Electric vehicles
April 21, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Does this quote sound familiar? “The electric automobile will quickly and easily take precedence over all other kinds of motor carriages as soon as an effective battery of light weight is discovered.” That’s the Los Angeles Times in 1901. How about this one? “Prices on electric cars will continue to drop until they are within reach of the average family.” That’s the Washington Post, 1915. At Substack, Robert Bryce headlines:
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April 1, 2024 — Scott Johnson
In a holiday weekend news dump this past Friday, the EPA promulgated a rule mandating the displacement of gas-powered trucks and buses with electric simulacra. The EPA gives its press release the unwieldy heading “Biden-Harris Administration Finalizes Strongest Ever Greenhouse Gas Standards for Heavy-Duty Vehicles to Protect Public Health and Address the Climate Crisis While Keeping the American Economy Moving.” If you want a picture of the future, imagine a
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March 21, 2024 — Scott Johnson
The Biden administration has a problem with the average American who wants nothing more than to be left alone. The administration wants to run our lives. Count the ways. It’s a long list that includes the displacement of cars powered by internal combustion engines by electric vehicles. We love the former and reject the latter. They therefore intend to force EVs down our throat. It’s for our own good! (Not.)
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January 17, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Many people don’t realize that electric cars have been around for more than 100 years. One might think that the fact they have never caught on is more than a coincidence. Yesterday, Robert Bryce provided testimony on electric vehicles to the Senate’s Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. His testimony is reproduced at his Substack site. It is all worth reading; here is an excerpt: The history of the EV
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January 13, 2024 — John Hinderaker
It is cold across most of North America, which links these three stories: After Big Tesla Bet, Hertz Selling One-Third of EV Fleet. Hertz is selling about a third of its global electric-vehicle fleet, a major reversal for the rental-car company after it positioned itself as a champion of the technology with plans to vastly grow its fleet of plug-in models. Hertz said Thursday that it would sell about 20,000
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November 18, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Electric vehicles have been around for 100 years or so. They lost out to gasoline powered cars because gasoline powered cars are better. Is that ever going to change? At the Telegraph, Michael Kelly draws an analogy to the Concorde: The man in the street has failed to embrace BEVs for the same reason he failed to embrace Concorde nearly 50 years ago: the extra cost – of order £10,000
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November 15, 2023 — John Hinderaker
How much does it cost to charge an electric vehicle, and who picks up the tab? Steve Moore’s Committee to Unleash Prosperity has this: Uncle Sam pays the automakers billions of dollars to produce EVs. Then they write a check for $7,500 to consumers who buy an EV and many states kick in up to another $5,000. Now, the government is paying to charge the batteries for the rich people
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October 27, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Wind and solar are both terrible methods of generating electricity, both expensive and unreliable. The one thing that can make the situation worse is the drive to electrify everything, including motor vehicles. The impracticality of this “green” vision has become blindingly obvious, and the “green” movement has begun to fall apart. Steve noted this afternoon the collapsing share prices of renewable energy companies. Here are some more indications that the
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September 27, 2023 — Scott Johnson
The UAW is striking the Big Three American auto companies. On behalf of its members, the union is fighting the Man for substantially higher pay and substantially less work. One doesn’t read about it much, but one of the big reasons why the UAW is fighting right now is the shift to electric vehicles. See, for example, the Yahoo! Finance backgrounder here explaining “why the shift to EVs is such
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September 11, 2023 — John Hinderaker
The electric vehicle boondoggle rolls on. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm undertook a drive across the Southeastern states to demonstrate the viability of EVs. It didn’t go so well, even in NPR’s account. Granholm’s trip through the southeast, from Charlotte, N.C., to Memphis, Tenn., was intended to draw attention to the billions of dollars the White House is pouring into green energy and clean cars. The administration’s ambitious energy agenda,
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August 6, 2023 — John Hinderaker
The alleged transition to “green” energy is destined to crash and burn. A modern society can’t meet its needs for electricity with wind and solar sources that produce nothing a large majority of the time, supplemented by wholly notional “batteries.” The race to disaster is being accelerated by government-mandated use of electric vehicles, which will put impossible burdens on an already-inadequate grid. So it becomes a question of where the
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August 1, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Why do electric car batteries frequently burst into flame? In my opinion, EVs are essentially an obsolete technology even without this glaring flaw. But those who are trying to force them down our throats should be made to explain why this isn’t a serious issue. Most recently, a cargo ship called the Fremantle Highway burned out of control in the North Sea due to a fire caused by an electric
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May 9, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Governments keep trying to force us to drive electric vehicles, and it keeps not happening. From the thoroughly pro-EV Times of London: Fresh concerns have been raised about efforts to boost sales of electric cars after an industry trade body downgraded its forecast for demand. According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), high energy costs and insufficient charging infrastructure will dampen demand for new battery electric cars
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April 14, 2023 — Scott Johnson
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
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April 1, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Electric vehicles are the South Sea Bubble of the 21st century. They are essentially obsolete, having lost out to the internal combustion engine 100 years ago. Yes, you can make a good car with a battery, like a Tesla. But the cost will always be too high, the environmental consequences are horrific, the drain on natural resources is unconscionable, and charging requirements will always render the vehicle impractical. This is
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March 29, 2023 — Steven Hayward
As everyone knows, California is leading the bandwagon to have an all-electric car and truck fleet as soon as 2035. The assumption is that people will charge up their batteries overnight when electricity demand drops. The defect in this plan is that while electricity demand starts to fall later in the evening (except during heat waves), California’s supply of electricity also falls because it is lopsided toward wind and especially
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February 28, 2023 — Elizabeth Stauffer
Running low on gas? No worries. Find the nearest gas station. Pop the gas cap. Insert the nozzle into the gas tank opening, wait a minute or two and you’re good to go. The process gets a bit more complicated for drivers of electric vehicles. First they must find a nearby charging station. If they’re lucky, they may be able to find a fast charger where the process might take
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