Article in The Australian

[jonescg]

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/push-to-charge-ev-drivers-for-road-use/news-story/42359e970afcb369629414590ececda0
Paywalled, so only Beastie is likely to have a subscription.



Yours truly and his Ioniq pictured for the story. Frustratingly, I was totally misquoted on the fuel excise thing. I did not say “Yes, they have been paying for fuel excise, but they also do a lot of damage to the road.” I said they have been paying fuel excise but they haven't been paying for the damage to our air quality, which is a cost we all bear at the population level. But the editors left out a key sentence and made it up as they went along.

The reporter apologised for the mistake, but it remains...

 

[Dauntless]

Yours truly and his Ioniq pictured for the story. Frustratingly, I was totally misquoted on the fuel excise thing. I did not say “Yes, they have been paying for fuel excise, but they also do a lot of damage to the road.” I said they have been paying fuel excise but they haven't been paying for the damage to our air quality, which is a cost we all bear at the population level. But the editors left out a key sentence and made it up as they went along.

The reporter apologised for the mistake, but it remains...

Well, really happened is they corrected your mistake. They KNEW you really wanted to say something derogatory about electrics and not gas engines. There's a good chance this Adam Creighton isn't even the one that changed it, the editor is often the one who pulls this. Because it makes for a MUUUUUUUUCH better story that way.

 

[Hillhater]

Yes, its all about selling papers, keeping the customers happy.
And the Editor knows what his readers really want to hear !
You should know better than to talk to the press !

 

[jonescg]

Yes, its all about selling papers, keeping the customers happy.
And the Editor knows what his readers really want to hear !
You should know better than to talk to the press !

I don't normally interact with Newscorpse, but on this occasion they wanted a two sentence comment about the idea of a road user charge, and I figured the rather simple response of "Sure, no problem, so long as the same measure is applied to all vehicles" would be fairly uncontroversial. But when you have a culture war to wage, truth can wait.

It really blows my mind that EVs became a political issue. I mean, they're just cars that run on electricity FFS.

 

[Dauntless]

. . . . they're just cars that run on electricity FFS.

Well, the problem is, no, they'll never be just cars that run on electricity as long as there are people who insist a firetrap like the EV1 is the world's greatest car and demand that everyone be driving one. In the days of 25-30 mile range with a HUGE pricetag there were people saying they didn't care if that worked for you, it should be the law everyone has to drive one. There will now be a political divide and two sides trying to exploit it.

As soon as one side offers phony statistics such as '80% of drivers NEVER drive a full 30 miles in one day,' the other side is off in the defensive mode. The state of California has passed unrealistic laws that has caused them to be dragged into court or to repeal to get out of going to court. One side overreaches, the other slaps their hand.

Under those circumstances, they can ever be ''Just cars that run on electricity." They'll also be lightning rods. Better to just quietly develop the cars and let people think they really would like their own Telsa than to turn that Tesla into something threatening. But to some the threat is the fun part.

 

[jonescg]

Rest assured Australia is not a place where EV policy is enacted.

All we can do is let people know about the benefits of the technology, and help them understand it. I'd much rather let the market drive the shift than to have a law preventing you from buying an ICE. Some municipalities see merit in banning ICE cars from their cities because they do a lot of harm, and EVs do offer an alternative. In this case, stick must be matched with carrot; if you're going to ban diesels from your city centre, then at least offer a toll discount for EVs or something comparable.

 

[markz]

Don't diesel engines have the highest MPG/KmPL?
I've been eyeing the older VW Jetta diesels (1999-2004?, ALH engines) and they have very high gas mileage, 45'ish MPG. I've also been looking at the older Suzuki Sidekicks/Geo Trackers (1.6L gasoline engines) and they have good mileage for petrol. Can only think the new engines have even better mileage and maybe smaller displacement, 1.4L or 1.2L maybe, lighter materials nowadays too.

I often wonder whats going to happen to the old vehicles decades from now. I'm not one to spend much on vehicles, I'd much prefer an old vehicle with little to no computers then the new age jazz that require dealer tools. Thats the way things seem to be going, John Deere, Apple and the Right to Repair movement. Corporations want you to buy new crap, governments will soon follow suit because corporations have some pull with their lobbying grps.

Rest assured Australia is not a place where EV policy is enacted.

All we can do is let people know about the benefits of the technology, and help them understand it. I'd much rather let the market drive the shift than to have a law preventing you from buying an ICE. Some municipalities see merit in banning ICE cars from their cities because they do a lot of harm, and EVs do offer an alternative. In this case, stick must be matched with carrot; if you're going to ban diesels from your city centre, then at least offer a toll discount for EVs or something comparable.

 

[jonescg]

I often wonder whats going to happen to the old vehicles decades from now. I'm not one to spend much on vehicles, I'd much prefer an old vehicle with little to no computers then the new age jazz that require dealer tools. Thats the way things seem to be going, John Deere, Apple and the Right to Repair movement. Corporations want you to buy new crap, governments will soon follow suit because corporations have some pull with their lobbying grps.

Pretty sure the energy and resources balance of recycling the old cars for scrap steel and aluminium is pretty good. Far better use of time, money, energy and minerals to melt old ICE cars down into fresh materials for building new EVs. The bulk of an EVs additional energy and emissions comes from the manufacturing of the battery, which is going to happen whether you use a chassis made from recycled metals or not.

Converting cars to electric sure is fun, and challenging. But dollar for dollar, go and buy one. Used ones are even cheaper. There's no way you can make something even half as good in the garage.

 

[sn0wchyld]

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/push-to-charge-ev-drivers-for-road-use/news-story/42359e970afcb369629414590ececda0
Paywalled, so only Beastie is likely to have a subscription.

shitrag.JPG

Yours truly and his Ioniq pictured for the story. Frustratingly, I was totally misquoted on the fuel excise thing. I did not say “Yes, they have been paying for fuel excise, but they also do a lot of damage to the road.” I said they have been paying fuel excise but they haven't been paying for the damage to our air quality, which is a cost we all bear at the population level. But the editors left out a key sentence and made it up as they went along.

The reporter apologised for the mistake, but it remains...

wait... your telling me that the media accidental misquoted someone in such a way that it will spark outrage and anger?
NEVER IN MY GIDDLY LITTLE LIFE.
You sir must be lying. Must be, because the news media never ever ever ever ever do. Nah. Not them.

 

[markz]

There are still a lot of people, atleast in Canada, that drive around in old vehicles that are not classic cars, or antiques. We're talking about 1970's era vehicles and 1980's era, 50 years old. They cant afford no newer used car, and the governments movement to switch the population over to a cleaner mode of transport will screw them over, a certain % of the population buys new (0-1-2-3 yrs old) and newer cars (within 3-10yrs) and those people can afford the repair bills with dealer specific tools required, higher parts cost. The rest of us in the 20yrs and older club are left out in the cold. The government will crack down, cleaner air, save the whales, save the tree's. Meanwhile the industrial corps spew and dump illegally and are slapped on the wrist.

edit
Oh and turn a blind eye to China, India, Pakistan and others dumping who knows what. They probably make up a great % of the pollution spread out over the earth winds and oceans and rain. Meanwhile our old vehicles as a whole is 0.0000000000000000~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~000000000000000000001%
and they will tax it somehow

 

[miro13car]

seeing and hearing /broken mufflers/ all those worn out, rusted , polluting air old junk cars is depressing in Calgary.
I even took pictures to show them in Europe.
no mandatory vehicle inspections - wild West Alberta, everything goes.
everything gets registered by Alberta government.
Highway and Traffic Act is clear on what should be on the road.

 

[CONSIDERABLE SHOUTING]

Looking good Jones. Sorry that you have to practically pick and choose what you say to the media now, just to keep your opinion straight; it seems like they're fighting for inches. This also went for protest groups i've been in- strict no-media policies except for those that have been specifically trained.

Don't diesel engines have the highest MPG/KmPL?
I've been eyeing the older VW Jetta diesels (1999-2004?, ALH engines) and they have very high gas mileage, 45'ish MPG. I've also been looking at the older Suzuki Sidekicks/Geo Trackers (1.6L gasoline engines) and they have good mileage for petrol. Can only think the new engines have even better mileage and maybe smaller displacement, 1.4L or 1.2L maybe, lighter materials nowadays too.

Diesels can do 100/mpg- take a look at Casey Putsch on youtube's "Omega", he's doing some neat stuff. There's hordes of tunes for mileage, tons of kits for running cooking oils too as Randy Probst can tell you about; he's got an 03' Jetta TDI running sunflower oil I think. Real issue with diesels is the particulate and acids they produce, versus gas making CO2 and oxides.

[youtube]qH3uIbXA1WI[/youtube]

Honestly, you want to look for cars just prior to the newest crash safety ratings which really have bulked up our vehicles. I *think* 2006 will be your cutoff year; while you can easily get 50mpg out of something like a Geo Metro or Ford Festiva, they really aren't safe at all. Newer engines will likely be aluminum instead of Iron block, but at those sizes- engines like the Ford 1.0L Fox come to mind- are as big as a sheet of paper, so going aluminum might shave 20-30 lbs or so.

I often wonder whats going to happen to the old vehicles decades from now. I'm not one to spend much on vehicles, I'd much prefer an old vehicle with little to no computers then the new age jazz that require dealer tools. Thats the way things seem to be going, John Deere, Apple and the Right to Repair movement. Corporations want you to buy new crap, governments will soon follow suit because corporations have some pull with their lobbying grps.

Actually, we can see right now! All of them are currently being either hoarded or scrapped. Look for said Festiva or Metro on CL/Kiijii/whatever and you'll either find singe vehicles or entire lots of them, with no middle ground it seems. When people like them, they HOARD them in my experience.

Sounds like you need to start getting involved with your government against this.