Three Huge Reasons Why Electric Vehicles Will Never Dominate American Roads

Here’s the most important thing about plug-in electric cars (EV), as revealed by Wikipedia’s liberal content-creators in the first sentence of their article on “Government Incentives for Plug-in Electric Vehicles”:

These incentives have been created around the globe to encourage policy-driven plug-in electric vehicle adoption. These incentives include tax credits, tax exemptions and tax credit, as well as purchase rebates and tax exemptions. Additional perks include bus lanes and waivers of fees (charging, parking and tolls). ).”

The Western elite of Europe and the U.S. have launched a campaign to make everyone else stop driving trucks and cars powered by fossil-fuel internal combustion engines. This is not our policy.

No matter how many millions of Americans depend on their cars and trucks for their livelihoods, they can still travel to any location they wish to visit in this vast country, regardless of whether they own or rent them.

President Biden made the policy decision to make EVs the standard for all American vehicles by 2030. To meet the expected surge in electric “refills” demand, he is spending billions on tax dollars to build half a million EV charging points across the country.

Federal tax credits can be used to hide the fact that EVs are still very expensive and have poor reliability and maintenance records. Despite the pressure on consumers to purchase EVs, only seven percent of new-vehicle sales are made.

Ford, GM and Toyota are rushing to include EVs in their models. This is not a response to consumers, but to the government.

The elites of government, media, academia and entertainment are trying to sell EVs but the overwhelming majority of Americans don’t buy them. This is the first of three major reasons EVs won’t be a dominant force on American roads.

John Eichberger (executive director of Fuels Institute), a research group supported by a coalition from transportation and energy companies, has identified the second reason.

Eichberger sent me an email:

I was struck by the decision of several governments to require that all vehicles sold by 2035 must be “zero emission vehicles”. This got me thinking about how this would affect the United States.

For the geeks among you: This is not an exhaustive analysis, unlike the Fuels Institute reports. It does not consider how or should it or nots, and it is not forecast. It assumes that the planets align, and it works out to reach 100 percent of sales by 2035.

If average vehicle sales and scrappage rates are taken into account, and if ZEV sales reach 100 percent market share at an average annual rate of ZEV sales growth, then a 2035 ZEV mandate would convert 16.5 percent to the fleet by 2035 and 60% by 2050. This would mean that 83.5 percent will be powered primarily by liquid fuels in 2035.

This is a staggering number. Even if we can achieve a 100% market share in annual vehicle sales within 12 years, less that one-fifth will be electric vehicles. This means that more than 83% will still need gasoline or diesel to drive their cars and trucks.

Eichberger replied to my question about the Biden schedule. He said that he had achieved a 50% sales target by 2030 and maintained ZEV sales growth at the same rate beyond that date. This resulted in a 6.6 percent conversion of the fleet by 2030, 100% sales by 2035 and 21 percent conversion of the fleet by 2035.

Or, put another way, elected officials or bureaucrats who believe they can just wave their regulatory magic wands and achieve their policy goals might as well command the sun and moon not to go back.

This brings us to the third reason EVs won’t dominate American roads: A recent study published by Climate +Community Project, an environmental advocacy group. The study’s authors claim:

The new demand for metals is a key aspect of electrified transport. Lithium, the most valuable metal for EV batteries, is a crucial component. Today’s demand for EVs would reach 2050. This means that the US EV market in 2050 will require three times the amount of lithium produced globally. The expansion of mining would meet this surge in demand.

Large-scale mining can cause social and environmental damage, often irreversibly destroying landscapes without consent from affected communities. Some mining is required as societies attempt to transform their energy systems and build new zero-emissions ones. However, the amount of mining is not an absolute. It is not clear where the mining takes place, who is responsible for the environmental and social impacts, nor how it is managed.

Researchers acknowledge that the explosive demand for EV batteries will lead to an increase in the mining of lithium. If lithium demand is not controlled, the increased mining activity will cause more environmental damage.

However, the researchers recommend a way to limit lithium demand.

The report shows that the United States can have zero emission transportation and minimize the need for lithium mining. This is possible by decreasing car dependency, decreasing the size electric vehicle batteries, maximising lithium recycling, and reducing its dependence on the transportation system.

The US transportation system can be reorganized through spending and policy shifts to prioritize active and public transit, while decreasing car dependency. This will ensure transit equity, preserve ecosystems, respect Indigenous Rights, and meet the demands for global justice.

This prescription does not mention consumer choice. Researchers want to achieve their desired goal through government force, also known as “federal regulation”, to make us all elite.

To put it another way, in order for the elitists to pursue their EV policy goals all Americans will have to give up the enormous freedoms that every American has to drive a car or truck and go wherever they want. To reduce “car dependency”, it is necessary to end private ownership of cars or trucks.