The SlingShot and the EPA

Quote from Kyle D

I completely agree with both of you. Uncle Sam is getting his money one way or another whether it's raising the cost of electricity or raising the cost of registration each year or both or both of those and more. They will get theirs. My only point was, unless I misunderstood, the way it was worded sounded like the statement was, electricity isn't taxed like gasoline is so it's not apples to apples. But both have lots of taxes on top of the "cost" of it. I can't speak for any other state but here in MI, I pay more taxes each month in electricity usage than I do on fuel. Taxes on my elec bill last month were $89. I paid about $71 on 90gal of gasoline for the month.

My entire electric bill last month was right at $100. Several days in the high 90s with the AC cooling a 3,300 sq ft home. Only two people though. And I don't shower.

In the early 60s my dad tried to pull that miles driven on me in my 58 Chevy. I used to reach up under the dash and disconnect the speedometer cable from the back of the speedometer when I was getting close to what he thought I should be driving. Back in those days the speed I was reiving was a concern of mine. Yes guys I did drive fast back then and even with the Chevy being blue and white she did go fast.

Quote from DJohnson

In the early 60s my dad tried to pull that miles driven on me in my 58 Chevy. I used to reach up under the dash and disconnect the speedometer cable from the back of the speedometer when I was getting close to what he thought I should be driving. Back in those days the speed I was reiving was a concern of mine. Yes guys I did drive fast back then and even with the Chevy being blue and white she did go fast.

ahh yes - I remember those days when it was so easy to disconnect - - had a friend / co worker who had a leased car who did this so that she would not exceed her allowed miles - she had a out of town boy friend she just couldn't sat away from so it was an every weekend drive out of town

Quote from Kyle D

I completely agree with both of you. Uncle Sam is getting his money one way or another whether it's raising the cost of electricity or raising the cost of registration each year or both or both of those and more. They will get theirs. My only point was, unless I misunderstood, the way it was worded sounded like the statement was, electricity isn't taxed like gasoline is so it's not apples to apples. But both have lots of taxes on top of the "cost" of it. I can't speak for any other state but here in MI, I pay more taxes each month in electricity usage than I do on fuel. Taxes on my elec bill last month were $89. I paid about $71 on 90gal of gasoline for the month.

And more electric cars will jackup the electricity prices! When they do expect your other electric bils to go up substantially. Right now you are enjoying low charge prices but do you really think that this is going to continue when the gas cars are phased out? Drink more coolaid!

Quote from VV11B40

When they do expect your other electric bils to go up substantially.

Drink more coolaid!

I believe you meant "bills" and "Kool-Aid"

Quote from wjfyfe

That is already in the works here in Oregon: https://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/Programs/Pages/OReGO.aspx

Bill

Wow, the current Oregon gas tax (not including federal) is 38 cents a gallon... from reading that article, the mileage tax would be 1.8 cents a mile.... so...if I get 30MPG that is 38 cents... for the 30 miles.. if I drive 30 miles under the new program no gas tax, but the mileage tax works out to be....54 cents... again not including anything the Fed drop on top of that....

I understand at present it is just for high mileage vehicles (over 40mpg) and EV's, but how long before it is for everyone?

Here's another example of the EPA sweeping through and the government being on some bullshit. I will preface this by saying this company knew what they were doing so I'm not upset about the fines and what not. My main point of irritation is in the last paragraph but read the whole thing first.

This will ultimately ruin this persons life as they will likely do jail time, and it will ultimately shut his business down and likely bankrupt him. The guy is Kory Willis. He owns a company called PPEI. They were tuning diesel trucks and disabling/deleting the emissions systems and taken to trial for violating the clean air act.. He and his company pleaded guilty to the charges. PPEI and Willis will each pay $1,550,000 ($3.1mil in total) in civil penalties and agree not to manufacture, sell, or install any device that bypasses, defeats, or renders inoperative motor vehicle emissions controls. In additions, they cannot not sell or transfer the intellectual property associated with the products, and will destroy illegal products still in inventory, cease warranty support for previously sold products, revise marketing materials, notify customers and dealers of the law and the settlement, and train employees and contractors. In addition to that, Kory faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years of incarceration on the conspiracy count, two years of incarceration on the tampering count, and for each count a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross pecuniary gain derived from the offense. PPEI faces for each count a maximum fine of $500,000 or twice the gross pecuniary gain derived from the offense. To give you an idea of the amount of counts, PPEI has tuned over 175,000 vehicles according to the owner. You can do the math on that.

But wait, it gets better..........So the President of the USA travels in his motorcade in that bulletproof Caddy named "The Beast". The engine in that vehicle has been swapped to a Duramax diesel..........I bet you can see where I am going with this........guess who was paid by the government to delete all of the emissions and tune the vehicle? You guessed it, Kory Willis and PPEI.

I wasn't feeling sorry for the guy until the last paragraph. Remember, do as I say not as I do.

Quote from Kyle D

Here's another example of the EPA sweeping through and the government being on some bullshit. This will ultimately ruin this persons life as they will likely do jail time, and it will ultimately shut his business down and likely bankrupt him. The guy is Kory Willis. He owns a company called PPEI. They were tuning diesel trucks and disabling/deleting the emissions systems and taken to trial for violating the clean air act.. He and his company pleaded guilty to the charges. PPEI and Willis will each pay $1,550,000 ($3.1mil in total) in civil penalties and agree not to manufacture, sell, or install any device that bypasses, defeats, or renders inoperative motor vehicle emissions controls. In additions, they cannot not sell or transfer the intellectual property associated with the products, and will destroy illegal products still in inventory, cease warranty support for previously sold products, revise marketing materials, notify customers and dealers of the law and the settlement, and train employees and contractors. In addition to that, Kory faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years of incarceration on the conspiracy count, two years of incarceration on the tampering count, and for each count a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross pecuniary gain derived from the offense. PPEI faces for each count a maximum fine of $500,000 or twice the gross pecuniary gain derived from the offense. To give you an idea of the amount of counts, PPEI has tuned over 175,000 vehicles according to the owner. You can do the math on that.

But wait, it gets better..........So the President of the USA travels in his motorcade in that bulletproof Caddy named "The Beast". The engine in that vehicle has been swapped to a Duramax diesel..........I bet you can see where I am going with this........guess who was paid by the government to delete all of the emissions and tune the vehicle? You guessed it, Kory Willis and PPEI.

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So, this might be an unpopular opinion on this topic, but PPEI did know they were selling an illegal tune and delete pipes. Reading through the plea agreement available online, it is pretty obvious that they knew what they were doing was illegal. They got caught for doing something illegal and are now paying the price. Does it suck for them, absolutely, but it is not like any of us in the aftermarket business have not seen this coming for quite awhile now from the EPA, especially with diesel tuning. The EPA has been coming down very hard on diesel companies for awhile now because of the huge increase in emissions that are seen with those engines when they get tuned.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr…-criminal-fines-and-civil

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr…ase/file/1483456/download

As for tuning the beast, I wonder how that conversation went with the government, did PPEI let the government know what they were doing was illegal? Also, wondering if that tune still remains on the beast or not, as technically according the EPA it would not be legal to drive on the road. According to the plea, PPEI will not be able to support that tune either, so it would be a real shame if it broke down or something

Quote from harleyujoe

And I keep thinking I want to own a electric vehicle and wonder if anyone has

thought of making a Electric Slingshot ???

I know at 71 yrs young I am running out of time for these fun vehicles but my heart is still in it..

Like to hear if anyone thinks it is worth a venture ??

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I know of one out in California, I think he is working on the second. He had around a 100 mile range if he drove it conservatively, but typically got a 60-70 mile range if I remember correctly, this was a couple years ago that we chatted. Somewhere in the LA area. Nice guy and the conversion was relatively easy to do with off the shelf parts.

There was also a guy here in Texas that tried multiple variations of Gas, Full- Electric, and hybrid. I had seen it couple times but don't know what the current status is. He was running a "Capt. America" theme if anyone remembers pictures anywhere.