The old TreeHugger site, that batch of green on the outside but red on the inside Eco-Socialists, is gone forever. All of the DISQUS comments have been wiped out, and most of the more fun (e.g., combative) posts have also been deleted, including those by Lloyd Alter, who, I thought, was always on a Greenie track (with a socialist kicker of “Eat the Rich”).
Steve had voluntarily created a nice logo for me to you as the “Featured Image” (the images you see at the top of all of our posts – Steve makes sure that EVERY post has one for SEO purposes):
I thought it was MARVELOUS! And he’s much better than I am at this (my sad sack for Lloyd above – I make no bones about it that I almost failed stick figures in Junior High art class. That said, I am trying to figure out how to use AI to create some images for me, as I certainly can’t.
Thankfully, from the standpoint of creating content fodder, he is now “blogging” / writing at Substack: Carbon Upfront! (thus, “Substack Comments” instead of “DISQUS Comments,” where he concentrates on eliminating the use of carbon in building anything as it is killing us all and the planet. Funny, however, he never answers my questions about WHO is going to control/mandate/police that whole process (but it does give me leave to poke fun at him for his socialist/communist ways as he knows that I know that he knows there’s only one way to do it – MASSIVE Govt).
My, my, even with that, he actually invited me to his new digs so I promptly started to do what I did over at TH – come at his ideas from a different point of view than his academic/cultural bubble had. So, during my “semi-retirement,” I built up a few “comment posts-to-be” there, and it’s now time to start using them.
One of his recent posts is labeled “Cars need design for disassembly and repairability,” where he’s rather upset that Tesla, in its mantra of squeezing out every unneeded cost it can, violates his sensibilities that everything must be made repairable. Regardless, it raises the upfront cost of a product (including the expensive Teslas). To wit: Tesla’s adoption of “Gigacasting,” in which a lot of the Tesla body is now going to be made of one piece:
And then we have Tesla. According to energy and transport analyst Michael Sura, Tesla is “gigacasting” bigger and bigger pieces of their cars. While high-pressure die casting (HPDC) has been used to make complex parts for years, Tesla is making bigger and bigger parts. Sura writes on Linkedin:
“Traditionally, car manufacturers integrate numerous stamped, forged, extruded, and cast elements of their vehicle structures, connecting, welding, and gluing these components together in the production process. During the gig casting process, a molten liquid aluminum alloy is pressed into a mold under high pressure, resulting in the formation of large three-dimensional shapes with a relatively high level of precision. A large single gigacasted component can replace 50, 70, or even more individual parts.”
Lloyd is having hissy fits because unlike his old, old VW Bug, a Tesla (and Volvos and other manufacturers doing the same things) if something breaks, we all can’t fix it. Instead, we will have to buy that one HUGE piece if it gets crushed even a little (instead of one of the smaller pieces that formerly required multiple steps during the manufacturing process and added cost). It may even mean that a car gets totaled for what used to be a smallish repair.
Lloyd forgets that even running into a curbstone sidewalk with an EV could result in the battery bank getting bumped badly and the car getting totaled—after all, the battery is on that now huge structure, and any deformation of that is VERY likely to damage it. Can you say “S’mores on the highway” when it goes blooey?
So I decided to comment that EVs and their gig casting may not be as big of a problem as he thinks and from a different perspective than what he wanted:
Meanwhile, in other VW news: “Fossil Fuels Remain The Future. VW To Invest 60 Billion Euros In Combustion Engines!
In a surprising move, Volkswagen announced it plans to invest 60 billion euros in the development of new combustion engines as confidence in electric mobility plummets in Germany and elsewhere.
“This change in strategy shows that the transition to electromobility is progressing more slowly than expected,” reports Germany’s Blackout News here. “Just last year, Volkswagen assumed that electric cars would account for 80 percent of annual sales in Europe by the end of the decade. However, the lukewarm reception for its own ID models is forcing the company to adjust its strategy.” Also see (motor1: 07.06.24).
As German sales of electric vehicles fall way short of government targets due to their unpopularity and high costs, manufacturers are seeing the writing on the wall: Electric mobility still has a long way to go.
Reality check…” https://open.substack.com/pub/lloydalter/p/cars-need-design-for-disassembly
Remember, Lloyd hates, Hates, HATES cars. Gas-powered FAR more than EVs but hates ALL cars. He wants Rack’em and Stack’em dense cities that are “walkable,” and if you have to go anywhere, use public transportation, walk, or bike. So telling him that the lesser of cars aren’t turning out the way he will at least put up with (’cause it ain’t a carbon emitter) was the way to go.
However, another transplant from TH, Bob Baal, a New Zealander, decided to answer the above with rose-colored glasses supporting the EV viewpoint. Funny that he had to pick on what here in the States is a luxury car that few can afford:
BMW seems to have a different opinion
“BERLIN, Jan 10 (Reuters) – BMW (BMWG.DE), opens new tab is investing 650 million euros ($711 million) to convert its main plant in Munich to exclusively produce EVs from the end of 2027, the carmaker said on Wednesday, a major stepping stone in the transition to the electric age.”
“”The tipping point for combustion engines was last year,” declared BMW’s Chief Financial Officer, Walter Mertl, effectively drawing a line under the era of unbridled ICE growth. “
“Meanwhile, BMW’s electrified fleet is experiencing a record-breaking surge. Sales of electric BMWs, Minis, and Rolls-Royces rocketed 74.4 percent in 2023, propelling EVs to a 15 percent share of the company’s 2.56 million-unit total output.
This momentum is set to continue, with BMW aiming to ramp up EV share to 33 per cent by 2026 and a staggering 50 per cent by the end of the decade.”
Or from VW itself
“EVs are the future, but combustion era ‘is not over,’ VW CFO says”
?Of the €180 billion ($196 billion) set aside in 2023 for research and development, the German brand said it would use more than two-thirds on “electrification and digitalization.”?
So lots of EV and PHEV from VW. Hardly the abandonment of EV’s.
“As German sales of GERMAN electric vehicles fall way short of GERMAN government targets due to their unpopularity and high costs, GERMAN manufacturers are seeing the writing on the wall as NON-GERMAN EV sales mushroom.
Fixed that for you.
Sales of PHEV and BV are online to be 1 in 12 of new cars in 2024. For every BEV sold this month in 2020 4 are being sold now.
I went contrarian to show that the rosy glasses seem to be getting darker and darker as we hoi polloi aren’t buying what’s being sold, literally:
Ford and GM are cutting back on EV investment and production (Ford losing $132K USD for each EV). Fisker just went Chapter 11 bankruptcy. So did Lordstown. Rivian isn’t doing well either.
So, President Biden had $7 billion USD to build EV chargers all over the country. $7 Billion.
8…count them…8 sites have been built thus far. And folks wonder why I’m a government skeptic – and loudly proclaim that this is not a Constitutionally permitted activity by the Federal government (States, however, are a different beast – they can if they want).
Much of the private charging sites (Tesla mostly excluded) are hit or miss on whether they work or not (mostly not).
And now my local TV station has been running clips on how range is much diminished with EVs in the heat (batteries are being drained in keeping the batteries cool; nice tech but it doesn’t help in getting where you want to go). This is in addition to the clips this past winter about the same problem.
Gotta keep’em warm, too!
And more than a few on EV school buses, costing twice to three times the price of gas/diesel ones, not being able to be used in the northern part of the US. Mountainous areas? Forgettabout it!
Let’s see how BMW goes.
I didn’t say abandon but we’re seeing the aftereffects of the over-exuberance of EV Future. IMHO, after the frenzied & large scale rollout, now that early adopters and virtue-signalers, the market is certainly pulling back – resale prices on used EVs is crashing. Almost half of EV users (https://www.eenews.net/articles/46-of-american-ev-drivers-want-to-go-back-to-gas-cars-report/) are looking to go back to gas powered cars.
Bottom line is that I’m agnostic to either EV or ICE as long as it gets me to where I want to go in hauling the people and stuff that needs to go with me without worrying about range and reliability. What I am NOT agnostic about is having govt ramming it down my throat via laws or biasing regulations in forcing its choice upon me.
Funny, nobody has taken that on yet.
Anyway, more to come as I have lots on my stack of stuff!