Gweiloman

Hmm.. let’s see. I reckon the number of countries that Russia, China, Iran and North Korea combined invaded in the last 50 years is less than half of that of America. Am I wrong?

There you go again, with Chinese junk. You might not like China or Chinese made goods but to classify it as junk is nonsense. Goods are made to a certain price point. A $10 drill is obviously not going to be of the same quality as a $100 drill. You buy the product depending on your budget and requirements. Not sure where you are going with exploitation of the poor. We are not talking about some backward, poor underdeveloped country that still has sweat shops. From what I understand, a lot of products made in China are made in factories. I can tell you for a fact that working in a factory is much more pleasant than working out in a rice field under the hot sun. Are you going to stop eating rice because some poor rice farmer is being exploited?

It’s true that some people don’t want them. Personally, I don’t understand why. I can understand that for some people, it’s not a practical choice as they might not have access to home charging and/or they have to make frequent long distance trips on a schedule. That does not mean they don’t want an EV, just that an EV is not suitable for them. Or it could be that they live in a backward country out west that has poor and unreliable yet ridiculously expensive public charging. Everyday, I see brand new red plated EVs on the roads in Chiang Mai. I see more and more EV dealerships sprouting up all over the place. Seems to me that, for the people of CM at least, range doesn’t seem to be an issue. I easily do 100 km a day regularly. I’d imagine that this is more than what most regular road users do.

Meanwhile, back in Thailand, with just one more day to go, for the first time ever, despite the lowest solar power energy produced on record (my record obviously) and running both an EV as well as a PHEV (no petrol consumed, I might add), I am on course to consuming less than 200 units of electricity from the grid, less than half (in other words, less than 50%, for those that work in certain extraction industries) of my normal monthly consumption. (This is probably my longest ever sentence on AN lol). How is this possible, you might well ask. Well, thanks to a huge battery on my despised (by some) EV, I suck up the free electrons thrown out there like scraps of dog food by BYD. When I get home, I generously share it out to my PHEV, my 2 TVs and multiple fridge freezers and standing fans plus an assortment of other electrical appliances such as an air compressor, dehumidifiers, dog hairdryer etc. Just another one of many reasons why I prefer an EV over an ICEV.

Shhh. Don’t say that. You will upset some posters on here. They don’t accept that NATO expands, only that countries, even if thousands of kms from the North Atlantic applies to join. Even Japan might soon be part of the North Atlantic.

This is a very fair point. While I’m pro-EV, I would probably buy an ICEV if I were living in Canada and only have an EV as a second car. So why impose such punitive tariffs on something that not many people would buy anyway? Canada is opening itself to retaliatory action just to satisfy the whims of it’s master.

Like @KhunLA said, how is this China’s fault? Yet you advocate for more tariffs. That would merely mean that you would be paying more for a product made in China as no western made alternative is available.

Has been shown? Where? What I do read is that China has forgiven and written off many loans.

China has to lay claim to all these islands and shoals to prevent America from doing it via its vassals. It’s the threat of America (and with good reason seeing how often and frequently America has invaded other countries around the world in the past few decades) that is causing all these so called regional instability.

Tariffs mean that the goods will cost more for the consumer. Sure, Canada can build its own factories but the products that come out from these factories are going to be much more expensive than comparable products from China. No one is forcing you to buy cheap products from China. Great that you can afford western made products. However cheaper yet acceptable quality products from China has allowed some of my wife’s friends to start their own small business, something they wouldn’t be able to do if they had to buy equivalent western made goods.

China is not the only country subsidising its industries. The dairy and agricultural industry is heavily subsidised in the west, the oil industry receives huge subsidies, the inflation reduction act and the chips act are all subsidies. I don’t see why that should be an issue. New and better technologies evolve such as solar panels and EVs. Consumers benefit. China exports deflation to the world. How can this be a bad thing? Large parts of the global south is benefiting from China’s BRI. As one African leader puts it, when China comes, we get schools and hospitals. When western leaders come, all we get are lectures.

You could be right in that woke people buy an EV to save the planet but what about us regular folks that bought EVs? What’s our reason? I can tell in my case, it’s not to save the planet but to save money.

Hydrogen cars may be the best choice in 10, 20 or 30 years time. Sadly though, I can’t wait that long so the best choice for me (and many others, but not all) at the present moment is electric. Non EV owners are concerned about the time it takes to charge the car fully, up to 8 hours as you mentioned. What you don’t realise is that EV owners almost never charge their cars from empty to full. Unlike ICEVs, EV owners just “top up” rather than fill up. This would present some difficulties for those that can’t charge at home but still very workable as evidenced by many users in countries like Singapore and China and even Malaysia (sorry, I know we are in Thailand but the same principles apply). To me, the main advantage of EVs at the present time is the cost savings. Charging at TOU rates, not needing to go to a petrol station, always having a full charge every morning, practically zero maintenance costs, fantastic driving experience etc coupled with a now low entry cost makes this a no brainer for many. There are of course some scenarios where an ICEV is preferable; like wanting to drive 1,000 kms with just a 5 minute stop but these are few and far in between and not my cup of tea. This topic is about SUVs. I have a PHEV SUV with an electric range of about 160-180 km which I top up as and when I need. I haven’t seen the inside of a petrol station in months.

Isn’t Formula E an organised electric motor sports?

I completely agree. Those of us who actually owns EVs know that it is workable. For the whole of this month thus far, I’ve not touched my wall charger even once. I’ve been charging at one of Rever’s free stations, must be around 10 times now but that’s because I’m absolutely abusing it, charging my PHEV from my Dolphin and powering my home appliances (not at same time of course). I usually average about 400 kWh from the grid per month (plus another 2-300 kWh from my solar) but this month, even with low solar production, I am on course to use less than 200 kWh from PEA.

Happened in my Dolphin a few times too. I like to think that it is automatically sensing rain and thus rolling the windows up but in reality, I think it’s a software glitch. I’m surprised that anti-EVers hasn’t picked up on this absolutely shattering, unacceptable and deal breaking fault but then I realised that most of them haven’t actually sat in one.

I think it’s because the anti-EVers are desperate to try and prove that ICEs are better vehicles. They can’t be more wrong of course. It’s an undeniable fact that EVs are cheaper to run and maintain. A few years ago, this huge benefit was offset by higher prices but thanks to China, we are now in a situation where some are even cheaper than a similar ICEV. Add to this the benefits of cleaner air, reduction in noise pollution, not needing to go to a petrol station once or twice a week, being able to remotely operate some functions etc, it really is a no brainer for the large majority of people. I used to think that DVR’s were the bees knees, back in the 80’s and 90’s. Those days, streaming movies was unthinkable. Anti-EVers can’t bring themselves to admit that EVs are a much better technology and won’t even acknowledge the benefits. As previously stated numerous times, an EV is not for everyone. If you can’t charge at home, if you frequently do long (> 600 km) journeys, if you love the smell of fossil fuels, if the thrill of slow acceleration excites you, then an ICEV is probably the better choice of vehicle.

Welcome new member. Shame that among your very first posts, you have already shown to all of us your ignorance and lack of knowledge about something you obviously know nothing about. However, do carry on trolling. It’s fun knowing that it’s necessary for some to have a lower than average IQ in order to have an average IQ measurement.

I assume you mean the ruling by the court of arbitration. That ruling states specifically that it’s not a ruling on sovereignty and territorial claim.

And yet, America lives in fear of China overtaking it and tries to contain it in every way imaginable. I wonder why.

Some see a glass as half empty and some see it as half full. It depends whether you’re a western neocon or a member of the global majority. Practically all ASEAN countries, who are China’s neighbours are ever more keen to increase ties and trade with China. Other than PI which is a highly corrupt and vassal state of the US has no conflicts with China. The US has over 800 military bases around the world, China has one. And you think China is an aggressor. Propaganda really works on the gullible.

The China debt trap myth is exactly that - a myth. Looks like you’re not up to date on your research. There isn’t one country in the world that’s involved in the BRI that supports your claim, a narrative made up by western (US actually) think tanks and NGO’s. Even Italy that pulled out due to pressure has gone back to China to try and garner more investments.

Yes, Ford and most other legacy automakers are so far behind the technological curve that they realise they cannot compete internationally with Chinese made EVs. Same reason the Chinese automakers started making EVs as they couldn’t compete with ICE legacy manufacturers. This strategy will work in America because petrol is still cheap, the charging infrastructure is still poor and some Americans are still completely ignorant and resistant to change. Ford is inevitably going the way of Kodak.

Except that China has no intention of obliterating anyone. It could spend a lot more money on weapons and ammunition but instead spends billions on infrastructure to raise the living standards of its population.

I fully agree that it’s an overreach on China’s part. However, I feel they have no choice as America continues to build more and more bases to encircle China. The Sabina Shoal lies directly on the maritime route from Malacca Straights to China so this is of utmost strategic importance to China for its security.