There is ample evidence out there that the electric vehicle market isn’t growing the way the Biden administration wants it to.
What Biden wants is for half the country to be driving electric vehicles within the next decade, but even with direct government interference in the marketplace, there is no desire from at least half the population. [emphasis, links added]
What’s more, there are still technical issues, like a lack of charging stations across the country, batteries that lose efficiency in the colder months, a power grid that can’t sustain a mass transition to EVs, and more.
Of those problems, POLITICO is focusing on the first this morning.
Congress at the urging of the Biden administration agreed in 2021 to spend $7.5 billion to build tens of thousands of electric vehicle chargers across the country, aiming to appease anxious drivers while tackling climate change.
Two years later, the program has yet to install a single charger.
States and the charger industry blame the delays mostly on the labyrinth of new contracting and performance requirements they have to navigate to receive federal funds. While federal officials have authorized more than $2 billion of the funds to be sent to states, fewer than half of states have even started to take bids from contractors to build the chargers — let alone begin construction.
It appears that bureaucratic red tape isn’t conducive to building and manufacturing, whether the government wants you to be making things or not. Quite the conundrum!
POLITICO refers to vague federal reports that EV demand is growing in the country, but most EVs remain out of the average American’s price range.
Even with tax breaks, the Biden administration expects you to pay upfront and just wait around for a tax rebate later, which is not how Americans actually behave when it comes to money most of the time – especially when those same Americans are terrified of the current state of the economy.
Congressman Chip Roy of Texas did an excellent job recently in tearing apart the Biden administration’s foolishness on this.
SOUND ON 🔊 Rep. Roy lays out the TRUTH about the Biden administration's delusional electric vehicle fantasies pic.twitter.com/Ml40ShB3L1
— Rep. Chip Roy Press Office (@RepChipRoy) December 5, 2023
It’s not just the cost of the vehicle, as Roy points out. It’s a lot of side costs. It’s insanely expensive to replace the parts and do any repair work on an EV battery and engine.
These are vehicles that are “more expensive, more expensive to maintain, may not serve their function if they’re in the freezing cold,” and more, Roy said.
But even as we’re in the middle of trying to convince Americans to spend the money on the vehicles, we’re nowhere near ready to get them on the road and keep them there, POLITICO admits.
The United States has around 180,000 chargers today, according to the Energy Department. That includes 41,000 of the type of fast chargers that can alleviate the dreaded “range anxiety” of a long-distance road trip in an electric vehicle.
In a June study, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory projected the U.S. will need 1.2 million public chargers by 2030 to meet charging demand, including 182,000 fast chargers.
There’s simply no way, without spending a lot more taxpayer money to force the issue and without disrupting a lot of business and travel, to build the charging stations we need to make this new taxpayer fleet of EVs work.
Read rest at RedState
Our local Rotory Club built a series of Bike Racks a few years ago and their almost never used
It’s the thought that counts.
Nothing pleases the leftist “mind”
than the triumph of
FORM OVER SUBSTANCE.
Most charging stations in use now are poorly maintained.
The availability of public charging stations is important to that market. Charging stations are essential for long distance driving. For many, they are also necessary for local driving. A lot of people live in multi-unit dwellings where charging an EV isn’t possible.