How the EV Stole Christmas

By
eric
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178
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An attempt to visit my mom for Christmas gives a window into what life can be like when you drive an EV.

The EV I attempted to use to visit my mom with is a brand-new Mercedes EQS, which is a top-of-the-line EV. It is basically an electric version of the Mercedes S-Class sedan and its base price is $102,300 for the EQS 450. The one I am test driving is the EQS 580, which has a more powerful battery, 340 miles of putative range and an MSRP of $125,900.

When it was dropped off a couple of days ago, it only had about 170 miles of putative range remaining, as contrasted with the fully fueled vehicles that are usually left for me to test drive. I use the adjective, putative, with reason – which will be explained shortly.

The reason the EVs I get are not left here fully charged has to do with the fact that there is no practical way to leave them here fully charged as there is no “fast” charger close to where I live. The nearest one is an EVGo 50 khW “fast” charger about 25 miles away. Unfortunately, it is not very “fast” – even by “fast” charging standards.

Many people are unaware of the fact that not all “fast” chargers can “fast” charge an EV to even 80 percent capacity in the 30-45 minutes one regularly hears repeated by the media – kind of like one heard a lot about “the cases! the cases!” from the same media. It depends on how powerful the “fast” charger you plug into is. Some, like the EVGo “fast” chargers in my area, require you to wait a lot longer. As in an hour or more to recover about 100 miles of putative range.

The drivers who shuttle vehicles to car journalist like me only have so much time to wait as they are on the clock – and (in the case of delivering me EVs) have already had to wait twice along the way from where they started their trip – the press pool up in the DC area, about 240 miles away – and my place, in SW Virginia about 30 miles from downtown Roanoke. A trip that takes about four hours took about six, not counting the third stop at the EVGo not-so-fast charger on the outskirts of Roanoke, where the driver waited for probably an hour (as I did, the last time I was at this charger) to instill enough range to leave the EV with me with exactly half of its 340 mile putative range, fully charged.

You may begin to see my developing problem.

My mom lives in a care facility in Bedford, Va – about 50 miles away. Thus, a roughly 100 mile round trip. Ordinarily, this trip would require about five gallons of gas to power my 20 MPG truck there and back. And ordinarily, I keep at least that much gas in its tank – and it’s a matter of minutes to put another 10 gallons in and have a full tank and 300 miles of range. This is less than the putative fully-charged range of the EQS. But – remember – the EQS was not left here fully charged.

The day it was dropped off, I used it to drive down to the gym and back, a round trip of roughly 50 miles that used up about 70 miles of the originally indicated (and putative) range of 170 miles. This seems to be typical. All of the EVs I have driven thus far suffer a loss in actual range of 10-20 percent, probably because I live in a mountainous rather than flat area and driving up causes range to go down. Also driving at higher rather than lower speeds, which I do not so much because I “speed” but because I do not live in the city and so most of my driving is not in the city, where the kind of stop-and-go “city” driving that is the EV’s metier is done.

And upon which kind of driving, probably, the putative (best case) range estimates are based.

Anyhow, my short trip of roughly 50 miles left about 100 miles of indicated – of putative – range remaining when I got back home. Not enough to go see mom the next day in Bedford. Or rather, not enough to get there and back – at least, not without really pushing it and hoping the EQS did not run out of range before we got home. So, I plugged the EQS in to acquire more charge. This was around 2 p.m. on Thursday before Christmas weekend. On Friday morning, the car had acquired 22 more miles of putative range after having been plugged – to household 120V current – for about 18 hours.

Why so little range acquired? In the first place, because recharging a high-voltage EV battery using 120V household outlets takes a really long time, under the best of circumstances. It is akin to filling an olympic-sized swimming pool with a garden hose. It can be filled this way, but the wait will be very long.

It will be even longer if the charging is performed under less-than-ideal circumstances, such as the car not parked inside a heated garage but tethered to a wall outlet inside the garage while it is parked outside – in bitter cold weather.

Which is what we’re having here in SW Virginia this Christmas weekend.

When it is cold out, the EV is trying to keep its battery pack warm, which consumes electricity and so saps range, even as it sits charging. 120V charging can hardly keep up with this, which is why I awoke to just 122 miles of indicated-putative range showing on Friday morning.

In theory, enough – just barely – to make the drive to see my mom  and make it back. But when it is 9 degrees (and falling) out, it is not a comfortable feeling to venture out on a trip you might not make. Remember – never forget – that when you run out of charge in an EV you are dead in the water. Or rather, dead by the side of the road, wherever you happen to be. And that is where you will be for awhile – in the cold, without heat (being electrically produced in an EV) because there is no practical way to walk back the equivalent of a couple gallons of gas so as to get going again. And avoid freezing.

In an EV, you always want to keep a safe margin of range, which – to be safe – is more than whatever the indicated-putative range remaining is.

So, I thought it would be a good idea to stop first at the EVGo “fast” charger to recover the range lost driving to it – about 25 miles – and add some more on top of that, to assure enough actual range to make it to mom’s in Bedford and make it back home again.

But when we tried to hook-up to the EVGo “fast” charger it was a no-go. The “pump” was not working. Interestingly, the power was down in the shopping center where these particular not-so-fast chargers are located. So we used the locater in the car to find the next-closest “fast” charger, which was also an EVGo charger, this one at a Sheetz gas station about 10 miles distant. By the time we got there, the putative range remaining was only about 87 miles, definitely not enough to get to Bedford and back.

But these pumps refused to work, even though they had power. I could not get the thing to accept my credit card; too old school, apparently. The insolent box demanded we use the EVGo “app” – which wants your credit card data. So so as to permit paperless/electronic debiting and – no doubt – nudge the user along the path to digital currency. But the app would not load and while we were sitting it was getting later – and colder. Temps were expected to fall to zero – or less – and I knew that would cut into whatever range we instilled, which was none – because we couldn’t get the “fast” charger to charge my card.

So we cancelled the trip to see mom and limped back home, using up two-thirds of the 87 miles of indicated range remaining by the time we arrived. The “reserve” and “charge now” warning lights illuminated as we approached my driveway, with 29 miles of indicated-putative range remaining.

I plugged the EQS back in. This was around 3 p.m. Friday afternoon. Overnight, temps have fallen into the below-zero’s (with the wind chill). As of Saturday morning – around six in the morning – the EQS had recovered 13 miles of indicated/putative range. This is just barely – and just maybe – enough actual range to make it back to the EV-no-go “fast” charger, where it would take at least an hour of waiting to get the range back up around the 170 miles of range the EQS had when it was dropped off.

But I think I will leave it plugged in for longer – meaning, for another day – before I attempt to go anywhere again. The EQS is a very nice car. It is, after all a top-of-the-line S-Class. You go in style and comfort. Just not very far, not very fast.

To be fair, it’s not the car’s fault, per se. If it were possible to “fast” charge it at home in an hour or two, then no issue – because you’re home. If the “fast” chargers available elsewhere didn’t take so long to charge, no problem, again. But you cannot “fast” charge” at home – and going to a commercial “fast” charger makes you wait where you don’t want to be. And, of course, you must allot the time to drive to and from these “fast” chargers. It’s a circular – and compounding – problem.

As far as seeing my mom, we’ll be taking the truck.

While the Mercedes sits.

. . .

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178 COMMENTS

  1. Oh, just wait until the “payment APP” ends up having to be “pogrommed” into the car with
    YOUR financial information and concession, in order to even activate the re-charge functionality of the vehicle. Won’t that be “convenient”?

  2. OK, the “fake commercial” (with J.L-D.?) is at least funny, if not downright accurate. What a great “future” we have to look forward to eh?

  3. Christmas 2022 weekend has already become an outstanding example of why EVs will NEVER, EVER even come close to replacing even 50% of the existing gasoline & diesel autos and trucks that currently exist to the road right now, let alone the “FUTURE”. Especially after all the weather from just ONE STORM, that has nearly shut down the entire NorthEast US.
    Global Warming/Climate Change are “environmental Con-Jobs” and this “EV Utopia” is just another bi-product of all these lies and manufactured hysteria.

    • The Three Bears – Updated 21st Century Edition:

      Papa Bear couldn’t drive his EV to the ecology site, because it was too coooold!
      Mama bear couldn’t drive her EV to gender reassignment therapy because it was too hot!
      But Baby Bear’s EV burst into flames, burning down the house which was occupied by Goldilocks, the privileged unvaccinated racist white girl, killing her, and it was aLLLLLLright.

  5. Texas Freeze Raises Electricity to $900 to Charge a Telsa

    The electricity shortage in Texas amid the cold snap has sent spot electricity prices soaring so much that the surge in power prices equals a cost of $900 for charging a Tesla.

    The typical full charge of a Tesla costs around $18 using a Level 1 or Level 2 charger at home, according to estimates from The Drive. This estimate is based on an average price of $0.14 per kWh of power.

    However, the extreme winter weather this week has sent Texas spot electricity prices soaring, as the wind turbines froze in the ice storms and reduced the wind power generating capacity in the Lone Star State by half.

    Spot electricity prices at the West hub have soared above the grid’s $9,000 per megawatt-hour cap, compared to a ‘normal’ price of $25 per megawatt-hour,

    https://21stcenturywire.com/2021/02/18/texas-freeze-raises-electricity-to-900-to-charge-a-telsa/

  6. I sent this article to a friend in Florida whose Tesla I described as a “glorified golf cart,” outlining the nightmarish logistics I would face to drive one from where I used to live in North Carolina to visit him.

    His response to the article? It’s warm, so cold isn’t a problem, and he only drives his Tesla ten miles a day!

    • In other words, he should be driving a golf cart. Or a scooter.

      But that’s fine, I’m not one to judge one’s choice in transportation, nor would I demand they be more sensible. That’s how tyrannies get started.

  7. This comment is about the lousy EV products, not about the author.

    After setting a world record with five articles NEEDED to explain the charging problems with the Ford Lightening. Mr. Peters has set another record for a car review. An EV unable to make a trip for 50 miles to visit Mom due to charging problems.

    In the good old days of ICE vehicles, a review would mention fuel economy and gas tank capacity, with maybe two sentences. Then focus on conventional aspects of performance. Now, with EVs, the analysis is mainly about changing, batteries and “fuel gauges”. The review are great here — no cheerleading here.
    But these EV products are awful — expensive and inconvenient.
    With an unpredictable fuel gauge, and unpredictable charging times.
    Not like a conventional ICE fuel gauge and frequent gasoline stations.

    It’s obvious these vehicles need fast charging at home to be useful.
    But you can’t install a 480-volt fast charger at home. And if you do fast charge elsewhere, there’s the high cost and battery deterioration. And you will not be able to fully charge to 100% at any fast charge station.

    Corporations used to make profits by satisfying their customers.
    EVs will satisfy the awful leftist Goobermint, but not many customers.

    • Reply to Richard Greene:

      And yet when I pointed this out to family all I heard was: “I see lots of Tesla’s around” or
      “They’ll get better in a couple years” Try mentioning all the work and materials required to upgrade the entire grid while we de-industrialize the country at the same time as our betters say EV’s for all.

      Perhaps this is why we’re f*ckd?

      • If you want an expensive, small, inconvenient, second car with low reliability (Consumers Reports) for short trip, why not buy a Tesla 3?

        “And yet when I pointed this out to family all I heard was: “I see lots of Tesla’s around”
        You must have a smart family.

        My leftists relatives would say:
        “I saw a Tesla on the road yesterday.”
        or
        The Covid vaccines must be safe because no one I know died from one”

      • Exactly, Landru!
        More proof that the average adult American believes in fairy tales. The nightly news and mainstream websites are their Mother Goose, and they believe in the lies just like a child who leaves milk and cookies for Santa Claus.

        • Reply to Nunzio:

          Of course the milk would have to be lactose free and the cookies gluten and sugar free.

          It makes you wonder how Santa ever survived his yearly delivery route.

    • A possible improvement:
      https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/battery-swapping-spurs-kenyas-electric-motorbike-drive-2022-12-26/
      >https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/battery-swapping-spurs-kenyas-electric-motorbike-drive-2022-12-26/

      Does this technology make sense for autos?
      Possibly.
      I seriously doubt anyone who ventures off road will buy an all-electric 4WD, absent the possibility of packing several (numerous?) Jerry cans full of electrons along.

      Maybe a “base battery,” non swappable, plus several swappable battery slots, similar to cordless power tools. Modular range extenders, in other words. Maximum range limited by number of “auxiliary” battery slots provided. Fast refueling (say, 5-10 minutes) by swapping depleted battery packs for fully charged.

      • Never work, Adi. Ya have a new EV and ye get a 6 year-old battery swapped in? Plus the space, stock and manpower to do it, even on a partial battery basis…it’d just never fly. Not to mention that the overlords don’t want it, because the purpose of EVs is not to be functional convenient transportation (we already have that with ICE vehicles) but rather to make driving so nonviable, expensive and inconvenient as to make it unattainable to the average person. (If it weren’t so, they wouldn’t be yammering about this “zero emissions” nonsense, while pushing vehicles which cause MORE emissions, because they are heavier than the ones they are replacing).

  8. Engineering insiders at an American auto manufacturer working on EVs are very worried about customer acceptance of their future model EVs, due to high cost, refueling inconvenience, reliability, and lack of experienced mechanics for repairs.

    Based on my 27 years of experience in product development of the same company, engineers are traditionally overoptimistic about products they are designing. Being pessimistic is highly unusual. Some engineers expect the industry will need government bailouts / subsidies in a few years. Right now they are the silent majority — this is not something they will discuss with management.

    • Hi Richard,

      I amen what you have written. Very much off the record – these people do not want to lose their jobs – people I know inside the car companies are mortified about the future of their companies. A paradox, eh? Yet, they say nothing (publicly) because they aren’t the Deciders. Upper management is entirely Woke or just cynical and indifferent; the CEOs and just below them are all very rich and have Fuck You money. What skin is it off their noses?

      • A few additional points:
        I believe the primary reason engineers creating new products tend to be overoptimistic is their new product will (hopefully) be better than the older design it replaces. And (hopefully) better than the older competitive designs. Of course, in four years the competitors will have new designs too — no one seems to consider that fact.

        My last contact at the company, recently forced to retire a few years earlier than planned, was one always of the over-optimists. He is an electrical engineer who was working on an EV program. At first, he and fellow the electrical engineers were excited by the new EV programs. Then reality hit them — the batteries are a very weak link. One engineer suggested that customers needed to buy two EVs — one to drive, and one to charge while driving the other one. So EVs should be half the price of ICEs so customers could afford to buy two (rather than costing a lot more than ICEs). I don’t think he was really joking.

        The big problem for the industry extends beyond the EVs that will not satisfy many customers because of their high price and inconvenience.

        The BIG problem, I believe, is the auto companies survive mainly on the profits from full size ICE pickup trucks and the large ICE SUVs. How many of those will be sold with the 49 mpg 2026 model EPA CAFE fuel economy mandate if the
        high mileage EVs are not selling well?

        The fines for not meeting CAFE may not be high now, but they probably will be high in the future. That would be a big problem.

        The Big Three US auto manufacturers survive mainly because of profits from full size pickup truck and full size SUV sales. I have inside information on the costs — the profits from those large vehicles are huge.

  10. Man, two titles from ZeroHedge couldn’t be more fitting for the image at the top of Eric’s article, ‘The War On Christmas Is A War On America’ and,’Your Government Hates You’.

    To top it all off, like the recent (and past) bits we’ve all seen of the paid-for whores talking-heads all parroting the same danged thing on the TeeVee isn’t enough:

    ‘Two Tacoma Power substations, one PSE facility vandalized Christmas Day, authorities say’

    …”The Pierce County Sherriff’s Department is investigating whether the incidents were coordinated and whether they could be connected to a string of recent attacks on power substations around the country by right-wing extremists. […]

    [by right-wing extremists?]

    The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department said it’s unknown if there were any motives or if “this was a coordinated attack on the power systems.” Moss said he wasn’t sure how many suspects were involved. […]

    The motives are unclear.”…

    https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/tacoma-power-says-2-substations-attacked-christmas-day/

    Is anyone even paying attention to this crap they’re trying to pass off as journalism?
    Here, or anywhere else?

    Or,… is that why they had to tag this at the bottom?:

    “Editor’s note: The comment thread on this story has been closed because too many recent comments were violating our Code of Conduct.”

    …I guess, I just expected better from American reporters & editors.

    I know, I shouldn’t.

    I just do.

    Dahlia Bazzaz & Sydney Brownstone

    Big Time,… Fail. Whores.

    ~ rant/OFF. Hope you all had a good day.

  11. Just an hour’s drive east of Eric, another Virginian had his Christmas ruined by a badly behaving Tesssssla:

    Domenick Nati, 44, a resident of Lynchburg, Virginia, rolled into a Supercharger station Saturday afternoon with 19 miles left of charge. The Tesla’s dashboard showed outside temperatures were 19 degrees F.

    In a video posted on TikTok, Nati said battery issues began on Friday when his Tesla wouldn’t warm up so it could charge. He tried charging at his house and a Supercharger station, but nothing seemed to work.

    Nati shows in the video that an alert pops up when he plugs the car into a Supercharger stall. It reads, “Battery is heating — Keep charge cable inserted.”

    He timestamped the moment he plugged in the vehicle at 1:11 pm. One hour later, he showed the same message with 19 miles range, which meant the car didn’t charge. Then two hours later, he showed the same alert and no charge again.

    Nati abandoned the Tesla at the Supercharger station, fearing it would run out of juice. He canceled his Christmas plans because it was the only car he had, and added that Tesla customer support wouldn’t help him troubleshoot the problem.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/tesla-owner-stranded-supercharger-christmas-eve-after-cold-weather-paralyzes-battery

    Cold and EeeVeeees mix like teenagers and whiskey … stay toasty, y’all! 🙂

    • Oh yeah, Jim H.
      I can’t get out of my mind how that fits in with this:

      ‘I Survived the I95 Gridlock for 16 Hours’

      … “We saw many abandoned vehicles along that route, and it felt like one of those scenes in an adventure movie where the main character sees the skeletonized carcasses of former adventurers laying by the side of the road, still wearing their armor.”…

      https://www.theorganicprepper.com/i-survived-the-i95-gridlock-for-16-hours/

      “Try doing that with your Debit Card and your Internet connected EEEEVVVV” – David H.

      Indeed!

  12. Merry Christmas To All…….I Hope Everyone is Keeping Warm.
    To Eric’s comment….I still have a memory from my childhood relating to the ’70s “Gas Crisis”… when no one could get gas….one late afternoon a Chevron stake-bed (do they even make those anymore) pulled up the driveway loaded with a dozen or so 50 gallon drums of gasoline….once he took delivery, my Dad owned that gas…He could do whatever he wanted with it. Try doing that with your Debit Card and your Internet connected EEEEVVVV if you are on someones Naughty List.

  13. At a neighbor’s house in sight of my front door was–no longer is–an EV being charged up. When visiting, my brother made fun of it, saying stuff like, “I wonder how much coal is burned to fully charge that car.”
    After looking at the EV being charged for about a year, out of the blue it was replaced by a car with with a good old internal combustion engine. I got to ask my neighbor about that, who simply said, “I decided to trade that car in for something more practical.”
    I told my brother about that the next time he visited. He just smiled and changed the subject.

  14. This is how the government lies to people…a government paid troll spreading lies, misinformation to stupid EV buyers….using social media….lol…this is why people are so stupid………….

    government lying troll says…..

    With 12 solar panels at a cost of $250 each, plus inverter another $800, you can have enough capacity to charge a tesla 3 every day. Less than $4k and never pay for gas again.

    Most people would think thats a pretty good deal and worth living within the limitations of an EV platform.

    an informed intelligent person responded….

    A level 1 charger outlet from your house, providing 3.7kW, takes 11 – 30 hours to charge.

    If you could get 100% efficiency from 12 100-watt panels + inverter (impossible, but let’s assume anyway), you’re only talking 1.2kW.

    How do you figure 1.2kW in 24 hours (if there was 24 hour sunlight @ 100% efficiency) = 3.7kW in 11 – 30 hours?

    NOTE: charging a tesla with 12 solar panels is probably impossible……the sun shines just a few hours a day, at night it is dark, in some northern countries/areas there is no sun for 7 months in the winter,

    the tesla batteries leak 3% per day just sitting ….a 93 kwh battery X 3 % leakage = 2.79 kwh leaked out/lost every day just sitting….lol

    If you could get 100% efficiency from 12 100-watt panels + inverter (impossible, but let’s assume anyway), you’re only talking 1.2kW.

    The batteries leak 2.79 kwh per day…how can you charge it up with solar panels putting out a total of 1.2 kwh per day?….great lefist/communist/liberal math….lol

    NOTE:

    A tesla owner says:

    I had my Model X since December 2016. Ever since, it drops 3-4 miles a night, which represents 5-10 miles of loss a day. On average, it drops 7.0 miles a day. This is in a 65 degree F garage.

    Taken it to Tesla twice now.
    Tesla service says that “Tesla engineering specifications found the vehicle performing adequately with……..
    ATTENTION: an anticipated daily 3%-5% stationary range consumption….just sitting parked going nowhere, is normal.”

    • “With 12 solar panels ,.. you can have enough capacity to charge a tesla 3 every day”

      Except when you want to charge your Tesla at night after work, and have it charged before you have to drive to work the next morning. Charging a Tesla 3 with solar panels at night? How does that work?

      • Hi Richard,

        In re “12 solar panels.” I call bullshit. How many panels are necessary to provide electricity to power a typical single family home? I think it is more than 12. Or at least, you would need 12 huge panels. As in large enough to more or less cover most of the square footage of the entire roof. Then you would need a very high capacity battery storage system. And then – most of all – you would need reliable sunshine. People in Southern Ca and AZ have that, of course. But people in other areas – mine, for instance – regularly have days in a row of overcast/rain and very little in the way of “hard” sunshine. Utter baloney that you could reliably keep a house running on solar. Ergo, utter baloney that you could reliably power a EV this way.

        • It’s like 30 panels to do a house, and that’s not using AC, or electric heat (still need oil, gas for that). Then you need mega batteries to last through the night.
          NO way in hell is 30 panels with mega batteries going to charge a 100-150Kw EV battery over night.
          Why do these people continue to lie? or are they just stupid and want to believe?

        • I call BS too. My house has 8 350W panels and is off-grid capable (it’s a great feature in CA). In the summer, these 8 panels make about 12kWh per day. In the winter, they make about 3kWh per day. This is in CA sunshine and close to optimal panel orientation.

          If you want to charge a Tesla with modern panels, say, 1/2 of its capacity, you need 60kWh including losses. This would be 40 350W panels in the summer, and 160 of these panels in the winter.

          My 8 panels cost $7,000 installed. Each panel itself cost about $400, the rest was installation, junction boxes, etc.

    • Looking at today’s production from my 6KW system…

      Currently producing 260W. Total production on this very overcast and cloudy day: 12.1 KWh. Most of which was produced between 9:00 and 13:30 because they’re orientated more to the east than due south. For the month of December, 251 KWh. November – February I don’t make enough power to offset use, and use up “banked” production from the summer months, about 2 MWh that I didn’t use over the summer.

      If I had used that power for charging an electric car that’s driven every day I doubt I’d have any excess to put onto the neighborhood grid. So even though I’d maybe run my car on solar, my neighbors’ power would still come from fossil fuel sources instead of my solar system, and the dreaded CO2 would continue.

  15. Here it comes:
    https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2022/12/25/great-reset-home-heating-and-electric-car-charging-to-be-remotely-throttled-under-government-scheme/

    >Germany’s Federal Network Agency, a government watchdog responsible for the regulation of electricity and gas in the country, has announced a new plan that will allow power grid operators to remotely limit the use of heat pumps and electric car chargers in Germany next winter without the user’s permission.

    Today Germany, tomorrow the world.
    Sieg heil, comrades.

  16. The Mercedes-Benz EQS may he the up and coming version of the old Jags. So unreliable, it becomes and excuse to be “fashionably late” to your _____ event. We’ll yah know he drives an EQS so we’ll see him in another hour or so. Chuckles in “more dollars than sense.”

  17. VW manufactured 250 of those one liter diesels. One is for sale.

    200 were sold. They’re 150 grand plus.

    The 2023 Prius is a car to buy these days, a hybrid is not a bad idea, they don’t look like an old beater anymore. They will go a long ways with no worries.

    GE Electromotive should get into the game there.

    Mazda has their first electric, the MX-30 for 2022. An EV with a range of 100 miles, at least they’re being honest more so than not. One costs 33,000 dollars plus a few more hundred. Looks like a good car for an electric. It’s a fun mobile.

    The Norwegians have electrics, also an ICEV for the long hauls.

    Electric and hybrid were 75 percent of the market share in 2020 in Norway.

    • In Norway 62% of new cars sold now are EV’s

      One reason for that is a $23,000 government rebate for EV buyers

      The EV is a 3rd or 4th car, these EV buyers have one or more ice vehicles which they use for 80% of their driving….the EV’s are driven very little….what a joke….

      so the EV’s they are jamming down your throat, are completly useless…a bottomless pit to throw money into….and…are very dangerous… with their lithium fire bomb batteries….

      the EV is just for virtue signalling…and for getting the $23,000 government (tax dollars) check….lol

      ATTENTION:…it didn’t work….reducing hydrocarbon use…

      Norway’s consumption of gas is flat for the last 20 years….the purchase of these EV’s did not reduce gas consumption, because most of the driving there is done in ice powered vehicles……so the EV’s didn’t reduce hydrocarbon use….lol….

      • ATTENTION:…it didn’t work….reducing hydrocarbon use…

        62% of new cars in Norway are EV’s and look at this…..

        Norway’s consumption of gas is flat for the last 20 years….the purchase of these EV’s did not reduce gas consumption, because most of the driving there is done in ice powered vehicles……because EV’s are useless…so the EV’s didn’t reduce hydrocarbon use….lol….

        it won’t work anywhere…it is all lies….EV’s are completely useless…..that is why they will outright ban all ice vehicles…including hybrids

      • Hi Richard,

        I never gave a damn how other people viewed my car. The Prius is beautiful in my eyes, which (for me) is all that matters. like the Camry hybrid also, but the Prius gets much better mileage and costs less. Horses for courses.

        • My neighbor has an old Prius with the license plate “Oils Gone”. Also has solar panels on his roof. Talks about alternate energy all the time, Wrote his master’s degree thesis on home solar panels. Lucky me.

          I know the 2022 Prius is not as bad as the older models
          But I think it’s still a dork-mobile.
          But calling it “beautiful” is hard to believe
          Like men calling their wife or girlfriend “beautiful” because they have to?

          • Hi Richard,

            The Prius is beautiful to me because it is very cheap to operate and very affordable to buy. These things can average better than 50 MPG and they can be bought for around $25k, which us about half the cost of a Tesla3 or Mach e Mustang. A Prius has a range of more than 600 miles on a tank, too.

            • Okay that definition of beaurtiful makes sense for the Prius.
              I prefer the larger Camry hybrid. I test drive one each time I end up buying an ICE Camry, because we don’t drive enough each year to pay back the extra cost of the Camry hybrid model. But the technology for hybrids works well!

          • Hi Richard,
            I recently had an Uber ride in a hybrid Camry, seems like a really nice car (Toyota quality of course). Maybe I’ll be able to pick up a good used one when the market crashes.

  18. In 68-plus years, I don’t think I had ever before considered the concept of freezing to death in luxury. So thank you, Eric, for that!

  20. “This seems to be typical. All of the EVs I have driven thus far suffer a loss in actual range of 10-20 percent”.

    Hilly terrain will decrease the nominal range of an EV noticeably. The reason is that static energy gained when going uphill is not fully restored when going downhill again. This process is only about 50 % effective.

    As far as I know, most EVs will have about the advertised range in a flat area (but everything is stealing range, including heating, AC, wet roads (just a little), snow, sleet, low temperatures and even typical dedicated winter tires used in Europa).

    • Hi Jone,

      Yup. These EVs are, fundamentally, an attack on people who do not live in or close to urban hives. It is deliberate and it is evil. It is the culmination of more than a half-century’s war on the car by the people who despise them.

      • buy an EV…then you have to go on a hunger strike to get it fixed….lol….maybe EV’s are unfixable….lol…

        Don’t buy an EV, way too many problems, they are unsafe and a nightmare.

        Norwegian Tesla Owners Go On Hunger Strike Over Company’s Poor Customer Service And Build Quality

        The owners are taking exception with “poor customer service” and being “ignored by the automaker” as phone calls go unanswered.

        According to the report, the list of issues with their vehicles includes

        “poor paint quality,rust,

        inability to meet claimed battery life, short battery life, these lithium batteries have a short life and cost $22,000 to replace

        failing heat pumps, so no heat in the car you freeze to death…and heat pumps don’t work in very cold weather = you freeze

        stuck door handles in the cold, can’t get in the car, you freeze to death

        yellowing infotainment screens (that Tesla told the NHTSA were only meant to last “5-6 years” anyway).” So a tesla life span is 5 – 6 years….lol

        issues with the car’s lights,
        bubbling seats,
        water collecting in the trunk, not even sealed properly, low quality
        loose trim pieces,
        reduced power…not good battery or motors issue
        “autopilot does not work properly,,,very dangerous, lots of crashes, drives into walls…lol

        Regardless, owners felt like they had to escalate the issue because the company’s customer service is awful. They complain about spending “an inordinate amount of time waiting on hold to actually speak with someone from Tesla” and not having their calls returned.

        charging problems…30% of the fast chargers in san francisco are broken, these chargers need a lot of maintenance, it isn’t getting done….

        Fun Fact*****
        Almost every Tesla in America has been recalled at least once.

        https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/norwegian-tesla-owners-go-hunger-strike-over-companys-poor-customer-service-and-build

      • I don’t understand why Mercedes did not deliver a fully changed EV on a flat bed trailer. What’s wrong with Mercedes? Consumer Reports readers claim the brand now has the lowest reliability of any brand. … With EVs you need two: One to drive and the other to charge.

        • Hi Richard,

          A flatbed would have been embarrassing. But then, so is what happened…. It makes me almost physically ill to watch great brands such as MB go down this road.

  21. Great review, albeit sobering. Perhaps someone should begin marketing a small trailer containing a supplemental universal battery pack, which could be pulled by any EV and swapped out for another universal pack in minutes. Maybe the trailer could be the size built for motorcycles to tow (and then those with electric motorcycles would be able to tow them too). A subscription service might work — pay an annual fee for use of a trailer and battery and swap them out for others whenever you need a full charge. Gas stations could also serve as swap stations. The time needed to swap out a trailer could be similar to that needed to fill up gas tank. It would be comical to see these on the road, but at least the cars would be on the road.

    • Hi Bill,

      Thanks!

      In re your suggestion: I think it is based on a false premise; i.e., that the people pushing EVs want people – you and I, that is – on the road. They don’t. The whole point of this forcing of EVs business is precisely to get us off the road. And out of the country. Into the city. Where we are under their control.

      • buy an EV…it won’t charge in cold weather and you will freeze to death…..lol

        Tesla Owner Stranded At Supercharger Station On Christmas Eve After Cold Weather Paralyzes Battery

        Domenick Nati, 44, a resident of Lynchburg, Virginia, rolled into a Supercharger station Saturday afternoon with 19 miles left of charge. The Tesla’s dashboard showed outside temperatures were 19 degrees Fahrenheit. He made a video about his awful experience over the last 24 hours.

        In a video posted on TikTok, Nati said battery issues began on Friday when his Tesla wouldn’t warm up so it could charge. He tried charging at his house and a Supercharger station, but nothing seemed to work. In a last-ditch effort, he went to Supercharger station on Christmas Eve, where he experienced the same issues.

        Nati shows in the video that a Tesla alert pops up when he plugs the car into a Supercharger stall. It reads, “Battering is heating — Keep charge cable inserted.”

        He timestamped the moment he plugged in the vehicle at 1:11 pm. One hour later, he showed the same message with 19 miles range, which meant the car didn’t charge. Then two hours later, he showed the same alert and no charge again.

        “Two hours went by and not much changed.

        “It was very slow and the numbers got lower as the temperature dropped. Eventually, it stopped charging altogether,” he told Bussiness Insider.

        Nati abandoned the Tesla at the Supercharger station, fearing it would run out of juice. He canceled his Christmas plans because it was the only car he had, and adding Tesla customer support and or roadside assistance wasn’t to help him troubleshoot the problem.

        The short video had more than 5,000 comments and went viral on TikTok with thousands of likes.

        https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/tesla-owner-stranded-supercharger-christmas-eve-after-cold-weather-paralyzes-battery

      • I think there is a bigger picture:
        Leftists want to tell everyone how to live while ruining the US economy.
        That is part of their fundamental transformation
        That is a transformation to Marxism, unfortunately, which only becomes “acceptable: after you ruin the current economic system in the US.

        That theory explains all leftist decisions and plans. We conservatives falsely assume leftists are incompetent. Incompetent bureaucrats and politicians would sometimes be wrong, and sometimes right, at random. That’s not what we have under Jumpin’ Jow Biden. All leftist decisions and plans are anti-American economy. That can not be a coincidence, It has to be the plan. From face diapers, to Covid vaccines, lockdowns, climate scaremongering, EVs and Nut Zero: All are anti-American policies — 100% of them. That is no coincidence!

        • Hi Richard,

          I long ago stopped regarding them – Leftists – as incompetent. They are evil. And determined. Power is what they seek and they will do and say whatever is necessary to get it and hold onto it. Conservatives have got to come to grips with this. That it is naive and even idiotic to “play by the rules.” The only rule is – win. By any means necessary. Fight dirty, as the Left does. When you have the advantage, be merciless. Crush them. Make them wish they’d never been born. Then, you have a fighting chance.

          • We assumed Obama’s fundamental transformation was to socialism.
            But the US is already socialist, by my definition, with 34.5% of 2022 GDP being government (at all levels) spending!

            So why does fundamental transformation continue?
            Answer: Starting in 2020, it became obvious the goal of fundamental transformation was Marxism, not EU style socialism, perhaps with a stop along the way at fascism along the way.

  22. This article could be called the Trials and Tribulations of Owning a Hundred Thousand Dollar Electric Mercedes in an Ice Storm. Is Eric writing comedy? My god, I would not own one of those for anything, and it is brand new! Just imagine how poorly it would perform after 5 years of degradation.

    And it is not like Mercedes can’t build an effiicient car:
    https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1093005_mercedes-diesel-fuel-economy-european-model-beats-60-mpg

    “Range is often discussed when the subject of electric cars comes up, but it’s also relevant in the world of internal combustion.

    Driving the most economical car in the world would still be a pain if the tank only allowed for fifty miles between trips to the gas station.

    If your car could do more than 1,200 miles on a tank though, as Mercedes-Benz has just demonstrated with the E300 Bluetec Hybrid it sells in Europe, you’d probably forget what a gas station looked like.

    Journalist Andrew Frankel from Autocar took an example of the car all the way from Tangier in the north of Africa to Goodwood in the U.K. on a single tank of diesel–recording average fuel economy of 61.2 mpg along the way.”

  23. The love affair with Elon Musk has ended, see the headlines on Drudge, I provide a screenshot, below.

    TWITTER brings Musk genius reputation crashing down to earth…

    Finances Complicated by Declining Wealth, Platform Pressures…

    HOW LOW WILL IT GO? TESLA Shares Worst Year Ever…

    Americans Realizing It Isn’t Only Electric Car…

    (BTW I call him Elron Muskrat, as a derogatory name based on that L Ron Hubbard was a con man, and I added rat to his last name, as he endorse the global warming narrative bs. He has a video presentation, totally endorses the CO2 climate false narrative – but he is a genius)

    Elron is out of favor because he undid the Leftist Commie Jewish CIA control of Twitter. But even more interesting is how the Drudge headlines totally negate the global warming claim:

    https://i.imgur.com/mmdWbmW.png

    THE COLDEST XMAS!
    ARCTIC STATES OF AMERICA
    CHILL MAP

    But wait a minute, I thought we were on the edge of catastrophic warming, just 1.3 degrees Celsius from utter doom of runaway warming according to NPR news.

    So is it possible, that the paid whore media narrative can be undone by the freezing weather? I think so, and if we are in solar minima, as the Electroverse physics website claims, then we should be in for many cold winters.

    https://electroverse.co/

    And did Elron abandoned his flagship Tesla because he can see the writing on the wall?

    • Dear Yukon jack, Elron Muskrat is quite worse than that. By the way, he did NOT undo “the Leftist Commie Jewish CIA control of Twitter.” He is on record as consulting and obeying the jews’ ADL on how to oversee Twitter. Full truth, as is allowed on WorldTruthVideos.website, is not allowed on Twitter. And Maria Farmer, a victim of jews Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, named Musk as one of their vile rats, right along with jew Dershowitz and many more.

  25. About $102K for that plush ‘Benz EV with rather dicey utility? If you’re some rich libtard in Cali(porn)ia or DC, and likely have a conventional vehicle, probably a Lexus crossover or SUV, in a GARAGE in your $4.5 MILLION dollar home, then it’s ok. And beyond the means of at least 97 percent of the motoring public.

    However, that’s about what one would pay, with the outrageous markups the dealers are charging, for a brand new “Cowboy Cadillac”, and not even the most ostentatious of them. My #2 son, doing well with his work there in North Texas, was seriously considering one as his 2006 Dodge Dakota has served long and well, but has seen better days. Of course, what ELSE could one do with about $100K on hand, and never mind the lost opportunity cost, that’s some serious bucks foregone from even sitting in a money market account. Never mind the jumbo-sized payments he’d have financing the damn thing, probably about half of his current house payment to get the damn thing paid off in any reasonable time. So he bought a ’21 Mustang Mach I, the “Fighter” edition, which still was quite a bit of dough, but as they’ve actually gone begging a bit with the recent downturn in the economy, even in the Lone Star State, he did well on that deal. And a few days ago, in frigid weather (got down to about ten above zero there overnight), he noticed a huge ATF leak…fortunately just a busted line connection to the tranny (snicker) cooler in the radiator. Is having some other work done, and a coolant flush et al, and getting a troublesome tail light fixed (we’ve spent hours when I’ve visited him trying to fix it, to no avail). The bill might seem a bit pricey, but it’s a local shop in that little town about 30 miles outside the DFW area where he lives, and the owner is grateful for the work. As I explained to him…that about 1-1/2 car payments, and he’s got a viable “beater” for commuting and getting stuff for his property. Cars are fine, but a man needs a TRUCK. And the Dakota he’s had since he bought it six years ago in Iowa, and has put about 50,000 miles and done two major moves with it, and if he needed to sell it, would probably, due to the insane prices of even old iron, get far more than the $4,000 he paid for that thing in 2016. At some point, something major will go wrong, and then the truck is ready for the junkyard, but every year is about $10K or so in payments foregone.

  26. I will probably be hiring a licensed company to run similar to an out-building I have in order to run a large air compressor. I’m sure it will not be cheap or painless.

  27. “People think only mules can pull carts. Impatient people think that, patient people know better.” – The Simpsons, season 2 ep 16 “Bart’s Dog Gets an F”

    Maybe you could make use of the EV charging time and start a blog rating the quality of Sheetz’ and other gas stations delicious food. Heck, the F-150 Lightning even has a gearshift that gets out of the way for a makeshift work desk. Like working from home, but in a parking lot!

  28. Very en-lighting….Its always been my contention that EEEEVVVVs have always been designed and promoted by the “ENLIGHTENED” people who live in California. As someone who lived there for a while ALL the people who can afford this Mercedes or a Tesla never drive very far….what about California car culture?….you ask….the drive from the “Beverly Hills” area to Malibu is about 25-30 miles and for longer drives like Palm Springs or Santa Barbara its only about 100 miles…..they will all also have Fast Chargers and “Manuel Labor” will take care of those pesky details. Notice how the range of an EEEEVVVV fits nicely within this bubble…..places like Bakersfield or Palmdale never heard of them. Anything farther you fly….preferably private.

    • I live in the San Francisco Bay area, in the heart of silicon valley. There are so many Teslas around here. It almost seems like every other car is a Tesla. The demographic in this area is mostly highly educated engineers. Lots of people with Phd’s in areas like electrical engineering and computer science. And yet so many of these highly educated engineers apparently think that Teslas are the height of advanced technology and the greatest thing since sliced bread. There are even more expensive EVs in the mall around here, such as the Lucid and the Polestar. As for me, I wouldn’t take one of these cars if it were offered to me as a gift, unless I could sell the damn thing. I am very happy with my 2018 Acura TLX with a 3.5 liter, 290 hp engine.

      • Re:Martin December 25, 2022 At 1:17 am
        They would be almost entirely electrical and software, not mechanical. Automobiles have been the realm of mechanical people up until the BEVs. So of course they think a rolling hunk of electronics and software is great.

        • Hi BrentP,

          That’s a very good point. Silicon valley is dominated by electrical and computer science engineers. There is no auto industry here, other than the remnants of Tesla in Fremont. Makes me proud that my daughter actually got her degree in mechanical engineering and worked during her senior year on a project building a car.

      • Hi Martin,

        Affluence is the key factor here, I think. Another way to state this is: Cost isn’t an object. People who buy a $50,000 EVs like we buy a bag of potato chips will just buy a second one – so as to address the problem of recharging times – and have no problem spending thousands upgrading their homes to be capable of 240V charging them both at the same time. They are also often of the Left and so there is the virtue signaling which includes accepting “sacrifices” for the greater good (just the same as with the “masking”).

        The country is bifurcating into one nation occupied by two different people. One – us – being what was once regarded as the “typical” American. Working and middle class people with traditional values. The other – the new American – is of the managerial-technocrat class, very affluent and contemptuous of the “typical” American,” whose values they sees as regressive and even simple-minded. They like – they want – a highly “technologized” society in which everything is managed . . . by them, of course.

        These two people cannot coexist. One must give way to the other or the two must find a way to separate and live apart.

        • Eric,
          And nearly everything the Fed and FedGov does increases that income disparity. Not only are the rich getting richer, they are getting fewer. As wealth is being transferred ever upward to ever richer and ever fewer “people”. It’s gone well beyond a disparity of viewpoint. Except as a disparity between the robbers and the robbed. The Lords, and the serfs. The only way we can “live apart”, is at gunpoint. Our gunpoint. “No! You are NOT going to buy up all of our land. You are NOT going to control us with digital currency. You are NOT going to put up roadblocks to productive commerce. Etc.”

          • The Blowback From Strip-Mining Labor For 45 Years Is Just Beginning

            The slaves have been robbed for a very long time, but over the last 45 years it got a lot worse….

            Now the slaves are refusing to work….

            The ugly truth is corporate / institutional employers stopped caring about their employees decades ago. This is the bitter fruit of hyper-financialization and hyper-globalization, which both reduce labor to a globally arbitraged commodity and an input cost that had to be cut to the bone to maximize shareholder value, i.e. profits and stock options that flow to the top management and top 5%.

            profits and stock options that flow to the top management and top 5%….who got the money?

            The elite nobility and their billionaire friends at the top…the elite luciferians

            the elite luciferians think they are are at a level above the useless eaters…they are the new gods….The new olympians, the guardians…….. that is what the globalist/luciferian/one world government/wef trash call themselves, the new gods.

            The elite nobility and their billionaire friends …….Elitism is of the essence here; only powerful spiritual adepts and Luciferian masters deserve to occupy the higher realms and to enjoy the the benefits found only there.” the elites think they are at a higher level then the useless eaters on the bottom….so they should own and control everything….

            This exploitation of labor resulted in the transfer of $50 trillion from labor to shareholders and management, the owners and managers of concentrations of capital which capture and distort governance mechanisms to serve the interests of capital to the exclusion of the common good and the workforce.

            Now the slaves are refusing to work….it is probably another reason for the wef agenda 2030 population reduction agenda…

            They can just use robots and AI which is cheaper and causes fewer problems….

            The elite nobility at the top own 80% of the planet’s wealth already…now they are going for 100%….they warned you…you will own nothing….

            https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/blowback-strip-mining-labor-45-years-just-beginning

        • The the bifurcation, Eric, N.S. Lyons laid it out well in Feb 22 regarding the Canadian Trucker Strike

          https://www.city-journal.org/canada-trucker-protests-and-the-new-class-divide

          The biggest challenge that I see is how to separate. It’s like separating the flour and eggs after it’s been through a mixer. Perhaps the Atlas Shrugged method is the way. Those that produce need to stop and let the parasites wither and die. It might take a few years but, at least the producers will survive.

          On the upside, I know this is not my eternal home…only passing through…Merry Christmas.

        • Hi Eric,

          This is an insanely affluent, overpriced area. The average home around here is in the range of two million dollars, and I can go for a walk in my neighborhood and pass five or six million dollar homes. People around here actually doze their old home and build a brand new home on the lot after they’ve torn down their old home. For people with this kind of money, the cost of a new Tesla is no big deal.

          I used to think that affluent, high income people would naturally be supporters of low taxes and small government. Apparently, lots of high income people don’t seem to mind paying obscenely high taxes to governments that are strangling the life out of society. Paradoxically, the democratic party has become the party of the affluent and the republican party the party of the working class.

          • Hi Martin,

            In re: “I used to think that affluent, high income people would naturally be supporters of low taxes and small government. ”

            Many of these “work” for the government, directly or indirectly. A good example of the type being Dr. Fauci. $400k annually, if I recall correctly. Net worth in the millions. I used to live in the DC area, which is very much like your area in terms of the average income/house, etc. These people feed off us like ticks and haven’t got the decency to just fall off when bloated with our blood.

            • Re: eric December 25, 2022 At 4:55 pm

              Yep. These cheerleaders for ‘the working class’ and pushing the taxation and big government if one looks into them they often get their livelihood from the government directly or indirectly. The numbers of people who make their way by the political means grows year after year. The scams get bigger and bigger and so many people just fall for it.

            • Great point, Eric. And let’s include all levels of governement, especially schools and “first responders” who’s ranks have balooned in the last 20 years. Oh, not so much the front line workers, but the whole apparatus behind them to make sure they do as their told, ‘lest they bring about the legal industry. This is where all the increased taxpayer dollars went, not to the “poor” teachers (although they have it much better than most). And the grant writers, administrators, HR departments and other hangers-on.

              And don’t forget the “private” corporations that keep the beast fed…

              The Jan 6 protesters thought Trump was robbed. Perhaps, but I think all the people who felt threatened by Trump got out for their guy and make sure the leviathan wouldn’t shrink one iota. And even added on a few more crises for good measure.

              • RK, let’s not forget those ‘poor teachers’ pensions, either- which are bankrupting many states (or rather, the citizens of those states). Here in KY the teachers union brought about the election of a blue governor (Deposing the incumbent fairly decent red one) just by waging a huge campaign over their pensions. Not to mention similar shenanigans in this and many other states concerning all ‘civil servants’ pensions- which have become the single biggest liabilities in every state that I know of- and the bluer the state, the worse it is. And now with many already-retired ‘civil servants’ migrating to red states to live-out their remaining years on 6-figure publicly-funded pensions, they continue to vote like the union monkeys they are, thus helping to turn those states blue.

                • Hi Nunz,
                  Teachers unions are the worst; biggest reason my property taxes are so ridiculously high. Always crying poverty yet have pensions higher than what I made while working. Let’s not forget that teaching is a part time job with all school vacations and summer off; 180 school days required divided by 365 days in a year = half time job, not to mention the half day “conferences” once a week. Quite the racket, makes me wish I could get in on it.

                  • Hi Mike,

                    Amen!

                    Even more galling is the fact that these “schools” do not educate. The graduates are often barely literate and usually innumerate. Few know how to think – as opposed to being trained what to believe. A government school diploma is worthless as a measure of competence. Government schools are, at best, holding pens designed to retard adulthood by prolonging adolescence and – per Carlin – designed to produce obedient workers.

                • The world derivatives market is $1,000 trillion, the world GDP is $87 trillion, could a blowup in the derivatives market take out the financial system?

                  Pension funds ready to implode, they are unfunded.

                  Politicians give/promise government workers’ (and themselves), huge, gold plated, defined benefit, pensions, (this insures loyalty to their mandate/narrative), they are unfunded, money from general revenue (taxes) is being used to prop them up, yes, your tax dollars…the taxpayer finances this….lol

                  government pension plans who get the first lien on any tax revenues. Pensions get paid 100% before a single dollar goes to schools, police or any other gov service.

                  on top of that they are using very highly dangerous derivatives, LDI, to manage risk, when this pension mess implodes it could take down the whole financial system.

                  What is often getting overlooked in the UK pension meltdown is the use by the pension funds of a niche highly dangerous derivative product “liability-driven investing” (LDI).

                  NOTE: Most pension funds use LDI.

                  BlackRock, which sits between the pension schemes and banks on derivatives trades designed to hedge against adverse movement in interest rates and inflation, told its clients that it would no longer demand additional collateral but would instead liquidate holdings to meet margin calls that were soaring due to the extreme volatility in UK asset prices.

                  Yes, highly dangerous derivatives are still the same weapons of mass financial destruction in 2022 as they were in 2007 and 2008.

                  The US derivative market amounts to about $200 Trillion notional value, which means that as Powell raises interest rates, margin calls and refinancing costs rise accordingly, forcing either defaults or liquidations–precipitating the liquidity crisis the BoE is hoping to prevent with their buying of 30-year gilts.

                  Forced by Blackrock….The Breaking Begins: BoE Intervention Halts The Rise In Yields At The Expense Of Everything Else
                  just as JPMorgan did in 2019 with The Fed and ‘Not QE’ to bailout the repo market, BlackRock exercised its ‘TBTF Put’ and forced The Bank of England’s hand to re-liquify the long-end of the gilts market.

                  Lord Acton — ‘The issue which has swept down the centuries and which will have to be fought sooner or later is the people versus the banks.’

                  Banker quote……..“At some point this morning I was worried this was the beginning of the end,” said a senior London-based banker, adding that at one point on Wednesday morning there were no buyers of long-dated UK gilts. “It was not quite a Lehman moment. But it got close.”

                  Soon the reasons for the intervention became clear: Rising yields were driving Britain’s pension funds and housing markets into a collective meltdown,

                • Catherine Austin Fitts says around 1995 during globalization, money was looted, went offshore, all the pension funds were looted, there is no money left.

                  Note: Dr. Marc Faber says all governments steal between 5% (honest governments) and 100% (crooked governments) of the money collected, borrowed.

                  in 1998 they knew the math didn’t work to fund pension plans, wouldn’t be able to pay the pensions.

                  ATTENTION: in 2003 they said between 2020 and 2025 there would be a huge drop in the population numbers.

                  The bat germ injections were targeted to old folks homes first…they were also targeted to G7 countries, where there is pensions promised…

        • Funny thing is, Eric, a lot of the people who are driving $50K cars today (Bear in mind that there are Kias selling for over $50K!) can not legitimately afford to be driving that one $50K car for which they are heavily in debt…much less TWO.

          This is why the auto industry is in it’s dying stages right now. They make cars essentially for the affluent, but if only the affluent bought those cars, there wouldn’t be enough customers to enable the manufucturers to produce enough cars to turn a profit.

          For many years now we’ve the parking lots of factories and warehouses where people make $14/hr. half full of late-model cars. The receptionist at a dentist’s office who makes $9 is driving a late-model $40K car. Teenagers are driving $60K pick-ups…. I know of a fambly who receive entitlements who have been getting a new car every 3 years….brand new.

          This is unsustainable…and it is not only all going to come crashing down…but it is in the process of doing so right now. And the scary thing is, we’re already to the point where the cars that are old enough to be economically viable- i.e. which are old enough to be able to be had cheaply, and not festooned with hi-tech gadgetry and electronics so as to render them useless once the warranty is up, are already so old that they are already either containing someone’s Dr. Pepper; beyond reasonable serviceability shy of a complete restore, or worth as much as a new car because they’re a ‘classic’.

          The days of cheap private transportation are quickly drawing to a close……

          • One I like are the Mk3 VW’s I own two of them, they are inexpensive because they weren’t as popular as the Mk1 or Mk2 VW’s which are collectible now, so over priced, try to get one with no or little rust. Mk4 VW’s are less analog but cheap and are galvanized….

            there could be some old Volvos around still that are cheap…

            • Man, Anon, that reminds me: I haven’t seen a 60’s Volvo since the late 80’s! Were they prone to rust? Even in the 70’s and 80’s they were a rare sight, even in NYC. I used to always take notice when I’d see one because they looked cool and were so uncommon.

  29. I’m located in the UpState of South Carolina. Power was out for 14 hours yesterday and 6 hours today due to down lines. Also Duke Energy announced rolling black-outs because the electrical grid can not handle the increased loads due to temp being below normal. Was 10deg F. this morning. Many use Heat Pumps here since the normal temperatures in winter are usually not bad. Most winters I will not need a really heavy coat. Heat pumps are terrible when temps drop below the mid 40s. Having an EV with a heat pump seems the height of stupidity, but then again we are talking about EVs.

  30. One would think, the manufactures of these modern conveyances would be smart enough to bring them to you on a flat bed, fully charged. Your review could then focus more on performance, not all the ancillary issues involved with just getting them out the driveway.

    If a company wants the premier auto writer in the country to properly evaluate the performance of their product, seems a small price to pay, delivering it fully charged. Maybe this is the way the big auto makers push back against Uncle, without looking like they are against his agenda. We’ve all wondered why they seem to go against their own self interest as far as this EV debacle is concerned. Maybe someone in these companies is just passive aggressive.

    I loved the video on the Mercedes AA class luxury sedan. Thanks for the laugh, The ribbon release auto dump feature, batteries not included. Also the person who made the video must have had Covid, or just the sniffles. Satire so real it almost seems believable.

    • Re:Norman Franklin December 24, 2022 At 3:55 pm
      That AA powered car video was from several years ago. Even that youtube upload is 6 years old.
      People say it’s like satire is dead because real life is satire now or at least it’s impossible to tell the difference.

  31. tesla no heat in the winter.

    EV is 12% efficient in very cold weather, plus using wipers and heater drains the battery so range is reduced even more….

    https://teslanorth.com/2021/01/01/tesla-owner-details-losing-heat-during-winter-road-trip/

    Prairie Tesla owners battle loss of heat amid extreme cold weather after software update
    A number of Tesla owners across the prairies complain they are experiencing heating issues in their vehicles at a time when temperatures have plummeted.

    The issue began in mid-December after a software update for the Model 3 and Model Y electric vehicles.

    “One day when it was – 12 C in the cabin, I was just shivering, and seems like the only fix that I can get is if I pull over at the side of the highway,” said Kelly Gibbons, who purchased his 2022 Model 3 in Edmonton on Christmas Eve.

    Gibbons says the purchase was motivated by a desire to save money on fuel costs during his work commute from Calgary to Canmore.

    Despite plugging in his vehicle nightly, Gibbons says the interior heat is intermittent even after having some sensors replaced to address it.

    “Worst case scenario, I might just have to start looking for another vehicle,” he said.

    Other drivers in the prairies have also reported having troubles with cold cars.

    One Tesla owner in Saskatchewan tweeted about his issues with a lack of interior cabin heating on Dec. 27.

    Well @elonmusk having some buyers remorse. Last Feb had our Model Y in the SC for a month with no heat. New Super-manifold and thought it was fixed. New set of sensors last week

    ATTENTION: and now this. -30c in #Saskatchewan and a very cold 1 hr drive later we barely made the supercharger pic.twitter.com/JLJ7Pmzc0P

    — Mark Kroeker (@paateach) December 28, 2021
    Two days later, another Saskatchewan driver tweeted about how a family member with a combustion engine had to come to his aide when the heat failed whilst driving with small children in tow.

    • @elonmusk @Tesla
      Our Model Y could have killed my family today when the heat stopped working in -40c Called service and the reset and auto didn’t fix. Hour away from any service. Luckily we had family in an ICE vehicle that I could put my 2 kids under 3yrs old in quickly.

      https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/prairie-tesla-owners-battle-loss-of-heat-amid-extreme-cold-weather-after-software-update-1.5729102

      tesla switched to heat pump only, they don’t work in the very cold weather…

    • Called service and the reset and auto didn’t fix…….New Super-manifold and thought it was fixed. New set of sensors last week……

      typical tech and crappy service…just replace a couple of sensors…the parts cannon….to get the customer to shut up….the problem can’t be fixed…the whole design….weak heat pump system…is inadequate….these EV’s are junk and deadly in very cold weather….

      “Worst case scenario, I might just have to start looking for another vehicle,” he said.

      • Used to be if you wanted weak heat and no defrosters, you’d buy a VW Beetle- They only cost around $1800 brand new in 1970, and would last for decades, cost next to nothing to maintain, and go through snow with no problem. They were very freeing vehicles. Now you have to pay $100K for the same thing, only it won’t last for decades, and will bankrupt you in repairs….and will tether you to chargers, software, smart phones, and expensive insurance. But hey, if you’re not going far, they’ll run circles around the VW……

        Gimme a choice: I get to win a brand new Tesla, or a restored 1970 Beetle…..you KNOW which one I’d pick! (Hint; I’d never get stranded; it would easily last me the rest of my life; and it doesn’t care how cold or hot it is outside- it just goes.)

  32. You can buy a Lucid Air in Infinite Black for 154,000 USD, a payment of 1,999 USD per month is all. Delivered to Chile will be extra.

    469 miles of range, you can reserve one right now.

    Tesla has competitors.

    Changed the foundation and cushion on the driver’s side of the Ford truck. You know how that gets after years of getting in and out.

    Auto interiors is entirely different, another world. You need hog rings and a hog ring pliers.

    • 469 miles of range….driven at 10 tenths on a race track range is 50 miles….lol…the only reason to buy it, is it is fast….to drive very fast….their only advertising is one thing…. 0 to 60 mph ….time nothing else….tesla the same….driven at 10 tenths you won’t go very far….buy an ice car…..

  34. Here’s another Grinch who tried to “Steal Christmas”…..Tony Fauci, in recent interviews with the Sunday morning “news” programs, urged everyone to get the new booster jab, wear masks, get tested, and make sure others are “vaccinated” before gathering with friends and family for Christmas. Why do I get the sense that the only people who STILL listen to him and dutifully does whatever he says are the less than 15% of vaxxed people who got the mice tested bivalent booster?

    • fauci…biggest liar that ever walked around, head of marketing for the virus hoax…it is a well paid job though…he’s probably worth a billion dollars…

      The problem is there is a lot of bs floating around in the virology field…..but they wouldn’t lie to you….actually they would…it is always about money, it is the basis for the trillion dollar allopathic medicine industry….

      The field of virology is about the same scientific level as the tooth fairy, the easter bunny, global warming, running your ice car on tap water, making gold from lead, pigs flying…100% fake science…

      it is a tough one for people to face…it is a deep rooted part of their brain washing, it causes cognitive dissonance when discussed, they don’t want to hear they have been tricked, hood winked, are stupid, don’t want to see the level of evil they are subjected to in the world run by the luciferion elite today…but remember the last two years?

      screw with your programming…watch this video where the field of virology is dissected, analysed…it is almost impossible to hear/see anything but the official narrative from the luciferion elite….lol…here is an opportunity….

      https://odysee.com/@januszkowalskii1979:e/%F0%9F%94%B4%F0%9F%94%94%F0%9F%94%B4The-Truth-about-Freedom-Talk-3-(Dr.-Andrew-Kaufman):3

      • Anon,

        There are people out there who STILL wear face diapers and got the latest booster jab. These people have fallen for probably the biggest fear porn campaign since the Cliiiiiiiiiiiiiimate change fear porn campaign, and will dutifully wear a mask if they’re told that doing so would “Stop the spread of CO2.”

        • The field of virology is about the same scientific level as the tooth fairy, the easter bunny, global warming, running your ice car on tap water, making gold from lead, pigs flying…100% fake science,,,,but these dumb f…ks believe every single word and even worse….they will jam every single word straight down your throat….using AGM’s with guns….

          remember this?….they are 100% insane satanist/luciferions…no doubt…..very dangerous non people…..

          MSNBC Contributor Calls For Biden To MURDER Unvaccinated Americans With Drone Strikes — Calls Them ‘Bioterrorists

          https://web.archive.org/web/20210911183741/https://en-volve.com/2021/09/11/msnbc-contributor-calls-for-biden-to-murder-unvaccinated-americans-with-drone-strikes-calls-them-bioterrorists/

          the mask dropped…revealing just how insane/evil they are…..they are 100% insane satanist/luciferions….never forget….

          • **”The field of virology is about the same scientific level as the tooth fairy, the easter bunny, global warming, running your ice car on tap water, making gold from lead, pigs flying…100% fake science…”**

            Well said, Anon!!

            And this is why they start instilling this fake science and ‘theories’ (Which have never been proven after a century, and never will be) in us from the time we are 6 or 7 years old, in the government indoctrination camps. And then it gets bolstered by the media (even cartoons!) and by sall of the others around us (adults) who have also been thoroughly propagated with the BS since childhood- and we grow up just accepting it as fact, and anyone who dares to question it is labeled “uneducated and ignorant”.

            In reality, their ‘theories’ and ‘science’ are usually little more than literature/science-fiction.

          • Anon,

            What made me suspicious was when these public health bureaucrats acted like natural immunity didn’t exist, even going so far as to call it CONSPIRACY THEORY, and insisting that people who recovered from the dreaded ‘Rona still needed to get vaxxed, even though some doctors argued that people who developed natural immunity via recovery from natural infection were MORE likely to have negative reactions to the COVID jabs if they got vaxxed.

          • The field of virology is about the same scientific level as the tooth fairy, the easter bunny, global warming, running your ice car on tap water, making gold from lead, pigs flying…100% fake science

            you think fauci doesn’t know this?….very very unlikely, more like impossible….he doesn’t give a shit, he is evil and making huge piles of money……the same with gates probably….he said his investments related to this have been his biggest winners…..now you know why these two evil bastards smirk after making lying statements related to this fake narrative….they are laughing in your face……

      • if you have no ethics and want make tons of money…go into the field of virology…

        It is all based on fake science……The field of virology is about the same scientific level as the tooth fairy and flying pigs, but you can make tons of money……just make shit up…it is all heavily protected, there will be zero opposition to it, because questioning their narrative is 100% illegal, will be censored, banned, demonized, prosecuted….why?….because there is a trillion dollars in profits….get in the trough….

        the most profitable business?….injuring/killing people…nice planet….lol

  35. This is EXACTLY how I imagined life with an EV would be! But what’s even more troubling than the range/inconvenience, is the tethering! i.e. having to use a credit card; jhaving to use an app (Thus having to have a smart phone); having only a handful of charging locations in any given locale; the need to constantly update the car’s software…..etc.

    The above is the handwriting on the wall of just how thorough the surveillance matrix has become. Just think of all the trackable, recordable events involved in just taking a simple drive in such vehicles! Between your own pocket tracking-device, the car’s wi-fi, the credit card, the charger, the ‘app’ (Which no doubt mine’s all of the other data on your phone- read the EULA); the limitation of range….the capability has arrived to track and control people’s movements and interactions with multiple redundancies at multiple levels in excruciating detail….all without warrant or cause, because everyone clicks “I agree”, and even pays for the “privilege”.

    Regardless of the price of gas, I’m going to now feel GOOD the next time I stop at a gas station and put some gas in my tank in 5 minutes…and PAY CASH for it!

    • Hi Nunzio

      it gets worse…

      The government of the United Kingdom is already starting to plan for power shortages caused by the charging of thousands of EVs. Starting in June 2022, the government will restrict the time of day you can charge your EV battery. To do this, they will employ smart meters that are programmed to automatically switch off EV charging in peak times to avoid potential blackouts….or maybe you social credit score is too low…lol

      In particular, the latest UK chargers will be pre-set to not function during 9-hours of peak loads, from 8 am to 11 am (3-hours), and 4 pm to 10 pm (6-hours).

      NOTE: Unbelievably, the UK technology decides when and if an EV can be charged, and even allows EV batteries to be drained into the UK grid if required.

      Imagine charging your car all night only to discover in the morning that your battery is flat since the state took the power back. Better keep your gas-powered car as a reliable and immediately available backup! While EV charging will be an attractive source of revenue generation for the government, American citizens will be up in arms.

      https://www.americaoutloud.com/the-electric-vehicle-scam/

      • Re: anonymous1 December 24, 2022 At 3:41 pm

        Remember in the early 2000s this was a “conspiracy theory” that the utilities could turn off your stuff through the smart meters? The “conspiracy theorists” presented the advertising and technical specifications for the smart meters that described the Home Area Network by which smart meters and compliant devices make this and more possible. Then the utilities back tracked that they would never use it.

        Now here we are.

  36. I have been looking for you to write about the extreme limitations of EV’s during very cold weather, and you have not disappointed. This arctic air seems to have come at a very opportune time.

  37. That’s a sad story, Eric. Certainly a poignant warning for those considering purchase of such a vehicle. It is certainly madness paying over $100k for such a thing.

    • Absolutely! What a crock!
      Spend almost 120k for the thing, (a Mercedes no less, it’s not like we’re talking about a Yugo here), and can’t go anywhere after charging it all night?
      Unbelievable. I hope this stupid eeeeveeee fad blows over soon. I’ll never own one.

  38. My neck of Dixie used to be awash in electricity between the TVA and Alabama Power. Now, we’re having rolling blackouts. It’s partly due to the number of carpetbaggers moving here. It’s partly due to the extreme cold. It’s also partly due to the closure of coal fired plants. Thanks for nothing obama –asshole.

    Our power was out 2 hours this morning. And the local media is reporting that power regulators are asking people not to use major appliances (on Christmas Eve no less). I wonder if that includes charging EVs?

    • The Enron boys spread out throughout the power grid energy markets. There’s plenty of supply but it’s offline to get the return on futures contracts where they need to be. The Texas grid failure was a dress rehearsal.

  39. What a giant POS 100 grand for some over hormoned golf cart…. that can`t go 50 miles ..I hope Benz and all the rest go belly up over this shite.

  40. EVs won’t be viable for real people until they can have the battery pack swapped out at the gas station in a few minutes instead of being plugged in.

    This would be a redesign and could be impossible.

    • IF you could get manufacturers to agree on a standard, it might, “might” work.

      Because if everyone is making their own proprietary batteries, and they are integral components of the chassis, you’re requiring a “Quick Exchange” place to carry big bulky batteries for GM, Ford, Tesla, etc.

      And I’d expect the battery pack for the F-150 Lightning Eric tested is bigger than the one powering the Mustang Mach E he tested. If I am wrong it’s because I don’t care about EVs. So you’re still stuck with multiple sized batteries in big, space devouring racks.

      You’d think someone would try the battery swapping idea in racing, like the Indianapolis 500 or 24 Hours of Le Mans. But no, let’s build these electric cars nobody asked for and force them on folks. 😒

  41. Trouble in the PJM Interconnection, including most of Virginia:

    ‘PJM declared a Stage 2 emergency late Friday and asked customers to conserve electricity due to the rising risk of grid instability.

    “PJM is asking consumers to reduce their use of electricity, if health permits, between the hours of 4 a.m. on December 24, 2022, and 10 a.m. on December 25, 2022,” PJM wrote in a press release.

    ‘PJM is trying to prevent a Stage 3 emergency, which would result in rolling blackouts across 13 states and the District of Columbia.’ — ZH

    Damn … spent $104,400 on this luxury EeeVeeee … and now the lights are flickering! And no 240-volt, 30-amp outlet on muh generator.

    So you’ve been to school for a year or two
    And you know you’ve seen it all
    In daddy’s car, thinking you’ll go far
    Back east your type don’t crawl

    It’s a holiday in Cambodia
    It’s tough, kid, but it’s life

    — Dead Kennedys, Holiday in Cambodia

    • Hi Jim,

      Yup. The Benz is 3essentially bricked. It’s not the car’s fault, per se. If it were possible to “fast” charge it at home then no issue. If the “fast” chargers available elsewhere didn’t take so long to charge, no problem, again. But you cannot “fast” charge” at home and many “fast” chargers take a long to charge while you wait where you don’t want to be. And, of course, you must allot the time to drive to these “fast” chargers.

      So I have a $150k car that cannot do what my $5,000 or so 20-year-old truck can do.

        • Hi mmack,

          Certainly. But my retort is – isn’t that wasteful? How much energy does it take to get to 60 in 2 seconds? Is that necessary? Aren’t you being an . . . energy hog? Easily twice and probably three times the raw material (and associated Earth rape) needed. Easily two and probably three or four times the amount of electric generating capacity (almost all burning hydrocarbon fuels to generate it) than would otherwise be needed to power an economical EV.

          • plaid handling and brakes…

            ATTENTION: the tesla plaid Uses 80 miles of range in 8 miles when driven at ten tenths on the race track….that is a 90% drop in range….if you drive your EV hard, you won’t go far….lol

            this plaid kept locking up the brakes after going over a bump and then crashes backwards off the race track….fun to watch….

            He is lucky he didn’t crash over the top of a big rock and impale the batteries, setting the lithium fire bomb batteries unfire…

            These 4000 to 5000 lb. EV whales don’t handle or brake too well, way too much weight because of 1000 to 1800 lb in batteries……get an ice car….

            Linear acceleration not bad, lateral acceleration (cornering) none, zero, a huge over weight whale….lol

            Brake and handling problems in tesla plaid, crashes backwards off race track.

            looks like another 930 Turbo…… The Dr. killer, of the 1st ones sold in California 50% were crashed backwards

            for car freaks if the car wants to kill you it is a good car, maybe the tesla is good……

            https://insideevs.com/news/549607/tesla-plaid-crashes-track-brakes/

          • And this too. It’s fun as hell to make a Hellcat go fast. It’s a snarling beast with its sounds (ok probably not much of a gas and exhaust smell). A Plaid, not so much. After seeing it go fast silently once or twice it’s who cares. Plus it can only do it a couple times.

            • Wouldn’t surprise me if Tesla covertly installs software in their ‘cars’ that notifies the local fuzz and or insurance companies whenever one takles advantage of their short-lived acceleration/speed!

      • Ev’s are on trial at EPauto

        The government spent billions of dollars promoting EV’s, spreading misinformation, jamming them down people’s throats…

        Now it is the prosecution’s, the plaintiff’s turn….

        The anti EV plaintiffs are contributing evidence, piece by piece to reveal the truth about EV’s, how defective, dangerous and useless they are…..

        The government is trying to stop the plaitiffs from providing evidence, censoring all big media. hiding, destroying, concealing evidence….

        For the bat germ hoax….the same story, narrative….but it is more heavily, violently, opposed, censored….

      • I can get, even at today’s prices, a decent used Toyota or Mazda pickup, a dolly, and a good used MOTORHOME for less than that. And a freaking GENERATOR and mount a 200 gallon diesel tank on the dolly as a backup for the motorhome too. If someone is that well off to spend $150K on a fairly useless TOY, fine, but it’s irrelevant to most of us. More of that preening, pretentious European horseshit you might find written about in Road and Track.

    • +1 for DK, Jim!

      If you were to be stranded in -2 degree weather due to your EV dropping dead…

      Now you’ll face
      what you most fear!
      Right Guard will not
      help you here!

  42. We had a high temperature of 1 degree on Thursday. I blew by a tesla just after entering the highway. I noticed their side windows were fogged up and the front was having a hard time defrosting. I laughed as I blew by them. They must have been going 50 mph to boot.

    Our low temp was -20 without the wind chill. I’d love to have an electric in that just to see how massive the gimping is. That won’t happen. I’ll just have to take other’s word on it.

    • the police should target EV’s with the their defroster/heater turned off…… or doesn’t defrost properly…fogged up windows is illegal….fine them….the defroster/heater could be turned off because the driver’s battery is low and they are saving range…but they can’t see out the window and will crash into your car….the defroster in EV’s are very weak…..a safety hazard….ban them….lol

  43. ‘The insolent box demanded we use the EVGo “app” ‘ — eric

    Deal killah!

    Have yet to encounter a gas pump where I can’t plug in a card.

    Whereas I vigorously resist downloading new apps. Nearly all are spyware, with location trackers. Some even want to steal your contacts and photos. And that’s a no-go.

    Don’t want your app anymore
    Don’t want your charges, that’s for sure
    I die each time I hear this sound
    Here he comes, that’s EeeVee’s clown

    – The Everly Brothers, Cathy’s Clown

    • Or alternatively, you can walk over to the station, walk inside, tell the cashier “Give me $20 on pump 5”, hand them an Andy Jackson, walk out, and put $20 of gas in your car.

      One wonders how far $20 would take you at a “supercharger”.

      • Hi mmack,

        While we were trying (in vain) to get the EeeeeeeeVeeeeeGo charger to “fast” charge, I noticed that you are immediately dunned $6 before any electricity is even “pumped” in. Six bucks. I can’t wait to find out what the electricity itself, costs.

        • If you can spend $100K to $150K on an electric toy, $6 for a connection fee should mean NOTHING to you. And YET…if you’ve ever schlepped pizza on the side as I did many moons ago, you KNOW the type…he’ll have a “Biden/Harris” political sticker or whatever “Donkey” candidate he’s supporting, have a $200 order for some party he’s throwing, and leave NO tip. It’s amazing how so many of these rich fooks are such cheapskates.

        • What a FREAKING SCAM!

          I know I’ve been kidding you with my posts but I do want to say you’ve been honest in your evaluations of EVs.

          Six bucks just to get hooked up?!? Your point about hooking up an EV to your standard home electric service and getting barely 20 miles range after charging it all night, and then driving over to a “supercharger” site to find it “in-op” are key to showing people what living with an EV is REALLY like.

          I have always said if you choose to buy an EV and it really does work for you, I have no issue. Good luck, God Bless, enjoy.

          HOWEVER, when the government mandates these things I have a REALLY BIG problem since they cannot refuel as quickly or drive as far as an ICE vehicle. And as others have pointed out, what will you do when it gets ice cold outside and the local electric utility cuts your power? My two ICE cars can fire up and drive over 300 miles to somewhere with power. And I can run the heater.

          Foolishness. Utter foolishness.

  44. Great article as usual Eric, you pointed out something that’s not been mentioned before – what if you’re low on “mileage” and the not so fast charger you get to isn’t working? Now suppose the next closest charger is out of the remaining range left in your EV. You are definitely s.o.l., up the creek sans paddle, etc. hopefully you won’t freeze to death waiting for a way to get home.

  45. Don’t test EV’s. When they bring you one to test, send them packing. Please, you know EVs are junk, so just tell them to turn around since you don’t even have a charger.

    • Hi Gig,

      I hear you. But – on the other hand – I am among a small handful of journalists who can tell the truth about these things. Not opinions about them. The facts – base on my actually driving them in actual/real-world driving conditions. If more people knew what owning an EV entails, I am certain fewer than 10 percent of the buying public would have the slightest interest in owning one.

      On chargers:

      I have 120V “Level one” charging capability – as every house has. I could add a dedicated 240V circuit to be able to “Level two” charge (in 7-11 hours) but I haven’t had the time to deal with that yet. Most homeowners haven’t either – and this is really important to tell people about. Adding a dedicated 240V circuit is not a small thing – or an inexpensive thing. It can be a very expensive thing if your house only has a 100 amp panel. Not gonna work without upgrading to 200 amps. And that’s going to cost $1,500-ish to do. And then you only have one “Level two” place to plug in. Most people living in a single family home have several cars. If there are two EVs, then only one can be charged at home in less than a day or two, even if you have a 240V “Level two” place to plug one of them in…

      It’s stuff like this I try to let people know about.

      • Probably is much less than ten percent of the motoring public, b/c most of us simply don’t have the bucks to virtue signal with our ride.

        Also, you CANNOT just simply upgrade to a 200-ampere service on a residential account, and good luck in NorCal getting any electrical contractor (and has to be approved by your utility, which, were I live, is SMUD, and, BTW, you must apply for it, and prepay a considerable fee, and it will NOT be refunded if their engineering department rejects it) to install it for $1,500. And that will also raise your base rate, depending on service area, by $15 to $25 per month, even if you don’t use any more juice. Since that’s considered as two connections (as in, for example, if you had a separate building on your property), you pay that much more. Adds up after eight to ten years!

  46. Once the temperature hits 10 degrees F, you begin to feel the cold sink in.

    32 degrees F is 273 Kelvin, -10 degrees F is 249 Kelvin. 24 Kelvin difference, not 42 degrees F difference.

    4 degrees F in Roanoke is cold, you seek shelter.

    There is no way I would drive an EV 50 miles in any cold weather. Wouldn’t trust the car at those temps.

    I-90 is closed, there is a snowdrift to the under side of an overpass in South Dakota. The top of the cab of a snowplow is below the height of the drift.

  47. Eric: I hope you made it over to see your Mom and you all had a good time.

    As for charging an EV, when I mention the issues noted above to people who wish they had an EV due to high gas prices they just stare at me unable to comprehend it. I wonder if they were jabbed and boosted?

  48. Hi, Eric. Please excuse me for being off topic — but still within this website’s range. I’d like to offer a gift video I made to you and the community around your website, of which I count myself a member.

    The video was inspired by our recent comments about governments and Adolf Hitler’s use of the term “socialism.” My video includes descriptions of various types of governments including, of course, Libertarianism. The video is posted in two places: on my own website, and on my account on WorldTruthVideos.website .
    Link to my site:
    https://mywhitetv.nfshost.com/?p=1058

    • This time, on-topic.
      “Many people are unaware of the fact that not all ‘fast’ chargers can ‘fast’ charge an EV to even 80 percent capacity in the 30-45 minutes one regularly hears repeated by the media – kind of like one heard a lot about ‘the cases! the cases!’ from the same media.” Yep, they lie, and they lie, and they lie.

      On the Mercedes EQS, for the northern half of the USA, it sounds like it would make a lovely yard ornament, and maybe a nice private listening room for your favorite music. Not a car.

      • Hi JL,

        I’m headed out in a bit – in my truck – because the Benz is essentially bricked. It has 50 miles of range, according to the display, after being hooked up to the umbilicus all night and since yesterday afternoon. 50 miles. Realistically, about half that – if you dare – because if you run out, you are now dead by the side of the road (or in the middle of it) in a $150k car that you cannot get going again without a flatbed.

        • The elites and the wef, using corrupt politicians to complete their agenda 2030, are lying about the global warming green agenda….

          Why are they pushing EV’s based on the CO2 lie?

          The VW XL1 diesel hybrid emits far less CO2 per mile then an EV…..

          the VW XL1 hybrid diesel produced emissions of 21g of CO2 per km…far cleaner then an EV….

          A current-model large EV car emits about 88 grams of CO2 per kilometer,…

          EV’s are way dirtier, pollute far more and they are ramming them down your throat….why?…to stop. restrict mobility…you will walk and not very far….lol

          Buy an XL1 VW diesel hybrid…..a greater collector car and will last 100 years are more…… it is made of carbon fiber…so no rust…it is diesel powered so no tune ups and a very long life…

          the XL1 is very economical 300 mpg highway….the average EV gets 20 mpg….the reason to push EV’s is not fuel economy, there is a different reason….

          dieselgate happened so they could push EV’s

          https://www.topgear.com/car-news/hybrid/buy-volkswagen-xl1-auction-become-hypermiler

          • Hi John,

            Guess how much range the EQS acquired after having been plugged in at my house (120V) since Friday around around 2-3 in the afternoon to just now (9:38 a.m. Sunday)….

            PS: Merry Christmas!

  49. Eric, thank you for your tests/articles on EVs. Anyone contemplating an EV purchase would do well to read them. You report on a real world out there. It seems that a lot of EV advocates aren’t in it.

  50. And Mercedes wants $100+k for the privilege of such inconvenience, if not potential and possible fatal disaster?
    We will never know how many people froze to death in their EVs. Their deaths will be blamed on the weather, caused by “climate change”. Just like dying from Covid in a motorcycle wreck.

    • RE: “We will never know how many people froze to death in their EVs.”

      No doubt.
      While reading Eric’s article, & your comment, I was reminded of this bit I read recently which went into some detail about sitting in a ‘traffic jam’ on I-95 in Winter last year:

      ‘I Survived the I95 Gridlock for 16 Hours’

      … “There were no warning signs, and the news on our phones mentioned no back-ups. Our GPS did not indicate a traffic jam either.” …

      https://www.theorganicprepper.com/i-survived-the-i95-gridlock-for-16-hours/

      • I am always amazed by the lack of mental preparation of the typical human. I realize we live in a technical age, but technology can go down at anytime and most people have no idea what to do once their gadgets are no longer telling them what to think.

        Ms. Berry seemed to waiting for the Calvary to show up and rescue her. She seemed better prepared than most (thanks to MIL and the additional food that was provided to them). The lack of research conducted by her and her significant other was quite appalling though.

        If one were to turn off their satellite radio and turn on the local news station what was going on was quite forthcoming. Could she not see the snow falling? Could she not tell the roads were getting slick? As for her drive through “the middle of nowhere” that is complete BS. She was in Fairfax County. My guess is her GPS told her to get off onto the Fairfax County Parkway. It is a straight stretch of highway with very little retail by eyesight, but any side road would have provided her hotels, gas stations, and restaurants galore. The GPS dumped them likely on the Prince William Parkway in Prince William County then back onto 95. There is a exit every 1.5 to 3 miles until one gets south of Fredericksburg. How many of these did she pass and disregard? There were also a few rest stops that they could have pulled over and stayed the night at. Yes, it would have been cold, but they have restrooms and vending machines.

        When we travel, especially in areas we are not familiar with, we need to pay attention and need to be a step ahead. As a self proclaimed prepper she should have known this was Rule #1.

        And the most important question…why is she not carrying some cash?

  51. ‘what life can be like when you drive an EV’ — eric

    Compare what life can be like if you had invested in an EeeVee maker … whoops!

    Busted bubbles are a bitch. This chart shows that until 2020, Tesla’s market cap was lower than those of Volkswagen and GeeeeeEm – appropriately, since Tesla produced far fewer vehicles than they. [vertical axis is in trillions of USD, not millions as labeled]

    https://ibb.co/1L8LWC0

    But then, at the apogee of EeeVeeee Fever in late 2021, Tesla shares sold for many times more than VW and GM combined, valuing the company at $1.2 trillion. Now the air is hissing fast out of the EeeVee balloon. It’s plunging back to earth like a wounded blimp with its gas bag on fire.

    Sombered EeeVee punters are singing an old soul tune for Christmas:

    Yester-woke, yester-you, yesterday.

    Ah ha ha ha … as ol’ P T Barnum used to say, ‘This way to the egress, folks!’

    Latrines on the left, chargers on the right … please form an orderly line.

    • Another EV issue happening….

      A quote from an electrition…..

      I am an qualified electrician and am aware of non-qualified people installing their own charging points. Just wait until they are investigated for loss of life and insurance claims for fire damage!

      • Hi Anon,

        Glad you brought that up… I have been thinking about running a 240V line from my panel in the basement to the garage – so as to be able to drive these EeeeeeeeeVeeeeeees they send me, as opposed to having them sit in the driveway, mostly. But I am not a licensed electrician and if there was a fire – my fault or the EeeeeeVeeeeee’s – I’d be out o’ luck.

        So, I’m not doing it.

        • My firefighter friend say most house fires are the result of improperly installed electric wiring. He says they often find a rats nest of homeowner installed romex cable (not even allowed under local codes).

          When electric car buyers discover what it will cost to install with a pro, he thinks there will be plenty trying it on their own. There are lots of older houses with 60 or even 40 amp electric boxes when you at minimum need that 200 amp box, so he thinks many will try bypassing replacing those too. He said he hopes electric cars don’t take more market share as they really can’t fight those fires well.

          A few of my neighbors are tradesmen, so they have extra electric in their garages for their welding equipment so they could have electric vehicles without having to do much.

          Another local irony, when there is an electric car fire, local departments call on the BP fire department (refinery has it’s own) to help them since they know chemical fires better than anybody.

          • Most fire departments cover each other for specialized fire fighting tanks. You’re fortune that your local FDs have a refinery to rely on. Likely the Captain is ex-Air Force or ex-Navy, has probably trained at a service fire academy like at Goodfellow AFB (near San Angelo, TX), and has seen probably every form of combustion known to mankind.

        • Wise. Electricity is simply not something you want to fuck around with. Even if you “know” what you’re doing, not being licensed and therefore not having liability insurance, you’re just begging for trouble. Even “The Man with all the answers, ‘Mr Whoopie’ “, had to caution Tennesse Tuxedo and Chumley the Walrus about going the DIY route with a simple electric lamp. The caution being delivered at 8:45…note that Mr. Whoopie recommends qualified MEN for electrical work.

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD1TWjU68FU

        • Re: eric December 24, 2022 At 2:41 pm

          It’s not that difficult to run the circuit properly.The information needed to do it is online and in books. Run in conduit and a box for the outlet the fire risk isn’t any different than anything else. Of course the EV and charger you have no control of. I wonder is that stuff UL compliant on any level?

          What I’ve been seeing online indicates that the industry seems to avoid UL. But that’s just an inference based on what I’ve seen reported and my professional experience. Also what I’ve seen of the charger pieces, but that could be designed around with software.

          • Amen, Brent! Eric could just learn how to do it correctly, and even look-up and do it according to “the code” if he wishes to be really proper as far as scrutiny from insurance co.s and the like would go. If it’s to code…no one can say anything if there were a problem down the line. And at least doing it himself, he’d know that it would be done properly. There are plenty of electricians who have done things improperly or without care, even in places where their work is ‘inspected’ (and passed- because those inspections are often a joke, just to raise more revenue and effect more control- and what they often look at is laughable- ‘specially if it’s been done by “a licensed electrician”)…and plenty of houses burned down that were wired by “professionals”. I’d much rather do my own work…and running a 220 line is not rocket surgery- it is quite simple.

      • I have seen “qualified” electricians do really shoddy work and have seen homeowners do electrical work that any real “qualified” electrician would be proud to call their own.
        Electrical work is not particularly difficult, especially when just adding a circuit. Proper materials and workmanship are necessary but are doable by the well-informed homeowner. Youtube can be your friend…
        Yes, I am a “state licensed” electrician with over 45 years in the trade.

        • Hi Anarchyst,

          I have an electrician friend who I call over to double check my work before the line(s) I run go hot. I know enough – but not enough – if you know what I mean!

          I could run the leg from the panel in the basement to the garage. But I don’t feel like dealing with that. I’ve got too much to do as it is and the idea of devoting the time/energy for the sake of a Gott verdammt EeeeeeeeeVeeee annoys me!

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