Porsche Appliances

 

Porsche Taycan: the most up to date technology can now be yours! (actual photo of 1955 Desoto lever gear shift.)

I read this and was startled:

Net-zero emissions by the entire U.S. would reduce global temperatures by 0.1 degrees by 2100, using the Environmental Protection Agency climate model under assumptions consistent with the modern peer-reviewed literature on the temperature effects of reduced GHG emissions. (The entire Paris agreement: 0.17 degrees.)

This appeared in National Review and was written by Benjamin Zycher on the impact of Minnesota’s EV mandates. I can attest to the other salient point he makes in the article, electricity from wind and solar won’t work. You need to burn or react something and get dirty if you expect to have a grid to power all those EV’s. And just about anything you burn or react releases stuff. A little stuff, spread out, is OK. A lot of stuff, whether concentrated and belching from smokestacks or sealed in lead canisters, either needs to be scrubbed, accepted, or buried deep under former Senator Harry Reid’s house.

I recently went shopping for a new, spiffy, really (no, I mean really) fast sports car. Porsche’s Taycan Turbo S, was spec-d out at around $186,000 +, +, +. Tax credit or no, that is a lot of money to go 0-60 in 2.4 seconds. Am I right? Though Porsche claims their car has 750 horsepower, and we all know horses eat up a lot of hay — imagine how much 750 can eat.

And what’s with the Turbo? Turbo means there is a compressor forcing fuel and air into the combustion cylinders to improve the performance of the oil-fired motor. Excuse me, Mr. Porsche, are you pulling my leg to trick me into thinking there is still a beast of an engine in there? Ok, ok. I get it. That whole horsepower rating relates back to the time when car companies needed to trick the first auto buyers into purchasing a Hupmobile. So, pretending there are horses inside or a turbo still strapped onto an electric motor is old hat for car company advertising (deception?). But the Taycan has almost no internal force or stress since it relies upon two ‘extremely efficient’ electric motors similar to my Cuisinart or my Hamilton Beach blender. Just listen to the engine; you can’t hear it. And thus, one encounters the most serious problem for EV’s (not to mention the name “EV”) – more on that later.

Now let’s talk about that speed. You can go into hyper-speed in any electric car for a wee bit and then all that dead-weight battery either depletes or melts (not really, but the Taycan can’t go 0-60 at 2.4 seconds a hundred times, so that limits the number of 22 second round-trips to the grocery store). Further, it is either the third or fourth fastest street car – following the Porsche 918 ($845,000) and the Lamborghini Huracán ($281,000, excl. taxes, transportation, and psychiatrist fees), maybe a Bugatti, … and just about any Tesla if you drop the car from a C-130 cargo plane at 10,000 feet and the vehicle reaches terminal velocity before smacking into the ground. I don’t know about you, but ‘ol James Madison thinks that $186,000 is a ton of money for the third or fourth fastest street car. What will I do if’s my neighbor buys a gasoline-burning Huracán and shames me?

Batteries, even those made with slave-mined cobalt (Hey, don’t get so upset, cobalt is mined by children, not adult slaves. Just don’t tell Amal Clooney that George is supporting child slavery.) and the environment-raping lithium, are a dreamer’s world away in terms of replacing that old fossil of fuels, fossil fuel. There are laws of physics and chemistry, you know. And those laws say, you can’t take too many buzzing electrons away for very long. So the Taycan has around a 200-mile range, maybe more (or less on a cold day). Its range is not that great when exploring the great American plain or trying to make a hop from say, Albany to Florida, to avoid the snow (or the nosy press reporters seeking comment about your sexual harassment charges).

And I read in the WSJ about a man who traveled from Florida to Colorado in 58 hours in a Tesla versus 30 hours by his old gas banger because he had to recharge. Whoa! 28 hours downtime to recharge. That’s a lot of rest stops. Even James Madison who clocks in at nearly 270 years old and sometimes needs to stop (to see a man about a horse) does not have to make that many pit stops. Not to mention finding recharging stations in that Corn, Wheat, or Cattle Country, wherever the heck that is? That must explain why the Taycan brags it has the shortest recharge time, if you can find the right recharger and there is not a line. Dear Porsche, don’t make the recharge time shorter than the average bathroom break.

So vanity aside, and I am deeply vain, this whole electric thingy is not fully thought through. Not to mention, the Taycan gear shift lever … forward, reverse, and park … is located on the dashboard and looks like a flip switch … just like grandpa’s 1955 DeSoto. And nothing says whoop, whoop, like a DeSoto. But the real shocker is a Taycan only has two gears. My Black and Decker, kitchen Crush Master has 10 speeds! 10 speeds Porsche! That is eight speeds more, and for $185,975 less.

Which brings me back to the fatal flaw of electric vehicles: they are a kitchen appliance. Who sits around their house wearing a $1,200 Ferrari jacket, $18,000 Porsche Design watch, and $500 Lamborghini sunglasses and thinks, “Oh, I want a hand-stitched leather coat emblazoned with Mr. Coffee’s logo on it?”

Years ago, my wife Dolly told me that women don’t want personal gifts from their husbands that come with an electric plug. And so I say, “Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Bugatti, … electric is fun, but don’t quit your day job.” Those electric motors don’t roar. It’s like flying faster in space – you can’t hear, see, or feel it – unless you plan to take us to warp speed.

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  1. Tex929rr Coolidge
    Tex929rr
    @Tex929rr

    The EV industry relies on the most amazing of many modern denials of physics and economics.  I saw a video clip (I wish I’d saved the link) where a politician was praising a new government EV fleet; after she handed the lectern over to the local utility CEO he said that the local grid was powered 90% by coal.  On another forum I commented on how diesel and gas powered vehicles saved emergency services during the recent power outages, in part relying on a fueling station with generator power.  An EV true believer  suggested that the generator could have charged EV emergency vehicles.  I’m imaging the discussion with dispatch “we will be back in service in 45 minutes after we recharge”.

    And no one would sell any of this stuff without .gov subsidies. Likewise wind and solar farms. 

    With more and more Americans simply unable to even ask the most obvious questions about newly touted technology, we are in for more and more disappointment.  I’ll enjoy my internal combustion cars and bikes until I’m too old and then hopefully pass on before the bill comes due for all this stupidity.

    • #1
  2. American Abroad Thatcher
    American Abroad
    @AmericanAbroad

    I know nothing about motors, electric or combustion, but I love this piece.  And from now on I will not be able to think about EVs without associating them with kitchen appliances.  Fantastic work.

    • #2
  3. Seawriter Contributor
    Seawriter
    @Seawriter

    Maybe they should call it the Turbot. It is pronounced the the same a turbo, and would offer a clue to canny consumers as to who the fish will really be in the deal.

    • #3
  4. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    I always enjoy asking folks proudly exiting their electric vehicles: “Is it more fun driving a coal-powered car than a car that is oil-powered?” Yes, you are free to imagine the looks on their faces.

    • #4
  5. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Tex929rr (View Comment):

    The EV industry relies on the most amazing of many modern denials of physics and economics. I saw a video clip (I wish I’d saved the link) where a politician was praising a new government EV fleet; after she handed the lectern over to the local utility CEO he said that the local grid was powered 90% by coal. On another forum I commented on how diesel and gas powered vehicles saved emergency services during the recent power outages, in part relying on a fueling station with generator power. An EV true believer suggested that the generator could have charged EV emergency vehicles. I’m imaging the discussion with dispatch “we will be back in service in 45 minutes after we recharge”.

    And no one would sell any of this stuff without .gov subsidies. Likewise wind and solar farms.

    With more and more Americans simply unable to even ask the most obvious questions about newly touted technology, we are in for more and more disappointment. I’ll enjoy my internal combustion cars and bikes until I’m too old and then hopefully pass on before the bill comes due for all this stupidity.

    Time for this again…   (in case it’s been too long, that’s Obama in the car)

     

    • #5
  6. DonG (2+2=5. Say it!) Coolidge
    DonG (2+2=5. Say it!)
    @DonG

    I like the push button trany on the ’56 Desoto.   Left side of dash. (LDPR)

    1956 DeSoto Fireflite Hemi Auto push button transmission Collector for sale  - DeSoto FireFlite 1956 for sale in Payson, Arizona, United States

    • #6
  7. Captain French Moderator
    Captain French
    @AlFrench

    DonG (2+2=5. Say it!) (View Comment):

    I like the push button trany on the ’56 Desoto. Left side of dash. (LDPR)

    1956 DeSoto Fireflite Hemi Auto push button transmission Collector for sale - DeSoto FireFlite 1956 for sale in Payson, Arizona, United States

    My parents had  ‘58 Mercury wagon with push button. It was a lemon, but I think the problems were more engine than transmission related.

    • #7
  8. Captain French Moderator
    Captain French
    @AlFrench

    James Madison: I read in the WSJ about a man who travelled from Florida to Colorado in 58 hours in a Tesla versus 30 hours by his old gas banger because he had to recharge. Whoa! 28 hours down time to recharge. That’s a lot of rest stops.

    And the guy was experienced in the use of EVs, and planned the trip carefully to minimize downtime. If you are talking about the average Joe who wants to go on a loosely planned road trip, you’re talking about much longer downtime.

    • #8
  9. James Madison Member
    James Madison
    @JamesMadison

    Captain French (View Comment):

    James Madison: I read in the WSJ about a man who travelled from Florida to Colorado in 58 hours in a Tesla versus 30 hours by his old gas banger because he had to recharge. Whoa! 28 hours down time to recharge. That’s a lot of rest stops.

    And the guy was experienced in the use of EVs, and planned the trip carefully to minimize downtime. If you are talking about the average Joe who wants to go on a loosely planned road trip, you’re talking about much longer downtime.

    Yes, this is an important point!  

    • #9
  10. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    James Madison (View Comment):

    Captain French (View Comment):

    James Madison: I read in the WSJ about a man who travelled from Florida to Colorado in 58 hours in a Tesla versus 30 hours by his old gas banger because he had to recharge. Whoa! 28 hours down time to recharge. That’s a lot of rest stops.

    And the guy was experienced in the use of EVs, and planned the trip carefully to minimize downtime. If you are talking about the average Joe who wants to go on a loosely planned road trip, you’re talking about much longer downtime.

    Yes, this is an important point!

    Well, They don’t want Us roaming around anyway.

    • #10
  11. Hugh Member
    Hugh
    @Hugh

    Fun read.

    • #11
  12. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    ALL the switch to electric vehicles is solely due to Government Mandates.  The People are not clamoring for electric cars, and when the government subsidies go away, the vast majority of demand also goes away.  I was reading that same WSJ article, which also notes that a few years ago, the Communist Chinese government, which had heavily subsidized electric cars, removed that subsidy, and the demand immediately tanked.  The subsidies were restored a couple of years ago, demand came back, but the subsidies are again scheduled to expire at the end of this year.  Between the original subsidies and today, Communist China saw a huge increase in the number of manufacturers of electric cars there.  Anyone willing to hazard a guess as to how many of them will survive the next removal of subsidies?  The Europeans started it, and everyone else seems to be following them down the rabbit-hole.  

    You will have to extract my gasoline-powered car from my cold, dead hands.  My car is my Liberty.

    • #12
  13. Eugene Kriegsmann Member
    Eugene Kriegsmann
    @EugeneKriegsmann

    I am no great lover of cars of any species any longer. A couple of things in my life killed my love of them. One was having a Shelby GT 350 into which I poured all the money I had and then had to stolen. When returned it cost me another fortune rebuilding it since mechanical damage wasn’t insured. The second, many years later, was having to spend 3 hours a day commuting back and forth between home and work, and watching my bank account being sucked dry by oil companies. 

    Having said that, I have to say that electric cars have always struck me as a money pit. You spend a fortune on them, likely a fortune keeping them on the road, and then, at some point, the battery is going to need to be replaced. Now, you either sell the car before that happens, in which case it becomes someone else’s problem, or you pay the fare. As I understand it, a battery for one of these EVs can cost as much as an average rice burner. Then what happens to the old battery. Why do I suspect that, like old tires, they won’t necessarily get recycled. It isn’t something I have researched, but it does strike me that if electric cars became as prevalent as gas powered cars, that eventually they would become as big or even a bigger problem. It isn’t exactly like those 50 year old Chevys that get shipped down to Cuba, get rebuilt, and can and do run for years. They sort of remind me of the legend of the horse that the white man runs to death, the Native American comes along and revives, rides another 100 miles and then eats. Somehow, I don’t see an electric car being rebuilt and revived in that way. My suspicion is that because so many of the ones we are currently seeing are so expensive and luxurious that those pushing the concept haven’t really considered what the poor man’s version will look like, and how it will last. Like most progressive fantasies, they rely on the ability to perfect that which is not perfectible. 

    • #13
  14. Roderic Coolidge
    Roderic
    @rhfabian

    James Madison: Those electric motors don’t roar. It’s like flying faster in space – you can’t hear, see, or feel it – unless you plan to take us to warp speed.

    They’ve got a solution for that.  They can play the sound of a monster gasoline engine over the car’s speaker system (the sound you would get if you’re sitting in the car).  So it doesn’t bother other people, and you get the hot sound.   The sound is synchronized with the car so it sounds like an engine would when you hit the gas, etc.    

    True, the electricity to charge the cars comes mostly from burring carbon fuels, but the E cars are more efficient, about double the mileage you’d get with equivalent carbon emissions.  

    • #14
  15. Maguffin Inactive
    Maguffin
    @Maguffin

    Porsche’s Taycan Capacitor S instead of Porsche’s Taycan Turbo S?

     

    • #15
  16. RPD Inactive
    RPD
    @RPD

    RushBabe49 (View Comment):

    ALL the switch to electric vehicles is solely due to Government Mandates. The People are not clamoring for electric cars, and when the government subsidies go away, the vast majority of demand also goes away. I was reading that same WSJ article, which also notes that a few years ago, the Communist Chinese government, which had heavily subsidized electric cars, removed that subsidy, and the demand immediately tanked. The subsidies were restored a couple of years ago, demand came back, but the subsidies are again scheduled to expire at the end of this year. Between the original subsidies and today, Communist China saw a huge increase in the number of manufacturers of electric cars there. Anyone willing to hazard a guess as to how many of them will survive the next removal of subsidies? The Europeans started it, and everyone else seems to be following them down the rabbit-hole.

    You will have to extract my gasoline-powered car from my cold, dead hands. My car is my Liberty.

    About 2% of cars purchased are electric, and that’s with subsidies in place. Many of the electric cars are nice pieces, but they’re expensive and charging is a pain in the butt. If governments weren’t forcing the issue you would have every car company diving on electric, and manufacturers like Volvo trying to go all electric. But with states like California, and countries like Britain and Germany mandating an end to internal combustion vehicles in the near future the car companies see it as smart business to go all in on EVs.

    • #16
  17. RushBabe49 Thatcher
    RushBabe49
    @RushBabe49

    RPD (View Comment):

    RushBabe49 (View Comment):

    ALL the switch to electric vehicles is solely due to Government Mandates. The People are not clamoring for electric cars, and when the government subsidies go away, the vast majority of demand also goes away. I was reading that same WSJ article, which also notes that a few years ago, the Communist Chinese government, which had heavily subsidized electric cars, removed that subsidy, and the demand immediately tanked. The subsidies were restored a couple of years ago, demand came back, but the subsidies are again scheduled to expire at the end of this year. Between the original subsidies and today, Communist China saw a huge increase in the number of manufacturers of electric cars there. Anyone willing to hazard a guess as to how many of them will survive the next removal of subsidies? The Europeans started it, and everyone else seems to be following them down the rabbit-hole.

    You will have to extract my gasoline-powered car from my cold, dead hands. My car is my Liberty.

    About 2% of cars purchased are electric, and that’s with subsidies in place. Many of the electric cars are nice pieces, but they’re expensive and charging is a pain in the butt. If governments weren’t forcing the issue you would have every car company diving on electric, and manufacturers like Volvo trying to go all electric. But with states like California, and countries like Britain and Germany mandating an end to internal combustion vehicles in the near future the car companies see it as smart business to go all in on EVs.

    And since most people do not want electric cars,  the car makers will build cars to sit on their lots unsold, to meet government mandates. Will the government force people to buy them?

    • #17
  18. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    Electric cars have their place; rare and limited town driving. Much like mass transportation, they are nearly useless over distance/time. 

    Most people who have electric cars own and maintain at least one other car. They drive the toaster as a supplement. 

    But the government wants us to switch. And that’s simply not feasible and won’t be feasible many decades to come. 

    • #18
  19. Eugene Kriegsmann Member
    Eugene Kriegsmann
    @EugeneKriegsmann

    TBA (View Comment):
    They drive the toaster

    That is hilarious!

    • #19
  20. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    My wife and I recently purchased a Ford Escape hybrid. We’ve only owned it for a couple of months, but it is a very clever vehicle. It has all the safety features that beep at you when you are about to back into something, run into something, or just change lanes into something, with a rear camera and an onboard computer that acts as a wireless hotspot. What I find intriguing about the hybrid concept is that it makes its own electricity. Yes, it does require the lithium battery–a big downer–but the way it converts from gas to electric in such an effortless fashion is incredible. It even converts braking energy into electricity to store for future use. And you never plug this car in. It gets about forty MPG around town. I am not sure what a highway road trip would produce, we haven’t done one yet. Bottom line, it’s a fun car and a safe car, and an efficient car. We like it!

    • #20
  21. kovo62 Coolidge
    kovo62
    @kovo62

    I’ve owned a Tesla Model 3 since November. I must say that I’m very pleased with the car so far. I was skeptical of E cars until my son bought one. He, and the car, convinced me to do the same.
    Neither one of us did it to “save the planet” (don’t get me started on the scam of global warming alarmism) (nor to save money for that matter); my son bought one because he’s a real geek and a big fan of Elon Musk; I bought it for safety and convenience. I work for the U.S. Army in Vicenza, Italy, but I live at my wife’s house in Cesano Maderno, Italy, which is pretty far from my work and makes for a long commute several times a week. Since I’ve had the car I’ve only used a supercharger once, when I forgot to plug it in at night. I charge it at night using regular household current – I find that super convenient.
    I can imagine scenarios in which it could be inconvenient to have an E car, but for my situation it’s perfect.

    • #21
  22. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    kovo62 (View Comment):

    I’ve owned a Tesla Model 3 since November. I must say that I’m very pleased with the car so far. I was skeptical of E cars until my son bought one. He, and the car, convinced me to do the same.
    Neither one of us did it to “save the planet” (don’t get me started on the scam of global warming alarmism) (nor to save money for that matter); my son bought one because he’s a real geek and a big fan of Elon Musk; I bought it for safety and convenience. I work for the U.S. Army in Vicenza, Italy, but I live at my wife’s house in Cesano Maderno, Italy, which is pretty far from my work and makes for a long commute several times a week. Since I’ve had the car I’ve only used a supercharger once, when I forgot to plug it in at night. I charge it at night using regular household current – I find that super convenient.
    I can imagine scenarios in which it could be inconvenient to have an E car, but for my situation it’s perfect.

    Sooooo obvs. in the pocket of Big Windmill^

    • #22
  23. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    cdor (View Comment):

    My wife and I recently purchased a Ford Escape hybrid. We’ve only owned it for a couple of months, but it is a very clever vehicle. It has all the safety features that beep at you when you are about to back into something, run into something, or just change lanes into something, with a rear camera and an onboard computer that acts as a wireless hotspot. What I find intriguing about the hybrid concept is that it makes its own electricity. Yes, it does require the lithium battery–a big downer–but the way it converts from gas to electric in such an effortless fashion is incredible. It even converts braking energy into electricity to store for future use. And you never plug this car in. It gets about forty MPG around town. I am not sure what a highway road trip would produce, we haven’t done one yet. Bottom line, it’s a fun car and a safe car, and an efficient car. We like it!

    Yabbut…ok, I got nothin’. 

    • #23
  24. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    TBA (View Comment):

    cdor (View Comment):

    My wife and I recently purchased a Ford Escape hybrid. We’ve only owned it for a couple of months, but it is a very clever vehicle. It has all the safety features that beep at you when you are about to back into something, run into something, or just change lanes into something, with a rear camera and an onboard computer that acts as a wireless hotspot. What I find intriguing about the hybrid concept is that it makes its own electricity. Yes, it does require the lithium battery–a big downer–but the way it converts from gas to electric in such an effortless fashion is incredible. It even converts braking energy into electricity to store for future use. And you never plug this car in. It gets about forty MPG around town. I am not sure what a highway road trip would produce, we haven’t done one yet. Bottom line, it’s a fun car and a safe car, and an efficient car. We like it!

    Yabbut…ok, I got nothin’.

    You got nothin’!?! Come on man…

    • #24
  25. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    There are other “scam” reasons to at least PRETEND to like electric cars.  For one example, I refer to the Ricochet Podcast from 4-26-19, “It’s Still A Damn Fine Country,” starting at 58:00.

    • #25
  26. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    cdor (View Comment):

    TBA (View Comment):

    cdor (View Comment):

    My wife and I recently purchased a Ford Escape hybrid. We’ve only owned it for a couple of months, but it is a very clever vehicle. It has all the safety features that beep at you when you are about to back into something, run into something, or just change lanes into something, with a rear camera and an onboard computer that acts as a wireless hotspot. What I find intriguing about the hybrid concept is that it makes its own electricity. Yes, it does require the lithium battery–a big downer–but the way it converts from gas to electric in such an effortless fashion is incredible. It even converts braking energy into electricity to store for future use. And you never plug this car in. It gets about forty MPG around town. I am not sure what a highway road trip would produce, we haven’t done one yet. Bottom line, it’s a fun car and a safe car, and an efficient car. We like it!

    Yabbut…ok, I got nothin’.

    You got nothin’!?! Come on man…

    OK, fine. Ur car is ugly. 

    • #26
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