Vehicle Modding Is Dead In the European Union; Now What?

[calicamper]

Which fully explains the new Feceral Budget and massive spending on infrastructure.

VW was caught cheating and nearly 1 billion in fines are being used to build out EV charging infrastructure in CA. Oh and we didn’t have rolling blackouts due to infrastructure issues in 2020. We had PSPS power shut downs due to wind events and wild fire risks different deal. The last time CA had rolling blackouts due to infrastructure power issues was nearly 20 yrs ago and it was a three state issue not just CA.
The most recent state with Rolling blackouts due to infrastructure failure was Texas.

 

[JaSAn]

. . .
Gas became the choice only because of an intense oil lobby in the USA. Not sure why but Europe and the world were lock step.
. . .

I'm going to strongly disagree. ICE vehicles became the choice for common people because it was superior technology.

My grandfather had the foresight in 1925 to buy a tractor. It turned the family farm from a 40 acre, animal powered subsistence grower into a 500 acre food producer. Our farm did not have access to electricity until sometime before WWII, and even then it wasn't enough to charge a tractor for the next days work. When I started school there were kids whose farms did not have electricity, but they all had tractors.

By the time electricity was available to the majority of Americans gas/diesel distribution was mature and men coming back from WWII were very familiar with ICE transportation. And the infrastructure was in place to enable them to utilize the technology to enhance their lives.

It is the environmental lobby that is spreading the disinformation that the reason ICE won out is because of the 'intense oil lobby'. I don't think the rich have ever forgiven ICE for lifting so many peasants to the middle class and beyond.

 

[calicamper]

I'm going to strongly disagree. ICE vehicles became the choice for common people because it was superior technology.

My grandfather had the foresight in 1925 to buy a tractor. It turned the family farm from a 40 acre, animal powered subsistence grower into a 500 acre food producer. Our farm did not have access to electricity until sometime before WWII, and even then it wasn't enough to charge a tractor for the next days work. When I started school there were kids whose farms did not have electricity, but they all had tractors.

By the time electricity was available to the majority of Americans gas/diesel distribution was mature and men coming back from WWII were very familiar with ICE transportation. And the infrastructure was in place to enable them to utilize the technology to enhance their lives.

It is the environmental lobby that is spreading the disinformation that the reason ICE won out is because of the 'intense oil lobby'. I don't think the rich have ever forgiven ICE for lifting so many peasants to the middle class and beyond.

Yeah well my old family farm used steam machinery first that really got the ball rolling regarding land being worked. If you think passenger cars and light duty vehicle regs are the same as farm equipment ?. You flunked farming 101

 

[ExpoMike]

Oh and we didn’t have rolling blackouts due to infrastructure issues in 2020. We had PSPS power shut downs due to wind events and wild fire risks different deal. The last time CA had rolling blackouts due to infrastructure power issues was nearly 20 yrs ago and it was a three state issue not just CA.
The most recent state with Rolling blackouts due to infrastructure failure was Texas.

Might want to take a read. https://www.kpbs.org/news/2020/aug/17/san-diego-not-immune-rolling-blackouts/

The power grid operator’s failure to anticipate the spike in demand and to meet that spike with additional resources, according to Newsom, is unacceptable and unbefitting of California.

The governor said California is dealing with a number of wildfires and climate change is warming the environment, but he said they are not to blame.

 

[nicholastanguma]

VW was caught cheating and nearly 1 billion in fines are being used to build out EV charging infrastructure in CA. Oh and we didn’t have rolling blackouts due to infrastructure issues in 2020. We had PSPS power shut downs due to wind events and wild fire risks different deal. The last time CA had rolling blackouts due to infrastructure power issues was nearly 20 yrs ago and it was a three state issue not just CA.

“Newsom says the transition away from fossil fuels has left California with a gap in the reliability of its energy system. He says the state must examine its reliance on solar power and how that fits into its broader energy portfolio,” reports the San Francisco Chronicle’s Alexei Koseff.

“Today we are anticipating substantially greater need for energy,” Newsom said at a Monday press conference. Per Koseff, he added that this greater need is “about 4,400 megawatts short of what the state needs. That’s a ten times greater shortfall than Saturday. We failed to predict and plan these shortages and that’s simply unacceptable."


"Rolling outages in California last summer were blamed in part on the retirement of gas plants as the state pursued an aggressive clean-energy agenda. "

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/mar...-small-piece-of-texass-power-woes/ar-BB1dHQNa

 

[nicholastanguma]

The most recent state with Rolling blackouts due to infrastructure failure was Texas.

Yes: their wind farm windmills literally froze.

https://www.newsweek.com/texas-wind-turbines-frozen-power-why-arctic-1570173

Not all of their energy infrastructure problems are due to green energy schemes, I'll agree with that. A great many Texan Republican politicians' corruption was just as much to blame.

https://www.masterresource.org/windpower-problems/wind-subsidies-freeze-texans/

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/mar...-small-piece-of-texass-power-woes/ar-BB1dHQNa

 

[calicamper]

“Newsom says the transition away from fossil fuels has left California with a gap in the reliability of its energy system. He says the state must examine its reliance on solar power and how that fits into its broader energy portfolio,” reports the San Francisco Chronicle’s Alexei Koseff.

“Today we are anticipating substantially greater need for energy,” Newsom said at a Monday press conference. Per Koseff, he added that this greater need is “about 4,400 megawatts short of what the state needs. That’s a ten times greater shortfall than Saturday. We failed to predict and plan these shortages and that’s simply unacceptable."


"Rolling outages in California last summer were blamed in part on the retirement of gas plants as the state pursued an aggressive clean-energy agenda. "

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/mar...-small-piece-of-texass-power-woes/ar-BB1dHQNa

A texas news source on wild fire safety shut offs? LoL Let guess you Googled that to prove your point? Also the typical out of context quote? Are you a former Fox news person?

 

[calicamper]

California has more than 800 miles of coastline.

Kelp is the fastest growing biomass in the world and displaces no arable cropland to grow.

Biomass can be reduced to a carbon neutral motor fuel that distributes and dispenses from existing infrastructure and can burn in existing equipment, effectively turning all of that fossil-oowered equipment into solar powered (transportation and stationary) equipment without the environmental or economic burden of manufacturing or distributing new replacements.

If only there was any way at all to combine those entirely unrelated facts... but I guess we never will figure out a line through those three points so let's all head down to the pub and wait for this all to blow over.

So I’m going to guess that you aren’t aware of our urchin problem and a kelp loss problem thats reduced our kelp by 80+%

 

[charlieaarons]

BACK TO THE OP:
Unfortunately this may be the end for boutique Unimog suppliers like Hellgeth and Atlas. Which is really sad especially since I’m already a customer of theirs. BTW the Unimog body builder manual shows umpteen kazillion factory approved mods: roll cages, front and rear and center attachments from winches to snow grinders to backhoes etc.
But will Unicat et al be allowed to attach a non factory approved mod like my moose bar or front DP winch or rear Superwinch or auxiliary fuel tanks or......? Probably only at the cost of more €.
Of course my personal truck isn’t subject to inspection because it’s registered in Alaska, even when in Germany for a bit, now and then.
I feel badly for my European counterparts.

 

[calicamper]

Might want to take a read. https://www.kpbs.org/news/2020/aug/17/san-diego-not-immune-rolling-blackouts/

Mike I usually agree with you, that wasn’t the whole state. It was a region of Southern CA that had issues due to AC use ie heat wave, and limited power generation due to not getting replacement generation built. Also the long line grid equipment running south was maxed out due heat no way to import more power down south.
While people point fingers I know engineers who have been running more long line and increasing tower heights for line stretch in high temps ie increasing power transfer capability. Same folks are also eyeing tidal systems that will likely make CA a power house. As it is today we have started exporting peak solar to NV AZ in just the last 2 years.

 

[calicamper]

Is that similar to how wolves are eating all our cows and squirrels are eating all our nuts and birds are eating all our apples and we're powerless to do anything at all about them because unfortunately we harvest those things entirely from wild meadows and have no control over their growing conditions?

Nope serious issues with warmer waters creeping into cold water currents from Alaska. The predator for the Urchin is a starfish which was decimated by a disease also tied to warmer waters. Urchins like the warmer temps the starfish not so much.

 

[calicamper]

BACK TO THE OP:
Unfortunately this may be the end for boutique Unimog suppliers like Hellgeth and Atlas. Which is really sad especially since I’m already a customer of theirs. BTW the Unimog body builder manual shows umpteen kazillion factory approved mods: roll cages, front and rear and center attachments from winches to snow grinders to backhoes etc.
But will Unicat et al be allowed to attach a non factory approved mod like my moose bar or front DP winch or rear Superwinch or auxiliary fuel tanks or......? Probably only at the cost of more €.
Of course my personal truck isn’t subject to inspection because it’s registered in Alaska, even when in Germany for a bit, now and then.
I feel badly for my European counterparts.

Neighbor owns a chair lift / disability van fitter shop. He’s not too worried about it given apparently they get unique help from Auto manufacturing and figures there will some type of licensing type if deal to certify shops for the specialized work. Not much different than say the utility bed outfitters who take delivery of box van cabs or RV builders etc. All of which have pretty strict limitations on what they are allowed to change or tweak on the base vehicle.

You won’t find a RV builder cutting and modifying Mercedes platforms outside the manufacture requirement given they’ll loose their dealer/ability to buy the platform etc.

 

[Todd780]

Freedom's cool and all but roads are public places where one man's "freedom" is another man's funeral.

In my wildest fantasies I like to pretend there can be nuance, where humans exercise reason on a high resolution basis and can recognize a position between Boolean extremes - for example periodic safety inspections with some defined flexibility for reasonably well engineered modifications and old survivors - but one glance at the news or literally any forum including this one dashes that fantasy to bits.

So... whatever. Smoke 'em if you got 'em.

Reading that made my head hurt. Did you by chance major in philosophy? haha

 

[JaSAn]

Yeah well my old family farm used steam machinery first that really got the ball rolling regarding land being worked. If you think passenger cars and light duty vehicle regs are the same as farm equipment ?. You flunked farming 101

In 1925 a steam tractor cost ~ $1500. My grandfathers new tractor cost $435; affordable on a farm with income about $2500/year.

I was making no comment on regulations. One reason ICE engines were popular is that the average person could afford one. Steamers and electric vehicles were for the rich.

oh well then let's definitely not take any steps to combat the cause of the climate change which is driving this problem.

The earth's climate has been changing for eons. The primary drivers have always been the variability of the sun's output, the earth's wobble, migrating magnetic field, and volcanic eruptions, among others. I don't see how eliminating vehicle modifications will affect any of them.

 

[GA Native]

There is room for all of these technologies to thrive. It is unfortunate that scientific innovation is often coupled with political agendas. I appreciate any technology that enhances my life and pursuits. It is disheartening that, like so many things now, we are expected to declare an allegiance to one technology over another in order to affirm our own or others political insecurities. People will choose the technology that suits their respective lifestyle and purpose. To vilify the ICE without offering an equivalent option seems very naive and disingenuous. Hopefully, the future will deliver systems that offer as much or even more capability than the internal combustion engine. I hope so. Until then, it is my best option for hauling my family and gear in the backcountry for sustained travel.