The Californication of the car industry is about to accelerate – once the former head of California’s notoriously anti-car Air Resources Board, Steven Cliff becomes the new head of the federal “safety” apparat, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Which somehow is involved in dictating how much gas mileage your next new vehicle must deliver – at your expense, of course.
NHTSA has “proposed” increasing the mandatory minimums that every company making cars (and trucks) must achieve by 8 percent – by 2026. For those not hip to what it costs to achieve such a gain, it may be helpful to review what has been necessary to achieve compliance with the current mandatory minimum “corporate average” of 36 miles per gallon . . .
The replacement of port fuel injection in favor of direct injection, an extremely high-pressure form of fuel injection that operates at several thousand pounds of pressure vs. the 30-40 pounds typical of port fuel injection systems and which requires wholesale re-engineering of the engine as well as the fuel system. An additional hole must be bored into each cylinder – for the injector – and a separate fuel-injection circuit added to prevent carbon fouling of the intake valves, which in a PFI system are automatically kept clean by the solvent action of gasoline washing them down. DI also involves multiple fuel pumps to achieve the necessary pressure step-up from tank to injector.
The retirement of most naturally aspirated six cylinder engines in favor of heavily turbocharged four cylinder engines. Many vehicles in the $30k or so price bracket – including family sedans like the Honda Accord and Mazda6, the VW Passat, etc. – used to offer six cylinder engines and most luxury-badged vehicles in the $50k or so price bracket such as the Mercedes-Benz E-Class and BMW 5 Series sedans came standard with one. As of 2022, none of the vehicles in the latter class come standard with them – and only a few in the former class (such as the Toyota Camry) still offer one.
The 2.0 liter turbocharged four is becoming the Universal Engine – irrespective of make or model.
Or even price.
These turbocharged fours usually make as much power as the sixes they’ve supplanted – and advertise higher gas mileage – but at a cost. The car companies aren’t giving away turbochargers (or the peripherals, such as intercoolers and all the necessary additional plumbing and electronics). They are folding the costs of these into the price you pay – so the government can say it has saved you money (on gas).
You are also more likely to pay – for repairs – when the turbo(s) fail or the engine does, due to increased pressure on its internals, such as bearing surfaces, applied by the boost.
The increasing ubiquity of the continuously variable (CVT) automatic transmission – and the near-extinction of the manual transmission. 
CVTs – which vary ranges rather than shift gears – generally help a given vehicle wrangle an extra 2-3 MPG (vs. a conventional automatic) on federal fuel economy test loops and for that reason are being resorted to as another engineering expedient by car companies under pressure to “comply” with the current CAFE standards. But CVTs have a built-in weakness that makes them more failure prone (and sooner) than conventional automatics that have planetary gearsets and friction clutches. CVTS have a metal belt that is stretched by varying-diameter pulleys; over time, metal fatigue weakens this belt and when it breaks, the result is a catastrophic failure of the transmission, which must be replaced because it cannot be repaired.
CVTs also have operating characteristics many people understandably dislike, including the feeling that the transmission is failing when it is working normally. When you floor the accelerator in most CVT-equipped vehicles, the engine revs to near redline and stays revved, accompanied by lots of engine noise. The transmission feels as though it is slipping because it isn’t shifting. Most buyers would probably not opt for a CVT if they could choose a conventional automatic. But the government doesn’t want them to have the choice.
The government has also taken away the choice to spend less on a manual transmission, which costs less than an automatic but doesn’t do as well on the government’s fuel efficiency test loop. Hence the near-extinction of the manual transmission.
Almost all 2022 model year cars have ASS – automated start/stop “technology.” This “technology” involves involuntarily shutting off the engine whenever the car isn’t moving – the idea being that an engine that’s not running isn’t burning. It “saves” about 1 mile-per-gallon. At the cost of endless annoyance and more frequent starter battery replacement costs.
What will another 8 percent cost?
Whatever it is, apparently we can afford it.
Certainly, a guy like Steven Cliff will have no difficulty affording it as he is paid – by us – a salary equivalent to several times the average American family income. He will take (tax feeders do not earn anything) in a great deal more than the average $120k taken by the average NHTSA tax feeder.
Cliff says we’ll be “saving” more than just gas money as result of increasing the cost of cars to comply with gas mileage fatwas hurled by the Federal apparat:
“Climate pollution (will be reduced) by approximately the same amount as if we took more than 5 million of today’s vehicles off the road.”
This, of course, is a lie – as can be safely said of everything coming out of the porthole of a tax-feeder.
It assumes, first of all, that people will buy these “efficient” vehicles – which, increasingly, people cannot afford to. And which many do not want to, as they dislike the “technology” and are wary about the long-term durability. Evidence in support of this contention can be adduced in the fact that people are holding onto their older vehicles – the average age of which is now a record 12 years old.
If anything, the fatwas are worsening both gas mileage and “emissions” – if you believe in that bogey man – by discouraging the purchase of new cars.
The fatwas are also pushing the manufacture of more electric cars, which are even less affordable. The average cost differential between an electric vehicle and a non-electric equivalent is about $15k – which is a helluva lot to spend in order to “save” on gas costs. Especially when you factor in the average $6k cost of a new battery for the EV.
These EVs, by the way, end up “emitting” more of the gas that the apparat is so ostensibly “concerned” about reducing – just not a the tailpipe. An honest accounting of the total “emissions” produced and emitted would take into account the entire process of making an EV and its 1,000-plus pounds of battery pack. Plus the output associated with powering it up, over and over and over again.
But it’s not.
If it seems puzzling – if it seems counterproductive – it’s only because you’re assuming the purpose is as stated, to “save on gas.” And to reduce the “emissions” of gasses.
In fact, these are just the pretexts, used to gull the gullible – of a piece with the wearing of “masks” to”stop the spread” and the demands about the Stabs.
They want you to be unable to afford a car, period – and to be in thrall to their control. Once you understand that, you understand it all.
. . .
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fuel savings?
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a38043667/study-electric-cars-higher-cost-questions/
electric car issues
Worldwide 80% of electricity is produced by oil, gas and coal. electric cars aren’t zero emission they are remote emission. the new gas powered cars run so clean they have very very low emissions, very close to zero. The biggest pollutant emitted are from tires wearing out while driving, tire particles. electric cars weigh 50% more than gas powered cars so have higher tire wear, so they pollute more.
In their entire life cycle including manufacturing, electric cars in total pollute more than gas powered cars. Most electric cars are designed as performance cars so they use far more energy and resources than they should. (the government regulations don’t allow the manufacture of small light electric cars which would make more sense, china does).
The grid can’t handle large numbers of electric cars charging, if all cars are electric the grid capacity has to be increased 500%. Only 5% of electric car batteries are recycled, a huge pollution problem. Open pit lithium mining for battery manufacture, often done with child slave labour, is as bad as tar sands mining.
Electric cars are expensive, they are only for the rich, but they are heavily subsidized by the government with taxpayer’s money, including taxes from the poor, the poor subsidizing the rich. the poor can walk. electric cars, toys for the rich.
The first people to buy electric cars were the most sold on the idea, the biggest believers, 20% of them are switching back to ice powered cars because of the inconvenience factor, the charging hassle.
Another problem EV shares with new ice powered vehicles: Electronic components have a limited life, even if you do not use them. It’s the nature of the P-N junction that forms a transistor. So the new electric vehicles like the new computerized ice vehicles will have a limited lifespan, when these electronics fail the car will be scrap, too expensive to fix, more recycling and waste. Only buy cars with no computers.
But mechanical systems, like Jay Leno’s 1832 steam engine can last for centuries.
Steam powered cars have the same advantage as electric cars, instant torque.
One thing I cannot stand lately are these damn headlights in these ‘cars’. Especially the EsYouVees. I flashed my high beams at someone who I thought had their high beams on one night only to see what their actual high beams looked like. God damn, some of these vehicles when they are driving up near the crest of a hill… it damn near blinds you for 2 or 3 seconds.
I’ve been driving my 2008 Impreza for 13 years now with standard ‘yellows’ and I see just fine.
Hi Andrew,
Yup – it’s a definite problem, for those who can see. I don’t need 747 landing light illumination to see. But – apparently – some people do and that is touted as a . . . saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaafety benefit. Even if it blinds other drivers.
So do what I do: drive old cars. I have an ’03, an ’05, a ’96 and a 1990. Parts are cheeeeeeeeeap! Today’s cars have a thousand stupid options I don’t want anyway. I drove a rental car with a bunch of proximity sensors that kept nagging me. Who would pay for that?
Amen, Neviss!
I’m getting ready to rebuild the front end of my ’02 Nissan Frontier – which still has its original clutch. This truck ought to be solid for at least another decade, if not two…
One can essentially make any car/truck nearly like new, given a sound structure, for half the price of a new one, or less.
Of course you will have to pony up the cash, or take out a note on your house.
NHTSA is usually pronounced “Nish-ta” by the mainstream press. This isn’t even close to correct. It is N-H-T-S-A. I think EP could adopt one of his alternative spellings to great effect. Do you see it? NH-TSA. Subtle use of a dash reminds one of another favorite government agency, the TSA. The idiots who believe groping children and their grandparents will prevent terrorism. Lump ’em all together, there’s obviously no difference in bureaucrats, as shown by O’Biden’s selections.
Then there is the NHA-TSI, which “in the dorkness binds them”.
Nah-tsee, got it 🙂
A CVT seems like one of those interesting regulatory fudges which only improves things on paper. Some time back – I had a CVT honda city in Karachi when I was out there. Though the milage was good in theory, As you mentioned if you floor it, it revs to the top and keeps it there as long as it remains floored. And as a Pakistani guy in his 20s in Karachi, it remained floored a lot. I noticed because of this the fuel economy went down exponentially. And im not kidding – its a tiny 1.3 small sedan, but I can get it to drain the tank as quick as a V8 mustang when driven appropriately :D. Wondering if anyone else has experienced this…
An obvious omission is to “close the loop” between the Covidian faith and federal auto requirements.
1) UV lighting and quad HEPA filters plus a 1 hp fan to squeeze cabin air through that mess. “Filters and destroys harmful contaminants such as sarscov2 and Marburg viruses.” Filters must be changed every day.
2) Onboard mask storage (former glove box) that activates a powerful UV light when the box is closed to sterilize “face coverings”.
3) Mandatory hand sanitizer dispenser. Car will not start until each occupant takes 2 pumps of gelatinous poison from the dispenser. Car will not function if sanitizer level drops below 33%. Only approved sanitizer refills allowed.
4) Passport MOB sensor. A passive rfid chip in your Mark-Of-The-Beast device will check for driver and passenger compliance with all poison mandates. A friendly reminder of non compliance with all booster requirement will be a 30 minute no-start delay where all must remain in the vehicle and listen to St. Fauxci’s weekly sermon.
Give it a year….
spagnulo retards are on tv prepping to jab 5 to 12 year olds, https://www.bitchute.com/video/jm2euik7MlCV/
satan claus…klaus schwabb, head of the WEF wrote a book, in it he said there is global warming so the population must reduced to 500 million. the new narrative was then a never been isolated virus…here we are today…. https://www.bitchute.com/video/GkyfcSY3kDE9/
They’re trying to destroy everything.
Physiognomy is real…look at that disgusting…face! Droopy eyelids and pedo glasses on Steven Cliff
Indeed, is there some rule I have failed to read that says psychopathic tyrants must all look like genetic deviations?
plandemicseries.com
So many things now we are supposed to believe that are simply not true.
The weight of that pretending, that dead weight for society to drag along is getting heavier and heavier. It is not sustainable.
The 55 NMSL was undone because of the weight of pretending what was untrue was true. With any luck many of today’s pretending issues will also come undone. The jabs may be starting to come unglued as what we are told to pretend is running full speed into the wall of reality. With some work maybe it will shatter and then all the others.
It’s hard to defeat a religious movement. How long did the Catholics hold sway over Europe?
“Californication”. Not much on TV offends me, but I never watched beyond the opening moments of the first episode of that series.
A nun? Really?
I binge-watched the whole series many years ago. The show definitely lives up to its name to the say the least.
The next ‘Cash for Clunkers’ will different. It will be mandatory. You know, for the greater good.
The next Cash for Clunkers will be about getting beater pickups off the road like our host’s ’02 Frontier. Unfortunately (for TPTB) Elon is late with the Cybertruck and Ford won’t launch the EV F150 until next year.
They will get my ’89 F150 when they pry my cold dead fingers off the steering wheel and the 4spd gearshift.
And don’t be calling Old Blue a beater.
It’s a classic.
Not for sale, and neither am I. 🙂
I don’t want your short bed pickup
With a turbocharged V-4
All I want’s my long bed straight six
With a four speed and two doors…
But you think I should be happy
With a touchscreen video game
And feel guilty about drivin’
While you play your cheatin’ game.
That would be a great opportunity for them to force the “subscription” model.
Do you think the planned obsolescence of the manual transmission has to do with blocking our independence, not just fuel efficiency? I always thought manuals were better on fuel, and required less or no maintenance.
Hi Anon,
Manuals can’t be programmed – which is why the don’t do as well on the mileage tests. Automatics can be programmed – to upshift into overdrive as soon as feasible, which helps the numbers. On the test. In real world driving, it lugs the engine – and the driver will usually apply more throttle to force a downshift.
A driver who knows how to drive a manual can achieve better mileage – but it’s the tests that matter.
Not surprised at all. My 5 speed 2000 Accord gets the best mileage of all of our other vehicles (all automatics). But the gubmint would find a way to say that doesn’t count. I’m never getting rid of it, nor our newly acquired 1996 Mazda truck (also a 5 speed).
Eric, the death of the manual from an engineering standpoint is more due to emissions than fuel efficiency; the efficiency part can be achieved with gear ratios and manuals have less internal friction.
The problem is that disconnecting the load from the engine by pressing the clutch is an unpredictable event for the ECU, to which is has to react. During the brief time that it’s reacting, the fuel mixture may not be perfect for the sudden loss of load, and it goes too lean (increases NOx output) or too rich (increases CO and HC output). This is enough to make a car fail emissions on those standards. An automatic transmission just keeps both sides of the powertrain completely in sync.
It is possible to solve this, with sensors and more difficult ECU tuning, however, its an additional cost, and the uptake on manual transmissions is very low outside of sports cars.
There are so many nonsensical systems coming down the pipe, and each one will cost money.
– Automatic lane keeping will be mandatory, it’s already in NHTSA paperwork.
– Blind Spot Monitoring will be mandatory, and soon thereafter, it will be tied into the doors opening, to protect you from opening your door into an oncoming car or biker.
– Automatic emergency braking will me mandatory
All these systems require giving the computers full control of the brakes, gas and steering. Your actions on the pedals or steering wheel are simply inputs into a larger whole.
“it will be tied into the doors opening, to protect you from opening your door into an oncoming car or biker.”
The cops will “love” that one. I can only think of maybe 3 instances where someone opened their door into the path of my car and all were cops. With the bicycle, well I don’t ride in the door zone and that instinct is what saved those cops from being seriously injured. I moved left and took a bicycling position for the right side of my car.
‘Your actions on the pedals or steering wheel are simply inputs into a larger whole.’ — OppositeLock
Likewise …
Your actions on the voting machine levers are simply inputs into a larger whole (or hole, as the case may be).
Dealers don’t order MTs so people don’t buy MTs so manufacturers don’t make MTs anymore. Most people want their new car now and for anything but sports cars and few model by model exceptions MTs are special order for the last couple decades. Special order? Well a lot of people just get the AT in front of them then.
There are a great many that have not the slightest idea how to drive one. My ex-brother in law is one of them, although he’s pushing 70 by now. He asked me to teach his son how to drive one. In an hour. Well, he was a school teacher, so……….
I learned to drive with a manual transmission. Remember the “come to a complete stop at the top of a steep hill” exercise? I just replaced the original clutch on my 2007, and after getting 220,000 miles on the original. I prefer to drive a manual over the automatic during our long Winters, as I find it is easier to control the car (and the speed) on our nasty, slippery roads. Which leads me to a question I had when reading this article: Doesn’t the constant, start/stop of a vehicle’s engine at a stop light make for a shorter engine life? Also, who the hell up here wants the engine to shut off, when they are at a red light at forty friggin’ below zero? Absolutely no one!!!
Hi Shadow,
Same here! Being able to resume after coming to a complete stop at the top of a steep hill in a stick-shift car was perhaps the thing defining whether a person could drive – or not. I’ve maintained for years that if a person can’t do that, then they ought not to be driving. I don’t say this in an elitist way. I say it because a person who is unable to balance clutch and throttle, who has difficulty with the intuitive skills needed to smoothly operate a manual transmission-equipped car, is probably someone deficient in motor skills or lacking basic skills and such a person is arguably not equipped to deal with driving situations that will come up, such as the need to perform an unexpected emergency maneuver. Anyone who can competently drive a stick car can drive – which is about much more than putting a gear selector in Drive.
Automatic transmissions have – more than any other thing – dumbed-down driving in this country.
When I was working in a sheet fed printing press room, one of my juniors had a mechanical problem with his press, a common occurrence. After I made the needed adjustment, and got it working again I explained to him, “anybody can pour ink in and hit the green button. A pressman is one who can solve problems”. Just as the driver of an MT is capable of solving problems that the AT driver is not.
Many, if not most, even experienced MT drivers, do not use, or understand the potential usefulness of a parking (hand operated) brake when taking off on a hill.
Preach it Eric.. I have been saying this for years.
I’ve been driving MTs since I was 15 and I have issues with steep hills because I live in flat lands. It’s rare I even encounter the situation. I’m talking maybe a half dozen times in 25 years.
Learn to use the parking brake to hold the car until the clutch engagement takes over. Like the “take-off” with a stick, it takes a little practice to get the hang of it.
I learned to drive in a 1975 Ford Maverick with the standard T handle parking brake in the dash which was non-functional by then.
Yeah the parking brake thing can work in car with the brake on lever in the console but the old dash mounted ones well not so much.
Hi, Eric,
>Automatic transmissions have – more than any other thing – dumbed-down driving in this country.
Well, my grandma Gretchen drove a stick shift back in the 1930s. You know, before there was syncromesh. 🙂
Scandalous, that, because most women did not drive, back then, at least from what I have heard. Draw your own conclusions.
And no, my grandma was not a gangster’s moll; my grandad was a banker in NYC, which is about as “respectable” as you can get. So, “rebellious” only within the bounds of propriety. Intelligent, independent, and resourceful? Absolutely.
Where have all the (sturdy) flowers gone? Gone for snowflakes, every one, I guess…sad.
Indeed, Turtle!
Automatics aren’t the problem, per se. The problem is people who really haven’t learned how to drive, driving. If a person learns to drive a car with a manual, he can be safely judged to have attained a degree of basic competence operating – controlling- the car and is probably sufficiently competent to go fro there. The problem with an automatic-equipped car – for the new driver – is that it’s too deceptively easy to drive. Especially when you factor in power steering, brakes, etc. It dumbs down the entry threshold to the point that anyone who can push a button (to start the engine) and pull a lever into Drive and push down on the gas pedal can “drive.” I submit it is why there are so many poor drivers out there. They never had a chance to learn how to drive.
While a modern automatic, not even getting into these exotic CVTs and dual-clutch setups, became just about overall as fuel-efficient as vehicles with a traditional manual transmission and clutch about twenty-five years ago, the trick was to get them as BULLETPROOF as Detroit had made the automatics for RWD applications. As if their own highly questionable business practices didn’t put the infamous AAMCO chain (“double-A, beep, beep, M-C-O”) into oblivion, such gearboxes as Chrysler’s A727 Torqueflite, Ford’s C4 and C6, and GMs Turbo-Hydramatic 350s and 400s were simply over-engineered in terms of durability, often having a MTBF of about 250K miles, well longer than most Americans kept their rides.
In Mopar’s case, the switch to FWD vehicles was badly handled with their so-called “Ultradrive” automatic, aka A604 or 41TE, typically paired up to their OHV 3.3 or 3.8 liter V6 (the engines were durable enough, if but a little ‘staid’) and powering their line of minivans. The damn things, with their own PCM, were “clunky” in that Chrysler engineers equipped them with a “learn” mode, supposedly to adapt the shift points to the driver’s habits, which usually meant the thing was a perpetual “dunce”. Add to that for years Chrysler insisted, contrary to their own engineers’ specification of the “purple” fluid, later branded as ATF-3 (ATF-4 was the improved version which solved a LOT of the box’s troubles), but Mopar at times listening to the bean-counters instead, insisted on saving a few bucks per vehicle and filling them with Dexron II, which was considerably cheaper (refiners didn’t have to pay a royalty to Standard Oil of Indiana as the patent had expired). Needless to say, this lack of foresight damned near doomed the Chrysler line of minivans, which otherwise sold well, as their questionable transmissions got them a bad reputation. What’s interesting is that Chrysler had originally sold them with a manual, when they were smaller and used an only slightly-lengthened “K” car chassis (same as their ‘upscale’ Dodge and Chrysler FWD cars), and that box was reliable. Once in the early 90s when the minivans weren’t so “mini” anymore, Mopar made the decision to drop the manual gearbox option in them, along with introducing the “Ultradrive”, and well…
The “modern” automatic became competitive with manuals for fuel economy with the introduction of the lock up torque convertor, on the highway. They still sucked in town, but so does driving a manual when every body else is driving an automatic. They all want to stop 30′ back from the car in front at stop light and creep up 3-4′ at a time.
In the Winter months, John, I keep a car’s length distance between me and the vehicle in front of me at a red stop light. Doing so has enabled me on more than one occasion, to avoid a rear-end collision because the idiot fool behind me was driving too fast on the icy roads, and was ready to plow right into the back of me. Having that space in front of me enabled me to get out of the way, and into the lane next to me, and avoid getting hit from behind. Yeah, I know it pisses some drivers off to have that bit of space in front of me. But with the way folks drive on the ice in these parts, it is my way of having an “out”, in case they forget how to drive on the ice.
A good rule of thumb is to stay back far enough to see the ground under the bumper of the car in front of you. In most cars this gives you clearance to drive around them to escape any emergency that may develop. It’s the stopping way to early (30′) and then the creeping up, to what is likely too close, that annoys the MT driver.
I read an article that the supply chain back up is several things CA implemented but a big one is you cannot operate older big rigs in CA any longer. They have been verboten from being registered. There are not enough 3 year only trucks to pick up the loads. Some of the loads are being dropped at the CA boarder so older trucks can take them from there.
Coming to state near you.
Already here Hans. The supply chain is broken.
‘If anything, the fatwas are worsening both gas mileage and “emissions” by discouraging the purchase of new cars.’ — eric
Quite so: already US auto sales have collapsed from 18 million SAAR to 12 million SAAR (Seasonally Adjusted Annual Rate). That’s a flat-out crash.
So things are bad? Let them get even worse!
Presenting the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse for gov-cucked auto makers:
1. US sales: down by one-third to 12 million SAAR, from 18 million peak.
2. Chip shortage: ongoing.
3. Recession: 3rd quarter GDP growth forecasted at a recessionary 0.5%.
4. Magnesium shortage: the fourth horseman appears.
Matalco, the largest US producer of aluminum billet, is warning customers it may curtail output and ration deliveries as soon as next year amid a magnesium shortage.
“In the last several weeks, magnesium availability has dried up and we have not been able to purchase our required Mg units for all of 2022,” Matalco said.
85% of the world’s magnesium production comes from China. WV Metalle, Germany’s non-ferrous metal trade association, warned:
“It is expected that the current magnesium reserves in Germany and throughout Europe will be exhausted in a few weeks at the end of November 2021 at the latest,” the group said. “In the event of a supply bottleneck of this magnitude, there is a risk of massive production losses.”
In the US, Matalco and Alcoa both noted that silicon also is in short supply. Aluminum billets cannot be produced without magnesium and silicon, essential hardeners for alloys.
Aluminum billets are used to make engine blocks, gearboxes, frames, body panels, and rims.
Sources: Bloomberg, S&P Platts, Zerohedge
Die, auto makers, die. We Luddite bitter clingers will dance on your graves, chanting ‘Vroom! Vroom!’
Hmm…does most magnesium still come from Russia (Donbass region and the Urals) and the Republic of the Congo? If so, from a standpoint of world politics, doesn’t leave the US in a good position. We DID once have a “Strategic Reserve” of rare metals, but why do I get the feeling that’s been used up?
Seems like dire news, Jim, save the law of mass balance. I would venture a guess that much of the magnesium used in the world was used here, in what was the good ol’ US of A. Since that Mg didn’t evaporate into the aether, and wasn’t lost to space, that means much of it is still here, and simply must be recycled.
That said, however, China predominantly uses the so-called Pidgeon process to purify magnesium, which requires silicon. There is also the Dow process, which was historically used in the US, in which Mg is obtained from sea water, and we have plenty of that!
Also, silicon is around us in essentially unlimited quantities. Silicon dioxide can simply be reduced by carbon to obtained elemental silicon.
That said, maybe what we are “short” on is CHEAP magnesium. Maybe Americans have to get off their asses and start processing some seawater. I’m game. Don’t threaten THIS chemist with a good time!
If the Europeans are correct about running out of magnesium five weeks from now, there just isn’t time to bring on alternative sources and processes.
CME: ‘It would take at least 18 months to establish a large, primary magnesium supply base to replace what is currently exported from China. The US has one large primary Mg producer, USMag LLC. Its market is protected from Chinese primary Mg imports by an ad valorum anti-dumping duty set at 141.49%.’
https://tinyurl.com/3kxd4jcd
By itself, a magnesium shortage might not be a big deal. But it’s one of dozens of choke points, in dozens of industries, seizing up: energy, labor, trucking, ports, container ships, computer chips, and on and on. ‘America is Running Out of Everything,’ cries The Atlantic in alarm.
Message to kids: FJB stole your Christmas toys … and even the lump of coal in your stocking. Now bend over for your covid shot, punk.
Jim,
FJB: Second Coming of FDR, Head Vampire of America’s Demise.
I do hope this is a good lesson to younger generations. Trade is often good for convenience and efficiency, but never, EVER depend on one, or even two, sources for anything necessary to your life or business. Always have alternatives, and have them close to home as possible.
I’ve been touting this for years, but my recommendations were met with rebuttals such as there being “little value added” for producing and procuring materials locally.
Well, how little is that value NOW, fuckers?
The vampire God however was Lincoln, as he destroyed State sovereignty at the cost of 650,000 American lives. More than all other wars combined.
Consider please that’s out of a total US population of about 31.5 million as of April 1861. That means 2%, or one in FIFTY, were killed as battle casualties during the entire war. That’s not including the sick among the soldiers and/or the civilian population, or famines resulting from destruction of farms and transport infrastructure (and theft or destruction of crops and other civilian goods by the rampaging Union Army, especially that under command of one William Tecumseh Sherman, General “War is Hell” himself). Extrapolate those numbers to today’s population, over TEN FOLD, and it should be obvious the “Civil” War wasn’t terribly “civil”, Mesdames and Suhs…
What’s so civil about War, anyway???
The real tragedy is that (((Lincoln))) wasn’t executed for his treason to the US in early 1861.
Coulda, shoulda, woulda saved a whole lot of lives.
So, by some magic trick, replacing an EV every 50-60k miles emits less carbon than a highly efficient ICV being replaced every 150-250k? Assuming of course that CO2 is a dangerous gas. Never mind that CO2 is currently at extremely low historical levels. Never mind that any Co2 increase has always FOLLOWED climate warming. Never mind that any and all politicians lie for a living, and are quite well paid for doing so. They do not exist in the real world we live in.
If only state legislatures and executives had the balls to nullify. Alabama certainly doesn’t. What a shame we must bring to our ancestors who stood up to federal tyranny.
Even if they had the balls to nullify anything, it wouldn’t be this. This isn’t in your face obvious tyranny to most people. Most people love to hear “fuel savings”. They never consider the cost of those savings. Thus never considering the tyranny of the government mandating the “savings”.
The tyranny should be obvious, but it’s not for most.
As I used to frequently point out to my exwife, who was a shopping addict, when she came home with a bunch of crap we didn’t need, but COULD use, and it was on sale, so she had saved money, “you cannot save money by spending it”. So it is with cars. You cannot save money on gas by spending 25-40k on a different car. How many tanker truck loads of fuel could you buy for 25-40k?
Exactly. A prius costs around 10k more than a corrola. How many how many gallons of fuel would you have to consume to make up for that 10k difference in price? Especially when considering that 10k has interest applied in mot cases.
*considering that the prius only gets 8-9 mpg better fuel mileage.
Hurry with the edit function Eric.
I used to find a model of car that came as hybrid and regular, usually a civic and do the calculation. They start to catch up well beyond typical end of life of a car, certainly beyond a battery replacement for those with batteries. If you want to see pay back better squeeze 400-500K miles out of the car with no major expenses.