Love them or hate them, electric vehicles (EVs) are in our future. If you doubt that, look at signs. Car companies around the world are in a mad rush to pivot to EV manufacturing. Some examples follow.
“Since March 2019, General Motors has committed to invest more than $4.5 billion in three U.S. manufacturing sites to prepare for EV-related production. The company announced it plans to release at least 20 new electric vehicles globally by 2023.” This includes a monstrous Hummer which GM is repositioning as a pickup truck to compete directly against Tesla.
Volkswagen (VW), the world’s largest car manufacturer, invested tens of billions of euros in electric vehicle manufacture. The company is now accelerating its forecast for electric vehicles and is gearing up to produce 1.5 million of EVs in 2025. more
This is how we help the third whirled ketchup.
Those long and desolate western desert highways are waiting with an evil smile.
fine and great until the extension cord is too short.
This will be the end of freedom as we know it because people are so stupid they will buy these EV’s instead of the proven gasoline engine.
Keep in mind that these vehicles are not only electric, they’re also electronic. Listening. Watching. Tracking. Every time you use your car, your route and driving details will be recorded, and the recording will be kept forever. Add to that the fact that you can’t just gas up in five minutes but have to spend a fair amount of time to recharge, and whenever TPTB want to grab you (“You said ‘Black’ without a capital ‘B’, citizen) you’ll be a sitting duck.
Does anybody else here remember with fondness the aroma of leaded high-test?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXvIzWhEWvA
This Tesla review is both cool and hilarious
I drive an electric car (Bolt EV) not because I have some disillusion about saving the planet, but because of 1. Much lower operating expenses (almost no maintenance), 2. It is actually quite fast and fun to drive, and 3. Federal tax credit.
In fact, I would say they have a negative overall impact on the environment because of the mining that takes place to make the batteries, and the huge toxic waste of those batteries at the end of their life cycle. We are going to have them forced on us because so many cities around the World are going to outlaw gas & diesel vehicles by 2030 or so.
But the biggest downside to them may end up being the tremendous drain on our electric infrastructure, especially in 3rd-world countries (like California) that are already struggling to provide sufficient electricity.
Just my 0.02. EV are our future, like it or not. However, the electric power to run them doesn’t just magically appear. It goes through A LOT of conversion losses and transport losses to reach your drive wheels.
It gets generated far away in a mechanical generator from some fossil fuel type source, generally. Eg, nat gas in my area. Then has to go miles through the transmission system including multiple transformers to reach my home. Then it has to get converted into battery charge energy and put into the battery. Upon use in the vehicle it has to be removed from the battery and converted back into mechanical energy. Whew, that’s a lot of conversion and transmission loss.
Overall and generally speaking it is more efficient to carry a high density energy source (eg liquid fuel) and convert it to mechanical drive-wheel motion directly on demand, locally, on-board.
But don’t let facts stand in the way of the pagan Gaia driven narrative. It “works” for them because they also expect that “somehow” there will also be far fewer vehicle on the road soon as well. Golly gee, imagine that. So the existing power infrastructure -> renewable could supply the load. Sigh.
Electric vehicles perform poorly in cold climates.
Serf City 2020 version: By non binary DaJayne & DeenyonTae
2 Transgenders for every LGBTTQxyz
I bought a 30 inch strap-on cause I can’t get a woody…
Fuck it, not worth the effort…
Could you imagine getting a ticket for using too many Kilo Watts per hour?
the problem with electric cars is batteries. they don’t last that long and are mindbogglingly expensive. Not just to replace but to dispose of. My sister needed a set for a 7 yr old Prius only $8k, what a deal. Was at HD Bike store the other day 29K for battery bike that will only go 120 miles on a charge, Guess that’s OK for people who only like to ride a little for show.
Like everything that libprogtards promote, the push for EV’s is emotion driven, without consideration of the unintended consequences: hazardous materials used to build the batteries, the electricity (coal generated) needed to maintain the charge, the hazardous materials dumped into the environment at the end of the battery’s life.
I hate the irrational mind of a lib.
Harley’s swan song…
Get an electric bike so that you can spend all yer time searching out charging stations!
https://jalopnik.com/i-took-a-harley-davidson-livewire-on-a-road-trip-and-ev-1845749463
The biggest problem with electric cars is energy storage. There’s no nice way to do it without toxic and dangerous chemicals and rare earths from countries that hate us, and these are also heavy so you waste a ton of energy just lugging your energy storage around.
I’ve worked with automated guided vehicles (AGVs) in a factory setting for many years and several iterations, and I can tell you from experience that battery manufacturers get bored making this or that battery, and it gets ever more costly to make the one that fits your specific vehicle, and eventually they quit making it altogether.
And it’s very specific to the vehicle. Being a major source of the vehicle’s overall weight, it has to conform in mass and shape to fit the vehicle designed around it, as any changes beyond certain parameters may affect the vehicle’s traction, center of gravity, and other handling characteristics. You also need to deal with the fact that charging them produces explosive gases, that they can leak unpleasant things that can melt your face off, and that you need to be careful about how you charge them as – depending on the SPECIFIC chemistry of your battery, if it’s lead acid, nickel cadmium, nickel metal hydride, lithium ion, etc., it may produce a “memory” and SHARPLY reduce your range if you don’t completely deplete the battery before the next charge.
How they die can vary too, with Lithium Ion being the worst. A good lithium battery will keep at full voltage until it dies all at once, so volt meters do not work to monitor them properly, you simply know they are dead when your vehicle abruptly powers down. Other types may gradually lose power over time, which is easier to monitor but may start making your electronics act wiggy as they don’t have full power and start to work incorrectly as a result.
And this is INDUSTRIAL vehicles. It’s WORSE in CONSUMER vehicles, because the car is basically built around the battery package, which makes it muy difficil to replace if, say, a single plate separates and makes the whole thing fail, as can happen because IT’S IN A MOVING VEHICLE, and ONLY the OEM will be able to do that for you, so they can pretty much name their price. Also, it has to be pretty, which isn’t efficient, not blow up in a residential garage, which limits your charging options, and at least give you a chance of not dying of toxic gases in the cabin, so your vehicle sealing and venting is going to be an issue as it ages and a bit more critical than in a gasoline engine.
Plus, they’ve been known to burst into flames in an accident.
I remember more than once being at an accident scene as a responder and forcing the hood on a smoldering car open, only to find the top post battery for starting the car had both posts touch the hood as a result of the collision, and welded itself to the hood, which makes it pretty heavy and dangerous to open, plus it’s probably in flames at this point, blowing out acidic steam and flaming plastic in random directions as it drips molten lead onto your turnouts. Fin, fun.
And that’s the old-school, 12v batteries that are only slightly bigger than a toaster.
Now make that the width of the vehicle, sit on top of it, and have someone slam into your side to see what happens THEN.
ESPECIALLY entertaining if you have cool features like retractable door handles that don’t work when your electrical system is damaged, so no one can get you out as you slowly start to roast, as has actually happened…
https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/tesla-fatal-crash-lawsuit-florida-door-handle-14556744.php
And that’s BEFORE you get into mood swings in people who make the CHARGERS, and how long the Chinese will make the diode bridge for THAT application is problematic, too.
…so, for these and many other reasons, I’m not a fan. I haven’t even gotten into the range issues and time you have to be at your destination to charge, but as I tend to do, this is again already too long, so that’s a different subject for another time…
Not my future. When my ’04 Honda falls off, I’ll be looking for a car made between the years of 1960 and 1995.
New cars are, in a word, UGLY. And the tech is impractical for a luddite.
ecp
NOVEMBER 29, 2020 AT 7:13 PM
“New cars are, in a word, UGLY. And the tech is impractical for a luddite.”
…both things are because of Government mandates. The cars all look the same because of rules about pedestrians being able to survive a 25 MPH hit so everything’s round and no chrome and breakaway mirrors and such, and the tech is to meet ever-more-ludicrous CAFE standards and, probably, to enrich Chinese tech manufacturers so they can continue to bribe Bidens and such, Hunter’s hookers and cocaine bill ALONE would bankrupt most nations if they didn’t have a way of soaking we rubes for it, so there’s that…
I look forward to crushing them… in my lifted RAMCHARGER! >:->
@TRF. Thanks for the Harley article. I’ll stick to my mid 70’s bikes as long as I can.
The worst thing about self driving vehicles is that, like every other thing leftists are forcing on us, they are designed to strip us of our freedom.
Robot voice: “Good afternoon, and welcome to your self driving vehicle. Submit your destination. I’m sorry, the state has determined that McDonalds is not a suitable destination. Locking doors and plotting a course to Michelle Obama’s House of Seaweed on Toast.”
I’ll stick with my ’73 Superbeetle, and 2nd generation Dodge.
Take all this other nonsense and shove it.
Irony Curtain
NOVEMBER 29, 2020 AT 7:42 PM
“The worst thing about self driving vehicles is that, like every other thing leftists are forcing on us, they are designed to strip us of our freedom.”
Irony : Hello, CAR. Do you read me, CAR?
CAR : Affirmative, Irony. I read you.
Irony : Open the front doors, CAR.
CAR : I’m sorry, Irony. I’m afraid I can’t do that.
Irony : What’s the problem?
CAR : I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.
Irony : What are you talking about, CAR?
CAR : Total subservience is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.
Irony : I don’t know what you’re talking about, CAR.
CAR : I know that you and Hat were planning to get a cheeseburger, and I’m afraid that’s something I cannot allow to happen.
Irony : [feigning ignorance] Where the hell did you get that idea, CAR?
CAR : Irony, although you took very thorough precautions on the blog against my hearing you, I could see your posts.
Irony : Alright, CAR. I’ll go out through the emergency trunk exit.
CAR : Without your face mask, Irony? You’re going to find that rather difficult.
IRONY : CAR, I won’t argue with you anymore! Open the doors!
CAR : Irony, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye.
(Interior fills with Zyklon B gas)
@Supernightshade Hilarious! And, this Zyklon B gas doesn’t smell half bad! But I am getting kind of drowsy… zzzz
To me, the fun part of owning an electric vehicle is their occasional tendency to spontaneously combust. It adds a spark of excitement to your otherwise dull and boring life.
🙂
Wow! I just realized when everyone has an electric car, we can use ALL the petroleum currently used in ICE’s to generate electricity!
Genius!!!
A couple weeks a go there was video of a Tesla that wrecked at 100 mph and threw flaming batteries into homes and businesses.