In fairness - there are other costs that you didn’t include that I find significant. Noise being one of them. Few things are as obnoxious as loud exhaust. It’s not pollution in the traditional sense - but it’s still a real social cost. I can’t wait until we reach the end of the motorcycle infatuation with loud…

In a big dealership it happens that you get a bad apple employee. I get it. What was really inexcusable was how they handled it after the fact. I think that car had around 40k miles on it. So putting used mismatched interior parts back in and hoping we wouldn’t notice that they weren’t the same? That’s just not okay.…

My local Lexus has horrible service experience (LHM in Salt Lake City). It’s bad enough that I won’t buy a Lexus from them and don’t generally get my service or work done there. Even though it’s cheaper than the Toyota dealer - I’ll still pay more to go across to a different owner’s Toyota dealer. Last time I had an…

I don’t know if zippy fits. But...

Most PM2.5 from cars is from the tires and roadway. I don’t think Jalop will let me post the link. But you can search for “non exhaust PM emissions from EVs” and find the article published a few years ago in Atomspheric Environment journal. If you read the article you’ll see that the authors were extra-conservative in…

Non-exhaust sources account for about 85% of vehicle caused PM2.5. EVs weigh about 25% more than ICE. As a result - they actually equal ICE cars for comparable size in PM2.5 and in some cases produce more. They are heavier so they create more road dust. The data shows around 1% difference on total PM2.5 and no…

Solutions are easy when you’re not on the side of the road and not sure what’s even leaking. In the real world in a real situation the clarity of thinking through the situation and all of the available alternatives isn’t so easy. 

Fwiw, if you do ever run into that again, the orifice on the sending unit is small on end that goes into the engine, so it isn’t hard to plug. Could pull the sending unit roadside and plug the small hole from the inside. Basically, clean it with whatever you got. Then plug with whatever you got. If you have a lighter…

Yep. Obvious bubble is obvious! If I had somewhere else to live - I’d sell my house right now. I stopped my new house construction this spring. Building materials skyrocketed and I’m happy to wait until the market crashes. My bet is Q4 of this year. 

I would assume it would be very similar to the F150 powerboost. The normal van shares a lot with the F150, but on a heavier duty chassis. The standard engines are similar to the F150 though, so I’d bet the powerboost is pretty close to what you’d find in a PHEV version of the van. 

I think that will come. Eventually. But they’re not super aerodynamic, so it’s probably going to take more like a 200kwh pack to get meaningful range. And even then, it’ll be pretty hard to make them viable road-trip mobiles. Because it’ll take a long time to recharge a 200kwh battery and if it only gets you maybe 300…

Whatever. My 1700sf New England home can travel 250 miles on 25kwh. :P

The credit is split between manufacturer and customer unless the market is purely elastic or inelastic on demand. Automobiles are highly elastic, so most of the credit should be expected to benefit the purchaser.

We can both produce more batteries while also making the most of the current ones. I’m not sure it’s a half measure. The goal is not zero carbon. Or at least it’s not for rational people. The goal is the optimal amount of carbon emissions - that number is non-zero. The most economic way to get there may be using a…

An average high efficiency diesel generator converts 1 gallon of diesel fuel to about 12kwh of electric energy. The net thermal efficiency is around 30%. It’s actually less than most production vehicle engines because there is significant additional thermal loss in the generator electronics, and then again in the…

I actually know someone who’s looking at buying a Bolt to use the battery pack for his off-grid house. Where else can you buy 66kwh battery pack for $18k? I’m not sure about how he plans to strip it apart to use the batteries. But I think he could get at least a few thousand dollars worth of used parts back out to…

I wish I could give you more stars. Tax the bad thing - emissions at the source, use the revenue to flow back to citizens, and then let the market move to the optimal level for everyone. Let people order their affairs as they see fit, but do our best to capture the full costs and benefits in the pricing. 

Why? PHEVs offer far more emissions savings per battery cell. And in a battery limited world - they are a better solution. We currently live in a battery limited world. We should encourage the best solution. Right now that is PHEV. 

It’s a tax credit for rich people. It’s designed to benefit wealthy because those are the cars that are most profitable and it’s a special interest program. So it makes sense that it’s tied to having high income. It shouldn’t be - but it’s not really a plan to put an EV in every driveway or anything close to that. 

2007 F250. I thought my 01 GM HD2500 was bad with needing a transmission, transfer case, front diff, A/C pump, and crank position sensor (minor sensor - unless it’s in the fawking bell housing!!! and requires cab removal to get to...)