Heat Death

By
eric
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50
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Lightning has struck out.

The trade publication Automotive News reports that Ford is eliminating two out of three production crews formerly tasked with assembling the battery powered version of the F-150 pick-up.

Italics to highlight that Ford is not temporarily reducing production of the Lightning. Some 1,400 workers are to be offered early retirement or transferred to another plant, where they will be put to work on something else.

Because the Lightning’s not working.

Of course, it is also not selling. Ford dealers don’t want them on their lots for that reason – and have said so, very publicly.

But why are they not selling?

Mainly, because people aren’t (yet) forced to buy them. It’s a dynamic similar to that which formerly obtained with regard to what’s marketed as “health insurance,” which of course is no such thing because it is impossible to insure one’s health. The best you can do is do your best to be healthy, a different thing. If you are successful, you can probably avoid needing medical care, which is really what we’re talking about when we talk about “health insurance.”

Anyhow, when healthy people weren’t forced to buy “health insurance,” many didn’t – because why would they? It’s not a rational decision to spend a lot of money on something of little (or no) value to you, as “health insurance” generally is to healthy young people especially. It is much more rational to be healthy – and save the money. That way, you have money for medical care – if you ever need it.

And if you don’t, you still have the money.

Obama – and John Roberts – took away the freedom to choose and now “health insurance” does “sell” because almost everyone is forced to buy it.

Neat how that works, eh?

Until people are forced to buy battery powered devices, they won’t sell, either – and that puts automakers like Ford (like all of them, even Tesla) in a pinch because the truth about these battery powered devices is becoming impossible to suppress any longer. Precisely – ironically – because these devices were pushed so hard, so fast. Too many of them were bought by people who had no idea what they were buying into. They read about the silent drive; about the explosive acceleration. About how they could charge at home and “save money” – never mind paying 30-50 percent more for the device.

They were made to feel good about doing what they were told (and some even believed) was “good for the environment.”

Buying an EV was – initially – a lot like wearing a “mask” in this latter respect. Many people did it because they believed it was necessary and virtuous to do it. They were egged on in this belief by a concatenation of propaganda assuring them it was both necessary and virtuous. EVs had the additional lure of being lightning quick and exclusive, by dint of their cost.

People bought them for essentially the same reason people who can afford to buy big, fancy homes. It’s both a reward for them and a way to put distance between themselves and the rest of us.

And then they found out their devices don’t go the distance. Especially in the cold. The recent climate changes have been a wonderful reality check. It is hard to make excuses for your device when you’re threatened with freezing to death in the thing because you can’t run the heater or because the battery pack’s heater is drawing charge faster than the not-so-fast charger can recharge the battery.

There are still of course die-hard apologists – those who will sit and shiver without complaint. They are psychologically the same species as those who continue to get their “booster” shots – and continue to get sick. The correlation escapes them. They want to believe – and so they do.

But there are only so many who can afford to.

And not only in the monetary sense.

The Lightning is, ostensibly, a truck. It is certainly shaped like one. People – understandably – assumed it is a truck. But it isn’t, really. It is a device that looks like a truck. The distinction is important.

The Lightning, while quick, is not capable of doing the things most people who buy a truck expect a truck to be able to do. Yes, it can power tools at a job site. But it won’t go far from the job site, after powering tools all day. Yes, it can pull a tremendous weight. But not very far, rendering what it can pull for a short distance as relevant (and costly) as a commercial airplane that can’t fly very far before it has to land and make its passengers wait.

Ironically, the truck layout was thought to be the ideal one for battery-powered devices, because there is so much room for the battery pack that stores the energy that powers these devices. The problem – or rather, the catch – is that a battery pack for a device the size of a truck must be even larger (and heavier) than the battery pack that powers car/crossover-shaped devices. Weight takes more power to move it – and what you end up with is a very powerful, very heavy device that runs out of power very quickly.

And that’s why Ford is eliminating – not temporarily idling – two out of three production crews who had been putting together these devices.

Expect this eliminating to spread as more become aware of what it really means to live with a battery powered device.

Especially when it’s cold outside.

At which point we can expect the government to do exactly what it has already done with regard to “health insurance.”

Then maybe the Lightning and its kind will “sell.”

. . .

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Related posts:
  1. EV Fever is Cooling . . .
  2. The Anti-Lightning
  3. Here We Go – Again
  4. All Hope is Not Lost!
  5. Another $60k-plus to start EeeeeeeeVeeeeee

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

50 COMMENTS

  1. You know, health insurance originally came into being when FDR instituted wage and price freezes! Employers, wanting to get around FDR’s wage freeze, offered health insurance to lure new employees. It was gov’t interference that STARTED the crisis in health insurance!

  2. ‘Now “health insurance” does “sell” because almost everyone is forced to buy it.’ — eric

    And then ‘coverage’ gets expanded. From an editorial at thehill.com:

    ‘To address the obesity epidemic among senior populations and recognize obesity as the disease it is, the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services (CMS) must expand obesity care and provide coverage of anti-obesity medications in Medicare Part D.’

    https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/4418045-medicare-part-d-must-start-covering-anti-obesity-medications/

    Editorials like this one are false flags from the get-go. The author, one Joseph Nadglowski, doesn’t give a fig about Medicare recipients. He’s just a male prostitute for Big Pharma, with a sticky mouth and pocket full of small bills, pimping their costly wares — just like the presstitutes who publish this reeking garbage.

  3. “The Lightning is, ostensibly, a truck. It is certainly shaped like one. People – understandably – assumed it is a truck. But it isn’t, really. It is a device that looks like a truck. The distinction is important.”

    Again, I can’t suppress my juvenile sense of humor. I instantly think of those cheesy phones in the 80s –the ones that look like hot dogs. It is shaped like a hot dog; but it ain’t a hot dog.

  4. In two years, 2026 New York state mandated from on high (The ‘Ho – Hochul) that 35% of all new cars sold MUST be electric/battery operated (zero emission BS).

    Good luck with *that* ‘Ho.

    I bought a new 2023 Mazda3 in September 2023. Gas powered. I spoke to the salespeople about how many EVs they were selling per the ‘Ho’s mandate. They laughed. They said the only Mazda EVs that were selling were in Europe.

    Good luck with *that* ‘Ho.

    If the ‘Ho truly believes ICE vehicles are boiling the earth and it is a true emergency, then the ‘Ho needs to ban ALL sales and registrations of ICE vehicles in NYS starting TODAY. Plus the ‘Ho needs to shut down ALL gas stations in NYS to discourage people driving gas powered vehicles into NYS. Stop with the pussy footing around. You got the balls ‘Ho?

    Yeah…I didn’t think so. All grift 24/7/365.

    • Hi Pug,

      Hochul (and Whitmer) would be right at home in the former East Germany – which was formerly the German Democratic Republic. Mark the italics. Communists love “democracy.”

  7. Ford can redeem itself by going back to the original Ford F-150 Lightning by bolting an engine to the frame. 1993 was the year for the first Lightnings.

    The problem can be solved, an internal combustion engine will be the solution.

    Ford’s weary soul can be saved. Have to stop digging the hole, it’s over for all electric.

    I do remember seeing a news story on national tv that there were some electric Ford pickups in California, not many, the owners were disappointed when they had to give them back. Maybe it was the late 90’s when the story aired.

    Maybe I’m all wrong there. Seems that was the story of the Ford electric pickups from yesterday.

    The cold wave has ended, the warmer temps are a relief.

    • I’m taking a serious look at their hybrid drivetrain because of the 7.5 KW split phase inverter in the bed. That would make a fantastic tow vehicle for a trailer, no need for a generator.

    • ‘Of course, government workers will likely be EXEMPTED from such bans’ — John B

      If you put two tons of batteries under the Beast, it would have a range of about 45 miles. But it wouldn’t be saaaaaaaafe for Potus:

      ‘[Obama’s] presidential state car was speculated to be much heavier than its predecessor as it is equipped with Goodyear Regional RHS tires that are usually reserved for medium- and heavy-duty trucks; speculated weights range from 15,000 to 20,000 pounds.

      ‘Due its weight, it could only reach about 60 mph, and only achieved 3.7 to 8 miles per US gallon. The limousine was reported to cost between $300,000 and $1,500,000.’ — Wikipedia

      Simple reason the Beast can’t be battery powered is that one well-placed shot could set the sucker on fire. It’s okay for serfs to burn, but not El Jefe!!

      • Hi Jim,

        We saw the same arrogant attitude from governments during the COVID hysteria. If someone worked for the government, a medical facility, or a large corporation, they were deemed an “Essential worker” and could continue working and their employer could stay open, but people who worked for a small business were deemed “Non essential” and thus were laid off and the small business they worked for CLOSED via government diktats disguised as “Protecting public health”.

        This latest push for “EVs for thee, not for me” from governments reeks of the same Marie Antoinette like attitude numerous governments had in 2020, plus LOTS of narratives pushed by government and establishment media that turned out to be complete bull crap, and yet, there are people who STILL buy the same bull crap that government has been pushing for a long time, be it climate change, COVID, wars, vaccines, automobiles, gasoline, January 6th, Donald Trump, etc.

  9. Ford was a C round investor in Solid Power (SLDP), a company that claimed to have a revolutionary lithium battery that used a polymer (solid) electrolyte instead of the ubiquitous liquid electrolyte LiPo/LiFePO battery tech in common use today. In exchange they got exclusive access to the product ahead of every other potential customer. SLDP went public at about $14 when they appeared to be ready to enter mass production using their technique that looked like a giant printing press and laminator. The engineering made sense.

    Today SLDP is hovering around $1.20. They can’t seem to get yields up to the demands of a big battery user like Ford. And because F gets priority they can’t sell to specialized markets (such as small drones, electronics or campsite batteries) that could get cashflow and time to iterate and work out the kinks. So they bleed money, lost their CEO and now they languish, waiting for someone to buy out the company’s IP and wipe out the investors. It would have been an awesome short in 2022.

    “Solid state” batteries have a lot of advantages over LiPo. They can be aggressively charged and heavily discharged, fairly safe when damaged, and are generally smaller (thinner) for the same capacity. In theory they can be recharged in less than half the time of a LiPo/LiFePO cell (4C or more), but of course that requires the subsequent charging station capacity to deliver that current. And it’s still 3X longer than the mere minutes required to fill a liquid fuel tank, but still around the time the driver would need to use the restroom and buy a hotdog.

    Ford bet big on the tech, handcuffed the tech company they were relying on and is now stuck with something that can’t work into their plan.

    • And it’s still 3X longer [to charge a “solid state” battery] than the mere minutes required to fill a liquid fuel tank

      In other words, it would be far from good enough to be competitive with ICE-powered vehicles…

      but still around the time the driver would need to use the restroom and buy a hotdog.

      …as exemplified by the continuing need for EV proponents to proffer the same insufferable, condescending drivel about killing time by means of meals and toilet breaks, activities which still wouldn’t influence charging time and performance whatsoever.

      • Remember, that’s best case too. Today’s Level 2 chargers top out at around 12 kW. DC fast chargers, around 350 kW only if the station is equipped to delver, which is a huge investment of three phase, 400V supply. And even then the station won’t probably be able to push enough current into the battery pack at the speed a solid electrolyte battery can accept it, especially if there are many cars charging at the same time. Expect people to complain bitterly if there’s a line at the charger. And I’ve already seen videos where people complain about cars using DC charger pylons but their car doesn’t support the DC plug (the SAE connector can do both but there are extra pins for DC). Upside of solid power is that you’ll be able to get a 100% charge at full current instead of reducing current to less than 1C after 80% bulk charging cycle, which is where much of the reduction in time to charge comes from.

        https://www.thedrive.com/guides-and-gear/ev-charging-explained-level-1-2-3-dc-fast-charging

        • Remember, that’s best case too.

          Indeed… with best case being far from impressive… The technology is a cul-de-sac, then, at least for the use case of powering electric cars.

          DC fast chargers, around 350 kW

          Those DC chargers are not fast chargers, as their abysmal performance unambiguously demonstrates. They are merely level 3 chargers. The sad reality is that fast chargers do not exist.

      • The vehicles alternator needs to be regulated with precision of a solar inverter to make a liFePo pack happy. Then theres required climate control for the picky beast. On and on endless externalities piling up to temporarily kill eBS with every solar cycle.

        Every time the stupid herd falls for it ughhain billions change hands. The whole point of neurotypical insanity.

  11. Re: They want to believe – and so they do.

    I am sick and tired of it. I am sick and tired of nefarious and evil propaganda.
    I am becoming more and more numb too it, and caring less and less.
    My sister in law (total believer in the clot shot) is in trouble with a blood disorder, her husband, my BIL also had a stroke that he survived. My wife is sick to her stomach over it, BUT, she is like WTF can I do about it? They believed. My thought process now is f’them, idiots.
    And we just had another local 50yr old healthy man in our area die ‘suddenly’.
    F-you, say it!!!!!! say why. We all know, or at least 50%+ of us do.
    Same w/EV’s, all the happy kumbaya is BS.
    And now, it’s going to cost Ford more $ to start and stop the line every day for just one shift.

    The only thing I can think to do to enjoy the remaining 1-20 yrs of my life is to vote with my feet. Get out of deep blue areas and live in deep red areas, basically to be surrounded with more like minded people. Should equal more happiness? I think so.
    I just canceled a rotator cuff surgery. Everyone is mad at me (except a few). My reasoning is, I want to enjoy my spring doing what I enjoy more than anything which is riding motorcycles. How many springs to I have left? 1 to 20? It hurts, but 4-5 months downtime is unacceptable to me right now.
    Times are a changing, and yes, the pendulum swings. I’m not waiting anymore.
    Sorry for the rant.

    • Nice rant. Add, get out of debt, & stay out of debt, to the list, if possible:

      ‘You Will Own Nothing – Because They Will Steal Everything – David Rogers Webb’

      …”The plan is in the process of unfolding now. DRW explains, “The core of what I am showing here is about securities, stocks and bonds. I also go into the good old fashion way of doing it, which is taking anything encumbered with debt. That’s been done for centuries. They create a cycle where there is a fall in price, and then anyone who is in debt is in trouble, and the collateral is taken. This was the big hammer in ‘The Great Taking 1.0,’ which was the Great Depression. In this go-around, ‘The Great Taking 2.0,’ that is taking things that are not encumbered with debt.” . . .

      https://usawatchdog.com/you-will-own-nothing-because-they-will-steal-everything-david-rogers-webb/

    • I am with you, Chris. We all need to create our own happiness, or at least, contentment. Staying away from toxic easily swayed blockheads is a start.

      I am sorry to hear about your shoulder. Hubby tore his several years ago, but he was able to heal it with lots of rubber band exercises, turmeric and ginger, Vitamin D (taken with magnesium), and massage therapy. It took 6-9 months, but he never needed surgery. If you haven’t tried it find a good therapist who specializes in muscle trauma. They are worth their weight in gold…at least the good ones are.

      • I strongly second the Raider Girl recommendations – I tore mine, ironically while wrenching on the scooter. Didn’t know what it was at the time just put up with it and mentioned it to the doc 10 months later during my annual review. “Oh that’s a cuff tear, probably a bit late for surgery but I can refer you.” Nope, it was slightly better at 10 months and I supplemented as I usually do (keep forgetting the Magnesium!) now 2 years on back to normal no more issues and I’m no kid at 68. I was able to ride the scoot too, sore right arm but tolerable.

      • Three years ago I woke up with a frozen left shoulder. Hurt like a son of a gun and could barely lift it. I researched the dead internet and found horror stories of people who had elective surgery for their frozen shoulders. Needless to say most of the people who wrote those horror stories said their shoulders were permanently damaged from the surgery.

        I said hell no to going to a doctor or surgery for my frozen shoulder. Eight painful months later, my shoulder healed on its own. No surgery needed. I just dealt with the pain, and exercised the shoulder.

        Fast forward to this past November, I woke up with a frozen right shoulder. I read on the dead internet that it is very common for people who get frozen shoulders, to have both seize up within 3 years of each other. Again, no surgery or doctors for me. I am going on month three with my frozen shoulder and I figure by July I should hopefully be back to normal. My infrared sauna helps.

        Sometimes one has to deal with physical pain and let the body heal on its own. Healing is usually never overnight.

    • Hi Chris,

      In re the shoulder issue: I have dealt with the same – myself. Three years ago, my left shoulder ached almost constantly and I had limited range of movement. Told I needed rotator cuff surgery. I have been told such things before. I self treated, with gentle stretches and strengthening exercises and daily dose of Turmeric (taken with water; down the hatch like two fingers of whiskey). I am almost back to 100 percent now. Working out with pretty heavy weights for an incipient geezer; able to do pretty much anything I could do 20 years ago.

      Try the Turmeric and stretching. You might be amazed!

      • What you are on to is an anti-inflammatory regime. There are doctors, even some MD’s (MD-ABIHM) and DO’s and such that will show you how to cover all the bases. A man at 88 years old was talked into surgery which did not work, and the hospital sent him home basically to die. As for the stretching, I have done hot yoga since the mid 90’s. The older doctors have found out that flexibility is right near the top as a priority. Surgeons only sell what they know and what their corporate masters tell them to. I will see a hospital only for non-ambulatory situations where I probably will die if I don’t go there.

    • Best post I’ve seen on this site. You clearly ID the problem. You are unambiguous about your approach and you have a plan of action.

      As our good friend Colonel Kurtz one opined in Apocalypse Now- “I had ten divisions of those men, our troubles here would be over very quickly.”

      What we have are complainers, talkers, bitchers, and wafflers. If you are -truly- unhappy as most here claim to be, your every waking hour should be spent doing what you can to throw sand in the gears, and change your situation immediately and with an actionable plan.

      You win the internet for today ChrisIN ✌

      • thanks 99, you made my day after a tough morning.
        I’ve been planning to exit the bitchers for a while now. The reality is it is tough to change the life you’ve built, but I have slowly done it and now my family is finally buying in.
        I have so much sorrow for my friends, some I love. They are not getting it, even after all of my ‘conspiracy theories’ the past 4-5 yrs have proven right.
        It pains me that if I leave them, it will not end well for them.
        The fun part is our newer friends in our rural place are begging us to move there permanently ‘we need people like you here……. now’.

    • Thanks all for the shoulder advice!!! Since I said no, I have heard about and am learning about all of your alt methods. I don’t like neil young, despise him actually, but he did say a good one “it’s better to burn out than fade away”
      All I can hope for now is on my deathbed that my body is completely used the hell up. haha.
      Thanks all.
      Hope this ends up in the right spot, as I want to thank all that responded to my rant.

    • Hello Chris. Contact a good acupuncturist. I had a torn rotator cuff and after a few physio sessions, went to an acupncturist. He uses needles for acupuncture, which do not hurt, and a combination of laser and needles. Will take a few years. My muscles in upper torso keep in spasms for weeks at a time. I avoided surgery.

  12. ‘Lurch’ at it again, what a maroon. It’d be funny if it didn’t affect our freedom, lively hood, and pocketbook!

    “There has been a very, very clear policy, which, regrettably, has been attacked by people who are engaged in high levels of disinformation,” Kerry, who serves as the special presidential envoy for climate, told Bloomberg Television. “They’ve been trying to scare people about the range of vehicles, so there’s range anxiety out there.”

    Eric, how dare you! (/S)

  13. [Many people did it because they believed it was necessary and virtuous to do it.]- Eric

    Yeah,,, the same people that say males can be females or females can be males,,, the same people putting liter boxes in school classrooms for those that think they’re a cat,,, the same people forcing schools in Californica to put women’s sanitary napkins in boys bathrooms and the same that say men/boys dressing in a skirt can participate in Women’s/girls sports.

    In the UK a parent can be jailed for up to 7 years for not reinforcing their 5 year old child that thinks they are the opposite sex.

    These people are clearly out of their minds yet they always prevail. The USA is the modern equivalent of Sodom and Gomorrah on steroids.

    • Actually we are at the same stage as the Wiemar Republic. The same (((people))) that foisted the Wiemar Republic on Germany with its “anything goes”, blurring of the sexes and pushing LGBTQXYZ on children are doing the same to US.
      Different people but the same (((cult))) is responsible for today’s ills. This is how (((they))) are able to get away with the human slaughter (genocide) in Gaza. Crying “holocaust” while murdering people is their stock in trade.
      History may not repeat itself, but it certainly does “rhyme”.
      The Austrian painter had the right idea–not extermination but expulsion.
      I would be willing to sacrifice a part of Ukraine (israel 2.0) on one condition…a wall is built to keep (((them))) in while everything going in or out is strictly controlled and monitored. Shades of the bolsheviks, (((they))) have already succeeded in shutting down Christian churches in areas that (((they))) control. Not one synagogue was touched.

      • >a wall is built
        To borrow some dialog:
        All roads, bridges and waterways are mined. The rules are simple. Once you go in, you don’t come out.

        Let’s hear it for segregation (of your very own least favorite group).
        Everyone has at least one, right? 🙂

  14. At least Ford made some effort to mitigate the lack of EV demand.
    I think the writing is on the wall. EVs are NOT a viable alternative to ICEs, except in a very narrow band of circumstances, which few of us encounter. And then there’s the fire thing. May come back to a hole in the ground where your EV used to be, because it caught fire when no one was looking.

    • At least Ford made some effort to mitigate the lack of EV demand.

      Only in the very short term. No doubt Ford is working extremely hard behind the scenes to coerce politicians into mandating EVs and banning ICE-powered vehicles, thereby creating an artificial market in which vehicles like the Lightning won’t have any competition from ICE-powered rivals. Going back to making ICE-powered vehicles only is not an alternative for Ford, nor is fixing the Lightning’s fundamental flaws and making it competitive with similar vehicles with traditional drivelines.

      For Ford, like other car manufacturers, it’s EVs oder nichts – regardless of what car buyers want.

  16. We will never know what the present – and future – could have been for the automotive industry, had not phony printed money, .gov “mandates” and the resulting malinvestment which created this literal garbage.
    And we haven’t even reached the zenith of this inevitable failure yet.

    Perhaps if Ford didn’t have to create the Ford Model e business unit in the first place (presumably to hedge against total company dissolution when this EV thing goes tits up) they could have used that cash to have created much better product and not be the world leader in recalls.
    If Hank I were alive today to see what his company became, he’d probably strangle both his great grandson and Farley.

    • We may not know precisely what it would look like, other than better and cheaper. Just like anything the State touches, or doesn’t touch. Doesn’t touch is better.

  17. ‘[EeeVee victims] read about the silent drive; about the explosive acceleration.’ — eric

    In connection with Hertz’s unloading of 20,000 EeeVees, it was reported that the rental company experienced an increase in front-end collisions because of inexperienced EeeVee drivers punching it too hard and slamming into the vehicle ahead.

    Ah ha ha ha … it is to laugh, comrades! A neck-snapping lurch off the line, a sickening thud, then the tinkle of broken parts raining down on the pavement.

    This is, perhaps, a metaphor for EeeVee Fever. Propelled by looted billions appropriated by Clowngress, it took off with a bang, only to hit the wall when this silly fad ran out of range.

    One little problem that confronts you
    Got an EeeVee on your back
    Just one more charge, Lord might do the trick
    One hell of a price for you to get your kicks

    Ooh-ooh that smell
    Can’t you smell that smell
    Ooh-ooh that smell
    The smell of #FAIL surrounds you

    — Lynyrd Skynrd, That Smell

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