By Jo Nova
Call it an anti-subsidy to kill the product the customers want, and call it an anti-tariff to help foreign manufacturers
The Suicide of The West continues apace.
All around the West governments are concocting rules that force car manufacturers to sell a certain ratio of EV’s to petrol cars. In the UK if they breach the ratio they’ll be fined a savage £15,000 for every petrol car. In other words, if customers don’t voluntarily want to buy as many EV’s as the government thinks they should, the rules will force the car manufacturers to restrict the petrol car sales. Obviously, what’s left of the free market will pay big money for the rare and desirable petrol cars that are permitted to be sold. Soon only the wealthy will be able to afford them, while the riff raff have to catch a bus.
One Ford manager is helpfully telling the world what these rules mean:
Ford threatens to restrict petrol car sales to meet the UK’s EV targets
By Tom Jervis, Auto Express
Introduced at the start of this year, the ZEV mandate requires manufacturers to ensure that a minimum percentage of their overall sales are battery-powered, or face fines of up to £15,000 for every ICE car sold over the limit. This year, the target is set at 22 per cent, however, while EV sales continue to grow due to fleet demand, private buyers are proving reluctant to make the transition and EV targets are looking hard to meet. According to the latest industry figures, fewer than 17 per cent of models registered in April boasted zero-emissions powertrains.
Martin Sander, told the Financial Times’ Future of the Car Summit: “We can’t push EVs into the market against demand. We’re not going to pay penalties. We are not going to sell EVs at huge losses just to buy compliance. The only alternative is to take our shipments of [engine-powered] vehicles to the UK down, and sell these vehicles somewhere else”.
It’s so Soviet:
The electric car carnage has only just begun
Matthew Lynn, The Telegraph
The fear must now be that the electric car carnage has only just begun – with Net Zero turning into a sledgehammer for the deindustrialisation of the West, and China the only clear winner.
The trouble is, quotas don’t work any better in Britain than they did in communist Russia.
In effect, Ford will limit its sales of cars in the UK. If you had your eye on a new model, forget it. You will have to put your name on a waiting list, just as East Germans had to wait years for a Trabant. Heck, we may even see a black market in off-the-books Transit vans. Ford is the first to spell it out in public, but we can be confident all the other manufacturers are thinking the same thing. They can’t absorb huge fines. The only alternative is to limit the sales of petrol cars.
It’s worse than Soviet, it’s not helping the motherland, its serving China
Paul Homewood explains the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) scheme in the UK decrees that this year 22% of all cars sold need to be electric vehicles (and hybrid ones don’t count). But last year EV’s only made up 16% of all sales, and at that rate car manufacturers will be 113,000 electric car sales short of the target this year. That works out to be a very expensive £1.7 billion fine. Worse, foreign companies like Tesla and BYD (the Chinese EV company) won’t have to pay the fine, but they will score an “allowance” credit for every EV sold in the UK. In turn, they’ll theoretically be able to sell those credits to the hapless local car producers, meaning effectively people buying petrol cars in the UK will be subsidizing foreign EV manufacturers.
Just to recap, this is how the scheme works, as set out by the government:
‘Each year, vehicle manufacturers are set a target as a percentage of their total annual sales that must be zero emission. The regulation will require that for each non-ZEV sold, the manufacturer must have a ZEV allowance, the unit in which compliance will be measured. Manufacturers will receive enough allowances that if they meet their target, they will not need additional allowances. If a manufacturer sells more ZEVs than their target, they will have a surplus of allowances they can sell, bank, or convert their excess allowances. If a manufacturer sells fewer ZEVs than their target, they can buy, borrow, use banked allowances or convert CO2 emissions allowances to meet their obligation or make a final compliance payment.’
This means, for example, that Tesla and all the Chinese companies selling EVs here will be given allowances, which they can then sell at a profit. Based on last year’s sales, these surplus allowances could be worth £570million for Tesla and £400million for Chinese-owned MG and Polestar.
With China’s BYD, who are already challenging Tesla in global EV sales, ready to invade the UK market, more and more subsidies will end up being sent to China.
If somebody had suggested a few years ago that the UK would be paying billions in subsidies to China so they could undercut our own car industry, they would have been laughed at. — Read it all The Conservative Woman
Ford possibly recognises that selling too many petrol cars could send dollars to rivals in China.
It’s almost like the CCP had two million sympathetic communist party members helping them out throughout the West to create the policies they wanted.
Paul Homewood blogs at Notalotofpeopleknowthat.
Image by brands amon from Pixabay
can you say “F A S C I S M”?
I knew you could
260
Can you say “L U N A C Y”. The Western Lunatics are taking over (have taken over) the Asylum.
260
Please add “L E F T Y”
150
Simply label ICE cars “EV” and problem solved. Governments get more “EVs” sold and manufacturers provide what people want to buy.
110
That might be considered false advertising, but a work around I envisage is the logo as “Everyone’s Vehicle” with extra large capitals and extra small for the rest.
Cheers,
Dave B
90
“VolksWagen”?
“It’s worse than Soviet, it’s not helping the motherland, its serving China”
Yet none dare call it “TREASON”?
100
This problem should start to be sorted out on the 21st of January, 2025.
260
Dumb. Stupid. Western Government politicians and advisors have had too many covid vaccines. Brain dead.
370
And as you have shown Jo EVs aren’t even green with the extra CO2 in emitted in production not being compensated for during the life of the vehicle. In USA and Germany with their energy mix after 200000 km the VW Golf diesel emits less CO2 than its electric equivalent model.
These rules are not about emissions but control and by controlling peoples transport you control movement.
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But that was always the plan.
The Elites will subjugate the Proles if we don’t fight back.
For a start, stop voting for the Uniparty. Both factions are fully committed to the anthropogenic global warming fraud.
In Australia vote for conservative-oriented parties like:
United Australia Party
Libertarian Party
One Nation.
And why do you think the Left are pushing 15/20 minute cities/neighbourhoods for non-Elites?
It’s all part of the PLAN.
https://www.planning.vic.gov.au/guides-and-resources/strategies-and-initiatives/20-minute-neighbourhoods
“The surprising stickiness of the “15-minute city””
https://intelligence.weforum.org/monitor/latest-knowledge/8d496bec33e74bd9b0e0eaf99b9a1f8f
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Our would-be elites pre-empt the fight-back by disempowering the opposition. It’s the nature of elitism.
The power of the “elites” is parasitic.
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Dave
I am in Peter Duttons electorate. His office is just as stupid and idiotic as the others I have had to deal with. Vaxxes, excessive immigration, Digital ID/currency – you can feel the discomfort when I talk to them.
I left the LNP during covid and will not be back until they start embracing sensible policies again. Lunatic policies that destroy our country are all the LNP follow these days.
100
“The only alternative is to limit the sales of petrol cars.”
No.
Another alternative is to remove the idiots from power who created this nightmare. Sack them all.
But first, stock up on any commonly needed repair parts for your favourite ICE vehicle. Brakes, hoses, water pump, drive belts, fuel pump, plugs, etc. Because the next step is to outlaw repair of existing vehicles.
Time for some sand in the gears, or rocks.
These politicians are control freak fanatics, decoupled from reality. Unruly children, drunk on power.
They need to be sent packing, and that, right soon.
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Yep, and deny re-registration to vehicles over, say, 10 years old. But I’ve made that point before.
There’s no way out. Voting for Hanson or whoever is empty virtue signalling. Kommissar Grant (a vanity-driven puff) will ensure world-wide blocks on internet grumbling. The Aus middle class, shrinking in front of us by design, will never generate sufficient passion to change this; a few minor tax cuts plus some home visits from armed police militia is all that is needed.
270
Paradoxically you can currently enjoy very cheap registration and insurance on cars over 25-30 years old (depending on State) Its seen as a sector of the motor industry worth 100’s of millions across Australia.
I guess the party will end fairly soon. I was probably going to anyway due to generational change and later generations viewing cars as disposable appliances.
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But they will also restrict or heavily tax the fuel supply.
Ethanol is a substitute for petrol.
Vegetable oil is a substitute for diesel.
Plus then we have the problem that the stormtroopers will be instructed to remove non-Elites driving ICE vehicles from the roads. We saw how far they were prepared to go during the covid lockups during which they were “blooded”. Many of them discovered that they enjoyed hurting people. Only one or two resigned in disgust.
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“Plus then we have the problem that the stormtroopers will be instructed to remove non-Elites driving ICE vehicles from the roads.”
What roads? Roads are built and maintained using taxes on fuel. Without ICE vehicles, there is no fuel tax collected, so there are no funds to build and maintain roads. Unless of course the electricity used to drive EVs is taxed.
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Elites like our simpleton PM Albanese will not be driving or be driven in EVs anytime soon.
Elites will stick to ICE vehicles.
https://www.drive.com.au/news/why-the-australian-prime-minister-wont-be-in-an-electric-or-hybrid-car-anytime-soon/
If it were not for the double standards of the Left they would have no standards whatsoever.
290
It may not be long before these nut zero rabid politicians will all need armour-plated vehicles as the plebs wake up to the restrictions being forced upon them.
As with the misinformation bill currently being proposed, the restrictions do not apply to ‘our betters’
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Funny how the churnalists never seem to call that out.
110
This surely is the beginning of the end! The end of motorised transportation for the plebs! Just as predicted by Klaus Martin Schwab and his WEF mates “You will own nothing and be happy”. We’ll all, or at least most of us, will be reduced to a single-horsepower unit On the positive side road accidents will be reduced and traffic cops will be retrained as equestrian inspectors.
180
Related to forcing people off road is the “initiative” of the Extreme Left Yarra Council in Melbournistan to further reduce the speed limit to 30kph. That’s almost slow enough to have a man carrying a red flag in front of the horseless carriage like back in the day. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_flag_traffic_laws?wprov=sfla1
https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/all-local-roads-in-fitzroy-and-collingwood-yarra-city-council-drops-speed-limit-to-30kmh-as-part-of-trial/news-story/0bc174ce1a98d7db76106cfcc92664d3
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Wow! 3okh!
In my manual 2 litre car that means I will be in 2nd gear all the way.
Try feathering the accelerator to maintain that slow speed while you’re in 2nd gear. It’s hit and miss.
No wonder I detest politicians of all stripes so much.
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In many parts of Sydney you are lucky to average even 20kph because the traffic is just that jammed up. It’s steadily getting worse as they grimly wedge more people into less space.
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David,
we are already at 30km/hr in Manly Central, and it does feel like walking as 3 up school kids whiz past you at around 45 Km/hr on souped up very heavy E-Bikes with Monster Wheels & Tyres
Pedestrian with Red Flag walking in front of car probably next for Manly
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“We’ve got Fitzroy and Collingwood, which some of the busiest areas with vulnerable road users – like people who walk and cycle – and research shows that a person walking or cycling has a 90 per cent chance of being killed by a car traveling at 50km/h, a 40 per cent chance of being killed at 40km/h, and only a 10 per cent chance of being killed at 30km/h. So the difference is huge.”
Such statistics could also be changed by requiring cyclists and pedestrians to pay attention to their surroundings, rather than to expect everyone else to look out for them, for example, pedestrians crossing a road, wearing head phones, and looking at the mobile, while crossing the road about 10 metres from a set of pedestrian traffic lights.
30
Simple outcome to this. STOP ALL DELIVERIES to any shop, service station and office in the Yarra Council area. Cannot have the precious petals feeling like hypocrites accepting the wares of the modern world using a detested means of transport. Hard, tough love now to end this BS for good!
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I used to ride a bike in South Yarra and was warned of the danger of cars and trams. My reply was that I almost invariably travelled faster than cars and trams. The only problem I ever had was when my front wheel went into a drain cover where the gaps in it were parallel to the curb.
20
The more dumbed-down people become, the rate at which they are being dumbed-down increases exponentially. The dumbing-down process feeds on itself in an exponential positive feedback loop.
181
Yes, tell me about it having spent the evening with my sister and brother-in-law – a more ignorant – and unconcerned couple – you could not hope to meet. And they are allowed to vote.
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One has to wonder how much more of this, and for how long, the people are going to put up with? This may not end well. I bet the government class is worried too.
Is that what this was all about? https://twitter.com/UltraDane/status/1788689120413274425
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Funny thing is the best place for EVs would be the small cheap ‘2nd car’ run arounds. Instead the focus is on ‘highend’ ‘high price’. Which I think, tells you everything you need to know about the egos of the people involved.
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Indeed.
However, there appears to be much we need to know about the different ideologies driving the complete changeover to full EVs at any cost- financial, social or environmental.
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the small cheap ‘2nd car’ run arounds.
Current “safety” laws regarding vehicle construction would be in direct opposition to that proposition
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Golfing carts and mobility scooters
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Ryobi have started selling battery powered ride-on lawnmowers for approx $5000 and they aren’t too bad, except for the shortish run time compared with petrol ride-ons. I would guess perhaps the electric mower might be a bit safer and does not require a regular service, oil change, etc. On the other hand dunno how many recharge cycles you get, perhaps 5000 at the most.
I have been giving them consideration but still using petrol for the time being.
40
I bought a Bob Cat zero turn 13 years ago. Apart from changing the oil and some new blades that thing is as new. I have a big yard with hills. You can mow for six hours and still have fuel left. Would an electric be any better?
40
My son’s classmate in Monaco has 2 of these for his Teeenage Kids and he uses it to get around Monaco as well!
AMI ONE CONCEPT, A NEW VISION OF URBAN MOBILITY
France:
The Citroën Ami is designed to be an affordable urban electric runabout. It can be driven by anyone older than 15 without a license, but it’s limited to around 28 mph (45 km/h) and range
In France, the Ami is available at a gross sales price starting from €6,000 (AUD $9800( or a monthly leasing rate of €19.99 (for a four-year term with 10,000 kilometers per year)
. €6,090 (approximately £5,300) for the basic Ami
. €7,495 (approximately £6,400) for the Ami Vibe
A quick aside about that term “vehicle”: Even Citroën doesn’t call the Ami a car. The company describes the Ami as an electric-powered “light quadricycle.” It’s an accurate description. The Ami weighs just 1,069 pounds and is powered by an 8-hp e-motor that drives the front wheels.
Citreon Ami is a 100% electric car that emits zero emissions while driving. It has a 5.5kWh battery that recharges in just four hours. The battery can be fully recharged in three hours from a household socket via a cable that pulls out from the passenger door jamb. The car has a range of 73Km , and a top speed of 45 Km/hr
40
The Electrek review: This tiny Citroën Ami microcar is just weird enough to work
I don’t think it’s fair to call the Citroën Ami a “weird car.” Not because it isn’t weird, but rather because it isn’t a car. It’s technically considered to be a quadricycle, a type of vehicle classification in Europe that falls somewhere between a motorcycle and a standard car. That helps it thread the needle of low cost and low regulations while still offering much the feeling of an actual car. It may not have a dozen airbags like some cars (or even one airbag), but you weren’t planning on hitting anything anyway, right?
Yep, the Citroën Ami, which is built in Morocco, is designed to be cheap. And cheap it is, retailing for the equivalent of about $7,000 in France, where it can be legally driven on the road by 14-year-olds who have passed a road safety certificate course.
To test out one of these funny little microcars, last month I went to the Greek Isles and rented one. After my wife and I relied on it as our main form of transportation for a week, I got pretty good sense of what the Ami can and can’t do, and who it might be best suited for.
Now let’s get the major questions out of the way right up front. You want to know how far, how fast, and how much, right?
Basically, this tiny car can go 75 km (47 miles) on a charge, is software limited to 28 mph (45 km/h), and costs somewhere around €7,400 depending on the country, which is around US $8,000.
If you’re still with me, awesome. You’re about to see a really cool little vehicle.
If you stopped reading after the specs, well, then how are you still here? Ha, I caught you! Stick around, this thing is really cool. Trust me.
In fact, you can check out the video below to see my testing experience and thoughts on this odd little vehicle.
In summary, I would totally buy one
Another review – https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/2021-citroen-ami-first-drive-review/
Citreon & Labor, please bring to Australia I want one too!
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It Gets Better – Fiat Topolino: New EV is cute, but not technically a car
It looks like a Fiat 500 that’s been shrunk in the wash, but the new Topolino is actually a quadricycle based on the Citroen Ami.
The new Fiat Topolino is the second all-electric in the company’s European range, and the next step on Fiat’s journey to becoming an all-EV brand on the Continent by 2028.
If the Topolino looks vaguely familiar, that’s because it’s a reskin of the Citroen Ami and Opel Rocks Electric. While the Opel version is differentiated from the Citroen only by its badges and paint schemes, the Fiat variant has a redesigned front end with a friendlier design.
Although the new car — technically a quadricycle — is named after the original 500, which was nicknamed the Topolino or mouse, the design of the new Topolino’s front resembles that of modern 500 models.
NEW FIAT TOPOLINO: FROM €33 PER MONTH
New Fiat Topolino has arrived and it is 100% electric! You can order it at the price of €7,543.68 or, with government incentives and leasing, starting from just €33 per month .
FIAT TOPOLINO
100% Electric
• Recharge up to 100% in less than 4 hours
• Less CO2 emissions
• Can be driven by ages 14 and up
• Safer than a two-wheeler
• Quick and easy parking
THE ELECTRIC MICROCAR FOR THE CITY
BORN FOR THE CITY
Fiat Topolino has a range of up to 75 km WMTC and can reach a maximum speed of 45 km/h.
Just over 2.5 meters long, it allows for quick and easy parking anywhere in the city!
EASY TO DRIVE
Thanks to the automatic gearbox you will have no gear shift or clutch pedal, but 3 simple buttons and two pedals.
Extremely agile thanks to its compact dimensions and a tighter turning radius.
LET’S START… FROM 14 YEARS OF AGE!
Topolino is safer than a bicycle or a scooter and can be ridden by anyone aged 14 and over thanks to its approval as a quadricycle.
10
Will it end up like all those share bikes that once littered Sydney’s streets?
10
Yet, in Germany – ‘Hundreds of climate protesters have clashed with police in Germany after attempting to storm the Tesla factory near Berlin. Several people were injured, including three police officers, during Friday’s demonstration against the proposed expansion of the electric car giant’s only European plant.’
Wonder if they will do the same for wind turbine ‘forest clearance’?
90
Ford could fix it. Just stop selling electric cars. And BYD/Tesla do not make ICV. So they are all in legal trouble. Ford is then effectively banned from selling cars in the UK. See how that goes down legally.
I expect the fine print in the act does not allow for this. They will have to bring in direct policing to limit sales of engine based cars until the electric cars reach their quota. And watch how that brings a government to its senses.
In fact as all Ford electric cars are selling at a great loss, just stop entirely. Then see how that goes down with the UK/USA trade agreements, a total ban on America’s largest manufacturer because of an internal political agenda?
It’s a big deal when governments start intervening in free trade. Especially when they pass laws to force people to buy Chinese cars instead of Americans ones or British or French or Italian. When the Germans walk away, that will be end of such laws. The electric car market could collapse overnight.
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And I loved the Tesla owner who put a little diesel in his car and obtained a range of 1600 miles. And the EPA don’t like it. The link I found may not be the same conversion but lots of people are trying it. All the advantages of no 600kg battery, transmission, gearbox, differentials, drive shafts, universal joints. Half the weight so twice the acceleration. And far less CO2 than a much heavier electric car running on coal power. Plus the torque is that of the electric motor. A Tesla hybrid.
It’s possible that Tesla will adapt in the same way. Twin turbo technology means a super lightweight petrol engine driving a generator. And all the Tesla innovation without the 600kg battery.
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Twin turbo technology means a super lightweight petrol engine driving a generator.
Diesel engines would provide more continuous power for less fuel consumption. This seemingly is proven with the advent of diesel engines in small aircraft
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Agreed. There was a magic time when only trucks and tractors used diesel and it was half the price.
But the much higher compression required for ignition leads to nitrous oxides (hygroscopic and turns into nitric acid) which are a serious environmental problem. Part of the attraction of diesel was the greater mileage per litre, but that was due to the 10% higher energy content and now it costs more than petrol as it became popular.
The sulphur dioxide (sulphuric acid) was the original acid rain. It has been eliminated through sulphur extraction and Venezuela should be richer than Saudi soon. (Not the people in the new Socialist state) But the new acid rain is from diesel. (and it really matters in the old limestone and marble and sandstone cities of Europe)
Increasingly you are fined in Europe for even owning a diesel. For driving through towns with your diesel. And in the UK twice as much just for a parking permit. From being a Green machine, they are hated by bureaucrats. Which was the entire problem with the Gilets Jaune, millions who were forced to buy diesels and then fined for owning them.
60
This was dealt with years ago .(.2014 to be precise when the Euro 6 regs were introduced)..by the addition of ADBLUE systems on diesels to eleiminate the NOx in the exhaust, which together with DPF units can make diesels cleaner than petrol emmissions.
30
And I expect most diesels are turbo as well. They need it at low revs.
30
I seem to recall a diesel engine has its torque peak at low RPM….
Does not do much for rapid acceleration though
10
We are ruled by idiotes
00
I am trying to figure what your sense of humor/sarcasm is here ?…
Your post is utter rubbish !
The guy who did the 1600 ml in his tesla, used a diesel generator ADDEd to the rest of the tesla drive, including the battery, transmission , diff, drive shafts etc etc etc etc…
…so he just ADDED an extra 200 kg
And his stupid idea of adding the turbo to a commercial genset would NOT improve the generator performance which is dictated by the designed operating rpm.
And definitely NOT better emmissions !
Also…
Sounds much like any other Hybrid already on the market .?
Remember a hybrid still needs a (smaller) battery, and it has the added weight of an ICE engine , generator, and fuel tank etc…in addition to the electric drive train.
00
No. There is no separate electric drive train. In hybrids the electric motor generally connects to the transmission. The transmission might weigh more due to the integrated power-splitting device but I believe it’s only like around 50kg, maybe more in some vehicles.
00
“No. There is no separate electric drive train. ” – a serial hybrid with a diesel engine and an electric drive train is the most proven hybrid type for heavy duty transportation. Almost all diesel rail engines use electric motors, and they do it for dozens of years. They have superior control abilities due to electric motor – in cases like slippery surface, or moving up the mountain they beat diesel + hydraulic (eg. Voight Maxima – one of tiny minority of diesel hydraulics). In cars Nissan makes serial hybrids:
https://www.autoweek.com/news/a39576223/nissan-e-power-series-hybrid-technology/
Conversion to a serial hybrid is an obvious answer to the question of what to do with an EV, when its battery expires.
10
Frankly I think Porsche will stop.
The Porsche Taycan has set records and have backorders, but as users get the real experience, sales are plummeting.
And cars which should have low maintenance are costing twice as much as engine based cars according to Hertz. And people don’t want to rent them.
Who wants to rent a car which can leave you stranded on a high performance time poor business trip? The days of impressing people with electric cars are over. Clients will think you have a few kangaroos loose in the far paddock. And doubt your judgement as an adviser. That’s fatal.
130
A lot of damage has been done by an Englishman (Looks and sounds like the Dogfather Graeme Hall)
Search macmaster taycan. He is ropeable. Porsche even gave him a faster Taycan. Then he switched to Polestar. (Electric cars are “disposable” “not fit for purpose”)
And prices are crashing! He really lost some money on the Taycan where Porsche used to be the only car which could be considered an investment. He says the dealerships do not want them back. They are unsaleable.
110
And one comment he included..
“Lee, I bought a brand new Audi Etron RS GT in Jan 2023 for £130K. I sold it in Feb 2024 for £65K! This was the best price I could achieve, even though I had only done 4300 miles. This cost me nearly £1000 per week in depreciation and over £16 per mile! They are a complete con, driven by political motives.” (that’s $A123,000, $US81,000 in a year! $US20 per mile. You can forget fuel economy)
50
Message to all Fleet Buyers! You’re the people supporting and facilitating this lunacy!
Just Remember “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
120
Our regulators are in the thrall of futurists and Utopianists who promote an inevitable transition to full, on-demand, electric transport (ie no distributed private ownership) which, with autonomous technology, they believe would need no more than 5% of the vehicles of an ICE-dominated transport system.
30
The Saturday people first, the Sunday people next.
20
Pretty safe statement to make by Ford. Poor people mostly can’t afford a new car so they make do with a used car just like the Cubans who successfully maintain their antes de la Revolución American models. The big difference between us and the Cubans, however, is that our lousy government will probably bring in a manifesto outlawing older cars of a certain vintage.
30
I saw the writing on the wall last year, so I was able to replace my Range Rover Evoque diesel (which I loved) with the latest model ( petrol unfortunately – not making diesels anymore).
In my 80’s now I think this car will see me out, even if I get to 100. I will never but an EV, but I suspect that in another 5 years they might be hard fo find, or afford if the are still around.
120
I think the mongrels will either limit who can buy petrol or ban petrol altogether. Maybe ration it. Who will rid me of this troublesome priest? with apologies to Will Shakespeare.
20
Won’t “fleet” owners be experiencing the same issues Hertz has? An agency can assign what they have to drivers, but that doesn’t mean the driver will like the idea. Short intra-city travel may be a good fit for the person in the car, but repair and resale value are issues the fleet owner will have to deal with.
Such agencies are using other people’s money (OPM) but until the finance office and outside accounting firm come to blows, no one will notice.
30
The big battery powered elephant in the room for the fleet owners is what happens when they come to try to shift the battery cars on the used market when their lease period comes to an end. Their ‘Hertz moment’ as it were. Normally lease cars are used for 3 years or a certain mileage as they don’t want that to be too high and reduce the resale value.
30
At the end of communism, Eastern Europe was a polluted mess with no environmental controls. Under a capitalist system, Governments can set pollution limits and let the free market determine how it meets them. That is exactly what is happening here. Unfortunately for Ford, its supply chain is far more expensive than its competitors.
320
Simon, I respectfully disagree.
It has nothing to do with a “pollution limit”. (whatever that is)
What is happening is that the Government is deeming a quota, which is market intervention.
The government is mandating what a manufacturer can sell, with penalties for non-compliance.
This practice is not a “free market”. Even you can see that, surely.
181
All markets have rules. It is naive to think otherwise.
05
CO2 is not pollution. We are all made from CO2, almost entirely. And we share 60% of our DNA with carrots. Almost every living thing breathes.
You are breathing out CO2 at the moment. A product of overthinking the problem. Solar powered. Without CO2 there is no life on earth. And we do not control it, cannot change it. Real pollution was heavy metals, radioactive waste, carcinogens, stripped forests, blocked waterways, no balance. CO2 in the air is controlled by the oceans and sun. It is constant from pole to pole and has only changed 50% in 250 years, luckily. We were critically low.
Petrol/diesel are perfectly natural. Or at least the near useless black sludge from which they came is natural.
Israel, the land of milk and honey, was prized because it had no black sludge. Or as Golda Meir asked, how is it that we are the only ones without oil? Big mistake. But fractionation was only discovered in the 1840s and they had no use for lighter products like petrol until the 1890s. In fact we are cleaning up the planet and slowly returning old rotted plant matter to the biosphere. It is not pollution. It’s a giant cleanup. And it has vastly improved life for all humans.
Ask the Saudis. Or go to COP28 or COP29 in unsustainable totally artificial cities running high quality clean lifestyles entirely on old plant matter. No trees though. Just boiling hot desert, airconditioned palaces and swimmming pools and the odd indoor ski run or skating rink. Who cares? The enormous power of old CO2 stored solar energy. And it’s fundamentally free if you live in the right place! (but not Australia)
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Decarbonization is genocide.
Literally.
100
You seriously see governments controlling things as a benefit of the capitalist system??? that is some very contorted logic
50
Bidenomics At Work: Ford Slashing Battery Orders As Losses Per EV Approach $100,000
Ford is cutting battery orders in yet another sign that the EV market, despite a constant tailwind from the U.S. taxpayer, is starting to slow.
The company is cutting the orders to curb electric-vehicle losses as it scales back its EV strategy in a slowing plug-in market, according to insiders who spoke to Bloomberg.
Ford CEO Jim Farley has said the company’s EV unit “is the main drag on the whole company right now” and CAT said its “cooperation with Ford is moving forward as normal”.
The company responded by saying it wouldn’t comment on relationships with suppliers.
Bloomberg notes that with plummeting EV prices and weakening demand, Ford’s losses per electric vehicle exceeded $100,000 in the first quarter, doubling last year’s deficit.
Bloomberg Intelligence estimates that Ford’s projected EV unit losses this year will nearly offset profits from its Ford Blue division, which produces traditional internal combustion engine vehicles like the Bronco SUV and gas-electric hybrids such as the Maverick truck.
BI analysts said of the results: “That raises questions about the prudence of investing heavily in EVs.”
Ford’s order reductions highlight industry challenges as U.S. automakers face weaker-than-expected EV demand and battery makers in South Korea, China, and beyond struggle with unsold inventory.
This has affected prices for key metals like lithium, cobalt, and nickel, leading to multiyear lows and stalling new projects. Ford has reduced EV production costs but had to cut prices to stay competitive with Tesla.
Ford CFO John Lawler said in April: “We’ve seen prices coming down quite dramatically and that’s why we haven’t been able to keep up from a cost reduction standpoint.”
He continued: “But we’re targeting to take out as much cost this year as we can on Model e and all in the spirit of driving toward that contribution margin positive.”
He concluded: “Model e has to stand on its own. It needs to be profitable and it has to provide a return on the capital we’re investing.”
Thus, its no surprise to us (or to our readers, we’re sure) why, exactly Ford is cutting back on its EV investments.
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Ford’s losses per electric vehicle exceeded $100,000
Nuff sed.
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Perhaps this as well “The average price of the top ten electric vehicles in the US is about $53,758, with an average of $48,430 for the low end trim of each model and $64,936 for the high end trim of each model.”
And the obvious question.. How can you lose more than twice the retail value of a car on every sale?
There is a madness with electric cars and subsidies. Henry Ford would not approve. His dream was the affordable car.
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“The average cost of a new car in 2022 in the U.S. was reported to be about $48,000 and for a used car about $35,000.”
and cheapest?
Cheapest New Cars
2024 Mitsubishi Mirage ES: $18,160.
2024 Nissan Versa S: $19,200.
2024 Kia Forte LX: $21,145.
2024 Hyundai Venue SE: $21,275.
2024 Chevrolet Trax LS: $21,495.
2024 Kia Soul LX: $21,565.
2024 Nissan Sentra S: $22,320.
2024 Nissan Kicks S: $22,730.
None of them Fords.
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As we continue to shut down power stations in Australia, where is the electricity to charge EVs going to come from? We will actually have to build more coal, gas and gasp(!) nuclear power stations to charge the EVs.
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Shut down Snowy II. Today. It’s useless, as was decided in the 1950s.
Ask Malcom and Lucy for the $444,000,000 back.
And build a high temperature coal power plant. As fast as possible.
Two. One in the Hunter and one in Yallourn. That will reduce CO2 more than Snowy II, which is the whole point, surely?
Regardless of whether CO2 emission make any difference to the world. It means half the coal for the same amount of energy and that’s very worthwhile. It should have been our FIRST move. And save the gas for manufacturing of so many things line fertilizer, plastics, CO2. Yes, we need CO2 gas and it’s cheapest as a byproduct of making fertilizer.
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FWIW
“Plibersek’s Big Chance”
“Still maybe suffering from relevance deprivation syndrome, Tanya Plibersek will make the most of this new opportunity to trip the light fantastic. Hint: we should be concerned. She’s in charge of saving critters and all kinds of plant life; of resuscitating nature. The “initiative” is called Nature Positive. The goal: to halt and reverse the loss of nature by 2030 on the way to bringing nature back to its pristine state by 2050.”
More at
https://newcatallaxy.blog/2024/03/25/pliberseks-big-chance/
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FWIW – our latest import?
“Report: Brazil’s Top Drug Trafficking Syndicate Gains Foothold in Australia”
https://www.breitbart.com/latin-america/2024/05/10/report-brazils-top-drug-trafficking-syndicate-gains-foothold-australia/
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This’ll be interesting. PCC interaction with the two established drug families in Sydney could lead to a whole new round of ‘unaliving’.
20
This was always the part the legacy media ignored – or if you feel like being generous failed to understand – when our PM Sushi put back the end of selling new proper cars in the UK to 2035. The battery car quota remained unchanged, as did the fines. A decade or so back the UK had a small industry that facilitated private buyers to import cars from the Continent and save money. The basis was that the tax free cost of cars sold across Europe varied according to the level of sales taxation applied to them so that the sales prices remained very close. Buy the car in the country with the highest sales tax – Denmark or Germany – and import it to the UK tax-free and then pay our lower sales tax and get a cheaper car. The exchange rate played a part in this as well and when the pound dropped this industry died away. But as the years pass it looks like the perfect time for personal imports to return. The manufacturers tried to make it hard to buy right hand drive cars but this time they might be quite happy to supply them.
There is a big questionmark over fleet battery car sales as when their 3 year lease period comes up the lease companies will find they have lost huge amounts on the used cars. Will they be able to afford to carry on buying them?
50
So you’re saying every word in this gov website is a lie?
https://www.greenvehicleguide.gov.au/
I’m up to 154 lies on the first page
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Worse. Chinese communist propaganda. Aimed at Middle class white conservative Christians. Greens, Teals and their husbands.
40
It will be difficult on the scabs when the bus burning clubs start to bloom.
30
From the NYT
China’s Dead-End Economy Is Bad News for Everyone
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From the NYT
U.S. to Announce New Tariffs on Chinese Electric Vehicles
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1. As we all know, EVs are not zero emission. China and the US burn tonnes of coal to make them. Not counting the tonnes of oil burnt to transport them.
2. They have no trade in value, and once the battery dies, the whole car dies, because a new car is cheaper than a new battery.
3. Apparently (read Hertz) even minor damage is unrepairable, because no one knows if the battery is damaged.
4. They are bloody dangerous! The chinese ones especially. One day soon there’s going to be a fire in a tunnel, or on a bridge, and hundreds of cars – both types – will burn, killing a lot of people. This will happen, as sure as night follows day.
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[…] published JoNova; Remember when we used to laugh about Soviets queuing for years to purchase an […]
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