The ’24 Kia EV9 I recently test drove weighs close to three tons with just me in it – and I only weigh 220 pounds. A Ford Lightning electric pickup weighs more than three tons without anyone in it.
What will happen when a vehicle as heavy as that runs into another vehicle that weighs half as much?
It’s interesting – revelatory – that the federal regulatory apparat has systematically disqualified vehicles for sale in this country on account of their being too light and thus (supposedly) “unsafe” – because they haven’t got the physical bulk to withstand the impact forces above a certain apparat-prescribed threshold without crumpling up like tinfoil. Yet the same apparat effectively requires the manufacture and sale of vehicles whose massive bulk constitutes a safety hazard that’s at least as hypothetically dangerous as driving around something like an early ’80s-era small car that weighs a third as much as a three-ton EV.
The italics to make a point of the fact that driving a lightweight car such as an ’80s -era Plymouth Champ does not mean you will be subjected to impact forces because you probably won’t crash it. Maybe.
But not certainly.
On the other hand, there’s no avoiding the weight of a three ton vehicle, which you will carry around with you everywhere (and every time) you drive the vehicle.
And there’s another noteworthy difference to this disconnect.
If a person drives a small, light car that isn’t “safe” – according to current federal impact requirements – it is only “unsafe” as regards his “safety.” No one else is hurt if he drives his light car into a concrete barrier. Granted, if others are in the car, they may also be hurt if the driver of the light car runs into something. But there is nonetheless an important measure of choice – and so, of freedom to choose – involved.
On the other hand, the driver of a car that is struck by a three-ton EV had no choice at all. He just happened to be in the way. There was essentially nothing he could have done to avoid the consequence of being struck by the three-ton EV.
It’s analogous to a person who just happened to be walking down the street getting mauled by an aggressive dog its owner forgot to keep locked behind a fence. The fault lies not with the person who just happened to be in the path of the aggressive dog. It lies with the owner of the aggressive dog, who allowed it to roam loose.
The apparat not only allows three-ton EVs to run loose – it encourages them to. More than that, even. It effectively requires them to run loose. By all-but-formally-requiring nothing else to be manufactured. It is as if the apparat decided to push the board game Monopoly off the market while at the same time pushing lawn darts back onto the market.
The same apparat insisted that the first-generation Ford Explorer was a “safety” hazard because it was susceptible to violent loss of control when driven at high speeds on under-inflated tires and subsequently decreed that all new vehicles must be fitted with tire pressure monitors. Similarly, that all new cars must be fitted with back-up cameras because there were a few incidents of people reversing over children they didn’t see behind them (as a consequence of the same apparat’s “safety” edicts that have resulted in jacked-up rear ends that make it difficult to see what’s behind the vehicle when reversing).
But it’s okey-dokey to impose regulations that have resulted in passenger vehicles that weigh as much as commercial vehicles. The Ford F150 Lightning, for instance, is nominally classified as a half-ton pick-up yet it weighs about the same as an F350, which is classified as a heavy duty/commercial vehicle.
A facet related to this is the indifference of the apparat to waste – and inefficiency. It takes much more energy to get three tons moving than it does to get one ton (or even two) moving. Physics. Fact. The apparat pretends to be very “concerned” by the amount of energy – in the form of liquid chemical energy – used to move a two-ton (or less) gas-engined vehicle, as evidenced by its relentless demands for ever-less-consumption of gas to move the vehicle.
But – nothing – when it comes to the substantial amount of electrical energy it takes to move a three-ton vehicle. The more-than-necessary amount of electrical energy. No raising-of-eyebrows over the touting of the gratuitous waste of electrical energy involved in moving a three-ton vehicle to 60 MPH in 5 seconds or less – which is only “necessary” if you’re racing to get to 60.
Electrical energy that – for the most part – is generated by the combustion of liquid/gaseous chemical energy such as oil and natural gas.
It’s all hypocrisy – and very much in our faces. Of a piece with the “security” hypocrisy those of us (which is almost) all of us who are condemned to fly commercially when we need to fly somewhere. Because there is very little – if any – “security” rigmarole to go through for those lucky – and affluent enough – to fly privately. No taking-off-of-shoes. No having to arrive an hour or more prior to scheduled departure. Just walk into the terminal and walk up to your airplane – as used to be what it was like to fly commercially.
The apparat does not care about “safety.” Or – for that matter – about “emissions.” If it did, it would not be more than just abetting the manufacture of three ton EVs. It would be doing something to push these dangerous and wasteful behemoths off the roads.
The fact that it does nothing of the kind tells us what’s really going on. And it has as much to do with the staving-off of “climate change” as the “war on terror” had to do with preventing terrorism.
Not counting the official kind, of course.
. . .
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A ‘concern troll’ over on You Tube tried to tell me the laws of physics had changed….
Funny these same people never concern themselves with the “saaafety” of motorcycles, bicycles, golf carts, skateboards, bath tubs…. They just come into a conversation about cars and suck the life out of the room with their “concerns”.
Every time a small efficient old car appears on Barn Finds, out come the saaaafety nags….”I’d worry that…” “I’d be concerned that….’.
I have taken pictures of my 86 Olds Calais [about the same size as a Dodge Aries K] parked next to a 2020s full size pick up or SUV. The Olds looks like a bloody Fiat 500.
Another photo I took of it sitting next to a 72 Olds Tornado, same thing.
And one car, a 63 Valiant, I will park way off for the extra walk, and every single time I come back there’s some 6 wheeled 4×4 Pickup parked beside me with it’s belt line parallel to my roof.
Yet in 40 years of driving it I have never felt “unsaaaaaaaafe”.
Modern cars have gotten every bit as grotesque as the cars of the late 50s were.
But then the industry has always had zero control over it’s longer lower wider habits. And it sems they’ve also stopped trying to rein in costs, simplicity, ease of repair and list prices well.
Falcon, Thunderbird, Fairlane, Mustang, Cougar, Bronco, Ranger, Taurus, Camaro, Trax, Firebird, Seville, N Body Grand Am, Calais-Achieva-Alero, Old Neon-new Dart, the trim B-O-P compacts from 1961, Chevy II/Nova, trim Corsica to Malibu and they continue to grow, s10 and Canyon, Corolla, Sentra, Versa, Camry, Equinox…The trucks, the full size SUVs, all turned into pigs.
Beautifully downsized 77 Impala, a bloated pig by 92. Every new iteration bigger. Better! /sarc.
All lessons in downsizing in the 80s ditched as soon as the fad was over.
And I don’t believe it’s all saaaaafety regulations but the fact that designers just can’t help themselves.
“More road-hugging weight!!!!”
[…] Vehicle Weight Ought Not to be Taken Lightly […]
Hi Eric,
You are right If anything heavy cars should be punished for increasing risk on others. You might as well buy a tank and drive it. It will be safe for you and no one else.
Im also against poeple driving milion dollar cars that cant be scratched etc. When I drive a car i expect normal level of risk. If someone bumps in to me i can repair it for small anount of money and a person or his insurance doesnt have to pay much. If I bump in to a milion dollar car the damage is more than my whole car is worth.
So the whole point is who increased risk on others. Big expensive cars increase risk on other drivers when it comes to financial damage and physical damage/ lethality.
Hi Pupet,
You raise an important point in re the costs imposed on others by some people’s choice to drive a very expensive-to-repair vehicle. Their insurance costs ought to fully reflect that cost. Not ours.
Hi Eric,
If that measure was in action. It would also give a small push for expensive to repair cars to make their repairs cheaper or make the car itself more sturdy.
Making pigs fly……
The overall lap record at the Nurburgring is a lap time of 5 minutes 19.55 seconds in a Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo….it weighs 1800 lb and has about 1200 HP….it has 4.1 G’s cornering power
The previous record of 6 minutes 11.13 seconds, which had stood since 1983, was achieved by the late Stefan Bellof in a Porsche 956 C….it weighed 1760 lb and had 635 HP….
The Lotus Evija X…a prototype EV weighs 3700 lb and has 1992 HP….it has a lap time of 6 min, 24 seconds….it has 2.0 G’s cornering power….
The 1983 Porsche 956C is 13 seconds quicker then the 2024 Lotus Evija EV….
Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo is 1900 lb lighter then the Lotus Evija X and has 700 less HP but is one minute quicker on the ring…
The Porsche 919 Hybrid Evo has 4.1 G’s cornering power…..
the 3700 lb Lotus Evija X only has 2.0 G’s cornering power….it is far too heavy….EV’s are too heavy to be quick on corners….
The 1983 Porsche 956 C…. weighs 1760 lb and only has 635 HP……..but is quicker then the 2024 3700 lb Lotus Evija X which has 1992 HP……
The Lotus Evija X highly modified prototype track car ….only has 2.0 G’s cornering power….
A 2024 Donkervoort GTO has 2.15 G’s cornering power…it is a street legal supercar….
The quickest cars in the world…F1 cars weigh 1600 lb and have 1000 HP…they corner at 6 G’s…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7x9amijnDt4
All the best cars were built a long time ago….government ruined cars with regulations….
All the car of the century rewards nominees were brought to market before 1984…..most went on sale in the 1900’s, 1920’s, 1930’s, 1940’s, 1950’s and 1960’s…..
The five winners were from 1908, 1938, 1955, 1959, 1964
Volkswagen had two cars on the list of 26 cars…..
Ferdinand Porsche…the greatest engineer…. had 3 cars on the list…Porsche 911, VW Beetle, Mercedes SSK…and 2 out of five winners…..
Ferdinand Porsche designed the Mercedes SSK when he worked for Mercedes before starting his own company…..
Car of the century rewards…….The 26 nominees…..
Make Type Year Country
AC Cobra 1965–1967 United Kingdom UK/US
Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Coupé 1954–1968 Italy
Audi Quattro 1980–1991 Germany
Austin Seven 1922–1939 United Kingdom UK
BMW BMW 328 1936–1940 Germany
Bugatti T35 1926–1930 France France
Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 1963–1967 United States
Citroën Traction Avant 1934–1957 France
Citroën 2CV 1948–1990 France
Citroën DS19 1955–1975 France
Ferrari 250 GT SWB Berlinetta 1959–1962 Italy
Fiat 500 Topolino 1936–1948 Italy
Ford Model T 1908–1927 United States
Ford Mustang 1964–1968 United States
Jaguar XK120 1948–1954 United Kingdom UK
Jaguar E-Type 1961–1975 United Kingdom UK
Land Rover Range Rover 1970–present United Kingdom UK
Mercedes-Benz S/SS/SSK 1927–1932 Germany
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Coupé 1954–1957 Germany
Morris/Austin Mini 1959–2000 United Kingdom UK
NSU Ro 80 1967–1976 Germany
Porsche 911 1964–present Germany
Renault Espace 1984–present France
Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost 1907–1925 United Kingdom UK
Volkswagen Beetle 1938–2003 Germany
Volkswagen Golf 1974–present Germany
Willys Jeep 1941–1945 United States
winners
Position Car model Points
1 Ford Model T 742
2 Mini 617
3 Citroën DS 567
4 Volkswagen Beetle 521
5 Porsche 911 303
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_of_the_Century
Fiat had a cheaper more practical EV in 1977……
1977 Fiat 128 Coupé EV
Sears XDH-1 is an experimental electric car built for Sears, Roebuck and Company by their DieHard battery supplier Johnson Controls (Globe Union) in 1977 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of its DieHard brand of car batteries.
The car was a Fiat 128 Coupé equipped with 20 DieHard (12-inch deep cycle marine) batteries, and an electric motor. The car has a front-wheel drive and was powered by a World War II-vintage 27-horsepower electric aircraft starter motor.
Some 12 volt lead acid batteries now weigh 29 lb X 20 batteries = 580 lb…that is better then 1000 to 2000 lb lithium firebomb batteries….
these batteries are also cheaper to recharge then 1000 lb 90 kwh lithium firebomb batteries….20 X 12 volt batteries = 12 kwh….a 90 kwh battery might take 7.5 times the energy to recharge…then a 12 kwh…. 20 X 12 volt battery setup…..and you don’t have to rewire your house….
You can buy reconditioned 12 volt batteries for $60 X 20 = $1200….that is far, far, cheaper then $22,000 plus lithium firebomb battery replacement cost….
1977 Fiat 128 EV curb weight 1800 lb….subtract 300 lb for the ice engine…add 580 lb for the batteries…should be roughly 2100 lb…that is far better then the new $50,000 plus 4000 lb to 5000 lb EV’s being sold now…..2100 lb….so less tire wear and less road damage….and far less damage if it runs into your vehicle….
The batteries are located in the trunk and former back seat area. The car has a top speed of approximately 70 miles per hour and has a range of 60–90 miles (at 50 MPH) per charge. The electric car is on display at the International Motorsports Hall of Fame and Museum in Talladega, Alabama.
The car has a top speed of approximately 70 miles per hour and has a range of 60–90 miles (at 50 MPH) per charge. ….this is adequate for the only thing EV’s are good for…short commutes in the city….
1971 FIAT 128 2 Door Sedan Original MSRP $1,831….$13,915 in 2023 dollars
If the 1977 Fiat 128 EV was around $2400 …in 2023 dollars…$18,239….that is still far cheaper then these new $50,000 EV’s being sold now….
This means the current lithium firebomb EV’s being sold now are 100% heavier then they should be….cost 2.5 X more then they should cost….are many times more dangerous….because of lithium firebomb batteries and they are far too heavy/overweight….making them far more dangerous for anything else sharing the road….
Lead acid batteries are green because 100% are recycled…firebomb lithium batteries are an ecological catastrophe…5% are recycled…there is a rumored $4000 recycling fee….will they be thrown down old mineshafts like nuclear waste?…lol…
https://www.reddit.com/r/WeirdWheels/comments/vgdrx0/1977_sears_xdh1_ev_prototype/
Bring back the 1957 Fiat 500 as cheap trasnsportation for the poor slaves…
It cost $700…$7000 in 2024 dollars…it weighed 1100 lb and got 50 MPG……it carried 4 people….it had a cool sounding air cooled engine like a 911……
Today the slaves are being pushed towards highly dangerous, 5000 lb, $50,000 EV’s that they can’t afford….that is the point…stop them driving…no mobility…..
Some more interesting ‘climate change’ factoids to throw at your nearest lunatic leftist when they are worshipping Gaia & Greta. Not that they care a whit about a single fact but will share anyways–
Quote by Norm Kalmanovitch, geophysicist: “There is zero warming possible from further increases in CO2….The temperature record shows that the global temperature has been increasing naturally at a rate of about 0.5°C/century since the Little Ice Age. The forcing parameter is based on the full measured 0.6°C/century without subtracting the natural warming of 0.5°C/century giving a forcing parameter that is 6 times larger than can be attributed to the measured increase in CO2….Far less obvious, but the major fatal flaw of the forcing parameter is that it is based on an observation of temperature and CO2 concentration without taking into account the actual physical properties of CO2 and its limited effect on thermal radiation as defined by quantum physics.”
The greatest explosion of plant and animal life on the planet was the Cambrian period with 4000 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere. At 180 ppm of CO2 plants have difficulty surviving. Right now we are in the vicinity of 400 ppm of CO2 and the “experts” want less. All life on the planet depends on plants. Not some, but ALL life. Hothouses regularly inject 1500 to 2000 ppm (for faster growth and a more robust plant plus increased stomata for converting CO2 to oxygen) and more if they could afford it. We are now closer to plant extinction than we are plant growth optimum for CO2 concentrations.
For fun and because the Chiron was mentioned earlier:
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2022-bugatti-chiron-2/
Must be the most expensive ever at BaT.
Don’t discount that with time the government created problem-solution will attack the weight of EVs.
If successful in forcing adoption, the regulations will follow to cut the weight.
This will mostly be done with smaller batteries. Your 300 mile golf cart will now be down to 125-175.
That is the perfect range to allow you to go to work and some shopping, but not to be able to venture too far outside your walkable city.
Want to go farther than that, say on a weekend getaway to the mountains? No problem citizen. Look at the varied options of train and bus routes available.
So long as you still have some of your annual carbon credits available, you can purchase a ticket and let someone else do the driving.
Other Automakers Paid Tesla a Record $428 Million Last Quarter
“Automakers buy regulatory credits, and a lot of them, from Tesla in order to comply with emissions regulations”
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a32346670/other-automakers-paid-tesla-record-354-million/
What a clusterfuck
Washington to give grant money to “low income” residents to purchase EVs
https://mustreadalaska.com/wacky-in-washington-inslee-buying-electric-vehicles-for-low-income-residents-paid-for-by-taxpayers/
Looks like they’ll be using federal money
There is no end to the reappropriation of your tax dollars & the fruit of your labor to the leeches and ticks of society.
My neighbor in DC lives in one of these required ‘subsidized’ housing units. They are sold to “at need” families at massive discounts like 75% off basically. So he is getting a 400K DC area house for like 100K basically because he’s supposedly a low-income migrant.
He has a 2022 Tesla Model 3 in his driveway. 🙄
It is all a massive scam to get one over on whitey and the middle class primarily and we are going down without a fight and without a peep because the men with guns will come for you with hate crime charges should you speak out about it.
Take that one small example I gave and times it by millions of people and you see the truth of the scam. If I could unhitch my wagon from the US entirely I would but sadly for now I am still shackled to the rail of the sinking ship. Working diligently to change that calculus as I grow weary of paying for other people who will happily game the system forever if allowed to get away with it.
Saw the same thing happen in West Hollywood in the 80s with low-income AIDS housing.
WH was desperate to be the Jr. San Franfeces back then….Sick sad world
Even Paul Craig Roberts has a say about today’s ‘cars’ A new EP Autos follower?
https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2024/04/30/cars-used-to-make-us-happy/
A 5000 to 9000 lb whale with a lithium fire bomb battery…doing their 0 to 60 in 3 seconds….lol….with no brakes……what could go wrong?….(Teslas when they are drag raced take far longer to stop then lighter ice cars)
EVs cost more to buy….. More to insure….they are so heavy they kill more people when they crash and huge fire risk….. they have far more problems….so repair costs are far higher
5000 lb….They eat up tires; about 15,000 miles tire life…replacement another $1500 plus bill… versus >40,000 miles on lighter ice cars.
They claim the plaid is the quickest production car, these guys did a real world test on a real world road surface and found out it is lie……..
The Bugatti Chiron with one gas engine is quicker then the Tesla Plaid with three motors, gas engine wins. the Plaid is slower.
ATTENTION…..Plus the Plaid has horrible brakes it could barely stop at the end of the runway, start racing it and the Plaid falls down.
In regular mode the plaid is slow and it takes too long to put in launch mode, so you can’t race at lights, so what good is it?
In the half mile the plaid is really slow, it has no top end like the super/hypercars do.
The plaid is quick 0 to 60…….. average for quick cars in the 1/4 mile, but very slow in 1/2 mile, electric motors run out of power in top end, half way to maximum rpm they start losing power, they are all about low end torque only,
they always talk about tesla 0 to 60, their only strong point, in every other way they are horrible, bad brakes, horrible on corners, no sound, boring as hell, look horrible, very plain looking, bad quality control, take hours to charge, very short range, catch fire, they never mention how slow they are in the 1/2 mile or longer race.
If they only advertised how slow they are in the 1/2 mile nobody would buy them…lol…or how they have zero lateral acceleration, horrible on corners, they are far too heavy, a 5000 lb pig can’t corner…..it is like a huge truck….lol
ICE powered car wins.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpC_AoSnPrQ
I challenge any EV – ANY EV – to a race with my 2013 Audi A1 (140 PS) from Las Vegas, Nevada to Guadalajara, Jalisco (or the other way – makes no difference to me). These EV Fanboys can put their performance where their mouths are. See how many hours (or days) it takes them.
Banks are tightening up on loans to buy over weight EV’s and ice vehicles….
The slave owning control group’s financial system….
When the Fed jacked up interest rates from 0% to 5% in an attempt to control inflation, they were simultaneously creating huge losses in the bond market… which also meant huge losses for banks.
Silicon Valley Bank was just the tip of the iceberg. Plenty of other banks (including Bank of America) had racked up enormous bond losses. In fact the total unrealized losses in the banking sector last year amounted to a whopping $620 billion.
So they created this Bank Term Funding Program, which was basically a giant game of ‘make believe’.
Through the BTFP, banks were allowed to borrow money from the Fed using their cratering bond portfolios as collateral. But instead of valuing the bonds at the actual market price, everyone simply pretended that the bonds were still worth 100 cents on the dollar.
In other words, the banks just made up prices for their assets, and the Fed allowed them to do it.
But now that the BTFP has expired, it has become obvious that problems in the banking system haven’t gone away. Republic First’s failure a few days ago is just one symptom.
the Fed’s total unrealized losses are almost $1 TRILLION…..Federal Reserve capital is just $51 billion… versus $948 billion in losses
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/feds-game-make-believe-comes-end
From ZH comments….
The Constitution defined the “dollar” as a weight of silver (371.25 grains (troy) of fine silver) and then regulated the value of gold coins to it in a 15 to1 ratio, that is, as 15 grains of silver to every grain of gold.
Therefore the Rothschild International Banksters Federal Reserve Note is not a US dollar
Do you have any coins in your pocket with silver or gold?….. No you don’t because the slave owner control group have already stolen the real money.
Nickels are the perfect inflation/deflation hedge. Current melt value is 6.125 cents (25% nickle / 75% copper), they cost 5 cents to buy and will never be worth less that 5 cents.
Strange days when Vox Imperium seems to concur with Eric Peters:
“The expanding size of automobiles — a phenomenon I call car bloat — has deepened a slew of national problems. Take road safety: Unlike peer nations, the US has endured a steep rise in traffic deaths, with fatalities among pedestrians and cyclists, who are at elevated risk in a crash with a huge car, recently hitting 40-year highs.”
“Car bloat also threatens the planet. Because heavier vehicles require more energy to move, they tend to gulp rather than sip the gasoline or electricity that powers them, increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Extra weight also accelerates the erosion of roadways and tires, straining highway maintenance budgets and releasing microplastics that damage ecosystems.”
“…But the shift toward electric vehicles may further entrench car bloat. The EPA’s rules assume that all EVs, regardless of their design, generate no emissions — a questionable assumption, because EVs create emissions indirectly through the production and transmission of power that flows into their batteries. ”
Also, pay attention to the title animation and how it comports to Eric’s Plymouth ad.
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/24139147/suvs-trucks-popularity-federal-policy-pollution
They concur on the problems, yes, but the answer -as always – is more federal regulation.
That’s true Yeti. There is a sharp contrast in proposed solutions.
At the bottom of the article:
The Hummer Tax Loophole
In 1984, Congress stopped allowing small business owners to take a tax deduction for the purchase price of cars used for work. But the bill included a giant loophole: To protect those who need a heavy-duty vehicle (think farmers or construction workers), Congress made an exception, known as Section 179, for cars that weigh over 6,000 pounds when fully loaded with passengers and cargo. Today such behemoths are eligible for a tax deduction of up to $30,500, while business owners who opt for a smaller car can claim nothing at all.
Few car models were heavy enough to qualify for the tax break 40 years ago, but that is no longer the case: A Hummer 1, for instance, weighs about 10,300 pounds (leading Section 179 to be dubbed the “Hummer Tax Loophole”). Other huge cars, such as a Chevrolet Suburban or an F-250 Ford Super Duty truck can qualify, too.
“Few folks at EPA know about Section 179,” said Becker, the former Sierra Club executive. “But every auto dealer does.” Some car dealerships even offer handy Section 179 guides on their websites. The tax advantage of buying a behemoth may be powerful enough to tilt the vehicle purchase decisions of individuals like real estate agents, who use their vehicles for both professional and personal use. And as cars electrify, the added tonnage from batteries will allow more models to qualify for favorable tax treatment.
It’s why I ended up with a bigger truck than I needed.
Perverse incentives are perverse.
RG,
These are things about which most of us never think. Most of us don’t have the money necessary to spend our way out of paying taxes.
So we don’t talk about the loopholes then? Continue to write checks to Uncle Sam?
The example I gave below is for a larger small business. Most small businesses are not showing $600K in profit each year, but there are ways to reduce tax bills, especially if someone has a business. The money is going to either be sent to Uncle Sam or back into the growth of the business. I much rather see the business expand then send it to Washington to be misused.
RG,
Of course we can talk about the loopholes! This was news to me, and your explanation and example was educational. I’m just saying that many of us can’t even afford the average new car, let alone the supersized version.
I, for one, pour a few hundred bucks into my vintage vehicles every year. Even if I had the money, I don’t want the onerous, unnecessary and loathsome “features” attending all new vehicles.
I drove a new Dodge rental truck last year when I was in the middle of working on my usual work truck. I didn’t care for the way things were done one bit, including, but not limited to, the dial-up transmission that would shift into park unexpectedly at times and the drive-by-wire throttle, which didn’t respond worth a damn when a little finesse was required.
Hi BaDnOn,
My comments are not meant as a personal affront, but were to address the article that you uploaded, as well, as Eric’s write up. It was to merely point out that vehicles are heavier because of tax loopholes.
What the government says and how the Tax Code reads are complete contradictions.
As I stated earlier yesterday, the auto loophole was not intended for John and Jane Doe (or you and me). How we feel about cars, their safety requirements, or surveillance techniques are irrelevant because we are not the preferred consumer. At the end of the day the main objective is money…who has it and what they are doing with it.
The Tax Code is established to cater to risk takers whether they are businesses who employ thousands of people, real estate, or other financial investments not the average citizen.
Raider Girl,
Well, bollocks.
I don’t suppose there’s a tax write-off for buying copious tractor fluid, is there? Going through a lot of that making repairs and fixing leaks. How about buying/planting trees?
Also, some tunes for your tax preparation drudgeries:
https://youtu.be/dxrolYt2j18?si=tfmoPENO4TwDWOhB
Do you have a farm? If so, there are deductions for both of those things.
Raider Girl,
So, by that you mean an established business, such as BaDnOn Farms, LLC.? Because, if so, my wife has something like that. It that’s the case, I might start keeping track. 😉
As government gets more & more bloated, this kind of thing becomes inevitable.
I can’t prove it, but it seems like it becomes inevitable that, eventually, 2 or more sub-entities end up operating b at cross purposes to each other.
At which point total compliance becomes impossible. Sooner or later there are enough of these that everyone starts to notice and that, I believe, is the point at which the bureaucracy collapses under its own weight.
‘The EPA’s rules assume that all EVs, regardless of their design, generate no emissions — a questionable assumption’ — ‘David Zipper’
Mealy-mouthed scribbler ‘Zipper,’ whose surname I recall because of its unusualness, needs to stop pretending and soft-pedaling the truth.
A large portion of electric power still is generated with hydrocarbons. ‘No emissions’ from EeeVees isn’t ‘questionable’ — it’s malicious horseshit from malicious propagandists.
Get a clue, ‘Zipper.’ p.s. your fly is open.
I hate to break a few hearts here, but the vehicles are heavier (6000 pounds +) for taxation purposes. These vehicles are not made for John and Jane Doe, but to be bought as fleets for business write offs.
A vehicle under 6000 pounds is subject to “luxury auto” limits because of its lighter weight.
An example: for vehicles purchased in 2023 from a Nissan Leaf to a Lamborghini Huracan that are below 6000 pounds:
Year 1 (with bonus depreciation) $20200
Year 2 $19500
Year 3 $11700
Year 4-5 $6960
Total amount of depreciation over a five year period using the declining balance method: $65,320.
A vehicle that weighs more than 6000 pounds is subject to a first year bonus depreciation of 80% of the cost (based on 2023 figures decreases to 60% in 2024) and the remaining amount is depreciated over a five year period.
Say my business buys a 2023 Suburban for a total of $92500.
Year 1: $74,000
Year 2: $$6475
Year 3: $5180
Year 4: $3700
Year 5: $3145
I depreciate the full amount over five years with my first year at 100% business use with the largest benefit. If I am a small 40 person business with net profit of $600K in 2023 and I buy a fleet of SUVs and large work trucks for my employees to get back and forth to their jobs/visit clients in I need roughly 8 new vehicles for 2023 to erase my business’s profit and to pay $0 in taxes.
If I choose to buy small fuel efficient, lighter weight vehicles I would have a net profit of $438K at 21% = $91980 in taxes due (just on the federal side). To zero out the profit I would have to almost 30 vehicles under 6000 pounds.
Sometimes, there is no ulterior motive…it is all about the Benjamins.
Who cares about vehicle weight when you live in a military empire addicted to wars for oil?
When 3 tons is not enough: The Ford Apocalypse Zombie Smasher anti-terrorist cop mobile:
http://web.archive.org/web/20170419175759if_/http://www.veteranstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/zombiesmasher.jpg
Accessories include roof mounted Sidewinder missiles and 20 mm rotating cannon.
I would buy that…especially if I got a tax deduction for it. 🙂
Speaking of weight:
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/04/mercedess-electric-g-wagon-is-more-capable-than-the-gas-version/
For some mid-morning laughs, take a close look at the underbody shot.
“Just walk into the terminal and walk up to your airplane – as used to be what it was like to fly commercially.”
Man, I miss those days. My kids think I am lying when I tell them how I could show up at the airport 20 minutes before my flight and make it with time to spare.
Dude. Dat Shit Be Done, Beaucoup years ago…..(attempting to adopt blm speek)
I recall boarding a plane on a Perth to Adelaide flight in 98 and I checked in with a six pack of “Stubbies”…Swan lager or VB Bitters …don’t recall ,in my
dual use “Eskie”…8 litre
Coleman cooler, it functions as a
seat/+hard box for precious items…
At the gate I mentioned to the boarding agent I had a “Six of Stubbies in the Eskie”…
She laughed and said “So you couldn’t finish the lot with your mates, as long as you have no agricultural products you are free to board”… AND..so it went
Oh well … the good old times
The government 3 letter agencies must be infested with everyone that graduated with degrees in gender studies, they absolutely have zero knowledge of physics.
When Amtrak was first setting up the Acela “high speed rail” (which it isn’t, having ridden it often) the planners did the right thing and went to Europe and Japan to check out their systems; the consistent takeaway was “keep it lightweight”. So of course back in the USSA some bureaucrats in the FRA – Federal Railroad Agency – insisted the trains be above a certain weight, just because. The result was predictable, premature brake failure, not to mention the additional power required to get/keep it moving.
As many here have mentioned, there’s nothing under the sun that the government can’t screw up.
‘some bureaucrats in the FRA – Federal Railroad Agency – insisted the trains be above a certain weight’ — Mike in Boston
Likewise, the interstate PATH subway running between Jersey City and Manhattan falls under FRA jurisdiction. This results in PATH subway cars being heavier than their NYC Transit Authority equivalents, to meet more severe collision strength requirements.
The dead hand of the US fedgov contaminates everything it touches. Letting it dictate vehicle design is a catastrophe. GHG regs, CAFE regs, and DOE regs, totaling thousands of pages, are riddled with conflicting requirements. Think of it as the IRS code for cars.
Cheap, simple Jeeps that won WW II have been superseded by a JLTV that weighs 14,000 lbs and costs $400,000. There’s a technical term for those responsible for this debacle: assholes. They should be crushed under its massive wheels.
Victory in Ukraine! /sarc
“The apparat does not care about “safety.”
Indeed.
Rather than a bug, it’s a feature that those drivers reluctant to abandon that old 80s -2000 era ICE’s get killed by a distracted driver in 3 ton EV pickup.
Once you take government at their word and realise that depopulation is the goal, it begins to makes more sense.
As an added bonus, it also allows them to continue to push for more driver monitoring under the guise of preventing distracted driving.
The cherry on top is that the more affluent, progressive leaning EV driver (statistically speaking) is the one that has the highest probability of survival. The less affluent, Luddite ICE holdout dies.
And finally, it gets that ICE off the road.
Triple win!!
When the drive is on a county road, there will be heavy equipment and tractors moving to the fields. You’ll have to slow down to avoid a collision, that time of year, spring planting is on the way.
A 13 ton tractor pulling 48 feet of some kind of implement, wings up, will be an irrepressible force. Your moving object will be immovable if you hit the rig.
These days, if you were to buy a Troy ounce of gold with copper-clad zinc pennies, you would need 600 kilograms of zinc to buy one Troy ounce of gold.
One copper-clad zinc penny weighs 2.5 grams, 240,000 pennies will weigh 600,000 grams, 600 kilos, looks like about 1320 pounds of zinc to equal one Troy ounce of gold. Zinc is 2882 USD per ton, so your zinc will be worth maybe 1600 dollars as raw metal.
Zinc is under-priced. The human body does need zinc, so you could develop a market for zinc products and make some real money.
1600 dollars of zinc is worth far more than a dead weight battery and is worth far, far more than a tiny bit of gold.
Zinc for the win, weighs in better.
Maybe comparing apples to oranges, helps see the light, though.
Forget the Lithium battery, forget the gold, even, the zinc is a better investment.
Nickels are the perfect inflation/deflation hedge. Current melt value is 6.125 cents (25% nickle / 75% copper), they cost 5 cents to buy and will never be worth less that 5 cents.
Having driven Miatas for the last 20+ years of my driving life, I’m a big fan of lighter is better.
Not only are obese EVs likely to cause more damage to the the car they run over, but they are more likely to run over them. Weight is a key factor in handling. A heavier vehicle is unlikely to handle or brake better than a lighter one, hence it is harder for them to avoid such collision.
This is probably the only valid argument for the “bling” wheels on modern cars, EVs in particular. Yes, 20 inch wheels cause more rolling resistance… however. Stopping a 5000lb pig quickly also requires some seriously big ass brakes. You can fit huge calipers on those wheels, I would actually prefer EVs don’t have smaller wheels because the brake calipers/rotors would take way too long to stop such a heavy vehicle.
Serious question – can smaller bridges and parking decks support this extra weight and stress? What about a wooden covered bridge?
Nope.
https://denvergazette.com/outtherecolorado/news/six-hour-354-mile-detour-in-place-in-colorado-due-to-cracked-bridge-on-major/article_0211ead0-fe79-11ee-92af-e320086d2023.html
[No taking-off-of-shoes. No having to arrive an hour or more prior to scheduled departure. Just walk into the terminal and walk up to your airplane – as used to be what it was like to fly ] Eric
I can remember the 60s. Clean planes,,, clean and well dressed people. Flying Pan Am always. The well trained flight crews treated you like a VIP no matter who you were. Today they act like Drill Sergeants walking up and down the aisle daring you to complain.
Gotta laugh at the land of the free and home of the brave at airports (or anywhere TSA ) shoes in hand watching their wives and little ones spread eagled for corpgov pedo’s pleasure. Oh Yeah! The “ We don’t care patriots ” have certainly excelled here.
Locking the cockpit doors was probably the best deterrent to hijacking. That and placing air marshals onboard. Better yet, not complying with the hijackers’ demand and letting the public fight back. Hell, just put a few large black women of color in spandex on the flight and see how many terrorists survive!
Yet the bear patrol theatre continues. Haven’t seen any bears around since the bear tax, so it must be working right?
https://simpsons.fandom.com/wiki/Bear_Patrol
Absolutely RK,
Locking and reinforcing the cockpit doors was the key. Before 9/11 most hijackings meant a diversion to Cuba and after the hijackers left the plane you would be back on your way; after 9/11 it meant you were going to die so attitudes changed and people were ready to fight back. Every attempt since then has been thwarted by the passengers – the “shoe bomber” being one example. Of course there is nothing more eternal than a govco 3 letter agency so the TSA continues its mission make life miserable for the traveling public.
Watch Air Farce one with Harrison Ford. Hollywood writers had no problem getting around those locking cockpit doors. Yeah, it’s a movie but I can see where it might work.
All those hijackings in the 60s and 70s suddenly stopped. And then came nalneleven where corpgov got its gift from false flag heaven. Box cutters and student pilots license (a medical)got the federales their dream come true, complete control of anyone
boarding an airplane.
Chalk up another corpgov fun killer. Yeah, flying used to be fun. I did a lot of it. Today airplanes and passengers appear to come out of a pigsty.
If you want to travel, do it now….they are going to shut down the airports….climate change bs….no more travel for slaves…off to the 15 min city/prison camp….
By 2035, if this BS should hold up, the REGIME has implemented the total ban of coal-fired electricity plants in agreement with the G-7. Never mind that it will not go through the ratification process in the Senate even though it has the powers as a treaty! So not only are EV’s impractical, they are unaffordable to the general population and will be too costly to charge due to scarcity and rationing. Ben Armstrong on The New American was 100% correct stating that Washington DC is now under Communist control!
Hey Allen,,, Not to worry,,, things will get much worse!
Read Armstrong Economics today. He explains some of the new taxes in store for us.Of course they’re just for the rich,,, just what they said when pushing the 16th. Think it’s bad now,,, 🙂 ,,, wait. These are the good times.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/
“What will happen when a vehicle as heavy as that runs into another vehicle that weighs half as much?”
Kinda like what would happen if I squared off against an NFL lineman. I’d get knocked flat on my ass.
F=ma. The laws of physics apply to everyone equally. Including bureaucrats and politicians.
I wouldn’t give them any ideas. The federal government will be after these next. These people are never satisfied with anything.
Never.
“Alice laughed. ‘There’s no use trying,’ she said. ‘One can’t believe impossible things.’
I daresay you haven’t had much practice,’ said the Queen. ‘When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
I canna change the laws of physics, Captain! ― Lt Montgomery Scott
People sometimes question if the US government sent people to the moon. Some question if the technology of the 1940s was able to produce atomic weapons. They did and it was. One reason why I know is because the NASA jock sniffers won’t stop crowing about it. No one discusses the fact that both projects took a significant amount of the nation’s GDP to implement (the reason for steel coins during the war was because all the silver was used to make calutrons to separate isotopes). No one wants to admit they really didn’t serve much of a purpose other than bragging rights, or at least a new saber to rattle at your enemies. And without nukes, you don’t need advanced heavy-lift missiles, so they went hand-in-hand.
Nuclear research was basically one of those interesting things in the back of the physics department until the war. Sure there were quack medicines in the 1920s, but that was clearly a literal dead end. Had it been given enough time to develop naturally we probably would be using a lot more thorium and a lot less uranium (and solar panels) in our power grid. And uranium would be treated more like any other on the periodic table. Dangerous, sure, but not going to destroy the planet. In fact there are chemicals like benzine that are as bad as uranium that leak into rivers all the time but no one cares.
No one other than science fiction writers thought much about space until the artificial satellite was feasible. Arthur C Clarke first proposed the geosynchronous satellite, that would appear to be fixed in one spot, leading to the creation of MTV. Before that, what was the point? Well, government wanted to spy on the neighbors, and oh, look! The Soviets launched Sputnik into low orbit so it was crossing into international airspace. That set the stage for overflight by satellite instead of stealth aircraft. No need to object to Sputnik since that’s what the state wanted to begin with.
Anyway, the point being that up until both of these events, no one thought either one was possible. After they happened, everyone thought anything was possible. We were going to have nuclear powered turbine cars, remember? And with “electronic beam” autopilots, just like aircraft flying VOR. Well, neither of those things came to pass, and we’re still funding the projects like this through grants and subsidies. Because impossible thoughts are easy. Impossible tasks, well…
‘It takes much more energy to get three tons moving’ — eric
To a first-pass approximation, a vehicle’s cost can be calculated on a per-pound basis. A three-ton vehicle is going to cost about 50% more than a two-ton vehicle.
Where is the Ozempic and Wegovy to treat obese cars? Big Pharma, no doubt, is working on a solution.
Meanwhile, Big Gov just keeps metastasizing. Now its spends $7 trillion a year, regardless of revenues. Like the 900-pound man who couldn’t leave his house because he didn’t fit through the front door, brain-dead fatty Big Gov is headed for an existential crisis.
Let it bleed.
I agree with Eric that trying to make cars fuel efficient yet able to survive a head on collision with a Sherman tank a fools’ game. It’s not even like these 2 and 3 ton cars are even more usable than my 20 year old Camry. I was able to fit a 6200 watt Hyundai generator into the trunk of said car (handles, wheels and front foot removed but trunk lid would not close). So yes an older car can do more than you think with no monthly payments.
I drive all older and comparatively lighter vehicles with generally few blind spots. The only touchscreen in them would be an ancient Garmin. As such I’m able to actually look around when driving and it amazes me how bad people drive these days. Since I actually like the cars I drive I have to look out for them because it would be a real b*tch to find replacements in the same condition.
I wish they would bring back the K Car but with only a really fuel efficient engine and tranny. I suspect 60 miles to the gallon with nary a blind spot.
As Eric says: all these regulations are more about getting us out of cars than saving the planet, I agree.
Small, efficient vehicles are plentiful. They have large window areas, seat 4 comfortably, most even have roll cages and are light enough that several of your burliest teenage kids pick it up. Thing is, you can’t get them at the Chevy dealer, you have to run over to the Polaris or Honda off road store. They’re even pretty cheap to own, at least before you add in the cost of the toy hauler.
Some months ago, Scotty Kilmer reviewed a Polaris Slingshot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoiMShKq9zk Having only three wheels, it avoids many U.S. automobile regulations. Available with an Aisin stick shift, it’s almost a viable alternative to a basic four-wheel passenger car. As the title of the video acknowledges, the cost is too high (“$30,000 for This, You Got to Be Kidding Me”). But it does suggest what could and should be possible. Scotty was enthusiastic.
Hi Ready. Sure one of those might work but as I have driven them before I feel confident in saying a K Car would work a lot better in on road usage for any distance past a few miles travel let alone in inclement weather.