The Biden administration’s effort to impose electric vehicles on the car-buying public should at least be noted. It is taking place under power delegated to the Environmental Protection Agency by Congress under the regime of administrative law that controls so much of the way we live now. Forgive me for citing my own review “A new old regime.”
Politico called on six reporters to celebrate the regulatory diktat intended to place cars with gas engines in the course of ultimate extinction. They celebrate in the story “Biden unveils push to send electric car sales into overdrive,” which covers the basics. The proposed rule is accessible here on the EPA site.
The editors of the Wall Street Journal comment on the proposed rule in the editorial “Biden’s EPA Remakes the Auto Industry.” The EPA means to drive auto sales two-thirds of light vehicle sales by 2032. No problem:
The EPA…says its rules are feasible because of the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) subsidies. A recent Goldman Sachs report estimates that electric-vehicle consumer and battery-production tax credits alone could cost taxpayers $523 billion over 10 years.
Even with the IRA subsidies, the Energy Information Administration last month forecast that EVs will make up only 15% of sales in 2030 and 19% by 2050. While EVs are becoming more popular in the luxury class, they “remain less competitive against conventional gasoline-powered cars and light trucks serving the mass market,” the report noted.
Reasons include higher prices and insurance costs, a battery range that typically tops off at 250 miles and long charging time. Even rapid chargers take 20 to 30 minutes, which most people don’t want to spend while driving children to soccer or baseball games.
This should be great for the Democrats’ base:
EVs now appeal mainly to the affluent who live in urban areas and don’t travel long distances. Tesla accounted for 64% of the U.S. EV market last year. Traditional car makers can make more EVs to meet the EPA standards, but if consumers don’t buy them, the companies will have to buy compliance credits from Tesla or other luxury EV makers.
EPA administrator Michael Regan announced the proposed rule in a long speech earlier this week. I cannot find the text of his speech on the EPA site. Video is accessible here on YouTube.
Electric vehicles themselves degrade the environment. Substituting them for cars with internal combustion vehicles will not alter “the climate” in the least. And then there is this:
It’s all about the power. They — and I mean Democrats — want to shove it down our throats. That’s what makes it all worthwhile to them. Every day we move closer to the announcement that from now on underwear must be worn on the outside. Silence! It’s all about the climate…
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