Lenin was right about capitalists and ropes.
GM – one of the major pushers of electric cars – just announced that sales of its not-electrics are up 4.8 percent. Almost all of these sales being of large SUVs and pick-ups, the very vehicles about to be pushed off the market by electric vehicle mandates.
Including the Stealth EV Mandate – which GM supports – that all new vehicles (cars and trucks) average close to 50 MPG by about five years from now. This is the “fuel economy” (also styled “emissions”) mandate pushed by California that’s propagating to the rest of the country because major automakers such as GM (and let’s be fair, Ford and some others as well) have amen’d it even as the retiring Orange Man did his best to prevent its propagation.
It is Stealth EV Mandate because nothing that isn’t at least partially electric – i.e., a hybrid – is going to average 50 MPG or even 40, for that matter.
Certainly nothing that’s an SUV or pick-up – which are the ones GM is crowing about selling more of. Soon, it will be selling fewer of them.
Including the little ones.
A 2021 Chevy Equinox — which is a small SUV about the same overall size as a Toyota Corolla – achieves 31 MPG . . . on the highway . . . with a 1.5 liter four cylinder engine.
The Corolla just barely crests 40 – also on the highway.
Neither comes close to averaging 50 and won’t, without becoming electric – at least partially.
The models that make GM real money – like the full-size Chevy Tahoe SUV and its derivatives (e.g., the even larger Suburban, the even nicer Cadillac Escalade and the more utilitarian Silverado pick-up on which they’re all based) do not make it out of the teens in city driving. Their fuel efficiency would have to be almost tripled to “achieve compliance” with a mandate requiring them to average 50 MPG.
They’ll have to be partially electric to even approach this bar. Like the hybrid version of the Ford F-150 pickup I recently test drove (reviewed here). It is a very impressive piece of engineering – and it has a very impressive price tag to match.
The base price of this one is about $50,000. Not counting taxes, tags and insurance. That’s about a $20,000 premium over the base price of the non-electric version of the same truck.
And the hybrid F-truck still doesn’t make it to 50 MPG, either.
Or even close to it.
Official city/highway mileage figures weren’t available when I test-drove this truck, which is “all new” for 2021 – but one can infer a ballpark figure by dividing the touted range on a full tank (700) via the gallons of gas in the tank (26).
Which equals just shy of 27 MPG . . . on average.
For a full-size truck, this is outstanding. It is easily 10 MPG better than an otherwise similar half-ton truck with a V8 under its hood. But it is also nowhere close to 50 MPG. And the F-150 is a Ford. GM hasn’t even got a hybrid version of its full-size truck – the previously mentioned Silverado 1500 – on the market.
Where are these “compliant” trucks and SUVs going to come from? What will happen to those that aren’t “compliant”?
Hilariously – and tragically – it is previous government mandates that made the car industry so dependent for sales on SUVs and pick-ups, which people flocked to after federal MPG mandates – Corporate Average Fuel Economy fatwas – effectively outlawed the large (and V8 powered) cars they used to buy.
It probably won’t be illegal – as in against the law – to continue selling big trucks and SUVs that don’t average 50 MPG or even 40 MPG. But they will become harder to sell as they become more and more expensive, in consequence of being made so by being made partially electric to get them closer to 50 MPG – and by fines applied to those that aren’t, to punish those who buy them for not not buying the partially (or wholly) electric models.
Like GM’s electric Hummer, for instance.
It will be available soon, for a “no haggle” price of $112,595.
Wisecrackers have been saying for years that corporations like GM are run by “bean counters.” But they apparently can’t even do that. They operate on the principle that 2 plus 2 equals 7 – that we’ll see you what you can’t afford and probably don’t want, either.
But they also operate on the principle of quarterly returns. Which amounts to – cash in while you can and let the future take care of itself. SUVs and trucks are making money right now. What does it matter to the bean counters who won’t be there five years from now?
Who’ve strapped on their golden parachutes and abandoned the wallowing dirigible? They got theirs – and now you’ll get yours.
“GM outperformed the industry in the quarter and the full year by a significant margin because our manufacturing and supply chain teams and dealers helped keep people safe at work and our launches on track,” Steve Carlisle, president of GM North America, said in a statement.
Actually, GM “outperformed” the industry because it has a lot of not-electric trucks and SUVs in its inventory. Soon it will have fewer and those that remain will be a harder sell because they’ll be a great deal more expensive than the current non-electric stuff.
We’ll see how GM performs then.
. . . .
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Re: Hybrid F150;
It’s interesting/sad that Mary Barra has decreed no new hybrids for GM, only EVs. It’ll be interesting to see if their truck sales eventually plummet as a result of price hikes due to CAFE. Have you all seen the new Hylander hybrid? 30 mpg in a 3 row suv! If you really wanted people to use less gas than that is the answer.
If TV artist Bob Ross were still alive during COVID:
“How To Paint Like A Hypocrite”
(Make sure you have your Gavin Newsom blue and Politician Chicken-Shit Yellow handy if you want to paint along!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8xsHabbjo
This is GREAT!!!!
“It probably won’t be illegal – as in against the law – to continue selling big trucks and SUVs that don’t average 50 MPG or even 40 MPG”. Actually, it will be in some areas. Taxachusetts just put in a regulation that no new ICE vehicles can be sold in that state after 2035. I believe Commiefornia has something similar.
All the westford yuppie types will cheer with glee. With long wintahs and some of the highest electric utility rates in the country expect the mass(achusetts) exodus to accelerate. Watch out New Hampshire here they come!
To think that Massachusetts was the cradle of the American Revolution. What a shit hole it’s become.
At least California has mild winters and beautiful scenery.
Hi Myles,
I think CA is a grand place to be if you’re a rich technocrat or homeless. Not much in between, though. And that model is coming to every state, including the cold ones.
I ran into this in my studies:
https://organictransit.com/
After you view this little electric egg, giving you a reported 48 mile range, 1800 MPGe, 25 MPH top speed (without pedaling), and an integrated 100W solar panel with a 7 hour charge time.
Now (all math barring inefficiencies, etc) since the motor is 750W, and travels 48 miles at 25MPH, that gives a travel time of 1.92 hours, and if the battery is completely consumed, that gives a minimum battery capacity of 1440 watt-hours. The math doesn’t seem to work when recharging with the 100W panel. Should take 14.4 hours…
I might even be interested if the stylings were a bit different and it didn’t cost fucking $8,900!
https://electrek.co/2018/06/04/solar-powered-electric-bike-cars-elf-and-pebl-might-just-be-weird-enough-to-work/
You can buy 1440 watt-hours of LiFePO4 batteries for ~$740 on eBay right now, WITH 4, 8 amp chargers. Piss on a 750W motor. Why not buy a 1000W bike hub motor for $200, complete with the necessary control circuitry? And how about a 250W solar panel from our friends at SanTan solar for $45, and lets give the necessary charging controls $55, for an even $100. Add $800 for tubes, wheels, sheet metal, polycarbonate, rivets, etc.
Total without labor is $1840. Mass production would decrease that, of course. I’m going to say it would require 20 hours to assemble, and pay myself $30/hr. That’s $600.
SO! I sell the thing for $2440. My version would perform better and recharge more quickly.
WTF with things?
” to work when recharging with the 100W panel. Should take 14.4 hours…”
That is 14.4 hours of NOON sun. So two to three days for a full charge.
The Electeck has another problem that all trikes have, it is too wide for lane splitting. It still has to sit in traffic with all the other cars. A moped is far more practical.
Anon,
Right, unless your egg car tracks the Sun, haha. But yes, you’re talking a couple days no matter what.
Would you explain to me this “lane splitting” and what the requirements would be for a vehicle like this?
Here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lane_splitting
Ah, yes, this is completely illegal in Arizona anyway, unless you are a AGW.
I imagine these things being driven in bike lanes.
Tracking is one thing that helps capture as much sun as possible. But even if the panel is pointed directly at the sun in both cases, the amount of energy reaching the panel at 5pm is significantly less than when the sun is directly overhead (noon). Angle of incidence to the atmosphere. 5pm sun travels through much more atmosphere.
Haha, yeah, I’m a part-time physicist, Anon. The egg-car tracking the Sun was mostly a joke… Absorption, as well as the loss of the shorter wavelengths due to Rayleigh scattering, reduce the light available for harvest. But it also makes for some beautiful sunsets, if there are some clouds around to reflect that filtered light!
What of the rest of it? Do you think that people are just greedy assholes, or what? Is it because of middle-men and specialty manufacturing that this car is $8,900?
“Rayleigh”? Sounds like little Leighsuh’s sister/brother/undetermined.
Lord Rayleigh (pronounced “Riley”, I believe) was a 19th/ Early 20th Century scientist, so I’m not sure what it is to which you’re referring. Probably over my head at this late hour. 😉
It just looks like one of those pretentious new spellings/invented names…..
Haha, well, it was his feudal title, so it would be one of those pretentious OLD spellings. But I can see what you mean. 😉
“Feudal titles”…hee….
I was friends with an Englishman years ago (A Geordie, no less!) named John, who was the manager for a bus company.
He tells me this story: One day in the offices, a phone call comes through, and the owner of the bus company picks it up. John hears:
“Yes? ….Who is calling?….OH, YES, SIR…certainly…just a moment, sir”.
The owner hands John the phone and says in a voice reminiscent of someone who has just gotten a cold call from the president of the universe: “It’s Lord Blyton, calling from England!”
John takes the phone, and casually says “Yeah, hi ya, Bill…..”!
The boss just stood there gawking like as slack-jawed yokel.
14.4 hours would be at perfect efficiency of everything involved. Even excluding the losses elsewhere, the loss when charging the battery is huge. In ideal circumstances, you might be able to get 50% of your charging wattage absorbed by the battery until about the halfway point. Once the battery starts getting saturated this goes further down the more full the battery gets.
Yeah, hence I wrote “all math barring inefficiencies, etc”. The point was to illustrate that the quoted 7 hours didn’t make much sense. Further digging yields that they actually install smaller batteries and you need a double pack to reach a 48 mile range…
For note, though, LiFePO4 batteries are said to charge at ~90% efficiency, not 50%. Assuming you use a good 90% efficient solar charge controller as well, charging is about 81% efficient, though yes, that will change according to charging phase.
If Humpty Dumpty were still alive, he’d be the new Elon Musk.
It is indeed a pity that there isn’t a collective spine among all corporations combined. They do have the power to tell the state to shut up and sit down, but they’re afraid to use it.
Hi John,
Welcome to the site.
The corporations control the State. The State is doing exactly what corporate American wants them to do, which is to destroy small and medium sized businesses, forcing the customers to purchase only from them. Many people never took it seriously when Walmart started coming to town decades ago and ran out the Maw and Paw stores that sold a variety of housewares and other gadgetry. Amazon did the exact same thing, but online.
Not only that but big business knows if they make horrible decisions the State will bail them out because there are very few organizations left and the people would have no where to go for basic everyday needs.
I despise big business with a passion. I use them as a last resort only. I give them as little money as possible, because I refuse to participate in their sick twisted affair with the nation’s politicians.
I’m not new here, just decided to use my real name. Anonimity doesn’t protect you anyway, and it does reduce one’s credence if they are afraid of the thing they oppose.
Back in 1989 I was working on the construction of one of the first Walmart Superstores built in my area. The day before Thanksgiving, Walmart in collusion with the City government which gave them permission to do so, destroyed the street on the East side of the site. A street that provided easy access to a number of competing small businesses. Needless to say, a number of these businesses folded up, since access to their business had been reduced two days before black Friday. Haven’t been in a Walmart since.
The little guys provide services and products that the biggies refuse to deal with due to lack of huge profit margins. If the little guys go extinct the big boys will hurt much worse than they realize.
One thing car companies could do to raise their fleet mileage is to get rid of silly rims with 10-12″ wide tires. Equip all new vehicles with ‘rollers’, skinny little drag car type front wheels (all around) with about 150psi.
They will be totally useless for handling but the rolling resistance would drop to almost nothing. Stop by the tire shop on the way back from buying your new vehicle and put the rims and tires you want on AFTER the CAFE silliness.
Or make those standard equipment, and use normal tires as options. You could do the government tests with the “standard” tires and pass. Hey, we can’t help it if people put the optional tires on their cars.
Or sell it, you drive it around the block, and then “upgrade.”
OT but here’s a real time attempt to redefine “normal” life as “pre-Covid” life. Includes direct WuFlu nahneleven analogies from one of the high priests of the cult.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/06/covid-vaccine-dr-scott-gottlieb-says-getting-it-doesnt-mean-return-to-pre-covid-life.html
These days the capitalist Lenin was talking about “pivots” from selling you the things you want to selling you (really mostly a single important client the gov’t itself) the “required things” like hand sanitizer to perform the cleansing rituals and the face masks to muzzle yourself and signal “belief” in order that communism may be peacefully ushered in with the appearance of “consensus.” Such “patriots”, doing “their part” on behalf of “their gov’t” by sacrificing themselves for the “greater good” in order to “stop the spread.”
Hi DPH,
I never thought about it that way, but you are right. We (US citizens) ushered in our own form of communism making it easier for the State to take over by believing it was a patriotic duty to look after our fellow man, because “we are all in this together.” Gag.
Nobody ever accused Americans of being smart.
The larger the group, the less intelligent it gets. I have no idea why this is, nor do I care. It’s simply a fact of life. Just another in a long line of reasons for nations to be smaller, far smaller. Which just so happens was a premise of this nation’s founding, a federation of sovereign States. Thanks to Saint Lincoln, we are deprived of this means to protect our liberty.
I say the same thing at my manufacturer, who is also big on electrification and and spends big money on lobbying for “green” interests. Maybe we’ll be the next Tatra or Volga. We can make the cars for government officials, because the proletariat won’t be able to drive anyway.
A new tack: I’m thinking; All of these new
cars and truckstransportation appliances are so fugly, so cookie-cutter look-a-like, so hobbled by compliance, spyware and needless complexity which renders them less durable; and so festooned with plastic, that instead of dreading their demise I’m starting to cheer their banishment!Yeah…I guess that’s what they want us to think, and they’re taking away our ability to travel autonomously….but the damage has essentially already been done, because even if they never did another thing; even if they scrapped the whole ridiculous EV thing, and just continued with things as they are right now, we’re still screwed- as viable cheap autonomous used vehicles are just about a thing of the past already- with viable older vehicles already commanding outrageous prices because of their desirability and scarcity, and the fact that the newer vehicles are not viable once out of warranty, as repairs to their now ultra-complex components can easily cost THOUSANDS just for one item, and once the software/electronic components are no longer supported, your car becomes a paperweight.
Nuzio, im wondering one thing – there are so many people hacking so many things now – why havnt they started doing the same to cars ? I mean how hard will it be to re-create the main computer of a car using say a raspberry pi sort of computer ? I suspect for a lot of the common cars, it will start to happen sooner or later…. or at least I really hope. because modern cars the actual metal components are amazing – will never rust. its really the plastics / seals / electrics that seems to doom them….
Ah Nasir, it’s all proprietary though- and all buried in so much needless code (Like a Windows OS) that although it may technically be possible…it’s just not practical with the newer stuff. Individual parts are now coded now…which often feed off of multiple modules- the levels of complexity to keep this stuff inaccessible and proprietary are just becoming ridiculous. It’s not like it used to be, where ya could just grab a nerd and a laptop and hack into the system and change parameters or a couple of lines of code, and you were good to go.
It’s really disgusting what they are doing. You buy it…but you really never truly own it.
Eric my friend, look on the bright side.
Now with the Dims in total control of U.S. environmental policy, you will have more to write about.
‘Twilight of the Motor Car’ might be a landmark publication, on a par with ‘Unsafe at Any Speed.’
But some liberal Democrat attorney with Biden/Harris connections will get a multimillion advance to write it.
The ‘multimillion book advance’ scam is a prominent tactic of political money laundering which has made the Clintons, the Obamas and the Bidens rich.
And it’s ‘all legal.’ 🙂
Not to mention “speaking fees”, hard to believe anyone would pay money to here this idiots bloviate but six figures are common for the political class. Just read that Janet Yellen made over $7 million giving speeches to banksters; fat chance she’ll do anything to rein in their thievery during her time at the Fed.
‘GM just announced that sales of its not-electrics are up 4.8 percent … the very vehicles about to be pushed off the market by electric vehicle mandates.’ — EP
Can’t resist quoting Jeremy Grantham, an investment manager, market historian, and (full disclosure) advocate of aggressive action to counter climate change:
‘As a Model 3 owner, my personal favorite Tesla tidbit is that its market cap, now exceeding $600 billion, amounts to over $1,250,000 per car sold each year versus $9,000 per car for GM.’
‘What has 1929 got to equal that?’
Well, we may just find out real soon. Grantham ended his essay by advocating ‘the greatest avoidance of U.S. growth stocks that your career and business risk will allow’ — companies such as Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Google, Facebook and yes, Tesla.
Overnight, the market reaction to the Devil, sorry, Demonrats taking Georgia consist of interest rates going up, small stocks (which benefit from inflationary pricing power) going up, and growth stocks going down.
Full Californication, in other words, is likely to be uncomfortably inflationary. There goes the dream of $100/kWH EV batteries. And there goes the biggest stock bubble in human history, which was utterly dependent on low inflation, low interest rates, and low wages.
DemonRats gonna ‘fix’ all that, comrades.