“Net-Zero Tyranny”

Tapping the Brakes on Electric Vehicles

It’s been a rough few months for electric vehicle fans. During the January cold snap, social media sites were filled with sarcasm and pictures of Teslas stranded by freezing temperatures. Lots of “dead robots out there,” one wag put it.

In mid-January, the rental car company Hertz, previously an eager early adopter of fleet electrification, announced a big sell-off of EVs that it had only recently purchased, mainly because they proved far more expensive to maintain than advertised. The same week, Ford slashed EV production, having earlier pulled back on planned battery factories. Both Ford and GM now face higher labor costs, having negotiated epic United Auto Workers pay hikes that now include previously excluded battery factories. Adding to the woes, unsold EVs are piling up on dealer lots, spurring aggressive discounting. The big sales benefit buyers but deepen the already-massive losses of manufacturers.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"EV's - Electric Vehicles", "Net-Zero Tyranny"

Conservatives accuse Liberals of being ‘pathologically obsessed’ with carbon tax as House returns

OTTAWA – Tensions flared on the prickly issue of the carbon tax as the House returned from its break Monday, with Conservatives accusing the Liberals of being “pathologically obsessed” with the tax, while Liberals said the Tories wanted to take rebate cheques out of the hands of Canadians.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Net-Zero Tyranny", Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

Amid confusion from Canadians, Trudeau’s government is considering rebrand of carbon pricing: source

OTTAWA—The federal government is considering a rebrand of the rebate program for its carbon pricing system in an attempt to tackle what it calls confusion and misconceptions about the scheme, the Star has learned.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals have admitted they are losing the communications battle over carbon pricing in the face of a campaign from Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives to undermine the government’s flagship climate policy.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Net-Zero Tyranny", Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

French farmers start blocking motorways around Paris as tractor protest intensifies

For days, nationwide protests have flared in Europe’s largest agriculture producer, with farmers angered in part by red tape and environmental policies they say are hurting their bottom lines and rendering them unable to compete with less stringent neighbours.

Across France, farmers have used tractors and trucks to block roads and jam traffic. They plan to step up their pressure campaign by establishing eight chokepoints along the major arteries to Paris on Monday afternoon.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Net-Zero Tyranny", France

Can All of D.C.’s Money Keep the EV Humpty-Dumpty Together?

Electric vehicles, the Goldilocks cars — they work only if not too cold or not too wet.

We may have hit Peak EV (Electric Vehicle).

Deloitte’s Global Automotive Consumer Study has just found a “rise in U.S. consumer interest in internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles and a decline in hybrid and battery electric vehicle (BEV) purchase intent.” Interest in buying fossil-fuel cars rose nine points, to 67 percent, while interest in hybrids fell to 21 percent and in EV’s to 6 percent.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"EV's - Electric Vehicles", "Net-Zero Tyranny"

Jack Mintz: Canada’s EV strategy has cost $4 million a job

With Canadian GDP per capita dropping like a stone, what would you expect our minister of finance, Chrystia Freeland, to say last week at the elite Davos confab? “Come to Canada! We have $135 billion to give you!” is what she did say. Given our poor investment performance, it seems the only way to attract capital is to offer billions of tax dollars to foreign multinationals.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"EV's - Electric Vehicles", "Net-Zero Tyranny", WTF?

French farmers vent anger with blazing barricades

President Macron’s government has promised wide-ranging concessions to farmers as it seeks to curtail protests that have led to dozens of roadblocks across France.

Gabriel Attal, 34, the prime minister, was sent to a dairy farm in Montastruc-de-Salies, in the southwest, in an attempt to calm the anger that has blazed through the countryside.

Attal said the government “has got the message loud and clear”, adding that agriculture was its No 1 priority. “We are going to act on all fronts.”

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Net-Zero Tyranny", France

After 6 Years and $76 Million, Still ‘Too Early’ to Evaluate EVs: Ottawa

A recent report from Canada’s Department of Natural Resources says it is still “too early” to fully evaluate the reliability of electric vehicles (EVs) in Canadian winters despite comprehensive research spanning six years at an investment of $76.1 million.

“It is too early to fully evaluate the intermediate and ultimate outcomes,” said the report titled “Evaluation Of The Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Demonstration Program,” which was first covered by Blacklock’s Reporter.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"EV's - Electric Vehicles", "Net-Zero Tyranny"

The Liberal government must stop using tax policy as a behavioural-influence tool

The current federal government has embraced an activist approach to tax policy, using it as a social engineering tool to influence behaviour and advance the Liberals’ progressive agenda. But the downsides of this interventionist strategy to our tax system are becoming increasingly apparent.

Ottawa’s approach has resulted in confounding complexity, rising compliance and administrative burdens, and a global view that Canada is not a very welcoming place to do business. We should instead pursue tax reforms that improve our business climate and make this country a more compelling destination for investment.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Net-Zero Tyranny", Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government

Carbon tax costs taxpayers $200 million to administer

The cost of administering the federal carbon tax and rebate scheme has risen to nearly $200 million since its inception in 2019.

That’s according to government records obtained by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and first reported by the online news site Blacklock’s Reporter.

The hit to taxpayers last year alone was $82.6 million, with the government assigning 465 full-time employees to administer the carbon tax and rebate scheme.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Net-Zero Tyranny"

California Bill Would Require New Cars to Come Equipped with Speed-Limiting Device

California Car Engine Govenor

A California Democrat introduced a bill this week that would require automakers in the state to equip new vehicles with speed governors — devices that restrict how fast people can drive.

The technology, if passed under the legislation, would prevent California drivers from going 10 mph or more over the posted speed limit in any given area. The bill would mandate that cars and trucks of the 2027 model year or later that are manufactured or sold in California be installed with speed governors.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Net-Zero Tyranny"

Offshore Wind Stumbles

Ørsted, the world’s largest developer of offshore wind, announced late last year that it was cancelling both of the Ocean Wind projects it had planned to build off the New Jersey coast. Earlier in 2023, the developers of Pilgrim Wind and Mayflower Wind, two prospective wind farms off the Massachusetts coast, paid that state’s electric utilities millions of dollars to cancel their contracts. And in New York, BP and Equinor recently announced cancellation of the contract for Empire Wind 2. But while the offshore-wind industry may have lost these recent battles, the battle against this inefficient and high-cost technology is far from over.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Net-Zero Tyranny"

Frustrated farmers slam EU ‘technocrats’ who ‘call the shots’ in Brussels protest

BRUSSELS — Benoît Laqueue was one of 100 disgruntled French farmers on a bus headed for the European Parliament before sunrise on Wednesday.

The 58-year-old cattle and cereal farmer from the rural Ardennes region, in northeastern France, came with a message for the “technocrats” who “call the shots” in the European Union.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Net-Zero Tyranny"

Trudeau gov’t ‘green’ heat pump scam to cost nearly quadruple initial estimate

An ideologically charged Canadian federal government “green” program to try and get homeowners to switch their reliable heating oil furnaces for less reliable electric heat pumps via a large grant has been blasted by a taxpayer advocacy group as yet more government waste after it was revealed the program is set to cost nearly four times as much as originally thought.

h/t Mauser

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted in"Net-Zero Tyranny", Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government