onetrack

Trump and Carlton. Both two hopeless cases that need to be put down.

Not Range Topping

The only problem with that idea is the huge weight penalty of even a small genset. A 10Kw genset, even a petrol one, would weigh at least 75kgs, probably more like 100kgs if you took into account the weight of the towbar mount. I've got a 6Kva diesel twin Kubota portable genset (GL6000), and it weighs 250kgs. Mazda have been experimenting with a "range extender" 1.0L Rotary engine mounted in the boot, to provide a major range boost, but I'm not sure if it's just been an experiment, or if it is actually planned for production.

Lack of water in drought periods kills thousands of animals and has probably contributed to species extinctions. I can recall, in July 1969, a mate and I took a "halfway around Australia" trip, driving my HK Holden ute. We drove N from Perth, through the Wheatbelt, Murchison, Pilbara and Kimberley. From Kununurra we went to Katherine, then Darwin, then back down the Centre to Port Augusta, where we turned right and headed back to Perth. There was a big drought in 1969 that affected W.A., S.A. and even the N.T., and water sources were drying up big-time. As we drove across the Nullarbor, we encountered mobs of multiple hundreds of 'roos, all heading South. They were heading South trying to find feed and water, and many were in poor shape after obviously travelling a long way. A lot were disorientated and as we slowly motored up to a large mob crossing the highway in front of us, one turned towards us and jumped onto the bonnet of the ute, trying to jump over us in total confusion! He landed on the bonnet and fell off onto the side and picked himself up and slowly hopped away. I'll wager a lot of them died, in W.A. the drought lasted from late 1968 right through to early 1972.

Because it's identical. A. shows the watch missing, B. shows different colours on the bands of the left arm, C. shows an added arm, so it must be D.

D.

It puzzles me that we want swappable batteries for our power tools, household and garden equipment, scooters, e-bikes and other equipment - but we aren't clamouring for swappable batteries (or even just simpler battery replacement) in the EV's currently being offered to us. The EV full transition has yet to play out, and recycling is the area where EV's are carrying a major burden that goes directly against their "green" credentials. We have yet to develop adequate and satisfactory methods of EV vehicle and EV battery recycling. There is only ONE fully operational EV/Lithium battery recycling facility in Australia, and its capacity is quite low, it's incapable of handling any more than a small percentage of Lithium battery recycling. The majority of Lithium battery processing here is simply shredding, burying, or sending the batteries overseas for reprocessing - a procedure that generates more waste and unnecessary consumption of resources, and even at that, there's reluctance of other countries to take our waste. Yet, the EV's and Lithium batteries are being put into production and scaled up at massively increased rates. Virtually all EV's produced in the period from 2010 to 2020 are essentially now scrap - but difficult-to-recycle scrap. We regularly try to improve our rubbish footprint, but it's not improving, it's getting worse. EV tyres are difficult to recycle, they are different to normal tyres, and we already have a massive tyre rubbish problem that is not being addressed. At least Lead-Acid batteries are recycled to the tune of around 98%-99%, and IC-engine car recycling is quite good. IC-engined cars are fully recyclable, even the lubricants and coolant are drained and recycled. But EV batteries are full of toxic chemicals and plastics and minerals, and they are very costly to try and recycle, and the Lithium battery recycling effort doesn't produce any major value at this point. No-one is properly addressing the waste factor associated with EV's, they're just continually kicking the can down the road. At some stage, very soon, EV battery manufacturers MUST concentrate on the recyclability and ease of recycling EV batteries, or we stand to leave a legacy of mounds of EV and Lithium battery waste to our future generations. As it is now, vast numbers of Lithium batteries are going to landfill and councils are being unfairly left to carry the can of dealing with this waste, the level of which they are woefully unprepared for, and unfunded to deal with it.

It's very telling that despite regular and repeated episodes of unconscionable and essentially criminal behaviour by Australian Banks, which behaviour has led to a Royal Commission and multiple number of Banking Enquiries - all of which have determined major wrongdoing by banks in their treatment of loyal customers - not a single Bank executive has ever been charged with criminal behaviour, nor gone to jail, despite their behaviour essentially being White Collar Crime. But the Banks have been obliged, even forced at times, to pay multiple billions of dollars in penalties, as a result of their misbehaviour, disobeyance of banking rules and regulations, mistreatment of customers, and other forms of outright criminality. They are a protected species, with the Govt and politicians lacking the intestinal fortitude to carry out decisive actions against bank executives who indulge in illegal, ruthless, unconscionable and criminal behaviour. I was told years later, when retelling my bank mistreatment tale to one person, that I'd made the mistake of being too conservative in dealing with my bank. This bloke said, "There's an old saying that holds true. When you owe your bank a million dollars, and its fully secured, you have a problem. When you owe the bank a hundred million dollars, and the security is dodgy, they have a problem. Your mistake was not making them concerned about what a possible upset could cost them". In hindsight (a wonderful thing), we would have been far better off to call in Administrators to the business, which is an excellent method for fending off aggressive and unconscionable conduct by banks. Administration would have enabled us to develop a different approach to protecting our assets, and one that would have meant we could have avoided a totally unnecessary fire sale of business assets. To this day, I still wonder what went on, well above our heads in banking and corporate circles. Our business was the biggest family-owned mining contracting business in Western Australia in 1994, and we regularly competed for mining contract work with the "biggies" - Leightons, Roche Bros, Eltin, Brambles, etc, etc. - and I often muse about whether, above our heads, one of these companies threatened to withdraw their business from this bank, unless they took steps to wipe us out, and thus relieve them of annoying and costly competition.

Clinton, I trust you've taken plenty of steps towards protection and preservation of your container if you're going to bury it - because they were never designed to be buried, and the corrosion is relentless and horrendous when unprotected items are buried in the ground. Acids and chemicals in the soil, combined with water travelling through the soil, are highly destructive and corrosive on buried metals. You need to coat the container with a highly protective coating, preferably an epoxy or other high quality, moisture-sealing compound. Then you need to protect it further with heavy duty plastic sheeting that covers the entire container and which sheeting is thoroughly sealed. Otherwise, you'll find your container being destroyed and unusable within a few short years, if you don't take those protective steps.

Add insult to injury.

All that is required is a standard battery design and shape. Manufacturers have done this before, with a myriad of everyday items we use - the same standard fitment applies across a range of manufacturers. Imagine if every electrical manufacturer made their own plugs and sockets and loudly proclaimed their design was best? This is what is happening today. We used to have phones with swappable batteries. Then the manufacturers decided that wasn't a money-spinner for them, so they now make sealed phones with single-use batteries. The problem now is, the amount of phones with good life left in them being discarded by the hundreds of millions, creating a huge waste problem. EV's are heading the same way. The phone problem has gotten so bad in Europe, the EU has now declared that all new phones must be repairable, be more easily disassembled, and have longer life batteries. I'd like to see replaceable batteries return in phones, I'd buy one in an instant. EV's need to last 30 or 40 years, the same as IC-engined cars, otherwise the level of discarded EV vehicles will become a massive waste problem. Taxis in China are primarily, battery-swap models. The design allows for virtually non-stop use of the vehicle. China is working on battery standardisation. An EV with a swappable battery has huge benefits to buyers. The vehicle life can be extended substantially. The buyer can buy an EV much cheaper, because it comes without a battery. You can then rent or buy the battery you need, for your style of use. You only want a battery for city driving? - you rent or buy a small battery. You want to take a long trip? - you rent or buy a big battery. Battery renting makes more sense, just as BBQ gas bottles have gone that way. As battery technology improves, you could fit improved models of battery. No longer will you have to scrap your perfectly good car (as in the Fiats case), simply because the battery is toast, and it's built into the car, making accessibility and repair simply uneconomic. https://mobilityportal.eu/china-battery-swapping-electric-vehicles/

Jerry is spot on with his determination that banks are not your friend. In fact they're the most ruthless and uncaring of any corporate organisation. And if you take them to court, you're up against a coterie who group together like a pack of ruthless commandos, to annihilate you. I've been on the receiving end of banks ruthlessness, and it cost me everything I'd ever accumulated in my 30 years of working life to that point (1995). This bank destroyed our family business, our assets and our family by demanding repayment of ALL outstanding loans and other monies owing - a total of $1M - within 48 hrs. And we had no payment arrears, no major financial problems, and the $1M was fully secured with $1.6M of excellent properties - a farm, city property and industrial property in Kalgoorlie/Boulder. The reason given for the unprecedented demand? "Some computer-generated future scenarios were carried out, that showed, in perhaps 12 mths time, the bank will be owed money by your family business, that we will be unable to recover. Accordingly, we have lost confidence in you as our customer, and no longer want your business, and you will repay the entire sum owing within 48 hrs". Of course, you say - do what any right-thinking person would do - go to another bank! We did. We went to NINETEEN other banks to get them to take us on as their customer, and EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM gave us the same response. "Who are you with now?" "XXX Bank, one of the Big Four". "Oh. If they don't want you as a customer, you must be hiding something from us that means a great hidden risk to us. Thanks, but no thanks." I went to see a lawyer about invoking a lawsuit via the Unconscionable Conduct laws relating to Banks. His answer was succinct. "How many years have you got, and how much money have you got?" He went on - "Because no matter if you have $10M or $20M to spend on financing a lawsuit against this bank, I can tell you this much. They have tens of billions to spend on countering lawsuits, and will continue to run the lawsuit for as long as it takes, with delaying tactics, disputed evidence, and various other legal scheming, that will guarantee YOU will run out of money, and time - long before they do!". He was entirely correct, as the banking lawsuits associated with the 20 Foreign and Australian Banks loans to Bell Group in 1990 proved. The 20 Banks had lent multiple hundreds of millions to the Bell Group, owned by Alan Bond, when it was in its death throes and essentially insolvent. The W.A. Govt had also lent over $150M from the State Govt Insurance company (SGIO), to the Bell Group, in a number of badly-managed investments. When Bell Group went into liquidation, the 20 banks ensured they received the lions share of any remaining Bell Group assets, and the remaining creditors could go whistle. The W.A. Govt, funding the Bell Group liquidator, took the banks on, to recover their lost monies, claiming the banks exercised their power as secured creditors in unreasonable arrangements that denied funds to other creditors. It took until 2013 - TWENTY THREE years of bank arguments, delaying tactics, subterfuge, and disputed evidence, to come to a judgement whereby the Banks were instructed to pay out $1.7 BILLION to the creditors denied their rightful monies via devious bank behaviour. EVEN THEN, the banks refused to pay, declaring they wanted it all reheard again. The W.A. Govt took the unbelievable step of passing the BELL ACT, which was designed to MAKE the Banks pay their judgement monies. Of course, the banks went to court again, and spent ANOTHER NINE YEARS claiming the BELL ACT was invalid - and it was, according to the learned judges. Eventually, the banks agreed to a mediation whereby they would offer a reduced amount ($1.3B) to settle the Bell Group argument, without DECLARING ANY GUILT for unconscionable behaviour. Therefore, it took THIRTY TWO YEARS to settle the aggrieved creditors claims over the Bell Group losses. These banking people are the most disgusting people on the face of the Earth, and I trust there's a special seat in Hell for them. In our familys case, we had no option but to sell everything we owned, and worked our guts out for, for over 30 years, at fire sale prices, resulting in the total destruction of our equity, and the total dispersal of all our assets. I can assure you, I went through a dark place, and spent many years plotting how to kill bank executives by the dozen in a co-ordinated attack - until I finally realised the futility of my thoughts, and the fact that meeting evil with more evil only backfires on you. I'm not alone, I have read multiple stories of business people and farmers who were treated the same as our family, with utter ruthlessness and destructive bank decisions, that sent others into a spiral of depression and revenge. I read of one bloke who actually planned to fly a bomb laden aircraft into a bank headquarters (this was long before 9-11) - and he said he only gave up on the plan when he realised he could not be sure of killing the exact people he desired revenge on, who had destroyed his lifes work with their intransigent and ruthless behaviour. In many cases, farmers lost their farms simply because of bank revaluations that substantially lowered the value of their farm at that particular point, which meant the farmer was technically bankrupt. It was egregious behaviour that was completely unwarranted, a short term position, and one that valued the long-standing customer as worthless. But this is the history of banks - and no-one knew that better than King O'Malley, who had seen the ruthlessness and money-grubbing behaviour of banks in America in the 1800's. I definitely did not get enough financial training in my younger years on how to counter banks ruthlessness, but I doubt any extra training I might have received, would have enabled me to deal with bank avariciousness, especially when they hold all the cards. One thing I have learnt, is to NEVER allow any one bank to control all your assets and financing, and never let them take more security than they actually need. It is standard technique of banks to ensure that they grab all your assets for loan security, when you take out a loan with them, whereby they can end up with double or triple the asset value that is required for that particular loan security. Once they have your major assets listed under their control, that then increases their assets base, and allows them to hand out more high-return unsecured loans such as credit cards. So they're effectively lending unsecured money to other people, secured by your assets. And be assured, that ANY Bank, reserves the power to call in ANY loan - including your house loan - within 48 hrs, if they make a decision that you're no longer able to pay off the loan. In fact, it doesn't even need to be a decision based on ability to pay off the loan - it can be a reason as trifling and as irrelevant as undergoing a separation, changing a partnership agreement, or any one of a hundred spurious reasons that enables them to do this, and to claim their loan or loans are at risk of being unrecoverable. One of the documents I received during the foreclosure on our business, was a 48-page document - in fine print - outlining EVERY single reason for a foreclosure. It was breathtaking in its comprehensiveness, and ensured the banks actions were protected and justified, in every single act it carried out. They play for big stakes, and hold all the cards, and you have none - and they play by their rules.

This is what is wrong with EV's, and what is still putting people off. They're essentially toasters, you scrap them when the battery is RS. Watch the video right through, the bloke is not anti-EV. Even just doing any repair work on them generally starts to become horrendously costly within a very short time. Mind you, a lot of IC-engined cars of recent design are no better. Thus, my argument remains that the only way to make EV's fully superior to IC-engined vehicles, is to build them with swappable batteries. It is idiocy to keep building EV's with batteries that are essentially part of the chassis and body.

110,000 kms isn't high mileage today - 350,000 kms is, though. I regularly see cars with 250,000 kms advertised for sale, and still asking good prices for them. EV's have far less components to wear out than petrol or diesel vehicles. The battery age or charging cycles is the big bugbear with EV's - at 10 years old, the battery is 80% done, you'd be lucky to get another 4 or 5 years out of it, and a new battery is as expensive as a new petrol or diesel engine. Tesla won't give out the price of a battery replacement, but one Tesla owner has been quoted AU$16,000 for a replacement battery. Musk says a Tesla battery will go to 1500 cycles before replacement. If you recharge the battery once per day, that's 1500 days or 4.1 years. Of course, not many EV owners charge once per day, maybe once every 3-4 days, but that still means 12-16 years and the battery is toast. Then there's the cost of repairing EV's if you have even a mild accident. Hitting a 'roo causes multiple thousands in damages, and you can't just take it to your local mechanic to fix it, it all requires complex work to fix - and only Tesla dealers can do it.

Dreamt.

This is a perfect solution to the EV charging question. I'm actually amazed that the shopping centre owners haven't realised the potential money-making potential involved in turning their free parking into an additional source of income from the land, by installing solar panels and EV chargers, and even batteries.

We need more chuckles at present, the forum is become depressing, with constant talk of wars and Trump. I've found Hilary B. Price is about on a par with Gary Larsen for clever animal-related cartoons.

The word is, within a few short years, there will only be 5 to 7 Chinese EV manufacturers left - out of a current, approximately 100 Chinese EV manufacturers. In 2019, there were 500 Chinese EV manufacturers! The majority of the current 100 EV manufacturers will go bankrupt, but some will be merged with the larger Chinese EV brands.

The amazing thing to me is the supply of Chinese EV's and the way they keep dropping the prices. I'm not sure how much further the price cuts can go. The mind-numbing part is, China's EV production capability is only running at 50% of what they could actually produce, if they were running at full production capacity! https://www.carsguide.com.au/car-news/byd-pushes-chinese-electric-car-brands-to-the-brink-of-oblivion latest-round-of-price-cuts

Personally, I look forward to the day when we can tell the Middle East to shove their oil where the sun doesn't shine. Petrodollars go to finance Middle East weapon expenditure on a huge scale.

I trust someone in the U.S. Administration knows that Iran has thousands of missiles, and is a world leader in missile and drone technology. Just hang around and see what the Iran response is to the "Great Satans" attacks. It will probably be bigger and better than 9/11.

Yeah, but has anyone told Chump that? They all look like Arabs, so they must be Arabs!

Yerah, but those Arabs are pretty sneaky to deal with, when you want to trade something with them. He's gonna have trouble pulling a deal with them, they've got lots of oil, did anyone tell him that?

The latest Trump news is that he is ignoring all his Intelligence community advice and information, that says Iran is not building a nuclear weapon, to say that Iran IS building a nuclear weapon. This is a decision that says Trump has the ability to do what he likes, without consulting anyone, including Congress. If he chooses to join Israel in bombing Fordow, he may find he's only started another American war he can't end. So much for Trumps claim he doesn't start wars. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-21/donald-trump-says-tulsi-gabbard-wrong-on-iran-nuclear-program/105445142

Whitby, because it's only town that doesn't end with a body part in its name.