General Tsao's Cold War

[Tigerbomb13]

Has anyone seen strange stuff like this on Facebook lately? There’s lots of pages sharing either fake news under the guise of “satire”, or are flooding Facebook with constant weird AI content. If you look at the page transparency, they usually originate in Asia. Is this part of a Chinese disinformation campaign? 

[romad1]

3 hours ago, Tigerbomb13 said:

Has anyone seen strange stuff like this on Facebook lately? There’s lots of pages sharing either fake news under the guise of “satire”, or are flooding Facebook with constant weird AI content. If you look at the page transparency, they usually originate in Asia. Is this part of a Chinese disinformation campaign? 

yes

[romad1]

I guess it is shark week for this deal

Ford, Michigan cut $750M in public support for Marshall site, more (freep.com)

[Tigeraholic1]

8 minutes ago, romad1 said:

I guess it is shark week for this deal

Ford, Michigan cut $750M in public support for Marshall site, more (freep.com)

EV market is a disaster. We just canceled 1500 EV truck orders evenly from the big 3. Our customers, giant energy companies even with tax incentives, view them as a black hole. However, we doubled our hybrid orders as they are much more plausible in the real-world work environment. The push for EV without a sustainable charging grid was so dumb.

 

[romad1]

3 minutes ago, Tigeraholic1 said:

EV market is a disaster. We just canceled 1500 EV truck orders evenly from the big 3. Our customers, giant energy companies even with tax incentives, view them as a black hole. However, we doubled our hybrid orders as they are much more plausible in the real-world work environment. The push for EV without a sustainable charging grid was so dumb.

 

Note the location of this discussion.   

[Tigeraholic1]

1 minute ago, romad1 said:

Note the location of this discussion.   

I did and smart move by Big Gretch pulling that money back. When you try to put gov't in charge of economic growth it turns into a money grab until the money is gone.

[romad1]

3 minutes ago, Tigeraholic1 said:

I did and smart move by Big Gretch pulling that money back. When you try to put gov't in charge of economic growth it turns into a money grab until the money is gone.

I was really worried that the investment in this would torpedo her career.  It represented a small world view of things that perhaps would hurt her if she decided to step out onto the bigger stage.  

[gehringer_2]

this actually all makes perfect sense. The idea that the market would jump right to 100 EV instead of bridging though hybrids and plug-in hybrids was never the most rational concept. But part of what was driving it was that the manufacturers *wanted/hoped* to make the jump because hybrids are more expensive to build,  and to maintain capability to service, so Ford and GM - who hadn't yet made really big commitments to hybrids,  really wanted to to skip right past them. Buyers have other ideas.

The other thing I think is true is that engineering sense finally began to penetrate with the decision makers. Vehicles with huge batteries for long ranges don't make a lot of sense  - too much weight penalty. Far better to go with smaller batteries and a better build out of the charging infrastructure. The plug-in hybrid is a really good solution for big slice of the market who commute distances that can be reached without firing up the IC engine.

This all reduces the short term demand for battery production.

[Tigeraholic1]

49 minutes ago, romad1 said:

I was really worried that the investment in this would torpedo her career.  It represented a small world view of things that perhaps would hurt her if she decided to step out onto the bigger stage.  

She is solid. The future for sure next election cycle.

[ewsieg]

On 7/9/2024 at 2:15 PM, gehringer_2 said:

this actually all makes perfect sense. The idea that the market would jump right to 100 EV instead of bridging though hybrids and plug-in hybrids was never the most rational concept. But part of what was driving it was that the manufacturers *wanted/hoped* to make the jump because hybrids are more expensive to build,  and to maintain capability to service, so Ford and GM - who hadn't yet made really big commitments to hybrids,  really wanted to to skip right past them. Buyers have other ideas.

The other thing I think is true is that engineering sense finally began to penetrate with the decision makers. Vehicles with huge batteries for long ranges don't make a lot of sense  - too much weight penalty. Far better to go with smaller batteries and a better build out of the charging infrastructure. The plug-in hybrid is a really good solution for big slice of the market who commute distances that can be reached without firing up the IC engine.

This all reduces the short term demand for battery production.

Is Ford really that behind on hybrid tech?  Seems like they had a ton of hybrid vehicles for years and that plug in hybrid, cmax, that's at least 10 years old, right?  I do think they lost some ground in the last few years with their EV push, but hopefully aren't starting from scratch on hybrid.

[romad1]

On 7/9/2024 at 2:51 PM, Tigeraholic1 said:

She is solid. The future for sure next election cycle.

I would like to think someone in the national security hipster community had given her the rundown on why this is a bad look.  

[gehringer_2]

21 minutes ago, ewsieg said:

Is Ford really that behind on hybrid tech?  Seems like they had a ton of hybrid vehicles for years and that plug in hybrid, cmax, that's at least 10 years old, right?  I do think they lost some ground in the last few years with their EV push, but hopefully aren't starting from scratch on hybrid.

I think techwise they are fine. I've driven a Fusion hybrid and it was well engineered. But I never got the impression there was that that big a production or sales investment made- and of course they got hammered over accusations of manipulation of mileage figures on their hybrids, which had nothing to do with product engineering but gave them a big marketing black eye for a while. Plus, WCF Jr., being the idealist he is, has created a public image for Ford that was pushing 100% EV (as you noted)

Edited July 10, 2024 by gehringer_2

[romad1]

Biden awards $650 million to 2 Michigan auto plants to make more EVs (freep.com)

who knew industrial policy was national security policy?

[romad1]

Hey

 

 

[romad1]

Some unconfirmed rumors that Xi had a stroke.  I would say 5% chance it’s true.  If true: i’m happy. 

[romad1]

Seems like this would work

[romad1]

 

Amusing but also sad

[romad1]

How do you even engage with this ?

 

[romad1]

China has also recently done a lot of weird offensive aggressive stuff against Japan that seems designed to provoke a response. 

[romad1]

Just because the previous meme wasn't posting well

[gehringer_2]

and the US Navy's ship building program has been utter chaos and incompetence for 30+ yrs. We haven't had the Navy be a campaign issue since Reagan but it should be. It would be really nice if at some point in the near future a President comes in and cleans house in the Navy procurement system - shock and awe,  top to bottom.

Edited August 27, 2024 by gehringer_2

[romad1]

22 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

and the US Navy's ship building program has been utter chaos and incompetence for 30+ yrs. We haven't had the Navy be a campaign issue since Reagan but it should be. It would be really nice if at some point in the near future a President comes in and cleans house in the Navy procurement system - shock and awe,  top to bottom.

I know two people who work these issues.  They seem happy with the Sub program with the UK and Australia.  They also seem happy with the new FFG programs. The Zumwalt ships were beyond short-sited and reflected a GWOT desperation for relevance.   I believe the USN's legacy quality as an organization is worth a LOT in any conflict.  Probably a Spartans vs. Xerxes Persians level of difference.  You can't just suddenly know how to do damage control as well as that which saved the USS Stark.  

[gehringer_2]

44 minutes ago, romad1 said:

I know two people who work these issues.  They seem happy with the Sub program with the UK and Australia.  They also seem happy with the new FFG programs. The Zumwalt ships were beyond short-sited and reflected a GWOT desperation for relevance.   I believe the USN's legacy quality as an organization is worth a LOT in any conflict.  Probably a Spartans vs. Xerxes Persians level of difference.  You can't just suddenly know how to do damage control as well as that which saved the USS Stark.  

I've seen the management at Marinette claim they can't find enough welders to keep on schedule. DOD is the biggest most successful training organization in the world. Go teach some people how to do the job and offer a salary to pull people in. It's one thing to fail because you don't know how to do what you set out to do (the Zumwalt gun), it's another when you don't do what you know perfectly well how to do.

[romad1]

For those who worry this is inevitable.  The Biden admin and the Philippines have agreed to station a weapon system that has the PRC freaked out in the northern PI called Typhon.   

If this gets deployed to Japan or South Korea as well look for all kinds of freak out from Beijing. 

 

[romad1]

7 minutes ago, romad1 said:

For those who worry this is inevitable.  The Biden admin and the Philippines have agreed to station a weapon system that has the PRC freaked out in the northern PI called Typhon.   

If this gets deployed to Japan or South Korea as well look for all kinds of freak out from Beijing. 

 

More on this

Why China Fears the Typhon Missile System | The National Interest