Add it to the list. A survey of owners of 330,000 vehicles found that EV’s experience 80% more problems than petrol and gas powered cars.
So EV’s cost more to fuel, take longer to arrive on long distance journeys. They sometimes burn down ships, destroy airport carparks, and kidnap drivers. They are a national security risk, and a burden on electrical grids. Because they are heavier they create more potholes, wear out tyres faster, increase road noise and air pollution (from tyre particles). They also increase wear and tear on bridges and multistory carparks.
EV’s are on the verge of becoming uninsurable partly because near new EV’s may have to be written off after a scratch, and all EV’s need large empty spaces to be stored so they don’t destroy the cars around them.
And in the end, they barely reduce national fuel consumption, and no one even knows if EV’s will reduce CO2 emissions.
On average, electric vehicles are less reliable than other cars and trucks, Consumer Reports finds
By Tom Kriser, CBC News
Electric vehicles have proved far less reliable, on average, than gasoline-powered cars, trucks and SUVs, according to the latest survey by Consumer Reports, which found that EVs from the 2021 through 2023 model years encountered nearly 80 per cent more problems than did vehicles propelled by internal combustion engines.
Consumer Reports said EV owners most frequently reported troubles with battery and charging systems as well as flaws in how the vehicles’ body panels and interior parts fit together. The magazine and website noted that EV manufacturers are still learning to construct completely new power systems, and it suggested that as they do, the overall reliability of electric vehicles should improve.
Some problems are worse than others:
Hat tips to Old Ozzie and Raving
Image by StockSnap
How can EV’s be less reliable than ICE vehicles?
They consist of just 2 essential components – a battery and electric powered motors.
A standard ICE vehicle consists of 3 essential components – electric powered motors, a battery and a combustion engine (remove the solenoid switch and the starter motor and see how easy it is to start???).
If EV’s cannot reliably master just 2 components – what are they actually worth?
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The electronics in these things is complicated…and highly stressed using 800v architecture. The component count in the inverters, motor control and charging system is high…if just one surface mount resistor or capacitor goes to God…things stop working. A gasket leaking oil in an ICE engine is obvious and usually easy to get to and replace….a surface mount capacitor on a board buried inside a charging control module…no mechanic is going to fix that.
Todays mechanics are not really well equipped to deal with EV faults.
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Old school ICE mechanics, such as our next door neighbour, could fix anything. Now with sealed parts and computerisation, no more. Except old cars.
Many years ago – 20? – I had a 2nd hand VW Passat estate. Loved it – I’m 6’6″ so it’s often a struggle to drive a small car – Passats have transverse engines, so much more leg room.
Anyway, it developed a timing problem. Garage couldn’t fix it and in the end suggested replacing the central control system, which MIGHT fix it.
Cost? And this is 20 years ago, remember – £500.
Pass I said.
So progress often takes us backwards.
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Yep, your ICE car is far more likely to have an electronics or sensor related problem than a mechanical one. You can’t exist without a diagnostic tool and at least they are now affordable. A recent used car I bought was very poor at cold starting – diagnostic showed a glow plug fault that was not indicated anywhere else. Then it had an engine fault that restricted power at times which turned out to be the sensors in the throttle pedal.
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Mr. Poynton: Thanks for bringing up a couple memories for me. I owned a VW Rabbit forty years ago, a great car (my father drove a Rabbit and I liked it enough to make it my first car). In the 90’s, VW lost it’s quality and a bro-in-law owned a Passat that was more trouble than a jeep! At the time, VW was running TV ads in US that showed a young couple having a wondrous time in a VW showroom, watching the electronics go haywire on a showroom car! The reveal is a salesman playing with a remote, but I turned to my bro-in-law and asked if “electronics go haywire” for VW was a selling point. His laughter dripped with disgust. Never bought another.
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I had an HQ Holden. The fuel pump died, I headed by foot to the local wrecker, unbolted one from a wreck, paid $5 for the part, took it home and bolted it on. Good… as… new.
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I suspect EVs are primarily ‘repaired’ by complete replacement of modular parts – which are then just scrapped.
If so, then EVs are just adding to pollution and contamination.
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Mr. Steve: I wonder if “whole vehicle replacement” makes maintenance costs look low?
30
“It isn’t just the Mercedes ML320 that has screwed up electronics design… CAN Bus and Water”
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2023/09/08/it-isnt-just-the-mercedes-ml320-that-has-screwed-up-electronics-design-can-bus-and-water/
A faulty tail light seal kept drowning the “hind brain” – due to where and how it was positioned and sealed
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I have one – 14 years old. I had to replace the tail lights soon after coming out of guarantee.
10
Wow, exact same problem a neighbour had with their 2012 VW. It spent weeks in the mechanics with an annoying intermittent fault that would light up the dash with dire warnings, before being sent to Adelaide, where it spent more weeks, until, finally, in an act of “nothing else to look at” the technician pulled the rear taillight off only to find it full of water.
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Think of an electric golf cart. Super simple and reliable. The problem with electric cars is the drive to make them out-perform ice cars and at the same time add every possible electronic bell and whistle. Thus you end up with super fast, super expensive, high voltage, super complex automobiles. There is probably a niche for small, simple, cheap electric urban run-abouts as second family vehicles. Eschew the luxury, the huge tablet style control screens. Make a product just a step up from a golf cart that can keep up to urban traffic and costs no more than the cheapest ICE car.
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Robert – one of these – Son’s mate in Monaco has 2, which his underage teeenagers drive (legal in France/Monaco) and he also drives as easy to park
AMI ONE CONCEPT, A NEW VISION OF URBAN MOBILITY
Since 1919, Citroën’s history has reflected its ability to move with the times by creating non-conformist and revolutionary vehicles that have gone on to become icons. At the 2019 Geneva Motor Show, Citroën is unveiling its approach to urban mobility, which it intends to be accessible to every
BORN CITROËN
Citroën Ami One Concept is Citroën’s take on freedom in the city:
#LibertyElectriCityMobility! It combines all the advantages of 100% electric technology with a bold and colourful design and complete ease of use. It also scores top marks on comfort and practicality.
Following in the footsteps of 2 CV, Ami One Concept is adaptable to all types of uses “à la carte”, from car sharing to rental. Ami One Concept preaches freedom of movement for all and has the potential to become an urban and popular icon.
20
Old Ozzie. Here’s the latest; Nine News…
“Insurer has 440 per cent increase in lithium battery fire claims
By Lucy Slade
6:52pm Nov 30, 2023”
“Data from insurer Allianz shows the cost of these claims increased by 900 per cent from 2020 to August this year.”
I seriously advise you to tell your son’s mate not to charge them when he’s in the home!
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All very true.
And, of course, nothing yet has been achieved in ridding the environment of the toxic chemicals that remain when the EVs are no longer serviceable.
Battery recycling still has a long, long way to go.
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They may have all these problems and they ruin the environment as regards mining and processing and that China has captured the market and coerced labour make batteries but it is (supposedly) GREEN!
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There is nothing more noble than saving the planet. EV’s are the way to go according to some. Bowen thinks so.
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Bowen is a fool and a lier, tonight he was on ABC 7:30 perpetuating his lie that glabal ICE manufacturers dump dirty high emission cars in Australia because no one else will take them.
What company builds product that nobody wants then finds a market to dump it?
The only reason Australia has slightly higher emissions is because our fuel standards allow higher sulphur content. Bowen is the only person who can do anything about it and so far all he has done is sit on his hands and complain about Peter Dutton. Bowen acts like he is still in opposition, he is an incompetent buffoon.
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Don’t be too harsh on the idiot.
The moron is one of the very good things rational people in this country have going for them.
Ignorance can be educated.
Stupidity on the other hand….?
But, be kind to him. He’s needed, if we are to ever get ourselves out of his spiral to poverty.
The longer he’s there, the greater the chance of sorting this mess out in the longer term.
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Careful Neil, I’m pretty certain that you could be prosecuted (after the Legislation has passed) for false information about buffoons.
60
The reason that we “need” catalytic converters is because the fuel is so poorly refined these days.
Many decades ago last century, a gent already very old then, said to me, you couldn’t get near petrol with a naked flame as it was so volatile, nowadays, back then, he said, you could throw a lit match in and it would go out. Perhaps a slight dramatic exaggeration perhaps but you get his point.
Modern petrol is closer to Diesel than it ever was.
00
That’s because of the relative newness of EVs (or EV’s), the lack of training of and familiarity with by repairers, the sheer complexity, the proprietary nature of service information and the lack of communal (forum) troubleshooting information.
But wait, you also get some whole new problems I uncovered.
Coming next week.
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But do they use Scotchlocks in the wiring systems?
30
Lack of training and the dearth of service info is only an issue AFTER a fault has developed.
More training and service info will not stop the number of faults to be rectified
20
Ah…EV’s…the solution to a non existent problem that are now being revealed as an utter disaster for many reasons. The Tesla fleet in the regional Town I live in seems to be slowly growing as planet savers/climate change nutters flaunt their virtue signalling…but I think things are about to change. If I see one, I never park within cooee of it if possible.I’m following the insurance industry with interest as they deal with these things.
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The more people learn about EVs, the less they want to buy them. The more insurance companies learn about EVs, the less they want to insure them. I predict EVs will be a rarity by 2030.
As much as I like Elon, his EVs suck. I wouldn’t be surprised if someday Teslas become gasoline and diesel powered.
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Generally EV technology is pretty basic and should be as reliable as a refrigerator.
The problem with EV reiability is that more than 50% of EV’s on the market are made by new startup companies that don’t have 100 years of quality proccesses to fall back on and often their systems are not designed and developed by experienced automotive engineers but by IT geeks.
A classic example of this was the Tesla auto pilot system that had not been calibrated to recognise an electric scooter. It was something that looked like a pedestrian but moved like a bicycle and it could not identify it so it ignored it and drove over it.
That is what we call a negative failure mode, don’t take any action. This situation called for a positive failure mode, in this case stop. An experienced manufacturer always makes positive failure the default setting.
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New refrigerators are reliable ? Asking for a friend.
50
I am waiting to find out out. Our existing fridge is 32 years old. I replaced the door seal a decade ago but that is all. It was new 32 years ago and I consider that reliable.
We are waiting patiently for it to die so we can match the upright freezer we bought maybe 20 years ago. The freezer had a problem with its de-icing heater about 5 years ago. It may not outlast the fridge.
Modern fridges are a bit more efficient but I doubt any reduction in energy use would justify a particular selection.
On the subject of whitegoogs, about 15 years ago, we replaced out first Fisher & Paykel washing machine – really clever drive motor. It had a leaky seal that damaged the bearings. This time around, I replaced the bearing once it got noisy. Seals and bearings about $20 and as good as new. There are some great videos on line that show the bearing replacement. It took about an hour.
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At this stage, I am not confident about whitewoods coming out of China but most of the parts in well known brands come from China.
I suspect the China will be the source for most BEVs. They are the only country burning coal without regret so can corner all manufacturing.
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ICE’s have had 100 years to fine tune their technology, mass market EV’s only 5 or so. I had read that because they had fewer moving parts that there was little that could go wrong but perhaps that isn’t true after all.
Modern ECE’s are very difficult for mechanics to work on due to their complexity so wonder exactly what EV technicians need to be trained in, as there is little they can get access to, except with very expensive equipment presumably available only at regional main dealers.
EV’s need to come an awful long way before they would be considered as suitable for being the one and only family car. With the prices of rare earths etc beginning to climb and the concerns over battery life and insurances costs, its difficult to see them coming down in price too much, so if they want to make the transition from rich persons or employees toy, its difficult to see how this will be achieved especially if they start to pay their way way with the equivalent of the fuel tax on fossil fuels.
Or perhaps that is the point and they will always be expensive and remain out of reach of the mass market user?
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That sounds like the sort of comment that would have been said 100++ years ago when the first automobiles started to replace the horse and buggy .?
..but look where that went !
21
Can you suggest where the materials will come from? There isn’t enough for all the green plans, especially copper, which will drive up prices. Are you satisfied with your EV? Will you be when you have to pay the full costs of driving on roads that others are paying for?
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You keep making up history.
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Remember that EV’s actually got their start before IC’s
“Crude electric carriages were first invented in the late 1820s and 1830s. Practical, commercially available electric vehicles appeared during the 1890s. An electric vehicle held the vehicular land speed record until around 1900. In the early 20th century, the high cost, low top speed, and short-range of battery electric vehicles, compared to internal combustion engine vehicles, led to a worldwide decline in their use as private motor vehicles. Electric vehicles have continued to be used for loading and freight equipment and for public transport – especially rail vehicles.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_electric_vehicle
30
Ah but rail vehicles dont run on batteries – they have poles and wires that wont work for private cars – whole different ball game
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Would have thought they had all the problems designed out of toasters by now. … or vacuum cleaners … or food processors … or …. electric irons seem reliable. Hmm.
As much fun as trying to fix an iPad
50
The Sunbeam Classic – “Automatic beyond belief”
“Dedicated to the Classic Sunbeam Radiant Control Toaster
From the late 1940’s to 1997, the upscale toaster market was dominated by this classic from Sunbeam. Its sophisticated lines, art deco styling, and consistent toasting quality made it a pleasure both to the eyes and the palate.”
More at
http://www.automaticbeyondbelief.org/index.htm
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Definately an improvement on the flip side toaster
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” Definitely an improvement on the flip side toaster.”
Ah, the bakers friend.
10
The way to fix an I-pad is to buy an A-pad. Mine is six years old and still works fine.
10
All big trains are electric, have been electric for over 50 years. (Diesel electric) DC and AC in the one diesel electric train.
Diesel electric trucks all the big mines use.
Electric transport will be the future, because electric cars will eliminate 35 % of American jobs.
50
Electric trains haven’t batteries….
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Correct, EV’s should really be Battery Powered Vehicles, BPV’s. Diesel Electric trains are just huge generators on wheels.
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Cement truck EV doing what Ev’s do best .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liPm6OKPsB0
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I’m sure it is a great movie but Youtube wants to remove the adblocker or have you buy premium. Seems we should be using Rumble or some such.
10
Get youtube downloader from github and eliminate the vexation of advertisements.
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Modern cars are so reliable it’s absolutely insane. Tough to beat perfection.
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I’ve done about 10000 hours driving diesel tractors in the last 7 years – growing food – and those engines are astonishingly reliable and low maintenance. It never ceases to amaze me. 14 hour sessions, fill up and away you go, assured that thing will not stop. Hydraulic oil pumps go, a turbo went on one (because of abuse, not mine), a bearing on some flywheel in there went on one. But failing electronics – funnily enough – give the most trouble, gear box sensors and such.
For the human race to turn its back on the godliest invention ever, the diesel engine, would be the high tide mark of stupidity.
330
I was told by a farmer I knew (ex engineer) that he had looked at growing bio-fuels, and then had worked out that half the crop would never leave the farm because he would use it for his farm machinery. That doesn’t count the lorries to transport the crop, nor their domestic fuel, nor the fuel for the army of public servants, nor the fuel for every other thing in our lives that needs simple fuel for transportation.
Then I asked him about fertilizers … “Oh yes … we’d need to set aside land to grow those” … “but”, he continued “we also use a lot of herbicides and pesticides and those too are petrochemicals”.
“If you replaced every petrochemical with oil grown on the farm, would you end up with any oil leaving the farm?” I finally asked?
“He thought about it for a while” … and then said “I don’t know”. The conversation certainly changed my view of “going green”.
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Agreed,.. and this is why i believe EVs serve a very positive purpose in reducing the amount of oil needed for simple transport such as commuting, shopping, school runs etc etc.
Oil is a finite resource and must be reserved for those uses where there is no realistic alternative such as trucks, heavy diesel vehicles, construction and Ag equipment, industrial feed stock chemicals, plastics, etc etc.
EVs have many faults ,cost, weight, range, fire , etc,..but the principle of an electric drive system is spot on….and CO2 is not even a factor worth discussion !
I really do not understand the resistance and negativity towards EVs, being displayed here.
It is just a technology change as society progresses and transport develops.
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Ive said the same thing as you Chad on here before. I agree in general.
00
Chad, my negativity toward EV’s is because the poor are being forced to pay for car toys for the rich, supposedly so we get “nicer weather” in one hundred years. It’s pagan shamanism by parasites “in the name of science”.
EV’s are subsidized in so many ways, including free road use and infrastructure, and the latest trends are to artificially force up the price of ICE vehicles so that EV’s seem more competitive. It hurts the poor who can’t afford any car when the rich take away the cheap options. Look at ULEZ… and disgusts me to the core.
In the long run, I don’t care less about running out of oil or fossil fuels* — nuclear will power everything one day, assuming we don’t hit a dark ages first. And as a molecular biologist, it’s just a matter of time until we create bacteria or phytoplankton that convert sunlight or biomass into liquid biofuel.
*Except in the event of war, I do care that Australia will run out in three weeks.
But I fully support the right of people to own an EV experiment as long as they pay for their own equipment, a fair share of infrastructure, and are not allowed to park under apartment buildings or in multistorey car parks without special fireproof bunkers (which they pay for).
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Well put Jo.
Thanks.
40
Your post is a motherhood statement, but it surprised me none the less.
My beef with EVs, and I sense it is common here, is the virtual demand that we hold our nose and swallow, like castor oil. If you ain’t sick you don’t need castor oil.
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No one is being forced to change to an EV, ..but over time it may become a logical, easy decision.
In 10 years or so, the technology will have changed and improved dramatically, likely in ways we cannoy imagine. Batteries will cheaper, lighter, and safer with capacity to drive continuously for 1000,s of km. Driverless controls will be common, and maybe that concept of “ non ownership” or share cars, will develop ?
316
“No one is being forced to change to an EV”. Just like no-one was forced to have a jab. Our Governments know how to coerce people without force.
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Mr. Chad: “No one is being forced to change to an EV….” Guess you need to look up the word “mandate”. The manufacturers are being forced to change to an EV, wanna try rewording?
In ten years or so, physics and chemistry will be obsolete?
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? who is forcing who ? .. Maybe someone should tell Toyota or the Russians !
“Mandate” is a political word…as such it is never permanent .
..and exactly how do you think… “physics and chemistry will be obsolete “ ?
Tthey are fundamentals of our world and cannot be ignored.
And if you believe its EVs that are empowering china, what do you do about all the electronics, TVs, Phones, white goods, etc etc..that are produced ther e ?…the list is endless .
06
Mr. Chad: So if Toyota and “the Russians”(?!) are not mandated (didn’t look it up yet?), then no mandate exists? You said “NO one”, and when called on it, you evade with non sequitur “well, one ISN’T subject to mandates”. Mandate still left undefined. If you want batteries to get better, you’ll need to re-write physics and chemistry (you seem to be clueless, so I’ll give you one- physics and chemistry will cancel your wet dream about batteries improving IN EVERY WAY!!!. I’m not the one ignoring them.) Finally, we buy other stuff from China is your reason we should do more for the CCP?
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Chad:
Botteries store energy as chemicals. Trying to get them to store more energy will cause more problems. e.g. using lithium batteries instead of standard types. Will need a revolution in batteries to make “Batteries cheaper, lighter, and safer with capacity to drive continuously for 1000,s of km”.
The only glimmer is aluminium (said to be about 1,000 km range) but that doesn’t get recharged. In theory the cell could be changed at service stations and sent for reworking.
30
I wonder where you get your information. In Australia (I guess also in rest of the world) there are huge deposits of oil shale -hundreds of years in Queensland at about $40 per barrel. Then oil can be made from coal (Germans did it in WW2). Natural gas is not a fossil fuel. It is being made continually at plate boundaries as Indonesia or PNG. The wells have some oil and the gas can be used to make oil. The supply is unlimited.
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Yes, there is more than enough for many years (100s) yet.
But is is NOT an infinite supply , and our consumption continues to increase as more nations “develope” an adopt western lifestyles.
I have no fear for my/your lifetime, but it may be very different 200 years down the road.
For certain , the price of oil will continue to increase until it becomes a major factor in every product we use……..until alternatives are found to replace or at least reduce the demand for oil…..
….EVs are one simple and significant oportunity to extend the lifetime of available oil supplies.
PS.. The Germans ( and the S Africans) did nor make OIL from coal, ..they made FUEL, a very different product without the many uses of crude oil.
Likewise, you cannot make OIL from gas…you just make liquid fuel.
22
Chad,
coal made more chemicals than oil (or gas) until 1951.
Plastics, detergents, etc. And SASOL used to make diesel but switched to waxes. Don’t know if stlll going as my information is 20 years old.
20
Mr. Chad: I’ve said this before, but the negativity on EVs is because they enrich and empower the CCP. You are too dull to get this, so I won’t bother with more detail.
131
I’d suggest it’s our governments that enrich and empower China.
The real question is why aren’t our governments enriching and empowering our countries ?
10
The modern conversation about ‘green’ electricity and personal EVs, is no different than the modern conversation about Free Speech …
luxuries when can no longer allow for the little people. (1)
AGW and ‘Pandemic’ are the two most successful political/religious (2) campaigns in human history.
Culminating with the cherry on top …
men can give birth.
1 (Not a ‘conspiracy theory’, Klaus says this openly.)
2 (It’s often difficult to make the distinction, but when the line is even more obscure, history would indicate progress flatlines. I would note that ‘Progressives’ distort history, which I reckon is irony.)
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One interesting development in the EV market is the growing number of PHEVs and some of these don’t look so bad. For example, the new Mazda CX60 comes in 200KW 6 cylinder ICE variants, with a small battery and “EV only” range of 76Km at $60K. So, you get to do your low speed local travels to work, the shops, school, etc, on EV and still enjoy the long trips at holiday time with your powerful ICE. I’m against EV’s, but these hybrid variants are probably going to become the popular choice and pure EVs will probably be totally eliminated in the market once these hybrids take off. With a small battery, people can charge these up at home, including from rooftop solar and they won’t load up the grid or create catastrophic travel gridlock on long weekends with 100,000 vehicles looking to use the same 500 charging stations 300KM out from a capital city, a scenario that can never be catered for in a pure EV market and a reason why EVs will never be a solution. But, these PHEVs are still in relatively early development stages and it will take 10 years before they become perfected and reliable, so we should hold off. One other positive is that the ICE motor will last significantly longer without the short trips and cold starts and the smaller batteries can be replaced at a relatively smaller cost or just left to die in a second hand market where the ICE engine keeps on going for another 10-20 years, as opposed to the vehicle being scrapped.
90
Oh and.
“Here’s Why These New Electric Trucks Will Cause Thousands of Accidents, DIY and car review Scotty Kilmer.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4M-59gVwys
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I really do think you are underplaying the key thing here … Greta likes them. And if it’s good enough for Greta it must be science.
120
I can see her standing with hands on hips, glaring, as an EV inferno erupts ….. How Dare You!
70
It might take people 10 years to become accustomed to the fact that EVs are just as crappy to repair as ICEs. There is an acclimatization curve to dull the senses.
30
All this pain for zero gain! I note that US Auto Dealer inventories have reached saturation. They can’t sell them, they are clogging up the system, compromising financial dispositions. Manufacturers have slowed production to virtually nil. How long before workforces are affected and staff laid off?
111
Mr. Penguinite: Yes, in the news, evidently auto dealers have time on their hands to be writing letters to doddering white house residents. No customers to greet, that’s got them noticing the looming disaster.
60
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/mr-president-tap-brake-3900-auto-dealers-warn-ev-demand-crumbling
10
The News Ltd papers have listed their finalists for car of the year – four EVs, three Hybrids and one ICE – Diesel VW Amarok. So far the Amarok is well ahead in the readers poll.
30
Cars generally – including ICE type – are becoming less reliable. All the ‘old’ tech is OK, such as pistons, spark plugs, camshafts and gears, but all the computer-controlled stuff is a growing nightmare. This is especially true of the so-called ‘safety aids’ including active cruise control, lane keeping assistance, auto emergency brakes, etc but all the other newfangled bells and whistles which communicate via the big screen are likewise buggered on a frequent basis. Even if everything was working when you last parked the car, you might start it the next day only to find an update has gifted you a new bug.
They’re becoming smartphones on wheels and, as such, are suffering all the same problems such as apps that stop working, system updates that cause bugs or shutdowns and sudden incompatibility or connection issues.
One new ‘feature’ I came across recently is affecting diesel vehicles which require ‘Adblue’, an additive that cleans up exhaust emissions so as to meet the latest Euro pollution laws. Thanks to the environazis, these vehicles, which have a separate tank for the Adblue, will go into ‘limp mode’ if you use up all the Adblue and remain ‘limping’ until the tank is refilled. Keep doing this and you will be punished by the vehicle refusing to exit limp mode until you visit the main stealer for a system ‘reset’.
At some point in recent years, large organisations (including those who want us to buy their products) stopped caring what we consumers think, or want.
31
China bans graphite exports. The New Green Economy will be “Made In China”, or not at all.
30
I was looking around for a car for my son who lives nearby in Melbourne. He needs a replacement car sooner than later so I wet looking at what was in stock at local dealers.
The Toyota dealership has no new or demo stock listed. But the Kia site has a reasonable list:
https://www.berwickkia.com.au/our-stock/new-kia-for-sale-in-berwick/
The number of EV6s in stock was surprising. I do not see many around here but have seen come in the city. I figure they are finding them not that easy to sell locally. So if you are in the market for a BEV, Kia, Berwick is a place to start.
The number of Teslas in and around Melbourne are certainly noticeable. Lots of high paying government jobs around.
20
“The number of Teslas in and around Melbourne are certainly noticeable.”
I’ve passed quite a few on my country travels in the last month or two, but never seen one going fast.. I reckon the drivers would use very little petrol if they drove like that.
10
An electric motor is a much simpler device than a reciprocating engine. Not considering anything else, you’d expect them to be more reliable. However, over decades, fossil-fuel engines have become so incredibly dependable that I have many times pondered and remarked on this while not even thinking about EVs.
They don’t make cars like they used to. It’s good news for us. Conventional motors are just so reliable now that electric motors in cars would do well just to match them.
Aside for the EV motor itself, there is the battery. Changing a battery in a conventional car is minor. Needing to changing one in an EV can be a write-off for that vehicle.
10
I have a 20 yr old diesel Toyota Landcruiser that has done 500k km without missing a beat. That is reliability. I have three diesel vehicles – I wouldnt touch an EV with a barge pole given the short life of the batteries. After 8 years my phone battery started to heat up in my pocket – got rid of it quickly. I will be stockpiling diesel for the day when the elite ban the use of private diesel and ICE engined cars.
00