Electrification requires one thing to succeed – assuming the objective isn’t to impoverish everyone.
It must be . . . affordable.
The range-recharge issues – and the fire issue – are important functional issues but at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how far an EV can go nor how long (or little) it takes to recharge if most people cannot afford it.
The EV, that is.
Private jets are neat. They are something most of us would love to have. But most of us can’t afford one, so we fly commercial – assuming we can endure that.
Fewer people can afford a private jet right now – or for that matter, a ticket on a commercial airplane – precisely because of the economic catastrophe created by the very regime that is pushing electric cars as hard as it is pushing drugs.
The entry-level electric car that cost $40,000 last year costs substantially more this year even if its sticker price hasn’t changed because the cost of everything else has increased by roughly 20 percent over the course of this year. Very few people are making 20 percent more to make up for it. Rough math, they therefore have about 20 percent less in the way of spending power, courtesy of the very regime that is pushing everyone to pay twice as much for their next car, the mandated electric car.
The regime, of course, is not very good at math – or rather, at balancing books – because it isn’ obliged to balance them. Unlike us – the people being forced to pay 20 percent more for everything and who are thus obliged to find ways to get by with 20 percent less of everything – the regime simply prints (digitizes) another 20 percent, for itself – or takes another 20 percent off the top.
From us.
Its resources are unlimited.
Its apparatchiks don’t have to worry about how much EVs cost because for the regime, cost is no object. Wheeee!! See the regime’s front man experiencing the speediness of the $75,000 to start electric Hummer he doesn’t need to worry about paying for.
But if the object of the regime isn’t to throw us all into the poorhouse – or shove us all into a bus – then its current policies are utterly at odds with its stated objective of “mandating” all of us out of the cars we can afford into electric cars most of us already couldn’t afford – even before the regime hey! presto’d! itself into power a year ago via the magic trick of Wi Fi’d voting machines and unvetted but much counted “votes.”
In 2020 – the year prior to regime change – a Tesla Model 3 listed for $37,990 to start; a “long range” Model 3 (this one goes about half as far as a typical non-electric $18k economy car) listed for $46,990.
The same two this year cost $41,990 and $50,990 respectively.
A difference of $4,000 more for a car most people already couldn’t afford to buy back when they had 20 percent more buying power.
Let them eat volts!
Under the Orange Man, most people were at least working – assuming they wanted to. Workers weren’t being thrown out of work for refusing to become voodoo dolls to be stuck with pins by their employers, who’ve become the willing helpers of the pharmaceutical cartels that seized control of the regime, which they helped to “elect.”
A pint of heavy cream didn’t cost $5.
You could buy a week’s worth of groceries for $100.
You could fill up your non-electric car for $30.
The new regime has forced millions out of work – and it has made working pay less than it used to, leaving even the people who still have jobs less able to buy . . . everything.
Especially the essential things, such as food and shelter (mortgage and rent).
A new car is a superfluous expense when times are tough. Most people will elect to keep the one they’ve got and fix it as necessary. If the fix costs too much, many will elect to buy a used car as a way to avoid chaining themselves to the cost of a new car.
Especially one that costs around $40,000 to start – which is the price you’ll pay for the least expensive new electric cars. This places them in the same price category as entry-luxury cars such as the Lexus ES350 ($40,800) and BMW 3 Series ($41,450).
These are very nice cars – as $40k cars ought to be. You get what you’re paying more for, whether it’s a $40k Lexus or a $40k-plus Tesla. The latter comes with substantially less range (and much longer recharge times) but you get “ludicrous” speed and lots of neat tech, kind of like a private jet.
Keep in mind, too, that unlike the Lexus and BMW cars referenced – and non-electric cars, in general – advertised EV prices are also “ludicrously” under-posted. Their true – unsubsidized – cost is much higher. A fair evaluation ought to include what an EV would cost without the subsidies – such that it could sold at a profit – and also the cost that come with EV ownership, such as the cost of updating the wiring panel in your home.
But the question almost no one tub-thumping for the mandating of $40k-plus electric cars for everyone is: How are people supposed to afford it?
Especially now that they can afford less?
The regime is either colossally stupid or evil beyond articulation. It is possibly both. Maybe the whole objective – of everything – is to impoverish people as impoverished people are needy people and people who are needy are usually more inclined to be obedient people.
If it isn’t the latter then why is the regime pushing cars that will massively increase the cost of owning them upon people who are already having difficulty keeping up with the ordinary cost of just living?
Could it be the same reason the regime is pushing drugs on people who need them even less than someone struggling to make do on a $40,000 salary that has lost 20 percent of its purchasing power over the course of not even twelve months needs a $40,000 electric car?
Maybe someone ought to ask Brandon.
. . .
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More fire ev articles enjoy
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/24442209/ev-erupts-flames-while-charging-leisure-centre/
https://www.thesun.co.uk/motors/24419642/mclaren-luxury-hybrid-bursts-into-flames/
Here is the plan. Do away with petrol and diesel powered vehicles for the masses, and for affordable gas heating for the home. Electric only. Once everyone is hooked to the sole source, electricity, for transport and home, via the smart meters the gov can then start to decide who gets to move around and have heat in their homes in the winter. The idea being to starve out the oldies, the disabled, and those who despise governments and who disagree with corporate slavery. Shut off their electricity, bank accounts and mobility so that they die.
Americans Panic-Buy Firewood And Stoves Amid Energy Crisis
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/americans-panic-buy-firewood-and-stoves-amid-rapid-energy-inflation
wef 2030 depopulation agenda
This is about the sustainability agenda, centralizing economic power and depopulation
depopulation plan who is first:
first: unborn babies
close second: old people, the old people are the new Jews, they want to get rid of them.
in 1998 they knew the math didn’t work to fund pension plans, wouldn’t be able to pay the pensions. in 2003 they said between 2020 and 2025 there would be a huge drop in the population numbers. it is like managing cattle, if there isn’t enough resources to keep the animals, you cull the herd.
3rd : the incurably ill and the physically or mentally disabled
4th prisoners next, they cost $50,000 a year to keep locked up.
5th indigenous people, maybe because they cost the government money,
6th homeless people, might cost the government money
7th whites aren’t popular, so white conservatives next,
8th then? all conservatives?
9th anybody not in love with nwo/elite/ccp/wef/.0001% globalist government?……
10th all the poor people
your medical system
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zht0ok2DAQU
“How are people supposed to afford it?”
Obviously they’re not supposed to.
Hi Eric,
Every store I go seems to be talking about a “labor shortage” — the Aldi I go to has been offering $15/hr job postings for weeks now. I worked at another grocery store part-time in around 2015-16 and the starting pay was $8/hr. So the price of grocery labor has nearly *doubled* in five years in my area.
My thought is that as you said, inflation is rising way past people’s incomes — and that makes it hardly worth the effort to work when you’ll barely be able to pay bills anyway. This might make some high school or college kids decide to just stay with their parents and hold out for something better or prices to go down…also, people from two-income families where one of their jobs got Corona’d (including part-timers who often staff stores) and got used to living with less may see working outside the home as futile, plus not wanting to deal with the face diapers, jab requirements, or whatever else, just decided it was more useful to stay home and take care of the house/kids.
There are probably other factors — what’s your take on the “labor shortage”?
The very notion of a labor shortage escapes me. If you need more labor, that means you have more demand, as in customers. Customers who BC, before COVID, had to work in order to become one. So, if all those creating the demand were employed, then there would likewise be workers available to meet that demand. You can’t have a thousand people buying, without having a thousand people working. Until the Psychopaths In Charge stuck their finger in the pie. Too bad they didn’t wash their hands after their fecal matter discharge.
Correct-a-mundo! Why would anyone be employed today?
As much as most people assume most other people are stupid, most people can see what’s going on.
So why work when you can be “disabled” or “disadvantaged” and get transfer payments equivalent to an $80k/year salary. There is welfare, food stamps/EBT, section 8 housing, medicare/medicaid, and if you are a poor single mommy who is absolutely not responsible for the costs of her chillun, you can get thousands a month in cash “chile suppo’t”. And every penny of it is 100% free of income tax!
And even if you aren’t cashing in on this cornucopia of communist crap, why go somewhere the bastards believe themselves masters of slaves and be forced to wear covers on your face, attend indoctrination struggle sessions, piss in a cup in case you’ve taken unapproved stuff into your body, and be dictated to inject dangerous and often deadly approved toxins directly into your veins!
And the next piece of the puzzle, if you are part of the deplorable middle who believes in honest work, profit, and saving, your savings are being crushed by actual inflation and will obviously just be stolen as soon as the communists spend enough money and “need” your IRA/401k/ESOP spreadsheet entries. So a rational actor, like most of us, will be slowly stripmining those assets to survive on the lifeboat and maybe to backstop your own businesses.
Interesting you should mention fires. I’ve been seeing a few more Teslas on the road lately (no, they’re not everywhere, but a bit more common than before where I live). The first thing I think of when I’m sitting next to one at a stoplight is how to get away from it if it bursts into flame. No kidding. I think and plan escape routes. I absolutely don’t trust those things.
Let’s go Brandon!
Early 8-bit PCs were incredibly expensive and didn’t do much, especially when compared to the mainframe computers of the time (even today a mainframe, AKA supercomputer, is far more efficient and able than an office full of desktop PCs). But they allowed companies to establish themselves, then a market, then an industry and then they changed the world. That progression of events was partially driven by Moore’s law, but not entirely. It is a fundamental rule for new technology adoption. That’s all well and good if you’re blowing a grand on an educational toy for the kids, but the transportation budget isn’t something that you can spend frivolously. Oh sure there’s ways to justify the outlay, mostly in convenience if you can home charge, but that’s really not a compelling reason to switch.
Especially when they get recalled due to a major design defect. Every Chevy Bolt needs to go back in for a new battery pack, something that isn’t going to be cheap or easy to do, because of a defect in the LG battery pack. The temporary work around is “don’t charge it unattended, or indoors, or above 80% charge.” If your Apple ][ has a fundamental defect it was usually something you just lived with, or someone would figure out a way to exploit the defect and turn it into an undocumented feature. Then again very few house fires were caused by design flaws in Commodore 64s. But even if there were an update to fix the problem it was probably easy enough to DIY, something that isn’t really an option with modern automobiles.
Right… don’t charge it indoors… try that in rural Minnesota, or anywhere north of Dallas! Idiots. I need a drink. Or maybe a sniff of glue…
I know many of the car manufacturers today are discussing how they are transitioning from gas to electric engines, but what happens to the “fun cars?” The ones that most people turn around and take a second glance at. The ones where guys will pull up next to each other and say “nice car” and “wanna race” at the traffic light? What happens to car shows? The design teams that spend years of building diagrams and prototypes of these loud, fast, beautiful cars?
As a woman married to a man whose first love is a stick shift V8 with an 8.4 liter engine, I don’t see the majority of the male population (even the young guys) saying “I want an electric car.” Even my 15 year old loves the sleekness and speed of today’s Corvette Stingrays. An electric Corvette? Ugh! I don’t even know where to start.
‘What happens to the “fun cars?” — RG
For now, they are becoming scarce and costly.
Some of this is due to restricted production of new vehicles. Dealers are desperate to buy anything used, including the appliance-type vehicles. But the fun ones are going up right along with them. Manheim’s used car price index has nearly DOUBLED since the March 2020 low:
https://tinyurl.com/b6vbsnk7
When the next recession comes along — possibly as soon as next year — that may the last, best chance to grab another vintage vehicle.
Right now, everything is all bubbled up. Thanks, Jerome ‘Cntl-P’ Powell. You’re a one-trick pony.
Hi Jim,
There are still a few fun (new) cars that are also affordable; the Miata is one. But they are dwindling. The truly sad thing – well, one of them – is that in the past, many cars were at least interesting; they had quirks and personalities. Now, they are as homogenous as egg crates.
The immortal Miata … sui generis.
I want one. Or its straight-six cousin, the Z3.
Shoulda picked one up before the covid bubble. Was negotiating with one seller, but then she impulsively confessed that it was ‘a piece of crap’ and took it off the market. (?)
But you know what will happen if a red one lands in my driveway. The tongues will start wagging: ‘midlife crisis … trying to relive his youth … etc.’
Saw a slight distraction
Standin’ by the road
She was smilin’ there, yellow in her hair
Do you wanna, I was thinkin’, would you care?
Sweet hitch-a-hiker
We could make music at the Greasy King
Sweet hitch-a-hiker
Won’t you ride on my fast machine?
— CCR, Sweet Hitchhiker
Well Jim, guess what my daily driver is, at my ripeness of 67, and has been for 20 years? My latest an 06 I got for 9k with 33k on it 2 years ago. I don’t drive one to pick up women, I’ve frankly had my fill of them as far as intimacy goes. I drive one because I can regain a bit of my agility from ages past. I don’t seek to relive my youth, I seek to experience it, in part, right now. The Z3 was a good car, and overall a nearly carbon copy of the Miata, except for the price and a bit more power. The Z4 is an overweight excuse. 3200 pounds or so, steered by wire for God’s sake.
Love that song. Oldie but greatie!
The Miata was a copy of the Lotus Elan, Lotus only made 10,000 Elans, Mazda has sold about one million Miatas. Chapman’s son said it was a huge mistake stopping Elan production.
The best lotus was the Super 7, Lotus only made about 2,500, then stopped, 160 companies have made copies of the Super 7, Caterham is the only legal copy. A Super 7 weighs half as much as a Cobra or new Miata.
Small, simple, light is best…
A super 7 (a 1957 design by Lotus), is the ultimate driving experience, buy or test drive one, it is a completely different experience. The most direct, analog, raw, visceral, unfiltered driving experience, perfect for the hard core driver enthusiasts, this is how a car should be, small, light, agile, fast, no frills, mechanical art made to go fast only, no luxury, no doors or roof, some have no windshield, nothing extra, with a 4 cylinder engine about 1200 lb.
A Donkervoort a Super 7 clone in 2003, 2004 had the world record lap time for any street legal car on the Nurburgring, (quite a bit faster then the plaid lap time).
Dutton Super 7 clone with SBC V8 434ci, 1600 lb, steel tube frame, fibreglass body, it has run a best 8.90 sec 1/4 mile, it is quicker then all the hypercars and the tesla plaid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNWlLnwhGxg
Lots of Miatas are bought as track cars……..here is some other small light track cars……built for fun……..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPey-MNJtE8
Mazda used to make a Miata explicitly for that purpose, called a Club Spec, which was mostly stripped, didn’t come with air conditioning, nor any options at all. To build what you want from.
RG- I thought better of you. Free people do not use communist units (Systeme Internationale)… 8.4 liters? means 512 Cubic Inches! (WTF is he driving?? a Caddy 500 wouldn’t have a 4 speed… unless it’s a bored and stroked big block?)
Hi Ernie,
Sorry it is a V10….not a V8….I was corrected. Do Commies drive Vipers?
Heh… Commies drive Vipers, Ferarris, Mercedes, or whatever they want. Their victims/subjects ride shank’s mare if they are allowed to move. I’m hoping my next build can be a hybrid- say a 3000 HP gas turbine powering 700 HP electric motors on all 4 wheels. Bit it still won’t be measured in kWatts or liters…
Quite honestly (an this was openly stated by Obama’s mentor Alinsky) I think the objective is to crash the system and make everything either unaffordable and available EXECPT through the government.
So we’ll all be domesticated animals eating from the government’s hand… and GRATEFUL when they give us some crumbs. Can’t afford an expensive EV with half the practicality and half the convenience of an ICE vehicle? Well, if you support The Party — and are of a preferred race, gender, or sexual orientation — they’ll create a program to make the funds available for you.
And you’ll be happy, because the alternative will be walking — just like the East Germans were happy to get a shitty Trabant after being on a waiting list for years. Just like the Yugoslavs were happy to get a shitty Yugo. And just like the Cubans are happy to get a 1956 Buick.
Any survivors will probably be a transhuman slave and get paid and own nothing, they are bringing back slavery, the most profitable business.
And the new owners lack the ethical standard of taking care of their slaves such as was common back when slavery was.
Lots of problems with EV’s
Worldwide 80% of electricity is produced by oil, gas and coal. electric cars aren’t zero emission they are remote emission. the new gas powered cars run so clean they have very very low emissions, very close to zero.
NOTE: The biggest pollutant emitted from new cars because they have so low emissions are from tires wearing out while driving, tire particles.
electric cars weigh 50% more than gas powered cars so have higher tire wear, so EV’s pollute more.
In their entire life cycle including manufacturing, electric cars in total pollute more than gas powered cars. Most electric cars are designed as performance cars so they use far more energy and resources than they should. (the government regulations don’t allow the manufacture of small light electric cars which would make more sense, china does).
The grid can’t handle large numbers of electric cars charging, if all cars are electric the grid capacity has to be increased 500%. Only 5% of electric car batteries are recycled, a huge pollution problem. Open pit lithium mining for battery manufacture, often done with child slave labour, is as bad as tar sands mining.
Electric cars are expensive, they are only for the rich, but they are heavily subsidized by the government with taxpayer’s money, including taxes from the poor, the poor subsidizing the rich. the poor can walk. electric cars, toys for the rich.
NOTE: The first people to buy electric cars were the most sold on the idea, the biggest believers, 20% of them are switching back to ice powered cars because of the inconvenience factor, the charging time hassle.
Another problem EV shares with new ice powered vehicles: Electronic components have a limited life, even if you do not use them. It’s the nature of the P-N junction that forms a transistor.
So the new electric vehicles like the new computerized ice vehicles will have a limited lifespan, when these electronics fail the car will be scrap, too expensive to fix, more recycling and waste. Only buy cars with no computers.
But mechanical systems, like Jay Leno’s 1832 steam engine can last for centuries.
Steam powered cars have the same advantage as electric cars, instant torque.
“The grid can’t handle large numbers of electric cars charging”. Much of the grid can’t handle heating and air conditioning. It’s the elephant in the room regarding the adoption of EVs. We can’t. Not and still drive. Or heat and air condition our homes.
Those opting for electric should consider this:
https://fordauthority.com/2021/11/1978-ford-f-100-eluminator-concept-features-the-mach-e-gt-powertrain-sema-2021/
$3,900 for the motor, and some estimates have a kit, including a battery, costing double.
So, let’s say the entire kit costs $9,000 to install into the husk of name-your-favorite-disabled-car. You can probably buy a decent such car for $1,000, especially if they’ve already harvested the engine, and it’s not some collector’s item.
That could be a nice $10,000 electric, sans all of the electronic bullshit and other features you probably don’t want. Environmentalists should love this option, as you are recycling old vehicles into life AND making them “green”.
All this is saying nothing about the infrastructure needed to charge all those EV we are all supposed to drive soon.
Eric,
Even the EV’s staunchest advocates will admit that, in order for EVs to be widely adopted, they must come down in price, and they must offer more capability (better range and charging times). Alejandro Agag, founder of Formula E, said so. So did FE champ Lucas di Grassi, who helped develop FE’s Gen I car. More staunch EV advocates you will not find, but they both admit that EVs must come down in price and offer more capability vs. ICEVs in order to spur widespread adoption.
Indeed, Mark –
And: If it weren’t for Tesla and the perverse incentive to tout “ludicrous” speed and other non-practical attributes, EV development might have focused on just that… i.e., practicality and affordability!
And how many can afford high performance, four wheeled ICEVs? No matter the powerplant, the old adage applies: speed costs money; how fast do you want to go?
But yeah, ICEVs offer more for less vs. EVs. We can compare two Nissans to make the point: the Nissan Leaf and the Nissan Versa. Both are similar in terms of size and purpose, yet the Versa is is 1/2 the price, goes 2x far, and can be refueled anywhere in five minutes. Until EVs can offer similar functionality for a similar price to ICEVs, they’ll never win in a genuinely free market.
The state does not do free markets. It does goons with guns pointed at your head.
Hi Eric,
Agree that Tesla’s constant harping on “ludicrous speed” is ridiculous. Just where might you be able to use that ludicrous speed? Most likely you will end up with a ludicrous fine when the AGW finally catches up, which he will eventually since the battery will be discharged long before he runs out of gas.
It takes 20 minutes to condition the batteries before you can use ludicrous mode (so impossible to use at a stoplight race), after hunting through menus to find it, if you use it several times tesla will deactivate it and or void your warranty, it is pretty much useless.
Eric,
I get why Musk built performance in to his EVs: to destroy the stereotype that EVs are glorified golf carts. Prior to Tesla, the largest selling EV in the US was the wedge shaped CitiCar; it sold some 7,700 vehicles. Because of the CitiCar, that’s what people thought EVs were; Must sought to change that.
That said, by emphasizing and building nothing but performance cars, few folks can afford them. At Battery Day, Musk said that Tesla is working on a $25K EV to get more people in to Teslas in particular, and EVs in general. He’s promising full self driving capability. I wonder how present Tesla owners, who paid $10K for FSD, feel about that? Musk is saying it’ll be available in 2-3 years. Given his track record, we’ll see…
I was recently of the opinion govt was incompetent and stupid – because they are.
But that’s what they need me to think to be able to make me a slave.
The desire of govt is to rule – a town, a country, the world. They can’t rule any of these unless they first rule those within those geographies.
The USA is the largest govt in the world. That can’t happen by sheer incompetence. It is the plan. So, I have changed my view. Everything they do is on purpose.
Sometimes those plans don’t work out, but even the unintended results were purposeful outcomes of intent gone wrong.
The govt knows the limitations of EVs – cost, infrastructure, poor longevity – and they want that.
If we can’t afford to be mobile or to go very far if we can afford it, we are easier to control.
“The regime is either colossally stupid or evil beyond articulation. It is possibly both”
You left out insane Eric. Which I suspect is the major motivation, and encompasses evil as well. Unless the Devil is real as well as demons. I’m not saying they aren’t, especially considering the sheer volume of evil.
If TPTB had their way, cars – WOULD – be like private jets.
We would have to endure public transportation — which, like flying commercial, has more than its fair share of hassles and unpleasant experiences.
And on top of that, they keep cutting routes and raising fares just like airlines!
So we will sit at home having everything delivered while being doped up with feelies and soma.
‘[Electrification] must be . . . affordable.’ — eric
How about a Rivian R1T pickup for $74,145 — way more than the average IC-engined pickup?
It has a claimed 300-mile range. But for only $10,000 more, you can get a larger (and heavier) battery pack that ‘is said to’ boost the range to 400 miles.
If you believe it, that is. This week, RIVN fell 25% from its Tuesday closing high on some troubling news:
‘Rivian’s electric vans for Amazon.com may have a more limited range than [the expected 120 to 150 miles], The Information reported on Friday, citing a driver testing the vehicle.
‘The driver told The Information that the battery drained about 40% faster than normal if the van’s heating or cooling was on.
‘Ross Rachey, Amazon’s director of global fleets and products, said these vans did not have the insulation the final vehicles manufactured by Rivian will have.’
https://www.autonews.com/automakers-suppliers/rivians-electric-van-amazon-might-have-less-range-expected-report-says
Yeah, space blankets will fix that … not!
Eric’s readers will not be surprised at all, as he often makes this point.
A/C is a parasitic motor load (for the compressor) and heating is a parasitic power load (for resistance heating elements).
Knowing Amazon, they’ll probably order their serfs to just bundle up in winter and sweat it out in the summer. Otherwise … algorithmic punishment for exceeding their kWh quota!
The typical UPS delivery to your door truck doesn’t have doors so I’m guessing probably no A/C but maybe heat?
They have doors, but in a box like that, I’m sure neither heating nor air conditioning works especially well. Especially since they are constantly fanning the doors. Which is why they leave them open in the summer.