Author: newlifenarrabri

Jo Nova: Hertz To Sell One Third of EVs Because Customers Don’t Want Them.

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What does this say really about the future of Electrical Vehicles?

From jonova.com

rollercoaster

By Jo Nova

With the western world hurtling into new cars that are more costly, inconvenient, slower to refuel, and prone to burning down carparks and cargo ships, it was only a matter of time before the cracks in the socialist car market started to show.

EV, electric car.

Around the world tonight headlines are sharing the news that Hertz is selling off 20,000 EVs, one third of their fleet, in order to buy some more fossil fuel cars. That can’t be inspiring news for customers thinking of giving up their gas guzzlers. As Oilprice said: Hertz’s Big Move Into EVs Turned Out To Be A Dud.  And as Reuters headlined: Rental giant Hertz dumps EVs, including Teslas, for gas cars.

It was the perfect storm in a bad way. Apparently the customers didn’t want to rent them, and when they did and they scratched them, they cost too much to fix. (Repair costs were twice as high).  Then the bottom fell out of the second-hand market, and to recover the depreciation losses, Hertz would have to raise the prices on a product customers already didn’t want. There was no way this was going to work.

The official dry Hertz announcement politely says that customers want fossil fueled cars and EV’s were too expensive to fix:

“..expenses related to collision and damage, primarily associated with EVs, remained high in the quarter”

“The Company expects to reinvest a portion of the proceeds from the sale of EVs into the purchase of internal combustion engine (“ICE”) vehicles to meet customer demand.”

Back in October 2021 it was all champagne and fireworks

Hertz put in an order for 100,000 EVs which was so exciting it pushed Tesla shares up 9% briefly to “a trillion dollar valuation”. (Two years later Tesla is worth 30% less.) At the time, Hertz expected to get the 100,000 cars by the end of 2022. Luckily for them, this didn’t happen. Instead they only got 50,000 by the end of 2022. This worked out to be about 11% of the Tesla total fleet. So these EV’s are not even very old. No one can say “the new models are better, because these are new models.

Some of the cars are already on the market. Two year old Telsa Model 3 EV’s are going for $22,000 US.

Hertz will book a $250 million dollar loss, and stocks in both Hertz and Tesla fell on the news.

With uncanny timing the Australian Albanese government is about to launch emissions standards we don’t need to coerce people to buy a product they don’t want, in the hope, they say, of changing the weather.

The insanity would be hard to fathom if EV’s weren’t also the ideal tool for spying, data collection, law enforcement, and political control. Benefits that can launch a thousand political careers…

Quote for the Day

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Highly effective small group leaders view prayer as a non-negotiable aid in their ministry to others. They use it often and well. They build it into their daily schedules and make it a high priority. They don’t just pray a little; they pray a lot. Dave Earley

Fasting

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A couple of weeks ago, I was listening to a podcast, on my bike, about fasting for miracles. This particular speaker is a part of a church in the USA where members regularly fast for 21 days in January. As I was listening I was drawn to the idea of fasting as a congregation, not in January which doesn’t work at all in Australia, but through Lent.

I have spoken to a few people who think, as I do, that the Lord is calling the church to do this project together. It is interesting that at the time that the Holy Spirit was talking to me about it, He was also talking to other people.

Fasting is not a big part of the Western church in our times. The idea of voluntarily abstaining from food for even just 1 day fills many of us with anxiety. I think because we are so used to having food of almost any sort, whenever we feel like it, we can’t imagine not eating when we are hungry.

I confess that I have not been a big practitioner of fasting at any time in my life, except for brief times. Yet this was a big part of living for followers of the Lord in the Old Testament and for followers of Jesus. The early church, and right through to modern times, extolled the value of fasting as a spiritual discipline.

If you search for “Fasting” on Amazon, there are literally thousands of titles on fasting for health, intermittent fasting, and so on. The number of christian titles on fasting is much smaller.

There are two things, I want to emphasise in this short article.

Firstly, Christian fasting is linked to prayer. It is not about just doing without food, but setting apart a time period when we seek the Lord with such intensity and passion, that you are willing to do without food for a period of time. There are many testimonies of people being saved, healed, receiving miracles, breakthrough prayers being answered because people fasted and prayed. Fasting turbo charges your prayer life by reminding you that you are dedicating this period to the Lord. Every time your stomach growls is a call to prayer.

Secondly, Christian fasting is about your relationship with God. In the Old Testament, various people are described as humbling themselves before the Lord, and usually in connection with fasting. Fasting reminds us very powerfully that we are totally dependent on the Lord for everything we need for life.

We fast for spiritual reasons, but there are health benefits. I have a tendency to snack almost constantly. When I fast it resets the bad habit of picking up food and mindlessly eating. Often people experience a detox process as their bodies take the opportunity to process and eliminate the bad stuff in their bodies. It gives your digestive system a rest and renews its strength.

So what does a Lenten Fast look like? How long do you have to keep it up for? What can I expect?

We will explore these topics and much more as we get closer to Lent.

Reflection on Isaiah 24

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Scripture

We hear songs of praise from the ends of the Earth, songs that give glory to the Righteous One.

Observation

In my Bible, the section consisting of chapters 24 through to 27 are labelled “The Little Apocalypse.”

The Lord will destroy the earth and make it a wasteland. The earth will be emptied and looted.

The earth suffers for the sins of its people who have violated God’s laws. Fires consume people and crops. There is no celebration, only mourning.

Throughout the earth, only a remnant is left like the stray olives left on the tree. But from the ends of the earth there is praise and worship of the Righteous One.

The Earth staggers and even the sun and moon will fade. but the Lord will come and rule from Jerusalem.

Application

The word translated as “earth” in this passage also means “land”, ie Israel. It is not clear whether a universal apocalypse is envisaged here, or if the main focus is Israel – or it could be both.

Even in the midst of this terrible disaster, the Lord leaves a remnant. He will punish the wicked, pursuing them to the point of death. But He leaves a remnant who praise God right through the turmoil.

There always seems to be great instability in the world. It really does feel sometimes that the earth is breaking up and staggering like a drunk (vs. 19-20) . The more access we have to news and social media, the worse things seem.

But God is in control. He is faithful, and He loves His people. Therefore we can praise Him and worship Him and rejoice, regardless of how bad things seem.

Prayer

Lord, I rejoice that nothing can shake me out of the safety of your arms. You hold on to me, even when I am not aware of it. You will punish the wicked and vindicate your people. I will rejoice in you every day. Amen.

Quote for the Day

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After 25 years of leading small groups and coaching small group leaders, I have come to one clear conviction: prayer is the most important activity of the small group leader. If a small group leader could do only one thing to make the group more effective, that one thing would be to pray. Dave Earley

Reflection on Isaiah 23

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Scripture

In the end her profits will be given to the Lord. Her wealth will not be hoarded but will provide good food and fine clothing for the Lord’s priests.

Observation

The city of Tyre, one of the great Phoenician seaports will be destroyed.

Tyre was called the market place of place of the world. Ships travelled as far as Tarshish, which is modern day Spain; trading goods across Europe and the Middle East.

The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has brought this disaster on the city. He has spoken against Phoenicia, ordering her fortresses to be destroyed.

For seventy years, Tyre will be forgotten, but then it will come back to life as a prostitute to all the kingdoms around the world. The Lord will take her wealth and use it to provide good food and fine clothing for his priests.

Application

Wealth is deceptive because it makes us arrogant and invincible.

There is nothing wrong with wealth of itself. We need to be reminded that the average person in Australia lives better than kings did just a few centuries ago. The problem is that we can put our faith in our possessions rather than the Lord.

Tyre is warned in this passage that its wealth will be given to the Lord for His purposes. They failed to honour the Lord, and so the thing they took pride in is removed from them.

The way to true prosperity is to offer all of our goods and cash back to the Lord to be used for his purposes. I do not own my possessions; I am a steward or a manager of the Lord’s business.

To have this attitude to money and to wealth is a great freedom. We don’t have to worry about pursuing even more money. It is the Lord’s and He will provide what we need, and lead us in the right ways to manage our affairs wisely.

Prayer

Thank you Father for giving me stuff. Please help me to manage it to your glory. Amen.