Scotty Kilmer
Posted on 11/18/2023 4:18:03 AM PST by Libloather
They’ve got a multi-front war on personal transportation, starting with EVs, ludicrous CAFE standards, persistence of the gasoline tax, and all that, etc. Another front is road usage:
“$2.2B infrastructure budget paves way for new roads, bridges, bike lanes across U.S.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/2-billion-dollar-infrastructure-budget-pete-buttigieg-new-roads-bridges-bike-lanes/
... For example, a $17 million grant will help narrow a five-lane road to three lanes in the Chicago suburb of Munster, Indiana, in an effort to decrease traffic crashes.”
“Decrease traffic crashes”... yea, right.
Here’s another part of the assault, from the NYSlimes: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/06/us/widen-highways-traffic.html
They want fewer lanes and thus more traffic congestion in order to get people out of their cars. It’s now official policy in NYC & DC.
Pass a Zima over here...
Try buying a Porsche 911 of nearly any model.
Its been almost impossible for the last 4 years.
Tesla opened a location not too far away in what used to be a BMW dealership (it had moved). There are a lot of Tesla’s on the lot. I’m not sure if that’s normal or not.
In Texas two weeks ago Tesla sold 2997 cars during a 7 day window, last week they sold 6016.
There is a parking lot that used to be a strip mall a couple miles from my house. I counted over a thousand Teslas parked there 6 months ago. The lot is still full. It looks like they charge them regularly using a portable charging station.
The tesla advantage is the software in their cars, it’s pretty amazing.
A couple of guys who work with me love the Tesla’s but they also put the Tesla solar panel systems on their houses. One has a 5,000 sq ft house and two EV’s he charges. His electric bill was around $45.00 a month for everything and now he is selling power back on to the grid.
Talk to any driver for Amazon about their new EV vans, they hate them. Their range is about 150 miles.
Tesla solar panel systems are free?
When cheaper models, around $25k, hit the market, sales will explode. Right now electric vehicles are more of a luxury.
I want to buy a used Model 3 when I can afford it. It’s not about saving the environment. I find the low maintenance, high performance, and potential to function off the grid appealing. The last aspect would require me to have sufficient solar power.
We have had some popular gas stations removed in our area over the last few years. It's alarming to see them disappear and high-rise residential towers replace them. One I worked at as a teen, I thought would be there forever, at an intersection with several gas stations - now all gone. A couple some 5 or 6 blocks away were removed in the last couple years, one had a reliable mechanic - gone. My wife worries that I won't be able to get gas for my 1960's and newer vintage cars but I told her not to worry, gas will always be available but farther away.
The mall closest to me has some free chargers with premium parking (i.e. close to the entrance). It’s right by their theater. I calculated that if I had an EV I could get free two-hour premium parking and enough free electricity to pay for my movie tickets. Not a bad deal... if there is ever a movie worth watching. Not exactly a big enough perk to justify buying an EV, but I’d like on for other reasons.
Seems they are on the right track. If we can get more places to do this, we can be rid of EVs altogether. I saw the handwriting on the wall on about day 2 of announcing that EVs would take over the market. Was I the only one? They have too long a list of problems & disadvantages. The Whole Foods store probably got visions of the whole place burning down from an EV fire.
It would as a certainty create worse problems...like putting many of us on foot who can only afford a lower-priced used ICE vehicle. Many of us have been in that situation for years. Those used older reliable & affordable used cars are already a scarce item & now they seem to only build the fancier high-priced cars that will be less reliable as they get older. Even without EVs, it looks as though the affordable, reliable vehicle is just about a thing of the past.
“””Tesla solar panel systems are free?”””
I figured someone would bring up the cost of the Tesla power system. I admit I don’t know exactly what he paid but this guy is pretty smart about $$. Under 40 and has a few million in the bank. He did it pre-Covid and I thought he was nuts but I’m not so sure anymore.
As far as the EV’s? No thanks, they are cool in some ways, but I like my vehicles with big motors that are loud and fast. Same when it comes to women:)
I.nteral C.ombustion E.ngine
Yo, GMC, let’s kick it!
I.C.E., I.C.E., baby
I.C.E., I.C.E., baby
Alright stop, collaborate and listen
I.C.E is back as a not new invention
Something moves a speed of me highly
Drive like a harpoon daily and nightly
Will it ever stop? Yo, I don’t know
Turn on the lights, and it’ll glow
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSiAVUz0Blg&ab_channel=RealHipHopLyrics
Worldwide, the largest-selling vehicle of any kind is the Tesla Model Y. Tesla vehicles are available in standard, long-range, and performance variants. The Model 3 sedan starts at a price lower than the median sales price of a car in America . . . which obviously can be expressed as, higher than almost half of the sales in America.It’s saying something when no other vehicle world wide sells better than a car which is priced higher than the median sales price of a vehicle.
The traditional car companies have not - and because of things like the UAW seemingly cannot - offered EV models which compare at all in features with Tesla offerings at remotely comparable prices.
I have never been in the market for a premium priced new car, and my 10 yo car still works well. But for people in the premium market, there is the question of range of a BEV compared to the typical use case. If you’re a traveling salesman, maybe you need more range than an EV that could require a longish charge stop during the day (perhaps at lunch hour, even at that).
But if there’s a suitable Tesla in your price range, and especially if it has the range you actually need almost all the time, Tesla’s web site (you don’t get the pleasure of negotiating price with a car dealership when buying a Tesla) might be worth a look. Confirm for yourself that batteries hold up as well or better than gas engines (batteries store available energy whereas your gas tank only stores fuel which has to be converted at about 40% efficiency in to available shaft horsepower, which in turn has to be converted to torque at driveshaft RPM by a transmission. The “motor” of a BEV converts the “available” electric energy of the battery directly into torque at driveshaft RPM, so in a real sense its function is more like that of the transmission of a traditional car than like a traditional engine of a car).
Every Tesla comes standard with a computer programmed to keep you informed as to where you can/should charge on your route. Electric juice is cheaper than gasoline for a given range traveled. Even more so if you’re using 110 or (preferably) 220 at home to do the charging.
The plain fact is that EVs sell best in “blue” states at present - but don’t be surprised if the rest of the country starts to catch up. Tesla has announced that it will start delivering its first production pickup trucks - of startling design appearance - at the end of this month.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy Says State Will Phase Out Sale of New Gas Powered Cars by 2035
Home to more than 65 percent of the world’s known reserves, could Latin America’s “Lithium Triangle” formed by Argentina, Bolivia and Chile become the Saudi Arabia of the 21st century?
https://webdoc.france24.com/lithium-energy-automobile-industry-bolivia-argentina-chile/
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