Logistical Challenges for Tesla

Model Y cars are pictured during the opening ceremony of the new Tesla Gigafactory for electric 

cars in Gruenheide, Germany, March 22, 2022. Patrick Pleul/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Oct 2 - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) on Sunday announced lower-than-expected electric vehicle deliveries in the third quarter, as logistical challenges overshadowed its record deliveries.

The top electric car maker said "it is becoming increasingly challenging to secure vehicle transportation capacity and at a reasonable cost," but some analysts were also concerned about demand for high-ticket items due to the weakening global economy.  READ MORE...

End of Manual Transmissions

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I drive a stick shift. It’s a pain, sometimes. Clutching and shifting in bumper-to-bumper traffic wears you out. My wife can’t drive my car, which limits our transit options. And when I’m at the wheel, I can’t hold a cold, delicious slushie in one hand, at least not safely. 

But despite the inconvenience, I love a manual transmission. I love the feeling that I am operating my car, not just driving it. That’s why I’ve driven stick shifts for the past 20 years.

That streak may soon be over. When it comes time to replace my current car, I probably won’t be able to get another like it. In 2000, more than 15 percent of new and used cars sold by the auto retailer CarMax came with stick shifts; by 2020, that figure had dropped to 2.4 percent. Among the hundreds of new car models for sale in the United States this year, only about 30 can be purchased with a manual transmission. 

Electric cars, which now account for more than 5 percent of car sales, don’t even have gearboxes. There are rumors that Mercedes-Benz plans to retire manuals entirely by the end of next year, all around the world, in a decision driven partly by electrification; 

Volkswagen is said to be dropping its own by 2030, and other brands are sure to follow. Stick shifts have long been a niche market in the U.S. Soon they’ll be extinct.We can’t say we weren’t warned. For years, the stick’s decline has been publicly lamented. 

Car and Driver ran a “Save the Manuals” campaign in 2010, insisting that drivers who “learned to operate the entire car” would enjoy driving more and do it better. A #SaveTheManual hashtag followed. Shifting gears yourself isn’t just a source of pleasure, its advocates have said, or a way to hone your driving. 

A manual car is also less likely to be stolen if fewer people know how to drive it. It’s cheaper to buy (or at least it used to be), and it once had lower operation and maintenance costs. 

You can push-start a manual if the battery dies, so you’re less likely to get stuck somewhere; and you can use the stick more easily for engine braking, which can reduce wear and make descending hills easier and safer.  READ MORE...

NASCAR: Electrified Stock Car Racing

Electric motorsport is a category of motor sport that consists of the racing of electric powered vehicles for competition, either in all-electric series, or in open-series against vehicles with different power trains. Very early in the history of automobiles, electric cars held several performance records over internal combustion engine cars, such as land speed records, but fell behind in performance during the first decade of the 20th century. 

With the renaissance of electric vehicles during the early 21st century, notable electric-only racing series have been developed, for both cars and motorcycles, including for example, the FIA Formula E Championship. 

In other racing events, electric vehicles are competing alongside combustion engine vehicles, for example in the Isle of Man TT and the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, and in some cases winning outright.  SOURCE: Wikipedia

NASCAR hasn't hidden its intention to electrify stock car racing in the coming years, but it may happen sooner than expected.

Documents uncovered by the Kickin' the Tires website reveal potential plans to launch an electric support series next year.

According to the report, NASCAR will demonstrate a prototype electric racing car during the Clash at the L.A. Coliseum pre-season event in February, then follow it up with a six-race series "aligned with Cup Series" weekends.

The cars will be modified Cup Series cars with fully electric, all-wheel-drive powertrains rated near 1,000 horsepower, compared to the 670 hp V8s used in the conventional vehicles.  READ MORE...

Charging Electric Cars

Electric vehicles are widely seen as the future.

Ford will soon start delivering its shiny new F-150 Lightning, the electric version of its pickup truck, and other auto makers are racing to electrify their most popular models.

But many drivers considering switching to electric vehicles cite a similar concern: the hypothetical nightmare of getting stuck in the middle of nowhere without any battery left.

The Biden administration has an ambitious plan to address that. It wants to build tons of chargers so that they become as common as a gas station, and closer to the ease and speed of pumping gas.

Here's how the plan would work – and what it would mean for electric car owners and prospective buyers.
What's the plan?

The federal government will spend $5 billion dollars to build 500,000 chargers. The money will go to states, who have until late summer to submit their plans to the federal government.

The funding comes with strings attached – strings intended to ensure that this network of chargers is fast, reliable, and convenient.  READ MORE...

Questions About Electric Cars

In less than eight years, the government plans to ban the sale of all new petrol and diesel cars and vans and as part of this shift is promising to expand the network of public charging points to 300,000.

This means, in order to help the UK meet its 2050 net zero target, electric vehicles (EVs ) will soon become the most common option for anyone wanting to buy a brand new car.

Among the 35 million cars driving around on UK roads just 1.3% were EVs in 2020 but that figure is starting to climb. Battery electric and hybrid cars accounted for nearly a third of new cars leaving dealerships last month, according to The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. (SMMT).

But would-be buyers still have a lot of reservations.

BBC Radio 5's The Big Green Money Show asked listeners to send in their questions, here are their top five:

Why are electric cars so expensive?
Electric cars usually cost thousands of pounds more than their petrol, or diesel, counterparts. This is because EV batteries are expensive to make and a high level of investment is needed to transform existing factory production lines to manufacture the new technology.

However, costs are expected to come down in the near future: The SMMT forecasts electric and internal combustion engine cars should cost roughly the same "by the end of this decade."

Meanwhile, experts say you should also consider the total spend over the car's lifetime.

The cost of the electricity used to power your EV has been rising sharply recently and will vary according to your household tariff, but it is still cheaper than petrol or diesel fuel per mile.

Melanie Shufflebotham is the co-founder of Zap Map, which maps the UK's charging points. She says if an EV is charged at home "the average price people are paying is roughly 5p per mile". This compares she says, to a cost of between 15-25 pence per mile for petrol or diesel cars.  READ MORE...

Electric Cars - Prices Increase

As US gas prices hit record highs in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it seems like electric vehicles may not be a safe haven for those looking to save money. 

That’s because Russia plays an important part in the production of the nickel that ends up in batteries used by many electric vehicles — a metal that’s rocketed up in price even faster than oil.

On February 25th, nickel was trading on the London Metal Exchange for around $24,000 a ton, according to The Wall Street Journal. By March 8th, it was trading at $80,000 (down from a peak of over $100,000), and the London Metal Exchange had suspended trading. 

There are a few reasons for the massive uptick in price — because it’s 2022, there are financial shenanigans involved, but it’s also impossible for the market to ignore the fact that an important nickel producer is at war and facing a flurry of international sanctions.

When it comes to mining nickel, Russia isn’t a massive player. According to the WSJ, the country supplies up to 6 percent of the world’s nickel. (For context, that puts it a distant third behind Indonesia and the Philippines, according to a datasheet from the US Geological Survey (pdf).) 

But Russia’s role in producing the battery-grade nickel used in EVs is a different story — in a Twitter thread breaking down the issue, the CEO of Benchmark Mineral Intelligence says 20 percent of that supply comes from a single Russian company.  READ MORE...

Just a Few More Thoughts

What I don't understand is why we want to spend money buying petroleum crude oil from other countries when we can provide all the oil and gasoline that we need right here at home...

Now...  while I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer...  I am smart enough to realize that this is plain stupid and the people who this hurts the most are the general public who basically live from one paycheck to another...

I also understand that 50% of the American population has the relentless desire to go GREEN and while that is a noble quest, it would seem more reasonable to me to go GREEN gradually rather than all at once.

• I think smoking should stop all at once
• I think wars should stop all at once
• I think child abuse should stop all at once
• I think racism should stop all at once

But, I think our energy consumption should stop gradually...  but it should stop.

And, I am all for going green and buying an electric car to stop my dependence on fossil fuels.  

An electric car has a price tag of anywhere from $60,000 to $80,000 and higher...  the distance that an electric car can travel on a charge averages around 400 miles...  but, the recharging time is HIGH...

From Kelly Blue Book
Use these approximate calculations based on a 240V Level 2 power source and charging capacity, according to the manufacturers’ websites for the following 2021 cars:

• Chevrolet Volt EV: 10 hours
• Nissan Leaf: Up to 11 hours
• Tesla Model S: 12 hours
• Karma GS-6: 4 hours
• Tesla Model 3: 12 hours
• Porsche Taycan: Up to 10.5 hours
• Mini SE Hardtop: 4 hours
• Audi E-Tron: 10 hours
• Polestar 2: 8 hours
• BMW i3: 7 hours

Personally, I think I would be rather pissed off if I had to wait 4-12 hours for my car to charge while I was on vacation unless I was at a motel sleeping at night while the car was charging.  However, my wife and I like to go to Myrtle Beach, SC, and the last time we were down there (2021) the motels did not offer charging stations on their property.

So, an electric car with a driving range of 300-400 miles would be good to drive around the area where you live, so that you can charge it at night while you are doing things around the house...  but, then there is the cost of that vehicle...

I just cannot imagine how the general public is going to respond to being forced to go ELECTRIC...  especially when the power company cannot sustain the increased energy drain on their capabilities...  

THEN WHAT???

I've Been Thinking

Gasoline cars are bad...  and, I understand the logic of that and the impact on our environment...  so, leaves us with electric cars which are now in production or its alternative which might be hydrogen cars.  I would assume that electric cars will win out and I know people who currently own an electric car and there are both pros and cons of their ownership but they are impressed with the electronics in the electric cars hands down...

But, it is not the electronics that concern me but the lack of recharging stations locally and across the country...  so, as long as you are local and make short trips, you can recharge at home...  but if you drove around all day (for some reason), you might run out of charge somewhere along the line and be shit out of luck with no way to get back home except call a gas burning taxi.


In February 2021, the U.S. had almost 100,000 charging outlets for plug-in electric vehicles (EVs). A considerable sum of these chargers is found in California, with almost 32,000 power outlets. Plug-in power stations and charging outlets are essential to increase U.S. plug-in electric vehicle sales.  SOURCE:  Statista.com

Electric Cars

From Clean Technica, we learn...





Andy Slye put together a neat comparison: Tesla vs. Gas: the true charging cost after 75,000 miles. One of the main reasons Andy bought an EV was so he’d never have to gas up again, and since owning his Tesla Model 3, he hasn’t been to a gas station in three years. “I gave up gas stations and replaced them with charging stations,” Andy said in his video and then pointed out that charging is one of the main reasons people are hesitant to buy an EV.

He shared a survey from Auto List that showed that two out of the top 4 reasons that people don’t buy an EV have to do with charging the car. This inspired Andy to create a video sharing his experience charging his car for the past three years. Andy hopes that his video will help allay the fears of those still doubting. Andy explained that this totaled up to 75,000 miles, and he compared what he paid to what that would cost in a gas car.

“Keep in mind that the cost of electricity and gas depends on the geographic location,” he said. Andy, who is located in Kentucky, noted that these numbers reflect his area and will be different depending on where you live. However, it’s generally less expensive to charge a Tesla than it is to fill a gas tank. Here in Louisiana, I’ve even seen friends charge their batteries at a Supercharger for way, way less than you would spend filling up the gas tank.  TO FIND OUT COSTS BETWEEN ELECTRIC AND GASOLINE, CLICK HERE...

Brick and Mortar is Going Away

Partly because of the COVID 19 Pandemic and partly because of
technology brick and mortar buildings, organizations, and institutions are going away...

The first of these will be EDUCATION...

Educational institutions both for profit and non profit have realized recently that ONLINE EDUCATION saves them "tons" on money each year in building maintenance and utility costs.  With instructors working from home or other remote locations, they are responsible for their offices and internet connections which they can then use as tax deductions when they file their IRS taxes each year.

Unfortunately, online education is not as knowledge transfer intense as in-class instruction but profits and reduced costs are more important than education.

I have taught both in online jurisdictions as well as in-class jurisdictions and in the online environment, I put in much more time than I do or did in the classroom environment.

The second group of organizations and institutions that will be giving up their brick and mortar buildings will be the RETAIL INDUSTRY.

Amazon and Ebay are good examples of organizations that have been very successful with just an online operation.

When the COVID Pandemic was in full force here in the US, my wife and I ordered as much as we could online to avoid having to go out in public to purchase what we needed.  This type of buying is only going to increase in intensity among the American people.

What will help spur this along will be the increase in popularity of using Crypt Currency and Bitcoins which is a natural byproduct of Pay Pal.

And...  as we begin to do away with gasoline vehicles and transform our transportation industry to electric vehicles and before we are able to build all those CHARGING STATIONS, Americans will be forced to do more and more shopping online rather than driving to a shopping mall or a grocery store.