They Just Outlawed Trucks

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The federal regulatory apparat – which has become an unelected legislature – has just decreed that there will be no new trucks by less than a decade from now.

“Decreed” in italics because that is precisely what has just happened.

No law was passed, but last week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (note the blasé bureaucratic terminology; it is just an “administration,” ands yet it does a great deal more than merely administering) decreed that by 2032, new vehicles must average at least 58 miles-per-gallon.

As of today, there isn’t single new car available that can comply with this decree. “Comply” in italics to mark the outrageousness of the “administration” of such decrees, which no one in this “democracy” of ours ever had a chance to vote for – or against.

The only car that comes close to being able to “comply” is the Toyota Prius, a small hybrid – and even it doesn’t quite get there.

It averages 57 MPG.

How will trucks “comply” with a federal decree that requires them to average 58 MPG? The answer is – they won’t. Because they can’t. It is a functional impossibility. In order to be a truck, it must be capable of doing work – such as carrying and pulling heavy things. This makes trucks heavier – by a lot – than a small car such as the Prius. As an example, the Ford F-150 (not the electric version) has a curb weight of 4,465 lbs., notwithstanding that its body is made of aluminum. It has a steel frame – onto which the aluminum body is bolted. This is how trucks are laid out because it is the best layout for the type of work people expect trucks be able to do without breaking.

A small car like the Prius has an integrated body and frame – this is called a unibody – and it helps reduce weight; even so, the 2023 Prius still weighs 3,097 lbs. And it is a near-miracle that something that heavy manages to almost “comply” with the federal regulatory apparat’s decree.

But it required a hybrid drivetrain – in a small car – to get it almost there.

It will require a battery-powered drivetrain to get there in a truck. Or – for that matter – anything else that isn’t a small car.

And that is the purpose of this decree. It is not to outlaw the manufacture of new trucks, per se. It is to assure that only electric  vehicles will be manufactured. They do “comply” – via the legerdemain of what is styled “MPGe” – or miles-per-gallon equivalent.

In italics to emphasis the fact that it isn’t.

The battery-powered version of the F-150 – the F-150 Lightning – carries a “68 MPGe3” rating – which makes it sound very “efficient” indeed. It makes it sound as if it is three times more “efficient” than its non-electric sibling, which averages “only” 21 MPG (sans the “e”).

But the “68 MPGe” Lightning can only travel 240 miles on a full “tank” – that is to say, a fully charged battery. The non-electric F-150 can travel more than 600 miles on a full tank. In order for the Lighting to be that “efficient,” it would need to be able to carry three times as much electricity as its current 1,800 pound battery pack can store, which would probably entail a three or four thousand pound battery. That would increase the curb weight of this already three-tom half-ton truck to more than 7,000 pounds, probably – which isn’t very “efficient,” especially when you take into account the “e” – the energy that it takes to make even an 1,800 lb. battery pack.

MPGe also does not take into account losses of “e” in transmission – as from the place where the “e” is generated to the place where it is used to power things. These losses-in-transmission can be in the double digits – but they are not factored into the “MPGe” equation. Power generation inefficiencies are also not factored into the equation.

All of this is not the result of stupidity but rather, dishonesty. Just the same as it wasn’t because they were stupid that the “experts” kept telling people that Face Diaper wearing and closing down small businesses (but not big box retailers) would ward-off a respiratory virus.

The purpose of the lying is to trick people into accepting.

In this case, the forcing of trucks and pretty much  everything else that isn’t battery powered off the market – and by a lot sooner than 2032, by the way.

The auto industry responds to decrees much sooner than that – because it has been put on notice as regards what it will have to comply with just a few years hence. 2032 is only nine years away and that is not much time to make enough money selling new vehicles that won’t be “compliant” within a few years from now to recover what it costs to design them right now – or next year, etc.

It is why Dodge will stop making the Charger and Challenger after the end of this year – in favor of a “compliant” battery-powered device next year.

No manufacture will invest money in anything new they won’t be allowed to sell in a few years from now.

That means no new engine designs. Or at least, very few. Especially as regards V8s, which is what powers most current trucks. Some will probably continue to be available – in very low numbers, at very high cost (due to their not being “compliant.”). The fines levied by the government will see to that. But the very affluent will still be able to afford them, as the are able to afford Porsches and Ferraris.

The rest will be battery-powered devices.

They won’t be affordable, either – because 1,000-plus pound batteries aren’t inexpensive and neither will be the electricity they store.

But they will be “compliant” – and that will have achieved the objective.

. . .

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271 COMMENTS

  1. Gotta make a statement here. I caught GM. On It’s very first statement. My bullshit detector works. I trust it. In my profession it is a necessity. Eric’s site is under attack. I did not respond to a single post. It is what they want. Building a case. Wrong thought is now a felony. Look at what the scum are doing to Trump and anyone else that stated the election was a fraud, whatever you think of him. Once they stack the supreme court it will be back to the trenches. Elections are a joke. Most people realize that.

  2. Test…

    It took about 40 seconds for my comment to load further on down the comments.

    I wonder how long it takes here up top?

  3. Hey, you liber-retardians are going to get your Rothbardian utopia of safeguarding the environment, not by the people through their elected representatives, but by the courts through tort lawsuits. Just like you have always dreamed!

    Montana court rules for young people in landmark US climate trial.

    In a landmark climate trial, a Montana court on Monday ruled in favor of a group of youths who accused the western US state of violating their rights to a clean environment.

    District Court Judge Kathy Seeley said a state law preventing agencies from considering the impacts of greenhouse gases when issuing permits for fossil fuel development was unconstitutional.

    The case, Held v. State of Montana — brought by 16 plaintiffs ranging in age from five to 22 — has been closely watched because it could bolster similar litigation that has been filed across the country.

    “By prohibiting analysis of GHG0 (greenhouse gas) emissions and corresponding impacts to the climate… the MEPA (Montana Environmental Policy Act) Limitation violates Youth Plaintiffs’ right to a clean and healthful environment and is unconstitutional on its face,” Seeley wrote.

    “Today, for the first time in US history, a court ruled on the merits of a case that the government violated the constitutional rights of children through laws and actions that promote fossil fuels, ignore climate change, and disproportionately imperil young people,” Olson said.

    “As fires rage in the West, fueled by fossil fuel pollution, today’s ruling in Montana is a game-changer that marks a turning point in this generation’s efforts to save the planet from the devastating effects of human-caused climate chaos,” she said in a statement. END.

    I’m sure it will work out just peachy for personal property rights and freedom, especially as regards ICE’s!!! LOL

    https://www.breitbart.com/news/montana-court-rules-for-young-people-in-landmark-us-climate-trial/

        • I’m not afraid to discuss, Grouchy. It’s a fair post.

          Hmmm. Let’s see. I’m searching for that specific Constitutional provision that supports this ruling, but I just can’t seem to find it: “Plaintiffs have a fundamental constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment, which includes climate as part of the environmental life-support system”

          It must also be derived from the same penumbra or emanation which formed the basis of the baby-killing Roe v. Wade’s decision.

          All kidding aside, the judge pulled this alleged Constitutional right out of his ass. No alleged “clean and healthful environment” Const. right exists. By the way, that’s not a tort lawsuit.

          • You are wrong. Everyone has the right to life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. A bad environment robs you of your life and diminishes your happiness. Ergo a law that allows degraded air quality is a Constitutional violation and I am sure will be held up as one.

            • Grouchy, you are quoting from the Declaration of Independence. That’s not the U.S. Constitution.

              Cite a provision in the Constitution that would support that court’s ruling.

              By the way, can’t I just as easily argue that preventing the use of “fossil” fuels “robs you of your life and diminish your happiness?”

              • You can argue what you want but the court will consider the science involved and has decided (as most thinking people) that the use of fossil fuels is a danger to the environment and thus these people should be compensated.

                • Grouchy,

                  The “science”? There is none – to support an alleged “crisis.”

                  One of the great deceptions of the past 20 years has been the way “emissions” and “pollution” have been oilily redefined. These words used to refer to combustion byproducts such as unburned hydrocarbons that did cause pollution. These words are now used to characterize carbon dioxide – which has no/zero effect on air quality or the environment – as a “pollutant.”

                  This was done in order to get people to equate C02 with “pollution.” It is very dishonest and that fact ought to give you pause.

                  • The scientists that know about this feel differently. I know you are sincere in your beliefs, but they are just opinions. We must follow the findings of our best minds. To do otherwise is to give in to prejudice and paranoia.

                    • Grouchy,

                      Feelings are not relevant. Many felt it was necessary to wear a “mask.” It wasn’t. It was deranged.

                      Do you think Fauci is one of our “best minds”? How about Al Gore? Or Greta Thundberg?

                      Also: Your diction comes across like a bot’s. I have the feeling I am dealing with AI/chat GTP.

                    • Grouchy, “we” should follow the “scientists” because of how they “feel?” Give me a break. What a silly argument.

                      Also, explain how “prejudice and paranoia” are relevant in any way to a bogus Constitutional right and the use of hydrocarbon fuels?

                • Grouchy –

                  I have a serious question that I hope you will answer (to yourself, right now) honestly: What is the percentage of the Earth’s atmosphere that is C02?

                  Do you know? If you do not, wouldn’t it behoove you to find out – and then consider whether you’re being misled by the climate catastrophists?

                  • Grouchy’s a Bot, Mister –

                    It just tried to post this:

                    “It is official policy of the USA government and most other countries. They would not intentionally try to be wrong about this very important thing. They would be thrown from office in disgrace. If they instead followed the minority views of people like yourself they would be booted out. There is no profit in the attempt to sacrifice for the future so you can be sure their intentions are good.”

                    No human writes like that.

                • Not one of the predictions of the climate alarmists have come true over the last 50 years. NONE!
                  Obviously NOT the science. All they seem able to do is incite panic over the weather.

                • Not one of the predictions of the climate alarmists have come true over the last 50 years. NONE!
                  Obviously NOT the science. All they seem able to do is incite panic over the weather. “It’s never been this hot before”. Yes it has, I’ve seen it.

            • Hi Grouchy,

              But carbon dioxide does not harm the environment. It is a non-reactive gas and plays no role at all in air pollution. It does not degrade air quality an iota. Does it not bother you at all that they have very oilily used terms that were once used to describe pollutants that did affect air quality with a non-reactive trace gas that we need – that does not in any way degrade air quality?

              They say the “climate” is “changing.” Well, how – exactly. Prove that it is “changing” – and dangerously. Not predictions about it “changing.” Facts – establishing that it is – and that it is “changing” dangerously and specifically because of human created C02.

              Please look into this for yourself. As opposed to accepting at face value what you have been told by serial liars.

    • Grouchy,

      Everything you’ve written is predicated on the lie that there is a problem. The lie is marinated in deliberately fomented hysteria about a “crisis” (it used to be just”change”) that is very similar to the “pandemic.” A kernel of truth – the climate does change – has been used to further the lie that it is changing dangerously and because humans are “emitting” C02. Jiggered (and serially proved wrong) computer models are used to ramp up the hysteria, which is used to get people to clamor for a “solution.”

      Just as the bodies weren’t stacking up like cordwood, there is no “crisis” – except that of fear. The fear is being used to manipulate and control you. Do you know what the people behind this fomented hysteria have in mind for the “next generation”? A life comparable to that of a feed lot cow. You will be allowed to eat whatever you are given. You will not be allowed to go where you wish. You will live in a small apartment and not drive your own car. You will walk or take a government bus/train, etc. You will own nothing and be happy. Guess who will own everything – including you?

      The planet doesn’t need saving. Sanity does.

      • You are going off the deep end. You live in a freer world then man has ever lived in. There are no plans to do any of the things you mentioned, you can travel where you want, eat what you want. The only worry you have is that the climate will become disastrously hot and ruin the ability to grow enough food for people. All you need to do is reduce your carbon footprint and you will have few worries!

        • Grouchy,

          I am stating facts – and drawing logical conclusions. You are making assertions. There is a difference.

          America is far less free than it was even four years ago. Do you seriously believe it isn’t?

          I do not worry that the climate will become disastrously hot – because there is no reason to believe it will. There is no evidence that it will. There are only assertions – based on hysteria (and computer models). You know – like “the cases! the cases!” during the “pandemic.”

          Did you buy into that, too?

          • I think you will accept that the pandemic was very bad. Many people died. Fortunately there were measures that helped like masks and lockdowns. Also, a vaccine was developed and expedited that saved innumerable lives. Luckily though the actions of the government the crisis was minimized and many lives were saved that would otherwise have been lost.

            • Marxist the Bot “writes”:

              “I think you will accept that the pandemic was very bad.”

              Obviously, I accept no such thing. A human would never have said such a thing, having read my prior comment.

              “Fortunately there were measures that helped like masks and lockdowns.”

              Absurd – and demonstrably false.

              I’m not even going to bother with the rest, Mr. Bot. Or is it Mrs. Bot?

            • Yes, Bot Grouchy. My arms are stretched out in front of me palms down. I am forever under your spell and agree with all that Bot Grouchy proclaims. The pandemic was very bad. Many people died. Masks and lockdowns are good. We’ve always been at war with viruses and Ukraine. Vaccines and cluster bombs save lives. I have never been more free.*

              *In case Cashy’s reading this: I am employing a method of mockery known as sarcasm.

          • You are just calling me a “bot” because you don’t like my arguments and want to ban them from your site. I accept your compliment that my postings are so correct that they would come from a machine but I am just telling you what the majority of people believe and because of that you will need to accept them as well.

              • The Borg’s posts are pretty creepy regurgitations of the regime propaganda. If you read them with a robot voice in mind it’s even creepier.

                Although even if human generated, they contain no actual arguments, just CNN-derived conclusory statements. Is there really any difference between a bot and a CNN NPC? I think not.

            • “I am just telling you what the majority of people believe and because of that you will need to accept them as well.”
              There will be a gun fight before that happens. Democracy: The 51% holding a gun to the heads of the 49% and threatening to kill them if they don’t obey.

          • You are not stating facts. You did not list anything that could be considered a fact. What you repeated is the standard “anti-covid” hysterical take on a pandemic that killed millions of people. To you it didn’t happen because you did not see all the suffering with your own two eyes so you completely discount it. Your ignorance in this matter is only exceeded by your cruelty in acting as if the people that spent long periods seriously ill before dying is some kind of myth.

            • The solution: “We will destroy your economic, social, and mental health to save you from a virus that presents a nearly identical average age of death as average life span. Then we insist you take this “vaccine” with zero long term safety testing, and the worst adverse event record of any vaccine ever allowed to remain available.”
              Sound about right? No thank you.

              • You have completely misrepresented the actual situation to make yourself happy that your paranoid fantasies are true. The economic situation was fine after the pandemic, it was other policies that hurt it, the social health is bad but it was before and during the pandemic. I don’t imagine you look back on the pre-pandemic society as any kind of happy place. People are certainly more healthy now that so many fewer are sick.

                The vaccine was tested but long term testing was not possible if it was going to be used in time to make a difference. Your argument about worst side effects is a spurious one as the vaccine has been so politicized that any small complaint that ordinarily would be ignored is recorded and magnified to fulfill the agenda you continue to push.

                • Marxist bot writes:

                  “The economic situation was fine after the pandemic..”

                  Yeah. Just fine. Except for the countless devastated small businesses. Gas that cost twice-plus what it did before the “pandemic.” And inflation running 8 percent (or more) annually. Your programming is glitching.

                  “the social health is bad”

                  Exactly how a Bot/AI would put it. Awkward – improbable – construction and syntax. Your circuit boards are showing.

                  “Your argument about worst side effects is a spurious one as the vaccine has been so politicized that any small complaint that ordinarily would be ignored is recorded and magnified to fulfill the agenda you continue to push.”

                  It is not “my argument” – it is the fact that the “vaccines” have unprecedented serious side effects, including heart problems in previously healthy young adults. And these “vaccines” did nothing to “stop the spread,” a fact now conceded.

                • “Your argument about worst side effects is a spurious one as the vaccine has been so politicized” Because it IS the most dangerous every allowed to remain available. Which drives it right into “politics”. Politicians did this to people. Athletes dropping dead on the field is OK with you?

                  • Hi John,

                    I think this “Grouchy” person is a bot. This: ““Your argument about worst side effects is a spurious one as the vaccine has been so politicized” is just off. It is something an algorithm would generate.

                • “so many fewer are sick” because they’re effing dead, from “vaccines”, suicide, alcohol and drug abuse brought on by depression from losing their livelihood. And having what little they can bring in eaten up by inflation. Thanks JB!

            • I see the Bot has a new IP/email/log-in!

              Facts are not “considered.” They either are – or they are not. It’s a fact that “masks” don’t “work” – except to foment panic and as a mechanism of control. And it is a fact that “vaccines” that don’t immunize – or prevent the spread of disease – are just drugs.

              Poor ol’ Bot! Who knew AI wasn’t that . . . intelligent!

        • The only serious threat to the climate is the Bill Gates geoengineering plan. Yes, he can afford to totally screw things up. We couldn’t if we wanted to.

    • Ever been to eastern Montana?

      Young people there have made eastern Montana a methamphetamine capital, if you really want to know the truth.

      Young people in Montana need to be rehabilitated badly.

      All sorts of signs on buildings to help prevent the use of drugs there.

      Farmers use fossil fuels too, even Montana farmers and ranchers, so the ag industry needs to be sued along with manufacturers like John Deere and Caterpillar.

      You’ll have a hefty slush fund of ill-gotten gains in a New York minute.

      Have to sue the hundreds of oil companies exploring for oil in eastern Montana, it’ll be an endless supply of money from the lawsuits… handed over right to the meth store.

      Montana’s youth will be able to buy even more METH, the Montana Environmental Policy Act, MEPA, will make the money available so Montana’s youth can further their depraved behavior.

      More than likely, that is what will actually happen. I see it happen, so I know it happens.

      It’s National Cognitive Dissonance Day!

  4. Part of the globalists’ depopulation plan. Modern civilization depends on cheap, plentiful energy. We know how to produce cheap, plentiful energy, but the globalists are doing everything they can to destroy all sources of cheap, plentiful energy while lying to us claiming wind and solar energy can supply our needs. Without cheap, plentiful energy it is not possible to support 8 billion lives. Many will die as they push forward with their anti-energy agenda.

    • RE: “Without cheap, plentiful energy it is not possible to support 8 billion lives.”

      I wonder about that. … I’m more of a, “can do” person.

      Idk.

  5. If we comply, we will have no food & goods delivered… Except those who go via black-market & the Elite, others will die. Gee, that is what BG, Elite, & WEF want. Don’t comply and you live.

  6. My 3 cylinder ’92 GEO Metro gets over 50 mpg. They had a special XFI model that got almost 60 on the highway if not over 55 mph. But the REGULARTORS today state it is against their CODES to build that “unsafe” auto. Go figure! Now trucks are a different story. Electric trucks don’t work when they have to carry a load. No load means they are not really a truck!

      • I can attest to the Geo Metro. I had a ’95, 3-cylinder Geo Metro. Got a good, 50-plus miles to the gallon. I even managed to get a speeding ticket with it, believe it or not. Going 70 in a 55-ha ha. Manual transmission, and it served me well, putting 136,000 miles on it before it tuckered out on me. I would have been toast in an accident, had anyone hit me. Did not too too bad in the Winter, albeit, front-wheel driving is always a trip in the ice & snow. Do not let anyone knock you for having one, they are great cars.

        • “I can attest to the Geo Metro. […]

          Do not let anyone knock you for having one, they are great cars.”

          I wish I could buy a new one.

          ///Funny, how I cannot.

          …Land of the flea.

          • It is called ‘hindsight!’ Six years ago I bought mine for $400. It was on its 2nd 3 cylinder with manual. You could buy them by the handful at that time in Colorado & Californicate. I have a ’97 ready as backup! Most don’t believe me when I tell them gas powered auto’s could be built cheaply that get 70+ mpg! But the same REGULATORS that tell us we all must go electric when there will never be enough plugs (unless you have your own panels NOT hooked into the GRID—which the same REGULATORS control & can turn you off if you are not politically-correct) ARE refusing to allow light-weight cars to be built any longer.
            If that isn’t a conspiracy to kill much of us off—What is & who is telling the truth? Reporting crimes now is a criminal act (see Trump’s latest charges) This proves ‘the criminals’ are in control & fool us into complying with their desires!
            brighteon.com/channels/duncanPhelps/

  7. There isn’t much concern for those children dying after only working a few months under inhumane mining conditions in the Congo. i suspect we won’t hear much about that until after everyone is driving around in electric vehicles. Then the social justice warriors will be up in arms at anyone who is insensitive enough to drive anything made from slave labor.

    • No need to go so far as the congo. Look right around in your own locale. Disparities everywhere. Yet billions sent overseas to less deserving or wasted on BS programs here,, while never talked about fully in controlled media.. Look up vids on YT about folks living in nearly abandoned coal mine towns in Appalachia. Coal is cheap and today very clean and will not devastate the environment anytime soon, contrary to the lies the zionists tell us on their controlled media and political talking heads. Yet these towns are decrepit and full of people in desperation who just want to work and live a decent life in peace.
      Climate change is BS and we all know it yet no one wants to talk about the solution to this global agenda to kill and enslave us. Because we are still heavily conditioned and in the dark about what and who is really controlling us. Venture onto bitchute and find the lesser known channels and material you will find there. It will change you. Europa: The Last Battle.

    • hey man let those little shits dig stuff up at least it’s afuggen job and they not sitting around waiting for handouts from the assholes in govt that love to give $$$ away that they stole!!!when he was a kid your great granpappy prob busted his assoff in the fields dawn to dusk and nobody was offering him a damn dime!!

  8. Those of us who hold Commercial Drivers Licenses and drive REAL trucks wish those who think pickups are trucks would recognize how foolish they appear to those of us who drive trucks.
    The only remedy is the one that pickup manufacturers use by calling pickups light trucks.

  9. The ultimate goal is 15 minute cites, then 10 minute cities, then 5 minute cites and finally you are caged in an old-style USSR concrete apartment of 600 square feet with no place to go anyway. See, no need for any vehicles. You will live on $1,000/month, couch potatoing away watching the only available TV show, CNN. Enjoy.

    No logical, sane person ever claimed governments are worth the effort. They exist for only ONE reason and that is to control the population and enslave it to the demands of the control freaks. As long as we have ANY governments, we will have a long line of overly arrogant and idiotic masters.

    • Spoken like a true Rothbardian. To quote the great libertarian economist:
      “The State is a gang of thieves writ large– the most immoral, grasping, and unscrupulous individuals in any society.”

  10. “MPGe also does not take into account losses of “e” in transmission – as from the place where the “e” is generated to the place where it is used to power things. These losses-in-transmission can be in the double digits – but they are not factored into the “MPGe” equation.”

    neither are the energy costs of pumping oil out of the ground, refining it and transporting it tot the gas station down the street factored in MPG
    so yeah the equivilents thereof for MPGe are also not counted

    … so that’s a complete non-issue IMO

    • Hi Cobaco,

      There are zero losses of energy transporting oil/gas from A to B. The tanker truck doesn’t arrive with less than it was carrying when it left the refinery. Using your argument, we’d have to include the “energy losses” expended building the generating plants, substations, power poles, lines, etc…

      Also, a gallon of gas contains a proportionately enormous amount of energy relative to electricity in the EV context. “MPGe” is hugely deceptive.

      • “There are zero losses of energy transporting oil/gas from A to B.”

        in the sense of the energy in the moved oil/gas being the same at A and B sure

        BUT that tanker or truck requires energy to move from A to B
        that is energy used/lost solely due to the transportation, i.e. a transportation loss
        so if you’re gonna count transmission line losses you need to count those to

        “Using your argument, we’d have to include the “energy losses” expended building the generating plants, substations, power poles, lines, etc… ”

        yes if you’re gonna compare more then the efficiency of the vehicle itself you would have to include all those costs (on both sides) of the equation

        that’s certainly a non-trivial excercise where you will have to make to make a lot of assumptions about the exact technologies used at every step of the way

        “Also, a gallon of gas contains a proportionately enormous amount of energy relative to electricity in the EV context.”

        yes a gallon of gas has a higher energy density then an equivalent sized battery, but…
        a) curent EV batteries are good enough for most people’s daily use cases (admittedly working trucks the subject of this article are likely an exception),
        ergo that is mostly a non-issue in practice
        b) the efficiency at which that energy in the gallon of gas is used by the ICE is way less then the efficiency that an electric motor uses the energy in the battery with

        now don’t get me wrong EV’s are certainly not a magical technology good for all uses cases, but as things stand practically, they will cover most people use cases adequately.

        “MPGe” is hugely deceptive.”

        be that as it may, it is the measure being used by government

        current electric truck technology already beats the measurement required by the legislation mentioned according to the official figures on https://www.fueleconomy.gov (both the F-150 lightening and the Rivian RT1 are listed as heaving combined fuel economy of 70 MPGe)

        So I can’t quite go along with doom and gloom “they’re gonna outlaw all trucks”.
        Transitioning everything to EV, now that they clearly plan to do forcefully

        I don’t like the forcefully part at all
        but government meddles in everything these days, so expecting their not to be a thumb on the scale seems unrealistic

        And as government meddling goes this one will at the very least have the advantage of decreasing local air pollution in cities, with all the resulting health benefits thereof. That’s IMO a positive and certainly not insignificant outcome.

            • “As long as you aren’t burned to death in your EV.”

              hasn’t happened to anyone yet that I’m aware of,
              it isn’t all that likely either

              I’d worry more about the phone in my pocket setting my crotch on fire in that respect…

              “Or frozen to death when in bricks in the middle of a blizzard.”

              quite frankly
              IF you’re driving anywhere you’re likely to get stuck in a blizzard (you’re not doing any safe driving in a blizzard with an ICE either)
              THEN you keep emergency supplies in your car (if you have any common sense anyway)

              • A crash involving a 2016 Tesla Model S in Davies, Fla., this past Sunday proved fatal for the driver. The electric sedan reportedly struck a tree and was then engulfed in flames with the driver inside. According to reports, emergency responders and onlookers say they were unable to rescue the driver.

                The automatically deploying door handles on the outside don’t appear to have deployed — the exterior handles on a Model S are electronically activated and remain flush with the door itself when not in use.

                https://www.autoblog.com/2019/02/25/fatal-tesla-model-s-crash-fire/#:~:text=A%20crash%20involving%20a%202016%20Tesla%20Model%20S,say%20they%20were%20unable%20to%20rescue%20the%20driver.

                • OK that is 1 example
                  … out of over 4.6 million tesla’s riding around (and that’s not counting other EV’s which I don’t know the total number sold of)

                  you can find similar instances of people burning in ICE-cars to

                  both are rather rare occurrences

                  • Rare? Every episode of Mannix features a car going off a cliff and exploding into a ball of fire killing (maybe) the person inside. Just imagine when it’s EV’s going over the cliff! The guys from Emergency will never be able to put out the fire!

                  • Hi Cobaco,

                    The relevant distinction is that lithium ion batteries are inherently susceptible to spontaneous combustion. Gasoline in a tank requires a spark. Also, the EV lithium-ion battery contains thousands of failure points – the thousands of cells within the pack. There is no analogous danger with gas tanks.

                    Finally, gas tanks don’t become appreciably more fire-prone as they age. Even if they leak, it still requires a spark for there to be a fire. How will over-time degradation affect lithium-ion battery packs?

                    • li-ion batteries are a engineering concern sure
                      … but they are more then safe enough even with the current state of tech to be used extremely widely

                      EV’s are also moving on from li-ion to amongst others LFP-batteries (with current tech). Solid-state battereis are also becoming reality

                      So even if li-ion batteries are a dealbreaker for you now, there are already alternatives less prone to fire, and there likely will be several more in 10 years time

                    • Hi Cobaco,

                      You say “but they are more then safe enough even with the current state of tech to be used extremely widely.”

                      Two words. Felicity Ace.

                      Here are two more: Freemantle highway.

                      You assert “Solid-state battereis are also becoming reality.” But they are not an actuality. And what will they cost? What will their unknown-at-present liabilities be? I have been covering this EV business for 30 years and for all those years I have been hearing about the “breakthrough” in battery technology that never seems to happen.

                      PS: I would never want an EV, regardless as they are soul-less appliances, like a cell phone.

        • cobaco: “And as government meddling goes this one will at the very least have the advantage of decreasing local air pollution in cities, with all the resulting health benefits thereof. That’s IMO a positive and certainly not insignificant outcome.”

          How is all the extra energy going to be generated? Hamsters on a spinning wheel? Probably by coal. As the Rush Limbaugh used to say electric cars are “coal powered automobiles”.

          • it does’t take any ‘extra energy’:

            1) it’s at worst a shift of energy use from energy embedded in gasoline to energy embeded in batteries

            2) if anything it’s actually a lessening of the energy used (as electric engines are significantly more efficient than ICE-engines, thus taking less energy to move the same car the same distance at the same speed in the same conditins)

            3) even if you generate that electricity from coal it’s still a win for air quality as you don’t generate the pollution in the cities, and a big non-mobile platform allows for better polution controls
            (and when building new power plants coal is not the economical choice these days, everything else beats coal for power generation, including natural gas)

            fact of the matter is though that we are in the process of scaling up (green) electricity production anyways.
            There will certainly be growing pains in that process, but there’s absolutely no technical reason to think we can’t pull that of

            And in as far as home solar, with or without home batteries catches on it’s likely to lead to more independence from government and big business, which is also a win, at least IMO

            • Hi Cobaco,

              “Green” energy is a fatuity in terms of carbon dioxide not being green. It is in fact essential for green. It is certainly not a “pollutant” in that it does not cause or even contribute to air quality problems.

              As regards: “If anything it’s actually a lessening of the energy used (as electric engines are significantly more efficient than ICE-engines, thus taking less energy to move the same car the same distance at the same speed in the same conditins).”

              No, it isn’t. Because the EV must carry around a battery pack that weighs, on average, 800-1,000 lbs. to store the energy equivalent of about 6-7 gallons of gas that weighs about 60 pounds (a gallon weighs about 6 pounds; the tank weighs maybe 20 or so). It takes energy to move that weight. It wastes energy to build (and move) the 800-1,000 pound battery pack.

              Finally, gas is efficiently portable; a gas station can be built almost anywhere because a tanker truck can deliver gas almost anywhere. The voltage needed to “fast” charge an EV, on the other hand, is practicable only in or near major infrastructure.

              And: Why are we even debating this diminishment? EVs limit mobility; they cost more; they waste more (in terms of natural resources). And – for what? Because the “climate” is “changing”?

              Please.

              • ““Green” energy is a fatuity in terms of carbon dioxide not being green. It is in fact essential for green.”

                true enough, plants grow on the stuff
                and the increase in worldwide CO2 levels has indeed been ‘greening the saharah’

                I agree that the apocalyptic predictions from the climate activists are certainly in no way accurate

                ” It is certainly not a “pollutant” in that it does not cause or even contribute to air quality problems. ”

                that’s just plain false,
                there is a reason that every air quality monitor you can buy includes a CO2 sensor,
                carbon dioxide poisoning kills quite regularly in poorly ventilated spaces
                In fact one way to commit suicide is to put the (ICE)car in the garage with the door closed while running the engine

                “No, it isn’t. Because the EV must carry around a battery pack”

                best I can find the average electric car is about 750 lbs heavier then comparable ICE-car

                the impact of weight on fuel economy is about 1% for every 100 lbs (according to https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/driveHabits.jsp)

                so the weight impact decreases EV-efficiency by about 7,5%

                … while the electric motor has an effenciency of 70-90% vs 30-40% on an ICE
                -> even with the extra weight that still a clear win efficiency wise for an EV

                “Finally, gas is efficiently portable;”

                yes, energy density of gas is certainly way better electric

                “A tanker truck can deliver gas almost anywhere.
                The voltage needed to “fast” charge an EV, on the other hand, is practicable only in or near major infrastructure.”

                1) most people only need to fastcharge on roadtrips
                level 2 chargers meet most daily needs and can be installed in any home

                2) electricity itself is available pretty much anywhere humans regularly spend time and certainly has a much finer-grained distribution net then gasoline ever has or will

                3) that major infrastructure is available on all major routes (at least in western countries)

                “EVs limit mobility”

                for most use cases they do not… with current tech

                “they cost more”

                sticker price yes, total cost of ownership no (again with current tech)

                “they waste more (in terms of natural resources)”

                some studies say yes, some say no, certainly not significantly so

                “And – for what? Because the “climate” is “changing”?”

                improving local air quality (thus improving overall health) and reducing noice pollution seem reason enough in my book, certainly for city traffic

                even with the current limited adoption of EV’s they’re already having measurable effects on air quality and health see e.g. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969723003765

                • Chewbaca, Carbon Monoxide not Carbon Dioxide is the killer. Learn some science. Also do you believe everything you read online, or just pick and choose the flavors you like?

            • I do not agree that modern ICE’s generate “pollution” as I don’t consider CO2 pollution. Coal plants do pollute.

              It’s okay to theorize that in some distant future we will have clean energy capabilities but that won’t happen in the next few years when all vehicles are supposed to be EV’s. And the scale of energy needed will be enormous. There is no generation capability currently, no grid capability, no distribution infrastructure.

              It took decades for the distribution infrastructure of ICE’s to develop. And it happened organically. Over a long period of time driven by consumer demand and financed by the private sector. You are asking the same people that run the Post Office to redesign and implement the transportation needs of 300 million people in a couple of years. That seems crazy!

              • “as I don’t consider CO2 pollution. ”

                every air quality monitor on the market disagrees with that, but ok

                “Coal plants do pollute. ”

                coal plants are being phased out on purely economical grounds, every other form of power plant is more economical these days

                “It’s okay to theorize that in some distant future we will have clean energy capabilities but that won’t happen in the next few years ”

                even if eveybody is onboard it’s gonna take a couple of decades (at least) to replace every ICE with an EV, so no need for ‘next few years’

                also improving the pollution impact of relatively few power plants,
                vs
                improving the pollution impact of millions of cars on the road
                … one is very obviously way easier to tackle then the other

                “It took decades for the distribution infrastructure of ICE’s to develop. And it happened organically. ”

                it happening organically would certainly have my preference… but that ship has sailed governments are pushing for electrification hard

                ” You are asking the same people that run the Post Office to redesign and implement the transportation needs of 300 million people in a couple of years. That seems crazy!”

                it’s companies like Tesla, BYD, Rivian, etc that are doing the redesigning and implementing

                “in a couple of years. That seems crazy!”

                Tesla started in 2003, the model 3 started mass production in 2018
                Norway is the only country in the world where the legal mandate for EV-only (on new sales) is 2025, the rest of europe is 2035, the legislation in this article is 2032

                … so we’re not talking ‘a few years’ we’re talking a decade or 3 in the making already… for new cars
                (and that only if the current legal mandates are going to be met)

                • Hi Cobaco –

                  “every air quality monitor on the market disagrees with that, but ok”

                  Every “expert” said “masks” “work” and that “vaccines” are “safe and effective.”

                  • “Every “expert” said “masks” “work” and that “vaccines” are “safe and effective.”

                    not every expert
                    only the ones that didn’t get censored

                    As to CO2 buildup,
                    it’s hardly new or controversial knowledge that excess CO2 builup is bad for you

                    coal miners called it blackdamp,

                    OSHA put the number of yearly deaths from CO2 poisoning in the US at around 90 a year in 2015 , see https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26666061/

                    as car guys is it honestly news to you that you shouldn’t leave an ICE running in a enclosed space?
                    why do you think that is?

                    is CO2 pollution gonna end the planet or human civilisation? I don’t think so

                    Is it changing the climate, yes (and in some ways for the better, it lets plants grow in drier climates for one, so the borders of the saharah are retreating)

                    but yes it certainly is a dangerous gas to us humans in concentrations as little as 3% of local air, and hence air quality monitors check for it

                    • Hi Copabco –

                      In a closed system, of course excess C02 is bad for you. But that is not what we are discussing in this context. We are talking about atmospheric C02, a trace gas which constitutes about 0.04 percent of the total volume of atmospheric gas. We are expected to believe there is a “crisis” because of a fractional increase in that fraction. It is more hysteria based on assertions and exaggerations, of a piece with the “pandemic.”

                      Also: If there is a “crisis,” then it seems odd that EVs that tout performance are allowed as this entails the gratuitous “emission” of more than the least-necessary (for us to still be able to drive) C02. If there were really a “crisis,” then only the most basic EVs would be allowed. Not $100,000 Rivians and $50k Teslas that are high-end luxury-performance vehicles that happen to be electric.

                      It’s all bullshit.

                      Just as it was bullshit when small, individually owned stores and so on were ordered closed by big box retail businesses were allowed to stay open during a (cough) “pandemic.”

                    • Water is a dangerous toxic agent, if it gets above your nose. Too much of nearly anything is toxic. Even Oxygen. CO2 is way down the list. Without CO2 we would all suffocate, as the build up of CO2 is the trigger that makes us want to breath, not a lack of oxygen.

                • I disagree that coal is more expensive than other energy. It’s the cheapest form of energy except for the added cost of regulation and taxes because the government wants to kill it off.

                  I also take exception to “it’s companies like Tesla, BYD, Rivian, etc that are doing the redesigning and implementing”. That’s completely wrong. Tesla, et al. is going to get rich providing tax credited, overpriced battery-mobiles, to a forced market.

                  It’s the taxpayer that’s going to have to pay for the new power plants, transmission lines, transformers, charging stations, that will need to be put in every house, apartment, high rise, parking structure, mobile home, hut, hovel, and cabin, in America.

                  All that will come with the usual government problems, eminent domain, cost overruns, union only closed bidding on contracts, minority set asides, environmental studies, etc.

                  The gasoline infrastructure was built by Standard Oil, Marathon, Exxon, and others, private companies that hoped to make a profit in a capitialistic economy. Your desire for a socialized conversion of the transportation needs of the entire United States can only be described as “crazy”.

                • Chewy. To quote a former friend of mine you are so full of shit it flows out your ears. Eric once is happenstance, twice is a coincidence, 3 times is enemy action. Talk to your IP guy. Cashew, Urthluv, now Chewy. I will send another donation for the defense fund, I suggest other real users of the site do the same. Chewy, Cashy send a check to Eric with physical address. Hopefully it does not bounce.

                • Chewy. To quote a former friend of mine you are so full of shit it flows out your ears. Eric, once is happenstance, twice is a coincidence, 3 times is enemy action. Talk to your IP guy. Cashew, Urthluv, now Chewy. I will send another donation for the defense fund, I suggest other real users of the site do the same. Chewy, Cashy send a check to Eric with physical address. Hopefully it does not bounce.

                  • I apologize for the double post. I got distracted. Hey I did not want hit the SOB that cut me off while driving 85 on I-75 in the passing lane. So i missed the fact that I had already sent it. Texting and answering email is so much fun while driving. (Sarcasm, I was not driving).

                    But seriously, here in the not so great state of Michigan, our new demonrat legislature passed a totally unenforceable law re texting. Pretty draconian. 3rd offense is prison for life (kidding but close, really fucks you up). Other things they have done new gun laws that make me and about 75% of the people in the state felons. Way to go more new demonrat voters. Don’t all felons vote demonrat. Except Trump of course. He is the exceptional one.

                    Apologize for the rant. It is late and I am tired and pissed off about a lot of things. Funeral tomorrow for my last Aunt on my father’s side. She was a good one. Night.

    • Neither are the costs associated with building and constructing anything to do with the idiocy that is electric vehicles (or any other lunatic “green” projects), none of which could even take place without petroleum. Since you brought it up, most of the same costs you mention apply to electric vehicles. Oh, and since it’s obvious that you are obtuse, electric vehicles are not zero emissions. It’s a zero sum game since their emissions are just being transferred to the electric grid, instead of from the vehicle itself.

  11. I swear, Americans have turned into a bunch of damned sheep. What will they NOT bend over and put up with? Apparently, they will put up with a hell of a lot, if three years of COVID shut downs, masking, and the destroying of livelihoods, loss of jobs, and the mandate of deadly bioweapons disguised as “vaccines” not taught them anything. Thus, when “the powers that be” demand the sheep herd themselves into 15-minute cities, they will be more than happy to comply, and will march right in. If this were World War 2, they would be more than happy to march into the gas chambers, as well. Only this time around, it will be a FEMA camp with guillotines. How sad we are repeating history, having learned nothing. And sadly, those of us who DO see what is going on….these fools will try and drag us along with them, demanding we comply with their idiocy and insanity.

    • Please double-check your WWII history. It seems as though you’re parroting the Bolshevik-Marxist approved curriculum spewed in their detention centers (commonly referred to as public schools).

      • Oh please, I did not get educated in U.S. public schools, so shove it already. I spent most of my childhood in Soviet Russia, and learned first hand all about Communism, and every other “ism” that this country is readily embracing. So stick a sock in it already.

        • RE: “I spent most of my childhood in Soviet Russia, and learned first hand all about Communism,”

          Wow.

          I mean, Wow!

          Then, you got some good insights.

          Thank you for sharing. I hope you keep it up.

  12. This is a proposal that hasn’t been made into a requirement. It’s also some sort of funny CAFE math. The question is of course is this requirement going to the typical communist illusion/lie or a real requirement?
    The way the year over year increase is laid out it would mean funny math for the current year. My guess then is this communist style illusion were we are suppose to believe in this high fuel economy such as rocks on wires in China being crops.

  13. Wheres a manufacturer with the balls to call out the bullshit, resist the mandates and take the govt to court over this crap?

    Time to get rid of the EPA and everything, go back to shit being normal instead of Uncle having a say in things

    • While I can’t prove it, I do suspect that many of these manufacturers (and corporations, for that matter) are on the ‘payroll’ in one fashion or another. Nothing else makes sense. When the US can no longer print to infinity, we will find out. Until then, buckle up, or not.

      • Hi teacherspet –

        I strongly suspect a meeting – behind closed doors – has been held, attended by the major automaker CEOs, at which government apparatchiks explained not-to-worry. That alternatives to EVs will be snuffed – and EV ride-sharing will be subsidized. This is the future as they see it:

        Transportation as a service.

        • Well, the corruption is right smack dab in our collective faces, so anything could be possible. For me the question is how long they can maintain this charade? I, personally, don’t see it lasting too long. They’re already having a hard time selling ANY vehicle. I find the prices absurd, and I can afford to buy one but won’t. The plandemic was conducted in a similar manner. I didn’t change a damn thing during the whole fiasco and was really disappointed in the sheer numbers of my fellow citizens that did as they were told. I felt really out of place, but I suppose I’m used to it.

          • Indeed, teacher’s pet –

            What rational, prudent person is going to spend even $35,000 (the average transaction price for a non-EV) on a car? That is to say, an appliance that will shed value like Stalin’s Chicken lost feathers such that after about six years, the thing might be worth $20,000 (if that). During this time, the sucker will likely spend another $1,500-$2k annually to the insurance mafia. Plus about the same annually in states like VA that have a “personal property tax” on vehicles. So, after six years, the average $35k car has cost the person who bought it probably $50,000 – not counting the cost of depreciation.

            No wonder so many are broke, including people who make “good” money!

            • Yep. I could tell some stories, too. To make matters worse, I don’t drive cars. A truck similar to what I bought in late 2007 would cost me over 1000/mo assuming I didn’t pay cash. Even then it was 500 plus. Ugh, I hate car insurance too. I’m about to delete collision on my Escalade because they just charge whatever. Everything is too crazy for me, even out here where I live. But, I’m getting old and grumpy I guess. Take care and try to NOT go crazy.

        • I have heard stories about the EPA wanting to change certain rules and having a friendly “fellow traveler” sue them. They would have “negotiations” during litigation and wind up with a pre-ordained settlement.

          It’s all fake and gay as the young kids say.

          Anon

      • Indeed, Dam –

        A few weeks ago, I published an article about the “gray market” Hilux/Surf models (with diesel engines) Toyota can’t sell here. Most people have no idea what they’re missing. Or, rather, what’s been denied them.

  14. I brought up this mandate among my colleagues, a bunch of highly educated people who work on self driving technology with the automotive industry; people who should be aware of some basic physics. The general consensus is that the automotive industry is sitting on some amazing efficiency technology which we can’t have because they’re greedy or colluding with the oil industry. This is so insanely deluded. I’m a senior engineer here, and I do my best to burst these nonsensical bubbles with some reality, but it feels like a Sisyphean task.

    A gallon of gasoline contains about 33 kWh of chemical energy. Given how heat engines work, you can turn about 40% of that into motive force, about 13.2 kWh. So, this 13.2 kWh is supposed to move a car 58 miles, that’s 228 Wh/mile of useful energy to move the car. How many watt hours per mile does an EV use? The F150 lightning uses 511 Wh/mile, the Rivian R1T uses 552 Wh/mile, while the Tesla Model S uses 330 Wh/mile. Given the roughly 90% efficiency of electric motors, this is close to how many watts is takes to turn the wheels for a car that size.

    My point is, that this fuel efficiency mandate would force gasoline vehicles to move using much less power than EV’s. It’s simply impossible to achieve. An F150 can’t move itself using less energy than a small car.

    You have to mine something approaching a million tons of various ores to build an EV, which is an order of magnitude more than for an ICE vehicle. You have to burn fuel to produce those watt-hours for the EV to charge from, if you allow them to charge when convenient, versus when there’s surplus power.

    These mandates are impossible to achieve. Something’s going to give. They might force us to walk, cycle and ride horses at gunpoint, but they’re not getting 58mpg cars, and the EV’s pollute just as much.

    • Bah! I can’t go back and edit a type; million pounds, not tons.

      You need loads of lithium (35,000lb brine), copper (40,000lb ore), etc. If you add it up for all the cobalt, manganese, nickel, graphite needed, you get something approaching a million pounds. I did this exercise a while ago. The amount of energy needed to process all that ore into their elemental forms is simply astonishing. The lithium and copper production are environmentally awful.

    • >The F150 lightning uses 511 Wh/mile,

      According to Wikipedia:
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fossil_fuel_power_station#:~:text=Typical%20thermal%20efficiency%20for%20utility,(i.e.%20temperatures%20too%20low.)

      >Typical thermal efficiency for utility-scale electrical generators is around 37% for coal and oil-fired plants,[8] and 56 – 60% (LEV) for combined-cycle gas-fired plants.

      So, assuming a 60% efficient gas fired plant,

      511/0.6 = 852 Wh/mi must be generated to propel one F150 Lightning
      (disregarding transmission losses)

      852/228 = 3.74

      The “clean energy, efficient” electric F150 will be allowed to use 3.74 times the energy of a hydrocarbon fueled model, based only on combustion of the fuel, in neither case accounting for the amount of energy required to a) produce hydrocarbon fuel or b) manufacture batteries.

      The next step would be to compare the “emissions” caused by generating 852 Wh at a gas fired power plant with the “emissions” caused by burning 1/58 gallon of gasoline (58mpg).
      Exercise left for the reader.
      A. Neglect transmission and battery losses, including power required to maintain the battery in operating condition
      B. Account for all losses neglected in part A. 🙂

      • Yeah, I agree, you can regress this pretty far backward. Don’t forget transmission and conversion losses too.

        My point was that the fuel efficiency mandate is impossible to implement with a combustion engine, because the wattage available at the wheels is simply way too low given an idealized 40% efficient engine, which are almost non-existent (it would take a little engine with a big turbo running very high octane fuel).

        This EV push was a bunch of magical thinking. If you live in an area with ample “green” energy, and if you can charge at a time when green energy is abundant in the grid, then you can charge your EV w/o burning any fossil fuels, but that’s a lot of ifs, and also, it took a stupendous amount of fossil fuel to build the battery pack. If you could charge fully with solar panels, you’d only come out using less fossil fuel after something like 60,000 miles. Nobody has a pure solar grid, so the curves cross at a much higher mileage.

  15. It should be clear by now that this administration, if you can call it that, is entirely corrupt and 100% insane. This kind of shit is just over the top stupid and will never fly. It’s hard to believe that they would even propose, much less attempt to implement such a thing. It’s going to end up in court and may well bring the whole house of cards down with it. That’s my opinion, anyway.

    • Stupid like a fox! The idea is to destroy the United States and pave the way for a Chinese style system. Sounds great on the surface. But spend five minutes looking at the actual situation on the ground and see that it’s the Potemkin villiage to end all Potemkin villiages. Gutter oil for dinner anyone?

      And of course as soon as a Demoncratic Communist is shown a crumbling ghost city or Wyger concentration camp they claim it’s just anti-Chinese propaganda, or that the presenter is a rassiss (because the monoculture China isn’t). Or that corruption, brutality and cancel culture is just a price to pay for future prosperity. At least as long as they’re the prosperous ones.

      • Well who do you think is financing all this stuff?

        Russia and China are big funders of the green movement. They don’t follow that stupidity themselves, they just encourage America and America’s lakeys to self-destruct.

        And it’s working.

        • Russia and China are not funders of the green movement. The green movement is pushed by environmentalist in America. We can drill/create trillions of barrels of petroleum in Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, New Mexico, etc but because of environmentalists who who want to “preserve” the natural habitat of these lands, those places are untouched.

  16. King Canute and the tide…

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Canute_and_the_tide

    I don’t know what’s worse: The hubris of these people or the complete lack of understanding physics. I’m willing to grant some slack to consumers, they can want whatever they want without reguard to reality. But the bureaucracy, who ostensibly has no skin in the game demanding compliance with what could be argued are completely arbitrary demands better have a rock solid reason for the request.

    If global warming is truly an existential crisis it should be obvious by now. And no, a “hottest day on record since some time a few decades ago” doesn’t count. And if it is obvious there should be a damaged party. Let the damaged party sue and see how it plays out. Proactive regulators demanding a halt to the tide because someone might drown if they fall asleep on the beach isn’t a way to run the world.

    • C02 is the food of life. It makes photosynthesis work. Photosynthesis is the building block of all life. Why is that so hard for these educated idiots to comprehend? We the people are the victims of the glowbull warming scam, not GovCo, not corporations, not some nefarious NGO. We are the aggrieved/damaged party. It would be hard to put a $$$ amount on freedoms lost and lifestyles destroyed. Especially if the damage has not reached maximum effect.

      The hammer blow that will end all life is when our sun grows old. It’s now middle aged. As our dying sun swells, and moves closer, it will make life on earth unlivable. Dissolving everything it touches, then we finally experience true global warming. This could be 10K to 1 million years from now. Nothing can or should be done. The people who insist to the contrary should be told loudly and in one voice to STFU, or face being boiled in their own excrement.

      • The thesis is that there’s so much CO2 being added to the atmosphere that species cannot keep up. Balderdash I say. Plants are thriving in marginal areas because they don’t need to lose as much water due to evaporation when collecting CO2. This means there’s plantlife encroaching into the Sahara desert. As the ice sheets are melting there’s life sprouting and taking hold.

        This is a tempest in a teapot at best, watermellon communism at its worst. Profiting on fear and misery somewhere in the middle.

  17. This will be the first of 20 climate and energy articles I recommended on my blog tomorrow morning. It will also be in my Top Four highlighted articles. I’ve been so busy thinking of the 2026 CAFE that I forgot to look at future years.

    The full EPA CAFE chart, at the link below, covers 2027 through 2032 models. If you thought 2030 was bad, just look at 2032. Depressing.

    Please consider borrowing the full chart for this article — the chart with the article is truncated when I view it on my confuser.

    https://honestclimatescience.blogspot.com/2023/07/epa-corporate-average-fuel-economy.html

  18. What a complete and absolute moron…Ford now says it is “throttling back” on plans to ramp up EV production, the wrap up said. It blamed the price war for EVs as part of the cause and told shareholders it would need another year to meet its target of 600,000 EVs produced annually.

    Ford CEO Jim Farley said late last week: “The shift to powerful digital experiences and breakthrough EVs is underway and going to be volatile, so being able to guide customers through and adapt to the pace of adoption are big advantages for us. Ford+ is making us more resilient, efficient and profitable, which you can see in Ford Pro’s breakout second-quarter revenue improvement (22%) and EBIT margin (15%).”

    Henry Ford never needed a “Model T” mandate to make Ford profitable.

    • Can someone explain the government’s and car manufacturers view of safety to me?

      Every car/truck that I look at has these stupid IPAD sized touch screens in them. It has Google Maps, Chat, camera views at every angle, etc. Isn’t the point of driving to pay attention to one’s surroundings aka the road? Why the hell do we need mini computers in our damn cars? Just what we all need is some idiot checking their text messages while running a red light. Saw one this morning do that. Don’t know if they were checking texts or on the phone, but they barreled though a full blown red light. It is the third one I have seen in the last two weeks. People are not paying attention. My guess is they are too busy playing with their in-car IPAD.

      I drove my old pick into work this morning. The only thing I had to do was flip the cassette tape over after the first side stopped playing. It was nice. I had a reliable V-8, no cameras, the truck actually let me drive with no needless jerking and reminders that I wasn’t wearing my seatbelt. Just once I knew Google wasn’t following my every move.

      • The touch screens are about software and hardware Patent royalty checks going to PO Box addresses in the hills above San Jose.

        Thank/blame Mike Okuda for inspiring the madness starting 34 years ago. I still have his book with LCARS principles somewhere.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewF5hbJXMtE

        I’m not going to be too hard on Mike. He’s a big lib, but he pulled off one of the masterpieces of design in recent memory with that set.

      • You mean to tell me you don’t have an auto-reverse cassette deck? That used to be high tech back in the day! Auto-reverse meant you didn’t have to flip the tape when one side was done… 🙂

    • This sequel to “Tommy Boy” is running long. Can we skip to the last reel where Dan Aykroyd bails out the Farley family again?

      You can stick your head up a balance sheet to get a good look at insolvency, but wouldn’t you rather take the accountant’s word for it?

  19. Americans cannot agree on anything. They just complain. Look at the airports. All kids of bitchen. Today the airlines are back at the pre-plandemic level.

    The clot shots? The majority of Americans wanted to incarcerate people that did not want the shot,,, threatened to take their children,,, threatened to ban them to isolated areas,,, fired them,,,some countries, China, Australia, NZ, Kanada, etc sent them to Covid camps.

    And the guy that started it all,,, Trump,,, is the lead candidate for El Presidente.

    Today,,, It’s let’s just all forgive and forget while they are injecting our kids. Just like at airports where they feel them up. And we smile, its so cute.

    Today its Climate Change. Like the Covid virus its USDA Grade A 100% bullshit. While we are bitchen about what “we” each think is important in our little world,,, they are passing regs that will kill any fun there is to life and maybe life itself. We just cannot all agree on the basic problem. Noooo,,, We have to add our little ‘but this’ or ‘but that’ and pretty soon, no action.

    Have you seen them slow down? Nope. No matter what,,, they forge ahead in their desire to control the world. Why? Because they are united in their underlying goal and don’t let the ‘but ifs’ get in the way. If they are stopped on one thing they just come back from a different direction.

    I forecast nothing will be done (except bitchen) and when/if someone finally says “Wait a minute,,, hold on!”, it’ll be too late. We will have “butted this and butted that” for too long and now you do what your told or visit the re-education camps or worse.

    All approved by the same nice people that wanted us force injected and masked.

    • Hi Ken,

      Don’t lose hope. In the sense that some of us – including you, I suspect – will resist when push comes to shove. I did – and will. I never wore the goddamned “mask.” I would have put my life on the line to ward off the jab. I do not say I will defeat them. I sway they will not defeat me.

    • “And the guy that started it all,,, Trump,,, is the lead candidate for El Presidente.”

      I was hoping somebody said this out loud. I don’t understand why many Republicans are backing Trump. He did this! Okay, not all of it, but he sat by as those around him made the decisions. He pushed this “vaccine” and lauded about how he “warped speed” it through the FDA/CDC. Now the same people that went out of there to avoid it are backing him?!?! It makes zero sense.

      The Dems will let Trump win the nomination, because it doesn’t matter who they put in (Kamala, Uncle Joe, the used car salesman looking Gavin) they know Trump cannot beat them. Trump has lawsuit after lawsuit presiding over him. He lost a good deal of support from Independents and suburban women and has a favorability rating of 37%. That will not win a Presidency.

      He needs to step aside.

      • I agree. I think all of these indictments are meant to stop Desantis, not Trump. By making Trump a martyr, Desantis cannot win the nomination.

        I am rooting for a Trump/Bobby race. Yeah, I know. There’s no way Kennedy is getting by the super delegates, let alone Dominion. It would be fun to watch the corporate media pivot from “Orange Man Bad” to “Orange Man Good”.

        • I really like RFK Jr. I don’t agree with his politics, but I believe he is a rare politician…he is honest.

          I realize I am in the outfield alone, but I like DeSantis. I like what he has done for Florida. Florida (and maybe SD) were one of the very few places that one could escape under the Plandemic. He is the only one who criticizes ESG/cryptocurrency and puts his money where his mouth is.
          DeSantis’s problem is he is not charismatic nor a campaigner. The media takes everything that he (and RFK Jr.) say out of context. The problem with most voters if they refuse to research and see if it true or not. If the local news said it, it must be right. 🙁

          • Hi Raider Girl

            RFK is old school Democrat. Today’s Democrat party is trying to dump him. Trump and most Republicans are leagues to the left of RFK. IMO RFK seems the best candidate so far and I have been registered Republican all my life.

            One of his statements is that he stays awake at nights thinking how he can get these alphabet agencies back on the side of the People. He wants to stop the fascism. He does not like the EPA.

            A reason I like him is the tech companies don’t. Take Duck Duck Go.
            I type in “Robert” and he does not show up on the drop down.
            Type in “Kennedy” and he does not show up BUT Kennedy’s Fried Chicken does. 🙂

            He is an environmentalist which could be bad. Not sure where he stands on Climate Change and/or EeeVee’s. He is an Israeli firster like all the front runners. I don’t know why the rampant Israeli popularity contest.

            He ‘seems’ okay as a candidate but so did blowhard Trump.

            His site has this posted:

            “We will end the forever wars, clean up government, increase wealth for all, and tell Americans the truth.” Sounds Great!

            But,,, they always change when in office which is why I stopped voting years ago.

            • All were “peace” candidates:

              Bush 2000
              Obama 2008
              Zelensky 2019

              How did that work out for the people who “voted” them in?

              • Bush? Sure, he made some good noises, but you can’t believe that that guy would be a peace candiate when his father Devil Bush pushed an Iraq war and a NWO with fervor.

                The news is coming out on the Great 1% rameswamy that he is a globalist shill that makes nice anti-wok noise.

              • And Wilson got re-elected in 1916 when he “kept us out of war.” Of course, within a few months after inauguration, the US was in WWI. Here’s what the White House admits to:

                “Another burst of legislation followed in 1916. One new law prohibited child labor; another limited railroad workers to an eight-hour day. By virtue of this legislation and the slogan “he kept us out of war,” Wilson narrowly won re-election.

                But after the election Wilson concluded that America could not remain neutral in the World War. On April 2,1917, he asked Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.”

                “In 1917 he proclaimed American entrance into World War I a crusade to make the world “safe for democracy.””

                https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/woodrow-wilson/

                • >But after the election Wilson
                  initiated a government sponsored campaign of hatred directed against anything German, including Americans of German descent. Books were burned. Innocent people were lynched. Over two hundred German language newspapers ceased publication. In some locations, it was made illegal to teach, or in some places even to speak, the German language. Streets, and entire towns, were renamed. Some people (including some of my relatives) changed their names, out of fear, from something obviously German to something which sounded more “English.” Germans were depicted as savage brutes who were legitimate targets of hatred and revulsion.
                  https://airnfts.s3.amazonaws.com/nft-images/20210829/Destroy_This_Mad_Brute_1630188958616.png
                  The Boston Symphony Orchestra was reconstituted in an American concentration camp at Fort Oglethorpe, Ga, and played Beethoven’s Third Symphony behind the wire, under the direction of its German born conductor, Dr. Karl Muck.

                  Eugene V. Debs, a five time candidate for President of the United States, was sentenced to ten years in federal prison for exercising his supposed First Amendment right of “free speech.”

                  >Wilson concluded that America could not remain neutral in the World War.
                  because if Great Britain did not prevail, it might default on its war debts, and the large American banks which had bought British war bonds would be left holding the bag.
                  >After the Germans signed the Armistice in November 1918
                  they were presented with an ultimatum called the “Treaty” of Versailles, which they were forced to sign under threat of starvation by the British naval blockade, an act of war which was still in force.

                  While the U.S. experienced the 1920s as the Roaring Twenties, a bubble economy which collapsed in 1929, Germany was politically and economically dismembered, while presented with an enormous bill for war reparations, an “offer they couldn’t refuse,” with the British naval guns playing the part of Luca Brasi.

                  But Wilson was a “great” President.
                  [snicker]

                  • Hi Adi,
                    Wilson was “great” alright, as greatest traitor/worst president of all time. The suppression of dissent in blatant disregard of the First Amendment, along with the Espionage Act, kind of set the stage for where we are today in regards to censorship. Not to mention the income tax and the Fed which continue to degrade our finances.

            • Robert Kennedy Jr. is a classic left liberal with a couple of small differences. He would end up governing just like Biden. He is all talk. If you like talk then support Vivek Ramaswamy who is good on virtually all issues.

              • Yeah Ramaswamy.

                He is the best choice IMO. he’s the only one in the race thats not a decrepit old fool. He’s smart and can hold his own against anyone. Has some core principles as well. I put my money where my mouth is, bought .10 cent calls on Predictit. Last I checked trading around .15 cent. Still a bargain. If they lock Trump up, Viveks stock should soar.

                • Vivek said things about people not wearing masks and told us to hop aboard the Asia Pacific Free Trade agreement. No thanks. He’s a member of the WEF. He needs to go back to India.

              • My problem with Ramaswamy is that he was a hedge fund manager and then head of a pharmaceutical/biotech company. Yeah, that doesn’t raise any red flags.

                He created the most valuable biotech of all time with their IPO. It created $1.2 billion from investors with $0 revenue. The company’s drug intepirdine failed in clinical studies. Did Vivek lose hundreds of millions of dollars? Nope. His stock was held through another company where he was sheltered. Ask the California Teachers Pension Fund if they will elect him after the stock (that they foolishly invested in) cratered 75%.

                These politicians are rich for a reason…because they are scumbags.

            • >He is an Israeli firster like all the front runners.
              And that is one of the main problems. This is the U.S.A., not the State of Israel. We need candidates who will put this country first, last and always.

              >I don’t know why the rampant Israeli popularity contest.
              Can you say, “Money talks?”

              It is time to take back our country, folks. Various well-heeled special interests (weapons manufacturers, big medico-pharma, agents of foreign power(s), etc.) have behaved as if they owned the place for entirely too long. This country belongs to us. WE, the people. It is long past time for them to go.

              • Agreed, Adi. I am really tired of every politician declaring their alliance with Israel. The average American doesn’t give two hoots that someone running for a position of leadership in the USSA aligns with some country in the Middle East, or Europe, or South America. It boils down to – what can you do for OUR citizens? The answer is always the same from these imbeciles…nothing.

                • Agree. This is a Desantis sticking point with me. Goes to a Israel to sign a Florida law re Israel “bad mouthing”. Hey buddy, your allegiance is to Florida, and if President the USA Constitution which still includes the first amendment last I checked. Determine who’s in charge by seeing who can’t be criticized.

                  We have friends he’s a born again with a church preaching gotta support Israel – no, actually I don’t. Boy are they hoodwinked.

            • The most detritic, rotten, neurotic drive is the one to “love, honor, and cherish goddam Israel”. Anybody running for office at the upper levels has to pass the Israel smell test. You kiss their butts, you give ’em money by the fistfull, you watched them attack the USS Liberty, cause 911, and what happens? Yeah, right. You get to kiss their asses again and again.

          • There will be a deal struck (offer he can’t refuse) with RFK Jr, just like they did with Bernie Sanders. Anything to keep the Clinton family in power.

      • As if the “right” one is elected, FedGov will suddenly become your friend? The people in it are not the problem. The entire system is. And all voting does is authorize its continuation.

      • It matters not a whit who is nominated – (((they))) will put in whomever they deem to be the most obedient puppet. Period.

  20. I’d imagine if this actually were implemented, not that it’s affordable or efficient, but many would simply have a heavy duty generator in the beds of their electric trucks

  21. HD pickups will continue to be made but I could see statutes passed that would require commercial use only plates or some sort of licensing process to own one. With addtional taxes fees and gov. issued permission slips to continue driving a pickup “bucuz nobody needed uh pickup!” Or the more likely scenario a changing if the guard with red team blue team will nullify the nudging of trucks out of the scene once the next crime syndicate’s lobbyists happen to be invested in something ICE related. (Think back to Obomb-ya’s individual mandate on the insurance racket, gone.)
    In the mean time I should be securing a pickup something Cummins related pre-emmissions before they go up in price much more.

  22. Will the NHRA stop drag racing? They were racing on TV yesterday, those cars can move fast.

    Brittany Force can make one move as fast as 338 mph, a record no one has caught yet. Be a hefty fine out on the highway somewhere.

    Women drivers make the best drag strip racers, you know, hey.

    208 mph faster than an EV can go is leaving them in the dust.

      • Oh, there might be a lot of flames – when a battery catches fire! And then they’d have to evacuate the stands and clear every one out….

      • Adi,
        When the nitro cars are in the pits getting ready for the next round they have “exhibition” EV racing. The crowd is nowhere in sight, they’re all getting a beer or taking a piss, or both! Right before going to a commercial break yesterday on TV they showed a run of two Tesla’s going down the track.

      • A few years ago they had a “Top Fuel EV” dragster at the dragstrip in Appleton, WI. It was slow as hell and I believe it got beat by the Jr Dragster it raced against. Then they brought out the Jet cars…

        • Hi Logan –

          Even if an EV “dragster” were the quickest thing on wheels, it would be the most boring thing on wheels to watch. No thunderous sound, no violent, peripatetic shaking. Just – whoosh. Like a high speed elevator. EVs have all the character of a cardboard box.

  23. Three billion in losses, you say? Here, I’ll raise you to $4.5 billion:

    ‘Ford is slated to lose $4.5 billion from its EV segment this year, a $1.5 billion larger loss than the company had expected.

    ‘So far this year, the division has lost $1.8 billion and this year’s $4.5 billion loss figure blows away last year’s $2.1 billion loss. Ford also announced that its electric F-150 pickup trucks will undergo a price cut.

    ‘Reality has sunk in about the company’s comments regarding its EV production schedule and spending plans. Price cuts in the industry, led by Elon Musk and Tesla, have thrown Ford’s production targets into a tailspin and Morgan Stanley noted on Friday morning that “major changes to the EV strategy” could be necessary.’

    https://tinyurl.com/3rzhr94r

    Earth to Jim Faaaaaarley: You in trouble, boy.

    • No problem,,, $4.5 billion reimbursed by government. $4.5 billion is pocket change for USG. If they don’t have it on hand,,, they print it. Either way,,, you’re paying for it.

      • Indeed, Ford already got $9billion for their battery plant, which will end up being one of the biggest white elephants of all time once the earth runs out of lithium, cobalt, etc.

  24. As I quip to people about EVs: They cost twice as much and go half as far.

    The government can mandate them. But no one has to buy them (yet). The numbers of EVs piling up on dealer lots and the losses (hello Ford) are not sustainable. What will happen is people will continue to keep their cars and trucks running much like in Cuba for decades to come. Or at least until this fetid, stinking tyranny collapses under the weight of its denial of reality.

    I’m just shocked that the car companies willingly signed on to a suicide pact. What’s the difference between BMW’s appliance and say, Hyundai’s? Maybe outside of power, not much.

    I hate this era of fake. Fake movies driven with CGI. Fake women. Fake presidents. Fake popes (if “Francis” is Catholic, I identify as a 7-foot tall NBA player).

  25. Speaking of unconstitutional “administrating,” I got a notice from the USPS that we are getting the loathsome American Community Survey in the mail today.
    My policy is that anything addressed to “Resident” goes in the trash – without opening.

  26. ‘MPGe also does not take into account losses of “e” in transmission.’ — eric

    This is so. But several times greater losses are incurred in electrical generation, depending on the mix of power plants.

    Take a 1,000 MW natural gas-fired power plant. Depending on the thermodynamic cycle used (more heat can be extracted with more equipment), about 35-45% of the energy contained in the gas can be converted to electricity. The rest is ejected as waste heat.

    MPGe excludes the power plant’s thermal efficiency, which would mean dividing MPGe by three, for a fair comparison to ICE vehicles: 68 MPGe / 3 = 23 MPG. That is, no energy is saved compared to just burning fuel in a conventional vehicle.

    Built into the misleading and phony MPGe definition is an ideological presumption that eventually, ALL electrical power will come from renewable sources, so there won’t BE any thermal efficiency losses associated with ‘fossil fuels.’

    Indeed, the EPA already has proposed regs to effectively end hydrocarbon power generation. If carried out, this would impose a disaster analogous to China’s Great Leap Forward and Stalin’s collectivization of the kulaks: millions will starve, and living standards will be set back to the 1800s.

    The Climate Cult is a death cult: Jim Jones times one million. Now drink your Kool-Aid, bitch.

  27. Eric,

    If I’m not mistaken, the CAFE standards only apply to 1/2 ton pickups; anything above that is exempt. That is to say that the F-250 and 2500 series trucks on up were not subject to CAFE standards. Even so, folks who want or need trucks will pay more, as the 3/4 ton and 1 ton trucks are more expensive.

      • Nasir,

        The thing is that the vast majority of SUVs were based on 1500 series pickups! By instituting this standard, the gov’t has effectively outlawed SUVs.

    • That’s true, Mark –

      But is also true that what will happen (first) is that 2500 series trucks will become six figure trucks and then (second) CAFE will be applied to them, too.

      This won’t stop until we end it.

      • Unfortunately, I don’t know if we can end this BS peacefully at this point. Our only shot is to, as David Knight says, restore sanity at the local level; we take power at the local level, then tell our state gov’t and the Feds to f*ck off. That is, we gain power at the local level, then nullify the BS our “betters” put out. DC is too far gone to save, and most of the state capitols are too far gone as well.

  28. Here is one thing I wonder – having lived in Pakistan one thing we were good at is when there are stupid rules we figure out ways around them…… in the end these dumb things fall apart. This started back in the day when they tried putting up “safety cameras” as they’re now called. I remember when we first got stopped by a cop saying that there are cameras that caught my friend who was driving doing so and so – we laughed so much and made so much fun of the cop that he kinda let us go (also seeing there were 4 guys vs 1 and he wasn’t in the mood i guess). Eventually the cameras happened to disappear and nobody really wondered where they went. More importantly nobody complied and enforcement was basically impossible of a rule such as going faster than a certain number…..

    when will they wake up in the west and start standing up to these tyrants who have taken over !!

    • Nasir,

      In Peru, the people do the same; they find ways around BS rules. They also just ignore them. For example, vax passports were mandated for entering stores and what not, but they don’t check them; my ex GF took a pic of her dog’s vax certificate, and she has no problem getting into places using it.

  29. So they came right out and said it, they don’t want you driving, period. ICE pickup trucks are REQUIRED to maintain agriculture and construction at current levels. So, we don’t eat, and we don’t live indoors. What a grand plan. For them. I’m sure the Psychopaths In Charge will remain fat, cozy, and happy. “Let them eat cake” didn’t work out so well a couple of hundred years ago.

      • After three days without food, there is little a person WON’T do.
        No revolution was ever started by fat people. Hungry people, on the other hand………….

    • “ICE pickup trucks are REQUIRED to maintain agriculture and construction at current levels. So, we don’t eat, and we don’t live indoors. What a grand plan.”

      Yep. It’s basically the equivalent of Mao’s Great Leap Forward:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Leap_Forward

      “Millions of people died in China during the Great Leap, with estimates ranging from 15 to 55 million, making the Great Chinese Famine the largest or second-largest famine in human history.”

    • Good reason to raise one’s own chickens and grow one’s own vegetables, simply to have a source of food if such nonsense were actually implemented; just saying

  30. I have a proposal for electrics – looking at this ship fire off the Dutch coast (some are calling it the Dutch Oven as you cant turn it off) have a rating for how long the thing will burn for once it catches on fire ! Imagine an F150 or that hummer with the giant batteries it has !!!! Or god forbid one of them going off in an underground parking lot…. and the way trucks are used and kept – if every truck was electric I suspect it may end up happening even more frequently….

    • Indeed, typical usage of a pickup is often likely to cause battery damage, and a subsequent fire. It might end up costing more to insure one than to buy one.
      And so much for the “green” appeal. These EV fires are extremely toxic.

  31. I will be honest, I lose no sleep at night worrying that EVs will be the world’s future…IMO they will not. The EV market is drying up. Mazda just pulled out of the market. Eventually, so will Ford, GM, and Stellantis. They are just going to milk the government for all they can before they do.

    Here is what I do worry about…they don’t want us on the road…period. The best technology (for those tree huggers) is hybrid (and not the plug in kind). The resources and labor required to make a lithium battery is anything but green.

    The days of buying a car for the average American is over. Car manufacturers realize it is much easier (and profitable) to make less and sell for more. If I was a car salesman I would be looking for new employment – these jobs won’t be around for much longer.

    Very soon (hell, even now) the joy of driving will only be something that the wealthy will be able to do. Car prices have doubled, quality control stinks, and interest rates haven’t been this high for 22 years. Add to the fact that availability is not there.

    A trip to the Toyota dealership yesterday proved this. One saleswoman on duty and no SUVs in stock. The saleswoman stated that Toyota is so behind in production they have stopped taking orders. Where does this leave the auto business? Where does this leave consumers? A great deal of employment is tied to the auto industry. I believe we are only beginning to look at the underbelly of this decaying industry.

    • Spot on. I drove by a Jeep dealership yesterday and noticed they had no new Jeeps parked out front. Maybe the new Jeeps were in the back. Anyway I believe Eric may have mentioned this news:

      https://www.motorbiscuit.com/jeep-parent-company-wont-ship-gas-powered-cars-14-states/

      Per the June 2023 article “Stellantis, the parent company behind the Jeep brand, is looking to drastically limit the shipping of gas-only vehicles to 14 states. The 14 states soon to be taking part in California Air Resource Board‘s vehicle emissions rules could hit Stellantis hard.”

      Well I live in one of those 14 states that will take part in the California Air Resource Board‘s vehicle emissions rules – the state of New York.

      If you want a new Jeep in New York, looks like you will have to order one. Or just buy used. In the next 2-3 years it is going to be slim pickings on the new car dealership lots. Lots of people with leases expiring are going to be sorely disappointed. Right now no one cares, because one can still find some new vehicle to lease if you scout around the dealerships, but new cars are getting scarcer and scarcer in my neck of the woods.

      Banning gas powered cars and trucks is sooooo damn important to the DIPs but gas powered lawn mowers, leaf blowers, off road vehicles, motorcycles, boats, etc. all get a pass. Go figure.

      • Just wait, Pug –

        The bastards will come after lawn mowers and weed wackers, too. They already have – in CA. This will really put the arm on anyone who owns more than a quarter-acre lot as it is going to be both tedious and time-consuming (as well as expensive) to try to mow/clean up even a couple of acres with an electric mower. It is all intentional. The intent being to impoverish and enserf. Ordinary people must not be able to own land – even a few acres. They must be forced into an apartment in the city.

        • “tedious and time-consuming (as well as expensive) to try to mow/clean up even a couple of acres with an electric mower.”
          And even more so with human powered tools, like reel mowers, weed whips, shears, axes, and saws. An incentive to see how many children one can have. Perhaps a booming market in goats and sheep. Lawn maintenance tools you can eat.

          • Goats? I can the end result.

            Great idea but will the HOA approve? Sorry Madam but that’s not a goat but rather a “GOAT” (Green Operating Attendant Technology) lawn mower which I just bought from Buffet Agra-Systems and features the latest in “Green” technologies and processes the clippings into milk, butter and cheese when you buy the optional attachments.

            The look on their faces would be priceless.

            • Sounds like a growth opportunity for Boston Dynamics.
              Do wokesters dream of electric GOATs?
              Nah. Wokesters live in battery cages, and are incapable of imagining anything but a virtual GOAT. 🙂

            • By golly, Landru, you might be on to something.
              Instead of Vaucanson’s fake “duck,”
              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digesting_Duck
              which pretended to eat and poop,
              we can now look forward to the “all electric” duck, which will neither eat nor poop, but only lay synthetic “duck eggs” of uniform size, color and flavor, and do so on schedule. Programmable, of course, with its very own IP address.

              The only waste product will be dead batteries, and if they are Li ion batteries, it may even be able to roast itself. Self-roasting duck – what a concept!

              Should the trend continue, perhaps Eric will “transition” to reviewing electric “animals.” He might not have a choice. 🙁 Who knows?

        • Eric,

          Guys like my neighbor, who has a landscaping business, CANNOT use battery powered equipment! They simply have more work than can be covered with battery powered equipment. They need gas powered equipment. One, only gas powered equipment is powerful enough to do the work landscapers do. Two, gas powered equipment can be refueled and returned to service quickly, whereas battery powered equipment cannot. WTF are guys like my neighbor supposed to do?

          Battery powered lawn equipment is fine for those of us with small properties. I bought battery powered equipment because, for me, it’s the best tool for the job. However it’s not the best tool for everyone. It’s not sufficient for those with bigger properties, nor is it sufficient for professional landscapers like my neighbor. WTF gave gov’t the power decide what we can or cannot buy? Who gave them the power to decide what we can and cannot use?

          • Indeed, Mark –

            There is no way I could keep my field clear without using my diesel-powered tractor and bush hog. The land would revert to forest in the space of a few years and I would be forced off my land. That is just exactly what these bastards want, too.

        • With electric lawn equipment, the devil is in the details. I notice that people are buying electric lawn mowers even without being mandated to do so just to fit in. My neighbor just bought one. My son-in-law has one. In my opinion they are shit. You cannot cut his small village lawn without the battery crapping out halfway and swapping it for a charged one. Electric mowers are also far more expensive than an equivalent gas one.

          On the other hand, I have a battery electric string trimmer (I didn’t buy it, it fell off a truck and I picked it up on the side of the road) and it’s fantastic for my small lawn. I would never pay the new retail price for it, though, it’s almost $300. But it is much better than the 120v plug-in corded units and the cheap $69 2-stroke units.

          However for a big property and large weeds a quality two-stroke like a Stihl is absolutely necessary, the Stihl at our gun club even has a metal brush chopping blade, there is no electric unit that can do the kind of work it is capable of on 100+ acre property.

          • Indeed, X –

            These battery-powered toys would have worked for me when I lived in Northern Va and had a 1/8th acre lot. But I now have 16 acres and were I to try to keep things tidy with such devices I would probably have to spend three times as long (if not longer) to get the job done – over several days rather than one afternoon. By the time I got done, it would be time to start again!

            That’s kind of funny – but this is very serious.

            These people are out to destroy us – by destroying our way of life. I believe we ought to prepare to act accordingly.

            • Eric – the gaggle of outright control freaks that constitute most of the Loony Left have railed against ‘Muricans “clinging” to their Bibles, Guns, and PICKUP TRUCKS. This nonsense of cajoling auto makers into electric only trucks is part of that nefarious agenda to “re-image” the USA as they’d like it to be.

          • Hi, X,
            I have a corded electric string trimmer, and also a corded electric Stihl chain saw, because I use them infrequently, and, in my experience, two stroke engines which sit around tend to get gummed up carburetors. So, for my current needs, those make sense. (Back in the day, a Homelite Super XL Automatic was one of my essential tools, but I no longer need that capability.)

            But, my lawnmower is a Honda 4 stroke, and my pressure washer is powered by a Briggs & Stratton 4 stroke. Electric so-called “pressure washers” are toys, not really tools.

            Diff’rent strokes for diff’rent folks, as the saying goes.

        • Professional gas powered outdoor power equipment is made in the USA, Germany, and Japan. Almost all cordless electric stuff is made in China. Due to the infrastructure of electronic and battery production never mind labor cost it’s difficult to make this stuff in the west.

          The very expensive, unaffordable to almost all homeowner cordless pro equipment from the pro brands will still be USA/Germany/Japan. Maybe Sweden for Husqvarna. But it doesn’t sell much. The same brand gas units are better and cheaper.

          Cordless locks you into a brand or worse product family due to the batteries and chargers. And if the batteries become unavailable the equipment is eventually useless. Time to start over. Yes ebay seller knock off batteries and rebuild kits can keep things going usually at reduced performance.

          Mowers. battery electric mowers have come a long way if you are willing to fork out big money. Run time still limited though.

      • I heard something horrific on my drive into work this morning. The Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (7th District-VA) is hoping to run for governor of Virginia in the 2025 election. The problem…she will win. So I guess we can add a 15th state to CARB soon.

          • Because she is seen as a moderate Democrat. Is she? Nope.

            Virginia is the home of government workers, defense contractors, and HB1 visas. The Northern part of the state dictates to the rest of the state what rules we follow. We are also looking at a current growth of blue voters treading into former red counties. Counties and cities such as Albemarle, Chesterfield, Fauquier, and Roanoke are becoming predominately blue and it is spreading into smaller towns. The Blue Brigade is expanding due to the higher costs of these areas over the last two decades, but especially in the last three. Their vote doesn’t change. They will continually push the same crime ridden, traffic congested, tax invading rules touted by the DC Metropolitan suburbs that they deserted.

            Youngkin won because of the COVID lockdowns. It was the parents outside the Richmond suburbs and a small amount in Loudoun that allowed him to succeed. He also ran against McAuliffe who was a horrible candidate.

            Is Virginia being run pretty efficiently now? Yes, but they are not going to give Youngkin the credit for that. Winsome Sears will likely run as the Republican nominee, but the Left will make sure a conservative black woman will not win the vote.

            When the Democrats throw the race card, sexuality card, and religious card it is only for those that think and act like them. An independent minded minority is seen as a traitor (not a free thinker) to the establishment.

            The only thing that would take Spanberger out of contention would be something so appalling that the media could not ignore it. Since Biden is still in the White House after he sold he soul to China I highly doubt there is anything in Mrs. Spanberger’s background that would result in such an adverse reaction.

            This is my prediction and I am sticking to it.

            • I agree with your analysis, RG –

              And it pains me almost beyond words as I love where I live and the place I have built here. Yet, I will sell this place to some Blue jerk-off at a price that will enable us to move somewhere deep Red and far, far away. If this becomes necessary, “Elvis will leave the building” – and never look back.

              • Except those places no longer exist, Eric.

                Look at Kentucky’s “Democrat moderate” governor Beshear or Tennessee, Texas, and Oklahoma’s RINO governors. There may be a spot for independent thinking in Noem’s South Dakota or even Gordon’s Wyoming, but look at what the libs are doing to Montana, Nevada, and Idaho. It is only a matter of time before they veer further into the “free” states.

                The problem is American society (as a whole) is becoming predominately more progressive. That is just a fact. Every time I read the comments on Yahoo I get a headache because I see person after person following the narrative and not questioning anything. This country is squashing conservative/libertarian dissent.

                How does a red movement return? They don’t because social media is the progressive movement (likely overseen and enforced by the NSA/FBI/CIA). Look at what Google, Twitter/X, and Facebook did during COVID? They actually deleted, banned, and shadowed truth.

                Government is Corporate America and Corporate America is government. It is impossible to get into bed to make a change when both of these have their arms and lips locked around each other.

              • It is too bad that the southern part of Virginia cannot split off from the northern part, and become her own state. Let north Virginia become “south DC” if they want, and go all commie, and leave you guys alone down there. Hmm, okay, sorry I was dreaming there for a minute.

            • Thanks, RG. Yeah, I’m familiar with NoVA and its demographics. Everyone there works for gov’t in DC, so they vote accordingly.

              • I don’t think that would work either. Politicians are like the Agents in the Matrix. They just keep reproducing. You see one, then there is eight. Each of their jobs is to make sure that the RedPills don’t intervene and reveal the false reality. Sounds a little familiar.

                I am amazed by Hollywood’s seer abilities. The Matrix, Demolition Man, The Terminator, etc. I guess we should all fear Oppenheimer. I am just curious when does the Avengers, Batman, and Superman make an appearance? I keep waiting for good to overcome evil, but my optimism is starting to fade.

                • It’s not hollywood that saw it. It’s the sci-fi writers. Hollywood is standard corporate dreck. When they want to do a message they pound the audience over the head with it. (See The Critical Drinker’s series on why modern movies suck)

                  Writers on the other hand can slip things through on occasion because the dullards can’t see the details. This has been true for a long time.

                  The Twilight Zone, due to the nature of the show could have something that would be blocked by the corporate level normally.

                  Demolition Man looked like a standard action movie to the suits and to most people still looks that way. The key messages are in the details that were slipped in and were not noticed because it’s science fiction.

        • Hi RG,

          It is long past time for Virginia to divide into Northern and Southern. It is insufferable that the North should have a political stranglehold on the South. If this does not occur, the practical effect will be the political disfranchisement of two-thirds of the geographical state.

          I cannot stand it much longer. People like Spanberger are my enemies. I regard them accordingly.

          • Hi Eric,

            I agree with you, but as I posted to Mark above the entire state is blue, Youngkin’s win was a fluke and it just happened to be at the right time where the country was falling apart.

            Although I would love to see the rest of VA secede from the top third of the state the red counties have already been invaded by liberal minded Carpet Baggers.

            • Hi RG,

              In re: “…the top third of the state the red counties have already been invaded by liberal minded Carpet Baggers.”

              It’s true. They’re even here in Floyd County – to a great extent, because of FloydFest. I hate FloydFest for that reason. It brought tens of thousands of Northern Virginia carpetbaggers to this quiet rural area and now – on account of that – it is becoming not-so-quiet and not-so-rural.

              When I moved here, I truly thought it would be forever; I planned to be buried here, in fact – on my land, which I planned to leave to my family after I am gone.

              But it now seems we may have to get gone. The only upside is that, on account of the carpetbaggers, we may be able to get “stupid money” for this place – on account of the land – if we ever do need to sell. If that day ever comes, I will take as much out of here as I can and then they can bulldoze my house and put 400 McMansions on the land.

              • This is no longer a regional issue, it is everywhere. It is a national issue between shitlibs who profit from the offshoring of jobs in the neoliberal globalist economy and have access to government money and power, and those who don’t. They are colonizing formerly rural areas and displacing local populations who can no longer afford to live there. it is happening in Idaho and Montana and in Tennessee and North Carolina and across the South.

                Meanwhile the places where working people can still afford to live are often snowy, run-down, low-wage shitholes nobody wants to move to. Not for nothing did Trump hold a raucous, standing-room-only campaign rally in Erie, PA the other night… but he would have been lynched if he appeared in NoVA.

                • I explain to those that “care about the poor” that it is their taxing policies that force people out. It doesn’t sink in with the followers which leads me to believe that like the leaders are for the social engineering through taxation.

              • Join WV. Else, unless somehow you get a GOP ” clean sweep” in 2024, a “Red” South Virginia ain’t happening, no more than the State of Jefferson movement has the proverbial “Chinaman’s chance”…no way the Dummycrats are allowing two non-Dummycrat Senators.

      • ‘If you want a new Jeep in New York, looks like you will have to order one.’ — Pug

        Mortitia Hochul’s living nightmare rolls on. But ‘escape from New York’ may not work anymore.

        Every state with a DemonRat governor is ‘at risk’ of being frog-marched into the Commiefornia Climate Cult.

        A long-ago EPA ‘law’ deputizing Sacramento to issue ’emissions’ regs for a rump group of Climate Cult states is clearly unconstitutional. But no creative AG has risen up to challenge it.

        So the reign of terror ratchets up, as leering Mortitia, in a black pointed hat, stirs her dead-frog pot of horrors.

        • “Mortitia Hochul”…HA! Very funny! Democrats from NY can’t run here to Connecticut, either, as my state and governor have joined the California environmental cabal. No gas-powered vehicles for sale after 2035. Yet, the Democrat governor, Ned Lamont, somehow ranks as the ninth most popular governor in the U.S. It must be because he appears perpetually happy; he’s called “Jolly Ned” by local radio talk show hosts.

        • Could we convert Manhattan island into a maximum security prison and drop the Phony POTUS smack-dab in the middle of it?

    • “Car manufacturers realize it is much easier (and profitable) to make less and sell for more.”

      But, it won’t be profitable for long. At some point those running these companies will realize that what they were told in their MBA programs is not a long term endeavor. That AI cannot think for itself and design things based on highly theoretical futures.

      The old adage, “Sell to the rich and dine with the masses, sell to the masses and dine with the rich.” will resurrect and perhaps this madness will end.

      The real question is what should we be learning? Chinese or Russian?

    • RE: “The days of buying a car for the average American is over. […]
      Very soon […] the joy of driving will only be something that the wealthy will be able to do.”

      As John Kable wrote above, “ICE pickup trucks are REQUIRED to maintain agriculture and construction at current levels. So, we don’t eat, and we don’t live indoors. What a grand plan.”

      I’ve read about the other grand plan, the one in which farms are replaced by, I forget the term, ‘food hubs’ I think it was, centralized food production where it’ll be decided by our overlords who gets to eat, and what.

      …Massive unemployment & food riots, hey that’s one of the ingredients of third world banana republics which are currently missing in Amerika.

      “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.”

      https://www.timesrepublican.com/opinion/columnists/2022/06/biden-continues-obamas-fundamental-transformation/

      • Bottom line? Those imposing this bs are getting enormously wealthy producing nothing, ergo they view any that prefer producing something as “inferior”.
        If you ain’t a fellow psychopath, you’re scum. Otherwise you would be rich, fat and happy like us.

    • RG, our small local Toyota dealer said they don’t take orders; Toyota just sends them cars and they sell them – almost entirely online. To get a Corolla hybrid, we were on the waiting list four months.

      • Hi Roland,

        I think this will become the standard business practice. Dealerships will declare bankruptcy and cars will have to be ordered and then delivered to the individual/business’s place of residency. It is a shame that the dealerships do not see this (or maybe they do) and realize the clock is ticking.

        I believe this will create an uptick in the used for private sale market.

      • And the new Toyota CEO doesn’t seem to understand that Toyotas are selling because of his predecessor standing up to the nonsense.

    • On the other hand, this opens up a huge opportunity for spare/replacement parts manufacturers for older vehicles. This will ensure old and (as time goes by, antique) cars can be used for ‘eternity’. Like the way Nasir has alluded somewhere in the comments, we’ll always find a workaround.

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