iBankCoin
Stock advice in actual English.
Joined Sep 2, 2009
1,224 Blog Posts

So What Happens When They’re Plugged In?

Okay, I’m not going to talk about the market at all today. You know my position; if you still have doubts or generally think I’m an idiot, that’s fine. I don’t care. You need only look at last year – or the year before that- or the year before that…if you want to know what is going to be happening over the next few months.

You cannot inflate away these problems. If you believe oil can sustain $110 price levels with no impact to THIS ECONOMY, then it’s your neck. Besides, how does buying oil or oil companies help you? Who are you going to sell oil to at these prices, besides other finance guys?

What happens to oil companies when $110-120 oil crushes demand, and they find themselves with production utilization 20-30% too high? Last I checked, profits are made from volume as a product of price – not just price, assholes.

No, rather than talking about the same shit all over again, I want to ask a simple question about electric vehicles, since they seem to be all the rage today. GE is marking its future on getting tens of thousands of its employees into a GM Volt (everything Immelt touches turns to shit. Remember that).

Sweet, we have no need to burn all that polluting gasoline now. Instead, we’re going to just take our energy from where it comes naturally – wall sockets.

So we plug these fucking cars into our very cheap “energy wells” supplied in each of our homes. That outlet of course is connected to 70 miles of grid touting all sorts of resistance (if that means nothing to you, you have no business discussing energy policy), which is hooked up to a super clean all natural windmill, of course…oh, right, no, it’s hooked up to a fucking coal plant.

How is this cleaner than just burning the gas right in the car? You get the equivalent energy output of burning the gas in a power plant that’s an hour away from you, minus all the energy loss that occurs from trying to push electrons through a thousand miles of wire.

But here’s my real question of the day: we’re making a push for EV vehicles (again). So what happens to the cost of electricity when we all plug these fucking disaster-on-wheels into the grid?

(For the record, @gapandyap had a hilarious series of posts on Twitter last night, mocking everything about the Volt, which are worth tracking down. The windmill comments shitting on the laws of thermodynamics were my favorites)

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19 comments

  1. leftcoasttrader

    Everyone that is buying an electric car for “environmental reasons” should be forced to watch a video on the extraction of rare earth metals in China.

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  2. drummerboy

    well,obama did say when he became potus that electric was gonna cost everyone more.(everything immelt touches turns to shit). lol you used one of my most favorite lines to use. i must say though,when i use it,it’said at a very loud volume. ha ha ha

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  3. Get it while you can
    Get it while you can

    For the record, you’re my fav iBC read and Twitter stream. At least since the doctor is semi-retired and on vacation.

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  4. Captain Planet

    You’re preaching to the choir, Cain. It’s gotta be an obvious truth that the current lineup of electric

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  5. Captain Planet

    …vehicles is no more better for the environment than most gas guzzlers. Unfortunatley, you’ve gotta start somewhere.

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  6. Captain Planet

    RE: Gas prices, I think we’re still right.

    A quick look at Stocktwits is reassuring: “$200 OIL INCOMING!”, “OIL PRICE WILL ROCKET 30-40% IF IRAN ACTS!” etc…

    It’s funny how investors can’t remember what happened less than a year ago when the same thing happened. Stay strong!

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  7. Raul3

    I’ve only written Ford (Fords as the old timers say) a dozen times and requested a USA rollout of their two liter diesel. That bitch gets 50+ MPG!

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  8. JakeGint

    With the libs at the helm we’re living in a Swiftian Universe.

    It’s not that rare earh mining or electricity productions is just as polluting as running your petrol-based vehicle, it’s that the NIMBY’s don’t have to see it.

    You have any 50MW generators outside your window? Howabout strip mines?

    It’s about the cognitive dissonance, man, every freaking time.

    __________

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    • Rob T

      But hey, think of all the light we can store in cucumbers! (dials White House in search of FFB loan)

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  9. The_Real_Hmmm

    Great post. I want my nuclear car!

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  10. panamaorange

    Oil will crash in a few hours , or days, for a simple reason

    Israel does NOT have the 30k pound bunker busters needed to hit Iran. There largest bomb is 5k pounds

    Iran WILL get a nuke test done by early 2013. It is a done deal.

    So, no war or 200$ oil. Oil will drop to 90$ or so , again. But, we likely never see 65$ again.

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    • Mad_Scientist

      Sorry, but that’s one of the dumbest arguments I’ve seen. Israel doesn’t need a certain weight of bomb BECAUSE ISRAEL HAS NUCLEAR WARHEADS.

      What israel is lacking is not weight or strength of bombs but simply the guts to launch an attack. I don’t believe bibi would do it. He doesn’t have the balls to assert himself upon the middle east. What peaceniks have to worry about is OBAMA who might launch the war or a collaborative effort with bibi. Bibi will not have the guts to do what’s necessary and go it alone. Take it to the bank son.

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  11. Artistic Analysis

    Indeed, Cain. I am a big fan of the term “coal-fired” cars when referring to electric vehicles.. cracks me up every time I hear anyone talk about electric vehicles.

    Also, it makes me think about the future of nat gas for use in upgraded/new power plants… It should be a helluva ride higher over time.

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  12. TeahouseOnTheTracks

    Try one of these …

    http://grooveshark.com/#!/s/Trans+Island+Skyway/2MxCIp?src=5

    I was born yesterday
    When they brought my kamakiri
    When they handed me the keys
    It’s a steam-power 10
    The frame is out of glasgow
    The tech is balinese
    It’s not a freeway bullet
    Or a bug with monster wheels
    It’s a total biosphere
    The farm in the back
    Is hydroponic
    Good, fresh things
    Every day of the year
    Good, fresh things
    Every day of the year

    With all screens and functions
    In sync lock with tripstar
    This cool rolling bubble
    Is all set to samba
    This route could be trouble
    (this route could be trouble)

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  13. Dave

    That was a great read Cain! TY

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  14. Victor Riesco

    See this 5 minute video of @tickerguy which basically lays the truth in the US economy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgNmPhObAe4&feature=g-u-u&context=G2ecb3d4FUAAAAAAAAAA

    We all have fun and making money in our “stock market game” but the truth is so messed up shit is going on in the US and world economy and we will hit the wall sometime in the future unless poliTICS take some serious and hard measures.

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