How much is your local "Trump at the Pump Tax?"

This has been fun, but I have to pack the car to drive 15000kms to say goodbye to a good friend who probably won't see the weekend.
I will be driving my MG4 EV that cost the equivalent of USD $21,000 on the road including all taxes and 12 mths rego and insurance.
I will be using those non existent EV chargers to recharge, an hr to fill up to drive another 350kms at a cost of the USD equivalent of $7.70, probably 4 stops, I actually regain power on the down hill bits, so the range is better than the flat road 350kms ....
I guess I'll have a meal or a walk to stretch the legs, or read a book on the phone .... but more likely sleep, so I can do the trip in one go ... 9,300 miles on $30.80 in electricity, fortunately, our govt hasn't banned EV's and the oil companies can see the writing on the wall over here and are part of the EV fast charging network rollout.

How do you support all these fast chargers where the grid isn't up to it? You add a battery bank, charge from the solar mounted on the canopy roof of the fuel station and top up with what the grid is capable of supplying.
Free energy from the sun, maybe a wind turbine or two, but pretty artistic looking vertical axis, so it becomes a feature but doesn't make that noise that only effects those who aren't making money from having the wind turbine on there property, so more free electricty to use and sell, must be a capitalist who can see money to be made from that ....

T1 Terry

 

At least they are only exploiting their own labour, not sitting back and living the high life on the backs of those working under them ....

T1 Terry

 

Cars replaced horses because cars don't need to be fed and watered and poop-scooped twice a day, every day, all year round, even when not being used for transportation or work.

Do you remember the (before automobile) projections of how deep New York City's streets would soon be covered in horse manure, at the rate the City was growing? How many tens of thousands of tons of manure would have to be removed every day? The new-fangled automobiles and trucks rendered those projections obsolete.

 

No economical ICE models? I just bought a low mile CT200h for $7000, best car I've ever owned, I can smoke a sport bike going on downhill curves, they catch on the straights but lose on the turns. And you can get a clean medium mileage 2nd gen Prius for $4000. And ICE tech is so refined there's virtually no pollution. And I towed a 2000 lbs loaded trailer 700 miles with my 2nd gen and ran 65 mph no problem.

People don't want EV's because they are too expensive and have a limited range and take too long to charge. Good for a medium commute but not a road trip. Maybe when batteries get better, which will happen. But we don't have the grid for it at this point. And transmission lines lose up to 40% over distance. And the EV "trucks" won't haul a load. I hauled 18,000 lbs 700 miles and had two 15 minute stops for fuel with a 3/4 ton diesel, and it went up steep interstate hiway at 1/3 throttle. Nothing tows like a diesel. My 2014 F250 has 800 ft/lbs torque. They tested a Tesla truck hauling a 16 ft 4000 lbs camper and the range was 80 miles and they had to stop and charge for 40 minutes. The F150 EV was worse, hauling a car trailer with a 3000 lbs car only made it 30 miles.

 

By my calculations, a 15000 km trip -- more than one-third of the way around the planet -- would need 43 recharges at 350 km/charge. Not just 4 recharges.

15000 km in 4 days, requires an average speed of over 150 km/hour -- counting all the stop time to recharge and rest and sleep. Probably more like 230 km/hr as a moving average. That requires a much higher speed limit than anyplace in this country.

9,300 miles on $30.80 in electricity, figures out to 1/3 of cent per mile. That means your electricity is priced less than one-tenth our average price.

 

I count 26 GE nuclear plants completed just since 2004.....and that's JUST GE.
Westinghouse has completed 20 in the last 50 years all still in service....and there are 45 other reactors in service that are a combination of Westinghouse and GE, along with a couple made by Bechtel.....

 

I enjoyed this article discussing the rise of the "electroyuan" and its chances (timeframe, really) of overtaking the petrodollar.

China was already ahead of the USA on a few fronts. President Trump's actions so far have allowed China to vault ahead in several others.

I'd go crazy if I didn't eventually forgive him for a few of his mistakes, but I'll never forgive him for making the USA look weak, dumb and slow.

 

I see the above not as two wholly irreconcilable views, but rather as a sign that the question "how many jobs did they create?" should generally be followed with "and what kind?".

 

...and not having every city street covered in horse manure. Summer in town must have been a treat.

China's state is what some marxists would call state capitalism, i.e. one run by the Party, but still a system that relies on accrued capital.

It is unlikely that one can be successful, wealthy and generally loved. Envy may be our most basic vice, but it is sad to see it cynically harnessed.

 

I filled up the Prius today- $4.09 at the station which was beating everyone else in town by $0.20 last month. I'll have to look and see how bad it is at the other stations near me.

 

Topped off the 36 gallon fuel tank - which was already nearly ⅞ full ..... plus several jerry cans. Almost $100 ! ! ! & the Gasbuddy app shows diesel went up 10¢ more by the next day. The hypervigilant better ½ gets credit for anticipating the rise in price, having me get down there before prices headed back up. A far cry from prices just a couple/few months ago when it was under $3.

We'll be pulling the 5th wheel into Canada for a 4 day stay around the RV park in Kananaskis Alberta then on to Fernie BC.

 

ouch, well done mr president

 

I thought BRICS was going after the petrodollar?

I just bought a ArcCaptain Chinese plasma cutter for $300, lighter smaller and works just as good as a USA designed (China built) plasma cuttter that costs $1200. And some of the China hand wrenches and big tool boxes are approaching Snap-on quality for a 1/4 of the price. The rank in quality has always been Japan, Taiwan, China. But China has consistently been stepping it up.

 

Beautiful country, I'm jealous

 

At my chosen petrolmonger... $5.59 for midgrade. Certainly better than last fillup... but it is close to midterms

 

Yes, the reason most investors don't throw any money at solar or, especially, wind power is because they have both shown to not be profitable, and it's not even close.

I have heard of an idea to have giant solar panels up in LEO (low earth orbit) with an umbilical cord down to earth (300 miles) but it's just an idea, at this point. Instead, Caltech and the European Space Agency are looking at means to transmit power down wirelessly. (Not really anything new, Nikola Tesla invented a way to transmit electricity wirelessly in the 1890's.)

We might as well just get rid of wind power as the mills reach end-of-life....it takes 10-20 years of production to break-even and the internal components only last, at longest, 15-years. (And there's other things that shorten their life....lightning strikes, high winds, salty air, etc.)

 

Now you are just punking us.

Any umbilical cord from LEO would have a ground speed of over 17,000 mph, very quickly burning up the portion in the atmosphere. And you couldn't attach it to any power substation on the ground.

 

Around here that’s a rare car that would be $8000 with 200,000 miles and rust starting, so you got a good deal if it’s low miles

 

Lately, I've been noticing, on my interstate road trips, that it's become advantageous to fill up here at the start and end of the trip, where I'm more accustomed historically to finding better pricing elsewhere along the route.

While I suspected some sort of explanation like this, I didn't go looking for it, but saw confirmation in the news yesterday: our governor has suspended our state gasoline tax. (The news I saw yesterday was about the suspension being extended another month.)

 

No problem as each is free to decide what works best. In my case, $0 dividends from TSLA stock vs ~$1,000/yr electric bill savings per year with my solar panels. My home value appreciated too although I use the old fart trick to freeze my property tax, appraised value.

My house is in the valley which tends to minimizes local winds. If I were back in Oklahoma, I would have a windmill generator like my Grandfather did in the 1950s.

So far, I’ve managed to avoid the “Golden Goose Egg” mutual fund. Others have reported great success with their mutual fund(s).

I prefer what minimizes my operating costs:

1. Hybrid hot water heater
2. Hybrid clothes dryer (stacked)
3. Front loader washing machine
4. Electric car(s)
5. Room specific A/C and heating
6. Garden displaces some lawn grass
7. Solar roof

Just curious, what do you consider a better investment than solar and wind?

Bob Wilson