Electric vehicles
December 2, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Jaguar made news of the wrong kind when it released a seemingly gay-themed ad that featured models in brightly colored clothes, but no cars. Not exactly the traditional Jaguar image. The company’s new models–or concept versions of them, anyway–are being unveiled tonight, in Miami. But meanwhile, photos have leaked: Jaguar’s ‘Barbie pink’ electric car leaked online. It looks pretty good from this angle, if you can get past the pink:
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November 28, 2024 — John Hinderaker
In 2019, Britain’s Tories won a landslide victory. Just five years later, they were voted out of office. The Conservatives failed to deliver on immigration, and Boris Johnson went “green.” With more or less leftist positions on those two issues, what reason was there to vote Tory? None, most people concluded. Now the “green” train is engaged in a slow-motion wreck. Electric vehicle mandates are part of the problem. The
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October 20, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Western governments have been promoting, and sometimes, requiring, the purchase of electric vehicles. This is one of the most foolish policy initiatives ever. Electric vehicles are essentially an obsolete technology; they have been the alleged next big thing in transportation for over 120 years, but have lost out because internal combustion cars are better and cheaper. The extent to which consumers are refusing to swallow pro-EV hype is reflected in
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September 22, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Electric vehicles have been the next big thing for a long time. In 1901, the Los Angeles Times wrote that EVs “will quickly and easily take precedence over all other” vehicles. In 1911, the New York Times described EVs as the “ideal solution.” In 1915, the Washington Post predicted that “prices on electric cars will continue to drop until they are within reach of the average family.” Electric vehicles, like
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September 7, 2024 — John Hinderaker
This story in the Telegraph relates to the UK, but the same thing is going on wherever governments push “green” mandates on buyers and sellers of motor vehicles: Car makers are rationing sales of petrol and hybrid vehicles in Britain to avoid hefty net zero fines, according to one of the country’s biggest dealership chains. Robert Forrester, chief executive of Vertu Motors, said manufacturers were delaying deliveries of cars until
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June 27, 2024 — John Hinderaker
From ESPN: “Randall Cobb, family ‘lucky to be alive’ after house fire.” Wide receiver Randall Cobb and his family escaped a fire at their Nashville, Tennessee, home this week, with his wife, Aiyda, posting, “we are lucky to be alive.” Aiyda Cobb posted to her Instagram story this week that a Tesla charger “caught fire in the garage late last night and quickly spread” through their home. “We got out
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June 8, 2024 — Scott Johnson
Like every regulator grant of power to the administrative agencies of the executive branch, the agency has grabbed the power and expanded it beyond its original intent. Take the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards imposed by the Department of Transportation/National Highway Traffic Safety Administration — please. The origin of federal fuel economy standards dates to the oil embargo of 1973-1974 imposed by Arab members of the Organization of the
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May 16, 2024 — Steven Hayward
Not long ago I had the occasion to check in with my old pals at the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University in Ohio to talk with their director, Prof. Jeffrey Sikkenga, about energy and environmental topics as a part of their regular series called “The American Idea.” I go over some of my greatest hits on environmental progress, and some new material on our current energy madness under President Biden.
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April 21, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Does this quote sound familiar? “The electric automobile will quickly and easily take precedence over all other kinds of motor carriages as soon as an effective battery of light weight is discovered.” That’s the Los Angeles Times in 1901. How about this one? “Prices on electric cars will continue to drop until they are within reach of the average family.” That’s the Washington Post, 1915. At Substack, Robert Bryce headlines:
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April 1, 2024 — Scott Johnson
In a holiday weekend news dump this past Friday, the EPA promulgated a rule mandating the displacement of gas-powered trucks and buses with electric simulacra. The EPA gives its press release the unwieldy heading “Biden-Harris Administration Finalizes Strongest Ever Greenhouse Gas Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles to Protect Public Health and Address the Climate Crisis While Keeping the American Economy Moving.” If you want a picture of the future, imagine a
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March 21, 2024 — Scott Johnson
The Biden administration has a problem with the average American who wants nothing more than to be left alone. The administration wants to run our lives. Count the ways. It’s a long list that includes the displacement of cars powered by internal combustion engines by electric vehicles. We love the former and reject the latter. They therefore intend to force EVs down our throat. It’s for our own good! (Not.)
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January 17, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Many people don’t realize that electric cars have been around for more than 100 years. One might think that the fact they have never caught on is more than a coincidence. Yesterday, Robert Bryce provided testimony on electric vehicles to the Senate’s Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. His testimony is reproduced at his Substack site. It is all worth reading; here is an excerpt: The history of the EV
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January 13, 2024 — John Hinderaker
It is cold across most of North America, which links these three stories: After Big Tesla Bet, Hertz Selling One-Third of EV Fleet. Hertz is selling about a third of its global electric-vehicle fleet, a major reversal for the rental-car company after it positioned itself as a champion of the technology with plans to vastly grow its fleet of plug-in models. Hertz said Thursday that it would sell about 20,000
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November 18, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Electric vehicles have been around for 100 years or so. They lost out to gasoline powered cars because gasoline powered cars are better. Is that ever going to change? At the Telegraph, Michael Kelly draws an analogy to the Concorde: The man in the street has failed to embrace BEVs for the same reason he failed to embrace Concorde nearly 50 years ago: the extra cost – of order £10,000
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November 15, 2023 — John Hinderaker
How much does it cost to charge an electric vehicle, and who picks up the tab? Steve Moore’s Committee to Unleash Prosperity has this: Uncle Sam pays the automakers billions of dollars to produce EVs. Then they write a check for $7,500 to consumers who buy an EV and many states kick in up to another $5,000. Now, the government is paying to charge the batteries for the rich people
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October 27, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Wind and solar are both terrible methods of generating electricity, both expensive and unreliable. The one thing that can make the situation worse is the drive to electrify everything, including motor vehicles. The impracticality of this “green” vision has become blindingly obvious, and the “green” movement has begun to fall apart. Steve noted this afternoon the collapsing share prices of renewable energy companies. Here are some more indications that the
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September 27, 2023 — Scott Johnson
The UAW is striking the Big Three American auto companies. On behalf of its members, the union is fighting the Man for substantially higher pay and substantially less work. One doesn’t read about it much, but one of the big reasons why the UAW is fighting right now is the shift to electric vehicles. See, for example, the Yahoo! Finance backgrounder here explaining “why the shift to EVs is such
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