The original Roadster did have bricking issues, but I think they all got an update. My B-I-L's company wrote all of the manuals for the Roadsters and the first production sedans (and Fiskars). He got me a ride in a modified Roadster (Tesla test bed) and it was the most fun I have ever had in a vehicle. _Insane_ acceleration. I couldn't move my arms if I wanted to when the driver took off.
I still see several of the Roadsters when I commute to work. One of them seems to love Buell's as he always sees me coming, rolls down his window and waves. I don't see him do that with other bikes.
The good news is your Tesla & Dad's Prius Battery packs can be recycled. It does take some taxpayer's money, & Toyota is working hard to create the recycling system, and it's other private companies doing the actual recycling. With, as I said, some taxpayer's expense to expand as the slow trickle of batteries from wrecks and aging cars rises eventually to a raging river.
That precious Lithium in your battery is too cheap to turn back into batteries ( I suspect the cost of purifying it too high ) so gets sold to make concrete? It's going to be in low energy state oxide form, and not a big health risk.
Ironically, the low volume today is a major problem for businesses that want to profit on recycling. The money isn't there to build the capital intensive operation to Do so cleanly. The incinerator that doesn't throw evil crud into the air and the machinery to take the ash and process the metals is expensive gear, ( that's where your taxes go ) if you want to be clean. And you do. Third world "recycling" where they pile up things like circuit boards and make a fire outdoors to recover the gold and other metals is a pollution and health nightmare. The market for the metal in your battery isn't as profitable as Gold, so First World clean solutions are just going to need subsidy. It's going to be a growing part of the hidden cost of your Tesla.
Older Prius and other hybrid battery packs need a different process but that's a temporary problem, the Nickel based chemistry being replaced over time by Lithium based types.
Despite some complaints about taxpayer subsidies, hybrid & electric cars, while not nearly as life cycle clean as they'd have you believe, are still a good deal for you the consumer, if you ignore that the Green Virtue Signalling is bogus and just enjoy not paying the oil companies so much of your paycheck.
Solar panels, OTOH are becoming increasingly obviously a tax suck pollution disaster of growing size. As the older panels get tossed in landfills, we'll get more public health problems, It's not an unsolvable problem, but unlike the battery recycling, the solar cell makers, especially in China, just don't care about the downstream pollution. You're going to pick up the whole tab for that, just as you are paying a lot to subsidize the sales today.
I've had temps that are consistently in the SEVENTIES at my house in Maryland. That's simply unheard-of here - usually we're mid-high 90s for August, with 1,000% humidity.
Today's going to be hot - 84 projected high up on the mountain; 88 in the heart of Gaithersburg (part of the DC melee / urban sprawl) where I'm doing a concert tonight.
I started following “Steve Goddard”, an old alias for Tony Heller, on Twitter some time ago. Tony is probably the most credible climate change skeptic; he has an extensive science background.
Tony basically maintains that not only is climate change not man-made, there is no data to prove climate change at all. His daily posts often include old newspaper articles reporting significantly higher temperatures than those currently reported as “hottest ever”.
I was trying to find some Tony Heller videos on Youtube the other day for someone. Damned if the search algorithms haven't been played with to only show videos refuting claims of climate data fraud, etc. Eventually I found one refuting Tony Heller by name, then I searched using his name to get what I wanted. I'm really getting sick and tired of search engines being manipulated!
Oh, but...yeah...those old measuring devices weren't anywhere near as accurate as what we use today...
Accuracy isn't really very important. It's important that the same instrument be kept in service, in the same surroundings, and if changed, it must be documented. The record is likely to show a step change in the record that can be accounted for. One of the problems is that the environment around the instrument tends to change over the years, with no records of those changes. Also, pretty much anything in the environment that alters a thermometer, tends to give a higher reading. The thermometer was plenty accurate for this purpose, right from the start. Today, I have two thermometers in my backyard. One that is pretty close in the summer and one that is pretty close in the winter. I've seen them disagree by as much as 15 degrees with both in the shade. They are both on my back deck. Either could be suitable to track changes over the year though. Except for when I cut some trees that has them seeing more sunshine.
That’s strange, Tom. Youtube routinely suggests his videos to me without my having to search for them. I’m not subscribed to his channel, they just show up in my suggested videos. Are you logged in?
YouTube is a wholly owned subsidiary of propaganda inc. I've blacklisted their name for today.
How do I fight a website that has much content I want to see? I'm passive aggressive. I'm not registered, so I can't see adult content. I don't mind, I've seen breasts. ( I like them but not enough to bother to register. My days of squinting at cable porn static to imagine a nipple are over )
I don't respond to ads or surveys. I deliberately mess with their algorithms by muting the sound and randomly chasing clickbait while actually reading history texts or posting here. I especially like to click repeatedly at the same video, so if you follow trending crud, I may be to blame for that dog driving a car video or a lecture on nuclear energy.
And I do lazy boycotting. Interrupt my video? I mentally note that brand as one I won't buy, and because I wasn't going to buy whatever anyway, that costs me nothing.
The worst thing about wind power is probably not the eyesores, garbage from scrapped ones, or killing endangered species. It may be the increase in air pollution they cause by the money drain/corruption of funds that the power companies could have used to clean up coal plants.
Because of the Politics of Green theft, it's hard to get a human body count because of wind power. But some percentage of the dead from not being able to afford the power for air conditioning is because of wind power policies, as are the many more who will freeze to death in upcoming winters.
Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit has coined the phrase that utterly devastates the hypocrites and ought to be committed to memory by everyone who despises hypocrites: "I'll believe it's a crisis when the people who keep telling me it's a crisis start acting like it's a crisis."
Derision will ultimately work against these hypocrites. Force them to live by the constraints they want on the "little people."
I'll sell you all the credits you want to buy at 10% under market rates. For each credit I will pledge to not put ten tons of carbon into the air. Honestly. How? I won't burn down a house. In fact, I will swear not to burn down the entire city of Portland! And Toronto! My International efforts to save the planet are less harmful, and safer, than Al Gore's!
In fact, I have the solution to anthropogenic Global Warming! I won't burn New Jersey.
I will burn a few dozen pounds of cardboard, several boxes of credit card applications, and my propane bills from 2013! This proves I have anti-capitalist street cred, and that I have the capacity to not burn thousands of tons of carbon releasing alternative fuels!
In fact, I will further pledge that any profits made from the sale of my Greener credits will go in large part to energy conservation methods and materials & that furthermore my carbon footprint will be, without the use of any carbon credits! Less than ex Vice President Gore.
only low 20s mpg from a 2 litre 4 banger? That's pitiful. I get that with a 3.6 litre V6 in a Caravan with no electric crap at all.
BTW, after owning it for only a few weeks, the Prius Prime is now considered a poor purchase decision because there's so little room for a wheelchair. Or anything else. I'm supposed to drive it with 3 onboard + chair this afternoon, so I'll get back to you.
Oh, and the circuit breaker to the garage has popped more than once while recharging, and there is no indication that it has done so on the car. ( refrigerator on same circuit )
Another article on rust as a substitute for lithium.
Seems like a great idea, hope it can go commercial. I watch as billion$ get spent on making disposable batteries made from rare and irreplaceable materials, and it just cranks my cynicism up to 11.
Until there is a major change in political leadership, and go mine the Belt, the stuff on this planet is all we have. You wouldn't make food or booze you are just going to defecate & urinate away with Gold would you?
Scanning the very fancy dash & asking about modes. "Don't touch anything! I have it the way I like."
sporty mode, eco mode, 3 levels has it's own button.
2 buttons for electric until need to use gas/same but more automated/normal hybrid.
Do not like centered instruments. But the heads up display is sweet.
And the dang thing reads speed signs! And displays it in the HUD.
Cruise control with assists is nice, I've yet to have it engage the brake, since I leave plenty of room in front. Haven't engaged the lane assist enough to have the car take over, just enough to get a wake up warning, and that's half over the painted lines.
I'll play with that more, next time.
Typical Prius rear view tunnel. But nice big backup camera with superimposed boxes.
And quick! I want to take it out and flog it sometime. Not sure if the seat is comfortable on long trips yet. Drag week?