Tesla truck running on diesel. Alot more to come

I never thought it would corrupt peoples minds but it has sure dumbed down the population. Have a serious conversation with some of the morons you see with thier nose buried in thier phone. If you can think and problem solve on your own, have a basic grasp of history, can do basic math you will be frightend for our future!

 

Sorry, wasn't as clear as I should have been. First of all it was an illustration that government was very much involved in what products could be made.

Secondly, it was no new locomotive designs, so coal powered engine technology was stalled and a limit on new locomotive. Meanwhile electro motive was building tens of thousands diesel engines for the government which allowed them to have a 'finished product' as soon as controls were lifted. At that point the railroads were in dire need of new equipment and had a choice of outdated designs or the new diesels which promised lower cost of ownership and were being sold at very attractive prices. Prices electro motive could afford to give because of their government contracts.

 

I shouldn't laugh and I do hope your wife is ok, but how woke. How dare car manufacturers make a vehicle that may save the pedestrian as well as the occupant. haha.

But yes see your point especially in 4x4 off road capacity. I have found though, there is usually a mod or work around that at the flick of a switch allows it to be capable 4x4 when needed, or back to being road compliant again. A bit like airing up the tyres I guess. My 4x4 is constant drive both axels, however I have appreciated Traction Control in a rear wheel drive 4x4 on wet and windy roads. Sometimes its tyres, sometimes it surface, most times its speed, but TC kept it in line also.
On a flip side I have a father in law with a couple mid 1920s Rolls Royces. He's always going on about quality engineering, the simplicity, no plastics, no electrics, and possible to fix on the side of the road; 9 out of 10 outings it comes home on tilt tray. Could just be english engineering.

I imagine if one could be bothered finding stats on injuries, permanent injuries, and deaths from car accidents that pre date safety aids to after they were introduced, all the junk in the truck will favour life preservation opposed to not having it. Its regrettable and not right at all, that people have died with air bags, but over all air bags probably have saved more than kill. Yes it can all be painful to deal with, but it only takes one good accident to snuff out your life as well. I'd wear that seat belt.

 

Then wear yours and maybe invest in a racing harness as well! I don’t live in fear and know full well the cost of that decision if something goes wrong! Save your advice for the other sheeple!

Don’t walk out in front of cars and that crumple zone becomes a non issue.

Years ago when we decided to build this house on the hill my wife decided she wanted to have 4 wheel drive because it was going to be a long way in from the pavement and possibly be a challenge for her at the time 2 wheel drive car.
She talked to all her friends at work and anyone that she could about what to buy. The hole time with me saying just get a Jeep back when they were still real jeeps with good 4x4 systems.
Well everyone told her that she needed a Subaro and it would be fine. She argued with me and insisted she didn’t need or want the Jeep.
So being the nice Hubby that I am I offered to give in providing she wait and really test drive one in the winter with snow down.
A couple months latter as luck would have it we had snow, snow and ice, then snow again almost back to hack in just a few days. So I fired up my old 327 3 speed 4x4 Jeep and took her to look at the almost new used subaro’s she was insisting on looking at and buying.
Can’t remember the exact year but remember all the hype about it transfers power from this wheel to that wheel and Whoopi do crap!
Being the car was nice but overpriced and she seemed to like it I agreed to both of us test driving it and buying it under one condition. As I stated to the salesman “ that Jeep isn’t my only vehickle and this car you claim can get us threw anything seems to be overpriced but if it makes it up our driveway and within 5 feet of my garage door I will buy it cash and won’t even argue the price. BUT if it doesn’t make it We are going to get out walk inside and drink hot chocolate while we watch you struggle and try to dig it out and won’t be buying it.
He laughed and said it will make it no problem. So we went for a drive with him in the back.

As I anticipated my wife made it about half way up the first stretch of our private road before it gave up and I could feel the power switching from wheel to wheel but it just couldn’t move!

As I promised, we got out and walked to the house just as an fresh snow started to fall leaving the salesman to fend for himself and I watched him try in Vien for what seemed like hours trying to get that car to move. Ended up calling a tow truck.

We still laugh about that ####y salesman and the look on his face when we started walking away to this day.

By the way two days later she had a shinny new red Jeep Cherokee and never got stuck once with it!

That Jeep has outlived every other car or truck she has purchased and she is driving it now until she finds something else she likes to replace her gizmo overloaded Beemer.
I sit living in fear of her next one and the nightmares it will present but have one saving grace that Jeep might be old now and it’s got over 300 k on it but it will be around for her to drive when everything in her new one goes bonkers just like it has with everything else.

Hope you enjoyed the story about us almost buying a subaro.

 

GE and by extension electro motive had a customer base that allowed for R&D. USG steps in and says we're the only customer in town now (monopsony). R&D continues. After some time USG steps out and customers allowed back in. R&D, once again, continues.

Giving USG credit for the progress GE made in regards to diesel during this period is like a friend who tells you to sit down while you are in mid squat. You already began sitting long before and regardless of his comment you would have continued. He gets no credit for you sitting down.

 

Earlier you said I was like a guy showing up with a house warming gift and takes credit for building the house, but that's not a good analogy. A better one is the banker who financed not only the purchase of the land and materials. Would have land have been acquired and a house built? Eventually, yes, but not in the same time frame.

Electro Motive's first and biggest client was the US Navy. The Wright brother's first customer was the US Army. The War Department 'created' air mail and the 1925 Contract Air Mail Act birthed commercial aviation.

The "market place" by itself would not have been able to support the rapid transformation from coal to diesel locomotives.

 

Newton's standing on the shoulders of giants comment highlights it well.

The giant isn't government or money but government and money have been a part of the giant.

Just because the government played a role in the process doesn't mean it takes credit for the electric grid, phone network, and diesel engine.

And your analogy doesn't parallel anything discussed in this thread. The land, materials, and house all existed before the magical "banker" ever stepped foot on the scene. Yeah your banker showed up in a national emergency and the whole world sacrificed for a worthy pursuit but to attribute any type of progress born of that as better than the alternative shows your disregard of the broken window fallacy.

 

Energy is the primary input for almost every aspect of life as we know it from food to healthcare. Seatbelts, airbags, abs, etc mandates don't have the same downstream effects.

Mandating changes to take place before the infrastructure is expanded to support the shift in source mix truly costs lives today all in an effort to save lives in the distant future ironically.

 

I wonder if all the guys saying electric vehicles won’t start cause it’s cold , actually realize that ICE use battery power to start.

 

You're moving away from my original point. Studebaker said that his main objection to EVs was the government interference. I responded that government was involved in both examples he gave of "voluntary market driven" choices. I never said that government was solely responsible, just that they radically accelerated the process through incentives and risk reduction.