The Biden administration may be evil as it relates to virtually all of its new directives but, no matter what it appears to be, it is not dumb. It knows what it is doing. The underlying purpose of everything it does is to reduce our freedoms and increase the government’s control over our lives. 

One of its strategies has escaped even the most conservative of thinkers. It is the promotion of the electric automobile. They well know, as we will show in the following paragraphs, that the nation’s roads can never be crowded with electric cars. There is not now, nor ever will there be, sufficient electric power for us to travel hither and yon with battery-powered vehicles. So, who decides who gets what electricity will be available? Answer: your friendly liberal, “progressive,” leftist government who we, mistakenly or not, placed in power.

The electric vehicle (EV) is clearly one of the most hyped innovations of our lifetime. While our federal government and the state of California think that the internal combustion engine will soon end up in the dustbin of history, it just isn’t going to happen for a variety of reasons:

• The most obvious is that the expense of EVs will not allow the average American to own one. The alternative will always be far cheaper and will transport you much farther.

• EVs can never be produced in the numbers the government wants because of a lack of necessary rare earth minerals held hostage in China.

• Availability of charging stations will never be adequate either. And the time required to recharge on a long trip will make you cancel any long trip. 

• The cost of a battery replacement will be a significant turn-off as well. 

Okay, maybe these are not so obvious to the general consumer. But here are the even less obvious deterrents. If, after reading these reasons for electric misery, you remain a big fan, write us and explain why. We will then write another article explaining your point of view.

TESLA

Let’s first get Elon Musk and Tesla out of the way. While in the past year, he did make many cars in the $40k range and hopes to keep expanding those numbers, Tesla will likely remain a car for the affluent. Their eye-catching models still check in around $100k. In California, the average household income of EV purchasers is upwards of $200,000. If you are not in that higher educated echelon and the high-income range of society, there will likely not be much of an appetite for an EV. Nevertheless, Musk will always be successful because he really is the smartest person in the room. He is now vastly rich because so many people know that and buy Tesla stock at nonsensical values.

AVAILABLE ELECTRICITY

The Laurence Livermore Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy states that the current electrical generation capacity of America is 11.4 trillion kilowatt-hours. The energy used for transportation today is equivalent to 8.5 trillion kilowatt-hours of which only an infinitesimal amount is already electric. Where would the additional power come from were all cars to be electric? The same governments in charge plan for no more energy from oil, natural gas, coal, or nuclear. So, the obvious answer for all liberals is wind and solar, which currently produce a mere 0.7 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity. Where and how will we build enough solar and wind installations to keep us all driving EVs? We cannot. We have neither the economic resources nor land area to even consider this. We are already getting a preview of what will happen if our vehicles go all-electric. In the U.K., the grid is currently so unstable that EV chargers will be metered separately, which allows them to be charged and taxed at a higher rate than domestic electricity.

It is important to also note that, California, where half of the nation’s EVs are located, already imports more electricity than any other state– currently at 32% from the Northwest and Southwest and dysfunctionally HOPES that other states will be able to generate enough power to meet the demands of the state.

RANGE

Just as golf carts may be fun and legal to run around your neighborhood if you are inclined, so are electric cars. However, what would it take to carry out a long trip in one? Let’s run through the numbers. We will go first class in a Tesla on a trip of 270 miles which only a Tesla can now do on a single charge. It will take us 4.5 hours to drive 270 miles and about 6.5 hours to recharge the battery unless you can find the rare supercharging station. If you cannot, you have brought your average trip speed, including charging time, down to under 25mph! And, unless you have planned adequately, your whole trip will be cursed with range anxiety, a constant worry that you are about to run out of juice. 

MILES PER GALLON

Miles per gallon is disappearing as an advantage when buying an EV. The reason is that, in order to increase the range of the EVs, a great deal of extra weight in batteries has had to be added. That effectively cancels any claims of yielding less carbon dioxide, supposedly the primary selling point for them. After all, the production of these batteries generates huge amounts of CO₂.  

And back at the power station where the electricity for your EV is generated, someone is burning a lot of coal or natural gas to create it. Perhaps your electric car should more accurately be called a coal or natural gas car. Oh yes, the tax on your gasoline to keep our roads maintained will soon be replaced by a special tax on your electric vehicle registration, and well, it should be.

COLD CLIMATES

The nature of batteries is that they yield less energy in cold climates. EV owners will all learn this soon enough. Advertised ranges on a fully charged battery will not be achieved. The shortfall will be significant. Get ready for thousands of motorists stranded on freezing cold highways throughout the northern states.

CALIFORNIA DREAMING

President Biden and the Governor of California are demanding only electric cars in the nation and their state. California plans to have 25 million EVs in the not-too-distant future. It already has 50% of the nation’s EVs. But California is not a meaningful role model for the nation at large. Besides having the best temperate climate in America, it has an average household income of $106,916, and 12.2% of households make over $200,000 a year. In addition, they have an unusual fraction of the population that are:

• Highly educated.
• Highly compensated.
• Low mileages requirements of about 5,000 miles per year from the second vehicle, as most EV owners have a combustion engine car for their family workhorse vehicle.
• A home garage for convenient charging, even though some manufacturers are already recommending the EV’s be charged in open areas due to potential battery fires.

Except for those in that higher educated echelon and the high-income range of society, there will clearly be no appetite for an EV in the foreseeable future. We continue to discuss the EV hoax in part two of this article, coming out later in the week.