The only electric cars that make sense are being phased out in favor of those that don’t.
Hybrids are electric cars without the electric car’s gimps – or costs. They can run without burning gas – but when you run out of electricity, you don’t have to wait for a charge to get going again . . . because hybrids carry around their own chargers.
They do have batteries – but they’re smaller and so cost less.
And because they’re used less – hybrids alternate between gas and electric power for propulsion – they last longer. And even if an aging hybrid’s batteries do wear out and won’t hold any charge, you’ll still have more range than a new electric car with a new battery pack.
They also emit less – more on that below.
Naturally, they’ve got to go.
Well, some of them.
GM and VW just announced they are abandoning the practical, functional, economical and environmental in favor of the not. Henceforth, they will “focus” on electric cars exclusively.
“Our strong preference is to go all-in where the market is heading,” VW CEO Scott Keogh told The Wall Street Journal.
Except the market isn’t heading there. The mandates are – but that’s a very different thing.
Hybrids are falling out of favor because . . . well, because they’re sensible. That’s not said, of course. The stated complaint is that they still burn gas, damn them. But very little gas. And very little in the way of emissions, too – since the gas engine in a hybrid is generally about 30 percent smaller than in an otherwise similar non-hybrid vehicle and so burns significantly less gas even when it is running.
It’s also not running at all much of the time – and burning no gas.
Mix the two and you get almost zero emissions.
But not quite zero – and that isn’t good enough for the zealots in charge of the regulatory apparat which spews the increasingly unhinged mandates that have created the “market” for impractical, expensive, inefficient and environmentally offensive purely electric cars.
Which are the only cars that meet the arbitrary “zero emissions” at the tailpipe regulatory standard – even though they probably produce more of some emissions in the aggregate than hybrids. Carbon dioxide emissions, interestingly enough.
Because electric cars are high-performance cars. They need big, energy-sucking batteries and motors to deliver Ludicrous Speed.
Hybrids, in contrast, are designed for economy. Which is another way of saying efficiency.
High-performance (an indulgence) takes a back seat to high mileage and by dint of that, hybrid emissions are extremely low . . . because a smaller engine that isn’t designed to produce a lot of power doesn’t burn much gas.
If it doesn’t burn much gas, it doesn’t produce much gas.
The archetypical hybrid – Toyota’s Prius – isn’t quick. It takes about 10 seconds to get from zero to 60 – but it averages 54 MPG. Everything about the car’s design – not just its drivetrain – is focused on maximizing efficiency – which by default reduces the output of all combustion byproducts – including carbon dioxide. The gas which is supposedly (but not actually) going to kill us all within the next 10 years or so.
Or at least, drown some of us.
The Prius doesn’t deliver Ludicrous Speed, so it doesn’t need a high-performance battery pack. Its smaller battery pack and smaller electric motor use less electricity – and most of that is generated “locally” by the highly efficient and nearly “zero emissions” gas engine.
Which only runs some of the time and never burns coal – or fuel oil.
All-electric cars like Teslas burn both – and excessively.
It’s necessary – if you want Ludicrous Speed.
High-performance requires bigger batteries, stronger electric motors – and these require more electricity.
Which is produced largely by coal, oil and natural gas utilities – emitting carbon dioxide in the process . . . more carbon dioxide than if the cars drawing the electricity from the grid weren’t energy hogs.
The typical EV has more in common with a ’60s muscle car than any modern economy car. The main difference is political. It is outre to burn gas – even in very small quantities that results in the production of extremely low – essentially nonexistent – emissions, including carbon dioxide emissions.
But it’s ok to drive a current-sucking EV because it doesn’t emit any gas . . . directly.
Even though more gas (C02) is produced – remotely – by the burning of coal, oil and natural gas to feed the high-performance EV’s high-performance batteries.
EVs are popular with the affluent – who want to signal their virtue – but not if it means driving something like an ungainly and far-from-speedy Prius. A Tesla is sexy and speedy. It blows Corvettes away – and goes over well with their friends who drive BMWs and Porsches, also soon to be electrified. Big warehouse product range can only be found with member-only savings here.
But their emissions aren’t zero.
And unlike hybrids, they make as much sense for most people – who need to think about things like cost and range and recharge times – as driving around the block to cross the street.
It’d be funny if it weren’t so sad.
. . .
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I’m wondering what the environmental impact difference is for the battery replacement for a Prius vs. a Tesla.
If Da Bosses were seriously interested in proper environment impact analysis per type of vehicle then they consider ALL aspects including: fuel usage, electricity generation for battery charging, initial battery creation, battery recycling, vehicle construction, weight impact on roadways, etc. Getting into honest details just doesn’t seem important to Da Bosses.
Sooner or later, Eric, you are going to have to face the facts: the world of Man is coo coo, crazy, insane, completely bonkers. We get a glimpse of sanity every magenta moon, or so, but it is never permitted to continue. You just can’t argue with crazy.
I suggest a good German Pilsner. It is perfection in a bottle. When they come for that, and they will, you will know the end is nigh.
The Jewish Guy who, IMO, is one of the greatest pitchmen ever, Vince Offer (“Sham-Wow” and “Slap-Chop”), said, “Da ‘Goimans’ (Germans) make GOOD STUFF!”. Yes, indeedy do, they sure do.
I noticed some German companies are making some fine AR’s now. Spoetzl brewery in Shiner made huge amounts of great beer and distributed it far and wide during prohibition.
I’m so glad they survived since their Bohemian Black Lager is the best black lager I ever had. Revenooers didn’t come to Texas much since they tended to disappear. The only ones who didn’t ended up doing bidness with those they were supposed to stop.
Before my time, but I’ve been told… They never come back from Copperhead Road….
Hi Ernie,
For those who may not get the reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhMO9azmKNU
Cheers,
Jeremy
I almost like Shiner Black more than regular Shiner
“The “Market” is going to electric cars because the political terrorists have a gun to every ones head” says every automobile CEO everywhere. They say that so that they wont be terrorized.
There is only one way in hell that GM is doubling down on making EV’s. They have made a deal with the devil and know what’s coming via regulation. GM is not run by car people anymore.
My guess is the other big manufacturers know too, but they are being more careful. GM has to take a chance cause no one wants their crap anymore.
GM is a goverment-run freakshow…Just look at their Board.
The CEO at Ford is a car hating fembot.
Global Fascism is being moved at a higher pace now.
Agree, at least the engineers at Ford seem to have some say, as they seem to be moving to the much preferred RWD platforms.
All my families vehicles are RWD based, 3 FCA’s and 2 Fords, NO ASS in any of them and the two fords were easily defeated permanently with a paperclip, yahoooooo. We all had GM’s prior, f-them.
Are you talking about the Explorer? It seems like the reason that car was made is that they can’t make money just selling that Ranger. The new Explorer is based on it
No, it’s on a new RWD unibody platform along the Lincoln Aviator. The new Bronco will be on the same chassis as the Ranger.
They have made a deal with the Devil, alright- the Chinese government. The Chinese have decreed that their cars will be electric, and GM wants…er…craves…er…lusts after that business. They are doing everything they can to seize it and consummate their great lust. And I men EVERYTHING…like neglecting the U.S. market and taking their eyes off of their greatest cash cow, the Silverado enough that it slipped into second place in the pickup market, behind Ram (Chrysler). .Their focus is on China, and China has spoken- they want electric cars and GM aims to be China’s electric car partner/supplier.
I much prefer black lagers of any brand to the lighter beers. IPA doesn’t do a thing for me.
I got drug to a “wing” place one day. They had a plethora of different beer and had a dozen or more on tap with one being the Guiness Stout. I had one and while drinking it, I noticed the tap for Shiner Black next to it.
The rest is history as they say. The shiner made the Guiness taste like a wannabe.
I was driving 70,000 miles every year for work in either a gas or diesel engine cargo van. Now, I drive 1/10 of that. I figure I’ve cut my emissions by 90% or more. That’s enough for all the Marxist environmentalists who are trying to move everybody into rubber band powered vehicles eventually. But they better hurry since the earth is going to melt by 2032 according to many socialist elites. And I can’t wait because all the wacko’s are going to melt with the rest of us.
Tom, I’d like to drag AOC and similar out to a location in the patch where people work all day in the sun and temps up to 115 degrees. I pulled up to one and saw the company 5500 crew truck there. It was full of sweating men and they motioned(my big rig a/c was out)for me to come over there. They didn’t have to ask twice. That truck sat all day every day with the a/c on.
Once AOC had been soaked for a couple hours, reckon she’d not speak of the big diesel turning a compressor and alternator and fan and getting in to dry out and rest a bit?
What kills me about people like this is none of them work, not even in the easiest way. You can tell those fat teen-age boys have worked harder getting out of work than anything else. They have probably never thought of working. They’re going to college for as many years as it takes and then expect to run their mouth, click a keyboard and go home with a good paycheck.
They could be working on becoming a man….you know, one of those dying breed types with big muscles that come from work and not from the gym.
I spent my youth doing the hardest work you can imagine. Throwing 125 lb bales of hay on a trailer and then unloading them into a barn or old house where you have to pitch them up to the second floor and your bud is up there throwing them into stacks to the ceiling. He’s got the worse job at that point since there’s slightly less heat ground floor.
I’ve dug wells all day, not the worst by far. Rounding up cattle and then giving them vaccinations, de-horning and branding is something you’ll take to bed with you that night knowing you have at least another day of it. I’ve had blisters on my fingers from using syringes for vaccinations and other things.
I don’t recall an easy job growing up. The neighbor and I as young kids had a pickup that we used to haul the trash from burn barrels to the dump. 400 lbs of trash in a barrel you learn the meaning of “humping it”. Imagine young kids taking that on as a private contractor now…..even if they were legally allowed to do so. We’d get a good week in hauling trash and blow it on the week-end. We didn’t always blow it though. There were things we wanted and saved for. We were in high cotton when we got a new shot shell reloader we’d saved up for.
At 12 or 13 we’d pull up to the general store and pick up the bricks of .22 LR ammo someone who’d hired us had bought. We’d spend the night or a couple of them shooting rabbits.
Oh, and that reminds me, the feds are now doing such as dropping cyanide all over the country even though people have risen as virtually one to oppose it. But someone is making big money and some bureaucrats and politicians are cleaning up. Never mind it’s your dog and cats they kill. The reason I mention this is back in about 1960, Cyanide guns became the rage and they were cheap and the state helped. So all the ranchers put these guns everywhere. Yep, they killed the coyotes, damn near to the last one and everybody’s dogs too. The next thing you know, that slight damage coyotes cost a rancher were made to look like nothing when there were no varmints to each vermin. Fields of wheat would literally be covered in rabbits. It’s hard to harvest wheat that never gets over 2 inches tall.
A couple years ago the TPWD(Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept)announced a pending plan to kill off wild hogs.They were inundated by the public to not pursue this. They were seeking approval to start the program. Once it was determined only people who couldn’t think went for this, they did it anyway because a company was making big bucks and kicking some back to all those badly underpaid govt. employees.
Now we don’t know whether to eat those hogs we shoot, although that’s what we’d like to do, or leave them lying(I don’t even shoot one I won’t eat). It’s a blood thinner that kills them so eating them is done at your own risk.
It never ceases to amaze me the ways bureaucrats can come up with programs that only help them and no one else. I’ll admit their “work” isn’t quite like building fence but it’s damned sure not as worthwhile in any way, shape or form.
What I find most funny in the mainstream press is that whenever they discuss declining car sales and the trouble auto makers are facing (particularly around results time), they present the problem as the fact that auto manufacturers aren’t doing enough to electrify and have more and better electric cars, and most consumers are waiting for better electric cars. Then they will have some senior manager from said car company reassuring all, talking about how they are “investing” in electrification and all the wonderful things it will bring the for the company…..
I just cant tell if these guys are completely lost in their bubbles (where a 50K city car is normal, and sensible to save gas at a quid a litre), or just lying through their teeth to push the agenda….
The Osborne effect is definitely at play here. It doesn’t take much time to spot the problems with today’s battery cars. But we’re constantly barraged with “science news” that describes some possible new source of electricity that’s just around the corner, and some new battery technology that researchers create in a lab that will “revolutionize everything” from cars to computers to coffee makers. Of course we never hear of this breakthrough ever again because it is financially unviable. But the damage is done, people begin to put off buying new because they believe tomorrow’s model will be exponentially better.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_effect
Of course this leads to speculation that dark forces are suppressing this breakthrough technology. While I suppose that’s a possibility, with the amount of attention and speculation going on I’d have to think that anything that might be even slightly better than internal combustion engines would be rolled out immediately by the established scumbags.
Anyone else remember the day when the ideal “city car” was a Mercedes diesel sedan? The plan was to save up enough to buy one, then drive it till it died… which, if even a modicum of decent care were exercised, would be somewhere on the order of twenty to forty years on. I’ve known some to have travelled 750K plus, no major work done, ever. Sure, new injectors, the odd alternator or two, brake pads, even a new set of discs…. New diaphragm in the vacuum pump somewhere along the path, maybe even a starter motor. They kept the same coachwork design for years, even a decade or more, at a stretch, and today even some of the models from four decades ago are still very pretty cars. I have to do a double-take whenever I see a “classic” or “collector car” number plate on a 70’s or 80’s Benz saloon. Hey, they aren’t old enough yet for one of those?
That’s my battle plan, now that the “gal-li-money” is starting to wind down, mercifully!
This Investor’s Report by BNP Paribas, the world’s 8th largest bank by assets, concludes that gasoline and diesel are economically unsustainable as LDV (light duty vehicle) fuels. Any bets?
https://docfinder.bnpparibas-am.com/api/files/1094E5B9-2FAA-47A3-805D-EF65EAD09A7F
Hi Steve,
They aren’t functionally unsustainable but will be rendered economically unsustainable by regulations and mandates. Heck, they almost already have been. Consider that it takes about $35k to purchase a base trim 2019 model 1500 pick-up with 4WD. That’s about $5,000 in late 1960s un-inflated dollars. Which (in 1968) would have bought you two pick-ups.
Granted, the ’68 would have come standard with manual windows, no AC and three on the tree, probably – and bare metal floors. But the point is that the new stuff is on the event horizon of unaffordability right now and the mandates and regs are spiking in severity, which is going to make them even more so in the very near future. What happens when it takes $40,000 to buy a base trim 1500 with 4WD?
The good news is it’ll make an electric truck seem more “reasonable.”
Actually, it was 1968 when I noticed nearly all new pickups had a/c and automatics. They still had 8′ beds and 4WD was beginning to be much more common. They had stuff like semi-bucket seats with a middle jump seat so everybody was comfy. The new for 1971 Chevy 4WD was easy to drive and had big disc front brakes as well as cruise control, a/c, electric windows and locks for a bit more along with a center jump seat that was a cooler underneath the bottom cushion.
Trailers had gotten to the point where inline 6’s and 3 speed manuals didn’t fill the bill. But that’s just for people who need and use a pickup, not the person who nowadays has no need for a pickup except they’d haul 5 or 6 people since there are no full size cars and mini-vans are going out of style fast…..plus, they’re not “mini” and neither is their mpg.
Well, they never had bare metal floors I recall and now we’ve come 180 degrees where most country folk and others, get the work truck with rubber mats that deaden sound better than carpet and without all the negatives of carpet. I replace the carpet with a full rubber mat on one pickup and damned if it wasn’t much better, easier to clean and you didn’t have floor full of grassburrs where an aftermarket mat covered the carpet.
I have a pickup with carpet but the floors are covered with mudflaps for big rigs. Spill something and it rolls right out the door. They’re too slick and tough for grassburrs to stick into so they get scrubbed off too. I’ve had people ask where I got such good mats…..at the auto-parts or truck stop where there’s a good selection.
I don’t know about “nearly all pickups” but my first pickup/suburban with a/c is the 1991 which we bought ten years later. Maybe a/c is a Texas Thing but we/I have had a 1973, 1980, 1971, 1977, 1976, and 1989 pickup/suburban none of which had a/c. From 1974 when I traded in my first car to 2001, I never had a vehicle with a/c.
dread, we’ve had temps over 100 and most days over 105 for months in Tx. now. The only pickup I have had without a/c was the 55 Chevy.
Last year was worse with every day being over 105 all the way to 115 and it didn’t break to any degree till October when it finally rained for the first time since the second week in April and that froze.
We had our best grass crop ever even though it grew from dust to over a foot tall, nearly 3 feet in some places during October and November.
In ’88 we had 122 two days in a row and that winter -17 one night but it got so cold for so long we had to break the ice with a pick on the tank….or pond as you’d say.
Yeah, we lived in Colorado most of that time until 1997. It does get hot in Montana believe it or not, though despite all the “global warming” I don’t think it’s even got up to a legal 100 the past few summers. But up until a week or two ago it was much more humid than we are used to so low-mid nineties seemed unbearable. Ten years or so ago we were having 100++ July/Aug/Sept and usually single digit RH. Seven years ago we had 105 and 50mph winds in June, and 70 houses burned and we couldn’t do a damn thing about it. We were making a stand on the ridge top when it was still 15-20 acres but the embers blew right over our heads to the timber behind and it was far off and gone like summer wages: ~22,000 acres.
I could mostly live without a/c if the pickup was painted white but it’s nice to have on dusty roads and sometimes driving through a city with windows rolled up and doors locked. The wood truck I don’t care about a/c but we want to get something nice to take on long trips with a little camper on the back.
For a LIGHT pickup, the old Ford 300 Six and the Chevy 292 Six were just FINE, thank you very much. The former, in particular, does have performance potential, Ford just never saw a need to put anything other than that ridiculously tiny Carter YF carb to keep it “wheezing”. The big six does have gobs of TORQUE, which is what you want in a truck, and if properly taken care of, it will run forever! One of these sixes, outfitted with an Offenhauser 4 bbl manifold, Holley carb, and duals, along with an electronic ignition upgrade, should get that beast up to 220 horses and 350 ft-lbs. of torque, which for a street truck, will be enough.
I’ve driven C 50’s with 292’s and while indestructible, they were slow pulling a semi. Don’t know if a Q Jet would have helped but a manifold that would use one surely would have.
The 300 Ford IS a great hot rod motor but for a real truck that little single barrel Carter YF does just fine. Do the math, that engine is meant to pull down low, and lots of CFM is simply not necessary to make it do that. The later 300’s came with EFI and they don’t get anywhere near the MPG of the carbureted version in my experience. Though the little 450 Holley Economaster worked pretty well on them.
After having built a hot SBC, the Economaster had so much type I decided to try one. It was about a 670cfm, just right for the engine. No “econo” to it and little performance, just couldn’t get it right. Time for QJ that worked fine, tuned easily. Edelbrock makes a QJ clone but with air and fuel tuning both. I’d use one of those if it weren’t for cheap TBI now.
My 2001 Ranger Edge extended cab had none of that. $15K out the door.
Due to the costs of s-a-a-a-a-a-a-f-t-e-e-e and emissions mandates, but most especially the CAFE standards, which hit light pickups hard, a pickup, once considered “working class” or for farmers if bought for personal use (as late as 1970, the majority of pickup sales were to fleets, hence the no a/c, three on the tree, vinyl seats that roasts your ass in the summer, and a vinyl mat for floor covering, but hell, it was a WORK vehicle…now the “pickup” is a “Cowboy Cadillac”, and I’m not even sure Detroit puts any with the “standard cab” anymore, which is fine.
What frosts me is I’ve been truck shopping again and thus far I’m not happy with what’s out there…the cost of a diesel, not only for the engine itself but the trim package all three makers insist you take, make the purchase price well beyond what the diesel’s fuel economy would return, the only reason to get one is IF I needed the torque that badly. I’m waiting until next year when Ford brings back a BIG V8, essentially a redo of the old ‘385’ series (429, 460), with just TWO OVERHEAD valves, and PUSHRODS, which, when you get down to it, if the engine has a good low-end cam in it anyway, the difference between it and the more exotic OHC offerings from Ford in their “Modular” engine is negligible, and the big hunk of iron should prove more DURABLE. I don’t mind a 5-speed version of the venerable C6, AFIAK, Detroit learned how to make automatic transmissions “bulletproof” by 1965, there was little need to change them! Of course, I have to get at least an F250 to get this engine, but hell, AFAIK, if you don’t have at least a 3/4 ton, and a 1 ton is preferable, you don’t really have a “Truck” anyway!
GM makes a pickup with Work Truck on the side. It has rubber mats and we had one like that with leather seats(go figure)but those seats outlasted hell out of cloth and were comfortable for a couple of bench seats. Now everything I’ve seen has electric locks and windows, something I don’t mind a bit, in fact, wouldn’t be caught without either. The only thing wrong with an electric windows I’ve had with many pickups is a switch went bad. At the same time Ford pickups lost regulators left and right.
A Heavy Half is the lightest pickup I’ve own. I much prefer a single wheel one ton. Everything on them lasts for a long time. I had one 3/4T and it ended up with a one ton rear diff for the majority of its life.
Yup. The One Ton is the way to go.. far stronger than the 3.4 T versions. By this time next week my E 350 will roll over 360,000 miles, essentially untouched. Oh, a few bolt on things needed replacing, but so what? I don’t think I’ve spent a thousand bucks on the thing since I got it in 2005 with130K on the clock. Not including tyres, of course. It sill runs like the day I bought it, never uses oil between changes, always starts, shifts perfectly, and I’ve used it for some HEAVY loads… muliple times tipping the scales at 27K pound or so in combination. The orignial cloth seats, while not “new looking” are still comfortable and decent looking.
T, yep, tires are very expensive now. If you can get a set of 10 ply load range E for less than $1400 you might want to check the online forums to see if they howl like the Cooper’s on a company truck I drove. Not bad tires, just never let you forget they’re there. They’re a good way to determine your speed without a speedo. I can’t hear the BF Goodrich All Terrain TA 202’s on my pickup. You’d think tread up the side would be loud but it isn’t. I’ve had Toyo’s that wore out while still smooth and quiet and handled really well. I removed a set of Wranglers from a practically new pickup since they had no grip off road.
I’ve seen Michelin’s that bested Goodyears for longevity….and roughness. You don’t want to run the last 35,000 miles they have left unless you’re a glutton for punishment.
I was at Sam’s Club one day looking for tires(I won’t be again, found out they bought seconds….the hard way by using two sets of replacement tires and just giving up). A guy with a big gooseneck on a 350 in the parking lot was in there looking too.
He had Michelins and said they had at least 30,000 miles left but he couldn’t stand to listen and ride on them any more, like riding on a steel wheel he said. I’m familiar with that sort of tire from Goodyear and Michelin both. I might go for another set of Toyo’s next time around. They didn’t get the best mileage but they were smooth and quiet and never needed rebalancing and cost much less than Michelin or BF Goodrich at the time.
Several years ago I met the owner of a tire store. I relayed my woes on a set of tires from Sam’s. He told me Sam’s sold seconds. They still qualify for the DOT ratings and look like the best but are seconds and I believe it from experience.
I probably won’t ever use another Michelin Load range E tire. Feeling like you’re rolling on a steel wheel down the road really sucks. I knew exactly what that guy at Sam’s was speaking of.
I have had Pirelli’s that were good tires but not for pickups, just cars.
T, I took the 93 Turbo Diesel one ton 4WD up a mining road to a height above the clouds. I had to try and rid the inside of the center and the inside of the tire rut to not drag that 11.5 rear end and even then I drug it quite a bit. Didn’t seem to matter to it as it was just polished on the bottom.
Probably I could have driven off to the side and been ok but if you ever had to get back in the road it would be dicey. I was glad to have the NVG 4500 transmission.
The new FORD 7.3 gas engine is rated at 400 foot pounds of torque at 1500 rpm. It looks to be a throwback to better days and should be bulletproof.
I have a feeling it will be the go to for those that need to tow heavy and want a reliable, easy to fix engine.
Or you could just stick an old 454 in for over 500 lb ft and a mild cam. Or use a “learning” stand alone FI and get well over 600.
In 2001, GM (Bob Lutz) thought the idea of a hybrid was lunacy but Toyota (and Honda) went ahead anyway, and showed you can actually make these things, albeit with some incremental cost. The beauty was that the ICE did not have to cover the whole torque curve, thus they used an Atkinson cycle engine instead of an Otto cycle engine. Ford did this too with the Escape hybrid. Atkinson cycle was designed to have very low emissions. The idea is still valid. I would be intrigued to see a hybrid turbo-diesel, which, on paper, would be very efficient and very low emissions.. but none of the big auto people went for it. I think the end to end efficiency is far better than an EV. (if fossil fuels are used to generate electricity) obviously, if you generate electricity from hydro, sun, or wind then the EV is potentially a winner. While we burn fossil fuel to generate electricity the end to end efficiency of a turbo diesel is the winner. If that could be added to a battery to run things in traffic jams and around town, you can reduce the emission gases.
the underlying (pun on the word “lying” intended) fraud driving this whole scam is the false meme that carbon dioxide is a pollutant. It is not, never was, never will be, at least not in the open air.
CO2 is critical for plant metabolism, and since we eat plants and things that eat plants before we eat them, no plant growth no life on earth.
Bust THAT huge fraud,and the entire EV/Hybrid controversy falls flat on the floor.
They claim CO2 is a “greenhouse gas”.. wel it is, but not in the sense they claim it is. Greenhouse grow operations oftenwilll artificialy enhance CO2 concentration in the atmosphere of the greenhouse… and rub their hands together with glee at the increased production of their product with ONLY that change.
A sub fraud that is often dredged up from the depths is that “fossil fuel” (which it really is not) is running out… what they fail to accept is that the same processes that form coal, tar, oil, gas, underground continue to do so. Thus new “fossil fuel” sources continue to be formed.
Along with those two is the truth that today’s engines burn SO clean they are, in effect, emissions free. SUre, EPA and the Euro equivalent ripoff outfit can detect traces of “things”…. but the gross pollutants of time past are gone. Even leaving off theuse of that scam with the Blue Horse Pee, diesels now burn so clean they no longer smoke, don’t even smell much at all. And mine is twenty years old tech. Oh if I blend in a load of rancid peanut cooking oil with the normal fuel in the tank, I can smell someting “different”….
Today’s beyond anal warting over every microgramme of anything but oxygen and water coming out the pipe is a makework, justify our existence racket perpetrated by the autnomouns, unelected, unaccountable gummit dweebs who need to make a name for themselves at any cost. WHEN will the UNCONSTITUTIONAL outfit known as the EPA get disbanded?
Hi Tionico,
“Bust THAT huge fraud,and the entire EV/Hybrid controversy falls flat on the floor”.
Oh, I wish that were true. However, an organization that can convince most people that taxes are “voluntary” can certainly convince them that CO2 is a pollutant.
Cheers,
Jeremy
“Emission” accomplished! By hybrid cars. Ergo, quit making them.
Alas, the only way to significantly reduce “emissions” (esp. CO2) is for the virtue-signaller/advocates of such nonsense to collectively hold their breath–i.e. not exhale–until they expire. That would truly exhibit their commitment, not just their involvement, to their cause.
If only!
I remember back in the ‘good ole days when the only thing I had to recharge was the batteries for my toy R/C car. Would have never thought that would have made it’s way into the production of real cars.
Bin, we still have a couple of Golden Arrows. No pavement but a rock driveway and plenty grass. They were fast and we played with our pit bulls with them, one at a time, no sense in a dog fight over an r/c car. We had a couple sets of batteries for each so we had a good long while and would run each dog for a while. The cars were tough and had to be. They got caught every now and then and were treated as prizes to be shaken. We had cats we’d chase with them. You only needed to turn the front wheels and that sound had every cat on alert. We had a bunch of pipe stacked by the pipe trailer so one cat jumped up on the pipe and thought he was untouchable. He wasn’t.
I don’t know if we had more fun with the cats or the dogs. They all enjoyed it. Only the dogs enjoyed kite flying. That flutter sent them into a frenzy. I wish we had pics of a dog jumping over 8′ high to get a kite that suddenly dropped and it was outlined in the moon. Kites didn’t enjoy the advantage of a second flight if caught. It gave us parts to repair others.
Back in the day Kmart would close out stuff like that in the winter and we’d buy huge amounts of kites for nearly nothing. Set to go. We didn’t give a damn what the temp was and the dogs damn sure didn’t.
“Or at least, drown some of us.”
Just those too fucking slow to get out of the way of a sea level rise that, if the worst possible scenario of the alarmists happened, would be about one billionth the speed of the change from low to high tide. Unfortunately, the alarmists are only selectively stupid, so very few will get popped out of the gene pool by this, even though they seem to disproportionately buy houses near the ocean, which if they believed their bs they would eschew buying.
Every doomsday prediction made by environmentalists over the last 50+ years has failed to come to fruition. (Remember when global cooling was going to kill us all and Time magazine ran a cover showing the earth covered in ice?)
Those making such predictions need to be put into the same category as the addled mental cases shouting “the end is nigh!” on the street corners.
Hey Jason,
Professional doom saying is a lucrative gig. Paul Erlich, despite being wrong about everything, is a wealthy and respected man. That anyone listens to him, or pays him money, is astonishing. Also, politicians only dole out money when it enhances their own power. Thus, there is a large pool of well compensated scientists willing to create the “endless series of hobgoblins” described by Mencken.
Cheers,
Jeremy
One of the other major unsolved problems of electric cars is the electric utilities. They simply don’t have the capacity to even take on a small percentage of cars being powered with electric. They don’t produce enough electric, and their distribution systems can’t handle it even if they did. There isn’t a single electric company on the planet that could handle it. And there won’t be anytime soon either.
Just look at any hot day when most people want to run their a/c. Most people have no idea how close every electric company is to the max capacity on those days, with little or no backup. You get brownouts and breakdowns. Those things happen way more than in the past too. It’s only going to get much worse too.
Most electric utilities haven’t added significant new electric generation capacity in decades. And when the rare times they try too, they get slapped down by greenies and regulators.
And then you have electric utilities like the one I have to be a customer of (NIPSCO of Northern Indiana). They want to be entirely wind and solar, within TEN years. Yes, TEN years (currently they produce 75% of the power with coal now), they are that delusional about that. They even have the gall to call wind and solar as lower cost. They are jack s**t insane if they think that is a workable plan.
It’s not a problem, it is a feature.
The goal is to make energy scarce and politically rationed for those who aren’t in the ownership or political classes. One of the central ideas of technocracy is an energy based currency and people get their politically determined allotments.
With battery EVs it is very easy to keep people using only their rationed amounts. The rations will be set to keep the grid under capacity. Most people simply won’t be driving anywhere. That’s the plan as best as I can determine it.
No, they want to convert generation over to natural gas. The renewables are just window dressing to hide the fact that frac gas is now cheaper than coal.
Great points Eric:
On that note, I need to contact my energy company – DTE.
They keep billing me for running the A/C condenser. If I’m being billed, it must mean it is generating emissions. That can’t be true. It is zero emissions cooling device. It has to be,
The funny thing is, even the largest home A/C condensers (5 ton units) draw less current than a fast charge at any “supercharger” station. More kW are being used on charging the ludicrously overpriced toy.
How come the former is a “polluter” (i.e. “turn up the temp to save the planet”) and the latter is “zero emissions?”
What a crock. I am so weary of people who know little to absolutely nothing about even basic science calling me a “science denier” because they read some attention grabbing headline and couldn’t even be bothered with reading the entire article – let alone an actual book on the subject.
It seems the level of outrage is inversely proportional to the depth of knowledge on any specific subject.
Let’s run through some of the scary predictions shall we? Whatever happened to peak oil? World starvation by the year 2000 (if you haven’t noticed, we have the opposite problem – global obesity crises). Older readers may remember America was going to be covered in mounds of garbage by 1990 since the entire country was running out of space for garbage. Then there was the hole in ozone layer that was going to cause everyone to get skin cancer by the time they were teens. I could go on-and -on-and-on JUST with the failed climate predictions in the last 30 years, but we’re still spending real money on this crap. Trillions so far. This is money that could otherwise be spend addressing – I don’t know – maybe REAL pollution issues – or doing something else that adds some tiny sliver of value.
So you have virtue signaling people in their ludicrously expensive cities talking about “wage gaps” while dodging piles of actual human crap and third world diseases from all the homeless people they’ve created with their infinite rules, building regulations, stratospheric property taxes, and codes.
I’m about done with the automotive industry. They are a bunch of pansies now. Nobody speaks their mind. Nobody pushes back on uncle. The entire industry has not only accepted uncle, but embraced him.
I look forward to getting my pink slip in the next recession. I am ashamed to be part of this industry building totally unaffordable cars and actively cheering on making them even less affordable with each passing year.
“It seems the level of outrage is inversely proportional to the depth of knowledge on any specific subject.”
Nice.
The SJW useful idiots accurately described in one sentence. Their outrage approaches the infinite.
“the level of outrage is inversely proportional to the depth of knowledge on any specific subject.”
I’m stealing this one.
Holy crap. What do you do in that industry? I remember as a younger man wanting to work in it, but it wasn’t to be. I’m ashamed of it as well. It was a gradual replacement of real men with girls to run the show, to pander to. I can mark it to when GM tried to pull of a high school stunt on Ralph Nader with a prostitute. Anyone would know that that guy isn’t interested in that sort of thing.
Hi Swamp:
Background is in mechanical engineering. Did design engineering for Chrysler for a few years, moved to a supplier to do applications engineering – mostly with Ford, back to “FCA” for a stint and now find myself in “program management” at a multinational supplier. We do switches (center stacks, steering wheel switches, etc.) It is a horrific job. All the stress of owning your own business with none of the upside potential.
I’m the guy responsible when things are late – and if you’ve every worked in automotive, everything is always and everywhere late. Customers blow past their design freeze dates by MONTHS and then expect production parts by the same date for the same price and the same tooling cost.
The Product Design Office (PDO) wears the pants at FCA. I honestly think someone high up in PDO has compromising material on all the engineering management. Not to knock them too much – they do make shit that looks pretty cool. But they generally have zero sense of tolerances, geometry, piece cost, complexity cost, tooling cost, or schedules.
And they somehow need to have 30 different shades of silver paint. 29 shades is not enough.
I WOULD recommend program management to my worst enemy since I’m not that virtuous a guy.
I’d consider looking for a better gig, but the truth is I might be blissfully ignorant of how inefficient and ludicrous the new company is a for a few months, but they’re all the same in the end. Same story – different faces. I’ve been to enough to spot it.
Giant multinational corporations behave exactly like government agencies after a point – especially when they are as highly regulated as the automotive industry.
I’m about ready to give up. I live well beneath my means. I don’t need this crap much longer, but they pay me so much to do mostly non-value added administrative busywork that it’s hard to just say no. I have implemented a hard stop to anything over 40 hours a week. I’ve been down that road before and will never work more than 40 hours a week for anybody that’s not me.
When you’re on salary – there is a very fine line between “team player” and “total sucker.” That line is 40 hours a week.
Most in the auto industry are paid very well. I think for this reason, they are mostly living in a bubble. Much like the Hollywood bubble. They have no clue how unaffordable cars have become to regular people even today, let alone how unaffordable they’ll be when CAFE 2025 requirements hit.
If they did realize this – they be pushing back – hard – on uncle.
They’re not – so as Eric likes to say – fish heads for them all.
I think the “cash for clunkers” is coming back. What can’t continue tends to end – generally abruptly.
Unfortunately it is not just the auto industry, but pretty much all of American business which is corrupted and hollow. The new girl/colored person (isn’t it great that we’ve come full circle and can say that again- POC hahaha) will always get promoted to boss the savvy smart guy who’s paid his dues and kept things going despite all the PC/SJW crap smothering actual business and life itself. There will be a reckoning. What cannot continue will not. The Soviet Union collapsed under the weight of it, and the USSA is doing so.
Ernie, the “gals” want to be equal. When the patch is booming, most of the time these days, the companies involved would give their eye-teeth to get various agencies off their back by hiring women.
Ok Sweetie, you and your GF need to drive these 2″ rods about 4′ at an angle about like this(show them some already done). Here’s your sledge and there’s your stakes. Just put on everywhere there’s a flag and be sure your tilt is away from the rig. You have enough to keep you busy all day but if you get through before quitting time go into that sea container right there and you’ll find plenty for another pile.
I don’t get it. They don’t want to do that. Oh, they’ll hold a clipboard with some safety obviousness(don’t hit each other)and watch the guys work.
I needed some 14Gauge wire to replace a broken section on a belly dump so I went to the electrical trailer and nobody was there but two women were in the “office”, another trailer with a complete bathroom even though there were outhouses outside, a coffe maker, some computers and printers and various pamphlets. I told them I needed about 6 feet of wire of two colors if they had that. They had a multi-conductor cable so one started skinning it(they were supposed to be certified electricians)with this old dull electricians romen knife, one of the most dangerous tools I’ve had the displeasure to use.
I said “Give it to me and I’ll get it” and whipped out my little Buck Prince(503), swiped it down and had the wires loose. Cut two off and said thanks. I asked why she was using that knife. She said if an electrician pulled out any other knife they’d be fired from the job. I’d bet the people who did control work used what the hell ever knife they wanted to us.
I went off to the truck and she went back inside. Their jobs were just a bit too easy and while they would have had big tits if they’d been skinny, they were far from that and not moving in that direction.
One other fat girl on the site walking around with that clipboard and a few papers. She’d be out there just looking around every time I was on that site. No matter what she did she couldn’t get fired.
I was tempted to see if it worked the same, but opposite, way in town at the Fredericks of Hollywood store. They didn’t seem to need any bra-fitting specialists last time I was in one to make a purchase and acted put out I’d even ask. That’s not a funny joke. Hell, I wasn’t joking. Growing up in a house of women I had plenty experience getting all that stuff to fit “just right”. It’s not as easy as it looks when you’re on a date…..especially in the dark using one hand.
Ah well, the old Pete was still out there when I left, panties in hand.
There is a great deal of TRUTH in that. Lee Iaccoca was perhaps the last true Automotive EXECUTIVE, a “hands on” engineer whom had business sense but simply a lot of COMMON SENSE. Nowadays all the self-righteous virtue signalers, SJWs, and race baiters would go ape-doo-doo at the cigar-chomping white man.
Hence why a post-retirement hobby that I will have more time to “dabble” in, restoring old rides, may prove to be a PROFITABLE business, simply b/c at some point, folks whom want to actually DRIVE and be able to repair their rides themselves will abandon this high-tech crap that’s been foisted upon a gullible American public. This AM, on the way in to another day of slaving away, I saw some woman, about two decades, at least, younger than yours truly, driving a Beetle of about 1970 vintage. Sure, going westbound on Madison towards I-80 in suburban Sac town, it was huffing and puffing, but I ENVIED her…
Yep, Lido was a heck of a dago, and as far as I know he didn’t even have any Mob connections. The Mustang was pure genius, as was the minivan. Unfortunately towards the end he lost touch with the market and kept Chrysler pumping out square-rigged, broughamized K-car derivatives long after buyers’ tastes had changed.
That K-platform was pure GENIUS, Jason, enabling a then-cash starved company to at least fill market niches for not too much money well into the early 90s. Their LH platform (Chrysler Concorde, Dodge Intrepid, and Eagle Vision) was delayed due to the costs of acquiring AMC from Renault, mainly for its Jeep line, which proved to be sage, the AMC lines were soon discontinued but there were a few noteworthy holdovers like the Eagle Premier). The K-car derived Plymouth Acclaim and Dodge Spirit both sold well in their day, and how they got a viable mini-van, which probably was the line that saved Mopar back in the 80s, is amazing. I actually liked the 1991-1995 minivans, although the short version of the third generation (1996-2000) looks the smartest, IMO.
Why the reference of that “de-funct-ed” organization to Iaccoca just b/c he’s Italian, you “stereotyper”, you? You related to one Archie Bunker of 704 Hauser Street, Queens, NYC, NY?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCtf2vxTHJM
They got a lot out of the K-car platform for sure, I’m just saying that towards the end of his tenure Lido kept pumping out 1970s-style broughams while the market was moving on.
Youse just have to love the wisdom of one Archibald Bunker of Queens!
My deceased FIL bought a K car and then a Grenada. I believe the Kcar was better since it cost nearly nothing. The Grenada was one of the biggest compilations of junk from other product lines I’ve seen in my life.
If environmentalism restricted itself to truly caring for our natural resources, I would have no problem with it.
However, with the secret science and questionable funding that these environmental groups possess taints the whole barrel. It turns out that many claims that environmentalists make have no basis in fact and are not based on good, honest, scientific investigation.
This is why environmental scientists have to hide their data, as it does not fit their agenda. A good example of this is the so-called global warming crap, now renamed climate change. For one, the climate is always changing.
The East Anglia emails in which data was purposely falsified by climate scientists comes to mind. Not only that, the climate scientists purposely installed temperature monitoring sensors in cities, contrary to manufacturers recommendations and good scientific practices, in asphalt-covered parking lots, and other heat sink areas in order to prove their (faulty) hypothesis. This is scientific dishonesty at its worst.
It turns out that the solar system is in a cooling cycle due to decreased solar activity. There are two long-term solar cycles that reinforce themselves when in phase and cancel themselves out when out-of-phase. Look up the Maunder minimum. There are no SUVs on Mars or other planets, yet they are also experiencing the same solar variability.
Environmentalism has been the method used to impose communist principles on western society, especially in the USA.
Environmentalists are not content with promoting clean water, air and land, but are hell-bent on controlling human behavior, and yes, promoting extermination plans for much of humanity as these anointed types consider mankind to be a pestilence (except for themselves) to be reduced in population by any means necessary.
Environmentalists HATE the God-given concept of private property and have imposed government-backed and enforced land use controls on private property owners without compensation, clearly an unconstitutional taking of private property. If environmentalists want to control land use, let them purchase it themselves, not by government force. Today the only method of negating government-imposed land use restrictions is shoot, shovel, and shut up.
If environmentalists had their way, the earth’s human population would be reduced by approximately 90%, with the remainder to (be forced) to live in cities, in soviet-style high rise apartments, utilizing bicycles, buses and trains for transportation. The use of automobiles and access to pristine wilderness (rural) areas would be off-limits to us mere mortals, and would only be available for these anointed environmentalists.
The endangered species act is another abuse of environmentalism. Species are always changing, to adapt to their environments-survival if the fittest. In fact, the hoopla over the spotted owl (that placed much northwest timber land off-limits to logging) turned out to be nothing but scientific misconduct and arrogance. There are virtually identical species in other parts of the northwest.
More scientific malpractice occurred when government biologists attempted to plant lynx fur in certain areas to provide an excuse for making those areas off-limits for logging or development. Fortunately, these scientists were caught, however, no punishment was imposed.
In order to promote the false religion of “global warming” aka “climate change”, NASA “scientists” purposely installed temperature sensors in city parking lots and roads contrary to good scientific principles and practices in order to “skew” the “global warming” results.
In a nutshell, today’s environmentalism IS communism like watermelon-green on the outside and red (communist) on the inside.
It is interesting to note that communist and third-world countries have the WORST environmental conditions on the planet. Instead of the USA and other developed countries spending billions to get rid of that last half-percent of pollution, it would behoove the communist countries to improve their conditions first.
Here is a question for you environmentalists: Why is there a push for restrictive environmental regulations, but only on the developed first-world countries, and not the gross polluters such as India and China?
Environmentalists hate people, especially poor people. They been screwing regular people for decades. The first major “victory” they scored was the banning of DDT. A very useful chemical that probably saved millions of people.
The biggest irony of the ban, DDT probably didn’t even do the damage they claimed it did (softening the eggs of some “endangered” bird).
Yeah. I bet that Monsanto was in the business of banning it, too. It just killed the insects, not the ecosystem. Now, we have GMO crops and feedstock that is is killing us as well. Of course, environmentalists are only interested in sticking it to people who drive and those who make things. Environmentalists of all kinds are generally insufferable.
For once I agree with you 100%, anarchyst. I can confirm everything you say about environmentalists from my own personal experiences in the early environmental movement. (A youthful indiscretion of which I’m not particularly proud.) It was bad back then and became much worse after the fall of the Soviet Union since many Communists found solace in the waiting arms of a receptive environmental movement.
The Animal Rights Movement is another communist scheme to further chip away at private property rights (animals ARE property). PETA and the Humane Society’s main goal is to abolish animal ownership. They’ve successfully gotten many states and municipalities to adopt anti-breeding legislation (can’t own animals without breeders). Many places require you to apply for a kennel license, which gives animal control goons 24/7 access to your property. God forbid if they find a dirty water bowl in your kennel! That’s grounds for confiscation! Some places won’t even let you own more than 3 dogs. If an owner loses an intact dog and ends up at the pound, they won’t relinquish it without it being spayed/neutered.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xub7l5bw8qY
Dog fanciers ought to tell these busybodies to go fuck themselves; it’s no business of theirs whom the pedigreed dogs fucks (but certainly that of the owner!), nor that they whelp a litter of pups every now and then.
Hi Doug,
Even in my relatively Clover-free rural county, “the law” requires me to have all my cats given an annual rabies shot and “registered” with the county (i.e., pay an ownership tax).
I vaccinate Fuzz – the one who goes outside. But the other four are 100 percent indoors and vaccinating them for rabies makes as much sense as a guy marooned on an island giving himself a vasectomy.
And the rest? Fish heads…
DDT also had the ability to eradicate rabies.
It’s a good thing we each aren’t gay, Eric, b/c you wouldn’t be a “good” date, “violating” my “ONE pet” rule! I’ve learned, through sad experience, that if a broad has two or more cats (often many more!), her wiring upstairs is likely short-circuited! And I don’t mind cleaning the cat box and dealing with cat hair for ONE cat, but two or more…eech. My son and his frau HAD two cats until the one got out and had an encounter with a 2015 Chevy pickup…any guesses which got the better? Now that it’s just “Who-Dini”, the odor is at least tolerable, even though it’s a real chore to clean the cat box of that lazy lion, aka “Sir Shit-a-Lot!” (Yes, he was neutered, and at age 10, he’s just a lazy, fat, cat).
“I’ve learned, through sad experience, that if a broad has two or more cats (often many more!), her wiring upstairs is likely short-circuited!”
A perfect description of my aunt! She used to have 3 dogs, but all of them are now deceased. So now she has 3 cats. A few years ago, me, my brother, and our cousins had to help her move out of her apartment because they were being converted into condos. She ended up staying with several friends and family members because she didn’t have enough money to move into another apartment. Couldn’t get along with any of them, which meant that I had to help her move like FIVE TIMES in a 2-year period! Needless to say, I ended up disconnecting from her.
Unfortunately, we’re our own worst enemy. The writing was on the wall decades ago when it became politically incorrect to own a kennel. The ingenious lady that owned the famous Sassafras Kennel would not be able to join the Poodle Club of Southern California today, regardless of her major contributions to the breed. She famously said if she made a living by improving the quality of the Toy Poodle, that it would only seem fair and right.
I think I’ll raise Timber Wolves. Fuck “em. (the busybodies, not the wolves, I’m not into THAT…)
You’re gonna pedal your Chairman Mao bicycle around and you are gonna damn well like it, prole.
I would rather ride my 24 speed road bike than most of the crap made since 2011 on the road today. I viserally hate today’s cars.
Nah! We can’t let the “proles” ride their bicycles. That would offer them too much freedom. Plus, it would make them too healthy. How would the healthcare mafia survive if everyone’s fit?
I cringe whenever I hear CEO’s say “where the market is heading”.
They don’t know the difference between a market and a can of dogfood.
But, solar and wind blah blah blah blah.
Batteries soon blah blah blah blah.
No maintenance blah blah blah blah.
Electric cars cool blah blah blah blah.
Just thought I would get that out of the way – LOL
Did I forget anything?
Sorry, I seem to be suffering from Severe Sarcasm Syndrome today.