| Author | Message | ||
     Hootowl |
https://electrek.co/2022/10/28/tesla-model-y-best- selling-car-europe/ | ||
| Aesquire |
He wasn't using chargers! Just his onboard generator. It's a stunt. Not even a proof of concept. Hybrids exist, and they work. Personally I didn't think they were worth it until 2021, when the out of pocket cost difference got so low ( $800! ) that the payback was short and fracking obvious in the Bidenflation* Energy Shortage world. ( where ironically, fracking is evil ) I was happy with an efficient diesel, but mass fraud and an offer ( I couldn't refuse ) to buy back my car ( which was hitting the mileage where maintenance costs were obviously going asymptotic ) Plus the price difference between gasoline & diesel, made that better ecological choice harder. ( less resources consumed and less pollution than electric or hybrid ) Seriously, my VW Sportwagen got a solid 40 mpg @ 70. Nice, right? But with gasoline at $3.49 a gallon and diesel at $5.99 at the Mobile, today, here, ( I found it 40¢ cheaper, but same price difference ) It costs less to drive my buddy's Lincoln than my now gone VW. Ditto that Ford van I found on Craigslist in Florida ( that got washed out to sea by the Hurricane ) with the diesel, and my buddy's wife's Lincoln Navigator! And worse, the great diesel cars aren't sold here. I'd love a Toyota Technical  as seen in the famous Top Gear episode. Can't register it here, even if I find one imported from Mexico by a fan. There are some good diesel trucks. There's a diesel shortage and even if I get the unicorn used car to take advantage of the efficiency, it's not economically smart. So... I bought a hybrid. Best and worst of both worlds. And if I wanted a Tesla with a range extender, I'd do what I saw an Aussie do. Lightweight trailer for the Honda generator. | ||
| Hootowl |
I think he was using chargers too. He said he spent 5-6 hours per day charging and left the generator running all night in the hotel parking lot. | ||
| Hootowl |
I’ve done some napkin math in the past on this. You need a 20kw generator to make it work. With the right engine, it would be more efficient than a direct drive. High, fixed rpm engine, intake, exhaust, and valve timing all tuned to make peak power in a very narrow range. Don’t need broad torque. It could work. No other car like that on the road. Railroad, yes, but nothing in a passenger vehicle. | ||
| Needs_o2 |
What about the Chevy Volt? I believe it was all electric, with motor to drive a generator and only occasionally link to drivetrain. A system set up like that would definitely get rid of range anxiety for a lot of people, including me. | ||
| Aesquire |
The Volt had a clever transmission but originally was pimped as an Electric car with a backup gas engine. Different design philosophy than the parallel hybrid most car companies use. Basically a plug in series hybrid that used the engine to run the electric motor but not recharge the battery? Unless you floored it then it became a parallel hybrid. Power from gas & battery. I think they specifically did NOT want the Volt to be called a hybrid, originally. It would be interesting to hack the programming. I don't think it was mechanically unable to top off the battery at highway speeds, just programmed not to in the original configuration. Later years they may have changed that & just not changed the hype. Lost money on every car. | ||
| Hootowl |
It was supposed to be an electric car with an onboard range extender, but the engineers kept getting assigned new design criteria by the political types who couldn’t afford to have their much hyped car fail - so it failed. | ||
| Needs_o2 |
Sounds about right!  | ||
| Aesquire |
A buddy blames the choice of an LG battery with less stable chemistry. Maybe the reason for the "park it away from house" thing. There are multiple chemistry versions of Lithium cells with variation in capacity, safety, and density. The airplane guys want high energy density, pounds per joule, AND safety, since you can't just pull over and get out at 2 miles up. I'll point out that Ford is "responsible" for the computerized power distribution in modern cars that requires reprogramming the computer to turn on the circuit if you install, say, heated seats, or factory fog lights, before that part of the wiring harness is powered. It's cheaper to have just one wire harness for a given model. Ford had fires when the unused plug under the seat ( tucked under the carpet ) got wet with salt water in winter. that's on a "normal" car, not electric. The Kia /Hyundai Telluride/Palisade has a recall because a faulty tow pkg. wire issue might burn the Front off. Not an electric. So it's a bit of hype to fearmonger electric stuff... But not entirely. Flooding in Florida recently had cars, bicycles, and boards catch fire when soaked in salt water. Ditto a lot full of Fiskars in port in New Jersey when they got flooded by Hurricane storm surge. One flying machine on my short list is a "pit trike" that uses a hang glider wing and the battery pack is suspended behind the seat with quick release straps. Which might be illegal depending upon the local laws. ( dropping bombs from an airplane is illegal in the USA. But ironically, not in Germany. ) Good point on the mission creep on the Volt. | ||
| Aesquire |
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2022/10/tho ught-for-the-day-on-the-lefts-claims-for-science.p hp Sometimes heartless bureaucrats get it right, accidentally, usually. The British Health System just announced that gender identity change is an adolescent fad and not to go gung no on puberty blockers and surgery on the young. That 1 in 4 suicide attempt rate apparently is too damn real, and bad side effects may take years of expensive and painful surgery to fix. If possible. It's the Expensive part the bureaucracy is concerned with. Better to let people grow up and make adult decisions. They might be just as bad, but it's much cheaper than the onrushing disaster being spawned with "gender affirming therapies" being given out by... Presidential Decree. | ||
| Hootowl |
The term gender affirming is itself a leftist/Orwellian phrase. It means the opposite of its plain meaning. Affirming one’s gender would be to affirm biology, not fantasy. | ||
| Aesquire |
Yeah... I have 2 basic issues with the current sex alphabet revolution. The primary is I draw the line at consent. Feel free to argue, but you'll have to really have a point. I'll get back to this... Secondly is the language of lies, the Orwellian, the mandated, the demanded, the censorship, ultimately the Demand you parrot a bald faced lie as a psychological tool. Specifically a list of cognitive weaponized absurdities. That a man can have periods, etc. Insisting on lying is evil. That said, everyone deserves basic respect as a human being. Period. Even fat dudes who want to feel pretty. I'm not saying you have to sleep with anybody you aren't wired for, see Primary hang up above. That's another absurdity... People wanting to guilt trip and cancel you if you're not attracted to them. I don't care if you're trans, fat, skinny, or cis? You can't guilt trip me because my kink is, say, the Allison Hannigan or Candace Owens type, and I'm not turned on by Matt Damon or Oprah. I'm expecting to be rejected if I don't fit your desire, so suck it up, fellow loser! Consent, now... We have multiple arbitrary ages in law, because it's not feasible to test everyone and give them a rationality score. For one thing, it'd pi$$ a lot of people off! I note that I can't drink until I'm 21 ( and remember the rationalization behind that ) vote until 18 ( ditto ) drive a car or airplane at 16 ( with limits, depending ) a glider at 14, oh, and married in a few states with parental permission. My OPINION is the age to get your body remodeled should be at least late teens. If you can't have a beer, you probably shouldn't be allowed to have your duck cut off. ( I grew up with 16 for 3.2 beer and a sliding scale to hard liquor, in Nebraska. Last century. Or so. ) Or better, pick your marker. Drive? Consent to sex? Enlist? 12 seems too low to choose to never grow up, but obviously that's when you would, eh? | ||
| Ducbsa |
Take my duck, but hands off my Buell! | ||
| Ducbsa |
https://www.city-journal.org/greenpeace-admits-rec ycling-doesnt-work?wallit_nosession=1 | ||
| Hootowl |
Traditional recycling is problematic. However, thermal depolymerization solves everything but the collection issue. But, feedstock has to come from somewhere, even if you’re using naptha or ethane. TDP requires no sorting or cleaning and produces a feedstock that is used to create virgin plastic chemically identical to those made from naptha or ethane. Greenpeace is “giving up” on recycling in order to position themselves to call for a worldwide ban (which only the west will entertain). | ||
| Aesquire |
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/10/greta _thunberg_attacks_greenie_cop27_un_summit_and_who_ is_to_argue_with_her_.html | ||
| Aesquire |
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2022/10/31/i-dont-beli eve-in-aliens/ Some great stuff in the comments from writers that do great work. Hoot, I've been mocking/arguing about your complaint against an inaccurate meme.  Is your complaint that it mocks the snowflakes that bought Teslas as a virtue signal? And are you assuming you are being mocked? Personally I buy the technology I want because I want it. I bought a hybrid despite my awareness of high complexity computer control power train, because I wanted the economy, and my first choice either isn't available, ( diesel ) or only available in a car no longer in production with excess maintenance costs. Plus the price of diesel makes it uneconomic. Don't care a bit about virtue signal idiocy. But good mileage is bragging rights, just as are nifty features. Like prototype self drive! ( which I don't have ) And Adaptive cruise. ( which I do & love it. ) In other vehicle news, it's fall, so the perfect time to shop for bicycles and boats. I have my eye on an electric kitted Cattrike for recreational exercise and a second stage vehicle for... My primary is going up a mountain with a paraglider, while leaving the Caravan parked in the landing zone. But it's a good second stage for apocalypse. Amazing how apocalyptic movies never seem to use bicycles when the gasoline is gone. Do I want it because it's the big new thing? No. Because I see a practical or toy use. | ||
| Hootowl |
Since I’m glad Musk bought twitter, and I am not a (neo)liberal, I do not feel like I am being mocked. But neither do I believe that Musk took the money I spent on my car and used it to buy twitter. That’s demonstrably false. | ||
| Aesquire |
Oh? You got the reciepts? If it makes you feel better it was also spent on stainless steel sheet for boosters. The 99¢ I spent on that Kindle book went to lie about you in the Washington Post. And exploit workers. I don't have much to be proud about from that purchase. | ||
| Hootowl |
The several rounds of stock sales are public records. | ||
| Hootowl |
Musk receives no cash compensation from Tesla. He is paid entirely in stock options. His twitter purchase was funded by stock sales. Drops mic | ||
| Aesquire |
So money from sales has no effect on stock value? Stocks Don't Equal Cash. Or a bank account. They can be traded for either. Don't get me wrong. Elon publicly doesn't take a salary, so only pays income tax on sales of stock. Smart dude. If I invent the next big internet thing, I'd pattern my income like that too. | ||
| Hootowl |
“So money from sales has no effect on stock value?” There is no direct linkage. Sales are up, record deliveries, stock is down. Stock is worth what the last share sold for. I sure don’t see a correlation. | ||
| Hootowl |
It really boils down to this: Not one red cent of the money I paid for my car went into Musk’s pocket, therefore the meme is not accurate. The money other people paid for stock surely did. Many of those people are not lefties, though. | ||
| Aesquire |
Methinks thou dost protest too much. "Technically" you are correct. But... Basically the silly meme is insult humor and not in any way mathematical. I simply like it for the snark. There's some buzzwords, intersectionality? holistic. The philosophy that all things are connected. Omm. And most folk don't make distinction between types of income/wealth in the accounting way, over all. Stock options, benefit pkgs, payroll, it all adds up to freedom to spend money on your whims. Sure for Elon, it's a thing with battalions of lawyers and accountants, while we just mentally calculate if we can afford a toy and still keep the lights on. Somewhere between me being responsible for a Newspaper's Hunter Laptop Cover up by purchasing an item through a different company owned by the same gajillionaire, and you being responsible for saving the earth from an asteroid (or promoting, gasp, free speech ) by buying a car from a different company owned by the same gajillionaire, you can draw various lines of the rock paper scissors type, or think of as different levels of disconnect/connection. I Suspect many would tell me to Boycott Amazon to avoid feeding the monster what's his name, and his dreams of power! Ditto boycotting the Power Wall to avoid yadda yadda. Frankly, boycott whoever you want. Or not. Our pennies aren't paying for their entire load of jet fuel to get brisket in NY. I'm not going to follow a politically constrained reality path just because Susan Sarandon or some pundit tells me to. I Can see not subscribing to a Disney or Facebook, if you don't like the company policies on injecting political opinion and free speech or whatever. End rant.  | ||
| Aesquire |
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/10/china-laun ches-its-third-space-station-module-but-rocket-wil l-return-controllably/ | ||
| Aesquire |
https://twitchy.com/brettt-3136/2022/11/01/fred-gu ttenberg-says-twitters-now-a-right-wing-cesspool-a nd-its-time-to-rethink-your-tesla/ It's not the meme you should fear. It's toxic Karens that may call for people to burn your car to protest imaginary offences against the Lies they spout like sewage. Today, it's "you should sell your car because the bad African American Immigrant is Hitler", but tomorrow it might well be "don't let a supporter of twitler drive by in peace." I heard Tesla was the most popular car in 19 nations. Incredible for a new company. | ||
| Ducbsa |
https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2022/10/31/massachuse tts-offshore-wind-project-no-longer-viable-n507020 Dems ruin economy, green projects hardest hit. | ||
| Aesquire |
https://phys.org/news/2022-11-ancient-dna-analysis -early-peopling.html Look up the Kon-Tiki & Ra expeditions, where Thor Heyerdahl sailed across the Pacific and Atlantic oceans to test the theory that it was impossible for "primitive" man to cross oceans. Yes, I said that correctly. Thor wasn't trying to prove folk using Egyptian or Ancient Peruvian technology could cross oceans. People were known to cross them in canoes. Solo. For fun. And this was before DNA analysis traced possible migration routes. People were looking at bones and artifacts... And pyramids. I'll point out a pyramid is one of the few ways to pile rocks high that doesn't collapse after years of neglect. Something children figure out before they can speak entire sentences. It's not required that this revelation in architecture came from divine or alien influence. Or surprising that people on the same planet with the same gravity and the same building materials figured out pyramids. After all, the guys that piled rocks in other configurations showed that those ways fell down. But the pyramid thing made for good publicity. After all, if you want folk dumb enough to think pyramids must be magic, you just look at the Press. So these guys literally sailed across oceans to disprove the theory that people using that primitive technology, just couldn't possibly have sailed across oceans! Because that's how science works. I'll point out that the kind of person that crosses oceans in a row boat or canoe or sailing raft, also tend to be people that get laid. They're the new guy. Not boring. Smart. And with a great story to tell. Anthropologist and Archaeology types tend not to mention the "better chance to get laid" aspects of reality. Victorian uptight censorship of any public mention of sexuality persists to this day in academia. Anecdotally, I've noticed that the guys that paddled into Adirondack lake campsites seem to have a higher score rate than guys who arrived in a car. ( camper owners have other things to offer potential mates ) | ||
| Aesquire |
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2022/11/01/we-dont -need-no-flaming-sparky-cars-99/ If electric vehicles fit your needs they're great. If they don't, they aren't. Amazing how that simple truth gets ignored when politics and religion get involved. Physics is unforgiving. The faster you drive the higher the drag. The bigger and "squarer" your vehicle is, the higher the drag. ( I bet you better streamlining on my Toyota could yield at least 10% better range ) And there's cube square laws involved! So I wouldn't expect a pickup in today's giant boxy crash test shapes to get the same miles per BTU as a Tesla sedan or Prius aero-wedge. |
