Here is an interesting statement from an auto industry kahuna, Michael Sprague – who is North American Director of Lincoln, Ford’s luxury division:
“We’ve got to keep evolving,” he told the trade publication Automotive News. “We need to make sure over the next couple of years, as we’re preparing for that EV future, that we’re ready when those clients start to come into the market.”
Italics added.
In other words, if you build it, they will come. To the tune of $900,000 per dealership. That being what it will cost to install two – count ’em! – so-called “fast” chargers and seven “Level 2” chargers, which means wait several hours to recover a charge rather than 30-45 minutes for a “fast” one.
No one asks the obvious question: What “client” – the new name for what was in the Before Time a customer – wants to drive to a Lincoln dealership and wait there for a “fast” charge, let alone one that takes several hours? The coffee’s probably better at the Lincoln store than it is at a 7-11 (another joint that is installing “fast” chargers) but the point is, who wants to hang out at a car dealership – or a 7-11 – waiting for their car to charge up?
Wasn’t one of the sells touted by those peddling the virtues of EeeeeeVeeees that those who bought them would never have to stop at a dirty ol’ gas station ever again?
At least the wait there was less than five minutes – and there is always a gas station on the way to wherever you’re headed – so you’re not having to divert along the way and then wait at least 30-45 minutes at the “fast” charger, if there happens to be one in the orbit of your trip.
Now, apparently, the sell is that you can wait at the Lincoln store – after having driven out of your way to get there. Lincoln stores (unlike 7-11s and gas stations) not being on every corner.
“We all have to go though this transition and change as the industry is evolving to electrify its products,” says another Lincoln kahuna – Sales and Service Manager Greg Wood.
This might have been said by a Party Orator from Orwell’s 1984.
Why do “we all have to go through this transition”?
We all know why. Well, some of us do. It is because there’s too much oil that costs too little and that makes mobility (and everything else) too affordable – and that is really bad for the people who want to guilt-trip us into this “transition” to energy scarcity and dependency, which is what “electrifiying” will do.
Do you remember what was styled Peak Oil? Interesting, isn’t it, that one rarely hears anything about it anymore.
Peak Oil was the assertion that held sway for many decades that “we” (it is always “we”) will shortly be running out of oil. This was supposed to have happened by the 1980s – and then the ’90s – according to the assertions of the Peak Oil’ists of the ’60s and ’70s. But there is so much oil (viz, the fact that as recently as two years ago, America was one again producing more than enough oil for domestic consumption and on the verge of becoming a net exporter of oil) that it eventually became impossible to continue asserting “we” were running out.
Oil – and so gas – had gotten cheaper, a sure indicator of abundance rather than scarcity. And that (among other reasons) is probably why Orange Man had to go. The “pandemic” did what Peak Oil couldn’t. Abundant supply corked, so as to make oil (and so gas) artificially more expensive, so as to make the “transition” to “electrification” go down easier.
Doubled (soon to be tripled) gas prices also serve to make the assertions made about the “climate changing” more palatable, too. Or at least, render them less seemingly worth examining. When it costs $70 to put 12 gallons of gas in a compact-sized economy car – as it currently does in California, leading edge of the “transition” – then it seems almost sensible to get rid of that gas-burner in favor of an EeeeeeeVeeee that doesn’t (directly) burn any gas. Especially when it has been made quite crystal clear that in the very near future, there will be additional and more onerous burdens placed on those who who haven’t “transitioned” to EeeeeeVeeeees.
When – just two years ago! – the cost of gas half what it is now and on the way to being even less than that – selling people on “climate change” and what it is going to cost them would have been a much tougher sell. Since it was no longer possible to convince people “we” are running out of oil, they had to be persuaded that using oil was bad, like Orange Man Bad. And that is easier to accept that Using Oil Bad when oil (and gas) are no longer cheap.
Like wearing a “mask” when you see almost everyone else is, too.
“These vehicles are coming, our industry is changing,” Automotive News quotes Lincoln dealer Peter Spina, Jr. as saying. “If you’re going to stay the course in the automotive space, you’ll be investing in some sort of EV infrastructure. You need to have the ability to service your guests and your own vehicles. I don’t think there are many engaged dealers who would say it’s not a necessity.”
Orwell – also in 1984 – would have styled this DuckSpeak, by which he meant what it sounds like. i.e., the mindless quacking of a duck.
Will the “guests” – and “clients” – quack while they wait, too?
. . .
Got a question about cars, Libertarian politics – or anything else? Click on the “ask Eric” link and send ’em in! Or email me at [email protected] if the @!** “ask Eric” button doesn’t work!
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 or sticker or coaster 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 magnet or sticker or coaster – and also, provide an address, so we know where to mail the thing!)
My eBook about car buying (new and used) is also available for your favorite price – free! Click here. If that fails, email me at [email protected] and I will send you a copy directly!
Fresh flakery from the land of fruits and nuts:
‘Proposition 30 before [California] voters would add a 1.75% tax on personal income of more than $2 million, or fewer than 43,000 people. State analysts estimate it would raise up to $5 billion a year, mostly to help people buy electric vehicles and to build charging stations.
‘Newsom has branded Proposition 30 as a money grab by ridesharing giant Lyft, which has spent at least $45 million backing it. State regulators have mandated that all rideshare trips be zero-emission by 2030.
‘Business groups note that California’s personal income tax is already the highest in the nation, and the ballot measure would put it over 15% for the highest earners. The California Chamber of Commerce warned that a rapid expansion of electric vehicles could strain the energy grid, an argument the Newsom administration has rejected.’
https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-wildfires-technology-electric-vehicles-gavin-newsom-f5d18ed5e31d9986fab53d5387f2bfcf
Going to the candidates debate
Laugh about it, shout about it
When you’ve got to choose
Any way you look at it, you lose
— Simon & Garfunkel, Mrs Robinson
This EV craze won’t last forever, it will come to an end eventually. Right people get into positions of power, and they’ll reverse course, even if it’s just here
Besides, Tens to hundreds of used vehicles on the road, and plenty of people live in the sticks, ain’t gonna be no charging stations out there, no matter how hard the Watermelons try to push it, not to mention not everyone will comply
Lol…..
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/humor/pfizer-climate-change-vaccine/
“If you’re going to stay the course in the automotive space, you’ll be investing in some sort of EV infrastructure.” = You WILL be doing the investment. You WILL be. Not us. You. Or else. They’ll stop selling cars to the dealers who won’t play ball, to put them out of business.
Hi Brandon,
Indeed. It is a kind of extortion. Cadillac did this even more severely – telling dealers they either “electrify” or lose the franchise. And, remember: None of this is driven by demand/market forces. Just the force – and demands – of the government.
Dr. Thomas Gold revealed the true nature of “fossil fuels”. Firs, they’re not from rotting corpses of dinosaurs but, a regenerative substance from the earth’s core.
https://www.amazon.com/Deep-Hot-Biosphere-Fossil-Fuels/dp/0387985468
There’s never been a “fuel shortage” or peak oil. The planet is basically an oil machine. But, that doesn’t serve our Overlords agenda.
Mark in BC:
Yep, when the libs call methane a fossil fuel then try to explain why Saturn’s moon Titan is full of methane? Hmmm…? Must have been a bunch of dinosaurs living on Titan providing all that CH4 fuel to create an atmosphere full of it.
Our planet is a carbon to O2 back to carbon machine. We are actually living in a carbon starved world right now compared to the earth’s life cycle.
But what do I know from a guy trying to steal bearer bonds from Nakatomi Plaza.
Mark, and why we need to to change the name from fossil fuels to natural fuels, which they are.
I might have said this before, but the eco-fags wouldn’t care less if their $100,000+ EVs took TWO WEEKS to charge! They’ll just say “Well, it’s a ‘small price’ to pay to ensure the longevity of our planet. And besides, I don’t drive very often anyway. Everything I need is within walking distance.”. When people justify their enslavement, you know it’s over.
It’s an indication these snots “suffer” from a superiority complex. Yes, there are advantages of urban living IF your basic needs can be procured within walking distance of one’s home, and you won’t get mugged on the way. There are DISADVANTAGES as well. Why, pray tell, do you think folks left the cities for Suburbia as soon as technology made it feasible? It doesn’t really matter why most folks don’t want to live in the big cites, only that they don’t WANT to, and any thing to restrain their ability to live as they choose is tyranny, pure and simple.
If there was some manufacturer with balls, they might save themselves from eventual ruination. Dodge was that company for a while with the Hellcat Hemi’s.
Maybe if they think this out a bit; build dirt cheap 50mph golf carts. Just for you President Xiden…your electric fleet, so go piss up a rope then go back and build Hemi’s. If they don’t sell, ship them to China or better Ukraine where Hunter Xiden can start a chain of dealerships where Ukrainians need a warm place to get a cup of coffee…and wait for a new pipeline from Russia.
I think Toyota(world’s largest manufacturer of automobiles) will be that company to flout The United States mandates. They can survive more than a few years selling regular cars to the rest of the planet while he hopefully get our shit back together.
We
I am with you, B. I think Toyota will continue to build solid gasoline engines and watch quietly from the sidelines. As long as they continue to do that, they will forever have my business.
Yes, agreed. Toyota is way more conservative and not getting on the EV bandwagon, which could just be a flash in the pan. And if this EV craze, was just the latest market delusion at the end of the cycle upwave (as I and many others have suggested) – that Tesla tapped a small minority of buyers who wanted upscale electrics, but the rest of us are never going to go for it, the EV sales may hit a wall, and every major is jumping on the bandwagon … except for Toyota … which may be why Toyota is the biggest auto mfg and will remain so.
I do not think people understand how much this EV thing was falsely promoted by the political scumbags – the same scum who ran mountains of deficits, the same scum who do false flags to start wars, who then shovel hundreds of billions into defense contractors black holes, etc. Elron MuskRAT became the richest man in the world because he tapped EV subsidies. That was not free market, so what happens when the gravy train is pulled because the state needs more taxes and less payouts to stay solvent.
This whole thing REEKS as an end to an era. Amerika is like Tulip Mania on steroids – all propelled by easy credit – for the last couple of decades interest rates went down and stayed at zero – this allowed the political scum to spend like Reagan’s drunken sailor.
All the excess could be coming to an end, and thus all the trends propelled by easy money and subsidy could also be ending, and thus structural changes must be made for the natural world economy to reshape itself back to normalcy.
I still think many of the manufacturers (at least eurpoeans) are playing the same game as Toyota, just being a bit more obsequious. The modular platforms all accommodate some EV layout without going all in becoming a battery sled. They’ll pay lip service and attempt to create some halo vehicles to little success.
I still don’t know why the ultra/bespoke luxury market didn’t do the conversion first. All the benefits of EV , e.g. silence are on brand and the drawbacks like range, packaging, etc. are irrelevant to something like a Rolls-Royce. Instead of making it ultra-aspirational the EV was basically marketed to those who buy the latest electronic doodads.
Toyota did well some 20 years ago in coming out with the “Pious” (Prius), which I have less objection to for its engineering (decent) than the virtue-signaling and usually bad driving habits of those that own them. Sure, I objected then and still do to the special tax credits for a hybrid, and especially granting hybrid owners HOV lane privileges w/o the need to “double up”. But I think in a truly free market the car would have been viable anyway. As I’ve said ad nauseam, my objections to EVs and/or hybrids aren’t technical, they’re political and societal. That is, I don’t care for them being FORCED upon the American motoring public, and those of us that haven’t bought into them should not be subsidizing them.
The new Generac generator is running on a Toyota Hydrogen fuel cell. Quick link I found on MSM…
https://news.yahoo.com/generac-introduces-hydrogen-fuel-cell-153239158.html
Hi Jolly,
Unfortunately, this appears to be just more corporate kowtowing to the green mob:
“The GEH2 runs off pure hydrogen that’s normally only available for industrial use.
“It’s more expensive to operate than a gas or diesel generator, said Erik Wilde, executive vice president of the Industrial-Americas division at Generac.
“‘But people want to have that pure green product,’ Wilde said.”
For this contraption to make electricity, you have to put pure hydrogen in. It does not extract it from the atmosphere and magically convert it to electricity, as the casual reader might think. Hydrogen power is another scam where, as with ethanol, you put in X units of energy and get <X units back.
Balls and backbones are in short supply in the west.
Hi Mike
I very much agree. If you track the actions of our enemies Long March Through The Institutions. You can also track the change in all of the areas and fields those Institutions control. Taking over the universities gave them control of the education schools, the law schools, the medical schools and the journalism schools.
Then all they needed to do was wait. Until those they had indoctrinated rose up through the ranks. The rest, as they say is history. The attack on the west has been in operation for more than a century at this point. The only way to win a war is first to realize that one is in one, and second who the real enemy is.
All of these various attacks by various useful idiots have corrupted and warped the very foundations of the west.
Energy is the very life blood of modern civilization. Of course it would be attacked. So called Climate Change is just another attack vector.
The Future™ is not set. There is no destiny that we don’t create ourselves.
Nuclear is the most effective and safest base load power technology we currently have. Which is why its been demonized and the subject of mindless hysteria for generations. If you strip out most of the government meddling (one has to leave some in to placate the hysterics) and use modern reactor designs, its much more
long term effective than either of the enemies beloved wind and/or solar systems. Which simply can’t compete without massive government subsidies.
Look at Germany as just one example of how foolish it is to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in wind and solar. If they had spent that on nuclear or even coal (hysterical wails are heard from the Greenies…) they wouldn’t be in the dire situation they currently are.
I think Amerika is becoming politically unstable and in the near future could break into red/blue zones. The midterms in 23 days ought to be very interesting. People are sick of the left wing lunatics, and EVs are central to the left wing platform of control – and people are becoming aware of this – due to your writings and radio shows. I know you opened my mind to what is really going on, and I study conspiracies and didn’t really care about EVs until I read your articles and saw the strategy in play. Now I know, and now I really hate Teslas. And I now know that my electric bill will probably go through the roof because of the electric cars clogging and hogging the electrical demand. In fact screw EVs.
The whole EV thing will hit the reality of civil war amongst the states. If the stock market collapses this Oct-Nov then things really will change for the better, because the wet dream of rainbows, unicorns, a free EVs will hit the reality wall of bankruptcy. The high flying IPOs are now getting slaughtered, and remember just 2 years ago when crypto was all the rage?
https://elliottwave.com/Stocks/Heres-What-Happened-with-87-of-US-IPOs-from-2021
Even Oregon (left liberal commie shit hole) may elect a Republican governor Nov 8th. That is like hell freezing over. That is “impossible” but it may happen because the nation is turning hard right. Oregon will be the laughing stock of the nation if Tiny Kotex wins. What a damn joke!
But looky here – the Republican Drazen is in the lead:
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/governor/2022/oregon/
I guess the riots in Portland, burning down the businesses is having an effect. And Kate Brown raped local businesses during the plandemic, allowing Walmart to remain open while mom and pop operation closed their doors forever, not exactly a democratic thing to do.
Biden has shown the nation how looney the left really is, the huge waste of money being thrown at Ukraine, high gas prices, high inflation, and a tranny in every garage and library show and tell. Left wing lunatics are hitting the average Amerikan right in their pocketbook.
Just in time for the unstoppable economic calamity to be blamed on the “hard right.” In some ways the Rethugs must know this and that is why they have run candidates like Dr. Oz in PA and Herschel Walker in GA. What jokers. Maybe a little better in the states but not much.
Hi Yukon,
The Senile old White House resident went to Oregon this weekend to campaign for Tina Kotek. Kotek’s Gubernatorial campaign must REALLY be desperate to be asking for help from a sitting DEMOCRAT President in BLUE Oregon, as well as putting out blatantly false ads about her opponents. Of course, there’s also a former Democrat State Senator turned Independent running for governor named Betsy Johnson, and apparently there are DEMOCRAT voters who don’t want Kotek. I read somewhere that Biden isn’t even all that popular in Oregon, so Biden’s visit stumping for Kotek could backfire on her gubernatorial hopes.
Word is that Portlandia also cleaned up their streets in preparation for Biden’s visit.
I think Brandon’s visit is a curse, for one thing if you live in Portland, you are at ground zero, and Brandon is trying hard to ignite WW3 with Russia. You have to be a damn fool to like him, especially if you live in a city, or near a major military base.
Tiny Kotex would be a Kate Brownstain left liberal idiot third term. She is hated, so if the voters are not totally brain dead they will not pick her. Just 22 days to go, and hell must be freezing over because the republican is in the lead:
https://crowdwisdom.live/us-politics/oregon-governor-race-polls-2022/
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/governor/oregon/
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-republicans-could-win-oregons-governorship-for-the-first-time-in-40-years/
BTW I live in Oregon and don’t vote. Couldn’t care less who gets in, if the sheep are so stupid to continue with any pro-vaxx candidate (like Trump) they deserve what they get!
how about the billions spent to remake stores under brand image? compete waste as these mausoleums sit empty as manufacturers transition to e commerce. the dealers certainly are an easily led astray bunch of lemmings.
Hi Buickman,
I’m trying to figure out what would define these EeeeeeeeVeeeee brands given EeeeeeeeeeVeeeeeees are all fundamentally the same. During the heyday of the industry, brands were different. Buick, for instance, was not the same as Olds or Pontiac or Chevy. And those were different, too. One of the reasons I love my old Trans-Am is it’s not a Camaro (and I have owned and loved those, too).
This ongoing homogenization is a natural end product of centralization. Things will only get better when things decentralize and things become different, again.
Well, Eric, I have to point out, in the basic F-body, and save for the engine, front clip, and other basic styling features (tail lamps, etc.), the Fire-Chicken IS the same basic vehicle as the Camaro. Yes, it does have a distinct personality, it’s more than badge-engineering, and at least Pontiac kept it having a Pontiac V8 as long as GM would allow it. GM did have platform-sharing well back into the 1950s, it was one of the reasons an Olds 98 was called the “Poor Man’s Caddy”, as the Ninety-Eight shared the platform with the Cadillac 70 series (Coupe deVille, Sedan DeVille), even though it retained the Olds “Rocket” V8. Otherwise, same GM Turbo-Hydro automatic, same Delco parts, same Dana rear end, and so on.
Where the end came was in the late 1970s, when some Pontiacs (NOT the T/A) started rolling out with Chevrolet engines, and a big stink and even a lawsuit was made about it. By then, though, we already had the abomination of the original X-body Chevrolet Nova, a fine compact and in the version we knew in the early and mid-70s, decent styling and with a 350 four barrel, could have some “giddyap”, being badge-engineered across Pontiac, Olds, and Buick, during the “Malaise” era when Detroit fumbled about competing on the basis of fuel economy with zippy little Japanese and European (mainly VW) imports that suddenly were eating their lunch. Different front clips and trim, but still a Chevy Nova, at least, until about ’77, if you got a V8 in your Olds Omega, it was an Olds V8, as by then the bellhousing patterns were common, I think. Once even that was dispensed with, buying a badge-engineered Nova or Malibu in your desired Pontiac or Olds brand was pointless.
Of course, we could go on and on about the GM’s ultimate nadir in the latter part of the “Malaise Era”, that of the second “X-body”, the Chevy Citation FWD POS and its badge-engineered GM variants. The entire approach was an insult to the American motorist, who collectively said, “FOOK that Shite”, and bought Toyota Camry, Honda Accords, and VW Jettas.
“These vehicles are coming, our industry is changing.” — Automotive News
What’s on display here is a blind conviction that top-down coercion can be rolled out successfully on a frog-marched schedule.
I don’t believe it.
For one thing, the capital investment needed to replace the vehicle fleet and rebuild the electric grid is so large as to be prohibitive. The US clowngov already is drowning in debt — $31 trillion. It will require at least $20 to 30 trillion more to fully ‘transition’ to e-transport … just as $100 trillion worth of unfunded government promises pertaining to Medicare, Medicare and Social Security are blowing up in their fool faces during the next decade.
Financially, spendthrift Big Gov is effed over backwards.
Then there’s the clowngov’s legendary incompetence at rolling out innovations, whether it’s the Obamacare website that failed miserably on launch date, or the 2005 REAL-ID program (original deadline: 2008) which STILL isn’t complete and may NEVER be. And REAL-ID is just printing stupid cards, not radically transforming the energy sector.
Our mission is to keep slagging and slanging these malicious clowns, in the same way that compulsory ‘vaccination’ was vigorously resisted, and may yet result in prison terms for the malefactors who pushed it.
Smash the clowngov … and its car dealer acolytes. They can kiss my ass.
Amen Jim,
Never got a REAL-ID driver’s license and never will. Best way to push back at these clowns is to follow Nancy Reagan’s advice – just say no. I keep my head down and just ignore all the diktats thrown at us by govco.
It has to be more than just some prison terms, Jim. There needs to be executions- lots of them. If they can’t all go, at least decimation- as practiced by the Romans. The bastards will never ever leave the good guys alone until there is a price attached to their totalitarian meddling proportionate to the pain inflicted on others.
I suspect he’s been mentioned on these pages before, but there’s a guy on YouTube from the UK who calls himself MacMaster (Mac as in Mac computer). He has a Porsche Taycan and although he likes the car and has high praise for the dealer, he is rabidly critical of the EV religion and pleads with viewers not to buy one.
A lot of his videos are his adventures searching for a charger that works. One time he pulled up next to a guy who was on his way home with his just-purchased EV. The dealer had handed it over to him with a half-charged battery, and he was going crazy trying to figure out how to get the charger to work. Rude awakening, thy name is EV.
It looks like about half of the public chargers are usually out of order, and to use many of them you have to download a crappy phone app that also doesn’t work most of the time. This is half-baked technology gone berserk.
Directing technology almost never works out. Wishing something works and throwing money at the problem doesn’t seem to be any better than random chance at producing the right outcome. Heck, when government gets involved it almost guarantees failure.
Peak oil was a scam perpetrated by people who only had a superficial view of the oil industry. Had they bothered to learn the engineering behind fracing, which was done on a small scale for years in Pennsylvania and other low pressure fields to get more production after a well had been tapped out, they might have a better understanding of how it works. Once the techology advanced to tightly control directional boring and carefully regulate wellhead pressure was invented, getting low pressue wells to produce wasn’t as much of a problem anymore.
Now look at MRNA vaccines. The idea has been around since gene splicing became possible, but didn’t work. In the early 00’s there were TED talks about custom medicines and cures for genetic diseases that never seemed to happen, despite billions of dollars, euros and yen thrown at the problem. Best they came up with was a lackluster “vaccine” against a cold virus that might have been manmade using the same techniques.
Innovation bubbles up from below. It doesn’t trickle down from the top. And it is nearly always unexpected. Oftentimes it isn’t even wanted by the keepers of the status quo.
Amen, RK. What the TPTB always seem to forget is nature always wins. Always. We are using the Earth’s resources to produce everything from EVs to ICEs. We use her flora and fauna and foolishly think that we can alter that link to the outcome that we want. When human beings start meddling with the life cycle the outcome of our tampering usually contrives something unexpected and much worse than what nature intended.
RG
Nature does always win. Free markets are natural. They are not created by the state.
The only two things that can wreck an economy are government intervention (including banks) and natural disaster.
>service your guests
Key phrase.
Just remember what it means.
Who are these “clients” that guy from Lincoln is speaking of, a bunch of Klaus Schwab types perhaps? The same ones who want the masses to eat bugs, be injected with carbon footprint trackers, live in itty bitty apartments, not own a car, forcibly injected with experimental “vaccines”, etc., and every single time THEY claim it’s necessary because of “Saaaaaaaaaaaaaafety”,”Cliiiiiiiiiiiiiimate Change”, or some other excuse. But of course, THEY’LL get to continue flying around in private jets, living in fancy McMansions, eating fancy steak dinners, etc. From what I’ve seen, this obsession THEY had with FORCING THEIR agenda on the masses was another reason “Orange Man had to go”.
Went hunting with a buddy yesterday. When we came back to our gas & diesel powered trucks, a guy pulled in to hike with his hybrid mini van. We laughed at the sound that thing made, then started talking about the foolishness of max EV.
If you allow yourself to be lead down a path of fairytales when reality suggests these things can’t happen, you are in for a rude awakening.
These people have the religion of government and when that religion falls apart, they will be left wandering with shell shock. Queue the 2016 crying rooms.
That reminds me of another thing I saw in Alexandria yesterday! In the neighborhood streets between Old Town and surrounding business areas they have super narrow streets with little houses that have no driveways. Every neighborhood street is lined with a wall of cars on one side only — presumably these are people that live there and perhaps their guests. Seeing Tesla and other EVs made me think for a moment. “I suppose these people will only ever be charging at the ‘gas’ station.”
Good for them! But that adds an additional responsibility — make damned sure that you never even go *home* with too low of a charge to get to the ‘gas’ station, keeping in mind that they use charge just sitting there.
Gonna be home sick for a week? Snow/ice storm coming to bury your Tesla? Hmm…
While those ever-so virtuous people in Alexandria probably have a Lincoln dealer or Tesla charging station nearby, there’s slim pickens out here in the sticks (St. Mary’s County). There’s a Wawa with half a dozen chargers about 5 miles down the road. I think the Harris Teeter has about the same in the parking lot now.
There’s not many dealerships in the area. That’s why I was in Alexandria yesterday. The closest Genesis dealerships are that one and Annapolis. Same with Audi, Benz, and several others.
In a way the EV thing is similar to the covid poison gene therapy but at least doesn’t have the potential to cost people their very lives. But by the time people figure out this shit doesn’t really work the way they say, they’re gonna be all in and won’t have many options to get out. Maybe no options by that time… say circa 2030.
Well if your house is on the same side as where you park you might be able to run an extension cord to your car for charging but only if you’re not worried about line loss in a long extension cord, theft of same and liability from someone tripping over the extension cord when it crosses the sidewalk. You just might be better off in the sticks because at least there you can probably charge up that rolling hibachi…
My apartment in Fraser (former icebox of the nation until they sold the name to International Falls for 30 peices of silver) had outlets at the parking spaces for block heaters. I could see a scenario where the city could tear up the sidewalk and let property owners add laterals from the building to the street, but then they’d have to set up parking spaces as part of the home. That’s assuming one house, one space. And the obvious fact that 99% of townhomes that predate electricity aren’t going to have properly sized electrcial service for EV charging.
Reply to ReadyKilowatt:
From what I remember most landlord supplied outside outlets for block heaters cycle on and off in relation to outside temperatures and the current draw of a block heater (8 amps approx) is a lot lower than an EV charger (15 amps?) and would wind up with lots of tripped breakers. Due to high electricity costs I’m expecting them to ban EV charging in apartment buildings at non metered/ paid locations.
EV chargers of any practical use require a 30-50A 240V circuit. In my hypothetical townhome, that’s a minimum of a dryer circuit, if the box can handle it which most old city homes cannot. And if you want that 240V to make it too the curb you’ll need 4/0 copper cable, a 60′ piece (just a guess on distance from meter/panel to street) of which you can get delivered Amazon Prime for low price of $2125. Of course you’ll also need permits, conduit and the charging apparatus. excavation equipment, concrete, etc. And an electrician to come by and “supervise” the work.
Now, maybe you could trick the local town managers to foot the bill for the excavation and maybe even running the conduit, but there will be strings, lots of strings. And if you don’t want that infrastructure installed on your house, tough. But once it’s in you’ll love the increase in your home’s value… as will the tax man.
EM, those EeeeeeVeeees actually CAN cost you your very life should their battery packs short out or leak and do a fiery Auto Da Fe!
‘Auto Da Fe’ — Bryce
What a great name for a chain of EeeVee dealerships.
Most folks wouldn’t get it, even if their new vehicle came with free roasting sticks and a bag of marshmallows.
When I was a young man, I experimented with a variety of “illegal” drugs. I never used one that made me this delusional. They live in a fairy pixie dust unicorn fart world where reality simply doesn’t matter. There is precious little market for EVs now, and it won’t get better. Pretty sure that the market is now over saturated, and people are getting more poor. Most that want and can afford one already have one. Or had one, as many EV owners have discovered how inefficient, inconvenient and what a pain in the ass they really are, and parted company with them.
They don’t even approach the purported goal of being more “green”. They are in fact a means to get you walking, biking, or riding public transport, if you happen to survive the “vaccine” against excess population.
Sure you can bring out the lawn chairs and read a book while it charges and that probably works for some retired people, but what about winter in places like Maine or Minnesota? Skidoo suits? If lots of people buy fast food as they don’t have time to cook real food; who’s going to have time to wait hours to charge an EV?
This is all starting to remind me of when they got rid of incandescent bulbs and replaced them with fluorescent bulbs that didn’t work well in the cold, harsh lighting and with mercury to boot. Which we all threw away when LED’s came out. This time around it’s going to be lots more expensive. Hydrogen cars next?
Landru,
Perhaps if they offered free beer and liquor? Perhaps some free of charge professional sex workers? Or they could offer what the FedGov really likes and offer up some kidnapped under age girls.
Slot machines and “free” video games.
Reply to John Kable:
Aah, the low flush toilet but only if you don’t have to flush it six times…. Luckily I have a really old one and replace the odd part as required. Vinegar works well for hard water stains as well.
Now as for the other inducements such as sex and alcohol; we all know that no matter what they say nothing’s free or as R.A. Heinlein always said “TANSTAAFL” (There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch) and even though bars might offer free snacks and such, it’s salty so you wind up buying a couple beers anyways. In other words if they don’t get you coming they will get you going.
PS- the under age girls will be peddling bicycles hooked to generators so as to charge EV’s.
Hence why the long-running TV sitcom “Married with Children”. Yeah, Al’s a dumb-ass, but even he can’t be fooled. I like the episode where he goes to the trouble to remodel his spare half bathroom to have a (fictional) Ferguson brand toilet, as supposedly it’s anything but a “low flush” commode. Once Al’s got his potty installed, he happily does his business in the “reading room”….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHQWPI8JNxk
Landru,
Or worse, the 1.5 gallon flush toilet. It took more than a decade for the toilet engineers to figure out how to make them actually work.
Landru, that raises a question: If you run the heater to keep from freezing to death while you charge, what is the minimum level charger needed to produce a net gain as you sit there waiting?
Btw, I’m retired and you can put me in the No Way In Hell column. With my time on this earth slipping away, the last thing I want to spend it on is sitting in a dealer’s waiting room listening to CNN and somebody’s fussy 2-year-old.
Reply to Roland:
Well you could burn trash in a barrel and feel like you’re on Kensington Ave. in Philly trying to stay warm. Of course once were all in on green we’re going to turn blue (hypothermia) cause there’s no way we’re going to be able to afford green heat, hot water and Ev’s all at the same time once we get EU level power bills.
Although officially banned in Europe, incandescent bulbs are still sold as “heaters”.
There are always ways around the lies and fabrications.
As to oil, calling it “fossil fuel” plays right into the hands of “peak oil” (actually anti-oil) proponents. These true “luddites” HATE the idea of oil being a “renewable resource”.
Oil deposits are being found much deeper than that of “fossil layers” throwing the whole idea of oil being a “fossil fuel” out on its head. Calling oil a “fossil fuel” is scientific dishonesty at its worst, not unlike “global warming” (oops, I mean “climate change”). Oil is “abiotic”, being created by yet-unknown processes deep within the earth.
It is log overdue to call out anyone who calls oil a “fossil fuel”.
anarchyst,
And guess who pioneered drilling below the fossil layer for oil? Russia.
Not that I’m cheerleading for Russia, since I despise any gang of Psychopaths In Charge. But their “leadership” does seem to have at least some comprehension of reality. Which is oodles more than ours do.
And guess what country (among a handful of others) STILL manufactures SIMPLE, old-school cars and trucks? Also Russia. Hmm, I guess that’s one of the reasons our overlords want us to hate it. lol
Hi John.
I’ve always had a fondness for the Russian people. They are a great people, with a grand history. That having been said, I despise their various governments, almost as much as I do Mordor on the Potomac. But I love the ideal that was once America.
Its best to keep a clear distinction in ones mind between a countries people, and the Gang of thieves and murderers that rules them.
Hi BJ,
It’s a measure of how bad things are here that over there (Russia) increasingly seems better. I’ve noted for years the fact that in Russia, the obsession with saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaafety doesn’t exist and people aren’t hassled over petty personal matters such as wearing seat belts and helmets. Putin, though an authoritarian, isn’t Woke, either.
Eric,
The US Psychopaths In Charge hate Putin because he interrupted their plundering of Russian resources that Yeltsin was all on board with.
Hi John
Not only that. Those behind the psychopaths in charge hate the Russians even more.
Since you’ve studied Russian history, I suspect you know who they are. They did not take it at all well, when their schemes for the USSR got blocked, and many of their assets removed.
If you are familiar with the writings of Halford Mackinder and his thoughts on the “World Island” you understand the Neo Cons hysterical focus on keeping Russia and Germany from forming an alliance. Now imagine that alliance spreading to China and its allies. The Empire would not like that at all. In fact it has destroyed entire countries that posed a threat to the petrodollar. But its not at all used to dealing with a near peer competitor. Especially not one that has as many nukes as it has, and hyper sonic missiles.
Are you familiar with the Confessions of an economic hitman by John Perkins? Compare that with War is a racket by major general (USMC) Smedley D Butler, and you can see that the same rackets have been running for well more than a century.
Couple that with the antics of the central bank cartel, and you have the dire situation we find ourselves in.
Putin may be a bastard, but he gets shit done, which is why he’s still in office.
BJ,
As have I a fondness for Russians. I’ve done a lot of reading of 19th century literature, including three translations of War and Peace. Which drove me to explore Russian history. Which oddly enough compares roughly with that of the US, other than Russia being repeatedly invaded. A vast unexplored untapped frontier. The US has tapped that frontier. Russia has only begun to.
Both Napoleon and Hitler drove them all the way to Moscow, and then had their asses handed to them. Hitler had his handed to him in Berlin, after Russia was basically lying on the ground bleeding out a few years previous.