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Cost of not disconnecting a scrap vehicle's battery...

Did the vehicle cargo actually originate in the US or in the far east? I'd expect a RORO rather than a container ship as shown, if the battery wasn't disconnected??

None available in the US now - and it seems an unlikely preference for thieves, but the Hilux is one of the most stolen vehicles down here and extremely popular in Africa....which gives me cause to think that's where they might end up. On the other hand, Nth American product would seem an unlikely preference for sale over there. I'd just imagine the looks on faces if something like an F450 monstrosity turned up on the docks.:D



A workshop fire nearby killed several hundred grand worth of historic cars via trickle charging a light weight battery. I'm circumspect even leaving a drill or trouble light Li-ion unattended now!

These cars were all used US automobiles.
There is a separate trade route for used Japanese cars.
A lot of the used Japanese ones go to gigantic used car lots on the Arabian peninsula, then go in onesies and twosies, by Dhow, down the Red Sea to Mombasa and points south.

No, we never had Hiluxes here.
But, interestingly enough, and contrary to your theory, there is a thriving trade in used US "full" sized pickups, particularly to countries who have grown to love them after capturing them from US troops.

This story is quite ironic, and not at all unusual- A texas plumbers Ford shows up being driven by Daesh, in Syria, with his logo still on the door.
Money doesnt care about your politics. Profit is profit.
Plumber sues auctioneer after truck shown with terrorists - CNN

Also funnily enough, there is a larger and larger flow of used Japanese vehicles from Japan to the USA, as Japanese mandatory inspections usually make a car too expensive to keep after 7 years or so.
I own both a japanese tractor and a japanese forklift, too old and funky for Japan.
But I have friends who drive "gray market" used Japanese cars, as long as they are over 25 years old, you can license them in the US. So things like Toyota Land Cruiser Prado's, which were never sold here, are showing up, along with Nissan Figaros and older drifting favorite sports cars. There is a guy in my area who I see pretty often driving a tiny Japanese cabover 4 door flatbed fire truck, with its original japanese fire logo in gold leaf on its bright red paint job.
Yes, you definitely need a JDM kei-sized fire truck - Hagerty Media

So, on the one hand, we have the African market buying F150s and Buicks and Hondas from Ohio, and then we have the US market buying 360 cc Kei cars from Tokyo.
The country that loves big cars imports teeny ones, and the countries that have very little money import anything cheap that can be made to run.
 
I gave the guy an old IR 250 Gyroflo compressor with a water damaged motor .....I said ,cut out the radiator ,scrap the rest.....He says ,no ,I can get $1000 for the old 1960s Ford diesel,in Abu Dhabi.....I dont know if he was having me on ,or not.... they get big bucks for 1980s Jap truck diesels ,anything that has no electronics.
 
In New Zealand ,Jap market used cars are OK ,as a result you can buy a 1 year old Jap sedan for under $2000 NZ +tax..........here in Oz there are all sorts of artifical barriers to import cars.....in other words the new car importers bribed the govt to keep out the cheap competition.
 
I dont see how this applies to electric cars- this was entirely the fault of Grimaldi, the shipper who had leased this boat.
...i.

Also the part where the fire detection system on the ship was de-activated, AND the part where the ship's crew couldn't figure out how to call the firre depaetment!
 
Also the part where the fire detection system on the ship was de-activated, AND the part where the ship's crew couldn't figure out how to call the firre depaetment!

Quite recently $3.5 Billion loss. USS Bonhomme Richard. A real cluster-flock in following fire mitigation policy.

"The findings, reviewed by CBS News on Tuesday, found that 36 individuals —including the ship's captain and five admirals — were responsible for the loss of the ship, either by their own actions or by a lack of oversight leading up to the alleged arson."

USS Bonhomme Richard's destruction after fire caused by repeated failures, Navy says - CBS News
 
Quite recently $3.5 Billion loss. USS Bonhomme Richard. A real cluster-flock in following fire mitigation policy.

"The findings, reviewed by CBS News on Tuesday, found that 36 individuals —including the ship's captain and five admirals — were responsible for the loss of the ship, either by their own actions or by a lack of oversight leading up to the alleged arson."

USS Bonhomme Richard's destruction after fire caused by repeated failures, Navy says - CBS News

That's alright, taxpayers' pockets are bottomless.
 
Doesnt seem like much for a ship......every time a plane crashes here it seems the airforce is out 16 billion or something....not to mention the 30 years it took for delivery.
 
Ries said:
But, interestingly enough, and contrary to your theory, there is a thriving trade in used US "full" sized pickups, particularly to countries who have grown to love them after capturing them from US troops.

This story is quite ironic, and not at all unusual- A texas plumbers Ford shows up being driven by Daesh, in Syria, with his logo still on the door.
Money doesnt care about your politics. Profit is profit.
Plumber sues auctioneer after truck shown with terrorists - CNN

Ries said:
So, on the one hand, we have the African market buying F150s and Buicks and Hondas from Ohio, and then we have the US market buying 360 cc Kei cars from Tokyo.

Can understand the middle east might be a ready market, 5 cents a litre makes a lot of things palatable. Nissan Patrols with 2000hp R35 motors spring to mind!

Africa, where even the hint of fuel price increases resulted in deaths and riots in SA not that long ago, just can't picture many running around in F trucks. Nigeria - maybe - among the handful of wealthy I could believe. Long list of casualties there every year trying to tap petrol tankers and pipelines, even so.
 
Can understand the middle east might be a ready market, 5 cents a litre makes a lot of things palatable. Nissan Patrols with 2000hp R35 motors spring to mind!

Africa, where even the hint of fuel price increases resulted in deaths and riots in SA not that long ago, just can't picture many running around in F trucks. Nigeria - maybe - among the handful of wealthy I could believe. Long list of casualties there every year trying to tap petrol tankers and pipelines, even so.

The Curious Case of Ford’s F-250 Super Duty in Africa | Ford-trucks
 
^^Basically a niche vehicle there, a handful sold here, mostly why Ford pulled the plug on it. Would imagine 2nd hand LHDs wouldn't be strong sellers in ex commonwealth countries.

Some of the better conversions of newer ones here unpick the firewall and replace with a pressing from Mexico or points south.

Can't say I've noticed any farmer with one locally, if they're going to move stuff, on farm trucks are hardly a rarity. Towing horse floats or ski boats in metropolitan areas seem to be their preserve.
 
The thing about US "full size pickups" is that they have been the best selling vehicle in the USA for decades- they make, and sell, something like 10 million a year for the last 30 or so years.
And US citizens like NEW cars.


So there is a huge amount of these pickups available very cheap as used cars, for decades now.
There are only something like 20 million cars in all of Australia.
Versus 10 million new full sized pickups every year in the USA.
Even if 75% of em are scrapped after ten years, that still means 2 and a half million used ten year old pickups hit the market every year, and lots and lots of those get exported.

Sure, at brand new prices, they arent going to sell in Africa, or the Middle East, or Central and South America.
but the economics of the US market mean there are literally millions of them available for very little- In a normal year.
Obviously, Covid shortages have changed that right now, and all used vehicles in the USA are more scarce and more expensive.

Historically, however, its been inevitable that used big US pickups get shipped all over the world, to any country that will let them in.
 
Cracked me up :) That must have been one a them ABC News pintos, eh ?

Good, good! Gotta love all the stereotypes in that film, too - the good looking white hero, the Einsteinian rescue target, the badass black guy that does all the work, the Nazi East Germans. Huh? And how did a Pinto get to a field in East Germany? Plenty of Ladas and Trabants around.

They just don't make 'em like they used to.:D
 
There is one of the "joke" sized yankee pickups local ..a Ford 450....all sorts of quality stuff like fake plas- chrome wheel nuts ,pickup bed made of a bit of moulded plastic.....the giant thing takes up four parking spaces ...the old (80yr?) owner cant back the giant joke ,even with the help of a crew of 60 year old groupie chicks.....last time I saw it he was stuck in the mall parking lot ,and had to call the towies to get it out .......Not all yank tanks,tho.....there is also a Benz mobile home Ive seen stuck in a parking area....Must be 30 ft long .....reckon next time it gets left home and the Tesla taken shopping.
 
There is one of the "joke" sized yankee pickups local ..a Ford 450....all sorts of quality stuff like fake plas- chrome wheel nuts ,pickup bed made of a bit of moulded plastic.....the giant thing takes up four parking spaces ...the old (80yr?) owner cant back the giant joke ,even with the help of a crew of 60 year old groupie chicks.....last time I saw it he was stuck in the mall parking lot ,and had to call the towies to get it out .......Not all yank tanks,tho.....there is also a Benz mobile home Ive seen stuck in a parking area....Must be 30 ft long .....reckon next time it gets left home and the Tesla taken shopping.

I guess that you don't understand certain people:
The Who "Going Mobile" (1971) - YouTube
 
There is one of the "joke" sized yankee pickups local ..a Ford 450....all sorts of quality stuff like fake plas- chrome wheel nuts ,pickup bed made of a bit of moulded plastic.....the giant thing takes up four parking spaces ...the old (80yr?) owner cant back the giant joke ,even with the help of a crew of 60 year old groupie chicks.....last time I saw it he was stuck in the mall parking lot ,and had to call the towies to get it out .......Not all yank tanks,tho.....there is also a Benz mobile home Ive seen stuck in a parking area....Must be 30 ft long .....reckon next time it gets left home and the Tesla taken shopping.

The Australian government makes no bones about the fact that their laws are written to do everything possible to discourage importing vehicles. There are pages of rules, and taxes, fees, and tariffs. There is a quarantine inspection, where if they decide the car is not clean enough, they refuse to let it in. It costs thousands of Aus Dollars to get a used car in, and it must be on the Registry of Approved vehicles. If you bought a pickup for 10,000 Au$, they would charge you GST on 14,300 Au$
Hence, not many beater F150s.

Contrast that with slinging one off of a Dhow in a Red Sea town which barely has a pier, and driving it off into the bush. A quick few bills to the port master, and voila.

An F450 has a 6000lb payload- its a bit bigger, and, here, they are often equipped with big flatbeds. Not exactly a typical yankee pickup, the vast majority of which, these days, are 4 doors with 6' beds.
I am in South America these days, and the streets are full of old full size pickups, with big boxes on the back, or flatbeds, used as midsize delivery vehicles.
 
I dont see how this applies to electric cars- this was entirely the fault of Grimaldi, the shipper who had leased this boat.

It turns out Grimaldi has had 4 or 5 similar incidents in the last few years- cars catching on fire on board ships. There is a huge industry of shipping complete used cars to Africa, and to the Middle East, where they are in high demand.

Often times US middlemen buy damaged cars from insurance companies, pack them with replacement (used) body parts, and ship them to Africa, where they are repaired and resold.

The reason these cars go to Africa is because they are old and cheap, and fixable.
It seems pretty unlikely that, instead of a 15 year old Toyota that needs a new front end, somebody would ship a Tesla that needs a 25k battery pack to Kenya or Haiti.

“ It seems pretty unlikely that, instead of a 15 year old Toyota that needs a new front end, somebody would ship a Tesla that needs a 25k battery pack to Kenya or Haiti.[/QUOTE]”

Good point ICE engines will be around for some time and in fact it seems there is a market to continue and encourage their use. Likely the overall impact of this fact will more than offset green measures and increasing green house gases.

Many things discussed are simply disregarded by people because of their biases. We all can have them yet is it reasonable that ICE vehicles will largely be phased out? I think regardless of bias the fact that they likely will not is ignored.
 








 
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