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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: Eric who wrote (1431609)1/5/2024 1:18:16 PM
From: Maple MAGA 2 Recommendations

Recommended By
longz
Mick Mørmøny

  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 1574579
 
They can build brothels at each charging station, expect a big push for legalization of prostitution.



To: Eric who wrote (1431609)1/5/2024 1:40:48 PM
From: Doren  Respond to of 1574579
 
My neighbor also had a Prius. He started it and I couldn't believe how quiet it was. That's a biggie for me as I like listening to music in cars. Since music is sound PRESSURE cars are great for music other than the noise they produce.

Another guy I met had a use Prius. He replaced the batteries but he got it cheap. He was super happy with it.

I'm gonna be in the market for a car this year. These guys might have me convinced.

My friend just bought a Prius. He's got a masters in Psychology, one of the smartest people I've ever met. Lived a totally fascinating unconventional life. Here's what he had to say about it, and he mentions, in passing, the MAGAs at the end:

--------------

My new car is a 2014 Prius V 5 and it's great.

I never thought about getting a hybrid car because I was worried about the hybrid battery which have a notorious reputation for cost when they fail. But my mechanic who works only on Japanese cars, said the Prius is one of the most dependable cars on the road today. I later learned that the hybrid batteries don't fail at all if you keep them clean and don't stupidly abuse them. Toyota has also learned a few valuable lessons in their manufacture and cooling design from the early days. I have a third generation Prius and if you take care of them, the hybrid battery will last 300,000 miles just like their engines and transmissions, which are the best in the business. Toyotas are by far the best made cars the last 20 years and I originally wanted to get a Toyota Rav 4 as Midori has had one the past 8 years and everything works great.

My last car was a 2008 Mazda Tribute, but it was a Mazda only in name as almost every single part was made by Ford. I didn't know that when I bought it, but it was when Mazda had done a collaboration for a few years with Ford. (They dropped Ford as partners once they realized they made junk.) The last American car I owned prior to that was a 1995 Ford Thunderbird and when I first got it, it was fast and fun. Being American, however, everything turned to shit around 60,000 miles, problems with this, problems with that. I even started getting blow-by where the rubber gaskets around the pistons wore out and great billows of smoke started pouring out on acceleration as it burned oil profusely. American cars had manufactured cars to have "planned obsolescence" during the 1970s so they would break down constantly after the first few years to the point where it was a worthless piece of junk, and you were forced to get a new car. Typical crap from good old corporate America who make garbage to sell to the public, claiming it's great because it's American. They never got out of that mode and to this day, American cars turn into awful buckets of garbage if you don't trade them in every few years. Every part in my Mazda that was Ford failed. The starter, two new water pumps in six years (there's even a class action lawsuit over these "genuine Motor Craft water pumps" because they routinely fail and cause engines to overheat and seize up due to their crappy design) there was also a variety of small parts here and there but what killed that piece of junk was the transmission died at just over 100,000 miles. The transmission guy looked it up in the service manual and sure enough, it was a Ford transmission. He didn't even seriously discuss rebuilding it. He just laughed and said, "Junk it, the transmission will still be crap even if I rebuild it". I was stressed out being without a car which I need for work.

I found a great deal on this Prius and took it for a drive. It runs smoother and better than any car I've ever driven, even a Rolls Royce and Bentley a wealthy friend has. The Prius even has serious torque and pickup when I need it such as merging on the freeway. It still runs like a brand-new car and the previous owners were ideal. It was a company car for visiting corporate executives the first two years and the second owner was the mechanic who had worked on it. He kept it in showroom condition, mechanically and physically. A friend who is also a mechanic saw the engine and was shocked how pristine it has been kept. Once you also realize it is in pure EV mode about half the time, the odometer may read 90,000 miles but the gas engine actually has around half that. It is almost completely silent and runs so smoothly and sedately yet with enough power that you just want to drive it gently because that's all it needs to perform well. It's strong and fast enough that I can race it but I'm long past the age of stupid bravado and couldn't care less what a bunch of strangers in other cars think about how fast I can go or beating them to the next traffic light. I know someone that used to teach cab drivers here in LA and he always opened the first class with this quote: "Too many people are unhappy, angry, mentally ill, and they prove that to you when they are driving." Also, the longer I live the more I realize how incredibly stupid it is to worry about what others say, think, and do. Just look at the total POS they admire, and you have to laugh to yourself about their awful judgement. The quote from my friend who teaches cab drivers can be easily applied to the vast majority of the population. They waste their lives getting angry and upset over what total strangers do or don't do but would otherwise have no impact on their daily life whatsoever if they just ignored them. What truly awful, meaningless, joyless lives they must live. For me, every day I wake up is a great day and since the vast majority of the time I feel physically great, it's almost always a perfect day. Now that I don't have to worry about a piece of American crap car failing, my life is so stress-free.
So, I give a big thumbs up for a Toyota or Lexus hybrid and you'll also be tickled pink because you will spend about a third of what you do now on gas



To: Eric who wrote (1431609)1/5/2024 2:07:59 PM
From: miraje4 Recommendations

Recommended By
isopatch
longz
Maple MAGA
Tenchusatsu

  Read Replies (3) | Respond to of 1574579
 
.Another reason to buy electric trucks

Unmitigated horse shit. I have a Class A CDL and have driven truck and trailer combos weighing in excess of 105,000 lbs, manuals and automatics. I also taught students how to drive a truck as a CDL drive school instructor. Except for some local deliveries, electric trucks are as unrealistic and impractical as "self driving" trucks. Stick to your Teslas, like all your greenie elitist cohorts.

Here's the reality of electric big rigs and another example of how fucked up California has become. With a hat tip to J.B.C.

Message 34527045

California’s electric semi mandate takes effect, leaving an expensive mess for the truckers and taxpayers
By Jack Hellner

If politicians wanted to intentionally raise prices, what would they do?

They would make rules and regulations that increase costs and reduce efficiency or productivity—in California, they do these things as if they are on steroids.

They are forcing semi-truck drivers to use electric semis. They are pretending that these trucks will change the climate. After January 1, 2024, anyone driving a new semi is required to drive one powered by hydrogen or electricity.

The following article, published by The Wall Street Journal, tells the story of what it is like for a driver under these new dictatorial rules:

Electric Mandates Have California Truckers Charging Overtime

They haul lighter loads and spend hours plugged in. Consumers will ultimately foot the bill.

There are several things in the item that illustrate how costly and inefficient these regulations are, the first being that the operations lead in Los Angeles says that simply planning for the logistics of hauls his company transports now costs him 10 to 15 hours extra each week. There are not enough charging stations in place to support these regulations, and if he happens to run out of power, a ten-mile tow would cost him $600.

A truck was also recently out of commission for an entire month, because Volvo recalled the battery (due to a “fire risk”) for replacement.

One of the drivers says that in his diesel-powered semi he could do six loads each day; with the battery-operated Volvo semi, he can do two per day, but he has to work overtime to achieve that goal. Even though he gets paid overtime, he makes $400 less per month because his commissions are lower.

He describes a day when he started at 5:30 am, and drove 9 miles to a charging station where he spent an entire hour to charge the battery from “54% to 90%.” With his diesel vehicle, he could go 1,000 miles after a fifteen-minute fill up. This first charge covered his first trip of the day.

His second haul of the day began around noon; for that one he had to drive “33 miles out of his way” to get another charge. That took another 95 minutes of down time, which brought the battery from a 25% charge to 93%. (If two trucks are charging at the same time, the process takes longer, and this driver’s hour-and-a-half charge time was a “quick” fill-up.)

Fitting these trucks at the charging stations also proves to be a challenge; many times the driver has to unhook his trailer and park it somewhere else while he takes the cab to charge, because many of the charging stations are in tight locations like “shopping-center parking lots” where a big semi and trailer can’t easily navigate.

Also, each truckload can carry less because it is significantly heavier than a diesel powered truck.

After a 13-hour day (which is illegal), the driver had only delivered two loads and driven 248 miles.

The operations lead (dispatch) calculated that the “higher labor costs and inefficiencies” had cost the company an extra $310 that day, and instead of eating the costs, the company added a surcharge to the companies taking the deliveries; in turn, this cost gets passed on to the consumer.

Now think of what that does to inflation if that is done throughout the economy. Think of the supply chain disruptions and costs if drivers can only do one-third the number of loads, with loads that are far smaller. Think of how much more space would be needed for charging stations if all trucks and cars were electric.

Think of how much the power grid would have to be increased to support the green agenda. It is not financially feasible and there is no way alternative energy sources could handle this.


And the cost of electric semis dwarfs ( $300k–$500k) the cost of diesel-powered ones ( $70k–$150k); clearly, small companies (and owner operators) will not be able to compete. The insurance, loans, leases, and depreciation costs will also jack up freight rates, which will affect all consumers.

The additional weight of E.V.s will also cause more damage to roads. When will politicians start charging electrical vehicle owners for their mileage and the damage they cause?

This inflation is caused by excessive regulations instead of increased demand. It is cost-push inflation and the problems cascade through the economy. Consumers, especially the poor and middle classes, are the ones who are harmed the most. (of course)

And Democrats pretend they care about the blue-collar little guy, like truck drivers.

People should recognize that this is all a massive fraud to transfer our money and freedom to a government run by Democrats where they could give huge kickbacks to their political supporters, the green pushers. There is not one piece of scientific data that shows any link between gas powered vehicles and temperatures, sea levels, and storm activity.