You’ve probably had something electronic that still worked just fine but which could no longer be used – because it was no longer supported – i.e., rendered useless by the company that made it, in order to cajole you into buying a replacement.
Owners of one of the first mass-produced electric cars – the Chevrolet Spark – are getting just this treatment. General Motors, it has ben reported, will no longer support the Spark – by no longer stocking replacement battery packs for it. GM has stopped making them – and since no one else does, it means that once the Spark you own’s battery pack no longer holds charge – an inevitability with every battery – you are left holding the keys to about 3,000 pounds of essentially worthless deadweight, since a car that cannot move is about as useful as a toilet that doesn’t flush. 
But this “toilet” is only ten years old.
The first Sparks came to market back in 2012, which wasn’t all that long ago.
The last new ones were sold in 2016.
None of these are old cars. In fact, the oldest Spark is younger than the average non-electric car currently in service as a daily driver, which is about twelve years old. Most of these with many more years of useful service left, because they don’t have battery packs that cost more than the car is worth (by then) to replace.
Which is a built-in problem for all electric cars. Some may recall the case of the irate Finnish man who TNT’d his not-very-old Tesla Model S when he found out that replacing its dead battery pack would cost him on the order of $20,000.
But at least a replacement battery was still available.
Without that, you’ve got nothing – no matter how much you’re willing to pay for it. And unlike non-electric cars, there is very little you can do about it – other than eat the loss and move on to the next one. This is because an EV’s dead battery pack is not like a non-electric car’s failed transmission or engine – or even both, together. In the case of the latter, it is almost always possible to swap in a used or remanufactured/rebuilt transmission or engine – and drive on. It is not possible with electric cars for which there aren’t any replacements available, new or used.
And even if the original manufacturer no longer makes new replacement engines/transmissions for a given IC car, these can usually both be rebuilt at a price that’s worth the doing. Electric car battery packs, once dead, are throw-aways – just like the dead battery that no longer powers your sail fawn. At which point, you throw away the sail fawn.
The electric car, too.
The difference being you probably paid a lot more for the electric car.
Interestingly, there has been little-to-no coverage in the general or even the automotive press about this business. It’s interesting – because you can imagine the uproar that would arise if any other barely ten-year-old car was no longer supported by its manufacturer – and had a built-in design feature that assured it would be rendered useless years before it reached the age of the average non-electric car currently in service.
Of course, the reason for the absence of such coverage is because it might call attention to the shorter useful lifespan of electric cars, due to the shorter useful life of their battery packs relative to the useful life of an IC car’s engine or transmission. These are expected to last at least 12-15 years – and most last longer. If they fail sooner, the car – and its maker – gets a well-deserved reputation for shoddiness and most people will avoid buying a car made by that maker.
But here we have an electric car that becomes an electric brick around the ten-year mark. Maybe sooner, depending upon how many almost-depletions and “fast” charges its battery pack is subjected to. Which – in the case of a car used every day – would be regularly. This is a paradox built into the electric car. If you use it to the full extent of its capabilities – i.e., if you regularly drive it to or close to the limit of its range and thereby frequently deplete the battery, you accelerate the demise of battery.
It is discharge-recharge cycling that ages a battery. Especially “fast” charging. You can limit the damage by not “fast” charging – and not discharging – the EV battery. But then the EV isn’t much use, is it?
No such issue exists with non-electric cars in that driving down to fumes in the tank has no effect at all on the useful service life of the vehicle. A non-electric car that’s 15 or 20 years old holds as much gas in its tank – and travels just as far – as it did when it was new. An electric car’s battery pack is unlikely to be capable of holding the same charge it could when new when it is ten years old – and maybe sooner.
And if there’s no replacement battery available – or it costs more than it’s worth to replace it – the car is useless.
Many people will find out about this after they bought an EV. It probably explains another interesting thing about EVs that the general press (and the automotive press) haven’t covered much, which is that a large percentage of first-time EV buyers didn’t buy a second one.
The word gets out, eventually – as in the manner of the “safe” and “effective” Jabs.
Ironically – tragically, even – the Spark was what an EV should be, i.e., inexpensive and useful, in the manner that most other EVs aren’t. It was designed specifically to be an affordable little “city” car – useful for people who didn’t need a long range highway car – just a car that could get them to work and back and for cheap.
The last new one sold for about $25k. It made a lot more sense than a $50k Tesla Model 3.
But never mind all of that. If sense entered into any of this, none of this would be happening, at all.
. . .
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While reading about how the Simon Bar Sinister Dick Durban of Illinoise and his evil henchmen the Democrats are attempting to outlaw supplements I thought of the title to your article, “No Longer Supported”.
https://anh-usa.org/new-bill-threatens-jail-time-for-supplement-companies/
With an attached rider to the bill about maintaining fees it seems like it will pass this go-around & natural supplements will go the way of incandescent light bulbs, and as a result, so too will the lives of many people who depend upon supplements to keep them alive.
Our overlords truly are murderous monsters hell bent on death & destruction in their quest for the power of one ring to rule them all.
Here is a big EV liar journalist, leftists lie 24/7 365
Bridie Schmidt is associate editor for The Driven,
Tesla 6000 km about 3000 miles
3000 miles @ $5.55 per 100 miles for electricity = $166.50 for electricity plus $660.00 for the battery = $826.50
50 mpg diesel 5000 km about 3000 miles
60 gallons (diesel used in 3000 miles) @ $5.60 U.S. per gallon = $336.00
tesla cost $490.50 more then the diesel to go 5000 km
There is an additional cost for the EV owner: the tesla $22,000 battery is used up, worn out in 100,000 miles. this works out to $22.00 per 100 miles it is costing you for the battery. So the EV owner has to pay another $22.00 per 100 miles to pay for the battery, the diesel car owner doesn’t have that extra cost.
travelling 100 miles in an average EV uses 1.03 gallons equivalent of fuel = 34.7 kwh of electricity @ $0.16 per kwh = $5.55, that is the net amount, at the power plant 4 gallons of fuel were burnt to get a net 1 gallon of fuel equivalant 34.7 kwh used by the EV.
if the electricity was free it still cost $324.00 more in the tesla…
ATTENTION: the cost of the battery is more then buying fuel for the diesel ice car…..
the battery cost is the killer nobody talks about (amortize the cost per mile)….
some super chargers charge $0.52 per kwh (in Australia)
travelling 100 miles in an average EV uses 1.03 gallons equivalent of fuel = 34.7 kwh of electricity @ $0.52 per kwh = $18.04
travelling 100 miles in a 50 mpg diesel uses 2 gallons of fuel @ $4.00 per gallon = $8.00
So the EV driver paid $10.04 extra for fuel
There is another hidden cost….$22.00 per 100 miles for the battery in the EV.
So that is $32.04 extra fuel/battery cost….
There is an additional cost for the EV owner: the tesla $22,000 battery is used up, worn out in 100,000 miles. this works out to $22.00 per 100 miles it is costing you for the battery. So the EV owner has to pay another $22.00 per 100 miles to pay for the battery, the diesel car owner doesn’t have that extra cost.
at the power plant 4 gallons of fuel were burnt to get a net 1 gallon of fuel equivalant 34.7 kwh used by the EV….
so in reality the EV wasted 4 gallons of fuel in comparison to 2 gallons of fuel used by the ice diesel car, this equals twice as much waste and pollution.
So EV’s pollute twice as much as ice vehicles……
https://thedriven.io/2022/05/09/tesla-model-3-saves-1300-fuel-bill-on-two-week-road-trip/?fbclid=IwAR2h4c6ZIhHUpppBiEzozJPCvwYghSCB7Q6mD976tYTH9xXmMVyULiYKDtU
Seems like soon nothing electric will be supported very well.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/grid-operators-warn-electricity-shortage-renewables
Went to the Homeless Despot and Lowers to pick up yet another string trimmer. One that was powered by AC. Nope, none of the electric yard implements are corded. All battery powered. They had four brand choices: red, yellow, turquoise and high-vis green, each with different battery “platforms” to use.
Ended up getting a gas powered trimmer. This is also a “platform” but it looks like it actually is a standard across brands (although I think the brands are all the same parent company). This is the way it all should be. A rotating shaft is a rotating shaft just like DC power is DC power. The internals of the batteries are basically 18650 cells or some slight variant. But the mounts are all different, the sense lines are all different, and there’s no polarity standard. Oh they’ll pack a punch, pushing out 40 VDC and 10s of amps on burst. That’s much easier to do with a battery since you have to design an AC tool for someone plugging into an overloaded 15A circuit. But in a few years, when the batteries won’t charge, they’ll have the new 50 VDC sytem out and you’ll have to scrap the works.
Hi RK,
What are you doing up this late? I thought I was the only weirdo here at this hour!
In re trimmers (and other lawn equipment): I can see buying an electric model if you have a small yard and not much work to do. It’s analogous to electric cars. They’re not useless – just not useful for every purpose. I support people being free to buy what works for them, as opposed to being told what they’ll be allowed to buy by government.
In my case, a small yard and no grass. I’m not a fan of yard work so when I saw the rock garden “zeroscape” yard I was sold. But I still need to take care of weeds and, ironically, grass when it sprouts between the stone. It doesn’t require much, and electrics’ maintenance schedule fits in better with my desire to maintain things. But I deal with way too many batteries and battery problems to get another “platform” to live with. Gasoline is likely to be the same stuff, or nearly so, for the forseeable future.
I just got done with the yard work and have to say the gasser was nice to have. It didn’t choke on the heavy stuff, and having a brush trimmer attachment made quick work of the dead rosebush. I think this “internal combustion engine” technology just might have a future…
A rock garden “zeroscape” yard sounds fantastic. I briefly daydreamed today about paving my entire yard.
When I lived in the city for many years, with a small yard, I went through quite a few corded electric string trimmers. The experience left me with the impression that electric string trimmers, battery or not, are basically worthless money sucking alligators.
My neighbors only had One – One! – gasoline powered weed-eater during that whole time, with zero downtime for repair or replacement.
Your government is pushing EV’s? Why?
China has infiltrated all levels of governments, taken control, (check out the leftist/communist takeover), your politicians bought off, paid to push the EV agenda.
Anybody pushing EV’s is a paid ccp shill.
Who benefits the most from the EV vehicle conversion? china does.
All the most important components in the new EV’s are all made in china. Then you are dependent on china for replacement parts, etc., in effect they take over the whole vehicle supply chain. Vehicle production then centralized in China.
China has already taken over canada, they bought all the mines and real estate, infiltrated the government at all levels, they have a communist/fabian ccp controlled leader running the country. In the U.S. brandon is a ccp puppet.
china benefits more from cv19 then any then any other country
China behind the bioweapon injection
zhang yongzhen was the chinese scientist that released the genome data for the so called sa…rs co…v 2 vir….us, this data was used all over the world to put in place masking, lockdowns, destruction of small business and now forced extermination injections and to make, concoct, manufacture the vac……ci,,nes (extermination injections).
This faked data was fed into another software program that produced the mrna vac..ci,,ne in one weekend. ATTENTION: Made in one weekend, zero tests for safety (but the government said 24/7 safe and effective), Normal vac…..cines take 10 years to develop, test, produce.
ATTENTION: The problem was he used fabricated manipulated data, scientific fraud to fabricate the sars co…v 2 vir…us genome, he used their megahit software program. no controlled experiments were ever done.
Around the world virologists used 49 different software programs and could never duplicate his results. nobody seems to care………..
All the ingredients for these shots are made in china
the germ was the marketing campaign to suck you into the bioweapon shot
china supplies all the materials used to make drugs and vaccines for all the world so china will make huge profits from the cv19 hoax.
armies of Chinese bot accounts on Twitter were instrumental in promoting early lockdowns in countries like Italy while bombarding political figures who refused to order strict lockdowns, such as South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, with criticism and abuse.
Come on man. Electric cars are a 1/2 measure to explain why IC engines are no longer needed. Individual ownership will eventually be discovered (how were we to know?) to be wasteful and cause too much carbon pollution. On the way to comrade community transportation. Unless you are a most important public servant.
Exactly, Paul –
I’ve been trying to get the same across for several years now – after I finally figured it out, myself. EVs are the vehicle being used to first control and then largely eliminate private vehicle ownership. Getting rid of both being essential to getting rid of whatever remains of personal liberty in this country.
What a name for a car – “Spark”, everytime I see one I think – Kaboom!
The replacement battery is the nemesis of the electric car market – and apparently the virtue signalers have to go through the emotional wrenching process of finding out their prized ‘carbon free’ green vehicle is really an expensive lemon getting early retirement to the wrecking yard.
I laugh at their woes – my $500 Geo Metro will outlast them all and I’ll still be fixing it for pennies while the crusher makes the tesla a nice non aerodynamic rectangular box. So which is the real green car? How much carbon to make all these new vehicles then just trash them?
You know you can not crush a electric car because the battery might explode. So how much time is wasted getting it out?
I will tell you what I saw on the I-5 this week. Half dozen cars out of gas and the driver walking with a red gas can. And I also saw lots of older little econo box cars dusted off and on the street again. Lots of Tercels on the road again. What this means is fuel cost is eating those on low to no income alive.
But what I have not seen so far is people driving slow to save gas – so that means to me that gas prices may have to go higher. I can remember gas at 25 cents a gallon and how outraged everyone was when it got to 50 cents then a dollar a gallon. I remember siphoning lots of gas from junk cars when it got over $3 a gallon.
The simple fact is that many people were having trouble with gas prices above $3. $5 gas is killing them. I can’t imagine driving my old 8 mpg truck at todays prices – but I see them as daily drivers – you know the jacked up chevy 4×4 with the 350 motor.
And we still have to deal with inexplicable FIRES on the part of these EVs…and supposedly gasoline was a fire hazard!
https://www.westernjournal.com/alarming-two-electric-buses-spontaneously-explode-entire-fleet-taken-off-road-city/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=WJBreaking&utm_campaign=breaking&utm_content=western-journal&ats_es=8b8c284b74b4aa6a869b2378a3c1d98a
Also, it doesn’t take something like GM bailing on making replacement battery packs for the now-moribun “Spark”. If there’s enough of an aftermarket, someone with improvise a replacement battery pack, provided the “Gubmint” doesn’t interfere, which they MIGHT and WOULD. Merely not making replacement chips and boards for the various “modules” will doom an otherwise perfectly serviceable ride, and that seems like a ready way to institute planned obsolescence.
This is yet another reason to find a still-running Plymouth Valiant, Ford Falcon, or VW Beetle. Sure, their engines, save for the Slant Six in the Valiant, needed a valve and ring job every 100K miles (less in the Vee-Dub if it was driven hard), but the average “shade tree” mechanic could perform one in a few weekends! Parts, NOS or even better than original, are readily available and inexpensive. The best part is, these rides, are, by dint of their technology of yesteryear, “dumb”, and therefore, as long as the talents of the shade tree mechanics are loving applied, they, like an old mule, will keep on “plowing”!
RE: Self, Douglas Lloyd May 7, 2022 At 1:22 am
The problem is battery packs have so many places to cut corners and cutting those corners leads to fire when dealing Li-Ion and some other chemistries.
Don’t be dependent on gas stations, the power grid, lithium batteries, be energy independent power your vehicle with a gassifier…..
It’s a gasifier, it burns “fuels” at high temperatures and low oxygen, turning them into unburnt fuel vapours, a form of natural gas, then they pull it into the engine through the carb.
a neater gasifier, they run off anything basically, coal, wood, grass clippings, manure, waste oil, car tyres… The more energy dense your fuel is, the smaller the gasifier can be. Eric you could use chicken manure……why are we paying for gas?
Busses used to have gasifiers on trailers behind them, the technology was developed to help with the war fuel shortage, and then was released freely, most commonly used in England I believe.
Nowadays its even better and more compact, this is a downdraft gasifier, can be made with a 200l drum a 60l drum, a stainless steel colander and some pipe and fixings.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/archive/coal_powered_car/zrdd8xs
Same thing is happening in the small drone world. I have a somewhat expensive DJI Inspire 1 that will eventually become unflyable because of the batteries. DJI no longer sells new batteries, and any that are sold online are either new old stock or fakes. If they’re NOS they won’t really work any better since LiPO batteries will die on the shelf, especially if their not in a climate controlled “shelf.”
I also have a 3D Robotics Solo about the same age. Again, the batteries died and because 3DR is no longer manufacturing hardware they aren’t replacable. However, 3DR open sourced all of their software and hardware reference, so there’s a very small industry of people who will “re-cell” your batteries. Oh, they no longer have their pretty case, but you can strap them in and they’ll behave just like new.
Both of these companies made their batteries proprietary by integrating the charging and managment system into each battery. That makes sense for keeping track of the number of charge/discharge cycles, balancing and simplifying the charger. The only reason why 3DR opened up their system was because they got out of the hardware business. DJI is still very much in the drone business and won’t disclose anything. I’m sure people will reverse engineer but with the FAA and commerical sector souring on Chinese aircraft I don’t know that it will matter much soon. The bigger [roblem is, American companies will be much worse, if for no other reason than because they want FAA’s “TBD” certification document.
One small thing you can do is look at only buying small electronics that take regular batteries, not always an option but well worth considering if possible. Rechargeable than then can be substituted for them if needed. My cameras, mp3 players and what have you are still working well after a built in battery would have died. It seems the older it is the easier it is to keep running.
That’s exactly what I did, Landru, when buying a new camera. Would only consider ones that take standard rechargeable batteries. Pickings were slim- but I found a decent Nikon that fit the bill- and what a difference! Not only does it keep the camera viable for as long as nothing breaks…but the four double-A’s can go forever compared the little proprietary battery in my former camera- instead of recharging literally after every outing- or having to carry a spare to switch to while shooting.
MP3 player…no one makes such a beast (that uses standard replaceable batteries)…but I did get one that has a HUGE battery. 8 years, and still going strong! Well….not strong- it lost about 70% of it’s capacity… (Bought a duplicate player too, for when this one dies…’cause of course, they stopped making ’em).
Imagine having to live with such limitations or practice such an economy with a freaking car that costs tens of thousands of dollars, and when it dies, it’s unlikely you’ll be 10 feet from an electrical outlet….or that you can just keep it in your pocket and do without until you get home, ’cause you won’t be getting home! It’s ridiculous that people would buy into such nonsense, and even think that it is somehow good and makes them all ‘scientific’ and modern! It’d be like trading a horse for a pogo stick!
Hey now! I like Pogo sticks! 🙂 Nunz, you know as well as anyone that the market isn’t driving these trends. Its our supposed “leaders” in the various gangs that rule us. Coupled of course, with those who own them. The typical consumer is lucky to be able to find the on switch, let alone think about the implications you’ve mentioned. The globalists are just as much tools, as the Progs and their mind virus ideology are. Things are going to continue on the down slope, because far too many people are simply too lazy and/or ignorant to think for themselves.
The next few years are going to get very ugly.
Personally, BJ -and I know I’ve mentioned this before- I do believe what is ultimately going to happen is that all of this high-technology is going to come crashing down very soon [Due to economics; supply chain; it being planned; etc] and since the working knowledge and infrastructure to do things the analog way is already long gone on a broad scale, there will be no returning to what we once had/the analog world of the recent past- but rather, a new dark age which quickly envelopes the industrialized world.
We’re seeing the beginnings of it already. So many industries have consolidated (There are only two manufacturers of locomotives left in North America- GE and EMD!) and so many others are facing extinction due to ‘obsolescence’ (Like the previously mentioned electronic device manufacturers)…not mention everything having been off-shored to Asia- just by what’s going on right now it very easy to picture this all going POOF very soon (Isn’t that what the Paris Climate Treaty nonsense is all about in reality? -To relieve the West of all means of production?)
That has concerned me for a long time, Nunzio. Fortunately, we aren’t the only ones who have seen this coming. There are already quite a number of communities scattered around the world, who have been preparing for this for a long time. At least parts of the world will not lose most of their tech base. They will regress to a level that can be sustained locally, but they already have the means to start rebuilding. Its a fascinating problem, and one I’ve been involved with for decades. Couple that with the huge increase in home schooling (one example is Ron Paul’s excellent system) and there is still some hope. Lind is involved with one of those groups, so you can imagine what their focus is. Things aren’t going to go quite the way the “elites” expect them to.
They are rare, but do exist.
I’ve got one myself and it works fine, for hours, off one disposable AAA battery
https://smile.amazon.com/AGPTEK-Supports-Replaceable-Recording-Expandable/dp/B01NAJ3KQB/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=37QQS3OZXLV3S&keywords=MP3+player+uses+standard+battery&qid=1652231769&sprefix=mp3+player+uses+standard+battery%2Caps%2C124&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyU01VQVNKSEpRMThCJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNjcxMDEyMVpXNU1YWklaRkVWTCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNDAwNzEyMjI5S0oyQ01NRzRaQyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=
These lithium batteries look as bad as nuclear waste. Nuclear waste was sometimes buried down old mines to get rid of it, these lithium batteries have the same problem, dangerous waste that pretty much can’t be recycled (95% aren’t), someone just said there is a $4500 recycling fee for these dead lithium batteries. A new business, buy an old mine and store dead lithium batteries down there……
At least the EV car fires got rid of some of these batteries…..haha
RE: Anonymous
An added bonus would be using the heat from burning batteries to power a small turbine/ generator to produce electricity. The environmentalists would love it because it would be green energy…
Just an aside: with each new wonder technology of rechargeable batteries that comes along, I’ve been told, very authoritatively, differing (and even opposing) things about how they like to be charged. Sometimes I’m told that “deep-cycling” the battery is the way to make its life longer, and that a “shallow” charge cycle leads to the battery having a “memory.” And, of course, I also hear the opposite (here at this excellent site, among other places). It’s all very confusing. I have actually put a new battery (well, I paid to have a new battery installed) in my sail fawn, as I found to my surprise that it was considerably cheaper than replacing said fawn, and the battery guy assured me that I’d better run it to near-depletion before charging. As far as I can tell, it doesn’t make much difference, in fawn batteries, anyway.
And thanks, Eric, for that hilarious term (“sail fawn”). It gives me a smile every time I use the thing.
James, just make sure to keep that sail fawn charged…in case you ever have a medical emergency and have to call the amberlamps! 😀
(((And thanks to Eric for “Amberlamps”!)))
Buy an old analog car with no computers……
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.
‘Buy an old analog car with no computers’ — Anon
One is tempted to go full Steampunk, with microturbines at each wheel spewing ominous clouds of vapor.
Revenge of the LoTeks, as it were.
Smash our digital despots.
A William Gibson fan! LoTeks for the win!
I’m for THAT, Jim. I’m sure it would sound really righteous at well: 4 turbines whining simultaneously.
It’s happening across all industries. Circuit boards, PLC’s, etc… 5-10yrs+ later? not available.
Bought a fancy gas house heater, only cause the old oil unit died, wow did it save heating costs for sure……but I looked inside and sure enough, there they were. Bought one of each suspicious looking E-component now for spare, cause they won’t be avail. later.
Anything you buy that you plan on keeping, you should buy the computer/PLC/board now or risk it going to the trash can.
One of our best selling new equipment ‘controllers’ is all relay logic, not a board or plc in sight, designed by us, built in the U.S. The smart users know what they want, are buying and pay more for it upfront cause they know it will outlast the e-stuff 5-10 times.
Hi Chris,
As I’ve mentioned before – and as anyone who owns a Before Times car already knows – I can get practically any part necessary to the functionality of my ’76 Trans-Am, which is pushing 50 years old and which was made by a division of GM that has been out of business for nearly 13 years. If such parts are even needed. Most of the critical components are rebuildable – because they are mechanical.
The entirety of the “fuel delivery system” is a four carburetor, a fuel pump and steel lines. The latter can be easily fabricated from standard stock; the former two are almost endlessly rebuildable. Keep a spare rebuild kit for the carb on hand (maybe $50) and that carb will serve for another 50 years.
Eric, I’d invest in at least a re-ring and gasket kit for that 455 (or is your TA a 400?). Pontiac stopped making those big block engines by about ’78, though their 301, essentially still a Pontiac V8, but a different casting with a different cylinder bore spacing, I think, uses different pistons, rods, bearings, etc, even though it endured until about 1990. Or even bite the bullet and just get a replacement short block, ready to go, and keep it bagged up and stored in the garage, ready for when needed. One thing you’re hampered by is that most of the Detroit “NOS” is just about GONE; many “speed” parts distributors like Summit racing get a lot of their parts from Chinese and/or Mexican makers, and there’s a lot of pure CRAP out there!
Same with brake hard parts…get them while the genuine stuff, especially NOS, is still out there. It’s not as if it has a “shelf life”! Another thing you might want to look at, even though likely you keep that TA garaged, is a new gas tank. After a half century, especially with all the adulterated gasoline that’s been foisted upon us, who knows what the inside of the tank that left GM’s Norwood, OH plant is like NOW.
It may seem like a lot of money and bother, but if keeping the “Red Barchetta” is your passion, Eric, then investing in parts spares, NOW, while they’re not only about as inexpensive as they’ll ever be to obtain, it’s one more thing the power-tripping control freaks in the “District of Criminals” (a fave label attributed to DC by one of its former “operatives”, the late G. Gordon Liddy) haven’t YET interfered with. Given that I’m not confident that the upcoming Congressional mid-terms and the ’24 leap year exercise in political stupidity won’t yet yield another blatantly stolen election, I wouldn’t count on being able to just get on Summit’s web site and just whip out the plastic to order parts for that TA.
When enjoyable, fast rides, customized to the owner’s tastes and performance aspirations, are outlawed…then let’s all BE “Outlaws”!!
Eric,
There are firms that condition, rebuild, or refresh battery packs starting to spring up. There’s an outfit in AZ (name escapes me at the moment) that fixes Tesla battery packs. What often happens is that one or two cells in a module fail, thus taking out the whole module. Since their battery packs are a group of modules, one dead module makes the battery pack useless. So, what they do is pull the pack, open it, find the dead Li-Ion cells, and replace them. While it’s not as good as replacing the whole pack, it gets you up and running for 1/4-1/3 of the price it would cost to replace the pack. Perhaps Spark owners could get their packs reconditioned?
Also, fast charging only happens at public EV chargers, not at home. While a 240 VAC charger will take less time (1/2-2/3 less) than 120 VAC, you’re still talking hours. That said, by using 240, you’ll be sure to recharge during the night, whereas with 120, that’s uncertain. Anyway, home charging isn’t fast charging, so it’s less harmful to the batteries.
Even fast charging doesn’t cause the degradation it once did, as Tesla is now building its cells to retain their charge even after repeated uses of the Supercharger network. While there is still a little degradation, it’s only a few %; it’s not as if the pack dies like your sail fawn battery does.
Hi Mark,
Yes, but if one or two cells fail, isn’t it increasingly likely – as the battery ages – that more cells will also fail? So say you spend $1,500 to repair the damaged cells this year. But then next year, another couple go bad… and so on. I think the relevant point here is that batteries by the nature of them, as storage devices, inevitably lose the capacity to store energy. This is something that never happens with a gas tank. Empty and refill it as often as you like, the latest refill will have as much energy as the first one.
EV batteries are also much more likely to have problems over time – and miles – arising from potholes, jostling, the loosening of fasteners and other hardware, etc. Plastic gets brittle and cracks. Metal fatigues. More potential problems…
And… for the sake of what?
Higher cost. Less range. Inconvenient and lengthy recharge times.
What’s the upside, again? How does this benefit the average driver?
Eric it doesn’t. But do you really believe that our Over Lords care about the average driver? The so called “elites” are pushing their agenda, no matter what it costs everyone else. Its all for The Cause. Sacrifices must be made Citizen! Hence the panic over the rise of popularism. Hungry is just one example.
What matters more is that if this were the outcome of a prospective buyer making a FREE market decision as to EV versus Hybrid, versus diesel or conventional gasoline power, then it’s a technical issue. We’d have a lot of “phun” with THAT.
But when EVs are being subsidized by tax credits and government grants to EV makers and suppliers of infrastructure like charging stations, it’s not a market or tech issue anymore, it’s POLITICS. And, as in “Starship Troopers”, where the high school teacher and veteran, missing part of an arm (Michael Ironside) lectures his charges, the exercise of political power, even if ostensibly lawful and “peaceful”, is still VIOLENCE, which ultimately is how issues get resolved. These issues, such as EV makers bailing on long-term parts and service on what’s been foisted upon an unsuspecting motoring public, should serve to get us hopping mad and put an end to this bullshit.
Mark, I’ve heard about many of those after-market batteries; they last for a year and a half or two….
I have my previous digital camera sitting not far from me- It’s still perfectly good, but Scam-Yo…err…Sanyo stopped making the battery for it, and while after-market ones are readily available, I’ve tried a few different brands, and they are all crap. Had to buy a new camera….. (Yeah, I still use cameras and MP3 players, cause I don’t use no stinkin’ smart phone)
Have 2 circa ‘07 no internet 160GB iPod Classics. Original batteries lasted 11 years. Internet sourced non OEM replacement batteries, one completely dead at 3 years, the second clearly on its way to dead very soon. There is clearly some differentiation here.
It’s not just EVs either. With modern ICE cars being entirely dependent upon computers/ECMs, and electronic parts having become uber-specific and requiring dealer reprogramming in order to work with the car on which they are installed, once the manufuckturer ‘stops supporting’ a particular model…it’s game over as soon as something (Even a minor component) fails. And such also negates the option of junkyard parts- as not only are the electronics so specific that it’s virtually impossible to find the part you need; not only would the vehicle’s ECM still require reprogramming; but just the fact that the electronics do not age well, -especially when sitting outdoors in junkyards- makes the option of keeping one’s not-so-old old car viable with used parts when new ones are no longer available a non-option.
Given the above, Uncle/The States would not even need to pass one new law to hobble ICE cars/prohibit their sale/ etc, because just as it is, we are already in the early stages of cheap used older vehicles becoming a thing of the past.
The NWO tyrants have been attacking us at every level, in every sphere of life and endeavor, and it’s all starting to take shape and come together now…and it’s far too late to do anything about it, other than to position one’s self where they can live as our ancestors did, in a totally self-sustainable fashion apart from society at-large.
No wonder they destroyed Ted Kaczynsky- he was SOooooo right……and tuth, knowledge and understanding among the peons is about the only thing the fiendish tyrants fear. [Eric and half the commenters here disappear]
PS. To illustrate the first half of my above post:
My neighbor has a customer with a POS…err..I mean ’06 diesel Jeep Liberty that needs a computer. That computer is unobtanium- new OEM, after-market, or used (He’s been looking for well over a year). [In this case though, it’s probably a good thing…keeps the customer from putting more money into the notoriously non-durable POS]
RIP POS Liberty. 2006-2020 (Amazing that it lasted that long)- Low mileage…perfect body…mechanically fine….but ready for the crusher because it is no longer supported.
Ted Kaczynsky’s no “hero”, nor “sage”, nor “role model”, he’s a fucking PSYCOPATH who murdered several, including a guy that had a computer rental venue (preceded the Internet Cafes that were a 90s fad) in Sacramento in the mid-80s. He’s nearing his 80th birthday while still in a Federal prison, and I hope they’re aren’t many more for his maniacal ass before he ends up in Hades, where he belongs. Fuck him. “They” didn’t destroy Ted, HE destroyed several innocent people in his freaked-out anti-tech mania.
I see the threading is broken so:
Re: Self, Douglas Lloyd May 7, 2022 At 1:50 am
You do realize that Ted Kaczynski was experimented on and that likely contributed significantly to what he became. Experiments that are of the same mentality they we are dealing with today.
I’ve never seen that particular model on the roads in the USA…. ever.
So it could be that they just really d
There are two orders of batteries, rechargeable, and single-use. The most common single-use batteries are A, AA, AAA, C, D. 9V, and lantern types. Those dry-cell species use zinc, manganese, lithium, silver oxide, or zinc and carbon to store electricity chemically. Please note they all contain toxic, heavy metals
Rechargeable batteries only differ in their internal materials, usually lithium-ion, nickel-metal oxide, and nickel-cadmium. The United States uses three billion of these two battery types a year, and most are not recycled; they end up in landfills.
California is the only state which requires all batteries be recycled. If you throw your small, used batteries in the trash, here is what happens to them.
All batteries are self-discharging. That means even when not in use, they leak tiny amounts of energy. You have likely ruined a flashlight or two from an old, ruptured battery. When a battery runs down and can no longer power a toy or light, you think of it as dead; well, it is not. It continues to leak small amounts of electricity. As the chemicals inside it run out, pressure builds inside the battery’s metal casing, and eventually, it cracks. The metals left inside then ooze out. The ooze in your ruined flashlight is toxic, and so is the ooze that will inevitably leak from every battery in a landfill. All batteries eventually rupture; it just takes rechargeable batteries longer to end up in the landfill.
In addition to dry cell batteries, there are also wet cell ones used in automobiles, boats, and motorcycles. The good thing about those is, ninety percent of them are recycled. Unfortunately, we do not yet know how to recycle single-use ones properly.
But that is not half of it. For those of you excited about electric cars and a green revolution, I want you to take a closer look at batteries and also windmills and solar panels. These three technologies share what we call environmentally destructive embedded costs.
Everything manufactured has two costs associated with it, embedded costs and operating costs.
A typical EV battery weighs one thousand pounds, (tesla batteries go up to 1800 lb. ) about the size of a travel trunk. It contains twenty-five pounds of lithium, sixty pounds of nickel, 44 pounds of manganese, 30 pounds cobalt, 200 pounds of copper, and 400 pounds of aluminum, steel, and plastic. Inside are over 6,000 individual lithium-ion cells.
It should concern you that all those toxic components come from mining. For instance, to manufacture each EV auto battery, you must process 25,000 pounds of brine for the lithium, 30,000 pounds of ore for the cobalt, 5,000 pounds of ore for the nickel, and 25,000 pounds of ore for copper. All told, you dig up 500,000 pounds of the earth’s crust for just one battery.”
Sixty-eight percent of the world’s cobalt, a significant part of a battery, comes from the Congo. Their mines have no pollution controls, and they employ children who die from handling this toxic material. Should we factor in these diseased kids as part of the cost of driving an electric car?”
When the green morons are virtue signalling with their coal burning tesla they should think of this…Their mines have no pollution controls, and they employ children who die from handling this toxic material.
I’d like to leave you with these thoughts. California is building the largest battery in the world near San Francisco, and they intend to power it from solar panels and windmills. They claim this is the ultimate in being ‘green,’ but it is not! This construction project is creating an environmental disaster. Let me tell you why.
The main problem with solar arrays is the chemicals needed to process silicate into the silicon used in the panels. To make pure enough silicon requires processing it with hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, hydrogen fluoride, trichloroethane, and acetone. In addition, they also need gallium, arsenide, copper-indium-gallium- diselenide, and cadmium-telluride, which also are highly toxic. Silicone dust is a hazard to the workers, and the panels cannot be recycled.
Windmills are the ultimate in embedded costs and environmental destruction. Each weighs 1688 tons (the equivalent of 23 houses) and contains 1300 tons of concrete, 295 tons of steel, 48 tons of iron, 24 tons of fiberglass, and the hard to extract rare earths neodymium, praseodymium, and dysprosium. Each blade weighs 81,000 pounds and will last 15 to 20 years, at which time it must be replaced. We cannot recycle used blades. Sadly, both solar arrays and windmills kill birds, bats, sea life, and migratory insects.
There may be a place for these technologies, but you must look beyond the myth of zero emissions. I predict EVs and windmills will be abandoned once the embedded environmental costs of making and replacing them become apparent.
“Going Green” may sound like the Utopian ideal and are easily espoused, catchy buzzwords, but when you look at the hidden and embedded costs realistically with an open mind, you can see that Going Green is more destructive to the Earth’s environment than meets the eye, for sure.
Anon
As long as the right libtard spin is put green energy the facts be damned
Mercedes EV vs VW diesel fuel economy
EV owner wastes 4 gallons to go 100 miles but pays only $5.55, the tax payers subsidize it and they also use the road for free……freeloaders….parasites…
travelling 100 miles in an average EV uses 1.03 gallons equivalent of fuel = 34.7 kwh of electricity @ $0.16 per kwh = $5.55, that is the net amount, at the power plant 4 gallons of fuel were burnt to get a net 1 gallon of fuel equivalant 34.7 kwh used by the EV.
If they paid the full cost it would = $22.20
(under not ideal conditions this can easily double = $11.10). which would = $44.40…
under ideal conditions but at top speed this mercedes EV used 90 kwh of electricity in 100 miles which = 3 gallons of gas….back at the power station = 12 gallons burnt….
Under not ideal conditions the EV efficiency drops a lot, might use twice as much energy to go 100 miles. Using the electric heater and the rear defroster and wipers in an EV reduces range. In very cold conditions the battery range can drop 50%. If the range drops 50% it costs twice as much to go 100 miles
travelling 100 miles in a 50 mpg diesel powered car uses 2 gallons of fuel….no need to waste all that fuel.
Thermal efficiency of power plants using coal, petroleum, natural gas or nuclear fuel and converting it to electricity are around 33% efficiency, natural gas is around 40%. Then there is average 6% loss in transmission, then there is a 5% loss in the charger, another 5% loss in the inverter, the electric motor is 90% efficient so another 10% loss before turning the electricity into mechanical power at the wheels.
33% – 6% – 5% – 5% – 10% = 25% efficiency for EV’s.
(under not ideal conditions it might be 12% efficient).
An Ev is 25% efficient in turning original source of energy, petroleum in this example into mechanical energy to push the car down the road.
So to end up with 34.7 kwh of electricity which is equivalent to 1.02 gallons of gas to push the EV 100 miles down the road 4.08 gallons of fuel were burnt to generate the electricity in the power station, remember net 25% efficiency.
The mercedes EV used 90 kwh of electricity to go 100 miles = 3 gallons of gas, but to get that 90 kwh of energy 12 gallons of petroleum were burnt at the power plant.
90 kwh@ $0.16 per kwh = $14.40 12 gallons of fuel were burnt at the power plant for $14.40 = $1.20 per gallon
travelling 100 miles in a 50 mpg diesel uses 2 gallons of fuel @ $4.00 per gallon = $8.00
So it cost $14.40 for the Mercedes EV to go 100 miles. It cost the diesel car owner $8.00 to go 100 miles.
There is an additional cost for the EV owner: the tesla $22,000 battery is used up, worn out in 100,000 miles. this works out to $22.00 per 100 miles it is costing you for the battery. So the EV owner has to pay another $22.00 per 100 miles to pay for the battery, the diesel car owner doesn’t have that extra cost.
The Mercedes EV owner paid $1.20 per gallon for fuel. The diesel owner paid $4.00 per gallon. One reason is the diesel owner is paying up to 50% tax in the fuel cost, partly to pay for the roads, the EV owner paid no tax in the fuel and uses the roads for free. The tax payers are subsidizing the cost of the electricity the EV owner is using.
burning 4 gallons or 12 gallons of fuel to go 100 miles is cleaner, safer, less wasteful then burning 2 gallons of fuel?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BSdq-MpPdg&t=113s
Nice breakdown. I can save you a lot of “twubble”…let to the free market, what would a CONSUMER purchase? End of story.
Eric:
My Uncle first apprised me of this rumor, “GM won’t support the Spark replacement battery.” He saw a video from Youtuber, Louis Rossman about it.
My Uncle can’t stand when people are lazy, and regurgitate what other people say, rather than put in the work to find out truth for themselves; as was the case in the video he saw from Rossman.
So my uncle picked up the phone to ask questions to find out the truth, cause he’s a curious guy. I’ve pasted his text to me below.
TJ, as promised re: Spark EV batt support.
2 I made Chev dealer call. Notation in dealer database to “call for availability. Batt on back order.” Customer price- $14,780 and other dealer quoted me $14,899. Labor 6.25 Hrs quote by both. That was for my “make believe” 2014 Spark EV.
See- – -There is no truth that GM will not continue support for one of its precious off spring.
– Uncle Jack
Apparently the original manufacturer of the Spark battery was, A123, and will longer produce it. LG Chem will now provide the replacement battery. The changing of GM’s SKU # for the battery because of a new manufacturer of it, has probably lead to the misinformation/disinformation about it not being supported.
The point of your article is still well taken. I had to give up using my Blackberry phone last year because they would no longer support it. So it is a real thing in the tech world to obsolete things by lack of support. By the way, the Spark sucks, as do most all EV’s, IMO. And for all intense and purposes, when a replacement EV battery is $14K+ for a car of the Sparks used value, it may as well be a battery GM no longer supports anymore, cause it amounts to about the same thing from the consumers perspective.
– Tim
The pity about the “Crackberry” is that, due to its being a 3G device, it won’t even work on many phone networks now. A lot of the “down” capability of 2G and 3G devices has been removed from cell networks, b/c there’s simply few phones left, as 4G devices are plentiful and dirt-cheap. The sad thing is that the Blackberry would still perform its functions quite well, otherwise, even making PHONE CALLS, and there’s still plenty of aftermarket suppliers out there!
This is akin to you COULD take a Model A Ford, and make a daily driver out of it, but it wouldn’t be able to handle the freeway, because it’s just too slow! It’d scoot around town just fine, though. A different analogy would be using a ’77 Chevette as a daily driver; while it’s not exactly desirable as a collector, it sips fuel and is easily fixed and relatively simple. As long as you can get the parts and you’ve got sufficient “shade tree” mechanical skills to keep it running for a reasonable sum, it’ll serve quite well. But if the aftermarket gives out and you can’t get anymore parts, you have to be as creative as the Cubans were after Castro and the Commie Rats took over, and America embargoed that nation for trade.
Damn. I wish that I could say “unbelievable” but obviously it’s all too believable. GFD these people.
The other thing, on older non-EV cars, you can jury-rig, bypass, and “delete” many things. Swap things out for something that wasn’t intended or supported originally by the manufacturer.
Try to jury-rig the EV power source and YOU might end up being dead along with your car.
It’s not just cars, the control panel on our dishwasher got fried and I couldn’t get a replacement from the manufacturer or the internet. Had to buy a new one and toss the perfectly good rest of it in the trash; how’s that for “sustainable?”.
Even if you barely use the car the batteries will fail from old age well before an IC car is ready for the scrap yard. Say goodbye to good old “barn finds” or “grandmas cars” that are old but just need the cobwebs blown out to serve as new again.
Better plug that electric car in regularly. Teslas are known to lose “miles” a day parked. A barn find Tesla is worse than a brick, it’s hazmat.
Even if your Spark is early in its life, you can’t trade the danged thing in now because there are no replacement battery packs. I think this “planned obsolescence” like with iPhones is by design because now the car companies know you’ll have to come back for a new car payment not long after playing off your glorified golf cart. They’re not required by law to stock new batteries for “old” cars.
I now know why the automakers have gone in full bore on the EV con. They were pissed that people were keeping their ICE cars up to 12 years on average or seven years after paying them off (average note is 5 years, give or take). The obscene Obama-era “Cars for Clunkers” BS program destroyed a lot of these older cars that ran well, but it wasn’t enough for them to get more people in hock to the F&I office at the dealership.
Car sales are down because the economy sucks, but also because the new cars suck thanks to Federal regulations. I remember the first time I drove a car with the ASS and I thought it was defective. Nearly ever car sold now has a 2.0 turbo, front (or all-wheel) wheel drive and is likely a stupid crossover.
Thanks but no thanks Uncle Sugar. I’ve got four paid-for vehicles and they’re not going anywhere. They run on gasoline and I keep them in tip-top running condition. I won’t buy an EV even if it comes at the barrel of a gun.
‘I won’t buy an EV even if it comes at the barrel of a gun.’ — dr_mantis_toboggan_md
They’ll have to pry the steering wheels of my late-90s, manual-shift vehicles out of my cold, dead hands.
I am, after all, a bitter clinger.
And these vintage vehicles never heard of cell connections or the internet.
From an NYT article titled “U.S. Intel is Helping Ukraine Kill Russian Generals” (!) — “It is not hard to geo-locate someone on a phone talking in the clear.” (That’s how they killed some of them.)
Duly noted. Presumably rogue killer drones, unleashed here in the US, are one of the options up the spooks’ sleeve if the Russian menace somehow runs out of gas (not bloody likely).
Good times …
That’s exactly WHY the power-mad control freaks infesting DC, like Sec-Transportation Pete “Butt-a-Fuck” WANT to get your now-vintage ride off the road: they cant’ CONTROL it!
I can see that the Feds would, as a condition of receiving Federal funds (one of “Tricky Dick” Nixon’s less stellar legacies), require the states to have “vintage” car owners, if they don’t feel they can get away with just outright banning of the old rides and/or CONFISCATION, simply require that they have a tracking device fitted, with cellular or whatever tech is necessary, so they know when you’re sleeping, they know when you’re awake, they know if you’ve been “bad or good” like a creepy fucking Santa Claus…
Hi Dr –
I agree with your analysis; I think the initial reason for the major car manufacturers going along with the EV con was poltroonery/virtue-signaling. But then – as you note – they realized how much repeat business they could “earn,” by selling (or renting) people a new EV once every 5-8 years vs. one non-EV once every 12-15.
They aren’t going to get as much money as they think, people are tapped out.
YUP!!! Absolutely Dr. Toboggan correct and this has been what I’ve thought for quite a while. It’s the car manufacturers themselves that want this in place. They like to play victim, “oh, we have to… this and that… blah, blah, blah”. They “have to” because that’s how the lobbied the governments of the world.
It’s 100% exactly what they want. Nobody will ever convince me others.
$25,000 divided by ten years, wow $2,500 per year to own that Spark.
…$208 per month.
It’s like buying a used IC car every year for $2,500 and then driving it to the scrap yard & not even getting some cash for the scrap value. Brilliant! sarc/off.
There is a method behind their madness Helot. once millions of these POSs are non operable a new industry will pop up. Recycling these “cars” down to the last scrap will be the new industry that will make the politicians cheer. Too heavy to be shipped off to Chin-Idia, yet our wages being too high to compete, the job and the pay will suck but many will take it, just like the shit-shot.
It will be America leading from behind into the glorious future as envisioned by the WEF. Bringing back our manufacturing, making America great again. Its what the Vex-Brained crave.
$25K would likely well restore a ’68 Plymouth Valiant with a 225 Slant Six and a ’73 Dodge D100 with a 318 2 bbl. Have you even PRICED a new truck lately? I was at a local Ford “stealership”, looking at maybe trading in my 2020 “Con” Fusion on a new Ford Escape (I passed), and I looked at a new F-150 Pickup with a gussied-up package…not only did those bastards want about 85K for this “Cowboy Cadillac”, they had the NERVE to mark it up by almost THIRTY GRAND! By “Gawd and Sonny Jesus”, I shit you not.
This happened just last year with my Worx electric lawnmower model WG755—–they simply stopped making the replacement batteries for it. 🤷♂️🤦♂️🤬 Fortunately, I was able to take the dead battery to Batteries Plus and they fixed it right up. For just under $100, which is roughly $25 more than the replacement batteries normally cost.
Lesson learned!
I inherited an electric mower (Neuton) last year. This mower was 12 years old, never used and of course the batteries were dead and could not be recharged. The mower came with two battery packs. I soon found out that these batteries were just boxes containing 3, 12V, 10ah batteries. I ordered 3 from the internet for $55 opened the cases and wired up the three. Works just fine although the instructions claim that the batteries only last 3 to 5 years. The manufacturer wanted $250 for a battery! This is a 36 volt system and not nearly as powerful as a gas mower.
For $55, you got that inherited mower functional, though. Good work!
A big victory for the Psychopaths In Charge in their battle to put us all on foot, or riding public transport.
Surprised there’s not an aftermarket manufacturer, distributer, etc. Maybe the volume is insufficient for the risk. Meanwhile, I cleaned & red coated a gas fill neck for my neighbor who is restoring his FIL’s 60-whatever Dodge Dart. We did that because an aftermarket fill neck was available but expensive.