Albeit inconvenient for some, Jaguar's demise [in retrospect] seems perfectly reasonable. If the brain trust decided that going all-electric was The Way, one can only imagine how brilliant many of their previous management decisions were, as well. Only complete morons could believe that Western populations could make this work. Or just come to California and see how any number of ideological infused policies are working out.

We are hopefully departing an era where ideology governs over business decisions, a strategy for which the Germans are now paying an enormous price. I guess it just shows to go ya that intelligence is only a part of the equation, and perhaps not even the most important factor in determining the proper path.

One can imagine that after the debris is cleared from the implosion of this global regulation/debt/corruption behemoth, there will be those in England who will be highly motivated to resurrect Jaguar in an environment which you can actually make the car business work once again.

Give it ten to fifteen years.

 

Having witnessed the absolute farce one of my friends went through on Friday evening to charge his electric car, it is most definitely not a future I want any part of and I can't help but think Jaguar bet on the wrong horse. This mate of mine is an intelligent man, he is a captain at a major airline and has owned the car for over 2 years now. He has downloaded a dozen or more 'electric charging' apps - to deal with the crazy mish-mash of charging systems that have sprung up around our country (England) - yet even he was close to ripping his hair out. The charging point (one he had used just a week or two prior) wouldn't start the charge, it kept throwing up an error. Take the cable out of the car, replug, try again ... same error. This process repeated for a dozen attempts, trying every combination of cable first, try and charge first, car on, car off, other socket, standing on his head with one leg facing East, you name it, he tried it. Gave up, moved to the adjacent point. Same scenario. Called the support company for the pod-points and he was instructed to download a new app they'd released that week, despite the current version being up to date and trying to charge, it had been made incompatible with no warning. Finally, after nearly 20 minutes in the freezing cold (thank god it wasn't also raining, the car started charging. As all 3 of us kept saying, as we stood there .... "funny, you don't have to put up with this crap with a petrol / diesel car".

There were covered charging points available, but they were only in the ultra-fast charging zone and they were asking 85p (approx. $1) per kWH. Yeah, let that price sink in for a second. Unsurprisingly, that whole area was nearly empty of cars.

After more than a decade, this is still the crap we have to put up with.

 

I can see how ecars might work for some people. But, they are not for everyone. Sure, I can see a manufacturer adding EVs to their kind up, if they can afford to lose $Bs on them like Ford has. But, to go full ELECTRIC IMHO is strategic suicide. There is a whole lot more to a luxury performance vehicle, than straight line performance. Here’s my challenge, someone choose the EV of your choice, and I’ll take my ‘15 XKR, and we’ll drive from San Diego to Portland, or and let’s see who gets there first.

 

I am hoping for synthetic, green fuel - Porsche has done it..but scaled up....hoping...

https://techcrunch.com/2022/12/20/po...rts-producing/

 

HURRICANE COMING TO FLORIDA - EVACUATIONS START NOW

What would THAT look like when we all have electric cars?

BIGGEST PARKING LOT IN THE WORLD !

BEST !

RWS

 

I'm all for EVs and probably would have bought a I-Pace if it had better range, faster charging, etc. That being said, we're very happy with our F-Type but may get a Tesla M3 or MY when my Nissan beater dadmobile dies.

Last, car manufacturers going all in on EVs wasn't too bright and should have mixed it up some. I think Cheverolet's Corvette's E-Ray is a good start that I hope can lead to performance (with vroom sounds!!) and better gas mileage in future sports cars.

 

I read an interesting piece in an auto dealership's magazine that said that people generally buy a car to fit their lifestyle, and that with an electric car, it may require a change in lifestyle to be friends with an electric car. Here in Wisconsin, storms/natural disasters that take out the power infrastructure are few and/or nonexistent. We did put in a whole house generator, but as yet, have not purchased an EV, nor installed the charging station in the house garage. The charging station availability is pretty much not there. One must have a car in this area (south of Green Bay and north of Milwaukee) to do anything: employment, groceries, dining, entertainment. I could use the one station I know of, about 10 miles away and would have to figure out what to do while the car is plugged in. I think the charging infrastructure needs to be beefed up before EVs gain a foothold. But, if there's no demand for charging, why put a station in??? a conundrum, the chicken and the egg. I may buy a hybrid when my 2013 ICE Golf gives it up, but that's not likely anytime soon, and I'm OK with that. I think Jaguar should have followed what Chevrolet did with the Corvette line... offer an electric alongside ICE models. Going all electric is a noble venture, but for isolated areas is it even feasible? I once lived and worked in North Dakota, in a rural area 10 miles south of the Canadian border. I can't imagine EVs being suitable there and/or charging stations being readily available. I'm not sure what the answer is, and I don't have the answer either.

 

Nobody does and everybody does. It's called the collective wisdom of the market. Allow 340M Americans to decide when it is appropriate to phase in EVs. This is how democracy works best.

 

The pronblem in the UK is that car makers have been mandated to sell a certain percentage of EVs or they get fined per car they don't sell. And the percentage ramps up very quickly each year, and hence so will the fines. So car makers have little choice but to cut back on ICEV production and make cars that progressively fewer people want to buy.

 

We must be neighbors! A Tesla charging station was recently built in the Festival Foods parking lot in Manitowoc. At first no one used it, but now when I go to the store there is always someone at the charging station, and often more than one.

We have owned hybrids for many years and love them. It's nice to float down the road not using hardly any gas.

EVs aren't for everyone, but those who own them seem to like them. It all depends on your circumstances. My daughter owns an EV and loves it. When she comes up to our house the first thing she does is plug it in and then she says "Thanks Dad!"

 

Although nearly everybody "loves" having kids too, I would imagine that a fair percentage of us just might want [in their next life] to try it sans progenny.