Opening a can of worms
Nothing is more divisive than the debate over electric vehicles. Even my own son is in the anti-EV camp and we go round and round regularly over ICE (internal combustion engines) and fully Battery Electric cars, and now trucks.
Today I got my first walk around inspection of the new Ford Lightning F-150 fully electric truck for which I have a $100 reservation on. It is the first one my dealership has received and is a demo only. They still don't know when more will come, but I am number 37 on the list to get one. The sales manager hinted sometime next year. Maybe.
I'm starting to have second thoughts.
It's a four-door behemoth that sits high off the ground with a short bed that you will need a ladder to get into.
It's not really a truck. It's more like an oversized four door sedan with no trunk lid.
It is very different from my 1986 Mazda B-2000, which has an 8-foot bed and seats two, but I can reach into the bed from both sides and the back easily and it will carry my kayaks and 10 or 12 foot sticks of lumber without needing a flag.
Unfortunately, it has 371k miles on it and yesterday the driver side door panel fell off and it won't fit on the shelf where all the other parts that have fallen off over the years are stored. So it lays there in that big ol' 8-foot bed, all alone.
The Ford, however is all wheel drive, but not four wheel drive with a low range. It only has one forward speed.
And I can't use the level two charger I've installed at home for my Nissan Leaf. I'll have to buy the Ford unit.
And they raised the price $6000. Now I'm afraid it won't qualify for the $7500 Federal Tax Credit, which has a ceiling of somewhere around $43,000.
I was counting on that tax credit.
Now I'm told, by the sales manager himself, that under the new Inflation Reduction Act rules all the components have to sourced from here in America to qualify, potentially knocking out all EVs from the credit.
Nice slight of hand to get rid of the tax credit entirely and still appear like you are doing something good.
It will have the opposite effect of not encouraging the purchase of electric vehicles.
So, what else is in this bill?
I can't wait for Biden to sign it so Pelosi can read it.
The floor is open.
Comments
I've moved to electric tools and bike...
and golf cart only. Battery powered weedeater, drills, chainsaw, and more make for easy use and quieter operating, not to mention no exhaust. My pedal assisted bike is great for riding to town over hills and so on. The golf cart we use for farm chores and is also convenient.
We drive our vehicles till the wheels fall off. We have a toyota '86 truck with 400,000 miles still running well... which we use as a farm truck primarily. I have a larger 8" bed 2000 Chevy to haul manure, gravel, mulch, and so on. We also have a camper top for it which we use to camp and travel. It has about 100,000 miles so should last probably the rest of my life. My regular drive is a '92 Geo Tracker which I bought in '02. My better half drives a 2012 Subaru outback...a really nice car. So until those cars die we won't upgrade. Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without is our motto.
I may buy some PV collectors once the tax credit info is out there. Having cheap TVA power makes payback difficult.
Good luck with your EV pursuits. Hope the Leaf is still running well.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
I'm like you
Drive it till it stops, fix it and drive it some more. I wring my moneys worth out of everything. The anti- consumerism in me.
F*ck Corporate America.
I've also moved to all Makita battery equipment, including lawnmower, all using the same battery pack. I'm so done yanking on pull starts.
Although my son rags on me about EVs, he just went out and bought a pair of e-bikes. The dichotomy of it just went right over his head. I don't know how to break it to him, so I'll just see how long it takes him to figure it out.
Keepin' the peace you know.
The Leaf is doing great. Has about 33k miles on it after almost 7 years and the battery has degraded slightly, about 10%. Still get 110 miles a charge. It's our main ride 90% of where we go. Costs me $2.65 in electricity for the 152 mile round trip to the farm. Ain't complainin".
Rate at home in Vancouver, Wa. is eight cents a KWH. The farm in Lewis Co. is 6 cents a KWH and is 95% renewable power.
Wish I could get my truck to run on Makita batteries.
Thanks for the post.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Hi earthling,
I am glad to see that you are reconsidering your purchase until you see what actually passes.
Then, what will get implemented.
(If you wonder what I mean, see Jimmy Dore's eye-opening discussion yesterday about how Trump's excellent Law on Insulin pricing was delayed in its implementation and now canceled by Biden.)
https://twitter.com/GonzaloLira1968/status/1559245599362498560
This is about my beef from yesterday with Caity and all the other approved safety valves who bellyache endlessly but never get canceled.
Read this Tweet from Gonzalo who makes the same point except he adds a significant point that the USA wants us to forget.
The Japanese Army attacked Pearl Harbor because our Oil Embargo had become intolerable.
NYCVG
We knew Japan would attack.
It was all to get the American people to support entering the war in Europe.
With Ukraine, rinse & repeat. And I highly suspect 911 was another r&r.
We have to have monsters to fear and hate.
When you say Caity, do you mean Caitland Johnstone? Brilliant lady.
Thanks for posting.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
I give up
"Brilliant" must mean something different to each of us.
Stating and restating the Obvious, however lovely the words, carefully never saying anything that TPTB prefer you to overlook, is not brilliant in my book.
it is a giant bore and waste of time.
Gonzalo has his critics as well.
Sometimes way out in front of his skis and very dangerous to power, he has been banned, ridiculed banished.
Gonzalo's takes are original. Thoughtful. Brave. Not brilliant, lyrically. omg you might actually learn something..... Always my intention.
On this, we can, if you are willing, agree to disagree.
NYCVG
Though on occasion
Gonzalo makes me uncomfortable with some of his vulgarity I believe he is right on point on so many of his pieces, especially the older ones from his redpill days.
Eg, his descriptions of his Dartmouth days with the eliter crowd who cared more about networking than knowledge and critical thought (oh lord, I'll try to insert a video):
And then there's his opinion of Victoria
Re Gonzalo, I listen
to him for his UKR analysis, as he's there in the country and seems to have a good read on what's going on.
But for the rest, the social-political views, as he comes from the hard right, we are not going to find many areas of agreement, though I concur on wokeism and censorship.
Today for instance, latest podcast with one lefty American living in Moscow and one guy mostly on the left, the latter asked Gonzalo who he thought had been a "good leader" in the US. After some hesitation, and not wanting to upset too many in the audience with a "controversial" pick (Trump perhaps??), he chose Teddy Roosevelt and Reagan. According to GL, they both "sought to do good for the country".
Re Caitlin, she's strongly outspoken, occasionally clever though often in unoriginal lockstep with most of the other indy lefty bloggers. Would prefer to see more indy with almost all of the usual lefty indies.
There is one conflicting fact to your theory
FDR specifically ordered that naval fuel oil be left off the list of sanctions because it would directly attack the Imperial Navy. Dean Acheson (in his autobiography) confessed (bragged) that he defied the order without telling his SOS to provoke the Japanese. (but he also bragged that he pulled a similar stunt to cause the French to return to Indochina, so his "confessions" are suspect)
On to Biden since 1973
Good morning earthling1. It is supposed to be
90 here today, which means my backyard will get to 100. Quite a distraction.
If all of the components have to be 100% US sourced you can expect to see a ton of creative sourcing assertions or design work-arounds. Add a 43,000 price cap and it gets ridiculous. They are very likely trying to subsidize one specific vehicle and one only - those legislative gimmicks almost invariably fail. Either there's a stupid oversight that lets everybody qualify or else nothing flies.
be well and have good one.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
The Sales manager hinted
that Ford may adjust the price for those of us who had a reservation, but that too seems like a con.
In the new bill (IRA), it is said that the dealer can redeem the tax credit ($7500), thus lowering the sale price below the ceiling. But this means I lose the tax credit, even though they "lowered " the price, and essentially are stealing the credit from me.
In other words, they (Ford) raised the cost to me in order to reap the $7500 credit from me.
Talk about voo-doo economics.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
I read the price cap
on trucks is not $43k but $80k, so you still should be good to go. https://electrek.co/2022/08/15/biden-will-sign-inflation-reduction-act-t.... Previous rules on EV credits stay in effect if u signed a binding purchase agreement by yesterday the 15th.
The feds are also relaxing or upping the previous cap on units sold, 200k, which means Tesla and other cos who've already exceeded that amount will be able to offer fed credits as a selling point again.
Thanks for the link
Will read it when I get back from watering the farm.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Will be AFK
for a short while.
Will try to post from the farm.
Carry on.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Now the GOP is turning on the Espionage Act
more unintentional good news
Once again Republicans have come to the right conclusion for the wrong reasons.
This should not come as a surprise to anyone who has been
paying attention and who avoids the MSM.
I'm afraid
that we are entering a new and much more precarious phase of this "war".
Our most wonderful harvard business school educated military planners are reaching the bottom of their strategy toolbox. While they are great at wresting profit out of unsuspecting or desperate poor peoples, I'm afraid they are unable to pursue any activity that requires planning, coordination and has non-monetary rewards. Their finance capitalism textbook and spreadsheet doesn't cover societal quality of life needs. They thought that sanctions would be effective but that's just projection
The "war" is no longer one of traditional territory and logistics but one of black ops. Those operations that are primarily sabotage and do little more than inconvenience real armies and piss off those who are on the receiving end.
Fortunately for those "planners" they don't bear the cost. Unfortunately for their patrons there are two edges to that dagger.
This is all about ratings and keeping the viewers misinformed.
Bingo
That’s what I’ve been saying about the shitlibs who are ecstatic about democrats passing this loaded turd filled bill that they have no idea what is in it. Besides screwing people with getting an electric car it also opens up the ANWR and Gulf of Mexico to more drilling and gawd only knows what else pork is in it to get centrist democrats to sign on. Cinema took a $500,000 bribe to make sure that taxes aren’t raised on her/theirs rich friends. Plus the drugs negotiation bill is practically worthless as NYCVG wrote. Biden reversed Trump’s executive order to keep insulin at only $35 and I’ve seen no response to that from them.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Pelosi stuck the SALT tax option in it either. It’s just another loaded turd that’s more like what republicans pass like most bills passed going back to Clinton. Most of the bills he got passed were rejected when Bush 1 wanted to do them, but then the dem base raised a stink. Once Clinton was elected was when they first started going to brunch and just focusing on how bad republicans were.
Putin isn’t going to make you homeless or kill you or deny you health care.
Your government will allow it to happen though.
I live in a county
that does not have a single battery charge station. I travel frequently to a contiguous county for work and shopping. That county has no station, either.
The closet one to me is about 42 miles away.
I will pass on the EV.
I admire Caitlin, believe that people who dislike or distrust her should skip anything she composes.
I have no particular opinion on Gonzalo, other than his take on the war's progress, as he is seeing it and living it. He is also very easy to completely ignore if you get irritated by his podcasts.
I never quite understood, as an example, why Jimmy Dore caused dissension. If you are not a fan, do not watch his videos.
This worked for me when MSNBC started making me furious. That was over a decade ago. I am a happier and better informed person since I got rid of cable tv.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
It is an added expense
to have a charge station installed at your home. Mine totalled up around $700.
If you live in an apartment or condo you are SOL though.
I guess I triggered o' NYCVG with my remarks on Caitlan. I stand by my admiration of her work. She always seems to get to the meat of the matter, and sometimes, hilariously so.
GL always seems like he's showboating. Otherwise, gotta admire him for being on the ground there.
However, Patrick Lancaster is really right there in the thick of it coaxing residents out of their basements for interviews even with arty and mortars going off in the near distance.
Much more respect for PL.
Thanks for posting.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Your opinion, my opinion,
and anyone else's opinion is welcome, if not shared. Disagreeing is just damn life!
Hope the watering went great.
We all have to be alert, and we all have to take the kernels of good we get out of the heaps of bad.
Give me a kernel of truth, and I will run with it.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Writing lipstick on a pig
Here’s a celebration of the bill democrats just passed and it says that democrats will pay for it by raising taxes on the rich. I think that needs to be fact checked bigly.
Also this does too.
Didn’t the parliamentarian put the kabosh on it and democrats just said okay?
Putin isn’t going to make you homeless or kill you or deny you health care.
Your government will allow it to happen though.
I think you hit it on the mark
A turd rolled in powdered sugar.
Have a good day, Snoop.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.
Then there’s the deal they made with Manchin
That is another gift to the oil companies. I posted on it the news and blues tonight. Anything good in the bill on climate change will be wiped out with the new deal with Manchin.
Putin isn’t going to make you homeless or kill you or deny you health care.
Your government will allow it to happen though.
Will be AFK
Farm watered.
On my way back home. See ya in an hour or so.
Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.