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The left likes to treat skeptics of electrical cars as if they were Luddites. Truth is, making an existing product less efficient but more expensive doesn’t really meet the definition of innovation.
Even the purported amenities and technological advances EV makers like to brag about in their ads have been a regular feature of gas-powered vehicles going back generations. At best, EVs, if they fulfill their promise, are a lateral technology.
This is why there is no real “emerging market” for EVs in the United States as much as there’s an industrial policy in place that props up EVs with government purchases, propaganda, state subsidies, cronyism, taxpayer-backed loans, and edicts. The green “revolution” is an elite-driven, top-down technocratic project.
And it’s increasingly clear that the only reason giant rent-seeking carmakers are so heavily invested in EV development is that the government is promising to limit the production of gas-powered cars artificially.
In August 2021, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to set a target for half of all new vehicles sold in 2030 to be zero-emission. California claims to ban combustion engines in all new cars in about ten years. So, carmakers adopt business models to deal with these distorted incentives and contrived theoretical markets of the future.
In today’s real-world economy, Ford projects it will lose $3 billion on electric vehicles in 2023, bringing its EV losses to $5.1 billion over two years. In 2021, Ford reportedly lost $34,000 on every EV it made. This year, it was losing more than $58,000 on every EV. In a normal world, Ford would be dramatically scaling back EV production, not expanding it. Remember that next time; we need to bail out Detroit.
Then again, we’re already bailing them out, I suppose. Last week, the U.S. Energy Department lent Ford — again, a company that loses tens of thousands of dollars on every EV it sells — another $9.2 billion in taxpayer dollars for a South Korean battery project. One imagines no sane bank would do it. The cost of EV batteries has gone up, not down, over the past few years.
Ford says these upfront losses are part of a “start-up mentality.” We’re still pretending EVs are a new idea rather than an inferior one. But scaremongering about climate and a misplaced romanticizing of “manufacturing” jobs have softened up the public for this kind of waste.
In the real world, there is Lordstown. In 2019, after General Motors — which also loses money on every EV sold — shut down a plant in Lordstown, Ohio, then-President Donald Trump made a big deal of publicly pressuring the auto giant to rectify the situation. CEO Mary Barra lent Lordstown Motors, a new EV outfit, $40 million to retrofit the plant. Ohio also gave GM another $60 million.
You may remember the widespread glowing coverage of Lordstown. After Biden signed his “Buy American” executive order, promising to replace the entire U.S. federal fleet with EVs, Lordstown’s stock shot up.
By the start of this year, Lordstown had manufactured 31 vehicles in total. Six had been sold to actual consumers. (Most of them would be recalled.) The stock was trading at barely a dollar. Tech-funding giant Foxconn was pulling its $170 million. And this week, the company filed for bankruptcy.
Without massive state help, EVs are a niche market for rich virtue signalers. And, come to think of it, that’s sort of what they are now, even with the help. A recent University of California at Berkeley study found that 90% of tax credits for EVs go to people in the top income strata. Most EVs are bought by high earners who like the look and feel of a Tesla. And that’s fine. I don’t want to stop anyone from owning the car they prefer. I just don’t want to help pay for it.
Really, why would a middle-class family shun a perfectly good gas-powered car that can be fueled (most of the time) cheaply and driven virtually any distance, in any environment, and any time of the year? We don’t need lithium. We have the most efficient, affordable, portable, and useful form of energy. We have centuries’ worth of it waiting in the ground.
Climate alarmists might believe EVs are necessary to save the planet. That’s fine. Using their standard, however, a bike is an innovation. Because even on their terms, the usefulness of EVs is highly debatable. Most of the energy that powers them is derived from fossil fuels. The manufacturing of an EV has a negligible positive benefit for the environment, if any.
And the fact is that if EVs were more efficient and saved us money, as enviros and politicians claim, consumers wouldn’t have to be compelled into using them, and companies wouldn’t have to be bribed into producing them.
Failure to plan is a plan to fail.
As said, “Follow the money.” If it leads you to governments, watch out. If their sources lead you to taxpayers, watch out. If it leads you to merchandisers, watch out. Buyer beware all the way.
Sounds crazY. Think on it. There’s only ONE logical, true answer and solution. YOU tell ME what it is.
New ways of doing old things are great opportunities for thieves to insert themselves in the money stream. This is going on with power generation. Current and ex politicians are the gatekeepers for the regulatory hurdles.
Yes… windmills are hardly a new technology, but there are people, including some very influential and powerful people, who are willing to kill every last endangered cetacean in order to map and then misuse our oceans and to kill nearly every endangered raptor bird in order to provide intermittent and inferior energy to cities, if it means “powering” our cities with windmills that work sometimes, sort of. That’s the future, folks! Onward!
Yeah, and btw, where’s PETA?
EV’S predate ICE vehicles by decades, not new technology but ancient. Mrs Benz had an electric car and that is why Mr Benz invented the modern automobile. It is not lateral movement, it is backwards. The problems with EV’S 120 years ago were weight, range and recharge time, sound familiar?
Benz did NOT invent the modern automobile. Otherwise, you’re right.
Wherever I’ve checked, Karl Benz built the first combustion engine automobile circa 1902, and his wife was the first-ever driver of one.
You need to check some factual sites, not those Bigfoot on Mars ones.
Shit.
Aw, come on, Jeff. Be nice to the poor guy. There’s no reason to badger him.
Not to mention the self igniting risk, which seems to happen. I read that when in for repair EVs have to be stored 15 feet or metres from anything else and storied parking lots are concerned re the increased weight they bring.
This is typical for the troglodytes on the left. Bereft of historical knowledge they glom onto technology that failed over 100 years ago. Worse yet, they ignore all the facts showing the increased ecological impact of building the modern EV. For example: when a gas powered vehicle comes to the end of its life most of it is melted down and repurposed. An EV, on the other hand, is made of components that are extremely expensive to dispose of or not recyclable meaning those resources are used one time and then permanently disposed of. This is clearly evident for anyone who wants to follow the trail but these pesky facts stand in the way of the left’s goal to save the planet. I’m out. I’m going to go glue my hands to a windmill which means they’ll probably have to dismantle the entire thing to get me free. Take that European climate nut cases!
This idea of Freedom becomes less & less attractive with every year that passes by…
What are zero-emissions? If the electricity to charge those batteries comes from fossil fuels are they truly zero? In addition most of the energy to mine and process the raw ore, convert that into useable materials, fabricate and manufacture the vehicles and even transport them to market are from fossil fuels.
So, for those who throw tomato soup on priceless paintings, STOP. All it does is cause a mess, waste food and make you look stupid.
“What does it mean when consumers are bullied to buy them?”
It generally means that what we are being bullied to by or accept is a scam.
The rent-seeking car makers—Tesla is hyper rent-seeking since it has no gasoline powered products—are the epitome of craven good little fascists: cracking out EV equivalents of Hitler’s Volkswagen at the command of their government masters.
Biden the Blunder and Newsom the Stupid wants to force us to drive four wheeled Fire Traps over a totally fake threat why don’t both of them go and take a hike
As far as the climate scare goes: What’s wrong with CO2?
For that matter, what’s wrong with a little warming? Far more people die of the cold than the heat every year.
Yeah, why have longer farming seasons when we can all freeze to death?
Cretins. It’s like they don’t want the Canadians to be able to go outdoors without turning into popsicles.
Nothing is wrong with CO2. It is the basis for green plants, and thus life. Everybody learns that in 6th grade, so why do they believe in the lies?
They also think carbon is a pollutant even though all life on Earth is carbon based.
Retards.
Duryea, 1893 Says my comment is too short? Maybe this makes it long enough
Why am I constantly told , this is the greatest country in the World. ? And that i live in a FREE country ?? Nothing can be further from the truth !!
Pumakot
Name a better country.
Utopia? Sure, it had slavery but you can’t have perfection without unpaid labor. 😛
There are those of us who remember when this was the greatest country in the world, and one in which freedom was prized. That, however, was a very long time ago.
One of so many; government sponsored scams that is.
There’s no doubt in my mind that the whole Climate Crisis scam and “clean energy” is about taking down Western Civilization capitalism and prosperity while certain elites get filthy rich. This is what the Globalist Communist elites want as their end point then they concocted “clean energy” scam as a way to get there. More environmental destruction occurs with so-called “clean” or “green” energy in production of the batteries, solar panels, wind mills and their disposal in addition to still needing fossil fuels to provide electricity—oops, shortages then black outs…that’s too bad. They had to invent a hypothetical excuse to assume totalitarian power and control. They also like to confuse “pollution” with carbon emissions which is stupid. Then they talk about blocking out the Sun while they simultaneously push solar panels. It doesn’t make sense but don’t expect globalist Nazis to make any sense. They just want us dead.
You are right. Great post.
“Then they talk about blocking out the Sun while they simultaneously push solar panels.”
Great point! I had heard about some great umbrella in the sky but didn’t connect it to the push for solar panels. Perhaps they plan on closing the umbrella for a given number of hours each day so everyone can charge up A perfect example of the pretzel logic that rules the mind of leftists. Rube Goldberg would be proud.
Lots of electric vehicles are sitting on the lots taking up parking space. Bring out the vehicles that are using gas, that get good mileage, but still have the power. Workers want powerful trucks to carry payloads, they don’t want a vehicle they have to charge, especially going over rough terrain, and there aren’t enough power stations. The Left pushed this failure on America,, as part of their climate change agenda, and its a real flop. Once they saturate the market with these worthless electric vehicles, the grids will go down.. How many will get suckered.
Ask the people in Communist countries how they crave Freedom. Everyone wants freedom. Its the oligarchs, dictators, and elites who think they are smarter than everyone else, that take it away by their schemes.
Look how many electric vehicles are sitting on the lots taking up space. People want gasoline engines, there are 4, 6, and 8 cylinder and many get good mileage. These electric cars are part of the climate change agenda being pushed on the people, and there aren’t enough power stations to charge them.
Conflating the taxpayer funding with the facts
Electric Motors have a special place in our society…Diesel ELECTRIC Trains…Massive Mining Trucks. Why, because of Torque
Torque Baby…Just Pay for it
Help me out here. Is it torque that propels a Tesla from 0 to 60 in a few seconds? What use is all that torque in a passenger car after that? I don’t get the connection between massive trucks/heavy freight trains and relatively light weight street vehicles.
You do know that diesel fuel isn’t electricity, right, you dimwit? And that there are NO “massive” electric mining trucks?
Good luck magically materializing 300 million EVs and the extensive infrastructure which would be necessary to support them. My advice is you buy a one way ticket to Fantasy Land.
Agree with the article except the bit about gasoline being cheap — not in California
Gas is so expensive here in San Jose CA, I actually take the light rail when I can.
I drive and will always drive a hybrid (Prius), but not because I care about the carbon footprint – the greatest hoax and shame of the “scientific community” of Lysenkos. I drive hybrids because they are better for me due to…
a) Near twice higher efficiency;
b) Stronger torque and instant response of electric motor during acceleration.
Unlike merely pouring fuel (the source of energy) from one container into another, EV’s require RELEASING of energy from the electric grid and repackaging it into an accumulator! A dramatic difference! The level 3 charging station is 600 V of DC in a 300 Kwt power device. However, even such a powerful device charges a contemporary Tesla at 80% during 20-30 minutes (rather than in 2-3 minutes).
Even if new types of batteries were invented capable to withstand 3000 Kwt charging, who can construct and feed thousands upon thousands of such devices on all freeways? How many new power lines would be required to deliver that much power to every charge station in the middle of nowhere?!
But wait: the hypothetical 3000 Kwt chargers are good enough only for passenger cars. What about heavy tracks, big buses?! They would need 30000 Kwt for comfortable fast charging! Slow charging decreases the average velocity and increases the delivery time! This entire EV project gets absurd!
A niche of the reasonable use of EVs is only for local travel when they are charged in personal garages during nights at Level 2 home chargers. Terrible Lysenkoism and obscurity infected the entire West which, while setting a savage goal of zero carbon footprint, destroys its own energy industry and transportation systems!
You’re making too much sense. I don’t think it’s about climate change at all. I think it’s about power. Political power. What better way to come up with to restrict the mobility of a population? Not enough charging stations? Just hang on, they’re on the way. In the meantime, we’ve constructed 15 minute cities and towns so, really, just how much of the Earth’s resources to you want to waste on “Sunday drives”? C’mon, man!
Good luck changing the small battery in a hybrid when it goes out. They cost three times what an ordinary battery costs and you need a certified mechanic to install it. Everything about hybrids costs much more than reliable internal combustion cars.
No offense but htybrids suck.
Let me know when all the auto companies go broke.
Most of them are already underwater. Only our corrupt government keeps them afloat.
Electric vehicles serve to:
1. Buster our dependence on China due to the lithium and rare metals needed for batteries, and simultaneously decimating Americas petrol auto industry
2. Cause cancer, especially leukemia, due to the high voltage cross currents that passengers are exposed to every day, in addition to the augmentation of cellular microwave radiation from cellphones in the cars
3. Electric vehicle pitfalls include ruining the opportunity for its superior competitor- liquid hydrogen – from being introduced into the market. Hydrogen is clean, cheap, abundant, and safe – and is not reliant on external entities. Ot offers quick fuel replenishing, riving distances 50 times greater, and can be mass produced at a lower cost than either gas or electric.
Yes, people have long speculated that hydrogen could be used to power space flight as well as transportation on roads.