I see Teslas regularly – when I make a run downtown, which is about 35 miles away. I have yet to see one locally. Probably because downtown is 35 miles away – and back.
This is about 70 miles, round-trip. It is not outside the maximum range of a Tesla, which is advertised as being able to travel about 270 miles with its standard battery (the optional battery adds hugely to the already high cost of a Tesla; we’ll delve into that aspect more below).
But it does take a bite out of it.
Ordinarily, this would be a matter of no concern – if we weren’t talking Teslas or electric cars, in general. There are lots of “gas hog” trucks up here that make daily trips down there – and back. Even given the cost of the gas, courtesy of the Biden Thing. This is still tenable because of the “gas hog” truck’s time efficiency.
A truck that sucks down a third – or even half – of the gas in its tank going into town (and back) imposes very little time-cost on its owner because the truck can be refueled in moments vs. hours – the latter in italics to emphasize the fact that even Teslas take that long to recharge at home – in italics to emphasize the fact that no private homes have the capacity to instill a “fast” charge in any electric car.
This means that if you drive a Tesla or any other electric car, you will have to so arrange your day – and your driving – in such a way as to either spend time waiting for the electric car to recharge at home, which will take a long time even under the most optimistic circumstances – or you will have to spend time driving to (and from) the “fast” charger. As well as the time spent there waiting for your electric car to “fast” charge.
The cost of this time is arguably more than it’s worth – to people who value their time.
Perhaps the greatest boon of the car (and truck) prior to their forced “electrification” has been time efficiency. The taken-for-granted near-miracle of not having to plan your daily driving around hours’-long recharging. The knowing you can just get going, even if the tank is almost empty – because of the ease of refilling it. That you won’t be late for work because you forgot to fill it last night.
A quick stop at the filling station – and you’re on your way.
The time-inefficiency of electric cars is probably why I have yet to see any of them where I live, which is not close to downtown. Even if 70 miles there and back only consumes a third of the EV’s advertised range, you will need to spend a lot of time recovering it. And if you drive 150 miles, running errands . . . 
Or, of it’s cold – and you like to stay warm. The reverse, too. Less range equals more time, when it comes to EVs.
It is a conceit (and a deceit) of urban hipsterism that electric cars are serviceable cars. That is so only if you live close enough to home so as to not have to regularly wait at a “fast” charger in order to not have to wait for hours, at home, before you can drive any distance again. It is also a testament to the current delusional “conversation” – as everything coercive and false is styled by those who favor coercion and falsity always refer to such things – that there is any “conversation” at all about this business of replacing time-efficient cars with electric cars.
Is everyone smoking crack now? 
Try to imagine a similar “conversation” about replacing the five minute wait at a drive-thru with a “fast” drive-thru, where you wait half an hour for a burger that costs twice as much as the one you used to be able to get in five minutes – for half the price.
This brings up the second reason for the absence of Teslas and other electric cars outside of downtown. It is more expensive to live downtown. To live closer to downtown. It’s where the more affluent people live. These are the people who can afford to waste money on electric cars.
Perhaps it is not “wasting” in their estimation.
Just as they do not think it is wasting money to spend $300k on a house in the city – or close to it – as opposed to $150k on a house far outside the city. Perhaps, to them, the time spent driving downtown and back is not worth the expense and so – to save time – they spend money on their place closer to downtown or even actually in it.
But that is an option unavailable to people who haven’t got the money to buy a place close to downtown – and never mind the electric car to go along with it. They could, however, afford the time, once upon a time, in order to save the money. By buying a home in a less expensive area, farther from downtown – and by driving a not-electric car, that cost them half as much money to buy as a Tesla electric car.
It’s absolutely fascinating – as Mr. Spock might have put it – that the “electrification” push is being pushed by people who can afford to waste money, at the expense of people who haven’t got it. People like the Biden Thing’s secretary of transportation, who doesn’t have to worry about the cost of a $50,000 electric car because he has several hundred thousands dollars of our dollars to pay for it.
Who wants to punish the rest of us for not wanting to spend our money – whatever remains of it – or waste our time – on electric cars.
. . .
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The lies start at the beginning:
These EV’s aren’t electric vehicles they are hydrocarbon (coal, gas, oil) electric vehicles. They are CEV’s……..coal electric vehicles
90% of electricity is produced burning hydrocarbons (coal, gas, oil), they are burnt to boil water to produce steam, to power a steam turbine, then converted into electricity with a generator, you can’t get electricity out of the biosphere directly.
Green morons think electricity comes for free out of a wall plug.
The largest amount of electricity comes from burning coal so EV’s are coal electric vehicles, CEV’s.
Only 2% of electricity comes from hydro, solar and wind turbines and they use huge amounts of hydrocarbons when they are built/manufactured with a very dirty process wasting enormous amounts of resources. Nuclear is better.
With a CEV hydrocarbons are burnt at the power station , converted to electricity which is transmitted over expensive transmission and distribution lines then used to power the vehicle, 1000 miles away, they are coal electric vehicles, CEV’s
With a gas or diesel ice powered vehicle, hydrocarbons are burnt in the car, some of which is converted to electricity, which helps the process of powering the vehicle.
You could argue an ice vehicle is the same as a CEV so shouldn’t be banned.
hydrocarbons were burnt, electricity was produced, the vehicles is moved down the road, what is the difference? Lobby for an exemption for your ice vehicle…..
Both ice and CEV vehicles are burning hydrocarbons to power/help power the vehicle.
The difference is the CEV is 25% efficient and pollutes more, gas ice are 35% efficient (Mercedes F1 gas ice is 50% efficient), diesel is 50% efficient, modern steam is 50%+ efficient.
They want to force CEV’s on everybody which waste more fuel and pollute more, cost more, cost more to maintain, have a far shorter lifespan, can’t be recycled (the lithium battery), use lithium fire bomb batteries which are very dangerous. This is insanity, they twist the truth to support their agenda, ending mobility..
Let’s clarify, once again:
Steam efficiency (railroad engine) is around 10%, IIRC, mostly because it’s an open system…water is used once & then thrown away.
https://trid.trb.org/view/11353
Stationary steam power plants are ~40% efficient but those designs don’t apply to vehicles.
Naturally-aspirated passenger vehicle gasoline engine…20-25% efficient
Diesel passenger vehicle engine…30-35% efficient…half the improvement over gasoline engines is due to diesel’s greater energy density, other half the more complete burn of compression versus spark ignition.
Keep in mind you can oversize your home solar system, add battery storage, & literally charge your EV(s) from the panels on your roof.
I haven’t seen any home refineries yet where I can crack crude oil into diesel/gasoline.
Also, EV manufacturers are switching to lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries, mainly ’cause they’re cheaper, though lower capacity.
LFP batteries are not “fire bombs” like the older, nickel-cobalt-aluminum (NCA) lithium batteries can be…I wouldn’t buy any EV with a NCA-lithium battery pack.
Your numbers are all incorrect….
The new modern steam engine is 50% plus efficient…
A modern steam engine here……
https://cyclonepower.com/#
The best new gas ice are 35% efficient
NOTE:(Mercedes F1 gas ice is 50% efficient),
A modern diesel is 50% efficient
the 2014 Volkswagen Golf BlueMotion diesel, is capable of a claimed 88.3 mpg imperial, or 73.5 mpg U.S…..
You can’t charge a tesla from your roof…lol……..Keep in mind you can oversize your home solar system, add battery storage, & literally charge your EV(s) from the panels on your roof.
I have spent far too much time researching this subject, it is a waste of my time to argue with someone uninformed…lol
Bill
haha….just shrug off the EV fire problem…..
The biggest problem with EV’s is the batteries in EV’s are very dangerous, a fire hazard, how they ever got passed for safety standards is a huge mystery.
What happens when 2200 Ev’s (a new complex in planning stage will have 2200 parking spaces….imagine 2200 lithium fire bomb EV’s parked), are parked in underground parking at an apartment block or office tower and they catch fire? You can’t take propane into underground parking, but you can take a fire bomb lithium battery car underground.
Lithium-ion batteries have a tendency to overheat and can be damaged at high voltages leading to thermal runaway and combustion. like driving around sitting on top of a huge bomb, make sure you don’t hit anything or get hit while driving one of these abortions.
EV fires are very hard to put out the only way is with the application of huge amounts of water.
The self-immolation failure mode of Lithium Ion batteries has been known since their very beginning. The intense heat causes the battery to generate its own oxygen so trying to smother the fire doesn’t work.
Tactically, this may mean using a master stream, 2½-inch or multiple 1¾-inch fire lines, to suppress and cool the fire. Vehicle fires don’t typically call for surround-and-drown tactics, but these are not typical vehicle fires.
One example: the flames on the Tesla were extinguished, it reignited again. Firefighters began hosing it down with copious amounts of water, up to 200 gallons per minute, but “that did not extinguish the flames,” according to the NTSB. At approximately 9:13 p.m., nearly three hours after the first alarm was received, firefighters had to pour out more than 600 gallons of water per minute. In the end the agency used 20,000 gallons of water.
Then the fire still isn’t put out……..Batteries can be expected to reignite after being put out because they still have stored energy. 15 hours later it catches fire again…
“Battery fires can take up to 24 hours to extinguish”….. the vehicle must be parked under “quarantine” for 48 hours, so that no new fire can break out.
Batteries are difficult to extinguish, and they can burst into flames again several hours later –ATTENTION: in some cases, right up to a week later
another huge problem….
– If there is a fire in an electric or hybrid car, we are acutely aware that the smoke may contain hydrogen fluoride, which is extremely harmful. Even small doses can result in water in the lungs.
The greater the amount of energy the electric vehicle may contain, the greater the fire risk of electric vehicle fires.
So they want to increase the range but that means bigger batteries which are far more dangerous, tesla is the worst they have up to 1800 lb of batteries, a huge fire on wheels going somewhere to happen.
Here is the biggest problem nobody talks about……
31% of fire departments don’t train for electric vehicle fires. 50% of fire departments say they don’t have special protocols in place to handle electric vehicles after an accident. These EV’s shouldn’t be sold the fire departments can’t even put out the fires, these things endanger everyone.
Remember this while driving your EV:
Drive down the road in your EV, hit some debris, a high bump, a huge pothole (the cities don’t fix the roads anymore, so don’t buy an EV), a raised manhole cover or drive into the ditch, puncture the battery and the battery catches fire.
In addition to crashes, some of the earlier fires involving Teslas were reportedly caused by debris in the roadway puncturing and gouging the undercarriage of the lithium-ion battery pack.
The damaged battery pack exposed the lithium, causing an exothermal reaction and subsequent fire. This hazard was thought to have been solved with the installation of a titanium cover encasing the battery pack, giving the undercarriage more resistance to severe damage. looks like they don’t work too well, remember this while driving your EV.
Most electric vehicle fires are caused by the thermal runaway of a damaged battery. Thermal runaway is the rapid and extreme rise in temperature and when it initiates the same reaction in adjacent cells it is known as ‘thermal runaway propagation. When thermal runaway happens, it can produce smoke, fire and even explosions.
Fires while the electric vehicle is stationary (an EV can catch fire even while parked, don’t sleep in it), this can happen from:
Extreme temperatures, both extreme heat and cold
High humidity
Flooding
Internal cell failure
ATTENTION: Overcharging or problems with the charging station (the EV can catch fire), don’t charge it in your garage, what if something goes wrong while charging?
Is that why so many charging stations are out of order? the software shuts them down over any little issue because they can cause fires.
Fires in gas powered vehicles is far easier to put out compared to an EV and doesn’t take 24 hours to put out. (it is very very difficult for a diesel powered vehicle to catch fire, they are by far the safest)
they soon will ban far safer gas powered vehicles and the best and the safest by far diesel powered vehicles, throw a match in diesel, it won’t even catch fire……..
After 10 years the battery in your EV is near dead, useless, the car is scrap now, no residual value: Lithium-ion batteries are subject to aging, losing capacity and fail frequently after a number of years.
A bigger worry is being cremated in the thing.
Electric car batteries are catching fire and that could be a big turnoff to buyers.
BMW initiated a recall in the United States of 10 different BMW and Mini plug-in hybrid models because of a risk of fire caused by debris that may have gotten into battery cells during manufacturing.
Then, in early October, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into reports of apparently spontaneous battery fires in Chevrolet Bolt EVs.
A few days later, Hyundai announced that it was recalling 6,700 Kona Electric SUVs in the United States, among about 75,000 of that model to be recalled worldwide, after it had received numerous reports of vehicles catching fire while parked.
Tesla faced problems this last year after multiple highly publicized battery fires.
Container puts out inextinguishable fires in electric cars
https://cfpa-e.eu/container-puts-out-inextinguishable…/
tesla no heat in the winter.
EV is 12% efficient in very cold weather, plus using wipers and heater drains the battery so range is reduced even more….
https://teslanorth.com/2021/01/01/tesla-owner-details-losing-heat-during-winter-road-trip/
Prairie Tesla owners battle loss of heat amid extreme cold weather after software update
A number of Tesla owners across the prairies complain they are experiencing heating issues in their vehicles at a time when temperatures have plummeted.
The issue began in mid-December after a software update for the Model 3 and Model Y electric vehicles.
“One day when it was – 12 C in the cabin, I was just shivering, and seems like the only fix that I can get is if I pull over at the side of the highway,” said Kelly Gibbons, who purchased his 2022 Model 3 in Edmonton on Christmas Eve.
Gibbons says the purchase was motivated by a desire to save money on fuel costs during his work commute from Calgary to Canmore.
Despite plugging in his vehicle nightly, Gibbons says the interior heat is intermittent even after having some sensors replaced to address it.
“Worst case scenario, I might just have to start looking for another vehicle,” he said.
Other drivers in the prairies have also reported having troubles with cold cars.
One Tesla owner in Saskatchewan tweeted about his issues with a lack of interior cabin heating on Dec. 27.
Well @elonmusk having some buyers remorse. Last Feb had our Model Y in the SC for a month with no heat. New Super-manifold and thought it was fixed. New set of sensors last week and now this. -30c in #Saskatchewan and a very cold 1 hr drive later we barely made the supercharger pic.twitter.com/JLJ7Pmzc0P
— Mark Kroeker (@paateach) December 28, 2021
Two days later, another Saskatchewan driver tweeted about how a family member with a combustion engine had to come to his aide when the heat failed whilst driving with small children in tow.
@elonmusk @Tesla
Our Model Y could have killed my family today when the heat stopped working in -40c Called service and the reset and auto didn’t fix. Hour away from any service. Luckily we had family in an ICE vehicle that I could put my 2 kids under 3yrs old in quickly.
— Tyler Selvig (@TSelvig) December 30, 2021
https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/prairie-tesla-owners-battle-loss-of-heat-amid-extreme-cold-weather-after-software-update-1.5729102
tesla switched to heat pump only, they don’t work in the very cold weather…
Anon, since ground-source heat pumps provide efficient heating and cooling no matter what the temperature is outside, the obvious solution is to tow a trailer containing several tons of dirt and a ground loop. 😉
Hi Roland….yes…haha…..but….Heat pumps are super-efficient, but they are known to not work as well in extreme cold (around -15C or 5F and below). if you live somewhere cold forget it…
Hi Anon, yes, I’m aware of the shortcomings of conventional heat pumps. That’s why we installed a ground-source one about eight years ago (sometimes inaccurately called “geothermal”). Since it exchanges the heat or cold in the house with the ground, the outside air temperature is irrelevant. Our ground loop snakes through five wells, 180 feet deep each. It’s about 57F down there all the time. Now we keep the house as cool as we want in the summertime, and our electric bill is seldom more than $100, even with two refrigerators and a big freezer running. We haven’t burned one stick of wood since we got it, yet our winter bills are less than they were when we relied mostly on wood heat. It’s also very quiet (no compressor running outside) and a lot more comfortable, which I suppose is mainly a function of the programmable thermostat. The temp only varies by maybe half a degree from where it’s set.
What a joke….. if you tow a trailer with solar panels you get an extra 50 mile range…lol
towing it will probably eat up more then 50 mile range..
https://electrek.co/2022/07/04/tesla-unveils-solar-range-extender-trailer-spacex-starlink-internet-terminal/
Anon, I assumed that was either The Onion or Babylon Bee. I’ve seen homemade contraptions like this and thought: they can’t be serious. But they are.
Soon we’ll probably see giant wind turbines strapped to the roofs. Hey, you’re always generating wind when you drive, even on calm cloudy days! In the 1970s I actually mentioned that idea to a friend whose father had invested a ton of money in an electric car venture that he thought was going to solve once and for all the problem of waiting in gas lines. I’m sure he lost his shirt.
Hi Roland
See the link the trailer was made by tesla….they know they have a range problem….lol
You will like this: https://www.the-sun.com/motors/5710094/electric-police-cars-running-out-power/
Line at the Tesla Supercharging site:
https://rumble.com/v1azd3d-liberal-world-order-tesla-charging-wait-line-isnt-looking-to-good.html
Hi RK,
This problem of throughput at EV “fast” charging stations is one almost never brought up, except by heretics such as us. EV “fast” charging” assumes the EV can just pull in and plug in. The touted wait-time is based upon that. But what if there is another EV ahead, already plugged in? The same happens at a gas station sometimes, of course. But the wait there is never more than a few minutes because that’s all it takes to fuel up a non-electric car. But if you are second in line for a “fast” charge, you will be waiting 30-plus minutes before you can “fast” charge, which will take another 30 (or longer). So now it’s an hour for a “fast” charge… and that assumes you’re not third in line…
Come on, Eric. This is why we need charging stations every 50 miles along the highways!
Any time there’s an insurmountable problem in the transportation sector there will be a bunch of grifters buying congressmen. Recall that Lincoln the Tyrant made his way in DC lobbying for the railroads.
Hi Eric
this pretty funny…..
ELECTRIC police cars are struggling to reach crime scenes and emergencies without running out of power.
Officers in rural areas cannot find charging points on patrol and are having to switch to petrol or diesel vehicles.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/motors/19103124/electric-police-cars-running-out-power/
The best line from that piece:
“Although I fully understand and support climate controls, my first priority is to fight crime.”
LOL.
Eric, AFAIK, the only Supercharger stations that have problems are in CA; waits aren’t a problem elsewhere.
Hi Mark,
Yes, but keep in mind that EVs are still a very small (about 2) percent of all the vehicles out there and that percent is even fewer outside the urban hives. Try to imagine the lines that will form if EVs were 50 percent of the cars on the road.
This whole debate begins to annoy me because it is akin to arguing that Soy Burgers are a good thing when beef burgers are available. More – that soy ought to replace beef.
In both cases… why?
Why are we even having this discussion? It is not because EVs are a brilliant new technology that is displacing an old, inferior one. It is a deranged – artificial – effort to replace a high-functioning technology with a lesser-functioning/more costly one that has nothing to argue in its favor other than a false assertion that it is “cleaner” technology.
Yes, Eric, and the EV nuts seem to assume that charging will always be dirt cheap. But what will it cost when that 2 percent begins to rise by decree and the supply can’t keep up? You’ll wait and wait and wait – and pay who-knows-how-many hundred bucks – to get back on the road for a short while and then do it all over again. Or maybe you get to the front of the line and the whole thing shuts down because of rolling blackouts. We’ll be longing for the good old days of $5 gas.
Eric,
I understand what you’re saying, and I more or less agree with you. That said, I don’t think we should do like our enemies do, and make mountains out of molehills, take things out of context, twist words, etc. This strikes me of doing like our enemies do.
Hi Mark,
I’m not sure what you mean by taking things out of context/twisting words… I responded to your statement that, over 100,000 miles of driving, a Tesla loses about 10 percent of its battery capacity. I observed that most people drive about 15k annually, so it takes about seven years to travel 100,000 miles. A ten percent (a five percent) loss of capacity after such a relatively short time would be considered outrageous and unacceptable in any other context and probably people would sue over it. I also observed that it’s probably the case that once the battery begins to degrade noticeably – e.g., 10 percent – it is probably going to degrade more and faster, sooner – as batteries have always done as they reach the end of their useful lifespan.
My broader point is that EVs are an inferior alternative to IC cars and I do not understand why people rationalize their many and substantive flaws when the smarter thing to do is admit their many and substantive flaws and stop wasting time on them, except as toys and curiosities for those with the money to so indulge and the willingness to overlook their many and substantive flaws.
Am I terse? Do I come across as frustrated and even angry? Yes, of course. Because of the force that lies at the foundation of this business. Ordinarily, I cheer different/quirky – even stupid – things. Such things make life interesting. But EVs are a dagger aimed at the heart of our taken-for-granted mobility, being forced onto the market for malicious purposes.
And that’s why I’m terse-sounding when it comes to this subject.
Eric,
I was referring to how a few CA and Las Vegas Supercharger stations are made to seem like a nationwide problem when it isn’t. Thanks to the website not indenting comments, it’s not readily obvious what I was trying to respond to.
Secondly, I don’t know if we’ll lose our mobility as you think we will. Are TPTB trying to take it away from us? Yes, but Scotty Kilmer thinks that there’s no way EVs will be ready for primetime any time soon-certainly not before 2030 or so. When the EV push fails, what happens then?
I think that battery technology and EVs will improve; they’ve made impressive progress in recent years. That said, I don’t think that the grid will be ready in 2030, nor do I think that EVs will advance enough to replace ICEVs by then. So, when the inevitable happens; when this push crashes and burns; what then? If Scotty’s right, then NO ONE will be able to get around-even the “Elites”!
BTW, those pushing this think that they can legislate the changeover to EVs because they did the same with emissions. They think that, because of their prodding, that ICE cars became cleaner. Since they were successful then, they think that they can do it again.
someone posted this…..charging can be expensive
Walking by an electric vehicle charging station today, I stopped and checked the price to charge…..
.32 cents a minute.
That is $19.20 an hour.
If it takes 8 hours for a full charge.
That is $153.60 for a full charge…. and most electric vehicles get about 350 miles on a charge…
That is $.44 a mile….
My F350 pulling my horse trailer gets better mileage. Hmmmm…..
Yep.
Why not soy for the soy-lovers, and beef for the beef-lovers?
They have to force everyone along, because what they want isn’t popular enough otherwise.
Instead of trying to appeal to and cultivate a market niche, or give up and try something else, they have to try to turn everyone else into the bad guys. Which, interestingly enough, turns them into the bad guys. Which they fail to understand, because a huge part of their identity is that they are intelligent, and wise, and good while everyone else is just unenlightened troglodytes standing in the way of progress. Reality just doesn’t compute (probably much too painful). So they double down, again and again and again. And here we are. Time is on our side. At least, for now. Until the shoe is on the other foot.
Hi Eric
factor in the time charging on a 500 mile mile trip in a CEV and the average speed is 20 mph…lol… riding a bike is quicker….
An interesting take on Electric Cars, Voice of the Majority:
“As an engineer, I love electric vehicle technology. However, I have been troubled by the fact that the electrical energy to keep the batteries charged has to come from the grid; and that means, more power generation and a huge increase in the distribution infrastructure. Whether generated from coal, gas, oil, wind or sun, installed generation capacity is limited.
“IF ELECTRIC CARS DO NOT USE GASOLINE, THEY WILL NOT BE PAYING A GASOLINE TAX ON EVERY GALLON SOLD FOR AUTOMOBILES; WHICH WAS ENACTED TO MAINTAIN OUR ROADS AND BRIDGES. THEY WILL USE THE ROADS, BUT WILL NOT PAY FOR THEIR MAINTENANCE!
“Ever since the advent of electric cars, all you’ve ever heard about is the mpg, in terms of gasoline, with nary a mention of the cost of electricity to run it.
“Electricity has to be one of the least efficient ways to power things. Somebody has finally put engineering and math to paper:
💡If you really intend to adopt electric vehicles, you will face certain realities. I.E., a home-charging system for a Tesla requires 75 amp service. The average house is equipped with 100 amp service. On a small street (approximately 25 homes), the electrical infrastructure would be unable to carry more than three houses with a single Tesla each. For even half the homes to have electric vehicles, the system would be wildly over-loaded.
💡This – THIS! – is the elephant in the room with electric vehicles! Our residential infrastructure cannot bear the load. So, as our ‘genius’ elected officials promote this nonsense, not only are we being urged to buy these things, and replace our reliable & cheap generating systems with expensive new windmills and/or solar cells, we will also have to renovate our entire delivery system! This later ‘investment will not be revealed, until we’re so far down this deadend road, that it will be presented with an ‘OOPS…!’ and a shrug!
“If you want to argue with a green person over cars that are eco-friendly, just read the following. Note: If you ARE a green person, read it anyway. It’s enlightening:
“[Eric] test drove the Chevy Volt, at the invitation of General Motors, and he writes, ‘For four days in a row, the fully charged battery lasted only 25 miles, before the Volt switched to the reserve gasoline engine.’ He calculated the car got 30 mpg including the 25 miles it ran on the battery. The range including the 9-gallon gas tank and the 16 kwh battery is approximately 270 miles.
“It will take 4.5 hours to drive 270 miles at 60 mph. Then, add 10 hours to charge the battery and you have a total trip time of 14.5 hours. In a typical road trip, your average speed (including charging time) would be 20 mph!
“According to General Motors, the Volt battery holds 16 kwh of electricity. It takes a full 10 hours to charge a drained battery. The cost for the electricity to charge the Volt is never mentioned, so I looked up what I pay for electricity.
“I pay approximately (and varies with amount used and the seasons) $1.16 per kwh. 16 kwh x $1.16 per kwh = $18.56 to charge the battery. $18.56 per charge divided by 25 miles = $0.74 per mile to operate the Volt using the battery. Compare this to a similar size car with a gasoline engine that gets only 32 mpg. $3.19 per gallon divided by 32 Mpg = $0.10 per mile!
“The gasoline powered car costs about $25,000, while the Volt costs $46,000 plus. So, the [g0vernment] wants loyal [citizens] not to do the math. But, simply pay twice as much for a car, that costs more than seven times as much to run, and takes three times longer to drive across the country!”
Pause, and calmly think about that!
eric, don’t worry about. Biden just announced he’s going to get the US petroleum going, had a sound like he might go back to what it was under Trump. We should be able to trade for chips so a million new vehicles can actually run. There is a movement to do away with the EPA in the car market. You might be able to drive a metallic car again instead of an all-plastic vehicle.
A friend who was a mechanic with his own shop had people bring in broken cars that weren’t worth fixing so they’d just leave them with him. He got to the point he wouldn’t take them because they were all plastic and had no junk value.
I wish I’d bought a square body I saw nearly every day just sitting behind a barn. It was a crew cab, 454, manual, 4X4. I could have put another transfer case(205)and had a couple OD’s. You didn’t need a cowcatcher since the front ends were all steel.
Hey, I just heard about a nursing home with just one resident that cost $17.4M to operate per year. They call it the White House.
Why not just charge at home, overnight?
A lowly 30A dryer circuit @ 24A (80% limit) will recharge the current lower–end EVs with ~200 miles of range (Bolt, Leaf, etc.) in around 8 hours.
I figure once gas prices drop people will go back to buying Suburbans & then a used Bolt or Leaf will make an inexpensive commuter vehicle.
Hi Bill,
In re “Why not just charge at home, overnight?”
Because I may need to go somewhere right now.
Because there may be an emergency.
Because it is inconvenient.
Because the power may go out – especially if millions of electric cars are sucking power from an overtaxed grid.
Because it’s absurd.
“A lowly 30A dryer circuit @ 24A (80% limit) will recharge the current lower–end EVs with ~200 miles of range (Bolt, Leaf, etc.) in around 8 hours.”
As opposed to refueling to full in less than five minutes at the lowly gas station? As opposed to having a car with twice that range that will not “vary” by 30 percent or more if it’s cold or hot out? That will never need a new battery that costs as much as the vehicle is worth? (Yes, I know – non-electric cars eventually require expensive repairs that may not be worth doing, too. But – usually – not before they are 15-20 years old. It is common for them to last more than 20 years without needing such repairs. EV battery packs need to be replaced long before that).
“I figure once gas prices drop people will go back to buying Suburbans & then a used Bolt or Leaf will make an inexpensive commuter vehicle.”
But will gas prices drop? How? If supply is purposely dwindled? If our currency continues to devalue? How is buying a used Bolt or Leaf that will need $8k-plus for a new battery (more than the cost of a sound used non-electric economy car) “inexpensive?
Hi Eric.
EV’s have a very limited use case. Some consider that a feature, not a bug…
The entire “sustainable energy” Cult is a hoax. Its only believed by Cultists and those who are so ignorant of basic common sense (let alone basic physics and engineering) that you might as well plan to power the world with unicorn farts.
If they wanted REAL sustainable power, they would get behind modern generation nuclear.
Especially the small modular reactors. Instead of one off designs, make them all identical.
One design. With all of the parts mass produced in fabrication centers, and shipped by truck and rail to their destinations. String them together like leggo blocks for more power. If you use molten salt thorium, you avoid the problems inherent in high pressure systems.
The vast majority of the cost of nuclear is dealing with all of the hysteria and extreme over regulation. That hysteria was planned and created by groups with vested interests. One guess who that might be… Whats funny is when you track back who the original founders of the Greenie Movement are, and who backed them.
Modern nuclear power is one of the most effective and safest power technologies we have.
What is really ironic, is that with all of the “sanctions” nonsense, more and more countries are turning back to coal for their power. “How Dare You!!”…
Between a meme I recently saw and this article, I have to ask “How many women will die because of EVs?” I’m not talking about EVs being external combustion engines, but rather an angry mate that cannot depart a heated situation and instead getting pushed over the edge and doing their worst in a fit of rage.
The meme: Depicts a pretty female starting to cry with the caption: “He left because I said that I don’t like electric cars. He just grabbed his man purse, pulled his hair into a bun and said the when the car is charged in a couple of hours, he’s gone forever.”
Sure, a male who would put their hair into a bun likely would not beat their gay lover or their fag-hag however; the opposite is scary. What if it is the woman that needs to leave? Not enough charge to make an escape? Most folks don’t run their ICE fuel tanks lower than it takes to get to a gas station, where one could call for help if needed.
Good point, J!
Imagine a child with a broken arm from falling out of a tree. The parents panic. “The Tesla isn’t charged!”
… Of course, the moral of the story is: rely on a 911 ambulance and the extra 45+ minute wait,… if it ever even gets there. …
… And, children should Never be allowed to climb trees,… that’s so old school, don’tchya know?
Dangerous adventuresome activities,… what helicopter parent even permits such!? …Two children riding a bicycle at the same time!? Pure child abuse! Don’t people see the danger in that!?
…Sarc/OFF.
I never thought about that hazard of E-lectric cars before.
Thanks for bringing it up/
I once pointed out (to the power company, in a meeting over “smart” meters that could potentially throttle electricity consumption at the utility’s whim) a liability issue related to this:
If you plug in the car, but the car is not charged, because you throttled it…and there is s medical emergency…who is liable? What if someone dies as a result?
They were not pleased.
We still were forced to get smart meters.
Hi J
die because of EV….CEV?…lol
don’t drive a CEV…EV in very cold weather…lol…
Well @elonmusk having some buyers remorse. Last Feb had our Model Y in the SC for a month with no heat. New Super-manifold and thought it was fixed. New set of sensors last week and now this. -30c in #Saskatchewan and a very cold 1 hr drive later we barely made the supercharger pic.twitter.com/JLJ7Pmzc0P
— Mark Kroeker (@paateach) December 28, 2021
Two days later, another Saskatchewan driver tweeted about how a family member with a combustion engine had to come to his aide when the heat failed whilst driving with small children in tow.
@elonmusk @Tesla
Our Model Y could have killed my family today when the heat stopped working in -40c Called service and the reset and auto didn’t fix. Hour away from any service. Luckily we had family in an ICE vehicle that I could put my 2 kids under 3yrs old in quickly.
— Tyler Selvig (@TSelvig) December 30, 2021
in the SC (service center) for a month with no heat…..why would anybody buy one of these abortions?….lol…..new car no heat, die in the cold…..
The late Leonard Nimoy cut a gag tune titled, “Highly Illogical”, and that was back when the worst automotive illogic was Mopar’s “Lean Burn” Ignition:
From far beyond the galaxies I’ve journeyed to this place
To study the behavior patterns of the human race
And I find them highly illogical
[Verse 1]
Girl meets boy they fall in love
She says he’s everything she’s dreamed of
But when they get married before he’s aware
She changes his habits the way he combs his hair
She changes him to someone he’s never been
And then complains he’s not like other men
Now really I find this most illogical
[Verse 2]
Take the case of your automobiles
Greatest invention since man discovered wheels
Hydromatic overdrive four-on-the-floor
Pushbutton windows pushbutton doors
Double barreled carborators rush you anyplace
But you never can find a parking space
Highly illogical
[Verse 3]
Take the case of modern man
He works all his life gives it all he can
Saves all his money works overtime
Pinches every penny banks every dime
All he can think about is money but you know
That he can’t take it with him where he’s going to go
Now I find that fascinatingly illogical
[Verse 4]
Now is the time to journey home to tell of what I’ve learned
My people I believe have every right to be concerned
For in spite of computers and advanced psychology
Behavior patterns are still a mystery
I predict the future of this earthly human race
Is that having made a mess of Earth They’ll move to outer space
[Outro]
Well there goes the neighborhood
Totally, completely, absolutely, irrevocably, highly illogical
I think the EVs will be left behind by the coming economic tsunami that would’ve swept away several of the teetering automakers if we weren’t trying to push these moronic vehicles.
My wife is from a middle-class beach town and it was largely deserted on July 4th weekend for the first time in my life. Normally, it’d be bumper to bumper traffic, but it was easy going like a spring evening taking a ride along the beach road. We’ve noticed this summer anecdotally that the traffic headed to the coast has been a fraction of what it normally is.
Toyota did some homework. Tesla has an aftermarket, time to sell the thing, the millstone around my neck isn’t any fun.
The number of used Teslas is at a high mark, me thinks, more for sale than on the road. Could be the reality, nobody wants any part of them, time to bail.
The Easiest Way to Sell Your Tesla speaks volumes, and is freaking hilarious, when you think about it. Don’t even have to think about it, it is hilarious.
This is why it is so important to understand economics. Economic law touches everything.
When you spend time or money, there is always an opportunity cost. The money you spent on a haircut can’t also buy groceries. The time you spent waiting at a charging station can’t be used to play with your kids or cut the grass.
If people understood scarcity and tradeoffs, most politicians would be laughed off the stage.
Time is one of those things that once it is gone, you can never recover it. The programming of ultimate and only value being in dollars has torqued so many brains into thinking retardery like
•Standing in line for 19 hours to save $65.00 on a laptop at a black Friday sale is a good idea.
• I don’t spend $ at the gas pump but my car takes 2-8 hours for a full charge.
A lot of people never ask themselves what they’d have doe with their finite life time had they no been waiting around to save a few nickels.
Companies or people who understand how much production is lost during down time can’t be dumb enough (for very long anyway) to fall for the one size fits all EV scam. Niche markets at this point, novelty sales are as far as EV practicality will go.
Amen, SS. I agree with you – very few people take into consideration the calculation of the value of time. But, critical thinking is not something the schools want students to consider. The free handout reigns supreme, because the masses can be controlled by it.
I actually brought this up during breakfast yesterday morning. I will usually put on YT music videos when making breakfast. It reminds me of the old days when MTV promoted music and not 16 year olds getting pregnant. One of the videos that came on was Van Halen’s “Dreams.” The video was about 200 free concert tickets that were being given away for Van Halen’s appearance on the Sunset Strip. Well, 3000 people showed up. Apparently, it became a mad house with police having to be called and people being pushed and trampled…for a free ticket. They waited around all day when they could have gone to work and made the money in half the time and had the rest of the afternoon off. This occurred in 1985 or 1986. It is obvious we haven’t gotten any smarter.
Hey Raider Girl,
” It reminds me of the old days when MTV promoted music and not 16 year olds getting pregnant.”
Those were the days, huh? I still like music videos, too. I don’t think today’s kids really watch them, even though they’re freely available at any time.
In 2017, my friend and I stood for about 7 hours for tickets to Nine Inch Nails. Good ol’ Trent Reznor thought it was a good idea that people stand in line and interact with one another again, as tickets weren’t available online for this expressed purpose. It was well intended, however Trent failed to recognize that today’s venues lack the capacity for such ticket vending, and they were horribly overwhelmed. Made for lasting memories, at least. 😉
My in-laws personally “completed” a couple of major-ish home improvement projects on their own. Too cheap to hire contractors.
Of course, those projects wound up stretching out years instead of the days or perhaps weeks a contractor would have taken, and made parts of the house uninhabitable for those entire periods. And the reason I put the word completed in quotes is because of course they ended up making compromises and calling it “good enough” despite not really achieving the original intent. And that’s to say nothing of the strenuous effort expended! To “save money”.
There should definitely be a name for this dollar-overvaluing fallacy…
Indeed, I think this perverse priority is built into the vulgarism, “Time is money.”
I’ve always been repulsed by that backward aphorism. Time isn’t money. Money is time. Money is the thing that allows you to do what you want, instead of doing things other people want, or other things demanded by circumstance or expediency that don’t serve your desires directly. Money is not an end in itself, but is always only a means.
People might say that it’s an “American” thing to overvalue money in this way, but I don’t think so. (I suspect the philosophically bankrupt time-is-money saying dates back to Merry Old England, in fact.) I think it might be a mindfuck as old as money itself…
Free_Phi, my pet-peeve dumb saying is “Money can’t buy you happiness.”
Money being merely a medium of exchange, what they’re really talking about is wealth. Nobody wants money just to have money; they want it because it makes it possible for them to have stuff and to avoid doing unpleasant tasks themselves.
And happiness is not some static point that one reaches; it is a continuum.
So what they’re really saying is “Wealth can’t make you happier.”
Nonsense. Does anybody really think they’d be just as happy if they had no wealth at all? If they had to sleep on the ground and spend all day every day scavenging for enough food to keep from starving to death?
Roland, that reminds me of a great line from Simpsons, where Moe insists:
“Rich people aren’t happy. From the day they’re born till’ the day they die, they think they’re happy…but trust me, they ain’t.”
http://www.simpsonsforever.com/episodes/quotes/quote.php?id=532
I pay some 17 year old kid to mow my grass because I hate cutting lawns, I’m highly allergic to grasses and I love seeing a young American with ambition to have his own business. Not to mention mower costs, maitinence, fuel etc. It has next to nothing to do with cost/benefit related to dollars. It’s more about “what would I be doing for an hour or two per week if I wasn’t doing something I dislike anyway?” Money is a great vehicle to get you where you want but it’s only real value is what it can get you
Sicilian you’ve reminded me of a Steve Jobs tale…
One of the things that bothered Steve Jobs the most was the time that it took to boot when the Mac was first powered on. It could take a couple of minutes, or even more, to test memory, initialize the operating system, and load the Finder. One afternoon, Steve came up with an original way to motivate us to make it faster.
“Well, let’s say you can shave 10 seconds off of the boot time. Multiply that by five million users and thats 50 million seconds, every single day. Over a year, that’s probably dozens of lifetimes. So if you make it boot ten seconds faster, you’ve saved a dozen lives. That’s really worth it, don’t you think?”
https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Saving_Lives.txt
RK: Absolutely, when things are scaled to that level seconds can equal hundreds of thousands of man hours. A concept most one dimensional thinking NPC’s or even a good portion of midwit normies will never be able to fathom.
Eric,
Scotty Kilmer thinks that there’s no way EVs will be ready for primetime any time soon-certainly not before 2030 or so. When the EV push fails, what happens then?
I think that battery technology and EVs will improve; they’ve made impressive progress in recent years. That said, I don’t think that the grid will be ready in 2030, nor do I think that EVs will advance enough to replace ICEVs by then. So, when the inevitable happens; when this push crashes and burns; what then?
BTW, those pushing this think that they can legislate the changeover to EVs because they did the same with emissions. They think that, because of their prodding, that ICE cars became cleaner. Since they were successful then, they think that they can do it again.
The Chinese will enter the US market, and what’s left of the US auto industry will most likely implode, because they won’t be able to compete on price, and won’t have any good ice engineers left.
As bad as electric cars are for charging, I wonder some days about how long the line up to charge electric transports will be. Interesting times are coming in part because most people don’t seem to posses a working “BS” meter any more or even realize they don’t posses one. My newest car is over 20 years old and still works as well as advertised; try that with an EV!
The only time I ever had an issue refueling was with my TDI. I pulled into a truck stop, which was my first mistake (I read that truck stop diesel was usually pretty bad), but the gauge was on the E peg and I wasn’t sure where the next stop was. The car islands were full so I pulled over to the truck pumps. To my surprise the nozzle wouldn’t fit. In fact it was about double the diameter of the fuel inlet. Well, duh! Of course the pumps are oversized, otherwise it would take forever to fill up. So I went back to the car line and waited it out.
Teslas’ supercharging stations are only for Tesla. That works both ways, the SAE compatible chargers aren’t compatible with Tesla’s DC fast charging, at least not in the US and not right now. Oh, and the EU standard plug isn’t compatible with the US standard plug. So now we have two (actually 4 not including Tesla) charger ports. Better make sure you have the right adapter. And be prepared for your car and the charger to handshake to whatever the lowest common denominator that will work, which is probably going to be 240 VAC, 50 Amps. Or 30 A if there’s another vehicle charging.
https://www.chargepoint.com/blog/when-and-how-use-dc-fast-charging
DC fast charging will also stress your battery pack, shortening its life. And the charging stations charge more money for DC fast charging (that’s a lot of charges! LOL). Not only that, but because of the added expense and limits to the electrical connection to the power distrubution network, the chargers might have several different chargers with different outputs but compatible plugs. So someone can use a level 2 or DC fast charger on their level 1 only vehicle, further tying up the station. Your level 2 compatible car might get stuck using level 1 because that’s all there is avilable. Sure, they put out signs, but we’re dealing with people who think EVs make sense…
Most of this is growing pains, much like early cell phones. But do you want to have to replace your car every 2 years? How long will this go on before Uncle demands yet another standard, locking in any potential future advancement?
RK,
Thanks to improvements in battery chemistry and in charging technology, repeated fast charges don’t harm the battery like they used to. I follow a couple of people on Twitter who own Teslas, and they both routinely fast charge. The one guy put 100K miles on his Tesla in less than 2 years! He’s lost less than 10% of his range, even though he constantly uses the Tesla Supercharger network.
That said, it still is better to charge at home, and to keep your normal SOC at 80%-90%; over the long term, that’s still better for the battery pack.
Hi Mark,
He’s “only” lost 10 percent of his range? Over a year? So, over five years, he’d have lost how much? Can you imagine owning a non-electric car that only went 90 percent as far in its second year of service?
I am reaching for my crack pipe…
No, over 100k miles.
Hi Mark,
Yes, I understand. My 20-year-old truck has well over 100,000 miles and its range hasn’t reduced an iota.
Most people drive about 15,000 miles annually. So, they’d reach 100,000 after about seven years at that rate. At which time, they’d have lost 10 percent of their range – assuming your figure. Another seven years and 100k and it’s down 20 percent. That’s a nearly one-fourth reduction. Probably a lot more as the decrease is apt to increase over time; this is what always happens with batteries.
That we are even discussing this is stupid. It’s diminishment – of function – for the sake of . . . what? Higher cost?
Oh, yes. I forget. Electric cars are “cool” – and quick (provided you don’t use that much).
The EV thing is a cult; of a piece with the wearing of Face Diapers by those who think they are warding off disease and that they are “caring” for the Earth. In both cases, an absurd fanaticism defines the believers – who will find a rationalization for every sound objection made.
Ah, but here in the once-Golden State, given your Nissan’s age, it’s classified as a “Gross Polluter” by default. By Gawd and Sonny Jesus, I shit you not. You have to take it EVERY year to a “test only” smog station, pay the $100 or so, and hope like hell it passes…and the standards are STRICTER than when the vehicle was new! IF you have an ailing “cat”, assuming yours hasn’t been purloined, you’ll have to get it replaced in order to make your ride “legal”…a few years ago, you were talking $400 to $500…now, with the supply more restricted AND more guys trying to keep their old vehicles alive, expect to fork over $1,500 to $2,000 for something that costs about $120 in materials and some 22 y.o. kid just out of the welding program at American River College could take out with a Sawzall and weld in the replacement in about 45 minutes, tops. And the owner of the muffler shop will bitch about having to pay the kid $25/hour plus benefits.
Of course, if one of the “computers” is toast, you’re fucked, as good luck getting one, even out of a wrecking yard. That’s another thing that thieves are purloining, PCMs out of older pickups and SUVs where parts are heavily in demand. It’s wise to invest in a flush-mount hood lock where the base is welded to the frame; yes, it “uglys” up the hood, but unlike the ordinary latch connected to a cable, thieves will find it a lot harder to crow bar your hood open.
As things more and more “go to shit”, especially with leftist bureaucratic interference in our daily lives, if you have a desirable, fixable, daily driver or truck, GARAGE it. Be also like the group of families in the novel “Alas, Babylon”, where, as in the wake of a nuclear holocaust, set in 1960 in Central Florida, the mule that’s owned by the black family that lives next to the protagonist, descendants of the original slaves/sharecroppers, is kept in the barn at all times, and is never let out to plow or pull a wagon w/o TWO adult, ARMED males present, and always has one of the menfolk taking turns with sentry duty…even the two 14 y.o. boys among them, who had to grow up into manhood VERY fast. BTW, the protagonist, an aimless “country lawyer” who lived off a trust fund and the income from the orange groves of the family farm, and dabbled at his law practice, is a Korean War veteran, a US Army 1LT that had commanded a platoon in combat. Once the area is vexxed by “highwaymen”, he hears a radio broadcast from the acting POTUS authorizing veterans to assume martial law authority in their areas. He posts a notice in the local town that he takes provisional command of the town, and organizes a company of armed men known as “Bragg’s Troop”, which deals with the highwaymen in a gun fight, shooting three of the four and hanging the survivor of the gun fight in the public square. Word gets out and soon other towns such as Eustis, Leesburg, and Ocala, likewise dealing with the same problems as “Fort Repose” (a stand in for Mt. Dora, FL) organize their own militia companies, and the problem of the highway robbers is “solved”.
Eric,
In my limited experience with new cars, you may actually have MORE range in your old Nissan pickup than it had when it was new. Seems it takes several thousand miles to “break in one” before the best mileage appears.
Hi Eric.
If you want to see a Greenies head really explode, you might want to use the phrase Peak Lithium. 🙂 Then of course, there is the “little” matter of how much fossil fuel energy is required to produce all of their beloved wind and solar systems. Those mining, refining, production and fabrication centers don’t run on wind or solar.
This entire Green Energy nonsense is a scam. Its based on so much magical “thinking” that we might as well plan to power the world with unicorn farts. 🙂
As for fascinating, its going to be exactly that. Watching how Europe survives the coming winter. Perhaps they can toss Greenies into their power plants? Lord knows they have enough of them. At least then, they would be useful for something… 🙂
The government has great solutions for the climate hoax……technology that is far more destructive to the environment…..
Lithium batteries:
Can’t be recycled = really green energy….haha
95% of lithium batteries aren’t recycled, Solar panels can’t be recycled, Used wind turbine blades can’t be recycled, Each blade weighs 81,000 pounds, they are made from fiberglass.
A typical EV battery weighs one thousand pounds, (tesla batteries go up to 1800 lb. ) 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?”
95% of lithium batteries aren’t recycled
Solar panels:
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.
Solar panels can’t be recycled…..what will they do with them (and wind turbine blades)? throw them down old mine shafts like nuclear waste?…..lol..
Wind turbines
Wind turbines 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.
Used wind turbine blades can’t be recycled, Each blade weighs 81,000 pounds, they are made from fiberglass.
Hi Eric
check this out…..
from another site…..
Power points for electric cars in homes are required to be separately metered,so the government can charge what they like for the “abilty” to use your car!
remember limiting mobility, according to social credit score…lol
Improvements such as what?
Changing the crystal structure to encourage fast charging with no memory tends yo make the material more unstable.
Unstable materials in everyone’s garage means bad news bears.
Probably not your garage. But someone’s garage. Statistically inevitable. And someone will be found liable.
“Most of this is growing pains, much like early cell phones.”
Hi RK, I’m amazed that people believe cell phone technology is stable and reliable. Thirty-three years ago we built our house on the wrong side of the hill, so they hardly work at all here. And how many times have I received a call on our landline from somebody on a cell, and he keeps fading in and out, or dropping altogether? I’ve lost count.
If the service from Bell had been this bad in the 1970s, customers would have been raising hell. But young people now don’t know any better, having each been born with one of these flaky gadgets permanently affixed.
I’m afraid they’ll be willing to accept the ridiculous shortcomings of EVs in the same way. Just as kids today have no memory of how good landline service used to be, if the green lunatics get their way, before long there won’t be anybody living who remembers how reliable and efficient petroleum was.
ReadyKilowatt,
Curious to know which TDI model. My 2001 1.9L TDI Golf had a larger opening for fuel to accommodate the fuel nozzle typically found at truck fuel stops. (not a good move on VW to reduce fuel port of diesel cars.)
The one main thing I needed to be cautious when fueling at a fuel pump for trucks was to “dial back” the rate of fuel so it would not back splash onto the side of the car when it automatically stopped fueling.
Regarding fast charging, new Samsung phones now have ability to stop charging @ 85% full to help preserve battery life of cell phone. A new phone can easily be found for under $400 USD ($200 USD depending type of phone and features desired). I doubt an EV car battery can be replaced for under $5000 USD.
Hi RK
Was your TDI tuned? I had a 2000 Jetta TDI with stage 1 tune and turbo back exhaust, it got 20% better fuel economy and 25% more power with the tune, a fantastic car. with stage 3 or 4 tune these can make huge power….
The average new car price in the USSA is now approaching $46k. The average monthly payment is $712. These figures are for all autos (gas and electric) across the board. The median household income is around $70k for 2022.
The “top” economists are only now coming around to admitting we are in a recession. Duh! Per their words, it will be a “soft one.” I also have some beautiful beach front property for sale in Pennsylvania. 😜
The good news…inflation has reached its peak. The bad news: companies are not able to refinance their debt, the average interest rate on a credit card is 17.13%, unemployment will increase, and Europe and China are teetering on the brink of a worldwide depression.
If the Fed would actually read the numbers rather than be lead by politics they will cease any further rate hikes. The most recent rate hike of .75 % has not yet been felt. It takes months for the affects of monetary changes to make their way through the economy.
If the Fed wants to try to save the Republic make no further changes. The second quarter earnings will be dismal. It is likely that the electric auto market will crumble in the next 6 to 12 months. Without government intervention nor the ability to finance their debt the zombie (electric car) companies will fold.
Put your money aside. The next 6 months will reward those looking for deals.
RG,
The very purpose of fiat currency is inflation. There is no other reason to use it. If inflation is to be mitigated, interest rates will have to escalate. Much more than 0.75%. We’ve already fallen off the cliff, we are just waiting to hit bottom. Gold is now a bargain. In spite of massive inflation, Gold has remained relatively static, $18-1900 per ounce, for months. The Fed has no interest in “saving the republic”. Their interest is making the fat fatter, and happier. At our expense.
Hi John,
Inflation has reached its peak. The rich will likely get richer, but that is only because Middle America is not paying attention to the signs on the horizon. If one has money set aside assets will depreciate significantly in the coming months leading to some very profitable steals.
I hold a small of gold and silver because I like to make sure my assets are diversified, but let’s be honest, gold and silver are overstated in their value of exchange. If the SHTF what are we going to use gold and silver for? Is a gold coin going to buy us eggs? How do you exchange that when the entire system is broken down? Cigarettes, Mary Jane, and alcohol have better exchange rates. The best things an individual can purchase is food, water, and ammo. They are always needed and can be used in a moment’s notice.
I realize I am probably going to cause a ruckus with my comment, but gold and silver will be continue to be held down until our world goes back to a truly free market. I don’t see that happening.
RG: I tend to agree with you ppinion on metals in this case. The obsession with precious metals for a SHTF scenario is something I find a little odd. Nothing wrong with having a little silver and gold as a “just in case hedge,” but if things go mad-max or even Zimbabwe we’ll be wanting calories, ammunition, fuel, and shelter. Alcohol is probably as recession/disaster proof a commodity as one could have next to food and drinkable water.
Starvation and disease have always been the biggest death counts in war.
If one were to have a gold coin, and I have eggs in a SHTF scenario, I’D TAKE THE GOLD IN A HEARTBEAT. And call them an idiot. But to have any semblance of civilization, unless you want to live in SHTF forever, we need to use money. For eggs, copper would probably be more than enough. For beef? A Mercury head silver dime would probably work, silver IS rare and not worth the BS current dollar price. Cigs, alcohol, and THC, are barter items for SHTF, yes. But only that. They are not adequate forms of money. For the record, I’d call that person an idiot because I am in that situation to accept gold, for I have guns, food, water, and ammo already.
I agree that metals won’t help you out in the beginnings of SHTF, because people will need to find their bearings, so to speak. I’ll agree that anyone who buys silver or gold, and nothing else, will be desperate at the beginning and may not make it.
All of this is assuming we don’t accept tyranny and authority figures to take care of us and implant us with mind reading tech. Honestly.
Probably wise to have a few coins, but even then what? The Buy Gold ads always amuse me. Even if one purchases the actual metal, and not a paper monthly statement, what exactly are you going to do with it when the poo poo does hit the fan. Gold, lots of it, anyway, is really heavy. Good luck pulling gold bars around in a red wagon, along with some cans of Dinty Moore beef stew as we all roam the landscape a’la The Road. 😉
RG,
Given a sufficiently severe collapse, we will go back to a free market economy in short order, since there won’t be any other kind. Gold and silver won’t work well until people who are addicted to dollars have their faces rubbed in it, and get over the notion. Historically, after economic collapse, gold and silver are recognized as favored money as soon as there is a functioning economy of any sort. Gold for eggs? Not so much. That’s what the silver is for. I do have an extensive supply of dry food, and thousands of rounds of ammo in two popular calibers, and materials to make more. Neither will work for money, once you run out of them. Gold and silver serve as a relatively constant medium of exchange. As in money. The more of us that have them the more quickly they will be used.
That’s the trouble with listening to “conservative” talk radio, the commercials are all the same: “The world is going to SHIT, BUY Gold”. Been hearing that for FORTY years. Precious metals have their place in any investment portfolio, I suppose, but their appeal, aside from being crafted into beautiful objects, was relative PORTABILITY and FUNGIBILITY. But there’s only so many useful things that can be made of gold, silver, or platinum, and certainly you can’t EAT them.
Even Howard Ruff, longtime LDS “gold bug”, advised in his most well-known book, “How to Prosper During the Coming Bad Years”, first published in 1979 (forty-three years ago!), counseled that before you embarked on ANY of his investment ideas, to FIRST, devise and implement a food storage program. His point, well-taken, is that having a backlog of food you can and do use on hand will insulate one, not only from having to spend precious resources just to get a bite to eat or risk violence when “SHTF”, but it’s also good to endure those “ups and downs” that do hit a household, say, like, when thieves take a Sawzall to your Toyota pickup and steal the Catalytic converter, and you’re forking over $2,000 to replace it. The recent toilet paper shortage during the COVID hysteria should have been instructive enough. I’d say the advice should extent to fuel, auto parts, and AMMO…LOTS of ammo. Also medicines, and if you can, order “ahead” on your Rx. Not only can and likely will be disruptions in getting meds, but what if we have to endure more of the idiocy coming out of Sacramento and/or DC? Things like, “your social credit score” is unacceptable, so your HMO won’t issue you your blood pressure meds or the doctor can’t see you, or, well, you’re over Sixty-Five now, so, you’re sick? Fuck you, DIE! You think I’m joking or being paranoid? Hearing how New York State wants to make CCW applicants turn over their social media info to be granted a permit? I say, fill out the space with: http://www.GovHochulcanfuckherself.com
Hi RG.
I really wish we had hit peak inflation. But keep in mind what price inflation is. Far too much fiat chasing limited supplies of goods and services. Made even more limited by the idiotic lock downs.
The Fed is attempting to destroy demand. I suspect they will be much more successful than anyone can expect. Especially given that the American consumer has nearly maxed out their credit cards and savings. But energy is something that needs to be watched. It is the life blood of modern civilization.
One can pump base money to the moon and beyond with little impact on broad. But our Dear Leaders dumped trillions into the broad money supply. I suspect we will be seeing the impact well into 2023. Not to mention a nasty recession (if we are lucky) or a greater depression if we aren’t.
As for gold and silver. I look at that as insurance I hope I never need. They have been actual money for thousands of years. If the system is wrecked to the point that we end up back at barter, then water, food, medical supplies (and the skill/knowledge to use them) along with ammo are going to be of more use. At least until the next system arises.
But never bet against the black market. The Gangs have been attempting to destroy it for as long as they have existed. I suspect there will always be a market for gold and silver. No matter what our Dear Leaders and those who own them attempt to do.
Keep in mind the old saying; Gold is the money of kings. Silver is the money of gentlemen. Barter is the money of peasants. Debt is the money of slaves.
Hi RG
They used to say gold is used to bribe the guards to get out/stay out of the camps… Silver might work for small purchases when it costs $50,000 fiat for a loaf of bread, it is less trouble then taking a wheel barrel full of worthless fiat………
Hi RG
If they raise rates a lot they get a depression, if they cut rates to zero or negative they get hyper inflation, they are trapped.
DOUBLE DOWN asks economist and historian, Dr. Michael Hudson if any economic theory has ever suggested negative interest rates.
Not since back to the Bronze Age does he recall anything like this being suggested. That’s because, for thousands of years, economic beings have chosen to hold debt jubilees.
Negative rates achieve that a bit slower but they do the same thing eventually by bringing the volume of savings on the asset side of the balance sheet down to the volume of debt that can be repaid. Hudson believes rates will quickly go as negative as 25% and thus erase some of the debt burdens.
https://sputniknews.com/20190730/negative-25-interest-rates-1076404514.html
‘The most recent rate hike of .75 % has not yet been felt.’ — Raider Girl
As always, the Fed’s blind bureaucrats are trying to drive by watching the rear view mirror, when they can’t even see in broad daylight.
Because of lingering pandemic distortions of the labor market, unemployment remains low and will lag even more than usual before signaling a recession. This will baffle the Fedsters to no end.
Jim Bianco of @biancoresearch:
“If 8% handle CPI hangs around for several more months [partly because of base effects from 12 months ago], the Fed has no choice but to stay very aggressive. Powell could not be any clearer that unless things get REALLY UGLY, he is hiking and hiking and hiking until inflation breaks.”
The Fed has screwed up so monumentally this time, by next year with an R-party Clowngress we may actually be able to ban quantitative easing forever.
People forget that what makes a recession unusually harsh is the size of the Bubble that preceded it, and the distortions and malinvestment it engendered.
In retrospect, cranking the Fed’s balance sheet from $6 to 9 trillion in a couple of years wasn’t such a brilliant idea. Nor is shrinking it back down now.
The late ‘Everything Bubble’ — stocks, bonds, real estate, cryptos, even (for heaven’s sake) used cars — was the biggest delusional romp in the history of civilization.
Now the piper’s at the door, wanting to be paid. In hard currency. And he’s got a gun.
Hi Jim,
In a way it may be good – in that (perhaps) for once, savers (and the prudent) won’t be punished for saving – and being prudent. I think we’ll soon see..
Yes, recessions bring opportunity for those with patience, who are pre-positioned not be hurt by them.
Things move at three times their normal speed. Years worth of change can happen in a few months.
Since April, for instance, copper has dropped from $4.75/lb to $3.45/lb this morning — a 27% dip.
Superficially, this is helpful for EV makers. But the recession which copper’s drop points toward will cripple buyers, cripple confidence, cripple financing.
A Bataan death march for global auto makers is underway. Only a few will emerge on the other side.
Lumber has already dropped from $9.00 for a 2×4 to $4.50 for that same 2×4. The lumber companies are panicking because the distribution companies are not ordering more. The demand for building has stopped. Three family members have recently put their houses on the market for ridiculous prices. I laugh. Those were the old days. All of a sudden, the inventory of homes has skyrocketed overnight (okay, maybe over a few weeks). The seller’s market is slowly evaporating as interest rates continue to rise.
Family went boating to watch the fireworks this weekend. No one on the water. The marinas were empty. In my area, over the last month, you can pretty much walk into any restaurant and get a seat. Last night, tried taking the kids out for ice cream. Six ice cream places in town. Not one was open at 8 PM on the 4th of July. The large stores, grocery chains, restaurants, even some gas stations all had the lights shut off and were closed for the day. It felt like 1987.
I saw the same thing returning home from Palo Alto (a relative is at the Stanford Medical Center, quite ill) yesterday to my home in the Sacramento suburbs. Just “cannon-balled” it from Palo Alto, as the 280 freeway was very light, blazed through San Jose until it became 680, got onto 580 at Pleasanton and just hauled ass over the Altamont Pass, took the 205 to I-5 and crossed Stockon on the “4” to pick up ’99’ to Grant Line, then Sunrise up north through Rancho Cordova. Quite a few fast food joints and a decent market (“Bel Air”) at the Gold River area, and NOTHING open at 8:45 PM as it was getting dark, by “Gawd and Sonny Jesus”, I shite you not. EVERYTHING, Chick-Fil-A, Five Guys, even Weinerschnitzel, CLOSED, as was the Bel Air. Only choices were Inn-N-Out, LONG line, so, “no”, or Carl’s Jr. At least at Carl’s no line, but not exactly what I had in mind, but they were going to close, and I couldn’t get anything chicken (they were out), so it was a Western Bacon, Onion rings, and a watered-down Coke Zero.
Was it JUST the prospects of poor business on the Monday evening of the Fourth that closed these places, normally open at that hour? I’d heard reports here and there of violence breaking out, and after that shooting near Chi-Congo, well, I can see if a lot of places just said, “eff it”!
Well it’s obvious Eric, the solution is to own three or four EVs, so at least one is on standby, fully charged, at all times. Car guys are so dumb.
Except that the vast majority of them are smart enough to avoid EVs. As this article demonstrates, they are a waste of time, and too expensive, and there’s no power grid to support them. Take away their subsidies, and the regulations forcibly promoting them, and there would not be enough demand for them to justify mass production. Hopefully, the recent SCOTUS castration of the EPA will bring market forces into play, at least until congress codifies the EPA’s usurped power. Which I suspect a sufficient number of Republicans will fall all over themselves and bend over backwards to do. Before the elections this fall. And the car makers have to allow for that exact thing to happen. God bless Stellantis holding out as long as they did, and God bless Toyota for continuing to do so. Toyota recognizes which side of their bread is buttered. Making high quality affordable transportation devices. None of which applies to EVs.
Rich’s Rebuilds channel on YouTube has a practical V8 Tesla conversion. Link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KmsVytiMDg
I’m pretty sure it would let you virtue signal and fill up in 5 minutes or less.
EVs seem to clash with “you will own nothing and be happy”. That is unless, the EV crowd gets a special pass from the davos cartel.
Mike,
Not too sure. Could be that after we are all forced to drive one, and can’t afford to own one, there will be fleets of EVs for rent. Need a car? Call and have one delivered. At a “nominal” fee that you won’t be able to often afford either. If ever.
But John, sharing is caring! Ride sharing, apartment sharing, womb sharing…
Remember the scene in Doctor Zhivago when he comes home after the war and finds a dozen or so people living in his house?
Hi RK,
I saw Dr. Zhivago when it came out back in the 60’s, and that’s the one scene that stuck with me to this day. I think our overlords have that in mind for our future, we’ll be allotted 600 square feet of space and have to share with the other proles. If I ever came home to that situation I’d burn my house to the ground.
I recall that scene, the “Committee” seizes the doctor’s home and he’s supposed to THANK the Soviet for it, including having the master suite for his family, which that bitch commissar pontificates was enough living space for several families. Arming someone and giving them unchecked “authoritai” doesn’t do wonders for PRIVATE property.
I would have said, on THAT principal, that Omar Sharif should have shared Geraldine Chaplin and/or Julie Christie, both in ’65 in their prime of young womanhood, with yours truly. Fair is fair. Trouble is, I was SIX when that movie came out, and girls were “ick”. Obviously my attitude towards the fairer sex has changed.
Douglas,
Watched Julie Christie in Dragonheart yesterday. Still quite a looker at 50+.
RK,
If I recall correctly he soon thereafter made his way out into the boonies.
Gee, holed up in a farm house in the Urals and spending the winter canoodling with a 21 y.o. Geraldine Chaplin, while getting some side action with then 25 y.o. Julie Christie. Such a “hard” life.
Indeed, life is good outside the city.