Featured Hertz is selling 20,000 electric vehicles to buy gasoline cars instead

Not good news for the middle class

Here’s why your electricity prices are high and soaring - CalMatters
"California’s electricity prices are among the highest in the country, new research says, and those costs are falling disproportionately on a customer base that’s already struggling to pay their bills."

Why your California utility bills are about to skyrocket soon (sfchronicle.com)

California’s Self-Inflicted Energy-Price Fiasco - WSJ

 

And Massachusetts

 

When I've lost money on a stock, I think the same thing.

Bob Wilson

 

Locked in my electricity prices 7 years ago, for 25-35 years. Happy I did so.
System is paid off later this year.

I think people underestimate the importance of their state’s Public Utilities Commission. A good PUC is critical to the economic well being of the state. A bad PUC is critical to the economic well being of Utility companies & politicians.

 

I think it's the Hyundai Ionic5 that has that issue in one of its Regen braking (the most aggressive one). The lights light up once the car... stops. They should have catched that before releasing that mode.

In a manual, you couldn't go from 100 km/h to stopping at the constant deceleration that Regen does. You get a big deceleration as the engine speeds up but after that it's more like a gentle deceleration.

 

I've been thinking about ours in those terms lately too. Getting antsy to see it work. The array is mostly done, but the ground is too wet to set the power pole that lets us fly the line to the side of the house. And we're still waiting for the utility to install a larger transformer.

That's no joke. I saw this at a small town level when I was young. My dad sat on a town committee in the 80s, and the local cable company came in saying they wanted to wire the town. Everyone got excited and was ready to sign the deal when my dad asked "So what else can you do for us?"

Nobody else on the committee even realized that it was fairly common for towns to ask cable operators for things like a head-end at the faciity hosting town meetings so they could be easily put on town TV. Or that you could ask the cable operators to fund community cable stations, demand service level agreements and better options for dispute resolution.

That town got a super sweet setup by the time he was done, and it's a lesson I won't forget.

 

we don't get to vote for our puc

 

These folks? Appointed by this cabinet secretary with approval by the governor (who probably already had a hand in appointing the cabinet secretary)?

Guess you just have to pick the governor carefully then....

 

we've had all flavor of governors, it never helps.

 

Using a dated formula for those expectations.

California is banning NG heaters to help with their air pollution, which has been constant issue for them. LA took it a step further with including stoves. These are bans in regards to new construction. If you have NG appliances in your current home, you can still replace them with new.

Gas stoves are a source of indoor pollution that evidence shows causes health issues. Another reason for LA's move. A federal agency is looking into ways of reducing those risks. Someone there made a remark about considering banning them. A certain segment took that has proof NG stoves would be banned and you wouldn't be able to even replace your old one. That is what generated the comment here.

I imagine those little tanks are quite leaky in comparison to the larger ones. Maybe some paranoia over IED use. Those is a very possible safety concern with disposal. Those tanks can't be refilled by most people, and the empties, which may not actually be, simply get tossed in the trash.

But everybody knows the best grilling is done over open coal flames, so I don't see it as a concern.

It came up in the current tax credit thread. The side discussion was involved enough there that I was thinking it had been a dedicated thread.

IIRC, it was possible to get an i3 to a stop without the lights coming on.

Dumb mistakes happen like the Ioniq 5 happen, but the general issue is that the US vehicle code only calls for the brake lights to come on when the brake pedal is depressed. Leaving it to manufacturers to figure it out without guidance.

 

Preach on, my brother in charred hardwood!

 

When I downshift a manual trans the brake lights don’t go on. Pretty much just before the stop when the brake pedal is pressed. Not that I drive like that all the time. On the Prime I often rest foot on brake in B just to warn those behind. But not always. Maybe the brake lights are on in B, I can’t see them from the frong.
I like the gas stove as it works in power outages. I know it emits things. They used to go to great lengths to duct gas stoves to the outside. That disappeared probably in the 60’s. Not sure what that was about, it is still ng burning. My parents kitchen had what could have been a good size pantry. Instead there was this massive reinforced clay pipe assembly inside going up to the roof for the gas stove. They used to sell covers for the unused hole in the wall in hardware stores when you got a newer stove. Sort of like a decorated pie plate with a spring to hold it in. A picture of a chicken is what I remember.

 

When I downshift a manual trans the brake lights don’t go on. Pretty much just before the stop when the brake pedal is pressed. Not that I drive like that all the time. On the Prime I often rest foot on brake in B just to warn those behind. But not always. Maybe the brake lights are on in B, I can’t see them from the frong.

 

As the engine speeds up? I always double clutch my downshifts. But you're probably right that there isn't a manual that has the engine braking that is possible with regen braking.

Although I will say that the last manual car I had, the 1985 Golf diesel with indirect injection had a lot of engine braking. The 1972 VW Beetle did too, but not as much as that ol' indirect injection diesel. There are mountain passes here that I have to gear down to 3rd in the the 6 pseudo gears of the Avalon to keep the car from running away and I still need to brake that 4th would be too much engine braking on those same downhill grades in the ol' Golf diesel, and it had only 5 gears.

 

No coal. Some parts of the world still cook over coal. Inside.

I've lived in homes that vented to hood outside even with electric ranges.

 

Oh even better!

The house we bought was converted from a coal kitchen to electric fairly recently. The stovepipe for the stove flue became the ejector duct for my kitchen vent- I require exterior ventilation for whatever stove I use.

The place came with a few hundred pounds of good leftover coal in the cellar bunker. I haven't used much but it's lovely!

...Back to Hertz.

Just this morning, I turned in the Hertz car I've been using in Texas all week. (Late model Malibu)

I didn't see any EVs in the return lane; just one real-world indicator.

And my rideshare home from the airport was a Prius, maybe a 2013? Every warning light was on and it drove like nothing was wrong.

 

I'd also say that a manual transmission and crank windows are the only things I'd like in a car. If money were no limit and I could buy or mod or build my own car I'd want:

• Fog lights that actually work for, well, fog,
• A full size spare tire
• Shock towers that clear tire chains (like on the Avalon, I had to use tire chains today),
• Wheel wells designed for the ice and snow to fall out and not stick (maybe heated wheel wells??, but definitely not like the fabric wheel wells on the Avalon! Terrible!).
• Something with good visibility in front of the vehicle (not these silly Peterbuilt inspired truck noses on most vehicles these days)
• Something that has a either a good ballance between a low profile sedan driving experience and enough ground clearance or adjustible height suspention.
• AWD-but only if it gets good fuel mileage. Otherwise I'd prefer FWD over RWD unless it also had 4-wheel steering.
• Something that's small and fun to drive yet has a tow rating and a hitch that doesn't drag on the ground so I can tow when I need to, unless it's got a pickup truck bed, but I want to be able to reach into the pickup truck bed without having to use a ladder.
• Although a sedan would be my preference, but one that has a good sized trunk lid to serve as a good ground plane.

 

A manual, or regular automatic, can slow down rapidly enough with the gears depending on the vehicle. I think the point is they require a brake pedal light switch on cars, not depending on the rate of deceleration. It also warns at a stop. It seems it is up to the company to do more with ev’s? I think I will rest my foot on the brake more at stops now, thinking about it. They are looking at their screens as they approach much of the time.