Swiss look to ban use of electric cars over the winter to save energy

The useless just became even more useless

The European Union jumped on the electric vehicle craze well ahead of other parts of the world, particularly after the Paris climate accord. But in typical socialist fashion, they weren’t content with simply encouraging people to switch to EVs. Many European countries almost immediately started making plans to ban gas-powered cars and trucks and make EVs mandatory. Lots of Europeans wanted to get out ahead of the curve and began snapping the newer models up.

But then came the start of the war in Ukraine, cutting energy supplies just as Europe was trying to wean itself off of fossil fuels.

Now, in a rather embarrassing reversal, Switzerland is considering legislation that would ban people from driving electric vehicles except in urgent conditions over the winter because there simply might not be enough juice on the grid to recharge them. (From Der Spiegel. Original is in German but Google Translate can convert it for you.)

Switzerland could be the first country to impose driving bans on e-cars in an emergency to ensure energy security. Several media report this unanimously and refer to a draft regulation on restrictions and bans on the use of electrical energy. Specifically, the paper says: “The private use of electric cars is only permitted for absolutely necessary journeys (e.g. professional practice, shopping, visiting the doctor, attending religious events, attending court appointments).” A stricter speed limit is also planned highways.

Most of the electricity in Switzerland comes from hydropower. However, the country also imports electricity from Germany and France . If there are bottlenecks there, electricity could also become scarce in Switzerland. Energy security in Europe is considered endangered because of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine

Switzerland has various “escalation levels” for its energy crisis. The ban on recharging electric vehicles would only go into effect when they reach level 3 according to the draft copy of the legislation that reporters obtained. Prior to that, the government would impose limits on how hot the water can be in washing machines (yes… seriously) and they would ban the use of leaf blowers and seat heaters in chair lifts. Bizarrely, they will also limit videos from streaming services to only be shown in SD resolution. (Huh?)

So much the same as we saw in California earlier this year, the government pushed everyone to switch over to electric vehicles to save the planet. But now they’re warning them that they won’t be able to recharge their vehicles except for “urgent travel requirements.” The crazy part of all of this is that the major energy corporations have been warning everyone about this for several years. The power grid doesn’t produce endless electricity by magic. You have to produce enough energy to power it or it fails. But nobody wanted to listen.

To put this story in context, consider the fact that in June of this year, the EU proposed a ban on new gas-powered cars by 2035

From 2035, newly registered cars and light goods vehicles will no longer be allowed to emit greenhouse gases. The decision was approved on June 29 by the 27-member group. The ban on internal combustion engines voted by the European Parliament – which the EU member States still have to approve – effectively marks the end of petrol- and diesel-powered vehicles, as well as hybrids, which are currently experiencing a boom. In future, only new electric or hydrogen-powered models will be able to be sold.

2035 is only a little more than a decade away. If this proposal passes, Europe won’t even allow hybrids to be sold. Only fully electric vehicles or hydrogen-powered ones. Good luck finding a hydrogen recharging station, by the way. And unless they get their energy grid back under control, there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to drive your car anywhere.

I was under the impression that Europe was a collection of first-world countries. Perhaps I was mistaken.

https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2022/12/01/swiss-look-to-ban-use-of-electric-cars-over-the-winter-to-save-energy-n514785?mc_cid=232c44ba14&mc_eid=cc88839e92

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More problems with EVs: 'They Get Hot When They're Stored, Not Just When They're Charging'

The Biden administration’s pipedream of an electric vehicle-dominated future for the United States continues to crumble with each passing day.

Among the mountain of problems associated with EVs are spontaneous battery fires, charging headaches, exorbitant car prices and an outsized environmental impact in their manufacturing process.

H. Sterling Burnett of the Heartland Institute, who is the managing editor of Environment & Climate News and director of the Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy, told CBN News on Tuesday that one of the major issues is that the lithium-ion batteries used to power electric cars are a safety hazard — even when the cars are not in use — because they generate a lot of heat and can spontaneously combust.

“The safety implications are the fact these batteries get hot,” Burnett said. “They get hot when they’re stored, not just when they’re charging – just when they’re sitting there stored. They combust.”

During Hurricane Ian, some EV owners in Florida were forced to get rid of their cars after the lithium-ion batteries burst into flames because of saltwater damage.

“Junkyards filled with water-damaged cars strategically displayed gas-powered cars squeezed together and electric cars spaced far apart — in case one spontaneously caught fire,” CBN News reported.

“Firefighters say it takes about 1,000 gallons to put out a normal car fire and ten times that for an electric vehicle.”

The hazard was so alarming that Florida State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis wrote a letter to Tesla CEO Elon Musk asking him to address the fire risk.

Musk has not responded, according to CBN News.

However, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration did reply to Patronis, saying “lithium-ion battery fires have been observed both rapidly igniting and igniting several weeks after battery damage occurred.”

Another issue is the relative dearth of EV recharging stations across the country. Right now, most of the 53,000 charging stations in the United States are in big cities.

This charging nightmare has been well documented, with numerous anecdotes of drivers spending hours trying to find a charging station, only to wait a long time to fully charge their vehicle.

Those who are able to find a station often encounter long lines.

Ironically, another major drawback of electric vehicles is how environmentally costly it is to produce them.

While left-wing activists claim EVs are better for the environment because they supposedly generate zero carbon emissions, their environmental impact is immense.

Physicist Mark Mills, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, told CBN News the supply chain that markets the manufacturing of lithium-ion batteries is “utterly dominated by China.”

As a reminder, China is the world’s biggest carbon polluter that’s notorious for its lax environmental policies.

“Like any vehicle – they have to mine materials to make the car,” Mills said. “You have to mine a lot more materials, metals, to make an electric vehicle than you do a conventional vehicle. By about 1,000 percent on average.”

He explained that miners must use heavy machines that burn diesel oil to dig up 500,000 pounds of earth to make a single, 1,000-pound EV battery.

“All those emissions from all that energy usage to dig those materials up cause carbon dioxide to be emitted somewhere else,” Mills told CBN News.

“So when the electric vehicle is delivered to your driveway, it’s already arriving with massive emissions of carbon dioxide that you eventually pay off,” he said. “It’s kind of like an inverse mortgage by driving that instead of an internal combustion engine.”

When you add the high prices of EVs to the environmental damage caused by their manufacturing process to the many inconveniences of recharging them, it’s no wonder that some Americans are hesitant to jump on this bandwagon.

https://thefederalistpapers.org/us/americans-2nd-thoughts-leftist-ev-utopia-get-hot-stored-not-just-charging

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"Dunkelflaute" in Germany: Lack of sunshine and wind lull reveals renewables' worst nightmare

Germany has twisted itself into a pretzel with its attempts at climate righteousness

It is the worst case imaginable for the energy-transition nation Germany: Because of a cloudy November dims the sun and a lull in wind it is primarily coal-fired power plants that have to make up for the energy shortage.

The first winter crisis since the outbreak of the Ukraine war has not even really begun. But it is already clear how serious the consequences are for Germany's energy supply - and CO2 emissions - especially in the dark winter season. Since Tuesday, the first real dark calm of the year has prevailed in Germany: There is hardly any sunlight at the end of November while at the same time there is almost no wind. It is the worst case for a country that wants to focus primarily on renewable energy sources.

Gas and coal-fired power plants then have to compensate for the small amounts of wind and solar power. But because gas is a scarce commodity this year and probably next year, more coal-fired power plants (which emit even more CO2 than gas power plants) have been fired up again.

According to "Electricity Maps" which collects and compares electricity generation data from around the world Germany ranked 160th out of 177 global regions in the past few days in terms of CO2-Emissions per kilowatt hour. On Wednesday morning the value was 726 grams of CO2 per kilowatt hour of electricity in Germany, only one European country had an even worse balance: Poland. There is even more reliance on energy from coal, which drove CO2 emissions to almost 950 grams per kilowatt hour.

At the same time, other countries, especially in Scandinavia, generate their electricity in a much more climate-friendly way. Sweden, for example, only came up with a value of 21 grams per kilowatt hour. In addition to a lot of energy from hydropower, the country's nuclear power plants also contributed more than a quarter of the required amount of electricity.

In Germany, too, the three remaining nuclear power plants deliver more than 3.8 gigawatts on Wednesday morning, and thus not just more than five percent of the total electricity. Due to the dark doldrums, more nuclear power was produced in Germany than with solar panels and wind turbines. During the same period, wind energy only supplied 3.3 gigawatts, while solar energy contributed 3.1 gigawatts to the German electricity mix.

The last three nuclear power plants are to be shut down by April next year at the latest, so the lack of energy during such dark wind lulls next winter would have to be compensated for by even more electricity from gas and coal-fired power plants, and CO2 emissions could increase accordingly.

The role that the weather currently plays is also shown by how little of the maximum available capacity of the wind and solar energy systems could be used. The German wind turbines were actually able to generate just five percent of the maximum capacity, and the share of solar energy was just under five percent.

https://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/plus242408295/Kaum-Sonne-und-Wind-Deutschland-mit-katastrophalem-CO-Ausstoss-bei-Energieerzeugung.html

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Climate change pest who blocked the Sydney Harbour Bridge is JAILED for her 'selfish and childish' stunt

A protester who blocked the Sydney Harbour Bridge in a protest over climate change has been sent to prison after a magistrate slammed her for her 'childish stunts' and 'selfish emotional' actions.

Magistrate Allison Hawkins sent Deanna 'Violet' Coco to prison for a minimum of eight months after she pleaded guilty to seven charges, including using an authorised explosive not as prescribed, possessing a bright light distress signal in a public place, and interfering with the safe operation of a bridge.

The 31-year-old sat at the front of the public gallery at Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on Friday, wiping tears from her eyes as she held hands with her mother and another female supporter.

At 8.30am on April 13, Coco drove a large hire truck along the Cahill Expressway on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and purposefully blocked a lane during peak hour, the court was told.

While the truck was obstructing traffic, she stood on top of it, held a lit emergency flare and livestreamed the event.

After 25 minutes, police arrived and forcibly removed the protesters from the iconic Sydney landmark, with Coco resisting arrest.

Defence lawyer Mark Davis told the court a 'salient fact' in Coco's case was that she only blocked one lane on the Sydney Harbour Bridge when there were five.

'One lane was blocked ... it was a deliberate decision to only block one lane,' Mr Davis said.

'To put it simply, the traffic may have still been moving, there was no suggestion there was backup of traffic.'

The court was told Coco suffered from 'serious anxiety surrounding climate change' and her actions were personally motivated, as her boyfriend had been arrested for a similar protest on a football field.

Mr Davis said his client was in a 'high state of emotion' and would not have ordinarily conducted the offence.

Ms Hawkins questioned Mr Davis´ defence: 'Normal members of the community going to work and going about their ordinary business are not entitled to being disrupted because she´s in a high state of emotion.'

The defence lawyer said climate change anxiety was the 'most prevalent anxiety' in Coco´s generation.

'There may be an overwhelming threat of doom, they sense they aren´t being heard, the government isn´t doing enough, it´s leading to these types of actions,' Mr Davis said.

Ms Hawkins found there was an 'intended element of planning' in Coco´s offending.

'You stopped during peak-hour having obtained a flare and truck, and the banners and glue, to halt peak-hour traffic in the city at that particular time with the aim of gaining maximum exposure,' the magistrate said.

'You knew this was illegal, you knew you would be arrested and you knew there would be consequences.'

Ms Hawkins told Coco she let an 'entire city suffer' due to her 'emotional reaction' and failed to take into account the other people she affected.

She said the 31-year-old´s actions deserved condemnation from both the court and the community.

'You do damage to your cause when you do childish stunts like this. Why should they be disrupted by your selfish emotional actions?' Ms Hawkins said.

'You are not a political prisoner, you are a criminal.'

Coco was convicted and sentenced to 15 months imprisonment with a non-parole period of eight months.

She hugged her mother and friend before she was handcuffed and led out of the court by two corrective services officers.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11493845/Climate-change-pest-blocked-Sydney-Harbour-Bridge-JAILED.html

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