Electric cars are unforgiving things. If you forgot to plug in the night before – or just didn’t have time – they’ll make you pay for it . . . in time.
My 18-year-old non-electric truck is much more forgiving of my forgetting . . . to fill it up.
I was driving down to Lowes the other day – and from there to the coffee shop where I spend a few hours each day composing the rants – when I glanced at my fuel gauge and realized I was almost running on empty.
No worries – as the Aussies say.
There’s a gas station just up the road. I’ll roll in – maybe on fumes – and roll out just a couple of minutes later with a full tank. No planning – or waiting. A minor detour and back to my day.
But what if I’d had an electric car?
Lots of worries.
The first being to try to find a “fast” charger before I ran out of charge. Because if you do run out of charge, you are out luck. You can’t hike to the nearest “fast” charger and bring back a gallon of electricity. You must get the car to the charger – which will mean towing it there, if you run out of charge.
And there may not be a “fast” charger anywhere near-by.
Many cities have installed some, but outside of most towns, “fast” chargers are kind of like Little Caesar’s – they are around, but it’s usually a drive to locate one.
But let’s say you do find one. There’s still no getting around the wait. You won’t be rolling out of there for at least half an hour or so – and when you do, you’ll only be carrying a partial charge. Which means you’ll have to plug in again . . . sooner, this time.
Having to unexpectedly stop for half an hour can completely screw up your day. What if you had something else planned – or needed to be somewhere else? Like work? Too bad.
The EV is unforgiving.
The wait might also be unpleasant in other ways. If it’s pouring – or freezing – outside, you only spend a couple of minutes outside . . . if you’re not driving an EV. Let’s hope it’s not snowing . . . if you are driving an EV. A lot of snow can accumulate in half an hour. Enough to make the difference between getting home and not.
And if you can’t find the “fast” charger? Or it’s occupied by another EV? Now an inconvenience morphs into a debacle. You have to wait for the EV ahead of you to “fast” charge for half an hour or so. Half an hour becomes an hour. Your boss – or clients – will understand.
Right? 
On standard 120V household current, the EV will need several hours to leach back enough charge to let you gimp to where you were headed.
That’s a day-ruiner.
EV apologists will say that so long as you plug in every night, you’ll have no worries. Certainly. But what if you forget? This will happen for the same reason that people forget to fill up. Life happens. Distractions occur. You pull into the driveway in your EV, intending to plug in – when your wife rushes out to tell you something and you get excited and go inside with her . . . and forget.
The assumption that you’ll always remember and that planning around all this recharging -which you’ll have to remember to do every day as opposed to filling up once a week – isn’t going to add another layer of hassle to life is as silly as it is disingenuous.
Even the best-laid plans run afoul of the unexpected. You come home – and remember to plug in. But 20 minutes after you get home, your kid has an accident bad enough that you need to get him to the doctor right now.
What then?
Hopefully, you’ll have another car. . . a not-electric car.
And what if the power goes out and you can’t recharge?
Oh, but that only happens occasionally – usually because of bad weather. True. But it happens never with non-electric cars. Power outages have no effect on how much gas is in your tank. And as long as you’ve got a gallon, you’ll be able to drive to where there’s more gas.
Which you can get in minutes, not hours.
Speaking of hours. Or rather, kilowatt hours . . .
The more EVs there are in circulation, the greater the likelihood of the power being interrupted more frequently because of the increased draw on the grid – which lacks the capacity to deal with a massive increase in demand, especially during peak usage hours. 
EVs are immense energy hogs, with 400 volt battery packs. Adding a 240V “fast” charger to your house is functionally not much different than adding a welder or other high-draw appliance and running it regularly.
Imagine millions of these things hooked up at night – when the draw on the grid is already highest because that’s when people are getting home from work and cooking dinner (appliances) and cranking the AC (or heat) and watching TV and doing dishes and all the other things that use power… and now add the draw of those millions EV to the mix.
Expect the power to go out – but not because of ice storms.
This would be poetic justice were it not for the fact that people who don’t have EVs will also have their power cut – or just rationed.
Which means we’ll all have to sit tight – instead of getting where we’re going.
. . .
Got a question about cars, Libertarian politics – or anything else? Click on the “ask Eric” link and send ’em in!
If you like what you’ve found here please consider supporting EPautos.
We depend on you to keep the wheels turning!
Our donate button is here.
If you prefer not to use PayPal, our mailing address is:
EPautos
721 Hummingbird Lane SE
Copper Hill, VA 24079
PS: Get an EPautos magnet (pictured below) in return for a $20 or more one-time donation or a $10 or more monthly recurring donation. (Please be sure to tell us you want a sticker – and also, provide an address, so we know where to mail the thing!)
My latest eBook is also available for your favorite price – free! Click here. 
I’m thinking of those funny TikToks like anal bucking
Eric, look on the bright side:
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/09/25/fremont-police-tesla-out-of-electricity-pursuit/?fbclid=IwAR0mGdEHGrlbd7hOwY7ABTadkG1klI-V6pNPlnkZFZr6gxrFGV8ekbdD2fs
A funny thought occurred to me while remembering the one time I ran out of gas and had to hoof it with a can.
Anyone remember TATA Motors of India promoting compressed air car motors a few years ago?
It looks like they are ready to unveil:
Tata Motors’ Air-powered Car Could Hit The Market In 2020
A tank of compressed air would be one hell of a lot easier to bing back after 1 a couple mile hike than 240,000kW
I’ve always said that nothing beats those bodacious TATAs. (Oh PLEASE, Eric: don’t ban me for that!)
If civilization survives this climate hysteria and we make it to 2100, I can only imagine how people will look back at a world gone mad that demonized plant food. The whole point of a greenhouse, where they keep the co2 at a higher level is to grow more plants.
Well, I’ve got news, Co2 is only 1 part carbon and two parts oxygen. So, what’s next, songs about the demon O?
Damn O! I found 1part of it mixed with my H when I was trying to take a shower! I want to shower in pure hydrogen!
Nunz, be sure and take the pleasure of smoking a good cigar at the same time.
Good thing good cigars are so darn expensive, 8!
Oh, the humanity!
I couldn’t believe the cigars I occasionally smoked and bought by the case and put in my nice humidore had gone from $2 to $20 each from one case to the next. That was the end. Humidore looks lost and we miss having half of an El Presidente when we have a really good meal and want to relax on the breezeway. No smoking in our house . I got to smoking a pipe and liked this one really smooth, light blend. The wife and I would go out with our inherited pipes and take a few tokes remembering the good ol days of those good cigars. Next thing I know I can’t get that blend. Ah well, just another health hazard to avoid.
8, I swear, I think there’s a conspiracy against tobacky!
Can’t find unfiltered Lucky Strikes anymore; Camels and Pall Malls etc. ain’t what they used to be, though they now cost 10 times what they used to- so I don’t even bother getting a pack a few times a year like I used to.
I had found this awesome roll-your-own tobacco (sold as pipe tobacco- which kept it cheap)- it was called 5 Brothers. They still technically make it, but some Danish company bought them out, and it’s not the same.
Tried a pipe for a bit…but it didn’t do it for me. I liked the strong English tobackies- Peterson’s Irish Flake; 1792; Lakeland Dark(Which they stopped making right after I discovered it!).
I woulkd give cigars another try- but, pfffft…too rich for my blood now. I tried a Macanudo about a dozen years ago- cost $10 at the time. Wasn’t impressed.
I had one cigar once that I really liked- but I don’t remember what it was. My friend had confiscated it from this nutjob who worked for him- said to me “You want a cigar?” so I figured, what the hey, I’ll try it. It was Spanish (Like Spain, spanish. The guy he took it from was a Dago)- That thing was good! (I doubt it was an expensive one- unless it’s original owner had stolen it..which is entirely possible).
I’m of the opinion that a tobacco in moderation can be good for ya. In It-lee, everyone smokes- but not PACKS a day. They still live very long, and don’t get emphysema and lung cancer… (Ironically, my grandpa died at the tender age of 74- earliest death in my fambly- from emphysema- but that was likely from driving a cab in NYC from the 20’s-50’s, always in heavy traffic long before any thought of emission controls; and with windows wide open, because cars had no A/C)
Yup. Smoking is therapeutic. I don’t find it addictive. The folks that smoke too much seem to be overstressed or have some sort of mental problem. My mother’s stepmother was a life-long smoker and died at the age of 88.
I am extremely allergic to cigarettes. Just a whiff initiates a headache. But that’s not an indicator of what tobacco is.
A true leaf cigar hasn’t any of the bs contained in cigs. Neither does pipe terbacky but I would be better off not smoking because of allergies(smoke, any kind of smoke)and the chemicals in cigs.
I realize cigars that are rolled from full leaves and pipe tobacco are not the same as cigs(over 3000 chemicals produced when burned)
There is a good thing about tobacco though, it kept me out of bars till it was banned smoking in public and by that time, I wasn’t a bar kinda guy..
But my mother’s family were longlived people…with the exception of the cig smokers who died young, all from those maladies that are indicative of cig smoking.
The ones that didn’t smoke, lived long lives.
But I do enjoy a good cigar, hand rolled jobs of full leaf. They don’t mess with me like cigs. Same goes for pipe bakky. It’s good tasting and doesn’t cause me problems. We must remember cigs have a huge amount of chemicals added with some that are part of gunpowder.
For the life if me, I don’t understand why a cigarette smoker has to be upwind from you. I’ve spent a good deal of my life walking in cirlcles trying to stay away from cig smoke.
If you want to get knocked out by cigarette smoke, walk up to the downwind side of a hospital door. The women out there smoking are doing their best, maybe unconsciously, of poisoning those walking up through their smoke.
It’s a funny thing, I almost never come across a man who smokes but constantly get a headache just being near a woman who smokes, no matter if they haven’t had one in a while.
The figures show women dying much earlier than they used to with men outliving them. I have witnessed this with my friends and have more widowers than widows now. COPD is now the new cancer for women.
8, do you get the same effect from roll-your-own cigs- since they don’t have all of the chemicals and stuff?
I miss the days when everyone used to smoke, and one could smoke everywhere- like when I was a kid- and everywhere ya’d go, you’d smell different tobaccos. -And the thing is, people were more relaxed and down to earth. Strangers would bum a cigarette and talk and become friends….people would have a cig while waiting for something, so instead of waiting be an annoyance, it was a pleasant break and an excuse for a smoke.
I miss the freedom, too- like when I was 9, I could walk into a store and buy a pack of Lucky’s for an adult who’d send me to the store- the clerk wasn’t committing a “crime” by selling ’em to ya.
The irony- my neighbors grow tobacky…and I can’t find a decent cigarette anymore!
Nunz, I probably could smoke one of those and have considered it but not being addicted to it, I don’t want to take on some other life-shortening, feeling bad thing. I noticed long ago those didn’t seem to bother me much. But fire up a commercial cigarette and I’m dying with a headache and asthma.
My grandfather smoked King Edward cigars and they didn’t hurt me much.
Han,
Yep- Been an occasional smoker all of my life. Smoke a pack over the course of a week, then buy another maybe three or four months down the road. Can’t get addicted; if I have more than a few in one day, I get sick of ’em.
An aunt who passed away at 95 had been smoking for 70 years- right up till the last few years. 1/2 a pack or less per day. Was just starting to get a little COPD.
Byt contrast, my stupid sister smoked four packs a day, unfiltered. for a good 40 years…she’s got emphysema and COPD and is on oxygen; has had a heart attack, and will likely die from one of those. Boggles my mind- how can someone smoke EIGHTY cigarettes in a day?! WHY would they?!
Nunz, probably the way I can drink 80 beers…..aha. Sorry, I just had to say that. I do drink a six pack a day though. To be honest, I drink black lager and it helps me feel better. Those gross, light beers by InBev are killers. Haven’t drunk them in decades.
I’ve read articles that said black lager beer would be a health drink without the alcohol. I really wouldn’t mind not having the alcohol but nobody makes a black lager without. Those other non-alcoholic beers are something akin to what I release when I drink.. They get that out of the dead horse ha.
It’s all in moderation. Eating like a pig can kill you, too. Look at how many fatties America has versus 40-50 years ago. We’ve essentially traded one vice for another. As you mentioned, Europeans still smoke, and they’re far healthier than we are. The chance of seeing a 400 pound Cankle Monster in a scooter is slim (no pun intended) over there.
I recall back in 71 this guy who worked with us young guys started in on smoking pot.
He said “That shit’ll kill you”. I pointed to his 50 extra pounds he was pushing in front of him and said “That shit’ll kill you faster”.. He had no reply and we all laughed which sent him packing. We weren’t smoking pot, just speaking of it. He had no way of knowing if we did or how much we did.
He watched tv and we didn’t. didn’t even have one and didn’t want one. You could just look at the headlines on any paper and tell what was the going thing……authoritarianism!
The TeeVee is probably the worst invention in human history. Not only has it been a propaganda tool to eschew critical thinking, it prevents us from truly experiencing life.
I know some retired folks that are hopelessly addicted to the TeeVee. You absolutely cannot reason with them. They believe everything the TeeVee tells them. Sean Hannity is like God to them. That’s how the animal rights movement has gained so much traction. They constantly air those pitiful ads that tug on peoples’ heartstrings.
I cut the cord many years ago and now use a streaming service to watch classic films. Hollywood no longer produces anything of quality, so I know I’m not missing out on much. I do want to watch the new season of “Twin Peaks”. I like most of David Lynch’s work, especially “Blue Velvet”.
Handler,
“Howard Beale: [arms outstretched to the heavens] Edward George Ruddy died today! Edward George Ruddy was the Chairman of the Board of the Union Broadcasting Systems, and he died at eleven o’clock this morning of a heart condition, and woe is us! We’re in a lot of trouble! Howard Beale: [calmly strolling toward the audience] So. A rich little man with white hair died. What has that got to do with the price of rice, right? And *why* is that woe to us? Because you people, and sixty-two million other Americans, are listening to me right now. Because less than three percent of you people read books! Because less than fifteen percent of you read newspapers! Because the only truth you know is what you get over this tube. Right now, there is a whole, an entire generation that never knew anything that didn’t come out of this tube! This tube is the Gospel, the ultimate revelation. This tube can make or break presidents, popes, prime ministers… This tube is the most awesome God-damned force in the whole godless world, and woe is us if it ever falls in to the hands of the wrong people, and that’s why woe is us that Edward George Ruddy died. Because this company is now in the hands of CCA – the Communication Corporation of America. There’s a new Chairman of the Board, a man called Frank Hackett, sitting in Mr. Ruddy’s office on the twentieth floor. And when the twelfth largest company in the world controls the most awesome God-damned propoganda force in the whole godless world, who knows what shit will be peddled for truth on this network? Howard Beale: [ascending the stage] So, you listen to me. Listen to me: Television is not the truth! Television is a God-damned amusement park! Television is a circus, a carnival, a traveling troupe of acrobats, storytellers, dancers, singers, jugglers, side-show freaks, lion tamers, and football players. We’re in the boredom-killing business! So if you want the truth… Go to God! Go to your gurus! Go to yourselves! Because that’s the only place you’re ever going to find any real truth.”
We bought a smart tv you can stream from the phone or computer to.
It has no local channels but plenty of bs.
The wife was disappointed it had no local channels. She wanted to get local weather(so she said, she really wanted to get local bs.). I told her you have THE best weather that you can set up any way you like on the computer or phone(Wunderground, soon to be gone dammit).
The food is different over there. Much much less HFCS and other additives. Many countries don’t have huge amounts of GMO food and they are not as heavy on the snacks as we are. We were skinnier in the 1970s primarily for two reasons. The food and smoking. Smoking is no good, but the food plays a role.
Hi ET,
This video from Tony Heller is short but explains very clearly how easy it is for climate alarmists to present data in such a way that their claims are not technically lies but, when the data is shown in the proper context over an appropriate time frame, it is obvious that their intention is to deceive.
https://realclimatescience.com/2019/09/new-video-my-gift-to-climate-alarmists/
Cheers,
Jeremy
I will consider buying the first electric car that 1) performs as well in every aspect as my 2011 CRV, 2) costs no more to buy, run and maintain than my CRV, 3) will last as long or longer than my CRV, and 4) runs on no more than four AA alkaline batteries that will last at least a month and that are easy enough for me to remove and replace.
What in the world is unreasonable or un-green about any of that?
Hi Marcus!
I got into a debate with someone over “sustainability” recently. I argued, reasonably I thought, that my 18-year-old truck is very “sustainable.” It has provided transportation for almost two decades – and will almost certainly continue to do so for at least another five and probably ten. That is twice or more the life of one electric car. Which – in the aggregate – caused more raw materials to be used (and “emissions” created) over the past almost 20 years? One compact-sized truck with a four cylinder engine – or two electric cars each with 400 pounds of toxic batteries plus all the rest of it?
These “sustainable” people are often very wasteful people. They will posture and preen but an old redneck like me, who lives a modest (and debt-free) life, buying few things and using them until they can’t be used any longer – is arguably a lot more “sustainable” than most of them are.
eric, My SIL has a Toyota, a tiny box, seems like a model B but I forget the moniker. She doesn’t drive much of anywhere except the city. It’s good for that but she was wondering after finally needing brakes if she should get rid of it. She said she really liked it but thought it was time for a new one. I told her as long as the driveline is good(and it is)and things weren’t going wrong, I’d drive it till the wheels fell off. I think that’s what she’s gonna do.
Once when I was visiting she had bent the bottom of the hatch in some and wanted me to fix it. I removed the inside panel with the tool made for that, put on a leather glove and pushed and punched it wherever she’d say and you could barely tell it had been hit. The interior panel popped right back in, Voila, no more dent….good as ever(even with the dent).
So true, Eric!
Even me, with my heavy V8 and V10 10MPG trucks….they’re 20 years old, and will continue to live on; I don’t have to travel to a 9-5 job every day to pay off tens of thousands of dollars to ciwn them; I drive very little- <3K miles a year- so I actually use much LESS gas than my neighbors- some of whom have efficient little cars and trucks…but who are constantly running here an there every single day!
I'm sure that the socialist greenie twats see oine of my trucks and are livid, but I'm actually greener and more "sustainable" than they are, even in their Priuses….because I can largely sustain myself on my homestead, and rarely need to go to town…meanwhile, they'll drive several hundred miles every weekend, to go to some museum or festival or event…go out to eat several times per week; have several people in their household going daily to 9-5 jobs (And even here in the country, it's amazing how many people are commuting an hour or more each way to work at some mundane job!); They're constantly going to social events..sports[shudder!]; movies {".."]…the experimental lesbian theater… They live in their cars, and literally drive more miles in one year than I do in 10-15 years…and go through 2 or 3 cars to my one- but because their cars gets 2 or 3 times the MPGs that my trucks get…they think they're 'green'. [They make me green, 'cause I get sick and want to puke every time I think of these human wastes!]
They want to dictate what we can drive. But if someone were to limit HOW MUCH they could drive, they'd be screaming….
Not only do I use things until they are completely used up and unfixable I also use stuff other people threw away. But supposedly I am the one living the unsustainable lifestyle and I should be like these pay check to paycheck two income 200K households that have no savings and constantly consume stuff. Don’t fix, buy new.
Preach it, Brent!
Most of my socks have holes (I turn them around the other way, to get a few more months out of them) and I buy my clothes rarely and second hand. The horror! My truck – like all my vehicles – was bought used and paid for in cash. It is 18 years old and I fully expect to be driving it for at least another five and probably ten or more.
Like you, I’m pretty handy and can fix/deal with almost anything that goes awry with the house or my vehicles myself – and what I can’t fix myself, I can afford to pay to get fixed because (see the beginning of this sentence).
It’s not hard, really. And yet, it is.
I was on the phone the other day with a family member who confessed to me that they had managed to accumulate $40,000 in credit card debt. This on top of a $400,000 mortgage. Of course, they live in one of the most expensive places in the country but won’t consider moving because it’s so “cool” where they live.
And my teeth begin to hurt…
And here I thought I was bad for occasionally turning socks around…. although they don’t get used long in that state. I found they make good rags for things like cleaning car wheels. Then they are so nasty I throw them away. Also the soft inside of the socks works for waxing too.
Clothes… for work I just wear what my employer provides. Better to ruin the ‘free’ clothes at work than my own.
The entire system is geared to make debt slaves of people. Even better paying career advancement is hinged on being willing to go into deep debt. Otherwise all that’s on offer are lateral moves.
People just plain have too much stuff these days! And 80% of that stuff is disposable and or has a short life because it becomes obsolete in a year, even though it’s still perfectly functional.
People bought radios in the ’30s and 40s, and they’re still working today and for sale on Ebay. Can you see anything today lasting 75 years?- Or that you’d even want to?
Then there’s the obligatory gift-giving/receiving. Giving up participating the holidays/customs which entailed that (For other, religious reasons) was one of THE best things I’ve ever done!
The sheer money that is wasted every year, and the garbage that is created, just because of ‘gifts’ is ridiculous- and no one gets any joy from it, because it’s become obligatory- and just amounts to an equal trade….and because just buying some piece of consumer garbage and trading it away for the same in return, does not really constitute a “gift”. A gift by definition should be something special that is unique, or which you otherwise would not normally have; not random consumer junk that one buys at Walmart…..
So people get all these “gifts”, the majority of which they don’t want or need….and they end up with attics and basements and garages full of crap that just sits for years and years, until it is sold at a yard sale or on Ebay…or gets thrown out.
One doesn’t have to be a greenie-weenie retard asshat to be appalled at what a waste that is.
People have more stuff than they can use in a lifetime. Many people get into a hobby, and fussing with the equipment becomes more of a hobby than the actual hobby! Seems no one can have just one, or even two guitars anymore…no…ya have to have 20! Ditto bicycles or cameras or radio-controlled colostomy bags……
I feel sorry for these people. They’ll likely never know that living simply is the most satisfying, peaceful, and rewarding. I used to wonder why there are so many toys out there (ATVs, jet ski’s…) that have low hours but are in terrible shape- whether old or newer….since they weren’t used a lot. It’s because people simply don’t have the time and energy to properly care for all of the crap they have- especially things which require some maintenance and shelter……
There’s the people who have multiples because they didn’t throw the old ones away as they became worn out and are held in reserve because they can still function or provide parts and then there are the people who just had to have more.
I’ve raided my junk for things on numerous occasions. Some of my junk is inter-generational. So some time ago my over three decade old washing machine lost its spin cycle. I determined the spin wig wag coil was dead. I remembered seeing a wig-wag in the inherited junk. Found it. Tested good. I cleaned it up and put it in the machine. This wig-wag is probably a decade or two older than the machine I put it in.
Which is another thing, thanks to inflation designs that used to be used for decades now can only go a few years before needing to be cheapened to keep the price on the shelf the same. This makes it more difficult to build a bone yard to raid for parts.
We told the rest of the family the gift-giving thing was absurd. They now no longer visit during the holidays, which is very telling.
It’s unbelievable how popular those stupid storage units are. My idiot brother has several of them that he’s paying $500 a month for. All to store nothing of value. Yes, he’s filed for bankruptcy. This is a man that makes six figures. You would think he’d be ashamed and change, but he still continues his reckless spending habits. Don’t get me started on his cunt of a wife!
Ha! It took years for some people to comply with my request to no longer give me presents. I was very tactful and humble about it of course, and was tolerant the first few years, to give people a chance to get used to the idea….but it got to the point where I had to get adamant about it, ’cause a few people were so insistent on giving presents, -even sending them in the mail!
Funny thing is, the person who was the most insistent on continuing to give presents, was the same relative who’d always given me the cheapest, most impersonal things- things like ya’d just give to someone who you only knew casually, just to give them something- like a generic men’s toiletry set! (I still remember that one, from 1984!)- I mean, I’ve gotten even cheaper things that I’ve cherished, because of the thought behind them….I even still have a few of them from decades ago- but a generic no-thought gift from a close relative who has money, no less…. 😀
And yes, the storage units! I forgot about them! People storing their junk that they never ever use, for years and years! I came across a Youtube video a while back, where the youtuber had bought an abandoned storage unit- turns out the former owner had spend over $60K in rent on it over the course of a few decades… 😮 !!!! -and then lets it go anyway. There was nothing particularly valuable in it- Xmas decorations and clothes and papaers and stuff!
And these people who buy the abandoned units! I knew a guy back in NY who used to do that- Holy crap! Basically paying to clean up other people’s garbage; cart it away, and sell some of the salvageable crap for $10 on Ebay….. Maybe get a mediocre score once in a rare while- but it didn’t make up for all the work and expense the rest of the time. I mean, the guy was selling used SHOES and dollar-store electronics….. (I don’t know why he got into that- he used to be a fellow junk car schlepper/salvage guy….. How does one go from that…to selling used shoes on Ebay for $10?! LOL)
You eventually run out of thoughtful gift ideas, especially when you’re not very close with many of your family members. It just becomes pointless and wasteful.
People truly have lost their minds.
Plus, just the fact that everyone just has so much frickin stuff these days…nobody needs anything- nor has room for anything (Hence the storage units).
And just the fact that there are so many obligatory occasions for gift-giving….every year….
Such a relief to no longer participate (’84 was my last year)….and ya can still get someone a gift whenever ya want to, and they you- which makes it so much more meaningful, ’cause it’s not obligatory (But it’s funny how few people don’t do it when there’s no obligatory occasion….)
Yep. It’s all superficial. The only time I hear from family is on a holiday or my birthday. They’re not calling because they truly want to talk to me; they’re calling because they think it’s an obligation. We hardly ever talk to each other because we’ve all gone our separate ways. There’s absolutely no reason to feel guilty about that.
I’ve noticed men who make good money but are way behind is almost always because of their “cunt” of a wife. Not that I put all the blame on the wife. She should have had the riot act read to her long ago and let the chips fall where they may. And don’t say you’re staying together “for the kids” as my deceased sister did. Her husband finally did divorce her and she got a potload of money she went through so fast you couldn’t keep up with her.
Hi Eight,
My dad was one of these. He was a frugal guy; made good money… spent by my mom. Who is now broke and on the dole (SS).
You nailed it, 8!
Why else would a man buy a big fancy house, for which he will have to be a debt salve for the next 30-40 years?
Yeah, “For the kids” my ass! More like ’cause it’d be too disruptive after they’re out of their 20’s to get used to being single again, and having to find another source of
regularoccasional sex.Hard for a man to start over, I guess, what with a ‘career’ and debt…and then alimony and child support. But the woman can just walk away any time she pleases and profit handsomely from it, at the dude’s expense.
I don’t know how it is that the suicide rate among men is so low.
My mother still wants me to get married! I tell her: It’s hard enough if you meet someone really special in your teens when your hormones are raging; go through life with them; grow together, etc. to manage to maintain any spark of romance and love- or just not kill ’em…. Could you imagine marrying some stranger at 57?! Only the desperate and dependent could muster the toleration needed to even embark on such a boondoggle- much less make it work! Not me!
They want the benefits of marriage without having to be a wife.
My brother’s “wife” ADMITTED to my mother she needed him in order to further her career. She now has a Ph.D. and working in administration at a community college. She’s not even 40 and has one of the top jobs.
Modern marriage is no different than prostitution. At least prostitution is honest and upfront.
As the socialist global warming freaks also want to ban all gas vehicles and ban oil and gas production all together by the early 2030s, I wonder how intermittent windmills and solar will be able to charge all those millions of EVs. It seems to me that if these nut cases wanted EV’s to flourish, they would start by ensuring numerous charging stations and then provide them with the continuous power required to operate efficiently. As usual with anything from liberal-land, the cart is in front of the horse and the horse is limping and the cart has only one working wheel. The only way an EV can make sense is using it inside a big city, maybe. But so many big cities are going the way of the dodo and are not especially thriving meccas attracting hoards of new tax paying people. The promises are not worth spit and the costs are not competitive with the current modes of transportation. All in the name of fake global warming.
The entire EV thing has “deep state” written all over it.
Hi Tom,
“The only way an EV can make sense is using it inside a big city, maybe.”
I think the only practical place for an EV is suburban America, which is funny because greenies hate suburban America. Cities are not a good place as charging in high density areas is almost impossible with the current, common architecture. But, many in suburban America have garages or carports that are wired. An inexpensive, relatively short range EV that could be fully charged overnight with standard equipment would meet the needs of most suburban daily drivers. Imagine something like a Fiat 500 that had around 60 miles of range, cost 12,000 – 15,000 new and could be fully charged in 8 – 10 hours on 120V. Such a car would be very practical for a lot of suburbanites, who rarely drive more than 30 miles a day. I would love to have such a car. Alas GovCo would rather force us to subsidize expensive toys for the virtue signaling affluent than allow the EV market to develop naturally.
Cheers,
Jeremy
HiTom,
It’s become clear to me that the end goal is to get two-thirds or more of the general public out of privately owned cars. That privately owned cars are to become what they were more than 100 years ago – an indulgence for the very affluent.
Viewed from this angle, the scare-peddling about the “climate crisis” makes perfect sense.
I agree. Freedom of movement increases independence and choice, can’t have that now, can we?
There is no intent to provide the necessary power by windmills or any other means. The idea is to make energy scarce, expensive, and rationed in order to have control over the population.
We have a 100 unit farm going in on our county now. I will try to get a job. They use good equipment and it will add to the surplus in Texas. I know it’s a subsidy and doesn’t have to because one company that’s very old in Texas has no subsidy. I can’t stop the subsidy. I’ve tried to get people together to protest it but the sheeple done give up hope.
Yeah Brent,
Never even mind solar and wind and unicorn farts and all of that pie-in-the-sky…even just using conventional generating and distribution technology, it would be virtually impossible to upgrade the infrastructure enough to handle everyone having EVs. Other countries, such as Canada, have already admitted such. Just the cost alone would be the most expensive undertaking in tyhe history of the world- and would take decades to accomplish even if the money were no object, and if they were to start tomorrow.
Clearly, what you say is absolutely true- and the fact that virtually no one in the mainstream can even see this, is truly mind-boggling. How much more absurd it is when talking about wind and air! (Unless they want to capture all of the hot air coming from the mouths of the politicians! Damn! How much CO2 are THEY emitting?!)
Looks to me like banning combustion by 2030 will put an end to agriculture as we know it, and regardless of that make it impossible to transport food and other necessities in the volume required to sustain life in large cities. They will become uninhabitable.
Then, with capitalism kneecapped but still plenty of hurricanes, floods and tornadoes occurring, the faithful in the Church of Greta Thunberg will claim that it would have been much worse if “we” had not acted.
This paranoia about “extreme weather” is media manufactured. We live in very calm times. If CO2 has done anything it has made the weather less extreme and nicer. The late 19th century was filled with weather disasters. Today I learned about 1878. Much hotter than anything anyone alive today has experienced. (the climate scientists have removed that data from their plots)
The 1930’s was brutally hot and dry too…Dustbowl, anyone? Imagine if something like that happened today! The whole country would be on lock-down, and only the pigs, military and NASA would be able to run engines!
Bet they don’t even mention the dustbowl to the skool kiddies anymore! Oh..wait..they probably do, and just tell ’em it was because of the way Ma & Pa Kettle farmed…and that the modern factory-farming techniques of today are somehow ‘gree’ and ‘saving us’!
If this CAGW crapola were real, imagine how much hotter it would truly be today, what with a good 80%^ more of the countryside now being developed; literally hundreds of millions more cars; people driving and traveling more in a year now than people of 75 years ago did in a lifetime; every building running HVAC 24/7 ’cause they don’t have windows that open…every fambly owning multiple cars…highways everywhere…rocket ships to Venus…yada yada….
THAT alone would convince a normal, thinking person that ‘climate crisis’ is pure BS. We still haven’t broken a lot of those weather records- hot AND cold, from the 30’s and further back.
You’re forgetting something WERY WERY important…
There won’t be millions of us with our own vehicles.
Private ownership will be phased out, voluntarily but by force if necessary, and we’ll have to “call” for a public pod, which will always smell of pee, to take you on a pre-planned and pre-approved route to a pre-approved destination, at a time The Governator decrees most efficient (for The Governmator).
Any questions?
Alan! That’s ONLY if your social credit score allows you to travel! After all, we can’t have people who are a danger to the common good being out and about in moving pods! They may poimnt a finger at somebody at somebody and make gun noises!
I went to Florida twice this year. I drove 700 miles to the panhandle area and later, flew 950 to the Tampa area. As I was lounging by the pool with a cold beer I was thinking this will be no more if that green new deal goes through. No airplanes, no gas powered cars. Most of us get a week of vacation. I could do the 700 mile trip in a day, but it would be a long one. The 950 would take a lot longer, maybe even two or three days. So you’d spend more time in transit than actually enjoying your vacation. And I can forget going anywhere west: Colorado ski country, Vegas, etc. I guess we’d all be taking “staycations” or restricting ourselves to 100 miles.
We’re getting closer to martial law every day. I wouldn’t want to be on the “other side”. They may have some, probably South American soldiers on their side that will treat them much worse than they can imagine. Plenty Texans have .50 cal sniper rifles to augment their line up of AR’s. When a Texan fancies he’ll take his chances, chances will be taken that’s for sure. Gary P. told me that.
Hi Eight,
One of the things I like about my place is that it’s adjacent to thousands of acres of forest. If the Hut! Hut! Hutting! starts, I can be in those woods – and gone – within 15 minutes. I keep my backpack and gear ready to go at all times.
eric, I could leave but the wife couldn’t….on foot. If the hut hut hutting begins, there will be several dead LEO’s plus myself. It’s been a good life so far. It’s begun to not be much fun with govt. telling me everything I HAVE to do. You gotta draw a line when there’s no where to go.
And when the grid is down or you don’t have power at home you can’t charge the car, and then the next day can’t go to work, etc…
Lovely!
I take a look at your car posts every now and then. The thought that always comes to me when I read them is that you will be still be selling buggy whips as the last horse carriage is being taken off the road.
Hi Steve,
This analogy is silly. The Model T – and subsequent – were improvements over the horse and buggy. They cost less, went faster and farther. Unlike a horse that took hours to “recharge,” you could get back in the road in mere minutes.
EVs cost more; don’t go as far – take longer to charge and don’t last as long as IC cars. They reduce mobility – and increase dependency.
We are regressing.
Do you really believe a majority of people – or a say half of them – can afford a 30-50 percent increase in the cost of their next vehicle? That it is a good thing to replace a 3-5 minute refuel with a 30-45 minute recharge?
These are serious questions. I’d like answers.
Answers not based on what you think EVs will be able to do tomorrow – or in “the future” – but what we know about them right now, today.
Even EV fan Alejandro Agag, founder of Formula E, has said more than once that EVs have to offer more capability for less cost in order to gain traction in the market.
Eric “That it is a good thing to replace a 3-5 minute refuel with a 30-45 minute recharge?”
From near empty, that would be a full “recharge” for the gas car, but only 75% recharge for the EV, as the next 20% takes around another hour.
Anon, I could fill up and replace the alternator in that time period……and maybe change a flat tire too.
Yup. but in your drive itself Ecar you can kick back and drink half a case,
and get a DWR ticket! You can bet Corpgov will update “law” with the changing times.
Ken, you can get the equivalent of a DWR right now in nearly every state. But the sole person in a self driver, you’re still the driver and will be charged DWI. Govt. ain’t giving up a damn thing.
Bill, I find it amusing you think you’ll own the car…
Why would you, when you can only go where and when told, on a pre-approved route, at the approved speed, controlled by a computer? Why invest your own money in a moving chair when public ones will be available, while taxes get higher and higher on private cars?
Soon they will make the case that manual driving is too dangerous and confusing the “self” driving pods, so buying your own will be like buying and owning a seat on the NY subway. Sure it will be yours, and you’ll be taxed for not using it while at work or elsewhere, when the seat could be shuttling some other sheeple instead of sitting idle.
The self-driving electric car will kill the very concept of private car ownership, except for the extremely wealthy or well-connected.
I took a look at your post here for the first time ever. The thought that came to my mind as I read it was that you’re the typical drone. Good for ewe.
If Eric sells buggy whips, at least they will sell on their own merits. Unlike every single electric car. Sell isn’t even an honest description of EV’s. But, like you believe, they will sell when every thing else is “taken off the road”. Choices be damned, thanks to uncle and dumbfounded dipshits like yourself.
Steve,
Then you’ve entirely missed the point. The transition to automobiles was a natural market progression, driven by actual market demand. Today, the design of cars is driven at least as much, perhaps more, by increasingly onerous and counter productive regulations. Busybody regulators seem to not be aware of the concept of diminishing returns, but that is giving them too much credit. They know full well that any reasonable reward/cost point was passed long ago; the only returns they really care about are continuing returns for themselves. At some point, even the most gullible Americans would figure out that adding thousands of dollars to the price of new cars for fractional improvements in emissions or safety was kind of a bad deal.
Enter “climate change” (proper term CAGW) to the rescue. It’s really brilliant in a sick way as, unlike actually harmful emissions, which can and have been reduced past the point of a reasonable return, the only acceptable level of CO2 is zero. This is a control freaks wet dream as the transformation of a necessary, inert trace gas into a “harmful emission”, gives these awful people an open ended, perpetual justification to control every aspect of human life.
Eric writes fondly of older cars because their design was driven by actual market demand, not government. He is not stuck in the past, in fact one of the major themes is the loss of what could have been.This is not blind nostalgia for the past but a recognition of Bastiat’s famous insight in the essay, “what is seen and what is unseen”. It is the regulators and control freaks who stifle innovation and direct resources and design demands according to their preferences, not ours; all done through force and at our expense. Eric is especially critical of EV’s, not because they are EV’s, but because they are the most egregious example of the loathsome practice of imposing their preferences on us, at our expense. Also, if the EV market was allowed to evolve naturally, we would likely have inexpensive, practical EV’s as well as performance toys for the affluent. How you could have read his articles and missed this is astonishing.
Jeremy
Eric,
The only bone I have to pick is that, if your house is out of power, then the odds are that the local gas stations are out of power too. If they have no power, the pumps don’t work; if the pumps don’t work, you can’t get gas. So what, you’ll drive to one farther away, right? Only problem with that is you won’t be the only one to have that brilliant idea; 1000 of your closest friends will have it too, so you’ll spend a fair amount of time waiting for gas. Hopefully, the station’s tanks won’t run dry before you can fill up!
Because my Focus only has a 12.4 gallon tank, I fill up at least once a week. I try to top it off when it has 3/4, and I ALWAYS top off when it’s at half a tank. I don’t want to be unable to get out of Dodge, should the need arise; should the need arise, I want enough fuel on board to go 200-300 miles without stopping. If, however, everyone in your area is leaving, it’ll take a lot longer to go anywhere because of traffic. Anyway, I want enough fuel so I can get out of Dodge.
There’s another reason to keep your tank above empty: winter. In case I get trapped somewhere and am unable to get home, I’ll have enough fuel on board to run the heater every so often. Don’t let your tank get down to a gallon!
A human powered transfer pump can get the gasoline into the car. So what you mean is that the station will refuse to sell the gasoline if their electric pumps don’t have power.
If the power is out, head to a truck stop. They typically have a backup generator to keep the place running.
Back in 08 when gas was so high and scarce for some reasons the stores were seemingly stuffed with cars. There were a couple guys who’d pull up over the tank openings and stop their trailer there. just a plain, enclosed trailer. They’d leave in a little while and next thing you know the station is down 1,000 gallons. They did this to an extent the cops were trying to kill the story. They were never caught since when it went viral on the news they quit doing it.
They’re probably doing it all over the country now and just don’t stay in one place.
Hi Mark!
In my area, the stations have back-up generators, so that’s not an issue. And regardless, gasoline is storable/transferable in a way what electricity isn’t. I always keep a few 5 gallon jerry cans at the ready just in case the power does go out for an extended period of time – to fuel my generator and my vehicle, if need be.
I agree with you about keeping the tank topped off! (This is also good for the fuel pump; the gas acts as cooling medium for it.)
Indeed. Still waiting for the ‘electric Jerry can’.
I didn’t know any stations had backup generators, because none of the local ones in my area do. That said, I do have a truck stop only a few miles away; actually, there are 2 or 3 clustered together.
Hi Mark,
I live in a rural area – we have frequent outages due to ice storms – so that’s probably why they have generator back-up!
http://www.dailynews.com/climate-hysteria-drives-the-extinction-of-common-sense
“In California, for example, where the entire state accounts for 1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, we are paying higher energy prices, higher transportation costs and higher housing costs because of policies designed to cut the state’s greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels. That was the mandate in Assembly Bill 32, the 2006 “Global Warming Solutions Act.”
But you will not find even one scientist who says the climate will be affected by California’s achievement of its target. In fact, we could shut down the entire state — close every electricity-generating facility, turn off every engine, park every car, shoot every cow — and it would make no difference at all to the global climate.
Think about that the next time you pay your electricity bill. Residential electricity rates in California are more than 50 percent higher than the national average. Think about it at the gas station, where the price per gallon of gasoline is about $1 per gallon higher than the average in the rest of the country. Think about it at the grocery store, where the price of food reflects the higher cost of operating the diesel trucks that deliver it.”
Hi Stephen,
Of course. But facts don’t matter to a hysteric. And that Greta kid is the avatar of this religious hysteria. They are literally out of their minds with fear over a demon which doesn’t exist – but that never stopped people so afflicted from burning “deniers” at the stake…
The Swedish bint is a reincarnation of Wednesday Addams
https://img1.etsystatic.com/113/0/5175241/il_fullxfull.1050616265_3aag.jpg
Full of Woe.
I assumed David Hogg had lopped it off and moved to Sweden…..
Come to think of it, why doesn’t he/she/it? ‘d fit right in, and be happy among his own kind.
Hi Nunz!
These children of the corn are frightening… they would, I think, commit mass murder without batting an eye. See: Khmer Rouge…
Absolutely, Eric! Just so long as the gun used to commit that murder wasn’t in their own hands…. Have someone else do it, and call it “due process”…”for the good of the people”.
People always think they’re gonna get something for free only to find out differently. When/If millions of EV’s hit the grid do you really think the price of power will remain the same? What’s going to happen is everyone’s power costs will skyrocket,,, whether you have a EV or not. And note today the power companies complain about too many people using A/C in the summer. These companies are going to have to do major upgrades which will cause the rates to skyrocket. Then Corpgov will tell us to “save” electricity, (to reduce GW) by taxing the hell out of it. Wait for it. Why the lemmings can’t see through this BS is a mystery to me…..
If science fiction could be science fact, I may want try out an EV. For example, if the “Mr. Fusion” as seen in Back To The Future was invented and used to power the toasters on wheels, an EV may be practical. But until such advances are made, I’ll stick to gasoline!
I have a number of battery powered devices. I forget to charge all of them. My go-pro, power tools, bicycle light, cell phone, etc. For many things I have backups or alternatives that use disposable batteries or have cords or run on compressed air because well I forget to recharge stuff.
I also don’t like batteries charging when I am not around. When a battery is charging I want to be there in case of well…. fire. That means if I go out and the battery EV would stay home I would need to unplug it. Which brings up another thing. The battery EV makes a person a slave to routine. What if you needed or wanted to go out at night and then had to leave early the next morning? What then? Oh sorry, can’t go to X because the car needs 10 hours to recharge.
Whatever could make an EV work will be something too close to zero point to allow the public to have.
And another reason I didn’t think of, as I do and I guess a lot don’t leave batteries charging. Thx.
Brentp, I don’t leave batteries on a charger when I’m gone. I had a drill battery charging on the kitchen table. Just as we were about to leave for the store, it started smoking up a storm. Scratch one battery and charger but the house didn’t burn down. We were lucky. Since that day, nothing goes on a charger unless it’s outside on concrete or dirt when we’re gone. I’m fairly confident the breaker will work…..fairly…..
Same here; don’t charge when I’m out, and if I charge anything while in bed, it’ll be something small, like my mp3 player, and i’ll put it on the stove top where it can’t do no harm if it ‘splodes.
Good anal-ogy too, for the lifespan of EVs vs. regular cars:
I have some rechargeable tools that are about 15 years old. They’re done. Been done for a long time (And the original batteries are LONG gone and at the bottom of the ocean)- Meanwhile….I have some old corded tools- most notably, an old Milwaukee 1/2″ drill that is between 60-70 years old…it was rescued from a scrap metal place in the 80’s, where someone had discarded it. Still going strong.
And this computerized battery-powered crap is somehow ‘better for the environment’? LOLOL!!!!!
(I really need a set of new rechargeable tools- but between winding down so’s I can leave the country soon, and the price of the cfreakin’ things and the fact that they’re all ‘brushless’ [Read: Delicate, non-repairable, non-durable, computer-controlled crap], I can’t bring myself to get any@!)
Nunz, I think we spoke of this before. My old 1/2″ drill that’s about the size of an outboard motor won’t bog down when you stand on it(stand, the key word). It may sling you into next year and spin till it unplugs itself(the only thing that saved me once)but it won’t give up. I don’t even want to see the circumstances that would stop it and damned sure don’t want to be holding it. They made some good stuff back in the day.
Brushless motors are really good for things that need high speed. They’ll run much faster than a brushed motor but never(without a severe gearbox)produce the torque of a brushed motor. They each serve a purpose and my old 3/8″ corded drill will work circles around my battery powered drill but it doesn’t go places that are difficult to reach without the cord which can be a safety hazard all in itself. I don’t have a problem with my corded grinders since I am rarely grinding something in a closed space(call the firemen). I have a 7″ corded angle grinder that’s 3 hp. I rarely use it but when I do, I’m damned careful. A friend had one and cut way into his leg when it got away from him.
There’s a correct tool for everything. I was helping a friend castrate a couple hundred calves one day and he brought out this huge knife. It was sharp and did a good job but I had a small one that was sharper and much safer. He wouldn’t use it and the next thing you know a calf has kicked his knife deep into his thigh right beside the boys. It was the end of the day even though we’d just started. He walked a bit funny the next day and said he didn’t worry about “getting any” that night before. His wife was freaked out and I was too when I saw it. Don’t bring a big Buck to whittle with.
Nunz, that big grinder is called a “Wildcat” and it’s aptly named. It’s not the one to use up on a scaffold if you can help it(I can and have never had it up there).
8, that reminded me: I haven’t used that drill in years….so I was almost forgetting it’s power. It’s slow…but if the bit ever catches on something, and ya can’t release the switch fast enough or just let go, that puppy would twist your arms off!
I miss corded tools. Trouble is, when I’m building something or doing something, there’s rarely any electricity around. I’m beginning to think a generator and extension cords might be the way to go.
Hey Nunz and 8,
The Ryobi One + system is pretty cool. Reasonably priced and very versatile. Of course, not as powerful as corded tools but usable anywhere and pretty powerful with the 18 volt. I have a few nearly 20 year old tools still going strong. Also, the drills have a variable torque system that allows you to dial in the setting. I’ve found settings that correspond to just under the torque I want. Then I just manually tighten to the exact torque.
https://www.ryobitools.com/power-tools/products/one-plus
Cheers,
Jeremy
Jeremy, I had a Ryobi once that was junk. I bit the bullet and spent $100 for two new batteries for my old Makita. The clutch went out last year so it barely drills or screws. Considering a used 1/2″ similar that uses the same batteries. I have a charger that will charge 3 types of Makita batteries but not the new style. I’ll ride that old horse till it dies. It put in countless hours of really had screw driving. I used it to hide buildings, normally a specialized driver but it did it for decades. It’s a 9230 or similar.
Hey Eight,
Maybe I’m just lucky with Ryobi, but I started with a Makita that was junk. It only lasted a few years before it was toast. Every tool in that Ryobi line up uses the same battery interface and has since it was first introduced. The older batteries were Ni-Cad, now they’re Lithium Ion, but either works in every tool. That’s a nice feature.
Of course, my drills don’t get the kind of use that a construction worker would put them through. Still, I drill through a lot of metal.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Hi Ya Jeremy,
Hmmm, yeah, I’ve seen those newer Ryobi’s- They’re reasonably priced, and they have a huge range of tools- I am tempted- but Ryobi does have a reputation of being low quality.
But considering, that DeWilt has become junk, along with many of the other brands- and the few remaining “better” brands are ridiculously expensive- at least Ryobi is “cheap”- relatively speaking. I guess I wouldn’t feel as bad if I spent $99 on a tool and it fell apart, as I would if I had spent $300 on one that also fell apart.
Funny, too- I have a friend who swears by Ryobi- but (despite being worth a lot of money) he always tends to buy what ever is the cheapest.
I think, if I end up getting anything, I might just give ’em a try. None of the brands are really made good/made to last anymore…so might as well get the reasonably priced ones…..if I get anything at all- which I’m trying not to- but I may have to for the duration, as it’s hard to live without a good drill, circular saw, impact wrench, and driver thingy- and the way inflation is these days, and the fact that I keep my stuff in really good shape, I could probably get a good deal of my money back by sellin’ ’em when I move.
That’s two votes for Ryobi- one from you, and one from my friend… That may just push the button!
Hey Nunz,
The one thing that’s really annoying about Ryobi is how they price replacement batteries. One can often find “starter” drill kits that includes two batteries and a smart charger for about the same, or even less, than a two battery kit. I suppose one could try to sell the extra drill on eBay, but few seem to want such a thing.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Jeremy, that goes for all brands I’ve looked at. It’s the way to sell new when all people need is new batteries.
Hi Nunz, add a third vote for Ryobi, I’ve got a bunch of them and you can sometimes get a good deal buying a combo pack. Best part is you end up with a lot of batteries so you can work all day and just keep switching them out.
Hey, Mickeyyyy!!! 🙂
Thanks! Now that cements it! Pretty muchj a gamble these days no matter what brand ya go with…so I may as well give the Ryobis a try! (They still let you have things like that in Taxachussetts? 😉 )
Yeah..gotta have lots o’batteries!
I only had 2 for my current tools (Briefly 3, when one of the old original ones was still; reasonably viable)- and I’ll tell ya, it made me realize exactly what it’d be like to have an electric car!
I’ve built several out-buildings here (Including a 22’x25′) several porches; rehabbed a few things…and it’s a real downer, having to stop every hour or two and wait an hour for the batteries to recharge!
Can’t complain though- I got my old Crapsman set (Sawzall, circ saw, 1/2″ drill, flourescent light, charger and 2 batteries), for I think $260- and they actually served me well…for all the work I’ve done with ’em. Drill still works fine, even though it’s gotten the most use; Circ. saw can’t really even cut through a 2×4 anymore. Ironically, the light was the first thing to go!
Only thing I hate about the combo kits, is that they never seem to give ya the good tools in ’em! i.e. they always give ya the cheesy, light-duty saw instead of the good one, etc.
Hi eightsouthman…..
” It may sling you into next year and spin till it unplugs itself(the only thing that saved me once)”
I had a battery operated drill get away from me once and didn’t stop until it totally destroyed itself and my cabinet door. It was funny as hell watching all the pieces flying off. It jumped around for a good five minutes! Not so funny when buying another though….. 🙁
ken, let me guess. It had a constant on switch right where you hold it. It was nearly impossible to run the drill and not engage that switch. I had a monkey wards that was the same way. Good drill but beware, it would just keep on when you were desperately trying to get it to stop.
Like every drill I ever had(except for my Makita cordless and that badass old huge drill I think was an old name brand I can’t recall now that eventually turned into junky stuff), I ran them till they caught on fire and quit and that might be after replacing the brushes a couple times. The stator eventually wore out. It happens to all motors eventually.
I worked for an outfit that had a motor repair shop. I didn’t get to hang out there much since they always wanted me riding a pumpjack(install a Murphy vibration switch out on the main beam) and installing all sorts of equipment to keep those 3 story engines pumping natgas from destroying themselves when something went wrong somewhere in the system or the internals. Nothing like trying to work on a running engine so big you could stand in the cylinders and but way up there trying to replace/install something on a 6′ turbo and wearing a respirator. It was always so nice and cool.
Typical day back before battery powered drill. Get on location and it’s all 480 3 phase. Since nothing’s been installed but the meter, you get to pull the meter, put on your gloves and attach a set of leads(working it hot)to the meter base that goes to a small 120 V transformer carried on the service truck. Careful with that axe, Eugene ha ha.
Monkey Ward’s….that brings back memories!
Yeah, it was a good place at one time. I bought a lot of sporting goods and clothes there.
I was too young- the last Monkey Ward’s in my area at the time closed when I was like 9- I had never actually been inside of the store…just used to pass it when we’d go to visiti my sister, and I’d always get a kick out of calling it Monkey Ward’s. At the time, I thought I had ionvented the term!
I charge batteries in a piece of pyrex cookware or on the stove. Again in case something should happen it will be contained.
My oldest cordless tool, a drill, over 20 years old, I bought a new cell pack for one battery on ebay. I cleaned the motor of the brush dust that was causing it to smoke at low speed and its usable again.
Brent, thank you. Your comment reminded me that I put a drill battery on the charger in the basement last night with the intention of taking it off before leaving for the day. You might have saved our house!
The hype over EV performance, whether off the line or rolling is about to be nullified by EU regulations I believe for 2021. All new vehicles will be speed limited by sensors reading speed limit signs….I suppose someone in an EV will still be able to brag how their vehicle has the fastest 0 to 20 mph pickup(sarcasm) in the neighborhood, but who gives a crap when the vehicle won’t go one mile faster than the posted limit….
Hey Eric & Everyone!
Remember Uncle Tony from a vid I posted a few weeks ago (“Why is this car beeping at me? Tell it to shut the F*&$^ up!”)?
He even ‘gets’ this electric car BS! (minus the government prodding)
Uncle Tony: The Electric Car Take-over? Don’t Hold Your Breath:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0e9R9uI3Lds
What a lot of these EV owners and fanboys have is a version of Infantile Omnipotence. It did’t happen to me so it doesn’t happen.
None of these people as “What if?”, like Eric did in this piece.
I’ll give you a what if; I live in North Dallas. We have great thunderstorms from time to time. We got hit with a doozy in the spring – about a foot of rain in an hour. with 80 mph gusts. There was 18″ of water in the intersection of two secondary roads by my house. A dude with a Mercedes had his car croak from traversing the new lake. How would an EV do in that? What do you do if you are on your way home.
Stop at Starbucks and wait it out? – Nope. Power’s off. Power was off for 16 hours at my place, a week in others. What then? I charged my cell phone and ipad with my computers APC, then the next day, sat in my truck with the AC on, drinking coffee, and charging my stuff.
What happens if the power goes out at night? or a thunderstorm knocks out power and it comes back with a surge, tripping your breaker for the car?
I’m sure they’ll hit a point where enough people get screwed by these things that the market collapses.
“What a lot of these EV owners and fanboys have is a version of Infantile Omnipotence.”
It is not just EV owners. Almost everyone I know is now living in a delusional fantasy world. They actively avoid reality by avoiding anything, like actual facts, that could shatter their carefully constructed illusions. They are children in adult bodies, pulling the blanket over their heads to avoid seeing that which conflicts with their delusions.
I miss the days when people had rational, intelligent conversations. Now we just get emoting, hysterical ‘feelz’ and inane rationalizations.
This is one of those things that sounds like it’s going to be a big deal, but ends up not being much of a problem at all. Kinda like when people said concealed carry would cause “wild west shootouts” in the streets and then….. nothing happened. I mean seriously, do you really see people just blindly driving until the battery dies and calling a tow truck? Oh sure there’s probably some articles about it, but who really does that shit?
Once again, grid demand is lowest at night. That’s why the rates are so low during off peak hours. It’s literally a free market incentive to charge at the ideal time for the power company so they can level out demand.
I think you might be underestimating the problem WF. Peak electricity use is between 4pm and 9pm in most places. When are people going to plug in their evs? Right after they get home from work, which for most people is sometime between 4pm and 9pm, right during peak demand. You might say, “well, they can plug them in before going to bed after 9pm when it’s off peak.” Of course, this makes it much easier to forget to plug in at all, which goes back to Eric’s point. Also, when millions of people are charging their evs overnight, will that time remain “off peak”? I seriously doubt it. I think once you reach a critical mass of evs, “off peak” will simply no longer exist.
Tesla owners can specify what time the charge begins. My guess is that when electricity suppliers start charging retail end users variable rates based on time of day we’ll see people begin to use it. Or the utilities who don’t charge TOD rates will demand control over the charge outlet. Either way you have to get into the habit of connecting your vehicle up to the charge cable every time. Probably not a real big issue, and probably less of a hassle than routine trips to the gas station. On the road charging will still be a pain even with fast charging stations.
Your cost per KWH is a factor and Ca. is expensive. No telling what some people do without and go into eternal debt to have a Tesla.
My parents used to say my wife and I could live cheaper than anyone they ever saw. Lots of factors involved there. We robbed banks…ok, we just didn’t get into debt so the banks could rob us. If we couldn’t afford something, we didn’t have it.
We lived out of the pasture and garden to a great degree. That wild hog out there is better than any pork you ever bought. Bambi is not just a book but a great source of protein.
I’d bet not one in a 1,000 people here on this site have ever eaten one of the most delicious things you can get, wild turkey and the stuff in the bottle is damned good too. We eat quail and dove. We don’t eat rabbit because of the worms they have.
We don’t have to go to the store for flour. We can pick up mesquite beans that are so sweet you have to use some bought flour to mix with it. We used to get flour from wheat our friends grew and a mill they used for it.
We have never been ones to go out to eat, least of all, fast food. I’m lactose intolerant so having a milk cow is not high on my priority list but local people used to sell theirs(whole milk) and they’d sell their butter, something few people ever had and if they had they’d think long and hard about a milk cow.
Friends used to ask what we did when we wanted a milkshake for DQ. Well, I have never wanted a milkshake from DQ so that’s an easy one.
OTOH, a real milk shake, made from Bessie’s milk is almost too rich to eat for most people and contains too much lactose for me to eat.
Well, you get a munchy for something don’t you? Yes, we do. We have freezers stuffed with all sorts of food. Focusing on some munchy you don’t think you can live without so you end up driving somewhere and buying an expensive bunch of junk food is ok as far as I’m concerned. Knock yourself out. We’ll stick an ear of popcorn in a paper sack, nuke it and cover it with butter. That’s pretty good for a munchy.
Fuel just went up about $.35/gal. It doesn’t affect us a great deal. We go to the store and buy a couple hundred pounds of cat food and 50 lbs of dog food. 10 lbs of butter we freeze, sides of pork ribs and sometimes sides of beef. When we can, we kill a calf and have lots of beef on hand.
But we don’t use much fuel. People near the coast eat cheap oysters. We eat mountain oysters. Wranglers are $48 per pair but we buy them at tractor supply for $20. Some of the products we buy are expensive but last decades. It just depends on where your priorities are.
This explains something I saw in the mountain town of Payson Az, that initially surprised me……an EV charging station near the intersection of the Beeline Highway (which comes up from The Valley) and State Route 260 (that traverses the Mogollon Rim, from west to east.) Surprising because the demographics of Payson do not include many EV type people. But now I understand.
All the Phoenix folks who wanted to come up the fairly steep Beeline to escape summer heat might find their battery levels unexpectedly low. And if they wished to continue to the really high country, on SR 260 East, their batteries would drain fast.
So all the Tesla driving, Scottsdale peeps might find themselves spending half an hour or more to recharge in not so lovely downtown Payson. There’s a lot of under-utilized commercial property right there. Some enterprising soul ought to put in a boutique store, and a pricey cafe to help EV crew spend even more money while they burn away that time. 🙂
No tell motel comes to mind. Perhaps with rates by the minute. And a playroom for the kids.
Living in a hurricane zone EV’s are not the mode of transportation you want. We have went weeks without power. A small generator will handle the freezers, refrig and lights but will take forever to charge a EV,,, that and they (generators) require you to travel to find fuel. Once we had to take a 2-3 hour trip to find fuel for our generator.
Second, I worked for the phone company and was REQUIRED to be at work. This took some time getting around the down trees and intersections without working traffic lights.
There are many reasons they want you to evacuate,,, they could really care less about you personally but without pressured water the sewers don’t work. Eeeeuuuu…… Also crooks and LEOS (do I repeat myself?) use this time as cover to search targeted houses,,, I have seen this myself.
Basically in an emergency EV’s are useless…..
Ive noticed something – there are a growing number of proper car guys who are starting to like electric cars, based mostly on performance and how quiet and smooth they can be (say Rogan or Leno). But the thing is that to them, their Tesla is one of a dozen or so cars, and based on what they have planned they take the correct car out. Not a choice for most of us!! Infact once Rogan himself said it – if shit was going down and he had to run for it – he would always go for the Land Cruiser – never the Tesla !!
Hi Nasir,
Also, guys like Rogan are very affluent – and so they operate in a different world. Most of us can’t afford $40,000-plus for an electric car – and a new electric car every five or six years. These things are Elitists Vehicles, among other things.
As regards the rest: Yes, they’re quick. But there’s next to nothing to do in an EV except push on the accelerator (and steer). No gears to shift; and no noise? What car guy likes a silent car?
Hey, Eric & Nasir,
Interesting how the proponents of energy conservation- the greenies- are promoting fast cars in their effort to ‘reduce energy consumption and emissions’ [EVs have just as much emissions as ICE vehicles- just relocated.] when, due to such things as aerodynamic drag, it makes exponentially more energy to to just go 10MPH faster.
No doubt, for now they’re tolerating high-performance, since it’s virtually the only selling point of EV’s which would tempt anyone to pay the absurd prices for them when cheaper and better ICE’s are readily available- but I guarantee you, that if the world should manage to continue long enough to see EV’s take over, the next step will be to start gimping the EV’s (Just like they’ve done largely already to most ICE’s)….in fact, with the speed limits in cities and towns being lowered to absurd levels already, and EV’s not being well-suited to long highway trips, I’d say they’re already getting people used to the idear of going very SLOW.
*…TAKES exponentially more energy…*
I like a quiet car. I don’t like an appliance on wheels. There is a difference.
swamp, I agree. Of course nearly anything is quieter than that 99 Freightliner I drive and it was quieter when new I have no doubt. But going up a grade I miss the sound of a turbo on a diesel pickup. My last diesel was very quiet but with no muffler, all you had to do to get a bit of noise was roll down the passenger window a bit. I didn’t feel the need to do that though.
The old 98 would pull a trailer very quietly although when you’re doing 120 on cruise control there was a certain amount of noise. And when you needed full throttle you at least got to hear one of the best automotive sounds there is, a big block pulling through a Q Jet.
I changed the settings on the QJet on my 77 Silverado and it opened instantly since I wired the linkages together.
It seems like truckers always had special trucks and pickups. I knew a guy with a C 60 and a tag axle hooked to a double hopper Hobbs grain trailer that built his own truck block big block. Running all out one night I was getting passed by the really big dogs when I noticed a set of headlights coming up fast on all of us. Everybody was overloaded to the nth and these lights are getting big fast. It was that guy with that BBC eared back and he passed everybody including the big Cat’s and Detroit’s. He never revealed how it was built. It could have been blown for all I know. We didn’t worry about fuel back then on those short 100 mile runs. We just wanted to rack up as many as possible. I’d reach my limit at somewhere around 96 hours of continuous hauling when I’d begin to hallucinate. I might not even be that tired but knew it was time to pull over.
It was common in the day to pass out on top of the steering wheel, wake up two hours later, splash some water on your face and drink some, bump tires and haul ass again. There’s a lot to be said for safety and big speed. That speed limited POS at 60 mph will put you to sleep after a sleeping 8 hours. Boring, boring, boring.
The largest hazard on the roads is four wheelers where the drivers don’t know shit from shinola….cue The Jerk. I’m reminded of one morning not far from Big Spring on I 20 when brake lights started going off in front of me and trucks were obviously braking hard as was I. Got down there to the solid hazards flashing and it was raining. Not a rain that would wash you away or negate windshield wipers, just rain. But the 4 wheelers were freaked out causing the big rigs to take evasive actions and braking much harder than you wanted being grossed out or more. A simple rain…..that’s all it takes to freak out an idiot going to work.
There is something to say about the old american land yachts that were very quiet inside the car.
Great points Eric. I didn’t think of that.
I guess the only good news for me is I have a built in generator for my home. We had to do it as we live rural and the power would be out for days usually, a few times a year. We worked from our home then and couldn’t afford to be out that long when everyone else (customers) was on, so we did the generator thing and it worked great.
Now, they are terribly inefficient compared to the grid. Fuel costs are easily 5-10x’s the grid. Think $1000-2000 per month vs, $300/month on the grid, running the whole house. I’m sure there are more efficient units, as ours was a light-commercial unit that didn’t cost that much. If I remember $5000 installed? Heavy duty unit starts at $15-25K as a comparison.
On another note: I always thought that regional power plants would be the smartest thing. Like a little nuke plant, the size of a house for every town. My bet is, if we are all forced to EV, that mini-nukes in every town is the only solution. No way solar/wind will accomplish much of anything in this regard.
Chris, wouldn’t buying a 4 cylinder diesel powerplant be cheaper. I’m not speaking of new but a used one would be good enough to last forever on your house and deliver more energy than you could use.
The smartest thing would be to buy a marble sized piece of Thorium and power everything you have the rest of your life. Thorium is extremely cheap, so much so it’s used as backfill. Only uncle stands in your way of having a cheap, economical reactor. What happens if something goes wrong? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
yes, used diesel would ahve been much better, but no time when you live in a hustle and bustle state. so I did, like many, just went with a quick and relatively cheap fix to solve my problem. And it did, and the unit has been reliable so far for 8+ years. But I am somewhat smart and picked the closest non-proprietary unit I could find so parts would be avail. and less expensive than some. even got us through Hurricanes Sandy and Irene when we were out for a week+ at a time.
Agree on the alternate energy sources. And why the right thing to do is local power sources but it won’t happen until if and when US completely resets.
Thx, 8Southman
Chris, I lowballed out of necessity. Northern tools 8000 continuous watt. It ain’t love, but it’s not bad.
My old Sebring-Vanguard Citicar wasn’t quite that unforgiving. If the batteries ran down away from home I could sit for a few minutes and they’d “bounce back” a little and get me a bit farther down the road. A couple of times I had to do this several times to make it home (poor planning). Each “bounce” shorter than the previous one, though. And, at least back then, people found it fun to let me plug in for a bit of a charge. I’d offer them some money, but they didn’t take it the time or two I asked. (The car’s charger drew about the same power as a 100W light bulb.)
But, yeah, the charging time– especially for a full charge– was not good. It would get about 80% of its charge in the first hour or two and then take 6 or so hours to get the last 20%. Obviously, even that first 80% took way longer than filling with gas. Not a car for someone who needs to go NOW.
So you’re sitting at the house and the car is dead and just on the charger since you just got there. All of a sudden, you have a medical emergency. Somebody might be bleeding out or having a heart attack or anything and you and the victim are SOL. Call a neighbor. My neighbors are out working and for the most part, I don’t even have their number.
Call 911 and they’ll show up some time while you have to leave the victim and run 3/8’s of a mile, unlock and open the gate and run back. And if it was myself, my running would leave a lot to be desired in those circumstances. Maybe after my run there would be enough charge to get halfway to the clinic and then you can try to tell 911 where you are at that point.
My deceased neighbor had a crazy cow try to kill him through the gate. She knocked the gate loose and ran it over him breaking both legs. As he lay there thinking about what a boon a bottle of whiskey would be, he had a long time to think since the clinic being 8 miles away, the ambulance got there 45 minutes after the call. Good thing bones weren’t sticking through the skin.
The grid can’t handle it. Look at the rolling power outages during heat waves when everyone is simply using a 120v ac. It’d be a nightmare with everyone using a 480v fast charger.
I’d love to see what happens when a major metro area experiences a brown-out or black-out, and the whole city and surrounding areas would be shut down for days due to literally everyone not being able to go to work one day. The economic impact would be tremendous, and the domino effect such an event would likely cause if everyone were dependent on electric vehicles would likely be long-lasting and huge! (Like: Imagine a black-out that prevents people from charging their electric turds at night- even if power is restored in the morning, suddenly, you’d have a huge demand as everyone- from every private citizen, to goobermint agencies scrambling to charge their vehicles…)
I can’t wait! Burn baby, burn!
Nunz, I recall same happening in NYC. It was a mess. People stuck in elevators no locomotion involving electricity working. And it was HOT. It was hotter in Texas but we have ERCOT that makes sure we never run out of power. We are not part of the national grid. At least somebody in govt. long ago had some common sense. Our last bill was 8 cents per KWH.
‘Zactly,8!
I was specifically thinking of those blackouts in NY- Few hours without power….and everything goes to hell. The effects of the ’77 blackout lasted for a couple of decades.
Imagine if everyone had ‘lectric cars; and the buses were ‘lectric, etc. It was bad enough when all vehicles were ICE’s….at least people who weren’t solely dependent on the subway could still get around. Farn gins could still put out the fars….
The more dependent everyone is on ‘lectricity and ‘puters…the worse it gets.
My best friend back in NY fixes subway trains for a living. Last time I spok to him, he said that a computer problem caused all 7 of the IRT lines (an entire division of the subway- about one-third of it’s routes- most of which are the most heavily used) to just stop….for several hours.
That is unheard of. The IRT division is over 100 years old, and up until it was modernized in the last 10-15 years, such a thing had NEVER happened before.
In the 70’s they used to ask how to “end Americas love affair with the automobile”. Well they finally figured out how to do it, make cars unaffordable.
EVs will change our lives in more way than one. Not just how we travel in vehicles but scheduling our day and household chores around it.
Yikes. EVs are a terrible idea.
Not to mention if you happen to find your gas gage pointed to the wrong side and are stranded on the side of the road you can hitchhike or just walk to a gas station and pick up a gallon container, fill it up and carry it back to your vehicle. Sure, you’ll pay an exorbitant price for that gas can compared to what it would cost at Walmart, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Every gas station and convenience store has ’em in stock, but you might have to ask since they’re usually not front and center.
Or maybe someone will let you siphon out a little from their tank if they have the paraphernalia (and the guts to do it) needed.
It should be possible to use one electric vehicle to add some charge to another, much like you can connect an external battery to a phone handset. But I doubt there’s any way to make that happen without a lot of modification and probably hacking the charge controller to allow it. For sure there’s no human-transportable way to get a little electricity back to your stranded vehicle.