Bright Shiny Things

This nation has an infatuation with Bright Shiny Things (BST). We go nuts over anything new, different or obscure. The BST today are Electric Vehicles. If you can’t afford one, not to worry. They will be gone as swiftly as they have come into our view. And this is not the first time we have fallen in lust with them either.

They were around in the 1900’s and many times thereafter. The only difference is now they have billions of our tax dollars to throw to engineers to build the newest and the greatest. Honestly, without government funding (read that as “Our Money”) they would be dead on arrival. And I don’t fault the car companies for taking the money - I would too.

The EV (Electric Vehicle) is for the rich and famous. There is no way in 10 to 15 years a beaten-up EV will make it to the mid to lower class for poor single mothers to drive or grandma to hop in for church. Its just not going to happen. They, as a whole are about as cheaply produced as Asian tin and won’t last with all the bug prone electronics and battery changes. Let’s not start with the batteries as Elon did not think that through very well.

The battery problem is easily fixed, not by our government throwing another $500,000,000 at highway chargers, but by a simple battery swap out at the current gas station. Easy peasy. But, no, we need to sit at a charging station for hours and fill up our batteries at a cost now closely matching the price of gas.

Fact: My hell fire RAM pickup (or any other American pickup) with a fire-breathing 520 hp HEMI is only a tick less economically and climate-wise than the most efficient EV. Really, check it out. A tick less climate damaging. Give me my RAM. So, to be fair, I set up a test between my neighbors EV and my RAM. The test involved first, me standing between them, hoods open and just staring at them. On the EV side, I just stared at a battery. What fun. No noise, nothing intimidating and certainly does not scream “USA, USA, USA”. I looked over at the RAM with its massive HEMI, hunk of Detroit metal, hoses, tubes, superchargers, hefty fuel injection, wiring and huge fan with gigantic radiator and honestly, I could hear the Star-Spangled Banner. It’s heaven as when Lady Gaga belts it out at the Super Bowl. It was like a mix of Mad Max and Sex in the City. It was all I could do to not embrace the RAM and look for a room. The next test was to start each vehicle (notice the “Climate Change Cult” calls it a “vehicle” and us patriots still call it a car or truck). It’s a socialist conspiracy.

I started the EV…. It was silent.

I started the RAM. OMG. Thunder, lightning and the earth shook. I couldn’t hear myself.

Then I looked over at the EV. It slinked away. Self-esteem issues, I suppose.

Remember, the RAM is only a tick less environmentally than the EV. A tick, a small tick less. And it will be around for the single mother and grandma. No long lines in the middle of Kansas, at a charging station, charging for a charge.

Test over.

Discussion over. Long live the combustion engine. Ford, RAM or Chevy.