Joe Biden has seen the future, and it is electric cars. Lots of electric cars. Electric cars — or else.
Donald Trump has seen the future, and it is a backlash against the mandate for the mass adoption of electric cars. The former president is promising to “stop this Madness, IMMEDIATELY!”
Who wins this political argument may determine who has the upper hand in a state like Michigan in a 2024 rematch. [emphasis, links added]
Regardless, all-caps aside, Trump is right about the lunatic urgency across the Western world to use government coercion to render all-but-obsolete a popular, tested, highly efficient means of transportation.
The European Union wants to ban gas-powered cars in 2035. California and New Jersey are doing the same.
The goals here would make Soviet central planners blush. Last year, electric vehicles accounted for about seven percent of U.S. sales, but according to the panjandrums at the Environmental Protection Agency, they’ll have to be nearly 40 percent by 2027.
A couple of years after that, they’re supposed to be higher than 60 percent.
And why not? All that’s missing is the charging capacity and supply and processing of the minerals necessary to build the 1,000-pound batteries, not to mention the consumer demand.
For Biden and his allies, though, what kind of automobiles we drive is not a practical question but almost a theological one.
Believing that electric cars are key to saving the planet, they bring all the flexibility to the question as the organizers of the Albigensian Crusade.
Insofar as a rush to electric cars throws us into the arms of Chinese manufacturers and suppliers, it should rightfully be thought of as an anti-industrial policy.
We foolishly haven’t made adequate arrangements for mining or processing the minerals the batteries require, and it’s hard to ramp up quickly. Fortunately, there’s a country that’s a leader in this area. Unfortunately, it’s China.
China is projected in the years ahead to maintain near-total domination of the production of anode and cathode materials, key components of electric car batteries.
We’ve already begun to see how aggressive electric vehicle mandates in Europe favor China, which makes serviceable electric cars. The Chinese have doubled their share of such vehicles sold in Europe since 2021, now up to 8 percent.
The U.S. has stiff tariffs against Chinese imports, but there’s still the question of the supply chain.
Morgan Stanley writes, “The path we’re on now, despite existing legislation that attempts to incentivize onshoring, pushes rapid EV adoption which inherently increases reliance on a China-dominated battery supply chain.”
It’s not as though there’s anything inherently wrong with electric cars. If they are reliable, affordable, and valued by consumers — no problem. There’s no slighting the engineering achievement of Tesla or its genuine appeal to high-end consumers.
As Mark Mills of the Manhattan Institute points out, electric cars are overwhelmingly part of the luxury market, and 90 percent of electric cars sold in the U.S. are second or third cars.
What the U.S. government is insisting on is that this niche market be imposed on the rest of the country.
It’s as if the federal government wants everyone to start drinking craft beers when they prefer Modelo.
The sales of electric vehicles in the U.S. have been growing but appear to be plateauing. Electric vehicles were 8.6 percent of new light-duty-vehicle sales in the first quarter of this year, basically flat compared with the last quarter of 2022, at 8.5 percent.
The climate case for forcing these numbers higher is not as strong as advertised. It’s not clear exactly how much electric cars reduce emissions once all the inputs are factored in.
Read rest at NRO
What about EVs’ near-inextinguisable fire risks, the non-green battery weight, multistorey carpark collapse risks and increased brake and tire particles, child labor mining rare metals,from mines owned by China.?
Along with windmills and air heaters and do many substitutes for fossifuels power, all these replacements are more costly, less efficient and far from green.
No wonder non-UN compliant nations are winning in the world’s markets.
They put out more than 70% of global greenhouse gases.
With the average age of cars in use in the US at 12.5 years old, and of the cars on the road 63% are older than the 2015 model year, any massive shift to EV’s would require many of the current used car owners to buy electric. Cost is the big issues. The elites pushing these policies can’t see that because it isn’t an issue for them. With the average family unable to afford a brand new gasoline car, they certainly can’t afford a more expensive new electric car.
I have a question and wonder if anyone who reads this website has an answer. A year ago the batteries of electric cars were said to last about 8 years. Of course this varied by model. Now I’m seeing claims that the batteries will last 200,000 to 300,000 miles. That is about what many gasoline cars will last. The difference in the claims of a year ago and today makes a drastic difference in affordability for the average family that can only afford a used car, and as such the viability of electric cars for the larger market. I only have two data points from friends which do support the case that batteries have shorter lives. One, an electric car where the older battery has a range of 60 miles. The other the range is 90 miles but it takes many hours of charging to reach that level. Does anyone have reliable information on how long the batteries last?
Mark Mills also says it will be impossible for the mining industry to find and mine the materials needed for the BV (battery vehicle) market and that the materials available and in the market will become extremely expensive due to lack of supply.