posted by: rickb223 at March 24, 2023 11:35 AM (GIBR7)

216 Ron DeSantis Says He’s Not Interested In Being Trump’s VP Pick, “I’m An Executive Guy”

Ron's turning out to be quite the asshoe. I guess when you hang out with Rove and his ass lickers too much it rubs off.

Posted by: Maj. Healey at March 24, 2023 11:35 AM (DMyTF)

217 120 Does anyone give a flying fuck that their Dominoes pizza is delivered in an electric vehicle?
Posted by: JT Smith
-----------------
If you put the pizza on top of the battery it will stay warm during the ride.

Posted by: Pudinhead at March 24, 2023 11:35 AM (tiR3O)

218 Morning.

I've seen three Rivians on the road.

One of them was on the back of a wrecker.
Posted by: Robert at March 24, 2023 11:34 AM (1Yy3c)

There's one roaming around these parts I've seen.

MAN that thing is hideous.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at March 24, 2023 11:35 AM (Zz0t1)

219 I am not totally down on battery-powered stuff with motors. I love (insofar as I can love something whose very existence I despise) my electric string trimmer, for example. I also love my electric leaf blower for small jobs throughout the summer. When it comes to real work - autumn work - it is not fit for purpose. The big 2-cycle backpack-style blower comes out for those jobes.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:30 AM (t0OGg)
---
The problem with the "EV FOR ALL" crowd is they don't seem to understand that there are *limited* uses for which EVs do make a lot of sense. Mostly within the realm of small vehicle (e.g. golf carts) and personal mobility (e.g. scooters, wheelchairs, skateboards, etc.). They think EV technology is infinitely scalable to every vehicle we use (planes, ships, trucks, etc.).

They are idiots.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at March 24, 2023 11:35 AM (YIVH2)

220 15104

yeah

Posted by: John Fetterman at March 24, 2023 11:36 AM (vwCZJ)

221 >>>Corded is fine for a small yard without too many obstructions to work around.
-------
Thanks, I agree. They're super light and quiet enough that you can mow almost any time. I'm leaning heavily that way.

The E-go's I have looked at are up around 80 pounds. Even with the self-propelled function, they're boats.

Posted by: 496 at March 24, 2023 11:36 AM (GeFyf)

222 And Toyota, which isn't, will rule them all.

--

Where you going to buy the gas?
- The EPA
Posted by: Daddy

Seems the goat fuckers are swimming in it.

Posted by: rickb223 at March 24, 2023 11:36 AM (GIBR7)

223 --

Where you going to buy the gas?
- The EPA
Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:35 AM (O69GV)

Where you going to get the electrical grid to charge all the EV's your forcing on everyone?

- - - The rest of the world

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at March 24, 2023 11:36 AM (Zz0t1)

224 Coworker with today said saw a EV car fire chain other day, one sets off next like dominoes
==
Watch episode one of Season TWO of the Grand Tour.
Richard Hammond races a Rivian super car in a HIll Race (going up a curvy road on a hill, timed finish) in barvaria I think. He gets across the finish line and doesn't brake in time and goes off the course down and embankment. He has to be helo'd out to a hospital. The rivian tumbled and caught fire. On the show they point out that it burned for three days. And describe the chain fire process. Rivian was, I am sure, none to please to lose their tester, and to have the fire reported.
Hammond broke a bone in his leg, was on crutches in the next episode. It was a real accident. It was in the british tabloids at the time, and there was cell phone video shot - which was shown on the show - by race spectators showing the crash and the rescue.

Posted by: INTENSIFIES at March 24, 2023 11:36 AM (fReY2)

225 MAN that thing is hideous.
----------------
Looks like a trannie, doesn't it?

Posted by: Pudinhead at March 24, 2023 11:37 AM (tiR3O)

226 Hitler literally decided everyone was going to drive the same kind of car. Didn't work out too well for him either.
Posted by: sniffybigtoe at March 24, 2023 11:10 AM (UuD2k)

No, actually, he didn't. Germany already had a healthy auto industry, and built many fine brands of cars. But there was a dearth of cheap cars, that could be bought be people working for wages, like the Model A Ford in America. So, Hitler commissioned Ferdinand Porsche to design an inexpensive, but durable car that would be affordable for industrial workers. Volkswagen was the result. There was never any intent to cease production of the other famous brands.

And in reality, the VW became a scam. Workers were encouraged to save money in the Post Office savings bank, to buy the cars when they became available. The Nazi government had the use of that money, and the cars were never delivered. Once the war began, the VW factory was used to make military vehicles.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 24, 2023 11:37 AM (tkR6S)

227 If you really want to virtue signal your Soldier For The Environment credentials, get a goat.
Posted by: Reuben Hick at March 24, 2023 11:34 AM (YXHzG)
++++
I doubt that's entirely fair. In some respects, electric is superior. It depends on the use case. For a lawnmower, it can make sense for a small yard. No finnicky small engines to deal with, no gas and oil, no ripcords, no leaks, no smell in your garage, etc. My yard is too big for electric to be a good fit, but I didn't think twice about going electric for my string trimmer. The fewer 2-cycle engines I own, the better. 2-cycle in particular is gigantic pain in the ass. I have one in my leaf blower because electric just can't do that job well, but I hate that I have *any* of them in my inventory.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:37 AM (t0OGg)

228 I just got myself a "new" car this week. Traded in a 15 year old van for a 4 year old SUV with really low mileage. I believe that gasoline will be the fuel of the future!!

Posted by: Debby Doberman Schultz at March 24, 2023 11:37 AM (a4EWo)

229 Who, in their right mind, orders Dominos "pizza"?

Posted by: Truck Monkey Report at March 24, 2023 11:37 AM (io8iv)

230 The big 2-cycle backpack-style blower comes out for those jobes.
Posted by: Joe Mannix

Ahhhh. The Mexican Mariachi music.

Posted by: rickb223 at March 24, 2023 11:37 AM (GIBR7)

231 The problem with the "EV FOR ALL" crowd is they don't seem to understand that there are *limited* uses for which EVs do make a lot of sense. Mostly within the realm of small vehicle (e.g. golf carts) and personal mobility (e.g. scooters, wheelchairs, skateboards, etc.). They think EV technology is infinitely scalable to every vehicle we use (planes, ships, trucks, etc.).

--

Yep. Folks with a platform need to be very deliberately pointing out that EVs aren't cars. They're electric vehicles. They are very different than cars, and their usability is not the same.

Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:37 AM (O69GV)

232 What's troubling is the shortsightedness of major ICE manufacturers. Obviously they're getting their marching orders from FedGov, and a huge payout, but they're going to be bankrupt in less than a decade if they keep it up.

As always, the people making the decisions will pay no price. The unions will have their retirements backstopped by taxpayers so they'll also pay no price.

The rest of us are fucked, again... as always.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at March 24, 2023 11:37 AM (uvymP)

233 Hackman Jeffries on those rascally Republicans.

Kayleigh McEnany@kayleighmcenany
This is an outrageous lie!

Hakeem Jeffries: "Extreme MAGA Republicans don't want the children of America to learn about the Holocaust."

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at March 24, 2023 11:38 AM (FVME7)

234 There is no bigger problem being faced by fire departments around the world than EV fires. Lots of companies claim they have the technology to deal with EV fires but they don't. If the percent of EVs goes up significantly there is going to be a real issue with fire departments.
Posted by: JackStraw at March 24, 2023 11:34 AM (ZLI7S)

Denmark has a big container on the back of a flatbed they bring and crane over the burning car to snuff it. It still takes a while for the car to burn itself out.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at March 24, 2023 11:38 AM (Zz0t1)

235 I have not seen a single Ford Lightning pickup truck anywhere and I travel between Montreal and Washington DC.

I don't know anyone who owns or plans to own one.

Posted by: Adirondack Patriot at March 24, 2023 11:38 AM (lf83v)

236 >>>I'm a Honda man and from what I've noticed about them they generally don't go along with trends they do a wait and see approach. If they do have one in the pipeline I bet they're rethinking it now.
Posted by: Augustine at March 24, 2023 11:23 AM (BDZWU)

=====

Just saw an advertisement for a Honda EV when I was checking scores on the espn app.

Posted by: Turn two at March 24, 2023 11:38 AM (JfxgE)

237 Best plan is to buy a diesel and put a Heating Fuel tank in you garage.

Posted by: Pudinhead at March 24, 2023 11:38 AM (tiR3O)

238 >MAN that thing is hideous.

Posted by: Sponge -

again- it's the headlights
that's a major style point on any vehicle, and they picked the absolutely worst look

Posted by: DB - gassing the hooptie at March 24, 2023 11:38 AM (geLO8)

239 @216 do you really need to bring that here? There will be a Trump vs DeSantis thread soon enough.

Posted by: Chairman LMAO at March 24, 2023 11:39 AM (ssESX)

240 se case. For a lawnmower, it can make sense for a small yard. No finnicky small engines to deal with, no gas and oil, no ripcords, no leaks, no smell in your garage, etc. My yard is too big for electric to be a good fit, but I didn't think twice about going electric for my string trimmer. The fewer 2-cycle engines I own, the better. 2-cycle in particular is gigantic pain in the ass. I have one in my leaf blower because electric just can't do that job well, but I hate that I have *any* of them in my inventory.

I recently used a battery-powered hedge trimmer, and it was a dream. Light, quiet, and did the job completely. As you say, it depends on the use case.

Posted by: Archimedes at March 24, 2023 11:39 AM (eOEVl)

241 So trying to bribe people into buying a vehicle that TPTB can control by regulating the electric power grid and chips that allow external control by authorities has failed.

So the next attempt will be to regulate and limit access to gasoline and diesel, and force new cars to have those chips in the onboard computers that allow the authorities to turn them off.

That plan is in progress as we speak.

Posted by: ruralcounsel at March 24, 2023 11:39 AM (96wFa)

242 212 And Toyota, which isn't, will rule them all.

--

Where you going to buy the gas?
- The EPA
Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:35 AM (O69GV)

That's another example of something the EPA wishes it could do but doesn't have the power to do so.

They need an off-switch to turn off all gas stations at once, but that's not possible. Absent that, economic pressure will keep the supply of gas open.

You can't "nudge" a competitive product out of existence. If they start bombing US oil refineries or something that's a different story, but that clearly goes beyond "The EPA hopes to use regulation to push this"

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at March 24, 2023 11:39 AM (eYoxG)

243 I think we should take a 2nd look at steam power. But not as the primary system. A steam system that captures the heat from an ICE engine would be an interesting experiment.
Posted by: sniffybigtoe at March 24, 2023 11:18 AM (UuD2k)

If it could be used to launch a projectile at people driving slowly in the fast lane it would be a sure winner.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at March 24, 2023 11:39 AM (uvymP)

244 If you really want to virtue signal your Soldier For The Environment credentials, get a goat.
Posted by: Reuben Hick at March 24, 2023 11:34 AM (YXHzG)
++++
I doubt that's entirely fair. In some respects, electric is superior. It depends on the use case. For a lawnmower, it can make sense for a small yard. No finnicky small engines to deal with, no gas and oil, no ripcords, no leaks, no smell in your garage, etc.

Still goat. Advantage = end of season - cabrito

Posted by: rickb223 at March 24, 2023 11:39 AM (GIBR7)

245 160 Akio Toyoda. He was forced to step down from the company that has his family name on it due to leftist pressure. (Is this a familiar refrain to anyone yet? Papa John? James O'Keefe?). Toyota is now cancelling new ICE development.
Posted by: Ian S. at March 24, 2023 11:22 AM (ZGrMX)
++++
They'll probably back off on that as the EV market cools and the new guy will take credit for a "rapid turnaround" of engineering and production systems.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:27 AM (t0OGg)
____________________

There's also not much left to "develop" Toyota's existing ICE motors. All their ICE motors are advanced, highly-developed, and emissions-compliant. They can sell them for another decade at least in their current form. With a little tweaking, they'll get another decade out of them. It's rare nowadays that there is any real development of ICE motors. It's very mature tech.

Posted by: Elric Blade at March 24, 2023 11:39 AM (iFTx/)

246 PSA: Most of the corded lawnmowers are drawing ~12amps. Don't use one on a circuit that has a space heaters or AC unit etc. You will trip a breaker or worse.

Posted by: Maj. Healey at March 24, 2023 11:39 AM (DMyTF)

247 >>Electric vehicles are a niche product with limited appeal..

*******

"When Ah gets a niche I scratch it until appeal off a couple layers of skin."

/Jethro Muldoon, country doctor.

Posted by: Muldoon at March 24, 2023 11:39 AM (ykeLU)

248 Posted by: INTENSIFIES at March 24, 2023 11:36 AM (fReY2)

It wasn't a Rivian. It was a different (sports) car company's semi-prototype car.

Still a car-be-que regardless of the nameplate on the hood.

Posted by: Defenestratus at March 24, 2023 11:40 AM (sEHBt)

249 Who, in their right mind, orders Dominos "pizza"?
Posted by: Truck Monkey Report at March 24, 2023 11:37 AM (io8iv)

*Raised hand*

Actually I haven't ordered a pizza in years, but back in the day it was Papa Johns followed by Dominos.

Posted by: Robert at March 24, 2023 11:40 AM (1Yy3c)

250 I doubt that's entirely fair. In some respects, electric is superior. It depends on the use case. For a lawnmower, it can make sense for a small yard. No finnicky small engines to deal with, no gas and oil...

--

There's a place for battery powered equipment. My tools come to mind. I only use the corded stuff occasionally now. And like I said, that battery powered mower for the kids to earn their allowance is perfect.

Right tool for the job and all that. I have no problem with battery technology and will use it when it suits my purpose. Thank goodness power tools are at the point where they're as or more usable than most corded stuff.

Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:40 AM (O69GV)

251
Kayleigh McEnany@kayleighmcenany
This is an outrageous lie!

Hakeem Jeffries: "Extreme MAGA Republicans don't want the children of America to learn about the Holocaust."
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at March 24, 2023 11:38 AM (FVME7)

He's a democrat, so it's allowed. And accepted as TRUTH.

50% of Americans now thing Republicans deny the Holocaust and lynch black people.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at March 24, 2023 11:40 AM (Zz0t1)

252 > Really opening a can of worms here, but does anyone have a battery powered lawn mower? I just bought a place with a small lawn.
____________
I have one. I use it when I'm unmotivated to deal with the gas mower. I also have a battery powered string trimmer and small garden tiller. They all use the same batteries. Kobalt brand, from Lowes.

However they're for "light duty." I actually have 5 acres and a small Kubota tractor (diesel), gas tiller, gas chain saw, and the aforementioned mower for "real" work.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at March 24, 2023 11:40 AM (Q4IgG)

253 >>>Just saw an advertisement for a Honda EV when I was checking scores on the espn app.
Posted by: Turn two at March 24, 2023 11:38 AM (JfxgE)

======

Correction. It was for an Acura. Which of course is just the high end Honda badge.

Posted by: Turn two at March 24, 2023 11:40 AM (JfxgE)

254 Heh. Does anyone think that non-fags would allow themselves to remain locked inside a dead electric car for hours? Why didn't they break a window with their purse?
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 24, 2023 11:23 AM (tkR6S)
++++
Yeah, this puzzled the hell out of me, too. Kicking out a windshield is *not* that hard. You might not want to do it and will wait and see if you can contact someone for help first because replacing it is going to be expensive and you risk scratching the paint on the hood and fouling up things like rain and light sensors, but windshields are relatively easy to remove from inside the car.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:40 AM (t0OGg)

255 Ahhhh. The Mexican Mariachi music.

I call it the Symphony of the Leaf Blowers. In the fall, it's nonstop.

Posted by: Archimedes at March 24, 2023 11:40 AM (eOEVl)

256 They don't care about electric hedgetrimmers.

They want to control your ability to travel.

Posted by: ruralcounsel at March 24, 2023 11:40 AM (96wFa)

257 Ford lost $2 billion on it's EV sector last year.
Posted by: sniffybigtoe at March 24, 2023 11:19 AM (UuD2k)
---
So, what's the problem?

Posted by: DC Employee at March 24, 2023 11:40 AM (krQz2)

258 The big 2-cycle backpack-style blower comes out for those jobes.
Posted by: Joe Mannix

Ahhhh. The Mexican Mariachi music.
Posted by: rickb223 at March 24, 2023 11:37 AM (GIBR7)

Mexican bag pipes.

Posted by: Roland THTG at March 24, 2023 11:40 AM (j40lz)

259 "massive subsidies are the only way to get their sales volume above those of other exotic and novelty cars."

Subsidies, set-asides, tax break gifts, graft are the only way anything gets done in the USA.

Posted by: Let gp Sink In at March 24, 2023 11:41 AM (MvF+J)

260 Rimac was the car that Richard Hammond catapulted off the hillside.

Real inventive these EV companies are with their names.

Posted by: Defenestratus at March 24, 2023 11:41 AM (sEHBt)

261 they should concentrate on the $5 chick lobster

they got gas cars down pretty good

Posted by: REDACTED at March 24, 2023 11:41 AM (us2H3)

262 Just read about the "equity" give whitey last dibs on organs plan in JJ's post and I am going to change my status to not an organ donor.

Posted by: Jukin the Deplorable a Clear and Present Danger at March 24, 2023 11:41 AM (17s+e)

263
That's another example of something the EPA wishes it could do but doesn't have the power to do so.

They need an off-switch to turn off all gas stations at once, but that's not possible. Absent that, economic pressure will keep the supply of gas open.

You can't "nudge" a competitive product out of existence. If they start bombing US oil refineries or something that's a different story, but that clearly goes beyond "The EPA hopes to use regulation to push this"
Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at March 24, 2023 11:39 AM (eYoxG)

"Underestimating your enemy is a grave mistake."

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at March 24, 2023 11:41 AM (Zz0t1)

264 183 and he told me a aquant says they can't drive his EV as the battery is giving out from use..
But the Leftists are not going to stop pushing EVs

Posted by: Skip at March 24, 2023 11:41 AM (VylS6)

265 The money for subsidies is vanishing under the weight of overcorrection and outright corruption and theft (a lot of the latter), and the money for purchasing in the auto market in general is declining as the various economic crises (real estate, export production, banking, etc.) unfold.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:11 AM (t0OGg)

Pretty much everything in China is a bubble.

The nation itself is a bubble. Or a rotten orange if you prefer with a coastal rind of relative wealth and a rotten inside full of crushing rural poverty.

The Downside:

China's a Rotten Orange with nuclear weapons and global ambitions.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 24, 2023 11:41 AM (L1tQx)

266 They need an off-switch to turn off all gas stations at once, but that's not possible. Absent that, economic pressure will keep the supply of gas open.

You can't "nudge" a competitive product out of existence...

--

Classic car owners say hi.

Also gas can owners.

Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:41 AM (O69GV)

267 MAN that thing is hideous.
----------------
Looks like a trannie, doesn't it?

Posted by: Pudinhead at March 24, 2023 11:37 AM (tiR3O)

----------

BREAKING: Rivian Awarded DOD Contract to Build World's First EV-Powered Aircraft Carrier -- The U.S.S. Rachel Levine. Developing ...

Posted by: ShainS -- The Abolition of The West is from Men Without Chests at March 24, 2023 11:42 AM (+lwg5)

268 President McKinley in 1901 was first pres to ride in an EV. It was the ambulance that took him to the hospital after an assassination attempt. He would later die of gangrene.
Posted by: Rex B at March 24, 2023 11:18 AM (iNLjp)

OMG! EVs cause gangrene?

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at March 24, 2023 11:42 AM (uvymP)

269 Ford lost $2 billion on it's EV sector last year.
Posted by: sniffybigtoe at March 24, 2023 11:19 AM (UuD2k)

Pikers.

Posted by: The United States Postal Service at March 24, 2023 11:42 AM (Zz0t1)

270 What I find most hilarious is that they can try to mandate EV for everyone and try to mitigate the fury of the people, and then when they get about ten percent of the population into EV, they suddenly realize that the electrical grid can't handle the load without two years of the world's GDP in upgrade costs, and shortly thereafter discover that there is not enough lithium, cobalt, magnesium, or copper on the planet to continue.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 24, 2023 11:42 AM (lTGtQ)

271 As for (solar array) battery storage, I never store batteries fully charged. I deplete them down to 20% or less. Storing those at 100% is a much bigger hazard for fire.

Posted by: gourmand du jour, waxing foolisophical at March 24, 2023 11:42 AM (jTmQV)

272 Really opening a can of worms here, but does anyone have a battery powered lawn mower? I just bought a place with a small lawn.
==
My brother does. He has a small yard. His mower is a walk behind and it has a narrow deck, so it isn't a wide swath requires a lot of passes. He thought he might need an extra batter to cut the back and the front at the same time. Turns out he needs five batteries to do the yard all at once. Again its a small yard.

Posted by: So, there's that at March 24, 2023 11:42 AM (Zj13J)

273 (that was a reference to leaded gas btw)

Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:42 AM (O69GV)

274 Women will be afraid to make out in these so called vehicles.
No more Drive Inns too.

Posted by: humphreyrobot at March 24, 2023 11:42 AM (hjCSw)

275 When Ford announced the Maverick pickup at $20K, they were in a position to run plants 24/7 to keep up with demand. Now, Mavericks are so rare on the road that they are almost an urban legend. Ford evidently decided to kowtow to the Feds and focus on EVs.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at March 24, 2023 11:42 AM (lz5hY)

276 257 Ford lost $2 billion on it's EV sector last year.
Posted by: sniffybigtoe at March 24, 2023 11:19 AM (UuD2k)

They revised it up this week to a $3bn loss.

And I'm guessing it will be twice that (similar to what Rivian is going through).

Posted by: Defenestratus at March 24, 2023 11:42 AM (sEHBt)

277 So the next attempt will be to regulate and limit access to gasoline and diesel, and force new cars to have those chips in the onboard computers that allow the authorities to turn them off.
___

And turn the cottage industry of bypassing the chip and kill switch will turn these inventive entrepreneurs into felons.

Posted by: Chuck Martel at March 24, 2023 11:43 AM (fs1hN)

278 It's rare nowadays that there is any real development of ICE motors. It's very mature tech.
-------------------
We need nuclear flying cars. Think of the money we would save on fuel, roads, bridges and such.

Posted by: Pudinhead at March 24, 2023 11:43 AM (tiR3O)

279 There's also not much left to "develop" Toyota's existing ICE motors. All their ICE motors are advanced, highly-developed, and emissions-compliant. They can sell them for another decade at least in their current form. With a little tweaking, they'll get another decade out of them. It's rare nowadays that there is any real development of ICE motors. It's very mature tech.
Posted by: Elric Blade at March 24, 2023 11:39 AM (iFTx/)
++++
This is true of non-Toyota, too. Modern IC engines are extremely reliable, highly efficient and low-emissions. And there's still plenty of money to made manufacturing and selling them.

Throwing away a technology at the top of its efficacy curve to chase pipe dreams at the command of corrupt bureaucrats is insane. It's also current year, so madness is the way everything works.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:43 AM (t0OGg)

280 >>Denmark has a big container on the back of a flatbed they bring and crane over the burning car to snuff it. It still takes a while for the car to burn itself out.

Yep. And that idea is spreading around Europe.

Think about that for a minute. How many containers and flatbeds are going to be needed to be positioned all around the world in the case of an EV fire which are happening much more often than a normal car fire? And how many cranes or front end loaders are going to be needed to lift or push the car into the container?

And they don't just put it in a container, they put it in a container full of water. And then the water becomes contaminated from the toxic shit given off by and EV fire, what do they do with the toxic water?

Nobody has really thought through all these issues cause EVs are great for the environment!

Posted by: JackStraw at March 24, 2023 11:44 AM (ZLI7S)

281 The Downside:

China's a Rotten Orange with nuclear weapons and global ambitions.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 24, 2023 11:41 AM (L1tQx)

----------

And apparently most of the D.C. UniParty in its pocket.

Posted by: ShainS -- The Abolition of The West is from Men Without Chests at March 24, 2023 11:44 AM (+lwg5)

282 lol, thank you for that!
Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 24, 2023 11:30 AM (UCiQg)

In all fairness...(heh)

Just trying to keep the legend that Joe Xiden was, alive.

Posted by: browndog Official Mascot of Team Gizzard at March 24, 2023 11:44 AM (CCSxw)

283 Rimac was the car that Richard Hammond catapulted off the hillside.

Real inventive these EV companies are with their names.
==
Right. Nevermind.

Posted by: Emily Latella at March 24, 2023 11:44 AM (ZuUv2)

284 Literally nobody is buying these because of the product quality, nor are they buying because they think it will help the planet, other than a very, very few wealthy liberals who make up a fraction of a percent of the buyers.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 24, 2023 11:20 AM (lTGtQ)

It's not about who buys the EVs, it's about who buys the politicians.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at March 24, 2023 11:45 AM (uvymP)

285 He's a democrat, so it's allowed. And accepted as TRUTH.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at March 24, 2023 11:40 AM (Zz0t1)
---
That's why there are two meanings to the word "proof".

Sometimes they point out that a Republican/Conservative said something "without proof". And that means that a conservative doesn't have a level of proof that would convince an opposition.

However, whatever convinces the press is attributed as "proof", so no problem for the Democrats to say things because they mean something, that conservatives need to understand.

Posted by: Axeman at March 24, 2023 11:45 AM (krQz2)

286 >Mexican bag pipes.

Posted by: Roland THTG

YOU MAKE HULK LAFF

Posted by: DB - gassing the hooptie at March 24, 2023 11:45 AM (geLO8)

287 "Electric vehicles are pranksters, and they can play funny gags on their drivers."

Did you hear the one about the Pollock that locked himself in his car?

Posted by: Just sayin at March 24, 2023 11:45 AM (bewti)

288 So the next attempt will be to regulate and limit access to gasoline and diesel, and force new cars to have those chips in the onboard computers that allow the authorities to turn them off.

That will end police chases. They just shut your car off & lock you in.

Posted by: rickb223 at March 24, 2023 11:45 AM (GIBR7)

289 Throwing away a technology at the top of its efficacy curve to chase pipe dreams at the command of corrupt bureaucrats is insane. It's also current year, so madness is the way everything works.

--

That's the tell. We've worked for 50 years nearly perfecting the ICE and making it this efficient, and we're skipping the assumed hybrid step completely.

It has nothing to do with the environment.

Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:45 AM (O69GV)

290 ... Think about that for a minute. How many containers and flatbeds are going to be needed to be positioned all around the world in the case of an EV fire which are happening much more often than a normal car fire? And how many cranes or front end loaders are going to be needed to lift or push the car into the container? ...
Posted by: JackStraw at March 24, 2023 11:44 AM (ZLI7S)
++++
And what are the manufacturing-related emissions for those containers and trucks?

Such green! So environment!

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:46 AM (t0OGg)

291 Real inventive these EV companies are with their names.

Naming your car after yourself is unheard-of.

Posted by: zombie Henry Ford at March 24, 2023 11:46 AM (h5TKJ)

292 Literally nobody is buying these because of the product quality, nor are they buying because they think it will help the planet, other than a very, very few wealthy liberals who make up a fraction of a percent of the buyers.
Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 24, 2023 11:20 AM (lTGtQ)
---
Lithium fires are good for the planet.

The Planet wants more lithium fires.

Posted by: Axeman at March 24, 2023 11:46 AM (krQz2)

293 @275

>>When Ford announced the Maverick pickup at $20K, they were in a position to run plants 24/7 to keep up with demand. Now, Mavericks are so rare on the road that they are almost an urban legend. Ford evidently decided to kowtow to the Feds and focus on EVs.

That sub 20k pickup quickly became a 25k pickup and then became vapor ware as, per another Hordian, Ford is not even currently taking orders for them.

I will be interested in Toyota's North American reintroduction of the HiLux pickup though.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at March 24, 2023 11:46 AM (n/8Ck)

294 The tragedy of humor deficit disorder afflicts Mrs. Bearclaw, Ron Filipkowski and millions of other progressives.

https://bit.ly/42F7zko

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at March 24, 2023 11:46 AM (FVME7)

295 MAN that thing is hideous.
+++++++++++
again- it's the headlights

********

The climate alarmists like the headlights on the Rivian because it's got beady Davos eyes!

Posted by: Muldoon at March 24, 2023 11:47 AM (ykeLU)

296 That's the tell. We've worked for 50 years nearly perfecting the ICE and making it this efficient, and we're skipping the assumed hybrid step completely.
___

I'd be interested in a hybrid. Very fuel efficient, doesn't need to be plugged in, no massive battery needed. Oh well.

Posted by: Chuck Martel at March 24, 2023 11:47 AM (fs1hN)

297 Germany: "The government decided in mid-2022 to reduce support payments for new e-cars, arguing they had become increasingly attractive for buyers even without support payments."

Reality: "Bullcrap"

Posted by: Roy at March 24, 2023 11:47 AM (BBDk7)

298 Literally nobody is buying these because of the product quality, nor are they buying because they think it will help the planet, other than a very, very few wealthy liberals who make up a fraction of a percent of the buyers.

---

I found a link from Europe a couple of weeks ago showing the vast majority of all EV purchases were government.

I suspect private individual sales are 2-4% of all EV sales.

No one wants them. But f*ck you.

Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:47 AM (O69GV)

299 Think about that for a minute. How many containers and flatbeds are going to be needed to be positioned all around the world in the case of an EV fire which are happening much more often than a normal car fire? And how many cranes or front end loaders are going to be needed to lift or push the car into the container?

AND... all that heavy equipment will have to be EV.
Who buys all new million dollar+ heavy equipment?

Posted by: rickb223 at March 24, 2023 11:47 AM (GIBR7)

300 This slutty redhead thinks EVs are a lot like her: cool and a ton of fun, but not the kind of thing you take home forever:
https://is.gd/BSFUVl

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:48 AM (t0OGg)

301 Electric vehicles are a niche product with limited appeal, and it has become quite clear that massive subsidies are the only way to get their sales volume above those of other exotic and novelty cars.

This is typical right-wing hate toward a cutting-edge technology that will finally save the earth from the depredations of rampant capitalism.

You sound more like a robber baron than a writer. Why shouldn't government be involved in man and womankind's most important effort? The people cannot be led to the slaughter by unfettered greed, and it is government's responsibility to protect them from corporate theft...thus the subsidies. They take away any excuse that the auto companies may use to continue their destruction of the earth, hand in hand with the oil companies.

That the subsidies are being cut is a testament to the power of corporate America, and they should be ashamed!

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sWokeDildo at March 24, 2023 11:48 AM (XIJ/X)

302 @279

>>Throwing away a technology at the top of its efficacy curve to chase pipe dreams at the command of corrupt bureaucrats is insane. It's also current year, so madness is the way everything works.

What we are witnessing is literal fascism, straight up no chaser.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at March 24, 2023 11:48 AM (n/8Ck)

303 What I find most hilarious is that they can try to mandate EV for everyone and try to mitigate the fury of the people, and then when they get about ten percent of the population into EV, they suddenly realize that the electrical grid can't handle the load without two years of the world's GDP in upgrade costs, and shortly thereafter discover that there is not enough lithium, cobalt, magnesium, or copper on the planet to continue.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 24, 2023 11:42 AM (lTGtQ)

----------

That'll be a good time for the WEF-Fauci-ChiComm-Pharma axis of evil to release an even deadlier bioweapon, lockdown the planet permanently, and Make Welding People Permanently Into Their Homes Great Again!

Posted by: ShainS -- The Abolition of The West is from Men Without Chests at March 24, 2023 11:48 AM (+lwg5)

304 I will be interested in Toyota's North American reintroduction of the HiLux pickup though.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at March 24, 2023 11:46 AM (n/8Ck)

I would order a HiLux with the Somali trim package which includes a 12.7mm DShK.

Posted by: Quilter's Irish Death at March 24, 2023 11:48 AM (OgrpQ)

305 272 When I got out of the Corps, our first home was a little rental cottage. Best landlord ever, just a nice little house with a tiny fenced in back yard. My bride said she would take care of the yard and we bought a rotary, non powered, push mower. She would go back there with the twins in those crank up put 'em to sleep swings, push the mower around for a bit of exercise, and join the kids in a nap.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at March 24, 2023 11:48 AM (lz5hY)

306 Does anyone think that non-fags would allow themselves to remain locked inside a dead electric car for hours? Why didn't they break a window with their purse?
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 24, 2023 11:23 AM (tkR6S)
++++
Yeah, this puzzled the hell out of me, too. Kicking out a windshield is *not* that hard. You might not want to do it and will wait and see if you can contact someone for help first because replacing it is going to be expensive and you risk scratching the paint on the hood and fouling up things like rain and light sensors, but windshields are relatively easy to remove from inside the car.
=
Never thought about it, but I guess having a Tesla makes your AAA membership worthless. It not like they can come give you a jump.

Posted by: So, there's that at March 24, 2023 11:48 AM (ZxzLQ)

307 Plug-in hybrids have all the "benefits" of an EV with much less downside. Only a fool would think this vastly superior technology would lose in the market.

Posted by: sniffybigtoe at March 24, 2023 11:48 AM (UuD2k)

308 271 As for (solar array) battery storage, I never store batteries fully charged. I deplete them down to 20% or less. Storing those at 100% is a much bigger hazard for fire.
Posted by: gourmand du jour, waxing foolisophical

We have 16kw in rack LiFePo4 batteries, Our manufacturer recommends storing them (turned off) at 95% State Of Charge (SOC). We discharge to 20 percent and recharge them to 95 % every 4 months. We do not have them connected to solar panels yet. Strictly a back up energy source connected to 4k inverters.

Posted by: Maj. Healey at March 24, 2023 11:49 AM (DMyTF)

309 I will be interested in Toyota's North American reintroduction of the HiLux pickup though.
Posted by: Thomas Bender

With mil-spec hard points?

Posted by: rickb223 at March 24, 2023 11:49 AM (GIBR7)

310 When Ford announced the Maverick pickup at $20K, they were in a position to run plants 24/7 to keep up with demand. Now, Mavericks are so rare on the road that they are almost an urban legend. Ford evidently decided to kowtow to the Feds and focus on EVs.
Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at March 24, 2023 11:42 AM (lz5hY)
++++
I don't know what happened to the Maverick, but I'm pissed that whatever it was did happen. If it was EV shit, that's doubly stupid.

You know who's in the market for a cheap, no-frills, $20k-ish pickup truck? Me.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:49 AM (t0OGg)

311 300 This slutty redhead thinks EVs are a lot like her: cool and a ton of fun, but not the kind of thing you take home forever:
https://is.gd/BSFUVl
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:48 AM (t0OGg)

========

That would be an interesting introduction to the parents.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, being witty and sophisticated with Ernst Lubitsch at March 24, 2023 11:49 AM (LvTSG)

312 @304

>>I would order a HiLux with the Somali trim package which includes a 12.7mm DShK.

As long as it has the thing that goes up, it will sell like hotcakes.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at March 24, 2023 11:49 AM (n/8Ck)

313 She has Betty Davos eyes.

Posted by: humphreyrobot at March 24, 2023 11:49 AM (hjCSw)

314 This slutty redhead thinks EVs are a lot like her: cool and a ton of fun, but not the kind of thing you take home forever:
https://is.gd/BSFUVl
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:48 AM (t0OGg)

Sidebutt!

The Upside:

She won't spontaneously burst into flames and burn down your house.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 24, 2023 11:49 AM (L1tQx)

315 41 I thought spontaneous, un-extinguishable EV battery fires were terrifying enough before I read this story. God forbid your EV locks you inside it when it catches fire.

Feature. Not bug. -- Klaus Schwab
Posted by: I used to have a different nic at March 24, 2023 11:10 AM (uvymP)

On the Seven Mile Bridge.

Posted by: Fox2! at March 24, 2023 11:49 AM (4GxJn)

316 279 There's also not much left to "develop" Toyota's existing ICE motors. All their ICE motors are advanced, highly-developed, and emissions-compliant. They can sell them for another decade at least in their current form. With a little tweaking, they'll get another decade out of them. It's rare nowadays that there is any real development of ICE motors. It's very mature tech.
Posted by: Elric Blade at March 24, 2023 11:39 AM (iFTx/)
++++
This is true of non-Toyota, too. Modern IC engines are extremely reliable, highly efficient and low-emissions. And there's still plenty of money to made manufacturing and selling them.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:43 AM (t0OGg)
__________________

Correct. There was a lot of development maybe 10-15 years ago as the move was made to direct injection, advanced ECU control, 4-cylinders in general, and general experimentation and development of what displacement was optimal. The market has sorted out all those issues, and now every manufacturer basically sells the same motors. The designs are almost identical.

Posted by: Elric Blade at March 24, 2023 11:49 AM (iFTx/)

317 EV Sales Collapse As Subsidies and Tax Credits Come to an Abrupt Halt

Remove subsidies for fossil fuels, and fossil fuels become somewhat more expensive.

Remove subsidies for EVs, wind, or solar and the market for those goods collapses.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at March 24, 2023 11:49 AM (2tUFv)

318 Glorious electric vehicle is wonderful!

Posted by: ... at March 24, 2023 11:50 AM (ExnEF)

319 Electric Vehicles: A way more prestigious Virtue Signal than a "Hate Has No Home Here" sign or a Rainbow bumper sticker.

That's the entire market for EVs, by the way. Virtue Signaling. The world's deadliest hobby.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at March 24, 2023 11:50 AM (p+1gI)

320 You know you don't have to be very bright to realize electric vehicles suck. They sucked 100 years ago. They suck now, and for the same reasons.

Posted by: Xipe Totec at March 24, 2023 11:50 AM (kzHlT)

321 The Deep State in charge would love to have the EPA lord over any aspect of your life remotely in their dominion

Posted by: Skip at March 24, 2023 11:50 AM (VylS6)

322 Yeah, of course slutty and redhead got me to click.

Posted by: Just sayin at March 24, 2023 11:50 AM (bewti)

323 Glorious electric vehicle go from New York to California and back on single charge!

Posted by: ... at March 24, 2023 11:51 AM (ExnEF)

324 My 92 K1500 B|@zer was the perfect truck
imo

comfortable, roomy, you open the hood and you can see and reach everything, would drive thru water up to the headlights, would go thru snow up to the bumpers

I got all 4 wheels off the ground once
waHOO Mountain Dew!

Posted by: DB - gassing the hooptie at March 24, 2023 11:51 AM (geLO8)

325 What I find most hilarious is that they can try to mandate EV for everyone and try to mitigate the fury of the people, and then when they get about ten percent of the population into EV, they suddenly realize that the electrical grid can't handle the load without two years of the world's GDP in upgrade costs, and shortly thereafter discover that there is not enough lithium, cobalt, magnesium, or copper on the planet to continue.

--

Again, this is the plan.

They don't want you to drive.

Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:51 AM (O69GV)

326 This slutty redhead thinks EVs are a lot like her: cool and a ton of fun, but not the kind of thing you take home forever:
https://is.gd/BSFUVl

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:48 AM (t0OGg)

---------

Nothing like a young "lady" with an oral fixation ...

Posted by: ShainS -- The Abolition of The West is from Men Without Chests at March 24, 2023 11:51 AM (+lwg5)

327 Funnily I believe Bill Gates doesn't have a super growth/tech oriented portfolio.
Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at March 24, 2023 11:24 AM (eYoxG)

Nope. It's focused in misery and death.

Posted by: I used to have a different nic at March 24, 2023 11:51 AM (uvymP)

328 Don't see many Priuses around coexisting anymore.

Posted by: ... at March 24, 2023 11:51 AM (ExnEF)

329 Remove subsidies for EVs, wind, or solar and the market for those goods collapses.
Posted by: The ARC of History! at March 24, 2023 11:49 AM (2tUFv)

Remove all the CO2 from the atmosphere and every thing on Earth eventually dies. (Except the weirdos living on deep sea vents.) Doesn't sound like much of a "pollutant" to me.

Posted by: sniffybigtoe at March 24, 2023 11:52 AM (UuD2k)

330 ++++
I don't know what happened to the Maverick, but I'm pissed that whatever it was did happen. If it was EV shit, that's doubly stupid.

You know who's in the market for a cheap, no-frills, $20k-ish pickup truck? Me.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:49 AM (t0OGg)

It was to be the Ranger that the Ranger used to be that you see driving all over the place to this day.

See: The TikTok guy that has a channel of nothing but him yelling "Muthaf*ckin' FORD RANGER" in his southern redneck accent voice.

They were not EV's that I'm aware of and do see a few roaming around, but think Ford made yet another marketing mistake. Whomever is running the show there should be run out of town on a pike.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at March 24, 2023 11:52 AM (Zz0t1)

331 They don't want you to drive.

Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:51 AM (O69GV

Live

Posted by: ... at March 24, 2023 11:52 AM (ExnEF)

332 You know who's in the market for a cheap, no-frills, $20k-ish pickup truck? Me.
Posted by: Joe Mannix

Along with most ranchers, tradesmen, delivery companies & me.

Posted by: rickb223 at March 24, 2023 11:52 AM (GIBR7)

333 I once had a Blazer.

Posted by: ... at March 24, 2023 11:53 AM (ExnEF)

334 Joe XiDen is mau Mau is he not?

Posted by: sven

Outed himself as a nasty (and I believe paid ) troll during the last election.

Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 24, 2023 11:53 AM (UCiQg)

335 Rivian's base price for the R1T is $73,000.00. Add options and it only goes up from there. How they manage to lose money on every unit sold is an exercise in mismanagement.

But I'm sure they have a plan to make it up in volume.

Posted by: Blanco Basura - Z28.310 at March 24, 2023 11:53 AM (Bd6X8)

336 Glorious electric vehicle is wonderful!

Posted by: ... at March 24, 2023 11:50 AM (ExnEF)

---------

Make Glorious Great Leap Forward Great Again, Comrades!

Posted by: ShainS -- The Abolition of The West is from Men Without Chests at March 24, 2023 11:53 AM (+lwg5)

337 I'm honestly thinking of a corded electric mower. I've used them in the past and found them to be pleasant enough without having to buy/store gas, change oil, use sta-bil, etc
Posted by: 496 at March 24, 2023 11:23 AM (GeFyf)

That would be my recommendation. If the lawn is really small, say 20 by 50 feet or less, and level and not weed-choked, a top-quality hand-push reel mower is quite acceptable, too.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 24, 2023 11:53 AM (tkR6S)

338 Often thought would love to have a EV for the day, preferably a high end sports car. But also the down time waiting daily for charging here or there makes me want no part of one.

Posted by: Skip at March 24, 2023 11:53 AM (VylS6)

339 Throwing away a technology at the top of its efficacy curve to chase pipe dreams at the command of corrupt bureaucrats is insane. It's also current year, so madness is the way everything works.

What we are witnessing is literal fascism, straight up no chaser.
==
I'm of the same mind as you. Although the way I think about it is they are using Fascism to usher in a new era of feudalism. They see the mass of humanity as serfs, with limited freedom, bound to work and generate taxes their whole lives, unable to accumulate generational wealth, confined mobility, and occasional privileges doled out by the local lord class to encourage compliance and conformity.

Posted by: So, there's that at March 24, 2023 11:54 AM (YRSN6)

340 WaPo:

He started spending hours on YouTube, watching videos made by fringe scientists who warned that the world was teetering on the edge of societal collapse — or even near-term human extinction. Youra started telling his friends and family that he was convinced that climate change couldn’t be stopped, and humanity was doomed.

In short, he says, he became a climate “doomer.”

.. Talk about juxaposition

Posted by: Neo at March 24, 2023 11:54 AM (RovqD)

341 The Big 3 should have died years ago.

Posted by: Alabama farmer helping the pig over the fence at March 24, 2023 11:54 AM (7u1Ff)

342 It was to be the Ranger that the Ranger used to be that you see driving all over the place to this day. ...
Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at March 24, 2023 11:52 AM (Zz0t1)
++++
A guy in town has an old Ranger for sale. I am sorely tempted to call him and get some history and details so I can see if what he wants for it is reasonable.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:54 AM (t0OGg)

343 World's First EV-Powered Aircraft Carrier

I have some absolutely stunning news for you, re aircraft carriers. Does yours run on coal?

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at March 24, 2023 11:54 AM (jYCXf)

344 55 I'm no expert, but it seems the Commerce Clause has been interpreted by the courts to incorporate and determine all human activity
---
Unfortunately, you are correct.
Posted by: Axeman at March 24, 2023 11:12 AM

Congress gave the EPA the authority to regulate pollutants, and CO2 is a pollutant. Humans emits CO2, ergo...

Posted by: Justice Roberts at March 24, 2023 11:54 AM (JCZqz)

345 What I find most hilarious is that they can try to mandate EV for everyone and try to mitigate the fury of the people, and then when they get about ten percent of the population into EV, they suddenly realize that the electrical grid can't handle the load without two years of the world's GDP in upgrade costs, and shortly thereafter discover that there is not enough lithium, cobalt, magnesium, or copper on the planet to continue.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 24, 2023 11:42 AM

The only way they are going to come up with enough lithium and other rare earth compounds to build a couple hundred million EV's is to mine the asteroids. There literally isn't not enough proven reserves of those metals on the planet to build even ten million EV's.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at March 24, 2023 11:54 AM (ncXxy)

346 325 What I find most hilarious is that they can try to mandate EV for everyone and try to mitigate the fury of the people, and then when they get about ten percent of the population into EV, they suddenly realize that the electrical grid can't handle the load without two years of the world's GDP in upgrade costs, and shortly thereafter discover that there is not enough lithium, cobalt, magnesium, or copper on the planet to continue.

--

Again, this is the plan.

They don't want you to drive.
Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:51 AM (O69GV)

Which is part of what makes it obvious that the plan will fail partway through. It was like having permanent lockdowns. Sure some people may have wanted lockdowns for years on end, but the system falls apart much more quickly than that.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at March 24, 2023 11:54 AM (eYoxG)

347 "Don't see many Priuses around coexisting anymore."

Somebody gave my tenant a 2005 Prius in excellent condition. Too bad he let his mouthbreathing roommates drive it. Not excellent anymore. It was nice. I'd take one for free.

Posted by: Let gp Sink In at March 24, 2023 11:54 AM (MvF+J)

348 In less than 10 years, we'll be like Cuba. 20, 30, and 40 year old cars will be carefully nurtured and kept running because there won't be anything new worth purchasing.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 24, 2023 11:54 AM (trdmm)

349 AOC Falsely Claims A Parents’ Bill of Rights Would “Force The Outing Of LGBT People”…

?

https://tinyurl.com/mr36uxpr

Posted by: Archimedes at March 24, 2023 11:54 AM (eOEVl)

350 The Deep State in charge would love to have the EPA lord over any aspect of your life remotely in their dominion

Posted by: Skip

With the upgraded clean air act, they do. The world's largest source of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is humans.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 24, 2023 11:55 AM (lTGtQ)

351 The Big 3 should have died years ago.
Posted by: Alabama farmer helping the pig over the fence at March 24, 2023 11:54 AM (7u1Ff)

No shit......

Posted by: Preston Tucker at March 24, 2023 11:55 AM (Zz0t1)

352 339 Posted by: So, there's that at March 24, 2023 11:54 AM (YRSN6)

You can't get to the society shown in "Metropolis" without breaking a few billion eggs.

Posted by: sven at March 24, 2023 11:55 AM (Lzpvj)

353
And down goes Deutsche (Douche) Bank.

Don't worry Janet Yellen is on top of things, holding some emergency meeting.

Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (Mzdiz) at March 24, 2023 11:55 AM (Mzdiz)

354 276 257 Ford lost $2 billion on it's EV sector last year.
Posted by: sniffybigtoe at March 24, 2023 11:19 AM (UuD2k)

They revised it up this week to a $3bn loss.

And I'm guessing it will be twice that (similar to what Rivian is going through).

Posted by: Defenestratus at March 24, 2023 11:42 AM (sEHBt)

Ford should name its electric car division E-dsel.

Posted by: Tex Lovera at March 24, 2023 11:55 AM (wtvvX)

355 They don't want you to drive.

You'll live in your wonderful 15-minute neighborhood, and you'll pay huge fines if you try to leave it.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at March 24, 2023 11:55 AM (2tUFv)

356 Things are heating up in Persia. Missiles are flying from both sides.

Thanks Joe and Neocons. GFY.

Posted by: Maj. Healey at March 24, 2023 11:56 AM (DMyTF)

357 Did you know that pet rocks were made in prisons?

Posted by: humphreyrobot at March 24, 2023 11:56 AM (hjCSw)

358 I bought a new push mower, because the grass stays pretty low here. New mowers are a lot different than pushing an old rusted one around. This is easy to push and cuts well.

Posted by: Notsothoreau at March 24, 2023 11:56 AM (6lj/r)

359 I still don't realize many EVs, did see one pull across the street only noticed first it was parked out on street Ghent after a time backed up and went down driveway.

Posted by: Skip at March 24, 2023 11:56 AM (VylS6)

360 You know who's in the market for a cheap, no-frills, $20k-ish pickup truck? Me.

--

The reason the Maverick was going to be cheap was because it's a car. Which is fine, because not everyone needs a body-on-frame truck, and manufacturers can no longer produce inexpensive trucks. The can make cars with beds, though, which is why Honda, Ford, Subaru, etc. make what are essentially El Caminos.

I'd tried to find one, too, and the only one I had any luck with was a Maverick that was supposed to cost $26K and the dealer told me it was priced at $40K. The price of an actual truck.

And he'll sell it at that price.

Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:56 AM (O69GV)

361 The Upside:

She won't spontaneously burst into flames and burn down your house.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 24, 2023 11:49 AM (L1tQx)

Are you really confident of that?

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 24, 2023 11:56 AM (XIJ/X)

362 It was to be the Ranger that the Ranger used to be that you see driving all over the place to this day.

See: The TikTok guy that has a channel of nothing but him yelling "Muthaf*ckin' FORD RANGER" in his southern redneck accent voice.

They were not EV's that I'm aware of and do see a few roaming around, but think Ford made yet another marketing mistake. Whomever is running the show there should be run out of town on a pike.
Posted by: Sponge

My yellow 2007 190,000 mile tank.

FORD RANGER!

Posted by: rickb223 at March 24, 2023 11:56 AM (GIBR7)

363 My diesel VW can probably go 600 miles on a tank. Never pushed it that far, I usually refill at 500. I timed it the other day and it took 4 mins to refill.

Posted by: sniffybigtoe at March 24, 2023 11:56 AM (UuD2k)

364 A guy in town has an old Ranger for sale. I am sorely tempted to call him and get some history and details so I can see if what he wants for it is reasonable.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:54 AM

Around here Ford Rangers in decent shape are going for ridiculous amounts of $$$$.

Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at March 24, 2023 11:56 AM (ncXxy)

365 Basically everyone who wants an EV has one at this point. I mean its not a perfect correlation but its very close.

Governments literally have to pay people to buy EVs. Without massive subsidization, people choose gas-powered cars. In Germany, the market share of EVs dropped from 55% in December to 15% in January when the government reduced the amount of incentives it was paying consumers to buy EVs.

Right. The problem with EV sales is that they are too expensive for what you get. A niche car with unusual characteristics and many drawbacks should be selling for under 10k because of their problems. At that price range, they're worth a shot. Above that? Why?

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 24, 2023 11:57 AM (0hOvj)

366 I'm honestly thinking of a corded electric mower. I've used them in the past and found them to be pleasant enough without having to buy/store gas, change oil, use sta-bil, etc
Posted by: 496 at March 24, 2023 11:23 AM (GeFyf)

I've got a little Ryobi plug-in mower, and I really like it. Works perfectly for my smallish yard. Just gotta watch the cord.

Posted by: Pug Mahon, Lookin' for me wooden leg at March 24, 2023 11:57 AM (xPJvm)

367 Joe XiDen is mau Mau is he not?

Posted by: sven

Outed himself as a nasty (and I believe paid ) troll during the last election.
===
You could tell he had issues when he said:

If you don't have an adjustable rate mortgage you are just leaving money on the table.

that was before the Fed started jacking the rates up. I'm pretty sure he wishes he had a 3% fixed rate now.

Posted by: So, there's that at March 24, 2023 11:57 AM (7i/f5)

368 "299 Think about that for a minute. How many containers and flatbeds are going to be needed to be positioned all around the world in the case of an EV fire which are happening much more often than a normal car fire? And how many cranes or front end loaders are going to be needed to lift or push the car into the container?"

And what are they going to use when the EV-powered extinguishing vehicle catches fire? They'll need an even bigger EV-powered extinguisher extinguisher.

Posted by: Let gp Sink In at March 24, 2023 11:57 AM (MvF+J)

369 ++++
A guy in town has an old Ranger for sale. I am sorely tempted to call him and get some history and details so I can see if what he wants for it is reasonable.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:54 AM (t0OGg)

DO IT! DO IT NOW!

I have one. There was an old man in my neighborhood that sold one a while back. I regret not having the money to pick it up. Another guy in my neighborhood did.

Mine is the 4 cyl 5 speed. Slow and gutless, but I still love it. DESPITE it being the "Dallas Cowboys Special Edition."

I did sand and paint the tailgate when they all knelt in solidarity with Krapernick.

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at March 24, 2023 11:57 AM (Zz0t1)

370 This German brewery created a powdered beer and all you have to do is add water to enjoy it

-
Well, maybe these Technokrauts are better than the ones building V-2s to fire at London.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at March 24, 2023 11:57 AM (FVME7)

371 Again, this is the plan.

They don't want you to drive.
Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:51 AM (O69GV)

none of the cities in this country, outside of NYC and a couple others, cannot survive if people don't drive. As Phoenix, Houston, and others have found out the hard way, they are far too spread out for any kind of mass transit to ever be effective.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 24, 2023 11:57 AM (trdmm)

372 I have some absolutely stunning news for you, re aircraft carriers. Does yours run on coal?

Aren't most of them nukes? So they're steam powered.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 24, 2023 11:58 AM (0hOvj)

373 You'll live in your wonderful 15-minute neighborhood, and you'll pay huge fines if you try to leave it.

When the "advocates" started furiously pushing the idea of the "15-minute neighborhood", it sounded OK - I mean, who wouldn't want to be able to walk to anything you needed in 15 minutes?

They forgot to mention the bit where you wouldn't be allowed to leave your 15-minute neighborhood.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at March 24, 2023 11:58 AM (2tUFv)

374 EVs are great to get you to the retirement community liquor store after 9 holes. I like those dressed up ones that look like a midget Benz or whatever, but reading above, I think a HiLux Technical reproduction would get attention around the shuffleboard and pickleball courts.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at March 24, 2023 11:58 AM (lz5hY)

375
My yellow 2007 190,000 mile tank.

FORD RANGER!
Posted by: rickb223 at March 24, 2023 11:56 AM (GIBR7)

My silver, white and blue 1996 200,000 mile happy go lucky 5 speed flare side.

FORD RANGER!

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at March 24, 2023 11:58 AM (Zz0t1)

376 370 This German brewery created a powdered beer and all you have to do is add water to enjoy it

-
Well, maybe these Technokrauts are better than the ones building V-2s to fire at London.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at March 24, 2023 11:57 AM (FVME7)

I invented freeze dried water once. All you have to do is add water.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 24, 2023 11:58 AM (trdmm)

377 Don't worry Janet Yellen is on top of things, holding some emergency meeting.
Posted by: publius, Rascally Mr. Miley (Mzdiz) at March 24, 2023 11:55 AM (Mzdiz)
++++
Great. I love that I'll be bailing out foreign banks again, too, along with the domestic ones. Again.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:59 AM (t0OGg)

378 367 Posted by: So, there's that at March 24, 2023 11:57 AM (7i/f5)

Quite.

Guy knows a lot that relies on government coercion.

Posted by: sven at March 24, 2023 11:59 AM (Lzpvj)

379 Again, this is the plan.

They don't want you to drive.

Which is part of what makes it obvious that the plan will fail partway through. It was like having permanent lockdowns. Sure some people may have wanted lockdowns for years on end, but the system falls apart much more quickly than that.
Posted by: Red Turban Someguy

--

If the only vehicle available for purchase is a $65K EV that you need to be on a list to order an have a chance to buy, it doesn't matter what you "want."

Buyers right now are getting a taste of it, which I think might be part of the plan. Go to a dealer and try to shop around. You can't. You buy what they have on the lot and consider yourself lucky to find the model you're looking for, much less the package. And you'll pay MSRP or above.

Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:59 AM (O69GV)

380 The Upside:

She won't spontaneously burst into flames and burn down your house.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 24, 2023 11:49 AM (L1tQx)

Are you really confident of that?
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at March 24, 2023 11:56 AM (XIJ/X)

Well, to be fair...

She's a ginger. So, her burning down your house is a known risk.

However, she's unlikely to spontaneously burst into flames to accomplish that.

Posted by: naturalfake at March 24, 2023 11:59 AM (L1tQx)

381 Which is fine, because not everyone needs a body-on-frame truck, and manufacturers can no longer produce inexpensive trucks.

They sure as hell can. Everything that goes on a Ford F-650, can go on an F-150, except the suspension and transmission. Don't need THAT heavy duty on a 150. Trust me, they don't make King Rach versions of a lineman's bucket truck.

Posted by: rickb223 at March 24, 2023 11:59 AM (GIBR7)

382 "I'm honestly thinking of a corded electric mower."

I used to use corded hedge trimmers. I ended up just having the damn hedges ripped out. So much easier.

Posted by: Let gp Sink In at March 24, 2023 11:59 AM (MvF+J)

383 I am still waiting for EV Joe and Mayor Buttplug to appear at an event announcing the location of the first of the 500,000 charging stations funded by the Infrastructure Bill-A-Palooza. Then I will need to wait again for the event announcing the first completion and opening of one of those half-million charging stations. I am not holding my breath while waiting.

I doubt the first station to be announced and the first one operational will be between the Mississippi and the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges. Will any ever be built in that vast area?

Posted by: Gref at March 24, 2023 12:00 PM (AMIL/)

384 A niche car with unusual characteristics

Enjoy a nice, leisurely dinner on the road while your car recharges!

Posted by: The Media! at March 24, 2023 12:00 PM (2tUFv)

385 373 Posted by: The ARC of History! at March 24, 2023 11:58 AM (2tUFv)

I *love* the idea of needing to spend as much money and time as needed to go currently to Canada to go the next county over.

It is wonderful!

//retards

Posted by: sven at March 24, 2023 12:00 PM (Lzpvj)

386 the lithium iron phosphate batteries are supposed to be much safer than the lithium ion ... and better.

Posted by: illiniwek at March 24, 2023 12:00 PM (Cus5s)

387 371 Again, this is the plan.

They don't want you to drive.
Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:51 AM (O69GV)

none of the cities in this country, outside of NYC and a couple others, cannot survive if people don't drive. As Phoenix, Houston, and others have found out the hard way, they are far too spread out for any kind of mass transit to ever be effective.
Posted by: Tom Servo at March 24, 2023 11:57 AM (trdmm)
________________________

I live in NYC. I have a car and drive it often. More and more people are doing the same. Public transportation sucks. It really took a nose-dive under the flabby slob commie and then again after CV19.

Posted by: Elric Blade at March 24, 2023 12:00 PM (iFTx/)

388 I once had a Blazer.
Posted by: ...

*******

Do you have any idea how many people are now going to be sent to the barrel for trying to type 'blazer'?

Posted by: Muldoon at March 24, 2023 12:01 PM (ykeLU)

389 >>>What's worse than being locked in your EV for 5 hours is discovering you have a bad motivator and won't be able to pick up those power converters from Tosche Station!

>I thinking what's worse is finding out Sam ate two big bowls of chili with beans and washed it down with stale beer. 5 hours, Scotty!

Posted by: Dr. Bone at March 24, 2023 12:01 PM (Jg7EG)

390 AOC Falsely Claims A Parents’ Bill of Rights Would “Force The Outing Of LGBT People”

-
I wasn't aware that they were trying to stay hidden. They need to work on their camouflage skills.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at March 24, 2023 12:01 PM (FVME7)

391 the "15 minute neighborhood" can only exist if everyone has an online job and no one ever has to travel to a place of business. But that is a ridiculous model based on nothing but fantasy.

What it is most like is the 13th century (give or take) laws forbidding any serfs from moving off of their Lord's land.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 24, 2023 12:01 PM (trdmm)

392 It was funny when the Army/Marines went with Night Vision Goggles for everyone from the two or three at a rifle company. The plan to make this work was units recharging batteries. They fielded the Gen 3 NVGs and then found out most rifle companies only have around 10 to 15 useable electric outlets to charge a thousand batteries to carry a company on a four day operation. In combat they just use disposable batteries. That's a lot of log train.

Posted by: Pudinhead at March 24, 2023 12:01 PM (tiR3O)

393 But still, for California, is it unburglerable?

Posted by: Axeman at March 24, 2023 12:01 PM (krQz2)

394 @131 I think maybe you "Honda men" had better check your news releases. Honda is converting Marysville into all EV, as we speak. Didn't know?

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at March 24, 2023 12:01 PM (jYCXf)

395 "none of the cities in this country, outside of NYC and a couple others, cannot survive if people don't drive"

Mass transit worked very well for carless me in Chicago in the 1950s-1960s. Wouldn't try it now.

Posted by: Let gp Sink In at March 24, 2023 12:01 PM (MvF+J)

396 If the only vehicle available for purchase is a $65K EV that you need to be on a list to order an have a chance to buy, it doesn't matter what you "want."

Buyers right now are getting a taste of it, which I think might be part of the plan. Go to a dealer and try to shop around. You can't. You buy what they have on the lot and consider yourself lucky to find the model you're looking for, much less the package. And you'll pay MSRP or above.
Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:59 AM (O69GV)

They literally starve to death before we get to 100% EV. That's what I keep getting at when I say the system will fall apart before they get to mass compliance. And there are plenty of ways and incentives to cheat.

Using lockdowns again as an example. Lockdown long enough, they're all dead. The lockdowns can't go on forever because at some point you run out of the resources you need to enforce lockdowns.

Posted by: Red Turban Someguy - The Republic is already dead! at March 24, 2023 12:01 PM (eYoxG)

397 yeah I thought that word was blocked by the blog ages ago

Posted by: DB - gassing the hooptie at March 24, 2023 12:02 PM (geLO8)

398
They don't want you to drive.
--

none of the cities in this country, outside of NYC and a couple others, cannot survive if people don't drive. As Phoenix, Houston, and others have found out the hard way, they are far too spread out for any kind of mass transit to ever be effective.
Posted by: Tom Servo

---

Yes. Exactly.

https://tinyurl.com/2ors6es3

Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 12:02 PM (O69GV)

399 I want a Canyonero (it's a Simpson's thing). Endorsed by a clown.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at March 24, 2023 12:02 PM (lz5hY)

400 >>386 the lithium iron phosphate batteries are supposed to be much safer than the lithium ion ... and better.
Posted by: illiniwek

This. We use them in quite a few applications. Prices have come way down too.

Posted by: Maj. Healey at March 24, 2023 12:02 PM (DMyTF)

401 I love my Tacoma p/u. 2007. She's a horse.

Posted by: Mr Aspirin Factory at March 24, 2023 12:02 PM (7u1Ff)

402 Pickups are insanely expensive these days, for no good reason. Probably part of the reason the Ford F150 isn't the top selling vehicle any longer.

For what they want you can get an old pickup and fix it up then go on vacation with the money left over.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 24, 2023 12:02 PM (0hOvj)

403
The global EV marketplace is en fuego!

-- Another Imposter Who Shouts, "En Fuego!"

Posted by: Krebs v Carnot: Epic Battle of the Cycling Stars (TM) at March 24, 2023 12:03 PM (pNxlR)

404 I used to use corded hedge trimmers. I ended up just having the damn hedges ripped out. So much easier.
Posted by: Let gp Sink In at March 24, 2023 11:59 AM (MvF+J)

I like my corded hedge trimmer, and I've gotten really good at repairing the cord each time I cut it in half.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 24, 2023 12:03 PM (trdmm)

405 Been reading a lot of things I wish I had thought of lately. Just came across a good one at Twitchy:

Every leftist accusation is a confession.

Posted by: sniffybigtoe at March 24, 2023 12:03 PM (UuD2k)

406 What it is most like is the 13th century (give or take) laws forbidding any serfs from moving off of their Lord's land.
Posted by: Tom Servo at March 24, 2023 12:01 PM (trdmm)
++++
That's what the "15-minute city" is. You can leave it, but you need a pass from your local council.

Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 12:03 PM (t0OGg)

407
A niche car with unusual characteristics

Enjoy a nice, leisurely ~~dinner~~ over-night stay at the local No-Tell Motel on the road while your car ~~recharges!~~ fails to charge.

Posted by: The Media! at March 24, 2023 12:00 PM (2tUFv)

FIFY

Posted by: naturalfake at March 24, 2023 12:04 PM (L1tQx)

408 Here's Nancy Pelosi trying to pass legislation passing UN's Agenda 21 codifying it into U.S. law.

https://tinyurl.com/2ors6es3

This has been at work for a long time.

Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 12:04 PM (O69GV)

409 A very young Pelosi btw

Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 12:04 PM (O69GV)

410 Been reading a lot of things I wish I had thought of lately. Just came across a good one at Twitchy:

Every leftist accusation is a confession.
Posted by: sniffybigtoe at March 24, 2023 12:03 PM (UuD2k)

PREACH!

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at March 24, 2023 12:04 PM (Zz0t1)

411 Mass transit worked very well for carless me in Chicago in the 1950s-1960s. Wouldn't try it now.

West coast transit systems have been abandoned by everyone who isn't poor or homeless.

Turns out that getting a lung of fentanyl or meth smoke from the guy smoking it in the train car isn't a real big draw for public transportation.

Posted by: The ARC of History! at March 24, 2023 12:05 PM (2tUFv)

412 They skipped right over the hybrid vehicles to the goal of all EV. The Hybrid makes some sense so it has to be ignored.

Posted by: polynikes at March 24, 2023 12:05 PM (IhbYA)

413 For what they want you can get an old pickup and fix it up then go on vacation with the money left over.
----------------
Yep. Pickup trucks have an advantage over current cars in that they possess a real fucking chassis. Cars are all unibody these days. Kind of hard to rebuild and upgrade.

Posted by: Pudinhead at March 24, 2023 12:05 PM (tiR3O)

414 Teslas are slowly but surely replacing Priuses as the car you see everywhere in CA. Frequently notice multiple of them lined up at the same intersection.

Amusing considering they are the ones disfavored by the regime, but even with all the whining the left does about Musk they can't stop using his products.

Posted by: Sjg at March 24, 2023 12:05 PM (Lstct)

415 EVs, in theory, should be cheaper and better than ICE cars. In theory. So far, not so much in fact.

The subsidy issue - another way to look at it - the subsides cause EVs to rob themselves of future sales. That is, when you announce the subsides are ending at the end of December, everyone who might want an EV rushes out to buy one. That steals sales from January. Worse, people who would buy an EV wait around...thinking the subsides might come back...So ending subsides crashes sales. Which is why we should never do them.

Posted by: Inspector kemp at March 24, 2023 12:06 PM (BLOTa)

416 Pickups are insanely expensive these days, for no good reason. Probably part of the reason the Ford F150 isn't the top selling vehicle any longer.

For what they want you can get an old pickup and fix it up then go on vacation with the money left over.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor

Wife's 2021 F150 has 23 onboard computers and a touch screen.

Bull shit. We made vehicles for 100 years without that crap. Vehicles don't need it.

Posted by: rickb223 at March 24, 2023 12:06 PM (GIBR7)

417 They literally starve to death before we get to 100% EV. That's what I keep getting at when I say the system will fall apart before they get to mass compliance. And there are plenty of ways and incentives to cheat.

I agree. This is one of those pipe dreams the left comes up with based on what they want to be true instead of what is actually true. They all believe that you can will a new reality into place if you have the right mindset and are determined enough, which never, ever accomplishes anything but misery and failure.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 24, 2023 12:06 PM (0hOvj)

418 402 Pickups are insanely expensive these days, for no good reason. Probably part of the reason the Ford F150 isn't the top selling vehicle any longer.

For what they want you can get an old pickup and fix it up then go on vacation with the money left over.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 24, 2023 12:02 PM (0hOvj)
________________

Pickups all went upscale in the last decade or so. I rent a 3/4 ton (F250, Ram 2500, etc) a few times a year to tow a racecar. Even the base trucks have a lot of tech and come loaded with entertainment and convenience features. So while the price has certainly gone up, so has what you get.

Posted by: Elric Blade at March 24, 2023 12:06 PM (iFTx/)

419 If you're thinking about buying an older diesel PU truck, prior to 2008 there was no DEF.

Posted by: Maj. Healey at March 24, 2023 12:06 PM (DMyTF)

420 A very young Pelosi btw

Hubba, hubba!

Posted by: Zombie JFK! at March 24, 2023 12:06 PM (2tUFv)

421 Real inventive these EV companies are with their names.
*
Naming your car after yourself is unheard-of.
Posted by: zombie Henry Ford at March 24, 2023

***
Move over, buddy!

Posted by: David Buick, Ransom E. Olds, et al. at March 24, 2023 12:06 PM (J2vNu)

422 Teslas are slowly but surely replacing Priuses as the car you see everywhere in CA. Frequently notice multiple of them lined up at the same intersection.

Amusing considering they are the ones disfavored by the regime, but even with all the whining the left does about Musk they can't stop using his products.
Posted by: Sjg at March 24, 2023 12:05 PM

Big in MA, too.

Posted by: RedMindBlueState at March 24, 2023 12:06 PM (Wnv9h)

423 "I like my corded hedge trimmer, and I've gotten really good at repairing the cord each time I cut it in half."

I did that three times. The straw that broke the camel's back was when I just barely missed trimming my nose by an inch. No more yews, thanks.

Posted by: Let gp Sink In at March 24, 2023 12:06 PM (MvF+J)

424 Noodity!

Posted by: Roland THTG at March 24, 2023 12:06 PM (j40lz)

425 NOOD

Posted by: Jordan61 at March 24, 2023 12:06 PM (DRSnL)

426 A very young Pelosi btw
Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 12:04 PM (O69GV)

You asked for it........

https://post___.cc/9rmQtFyF

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at March 24, 2023 12:07 PM (Zz0t1)

427 there's a new thread up you ICE-loving reprobates

Posted by: kallisto at March 24, 2023 12:07 PM (dCxaZ)

428 oops.

https://postIMG.cc/9rmQtFyF

Posted by: Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden at March 24, 2023 12:07 PM (Zz0t1)

429 This slutty redhead thinks EVs are a lot like her: cool and a ton of fun, but not the kind of thing you take home forever:
https://is.gd/BSFUVl
Posted by: Joe Mannix

She's Rick James' bitch.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at March 24, 2023 12:07 PM (FVME7)

430 They skipped right over the hybrid vehicles to the goal of all EV. The Hybrid makes some sense so it has to be ignored.
Posted by: polynikes

As 100% against EV's as I am, I would seriously look into a hybrid.

Posted by: rickb223 at March 24, 2023 12:07 PM (GIBR7)

431 @402

>>For what they want you can get an old pickup and fix it up then go on vacation with the money left over.

Which is what I did, in 2018 I bought a 2005 Chevy Colorado to replace my 95 GMC Sonoma that had given up the ghost.

I paid 4k for the Colorado and proceeded to put around 2k into it for total cost of around 6k for a pickup I will easily get around 15 years of use out of, if not more.

That is if the maniacs don't ban petrol.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at March 24, 2023 12:08 PM (n/8Ck)

432 RE: Richard Hammond's Rivian Crash.

I'll give them credit: Rivian took the publicity from that and made it into a joke, adding fire extinguishers to all models and dedicating them to Hammond.

Posted by: American Hawkman at March 24, 2023 12:08 PM (skAOD)

433 "West coast transit systems have been abandoned by everyone who isn't poor or homeless."

In Chicago, the CTA is now the pipeline that delivers the thugs to all the formerly "safe and nice" neighborhoods. Easy pickings.

Posted by: Let gp Sink In at March 24, 2023 12:08 PM (MvF+J)

434 So, the banking system was fixed so well that they are having an emergency fed meeting today. I'm so glad the experts are in charge.

Posted by: Thomas Paine at March 24, 2023 12:09 PM (lTGtQ)

435 Every leftist accusation is a confession.

That is a tighter and better way of putting it than I usually do. I like that.

The subsidy issue - another way to look at it - the subsides cause EVs to rob themselves of future sales.

Another problem is that its snuffing out any alternative options for engines like hydrogen.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 24, 2023 12:09 PM (0hOvj)

436 They skipped right over the hybrid vehicles to the goal of all EV. The Hybrid makes some sense so it has to be ignored.

I agree. Its the same principle as a diesel-electric train and that makes sense. Straight up EV? No.

Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 24, 2023 12:10 PM (0hOvj)

437 Outed himself as a nasty (and I believe paid ) troll during the last election.
Posted by: AZ deplorable moron at March 24, 2023 11:53 AM

I missed that part. I just thought he was naturally an asshole, not a paid-to-be one.

Posted by: Chuck C at March 24, 2023 12:11 PM (xttsV)

438 372 I have some absolutely stunning news for you, re aircraft carriers. Does yours run on coal?

Aren't most of them nukes? So they're steam powered.
Posted by: Christopher R Taylor at March 24, 2023 11:58 AM (0hOvj)

All of the US and French carriers are nukes (not counting the US 'Gators). I believe the QEs are gas turbine, or a combination steam for cruise and gas for dash. The Russian is an oil burner, as would be the ones the Chinese and Indians picked up from either the Russians or Ukrainians. Don't know the propulsion on the ones the PLAN has built for themselves.

Posted by: Fox2! at March 24, 2023 12:13 PM (4GxJn)

439 I wonder how AOC would react if her favorite shade of lipstick was unavailable because the petroleu- based process used to create it was shut down.

Posted by: Dr. Bone at March 24, 2023 12:13 PM (Jg7EG)

440 Yeah, this puzzled the hell out of me, too. Kicking out a windshield is *not* that hard. You might not want to do it and will wait and see if you can contact someone for help first because replacing it is going to be expensive and you risk scratching the paint on the hood and fouling up things like rain and light sensors, but windshields are relatively easy to remove from inside the car.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:40 AM (t0OGg)

Modern windshields that glued in with urethane are pretty tough to kick out. Smash a side window. They are made of tempered glass, and once cracked, shatter into small rubble that is not dangerously sharp. And side window replacement is almost a do it yourself task.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 24, 2023 12:14 PM (tkR6S)

441 "Free cash flow for 2022 ended up at a negative $6.4 billion, according to results posted late Tuesday, as Rivian lost money on each car it sold while also investing for the future."

Yup, but they're making it up in volume.

Posted by: Mildly Retarded Lurker at March 24, 2023 12:14 PM (+nxIh)

442 Electric Cars

'One can't believe impossible things.' I daresay you haven't had much practice,' said the Queen. 'When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.

Posted by: rhennigantx at March 24, 2023 12:15 PM (BRHaw)

443 I missed that part. I just thought he was naturally an asshole, not a paid-to-be one.

Maybe he took to heart, "If you get paid to do what you love you'll never work a day in your life."

Posted by: Blanco Basura - Z28.310 at March 24, 2023 12:15 PM (Bd6X8)

444 I ended up just having the damn hedges ripped out.

The place we bought for Mom and Dad had a long line of grapevines, which I trimmed once or twice a year with a heavy duty corded trimmer. It was great, and not hard to manage, and after all I'd known the guy who started those vines. Meanwhile, wife bought one of those battery-pack multisets, for the light stuff. It was, OK. You quickly get used to it.

After Dad passed on, we put the place up for sale. Out I went with my heavy duty unit to tame those vines. Cut through the cord three times in one day.

The new owner ripped those suckers out toot suite.

Posted by: Way, Way Downriver at March 24, 2023 12:17 PM (jYCXf)

445 They have a plan. It's a bad plan that won't work, though. Almost like they're being run by people who vastly overestimate their ability to control things, manage people, or predict the future.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, being witty and sophisticated with Ernst Lubitsch at March 24, 2023 11:17 AM (LvTSG)

----------------

These people are so arrogant and full of hubris that it invites retribution. I wouldn't care so much if it was only they who will go down in flames but they will be taking all of us with them.

Posted by: President Select Decaf at March 24, 2023 12:25 PM (3JfbU)

446 A guy in town has an old Ranger for sale. I am sorely tempted to call him and get some history and details so I can see if what he wants for it is reasonable.
Posted by: Joe Mannix (Not a cop!) at March 24, 2023 11:54 AM (t0OGg)

If it's in good shape, and priced right, just snag it. It will only go up in value.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 24, 2023 12:26 PM (tkR6S)

447 The only way they are going to come up with enough lithium and other rare earth compounds to build a couple hundred million EV's is to mine the asteroids. There literally isn't not enough proven reserves of those metals on the planet to build even ten million EV's.
Posted by: Mister Scott (Formerly GWS) at March 24, 2023 11:54 AM (ncXxy)

You don't need those exotic metals to build electric cars. Back in their first heyday, say 1890 - 1920, they were made of iron, copper, and lead, and wood.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 24, 2023 12:29 PM (tkR6S)

448 Buyers right now are getting a taste of it, which I think might be part of the plan. Go to a dealer and try to shop around. You can't. You buy what they have on the lot and consider yourself lucky to find the model you're looking for, much less the package. And you'll pay MSRP or above.
Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:59 AM (O69GV)

Last time I walked onto a dealer lot with a view to buying a new vehicle was 1981. I have bought only used, ever since. I am fine with the Joe Xidens of the world paying the depreciation for me.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 24, 2023 12:35 PM (tkR6S)

449 However, she's unlikely to spontaneously burst into flames to accomplish that.
Posted by: naturalfake at March 24, 2023 11:59 AM (L1tQx)

fires have been started by friction, you know.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 24, 2023 12:37 PM (tkR6S)

450 If you're thinking about buying an older diesel PU truck, prior to 2008 there was no DEF.
Posted by: Maj. Healey at March 24, 2023 12:06 PM (DMyTF)

Yeah. Hell will freeze over before I vehicle that requires I put piss in a tank to make the exhaust smell sweet.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 24, 2023 12:42 PM (tkR6S)

451 The [Democratic Administration controlling the ] government decided [that during election year it would advantage Democrat candidates running ] in mid-2022 to reduce support payments for new e-cars, arguing they had become increasingly attractive for buyers [believing in Democrat narratives regarding Global Warming] even without support payments.

Posted by: Pouncer at March 24, 2023 12:43 PM (eL/jp)

452 I have friend with a Maverick pickup. 4 door, leather etc. so not real cheap. He used to own a
Ford dealership so I think he went to the head of the line. Nice little rig.

Posted by: free tibet at March 24, 2023 01:04 PM (iNp3L)

453 Last time I walked onto a dealer lot with a view to buying a new vehicle was 1981. I have bought only used, ever since. I am fine with the Joe Xidens of the world paying the depreciation for me.
Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon

--

Same here. The point being the cars aren't available, when they are available there is no haggling, and people are being conditioned to accept it.

Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 01:04 PM (O69GV)

454 Brian Kemp - EV Boondoggle

Greg Abbot - Windmill Boondoggle

How many other Republican governors jumping on the Green Socialism Electric train?

Posted by: insurgens ad opus at March 24, 2023 01:09 PM (Edh9v)

455 Burning 6Billion. I don't know about CO2, but they are doing a great job fighting inflation.

Solyndra. Solyndra everywhere.

Posted by: Shiggz (cool ranch MAGA) at March 24, 2023 01:35 PM (0SrVS)

456 No idea what rivian would have become on their own, but as soon as Elon musk got unpersoned and so left started shoving crony connections and money into rivian it's fate was sealed. Technology and markets just don't follow political rules. Like b0lsheviks, these angry trolls leading them are constantly at war with reality.

Posted by: Shiggz (cool ranch MAGA) at March 24, 2023 01:41 PM (0SrVS)

457 An EV is fundamentally more inconvenient than a ICE car. They don't want you to know this, but as people buy them they get familiar with them, and there is no way to hide it. There are, at least for now, youtube videos of people complaining about the new extremely expensive, but also nearly useless Hummer EV.

Posted by: DFCtomm at March 24, 2023 02:09 PM (vDj4Y)

458 Study Tesla's financials. EV vehicles are growing at a fast pace, and Tesla is making billions (before EV credits).

Posted by: JoeNYC at March 24, 2023 03:02 PM (sX15q)

459 I love this site, but the hate towards EV's are ridiculous.
Again, study Tesla financials and see for yourself their exponential growth.

Posted by: JoeNYC at March 24, 2023 03:05 PM (sX15q)

460 Making every month extra dollars by doing an easy job Online. Last month i have earned and received $18539 from this home based job just by giving this only mine 2 hrs a day. Easy to do work even a child can get this and start making money Online. Get this today by.

follow instructions on this website……… Www.jobsrevenue.com

Posted by: Glenna Craig at March 24, 2023 03:58 PM (JDWa+)

461 Hopefuly the big Tree don't go 100% EV it would be the worst corperate Blunder since New Coke

Posted by: Tamaa the Drongo Bird at March 24, 2023 05:10 PM (wGqjj)

462 Manufacturers aren't going to run two lines producing competing products for long. They're re-tooling for EVs to meet China's demands. They've been telling us for the last decade that it's happening. It's time to believe them.

Posted by: Daddy, why are muffin pans made with twelve spaces instead of five? at March 24, 2023 11:15 AM (O69GV)

This is correct. The company for which I work (one of the Big 3) has been shutting down vehicle assembly plants where ICE vehicles are built and retooling them for EV-only platforms or shuttering the plants permanently. All of our future plans are based on the WEF Agenda 2030. 100% EV in Europe and 50% EV in USA by 2035.

The USA CAFE standards with impossible targets and fines and consequences (automaker will be banned from selling vehicles if mpg and greenhouse gas emission targets not met) are set to go into effect in 2025. With product planning set 4-5 years in advance, the plans were set as soon as the Deep State rigged and stole the 2020 election and put Obama's CAFE standards back into effect in January 2021.

Posted by: Clyde Shelton at March 24, 2023 05:30 PM (Do5/p)

463 What's troubling is the shortsightedness of major ICE manufacturers. Obviously they're getting their marching orders from FedGov, and a huge payout, but they're going to be bankrupt in less than a decade if they keep it up.

Posted by: Martini Farmer at March 24, 2023 11:17 AM

The "marching orders" from the federal government are the CAFE standards and targets that skyrocket to unrealistic and impossible standards starting in 2025. For mpg and greenhouse gas emissions (ie carbon emissions). Those standards were first planned under the Obama Administration. President Trump stopped that plan, but then the Deep State put the plan back into place after they rigged and stole the 2020 election.

Elections have consequences. This is one of them. The Big 3 will be banned from selling any vehicles at all starting in 2025 if the CAFE standards are not met. Period. The mpg and carbon emission targets are so ridiculous that only going 100% EV will have a shot to meet them. Which is the point.

There will be no law banning ICE vehicles, because there is no need. The CAFE standards effectively ban them already.

Posted by: Clyde Shelton at March 24, 2023 05:54 PM (Do5/p)

464 I think we should take a 2nd look at steam power. But not as the primary system. A steam system that captures the heat from an ICE engine would be an interesting experiment.

Posted by: sniffybigtoe at March 24, 2023 11:18 AM

So something like EGR? (Exhaust Gas Recirculation)

Posted by: Clyde Shelton at March 24, 2023 05:56 PM (Do5/p)

465 Buck Throckmorton, if you remember me you won't be surprised that I disagree with your analysis.

Most people, most of the time, would rather have an EV. You and other Morons may not agree. But Tesla has managed to sell literally millions of EVs at luxury prices.

The more EVs get made, the more economies of scale kick in and at some point EVs will cost less to build than ICEVs. At that point ICEVs will become the more-expensive option and few will want one.

If the Tesla Cybertruck is as good as I am expecting, ordinary working people who need a pickup truck will choose it over an ICE pickup.

Note that none of the above has anything to do with subsidies. The Democrats want to subsidize EVs for two reasons: (a) EVs are inevitable and they want to claim credit for it; (b) big union companies like GM are getting killed by Tesla and they want to send money to help them compete.

Disruptive innovation happens on an S-curve and BEVs are hitting the fast part of the curve. That implies that ICEVs are about to hit an inverse S-curve of demand destruction. If I'm right, the next few years will be very hard on the ICEV makers like GM.

Posted by: mr_jack at March 24, 2023 07:36 PM (LNPSJ)

466 The climate alarmists like the headlights on the Rivian because it's got beady Davos eyes!

Posted by: Muldoon at March 24, 2023 11:47 AM

I see what you did there.

Posted by: Kim Carnes at March 24, 2023 10:16 PM (Do5/p)

467 My yellow 2007 190,000 mile tank.

FORD RANGER!

Posted by: rickb223 at March 24, 2023 11:56 AM

You have a Ford Ranger with a 190,000-mile range gas tank?

Posted by: Clyde Shelton at March 24, 2023 10:55 PM (Do5/p)

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