To EV or not to EV

We are almost all going to die of climate change in 12 years if we don’t reduce carbon emissions. President Biden is telling us, and starting to mandate, that we all buy EVs as part of the solution. EVs require a bunch of metals and minerals like graphite, copper, manganese, lithium, nickel and cobalt in much greater quantities than internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. Hardly any of these metals and minerals are mined in the United States so we are dependent on supply from other countries, many of which have unstable governments and poor human rights records and some that are flat genocidal. Furthermore, the demand for this stuff from the increasing production of EVs has created shortages. So, President Biden says we need to mine and produce these metals and minerals here in the U.S.

But, attempts to mine and/or produce these things in the United States have been going on for some time and are blocked by the Biden Regime’s EPA and Biden supporting environmental groups. 

So, Biden says you must buy an EV and we must mine the materials to produce EVs here in order to save the environment but because we have to save the environment, we can’t mine any of those materials so we can’t produce the cars you are being forced to buy.

I’m sure that must make sense to somebody. 

I am not anti-EV. I own 2 of them because I am a car buff and they are an interesting and new technology that I enjoy driving. But, they are a lot more expensive than a comparable ICE car. The EV proponents keep saying the price differential will drop. Tesla said they would have a cheap EV, but now admit the cheapest one they can produce is nearly $60,000. GM and Honda just today said they are trying to produce a cheap EV by….wait for it…..2027.

The price differential right now between and EV and comparable ICE vehicle, however, is moving in the opposite direction. The price of those materials that are used in much greater quantities in EVs than in ICE vehicles is up 137% in the last year. The equivalent price increases in an ICE car are dramatically less. 

I have said for some time that EVs are great for some purposes and can probably account for 25% of vehicles sold in the United States within the next 5-8 years. Expecting more than that will require major unforeseen technological and cost improvements or complete mandates or both. 

As long as the Biden Regime mandates buying cars that it simultaneously mandates cannot be built, that 25% may be a reach.