Mercedes ditching diesels in North America

[ctilsie242]

Here is a blurb about this. Is this meaning that Sprinters will be made with gasoline engines, or pulled out of the market completely?

[MEXICOWANDERER]

After 20 years most Chinese panel companies would have had three factory leadership assassinations, at least five PLA army raids to arrest those not assassinated on corruption charges, and presently make inflatable Panda dolls.

RE: Warranties
WARRANTIED BY THE MANUFACTURER has legal meaning. I highly suggest not holding your breath.

[time2roll]

hone eagle wrote:
I have a marine solar panel that lost 50% out put after around 20 years.

Most panels have a performance warranty of about 80% after 20 years.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Ooooooooo, that infuriates me...the nerd who must have been one of the first to do a California Central Valley Summer Tour. From Marysville to Merced, loading up at rural roads produce stands. Crates of peaches, almonds, ears of sweet corn so big they would bring guffaws of mockery today. Further south I purchased a ninety pound sack of pistachios for fifteen dollars - eat your heart out.

Solar has become "It It Is Impossible To Do Other Than Miracles" cult. The most radical protagonists foam at the mouth at the suggestion solar is not a see-all do-all energy fix. It reminds me of carious vitamins cults.

[Dusty_R]

Here in Michigan, we rank 47 out of the 48 continental states in available sun shine. Yet companies are coming in and wanting to grab up good farm land and build "Solar Farms".

Dusty

[hone_eagle]

time2roll wrote:

dougrainer wrote:

garyemunson wrote:
Having driven an electric car for 6 years now and just recently added solar panels to my house to charge it for free, I guarantee you internal combustion engines are dead men walking. Even worse, self driving cars are going to take us right out of the drivers seat!

Adding solar panels for free electricity????? WHO is installing those panels for FREE? There is ALWAYS a COST. The Panels are not cheap. Then you have to maintain the system and replace any panels that get damaged. While solar is neat, it is NOT free. Self driving cars? Yea, right. There is ALWAYS an undetermined factor on all electronics. The self driving systems can never factor in all abberations that can happen. I am glad the odds are I will not live long enough to see the problems when people assume the computers will be able to do all things on the road. Doug

My panels will have paid for themselves in cost saving at the five year mark. (six months to go) Yes the Feds chipped in one year so it would be six years unsubsidized.

Still once you recoup the investment the power is FREE.

And you speak as if humans are perfect such that self driving would be moving backward in safety. Consider if self driving vehicles could reduce vehicle accident deaths by 50% would that be a bad thing even if not perfectly perfect in all conditions?

solar is not free as they age the output drops, so while in use they must pay for their own replacement .
I have a marine solar panel that lost 50% out put after around 20 years .
so not forever
and therefore
not free

[Ductape]

Yeah,let's all hang onto existing technology, there's nothing new to be invented or improved on.

Perhaps we'd be better off with horses and whale oil.

On a more serious note, I feel badly for people who fear the future. Remember when we were all young and anticipating the next day with eagerness for what new things would come? A lot of that gets lost as we age.

The future just is... it's all neither good nor bad, it's what you make of it. And if I had the perfect foresight that some on here claim 😉 , I would invest appropriately and get rich.

But I don't need to be rich to buy solar. I paid for mine with no government assistance. Free power, every day. :B

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Still once you recoup the investment the power is FREE.


Lots of things used to be free or cost less. Government took care of all of that in a long fell swoop.

What IS going to happen one a few tens of millions of arrays are in service...

Your smiling failed lawyers are going to tax the snot out of it. I can see it now.

"Utility companies are investing billions of dollars in grid infrastructure improvements to make electric car usage more convenient for the motorist -- fast charging outlets on freeways now accept smart connect -- they recognize you and your car when you connect. Payment is automatic.

But your utility cannot go it alone. So to make things fair proportional assessment of home grid generating revenue will be taxed according to the amount of energy you use, balanced by the amount of energy you use in kWh and the number of miles you drive."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


You younger folks have no idea what's in store for you. Enjoy today your golden era of the electric car because you are going to PAY PAY PAY for it later. Boy are you going to pay. You have no idea...

[time2roll]

dougrainer wrote:

garyemunson wrote:
Having driven an electric car for 6 years now and just recently added solar panels to my house to charge it for free, I guarantee you internal combustion engines are dead men walking. Even worse, self driving cars are going to take us right out of the drivers seat!

Adding solar panels for free electricity????? WHO is installing those panels for FREE? There is ALWAYS a COST. The Panels are not cheap. Then you have to maintain the system and replace any panels that get damaged. While solar is neat, it is NOT free. Self driving cars? Yea, right. There is ALWAYS an undetermined factor on all electronics. The self driving systems can never factor in all abberations that can happen. I am glad the odds are I will not live long enough to see the problems when people assume the computers will be able to do all things on the road. Doug

My panels will have paid for themselves in cost saving at the five year mark. (six months to go) Yes the Feds chipped in one year so it would be six years unsubsidized.

Still once you recoup the investment the power is FREE.

And you speak as if humans are perfect such that self driving would be moving backward in safety. Consider if self driving vehicles could reduce vehicle accident deaths by 50% would that be a bad thing even if not perfectly perfect in all conditions?

[road-runner]

free radical wrote:

Actualy solar panels are geting cheaper all the time..

While that detail is correct, the net system cost in the USA for a home and business is going up. Examples of what's causing this are a very generous state tax credit in Oregon that ends in two weeks, the feed-in tariffs in various states are trending to reduced subsidy, and the federal tax credit is phasing out over the next 5 years. While the components are trending lower in cost, the breakeven point for a new solar installation is trending further out. Without subsides, the system may fall short of breakeven at the end of its life.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Try eating a bowl of crude. Forget sour crude it leaves an aftertaste - go for the Fracked Light Sweet gourmet dish.

Excess corn could be exported. As food. For more money than sales as a gasoline additive.

It's the hard headedness of the American Public that sneers at public transportation that is the genuine enemy of radically reducing the shoe size of the goliath "carbon footprint". A thoroughly efficient public transport system means, no, you don't have to walk six blocks struggling with bags of groceries.

But urban Americans insist on dragging a ton and a half of machinery with them everywhere for every reason. There is a price to be paid for "my space" and guess what - the piper is at the front door to collect.

[free_radical]

Atlee wrote:
All that solar is either getting paid for by the home owner, quite expensive, or being subsidized by the rest of the tax payers.

Ethanol gasoline near the price of real gasoline only because of subsidies by the government.

dougrainer wrote:

garyemunson wrote:
Having driven an electric car for 6 years now and just recently added solar panels to my house to charge it for free, I guarantee you internal combustion engines are dead men walking. Even worse, self driving cars are going to take us right out of the drivers seat!

Adding solar panels for free electricity????? WHO is installing those panels for FREE? There is ALWAYS a COST. The Panels are not cheap. Then you have to maintain the system and replace any panels that get damaged. While solar is neat, it is NOT free. Self driving cars? Yea, right. There is ALWAYS an undetermined factor on all electronics. The self driving systems can never factor in all abberations that can happen. I am glad the odds are I will not live long enough to see the problems when people assume the computers will be able to do all things on the road. Doug

Actualy solar panels are geting cheaper all the time..

Is Ethanol cleaner burning then gasoline or diesel?
If so then it should be subsidied by the gov..
after all goverment subsidises oil industry to the tune of many more Billions of $$$$..

[free_radical]

Huntindog wrote:

garyemunson wrote:
Having driven an electric car for 6 years now and just recently added solar panels to my house to charge it for free, I guarantee you internal combustion engines are dead men walking. Even worse, self driving cars are going to take us right out of the drivers seat!

This troubles me a great deal. You see, I don't fall into the regualr type of guy that uses vehicles for back and fort to work and such catagory.
I like to go off the beaten path. Far from pavement and the infrastructure that will support EVs.
I surely hope that the world doesn't change so that I must give up my lifestyle.
I NEED the ICE to be around at an affordable rate for the next 30 years or so.

Perhaps whan the EV subsidies peter out, some sort of reality and balance will prevail.

I wouldnt worry,ICE cars will be with us for a long while yet,,or until the price of EVs become more affordable,,
And self driving cars are silly dream that wont ever materialize,,no autopilot can ever replace human under all driving conditions..

[free_radical]

RSD559 wrote:
Where is all of that power going to come from? Solar and windmills aren't going to be able to meet that kind of demand. Dams, coal and nuclear are out of the question anymore. To switch from petroleum to electric is going to more than double our power needs. Here in central California, I pay over $400 a month for power just to keep my house at 76 degrees in the summer. PG&E is charging an arm and a leg because instead of building new EFFICIENT power production, they are trying to control growth of demand by forcing people to conserve with price. More and more homes here are installing solar, but the demand is still growing. Adding electric cars into the equation is really going to stink!

With such high power bill I would sugest looking for the cost of instalation of solar panel system..these are geting cheaper all the time..

[MEXICOWANDERER]

And HERE we have a wonderful view from the backyard patio. Please ignore the wagon, swing set, and bicycles all stuck together...

[Ralph_Cramden]

garyemunson wrote:
Having driven an electric car for 6 years now and just recently added solar panels to my house to charge it for free, I guarantee you internal combustion engines are dead men walking. Even worse, self driving cars are going to take us right out of the drivers seat!

And the Absurdometer goes off the scale.