Lightning Strikes

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Remember the Things telling us that electric vehicles would become more affordable? Ford just told us that its electric half-ton truck, the F-150 Lightning, will become 17 percent more expensive. The initially touted base price of just over $40,000 will rise to just shy of $47,000 for 2023 on account of “significant material cost increases and other factors.” 

That, by the way, is for the model with all of 230 miles of best-case range that takes about 12 hours to power up at home on “Level II” (240 volt) household power. The cost of one with more range is much higher.

Ford is not the only EV maker “adjusting” its prices. GM added $6,250 to price of the electric Hummer and Tesla has done similarly.

This ought to tell people something about electric vehicles in general – kind of like the way the multi-jabbed Biden Thing continuing to contract the ‘Rona ought to tell people something about the efficacy of the “vaccines” he urges them to take.

“Material costs” means the cost of the materials that it takes to make an electric vehicle’s battery pack. Think of the battery that powers your cell phone or laptop and scale that up . . . by about a thousand pounds – for a small electric car, such as the Tesla 3 – which is about the same size as a Honda Civic sedan. In the F-150 Lightning, the battery pack weighs close to 2,000 pounds.

That is a lot of material – and it costs.

But why is it costing so much more all of a sudden? Could it have anything to do with the fact that – unlike oil, say – there’s not a lot of these materials available? That they are difficult (and costly) to extract, refine and turn into 1,000-plus pound battery packs? And – here comes the money shot – the “demand” for these rare, costly materials is increasing because of all the government mandating?

Go back just three or so years and almost no one was building electric cars in numbers except Tesla. Now practically every major car company is building them – and thus there is a much increased demand for that which is in limited supply. But – unlike oil – the supply of the materials that are necessary to make electric car batteries cannot be easily increased because there’s not nearly enough of the needed materials available to keep up with demand.

It is a natural scarcity problem – as opposed the artificially induced scarcity that has made oil (and so, gasoline and diesel) unnecessarily expensive. The cost of the latter could be cut in half (or more) in short order simply by rescinding the policies that have curtailed the available supply. But the cost of the materials that are needed to make electric vehicle batteries is only going to go up because there is no artificial impediment preventing them from going down.

In fact, it is the opposite.

Electric cars – and electric batteries – have been given every artificial advantage that government action can confer. There are massive subsides artificially – and temporarily – decreasing the actual cost of electric cars, which are expensive cars almost entirely because of their expensive batteries. These subsidies – just renewed and increased by the bad offices of the  Manchin Thing and the Sinema Thing – have served to create a dangerous illusion that electric cars are less costly than they actually were.

The actual cost of electric cars has always been much higher than advertised.

So high, in fact, that none of the manufacturers selling electric cars are making money selling them. They are making them – a different thing. Tesla makes its money via stock-jobbing and carbon-crediting, not electric car making. The rest make money selling other (non-electric cars) and use the profits to subsidize the electric cars the government requires them to make.

This is not advertised, of course.

Now, they are costing even more – even with the rebooted subsidies – on account of the “other factors” Ford elliptically references that are forcing a 17 percent increase in the price of the F-150 Lightning.

That “factor” – singular – being the government-induced demand for the making of more electric vehicles, which has resulted in higher materials cost for the stuff needed to make more electric car batteries. It is as if the government issued a fatwa that every person must wear a diamond ring – and not just any old diamond but a big and sparkly one. What do you suppose would happen to the “materials cost” of diamonds? How much would a diamond ring cost when everyone was required to have one?

There is another facet to this business, too.

The more electric cars that are made, the more replacement batteries for these electric cars (and trucks) will be needed. In other words, even more “materials” will be needed – which will drive up the cost of  these replacement batteries – already cost-prohibitive – making replacing them even more cost-prohibitive. While also making new electric vehicles more expensive, via the increased demand for new electric battery packs for used electric cars.

This problem scales the more electric cars are made and the more electric cars (and trucks) there are on the road, their battery packs losing charge-holding capacity with each year they are on the road.

It’s a perfect nexus and probably perfectly intentional. By increasing the cost of electric cars – by force-increasing the number that are made – the number of people who can afford an electric car (or truck) decreases.

And that is ultimately what “electrification” is going to cost us.

. . .

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95 COMMENTS

  1. I’d like to know how much it would cost, at Level 2, 240 volt home charging, to charge you EV daily for one year, versus one year’s worth of gas.

    • Not sure I can elaborate on this other than my son as a Tesla S, I think it is, the SUV with glass roof. He has been monitoring his usage, and said it cost him $30 in electricity to drive 3000 miles.

        • Spread the news even further: A Caterpillar 994:
          “This machine is required to move 500 tons of earth/ ore which will be refined into one lithium car battery. It burns 900-1000 gallons of fuel in a 12 hour shift.
          Lithium is refined from ore using sulfuric acid. The proposed lithium mine at Thacker Pass, Nevada is estimated to require up to 75 semi loads of sulfuric acid a day! The acid does not turn into unicorn food like AOC believes. Refining lithium has created several EPA SUPERFUND SITES. IT IS VERY VERY VERY TOXIC TO THE ENVIRONMENT !!!
          A battery in an electric car, lets say an average Tesla, is made of 25 pounds of lithium, 60 pounds of nickel, 44 pounds of manganese, 30 pounds of cobalt, 200 pounds of copper, and 400 pounds of aluminum,
          steel, and plastic, etc…… averaging 750-1,000 pounds
          of minerals, that had to be mined and processed into a battery that merely stores electricity….. Electricity which is generated by oil, gas, coal, or water (and a tiny fraction of wind and solar)….
          That is the truth, about the lie, of “green” energy.”

          President & CEO at Christopherson Energy Inc.
          Former Vice President, Engineering, Midstream Strategic Development at Oxy
          Former COO at Hiland Partners
          Former Vice President of Operations at DCP Midstream
          Studied MBA Business Managment at Nova Southeastern University
          Studied Mining Engineering, Geology at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology

        • Eric and Mike,

          As the Model S is said to have a 90kWh battery, and let’s say the power company sells electricity at $0.08 per kWh, which would be cheap, that would be 90*0.08 = $7.20.

          Since power is often more expensive (they spike prices here in the summer to $0.12 per kWh), and the process obviously can’t be 100% efficient, it’s likely at least $8 per charge, and probably more. Let’s also say it gets the stated 294 miles for that battery, that would be 10 charges, which is to say $80 for ~3,000 miles.

          On a 30 MPG car, 3,000 miles would be 100 gallons of gas, which would cost $400 at $4/gallon. So, though $80/3,000 miles is probably optimistic, there should be a decent cost savings…

          Until it’s time to buy that new battery. D:

    • I saw rates somewhere at $0.14 per kwh at home, that is due to probably triple very soon.
      I saw rates nation wide at chargers outside home at $0.40 per kwh

      What test drivers are actually getting driving in the real world driving EV’s is they are getting 2.4 miles of range for every kwh

      At 12,000 miles per year = 5000 kwh x $0.14 = $700.00 at home
      At 12,000 miles per year = 5000 kwh x $0.40 = $2000.00 at chargers

      An EV just sitting loses:
      tesla says a daily 3%-5% stationary range consumption.” (just parked)
      90 kwh x .05 = 4.5 kwh lost per day x 365 days = 1642.5 kwh x $0.14 = $229.95 per year just parked
      So Tesla says it’s normal to fully discharge itself in under 3 weeks. Keep this in mind when parking it somewhere 90kwh @ $0.40 per kwh = another $36.00 per 3 weeks lost just parked…lol

      Plus the cost of the battery, which is huge, you have to store the electricity in the very, very expensive battery, that is the killer for EV’s right there, the expensive, rapidly wearing out battery.
      the tesla $22,000 battery is used up, worn out in 100,000 miles. In a very hot or cold climates the life is shorter.

      NOTE: If you use fast chargers a lot it will ruin the battery in your EV, it will lose 50% of it’s range, if you don’t use fast chargers it takes forever to recharge

      ATTENTION: this works out to $22.00 per 100 miles it is costing you for the battery.
      12,000 miles x $0.22 per mile = $2640.00 per year for the battery use

      $2640.00 for the battery use plus $700.00 for the electricity = $3340.00 for 12,000 miles…….not including the electricity lost while sitting.

      Ice diesel:
      The 2014 Volkswagen Golf BlueMotion diesel, capable of a claimed 88.3 mpg imperial, or 73.5 mpg U.S. it has a 971 mile range, the perfect car.

      Driving 12,000 miles in a 73.5 mpg diesel at $4.00 per gallon = $653.00 per year.

      Driving the EV for 12,000 miles costs far more

      Plus the EV costs $50,000 to $70,000, the VW diesel costs $24,355

      The EV depreciates faster and costs more for maintenance and repair (one example it weighs 40% more so it eats tires = more expense)

  2. ‘House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Wednesday the House of Representatives would pass the Inflation Reduction Act [which extends a $7,500 tax credit for EeeVees] on Friday.

    ‘In a letter to Democratic colleagues, Pelosi called the $430 billion climate, tax and healthcare bill approved by the Senate over the weekend “life-changing legislation.”‘ — Reuters

    ‘Life-changing’ indeed. Here’s how that works:

    ‘Even before Congress gives the final OK for the IRS to hire 87,000 more agents in an $80 billion package, the tax agency is revealing a priority job category that could get first dibs on the huge budget expansion.

    ‘On its jobs page is a listing of vacancies for special agents to be placed around the country to root out financial fraud. Among the job requirements listed: “Carry a firearm and be willing to use deadly force, if necessary.” ‘

    https://www.reuters.com/world/us/pelosi-says-us-house-will-pass-inflation-reduction-act-friday-2022-08-10/

    More AGWs to pick our pockets at gunpoint.

    Shine a light, shine a light
    Shine a light, won’t you shine a light
    Demo-thug-lican freedom
    I lo-o-o-o-o-oathe you
    Yes I do

    — Elton John, Philadelphia Freedom

    • Hi Jim

      Climate change…hahaha…liars

      Re: In a letter to Democratic colleagues, Pelosi called the $430 billion climate, tax and healthcare bill approved by the Senate over the weekend “life-changing legislation.”‘ — Reuters….it says climate change in there….watch out….lol

      You should be glad to know that they are going to take away your food (meat), cars, money, assets, real estate and freedom based on a lie that you cause CO2 which causes global warming that causes climate change….lol

      As This Chart Clearly Shows; Humans have nothing to do with climate change

      The climate change premise debunked.

      CO2 has risen since 1895 but there has been no warming, there is no global warming ….lol

      Climate change?….yes……..the sun has cycles, has had for millions of years….what are you going to do about it moron?……

      We acknowledge full heartedly that the climate changes. However, the science shows that humans, animals, and C02 have nothing to do with it. The sun has cycles, it is part of nature for millions of years.

      CO2 does not cause global warming, people and CO2 don’t cause climate change.

      Based on this they are eliminating/banning ice cars because they have .00001% emissions of CO2 that has no connection to anything….lol….but they lie and say it does…..it is just a trick to take away your car……

      They have already ruined all the cars with their emission bs and made them over weight and way more expensive, based on the global warming, and CO2 lie.

      the double-speak involved is intensely characteristic of the reversal of reality practiced by satanists…..black is white….. up is down….bad is good….no warming is warming

      do as we say not as we do……inversion typical of leftists…the rules don’t apply to them….
      leftists lie 24/7

      (the elite communist/globalists in control at the top will still drive Bugatti’s, own sixty cars, eat steak, fly in private jets, sail in 400 foot yachts, have billions of dollars and own ten $50 million homes). you will own nothing….lol

      Demons invert/reverse all that they touch. The psychopath uses the same trick.
      leftist/communists = satanist.

      https://www.truth11.com/humans-have-nothing-to-do/

  3. Check out the YouTube video about a gas truck and the electric F-150 going up again each other towing a 7,000 lb trailer. the electric truck only made it 80 miles.

  4. “That, by the way, is for the model with all of 230 miles of best-case range that takes about 12 hours to power up at home on “Level II” (240 volt) household power.”

    Talked to an electrician last week as having a whole house generator installed and as others have been saying, the power grid can’t handle all these EV’s added. Let me put this into my on perspective, and suggest you do a quick search to verify:

    In preparing for this generator, I have been measuring the total AMP’s our 1200 square foot home pulls. We did turn on all the lights (LED), ceiling fans, started the microwave & coffee pot brewing, and a small water booster pump. We then turned on the 2-ton air conditioner, to give us a pretty good idea of what we pulled from the grid. We did not turn on the electric dryer and the electric water heater was off. Given this scenario, we were pulling a steady 47 continuous AMPS, once all was running. Now think about someone plugging in a Level II charger, for 12 hours. The specs show this can pull 30-50 amps, depending on which model you buy. So, if we added this to our home, for the duration of 12 hours, it would be almost like adding another small home to the grid. If people own two of these, and trying to charge both over night, it’s simple to do the math.

    • I totally agree with you. With smart meters, the power companies could control how much power you consume, and when. And what is not discussed is the rising price of electricity. That is a huge concern to me. And this is all avoidable.

    • EV chargers, another part of the EV nightmare being forced down your throat….

      How do you charge your EV when half the chargers are broken?

      EV Charging Station are using Liquid Cooling systems and are very complicated/fragile, these are maintenance intensive, which means lots of them won’t be working, repairs and maintenance will cost a lot, paid by taxpaying ice vehicle owners…lol

      a Level 3 charger will cost between $30,000 and $80,000. plus installation costs, plus huge maintenance costs, so maybe $40,000 to $90,000 installed for one charger, plus huge ongoing maintenance costs, the ice vehicle owning taxpayer is forced to pay for this….lol

      a Level 3 charger will cost between $30,000 and $80,000. plus installation costs, plus huge maintenance costs,….tell your local government you don’t want to pay for this……

      a level 3 charger at home:
      even worse they will eventually limit it’s use to 3 hr per week, your ration….lol

      …and they want to install millions of these, at $90,000 x only one million chargers = 90 billion dollars, plus 100’s of millions of dollars in ongoing maintenance costs….lol

      (what about the trillions of dollars to upgrade the electrical grid to supply the power?….lol)

      the federal government prepares to begin doling out $5 billion allocated in last year’s bipartisan infrastructure bill so states can seed a coast-to-coast network of fast-charging stations.

      Government guidelines say the taxpayer-funded chargers should be accessible to travelers, just off the interstate and have amenities like food and restrooms

      with ice powered cars the gas station and pumps use is free…..lol….now they want to scrap that and make you pay trillions of dollars to replace it with a dangerous, expensive, maintenance intensive, mess/nightmare……

      Mishaps involving overheating the use of equipment including EV chargers
      There have been many plug-in vehicle fire incidents all over the world.

      The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the United States. Mentioned accidents such as thermal runaway incidents. Overheating or overcharging can lead to an accident.

      These fast types of charging stations require liquid cooling so inverters don’t fail due to overheating and umbilicals are cool enough to handle.

      Fast charging?…start a fire….lol
      Extreme fast chargers, for example,can push battery pack temperatures to 270ºC/514ºF after just a few minutes of charging.
      If you fast charge a lot, you wreck the battery, if you don’t…. you wait hours to charge….lol

      The wires in EV chargers that are prone to aging cause the chargers to heat up. Fan lubrication exacerbates the temperature rise and gets out of control. Creating a vicious cycle that causes long-term damage to chargers. That can result in accidents.

      In comparison gas and diesel pumps are 100% reliable, simple and trouble free and they don’t need a complicated cooling system. They are not paid for by taxpayers,

      EV charging stations are another multi billion dollar bill for taxpayers, fire all politicians pushing them….lol

      In Damascus, Maryland, on April 1, a fire started from an electric car charger in a garage and caused $350,000 in damages.

      Watch This Severe Electric Car Fire And Explosion At A Charging Station
      More than 40 firefighters and 8 fire trucks were involved at the site, and thanks to quick action, they managed to put out the fire. Watch the toxic smoke…

      Tell your city they will need another 50 fire trucks….lol
      An ice car fire only needs one fire truck….lol

      Watch the video then think………What happens when 2200 Ev’s (a new complex in planning stage will have 2200 parking spaces)….imagine 2200 lithium fire bomb EV’s are parked in underground parking at an apartment block or office tower and they catch fire? You can’t take propane into underground parking, but you can take a fire bomb lithium battery car underground.
      https://insideevs.com/news/423581/severe-electric-car-fire-explosion-charging/

  5. I overheard an interesting conversation at the gas pump this afternoon. There was a very agitated woman at the next pump over, complaining to the pump-mate on the other side of hers about how slow the pumps were. “They were doing this the other day too!” she bellowed. I agree they seemed a little lazy, but there were several of us filling up at the time. She then hit the call button and complained to the cashier, who tried to apease her. Because I had just started the pump I decided to time how long it took to add my usual 8-10 gallons. I estimated the pump was running about 1 gallon every 20 seconds, so about 3 minutes to top off the tank. And remember, the pumps are “slow.”

    Puts that 12 hour fill time into perspective. Do you think that woman will put up with waiting 45 minutes for an 80% charge?

    • This reminds me of a similar thought I had about how inconvenient EVs are going to be.
      I owned a diesel Chevrolet Cruze until last year (was totally worth selling when I didn’t have to drive to work any more), and anyway it’s slightly more difficult to find a place to fill the car. In fact, enough so that my wife refused to drive it. She just didn’t want to deal with having to figure out a different pump for the car, which stations actually had diesel, etc.
      I also have a friend that was really interested in it when I first got it, until I told him you have to fill it with DEF about every 5000 miles or so. Then he was like, “Oh, no way, I don’t want to deal with that.”
      Those are such incredibly minor things, but are too much for most people.
      Now imagine your average person trying to plan trips around the battery range, and wait around for 30 minutes to an hour to partially refill their car. They are not going to like that one bit.

      • Hi Nate,

        Excellent point n re the minor hassles of owning a diesel-powered car. My ex felt the same about diesel-powered press cars – when the car companies still made these and I would get them to test drive. Finding a station that sold diesel, dealing with the nozzle… too much to deal with.

        But – somehow – people (the majority of them) are going to be okay with finding (and driving to – and from) a “fast” charger, plus waiting there for 30-45 minutes . . . dealing with power cords at home (and waiting 7-11 hours or more for a charge) plus keeping track of varying battery performance (and range) in varying weather/driving conditions…

        • ‘somehow – people (the majority of them) are going to be okay with finding (and driving to – and from) a “fast” charger, plus waiting there for 30-45 minutes . . . dealing with power cords at home (and waiting 7-11 hours or more for a charge) plus keeping track of varying battery performance (and range) in varying weather/driving conditions…’ — eric

          There’s an app for that. Your sail fawn will guide you. Trust the technology. /sarc

      • When Audi’s Q3 and Q5 TDIs came out they required DEF. They were some of the first vehicles to require it and VAG wanted to make sure you didn’t just drive off on an empty tank. Originally you had to go to the dealer to get refilled and have the idiot light reset. You could top off yourself with a adapter spout (if you could find DEF, it was pretty rare stuff in the 2010s), but you still had to go to the dealer to have the light reset. If you didn’t eventually the vehicle wouldn’t move. It was a hassle.

        Now, of course it’s pretty common. As is diesel fuel in general, mostly because of the TDI engine. Too bad the filling stations invested so much in all those tanks and pumps only to see a fraction of the use thanks to Volkswagen’s sins. At least those Cummins Ram trucks are plenty thirsty after the owners chip and blower mods.

    • Hey RK,

      Very interesting as something very similar happened to me in PA. We were up in central PA to visit the family (I live in southern MD). I needed about a half tank and we were leaving the next morning, so I decided to fill it up. It TOOK FOREVER!!

      I recorded it with my cell phone for about 20 seconds to show my wife how damn slow it was pumping but I didn’t time the overall experience. At one point the hundredths of a gallon were ticking just slightly faster than seconds, swear to god.

      I didn’t think much about it, although it was frustrating. I figured either they were running low on premium or that particular pump was screwed up. Or maybe some green fuckery to piss people off, I dunno!

      • I think the emergency check valves get cloged or the spring gets weak. They’re on the hose near the pump connection and prevent fuel spills if some moron drives off without removing the nozzle first. An unfortuate but necessary safety requirement, I’m sad to say.

        • It happens at my new Costco fuel center. To make matters worse, there is no way to clock an autofill. You have to manually push the spring-loaded nozzle in until the neck condom makes a seal. Ridiculous when filling up. Talk about “pain at the pump”.

    • They are just little pumps in the fuel tanks below grade. They have to be designed to do 1 car and 4, etc… There is always a compromise on pump selection/performance. I don’t know if current gas pumps are running on VFD’s these days, but a vfd system would make the compromises better, but there is never a magic pump that can do all.

  6. I also believe the prices are going up because, under the new guidelines, the government subsidy is taken at the time of purchase, rather than on your taxes the following year. The companies figure they can put more money in their pockets and those at the “stealerships”. A win-win for everyone but the consumer.

  7. These new EV’s burn way more fuel the ice vehicles….lol

    2022 Ford F-150 Lightning Platinum 4WD Automatic fuel economy combined = 66 mpg.

    The trick is they always quote mpg at the wall plug, to green idiots electricity just comes out of a wall plug, end of story.

    In the real world the reality is different.

    NOTE:
    Thermal efficiency of power plants using coal, petroleum, natural gas or nuclear fuel and converting it to electricity are around 33% efficiency, natural gas is around 40%. Then there is average 6% loss in transmission, then there is a 5% loss in the charger, another 5% loss in the inverter, the electric motor is 90% efficient so another 10% loss before turning the electricity into mechanical power at the wheels.

    33% – 6% – 5% – 5% – 10% = 25% efficiency for EV’s. In very cold weather EV’s are 12% efficient

    EV’s are 25% efficient, so at the wall plug 75% of the original source of energy (coal, oil, gas, etc.) has been lost, wasted, so you have to look back at how much fuel was actually used.

    EV pushers lie 24/7 about this quoting fuel economy at the wall plug, they think electricity comes to the wall plug magically, they are insane…lol….

    2022 Ford F-150 Lightning Platinum 4WD Automatic fuel economy combined = 66 mpg. To get the real fuel economy just divide by 4 = 16.5 mpg
    but that is in ideal conditions, in really cold conditions it is half that = 8 mpg.

    Claimed range 230 miles. That is in ideal conditions, 30 mph, flat road, no wind, 70 degrees out, no accessories on, AC, etc…

    Another problem because of lithium fire bomb battery fire danger they are recommending only using 60% of the battery capacity, don’t run down battery below 30%, don’t charge over 90% because it can damage the battery and it might catch fire and burn your house down….lol.

    Towing 6000 lb range drops to 85 miles.
    At WOT wide open throttle range drops 90%.

    Compared to a new ice truck:
    2022 Toyota Tundra gas ice curb weight 5798 lb. V6 turbo 389 hp fuel economy combined 23 mpg

    EV pushers lie 24/7 about this quoting fuel economy at the wall plug, they think electricity comes to the wall plug magically, they are insane…lol….

    It does in a sense, nobody cares how much fuel was actually burnt to charge the EV….it is subsidized at below production costs through a government run utility, paid for by ice vehicle driving taxpayers, who also subsidized the purchase price of the EV with their tax dollars, they also pay for the roads used by parasitic lithium fire bomb EV drivers, they pay nothing, they are free loaders.

    95% of lithium fire bomb batteries are not recycled, the biggest ecological nightmare in history, brought to you by leftist/communist/globalists.

    EV’s are starting to get banned in underground or above ground parking, if you see one parked report it……lol

    • No, no, no. Electricity is created within the wall by the power of the Lord Satan. You pay the power company and they do the necessary incantations.

  8. Who in their right mind would pay $98K for a truck that can’t even tow a trailer more than 100 miles without needing 30 minutes of “rapid” charging. Guess PT Barnum was right, a sucker is born every minute.

    • Hi Dr. –

      Yup. And Ford only sells the thing with a 5.5 foot bed, which means this massive truck has a smaller bed than my compact-sized ’02 Nissan Frontier (which has a six-foot bed). My truck can’t pull 10,000 pounds, of course. But it can go about 300 miles without stopping – and it only takes about 5 minutes to get going, again. Also, it has been going for the past 20 years… I doubt the Lightning will go 10.

      • They’ll have to start making sheets of plywood smaller, to fit in the “new, improved” pickups.
        (They are pickups, hot “trucks.” Trucks have 18 wheels.)

        One of the big selling points for 8 foot beds on pickups was the ability to load 8′ sheets of plywood, drywall, etc. & close the end gate. But, that was back in the day when people who bought pickups used them to do actual work, as opposed to hauling their “toys” around.

        The sides of the bed were also about a foot lower (by actual measurement) than on the new ones, because people who owned pickups might want to, you know, load stuff in them & haul it somewhere.

        Lift kits, “road grader” tires, drop hitches, and multiple shock absorbers per wheel were unknown in those days, as I recall…

        With the “new standard” 66.6″ sheets of plywood, humans will have to be downsized as well, in ordure to “save the planet.” This should be no problem on a diet of fried crickets and roasted mealworms. No worries, mate, Kaiser Bill (Gates) has got your back…

        • Anon, I hate the new beds, too. They look like their only use might be making a redneck hot tub. I don’t think there has been a long bed pickup made in the past decade, at least.

          • Hi BaDnOn,

            The high bed wall thing baffles me completely. I am much taller than the average guy and for me, it is awkward verging on not possible to get at whatever is in the bed of a current/recent 1500 without standing on something. They build ladders into the tailgate and so on for just this reason.

            It’s absurd.

            So why do they build the bed walls so high? Probably two reasons. The higher bed walls may confer an aerodynamic advantage that helps with CAFE, as well as side-impact folderol. And, the Macho Factor. This “look” seems to appeal to many truck buyers, who want a truck that looks jacked-up and . . . Macho… even if it makes it less everyday useful.

            • Absurd is correct, Eric. And anything this impractical “looks” stupid to me. But, the majority of the plebes aren’t pragmatists, are they?

              With many people buying the 4-door, full-cab versions of trucks these days, it seems more to me that what they really want is a giant, monolithic, sasquatch car: A car that happens to come with an open trunk.

              • ‘anything this impractical “looks” stupid to me.’ — BaDnOn

                ‘Ergonomically defective’ would be an apt description.

                Human factors design reference books supply dimensions such as armpit height and extended-arm reach, for persons ranging from the 10th percentile woman (in stature) to the 90th percentile man. It’s literally ‘textbook.’

                Throwing out this solid data for the sake of peddling a rolling high-bedwall codpiece for low-testosterone losers is engineering malpractice.

                Bloated, deformed pickups are a joke. And the butt of the joke is the owner, making his/her $700 a month payments … for now.

                But even in the coming distress sales, I don’t want one of these ridiculous platypus/dodo-bird chimeras at any price, including free.

                • “…Rolling high-bedwall codpiece for low-testosterone losers” -Jim H.

                  Also an apt description. 😀

                  An ergonomic nightmare they are. Just think of washing and parking these “dodos” all the time. Then, these bozos put wagon-wheel rims on these things, and they become nothing but laughable.

            • Re: 5.5ft bed and high sidewalls.
              The most popular truck arrangement today is the crew cab. I believe these have basically replaced the large sedan that we used to be able to get. Most buyers don’t even need a bed at all, and the short 5.5 beds are there for reasons:
              smaller to fit in a garage, still looks like a pickup, most don’t care.
              You can order a 6-4 +/- bed with most manuf. today, I have two of them, and use them.
              As for the high sidewalls, I believe it is simply a creation of the big 3 trying to out do each other, over time. The rear of my ram crew is larger than the fronts and has a flat floor, amazing and I love it. Even the rear seats recline a little, which is nice. Yes, I don’t like the high sidewalls either, but have learned to live with it, while getting all the other bonuses.
              In my case I have air-ride that can be lowered quite a bit to accommodate loading better.

      • Eric,
        Your Nissan may not pull 10k, but it can run multiple trips, which the EV truck might not. So, in a specific time frame, and miles towed, you may actually be able to tow MORE than 10k, and so, more than the F150 EV can, in a shorter time.

    • Dear, dr_mantis_toboggan_md.

      F_P asked for further comment from you on the ‘Alex First’ thread. Are you aware of that? Perhaps can take the time to expand upon your comment there?

    • Who in their right mind would buy one? A rich guy that doesn’t need it anyway.
      A business guy or government worker spending someone else’s money.
      And pretty much nobody else.

  9. How ironic: Henry Ford- the guy who made automobiles affordable to the working masses- Now the company which bears his name makes full-size ICE pick-ups, some of which cost OVER $100K…….

  10. Headed for a China type government,,, 87,000 new IRS thugs to ensure you pay your ‘fair share’. Taxes, fee’s going through the roof on everything in a bill called the “Inflation Reduction Act” – lol- to pay for funding Ukrainian war, a woke military, all by creating fresh new dollars which will actually increase inflation they claim is 9% now but in fact it is 18 – 20%

    Illegal immigration at all time highs,,, fbi raiding ex-presidents on fishing expeditions,,, democratic run cities lie in ruins and crime ridden,,, lies, lies and more lies everywhere, fake globull Warming aka climate change,,,fake viruses, fake diseases, fake vaxxines,,, fake tests,,, heart attacks due to napping, too much sex,,, too happy,,, too fit,,, not fit enough,,, excessive breathing (which the vaxx is working on as we speak). Sudden Adult Death Syndrome,,, Unknown Death Syndrome,,, past conquered diseases returning after the fake vaxx,,, cancers up 10,000%,,, All deaths up now 40% but all is normal!

    Military now a bunch of high heeled cross dressers,,, police in full gestapo mode,,, courts, governments belong to WEF (World Economic Forum). Billionaires/governments buying up all farm land destroying crops and killing stock,,, doing whatever they can to disrupt/destroy supply chains,,, shutting down refineries,,, oil drilling,,, to create fake price hikes,,, banning ICE vehicles forcing Electric while they can barely keep the grid up, multiple brown outs, blackouts……. plus much, much more while people pretend government works for them. Elections stolen right out in the open yet Americans still go out to ‘vote’ the least of two evils. The BS I get on phone calls wanting me to vote this way or that way to make America Great Again or Build Back better! When you let them know their full of crap ‘they’ hang up on you!

    Yet no one seems to notice,,, no one seems to care. Everyone walking in their own dazed fake world.

    The only good government is no government. BUT when I tell that to most I am called an Anarchist and told we need government to keep things in line or there would be chaos. Really??? Just wait!

    • Anarchist here too, but quit talking shit about China. CCP is trash but not NEARLY as trash as American government. I lived there for 5 years, working and running a business.

      – No one had to pay an income tax.
      – Taxes wasn’t even “a thing” like it is here. Never heard “Have you finished your taxes yet?”
      – Our business didn’t need to pay any tax except like some social security bullshit of $50/employee.
      – Import duties sucked but everyone was looking for ways around them, not like people here where purchasing agents tell their boss “No, that’s cheating!” when he tells them (women) to find a different import code to pay a lower tariff.
      – They weren’t terrified of their equivalent of the IRS or an audit or whatever.
      – Never saw a cop pull anyone over for speeding.
      – Never saw a cop hiding in a pullout to catch someone for speeding.
      – No speed cameras, no speed traps
      – Never saw red light/blue light flashes the way you do EVERY SINGLE DAY here.
      – Can walk down the street drinking a beer sans paper bag. No one cares.

      Their government doesn’t spend its time terrorizing its citizens the way the American government does. Govenment IS slavery; their slavery is more tolerable than here.

      • You are correct. In most “third world” countries, citizens routinely argue with cops and other public officials and are in no danger of being “blown away”. Tax evasion and avoidance of tariffs and other taxes is merely a way of doing business, something that even public official look the other way on…
        In Europe, cops and their vehicles are required to be highly visible…hiding spots and subdued graphics are “verboten”…not like the “good ol’ USA…
        Regards,

        • Hi Anarchyst,

          One used to be able to argue with cops in America, too – and as recently as the ’90s. But then came Hut! Hut! Hut! culture… the cult of obedience and servility… of “officer safety” and “hero” worship. One does not question Superman.

        • anarchyst,
          Several years ago I watched an interview with Jesse Ventura. Who lived on the Mexican side of the Baja area at the time. He claimed that the bribes to get LE to leave him alone was cheaper than his tax bill in the US.

        • Europe is full GATSOs and other automated enforcement.
          Also cops in Germany will set up speed traps on overpasses then radio to another cop in a car if I remember correctly. Europe is full of government scams, simply done a little differently.

      • Tax rate in China…

        sales tax 13%

        Taxable income (monthly)
        from [RMB] to [RMB] tax rate Quick deduction
        1 2,999 3% 0
        3,000 11,999 10% 210
        12,000 24,999 20% 1,410
        25,000 34,999 25% 2,660
        35,000 54,999 30% 4,410
        55,000 79,999 35% 7,160
        80,000 over 45% 15,160

        pretty low tax rate

        Russia
        Income Tax Rate 13%

        sales tax 20%

      • Hi Danny,

        Thanks for bringing this up. You’re right. In terms of everyday freedom, the average Chinese or Russian is “freer” than the average American, who is relentlessly parented by government down to the pettiest and most degrading Thou Shalls (and Shall Nots), perfect examples of which are helmet and seatbelt laws. Fifty years ago, this idea that government would force people to “buckle up” – using threats of murderous violence – would have been scoffed at by most Americans.

        And now look at us.

        • Hi Eric,
          Tom Woods had an interview not long ago with a guy who lives in China. He said that he has seen no evidence at all of the supposed “social credit score” system that American conservatives get so worked up about.
          My cousin has a very successful business designing and marketing all sorts of outdoor gear. It is all manufactured in China. As far as I know he is dealing with private companies, not the Chinese Communist Party. They give him superb quality and low prices.
          Don’t get me wrong, the Chinese state is a state, and therefore evil to the core. But there’s no reason we can’t trade with its people in peace if politicians will just shut the hell up and stop making enemies.

          • I agree, Roland –

            People are (mostly) just people, irrespective of nationality or race – and just want to do their thing, care for their families and be let alone to do just that. It is government that ruins everything. It magnifies the power of the occasional asshole – by empowering him. Absent government, the occasional asshole could only do so much harm.

      • So China’s slavery is more tolerable than America’s, huh? I guess the recent hard lockdown in Shanghai over little more than a minor cold were “good times” all around?

        • Hi Jim

          The lockdowns in Australia were the worst in the world, far worse then China, China only locked down for a short time a couple of cities (those cities are where the biggest government opposition is…lol), up north in canada, it is the only country on the planet that still forces masking on planes….lol

          Nicaragua was the freest country on the planet, no masks, no lockdowns, no injections, no fu kk ing bat germ bs, no nothing,

          the G7 was the worst….24/7 bat germ bs for 2 1/2 years…coming back in the fall…..lol

          check this out

          COVID Live – Coronavirus Statistics – Worldometer (worldometers.info)

          case study – Haiti – population 11.7 million

          Haiti cases per million 2,786

          VS ………….cases per million…..279,138 for the US, 106,268 for canada, 372,763 for australia and italy 355,043 for italy (EU proxy

          deaths per million

          Haiti 72

          VS…….. deaths per million 3,138 for the US, 1,116 for canada, 484 for australia and 2,880 for italy

          Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccinations – Our World in Data

          Haiti’s “vaccination rate” = 1.4% double doses and another 0.8% single doses.

          G7 they claim 90% injected, maybe it is 50%??

          prima facie evidence of the uselessness of the response using “vaccinations”.

          Meanwhile…..Nicaragua was the freest country on the planet, no masks, no lockdowns, no injections, no fu kk ing bat germ bs, no nothing, they kicked out all the nazi needle bastards…lol….zero health issues….

          NOTE: the bat germ was just relabeled mild flu

    • Took the words out of my mouth Ken. I feel that everyday. I don’t understand why there is not a national uprising against all of this. We the people ought to be out marching in every city, every day. I would participate—but will it even do any good?
      So depressing, it really does make you want to go postal and go all over the place yelling, stop all of this s—!!! Get back to normal!!
      I feel a little better, lol.

  11. Huh, in addition to Tesla’s mounting problems, increasing costs & prices, the collapse of the “full self driving” fantasy, and Musk dumping even more stock to the tune of almost $7 billion, we see in the news today:

    “Tesla Stock News and Forecast: TSLA stock advances in Wednesday’s premarket despite Musk’s $7 billion sale”

    And “crazy conspiracy theory people” say the market is rigged. 🙄 Clearly the market is just following reality. Sorry short squeezers, here’s an in-bread cat, your argument is invalid.

  12. Some days I drive a two mile circuit, to the bar to buy beer, back home again.

    Other days I drive 125 miles round trip. Estimate 300 miles per week. 15 gallons of gas, times 4 is 60 dollars per week gasoline cost. 52 times 60 is 3120 US dollars. Drive your vehicle for ten years, 31,200 dollars.

    15,000 miles in one year of driving is about right for personal use to go about your daily needs and desires.

    You are paying 20 cents per mile, 20 miles, four dollars.

    Easy to spend 31,200 dollars in ten years to drive to the next gas station for some more fuel to keep going again.

    A 50 kwh battery needs to charge, you buy electricity to keep going. At 12 cents per kilowatt hour, six dollars.

    You will travel three miles to burn one kwh, 150 miles. Maybe four miles, 200 miles. You can go maybe 10,000 miles in a year, 50 charging cycles to a fully charged battery. That’ll be 300 dollars to charge the battery 50 times, looks like about 1/10th the cost in a years time. 3000 dollars in ten years, then a new 22,000 dollar battery. At 20 cents per kwh, five grand in ten years.

    It could all go up in smoke before then, there is a chance of that.

    Your savings could be 6000 dollars and driving 1/3 less miles.

    If gas is three dollars per gallon, it’ll be 22,500 dollars, the battery in your EV won’t save you one dime, it’ll be a loss.

    That is why gasoline is $4.00 per gallon.

    Every single bank in the US had US minted silver coins in their cash drawers. Two thin dimes for one gallon of gas won’t pay.

    All those US minted 90 percent silver coins are no longer in circulation, all gone, nothing but some steel, copper and nickel.

    A five cent candy bar is just plain wrong, it’s got to be twenty times more.

    The greatest theft of wealth ever to happen from here to eternity was the removal of all US minted gold and silver coin from circulation.

    The gold and silver coins aren’t gone, they’re all still there, they just disappeared.

    And… it’s gone.

    Fiat systems, modern monetary theory, allows for greater opportunity to work with wider margins.

    You can make a lot more money in the markets.

    If you market EVs, build them, sell them at a loss, you can still make money anyway. The taxpayer will come to your rescue.

    It all works until it doesn’t.

  13. I still don’t get why the market jumped right over plugged in hybrids. Seems to be the best of both worlds. You can drive around on electric only for small trips and then use gas when you actually need to make a trip.

    Never stranded

      • Correct.
        If anything has been proven over the past decade plus, assuming big corporations to have a self preservation instinct or pure profit motive is false. See ESG, DEI, and all other forms of virtue signaling. I mean it’s not like work trucks are a core business or anything.

    • Hi Paul,

      The reason is simply that hybrids work. They don’t restrict mobility but enhance it. They are affordable and practical.

      Electric cars aren’t. And that is what’s wanted, you see. The whole point of “electrification” is not to get people into electric cars. It is to get them out of cars.

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      Copy Here→→→→→ http://www.smartjob1.com

  14. I love it, a truck for which the only possible utility is a local fleet. Even having incentives out the arse, they have to be near 50% more expensive.

  15. Sounds like I need to invest in mining companies that extract this stuff from the ground. Or downstream processors of same. Truly, whenever you see the forced market such as this, you know you’re going to make $$.

  16. The US Psychopaths In Charge are determined that you will drive an EV, or a bicycle. Perhaps a good time to invest in making bicycles? I repeat, without the subsidies, and the associated propaganda, and the regulatory (not law) destruction of the ICV competition, there wouldn’t be enough demand for them to justify assembly line production.
    The component materials of batteries are much like Gold. There is a very limited supply of them, and even more so, a limited number of places they can be acquired. None of which are in the US. Any increase in demand will cause their price to skyrocket.
    For the sake of preventing an ever changing climate from ever changing again. Which problem EVs do not solve in any way shape or form.

  17. Funny EP mentions diamonds. Diamonds are not rare; they live in a highly monopolized world of both western and african governments and a constrained supply by DeBeers et al.

    Simply put, they ain’t worth that much.

    • Mike,
      Just like oil. The “scarcity” of oil is created by excessive regulation, foreign policy, or lack thereof, and taxation.

      • Far from being “fossil fuel”, hydrocarbons are not only plentiful but are being created by yet-unknown processes deep within the earth.
        The term “fossil fuel” was coined in the 1950s when little was known about the processes by which oil is produced. Oil is “abiotic” in nature, as even depleted oil wells are “filling back up” from deep below the earth’s surface.
        Oil interests are drilling wells at 5,000 feet, 10,000 feet, and 15,000 feet and deeper, and coming up with oil deposits way below the layers and levels where “fossils” were known to exist.
        As Russia gained much expertise in deep-well drilling and coming up with oil deposits far deeper than that of the level of “fossils”, abiotic oil at extreme depths was actually a Russian “state secret” for a long time.
        Not only that, but there are planetary bodies in which hydrocarbons are naturally occurring (without fossils).
        “Peak oil” and “fossil fuels” are discredited concepts that environmentalists and others are latching on to, in order to display their hatred of oil being a renewable resource as well as to push prices up.
        Follow the money.

    • I was going to comment this very thing Mike! The diamond cartel is something most industries (and governments for that matter) would love to emulate. How to make a cheap common item expensive and sound way more special than it is. Diamonds are a complete rip off. If you’re getting married, the last thing you should do is buy a diamond. Get a gem or your birthstone or something. Just don’t get that d*** overpriced diamond. There is no deal to be had. They should be very cheap.

      Most of the world’s diamonds are locked up in various DeBeers vaults around the world. Diamonds are actually very plentiful and cheap. It wouldn’t be a big deal to just ignore diamonds for your wedding band, but industrial diamonds are a different matter. So they manage to increase the cost of everything that requires an industrial cutting diamond.

      Cartels are as bad as governments, in the case of DeBeers, they are worldwide in scope.

  18. If you’re the Biden Thing — or a Democrat running for Clowngress — today’s Consumer Price Index report is a breath of fresh air. In July — mirabile dictu — CPI was unchanged from June.

    On the other hand, if you’re one of those stubborn curmudgeons who dwells in the reality-based community, CPI was still up a hefty 8.5% from June 2021.

    This week the Lügenpresse brims with upbeat stories of Democrats high-fiving each other over their legislative ‘accomplishments’ (e.g., 87,000 new IRS auditors!) and their improving prospects for retaining control of the Senate.

    Like the ‘inevitable Hillary’ narrative in 2016, the D-party renaissance story both reduces the amount of intervention needed in November, and also makes it more believable when the inevitable minor adjustments of vote totals are needed here and there, for the common good.

    We’re in good hands with Joe! /sarc

    • The reality-based community still needs an answer on the formula:

      RealInflation% x PixieDust = 8.5%

      But I think that if you use the “new math” and figure in the new definition of “recession” and ignore The Great Depression stats, then PixieDust is probably a direct result of that equation.

      I haven’t seen it published yet. I’m sure “all the economists” advising “Biden” have that in their back pocket though.

      • EM,

        Larry Summers (of all people) backcasted the current CPI calculation using Owner’s Equivalent Rent (OER) as far back as the 1950s. Result: high inflation in the 1970s (when rising house prices and mortgage interest rates directly affected CPI) was several percentage points lower, according to the current method.

        Differently stated, today’s inflation is about as bad as the bad old days of the 1970s, comparing apples to apples.

        Unfortunately for the Biden Thing, OER is ‘sticky.’ Households are surveyed every six months — one-sixth of the survey group per month. So OER only rolls over slowly. It’s gonna keep cranking at least through end-year; maybe longer.

    • Last month: don’t trust the data. This month: right as rain!

      Locally here in NC, the only thing not moving up in price in a hockey stick pattern is gasoline. That’s been weird too. I’m seeing wild fluctuations day to day between different stations, sometimes .30-.50 difference. Also no price listed on signs or inaccurate prices. Some pumps out of fuel. I’ll drive by at 10 a.m. then the price will be different at 2 p.m. Brandon bending the knee for the Saudis (really the empire commanding its satrap as it normally does and could whenever if the goal wasn’t destroying mobility and the middle and lower classes) seems to have bought him a tiny respite in the inflation calculations. The reality is it’s still galloping.

  19. The biggest problem with EV’s is the batteries in EV’s are very dangerous, a fire hazard, how they ever got passed for safety standards is a huge mystery.

    What happens when 2200 Ev’s (a new complex in planning stage will have 2200 parking spaces)….imagine 2200 lithium fire bomb EV’s parked), are parked in underground parking at an apartment block or office tower and they catch fire? You can’t take propane into underground parking, but you can take a fire bomb lithium battery car underground.

    Lithium-ion batteries have a tendency to overheat and can be damaged at high voltages leading to thermal runaway and combustion. like driving around sitting on top of a huge bomb, make sure you don’t hit anything or get hit while driving one of these abortions.
    EV fires are very hard to put out the only way is with the application of huge amounts of water.

    The self-immolation failure mode of Lithium Ion batteries has been known since their very beginning. The intense heat causes the battery to generate its own oxygen so trying to smother the fire doesn’t work.

    Tactically, this may mean using a master stream, 2½-inch or multiple 1¾-inch fire lines, to suppress and cool the fire. Vehicle fires don’t typically call for surround-and-drown tactics, but these are not typical vehicle fires.

    One example: the flames on the Tesla were extinguished, it reignited again. Firefighters began hosing it down with copious amounts of water, up to 200 gallons per minute, but “that did not extinguish the flames,” according to the NTSB. At approximately 9:13 p.m., nearly three hours after the first alarm was received, firefighters had to pour out more than 600 gallons of water per minute. In the end the agency used 20,000 gallons of water.

    Then the fire still isn’t put out……..Batteries can be expected to reignite after being put out because they still have stored energy. 15 hours later it catches fire again…
    “Battery fires can take up to 24 hours to extinguish”….. the vehicle must be parked under “quarantine” for 48 hours, so that no new fire can break out.
    Batteries are difficult to extinguish, and they can burst into flames again several hours later –ATTENTION: in some cases, right up to a week later

    Over heard a fireman say as he put one of these fires out,that he would never own one ,that’s good enough for me sir!never!

    another huge problem….
    – If there is a fire in an electric or hybrid car, we are acutely aware that the smoke may contain hydrogen fluoride, which is extremely harmful. Even small doses can result in water in the lungs.
    The greater the amount of energy the electric vehicle may contain, the greater the fire risk of electric vehicle fires.
    So they want to increase the range but that means bigger batteries which are far more dangerous, tesla is the worst they have up to 1800 lb of batteries, a huge fire on wheels going somewhere to happen.

    Here is the biggest problem nobody talks about……
    31% of fire departments don’t train for electric vehicle fires. 50% of fire departments say they don’t have special protocols in place to handle electric vehicles after an accident. These EV’s shouldn’t be sold the fire departments can’t even put out the fires, these things endanger everyone.
    Remember this while driving your EV:
    Drive down the road in your EV, hit some debris, a high bump, a huge pothole (the cities don’t fix the roads anymore, so don’t buy an EV), a raised manhole cover or drive into the ditch, puncture the battery and the battery catches fire.
    In addition to crashes, some of the earlier fires involving Teslas were reportedly caused by debris in the roadway puncturing and gouging the undercarriage of the lithium-ion battery pack.

    The damaged battery pack exposed the lithium, causing an exothermal reaction and subsequent fire. This hazard was thought to have been solved with the installation of a titanium cover encasing the battery pack, giving the undercarriage more resistance to severe damage. looks like they don’t work too well, remember this while driving your EV.
    Most electric vehicle fires are caused by the thermal runaway of a damaged battery. Thermal runaway is the rapid and extreme rise in temperature and when it initiates the same reaction in adjacent cells it is known as ‘thermal runaway propagation. When thermal runaway happens, it can produce smoke, fire and even explosions.

    Fires while the electric vehicle is stationary (an EV can catch fire even while parked, don’t sleep in it), this can happen from:
    Extreme temperatures, both extreme heat and cold
    High humidity
    Flooding
    Internal cell failure
    ATTENTION: Overcharging or problems with the charging station (the EV can catch fire), don’t charge it in your garage, what if something goes wrong while charging?
    Is that why so many charging stations are out of order? the software shuts them down over any little issue because they can cause fires.

    Fast charging?…start a fire….lol
    Extreme fast chargers, for example,can push battery pack temperatures to 270ºC/514ºF after just a few minutes of charging.
    If you fast charge a lot, you wreck the battery, if you don’t…. you wait hours to charge….lol

    Fires in gas powered vehicles is far easier to put out compared to an EV and doesn’t take 24 hours to put out. (it is very very difficult for a diesel powered vehicle to catch fire, they are by far the safest)
    they soon will ban far safer gas powered vehicles and the best and the safest by far diesel powered vehicles, throw a match in diesel, it won’t even catch fire……..

    After 10 years the battery in your EV is near dead, useless, the car is scrap now, no residual value: Lithium-ion batteries are subject to aging, losing capacity and fail frequently after a number of years.
    A bigger worry is being cremated in the thing.
    Electric car batteries are catching fire and that could be a big turnoff to buyers.

    BMW initiated a recall in the United States of 10 different BMW and Mini plug-in hybrid models because of a risk of fire caused by debris that may have gotten into battery cells during manufacturing.

    Then, in early October, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into reports of apparently spontaneous battery fires in Chevrolet Bolt EVs.
    A few days later, Hyundai announced that it was recalling 6,700 Kona Electric SUVs in the United States, among about 75,000 of that model to be recalled worldwide, after it had received numerous reports of vehicles catching fire while parked.

    Tesla faced problems this last year after multiple highly publicized battery fires.
    Container puts out inextinguishable fires in electric cars
    https://cfpa-e.eu/container-puts-out-inextinguishable…/

    • You forgot to mention tunnels.

      Anywhere there is a tunnel of any significance, there are huge warnings for trucks carrying flammable or hazardous cargo to avoid the tunnel—and huge penalties for doing so. For example, a truck hauling a load of lithium battery packs would be considered hazardous cargo, and thus not allowed to use the tunnel.

      Yet none exist for electric cars. Wonder why?

  20. Your government is pushing EV’s? Why?

    China has infiltrated all levels of governments, taken control, (check out the leftist/communist takeover), your politicians bought off, paid to push the EV agenda.

    Anybody pushing EV’s is a paid ccp shill.

    Who benefits the most from the EV vehicle conversion? china does.

    All the most important components in the new EV’s are all made in china. Then you are dependent on china for replacement parts, etc., in effect they take over the whole vehicle supply chain. Vehicle production then centralized in China.

    the chinese are taking over the electric car market, they are starting to export their EV’s worldwide, their EV’s are supposed to be advanced and cheap, they will kill off the other manufacturers……

    the chinese make most of the chips, maybe the shortage was to help their EV launch….lots of their cars coming here soon

    at this rate everyone will be driving a chinese car soon, a lot of electronics in your car made there already…….

    no wonder tesla moved a lot of production to china…

    china…..it is where most rare earths are processed; and most of the mineral supply-chains for electric vehicles lead there, with existing supply sewn up.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jclSYJb8oa0

    • Anon,
      Since the US FedGov is quickly drifting ever closer to the Chinese tyrannical model, what difference does it make whether the US Psychopaths are in charge, or those of China?

  21. ‘The more electric cars that are made, the more replacement batteries for these electric cars (and trucks) will be needed.’ — eric

    This is purely hearsay, but a buddy of mine who spends time in ‘the valley’ was told by his pickup repair tech that each year, one of every four EeeVees in Phoenix needs a total battery replacement.

    That is, just as sub-zero temperatures are not battery-friendly, neither is solar-fried blacktop furiously radiating infrared up into the claustrophobic gap between the pavement and the low-slung battery. One can easily imagine local temps of 150 to 200 °F in that constrained little living hell for the poor battery, sweating metallic bullets of nickel, manganese and cobalt.

    A Vietnamese EeeVee startup plans to lease the battery pack (with guaranteed replacement) as part of the purchase deal. That relieves the buyer of the idiosyncratic risk of her battery croaking young. But this form of insurance can only spread the risk among the buyer pool, not eliminate it.

    For sure and for certain, buyers — even lessees — are going to PAY for the inherent depreciation of batteries. The lessor gets to write them off over just 3 years. More than 3 years is a gift, comrades!

    • The government has stupid solutions for the climate change lies……technology that is far more destructive to the environment…..

      Lithium batteries:
      Can’t be recycled = really green energy….haha

      95% of lithium batteries aren’t recycled, Solar panels can’t be recycled, Used wind turbine blades can’t be recycled, Each blade weighs 81,000 pounds, they are made from fiberglass.

      A typical EV battery weighs one thousand pounds, (tesla batteries go up to 1800 lb., hummer battery is 3000 lb. ) It contains twenty-five pounds of lithium, sixty pounds of nickel, 44 pounds of manganese, 30 pounds cobalt, 200 pounds of copper, and 400 pounds of aluminum, steel, and plastic. Inside are over 6,000 individual lithium-ion cells.
      It should concern you that all those toxic components come from mining. For instance, to manufacture each EV auto battery, you must process 25,000 pounds of brine for the lithium, 30,000 pounds of ore for the cobalt, 5,000 pounds of ore for the nickel, and 25,000 pounds of ore for copper. All told, you dig up 500,000 pounds of the earth’s crust for just one battery.” For the larger batteries multiply all that by 2 X.

      Sixty-eight percent of the world’s cobalt, a significant part of a battery, comes from the Congo. Their mines have no pollution controls, and they employ children who die from handling this toxic material. Should we factor in these diseased kids as part of the cost of driving an electric car?”

      95% of lithium batteries aren’t recycled…..thrown into the woods? thrown down old mine shafts like nuclear waste?…..lol

    • Hi Jim,

      In re: “A Vietnamese EeeVee startup plans to lease the battery pack (with guaranteed replacement) as part of the purchase deal.”

      And there you have it. Serial debt. The never-ending payment for the never-owned-and-paid-for car.

      • You beat me too it Eric, another debt treadmill. Also lines up with “you will own nothing”…..and be happy? Not this guy, come and get it mother effers!

  22. No Parking Allowed For Chevy Bolt EVs At A Parking Lot In SF
    What will happen if this spreads and includes whole charging networks?

    No parking for EV with lithium fire bomb battery at an outdoor open parking lot….lol

    EV’s are starting to get banned at underground parkades too…..lol

    What happens when 2200 Ev’s (a new complex in planning stage will have 2200 parking spaces)….imagine 2200 lithium fire bomb EV’s parked), are parked in underground parking at an apartment block or office tower and they catch fire? You can’t take propane into underground parking, but you can take a fire bomb lithium battery car underground.

    https://insideevs.com/news/531854/no-parking-chevrolet-bolt-evs/

    https://www.motorbiscuit.com/fire-danger-underground-parking-lot-bans-electric-vehicles/

  23. Here’s an interesting comment via the Quoth the Raven substack from an interview he did with Mark Speigel published just this morning:

    —–QUOTE—–
    Mark On Tesla

    Let’s start with the one potential piece of moderately good news for Tesla, because pretty much everything else that happened this month was bad.

    Late in July, Manchin announced he’d made a deal with Schumer to extend the $7500 EV tax credit which Tesla lost a couple of years ago. However, due to the new program’s price caps, only Tesla’s cheapest, short-range Model 3 qualifies, along with its Model Y which sneaks in as a “small SUV” (which have higher price caps), despite simply being a Model 3 with a bloated, guppy-like body stuck on it.

    But there are new income cutoffs restricting who can use these credits: $150,000 for an individual and $300,000 for a married couple, which will eliminate a number of potential Tesla buyers. If we then add in the fact that a myriad of great and less expensive Model Y competition has now arrived, with much more coming in 2023 when the credits begin, I see this government spending boondoggle adding perhaps 100,000 deliveries a year for Tesla; i.e., a rounding error for its market cap and volume projections. And now for the rest of the news…
    —–END QOUTE—–

    Notice the thing about “small SUV” and even guppy-like body. I have always hated the look of those things, they look uber retarded IMO. Even if they were gas, I couldn’t stomach looking at the thing never mind want drive it daily or look at it in my driveway.

    And then the cutoffs. 🤣

    • made a deal with Schumer to extend the $7500 EV tax credit ….just in time for the wave of cheap chinese EV’s coming this way…lol….this government is ccp loving communists….

      • As much as I loathe the ChiComs for being monsters I really can’t wait to see the virtue signaling jellyfish GM, Ford, VW etc. get steamrolled by the likes of SAIC and CHERY. F*ck those sh*tbag agenda 2030 aiding bootlickers. If US and EU automakers keep pushing their overpriced EV rubbish on us they’ll be lucky to be able to sell GEELY trashmobiles with a shiny BMW logo glued on the trunk.

  24. I read an interesting comment on Doug Demuro’s auction site a couple days ago from a guy saying that he was a GM employee. He said:

    “This Hummer EV is one of the last 2022 models delivered. It comes with a full GM warranty with NO restrictions on transfer. Any future Hummer EV to be sold will have a restriction on the warranty if sold within the first year, so this vehicle is even more valuable since it has NO RETRICTIONS.”

    So now, any sucker that buys one a 2023 or later can’t sell it for an entire year or just “burn” the warranty! Do you think anyone will risk that?! Maybe.

    That example on that auction was being sold with only 400 miles with a flimsy excuse IMO. But who knows. Maybe the guys was telling the truth about pulling his plane or whatever the hell.

    BUT! It was bid to $181,000 but “Reserve not Met!” 🤣🤣🤣

    I don’t know who TF is interested that shit but personally I think you’d have to be out of your mind regardless of how much you’re worth. What happened to rich people being penny pinchers and the cheapest of the cheap?!

    If you’re interested to see it: https://carsandbids.com/auctions/9WZ0JAGV/2022-gmc-hummer-ev-pickup-edition-1

  25. These cars with lithium fire bomb batteries are dangerous

    Driver crashes ice car at 288 mph no fire
    Driver crashes EV car at 120 mph it bursts into flames

    Richard Hammond crashed in the The Vampire dragster in York in 2006. the dragster was going 288 mph and was full of fuel, it did not catch fire.

    Richard Hammond crashed at 120 mph in the Rimac EV lithium battery supercar, it immediately burst into flames. These lithium batteries are dangerous when you crash they burst into flames. The fire took more then 24 hours to put out.

    https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/richard-hammond-switzerland-car-crash-10599299?ICID=facebook_instant

    • NOTE: The Rimac EV caught fire, it was very very difficult to put out the fire, the EV continued to catch fire, over and over, for 5 days….lol.

  26. And of course, the “demand” for electric vehicles will continue to savage the supply of that which actually powers them – coal, gas, and oil.

    Win-win for the oligarchs.

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