Apparently Trump REALLY fucking hates electric cars...or maybe just Musk.

[Jason]

Congress was set to expand the $7,500 credit to 600,000 cars per manufacturer. But then...
 

Quote

 

The expansion of a tax credit for electric vehicles isn’t likely to appear in a broad deal being negotiated by House and Senate leaders, and backers of the popular tax break say President Donald Trump is to blame.

 

“There has been extreme resistance from the president,” said Senator Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat who has championed the $7,500 tax credit for consumers who purchase an electric car. She said Monday it was unlikely to be expanded.

 

“I don’t know why the White House would want to stop jobs and the future of the auto industry,” she said.

 

The credit is a legislative priority for automakers such as Tesla Inc. and General Motors Co.

 

White House officials warned lawmakers that if they tried to expand the electric vehicle credit as part of a compromise spending bill, it could tank the measure, according to two people familiar with the matter. The issue is particularly heated in the West Wing and among conservatives who view the credit as mainly benefiting rich Californians and Tesla.

 

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-16/trump-helped-nix-electric-car-tax-measure-sought-by-tesla-gm

 

If it's also about Tesla I guess this is really about being salty about Musk leaving his CEO council. What a fucking petulant child.

[Mr.Vic20]

Need them Steam cars! 

[osxmatt]

Quote

I said, “You don’t use steam anymore for catapult?” “No sir.” I said, “Ah, how is it working?” “Sir, not good. Not good. Doesn’t have the power. You know the steam is just brutal. You see that sucker going and steam’s going all over the place, there’s planes thrown in the air.”

 

It sounded bad to me. Digital. They have digital. What is digital? And it’s very complicated, you have to be Albert Einstein to figure it out. And I said—and now they want to buy more aircraft carriers. I said, “What system are you going to be—” “Sir, we’re staying with digital.” I said, “No you’re not. You going to goddamned steam, the digital costs hundreds of millions of dollars more money and it’s no good.”

 

[Littleronin]

"People are saying the silence of these electric cars cause the drivers to get cancer."

[Jason]

1 minute ago, Littleronin said:

"People are saying the silence of these electric cars cause the drivers to get cancer."

 

CARS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE LOUD, AND BRUTAL, LIKE A MAN

 

 

[Keyser_Soze]

7 hours ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

Need them Steam cars! 

 

Lord Gaben can sell anything!

[SilentWorld]

bring on hydrogen already 

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

47 minutes ago, SilentWorld said:

bring on hydrogen already 

Hydrogen isn't coming

[Jason]

57 minutes ago, SilentWorld said:

bring on hydrogen already 

 

Hydrogen is basically as dumb as ethanol. 

[thewhyteboar]

Screw cars of any type. More trains, buses, and walkable cities please.

[Keyser_Soze]

3 minutes ago, thewhyteboar said:

Screw cars of any type. More trains, buses, and walkable cities please.

 

Teleporters!

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

26 minutes ago, thewhyteboar said:

Screw cars of any type. More trains, buses, and walkable cities please.

There's some hope in VA

 

Let's see if it will pass though 

 

(Transportation and housing are inexorably linked)

[SilentWorld]

47 minutes ago, Jason said:

 

Hydrogen is basically as dumb as ethanol. 

 

57 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

Hydrogen isn't coming

why tho. 

 

zero emission transportation can't be done with fully electric. impossible for hauling goods. 

[outsida]

53 minutes ago, Jason said:

 

Hydrogen is basically as dumb as ethanol. 

[Jason]

The energy input:output ratio is dumb.

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

8 minutes ago, SilentWorld said:

 

why tho. 

 

zero emission transportation can't be done with fully electric. impossible for hauling goods. 

Rail for long distances (over land) and electric for relatively local trips.

 

Moving to zero emissions is going to require a complete rethink of every single supply chain

[Jason]

Also there's a lot of trucking outside long haul. Long haul is obviously a tougher nut to crack but battery should be a lot more viable for applications like hauling stuff around port complexes, metro-area distribution centers, etc.

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

5 minutes ago, Jason said:

Also there's a lot of trucking outside long haul. Long haul is obviously a tougher nut to crack but battery should be a lot more viable for applications like hauling stuff around port complexes, metro-area distribution centers, etc.

And trucking has a built in advantage over rails, as currently set up. Trucking travels on maintenance and capital-subsidized roads where the road owner (government) also doesn't pay local property taxes on the property used by the roads. Truckers do the most damage to the roads, but have every ICE passenger vehicle (and in some cases, sales and other general tax payers) to help subsidize their operation.

 

Rail is privately owned and operated (for the most part) and the property owned by the rail companies are subject to local property taxes.

[Anathema-]

23 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

There's some hope in VA

 

Let's see if it will pass though 

 

(Transportation and housing are inexorably linked)

 

There's more in the thread. So much deliciousness.

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

5 minutes ago, Anathema- said:

 

There's more in the thread. So much deliciousness.

I can't wait for the hourly trains to DC from RVM. Basically extending the NEC down to here. And that's just one part of the plan!

[SilentWorld]

2 hours ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

And trucking has a built in advantage over rails, as currently set up. Trucking travels on maintenance and capital-subsidized roads where the road owner (government) also doesn't pay local property taxes on the property used by the roads. Truckers do the most damage to the roads, but have every ICE passenger vehicle (and in some cases, sales and other general tax payers) to help subsidize their operation.

 

Rail is privately owned and operated (for the most part) and the property owned by the rail companies are subject to local property taxes.

While many things curently hauled by truck could be replaced by train (but then what powers the train?) there's plenty of things that can't be -- gravel/road base isn't going to be transported by train (or if it is transported by train, perhaps there's some place that doesn't have gravel pits for hundreds of miles that I'm not aware of, it's still got to be transported by truck for the last part of the journey). And with current technology (despite what Elon Musk might say), it's literally legally impossible to put a powerful enough battery in a haul truck. The truck would be overweight even when it had no load! Perhaps hydrogen isn't feasible either, but battery electric is literally a non-starter and will continue to be unless battery density has a revolutionary change. Like it needs to improve probably 10 fold. 

 

 

[Joe]

3 hours ago, thewhyteboar said:

Screw cars of any type. More trains, buses, and walkable cities please.

 

Bro, do you even 'Murica?

[silentbob]

Just give me my Futurama Tubes already.

 

[TheGreatGamble]

8 hours ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

Rail for long distances (over land) and electric for relatively local trips.

 

Moving to zero emissions is going to require a complete rethink of every single supply chain

We aren't moving to zero emissions though, at least not in our lifetime. We might reduce emissions a bit, but it's ridiculous to believe we are even trying to get to zero. 

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

3 hours ago, TheGreatGamble said:

We aren't moving to zero emissions though, at least not in our lifetime. We might reduce emissions a bit, but it's ridiculous to believe we are even trying to get to zero. 

As law is currently set up you are right. This effort will require a heavy hand via government to actively punish those who use carbon fuel sources (via taxes) and actively promote carbon free energy sources. 

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

9 hours ago, SilentWorld said:

While many things curently hauled by truck could be replaced by train (but then what powers the train?) there's plenty of things that can't be -- gravel/road base isn't going to be transported by train (or if it is transported by train, perhaps there's some place that doesn't have gravel pits for hundreds of miles that I'm not aware of, it's still got to be transported by truck for the last part of the journey). And with current technology (despite what Elon Musk might say), it's literally legally impossible to put a powerful enough battery in a haul truck. The truck would be overweight even when it had no load! Perhaps hydrogen isn't feasible either, but battery electric is literally a non-starter and will continue to be unless battery density has a revolutionary change. Like it needs to improve probably 10 fold. 

 

 

It is possible to have a fully electric transportation grid, for example, where all vehicles have a small battery but are largely powered by overhead electric lines.