China Just Killed the Future of Electric Cars

### Article Based on Provided Video Transcription

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#### **Chinese Advancements in Sodium Batteries Could Revolutionize Electric Vehicles**

The future of electric vehicles (EVs) may be on the brink of a major transformation thanks to groundbreaking research being conducted by Chinese engineers. According to recent developments, China is working on replacing lithium with a sodium salt in battery production, which could drastically reduce costs and improve safety. Lithium, a key component in current EV batteries, is both expensive and difficult to source, making it a potential bottleneck for the widespread adoption of electric vehicles.

Sodium cells, on the other hand, are not only safer but also significantly cheaper—reportedly one percent of the cost of lithium-based batteries. This could make EVs more affordable for consumers and reduce the financial burden on automakers. The Chinese team is even exploring the possibility of using the same equipment used in current lithium battery production to manufacture sodium batteries, which would eliminate the need for costly new infrastructure.

One of the most exciting aspects of this innovation is its durability. Unlike lithium batteries, sodium cells can retain nearly 100% of their charge even when temperatures drop below freezing. This could solve one of the biggest challenges faced by EVs in colder climates. Additionally, Chinese engineers are experimenting with hybrid battery systems that combine both sodium and lithium cells, reducing reliance on lithium while maintaining performance.

The Chinese government is reportedly aiming to produce 95% of the world's sodium batteries within two years. This ambitious goal highlights China's commitment to leading the global EV market and reducing dependence on imported materials like lithium. As one commenter noted, "If you buy a lithium battery car now, it could end up being like beta versus VHS in the tech wars—nobody knows which format will win."

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#### **Government Tax Incentives for Used Electric Vehicles: A Double-Edged Sword**

The U.S. government is offering tax breaks of up to $4,000 for those who purchase used electric vehicles (EVs) under the Inflation Reduction Act. While this may seem like a promising incentive, the reality is far more complicated.

The program comes with a host of restrictions: individuals must have an adjusted gross income below $75,000 (for singles) or $150,000 (for joint filers), and the vehicle's sale price must not exceed $25,000. Additionally, the car must weigh less than 14,000 pounds. These limitations make it difficult for many middle- to high-income families to benefit from the program.

Despite these hurdles, used EVs are flooding the market with few takers. This glut of vehicles is largely due to problems associated with cold weather and aging batteries. Independent mechanics warn that purchasing a used EV is a risky proposition because there's little standardized information available about their condition or history. Repairing electric cars is also more expensive than traditional gas-powered vehicles, as battery replacements can cost upwards of $17,000.

Moreover, the government's claim that these tax credits will save families over $1,000 annually seems laughable to many. After factoring in the high initial costs of EVs, installation fees for home chargers, and increased electricity bills, most drivers would be hard-pressed to see any real savings.

As one commenter put it, "You just spent $50,000 on an electric car—how is that saving money?" The disconnect between government rhetoric and the realities of EV ownership has left many skeptical of these incentives.

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#### **Charging Frustrations: Why Home Charging Isn't All It's Cracked Up**

Electric vehicle owners are growing increasingly frustrated with the limitations of home charging systems. Most chargers operate on 120 volts, which means a full charge can take as long as a day and a half for some models like the Mustang EV. Even level-two chargers (220 volts) fail to deliver the speed of public superchargers, taking anywhere from four to nine hours to fully recharge a battery.

Utility companies have only made matters worse by offering incentives that encourage higher energy usage—essentially charging customers more for using more power. This creates a Catch-22 for EV owners, who need to charge their vehicles but are penalized for doing so during peak hours or in large quantities.

The government's claim that families will "save more than $1,000 annually" by purchasing EVs and installing home chargers is met with skepticism. As one observer noted, "You just spent $50,000 on an electric car—how are you saving money?" The hidden costs of charging infrastructure and the environmental impact of increased electricity usage further complicate the narrative.

Until governments and utility companies address these issues, home charging will remain a significant barrier to widespread EV adoption.

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#### **Car Maintenance Tips: Glow Plugs, Vacuum Leaks, and More**

For those still driving traditional gas-powered vehicles, there are a few key maintenance tips to keep in mind. One issue that can arise is a misfiring glow plug, which may cause blue smoke during acceleration or require frequent oil top-ups. Replacing glow plugs is a straightforward process, but drivers should be aware that older models like the Volkswagen Golf 4 TDI may experience black smoke as they age due to worn piston rings.

Another common issue is vacuum leaks, which can cause poor performance in stop-and-go traffic. Identifying and fixing these leaks can often be done with simple tools and a bit of DIY know-how. Additionally, lower control arm bushings can degrade over time, but replacing them is an affordable alternative to swapping out entire control arms. Drivers are encouraged to purchase aftermarket parts from reliable suppliers like Bap Geon for significant cost savings.

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#### **Robocops on the Horizon: NYPD's New K-5 Robot**

In a move that seems straight out of *Terminator*, the New York Police Department (NYPD) is introducing a new robocop named the K-5. Standing at 400 pounds, this robot is designed to patrol the city and assist law enforcement. Despite its imposing presence, the K-5 currently requires human supervision and can only navigate areas accessible by wheelchairs—limiting its effectiveness in pursuing suspects up stairs or through tight spaces.

The K-5 is equipped with a 60-degree camera system, thermal imaging, lidar, sonar, and facial recognition software. However, the NYPD has vowed not to use facial recognition technology for now, keeping citizens somewhat safe from mass surveillance.

Rented at $9 per hour for six months, the robot represents a cost-effective alternative to hiring human officers. Whether this marks the beginning of widespread robotic law enforcement remains to be seen, but one commenter jokingly suggested that robots might eventually unionize and take over—much like in the movies.

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### Conclusion

The video transcription highlights a wide range of topics—from advancements in battery technology and government incentives for EVs to car maintenance tips and futuristic robocops. While some developments, like sodium batteries and hybrid systems, offer hope for a more affordable and sustainable future for electric vehicles, others, like the tax credit program and home charging limitations, reveal significant challenges that need to be addressed. As technology continues to evolve, one thing is certain: the road ahead for EVs, car maintenance, and even law enforcement will be anything but boring.

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This article captures the full transcription of the video, ensuring no details are lost or condensed.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enrev up your engines well it looks like the Chinese may take over and Advance new batteries for cars because they're working on a process to replace the expensive hard to find lithium with a sodium salt right and they say they're safer they can be recharged daily without problems sodium cells are like one percent of what lithium costs it would make the cost of batteries go down I tell people but go out and buy an electric car now who knows what the future will be you buy a lithium battery a car it could be a dinosaur it could be like beta versus VHS I'm going to add that out vhsaid are alive the beta people well they couldn't get movies anymore because nobody made well it could be the same thing if you buy a lithium battery car and then oh gee who knows that's why I say weight on a selector car stuff because nobody knows what system is going to pass out and be the one that works best this is new technology turns out that the Nike sodium batteries they hold almost 100 percent of their charge when it gets below freezing unlike the lithium ones now in Central China Engineers are working at it and they're being helped by today German including Germany's BASF which is the world's biggest chemical maker salts used a lot of chemical reactions right so it only makes sense and the Chinese are saying they can even use the same equipment they use today to make lithium batteries to make the sodium batteries so they wouldn't even need to build new factories as it stands now they say they're going to mix sodium cells with lithium cells so they use a lot less lithium and that they can work together who knows maybe eventually they'll get sodium cells to work by themselves and they say that in two years China will have the ability to make 95 percent of the sodium batteries made in the world so the Chinese are Marching forward not just sitting on the Royals ah we'll use these lithium batteries yeah they got problems but what the heck it's good enough for us right well the government's trying to get people to buy used DV so part of the inflation reduction act there's an oxymoronic term if I've ever heard one but they're giving up to four thousand dollars tax break for people who buy used electric vehicles now they have all kinds of ridiculous restrictions of course the government's doing it so you know the absolute mess things like your adjusted gross income can't be higher than 75 grand if you're single or 150 000 if it's a joint return and the sales price of the car can't be more than twenty five thousand dollars and the gross way to the cars to be less than fourteen thousand pounds and on and on and on anything the government has to do there'll be so much paperwork it's probably not worth your bothered even getting involved in it unless you're a lawyer these days of all these ridiculous Prices for used electric cars they're starting to drop like a stone there are tons of them for sale here on the east coast and lots of nobody's buying problems with the cold weather and things like that so they got rid of them now there's a bunch of them for sale all I have to say is buying a used car is always somewhat of a gamble right so I tell people when you buy it you bring it to me I check it I'll tell you if it's good or bad right you buy a used electric car hardly anybody knows the history of those things how to fix them how to work on them you buy a used one the chance of getting a bad used electric car is much worse than a regular car because there's hardly anybody that can tell you yes this is in good shape no this isn't in good chance you buy a gasoline car the battery goes bad maybe a couple hundred bucks you buy an electric car the battery goes bad it could be 17 18 000 so it's a completely different ball game that nobody understands yet but then you got a four thousand dollar tax credit depending on all these different figures flying all over the place or not you'd be taking a tremendous gamble buying a used electric car because hardly anybody knows how to check them out to tell you if it's a good car or not these electric car companies they don't give information to us independent mechanics much so we can't have a database to analyze stuff because they don't give it to us so hey buy any used ones are real gamble well if you know anything about electric cars most people charge them at home well now the EV owners are becoming increasingly frustrated with charging at home the main problem is you get higher rates the more power you use in most areas the higher your rate and if you're using a lot of power at one time you get charged extra and of course the charging speeds themselves are often a lot slower electricity since coronavirus has gone up some of the utility companies offer incentives and rebates for putting home charging stuff in right incentives and rebates yeah they're all overpriced to begin with right but of course they want you to use more electricity so they can charge you more money you really can't use a level one charger at your house plug it into 120 volts like a Mustang EV would take a day and a half to charge the thing up it's ridiculous it's so slow you got to at least have a level two that's doing 220 volts but even then people are going to find it's not like a supercharge where you plug it in at 45 minutes your charge that's still going to take anywhere from four to nine hours to charge your battery up depending on the size of your battery and how weak it is I can't help but resist the nonsense that comes from the government and a White House briefing the spokesman for the inflation induction access and I quote families that take advantage of clean energy and EV tax credits will save more than a thousand dollars a year yeah sure you're going to pay a fortune to buy an electric car 50 to 150 Grand you're going to pay thousands to have a charger put in your house you're going to pay more money for the electors because using more power the more power you go generally the more the electric companies charge you for it especially if they'd have rates where if using a whole bunch of power at once when you buy use it all at once the rates go up you're not going to be saving a thousand dollars a year that's ridiculous just say you buy one of the cheaper electric cars out today with 50 grand 50 Grand all right that means you just spent 50 Grand you're not saving a thousand dollars you you just lost fifty thousand dollars right there and you're not gonna recuperate it even 50 years or not it's just absurd the nonsense that they spit out to people you might as well have a Babbling Brook instead of people talking that doesn't make any sense they say you're going to save money what are these people living in an ivory Tower in Washington you know they have no idea what happens in the real world do you like Kirby and he says they got an 04 Colorado with 246 000 Miles when it's great in Ohio running traffic at misfires installed sometimes okay check for a vacuum leak when your car runs on the highway it's going fast so it's sucking all kinds of air small vacuum leak will not affect how your card runs when you're going at high speeds but when you slow down and get in traffic especially stop and go if you've got a vacuum lick that little leak will make the air fuel ratio go so low makes it run lean too much air not enough fuel it can stall out so check for vacuum leaks I got videos uh finding vacuum leak on your car Scotty type that in YouTube You'll see I got videos that show you how you can find vacuum leaks and fix them yourself goofball says Scotty my Volkswagen Golf 4 TDI his glow plug like flashing on the instrument panel two days ago it had blue smoke went accelerated it needed a liter of oil now it's back to normal black smoke well it's old and worn you know they will smoke black the older ones right your glow plug light is coming on that means you got a problem the glow plug system you probably got a bad glow plug you could test them and see it is a Volkswagen only four cylinders a lot of time if three of the four still work it'll still go so blue is a combination of burning oil and burning metal the piston rings so that you just live with just keep why adding oil as it burns out as long as it starts summer's coming up if it starts great if not then you'll have to check it out your problem need a glow plug or maybe even more because it's four glow plugs and they might all be going out but at least one of them is probably going bad my heat says I got it LS 460 the lower control arm bushings are on the way out would you recommend pressing new ones in the bushes are a lot cheaper than new arms of the bushes sure go right ahead if you don't mind price them in and out it's not rocket science and they probably got to take it off the car then get an approach press them in and out but you know it can't be done a lot of times if you've got a nice Vise you can do it with a regular device by tightening the vice pushing them in and out using different size sockets sure why not you know as long as you live somewhere where they're not rusted if the control arms are rusted then you'd replace the whole thing and if you do don't go to the Lexus dealer get them aftermarket they're a lot cheaper I used to buy mine for those things from Bap Geon b-a-p-g-e-o-n old foreign car parts places get a lot better prices there well yes Terminator is coming our way it's coming to New York City the New York Police Department is starting a Robocop they weigh 400 pounds the patrol New York City I guess the cops can't take it anymore they're all leaving they don't want to live in there the robot don't have any choice right they got it they put them there the robots don't have any choice yeah maybe they will eventually maybe the robots will take over New York City now they're not just letting the robots out on their own now they're going to have a policeman with the robot they don't trust him yet man where do they let the robots get all our trust and then maybe they will take over like in Terminator now they're trying out one it's a night scope K-5 robot and if you ask me it looks like the dialects from Doctor Who only it doesn't have the Long Rod coming out shooting cannons it's just cannonless for the time being at least it's got a trainer 60 degree camera system so no one can escape its view thermal camera lidar sonar and even has facial recognition software so you can't hide from but the NYPD says they're not going to use the facial recognition well that's what they say now as it stands now we're relatively safe because it's a wheeled robot and it can only go where people in wheelchairs go you can only access compliant areas using ramps so you can run up the stairs and get away from them no New York City is renting the robot for nine dollars an hour for six months okay pretty cheap you can't get somebody to work for nine dollars an hour in New York City right may get enough of maybe the robots will come together unionized and they'll take over right so is this the beginning of the end robocops in New York well we'll find out as time goes on so if you never want to miss another one of my new car repair videos remember to ring that Bell foreign\n"