patrick.net

rocketjoe79 says

It really makes sense in California where I live: a 15 gallon fillup costs about $90 today and I can recharge 300+ miles for under $20.

Register your home with the government for having a car charger there? You're being subsidized, and there's no taxes on your electricity usage.

I used to work in this area, until I became utterly disgusted with it. I just stopped showing up to work one day. There's so many scams in the "green energy sector" you wouldn't believe me. The STANDARD for DC fast charging has built into it, an artificial monopoly for a single company, that is incompetent. The architects for the standard don't understand the standard they designed around, they use EXI (Efficient XML) which is no better (or worse) than GZIP on standard XML, they pushed digital communications over powerlines (Homeplug GreenPhy) which exists ONLY because Europe has a lot of homes built like brick shithouses which don't allow wifi to work.

It's a total mess. So much corruption, companies that had NO BUSINESS being in the business were selected through corruption or graft or god knows what, architects were fucking idiots (the morons were actually saying that cars should power the general power grid, NO FUCKING SHIT), just...

The whole battery powered car shit, is a big fucking scam.

socal2 says

I have an "EV Plan" with my electric company (SDGE) and only pay $.10/kwh when I charge in my garage at night during off peak

You are so lucky. After I read your comment I looked up the EV Plan at PG&E here in San Jose, to see about charging our plug-in hybrid.

The PG&E website offers 24 cents per kwhr for off peak charging IF we agree to pay 45 cents for "shoulder" and 56 cents for "peak" under their EV2A plan, or 24 cents offpeak and 36 cents / 60 cents on EV-B plan. There is no 10 cents per kwhr for off peak, and for the privilege of 24 cents per kwhr charging we must agree to pay higher for other electricity we use.

Presently under a "non-EV chargring" rate plan, PGE charges 28 cents for kwhr for low usage and 36 cents per kwhr above the low usage threshold. This averaged out to 34 cents per kwhr overall for last month's bill. So I think, as a PG&E customer in San Jose, charging at home is not such a great bargain.

I did the arithmetic. According to the specs, our plug-in is expected to get 2.85 miles per kwhr. At today's prices per kwhr this will pencil out to $7 per gallon. The car gets about 55 mpg without charging.

Good for you in San Diego. But in San Jose, this is why I am skeptical when Smugsters in my area boast about how little they pay to operate their EV. (I know, a pure electric will get more miles per kwhr than a hybrid. But still...)

Patrick says

The middle pump is out
now.

The Saudis and Emirates flat-out refused to even take Joe's call to discuss oil production increase. We should not forget that next time they run to us for weapons.

B.A.C.A.H. says

You are so lucky. After I read your comment I looked up the EV Plan at PG&E here in San Jose, to see about charging our plug-in hybrid.

The PG&E website offers 24 cents per kwhr for off peak charging IF we agree to pay 45 cents for "shoulder" and 56 cents for "peak" under their EV2A plan, or 24 cents offpeak and 36 cents / 60 cents on EV-B plan. There is no 10 cents per kwhr for off peak, and for the privilege of 24 cents per kwhr charging we must agree to pay higher for other electricity we use.

I do have to pay an additional $15/month flat rate to be on this plan and the other peak rates are $.37 and $.42/kwh throughout most of the day.

I get the $.10/kwh rate from midnight to 6 AM during the week and midnight to 2 PM on the weekends. So we make it a point to do our laundry on the weekends (electric dryer) and run our dishwasher on a timer after midnight.

I had a Chevy Bolt for 3 years before my Tesla and my electric consumption went up 25% a month but my electric bill went down about $10/month on this plan.

https://babylonbee.com/news/biden-says-that-gas-prices-are-not-his-fault-unless-they-go-back-down-again?source=patrick.net

https://notthebee.com/article/our-gas-prices-are-now-higher-than-in-fictional-zombie-apocalypses-and-im-not-sure-whether-to-laugh-or-cry?source=patrick.net

https://notthebee.com/article/buckle-up-biden-expected-to-announce-ban-on-all-russian-oil-today-sending-gas-prices-skyrocketing-even-higher?source=patrick.net

https://notthebee.com/article/stephen-colbert-on-rising-oil-prices-a-clean-conscience-is-worth-a-buck-or-two-ill-pay-15-a-gallon-because-i-drive-a-tesla?source=patrick.net




They have no bread? Let them eat cake.

RWSGFY says

The Saudis and Emirates flat-out refused to even take Joe's call to discuss oil production increase. We should not forget that next time they run to us for weapons.

The Saudis and Emirates do not want to talk to Biden because they see Biden as continuing Obama's policy of letting Iran get nukes.

Just pulled over in Martinez for a fill-up.

Looks like Biden's handlers panicked today.

Had the market manipulators out in force.

I saw this coming last year when Biden got elected. In July 2021, I sold my boat and new truck, both for significantly more than I paid for both. I ordered a Prius Prime and got it for under sticker.

Best of both worlds. 35 mile EV range which is 95% of my driving. When I switch over to gas, I get 55mpg.

A tank of gas will last me months if I don't do any long road tripping.

My current tank of gas I've driven 450 miles so far, averaging 400mpgs, and still have a full tank of gas. No pain at the pump here, but my wife's SUV is gonna suck!!

https://notthebee.com/article/reminder-the-us-is-sitting-on-roughly-a-third-of-a-trillion-barrels-of-oil-and-about-3000-trillion-cubic-feet-of-natural-gas?source=patrick.net

Onvacation says

Just pulled over in Martinez for a fill-up.

Holy shit! Get out of CA. Bring the sailboat to the Great lakes, FL or TX. That's nuts. We're high here, but that is crazy high prices.

Patrick says

https://notthebee.com/article/reminder-the-us-is-sitting-on-roughly-a-third-of-a-trillion-barrels-of-oil-and-about-3000-trillion-cubic-feet-of-natural-gas?source=patrick.net

And how about 3000 YEARS worth of coal in the Permian Basin.

https://t.me/greatreject/32049?source=patrick.net

Tennessee trucker sends a wakeup call…

My friend from Riviera Beach told me her mother voted for Biden because she thought Kamala was black and she was “our kind, one of us.”

I asked her if her mother was happy paying $2.25 more per gallon now.

Off the subject, the mother called me on her other daughter’s cell phone, the first time we ever spoke.
She “axxed” to borrow money to install a new roof on the family home.

I conveniently blamed Putin for a precipitous drop of my net worth. No dice madam.
I got the idea from Biden.
Of course since the invasion it’s just another 3% or so.

Gasoline isn’t expensive, it just costs more than some people can afford.

clambo says

Gasoline isn’t expensive, it just costs more than some people can afford.

Spot On, bro.

I filled up an awd five-passenger hatchback a couple of days ago in San Jose. $34.50 at $5.299 per gallon for 197 miles of driving. That pencils out to about 17.5 cents per mile. This is one of the Bargains of the Millenia, an awd vehicle that weighs approximately one ton, can haul up to five adults, and some stuff in the back, for 17.5 cents per mile.

Compare that to what it'd have cost our ancestors not so long ago, to feed and water horses if they didn't want to walk.

$5.299 per gallon, even $20 per gallon, is Super-Cheap, considering what we get for what we pay.

Cannot afford it? What's so wrong with carpooling ("ride sharing"?). I traveled once to a place where folks of modest means who were lucky enough to have a car would pick up strangers along the way in exchange for some small amount of money to defray their fuel cost. I even got a couple such rides myself.

$5.299, Bargain of the Millenia.

I'm not a fan of cars and gas myself, but I don't like the true suffering the higher prices are causing for the poorer half of America.

joshuatrio says

I saw this coming last year when Biden got elected. In July 2021, I sold my boat and new truck, both for significantly more than I paid for both. I ordered a Prius Prime and got it for under sticker.

Best of both worlds. 35 mile EV range which is 95% of my driving. When I switch over to gas, I get 55mpg.

Great timing JT on getting one under sticker. Used Prius Primes seem to have one of the higher premiums these days. Volts can be a little better. I was looking at the CMAX Energi (plug in hybrid) a while back. Nothing is cheap these days, but it does seem you can do better with the CMAX. From Edmunds:
My last 4 cars were Priuses, my wife also drives a Prius. Her first response when she drove my C-Max was, "WOW!" I wanted a plug in, but the Prius plug in wasn't available yet in my state (plus, it's about 8 grand more than I paid for my C-Max), so I took a look at the C-Max Energi. SO GLAD I DID! I LOVE THIS CAR! It is better than the Prius in every possible way, except, possibly, reliability, which in the Prius is legendary, the C-Max could be too, just haven't had it long enough to know. It is faster, more quiet, much more comfortable...

B.A.C.A.H. says

Cannot afford it? What's so wrong with carpooling ("ride sharing"?). I traveled once to a place where folks of modest means who were lucky enough to have a car would pick up strangers along the way in exchange for some small amount of money to defray their fuel cost. I even got a couple such rides myself.

In these days of suburbs, where it's not unusual for a couple to work in two completely different directions, or neighbors for that matter, carpooling is less of an answer.

The entirety of the US is built around suburbs and commuting.

What would really be great leadership is "If you are not physically required to be present, companies MUST let you work at home or themselves be ineligible for any tax breaks on gas/travel expenses."

All this talk about electric cars is all bullshit. Congrats, your subsidized bad decision is cheaper to drive now that Biden has fucked it all up.

I’m going on vacation pulling a trailer for 400 miles. It’s going to cost me $200, which is $100 too much but your model X will take 2 days to cover it as it will only go 100 miles between charges.

Nevermind trucks hauling important shit like food.

Anyways, congratulations on your slave made car fueled by coal. Progress!

AmericanKulak says

In these days of suburbs, where it's not unusual for a couple to work in two completely different directions, or neighbors for that matter, carpooling is less of an answer.

The entirety of the US is built around suburbs and commuting.

I have only ever lived in suburbs. I carpooled for about ten years, from San Jose to different Silicon Valley workplaces (Mountain View, Sunnyvale, IBM in South San Jose, Milpitas). My spouse who also worked (and carpooled), and some of those ten years we were parents of kids who needed chauffeuring. It can be done.

Yes, it's true, I had to drive a little bit to our meeting point (carpool did not meet at my residence). I quit carpooling when I began night shift.

But! What I/we did not do, was arrange our life in a super-hyper-efficient way where every freaking thing has to dovetail perfectly in such a way that made carpooling impractical. Doing that would be kind of stupid, allowing no margin for error.

pudil says

All this talk about electric cars is all bullshit.

I got one of the early Priuses in 2001. I needed a car and was sort of fascinated with the concept. I did not purchase it out of environmentalism or as a status symbol. (Besides the early Priuses were butt-ugly).

As time went on the Prius became a Status Symbol (this is pre-Tesla days), and so many Bay Area Hipsters got one. They used to like to boast about how much they were saving on gasoline. But they never talked about the cost of a replacement battery.

Every time I took my Prius for service, I would have the service advisor re-give me an informal quote for a replacement battery. The answer was always the same: $4000.

In 2006, Toyota replaced the battery under warranty due to a defect. They did not extend the original warranty. I asked the service advisor what was the warranty period if I had to buy a replacement battery after my battery's warranty expired: two years. The $4000 replacement battery warranty would be two years.

I keep log sheets of my costs for all my cars.. For the Prius, I had an accrual for the replacement battery cost that I amortized over the warranty period. I reckoned, for the fuel savings compared to a Corolla (about the same size), I had "broken even" on battery vs fuel cost savings after about 100,000 miles, this was after about ten years driving.

Smugsters and Hipsters with EV's don't bring up the cost of the battery.

There is a dude that drives a Prius in my neighborhood that has a bumper sticker saying:

"Nice Prius!"
"Said no one....."

socal2 says

Save_Ukraine says

@socal2
Which model did you get?

I got a Model Y dual motor. Ordered it back in August and it arrived in January. The thing is a spaceship! The speed, acceleration, torque, regenerative breaking (especially the regen breaking!), infotainment/audio system, autopilot (didn't get FSD). Can't imagine the acceleration in the Performance model let alone the Plaid, it is already crazy fast for a mid-range model.

All American car made by a company with a non-woke CEO like Musk.

@socal, congrats! It’s a fun car to drive. Hope you got it before all the price increases.

If it weren’t for the tri-motor Cybertruck, I would have ordered the Plaid. Can’t take anything with us when we’re gone. Might as well enjoy life without breaking the bank. YOLO! 😂

socal2 says

There is a dude that drives a Prius in my neighborhood that has a bumper sticker saying:

"Nice Prius!"
"Said no one....."

I saw a license plate frame on a Prius “0-60 eventually”. The car owner has a good sense of humor.

Eman says

@socal, congrats! It’s a fun car to drive. Hope you got it before all the price increases.

If it weren’t for the tri-motor Cybertruck, I would have ordered the Plaid. Can’t take anything with us when we’re gone. Might as well enjoy life without breaking the bank. YOLO!

I ordered in August, so I got it about $4-5K cheaper than what it is now. Still the most expensive car I have ever owned/leased.

I can't drive it enough! I am volunteering for every errand and school pickup/drop-off. I am fortunate that I live in an area with really nice roads and hills where I can let it out and get some really good speed. It never gets old.

Can't wait to see some Cybertrucks on the road. I live in EV mecca and already saw a few Rivians driving around.