The Financial Riddler -- 7/22/24
Cheat as needed.
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What’s the typical range of all electric vehicles on the market today?
a. 400-500 miles
b. 300-400 miles
c. 200-300 miles
d. 100-200 miles
e. less than 100 miles
And the answer is …
The answer is 200-300 miles. Moreover, according to Car and Driver magazine, you need to knock off another 12 percent from what the manufacturer declares as the mileage. This figure appears to be closer to 25 percent in the case of Tesla, which may someday be prosecuted along with other EV sellers for false advertising. Or maybe the EPA will be prosecuted as new car stickers are EPA approved. Ford’s F-150 Lightning pickup claims a 300 mile range. The reality appears to be 230 miles. Car dealers’ sticker range estimates ignore the use of the battery to heat and cool your car, power your headlights, and recharge your phone. Also if you drive up and down hills or drive fast, forgetaboutit. Batteries may drain during cold nights if your car, like mine, likes to keep itself warm. As discussed here, the plug-in hybrid 2022 Volvo XC60 was sold with the promise of a 45 mile range. It’s real range, at least for the one my wife and I own, is 30-35 miles. Pure EVs are currently selling at a significant discount and their manufacturers are making losses. So lying about mileage isn’t doing the trick.
What is the range of the latest Chinese EV batteries?
a. 400-500 miles
b. 300-400 miles
c. 200-300 miles
d. 100-200 miles
And the answer is …
The answer is none of the above. Sorry, but frustration is the name of this game. The world’s largest battery maker, China’s CATL, just announced its latest batteries have a 620 mile range and can be fully recharged in a half hour! Nio, another Chinese battery company, has a battery that can power a car for 650 miles. Volvo, by the way, is partly owned by Geely, a Chinese holding company. It’s exporting its Polestar 2 to the U.S. at, back in May, a 27.5 percent tariff. Today’s tariff is 100 percent. President Biden also raised tariffs on China’s solar panels to 50 percent. So much for his Administration’s effort to go green.
Since November 7, 2022, when its priced peaked, how much has the price of lithium changed? Lithium is, of course, used to make batteries, including EV batteries.
a. Risen by 237 percent
b. Risen by 181 percent
c. Risen by 109 percent
d. Risen by 67 percent
e. Fallen by 87 percent
And the answer is …
The answer is fallen by 87 percent. This is stunning. The nominal price of Lithium is lower today that it was in May 2017. Even more stunning is the reduction in the real price. It’s now a third of what it was in May 2017!
According to Bankrate.com, which is the worst state in which to retire? Their weighted ranking is based on affordability (40 percent), overall well-being (25 percent), the cost and quality of health care (20 percent), weather (10 percent) and crime (5 percent)
a. New York
b. Alaska
c. California
d. Washington
e. North Dakota
And the answer is …
The answer is Alaska. But the other four states are all in the bottom five. The top five ranked states are, from top down, Delaware, West Virginia, Georgia, South Carolina, and Missouri.
By the way, you can easily compare living in your current state with moving to another by using my company’s software tool, Maxifi Planner. Just enter your current location as your base plan and then copy it as an alternative profile called, say, Move to Idaho. Tell the program in the housing screen when you’ll move, where you’ll move, and what dwelling you’d rent or buy as well as its cost. Then tell MaxiFi to compare the two profiles. The tool incorporates differences in housing costs. If one of the location has a, say, 5 percent cost of living, housing excluded, divide MaxiFi’s computed lifetime discretionary spending in that location by 1.05 times 1+X, where X is the difference in effective sales tax rates in the two locations. The resulting increase (decrease) in lifetime spending between the two locations shows the material gain or loss from moving. It doesn’t include the bonus value of escaping your in-laws. As George Burns put it, "Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.”
Over the last decades, the median size of newly constructed U.S. homes has changed. By what percentage?
a. Risen by 29 percent
b. Risen by 15 percent
c. Risen by 8 percent
d. Risen by 1 percent
e. Declined by 4 percent
f. Declined by 12 percent
And the answer is …
The answer, care of Torsten Slok, Chief Economist at Apollo, and the U.S. Census is f. Newly constructed houses are a remarkably 12 percent smaller than was the case just 10 years ago. We’re also seeing a drop in construction of residential structures, regardless of their size. Construction of new rental apartments is half of what it was two years ago. Construction of single family homes is roughly the same.
How far apart, on average, are EV charging stations on the best charging route from the East to the West Coast?
a. 30 miles
b. 50 miles
c. 70 miles
d. 90 miles
f. 170 miles
And the answer is …
The answer is 70 miles. You can now drive from Washington, D.C. to LA and finding a charging station every 70 miles.
How much is the planet’s top basketball franchise — the Boston Celtics — worth?
a. $120 billion
b. $73 billion
c. $51 billion
d. $19 billion
e. $5 billion
And the answer is …
The Celtics are now up for sale for the low, low price of $5 billion. If I were the owner of the 76’ers, I’d sell it for its $4 billion price and ante up to buy the Celtics. Why not own a winning team? The curious things here are a) the value of the Celtics is so low and b) the value of the 76’ers (my brother’s favorite team) is so high. Lots of things are mispriced. But this may be the greatest market failure yet recorded.
My sons own this fabulous, secluded cottage (see pics below) and adjacent lovely beach property, which you can rent on Airbnb. It’s fully winterized and currently available 7/28-8/3, 8/18-8/31, 9/2-9/29, and from 10/16 on. It’s a great place to chill or go swimming, boating, hiking, skiing, and far more. Lake Elmore is a half hour from Stowe and about 40 minutes from downhill skiing at both Mt. Mansfield and Smugglers Notch.
Wow! Say it ain't so. But maybe in a few years, chargers will be everywhere. This is a chicken and egg problem.
best, Larry
EVs are some extreme kind of false advertising from the get go. All of the fossil fuels used to create the cars, charging stations, and the electricity to charge them are not included in the "efficiency" of the product. We have some relatives with disposable income and they fell for the "green" propaganda and bought an EV. They started experiencing range anxiety after leaving the garage with 80 mile range shown on the dash then coming out of church on a cold day and the range indicated as 18 miles. Range Anxiety baby. They were worried they would not make it home and freeze to death in the car. The next day they went out and bought a Toyota hybrid Highlander. Range anxiety cured. They discovered the EV trade in value was almost half of what they paid for the EV just months before.