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.