Is The Bloom Off The EV Rose?

Here’s a headline for you: Ford becomes latest automaker to postpone its $12 billion EV investment - after saying customers are unwilling to pay a premium for eco cars.

According to Gallup only 12% of Americans are seriously considering buying an EV.

But “they” want us to drive electric cars, right?  “They” give us a lot of incentives to buy EVs and, regardless “they” will be forcing us to buy EVs by 2030 and beyond.

The thing is, “we” aren’t buying it.  (Pun intended.)

Now don’t get me wrong, if you want an electric car, by all means buy one.  I wrote about this last year: So, You Want to Buy an Electric Car?

But folks aren’t.  Or at least not as many as the pointy-headed bureaucrats want.

In April the EPA announced an emissions rule change that would affect all gasoline-powered cars with a goal of having 50 percent of all new cars and light trucks and 30 percent of new medium- and heavy-duty trucks sold in 2030 be zero-emission vehicles.  Electric vehicles (EVs) are considered zero-emission vehicles.

If that’s not bad enough, California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington states are banning the sale of gasoline-powered cars in 2035.

So instead of the free market directing the adoption of EVs, the government is forcing consumers into buying products that they may not want or may not meet their needs.

How come?  Why does the government need to force consumers to buy EVs?

Well, there are downsides to buying and owning an EV that need to be overcome.  Government mandates force consumers to accept the downsides.

A very common problem is “range anxiety.”  That’s the fear that your car’s battery will run out before you can find a charging station.  This is an especially serious problem for drivers who are making long trips.  If your car runs out of charge, the AAA can’t dump a can of electrons in your tank.  They need to tow your car.

Another downside is that EVs cost a lot more to insure.  According to Reuters, for many electric vehicles, there is no way to repair or assess even slightly damaged battery packs after accidents, forcing insurance companies to write off cars with only a few miles on the odometer.

According to online brokerage Policygenius, the average U.S. monthly EV insurance payment in 2023 is $206, 27% more than for a combustion-engine model.

According to Bankrate, an online publisher of financial content, U.S. insurers know that "if even a minor accident results in damage to the battery pack... the cost to replace this key component may exceed $15,000."

A replacement battery for a Tesla Model 3 can cost up to $20,000, for a vehicle that retails at around $43,000 but depreciates quickly over time.

In addition to damaged batteries, there have been worries about battery fires.  In fact, fire departments across the U.S. are finding out that the best way to "fight" such fires are to simply let them burn, according to a new report by the Wall Street Journal.

All of this adds up to higher insurance premiums.

Another reason is EVs cost too much to buy.  According to six in 10 Americans, the price tag of EVs is just too high, which is why they wouldn’t purchase one any time soon.

Shelling out an average of more than $58,000 for a car may be an afterthought for the wealthy who have with comfortable six-figure incomes, but it’s out of reach for many U.S. households.  Furthermore, under new rules proposed by the U.S. Treasury Department, fewer EVs may qualify for the full $7,500 federal tax credit that is supposed to make them more affordable.

So, there’s that.

And this reluctance is not just here in the U.S.  You may not have seen it in the news, but there is a growing revolt across much of Europe against Net Zero mandates in general and electric vehicle mandates in particular.

It seems that, led by luxury carmakers, the future may be bright for the internal combustion engine if new synthetic fuels technologies can produce an affordable replacement for gasoline and diesel fuels.  In April I wrote about these technologies in It’s a Gas, Man!  Porche is leading the push into synthetic gasoline.  And Audi learned how to synthesize diesel fuel from water!

So, why go through the expense and angst of converting the U.S.’s gas-powered automotive fleet to electric when there are technologies that would make EVs unnecessary?

You’re a smart person, I’m sure you can imagine why.

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“Public assistance should be a trampoline not a hammock.”

-          Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker

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AI Is Everywhere!

So here are two advertisements that were generated by an AI tool.  Here’s a commercial for a made-up pizza restaurant:

And a fake car dealership:

Who knew AI could be funny?

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