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Kunstler: Not So Happy Motoring
It hasn’t been a great month for America’s electric car fantasy. Elon Musk’s Tesla company — the symbolic beating heart of the fantasy — is whirling around the drain with its share price plummeting 22 percent, its bonds downgraded by Moody’s to junk status, a failure to produce its “affordable” ($36,000 — Ha!) Model 3 at commercial scale, a massive recall of earlier S Model sedans for a steering defect, and the spectacular fiery crash in Silicon Valley last week of an X model that may have been operating in automatic mode (the authorities can’t determine that based on what’s left), and which killed the driver.
Oh, and an experimental self-driving Uber car (Volvo brand) ran over and killed a lady crossing the street with her bicycle in Tempe, Arizona, two weeks ago. Don’t blame Elon for that.
There’s a lot to like about electric cars, of course, if, say, you’re a Google executive floating through life in a techno-narcissism bubble, or a Hollywood actor with wooly grandiose notions of saving the planet while simultaneously signaling your wealth and your “green” virtue cred. Teslas supposedly handle beautifully, ride very quietly, have great low-end power, and decent range of over 200 miles. The engine has something like twenty moving parts, is very long-lasting, and is easy to repair or change out if necessary.
Are they actually “green and clean?” Bwaahaaaaa….! Are you kidding? First, there’s the energy embedded in producing the car: mining and smelting the ores, manufacturing the plastics, running the assembly line, etc. That embedded energy amounts to about 22 percent of the energy consumed by the car over a ten-year lifetime. Then there’s the cost of actually powering the car day-by-day. The electricity around the USA is produced mostly by burning coal, natural gas, or by nuclear fission, all of which produce harmful emissions or byproducts. But the illusion that the power just comes out of a plug in the wall (for just pennies a day!) is a powerful one for the credulous public. The cherry-on-top is the fantasy that before much longer all that electric power will come from “renewables,” solar and wind, and we can leave the whole fossil fuel mess behind us. We say that to ourselves as a sort of prayer, and it has exactly that value.
There are at least a couple of other holes in story, big-picture wise. One is that electric mass motoring — switching out the whole liquid fuel fleet for an all-electric fleet — won’t pencil out economically. We probably started the project forty years too late to even be able to test it at scale, because economic events are now moving so quickly in the direction of global austerity that the putative middle-class customer base for electric cars will barely exist in the near future. Americans especially nowadays are so financially stressed that they can’t qualify for car loans — and that is mainly how cars are bought in this land. The industry has strained mightily to bend the rules so that these days it’s even possible to get a seven-year loan for a used car whose collateral value will dissipate long before the loan is paid back. Hard to see how they can take that much further.
The usual answer for that is that you won’t need to own a car because the nation will be served by self-driving electric Uber-style cars-on-demand, which will supposedly require far fewer cars in all. That really doesn’t answer some big questions, such as: how might commuting work in our big metroplex cities? Even if you posit multiple occupancy vehicles, it still represents a whole lot of car trips. Oh, you say, everybody will just work from home. Really? I don’t think so — though I wouldn’t rule out an end to corporate organization of work as we’ve known it, and if that happens, we will be a nation of farmers and artisans again, that is, a World Made By Hand. Also consider, if the car companies only need to make and sell a fraction of the vehicles they sell now, the whole industry will collapse.
Another hole in the story is the universal assumption that the USA must remain a land of mandatory car dependency, hostage to the fiasco of our suburban infrastructure. I understand why we’re attached to it. We spent most of the 20th century building all that shit, and squandered most our wealth on it. It’s comfortably familiar, even if it’s actually a miserable environment for everyday life. But none of those monetary and psychological investments negate the fact that suburbia has outlived its limited and rather perverse usefulness.
We’re so far from having any intelligent public debate about these issues that the events now spooling out will completely blindside the nation.
287 Comments on "Kunstler: Not So Happy Motoring"
TheNationalist on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 6:08 am
Clog, you are always blaming óle Britain, but it was your ‘mainland’ bitch Moaning Merkel that opened the floodgates on Europe and sowed the future whirlwind.
makati1 on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 6:14 am
“Over one million immigrants to come to US in 2016”
https://www.us-immigration.com/us-immigration-news/us-immigration/over-one-million-immigrants-to-come-to-us-in-2016/
“Over one million immigrants will arrive in the United States next year, according to the US Census Bureau, with future projections showing that the nation may add up to another 49 million new residents from overseas over the course of the next 35 years. …
Back in 1970 less than 1 in 21 Americans were born overseas; however, this figure has now grown to one in seven, with around 80 million Americans being either immigrants or the children of immigrants.”
And they work cheap. ^_^
Davy on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 6:53 am
“I paid 1000 euro twice from my own pocket to attend this conference:”
WTF LMFAO, so we can be expert by spending a few hours at some bogus conference?
nederliar, you are not a physicist you are a fraud.
Cloggie on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 7:27 am
WTF LMFAO, so we can be expert by spending a few hours at some bogus conference?
Bogus? Why?
nederliar, you are not a physicist
You seriously doubt I lie about my physics university graduation? How do you explain my energy blog? You would never be able to write something like that.
Cloggie on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 7:28 am
Clog, you are always blaming óle Britain, but it was your ‘mainland’ bitch Moaning Merkel that opened the floodgates on Europe and sowed the future whirlwind.
For what do I blame Britain?
Churchill is not Britain.
Chamberlain, whom I have in high regards, was also Britain.
It is absolutely true that Merkel opened the floodgates… to Germany, probably after heavy pressure from the likes of Soros c.s.. Can’t remember ever having praised her. She needs to be toppled.
Cloggie on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 7:29 am
What I DO blame Britain for is this anti-German obsession.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzRbC7lQ-EQ
Now I know that YOU have no problems calling yourself a European (welcome to the club.lol) but if you read the readers comments in for instance the “right-wing” DailyMail, you very well see this distance towards “the continent”.
I simply have no illusions about Britain. They prefer to be member of Anglosphere rather than continental Europe (although it is a close call with regards to EU-membership), which is btw free for the British to chose from. It is up to them. I in contrast prefer being a member of the German-French axis, not Anglosphere, an attitude not every Dutchman has as well.
Look, I hope that Tommy Robertson single-handedly recaptures Britain, but it is a lonely fight for this brave man. Pegida is far stronger in Germany than in Britain. And he appears to be more welcome in Germany than in Britain.
You can’t really compare the AfD with UKIP, it is more like the BNP. But the latter never had a chance because of that anti-democratic district-winner-takes-it-all system. The AfD in contrast is now opposition leader, something the BNP could only dream about.
I explicitly care about white survival (like Antius, where you have slightly more reserves). I think that in 2018 Russia, Eastern Europe and, trailing, western Europe have more “identitarian reserves”, essential for survival, than notorious imperial=globalist Anglosphere. In Anglosphere it is Middle America that comes next in the identitarian pecking order. Once a “continental European” future for those folks is secured, via secession, Britain and its imperial offshoots CAN/AUS/NZ will automatically follow (provided AUS/NZ can avoid being swallowed by the Red Dragon, a big if).
Davy on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 7:54 am
“physics university graduation”
First it was energy engineer. Then it was IT guy, Now it is physicist.
Please don’t call yourself a physicist unless you have a PHD otherwise you are just a joke parading as a somebody
Davy on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 7:56 am
“It is absolutely true that Merkel opened the floodgates… to Germany, probably after heavy pressure from the likes of Soros c.s.. Can’t remember ever having praised her. She needs to be toppled.”
neder is always blaming somebody for his failures. I imagine Germany’s issues are more related to this:
“Will Germany Still Belong To Germans In The Near-Future?”
https://tinyurl.com/ybpfj5ft
TheNationalist on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 8:02 am
I agree with what you wrote Cloggy, I personally believe Britain should adopt a proportional voting system. That way more seats would be held by UKIP, BNP and others in government.
Some Aussies are in denial about China but they are a minority. Most of us are aware of the yellow bastard commies and their insatiable designs on the Southern continent.
Davy on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 8:04 am
“I explicitly care about white survival (like Antius, where you have slightly more reserves). “
Racist whiner.
“I think that in 2018 Russia, Eastern Europe and, trailing, western Europe have more “identitarian reserves”, essential for survival, than notorious imperial=globalist Anglosphere.”
Identitarian reserves…sounds like racist whining
“In Anglosphere it is Middle America that comes next in the identitarian pecking order. Once a “continental European” future for those folks is secured, via secession”
What a friggin looney toon
“Britain and its imperial offshoots CAN/AUS/NZ will automatically follow (provided AUS/NZ can avoid being swallowed by the Red Dragon, a big if).”
Is this a comedy show? Nedernazi please stop spamming the board with your racist nonsense.
Cloggie on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 8:10 am
First it was energy engineer. Then it was IT guy, Now it is physicist.
I am a university trained physicist with renewable energy specialization. After graduation I worked a couple of years in the renewable energy field, after that I moved into IT, until today. Never claimed anything else. By law I can call myself a physicist (natuurkundig ingenieur or natuurkundige for short).
“Will Germany Still Belong To Germans In The Near-Future?”
Absolutely, provided we kick former European colony of 3 centuries the US and its vassals out of Europe as soon as possible, in perfect symmetry with what happened to that other commie block, the USSR. Is going to happen, probably shortly after Trump. America is gone anyway (too many self-defeating Davy types, shouting “racism” 24/7.lol)…
https://mobile.twitter.com/HarmlessYardDog/status/967415441839796225
…but at least Europe can still be saved.
Cloggie on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 8:16 am
“Britain and its imperial offshoots CAN/AUS/NZ will automatically follow (provided AUS/NZ can avoid being swallowed by the Red Dragon, a big if).”
Is this a comedy show?
It is dead serious.
http://nationalinterest.org/feature/america-australias-dangerous-ally-11858
Davy on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 8:44 am
What I see here with old white guys who are racist is pathetic. Get off your lazy asses and quit your whining. If white people have problems it is mostly their own doing. These Nazi racist who scream conflict to save the whites are hilarious. These type of people tend to be the biggest failures with the loudest mouths. They are all about victimization and short on real ability. If you are white and want to be proud then the last thing you should do is identify with these failures.
Life is so much more than race and culture. It is about humanity found in all people. The more racist push their agenda the more a generalized extremist conflict developes on all sides. This is exactly what we don’t need now. What we need is universal wisdom. This racism that is a hold over from the 20th century was a failure and is a failure now.
Going forward into the unknown of decline it is about respect and cooperation since any conflict today is deadly. That said I am against immigration and against globalization with the understanding we are stuck with some of it. All cultures and race should be protected instead of diluted. This is just like what is happening in nature with invasive species. Good fences make good neighbors but good fences only happen with respect and cooperation. The most disgusting thing on this board is the whine of lonely old white guys circle jerking their limp dicks over racism.
Cloggie on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 8:56 am
They are all about victimization and short on real ability.
What do you mean “victimization”? I am attacking you around the clock and you are losing that fight as you have absolutely nothing to say other than your 1-percenter, anti-American “racism” shouting.
Have you noticed how little support you have, as the board’s #1 anti-American?
So now you want closed borders all of a sudden? How is that different from what I want? How does that make you a non-racist?
You are nothing but a total hypocrite, who has lost his country a long time ago, but is still in denial about it. You claim to be fighting “anti-Americanism”, but what you really are is a 1-percenter (wannabee) traitor of the American people. You are like a member of the Soviet nomenclature and that is a very bad survival strategy, shortly before the immanent demise of the tax-farm/empire.
Davy on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 9:47 am
Shut up nederliar. I would like for you to reference where I support immigration. Please waste your time bigot. You do the same old whine about me but you can never address my criticisms of your failures. You are a huge failure nederliar. I neuter you daily. All your obscene comment are moderated. You are the biggest spammer on this board now that billy 3rd world is confined to a small village without good internet. You pack this board with off topic agendas daily and redundantly. It is amazing how many times you reference the same links. Get a friggen job. Get off your lazy Eurotard ass and do something constructive. You talk about 1%er shit. You are a stupid worthless white guy using up resources for dark purposes. You are disgusting piece of rancid flesh.
Cloggie on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 10:08 am
I would like for you to reference where I support immigration.
You are calling ME a racist 24/7 because I want to close the borders, you fool, you hypocrite.
You pack this board with off topic agendas daily and redundantly.
Really? I never fill thread after thread with personal insults, like you do.
Get a friggen job.
I have a high profile 6 figure job, where you lead an African life, with your chickens and goats.
Davy on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 10:20 am
Bs, nedernazi, you don’t work. You spend your entire day spreading hate and whining victimization. If you had a 6 figure job then you are a dirty hypocrite because you are a 1%er (global standard). Calling for closed borders is not the same as a Nazi white supremist racist pig calling for a final solution. IMA salivating over WWIII.
Antius on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 10:29 am
“You can’t really compare the AfD with UKIP, it is more like the BNP. But the latter never had a chance because of that anti-democratic district-winner-takes-it-all system. The AfD in contrast is now opposition leader, something the BNP could only dream about.”
There are plenty of White Britons that are thoroughly peed off with living within an international Semite client state that does not have their interests at heart.
The problem is that democratic change does not now seem to be possible in the UK. The place is so oppressive that you go to prison simply for saying the wrong thing; for handing out leaflets, in some cases simply having opinions that the government elites do not approve of. On top of that, people are pathetically apathetic. They go along with being slaves and happily work towards their own long-term destruction if it is easier for them in the short-term. It is never easy to stand up to bullies, but until you do you are their slave.
The only answer I can see is some form of underground movement, to gradually seize control of British institutions from the inside.
GregT on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 11:27 am
“If you had a 6 figure job then you are a dirty hypocrite because you are a 1%er (global standard).”
If you make over 32400 U.S. Dollars per year, you would be in the top 1% (global standard)
https://tinyurl.com/yd5fr2y8
GregT on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 11:48 am
If your family owns a private jet aircraft, and a retreat in the Bahamas, you would be a dirty hypocrite for calling somebody who earns 6 figures a 1%er.
GregT on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 12:11 pm
“IMA salivating over WWIII.”
You would be the one who supports the empire Davy, that is so desperately trying to get a war started with Russia. The people that you are constantly attacking here, would much rather see the empire go out with a whimper.
Davy on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 12:22 pm
“If your family owns a private jet aircraft, and a retreat in the Bahamas, you would be a dirty hypocrite for calling somebody who earns 6 figures a 1%er.”
Go choke on something prick. You are the million dollar man. My family is free to do as they like. They have a private jet and are wealthy. I left that life. They have their life and I have my life. I also do not go to Bahamas anymore. I have never denied being from a 1%er background. So where is the hypocrisy hypocrite? The Nazi you support called me a dirty 1%er but he is obviously one and so are you. In fact you are total scum because your money has come from money laundering in the Hongcouver casino. Some poor China man was beat out of his pay to finance your dirty money laundering way of life up there in the Butthole of the Continent. You have the medical profession wife who supports you while you lay around on your ass doing nothing at the house. What a complete waste case. No wonder you are supporting white supremist racist and proselytizing anti-Americanism. You love victimization agendas. You love to stalk and prick Americans which is all you do on this board.
GregT on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 12:25 pm
My wife does not need to work Davy. She is a type A personality, who is highly motivated and dedicated to making a positive contribution to other peoples’ lives.
Davy on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 12:26 pm
“You would be the one who supports the empire Davy,”
You are another who is salivating on the violent and bloody end of the US. OH, you don’t come out and say it because you are one of those fake guys who has this appearance of respectability. The reality is you support and enable the worst of what is on this board. It was only after repeated badgering did I get your dumb ass to waffle back from supporting Hitler and the Nazis as victims because…get this…Hitler didn’t want war. Your girlfriend that you had history pillow talk sessions with before and after sex told you so and you believed her because you are so gullible and stupid.
GregT on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 12:27 pm
You are a dirty 1%er Davy, a flaming hypocrite, and a warmonger.
GregT on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 12:28 pm
As well as a complete nutcase.
Cloggie on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 12:28 pm
“If you had a 6 figure job then you are a dirty hypocrite because you are a 1%er (global standard).”
I may make (temporarily) good money, thanks to a booming economy and accidental location in Dutch boomtown #1…
http://ab-mediacommunication.com/2018/02/01/why-the-netherlands-is-the-new-silicon-valley-eindhoven/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJq-3FCPqRM
(my workplace, somewhere in these buildings)
… but my loyalties are with the Dutch “deplorables”, not with the so-called western elite. In assets I am only twice Dutch average (that is in my 60-65 age bracket), absolutely not 1%.
https://cormol.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/17_010_1092.jpg
But the real meaning of being a 1-percenter is not so much income or assets but ultimately being loyal to the goals of the nomenclature/deep state = global empire. You are, but your many detractors here are not.
Davy on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 12:31 pm
Sure, greggie, she has to work to keep you two in the lifestyles you have become accustomed to which is million dollar Vancouver style with all the luxuries of the stupid wealthy whining west coast Canadians. Does she stalk and prick Americans too? I bet she does and you two probably have pillow talk sessions on how much you hate Americans.
Davy on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 12:34 pm
You are a dirty 1%er Davy, a flaming hypocrite, and a warmonger.
Whats da madder greggie, did your pricking backfire on you? Did I smack you good? LOL you are a rancid piece of flesh worse than the nedernazi.
GregT on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 12:35 pm
Both of my wife’s parents were Americans Davy.
Davy on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 12:39 pm
“But the real meaning of being a 1-percenter is not so much income or assets but ultimately being loyal to the goals of the nomenclature/deep state = global empire. You are, but your many detractors here are not.”
Give me a break Nazi, you are a rich Dutch guy sponging off the rest of the world and then whining how bad your life is because people of color have hurt your feeling. You are an Empire lusting individual living high on the hog and whining about it. You want war and you want people to suffer.
GregT on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 12:41 pm
Your delusions are getting worse Davy.
Davy on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 12:42 pm
“Both of my wife’s parents were Americans Davy.”
So what dumbass, billy 3rd world is an American who hates Americans more than you do. Obviously that does not mean shit. Plus can we believe a word you say? For you the ends justify the means. It is all about superficial respect for you.
Davy on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 12:43 pm
“Your delusions are getting worse Davy.”
translation: my pricking backfired
GregT on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 12:47 pm
BillT has made his position clear Davy. He would much rather see the U.S. go out with a whimper. He is fed up with the mass murdering spree that the U.S. has been on for the better part of his entire life.
Davy on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 12:52 pm
STFU, greggie and contribute. The board gets so tired of you insisting on selfishly packing the board with your prick sessions. Why was it you were in therapy? Is it related to obsessive compulsive behavior?
GregT on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 12:52 pm
“Your delusions are getting worse Davy.”
Self explanatory and blatantly obvious. No translation necessary.
Davy on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 12:55 pm
“Self explanatory and blatantly obvious. No translation necessary.”
translation: I am stuck with my behavior obsessions and I can’t help myself.
greggie, if you can’t handle yourself on this forum get off.
GregT on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 1:09 pm
“greggie, if you can’t handle yourself on this forum get off.”
I have no plans of getting ‘off’ of this forum Davy, and thanks for the entertainment buddy. I always enjoy a good laugh. 🙂
Davy on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 1:29 pm
greggie, it is entertaining spitting in a Canadian anti-Americans face. I love it. It is fun because you are such a disgusting person who deserves to be disrespected.
Cloggie on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 1:32 pm
“The board gets so tired of you insisting on selfishly packing the board with your prick sessions.”
You are not “The Board”, meathead.
Freedom of speech is a truly great American value, but any speaker can only speak for himself.
jawagord on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 1:55 pm
Any of you fellows claiming to be of modest means have a dog? A dog, historically, can be the debate clincher!
With his place on the Republican ticket in doubt, he flew to Los Angeles and delivered a half-hour television address in which he defended himself, attacked his opponents, and urged the audience to contact the Republican National Committee (RNC) to tell it whether he should remain on the ticket. During the speech, he stated that regardless of what anyone said, he intended to keep one gift: a black-and-white dog who had been named Checkers by the Nixon children……..Nixon, as he related in his address, came from a family of modest means, and had spent much of his time after law school either in the military, campaigning for office, or serving in Congress.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkers_speech
Davy on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 1:59 pm
STFU, double standard Nazi, you can’t have it both ways so take your neutering and quit whining.
Norman Pagett on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 2:02 pm
with the ongoing to and fro arguments about electric vehicles, few recognise the weak link in this imaginary transport system
https://extranewsfeed.com/we-must-keep-our-wheels-turning-93c95d8f066f
Cloggie on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 2:57 pm
Nice opportunity for meathead to signal his solid anti-racist credentials and organize a Welcome-committee:
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/04/01/trump-declares-daca-deal-border-crossers-amnesty/
For some reason I prefer to live in Europe, invader-technically. Somehow I have more trust in the Mediterranean than in the Mexican governtment.
Davy on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 3:04 pm
Nazi, are you trying to charm me with that dry dutchy humor?
GregT on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 3:22 pm
“take your neutering and quit whining.”
You aren’t neutering anyone Davy, and Cloggie isn’t whining. Both would simply be a part of your delusional make believe world..
“are you trying to charm me with that dry dutchy humour?”
More delusions.
GregT on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 3:27 pm
“greggie, it is entertaining spitting in a Canadian anti-Americans face.”
I’m not anti-American Davy, but I am anti-ugly Americans like yourself.
Antius on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 3:28 pm
“with the ongoing to and fro arguments about electric vehicles, few recognise the weak link in this imaginary transport system
https://extranewsfeed.com/we-must-keep-our-wheels-turning-93c95d8f066f
”
This might be a good way of reducing battery demand. Diesel engines can power the vehicle between networks, maybe a diesel-electric system.
https://www.scania.com/group/en/worlds-first-electric-road-opens-in-sweden/
Davy on Sun, 1st Apr 2018 3:37 pm
greggie, we are trying to say something here with substance but you insist on pricking. Please STFU you are annoying. You have said absolutely nothing today. All you have done is prick you disgusting ugly Canadian.