If you went by what you hear and read as presented by the “media” (in air fingers quotes to emphasize we are not speaking of journalists) about which vehicles are selling – and which ones aren’t – you might think electric vehicles were all the rage.
Well, here are some facts.
Ford sold 74,370 copies of its Maverick pick-up last year, its first full year on the market. You may not even know Ford sells a little truck called Maverick. Nor that it gets 40 miles-per-gallon and has a base price of $22,195 – two facts that probably explain why this little pick-up sells faster than Ford can stamp them out (literally; many desirous of buying one have had to wait months for one).
Last year, Ford sold 15,617 copies of its electric Lightning pickup – out of 643,927 F-trucks, the rest of which aren’t electric.
Yet the Lightning got almost as much media attention as “the cases! the cases!” – and for similar reasons. That being what the “media” are paid to hype – and not.
Tucker Carlson lost his job for pointing this out, among other things. In other words, he practiced journalism. As opposed to most of the rest of them, who aren’t journalists and ought to have “brought to you by Pfizer” (and the WEF) tattooed on their foreheads. Their job is sales, basically. The product – or ideology – doesn’t matter. What does matter is who’s paying them to give you the pitch.
As opposed to the coverage.
Journalists were once trained to supply the latter, being (once upon a time) in the information gathering and disseminating business. Straight-up news gave you the information – so as to inform (rather than mislead) you about what was happening or happened.
Interpretation of information was news analysis, usually provided by someone knowledgeable enough about the general subject to discuss it intelligently and provide additional context.
That sort of coverage is what’s no longer wanted. Well, by the people who are trying to sell you something – and have paid good money to get you to buy it. They convey the “message” (as ads are lately styled). Whether it’s that sickness abounds or EVs are (cue Borat voice) great success.
Back to the Lightning.
It is a belly flop of Edselian proportions. In fact, the Edsel was a winner compared with the Lightning. Ford sold 118,287 examples over the period 1958-1960, which works out to just shy of 40,000 Edsels per year – or little more than twice as many Edsels per year as Ford has sold Lightnings each year, so far.
Ford cancelled the Edsel.
It continues to try to sell the Lightning, not because it sells – but because of politics. EVs uber alles, you see. Even if they aren’t uber much of anything, at all.
For some time this year, Ford wasn’t selling any Lightnings at all – after one caught fire before it was sold and Ford decided to shut down the production line to suss out the problem. Production has resumed – but the problem (one of them) remains, in that lithium-ion EV battery packs are susceptible by design to thermal run-away, also known as a short circuit. This leads to a very hot, very fast and very hard to douse electrical-chemical fire.
It’s not something that can be fixed, either – like a Pinto’s gas tank filler neck.
Speaking of that, proportionately fewer Pintos ever caught fire than EVs have have caught fire so far; yet there is no “media” hue and cry to take fire-prone EVs off the road in the interest of public safety.
Because that’s not what the media are paid to do.
Also, the Pinto was a huge success for Ford – in spite of a few catching fire. Three million of them were made over ten years, which works out to about 300,000 of them per year over that timespan. Yet most people believe the Pinto was a flop – having heard it on the “news.”
Back to the fire problem.
As regards the Lightning, specifically.
It is something more likely to happen, probably, in the case of a battery powered truck like the Lightning because trucks aren’t cars. Granted, many who buy trucks use them as if they were cars. But the whole idea is to be able to use them to do things cars aren’t designed to do, such as make it up and down a rutted, washed out dirt road – possibly pulling or carrying something heavy. This will jostle the truck – and so the battery. Inside of which is a lattice of thousands of individual cells. Damage to one can (and has) resulted in the same thing that happens when you apply a lit match to gasoline – just without applying the match.
Never mind. Nothing to see (or read) here. Look! A squirrel!
Meanwhile, the Maverick is burning up the sales charts – though people who watch and read what postures as the “news” probably have no idea. They do know the Lightning is very quick and that it has outlets you can use to power your tools at the job site. They do not know that using those tools at the job site may mean not being able to use the truck to get home from the job site.
They might be edified to know about the Maverick, a truck that may not be as large but which can be used. That costs a third as much to buy as a Lightning and can take you (and your tools) more than 500 miles before it requires you to stop – for less than five minutes – to get gas.
But never mind all that.
It’s not what the media have been paid to tell you about.
. . .
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The EV industry built entirely on subsidies is dying a very quick death as the eco terrorists are finding out it is too expensive to own & operate an EV. China, European car manufacturers, and US have already cut back on production for 2023 because they are sitting 2022 vehicles they could not sell.
Number of GM electric Hummers sold in the first quarter of 2023:…..2.
Hmmm…don’t see the “journalists” proclaiming that……
Yep…keep making those ICE vehicles to subsidize the production of EVs (Maybe THAT’S why the prices of regular vehicles are now so high, ya think?). Maybe one day some visionary smarter than you and I will come to the revolutionary conclusion that if they just stopped making the EVs, they might actually be able to make a profit by actually keeping the proceeds over and above the cost of making the ICE vehicles instead of pissing it away to subsidize the EVs.
The car companies are subsidizing EVs; the taxpayers are subsidizing EVs….but ICE vehicles (Crappy as almost all of the current ones are ) sell just fine without subsidies because they’re what works, and what people need. So do the car companies do the obvious and make more of what sells profitably and cease making things they lose money on? NOoooo…they just try and make it look like everyone wants an EV, ’cause apparently, that’ll make the average consumer want one. Now if they could just find a way to make those EVs actually do what the consumer needs them to do, and find a way to make the average ‘sumer able to afford them [Both the purchase price, and the heavy depreciation/need for a new car or new battery after a few years…they’d have a winner– but given their aversion to profit and sanity, maybe they don’t want a winner…they just want to dictate what you must drive, because apparently it’s not about business anymore…it’s about promoting a philosophy and political schemes…which now seems to be the real business of these corps.
Off topic, but given the choice between eating ze bugs (which Klaus Schwab is calling for the masses to do) vs eating REAL meat, I’d eat ze MEAT. There’s a group of scientists who say that meat is CRUCIAL for human health…..
https://www.technocracy.news/scientists-meat-is-absolutely-crucial-for-human-health/
My son ordered a Maverick last November and is still waiting for it. Many have waited over a year to get theirs. The 2023 ordering sold out in about 10 days. They certainly could sell way more than they are if they met demand.
This: https://www.hagerty.com/media/motorsports/why-racetracks-are-giving-hybrids-and-evs-the-cold-shoulder/?utm_source=SFMC&utm_medium=email&utm_content=MED_UN_NA_EML_UN_DailyDriver_Tuesday&hashed_email=c722bb5635f7510c76c3f9cccdcf0e6bed34720ca92764f92fd836dc1cc8dc86
Hi Peter,
Speaking just for me: Watching EVs race would be like watching mannequins fuck. As far as hybrids: They’re fundamentally about economy, not excitement.
Agree for the most part, although F1 hybrid race cars are pretty cool. Have you driven a Porsche Panamera 4 e-hybrid? I own one, and other than very low speed braking cha cha, I love it. Of course it is a more performance type of a hybrid. That being said, I will drive my 94 Accord until one of us dies.
Pfff, hahaha! Awwe, the imagery…
Eric: Watching EVs race would be like watching mannequins fuck.
Shh, that’s on next years agenda.
And yeah I won’t EV’s race or mannequins fuck but at least dwarf tossing is still a valid sport.
Hi Drumphish, I’ve always thought the same thing, that with easily exchanged battery packs, say at your typical ‘gas’ station, one could argue that EV’s could work.
I still wouldn’t want one though.
Why can’t there be great big button batteries that can be replaced when spent?
Just drop them out and replace them with new great big button batteries.
Davos West is happening now. More caveman grunting and groaning, making everything look like nothing is wrong.
“After making a fortune as a financial innovator of leveraged buyouts and hostile takeovers, Milken pleaded guilty in 1990 to securities fraud and tax violations. His reputation in the financial world had long recovered before he was pardoned in 2020 by President Donald Trump.”
The Crook Milken looks like a jaundiced smack freak.
Who would want to be near a near reptilian, obviously.
“…Things cars aren’t designed to do, such as make it up and down a rutted, washed out dirt road – possibly pulling or carrying something heavy.”
This describes a decent portion of my life these days. 🙂
My friend works on the Ford line in Detroit building the Ford Lightening. Currently there are 2 shift per day, making 70 trucks per shift.
They over schedule staff and usually send a handful of guys home at the beginning of a shift. Management sporadically cancels shifts for a myriad of reason, including the whole battery fire situation, which had things shut down for about 3-4 weeks.
Management is never super clear as to why there are shut downs, or the given reason, they never know if it’s fact or fiction. This week it was door handle supplier problems, shutting production down.
There are plans in place to add a 3 shift in Detroit, expand the current size/capabilities of the current plant, and I believe even open a TN plant for added production.
Just know when “journalists” say production can’t keep up with the demand for the Lightening, that just mean more than 140 people throughout the U.S., want a Lightening per day. PERSPECTIVE!!
Of course Tesla’s production #’s are different ballgame all together.
140 Lightnings assembled per day
x 5 days a week
x 50 weeks a year\
= 35,000 a year
In March Ford claimed they would sell 150,000
2023 model Lightnings
150,000 must be based on new math:
“Ford is ramping up production to 150,000 Lightnings a year, almost doubling the 80,000 trucks Ford said it would be able to build in 2023, its first full year of production.” Mar 24, 2023
SOURCE OF QUOTE
https://www.motortrend.com/news/new-ford-electric-pickup-truck-2023-f150-lightning-production-launch/
I picked up a Maverick in Jan 2022 for MSRP – a rarity honestly. Its really good, if maybe a little sterile. Its an XL with the AWD and tow package. Surprisingly capable. I’ve driven it a TON for both my business and travel.
This could be the Honda Civic of trucks, if Ford can pull their heads out of their collective asses and meet the demand instead of farting around with this electric truck foolishness.
Everywhere I go people want to ask me about it and many folks confirm what you’re saying Eric – “Why haven’t I heard more about this little truck?”
I talked with an Edsel owner at one of the annua DetroiT Dream Cruises — the biggest classic auto drive in the world. I always wanted to ask an owner why he had an ed Edsel. He was sure the ugly Edsel grille turned off a lot of buyers. So I asked him why he owned one. His response was: “Would you refuse to data a girl with a stunning figure just because you thought her nose was too big? Sophia Loren had a big nose”. . I’d never noticed Ms. Lorens nose before, but he was right, and I will never forget that quote.
https://media.tenor.com/7xlnVS4DEQgAAAAC/sophia-loren-red-dress.gif
The owner admitted Edsels had far too many reliabiity problems. The first batch of Edsels delivered to dealers were especially bad, and the dealers were very angry about that.
Edsel products were priced from $2,484 (equivalent to $25,959 in 2023) to $3,766 (equivalent to $38,357 in 2023). Not only was Edsel competing against its own sister divisions, but model for model, buyers did not understand what the cars were supposed to be—a step above the Mercury, or a step below it.
Edsels had a good powertrain: The E-475 was a 410 cubic inch engine that produced 375 horsepower and 475 lb. -ft. of torque.
Richard,
Yep, I’d say Ms. Loren’s nose isn’t terribly noticeable in that clip! There are some much larger and salient distractions.
And that was most assuredly a considerably powerful engine, especially in those days.
Hey real. With each tittie as big as her head, who’s looking at her nose?
I’m not sure journalism was better in the past. It might be just an pre-red-pill illusion.
There was a time when we couldn’t see through the propaganda because they almost entirely controlled the information flow. We’re all outraged by the propaganda now because we have access to many primary sources and can spot it as such in near real time. It’s become apparent that almost everybody is lying almost all the time. While certainly a disturbing realization, at least we know and can take steps to combat it (like this article).
This!
Once you’re red pilled you find the rabbit hole was not just any hole but an event horizon into another reality. The truth cannot escape but once you cross over……
Michael Malice talks about this all time. I believe his new book is about all the massive lies corporate journalists spouted in the past that led to some pretty horrific outcomes.
They are consolidating banks now getting ready for the CBDC.
Watch. This is how they do their thing while 90+ percent of the population haven’t a clue.
So you are saying Ford is going to cancel the Lightning like the Edsel. LOLROFL
Why did they build it? Why, oh why, does everyone fall for this global warming – we’ve got to save the planet – from CO2 molecules? What utter bullshit. Are the engineers at Ford that dumb? Please pass this link to them:
https://www.serendipity.li/climate/hieb/greenhouse_data.html
Print out this chart:
https://www.serendipity.li/climate/hieb/greenhouse_data_files/image270f.gif
Mail it to your friendly Ford engineers, human caused CO2 is 0.117%. That is so close to zero that rounded to the nearest integer it is zero. And that is why they built the Lightning? They were duped by the media and the hype.
And yes Virginia, it is STILL freezing cold in SW Oregon this week, I just came in from the cold, I saw all kinds of people bundled up in their heavy winter outfits on 02 May 2023. May … Southern Oregon … cold. I guess that claim of human caused global warming is complete and utter bullshit. At 42 degrees north latitude, and 4.5 months from the winter solstice, still fricking cold.
Of course, it is the sun, that control the thermodynamics of the planet, not a trace gas. How f-cking stupid do you have to be to not include the sun as the primary factor in the heating/cooling of the planet? The Sun is huge, a million miles across, 1.3 MILLION earths could fit inside, and even at 93 million miles away, a little human can get sunburned in 30 minutes. Think about it, the energy coming off from the sun, in all directions, is enough to burn your skin, when the planet is only a speck, and you a speck on a speck. My god, and that energy is radiating off of the sun sphere must be enormous … and these idiots in the media harp on some trace gas molecules as causal!
Do you know if you put 15,000 atmospheric molecules in a (theoretical) box, NONE would be a man made CO2 molecule. This claim that a slight increase in a trace gas is going to cause some uncontrolled heating effect is based on nothing but the wild imaginations of the uneducated, the duped, the electronic media brainwashed, the wide fearful eyes of the little Hansels and Gretas put into an existential fear state by their teachers.
EVs are far less likely to catch fire than ICE or Hybrid engine vehicles.
It is early to compare fires in vehicles with different types of engines because there are fewer older high mieage EVs on r the road. That gives Evs an advantage. But the differences seem MUCH too large for that pro-EV bias to matter.
We do have data for fires per 100,000 b vehicles and EV fires are FAR FEWER PER 100,000 than ICE fires and Hybrid fires
Per AutoinsuranceEZ, ICE vehicles are more than 60 times more likely to catch fire than an EV, while hybrids are more than 130 times more likely to catch fire than an EV.
“Overall, EVs are about 0.3 percent likely to ignite, versus a 1.05 percent likelihood for gas cars, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics and the National Transportation Safety Board compiled by Auto Insurance EZ last year. “It’s not like electric vehicles are more dangerous,” said Klock:. Feb 2, 2023
“A recent study conducted by AutoInsuranceEZ using data from the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) showed that electric cars in the US caught fire at a rate of 25.1 per 100,000 sales compared to 1,530 for ICE vehicles and 3,475 for hybrids.”
Jan 25, 2022
You still believe the CDC and FDA “data” too don’t you?
Everything from any gov’t or corporate interest is probably a lie.
Richard Greene is dazzled by this safe and effective study, which he cites to as the gospel. Whether these stats are real or not, he never even takes into consideration what “catch fire” means.
When an ICE vehicle “catches fire” it is not necessarily catastrophic like an EV melting down in a China Syndrome-like fashion. Chemical (gasoline) fires can usually be extinguished pretty quickly by cutting off the fuel supply or choking it of oxygen with a simple fire extinguisher. There is often a significant amount of time before the ICE vehicle becomes engulfed in flames, allowing the motorist to escape to safety. An electrical fire caused by a 131kwh battery underneath the seats is an entirely different thing. A simple fire extinguisher (or even a massive deluge of water) is not going to quickly put it out. Also, diesel vehicle fires are almost impossible.
BTW, here’s a post calling bullshit on this AutoinsuranceEZ “study.” https://www.reddit.com/r/RealTesla/comments/104oyv3/please_stop_sharing_anything_that_cites/ This post may also be BS, but the point is that one just can’t just accept stats or an argument based on some apparent authority without using some critical analysis. Otherwise, one is left with having to “trust the science.”
Claiming EVERY government statistic is wrog is simple and requires little thought. Collecting better statistics requires more effort and time than anyone will expend.
IMHO, people who accept 100% of government claims are stupid. But people who reject 100% of government claims are equally stupid. I refuse to be a memebr of either extreme camp.
If one rejects all government data as a reflex, there are few subjects one can debate, because the debate will be data free.
It’s possible to distrust government data in general, and I do, but at the same time believe all-cause mortality data collected by the CDC are accurate.
I would think that after the last three years it would be evident to any one of sound mind that except by accident, the state only publishes statistics that fall in the state’s favor, not yours or mine, unless they happen to coincide with the state’s favor. A rare thing. You “believe” the CDC. I’ve seen no reason to.
Richard,
Do you listen to known serial liars? I don’t. Government has lost all legitimacy. If it ever had any.
And credibility, and it never had either.
I’ve been ignoring Richard Greene for some time now. I think I’ll go right back to that.
Hi John,
Yup. I dissect his non sequiturs once in awhile but lately ignore him. He comes across as a dissembler and I have little patience for such anymore.
Mr anti-government, anti-doctors, anti-hospitals, anti-drugs, anti-all data you don’t want to hear … who do you trust besides your own opinions? This is a serious question.
greene sounds like a women using a man’s name….probably some kind of an LBQTRANS thing with purple hair or a government disinformation bot….lol…spewing out total misinformation…part of the satanist control group wef monsters….
The problem with this “non-extreme” (i.e. moderation) approach is that it requires you “believe” (your word) in somebody’s alleged statistics and conclusions in formulating your strong opinion about a certain state of affairs rather than analyzing the multitude of data out there to lead you to a logical conclusion. Merely rejecting some government promulgated data but accepting some is not the same as applying critical analysis.
“Collecting better statistics requires more effort and time than anyone will expend.” If you concede that there’s not enough good quality information available, why formulate an opinion about something for debate? The logical thing would be to hold off on formulating any opinion until you are satisfied that you have obtained a sufficient amount of truthful data to formulate that opinion.
What criteria do you rely on to believe the all-cause mortality data collected by the CDC is accurate, yet certain other government stats are not?
Belief.
Supporting data from other sources including foreign governments, state governments, private life insurance companies, cemetery burial counts, casket counts, cremation counts, emergency room occupancy by respiratory patients, reported nursing home deaths and experiences of friends with serious respiratory symptoms in 2020: much m worse than any other year.
Every alternative source of data supports an unusually high increase of all cause mortality in 2020 and 2021.
The primary cause in 2020 had to be Covid infections.
I never trust government data without verification but I also do not dismiss 100% of government data as a reflex.
In other words, the media are the propaganda organs for the corporatist state.
One of the main items of propaganda they are required to pitch is that you live in a “free country.”
As someone once said (before being arrested on 34 felony counts) “fake news.”
Hep cat Brandon seeks to “flip the script” on freedom in ‘24.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3982207-biden-seeks-to-flip-the-script-on-freedom-in-2024/
Hint: gun bans and confiscation rebranded as “freedom from fear of mass shootings.” Just might work too, as they’ve got some folks arguing vaccines don’t and never did mean immunity or inability to transmit.
Yup. Just like inversion of unidentified “people” having the freedom not to be sick with a fake virus so you and I must be muzzled and injected with poison.
This kind of argument is typical of a socio/psychopath.
Indeed, ‘Operation Mockingbird’ has been a smashing success for the Security State. Nothing gets reported in the MSM without prior approval, and much of what is “reported” is pure govco propaganda.
Let us recall the halcyon days of Edsel and its innovative Teletouch shifter:
‘The Teletouch pushbutton automatic transmission selector was an extremely complex feature. It proved problematic in part because the steering wheel hub, where the pushbuttons were located, was the traditional location of the horn button. Some drivers inadvertently shifted gears when they intended to sound the horn. [or shit when they meant to wind their watch – ed.]
‘Teletouch’s control wires were routed too close to the exhaust manifold, which often caused unpredictable movement of the selector mechanism and, in some cases, complete failure.
‘The electrical design required drivers to shift from Park to Reverse to Neutral to Drive, in that order, to avoid overloading the Teletouch motor. The motor also was not powerful enough to bring the car out of Park while on a hill, so dealerships would instruct drivers to set the parking brake before pushing the Park button.’ — Wikipedia
Similar shifting problems bedeviled front-wheel-drive 1937 Cords. It’s unbelievable, though, that twenty years on, Ford would put such a fussy, trouble-plagued, Rube Goldberg shift mechanism into a production vehicle. Goofballs!
What narrative will the Biden Thing & establishment media push to get MORE people to buy an EV despite the fact most people can’t even afford one? They pushed the narrative “Safe and Effective!” to manipulate people into getting the COVID jabs. Perhaps “Safe and clean!” to manipulate people into buying an EV. And why stop there? With this push for CBDC, they’ll likely concoct a narrative to get people using that instead of CASH…perhaps “Safe and Convenient!” or “Safe and Secure!” And they’ll eventually also push narratives for other sinister plans in the works.
“Convenience” is the primary thing today preventing revolt against tyranny.
Typical refrain, “Oh dear, I have to have the new iphone or I’ll just die.”
Yes, live as a slave, useful idiot.
Or stop trading with the enemy and regain individual freedom for yourself, your children, and the future.
All you have to do is buy only what you “need” from local small business, instead of buying everything you are being brainwashed to want from Amazon and WalMart.
But that’s just too in-convenient for you.
You’d rather have your “precious” conveniences, and your children will be slaves.
Do the opposite of what Traitor George Bush advised. Don’t “go shopping.”
Just stop and save your children and grandchildren from slavery.
I’ve said these things before and will say them again and again:
It isn’t about controlling the weather or the climate—it’s about controlling YOU and ME. But TPTB can’t make that too obvious, California outlawing non-EVs by 2035 notwithstanding.
There’s another way—make driving a yooooge expense and hassle. The M.O. is to get people to just say the hell with it and move to a 15-minute city and use public transportation and ride sharing/transportation as a service.
Then TPTB can make like Sonny in “A Bronx Tale” and say, “now youse can’t leave.”
Meanwhile the F150 hybrid is downplayed. Even though it has 80% of the Lightning’s advantage (no gas needed) and quite a few features that aren’t available on any other vehicle sold today. Back when I did fiber splicing I spend a lot of time in a box trailer listening to (and feeling) the drone of a large Honda generator. It was mounted just behind the hitch, so filling it was a pain, getting service done involved taking it to the fleet approved garage where the tech wouldn’t know what to do with it other than change the oil. Then came the edict that the old jerry cans were’t “safe” and had to be replaced with new cans that didn’t vent properly, wouldn’t fit in the old fuel can rack and sloshed fuel over a hot generator. Now comapre that to just pulling a 30A cable across to the back of the truck, pushing a button and having all the power you need for a few hours. When done, disconnect the cable, head to the nearest filling station to refuel and drive home. No fuel cans, no generator maintenance, no issues.
At one time I thought about buying an old ambulance to outfit as a camper. Many of them have PTO generators installed, for many of the same reasons outlined above. I decided that a trailer is the better choice, and not having a generator on the trailer means more space, less weight and less hassle. If you’re concerned with using transport fuel for camp power, just throw a few cans of gas in the back of the truck bed. Heck, if you’re running a side by side you probably have extra fuel anyway.
True dat, Ready.
Plug-in “electric dominant” (the motor turns the wheels and the engine turns a generator that powers the wheels) hybrids just make more sense for so many reasons.
Yeah, the drive train has more parts and systems. But that’s rounding error in complexity compared to a lot of vehicles today.
You get the best of both worlds: the efficiency and torque of electricity for short trips and stop and go city driving, and the convenience and range of gasoline and diesel engines for long road trips.
Since the engine turns the generator instead of the wheels, you don’t need a big engine for big power. That saves fuel—and pollution. And since you have an on board generator that you can refuel in 5 minutes, you don’t need a big battery, or a big charger.
You can go weeks, maybe even months, between trips to the gas station if you do a lot of short trips and plug in at night. And if the batteries run low on juice, the engine and generator kick in to keep you going. When you’re on the highway, you get long range with the electric dominant drivetrain, just like a diesel locomotive, and you can just stop at a gas station and be in and out.
They’re not inordinately expensive, as they’re based on the same technology that has powered diesel locomotives for more than 80 years. And they are far more reliable and durable than straight EVs.
Trouble is, these vehicles are TOO practical and TOO sensible…make of that what you will.
‘Plug-in “electric dominant” (the motor turns the wheels and the engine turns a generator that powers the wheels) hybrids just make more sense for so many reasons.’ — Bryce
Ditto that. A gas turbine, or even a boiler/steam turbine, could power the generator.
But in our emerging Dark Age, technology is frozen … much like the post-Empire Romans allegedly forgetting how to build aqueducts, roads and sewage systems.
Neofeudalism means having to dig your own latrine in the back yard. Let’s finish the job! /sarc
Jim, I also think it’s more a matter of “WON’T” than “CAN’T” if you get the drift.
I agree with what you say – but has any auto company built one of these yet? My understanding (I may be incorrect) is that initially the Chevy Volt was PROMISED to have the “electric dominant” design, but that the actual Volt had a typical hybrid vehicle “parallel” arrangement where the IC engine drove the generator and also under some driving circumstances provided power to the wheels.
The Chevy Volt was what I was thinking of. It seems that a lot of the kinks with the first generation were addressed by the second generation.
I’m surprised no one else decided to copy it.
Perfect is the enemy of the good (enough). The cult says that all sin is sin and therefore all sinners (ICE powered vehicles) must be purged. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but the greens are hell bent on destroying it in one.
Every single car ever built and driven too many miles is headed for the junkyard. A few thousands of collectibles of all there ever was is what is left, museum pieces.
One of the family cars was a 1959 Edsel, copper color with a white top. Had carburetor problems, started on fire once.
Didn’t last long. Nobody missed the thing after it was gone.
I’ll bet there are plenty of former EV owners who are glad the things are gone.
No more battery to charge, no more fire to fear, you’re happier than the day you bought the one thing you know you no longer need or want.
Desire is a large part of the decision to buy a property or any kind of item, an electric vehicle purchase would include desire. Gotta have one, the sooner the better.
You can buy a few acres with 75 grand.
Going to last a lot longer than an electric vehicle.
Apparently some do not quite understand what the “Great Reset” really means. Here from Jamie Dimon
CEO of JP Morgan bank.
“Dimon noted in his letter to shareholders that “governments, businesses and non-governmental organizations” may need to invoke “eminent domain” in order to get “adequate investments fast enough for grid, solar, wind and pipeline initiatives.”
They WILL do this.
JP Morgan was instrumental in creating the central bank. In 1912 Christmas eve congress critter even back then voted in the Federal Reserve. The People then,,, much freer than we,,, said and done nothing.
And here we are.
They (power brokers, whoever they are) are going to ‘rob’ us of anything of value in the name of the fake global warming aka climate change.
Like today you will be a slave and clock in and clock out of whatever yob you have been issued. If you complain,,, your CBDC bank account is no longer available to you until you comply.
You will purchase ONLY what they approve of. You will only travel ONLY as far as they approve. No hunting (no guns),,, no gardens and you will eat ze bugs and take ze shots. You will simply obey whatever orders you are given.
You will ‘own’ nuttin! And they will be own it all and be very happy.
In short you will be a nothing….
The issue seems to be that no one forced anyone to buy an Edsel but over 60 years later I’ve spotted the odd one at car shows and cruise nights. How much you want to bet you won’t spot a similar vintage of EV after the same period of time? The Edsel and the Pinto for all there purported problems weren’t noted for burning your house down when parked in your garage either.
Guess there’s a better chance of spotting Bigfoot than a Maverick.
I see the Maverick here in Austin, but only at trim levels of MSRP pushing $40,000.
The one I see at Home Depot practically every time I go is a Lariat trim level.
Seems that a lot of folks must be flipping their Mavericks for a profit. Check the CarMax website, they have tons of them, most with a thousand miles or less on the clock. They’re all 10 to 15 grand over original sticker. I went to my local CarMax and test drove one. Really really liked it, but I refuse to pay that kind of money. I’ll wait a couple years, hopefully things will normalize a little bit.
Continuing EP’s theme of CEO salaries from yesterday, I couldn’t find compensation info for Henry Ford II during the time of the Edsel debacle. The CEO today made $21M in 2022.
For anyone used to contemporary cars, the 1959 Edsel in the top photo would be a major disappointment: mediocre acceleration; mushy suspension; weak brakes. Against the standard Ford, Mercury and Lincoln of the day, the Edsel offered no technical or performance advantage. It was all about ‘newness’ and image.
EeeVees like the Lightning face the same barrier to customer acceptance as the ho-hum Edsel. If EeeVees actually were a leap forward in aspects besides acceleration — such as lower cost, longer range, lighter weight, greater convenience and longevity — Ford dealers would be obliged to hire guards with truncheons to maintain order in the long lines of buyers hollering, “Take my money — PLEASE!”
But it ain’t like that. Buyers, other than a few liberal-leaning coastal nimrods with six-figure incomes, have reacted to EeeVees with a collective yawn. Who needs the hassle of having to rewire the garage, download charger-finding apps, and maybe get dropped by your insurer when they find out you’re storing a combustible EeeVee in there?
Ford’s Edsel, like other legendary marketing fails (e.g. New Coke; Bud Light tranny fluid), was a promptly corrected corporate misjudgment. Only the shareholders were hurt.
By contrast, the US fedgov feels no financial pain. The votes of its ‘shareholders’ barely register, if they are counted at all. So it presses on with a crackpot plan to replace liquid-fueled transport with Electrifikatsiya, even if US living standards recede to the Stone Age.
No one ever thought sensible, educated Americans would emulate Chairman Mao’s command-economy Great Leap Forward, which in reality starved tens of millions, even as it proposed to install mini steel mills in every peasant’s back yard. “Biden’s” plan to stuff an EeeVee into every garage — whether we like it or not — will produce an equally predictable, disastrous result. The mumbling, senile old fool is our nemesis.
Other than a half dozen pre-delivery vehicles I spotted early one morning in the Fleet section of my dealer’s lot last Summer, I haven’t seen a “base” configuration of the Maverick in person. Ford isn’t delivering them.
The news media has long been essentially a whore co-op, just not as gratuitously as it is now. ABC, CBS, NBC, and all the major newspapers provided massive support for the “lone shooter” Oswald story, and to bury any mention of CIA involvement, or LBJ’s involvement in the murder of JFK. 60 years ago.