The renewable energy changes and policy

I have not been keeping up, last I heard they were up to a few seconds, up to 40 seconds.

BudmanTX said:

yeah i can see cost being the decision maker there.....i had a 76 short bed chevy pickup one time, i was rebuilding it at a friends of the families place...told the man i was finally time for the motor, the guy told me to look out back and pick a 350 i can rebuild, i said ok.....got the motor into the shop a low and behold the one i picked wasn't a 350, it was a 383 and i didn't tell anyone......i'm a stinker....

btw those kits for the Vw's are about 20g to do.....here:

EV Conversion Kits, EV West - Electric Vehicle Parts, Components, EVSE Charging Stations, Electric Car Conversion Kits

Click to expand...

Good score on the 383. Thnx for the link.

Wish I still have my '72 Chev fleet side w/350 2brl. Got a rust free box & cab for it out of Oklahoma and had it painted British racing green. Sold it for $3500 in 2000 - regret it ever since.

Had a '76 super beetle with a fuel injected 1600cc engine, velour seat, air shocks - so mags wouldn't scrub, and 400watt amp to drive the 10" subs and 6x9s. Sold it when we purchased our first home - needed fridge, stove, washer and dryer. Fond memories.

The Chinese Offensive: "A Bloodbath"

“The reason for the overproduction: Almost all providers in China have state investors, either as joint venture partners or as major shareholders. It is in their interest to keep the factories running, even if there are no domestic customers for the vehicles. The government in Beijing wants to avoid unemployment and achieve the growth target of around 5 percent at all costs. This is another reason why BYD and the other Chinese cars are pushing onto the global markets – and causing a price war that some car company executives have described as a "bloodbath."

The fact that German manufacturers are giving them plenty of space is providing even more of a boost. BYD even ousted Volkswagen as a sponsor for the marketing of the 2024 European Football Championship in Germany.”

“In China, BYD is already selling what German manufacturers can't currently offer: an affordable mass model at a competitive price of less than 10,000 euros. The BYD Seagull will soon be available in Germany. The price tag is likely to be higher than it is in China. But even at 20,000 euros, the Chinese would still be undercutting all Western manufacturers.”

If that’s not bad enough, their profit margins are higher for BYD. While unfortunately often inevitable, I try to avoid buying anything made in China. Feels any effort is useless when the west is going to send billions more by buying their EVs.

It's very likely Tesla would have done extremely well in Europe if it had focused on smaller affordable models instead of the silly truck.

Although... Elon being Elon isn't helping either.

This Fox hit piece shows grooming in action. The base are being lectured on how green energy is bad, bad, bad. Note links to further negaprop on renewables as a Democrat axe against freedum.

AI and discriminatory hiring practices

The German car manufacturers oppose raising import taxes on Chinese EVs, worried that will cause a trade war. At first surprising but it makes sense given the export market, especially to China, is much larger. Mercedes and BMW are pretty popular among the richer Chinese.


They also seem to see it for what it is, populism at EU level, not something based on research and reason regarding what's good for Germany on a national level. Never liked unelected Ursula. Admittedly partly because everything about her screams 'christian democrats', conservatives that held this part of Europe back on many topics even those less batshit Christians consider too progressives, but mostly because she's acting like she's POTEU, while she's merely president of the European Commission. No such thing as president of the EU. She'll probably get the position for another 5 years though.

Obviously could be worse with the current political climate, but the actual climate is not better off given the fact it's often the christian democrats (generally center/center-right conservatives) who choose to appease far-right and farmers on delaying or reducing climate measures. Especially in Germany. Which actually seems to work... Merkel like Ursula was also CDU. When Merkel left they lost, barely, and Scholz got to form a broader coalation, including the Greens. AfD (far-right) was rising, but appears to be losing gains in the poll, while CDU is large again, over 31% far ahead of others.

"Free Uyghurs" "Buy Tesla"

Sativied said:

"Free Uyghurs" "Buy Tesla"

Report: Vehicles shipped to US used parts made in China with forced labor

BMW, Jaguar Land Rover and Volkswagen have used parts from a Chinese supplier barred for forced labor practices

www.voanews.com

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Teslas are jam-packed with Chinese content. We are not winning a massive trade war.

Sativied said:

"Free Uyghurs" "Buy Tesla"

Report: Vehicles shipped to US used parts made in China with forced labor

BMW, Jaguar Land Rover and Volkswagen have used parts from a Chinese supplier barred for forced labor practices

www.voanews.com

Click to expand...

Thanks for the article

cannabineer said:

Teslas are jam-packed with Chinese content. We are not winning a massive trade war.

Click to expand...

Not winning and seemingly hardly even putting up a fight.

A new Tesla CEO, an ethics commission, a smaller/medium-size model, proper dealerships with physical locations, and europeans would be all over Tesla again. I think GM discontuining the Chevy Spark was a huge mistake too.

I bought several news cars, well, paid by then employer, and the normal way to go about that was to go to the dealers. Check out the models in a showroom, touch the steering wheel, test the seats, etc. Tesla you had to buy online. They have some ‘shops’ now. China (I think it’s fair to say China instead of Chinese carmakers) takes a different approach, sold online, use our ports for storage:


The ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge in Belgium are reportedly flooded with EVs from China, however, the port told Euronews that it is not only Chinese vehicles which are involved. But they did not disclose any other exporter countries contributing to the problem.

However, Le Monde reported that at Calloo, near Antwerp, and Zeebrugge, the huge parking lots to accommodate 130,000 freshly shipped vehicles, are cramped now with Chinese models, including MG, BYD, Nio, XPeng, Lynk & Co, Omoda, Hongqi, among others.

(Peugeots in the pic so French cars too but that’s just a fraction).

Most sold EV in NL so far in 2024 is the Volvo EX30, second spot Tesla Y. In Germany VW and Tesla are neck and neck for the nr 1 spot. First half of 2023 Tesla sold more EVs to Germans than the major German car makers did combined. This year is looking different, especially BYD is doing well, stole Tesla’s position as most sold EV worldwide.

The building below is since a few days a ’showroom’ from Nio, Chinese EV. In the center of Amsterdam. Building commisioned by a NY insurance company in 1891, monumental status. Was tallest privately owned building at the time. Bought clothes there a few times, was only Abercrombie and Fitch location in NL. One of the most expensive places to rent in the city and because of its monument status very expensive to change the interior.

NIO reported ~750million(USD!) losses in Q4 2023… which is no problem cause China hands out billions in subsidies to flood the global market.



Another one recently opened one up down the street. It has 1 car and no soul…


Meanwhile China, in addition to the forced labor and unfair business practices, supports Russia’s war that is costing us billions as well. It’s stupid. Hard to impossible to avoid ‘made in China’ entirely but I’d be really embarrassed driving a Chinese EV. Trump’s china tarrifs were part of America First, but really, if anything, the aim should be China last…

Doesn’t make up for all the bad ideas, but this sure sounds good:

“we estimate this tariff increase would reduce imports from China by about 85 percent”