Two Things You Can’t Use

By
eric
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44
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An interesting thing about EVs is that the two things they do better – in general – than cars that rely on engines rather than electricity are things that make EVs much worse, in a practical sense, than cars that rely on engines to make them go.

The first thing is accelerate very quickly, which EVs do really well for two main reasons. One is that electric motors can make a lot of torque, very quickly. Anyone who has an 18v cordless drill knows all about it – and that’s just a drill. It has torque enough to break your wrist. Scale that up times a lot and that’s why EVs jump when you floor what’s no longer the gas pedal.

Two, the power transfer is immediate. The motor(s) typically turn the wheels directly, without the intermediary of a transmission – and without shifting through gears.

But – the catch! – is that using the power (more finely, powering the motors) consumes a lot of electricity, rapidly – when you floor what’s no longer the gas pedal. This very quickly depletes the EV’s ability to accelerate rapidly, or even at all. It’s like having a bullet in your gun without more bullets in your magazine.

Better make that first shot count.

It’s a similar problem as regards the one other momentary functional advantage that cars powered by electricity have over cars powered by engines (more finely, engines powered by gasoline or diesel).

That being near-instantaneous cabin heat.

Electric cars have electric heaters – most of them similar to the electric space heaters most people are familiar with. These produce heat almost as soon as you turn up the dial, via hot-glowing wire grid that glows cherry orange as the electricity flows through it. The EVs interior begins to warm without having to wait for an engine to warm up, as in a car that isn’t powered by electricity. This takes a couple of minutes. The engine must first get warm – and transfer that warmth to the coolant (which keeps the engine from overheating).This warmed-up coolant flows through hoses and into a thing called the heater core that’s usually buried in the ductwork behind the dashboard, in the firewall area.

But once the engine is warmed up, it does not cost you range to stay warm.

The heat produced by the engine is a waste product of combustion. The car doesn’t go less far because you’ve got the heater cranked up to 80 and the fan set to max. And you can keep it cranked, without it affecting how far you can go.

In an electrically powered car, the heater burns up a lot of electricity. In addition to the electricity burned up powering the electric defroster, the fan, the headlights and everything else. Including the separate/additional heating system for the battery – which must be maintained within a range of not-too-cold (and not-too-hot) to avoid damaging it and so as to be able to charge it. This uses up energy even when the EV isn’t moving, as when it is parked. It’s why if you don’t keep the EV plugged in while it’s parked, there will be less charge (and so, driving range) when you get in next morning to drive it.

You may find you can’t drive as far as you thought you’d be able to.

EV owners are thus presented with something like having a cake and not being able to eat it, too. In which case, the question arises: Why buy such a cake?

It seems people are deciding en masse not to – now that at least some of the truths about these battery powered devices has begun to leak out. New EV sales are declining precipitously and sales of used EVs are practically flat-lined, the latter even more understandably so given that awareness has percolated that a used EV will come with a used battery – and that will likely mean a tired battery. The only way the purchase of a used EV makes any economic sense is if the device, itself is free – to make up for the cost of replacing the battery it is useless without.

And it may come to just that.

Hertz just dumped 20,000 or so used EVs (with tired batteries) on the used car market; other rental car fleets that bought into EV Mania will likely do the same, now that EV fever is abating. As EV reality dawns, as it did with regard to the reality about the “beautiful” drugs that were never vaccines that they also hyped (and lied) about.

The narrative fallout that will be spreading over the next few days in the wake of the record cold snap being experienced by broad swaths of the country ought to be interesting to behold.

Nothing quite like being afraid to turn on the cabin heat (and defroster) in your device when it’s -4 outside, you’ve only got 35 percent charge remaining – and 40 percent of your drive left to go.

. . .

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Related posts:
  1. The Electric Car Upside . . .
  2. The Electric Car Albatross
  3. Reader Question: EV Batteries and Cold
  4. RIP, Tesla: You Deserved to Die
  5. At Least EVs Have Just One Battery . . .

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

44 COMMENTS

  3. ARTICLE
    “New EV sales are declining precipitously”

    TRUTH
    US BEV new vehicle registrations (Experian data via Automotive Week) up over +50% in 2023 versus 2022

    Please explain how that is
    “declining precipitously”

    The Hertz story was also misunderstood.

    These were high mileage Hertz EVs that had been used for 2 to 3 years by ride hailing companies like Uber. Older and with more mileage than a typical used Hertz ICE they retire by selling as a used car

    Some Hertz genius looked at the low resale value of the Tesla 3s and decided to keep using the cars by distributing them to Hertz retail locations. Those retail locations already had enough EVs to meet demand. They were unwilling to price EV rentals lower than ICE cars of the same size which was needed to rent them, because people renting for more than a day or a weekend rarely want an EV. They don’t want to waste time recharging and Hertz charges $35 to recharge if the driver returns an EV that does not have the charge over 70%. A rip off. An additional $25 charge if you return the EV with under 10% charge.

    I have recommended hundreds of anti-EV articles on my climate and energy blog, with over 695,000 lifetime pageviews. I don’t tolerate lies about EVs because the TRUTH is bad enough and seems to get worse every few months. Every known EV problem turns out to be worse than initially thought. And the list of disadvantages keeps growing.

    US BEV sales boomed in 2023

    EV batteries easily last 200.000+ miles

    Many conservatives seem allergic to those facts.

    Your favorite heckler, RG

    PS: This is the best anti-mask article
    I have ever read in the past four years.

    https://nakedemperor.substack.com/p/if-masks-dont-work-why-do-surgeons

    Convincing the maskers is hopeless.

    A close female leftist friend recently declared she wears a mask to protect others, not to protect herself. I asked her if that meant the mask worked when breathing out but not breathing in. Told her I read five mask studies in 2020 and none of them said that. She accused me of confirmation bias and changed the subject. You can not debate with a leftist.

    • The lots full of unfsold BEVs speak for themselves.

      Also, think about it…why would anything with superior tech require a Government SUBSIDY? Did Henry Ford get money from the (Teddy) Roosevelt or Taft administrations to build Flivvers? Yet farmers and those in small towns ditched their horses and wagons to buy a Model T with THEIR OWN MONEY.

      As for registration numbers for BEVs, how many are actual PRIVATE owner-operators, versus Government and/or Corporate fleets? If that’s the measure of the success of a vehicle line, then the DDR’s Trabant was a rip-roaring one! Relatively few “Ost Deutsch” actually owned one, as there was a lengthy WAITING LIST, (and you had to make sure that ten years hence wasnt also when the State promised to send a plumber!), with Government agencies, state-chartered companies, and, of course, the Polizei and the NVA (NationalleVolksArmee, or “People’s Army) getting higher priority than mere “proles”.

  4. Tesla heaters….

    These EV’s are far more complicated then they have been advertised, “it just has an electric motor so no maintenance and very few repairs”….haha.

    The Tesla cars have an oil pump and oil filter, for the motors and the gearbox/diff and two water pumps for the cooling system.

    How often does the oil and filter need to be changed?

    How often does the coolant need to be changed? How long do the water pumps last and what is the replacement cost?

    There is a very complicated cooling/heating system for the batteries, what happens if there is a leak deep in the battery packs?

    This battery cooling system is very important, if the batteries overheat they can explode, an ice vehicle doesn’t have that problem.

    There is another separate HVAC system for the interior.
    There is also a heat pump system for heating the interior.

    Heat pumps are super-efficient, but they are known to not work as well in extreme cold (around -15C or 5F and below).

    Tesla owners in cold climates are finding their heat pump system isn’t working in low temperatures.

    Tesla deleted the old electric heater that worked, to save electricity to then claim longer range.

  6. My daughter bought a Toyota Rav4 hybrid. Nickel metal hydride battery, 27 below zero, push the on button, ready to go. 30-35 miles of electric drive, then the motor kicks in.

    Very surprised at the capability at such low temperatures.

    Buy the hybrid if you want electric, nickel metal hydride batteries work and are safe.

    Still a must to have an ICE vehicle.

  7. “This uses up energy even when the EV isn’t moving, as when it is parked. It’s why if you don’t keep the EV plugged in while it’s parked, there will be less charge (and so, driving range) when you get in next morning to drive it”

    This news story out of ABC news 7 Chicago;
    “Several Tesla drivers have complained about charging stations not working in these extreme conditions.
    Near 95th Street and Western Avenue in Evergreen Park, several Tesla owners were stranded with dead batteries from the cold, and not enough working charging stations at that location.
    “Our batters are so cold it’s taking longer to charge now, so it should take 45 minutes, it’s taking two hours for the one charger that we have,” Tesla owner B$%^&&n W$%#@^&*e said. “I have seen at least 10 cars get towed away from here because the cars, they died, they’ve run out of battery. It’s too cold, it uses too much of the energy to try to keep the car somewhat reasonable temperature, so everybody is getting towed away and we have nowhere to charge.””

    I guess some Tesla owners are finding out about the problems with all electric cars during cold spells. Itz currently ten below here.

    One of my relatives actually bought a Tesla rather than leasing as he said the lease rates were very high.

  8. EV’s are part of the solution to stopping slave’s mobility…

    What else do the slaves… (the slave owners call them useless eaters) do 3 times a day?…Eat…

    Have to control/stop that too….

    Control over slaves eating is here to stay. Is there nothing that Climate cannot do? We are being dialed back to the Feudal times if not the Stone Ages. The stores are full of food, the problem is our Rulers will not let us have it an a price affordable to all

    https://twitter.com/TheEconomist/status/1743264097565593679
    The Economist @TheEconomist

    Crop-killing diseases are spreading fast. In the coming year pathogens could bring chaos to a food system already weakened by war, climate change and export bans

    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I15YrzCpT3o&list=WL&index=5

      Stop the food producers….

      Massive farmer protests have taken over Germany over the past few weeks. In scenes similar to the historic Freedom Convoy, German farmers and truckers have united in protest over new climate regulations which will scrap a tax subsidy on farmers operating diesel tractors…..make them switch to EV tractors that don’t work?

      Germany’s ruling socialist coalition is the latest Western European country to target farmers on their quest to somehow solve climate change but it appears they have pushed the German people too far this time.

  9. Another thing you can’t do with an EV….

    Charge it in the cold….

    Fast chargers stop working in Yellowknife due to cold weather
    Northland working to find solution with company who produces electric vehicle charging stations

    Control over Travel/movement is here to stay – electronic lockdown over travel.
    Our Rulers will not allow us the Safe & Effective regular cars.

    https://www.nnsl.com/news/fast-chargers-stop-working-in-yellowknife-due-to-cold-weather-7296449

  10. All they need to do is mine the Straits of Hormuz and then they will sell all the EV’s they ever possibly wanted to… a replay of Nordstream and all…. just saying…

  11. I wonder if the fact that all the world-power nations exist in between the 25th & 75th Northern Parallels has any significance in this?

  12. Another issue with EV’s is how do they pay for road construction and maintenance?

    Seeing as how federal and state fuel taxes are added to every gallon of diesel fuel and gasoline, this constitutes a large share of funding for the highway system.

    Is a “fair share” i.e. a road use tax per kilowatt collected from persons charging ev’s?

    There has been talk of placing transponders in vehicles that would monitor all miles driven and result in paying a “toll” to the government for the “use” of our roads. I could see drivers of gas and diesel powered vehicles getting double taxed by this. I believe commercial vehicles pay a “road use” tax in some cases.

    Are gas/diesel users subsidizing ev’s in addition to the tax breaks given the purchasers of these appliances?

    • EVs get a break on tolls with many US roadway authorities right now.

      The savings can be substantial such as on SR91 between Anaheim and Riverside.

      • Keyword being “right now.”

        I’ve seen this game many times before.

        After they entice everyone in, THEN they’ll sock it to ‘em. Suckers!

        Remember, the laws are written in pencil ✏️ not pen 🖊️ let alone stone tablets 🪦🪦

        Those who write them, do so to benefit themselves and their cronies. Not you.

    • If any one of these so-called “Red States” had any smarts – or balls – they would tax the living hell out of owning one of these, at the same time taxing the owners of ice vehicles way less and less often. I’m talking about taxing the license plate renewals, like we get here in Wisconsin once per year, upwards of a couple of grand (vs the 100 bucks or so per normal vehicle. ) Then tax the charging station for every minute the EV’s are plugged in. Wanna buy a set up for your home, tax the bejesus out of that too. Make it crystal clear that these things aren’t welcomed in the Red States. But Republicans are both dumb and in on the scam, so the only thing that’ll happen is we’ll all get taxed, one way or another.

      • Hi Logan,

        In re: “But Republicans are both dumb and in on the scam…” Well said, sir. It’s pravda (truth). You can count on the McGOP to be both cowardly and greedy. It is the embodiment of what Lenin meant when he talked about capitalist selling the rope the communists will use to hang them.

        • In the 1995 Mob flick “Casino”, which was essentially “Goodfellas 2”, Robert DeNiro’s character, a Jewish bookmaker who’s great with numbers and has a keen eye for detail, gets fed up with an incompetent slots floor manager, a man who’s only there to appease the local “Cowboy Mafia”, fails to cut off a machine that gives out a sizeable payout – THRICE. As Sam “Ace” Rothstein puts it, there’s an infallible way to detect that the machine was tampered with – somebody WON. Rothstein, aware that dismissing the hick will have “pushback”, nevertheless fires the man, telling him that either he was too stupid to recognize the tampering, or, he was involved; either way, he’s OUT.

          It must be truth if I agree with a (fictional) J-O-O.

  13. EVs have always been promoted as the next thing, a technological leap forward. But IMO with all of their drawbacks, it seems that EVs are much more like the horses that were largely replaced by cars in the turn of the last century.
    Horses are fast runners (and strong pullers), but the faster they run (the heavier load they pull), the more quickly they tire out and require a rest. Old horses also get tired, and can’t do the work that a younger animal can. If you bought an old horse, you knew not to expect as much out of it (it wouldn’t have as much power and “range”).
    And your horse needs food and shelter, regardless of whether you ride (or pull a coach or wagon) every day or maybe once a week. You can’t just “park” it in a field and expect to come back a couple weeks later and find it raring to go. It may not be in very good shape or it might have died….
    An EV needs a regular “feeding” of electrons and ideally, a sheltered place like a garage to shield it from extreme low or high temps.
    The only difference there is that you didn’t have any heat or AC at all in your coach (and certainly not as a rider).
    It’s plain to see (and it does seem that more are seeing this) that EVs are a step back to horse and buggy days.

    • There is a comical amount of absurdity and truth in this analogy! Everything old is new, let’s just change our horses for ‘electric’ horses. 🙄

    • Of course you can let the horse pasture and it will feed and shelter (and produce its own replacements) itself, so in fact EVs are LESS useful than a horse.

  14. It can be assumed reasonably that most EV owners do not own an EV exclusively as their main form of transportation. The EV is like their motorcycle they keep in the garage for nice days. In these extreme temperatures, they will surely be driving their Earth murdering gas guzzlers. How quickly their mindsets change as soon as weather conditions change? Suddenly, the environment matters less than their personal needs. All you can do is laugh and point.

    • If you think about it they are “evening out” the climate by providing feedback

      Promoting “global warming” when it is cold, and avoiding “global warming” when it is not.

      I’m sure they are going to beat the entire planet into submission.

      Just watch them.

      Bring popcorn.

    • Typically owned by a wealthy libtard couple so they might virtue-signal. The wifey is some local attorney who commutes in the EV, and hubby drives a Mercedes AMG.

  16. Battery systems predate the electric grid. Magnetos and dynamos generated power but were large and variable. One of the big benefits of DC was that it could easily be stored in chemical batteries. But battery systems that are large enough to run transportation networks aren’t portable, leading to a conundrum. The old solution was to wire the transportation network and hope people would use the trolley cars to pay for the up front investment. In a slow trading investment market with long time horizons (and subpar competitors like walking and horses) that works very well. But when traders can destroy a company in a few hours based on nothing more than a rumor, that’s not going to work. So we get these screwed up solutions that will never work, then try to use force to implement them.

    Back in the 1970s, West VA university and the city of Morgantown created a “personal rapid transit system” between the campus locations. It is a rail-like system that used elevator sized vehicles to move students around. It probably works very well for this specific use. There are probably other potential uses for the PRT, and a more modern control system could really make it interesting. But who’s going to pay for it? How is money going to be raised, and how soon will investors see a payback? Because if I can get a good dividend from Apple, or 5¼ on a 1 yr CD, why should I buy into this stuff? Will I get a 30X return? Hell, just getting the land will take decades.

  17. I wonder when Hertz will recant their decision to cancel their EV purchases and selling the fleet, fire the CFO who made it, and recommit full steam to an EV future? It’s only just (1) struggle session away by presenting the downside of arrest and being Epsteined in prison to the rest of the Hertz gang. These executives are weak and will certainly get with the program pronto.

    • Hertz is wholly owned by institutions and private money beholden to the agenda.

      I doubt the HQ building in Fort Myers, Florida has been occupied beyond single digit percentages since March 2020.

  18. WARNING – bad joke ahead.

    Not many people know this, but General Motors had initially decided that to promote sales of its new EV models to rental fleets, the best route would be to form a joint venture with a major rental car company – in this case Hertz.

    In order to name their half of the new joint venture company, GM decided to harken back to the initial success of its now defunct SATURN division and use a planetary name.

    So accordingly, the name of the newly proposed joint-venture company would be…(drum roll)…

    URANUS-HERTZ

    The proposed joint venture never got off the ground, but the name, in reality, sums up the way that most of us feel about having EV’s forced on us by government mandate, and in dealing with EV’s in general.

    • Excellent!

      It was 21′ in my neck of Dixie at 0600. There’s onesy-twosy eeeeveees around my neighborhood. I wondered how the ev-philes would get by today. But since today is a holiday (properly, Robert E. Lee’s birthday), not many people are out.

      • Love your idea of repurposing today’s fedgov holiday as Robert E Lee’s birthday (Jan 19, but we’re gonna celebrate it on Mondays).

        My sister graduated from Robert E Lee High School in Houston. Its name exists no longer; nor does the demographic that attended it. A sentence from Wikipedia suffices: ‘In 2022 there were conflicts between students of Afghan origin and those with origins in Latin America.’ *sigh*

  19. ‘New EV sales are declining precipitously.’ — eric

    Trouble in the EeeVee patch, comrades:

    ‘The Biden administration has begun pumping more than $2 trillion into U.S. factories and infrastructure to strengthen American industry and fight climate change. But as U.S. factories spin up to produce electric vehicles, semiconductors and solar panels, China is flooding the market with similar goods, often at lower prices.

    ‘Administration officials appear likely to raise tariffs on electric vehicles. The average price for an electric vehicle in China is around $28,000, compared to about $47,500 in the United States. In the fourth quarter last year, Chinese automaker BYD delivered more electric vehicles than Tesla, surpassing the U.S. firm for the first time.’ — NYT

    https://archive.ph/7hiWu#selection-573.206-573.282

    Hike tariffs on Chinese EeeVees, and what’s gonna happen to EeeVee prices in the US? Why, they will GO UP! $60K, 80K; the sky’s the limit!

    Joe Manchin’s gigantic subsidies to state-subsidized green industry have barely begun, yet these pathetic losers already are whimpering for ‘help’ from Clowngress. Too bad about the customers — you know, actual Americans who have to pay for this crap thrice over: subsidize the factories; pay the tariffs; then pony up for a costly, gimped EeeVee.

    EeeVees are our misfortune.

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