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School official laments electric buses cost '5X more' and are riddled with 'performance issues'. One Michigan school official admitted his district's move to using electric buses was less than the government has touted it to be. Emile Lauzzana, the environmental sustainability director of Michigan's fourth-largest school district, recently told the Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education that the district's electric bus fleet has had "a lot of downtime and performance issues." "It's been a tough 2 1/2 years with this program," Lauzzana said. "We've been learning a lot about this technology," Lauzzana also said. "Electric buses are approximately five times more expensive than regular buses, and the electrical infrastructure, which was originally estimated to be only about $50,000, give or take, for those four buses ended up being more like $200,000." The Editor says... Biden Spent $1 Billion To Get Schools Electric Buses. This Michigan District Says Theirs Hardly Work. Michigan's fourth-largest school district is having "significant" performance issues with its expensive electric buses, issues that come after the Biden administration spent $1 billion to "transform America's school bus fleet" with electric models. During an April 19 presentation to the Ann Arbor Public Schools Board of Education, the district's environmental sustainability director, Emile Lauzzana, highlighted a number of issues with the district's electric bus fleet. Those buses, Lauzzana said, have "a lot of downtime and performance issues" and aren't "fully on the road," despite the fact that they are "approximately five times more expensive than regular buses." The infrastructure upgrades required to use the buses, meanwhile, were "originally estimated to be only about $50,000" but "ended up being more like $200,000," according to Lauzzana. "I have a number of colleagues in different states who are facing similar challenges," the district official lamented. Electric Trucks Are Worse than Diesel Trucks. The purpose of trucks is to move stuff. By just about every measure, electric trucks are worse at moving stuff than diesel trucks are. That's the takeaway from today's newsletter by Rachel Premack for FreightWaves. She's writing about a California regulation that will require all new drayage trucks (trucks that operate near ports) to be zero-emissions, starting next year. The entire drayage fleet is required to be zero-emissions by 2035. And people in the trucking industry and in the utility industry aren't quite sure how that's going to happen. How electric car propaganda preys on the disabled. Chicken Little, a beloved character from children's literature, was famous for his frantic warning that the sky was falling because an acorn fell and hit him on the head. [...] This story sounds an awful lot like the climate change rantings of today. They call to rid ourselves of things like gas stoves, incandescent light bulbs, and coal-powered electric plants. There is also a move to end the production and use of gas-powered engines, as it's supposedly "settled science" that these things are truly horrible for the environment. There is a frantic push toward an all-electric energy future, especially one powered by unreliable solar and wind sources, to save us from the nefarious bogeyman of global warming — all while the real polluters have no intention of hamstringing their economies in the same way. In reality, U.S. carbon emissions are dropping (we contribute 11%), while those in Asia, specifically India (6%) and China (27%), are soaring. At the forefront of this utopian future is the electric car — deemed by some as the savior of the environment because it has zero carbon emissions and uses no fossil fuels. Every Electric Vehicle Enriches Communist China.. President Biden's policy requiring 67 percent of all new vehicles sold in the United States by 2032 to be electric vehicles (EVs) will only continue to benefit the Chinese monopoly over the market. China has become the largest electric vehicle battery producer in the world by "figuring out how to make battery components efficiently and at lower costs," explains the New York Times. China is, moreover, the world leader in the manufacturing of EVs by some distance. By 2030, China will manufacture more than double the number of EVs than all other nations combined. Most of the raw materials that support the batteries are refined by the Chinese Communist Party, such as lithium, manganese, cobalt, graphite, and nickel, compared to the United States, which has "little processing capacity" for raw materials. The most important component in an EV is the cathode — a battery's positive terminal which is responsible for costs and range — and yet the United States manufactures one percent of them. Electric Vehicle Illusions. A dozen states have joined California and many countries in passing legislation to ban the sale of conventional cars and push everyone into electric vehicles (EVs), many within the decade. Similarly, in a feat of regulatory legerdemain, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed emissions rules that would effectively require automakers to sell mostly EVs. And of course, the ill-named Inflation Reduction Act, a.k.a. the Green New Deal, gushes subsidies across the EV ecosystem. The rush to subsidize and mandate EVs is animated by a fatal conceit: the assumption that they will radically reduce CO2 emissions. That assumption is embedded orthodoxy not just among green pundits and administrators of the regulatory state but also among EV critics, who take issue with a forced transition mainly on grounds of lost freedoms, costs, and market distortions. But the truth is, because of the nature of uncertainties in global industrial ecosystems, no one really knows how much widespread adoption of EVs could reduce emissions, or whether they might even increase them. EPA's almost bare-naked electric car mandate. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last week proposed new greenhouse gas (GHG) emission standards for model years (MYs) 2027-2032 passenger cars, light trucks, and medium-duty trucks. The standards are de facto electric vehicle (EV) mandates. Automakers cannot comply without rapidly phasing out internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles and rapidly increasing sales of battery-powered vehicles. Naturally, the EPA protests that, unlike California's motor vehicle program, which officially bans the sale of gasoline-powered cars by 2035, "the GHG program in this proposal is performance-based and not a ZEV [zero-emission vehicle] mandate" (87 FR 29255). In fact, like the California program, the EPA program compels automakers to manufacture and sell increasing percentages of ZEVs, only at a slower pace. It does this by establishing fleet-average GHG emission standards that automakers can meet only by squeezing ICE vehicles out of their fleets. The EPA's program is not a bare-naked EV mandate, but almost. If the battery is the key to an EV future, China's got a lock on it. The race to build a better (translation: cheaper) battery for the soon-to-come wave of electric cars has barely begun. But The New York Times has already declared a winner. In a thoroughly researched article this week in the Times, called "Can the world make an electric car battery without China?," the reporters conclude that the Chinese have already captured the prize. They are "so far ahead mining rare minerals, training engineers and building huge factories that the rest of the world may take decades to catch up." Bold predictions, but reporters Keith Bradshaw and Agnes Chang take pains to back them up, by detailing China's super ambitious chain of production, from taking raw materials out of the earth to actually building the vehicles that use the lithium ion batteries. Why
would anyone believe these people can control temperatures, sea levels, and storm activity forever?
The people who say they can control the climate forever if we are forced to buy electric cars and give up a lot of other stuff somehow can't figure out how to have AM radio stations without interference from electric vehicles. [...] Does anyone think they can solve all the economic and environmentally harmful issues related to electric vehicles? Here is some information about electric vehicles that the complicit media will not be allowed to see. This information is as censored as the stories showing Biden family corruption.
Charge! Incompetence or malice? This question is consistently posed to us by readers responding to the staggering idiocy of our political class, especially as it pertains to energy policy. Perverse though it might sound, many would be more comfortable if the unworkable policies and unscientific nonsense emanating from our elected officials were part of some dark and purposeful criminal conspiracy. [...] In a corrupt system, leaders who achieve political power are selected for their unique combination of fervor and ignorance. They genuinely believe that they know better, and they absolutely are that dumb. Last week, Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm declared her candidacy for Rube of the Year before the Senate Armed Services committee: ["]Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said Wednesday that she supports efforts from the Biden administration to require the U.S. military to implement an all-electric vehicle fleet by 2030, telling lawmakers that she believes 'we can get there.' Granholm's remarks came during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing following questions from Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who asked the Biden administration official whether she supports the military's adoption of an 'EV fleet by 2030.'["] Will Electric Vehicles Disappoint You? No doubt many taxpayers have already developed a healthy skepticism if not distaste for government-subsidized electric vehicles. But consumers may also have reason to beware, based on a recent report from automotive magazine Car and Driver. Also in the news is one more reminder that it can be a bumpy road to the energy transition envisioned by the White House. [...] Fortunately many car shoppers seemed to be aware of the vehicle's problems long before the federal officials who kept urging them to buy. Now there seems to be another concern that goes beyond Chevy. Regardless of the manufacturer, taxpayers looking to get some of their money back from the feds by purchasing a subsidized e-car should be careful to restrain their expectations. Ford Is Losing Roughly $60,000 For Every Electric Vehicle Sold. Ford lost tens of thousands of dollars per electric vehicle sold in the first quarter of 2023, as the division remained on track for roughly $3 billion in yearly losses, according to the company's Tuesday evening earnings report. Ford's electric vehicle division — which was separated from its traditional gas and professional-grade vehicle departments in a late March reorganization — lost $722 million in the first three months of 2023, while selling just 12,000 units, according to the company's first quarter earnings report. This amounts to a roughly $60,167 loss for each vehicle sold, according to calculations made by the Daily Caller News Foundation. Another Democrat war on consumers. For mobility, America in the 20th century lived through a transition from horses to fossil fuels. Except for supplying roads, the government was hardly involved. No coercion or subsidies were necessary. Private enterprise, the free market, voluntary exchange, and the profit motive were enough to provide the oil, oil refineries, and filling stations. And it all happened organically and without centralized control. Government is far more powerful and intrusive than we would like it to be. Nevertheless, its power has limits, especially when its policy objectives are unrealistic or impossible. The federal and some state governments have announced a goal of eliminating fossil fuel vehicles. The federal government is demanding that 67 percent of new vehicles sold be electric by 2032. California regulators recently voted unanimously to ban the sale of new diesel trucks as of 2036. Electric vehicles have been available for several years. But so far, less than six percent of vehicles in the U.S. are electric. The percentage of electric trucks is close to zero. This Might Be The Worst Idea Joe Biden's Ever Had. President Joe Biden wants all Pentagon vehicles to be electric by 2030 — in just six years and seven months. America's fearless leader previewed this policy on Earth Day 2022. "We're going to start the process where every vehicle in the United States military, every vehicle, is going to be climate-friendly — every vehicle," Biden said in Seattle that April 22. "I mean it." Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm just reiterated this objective. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) asked Granholm at an April 26 Armed Services Committee hearing, "Do you support the military adopting that EV fleet by 2030?" "I do, and I think we can get there," Granholm replied. The Editor says... Ohio man gets $42,000 repair bill after fender bender in electric truck. Landscaper Chris Apfelstadt of Columbus, Ohio, shared a post in a Facebook group for Rivian fans recounting how while driving his electric truck one day, he was struck from behind at a "relatively low speed." No airbags inflated, he noted, and purported pictures of the accident show only minor damage to the rear bumper of his pickup. "I figured the repair would be expensive but had no idea!" Apfelstadt wrote on Facebook. He went on to say that the insurance company for the woman who rear-ended him assessed the damage, estimated the repairs would cost $1,600 and wrote him a check for that amount. Turns out, they were more than $40,000 off the mark. Study: Electric cars losing value twice as fast as gas vehicles. The value of some of the most popular electric cars is depreciating at twice the rate of petrol cars, a new study has found. When someone buys a new car, the value will naturally decrease over time given the wear and tear of the vehicle, as well as the mileage and age. But, for some electric car owners, they could be seeing the value of their car depreciate at twice the rate of petrol cars. According to a new study, EVs on average will lose 51 percent of their purchase value from 2020 to 2023, compared to just 37 percent for petrol vehicles. This equates to a massive £15,220 loss for electric car owners, with petrol drivers seeing a decrease of £9,901. The Editor says... Study: EVs do help air pollution, but really only benefit the wealthy. A new study shows that electric vehicles are helping make the air cleaner in California. But it's only benefiting the wealthy. The study published on Wednesday was done in collaboration between the University of California at Berkeley, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the University of Miami. Researchers measured more than 400,000 rebates from 2010 to 2021 to determine how successful California's Clean Vehicle Rebate Project (CVRP) has been in actually reducing emissions. The study found that electric vehicles have been successful in reducing emissions of nitrogen oxides, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, but the benefits are primarily only in wealthy communities, leaving lower-income communities in the dust. This is due to the unequal distribution of electric cars between these groups, and if things don't change, the authors argued it will lead to more environmental, financial and social inequity. The [British] Government's electric vehicle obsession is a war on motorists. First the good news: car sales are looking quite perky, in spite of the cost of living crisis. In the first four months of the year 627,250 new cars rolled off the forecourt. Over the same period in 2022 it was 536,727. But now the bad news, at least for the government: sales of electric cars are running out of juice. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has downgraded its sales forecast for electric vehicles. It now expects 18.4 percent of total sales to be pure electric cars, rather than 19.7 percent as previously forecast. And in my view, even this new projection looks optimistic. So far this year only 15.4 percent of sales fell into this category, a smidgeon up from 14.4 percent in the same period last year. Still the most popular by far are the pure petrol models. How Long Before Environmentalists Start Attacking EVs? Today, you're not allowed to say a bad word about electric cars. They're planet savers, after all. Environmentalists tell us so. But there will come a day — in the not-too-distant future — when the climate change fanatics will decide that EVs are planet killers, too. [...] Turns out, only certain EVs are now acceptable to environmentalists. "Electric vehicles are on the whole better for the planet than gas-powered vehicles, but bigger, heavier, and less efficient EV models have more environmental impacts than smaller ones," the [Los Angeles] Times editorial board sniffed. It is now calling on regulators to not just force car buyers to give up their trusty internal combustion engines, but trade them in for "small, zero-emission cars that most people can afford to buy." It won't be long before green mobs start slashing tires of electric trucks and SUVs. At some point, no electric car will be good enough. Environmentalists will "discover" that building car batteries is massively damaging to the environment. They will be shocked to learn that EVs aren't "zero emission" at all, because the electricity used to charge them still largely comes from fossil-fuel-powered generators. They will decry the fact that EVs are making human-right-abusing despots fabulously rich. They will say EVs aren't doing nearly enough to stop the climate "crisis." California to Ban Diesel Truck Sales by 2036. California suffers from a homelessness crisis, a drug epidemic, high taxes, and affordability issues, but there's one thing the state's residents won't have to worry about in the future: diesel trucks. That's because state regulators on Friday approved a rule that would forbid the sales of diesel vehicles by 2036 and require all trucks to be zero emissions by 2042. The California Air Resources Board also unanimously approved the Advanced Clean Fleets rule which will require delivery and garbage trucks to be electric. CA musing on mandating your EV be able to help power the grid. This news is going to go in the Does California EVER Think Anything Through file, because I have seen no clear-cut proof that they do. [...] In a twisted way, this makes sense for a state that already can't keep the lights on — use all those lovely, honkin' yuge batteries in EVs sitting in driveways to take the load off the grid (vehicle-to-grid/V2G) or help consumers either keep their own electric bills down or function during an outage by powering their house with the Tesla in the driveway (vehicle-to-home/V2H). As CA legislators think, "If it works for 5 people, we can make everyone do it." What doesn't make sense is, again, CA can't keep the lights on. Vicious circle. For your car battery to be charged enough to run the house or help take the load off a failing grid, it has to be charged/juiced up to discharge. Portland to ban gas-powered delivery vehicles from 16 blocks downtown. Portland is about to be one of the first cities in the U.S. with blocks dedicated as a zero-emission delivery zone, thanks to a $2 million grant the city received. The Portland Bureau of Transportation announced Tuesday that the money will support creating a 16-block area in downtown where all deliveries must be made using zero-emission vehicles. These vehicles can include electric vans and trucks, cargo bikes or hydrogen-fueled vehicles. The Editor says... The Staggering Scale of the EV Transition. Take power-grid transformers. These essential voltage-converting components are designed to cool down at night, when power consumption is typically low. But with more people charging their EVs at home at night, the 30-year design life of a transformer will drop — to perhaps no more than three years once mass adoption of EVs takes hold. Transformers can cost more than US $20,000 each, and they're already in short supply in many countries. 10 Most Glaring Problems With Electric Cars. [#9] Range anxiety is among the biggest sources of hesitation for car buyers when it comes to EVs, especially if the driver intends to cross states and go to less-urbanized areas every once in a while. As of early 2023, continuous improvements in EV battery technology have already increased the average EV driving range to over 210 miles for a single full charge. However, to put this range in perspective, a $26,000, gas-engine Camry can travel over 600 miles on a full tank. The $28,000 Nissan Leaf EV can go for 149 miles while the $90,000 Tesla Model S can travel 405 miles, both on a single charge. The average American driver travels approximately 35 miles per day, so a 210-mile range can last for a full work week without charging — if all stars are aligned, of course. Any side trips or emergencies — or even short bursts of spirited driving during the daily commute — will drain the EV battery faster and will make you plug in much earlier. EVs Fall Short of EPA Estimates by a Much Larger Margin Than Gas Cars in Our Real-World Highway Testing. A new paper published by SAE International uses Car and Driver's real-world highway test data to show that electric vehicles underperform on real-world efficiency and range relative to the EPA figures by a much greater margin than internal-combustion vehicles. While the latter typically meet or exceed the EPA-estimated highway fuel economy numbers, EVs tend to fall considerably short of the range number on the window sticker. The paper, written by Car and Driver's testing director, Dave VanderWerp, and Gregory Pannone, was presented this week at SAE International's annual WCX conference. It points to a need for revised testing and labeling standards for EVs moving forward. "Basically we've taken a look at how vehicles perform relative to the values on the window sticker, looking at the difference between what the label says and what we actually see in our real-world highway test," explained VanderWerp. "We see a big difference in that gap between gas-powered vehicles and the performance of EVs. The real question is: When first-time customers are buying EVs, are they going to be pleasantly surprised or disappointed by the range?" Imprisoned: Climate police want EV batteries to have less capacity so electric car owners can't travel very far. It is not enough for people to just switch from gas-powered cars to electric vehicles (EVs) in order to fight global warming. The climate brigade also wants to forcibly limit the range of people's EVs to ensure they do not drive "too much" and kill the planet. A consortium of professors from California and members of the so-called "climate community" are pushing to make EV batteries less powerful in order to stop climate change. They also want to make passenger cars smaller, which they claim will "makes the roads far safer because smaller cars have fewer and less severe crashes." "Making bus routes, metros, and electric bikes faster, safer, and more convenient will disproportionately support low-income and non-white community members — who are more likely to live near high traffic areas and bear the environmental health burdens of relatively poorer air quality compared to higher-income and white counterparts," the group further said. The many disadvantages of electric cars. It is a myth that electric cars are green because they have no exhaust emissions. The fact is that, depending on the region, most electric grid power stations use fossil fuels such as dirty coal, gas, and petroleum. So, electric cars are not a green sustainable solution for now. Under moderate temperatures most electric cars suffer from a limited average range of about 350 miles on a full charge, although some high-priced models can travel as far as 500 miles. This makes long trips by car rather difficult, especially since there is a dearth of electric charging stations along the interstate highways and within city limits. [...] According to the AAA, during cold weather electric vehicles often lose over 12% of their mileage range but it can be a loss up to 41% with the heater on full blast. Even worse is if you are stuck in a snowstorm on the highway your car will have to be towed and you risk the possibility of freezing when your car battery gives out. Government Fiat Will Not Make Electric Cars Viable. The unelected bureaucrats in the Biden administration's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have announced a plan to wave their magic regulatory wand. These obviously "woke" EPA global-warming ideologues aim to mandate new tailgate emission standards that require two-thirds of all new passenger vehicles sold in the United States by 2032 to be electric. On April 8, 2023, the New York Times, in a story that appeared to be an obvious trial balloon, published the news that the EPA was planning to implement "the most stringent auto pollution limits in the world, designed to ensure that all-electric cars make up as much as 67 percent of the passenger vehicles sold in the country by 2032." The source for the story was the typical unnamed "according to two people familiar with the matter." Clearly, the Biden administration and the newspaper expected push-back, given that the New York Times article announcing the news also cited industry statistics indicating electric vehicle (EV) sales still languish under 6 percent of total passenger vehicles sold in the United States. Heavy electric vehicles could put pressure on parking garages, experts warn. Parking garages across the US could be at risk of collapse over the weight of heavier electric vehicles, experts warned, as one such garage fell in Lower Manhattan, killing one person and injuring five. Chris Whapples, a structural engineer and consultant working on new regulations for multi-story garages in the UK, said officials need to understand how the rise in EVs will affect current car parks. "I don't want to be too alarmist, but there definitely is the potential for some of the early car parks in poor condition to collapse," Whapples told The Telegraph. "Operators need to be aware of electric vehicle weights, and get their car parks assessed from a strength point of view, and decide if they need to limit weight." Biden's Electric Car Target Has a Problem — Many Americans Don't Want Them. Some 41 percent of U.S. adults would not buy an electric car, according to an April 12 Gallup poll of a random sample of 1,009 people. This, if extrapolated to the wider population, would represent around 106 million Americans who are against a key plank of Joe Biden's vision of a green economy. While this comprises a sizeable minority, the survey, conducted between March 1-23, found that a majority of 55 percent either currently own or were considering owning an electric vehicle (EV). Those against buying an EV tended to be older, and 71 percent of those who identified as Republican voiced their opposition compared with just 17 percent of Democrats. A Time for Charging. 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. [...] Electric vehicles themselves degrade the environment. Substituting them for cars with internal combustion vehicles will not alter "the climate" in the least. The hidden costs of electric vehicles. The White House has turned to strict emissions standards in order to get electric vehicles from the current 7% of new auto sales to 50% by 2032. But as the national gas price finally dipped below $4, it's just one less incentive to consider purchasing an electric vehicle. In the current infrastructure and economy, the real-world cost of powering an electric vehicle is still far greater than comparable internal combustion engines, and the hidden costs are many. Remember the old saying, "Time is money?" Well, most electric vehicle drivers need up to a full day to charge a fully depleted electric car battery. Even rapid partial charges take five to ten times longer than it takes to fill up a gas tank. What's more, depending on where one lives, most people won't want their car to get below about a 20% charge and risk being stranded somewhere they can't recharge, so the true usable range is much less than advertised. While electric vehicle owners can proactively "top off" batteries daily, longer commutes throw that out the window (let alone typical family road trips). Joe Biden's Electric Car Dream Is A Lie. Regarding electric vehicles, President Joe Biden cannot simply use his bully pulpit to preach EVs' virtues. Gift-wrapping them in lavish taxpayer-funded subsidies is not enough for Biden, either. So, this dictator rules by fiat. Rather than ask Congress to enact a pro-EV law, Emperor Biden issued a decree on Wednesday, via the Environmental Protection Agency. By 2030, 54% of new passenger vehicles must be electric. Just two years later, that mandate would grow by more than one-fifth, until 67% of new cars and light trucks are electric in 2032. This edict bludgeons personal freedom, is terminally grandiose, and defies economic reality. Robin Hood in reverse: Biden green agenda raising prices for consumers, profits for Dem donors. President Joe Biden announced plans on Wednesday to require that two-thirds of all U.S. car sales by 2032 be electric vehicles and impose the "strongest-ever" emissions restrictions on gas cars. Like much of the Biden green agenda, the proposals stand to raise costs for everyday Americans while swelling profits for Democrat megadonors. A recent CNBC survey found that 58% of Americans are currently living paycheck to paycheck, and 70% feel financially burdened due to inflation, rising interest rates and more. At the same time, the average cost for an EV as of February was around $58,385, according to CarEdge. Cars are already more expensive than ever. Average monthly payments for new vehicles hit a record high of $730 in the first quarter of 2023, a more than 11% increase year-over-year. As more Americans are pressured into buying EVs, increased demand will only drive those prices higher, prompting responses from Republican lawmakers on behalf of consumers. "Electrification" is the "road to higher prices" for everybody, said Wyoming Republican Sen. John Barrasso, ranking member on the Senate Energy Committee in response to the 1,475 pages of new rules unveiled Wednesday by the EPA. America's Coming Energy Crisis. In 2021, Biden signed an executive order that decreed that all federal contracts for goods and services to be carbon-neutral by 2050. Some states and businesses are following Biden's lead. California and six other states intend to ban the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035. California also wants to ban the sale of gas-powered water heaters and furnaces by 2030. Now the Environmental Protection Agency has piled on. The agency is proposing vehicle pollution limits for 2032 that are so strict that they will force roughly two thirds of new vehicles sold to be electric. This may sound glorious to climate warriors, but they have no idea what they are getting us into. Transitioning to net zero involves decarbonizing electrical generation, industry, and transportation all at the same time. It also involves creating net-zero carbon buildings, even though none presently exists. Progressives [are] Not Interested in the Good of the Country. Does establishing completely illogical and unobtainable requirements for EV (electric vehicle) ownership help the country, the environment, or the economy? No, obviously not. Mining for the rare earth metals used in EVs is far more destructive to the earth than safe, reliable American fossil-fuel extraction. The rare-earth materials and battery production comes from other countries, including Communist China, so it hurts our economy and makes us more vulnerable to and dependent on bad actors. Assuming that progressives even know any of this (many are likely totally ignorant), would it matter? No. They think that pushing the Green agenda helps their short-term electoral power grab and that's their end game. USPS Balks at Dem Plan to Turn Post Offices Into Electric Car Charging Stations. The U.S. Postal Service is pushing back against a pressure campaign from Democrats to turn thousands of post offices into a network of electric car charging stations for the public, saying the plan would slow down mail operations and conflict with its mission to provide "prompt, reliable, and efficient postal services." House Democrats want to install public electric vehicle chargers at thousands of post offices, turning USPS into a nationwide charging network — a proposal that has reportedly "excited" Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. "We already own the property, the postal service has these vehicles and we could make them available to the public as well," said Rep. Marcy Kaptur in 2021 (D., Ohio). The news comes as the cash-strapped and understaffed agency has faced demands from the Biden administration to increase its investment in green energy. Last month, the USPS said it would buy over 9,000 electric vehicles for its fleet and 14,000 charging stations. Biden's EV mandate will force Americans to drive more expensive, less capable cars. If EVs were actually as good as their advocates say, they wouldn't require lavish subsidies — let alone Biden's mandate on top of lavish subsidies. Forcing EVs = harming Americans[.] Today's EVs, despite promises that they would already surpass gasoline vehicles, are not cost-effective for the vast majority of Americans. That's why despite huge government subsidies, only 6% of us buy EVs. Mandating EVs violates our rights and hurts the poor most of all. EVs may become even less cost-effective in the future due to rising electricity prices and growing shortages that are occurring as reliable power plants are shut down in favor of unreliable solar and wind, as well as increasing raw material prices (due to artificial, government-created demand for batteries). Range issues and recharge times are a logistical nightmare, even if you can afford a home recharge station. This is why EV owners tend to use EVs in addition to gasoline cars. Hybrid Vehicle Battery Explodes During Fire, Knocks Firefighters to Ground. A hybrid vehicle fire caused a small explosion at a home in Erie Tuesday morning. Mountain View Fire Rescue officials tweeted that dispatchers received a report of a structure fire on Marlowe Circle in the Morgan Hill neighborhood of Erie at 8:16 a.m. Tuesday. Firefighters found a hybrid Jeep 4XE hybrid smoking inside a garage. When crews put water on the vehicle, the battery caused an explosion, blowing the garage door off its track. Joe Biden's EV Edict Isn't Just Harmful, It's Fascistic. According to the contemporary left, it's "authoritarian" for local elected officials to curate school library collections but fine for a powerful centralized federal government to issue an edict compelling a major industry to produce a product and then force hundreds of millions of people to buy it. President Biden is set to "transform" and "remake" the entire auto industry — "first with carrots, now with sticks" — notes the Washington Post, as if dictating the output of a major industry is within the governing purview of the executive branch. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing draconian emissions limits for vehicles, ensuring that 67 percent of all new passenger cars and trucks produced within nine years will be electric. This is state coercion. It is undemocratic. We are not governed; we are managed. Biden unveils toughest-ever car emissions rules in bid to force electric vehicle purchases. The Biden administration unveiled the most aggressive tailpipe emissions ever crafted as part of its sweeping climate agenda and efforts to push Americans to buy electric vehicles (EV). The vehicle pollution standards, proposed Wednesday by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and announced by the White House, will impact car model years 2027 through 2032. The White House said the regulations would "protect public health" by achieving carbon emission reductions of nearly 10 billion tons by 2055 and would save consumers an average of $12,000 over the lifetime of vehicles. "Cars and truck manufacturers have made clear that the future of transportation is electric," the White House stated in a fact sheet. "The market is moving." The Editor says... Say Hello To The EPA Motor Company, Say Goodbye To Freedom. History may someday record today as the beginning of the end of the internal combustion engine — and of individual liberty in the U.S. According to news reports, the EPA is scheduled to release proposed auto emissions standards today on new car sales so stringent that the only way for automakers to meet them would be to shift two-thirds of their fleet to electric. But wait. How can a regulatory agency do that? Consumers aren't demanding electric cars. Lawmakers didn't vote to force them on the public. The Environmental Protection Agency knows better, though, and, unless it's neutered, plans to force EVs on you — for your own good. Europe Abandons All-Electric Car Mandate. The EU's reversal allows "the sales of new cars with combustion engines that run on synthetic fuels," which sounds very environmentally friendly. But synthetic fuels are similar to gasoline or diesel, so the decision allows internal combustion cars to continue being produced. While electric cars will still be produced and incentivized, there is no longer a 100% mandate by 2035. Biden Bans 53% of Americans From Buying Cars. The New York Times reported that the Biden administration will abuse EPA regulations to eliminate most real car sales by 2030. The plan is to force 67% of car sales to be electric by 2032. Most Americans won't be able to afford them, but they'll have no other options. Even the cheapest electric cars, which are still far more expensive than their real car counterparts and are just one battery problem away from turning into mostly unusable junk, are out of the price range of the majority of Americans who need an income of $80,000 to make an EV auto loan work. That's fine in Washington D.C. where the median income of $83,567 is the highest in the nation, but will entirely price much of the country out of the new car market. 53% of Americans earn less than $75,000. Some of the 16% who earn from $50,000 to $75,000 may be able to make an electric vehicle purchase work if they squeeze, cut back on food and clothes for the kids, but the remaining 37% will be completely locked out. Biden considering cracking down on gas cars after stripping EVs of tax credits. The Biden administration is weighing an aggressive proposal to implement the tightest-ever federal regulations governing tailpipe emissions in an effort to boost electric vehicles. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expected to announce the new standards, which will impact cars manufactured between 2027-2032, next week during a ceremony in Detroit, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing officials briefed on the proposal. In a statement, the EPA confirmed the standards are designed to incentivize consumers to purchase electric vehicles (EV). The Editor says... Tesla Models Among EVs With Worst Predicted Reliability: Consumer Reports. Consumer Reports recently published its updated reliability report pertaining to the most unreliable electric vehicles on the market today. As has been the case in the past, the Tesla Model S and Tesla Model X are both on the top 10 list. The Hyundai Kona Electric actually got the nod as the least reliable, according to the publication. Just behind the Hyundai electric crossover is the very similar Chevrolet Bolt EUV, followed by the Bolt EV hatchback. IRS Says Major Changes Are Coming to Electric Vehicle Tax Credits Next Month. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced Friday that it would propose rules that would make it more difficult for a number of new electric vehicles (EVs) to qualify for tax breaks, according to a news release. Starting April 18, the IRS will enforce a domestic sourcing requirement for minerals and components used in EV batteries, the agency said. Analysts say that a number of new EVs won't qualify for a clean vehicle tax credit of $7,500 that was implemented under the Inflation Reduction Act that was passed last year. The act "allows a maximum credit of $7,500 per vehicle, consisting of $3,750 in the case of a vehicle that meets certain requirements relating to critical minerals and $3,750 in the case of a vehicle that meets certain requirements relating to battery components," the IRS said. "The critical mineral and battery component requirements will apply to vehicles placed in service on or after April 18, 2023, the day after the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is issued in the Federal Register." Net zero is a Trojan horse for the total destruction of Western society. I love my electric car, dear reader, I really do. [...] But I'm lucky. I can easily charge it and I never drive long distances with it. The Government's plan to impose a UK-wide ban on the sale of new, pure petrol cars in just six years and nine months' time is insanely detached from reality. The country and the technology are nowhere near ready for a full roll-out. Sticking with this preposterous timetable will impoverish and inconvenience millions and trigger a seismic, anti-green popular revolt. The EU has already backtracked: after lobbying from Germany, Brussels will allow some internal combustion engines powered by e-fuels. We must go further and scrap the deadlines altogether. The future of driving is zero emissions, but we should trust capitalism to deliver it when the time is right. Lucid Motors to lay off 1,300 employees in latest cost-cutting move. Electric vehicle startup Lucid Motors is battling more problems as the automaker plans to lay off part of its workforce this week. The California-based automaker is reportedly said to be "laser-focused on cost" and an internal memo obtained by the news blog Insider says that about 18% of staff will get a pink slip. Federal SEC filings confirmed the number of layoffs and that an email was sent to employees by Lucid CEO Peter Rawlinson notifying them of the cost-cutting move. Those EV charging stations are not performing. More states around America are moving toward mandating the use of electric vehicles in an effort to "end fossil fuels." But all of those vehicles have to be recharged on a regular basis. People with the ability to do so have primarily been charging their vehicles at home with slower Level 1 or Level 2 home chargers using a household outlet. But people living in some apartments don't have that option and people who regularly take longer trips have to rely on the availability of commercial Level 3 fast chargers. The Boston Globe recently conducted an investigation to find out just how many such charging stations are available and how well they work. The results were nowhere near as great as the government would have you believe. Inside the world of electric-vehicle charger pricing. To capture the current state of EV charging, the [Boston] Globe did an informal survey of the pricing and performance of DC (Level 3) fast chargers around Greater Boston over the past three months. While most current EV owners charge at home overnight using slower Level 1 and 2 chargers, DC fast chargers are critical for longer trips and for people who can't charge at home. Based on the experiences of a reporter charging four different vehicles across five charging networks, a few themes emerged. Reliability is a major issue, with chargers going offline for weeks or months at a time. Some stations charge by the minute rather than by the amount of electricity consumed, leading to unpredictable pricing. Others have multiple subscription plans or charge different rates at different times of day. Overall, there have been some significant price increases over the past few months. EV batteries lack repairability leading some insurers to junk whole cars after even minor collisions. A scratched or slightly damaged electric battery might be enough for some insurers to write off entire cars, as for many electric vehicles there is no way to repair battery packs after collisions. As a result, the consumer — who likely acquired an electric vehicle wanting to reduce monthly costs — faces higher premiums and some countries are starting to see electric vehicle batteries piling up in scrapyards, according to Reuters. Matthew Avery, research director at automotive risk intelligence company Thatcham Research, said the goal of electric vehicles was sustainability, but the inability to be repaired is creating a whole new problem. "We're buying electric cars for sustainability reasons," Avery said, Reuters reported. "But an EV isn't very sustainable if you've got to throw the battery away after a minor collision." EVs are the Yugo of the 21st Century. Way back in the mid-1980s, communist Yugoslavia exported the Yugo, a compact car that sold for around $4,000. It was so poorly made that bumping into a pole at 5 mph could total it. Fast forward to today, and a new class of cars has a similar problem. A minor accident can cause a total loss, even if the car's been driven only a few miles. The only difference is that these cars aren't cheap imports from some godforsaken socialist state. These are state-of-art electric vehicles that come with an average sticker price of $55,000. Why are insurance companies totaling low-mileage EVs that have been in a fender bender? For the same reason you could total a new Yugo when backing out of a parking spot. The cost of repair is exorbitant. Germany Rebels Against EU Ban On Petrol Cars. Germans want to save the climate. They're just reluctant to take the potentially painful steps this would require. A growing backlash over climate-friendly policies is now hitting the German Greens, putting wobbles into the country's three-party ruling coalition. Not only has Germany been causing a ruckus at the EU level in recent weeks by mounting a last-minute blockade to a proposed ban on combustion engines, but the country is also facing a domestic political fight over phasing out gas and oil heating systems, as well as pushing forward the coal exit. [A]ll those disputes are linked to fundamental disagreements between the Greens and their two coalition partners, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Free Democratic Party (FDP), over how the EU's climate-protection targets should be implemented and what consequences and costs this will have for industry and citizens. Holding the right people responsible for the global energy crisis. America's grid is in decline and about to get far worse due to policies that 1) reward unreliable electricity, 2) prematurely shut down coal plants, 3) criminalize nuclear, and 4) force electric vehicle use. The root cause of our grid's reliability problems is simple: America is shutting down too many reliable power plants — plants that can be controlled to produce electricity when needed in the exact quantity needed. And it is attempting to replace them with unreliable solar and wind. [...] At a time when reliable electricity is scarce and about to become far scarcer, the Federal government and certain state governments are trying to force us to use electric vehicles — which would lead to major increases in electricity use at certain times of day. Rivian Electric Truck Owner's 'Honeymoon Phase' Ends When It Gets Stuck in Snow. The owner of a Rivian R1S electric SUV was overjoyed to have his dream electric vehicle after waiting for years. But after owning the car for just days, it got stuck in the snow and immobilized by a safety feature, leading to a $2,100 bill to transport it to a repair facility. Business Insider reports that a recent incident involving an owner of a Rivian R1S has forced the maker of the electric vehicles to examine its customer service more carefully and think about making changes to improve the user experience. The owner of an R1S truck, Chase Merrill, encountered a difficult situation when his electric SUV got stuck in deep snow and a safety feature rendered it immobile. Man Waits 3 Years for Dream EV - Days After Getting It, He's Hit with Brutal News. [Chase] Merrill had driven the R1S to his family's place in the Adirondacks and decided to drive it on an unplowed, snow-covered road to the property. When he hit a snow drift, the R1S proved it was hardly up to the task. "I hit about 2½-feet of snow and it just stopped right there," Merrill told Insider. [...] Anyone who's been in this situation before knows what you do, even if you're just in a Volkswagen Golf. As you're being pulled out, you sit in the driver's seat, rocking the car back and forth, trying to get some traction. Merrill wasn't buckled in at the time, nor did he need to be: He wasn't exactly at risk for a high-speed collision stuck in a snow bank, after all. However, this combination of factors triggered one of the R1S' "safety features" — which bricked it, getting the SUV stuck between the neutral and drive gears, Insider reported. Electric Vehicles Bleeding Red Ink: Ford Is Losing Billions on EVs. Ford Motor Company says its electric vehicle (EV) unit, "Ford Model e," is losing billions of dollars, and should be viewed as a startup company. Model e has lost $3 billion before taxes over the last two years, and is expected to lose another $3 billion this year as the company invests in the new technology, according to a report by Associated Press. In 2021, Ford's Model e unit had pretax losses of $900 million. And in 2022, that number was $2.1 billion. Ford expects $3 billion in losses from electric vehicle business unit this year. Ford Motor Company said Thursday it expects to lose $3 billion from its electric vehicle business unit this year. However, the U.S. automaker said it nevertheless expects to have an 8% return on electric vehicles by 2026. Ford said it was overall able to make slightly more in 2022 than the year before, with before-tax profits of $10.4 billion versus 10 billion. Most of the profit came from the United States, where it earned $9.2 billion compared to $7.4 billion in 2021. The company also earned roughly $400 million in South America, broke even in Europe and lost $600 million in China last year. Man says Tesla burst into flames from the inside 10 minutes after picking it up from body shop. In what could turn out to be an unusual case of caveat emptor, Ali Hasan of Texas found the interior of his Tesla Model 3 electric car in smoking ruins a mere 10 minutes after picking it up from a body shop to repair some exterior damage. A couple of incidents necessitated repairs to the automobile, which lost its rear bumper, wheel covers and sustained underbody damage in deep water in August 2022. In the previous year, the car had been involved in an accident, resulting in some damage to the front end of the vehicle. Strike three for the Tesla seems to have been what happened after it left the body shop. "To my eye, everything looked just fine," Hasan told Carscoops, an online magazine for auto enthusiasts. He continued, "While I was driving down the highway, I noticed smoke coming from the right passenger seat, and it kept getting worse as I drove it half a mile to get it off the highway." The cause of the fire has yet to be determined and Hasan isn't ready to blame the body shop, although he understands the inclination to do so. 1500 Scientists Say 'There Is No Climate Emergency'. [Scroll down] The reality is that the climate changes naturally and slowly in its own cycle, and solar activity is the dominant factor in climate and not CO2. We can conclude that carbon emissions or methane from livestock, such as cows, are not the dominant factors in climate change. In essence, therefore, the incessant UN, government, and corporate-media-produced climate hysteria in relation to carbon emissions and methane from cows has no scientific basis. Please note that I have no commercial interest in stating that climate change is not caused by CO2. In truth I am against 'real' pollution, and the reality is that the CO2 component is not a pollutant. Unfortunately, many misinformed environmentalists are driving around in electric cars, the battery production for which has caused vast amounts of 'real' pollution via the industrial mining and processing of rare earth metals, and the consequent pollution to land, air and water systems. Note that the UN does not focus on the thousands of real pollutants that corporate industrial globalisation creates. Delaware Voters Overwhelmingly Oppose Gas-powered Car Ban. Without legislative action, Delaware state agencies are reviewing banning gasoline-powered cars and trucks, and banning natural gas and propane hookups to new buildings. Both actions are discussed in "Delaware's Climate Action Plan." Regulatory action has already started forcing vehicle manufacturers to stock 35% of electric vehicles (EV) in Delaware in only three years, eventually allowing only EV sales. Drivers will not be able to register a new gasoline or diesel-powered vehicle in Delaware by 2034. A survey conducted by Ragnar Research in February 2023 found that 73% of Delaware voters opposed the gasoline and diesel-powered vehicle ban, with only 18% supporting the ban. Follow-up questions showed 60% strongly opposed while 9% strongly supported the ban. Electric Car Manufacturers Remove AM Radios Claiming Safety Concerns. Some electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers are scrapping the AM radio from their cars, claiming safety concerns. Although conservative talk radio dominates AM radio ratings, it is also considered a critical safety tool, as it is one of the primary ways that federal, state, and local officials communicate with the public during natural disasters and other emergencies. Automakers such as Ford and Tesla have ditched the AM radio from their newer EV models, arguing that the motors on EVs interfere with AM frequencies, creating buzzing and signal fading, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. But former emergency officials are warning that scrapping the AM radio would mean EV drivers could miss important safety alerts. The Editor says... AM radio in Electric Vehicles. I have been reading with interest the ongoing discussion about AM radios in Electric Vehicles. Rather than rehash the what, I thought it would be nice to dig into why it is happening. My first thought is that many of the electronics use PDM or PWM to control various stages of charging, converting, or discharging the storage system. [A] quick review of a typical EV basic diagram shows that there are several systems involved[.] Searching through various chip makers' data sheets on Li-ion battery chargers, DC voltage to voltage converters, regenerative braking systems, traction motor inverters, and so on shows that all of those systems use PWM. Some of those PWM frequencies are right in the AM band, while others are not. That explains why different manufacturers have different takes on AM radios in EVs. One thought on "AM radio in Electric Vehicles". I am firmly of the belief that this issue has nothing to do with interference. Instead, it has everything to do with auto OEM's decision some 10 or 15 (maybe 20) years ago that the entertainment center of a car's dashboard was valuable real estate, and that anyone who wanted to be on it had to pay up. Satellite radio was the beginning of this, where automakers wouldn't put the then-separate companies of Sirius and XM Radio's receivers into their dashboard unless the company paid them for it. Not long after, a similar dynamic came to pass with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. From the get-go, automakers have loathed the "free ride" that AM/FM have gotten into this valuable "real estate". The Editor says... Delaware Voters Overwhelmingly Oppose Gas-powered Car Ban. Without legislative action, Delaware state agencies are reviewing banning gasoline-powered cars and trucks, and banning natural gas and propane hookups to new buildings. Both actions are discussed in "Delaware's Climate Action Plan." Regulatory action has already started forcing vehicle manufacturers to stock 35% of electric vehicles (EV) in Delaware in only three years, eventually allowing only EV sales. Drivers will not be able to register a new gasoline or diesel-powered vehicle in Delaware by 2034. A survey conducted by Ragnar Research in February 2023 found that 73% of Delaware voters opposed the gasoline and diesel-powered vehicle ban, with only 18% supporting the ban. Follow-up questions showed 60% strongly opposed while 9% strongly supported the ban. After a Botched EV Push, General Motors Is in Deep Trouble. General Motors vowed to surpass Tesla as the number one EV maker in the U.S., and its plans look rock solid on paper. In reality, the carmaker is struggling to produce the GMC Hummer EV and Cadillac Lyriq, its Ultium-based EVs, in significant numbers. To make matters worse, GM has announced a voluntary separation program to trim its workforce. I once believed that GM had everything needed for a successful EV program. The Detroit carmaker invested billions in overhauling its factories and building new ones. Its EV plans looked rock solid, with more than a dozen EV models planned, some in the mass-market segments. GM even started partnerships with battery makers and raw material suppliers to ensure it has everything in place for a successful execution of its EV plan. Bertarelli-backed Volta Trucks seeks $264 million in pre-IPO round, says CEO. Volta Trucks, the electric-truck maker backed by billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli, is in advanced discussions to raise as much as 250 million euros ($263.58 million), its CEO told Reuters. The Swedish start-up, whose clients include DB Schenker and Petit Forestier, is working with advisers at Perella Weinberg Partners to secure the funds, in what it hopes will be its last equity raise before an initial public offering (IPO) as soon as next year, Chief Executive Essa Al-Saleh said. Talks involve corporate investors and large asset managers, Al-Saleh said, adding that existing shareholders may also take part in the funding round. Electric Vehicle Startups Running Out Of Juice As Demand Lags, Production Stalls. Electric vehicle startups are increasingly strapped for cash and have little margin for error to ramp up production this year before their reserves are depleted, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. Startups across the sector are facing significant shortfalls as they begin to ramp up production, the WSJ reported. Although electric vehicle sales surged in 2022, startups generally underperformed compared to traditional automakers last year. Californian startup Rivian Automotive — which saw significant executive turnover in 2022 — was valued at roughly $12 billion when it went public in 2021, but spent about $6.6 billion in 2022, the WSJ reported. Despite plans to spend a further $6 billion in 2023, the company is forecasted to miss Wall Street's production estimates and its stock has plummeted 80% from its price at its initial public offering. This is not entirely off-topic: Here's the dirty, rotten truth about EVs. EVs aren't "zero emissions" vehicles. All an EV does is shift the emissions elsewhere — namely, over to gigantic monopoly power companies that burn natural gas, coal, garbage or, horror of horrors, employ nuclear fission. Plus, making electric cars releases far more CO2 than is emitted in the production of conventional cars. EV enthusiasts say these aren't problems because over its lifetime, an EV will produce fewer total CO2 emissions. But that claim depends on a wide range of variables — such as the range of an EV, how long the batteries last, the energy source used to produce electricity, etc. — that can dramatically affect the EV's carbon-cutting picture. One study by the University of Michigan found that EVs can emit more CO2 than conventional cars. It said that depending on the fuel used by power plants in a given area, an EV can produce as much CO2 as a gas-powered car that gets just 29 miles per gallon. EVs aren't cheaper to operate. Another selling point of EVs is supposed to be that, while they are far more expensive to buy, they are cheaper to drive. But that depends entirely on the relative cost of electricity and gasoline. The Electric Vehicle-Blackout Connection. [Scroll down] What we have arriving, too soon no matter when, is a convergence of an expansion of EVs with what amounts to a powering down of electricity production due to that "mismatch" of resource retirements. EVs are of course must-haves in California, and we don't mean that in a consumer-demand sort of way. The peacock governor, with the support of the unelected members of the state Air Resources Board, has dictated that all new cars and light trucks sold in California starting in 2035 must be zero-emissions vehicles, or ZEVs, (which don't exist). That's about 12.5 million battery-operated automobiles sucking power from the grid, 15 times more than there are today. A year later, all sales of new medium- and heavy-duty trucks will have to be ZEVs, too, which narrows the options down to plug-in EVs and essentially nothing else. While California roads are filling up with EVs, the state is transitioning to a fully emissions-free grid by 2045. And, no, that won't include nuclear power, unless the politics of California change quickly. Consumers will have to get along with electricity that is powered by the sun and wind ... and not much else. US Postal Service to purchase EVs from Ford after automaker signs deal with Chinese battery firm. The United States Postal Service announced Tuesday that to fulfill its "urgent need" for delivery vans, it plans to purchase thousands of electric vehicles from Ford, weeks after the automobile manufacturer agreed to a multibillion-dollar partnership with a Chinese battery maker. In December 2022, the USPS and senior White House officials introduced a plan to acquire at least 66,000 electric delivery vehicles by 2028 to replace the mail company's "aging delivery fleet of over 220,000 vehicles." After a "competitive search," the USPS locked down a contract this week to purchase 9,250 Ford E-Transit Battery Electric Vehicles, which it anticipates will be delivered in December 2023. According to the recent announcement, the vans are "domestically sourced" and manufactured in Kansas City, Missouri. Approximately $3 billion in Inflation Reduction Act funds will be used to cover the $9.6 billion vehicle investment. Electric vehicle drivers get candid about charging: 'Logistical nightmare'. YouTube personality Steve Hammes leased a Hyundai Kona Electric sport utility vehicle for his 17-year-old daughter Maddie for three reasons: it was affordable, practical and allowed Maddie to put her cash toward college, not fuel. Now, the upstate New York resident has a dilemma many EV owners can relate to: finding available charging stations far away from home. "We're going through the planning process of how easily Maddie can get from Albany to Gettysburg [College] and where she can charge the car," Hammes told ABC News. "It makes me a little nervous. We want fast chargers that take 30 to 40 minutes — it would not make sense to sit at a Level 2 charger for hours. There isn't a good software tool that helps EV owners plan their trips." The False Promise of Electric Cars. In January last year, Carlos Tavares, the CEO of Stellantis, the world's fifth-largest carmaker (it was formed by the merger of Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot), described electrification as "a technology chosen by politicians" and said it was "imposed" on the auto sector. By contrast, the triumph of the internal-combustion engine (ICE) over a century ago was organic. [...] Bans on the sales of new ICE vehicles will be coming into force from 2035 in Europe and, with California having taken the lead, in parts of the United States. Europe's ban will also cover hybrids, one of the better, less disruptive pathways to lower greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions. But like many of the religious cults it resembles, climate fundamentalism is characterized by a perpetual quest for purity. Tainted by gasoline, the hybrid had to go. Japan is taking a different course. Its hybrids have done well, and their manufacturers argue that their technology has more to offer. Like, for instance, the chairman of India's largest automaker, the Japanese tend to be skeptical that there is only one route to a more climate-friendly automotive future. Toyota, for example, sells a hydrogen-fuel-cell car. Where's the electricity?
Today, the huge dark cloud over EV projected sales is the availability of electricity to charge
batteries which leads us to the quote for the foreseeable future. Where's the
electricity? The Elephant in the EV sales room that no one wants to talk about is the limited
amount of electricity available to charge the EV batteries. [...] Today, even with less than one
percent of the vehicles on the roads being EVs, there is a limited amount of electricity:
Using Electric Vehicles as Grid Storage: Another Green Fantasy. The push for electrification of the entire economy — electric cars and trucks, electric heat and hot water, and even electric stoves — is relentless. [...] Greens envision most of that electricity will come from wind and solar power, along with hydrogen-burning generators that don't yet exist and battery storage to meet the demand for power when the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine. Recognizing that building enough battery storage facilities will be prohibitively expensive, a new push has developed: using electric vehicles as a source of back-up power storage to meet electricity demand. It's called "vehicle-to-grid" (V2G) technology and means using the millions of electric vehicles that consumers and businesses will be forced to buy to supply electricity to the grid when wind and solar do not. Proponents claim it will make the electric grid stronger and more reliable, and provide a quick path to the "net-zero" future that supposedly will save the planet. But like other green energy fantasies, the math doesn't add up. What's behind the push for electric vehicles? Several studies have shown that when factoring in the production process and electricity generation needed to charge the batteries, EV conversion can be more damaging to the environment that gas vehicles. [For example,] Rare Earth Mineral Mining Problems — The mining of rare earth minerals such as lithium and cobalt for EV batteries causes a great deal of environmental damage. Much of this is done in foreign counties that don't have good environmental oversight. Furthermore, to meet the international goal of two billion EVs by 2050 would require triple the amount of annual lithium currently mined for all purposes. Disposal of spent batteries can have toxic environmental effects and mitigation of this issue hasn't been thought through or planned. Given that some U.S. states are mandating that new gas vehicles be completely phased out, how is the supply of lithium and other minerals going to keep up? California has already passed a mandate that new gas vehicles cannot be sold after 2035 with states such as Washington, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, and Vermont expected to do the same. Finally, the mining of lithium and other needed elements for EV batteries is creating a humanitarian crisis, with documented evidence of significant child slave labor involved with this mining. Electric Vehicles Are Not the Future. The mania for electric vehicles is a fad that is driven 100% by government regulation. The consumer verdict on EVs has been in for a century. Some of the earliest cars were battery-powered, but they lost out to gasoline-powered cars because gasoline-powered vehicles are better. Those who have been paying attention understand that there is zero chance that our existing motor vehicle fleet will be converted to EVs. Mark Tapscott sums up some of the reasons. I want to focus on just one of his points, the fact that the lithium batteries needed to replace our current vehicle fleet would require ridiculous amounts of mining of minerals, particularly lithium, the price of which is already sky-high. How do liberals intend to accomplish this unprecedented global mining project? Answer: they don't. Are Electric Vehicles About To Sweep The Country? It seems like all the smart people have made up their minds that the future of automobiles belongs to electric vehicles. In August 2022, California, by regulation, adopted a ban on gasoline-powered cars by 2035; and in September 2022, New York promptly followed with its own ban, also by regulation, and also set for 2035. And at the federal level, in 2021 the Biden Administration ordered that all agencies move toward 100% procurement of electric vehicles, also by 2035. Meanwhile, by means of a thicket of regulations — from vehicle mileage standards to pollution caps and more — the administration overtly seeks to force manufacturers to convert their lineups to EVs as fast as possible. So, are electric vehicles about to sweep the country and become the dominant form of transportation? I bet against it. This is just a specific instance of the general principle that it is always wise to bet against central planning of the economy. EVs may be a successful niche product for a small number of wealthy consumers, but the idea that they will fully replace gasoline powered cars in short order is the dream of central planners, who think they can implement their dream by coercion. Three Huge Reasons Why Electric Vehicles Will Never Dominate American Roads. The campaign by the Western elite in the U.S. and Europe to force everybody else to stop driving cars and trucks powered by fossil-fueled internal combustion engines and adopt EVs instead is a product of the elite's policy choices, not ours. No matter that hundreds of millions of Americans own and depend upon their cars and trucks to earn their livings, go where they can purchase the basic necessities of life, and visit any place they choose to go to in this vast land. President Biden has made a regulatory policy decision that half of all vehicles sold in America will be EVs by 2030. He is spending billions of tax dollars to install half a million EV charging stations around the country to serve the anticipated explosion in demand for electric "refills." And federal tax credits are available to help obscure the fact that EVs remain extremely costly for consumers and offer unproven maintenance and reliability records. New Age Idols. Call it whatever you like, but the United States today is in the grip of several manifestations of a kind of idol worship. [...] Another manifestation of the failure to heed facts and common sense is the slavish devotion to electric vehicles (EVs) as a remedy to climate change, which we have previously discussed. The data show clearly that EVs' net lifecycle benefits with respect to emissions are very small, but the infrastructure costs — electric grid updates, urban and highway charging capability, generating capacity — are measured in the multi-trillions of dollars, even if purchase subsidies are ignored. Add to those the mineral supply constraints for batteries, the everyday challenges — you can't walk to the fuel stop and get a can of electrons — and the industry and employment disruptions, and what results is the biggest boondoggle-in-progress in human history. The Greens Aren't Just Coming for Your Gas-Powered Car — They're Coming for All Cars. Late last month, Joe Biden was mocked for posting a photo of himself in an electric vehicle (a GMC Hummer) that costs $110,000 and up. And for touting a $7,500 federal tax credit that doesn't apply to vehicles that cost over $80,000. In other words, the 46th president was ripped for confirming the stereotype that electric cars are a vanity passion for rich green liberals. But what was less noticed, at least by the right, was that left-wing greens didn't like Biden's photo-op, either. You see, Middle Class Joe insists that he wants to replace internal-combustion vehicles with electric vehicles (EV), but the hardcore greens — including those within his own administration — want to get rid of cars, period. Couple Attempts Road Trip in Electric Car, Ends Up Needing to Recharge Twelve Times. A 1500-mile road trip took four days and caused 'range anxiety' — which I guess is a thing now — for a couple who attempted to do a basic car thing with an electric vehicle. I think this joint from Axios was supposed to be pro-EV, as it's meant to illustrate how road trips with an electric vehicle are perfectly, quote, "doable." Contrary to a number of reports that EV struggle to perform basic car and truck functions as opposed to their more reliable gas-powered counterparts. Three things stood out that, in an attempt to sell people on taking a road trip in your EV, make it sound like a miserable experience. The first is having to drive in the freezing cold because having your heat on might drain your battery faster: "A Kia engineer told us that the cold would put extra stress on the battery, draining it faster than normal. So I used only the heated steering wheel and heated seats while driving — no cabin heat." The Editor says... Will our sudden appetite for electric-powered everything cause a trash crisis? I have designed many innovative and successful products over my long engineering career, so when I started my own manufacturing company 25 years ago, it was with the premise that all products carry a lifetime warranty, no questions asked. This forced me to think about longevity in design. [...] Now let's apply this observation to electric vehicles. The price tag to replace batteries on most real-world experience is five digits. This is typically far more than the value of the vehicle at 100,000 miles, so it is usually no longer economically feasible to replace. [Another website] works hard to claim it's no big deal, that batteries will cost less in future years, and that aftermarket competition will drive price down, but it also admits they're only good for eight years or 100,000 miles. Carfax as well as other sites claim the average vehicle depreciation rate is about 20% in the first year, and 15% per year after that, so let's do the math; A Chevy Bolt costs that costs around $28,000 new will be worth about $7,200 in 8 years, $5,200 in 10 years. The cost to replace the battery? $16,000. People should be lining up for that deal, right? Therefore, the useful life of an EV? Pushing it... maybe 10 years. Then it's scrap. Illinois bills seek to require EV charging stations in new and renovated homes. Two proposed legislation in Illinois seek to require new and renovated homes to have electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, a change that could make new houses more costly. House Bill 2206 states that the Capital Development Board shall adopt rules requiring each newly constructed residential building in the state that includes a garage "to have enough electric generating capacity in the garage to charge an electric vehicle." Senate Bill 0040, on the other hand, requires new single-family residences or small multifamily residences to have at least one electric vehicle capable parking space for each residential unit that has dedicated parking, unless any subsequently adopted building code requires additional electric vehicle capable parking spaces or installed electric vehicle supply equipment. By Forcing Americans Into Electric Vehicles, Leftists Ensure Road Trips' Demise. As leftists push Americans to make the cumbersome and extremely expensive switch to electric vehicles, they forget that Americans already can go wherever they want, whenever they want, thanks to gas-powered cars. Why would they give that up and pay more in the process? An Axios article titled "Electric car road trips are perfectly doable — if you plan ahead" is a prime example of leftist tone-deafness. To get more Americans to go electric, an Axios journalist went on a road trip to show readers how, erm, easy it is to embark on the great American road trip with an EV. Yet, the globetrotter admits, the trip was "not without its challenges." This includes dealing with "glitchy charging equipment touchscreens, billing questions and inoperable plugs" as well as "juggling route-planning apps and billing accounts with various charging companies." Not to mention having to wait roughly an hour each time your EV has to charge, depending on the quality of the charger. For seasoned road-trippers, for whom time is of the essence, this is an immediate turnoff. For some electric vehicle owners, recharging now more costly than filling up. Here's how much electricity prices have surged in parts of New England this winter: For some drivers of electric vehicles and hybrid cars, it's now more expensive to charge up than to fill up. Power rates across the region have jumped an average of 30% since last summer, while gasoline prices have receded well below their peak in June of 2022. Web engineer Matt Cain, who lives in Amherst, Massachusetts, said he ran a price comparison when his electricity bill shot up in January and found that his overall costs for utilities had climbed a whopping 50%. "We have a Prius Prime that we normally drive around town, and we drive most of it on electricity. It's now 50% more expensive than fueling it with gas," he told CBS MoneyWatch. Here's What Will Fund Electric Vehicle Charging Stations You Won't Use. Charging at home is a favored feature of electric vehicles (EVs). But public charging stations are needed for long trips and to maximize market penetration of EVs. However, it's unlikely that charging fees can cover the capital and operating costs of public chargers or make money for investors. According to Kelly Blue Book, Americans purchased more than 800,000 new electric cars last year, or about 5.8 percent of all new cars sold. EV sales grew by 65 percent over 2022. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 extended and expanded tax credits for EV purchases and for residential and commercial charging stations. Some predict that electric vehicles will become more than half of the vehicles on the road by 2050. Last week, Travel Centers of America, or TA, announced that it would open 1,000 EV charging stations in 200 locations over the next five years. TA's announcement follows similar announcements from convenience store chains Pilot and Love's. These new chargers will add to the more than 160,000 currently in operation in the US. Outlawing Diesel Trucks Makes No 'Green' Sense. A serious question that should precede such a major decision is, does it make sense to deploy electrically powered trucks on a large scale over diesels, especially for long-haul use? Assuming the consequent increase in electric power demands are met and recharging infrastructure is built — hardly a small feat — there are still a number of other factors to consider, such as recharge time, range (on a full charge), economics (including battery replacement and cargo displacement due to battery size and weight), energy efficiency, and environmental impact. Proponents of electric vehicles concede that impact is sensitive to the way in which electricity is generated. Big diesel trucks can carry 300-gallon fuel tanks and have an average range of over 2,100 miles. Refilling a diesel tank takes relatively little time compared to battery charging, which is prohibitively slow with standard electric charging. A fundamental problem with battery charging is the state of charge approaches full charge inverse exponentially. That means the battery achieves a partial charge quickly, but charging decreases proportionally to the state of charge, and a full charge can take many hours. As a result, high-power fast direct current charging (DCFC) has been developed to mitigate the delay, but it is expensive and still not widely available. 5 Reasons Biden's Electric Vehicles Are A Boondoggle. The process to manufacture electric vehicles is so environmentally toxic between the mining and assembly that it takes years of driving before emissions are reduced, according to a deep dive by RealClear Investigations in October. "The electric car's biggest disadvantage on greenhouse gas emissions is the production of an EV battery, which requires energy-intensive mining and processing, and generates twice as much carbon emissions as the manufacture of an internal combustion engine," RealClear reported. "This means that the EV starts off with a bigger carbon footprint than a gasoline-powered car when it rolls off the assembly line and takes time to catch up to a gasoline-powered car." Even then, the American power grid used to charge the car still relies primarily on fossil fuels. In other words, the car runs on coal. [...] When California was faced with a record-breaking heat wave last summer, state regulators begged residents not to charge their cars to avoid breaking the power grid. The request came days after policymakers moved to ban gas-powered cars over the following 13 years. If residents can still charge their vehicles produced by China, they had better hope their batteries last. Replacing an electric car battery can cost between $4,000 and $20,000. The weight of the batteries, meanwhile, wears out the tires 20 percent faster than gas-powered alternatives. Study shows electric vehicles are a scam propped up by government. With the exception of the COVID shots, there is perhaps nothing in the economy that has gotten more tailwind in terms of government support than electric vehicles. Whether it's the subsidies, the mandates, the inflation of the cost of gasoline, or the construction of cumbersome electric charging infrastructure, the government has done everything it can to turn a product that is inherently costly and impractical into something accessible to the public. Yet despite it all, a new study shows fueling these cars is more expensive than most gas-powered cars, even with record high gasoline prices, which were induced by policies from the same green energy. Now is the time to end all subsidies and mandates on behalf of this pathetic industry. How 'modern-day slavery' in the Congo powers the rechargeable battery economy. Smartphones, computers and electric vehicles may be emblems of the modern world, but, says Siddharth Kara, their rechargeable batteries are frequently powered by cobalt mined by workers laboring in slave-like conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Kara, a fellow at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health and at the Kennedy School, has been researching modern-day slavery, human trafficking and child labor for two decades. He says that although the DRC has more cobalt reserves than the rest of the planet combined, there's no such thing as a "clean" supply chain of cobalt from the country. In his new book, Cobalt Red, Kara writes that much of the DRC's cobalt is being extracted by so-called "artisanal" miners — freelance workers who do extremely dangerous labor for the equivalent of just a few dollars a day. Good luck qualifying for that tax break Joe Biden is touting on that EV he wants you to buy. Just yesterday, Joe Biden's official Twitter account posted that the great American road trip is going to be fully electrified and that citizens can receive a tax credit of up to $7,500 for a new electric vehicle (EV). Along with the message was a photo of Biden driving a GMC Hummer EV. [...] We dig deeper. Does Biden's Hummer EV qualify for the scheme? The $7,500 credit scheme is applicable to new vans, sport utility vehicles, and pickup trucks that cost $80,000 or less. The GMC Hummer EV costs between $87,000 and $110,000, hence doesn't qualify for the credits. [...] The average cost of an EV is roughly $66,000, which means few vehicles qualify for the scheme. Some vehicles listed on the IRS website as potentially eligible for credit actually fail to qualify because they are expensive. Another problem is that there isn't an explicit definition regarding which vehicle is subject to that $55,000 cap and which vehicle is subject to a $80,000 cap. The IRS states the categories are based on the criteria for fuel economy for gas-powered vehicles standards, but these classifications seem arbitrary and confusing. There were other problems with the information on the IRS website. The plug-in hybrid Ford Escape was listed as having an $80,000 price cap for more than a week before the cap was changed to $55,000. The Treasury Department claims the original price cap was a typo. You would have hoped the content on the website was reviewed before publishing. E-bikes spark garage fire, cause $250,000 damage in Vail. Firefighters in Vail rushed to put out a garage fire on Juniper Lane early Saturday morning after the homeowner called to report an odor of burning electrical equipment. When crews arrived, smoke was coming from the garage door. Once inside, they discovered the fire coming from the corner where two e-bikes were located. The fire was under control in 10 minutes. Damage is estimated at $250,000 which includes damage to the garage, the vehicles parked inside and the e-bikes. California's plan to power EVs has one glaring shortcoming. You may have already heard about California Governor Gavin Newsom's announcement last year that his state will ban the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035. Restrictions on how many non-electric vehicles can be sold will begin in just three years. This is making all of the climate alarmists very happy, of course, but there is a significantly large fly in the ointment of this plan. In order to charge up roughly 12.5 million EVs on a daily basis, the state will need to have a lot of electricity available on the power grid. But nobody seems to have run through all of the numbers with the Governor. Some people who actually did the math work with the Institute for Energy Research, and they have some bad news for Governor Newsom. The state's plan is based on "a myriad of assumptions" about its electrical grid, and a lot of those assumptions are simply unrealistic in a very big way. Biden: The 'Great American Road Trip Is Going to Be Fully Electrified'. President Joe Biden on Monday promoted electric vehicles again as part of his administration's push for green energy, smiling gleefully in an EV with a mask hanging underneath his chin. "On my watch, the great American road trip is going to be fully electrified. And now, through a tax credit, you can get up to $7,500 on a new electric vehicle," Biden said alongside an accompanying image, showing the president smiling in a Hummer EV. The image shows Biden with a mask under his chin and an individual in the passenger seat who remained masked up. The Editor says... The Congolese mines where kids are paid $2-a-day to dig for cobalt. For years, big tech companies like Apple and Tesla have assured the customers of their glossy stores and showrooms that all their goods are ethically sourced and sold. But a new series of images taken from inside mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where 90 percent of the world's cobalt is mined and used to make the batteries that power our tech-led lives, raise uncomfortable questions. Cobalt is the chemical element found in almost every tech gadget that uses a lithium-powered battery on the market today - a smartphone, tablet or laptop requires a few grams of it, while an electric vehicle requires 10kg. California Firefighters Use 6,000 Gallons of Water to Put Out Tesla Fire on Highway 50. A Tesla Model S burst into flames on Saturday afternoon in California while driving on Highway 50, causing two eastbound lanes to close, officials said. The electric vehicle was traveling at "freeway speeds" when its battery compartment "spontaneously" caught fire, the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District said on Twitter. The incident happened around 3:41 p.m. Firefighters called in two fire engines, a water tender, and a ladder truck, and used approximately 6,000 gallons of water to extinguish the blaze as the battery cells "continued to combust," fire officials said. They also used car jacks to lift the vehicle in order to put out the fire underneath it. Electric cars: Square peg, round hole. The big story of 2023 just might be the clash between the global elites who have imposed electric vehicle mandates and the worldwide "irredeemable deplorables" for whom an electric vehicle is not on their shopping list. The federal government, many state governments, and much of the automobile industry — and their counterparts worldwide — have decreed that the world abandon the internal combustion engine in favor of the (often-coal-fired) electric vehicle. Mandates for banning new sales of conventional vehicles are as plentiful as schemes to disallow further production of "evil" fossil fuels that brought a total transformation of the world economy in little more than a century. Moreover, most automakers have pledged to end production of conventional vehicles within the next few years. While sales of EVs "boomed" last year, the 6 million EVs still comprise less than half a percent of the world's 1.4 billion vehicles. It's Now Cheaper to Drive 100 Miles in a Gas-Powered Car Than in an EV. The Biden administration is always telling us that the best thing we can do is buy an electric vehicle. In fact, various members of the administration treat it almost flippantly — it's a no-brainer that you should buy an expensive electric car or two. Doing so will rescue the planet from certain environmental collapse and will save you loads of money, even though the average cost of an electric vehicle was $66,000 as of August of last year. Plenty of people are falling for it, and it's easy to see why. The siren song of the tax credit is hard to ignore, and the idea of not having to contend with rising prices at the gas pump is attractive. But is it all true? Electric Vehicles Are an Ideologically Driven Economic Misadventure. As more motorists own electric vehicles (EVs) and experience problems operating them, evidence shows that the movement to abandon gas-powered vehicles is ideologically motivated and unsupported by rational economic calculation. In January 2023, four Wyoming state senators and two representatives introduced Senate Joint Resolution No. SJ004 to ban the sale of EVs in Wyoming by 2035. The proposed legislation stressed that "Wyoming's vast stretches of highway, coupled with a lack of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, make the widespread use of electric vehicles impracticable for the state." The proposed legislation also noted that "the batteries used in electric vehicles contain critical minerals whose domestic supply is limited and at risk of disruption." Moreover, the Senate Joint Resolution explained that "the critical minerals used in electric batteries are not easily recyclable or disposable, meaning that landfills in Wyoming and elsewhere will be required to develop practices to dispose of these minerals in a safe and responsible manner." Finally, the legislation was premised on the reality that "the expansion of electric vehicle charging stations in Wyoming and throughout the country necessary to support more electric vehicles will require massive amounts of new power generation to sustain the misadventure of electric vehicles." Nolte: Brits Pay More to Charge Electric Car than to Gas Up. Per mile traveled, our British friends are now paying more to charge their electric cars than to gas them up. [Tweets and stuff] So, according to this hilarious story, "Topping up the e-Corsa's charge by 80pc on a slow charger at peak times results in a cost of 16.18p per mile." But. The "costs (of a petrol Corsa) at around 14.45 pence per mile[.]" Question: What's left to feel smug about after it costs more to drive your electric car than a car-car? Enthusiasm Fading for Electric Vehicles. The recent announcement that electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Tesla has cut its prices by between six and 20 percent just to maintain its production goals and market share is the latest manifestation of the fading enthusiasm for electric vehicles. In essence, the result of government meddling in the private market is now showing up in such moves. In 2021, for example, auto executives were "very optimistic" about EVs, expecting them to capture as much as 70 percent of the total automotive market by 2030. A year later that optimism had subsided considerably, with those same executives cutting their expectations to 40 percent. The latest report from international accounting firm KPMG reveals that car dealers expect EVs to capture just over 20 percent of the total automotive market by 2030. You're better off walking than relying on useless, unreliable vehicles and chargers that never work. As I watch my family strike out on foot across the fields into driving rain and gathering darkness, my wife holding each child's hand, our new year plans in ruins, while I do what I can to make our dead car safe before abandoning it a mile short of home, full of luggage on a country lane, it occurs to me not for the first time that if we are going to save the planet we will have to find another way. Because electric cars are not the answer. Yes, it's the Jaguar again. My doomed bloody £65,000 iPace that has done nothing but fail at everything it was supposed to do for more than two years now, completely dead this time, its lifeless corpse blocking the single-track road. I can't even roll it to a safer spot because it can't be put in neutral. For when an electric car dies, it dies hard. 14 absurdities on full public display. [#7] The world now agrees with me that electric cars are as useless as they were when they were first introduced over 100 years ago. No one with functioning brain tissue would buy an electric car except as an expensive joke. Despite all the propaganda, lies and tax breaks they are more expensive to buy and run than diesel and petrol cars. They're useless if you need to travel more than a few miles from your home. The idea that we'll have electric lorries and electric aeroplanes is laughable. Fire hazard: Ferry company bans electric cars. The listed Norwegian shipping company Havila has banned electric, hybrid and hydrogen cars from its ferries. After a risk analysis, it was concluded that the risk to the safety of the shipping fleet was too great. If a car catches fire, the fire [cannot] be extinguished. The shipping company travels the so-called mail ship route along the coast of northern Norway. The tours are important for Scandinavian passenger and cargo traffic and are also very popular with holidaymakers. The risks for ships from the transport of electric cars have been discussed since the Felicity Ace sank off the Azores last February. E-vehicles on board had caught fire and the blaze could not be extinguished. Finally, the huge ship sank with thousands of electric cars and vehicles [including] Porsches and Bentleys. The Case for Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles. All-electric battery vehicles (BEVs) have become all the rage, particularly with the political class, who see them as a magical means to combat climate change. [...] In the policy push toward BEVs, little consideration has been given to the benefits of an attractive alternative: hybrid vehicles, which also deliver significantly lower CO2 emissions relative to conventional gasoline-powered vehicles. Hybrid vehicles come in two forms: hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), such as the well-known Toyota Prius, and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs), such as the Toyota Prius Prime. In decreasing order of CO2 emissions, HEVs have lower emissions than conventional gasoline vehicles, PHEVs have lower emissions than HEVs, and finally, BEVs have zero emissions from the vehicle itself. BEVs, however, have a high emissions footprint in the manufacturing process prior to delivery of the vehicle, and then afterward in the production of electricity to charge the vehicle (called "well-to-wheel emissions"). So BEVs are not, as often touted, "zero-emissions" vehicles. They produce, instead, what is called a CO2 equivalent. Man drives electric Volvo 350 miles to see REAL cost and 'numbers just didn't add up'. The development and demand for electric cars has been growing, but there's still an ongoing debate about just how worthwhile the more environmentally-friendly vehicles are. In an effort to find out how easy they are to drive and how the cost compares to petrol or diesel cars, Steven Smith set out on a real-world experiment to put one of the vehicles to the test. [...] Steven set off for his journey with the Volvo 100% charged, which cost approximately £20 to charge at his home — although it's not actually recommended to charge the car to 100% in order to prolong its battery life. The Volvo has an on-paper range of 273 miles, but Steven quickly discovered that this didn't seem to be the case as he only had 180 miles showing for the actual range when he set off with a full battery. After driving for an hour and 40 minutes, Steven made his first charging stop at Taunton Dean services on the M5, where he arrived with 25% battery and 45 miles remaining. He waited for 40 minutes for the battery to charge to 60%, costing £19.62 for another 55 miles. [...] With a full charge at home, a fast top-up at services, a slow top-up in Bristol and a super-fast top-up on the way back, the entire [350-mile] journey cost Steven £88.07 [$109.19]. The Editor says... Man plugs in electric truck, learns it will take a week to charge. A man plugged in his electric vehicle at home and learned that recharging it would not be a timely venture. YouTuber TFLEV shared that on Sunday, while at home, he plugged in his brand-new electric Hummer truck, which has a 250 kwh battery, only to find that it would take several days for him to get a complete charge. "Time to complete charge, Friday at 8:30 a.m.," the YouTuber said. "And range increase is 1 mph." The Editor says... Wyoming looks to ban sale of new EVs. I will admit that when this headline popped up in my feed, I immediately thought it was satire from the Babylon Bee or something similar. "Wyoming is set to BAN sales of new electric vehicles by 2035 to 'ensure the stability' of its oil and gas industry." But given the number of blue states that have already mandated the use of electric vehicles and banned the sale of gas-powered cars and trucks by 2035 (or sooner), it was probably inevitable that a red state would decide to turn the tables. Nobody expects this to actually happen and one of the Republicans in the state legislature who is supporting the resolution described it as "entirely symbolic" and even "tongue in cheek." But they have a point to make and this is how they're choosing to do it. Women Expect: To Have Gas Stoves. Women like their gas stoves — even Dr. Jill Biden — and they all think it is ridiculous to ban them. But who knew, two weeks ago? Okay. So the green transition stubbed a toe on the gas stoves issue. Trouble is that when it comes to "EVs," another vital step in the green transition, women are all in. They tell you proudly of their "EVs" and how they are up on the jargon, such as being "iced" at a charging station by a MAGA F-350 truck occupying the charging space. But women should be terrified by "EVs." Suppose a nice liberal lady goes to the Seattle Symphony in her "EV" and it's a really cold night and she has to stop at a charging station on the way home in a supermarket parking lot at 11:00 p.m. and there are drug dealers about? Of course, there are three charging stations in the basement of Symphony Hall, but good luck getting ahead of the Gold Membership patrons — or matrons, as the case may be. But, ladies, what happens in ten years when there are 50 charging stations in the basement of Symphony Hall and one of the "EVs" has a battery fire — in a basement parking garage full of EVs with nice explodable lithium batteries? The Coming Future Of Electric Vehicles: Something Here Does Not Add Up. I'm carving myself out a niche as the guy who does a few simple calculations to check if the grand schemes of our central planners make any sense. So far I've taken that approach to the question of energy storage to back up a wind/solar electricity grid, and on that one the schemes of the central planners most definitely do not add up. But the energy storage question, although involving no math beyond basic arithmetic, does have some complexities. How about something somewhat simpler, like: If we convert our entire automobile fleet to all-electric cars, where is the electricity going to come from? With the big push currently on to get rid of internal combustion vehicles and replace them with electrics, surely someone has done the calculations to be sure that the electricity supply will be ample. Actually, that does not appear to be the case. Once again, the central planners have no idea what they are doing. British parking association: weight of electric cars causes collapse of parking garages. Electric cars do not have a heavy gasoline or diesel engine "under the hood," but a compact, lightweight electric motor. But because of a hefty battery pack, EVs are often bulky. An electric car sometimes weighs as much as 500 pounds more than a similar model with a traditional powertrain. This can create dangerous situations, according to the British Parking Association. South Korea fines Tesla $2.2 mln for exaggerating driving range of EVs. South Korea's antitrust regulator said it would impose a 2.85 billion won ($2.2 million) fine on Tesla Inc for failing to tell its customers about the shorter driving range of its electric vehicles (EVs) in low temperatures. The Korea Fair Trade Commission said that Tesla had exaggerated the "driving ranges of its cars on a single charge, their fuel cost-effectiveness compared to gasoline vehicles as well as the performance of its Superchargers" on its official local website since August 2019 until recently. Tesla Mobile Supercharger Burns Down On New Year's Day. Tesla owners charging their vehicles on New Year's Day at a Supercharger station in Baker, California witnessed a mobile Supercharger burn to the ground. There's no word on what started the fire, but Electrek has reached out to the local fire department and is waiting for a response. These mobile Supercharging stations are comprised of a mega pack on the back of a trailer with multiple Supercharging outlets attached. Tesla often employs them at particularly busy Supercharger locations during the holidays in order to ease congestion and reduce waiting times. We will destroy the earth
in the name of "Green Energy". [Threat reader] MiningWatch Canada is estimating that "[Three] billion
tons of mined metals and minerals will be needed to power the energy transition" — a "massive" increase
especially for six critical minerals: lithium, graphite, copper, cobalt, nickel and rare earth minerals[.] [...] Mining
requires the extraction of solid ores, often after removing vast amounts of overlying rock. Then the ore must be
processed, creating an enormous quantity of waste — about 100 billion tonnes a year, more than any other
human-made waste stream. Purifying a single tonne of rare earths requires using at least 200 cubic meters of
water, which then becomes polluted with acids and heavy metals. On top of that, imagine the destruction and energy
required to obtain these essential metals:
Videos of Teslas malfunctioning in below-freezing temperatures go viral. Multiple stories of Tesla vehicles experiencing major malfunctions in freezing temperatures during the holidays have gone viral. In a video uploaded to Twitter on Dec. 23, Canadian meteorologist Rachel Modestino demonstrates her inability to open her vehicle's driver-side door as the latch, which must be popped out of the door to use, had frozen shut. Her video has garnered over 4.2 million views and 40,800 likes. Man Exposes 'All the Bad Things' About His Tesla Model 3 - 'I'd Rather Own a Petrol Car Again'. If there's ever anyone who's cut out to be an electric vehicle owner, it's not @lukeerwintv of TikTok fame. The creator is best known for his videos of giving back to others on the social media website, but he recently got a Tesla Model 3. To say that he's unhappy with things is an understatement. In the first video — filmed on a sunny day inside the car and posted on Dec. 27 — the creator describes how the large glass roof makes it "boiling hot" inside the car. [...] Next up: the features you need to pay to unlock. According to the U.S. Sun, self-driving features like Smart Summon or Full Self-Driving require additional payment to be unlocked — somewhere between $5,000 and $10,000. (Although it's unclear whether this is in Australian or U.S. dollars.) Then there's the issue of Tesla's Superchargers, which provide Level 3 quick-charging at designated stations — provided, of course, that you're willing to pay. "Now if you think the Tesla Superchargers are cheap — or free — they're actually not," Luke said. "So, to charge this car, would cost about $30 for 30 minutes to 100 percent. EV skid row! How LA's 'Electric Avenue' has become overrun with homeless. A conservative commentator has warned electric vehicle drivers in Los Angeles that charging stations for their $60,000 cars are littered with homeless encampments. Alexandra Datig shared a video of her driving in downtown LA on Wednesday, with one of the local Blink EV charging stations surrounded by trash and tents. 'When you live in Los Angeles, it's better to have a charging station at home for that $60,000 EV,' Datig wrote on Twitter. NYC Electric Garbage Truck Plans Hit Wall After Trucks "Conked Out" Plowing Snow After Just Four Hours. In a move that absolutely nobody could have seen coming, New York City is scrapping its brilliant idea for electric garbage trucks after finding out the truck simply "aren't powerful enough to plow snow". The pipe dream of converting the city's 6,000 garbage trucks from gas to electric in order to try and limit carbon emissions (because [there are] no other problems that need to be dealt with in New York City right now) is "clashing with the limits of electric-powered vehicles," Gothamist wrote this week. The city's current trucks run on diesel and can be fitted with plows in the winter. Despite the shortcomings, the city Department of Sanitation has already ordered seven electric rear loader garbage trucks, custom-made by Mack, the report says. Those trucks cost an astonishing $523,000 each and are to be delivered this spring. 2023 tax credits for EVs will boost their appeal. Starting Jan. 1, many Americans will qualify for a tax credit of up to $7,500 for buying an electric vehicle. The credit, part of changes enacted in the Inflation Reduction Act, is designed to spur EV sales and reduce greenhouse emissions. But a complex web of requirements, including where vehicles and batteries must be manufactured to qualify, is casting doubt on whether anyone can receive the full $7,500 credit next year. A one-time journalist's Tesla rumination is ill-informed and remarkably funny. At the L.A. Times, John Blumenthal, a "former magazine editor," has written an unintentionally funny, ill-informed, politically-correct, ludicrously pretentious op-ed entitled "I bought a Tesla to help the environment. Now, I'm embarrassed to drive it." [...] The batteries in Teslas (and in all those electric cars greenies are demanding, sometimes by statutory fiat) are made under filthy and despicable circumstances. The necessary cobalt for batteries comes from primarily Chinese-owned mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where workers, often children, are virtual slaves, and the environmental pollution is staggering. There's also that whole electricity issue. Where in the world does an "educated" journalist like Blumenthal think electricity comes from? The Electricity Fairy? Zeus and his lightning bolts? Nooo. It comes from electric plants that usually burn either coal, oil, or natural gas, all of which are fossil fuels. [...] Tesla buyers are deluded, incurious people who think they're earning points to get into green heaven when they buy one. They are the modern equivalent of the faithful who purchased indulgences from corrupt medieval friars. EPA cracks down on trucking industry to push an all-electric fleet. You read that right: in a world where cold weather prevents EVs from charging, water exposure leads to spontaneous combustion, and inefficient technology leaves people stranded, comrades in the bureaucracy want to force the entire diesel trucking industry to comply with the Green agenda measures. For reference, a trucking industry website stated that there are "more than 15 million commercial vehicles" in the U.S., and "76% are powered by diesel engines." Simple math would therefore show that the EPA set its sights on 11,400,000 commercial trucking vehicles that make our world go round. An overwhelming majority of us are utterly dependent upon truckers and their diesel engines; they are the lifeblood of our First World (although rapidly deteriorating) economy... and the big government elites know this. Forced compliance with the latest "regulations" from the EPA would see the entire fleet of the trucking industry switch to electric, and with that, the government would have unfettered control. Used Tesla Prices Plunge As Demand Evaporates. Readers have been well informed about the impending auto market disaste. The latest domino to fall is the days used Teslas could demand lofty premiums, which is now in the rear-view mirror as demand falters and supply increases. According to Reuters, citing new automotive pricing data from Edmunds, average prices for used Teslas in November were $55,754, down a whopping 17% from a July high of $67,297. The steep decline comes as the overall used car market is only down 4% in the same period. [...] Teslas were all the rage during the pandemic and the Ukraine war. As gasoline and diesel prices skyrocketed earlier this year, demand for Teslas spiked. But now, since fuel prices recede, borrowing rates soar, and Tesla output increases amid a crowded EV space, the price of used Teslas is falling faster than any used car on the market. Video: stranded in a 'bone-chilling' blizzard thanks to an electric vehicle. Domenick Nati's debacle began in 19 degree weather (cold, but not that cold), and only ended when a gas-powered car came in and saved the day. However, his experience highlights quite a profound yet mostly unnoticed inconsistency on the left: if humans are causing climate change, and in turn that climate change manifests as natural disasters like hurricanes and snowstorms, then why force a transition to electric vehicles, where ultimately, people are put into perilous situations when a natural disaster inevitably hits? [...] Following the left's own "science", natural disasters are supposed to become increasingly prevalent — therefore, a shift to an electric fleet would be monstrously irresponsible. Put everyone in a hypersensitive electric vehicle that can't function in extreme temperatures or harsh weather, just as the extreme temperatures and harsh weather conditions ramp up? Tesla owner says [his] car would not charge in freezing weather. A Virginia radio personality said he had to cancel Christmas plans because his Tesla S electric car would not charge during the ongoing freezing weather that has afflicted much of the United States. Domenick Nati told Insider that he plugged his electric car into a supercharger on Friday when it was 19 degrees outside. The car's battery level was at 40% at the time. "Two hours went by and not much changed," Nati told the outlet. "It was very slow and the numbers got lower as the temperature dropped. Eventually, it stopped charging altogether." Nati said he tried charging the car at home, but having no luck there he went to another supercharger Saturday afternoon. Guess What: Electricity Isn't Free. One of my favorite indicators of ignorance are the people who buy personalized license plates, or affix stickers, for their electric cars that say "Emission Free." Even if you ignore the enormous environmental impacts associated with manufacturing an electric car (which are significantly higher than a gasoline-powered car), if you live in a state that generates a lot of its electricity from coal, you are essentially driving a coal-powered car. The next most ignorant view is that at least you don't have to buy expensive gasoline! People seem to forget that electricity isn't free, from whatever source. I thought this was common knowledge: Study: Diesel vehicles are more climate-friendly than electric cars. The Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is causing a stir with a study that takes away the aura of climate friendliness from electric cars. According to this, such compact class cars consumed around 175 grams of CO2 per kilometer in the first half of 2022 due to the electricity generated and the production. A modern diesel, on the other hand, emits 153 grams of CO2 per kilometer. If the last three German nuclear power plants are taken offline in April 2023, the scientists predict a value of 184 grams of carbon dioxide — 20[.]3 percent more than with a diesel. Postal Service pledges move to all-electric delivery fleet. In a major boost for President Joe Biden's pledge to eliminate gas-powered vehicles from the sprawling federal fleet, the Postal Service said Tuesday it will sharply increase the number of electric-powered delivery trucks — and will go all-electric for new purchases starting in 2026. The post office said it is spending nearly $10 billion to electrify its aging fleet, including installing a modern charging infrastructure at hundreds of postal facilities nationwide and purchasing at least 66,000 electric delivery trucks in the next five years. Oregon bans sales of new gas-powered passenger cars by 2035. Policymakers for the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality on Monday approved a rule that prohibits the sale of new gasoline-powered passenger vehicles in Oregon by 2035. The effort comes as Oregon plans to cut climate-warming emissions by 50% by 2035 and by 90% by 2050, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported. The transportation sector accounts for nearly 40% of greenhouse gas emissions in Oregon. The Editor says... Toyota President Admits 'Silent Majority' in Auto Industry Are Leery of Massive Electric Vehicle Push. President Joe Biden, the radical environmental lobby and government agencies across the nation are making a heavy push for Americans to switch to electric vehicles, but it seems car industry insiders are not so sure it is all such a good idea. On Sunday, The Wall Street Journal published comments by Toyota Motor Corp. President Akio Toyoda who noted that the idea that everyone could so easily dump gas-powered vehicles for electric ones is simply not as feasible as the activists and government officials seem to imagine. Toyoda warned that many insiders, who he says represent a "silent majority" in the auto industry, are quietly wondering if it is a smart move for car makers to look toward retooling exclusively for electric cars and thinking that is the future of the industry. "People involved in the auto industry are largely a silent majority," Toyoda said. "That silent majority is wondering whether EVs are really OK to have as a single option. But they think it's the trend so they can't speak out loudly." Notice that last bit. Toyoda is saying that intelligent and informed industry insiders know full well that EVs are not the only way to go for a myriad of reasons. U.S. finalizes $2.5 billion loan to GM, LG battery joint venture. The U.S. Energy Department said on Monday it had finalized a $2.5 billion low-cost loan to a joint venture of General Motors Co and LG Energy Solution to help pay for three new lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing facilities. Reuters first reported in July the planned loan to Ultium Cells LLC from the government's Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (ATVM) loan program. The loan will help finance construction of new lithium-ion manufacturing facilities in Ohio, Tennessee and Michigan, supporting 6,000 construction jobs and 5,100 operations jobs at the three plants. Maker of Electric Jeep Vehicles Closing Illinois Plant and Moving to Mexico. Stellantis is a multinational automaker contracted for the electric version of the Jeep Cherokee. Citing high costs to produce electric vehicles, on Friday Stellantis announced a decision to idle the Belvedere, Illinois plant starting on Feb. 28, 2023, and notified 1,350 workers of the layoffs. Electric vehicles [are] futile as a solution to [the] 'climate crisis'. Direct taxpayer subsidies for EVs have cost $10 billion to date. The U.S. government also just approved spending an additional $7.5 billion on EV charging stations. The subsidy math shows: $10 billion + $7.5 billion = $17.5 billion. Divide that into the 750 million gallons (.750 billion gallons - BG) reportedly saved based on the Argonne Lab study and we get .750 BG/$17.5 billion = $23.3 dollars per gallon. The verdict is: thanks to government EV subsidies, we're spending $23 for each gallon of gasoline saved. Swiss look to ban use of electric cars over the winter to save energy. The European Union jumped on the electric vehicle craze well ahead of other parts of the world, particularly after the Paris climate accord. But in typical socialist fashion, they weren't content with simply encouraging people to switch to EVs. Many European countries almost immediately started making plans to ban gas-powered cars and trucks and make EVs mandatory. Lots of Europeans wanted to get out ahead of the curve and began snapping the newer models up. But then came the start of the war in Ukraine, cutting energy supplies just as Europe was trying to wean itself off of fossil fuels. Now, in a rather embarrassing reversal, Switzerland is considering legislation that would ban people from driving electric vehicles except in urgent conditions over the winter because there simply might not be enough juice on the grid to recharge them. Man Stunned When He Sees Bill for Charging Hummer EV. There is the idea going around that electric vehicles are an efficient and inexpensive alternative to gas-powered vehicles. With the price of gas soaring in the past year and pressure to find an "eco-friendly" alternative to gas cars, electric vehicles are promoted as the future of driving. But one man illustrated that the reality is much more complicated when he posted a video on YouTube showing how much it costs to charge a Hummer EV. On Nov. 10, Kyle Conner, who runs the YouTube channel Out of Spec Reviews, posted a video in which he revealed the cost of charging the Hummer EV Edition 1 from zero to 100 percent. [Video clip] Charging the vehicle's 200-kWh battery using the basic rack rate from Electrify America cost $96.32 — and that is without the taxes, which can bring the total price to over $100, Conner said. The Editor says... Ford Electric Truck Owner Hears 'Loud Pop' at Charging Station — Then His Worst Nightmare Happens. An electric Ford F-150 Lighting owner who describes himself as "Into Electric Vehicles" had to get out of his electric vehicle when it stopped working after a public charger "fried" the vehicle, he said Sunday [11/27/2022]. "Lightning bricked today at an [Electrify America] charger," Twitter user Eric Roe wrote Sunday afternoon. "I'm 1000 miles from home, the EA charger when [sic] black, and my Lightning won't move. I'm screwed." Climate Change Policy Makes Europe Too Expensive for Low-Cost EV Manufacturing. There is money to be made by corporations within the climate change agenda, and there is money to be made by producing goods with low-cost wages and cheap materials. Eventually, if you keep following this to its natural conclusion, the entire yellow zone becomes a service driven economy. Multinational corporations in control of government are what the BRICS assembly foresaw when they first assembled during the Obama administration. When multinational corporations run the policy of western government, there is going to be a problem. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) saw President Obama sub-contracting, actually giving away, U.S. trade policy. In the bigger picture, the BRICS assembly are essentially leaders who do not want corporations and multinational banks running their government. BRICS leaders want their government running their government; and yes, that means whatever form of government that exists in their nation, even if it is communist. Electric truck stops will need as much power as a small town. Next month, Tesla plans to deliver the first of its electric Semi trucks — able to haul a full 40 ton-load some 500 miles on a single charge. These massive batteries-on-wheels may accelerate the transition to electrified transport, but those responsible for delivering the power are starting to ask: Are we ready for this? Probably not, according to a sweeping new study of highway charging requirements conducted by utility company National Grid. Researchers found that by 2030, electrifying a typical highway gas station will require as much power as a professional sports stadium — and that's mostly just for electrified passenger vehicles. As more electric trucks hit the road, the projected power needs for a big truck stop by 2035 will equal that of a small town. Even the authors who planned the study were caught off guard by how quickly highway power demands will change. A connection to the grid that can handle more than 5 megawatts takes up to eight years to build, at a cost tens of millions of dollars. EV (Electric Vehicle) Precautions. While environmental activists have been very vocal regarding the uncertain, projected future dangers of climate change based on the outputs of unverified climate models, they have been far less vocal regarding the clear and present dangers of Lithium battery fires, both in EVs and in grid-scale storage installations. Fortunately, there appear not to have been any fatalities in EV fires, except when the vehicle was involved in a crash. However, there have been numerous instances of spontaneous vehicle fires, some during charging and others when the vehicle was parked. There also appear to have been no fatalities in EV transit bus fires, which have occurred both when the buses were being charged and when they were parked waiting to begin a scheduled route. There have been no reported battery fires in transit buses while carrying passengers. There have so far been no reported incidents of battery fires in EV school buses. A fire aboard the trans-Atlantic vehicle ship Felicity Ace, which was carrying approximately 4,000 vehicles including numerous EVs, destroyed the ship and its cargo. The cause of the fire is uncertain, though it appears likely that a spontaneous EV battery fire was the cause. EV batteries were certainly a major contributor to the fire, which the ship's crew were not able to control. There have also been Lithium battery fires in grid-scale storage batteries. 20,000 Vehicles Under the Sea: Inside the Felicity Ace Disaster. [Scroll down] According to Portuguese authorities, the Felicity Ace was about 100 miles from the Azores, a constellation of small islands west of the Iberian Peninsula, when the ship made a morning distress call to report a fire in the cargo hold. [...] Experts have speculated a battery fire might have brought the Ace down. Overwhelmingly, modern EVs draw power from lithium-ion batteries — a fuel source that yields longer vehicle range at the risk of notorious chemical fragility. Several EV makers have had to recall cars amid reports of vehicles spontaneously combusting. Two years ago a Taycan combusted while parked in a Florida garage, damaging the building's structure and exposing parts of the vehicle's frame. In the bowels of a car carrier, a chain reaction from such a fire could be devastating. For years, insurers have been sounding the alarm on the risk of massive ship fires, which, along with explosions, account for a quarter of the maritime casualties for "total loss." They say firefighting capabilities have not kept pace with the rate of freighter supersizing. Electric Vehicle Makers Are Quietly Switching to a Battery Type That Has Even Less Driving Range. As more car manufacturers race to try to produce electric cars, the cost of the batteries to power these cars can be prohibitive. But many manufacturers are considering using a cheaper kind of battery in order to cut costs and enable more production. However, though using a cheaper kind of battery would be more cost-efficient, the battery range of vehicles would decrease, the Wall Street Journal reported. The typical batteries used in American and European EVs are lithium-ion batteries. But these are made with very expensive materials such as cobalt, nickel and lithium, Reuters reported. Two critical and 36 others injured after blaze on 20th floor of NYC high-rise apartment block caused by e-scooter battery. Thirty-eight people were hurt, with two suffering life-threatening injuries, after a fire broke out inside a 37-story building in Manhattan on Saturday. The FDNY reported that a three-alarm fire erupted from the battery of a micro-mobility device — an e-scooter or an e-bike — at around 10:30 am on the 20th floor of an apartment building at 429 East 52nd Street. Officials said at least two dozen residents rushed to the roof while others hung out of their windows to try and escape the fire. Saving the world with lithium? Four times a week an e-bike battery catches fire in New York. Six people have died in New York this year so far due to house fires started by e-bikes. First-time EV owner shares 'cautionary tale' after it took 15 hours to drive 178 miles. After Colorado resident Alan O'Hashi purchased his all-electric Nissan Leaf — and became a first-time electric vehicle (EV) owner — he thought he was ready to embark on the first leg of a 2,600-mile road trip across Wyoming. But the eager traveler was faced with a harsh truth after a 178-mile route took 15 hours to complete, when normally it would clock in at two-and-a-half hours. "I was rudely awakened when I determined that the charging wasn't as rapid as some people would lead you to believe, likely the dealers," O'Hashi said in an interview on "Varney & Co." Friday, "and I think people like myself, we go into it a bit blindly." O'Hashi blames the road bump on a combination of part user error and part "lack of adequate infrastructure" in the car's charging capabilities. The Electric Car Scam Summed Up Nicely In Less Than A Minute. There aren't enough natural resources in the world to make battery-powered cars for everybody. And that's only one of the insurmountable problems with electric car mandates. [Video clip] Green Boondoggle: Connecticut's Electric Bus Fleet Still Out of Service After Summer Battery Inferno. A fleet of 11 electric buses belonging to CT Transit in Connecticut is still out of service following a massive battery fire that occurred in July, the state's Department of Transportation says. In July, a battery fire caused an electric bus to burst into flames in Hamden, Connecticut. Luckily, no one died in the inferno, although two transit workers and two firefighters were hospitalized as a result of the blaze, and a federal investigation was triggered. In September, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued a preliminary report detailing how the electric bus operated by CT Transit became engulfed in flames while parked at a maintenance facility, according to a report by NHPR. "The battery electric buses remain out of service while the investigations are ongoing," DOT spokesperson Josh Morgan said. Fires from exploding e-bike batteries multiply in NYC — sometimes fatally. Four times a week on average, an e-bike or e-scooter battery catches fire in New York City. Sometimes, it does so on the street, but more often, it happens when the owner is recharging the lithium ion battery. A mismatched charger won't always turn off automatically when the battery's fully charged, and keeps heating up. Or, the highly flammable electrolyte inside the battery's cells leaks out of its casing and ignites, setting off a chain reaction. "These bikes when they fail, they fail like a blowtorch," said Dan Flynn, the chief fire marshal at the New York Fire Department. "We've seen incidents where people have described them as explosive — incidents where they actually have so much power, they're actually blowing walls down in between rooms and apartments." European Union Bans Sale Of Gas Vehicles In 2035. Citizens of individual nations in Europe: does this make you happy? Your nation didn't ban them. Bureaucrats in the EU did, using their unaccountable power to force you to comply. The EU was not established for this kind of mandate on citizens lives, but, this is what happens when you give a centralized government power. They take more and more and more[.] [...] I've perused many articles about this, and not one features a reporter asking members of commission if they are now driving an EV, and, if not, when they are going to ditch their fossil fueled vehicles and go EV. How will they power these vehicles? Europe is already energy poor, with big concerns about how people will heat their homes this winter. They've cut nuclear power (even St. Greta is fine with nuclear), cut natural gas (some thanks to Biden pushing Putin to invade Ukraine), cut coal, and many citizens are having to rely on burning wood. Where will the power come from? Bye-bye trucks? California air regulators to consider phasing out diesel big rigs. California truck drivers and environmental groups presented their concerns about a proposal under consideration by state air regulators to phase out the sale of medium and heavy-duty gas-powered vehicles within the next 20 years. The California Air Resources Board held its first public hearing this week to receive feedback from the public on the proposal, which the board will likely consider in Spring 2023. If adopted, all new medium and heavy-duty vehicles sold in the Golden State will be required to be zero-emission by 2040. Additionally, the proposal outlines a phased approach to adding zero-emission vehicles to certain fleets at the state and federal levels. Under the proposal, half of the vehicles added to state and local government fleets must be zero-emission starting in 2024 and 100% by 2027. 'Zero Emissions' From Electric Vehicles? Here's Why That Claim Has Zero Basis. As California, New York, and other states move to phase out the sale of gasoline-powered cars, public officials routinely echo the Biden administration's claim that electric vehicles are a "zero emissions" solution that can significantly mitigate the effects of climate change. Car and energy experts, however, say there is no such thing as a zero-emissions vehicle: For now and the foreseeable future, the energy required to manufacture and power electric cars will leave a sizable carbon footprint. In some cases hybrids can be cleaner alternatives in states that depend on coal to generate electricity, and some suggest that it may be too rash to write off all internal combustion vehicles just yet. Electric Hummers Are Selling for More Than $100,000 Over List Price as Wait List Tops 77,000. Interested in purchasing an electric GMC Hummer? I hope you have a quarter of a million dollars handy — or a lot of patience. Or both. Because, while the list price set by GMC for one such vehicle was a mere $112,595, the free market says it's worth twice that. Maybe it's because this particular vehicle was only the fifth to roll off the production line, and the buyer saw it as a collector's item. (He's probably right about that.) Maybe the vehicle's near-mint condition, with only 80 miles on the odometer, contributed to the price. Maybe there were other factors at play that we don't know about. Electric vehicle owner learns replacing a tail light costs over $4,000. The owner of a Hummer electric truck was shocked to learn replacing his tail lights is a rather expensive venture. "Had a shocker today," the owner wrote in a Hummer EV Facebook group. "A new passenger side rear light for the Hummer EV; $4,040 just to buy it." Car review website the Drive confirmed General Motor's list price for one tail light is $3,045. Without factoring in labor, the list price for a set of tail lights runs for nearly $6,100, a cost equaling more than 5% of the Hummer EV's MSRP. "The taillights in the Hummer EV have small microcontrollers installed within them. These chips control unique lighting functions in their respective lights," the Drive suggested as a reason for the high price. "Additionally, the Hummer EV is a fairly limited-run vehicle thus far, meaning parts are generally more expensive until economies of scale kick in." The Argument For Electric Vehicles Just Got Worse. Across the United States, Democrats are working overtime to force virtually every American into driving an electric vehicle. This is seen across multiple states, such as New York and California, that plan to outlaw the sales of cars that are non-electric by 2035. Unfortunately for Democrats, their efforts to get everyone into electric vehicles don't negate all the problems stemming from these cars. In the wake of flooding in Florida after Hurricane Ian recently hit the state, some electric vehicles are exploding. Then, in other parts of the country, the charging stations designed for electric vehicles continue not to work, thereby leaving their owners stranded. Electric Nightmare: EV Owner Details 15-Hour Trek to Travel 178 Miles. An electric vehicle (EV) owner who takes road trips between Cheyenne and Casper in Wyoming has revealed that his first trip of 178 miles took a staggering 15 hours to complete in his electric Nissan Leaf. "It was very difficult. For example, [it took] 15 hours to get from Cheyenne to Casper," Alan O'Hashi told Cowboy State Daily, adding that this particular trip wasn't taken in the beginning of the EV era. It was in May 2022. One month later, O'Hashi was able to complete the road trip in about 11 hours, he said. To put it into perspective, the trip of 178 miles should take less than two and a half hours traveling the speed limit in a gasoline-powered vehicle. Founder of Electric Truck Company Nikola Convicted of Fraud. Trevor Milton, the founder of electric truck maker Nikola, was convicted of fraud after being accused of bragging about nonexistent technology in an attempt to inflate his company's stock price. "Trevor Milton is a con man," Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordan Estes said. "He lied to investors to get their money, plain and simple." On Friday [10/14/2022], a federal jury in U.S. District Court in Manhattan found Milton guilty of defrauding investors by lying about the supposed technical achievements of Nikola, according to a report by the New York Times. Related: Florida Home That Survived Hurricane Burns to the Ground from EV. After surviving Hurricane Ian, some homes in Florida are facing a new danger: electric vehicles catching fire due to their batteries being corroded by the floods. State Rep. Bob Rommel and state Fire Marshal Jim Patronis have been particularly vocal about the threat of EV fires in the aftermath of the hurricane. Rommel tweeted on Monday about a house that had managed to outlast the hurricane, but couldn't survive the EV fire that later started in the garage. South America's 'lithium fields' reveal the dark side of our electric future. Lithium extraction fields in South America have been captured by an aerial photographer in stunning high definition. But while the images may be breathtaking to look at, they represent the dark side of our swiftly electrifying world. Lithium represents a route out of our reliance on fossil fuel production. As the lightest known metal on the planet, it is now widely used in electric devices from mobile phones and laptops, to cars and aircraft. Lithium-ion batteries are most famous for powering electric vehicles, which are set to account for up to 60 percent of new car sales by 2030. The battery of a Tesla Model S, for example, uses around 12 kg of lithium. These batteries are the key to lightweight, rechargeable power. As it stands, demand for lithium is unprecedented and many say it is crucial in order to transition to renewables. Tesla Sells 83,135 China-Made Vehicles In September, Setting A Record. Now that Elon Musk appears to be on the hook to buy Twitter on the original terms he offered, it isn't that much of a surprise to see great Tesla news pouring in. Just days ago, the company announced that its first semi trucks would be shipping to Pepsi in December (we'll take the 'over' on that date) and, this weekend, we found out that the company sold 83,135 China-made vehicles in September, setting a record. The China Passenger Car Association revealed the numbers on Sunday, which mark an 8% increase from August and "outpaced the more than the 5% month-over-month growth of all wholesale electric vehicle sales in China", CNBC noted. First new cobalt mine in decades opens in Idaho; key component in electric vehicle batteries. A new cobalt mine, the first in decades, opened in Idaho Friday [10/7/2022] to meet the demand for a key rare-earth mineral used in electric vehicle batteries and other military and aerospace parts. The mine, operated by Australia-based Jervois Global, is located near a defunct open-pit cobalt mine. In an effort to be more environmentally conscious, the new mine is mostly underground and will be capped once its operations eventually cease. Department of Energy Undersecretary for Science and Innovation Geri Richmond told the crowd gathered for the opening that "We're talking about building a world class clean energy economy, and this mine, this project ... is key to that vision," according to NPR. Hurricane Ian reveals another problem with electric vehicles: They explode after hurricanes. Joe Biden and all his minions have allowed gas prices to go sky high in a fanatic quest to force Americans into electric vehicles. One problem: They tend to explode after hurricanes. [...] How many gas-powered vehicles put on that kind of a show after a hurricane? It goes to show more of the unintended consequences on the road to green Utopia — and why it's impractical to force such changes without ever considering all the things a consumer might consider. Being able to get out of a disaster zone in a hurry is pretty important to a lot of people who buy cars. What's more, it's not the first surprise unintended consequence of having an electrical vehicle in a mass evacuation event. Over in California, electric cars have ended up pretty useless things during mass evacuations during wildfires. Electricity is shut down by local authorities to prevent electrical power lines from catching fire, and electrical cars are on their own. What's more, out in the wilderness, where wildfires and wildfire evacuations are common, electrical cars, even fully charged, cannot hold their charges for the distance a fully charged vehicle can. Battling fires from water-damaged EVs 'ties up resources' in Hurricane Ian recovery, Florida fire dept says. Fire department officials across Southwest Florida are urging electric vehicle owners to take action after multiple EVs caught fire due to water damage from Hurricane Ian — a hazard costing emergency services precious time in recovery efforts. "It's just the allocation of resources that we have to put towards these fires," North Collier Assistant Fire Chief James Hammond told FOX Business' Madison Alworth in an appearance on "Varney & Co." Friday. "And it just ties up resources a lot longer." A top Florida state official warned Thursday that firefighters have battled a number of fires caused by electric vehicle (EV) batteries waterlogged from Hurricane Ian. Electric vehicles are exploding from water damage after Hurricane Ian, top Florida official warns. A top Florida state official warned Thursday that firefighters have battled a number of fires caused by electric vehicle (EV) batteries waterlogged from Hurricane Ian. EV batteries that have been waterlogged in the wake of the hurricane are at risk of corrosion, which could lead to unexpected fires, according to Jimmy Patronis, the state's top financial officer and fire marshal. "There's a ton of EVs disabled from Ian. As those batteries corrode, fires start," Patronis tweeted Thursday. "That's a new challenge that our firefighters haven't faced before. At least on this kind of scale." Oops, Electric Vehicles Are Exploding After Water Damage from Hurricane Ian. President Joe Biden, California Governor Gavin Newsom and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg all want you to buy electric vehicles in the future, with Newsom even aiming to ban gas-powered cars by 2035. Just be prepared that your new automobile might explode if the battery gets too wet. Jimmy Patronis, Florida's Chief Financial Officer & State Fire Marshal, tweeted Thursday: [Tweet with video clip] It's hard to make out exactly what people are saying in the above video, but the reporter seems to say, "So they've already put on 1,500 gallons of water on this and it's still going." The firefighter on scene responds, "oh, and this will burn for days." I'm sure that's environmentally friendly. The problem stems from water getting into the lithium battery, which causes corrosion — which could then cause a fire. The New GMC Hummer EV Takes 4 Days To Charge. A YouTuber is claiming that the "quickest charging [electric] vehicle on the market right now" apparently takes quite a while to charge the battery from home. The brief video suggests it could take up to four days to fully charge the new 2023 GMC Hummer, which could be an issue for consistent day-to-day activity let alone in an emergency in a worst-case scenario. [Video clip] Americans' support for Biden's electric car push is nearly zero. In response to Joe Biden's insistence that the fossil fuel industry be eliminated entirely, California officials already have claimed to set in motion their plan to ban the sales of new gasoline powered vehicles in their state in a few years. New York is moving the same direction. But Americans aren't. A new poll shows that only 1.4% of voters "believe eliminating gas-powered cars and moving to electric vehicles is the best solution." The poll is from Convention of States Action, which worked with The Trafalgar Group, on the new results. Electric Cars Are Not "Zero-Emission Vehicles". The notion that electric vehicles are "zero-emission" is rooted in a deceptive narrative that ignores all pollutants which don't come out of a tailpipe. Assessing the environmental impacts of energy technologies requires measuring all forms of pollution they emit over their entire lives, not a narrow slice of them. [...] Simply stated, switching to electric cars transfers pollution from urbanites in wealthy nations to poor countries that mine and manufacture their components and to communities with power plants and disposal sites. In the words of the 2021 paper in the Journal of Cleaner Production, this "transfer of environmental burdens" causes "workers and ecosystems in third countries" to be "exposed to higher rates of toxic substances." China dominates the global supply chains for green energy components not merely because of cheap labor but because they have lax environmental standards that tolerate the pollution these products create. Thus, China supplies 78% of the world's solar cells, 80% of the world's lithium-ion battery chemicals, and 73% of the world's finished battery cells. Man Plugs $80k+ Electric Truck Into His House, Finds Out It Will Take Over 4 Days to Charge. In a viral video from a YouTube channel that specializes in electric vehicles, a man who tries to plug the Hummer into his home to charge finds it will take, at best, one day to charge — and that's with special equipment installed. Without it, you could be there for four days. The video begins with standard 120V charging — or Level 1 charging, to use official jargon. This is the standard current your home already offers. "Right now it's about 6 p.m. on Tuesday," the man says. "And it says it will be full by Saturday at 10:55 [p.m.], which is four-plus days of charging. Wow." To be fair, however, this won't be how most Hummer owners will be charging their vehicle. Level 2 chargers are upgraded home stations which deliver a significantly higher amount of electricity than your regular home circuit would be able to deliver — but they require special equipment and installation. NY Gov. Kathy Hochul's maddening electric vehicle mandate. In an all-too-tellingly-empty stunt, Gov. Kathy Hochul last week ordered the state Department of Environmental Conservation to issue regulations banning the sale of gas-powered cars, pickups and SUVs by 2035. It's not just that she'll be long gone by then, or that she was simply marking National Drive Electric Week by pretending to keep up with California's similarly dubious 2035 only-electric rule. Nor that, as even The New York Times admits, electric cars are still far too expensive and impractical for all but the rich — with vast technological and industrial progress needed before they make sense even for the middle class. Not to mention building hundreds of thousands of charging stations (New York now has just over 10,000) to make mass EV use remotely practical. No: It's that Hochul's policies are already making electricity much more expensive, and the pain's only begun. New York Will Ban Gas Car Sales by 2035, Copying California. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, said Thursday that New York will follow California's lead by banning the sale of gasoline-powered cars and light trucks by 2035. All passenger cars, pickup trucks, and SUVs sold in the state will have to be classified as "zero-emissions vehicles" by no later than 2035, according to a press release. Hochul directed the state's Department of Environmental Conservation to begin implementing the new rules that will also require 35% of state vehicle sales to consist of electric cars by 2026, rising to 68% by 2030. Electric vehicles and the evacuation of Florida. Large swaths of Florida's heavily populated Gulf Coast have been ordered evacuated. The map below, prepared by the Florida Department of Emergency Management, shows the mandatory areas in reddish colors. The actual evacuation order from the state is found here. At least 300,000 people from the Tampa Bay Area must leave. It is fortunate that as of the current moment, electric vehicles constitute only about 100,000, out of nearly 8 million vehicles registered to drive on Florida's roads. What if they all were electric, the (impractical) dream dream of greenies? Depending on how heavily loaded they were, even assuming everyone had a full battery charge, cars from southern Florida would start running out of juice after 100 [to] 250 miles. Running America on Imaginary Technology. [Scroll down] The electric vehicle (EV) craze has struck the minds of progressives as the solution to all of our climate problems. Reason and rationality are defenestrated. You cannot tell progressive politicians that the technology for EV's is still in its infancy. You cannot convince them that the current state of technology makes them completely impractical and unworkable on a national scale. We are at the same point in technological history as we were in 1896, when we transitioned from "horseless carriages" powered by steam and electric motors to gasoline engines. What we see on the EV road today will in no way resemble what the technology ultimately comes up with. If you examine the facts, you see this is true. Current technology extrapolated into a nation of more than 250 million registered vehicles on the road will result in EV chaos. The current electric grid will need to be strengthened by the development of hundreds of new nuclear power plants. There is no political will in this country to do that, especially among those promoting EVs the hardest. Hundreds of new windmill and solar farms aren't going to cut it and will negatively impact the environment and wildlife much more than nuclear. We don't need no stinkin' electric cars. California seems to fancy itself a bellwether for the rest of the country. Not content to ban all gasoline-powered cars by 2035, California's Air Resources Board upped the ante last week by decreeing that no new natural gas space and waters heaters were to be sold after 2030, and also "proposed that all big rig trucks must go electric [!]" Not to be outdone, John Deere wants farmers to switch to electric tractors and combines. [...] Once the phase-out of the internal combustion engine is too far underway to be easily reversed, we will inevitably be told that we must learn to live with less — fewer cars, boats, ATVs, appliances, snowmobiles, heat, AC, lawns, food, water — you name it. The only rational conclusion is that the goal is not to get us into electric cars, but to get us out of our own cars as much as possible, and into public transportation, bicycles, scooters, walking shoes, and high-density urban housing. 'What a Joke': Man Tries to Tow with His Electric Truck — Shows How It Was a 'Total Disaster'. While EV trucks may lessen your "environmental impact," some most definitely fail to perform what should be one of a truck's most basic functions — towing over long distances. Take the 2023 Ford F-150 Lightning, for example. Automobile savant and commentator Tyler "Hoovie" Hoover decided to test the Lightning's towing capacity in a video uploaded to his YouTube channel on Friday. The experiment didn't go so well, to say the least. Hoover's goal was to drive the truck 32 miles with only an empty trailer in tow, load up his recently purchased 1930 Ford Model A pickup truck and then tow it back the same 32 miles. The automotive aficionado was originally going to make the trip a second time, so he could load up something heavier to test the Ford's maximum tow capacity. After the first trip ended in "total disaster," however, Hoover determined it wouldn't even be worth trying. The hidden truths about your electric car. [Scroll down] A typical E.V. battery weighs one thousand pounds and is about the size of a car trunk. It contains 25 pounds of lithium; 60 pounds of nickel; 44 pounds of manganese; 30 pounds of cobalt; 200 pounds of copper; and 400 pounds of aluminum, steel, and plastic. This type of battery contains over 6,000 individual lithium-ion cells. The majority of these materials are derived from mining operations worldwide. To manufacture each E.V. auto battery, the following material must be processed: 25,000 pounds of brine for the lithium, 30,000 pounds of ore for the cobalt, 5,000 pounds of ore for the nickel, and 25,000 pounds of ore for copper. All told, suppliers must dig up 500,000 pounds of the earth's crust for just one battery. Sixty-eight percent of the world's cobalt, a significant part of an E.V. battery, comes from the Congo, where they have no pollution controls and minimal regulation, and they employ children, who die from handling this toxic material. There are no emissions directly from an E.V. itself. However, there are many from mining operations. These facts are not generally publicized. E.V.s can and should be part of the solution, but doing away with fossil fuels is not a viable alternative. The Editor says... Bosch Warns Electric Vehicle Industry over Reliance on Battery Cells. The head of mobility services for German electronics giant Robert Bosch GmbH has warned the electric vehicle industry of the reliance on battery cells and possible shortages in the future. Bloomberg reports that Markus Heyn, the head of mobility services for Bosch, has warned the electric vehicle industry over its overreliance on a single fuel source — battery cells — as Europe's energy crisis worsens. Heyn, who's also a board member of the auto parts giant, told the Monday [9/19/2022] edition of the Stuttgarter Zeitung: "We're currently seeing the consequences of the gas shortage for Germany and Europe because we prepared too few alternatives. In the automotive industry, we should use this occasion to ask ourselves what we can do if there should ever be too few battery cells." Here's why you may find yourself priced out of the EV market. This year likely will be the first that electric-vehicle battery costs will go up, rather than continuing the steady decline that they've been on for more than a decade. And EV buyers are seeing the result: several auto makers, from newcomers such as Rivian Automotive Inc. to established players such as Tesla Inc. have raised their EV prices. The move has affected all models, from mass-market electric sedans to coveted muscle cars with deep order books and even Ford Motor Co.'s EV version of the F-150 pickup truck, the vehicle that has reigned supreme as the best-selling vehicle in the U.S. for decades. Regulators Overlooked This Crucial Detail About Electric Cars and It Could Have Lethal Results. [O]verall electric cars aren't all that green. Electronic waste is an underreported issue, and what do you think creates the energy at the recharging stations? It's not wizards — it's fossil fuels, specifically coal. It's one of the luxury items coveted by liberal America. California will ban the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035, though they're also telling their residents with electric cars to avoid charging them to prevent overloading the grid. It's the seat of irony. The green future the Left is waterboarding us to accept is quite dystopian and dark, as they can't keep the lights on. Does our cleaner future look like a Venezuelan rolling blackout because it's shaping to be that way? Fossil fuels being the recharged fuel for electric vehicles is a dirty secret, but another deadly peculiarity exists. They're more deadly on the roads. The batteries that give these cars the 300 or so mile range before recharge are understandably massive and quite heavy, adding a fatality factor should a crash occur. It's something that regulators glossed over during the research and development stages. When you increase the weight of these vehicles due to the battery traveling at highway speed, how do you think things will end if there's a crash? Rotational inertia spells death in so many ways with this situation[.] The Extreme Weight Of Large Electric Vehicles Is Going To Be A Very Dangerous Problem. The United States is already a global leader in traffic-related fatalities, with a thirty-percent jump in the last decade. That's in contrast to every other developed country, which saw a decline. With that as backdrop, there's some growing concerns about not just the safety of undercooked autonomous driving, but the extreme weight of larger electric vehicles. The electric Ford Lightning, for example, is a whopping 6,500 pounds. The Hummer EV is even heavier, clocking in at 9,000 pounds. It's battery alone weighs more than a Honda Civic. Combine that incredible weight with amazing acceleration in a country with soaring traffic fatalities and fairly feckless regulatory oversight and you've got a bit of an obvious problem. Down With Electric Vehicles! Are people finally starting to catch on to the fact that electric vehicles are a terrible idea? I hope so. Bjorn Lomborg makes the case in accessible form in the Wall Street Journal. To begin with, EVs don't even save much on CO2 emissions: ["]Over its lifetime, an electric car does emit less CO2 than a gasoline car, but the difference can range considerably depending on how the electricity is generated. Making batteries for electric cars also requires a massive amount of energy, mostly from burning coal in China. Add it all up and the International Energy Agency estimates that an electric car emits a little less than half as much CO2 as a gasoline-powered one.["] What does that up to, in terms of climate? ["]If every country achieved its stated ambitious electric-vehicle targets by 2030, the world would save 231 million tons of CO2 emissions. Plugging these savings into the standard United Nations Climate Panel model, that comes to a reduction of 0.0002 degree Fahrenheit by the end of the century.["] On that basis alone, the left's mania to make us all drive electric vehicles is insane. Tesla's Texas Gigafactory is Huge. This may fall into the "old news is so exciting" category for many of you. I knew that Tesla was building it's Gigafactory east of Austin, and that it was large, but since I almost never travel to that part of town, until this video popped up in my YouTube feed, I had no idea how large. [Video clip] California Residents Forced to Prepare for Rolling Blackouts as State Leadership Pushes 'Green' Initiatives. The operator of California's power grid is advising state residents to prepare for rolling outages because of a heatwave. Governor Gavin Newsom constantly brags about the state's commitment to green energy, but he can't even keep the power on. How will they power all the electric cars once they ban gas-powered vehicles if they can't keep the power on? Should CA's Ban on New Gas Cars Be a 'Model' For US? Granholm Responds. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm praised California's ban on the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035 and said it could serve as a model for the rest of the country. During an interview that aired Friday with FOX 11 Los Angeles, host Elex Michaelson first asked whether she liked the regulation approved by the California Air Resources Board to reduce carbon emissions. "Yeah, I do. I think California really is leaning in," she replied. "And of course, the federal government has a goal of — the president has announced — by 2030 that half of the vehicles in the U.S., the new ones sold would be electric." The Editor says... West Virginia coal miners help tourists push their dead electric car. An electric vehicle broke down in West Virginia on Friday, but a group of coal miners were quick to help out. The EV broke down along Corridor H in Tucker County as the driver was headed to Davis for a weekend getaway. Photographs shared on Facebook by Tucker County Republican state Sen. Randy Smith shows the car broken down in front of the Mettiki Coal access road on U.S. 48. "Someone called one of our foreman and told him a car was broke down in the middle of our haul road," Smith said in his post. Since the plastic underside of the vehicle prevented it from being towed, the miners decided to push it to the coal mine to charge up. You must drive electric cars -- but please do not charge them. Buick to offer buyouts to U.S. dealers as brand prepares for all-electric future. General Motors Co. will offer buyouts to Buick dealers in the U.S. who decide not to opt in to the brand's plans to be all-electric by 2030, the company confirmed Friday. The news first was reported by the Wall Street Journal ahead of a Buick dealer meeting on Friday. The buyout program would be open to all of the brand's 2,000 U.S. dealers, according to spokeswoman Michelle Malcho. Dealers who accept the buyout still would be able to sell other GM brands, as the program applies only to the Buick franchise. Dealership Quotes $30,000 to Replace Battery in a $10,000 Chevrolet Volt. A Chevrolet Volt owner in Florida was shocked to receive a $30,000 quote for a replacement battery from a dealership, reports CarScoops. The quote in question comes from Roger Dean Chevrolet in Florida, and regards a battery replacement for a 2012 Chevrolet Bolt. The cost of the new battery itself comes in at $26,853.99. Further charges include $33.98 for coolant and $1,200 in labor. Add tax and the total bill comes to $30,842.15. It's a steep price, particularly when a brand-new Chevrolet Bolt with a far larger battery can be had for a base price of $26,595. The enormous figure raised questions when the quote was posted online, with commenters on Reddit and beyond raising questions as to its authenticity. However, fact-checking website Snopes was able to confirm with the dealership that the quote was indeed legitimate. Californians [are being] Told Not to Charge Electric Vehicles Days After State Banned Gas-Powered Sales by 2035. The California ISO warns that excessive heat could stress the energy grid, leading to blackouts. [...] Knowing that California deals with blackouts, some California leaders, led by Gavin Newsom, thought it would be a smart idea to ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2035. Now, they are urging residents not to charge their electric vehicles due to concerns about the power grid and blackouts. 10 Facts Electric Vehicle Advocates Don't Want You to Know. There are a host of reasons why the Left is absolutely determined to force Americans out of their privately owned, gasoline-powered cars and trucks and into unreliable public transportation and costly Electric Vehicles (EVs), none of which have to do with "saving the environment." The central reason the Left loves EVs is that the process of forcing Americans to convert to electric-powered transportation will destroy forever the incredible freedom and prosperity associated with privately owned gas-powered vehicles. The future will instead be centrally controlled by rich elitists and their corrupt politicians, power-hungry bureaucrats, and ideologically driven "experts." Spike in U.K. energy prices push cost of running EVs above gas-powered cars. Charging electric vehicles in Britain soon will be more expensive than filling up gasoline-powered cars thanks to soaring electricity costs — an economic switcheroo that could be a harbinger of shrinking financial benefits for Americans who go green. British energy regulators told electricity consumers to expect to pay 80% more beginning Oct. 1. The national price cap on residential electricity will send the average bill from about $190 per month to an estimated $343 per month, or more than $4,000 per year. The shocking price hike stems from the nation's limited reserves and Russia's cutoff of one of the region's major sources of electricity generation: natural gas. British energy prices eclipsed those of many other Europeans because the nation lacks domestic energy storage and production of natural gas, nuclear and renewables, making it more reliant on imports. Unelected Bureaucrats Unilaterally Impose the Green New Deal. Last week, a bank in Australia announced that it would no longer lend money for the purchase of gasoline powered cars. From now on, Bank Australia will lend money only to buyers of electric cars. Bank Australia is not one of the big four Australian banks that control 80% of the Australian market, but the publicity from this move is expected to rally the faithful. There is no public consensus in the West in favor of electric cars. They have limited range. They are expensive. Recharging the battery is extremely time consuming and costly. The batteries often need to be replaced at a cost that equals or exceeds the price of a new car. The cars constitute a fire hazard which requires tremendous amounts of time and water to extinguish, often placing garages and general traffic at risk. Electric cars and their batteries cause greater environmental damage than the gasoline cars they are intended to replace. Constant promises that improved technology is just around the corner have never been fulfilled. The public has generally not shown a willingness to accept these risks, costs, and harms. Without any consensus, activists seek to impose this drastic change on all of us through the back door. There has been no vote on the electric car. There is no mandate. Yet, they can push the agenda anyway. California has weaponized transportation against its own population. Starting in 2035, it will be illegal to sell new gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles in the state, with the exception of a small percentage of hybrid models. But electric vehicles are quite expensive. And so this policy, which would be burdensome even in a relatively car-free place like New York City, will be crushing in a state whose entire geography and culture center on the automobile. This new price might make certain legislators feel good about themselves, but it will price many low-income Californians, already stressed by high housing prices, out of their commutes as well. Cash is king for EV makers as soaring battery prices drive up vehicle production costs. In the transition from gas-powered vehicles to electric, the fuel every automaker is after these days is cold hard cash. Established automakers and startups alike are rolling out new battery-powered models in an effort to meet growing demand. Ramping up production of a new model was already a fraught and expensive process, but rising material costs and tricky regulations for federal incentives are squeezing coffers even further. Prices of the raw materials used in many electric-vehicle batteries — lithium, nickel and cobalt — have soared over the last two years as demand has skyrocketed, and it may be several years before miners are able to meaningfully increase supply. Complicating the situation further, new U.S. rules governing EV buyer incentives will require automakers to source more of those materials in North America over time if they want their vehicles to qualify. The result: new cost pressures for what was already an expensive process. Gov Glenn Youngkin Vows to Block CA's 'Ridiculous' Gas-Powered Vehicle Ban Slated to Be Imposed in VA. On Thursday, California Air Resources Board approved a regulation banning new sales of gas-powered vehicles, as my RedState colleague reported. The regulations require all new cars, trucks, and SUVs to be powered by electricity or hydrogen by 2035, with one-fifth permitted to be plug-in hybrid vehicles. The plan stems from CA Governor Gavin Newsom's executive order signed nearly two years ago. But, the newly approved plan doesn't just impact the Golden State, it puts 17 other states including Virginia on a path to adopt the regulations. Youngkin vows to untie Virginia from California's 'out of touch' electric vehicle shift. Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) vowed to block all efforts to ban gas-powered vehicles in Virginia. His declaration comes after California's Air Resources Board voted Thursday to implement an executive order by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) that phases out gas-powered vehicles and bans the sale of them beginning in 2035. Virginia passed a law in 2021 that set the Commonwealth on a path to adopt California's emissions standards. "In an effort to turn Virginia into California, liberal politicians who previously ran our government sold Virginia out by subjecting Virginia drivers to California vehicle laws," Youngkin wrote in a statement posted to Twitter. "Now, under that pact, Virginians will be forced to adopt the California law that prohibits the sale of gas and diesel-fueled vehicles. I am already at work to prevent this ridiculous edict from being forced on Virginians. California's out of touch laws have no place in our Commonwealth." California's Ban of Gas-Powered Vehicles Likely Illegal, Unrealistic. California plans to ban the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035. In 2021, California required 12 percent of total new vehicle sales to be powered by batteries or hydrogen. By 2026, their goal is to reach 35 percent. By 2030, 68 percent. And in 2035, 100 percent powered by batteries or hydrogen. [...] According to the Independent Women's Forum, banning gas-powered cars is likely unconstitutional. Mandy Gunasekara states: "First, it could violate the Commerce Clause as it creates unreasonable burdens on interstate commerce, i.e. the manufacture and sale of vehicles. The Supreme Court has long held that the Commerce Clause has been a "self-executing limitation" on the power of States to enact laws which restrict interstate commerce. Second, under the Clean Air Act, California is required to receive a waiver from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in order to set its own, more stringent, emissions standards." The Editor says... Mandating EVs in U.S. would require '18 times current global production of cobalt. In 2018, about 5.1 million EVs were in use around the globe. That means that cutting domestic gasoline demand by a third would require the U.S. to deploy roughly 20 times as many EVs as are now being used around the world. [...] The U.S. has about 276 million registered motor vehicles, or roughly nine times as many vehicles as the U.K. Thus, if Herrington's numbers are right, electrifying all of U.S. motor vehicles would require roughly 18 times the world's current cobalt production, about nine times global neodymium output, nearly seven times global lithium production, and about four times world copper production. Ford Increases Price for Electric Mustang Mach-E by as Much as $8,000. Ford is reportedly raising the price of the 2023 Mustang Mach-E electric vehicle by as much as $8,000 just a few weeks after increasing the price of its planned electric pickup truck the F-150 Lightning. Although the company blames inflation, supply chain problems, and "rapidly evolving market conditions," the price hikes come just after Joe Biden's climate and spending bill passed including electric vehicle rebates eerily similar to Ford's price increases. The Verge reports that Ford is raising the price of the 2023 Mustang Mach-E just a few weeks after increasing the price of its electric pickup truck, the F-150 Lightning. The automaker stated that it was reopening the order banks for the electric SUV with an adjusted MSRP due to "significant material cost increases, continued strain on key supply chains, and rapidly evolving market conditions." Two More States Follow California's Decision To Ban Gas Car Sales By 2035. It's only a day since we reported on California's intention to outlaw sales of new combustion-engined vehicles from 2035, and already the ripples are being felt across the nation. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) that governs motor vehicle emissions for the state adopted new rules that will require 35% of the new cars sold in the state are electric or plug-in hybrids by 2026, with that percentage rising to 68% by 2030 and 100% by 2035. California has a waiver from the federal government to set its own air quality rules, and other states are allowed to opt into its regulations, which are typically more stringent than the national standards. California to unveil plan tomorrow that will see sale of new gas cars banned by 2035. California is set to roll out its long-awaited ban on new gasoline cars on Thursday, which is part of its rule to have all new cars sold by 2035 to be electric only in an effort to fight climate change. Governor Gavin Newsom first announced the ban in 2020 as a means to reduce the amount of smog-induced pollution in the air, which will improve the state's air quality that is the worst in the US. The move will also make California the first in the world to mandate zero-emission vehicles on its roads — but many other states and countries have joined the movement, but have not yet began the ban. California moves toward banning new cars running only on gas by 2035. California is set to move closer to banning the sale of new cars running only on gasoline by 2035, a major step in the car-loving state's fight against climate change. The expected embrace of the policy by the state's Air Resources Board during a meeting scheduled for Thursday comes after Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) set a target in 2020 for cleaning up California's auto fleet. The proposed regulation would set strict deadlines for meeting that goal, forcing automakers to step up production of cleaner vehicles considerably, starting in 2026. The requirements would only speed forward from there, until only zero-emission passenger cars, pickup trucks and SUVs as well as a limited number of plug-in hybrids are allowed to be sold in the state by 2035. The Editor says... Report: Ford [will] Cut About 3K Jobs amid Transition to Electric Vehicles. Ford Motor Company will lay off approximately 3,000 workers to cut costs while transitioning to electric vehicles, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday [8/22/2022]. The company's internal email to employees said it would begin notifying the affected salaried and agency workers in the next few days, according to the newspaper which reviewed the email. The Editor says... A Common Situation Where EVs Fail Miserably. Here in the Upper Midwest, our interstates are fast and our winters are cold. Speeds north of 70 miles per hour combined with near-zero (F) temperatures wreak havoc on an electric vehicle's range. While a typical internal combustion engine (ICE) car might suffer only a 10-15% reduction in highway driving range under these conditions, a typical EV currently on the market will have its range dip 30-50 percent! Elevated power output from the motor coupled with electric heating for the cabin increase energy draw from a cold — and thus reduced-capacity — lithium battery. This means that a 274-mile rated Kia EV6 might mange just 160 miles of range in bone-chilling cold, a 278-mile rated Mustang Mach-E might get 180, and a Tesla Model Y could optimistically go about 200. If you're thinking about a winter road trip, maybe to visit relatives for Christmas or Thanksgiving, in a shorter-range EV like a Kona, Bolt, Leaf, or Niro, forget about it. Compounding the problem of drastically reduced driving range is the generally inept charging infrastructure along highways in the Upper Midwest. DC fast chargers are few and far between and when you get to one there's a decent chance it won't be working. The 'Electric Vehicles Will Save The Planet' Farce Is Unraveling Quickly. An auto club in Germany that claims 21 million members ran some controlled charging test electric vehicles to see how efficient that process was. The results put another nail in the value coffin. Not only are they expensive to buy and own, but the average charge also wastes up to 13% of the electricity. Put another way, the consumer is charged for all the electricity required to fully charge the battery, which is as much as 13% more than the battery can hold. So, imagine pouring two gallons of gasoline on the ground every time you filled a 20-gallon tank. People would lose their collective minds. But that will be standard for every charge of every vehicle in the utopian electric fleet of the future. GM, Ford say electric vehicle price increases have nothing to do with Dem spending bill. General Motors (GM) and Ford, two of the largest U.S. automakers, pushed back on reports Tuesday that recent electric vehicle (EV) price hikes were related the Inflation Reduction Act. The two companies told FOX Business that recent price increases impacting certain EV models were influenced by inflation and supply chain issues and were announced before Democrats unveiled the legislation. Multiple conservative outlets reported this week that GM and Ford had raised the prices of certain electric models by between $6,000 and $8,500, roughly matching the $7,500 tax credit introduced under the inflation bill. Electric Vehicles in a Hurricane? Electric cars could be a nightmare during a massive evacuation. Studies have been done showing a cascading failure of the power grid if huge numbers of Florida residents simultaneously charged their cars in preparation for a major storm. EV owners would fare even worse if they stayed behind and were without power for days or weeks. Anyone else remember Hurricane Isabel in 2003? That storm came ashore in Virginia as a strong Category 1 storm. Yet some of us were without electricity for almost three weeks. In a 2021 article headlined, "Electric Vehicles Powerless During Hurricanes," Forbes Magazine claimed that electric vehicles would compound the problems of natural disaster, such as Hurricane Ida that had just wiped out much of Louisiana's electric power. BMW Issues Warning: Park These EVs Outside, Don't Drive or Charge Them as They Could Catch Fire. Germany luxury carmaker BMW has issued a recall notice for a number of electric vehicles the automobile manufacturer built between 2021 and 2022. The notice was posted on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recall campaign database on July 27. The voluntary recall was in response to battery defects in a number of BMW manufactured electric vehicles built between November 22, 2021, and June 30, 2022, the notice said. Ford Raises Electric Truck Price By Up To $8,500 After Democrats Pass $7,500 EV Tax Credit. Ford raised the base price of its F-150 Lightning electric pickup truck Aug. 9 following the passing of a bill by Senate Democrats that included a $7,500 federal electric vehicle tax credit. The base model of the 2023 F-150 Lightning pickup will now cost $47,000, up from it's original price of $40,000, according to CNN. More expensive models, such as the XLT High/Extended Range and the Lariat Extended Range have increased in price by $8,500, while other F-150 Lightning designs vary between $6,000 to $7,000 in price increases, according to the Detroit Free Press. The Basic Math Problem that Undoes Global Warming Hysteria. If someone proposes a solution to an "existential problem" that has no chance of success, should we be forced to take the problem seriously? If the climate alarmists truly believe there is a climate emergency, then they should be able to answer the first basic question about "the plan." Are the numbers in the plan even remotely achievable? Remember: based on their screeching, we have only twelve years before we all die from "man-made climate change." To answer that question, let's break part of the plan into the most basic math problem: can we replace 25%, 50%, or 75% of the cars on the road in ten years? [...] The automobile situation in the U.S. alone cannot be resolved in twenty years, let alone in ten years. Here is where the math gets a little more fun: If we are currently producing 1 million electric vehicles a year, and we are struggling to attain the materials to hit that number, what is the maximum number of electric vehicles we can produce without a "magic wand"? Electric Vehicles May Present Major Problem During Natural Disaster Evacuations: Experts. A report from Transportation Research published in ScienceDirect headlined "Can we evacuate from hurricanes with electric vehicles?" found that Florida — which often bears the force of hurricanes — may not have enough power to cope during an evacuation. "If the majority of the evacuating vehicles were EVs, Florida would face a serious challenge in power supply," the report said. It added that could affect six out of the nine main power authorities, especially those in mid-Florida, and "could induce cascading failure of the entire power network" throughout the state. In California, the two main natural disasters are earthquakes and wildfires. Both are short-notice events that have the potential to knock out the power grid with no warning, making it especially difficult, if not impossible, to charge a Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV)," a case study from California Polytechnic State University found. Myanmar bears cost of green energy. The birds no longer sing, and the herbs no longer grow. The fish no longer swim in rivers that have turned a murky brown. The animals do not roam, and the cows are sometimes found dead. The people in this northern Myanmar forest have lost a way of life that goes back generations. But if they complain, they, too, face the threat of death. This forest is the source of several key metallic elements known as rare earths, often called the vitamins of the modern world. Rare earths now reach into the lives of almost everyone on the planet, turning up in everything from hard drives and cellphones to elevators and trains. They are especially vital to the fast-growing field of green energy, feeding wind turbines and electric car engines. And they end up in the supply chains of some of the most prominent companies in the world, including General Motors, Volkswagen, Mercedes, Tesla and Apple. South America's 'lithium fields' reveal the dark side of our electric future. Lithium extraction fields in South America have been captured by an aerial photographer in stunning high definition. But while the images may be breathtaking to look at, they represent the dark side of our swiftly electrifying world. Lithium represents a route out of our reliance on fossil fuel production. As the lightest known metal on the planet, it is now widely used in electric devices from mobile phones and laptops, to cars and aircraft. Lithium-ion batteries are most famous for powering electric vehicles, which are set to account for up to 60 percent of new car sales by 2030. The battery of a Tesla Model S, for example, uses around 12 kg of lithium. These batteries are the key to lightweight, rechargeable power. As it stands, demand for lithium is unprecedented and many say it is crucial in order to transition to renewables. However, this doesn't come without a cost — mining the chemical element can be harmful to the environment. The inconvenient truth of electric vehicles. [Scroll down] Second, currently, the materials used to manufacture E.V. batteries are typically mined in Africa by child labor under the harshest conditions imaginable. Children are typically forced to sift through piles of material in an effort to secure the scarce materials (cobalt, lithium, and nickel) required for battery production. Children as young as two years old transport, wash, and crush minerals to earn half a dollar a day. The problem of child labor used to source E.V. battery materials has been known for several years, yet we look the other way. In addition, the mining process in not environmentally friendly and in itself contributes to global warming. Third, all E.V. batteries have a limited service life, at the end of which they must be disposed of in our landfills, as the recycling options, unlike with my petroleum-powered vehicle, are extremely limited. Millions of electric car batteries will retire in the next decade. What happens to them? How do batteries not end up in a mountain of waste and further contaminate the environment? Gasoline, Electricity, and Biden's Fuel for the Inflation Fire. [W]ind turbines and solar panels may be the magic beans of the green agenda, but they can't produce anything close to energy output with the reliability of fossil fuels. So, electricity is in low supply, and not only is the demand so high that prices are spiking, but electric companies cannot even meet the current demand for it. The Biden administration's "solution" to this is to incentivize the purchase and use of electric vehicles, which, for the average family, would consume four times as much electricity as the average home consumes for air conditioning. Science writer Stan Cox is among the many left-wing opponents of air conditioning who argue that all the electricity used to power Americans' air conditioning is "helping push the fast-forward button on global warming." That's bad for the planet, we're incessantly told. But even if you cut out air conditioning your home altogether to offset the electricity cost of your fancy new electric vehicles, you're still consuming three times as much incremental electricity as you did before. Somehow, that's not "helping push the fast-forward button on global warming," but it's good for the planet. Electric Vehicles Cost More Than You Think. The true cost to fuel EVs is opaque to most consumers, because: First, E.V. drivers must consider the cost of the energy consumed from both home and commercial charging. This requires decomposing energy consumption by charging source while accounting for complicated tariffs and fees. Second, consumers must add the cost of the charger and its installation if they intend to charge at home. Third, electric vehicle owners avoid paying the federal road taxes charged on fuel. However, half of all U.S. states now require a special E.V. tax in lieu of the state road taxes included in the cost of gasoline and diesel fuel. Fourth, drivers must travel to and from E.V. charging stations, especially when traveling away from their home area. Because these are far less ubiquitous than gas stations, the additional miles required cost both time and money. Fifth, many E.V. users consider their charging "free" because some commercial charging is subsidized by government agencies, utilities, and businesses. However, electricity and charging equipment are clearly not "free," and consumers need to understand how they pay for this service. Journalists Hook RV Up to $93K Electric Truck, Found It Wouldn't Even Make 100 Miles Before Needing a Recharge. Democrats have touted electric vehicles as the way of the future, but they have failed to address the setbacks of the still-developing technology. A new experiment has once again highlighted the problems leftists have failed to address. Journalists from MotorTrend set out to test the towing capacity of the 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning electric truck, and their findings were less than inspiring. From the start, journalist Eric Tingwall was less than confident in the truck's towing abilities. [Video clip] Electric Police Cars [are] 'Running Out of Juice' on [the] Way to Rural Emergencies. A British police force that has embraced the use of electric vehicles says they have operational limits when a charging station is nowhere in sight. The revelation came from Gloucestershire Police and Crime Commissioner Chris Nelson, according to the Daily Mail. The issue comes into play the most often when officers are in rural areas, he said. GM joint venture gets $2.5 billion government loan to help build EV battery cell plants. General Motors' joint venture with LG Energy Solution is on track to receive a multibillion-dollar loan from the U.S. government to build battery cell plants for electric vehicles, including one going up in Lansing. On Monday [7/25/2022], the Department of Energy announced "a conditional commitment" for $2.5 billion to GM and LG's 50-50 joint venture called Ultium Cells LLC. "While this conditional commitment demonstrates the Department's intent to finance the project, several steps remain, and certain conditions must be satisfied before the Department issues a final loan," the DOE said in a blog posted Monday. WEF Calls for an End to Private Car Ownership. The World Economic Forum (WEF) is calling for the end of private car ownership in the name of saving the world from climate change by reducing the need for green tech resources. "We need a clean energy revolution, and we need it now," the WEF begins its article. According to the WEF, critical metals, such as cobalt, lithium, and nickel — all of which are used in "clean energy technologies" — are in short supply. And while the WEF says recycling old tech that uses these metals could lessen the impact of shortages, it's simply not enough. The Editor says... Another Electric Bus Bursts Into Flames. Liberal social engineers adore both electric vehicles and public transportation. Meanwhile, as we have seen before, an electric bus just burst into flames: ["]An electric CTtransit bus caught on fire at the bus depot in Hamden [Connecticut] on Saturday morning [7/23/2022].["] Although it is not known for sure what caused the fire... ["]...fire officials said it's typically difficult to put out fires caused by lithium-ion batteries 'due to the thermal chemical process that produces great heat and continually reignites.'["] Army tests electric Humvee for future battlefield use. The Army picked General Motors to provide them with a GMC Hummer EV for a test drive as the service looks to fill a requirement for a light- to heavy-duty battery electric vehicle to reduce the military's reliance on fossil fuels in garrison and in the field. GM's all-electric pickup-model Hummer features 1,000 horsepower with a 24-module, double-stacked Ultium battery pack. It offers almost 330 miles of combined driving range with its first edition and can go from 0-to-60 mph in as little as 3 seconds, according to the company. The Editor says... US Postal Service Set to Make 40 Percent of New Mail Trucks Electric. The United States Postal Service (USPS) has announced plans to make at least 40 percent of its new delivery fleet electric. Back in February, the USPS had already said that it would procure 165,000 New Generation Delivery Vehicle (NGDV) trucks from Oshkosh Defense, of which 10 percent would be electric. But in a July 20 news release, the organization announced a new plan to buy 84,500 vehicles, of which 40 percent are estimated to be battery electric vehicles (BEVs). The 84,500 vehicles will include 50,000 NGDVs and 34,500 commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) vehicles. Of the 50,000 NGDVs, the minimum BEV percent is set to rise to 50 percent, up from 10 percent. The 34,500 COTS vehicles will be purchased over a two-year period. Rumor: Ford Canning 8,000 Workers. Can You Guess Why? Word on the mean streets of Detroit is that the Ford Motor Company is planning on axing 8,000 salaried workers in order to boost profits to help fund future electric vehicles (EV). Buttigieg Whines About Americans Not Wanting Electric Cars. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg made an appearance on CNBC Wednesday morning and whined about Americans not wanting to give up their gas fueled vehicles for electric alternatives. [Tweet] Worse, when asked about the dire consequences of the Biden administration's war on oil and gas, Buttigieg justified the potential for deaths as simply part of the transition to alternative energy. [Tweet] Meanwhile, electric vehicle owners are being warned not to charge their batteries during certain hours for fear of blackouts. EVs Are Not the Future. Have you noticed that when it comes to EVs, the smartest guys in the room — the ones who study energy/technology trends, run successful energy-tech investment firms, and more importantly, the guys who actually build the things — are uniformly dubious about their future? Florida family drives into electric car problem: a replacement battery costs more than [the] vehicle itself. A family in Florida drove into a major problem after buying a used electric vehicle: the replacement battery for their dead car wound up costing more than the used car was purchased for. Avery Siwinski is a 17-year-old whose parents spent $11,000 on a used Ford Focus Electric car, which is a 2014 model and had about 60,000 miles when it was bought, according to KVUE. The teenager had the car for six months before it began giving her issues and the dashboard was flashing symbols. "It was fine at first," Siwinski said. "I loved it so much. It was small and quiet and cute. And all the sudden it stopped working." Don't Fall For It (EVs). Let's start with home charging. You know, where you park most of the time. If you own a house then you're in for an electrician to come by. If you're lucky your electrical panel is in the garage in a reasonable and convenient location to where the car is parked most of the time and you have a spare double-breaker slot in the panel. If either is not true then the cost of installing a 240V outlet where you can charge said car is wildly expensive; if the panel is full, for example, you will need a subpanel to be installed which is going to run a couple thousand for the electrician to do so and, if the existing panel is in finished space the wall has to be ripped up as well. Ditto on ripping up walls if the location is inconvenient; properly securing the wiring requires accessing the studs. If there's drywall in the way then it has to be ripped out and then replaced. Incidentally if you live in an apartment, or anywhere without actual owned garage space — not deeded, owned — forget it. The End of Private Car Ownership. Biden is trying to bring back Obama's mileage standards that were estimated to raise car prices by 20%. The goal is to "nudge 40% of U.S. drivers into electric vehicles by decade's end." Will 40% of Americans be able to afford electric cars that cost an average of $54,000 by 2030? Not likely. Nor are they meant to. Biden's radical 'green' government, which includes Tracy Stone-Manning, the former spokeswoman for an ecoterrorist group as the head of the Bureau of Land Management, isn't looking to nudge drivers into another type of cars, but out of cars. Gas prices are a way to price Americans out of car ownership under the guise of pushing EVs. Biggest Reason Why People Aren't Buying Electric Cars Revealed in New Survey. A survey discovered that charging logistics is the primary reason why Americans aren't buying electric vehicles. Consumer Reports, which said it surveyed around 8,000 Americans, found that 61 percent said they wouldn't seek to own an electric vehicle because of charging logistics while 55 percent cited the number of miles a vehicle can go per charge. [...] "We found that 14 percent of American drivers say they would 'definitely' buy or lease an electric-only vehicle if they were to buy a vehicle today," said Consumer Reports. "That's up markedly from the 4 percent who said the same in a 2020 nationally representative survey from CR of 3,392 licensed U.S. drivers." According to recent figures from Kelly Blue Book, the average price of a new electric vehicle hovered at roughly $56,000. In contrast, the average price of a new compact was about $25,000 at about the same time. The average price of a new, non-electric SUV was $34,000, while the electric version was nearly $45,000. Meanwhile, a recent report from data analysis and advisory firm J.D. Power, however, found that electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids may have more problems than internal combustion engines. Rivian Electric Vehicle Manufacturer Planning Layoffs. Two things about this report showing Rivian is planning layoffs for its workforce. First, the larger 'layoff' issue is going to be more prevalent as the economy contracts and consumer demand declines. There is almost no expanded investment going into any Main Street business that sells non-essential goods. The economic contraction, the drop in consumer demand that indicates a recession, is very real and now very easy to spot. Second, Rivian is backed by the financing of Ford and Amazon and operates in California, Michigan and Illinois (three deep blue states). Rivian is also the supplier for Amazon electric delivery vehicles having previously announced (in 2019) a deal to purchase 100,000 vehicles from Rivian. Additionally, Rivian has lost 69% of its market value this year. Fatal Electric Car Crash with a Parked Semi So Horrific a Special Crash Investigation Unit Has Been Assigned. Another fatal accident involving an electric vehicle left two Lompoc, California, natives dead last week near Gainesville, Florida. A 66-year-old female and 67-year-old male inside a 2015 Tesla Model S exited Interstate 75 and entered a rest stop on Wednesday, Fox Business reported. The vehicle proceeded to crash into the back of a parked 18-wheeler, and both people in the Tesla died. Both a local law enforcement agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are investigating the tragic event, but neither has confirmed whether any of the advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) were engaged when the crash occurred. [...] If investigators determine ADAS were involved in the Wednesday crash, it would be the 38th crash involving ADAS to be investigated by the NHTSA since 2016. Studies Show the Electric Vehicles Democrats Insist You Buy are Worse for the Environment and Lower Quality. Many people believe electric vehicles are higher quality than gas-powered vehicles and are emissions-free, which makes them much better for the environment. But two recent studies have shown that electric cars have more quality issues than gas-powered ones and are not better for the environment. J.D. Power has produced the annual U.S. Initial Quality Study for 36 years, which measures the quality of new vehicles based on feedback from owners. The most recent study, which included Tesla in its industry calculation for the first time, found that battery-electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid vehicles have more quality issues than gas-powered ones. According to J.D. Power, owners of electric or hybrid vehicles cite more problems than do owners of gas-powered vehicles. E-Vehicles Are Like Covid Vaccines: Sold to the Public Based on Wildly Unrealistic Exaggerations. Breitbart [presented] a report on Youtubers who compared an electric Ford F-150 pickup and a gasoline engine GMC Denali Ultimate Edition to see how far each could tow a trailer. The results of the electric Ford pickup remind me of the promises made by the COVID vaccine manufacturers: wildly exaggerated and probably more harmful than beneficial. As the video shows: you'd have to be a moron to buy either knowing what we know today. Auto Expert Uncovers Hidden Truth About EV Range Claims — Owners Should Be Seething. President Joe Biden's administration wants the United States to cut carbon emissions in half by 2030 — and a big part of that plan involves a switchover to electric vehicles. EVs, we're told, are the way of the future. Gone are worries about "range anxiety," we're told. These vehicles can put in some serious miles on a single charge — and the government's building more charging infrastructure along the highways every day. Neil Winton, however, says that's a load of hooey. Winton is an auto industry analyst and senior contributor to Forbes. He says that while EVs may look ideal if you're just going by the manufacturer's spec sheet, the real-world performance of these cars is very different than what's promised when it comes to range. NHTSA opens the 37th Tesla crash probe. Safety officials have opened a 37th probe into a Tesla crash after a couple's car slammed into the back of a Walmart truck, shearing its roof off. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating the wreck, which happened at the Paynes Prairie Rest Stop just south of Gainesville, Florida, on Wednesday. Its female driver, aged 66, and her 67 year-old male passenger were killed. The pair were visiting from Lompoc in California, and neither their age nor their relationship to one another has been disclosed, in accordance with Florida state laws. Watch: YouTubers Claim Experiment with Electric Truck Ends After Mere 85 Miles. A group of YouTubers called Fast Lane Truck tested electric and gas-powered trucks to see how far they could haul a trailer, and the results seemed to speak for themselves. The test was between an electric Ford F-150 pickup and a GMC Denali Ultimate Edition featuring a gas engine, the Independent Journal Review reported Thursday. [...] Fifty miles into the journey, the electric pickup reportedly could not reach Colorado Springs, so the driver later headed toward Castle Rock. But the gas pickup's computer apparently said it had 129 miles of range, which was enough to get back to Longmont. Journalists Tow Camper Behind Electric Truck, End in Stunning Failure When They Only Make it 85 Miles. [Scroll down] The F150 charged up and the GMC filled up before taking to the road. The electric truck's computer estimated 160 miles of range, which included calculating for the size and weight of the trailer. The gas-powered GMC's computer, also taking the trailer into account, estimated 264 miles of range. Off they went, with the goal of the F150 getting 147 miles down the road to a fast-charging station in Pueblo, Colorado. But that estimate was optimistic. The electric truck had only traveled 6 miles when the computer recalculated range from 160 to 150 miles, cutting things very close if it was to reach Pueblo. That called for a change of plans — the new charging stop was Colorado Springs, about 45 miles closer. After going 50 miles, the electric truck recalculated its range to indicate it couldn't even make Colorado Springs. Dark clouds on the horizon for electric vehicles. The first dark cloud is the supply chain for lithium to build EV batteries: Lithium's pivotal role in electric vehicles makes it an important commodity in meeting global targets to cut carbon emissions, and it was added to the EU's list of critical raw materials in 2020. However, the European Commission is currently assessing a proposal by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to classify lithium carbonate, chloride, and hydroxide as dangerous for human health. The EU proposal doesn't ban lithium imports, from developing countries where the same lithium carbonate, chloride and hydroxide are currently NOT categorized as dangerous for human health. But if legislated will add to costs for processors from more stringent rules controlling processing, packaging, and storage. The decision is expected to be reached by early next year[.] Some Countries Are Having Second Thoughts About Electric Car Mandates. As part of the 2015 Paris Agreement, over 190 nations pledged to reach net zero emissions by 2050. To achieve this, some have enacted target dates by which all new cars must be zero-emission. But many of those same countries are now having second thoughts. Yesterday [6/28/2022], the European Union (E.U.) approved a plan to end all sales of vehicles with internal combustion engines by 2035. The rule would apply to both gasoline and diesel and is intended as a step toward achieving complete carbon neutrality by 2050. But according to Reuters, five smaller E.U. member nations privately advocated for postponing the ban. The countries in question — Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania — advocated putting off the total ban to 2040, with slightly more modest bans on specific types of vehicles in the interim. The letter cited concerns over the feasibility of hitting target dates, specifically that "adequate and tailored transition periods need to be established." One Bulgarian official stressed "significant differences" in what smaller E.U. nations can accomplish. Look At The Line To Charge Your Tesla. If you think the pain at the pump is hard to deal with, just take a look at the leftist Utopia where everyone drives a Tesla and how long the lines are at a charging station. Remember, to get an 80% charge for your Tesla, it takes 40 minutes of plug power at a typical charging station, so these poor saps have a long wait. [Video clip] Own an Electric Car? Thank a Slave. California wants to replace of all of its gas and diesel powered vehicles with E-cars. But the state's electrical grid can't even handle the present load. California anticipates blackouts and brownouts at least through 2025. Adding a million E-cars to the mix is an epic George Jetson and flying cars fiction and will, inevitably result in larger and longer blackouts and brownouts. The other part of the fiction about E cars is that batteries are made with a massive amount of raw material, mined by diesel-driven equipment, and slave labor. Notwithstanding the dream that E-Cars are produced in Santa's magic workshop, they are not. All of the raw minerals and elements needed for EV batteries are strip-mined. Liberals happily drive their E cars while scolding truck drivers, almost certainly never consider the environmental and human cost of the battery powered "clean vehicles." Almost all of the known deposits of cobalt are found in the Congo. Slaves/Child laborers harvest those raw materials. The conditions for miners range from horrid to barely humane. Questions the Climate Police Won't Answer. How come nobody talks about how electric cars can explode, cause fires that can't be put out, and can electrocute you? Isn't this the same Left that sued the tobacco industry for hiding all the bad news about smoking causing lung cancer not so long ago? A lot of Americans are getting fooled all of the time. [Scroll down] Looking back over the years, Granddaddy would be flabbergasted about the huge number of people who can be fooled into thinking that an electric automobile creates no impact on the environment. I guess that folks don't mind if one electric runabout results in a gaping hole in the earth halfway around the world? Do the owners of these swank autos realize that child labor is employed in many of the mineral mining operations that make those car batteries possible? Evidently, they couldn't care less, just as long as they are able to virtue signal to their friends and neighbors that they are environmentalists and guardians of the planet? Tesla Locks Driver Inside Before Bursting in Flames, Driver Kicked Window to Escape. A Vancouver-area driver claims he kicked the window of his almost brand-new Tesla Model Y to escape a dangerous vehicle fire after the car lost power and trapped him inside. In a 12-minute video that has since gone viral, Jamil Jutha, the driver of the Tesla, said that the electric vehicle's (EV) battery suddenly "died," noting that he wasn't sure what happened. "All of a sudden my car just shut down, it just said 'error error error,' and then all of a sudden the battery started smoking," Jutha said in the video, as flames are seen in the interior of the vehicle. Jutha was driving towards Mountain Highway in North Vancouver, Canada, on May 20 when the Model Y that he bought about eight months ago suddenly shut down, Vancouver-based CTV News reported. Thousands of Electric Vehicles Recalled in US Over 'No Start Condition'. Ford announced it is recalling nearly 50,000 electric vehicles in response to a defect with the cars' batteries, which could lead to a loss of power while driving. The automotive firm instructed dealers to stop selling Mustang Mach-Es produced between May 27, 2020, and May 24, 2022, that do not have the proper repairs. Ford said it is working to develop a fix for the 48,924 cars that have experienced a loss of power, overheating, and startup problems. "In the affected vehicles, it is possible that the high voltage battery main contactors may overheat, which can result in an open contactor or welding condition. Should the contactors weld closed while driving, a powertrain malfunction warning light will be illuminated on the next drive cycle, along with a no start condition," the company said in a letter. According to Ford, the issue stems from a battery main contactor that can overheat and may remain stuck open or become welded. The Editor says... Ford Recalls EV Model, Warns of Serious Danger to Drivers. Ford is recalling its flagship Mustang Mach-E electric vehicle. Again. This time, the recall affects roughly half of the nearly 100,000 Mustang Mach-Es sold, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company announced the move in a letter to dealers on Monday. Vehicles manufactured between May 27, 2020, and May 24, 2022 — 48,924 cars manufactured over two years — are being recalled because it's possible the cars could overheat and lose power or fail to start. Six Major Problems With "Green" Transition. German economist Hans Werner Sinn identifies six major problems with Europe's fanciful plan to transition to wind and solar energy: [...] Problem No. 5: E-cars are not clean[.] One problem today already, using Germany's current electric energy supply mix, electric cars are emitting far more CO2 over their lifetimes than conventional combustion engine vehicles. Yet, governments are aiming to force citizens to drive e-cars. In many countries, this will lead to more CO2 emissions, and not less. Team of Fools: Biden's Cabinet Picks Prove He is Unfit to Lead. I have written extensively about Biden's shortcomings. Nothing exceeds his capacity for choosing the wrong people. [...] Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, for example. "Granholm's credentials for the job appear to be that she has swallowed Biden's climate agenda hook, line, and sinker, and especially his affection for electric vehicles," says Liz Peek. "It certainly wasn't her deep understanding of U.S. energy markets. She apparently knows nothing about U.S. oil production or how world energy markets work." She believes that climate is the nation's number one challenge. Is it immoral to drive an electric vehicle? Of all the crazy policies we see implemented around us, from decriminalizing theft to teaching children to change their "gender," perhaps the craziest is government's determination to force us to drive electric vehicles. EVs like the Tesla are perfectly fine cars, or would be if they weren't subsidized or mandated. But they are terrible for the environment, and the conditions under which their materials are mined raise serious ethical questions. [...] Fossil fuels are vastly cleaner, in part because they are so efficient. And electric vehicles, once the mining and attendant environmental degradation are complete, run overwhelmingly on fossil fuels and nuclear power: [...] The extraordinary amounts of mining needed to produce electric vehicles are not only environmentally disastrous, they also carry large human costs. The cobalt that is needed for every electric vehicle comes mostly from the Congo and is produced largely by child labor. Is it ethical to purchase a lithium battery powered EV? [Scroll down] Today, a typical EV battery weighs one thousand pounds. It contains twenty-five pounds of lithium, sixty pounds of nickel, 44 pounds of manganese, 30 pounds cobalt, 200 pounds of copper, and 400 pounds of aluminium, steel, and plastic. Inside are over 6,000 individual lithium-ion cells. It should concern you that all those toxic components come from mining. For instance, to manufacture each EV auto battery, you must process 25,000 pounds of brine for the lithium, 30,000 pounds of ore for the cobalt, 5,000 pounds of ore for the nickel, and 25,000 pounds of ore for copper. All told, you dig up 500,000 pounds of the earth's crust for just one battery. Democrat senator says it doesn't matter — to her — how high gas prices are. If you want to know just how ignorant, aloof, and removed your rulers are from the everyday life you lead, look no farther than Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.). [p...] Talk about tone-deaf! Does she know who her constituents are? Does she care? The poor gal had to wait "a long time" to "finally" get her expensive new electric vehicle (and drive it to her brownstone in a tony Georgetown neighborhood... or to wherever she lives in the Capital City). But when she did [...], it "didn't matter" to her how expensive gasoline had become. She added, "And so I'm looking forward to the opportunity for us to move to vehicles that aren't going to be dependent on the whims of the oil companies and the international markets." The "opportunity" for us to move to expensive vehicles whose batteries cost around $10,000 and that may take hours to recharge? Vehicles that aren't "dependent on the whims of the oil companies and the international markets"? You can't be more ignorant or disingenuous than that. Let them buy Teslas: Electric car owner Stabenow says gas prices don't matter. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) said it "doesn't matter" how high gas prices go because she drives an electric vehicle, sparking backlash as gas prices in the United States climb to record highs with no short-term relief in sight. Stabenow's remarks came during a Senate Finance Committee hearing Tuesday to discuss Biden's budget for the upcoming fiscal year. When the subject turned to record-high fuel costs in the U.S., Stabenow chimed in: "I do have to say, just on the issue of gas prices, after waiting for a long time to have enough chips in this country to finally get my electric vehicle, I got it and drove it from Michigan to here this last weekend and went by every single gas station, and it didn't matter how high it was," the Michigan Democrat said. Neither the price of electricity nor the price of gas matters to her, because she makes $174,000 a year. Reporter Asks General Motors CEO Where The Charging Electricity Comes From For Their New Chevy Volt - Her Answer Is Hilarious. Okay, so she did try to whitewash her accidental admission by switching it to "natural gas" — which is not much different, according to the climate mafia — at the last second. Still, General Motors (GM) spokesperson Kristin Zimmerman has become something of an internet sensation for letting the cat out of the bag that their new "electric" car is charged by a power plant that runs on coal, so basically, their new car at the moment would actually run on about 95 percent coal. During an unveiling of the new Chevy Volt, Zimmerman demonstrated for the media how the supposedly "green" vehicle is simply plugged into a power source for energy. And this power source, at least in Michigan, is mostly burned coal. [Video clip] If you watch the video closely, you can see the precise moment when Zimmerman realized she had walked right into a trap. She thought about it for a second and came to the realization that her company's supposedly "green" vehicles are worse polluters than their gas-powered counterparts. "For those of you who didn't put it all together: Electric cars run off electricity, electricity provided by a power plant, a plant that runs primarily off coal, which actually is a worse pollutant than a gas-powered engine. This has been known for years, as a paper that came out back in 2015 revealed that most electric cars throughout the country are powered by electricity that comes from coal. WSJ Electric Vehicle Road Trip [was] a Disaster. The Wall Street Journal reported this weekend on a four-day road trip from New Orleans to Chicago and back in an electric vehicle (EV) that ended up as a disaster — one that left the author grateful for her ordinary car, even at today's high gas price. The Journal article, by Rachel Wolfe, was titled: "I Rented an Electric Car for a Four-Day Road Trip. I Spent More Time Charging It Than I Did Sleeping." In it, the author described planning the journey, using the PlugShare app to map charging stations and estimate charging times, based on the relative strength of each public charging station. She noted that more charging stations should, in theory, be available in future, thanks to the federal government's new infrastructure bill. I Rented an Electric Car for a Four-Day Road Trip. I Spent More Time Charging It Than I Did Sleeping. I'd made long road trips before, surviving popped tires, blown headlights and shredded wheel-well liners in my 2008 Volkswagen Jetta. I figured driving the brand-new Kia EV6 I'd rented would be a piece of cake. If, that is, the public-charging infrastructure cooperated. We wouldn't be the first to test it. Sales of pure and hybrid plug-ins doubled in the U.S. last year to 656,866 — over 4% of the total market, according to database EV-volumes. More than half of car buyers say they want their next car to be an EV, according to recent Ernst & Young Global Ltd. data. Oh — and we aimed to make the 2,000-mile trip in just under four days so Mack could make her Thursday-afternoon shift as a restaurant server. Given our battery range of up to 310 miles, I plotted a meticulous route, splitting our days into four chunks of roughly 7½-hours each. We'd need to charge once or twice each day and plug in near our hotel overnight. The Editor says... Green Energy Chickens Coming Home to Roost. Take the obsession with electric vehicles. Their batteries require rare-earth elements like cobalt and lithium that have to be mined, processed, and transported using diesel-powered machinery, bulldozers, and trucks, which of course spew more CO2 into the atmosphere. The great majority of these rare-earth elements are mined and processed outside the West, especially in China and Congo. This creates a dangerous dependency on geopolitical rivals and enemies. Next, for electric cars to advance beyond a taxpayer subsidized novelty and replace gas- or diesel-powered vehicles, electric grids will have to be enlarged substantially, and charging stations will have to multiply. Available, reliable electricity supplies will have to grow by orders of magnitude presently unattainable. And batteries with much more storage capability will need to be developed. Worse, our current most reliable energy sources — nuclear and natural gas — which could help us reach those goals are being proscribed and replaced with unreliable wind and solar energy, which produce energy less than 20% of the time. Tesla Owner Exposes Dark Secret About Electric Cars. Economists have long understood that there's no such thing as a free lunch, but perhaps it's time for electric-car enthusiasts to learn that lesson as well. While tree-huggers and leftists alike tout Teslas and other such vehicles as a panacea for the ills of fossil fuels, they ignore the devastating environmental wreckage the manufacture and use of these vehicles leave in their wake — even when it comes to something as simple as their tires. Brad Templeton, a senior contributor at Forbes, recounted his own eye-opening experience with his electric car's habit of chewing through expensive treads at breakneck speed. After boasting about the many ways electric vehicles are superior to traditional internal combustion-powered vehicles, Templeton noted that the need for new tires at short intervals was an undeniable drawback. Unsafe At Any Speed? Electric Cars Keep Catching Fire. In Vancouver, Canada, in late May, a Tesla Model Y burst into flames while the driver was waiting for a light at an intersection. He had to kick out a window to escape. Around the same time, a new Tesla burst into flames in Brooklyn, Illinois, and a week before that a Model 3 caught fire in California City, California, while it was parked in a driveway. In April, a deadly lithium-ion battery fire occurred in a Tesla car crash in Houston. Last year, a Tesla caught fire while charging overnight in a garage, which the Washington Post described as "one in a string of recent examples showing what can happen when electric cars are left parked in garages to charge overnight" and which promoted electric vehicle (EV) makers to warn "owners not to leave the cars charging unattended in certain circumstances, or sitting fully charged in garages." Electric cars cause 'more pollution' than petrol and diesel. Alastair Lewis, a professor of atmospheric chemistry at the University of York, argued that particulate matter emitted from electric car tyres is a massive risk to public health. He argued that it posed a larger problem than CO2 emissions coming from petrol and diesel cars. Mr Lewis added: "PM 2.5 is considered to cause the largest amount of damage to public health... Nitrogen dioxide [from diesel fumes] comes second. "When everybody owns a low emissions vehicle, low emission zones become a toothless control lever to try to manage air pollution. "London in the future when we have a largely electrified fleet of vehicles," he told the Telegraph. The World Bank's Impractical Electric Car Claptrap. The UK Government insists that combustion engine vehicles will be banned from production, importing, and sale by 2030. But a global semiconductor shortage has produced a projected nine percent slump in electric vehicle sales in the UK. Motorists are modelled to save £700 on fuel for making the switch to EVs. However, road pricing and tolls have been proposed to replace Treasury revenue once fuel duty becomes obsolete. Therefore, the gap between petrol and electric car running costs may close. Electricity costs could even eclipse fuel prices, should the renewables generating electricity fail. There are also infrastructure impediments to overcome. The ban would require 400,000 charging points to be installed across the UK by 2030, up from the only 35,000 that were in place as of last year. Many rural areas remain 'charging blackspots', inaccessible for EVs on long journeys. Annual installation must increase ten-fold to meet the Department for Transport's promise that 'drivers will never be further than thirty miles from a rapid charging station'. Green Energy Industry Is In For A Rude Awakening. Leading renewable energy groups, large solar and wind companies and politicians have supported lavish subsidies and credits for green tech. In the U.S., Democrats have pushed for an additional $100 billion in renewable energy subsidies over the next decade as part of the Build Back Better Act. "The whole thing has been sort of a government created industry, from the get go," Dan Kish, a senior fellow at the Institute for Energy Research, told the DCNF in an interview. [...] "The media hasn't covered the cost of nickel, cobalt, aluminum, manganese or lithium," Kish told the DCNF. "Lithium batteries, for example — if you want to call gasoline the fuel of internal combustion engines, lithium is the fuel of electric vehicles." [...] "Put very simply, all the world's cell production combined represents well under 10% of what we will need in 10 years," RJ Scaringe, Rivian's CEO, told reporters in April, according to the WSJ. "Meaning, 90% to 95% of the supply chain does not exist." Kish noted that the price of lithium has risen 1,000% over the last two years. How's your carbon footprint now? Ford Reports Devastating Losses Thanks to Electric Vehicle Gamble. Major U.S. automaker Ford blamed its sizable investment in electric vehicle (EV) company Rivian for its dramatic revenue decline in the first quarter of 2022. Ford reported revenue of $34.5 billion between January and March, a 5% decline relative to the same period in 2021, and a net loss of $3.1 billion, according to the company's earnings report released Wednesday. The Detroit automaker said its large investment in Rivian accounted for $5.4 billion in losses during the first quarter. CO2 Added to the Environment - Electric Car Versus Gasoline Car. Two cars of approximately the same size are driven, measurements are made, and conclusions are drawn. California's electrical grid has an EV problem. California energy officials issued a sobering warning this month, telling residents to brace for potential blackouts as the state's energy grid faces capacity constraints heading into the summer months. And since the state has committed to phase out all new gas-powered vehicles by 2035 — well ahead of federal targets — the additional load from electric vehicle (EV) charging could add more strain to the electric grid. "Let's say we were to have a substantial number of [electric] vehicles charging at home as everybody dreams," Ram Rajagopal, an associate professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University, who authored a recent study looking at the strain electric vehicle adoption is expected to place on the power grid, told Yahoo Finance. "Today's grid may not be able to support it. It all boils down to: Are you charging during the time solar power is on?" The Editor says... Kamala Harris, EPA unveil $500 million to ditch diesel school buses for electric models. The Biden administration is making $500 million available to school districts to transition the nation's gas-guzzling diesel school bus fleets to zero-emission electric busses. The bucket of money is part of a broader tranche of $5 billion set aside in last year's infrastructure spending for low- and zero-emission school buses over the next five years. This is the first time that the administration has tapped into those funds to help schools go green. Newsom's electric car nirvana collides with reality. Gavin Newsom is bi-polar. He wants to get us into all electric homes and cars. At the same time he is limiting and destroying energy sources — causing brownouts and blackouts. If we had 8 million more EV cars and 2 million all electric homes, we would have to ration electricity to a few hours a days and maybe one charge of your EV each week. Newsom is providing the foundation of the collapse of the California economy. [...] This year's increase in electric car sales was, no doubt, spurred in part by a steep hike in gasoline prices, as well as subsidies — which poses an interesting dichotomy. Newsom has decried those fuel price spikes and wants the state to offset them with payments to motorists, which would reduce some of their motivation to buy electric cars." Not only would there be a severe limit on the energy you can use, but the cost of available energy will skyrocket. Electric Car Fail: Over 25% of Charging Stations in Deep Blue Region Do Not Work. President Joe Biden and his administration have attempted to convince Americans that electric vehicles will solve all of our problems, but a new study found one leftist city was vastly unprepared for a complete switch to electric vehicles. The study was led by retired University of California, Berkeley, bioengineering professor David Rempel working with volunteers from the nonprofit organization Cool the Earth, according to Fox Business. It took place between Feb. 12 and March 7. Researchers cited multiple complaints from electric vehicle owners about charging stations in the area as the motivation for the study. It assessed 657 electric vehicle charging plugs at 181 public stations in nine counties around the deep-blue, Democrat-dominated San Francisco Bay Area. Electric utopia takes a deadly U-turn. Electric vehicles have been pushed hard as a solution to the world's faux climate emergency, but in India they have turned into killing machines. Many EV bikes and scooters have been bursting into flames across the country. The frequency of such incidents has increased considerably since spring 2022. In my home state of Tamil Nadu, a man and his daughter were killed when their EV scooter caught fire. You might think it as a one-off incident, but that is not the case. In March, an EV bike (from the brand Ola) parked in a busy commercial area caught fire. A Twitter user shared a video where the vehicle can be seen consumed by the fire from its lithium-ion battery and circuits. Another video from Chennai (formerly known as Madras), shows an EV scooter of the same brand going up in flames, the fourth such incident in the city in as many days. A stern warning of penalties has been issued by the government. Two Electric Buses Spontaneously Explode, Entire Fleet Taken Off the Road. A state-owned public transport operator in Paris, France, the Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens, has pulled out 149 electric buses from its fleet after two of them spontaneously exploded within the same month. The RATP decided to temporarily retire the electric vehicles after the second explosion occurred around 9 a.m. on April 29 near the François Mitterrand Library, according to reporting from the local newspaper Le Parisien and a RATP news release. Footage of the bus engulfed in flames in Paris's 13th arrondissement was widely circulated on social media. Do you own Tesla stock? Electric Bus In Paris Spontaneously Explodes. Readers have heard of Teslas spontaneously exploding over the years (read: here) but never an electric bus until now. Last Friday, a video surfaced online of French public transport operator RATP's bus bursting into flames within seconds in Paris. The fire illustrates the dangers of EVs. Luckily the bus wasn't crowded, and passengers were able to exit quickly. Renters can find no place to plug in electric vehicles. All Hillary Schubach wanted to do is something good for the environment. But after switching to driving a plug-in electric sedan, she quickly realized a new complication of apartment living: access to a charging station. Schubach's hardly alone. Even as it appears electric car sales are hitting a tipping point, those living in apartments and condominiums around the nation can find it difficult, expensive or outright impossible to find a way to plug in when they're at home. The Editor says... Tesla Model 3 Blows Up ... Twice ... on Busy Highway. This past weekend, a Russian man named Alexey Tretyakov and his two children collided with a parked tow truck while driving down a highway in Moscow. Luckily, no lives were lost — Tretyakov reportedly is suffering from a broken leg — but the car wasn't so lucky. Not long after the collision, Tretyakov's Model 3 exploded. Twice. [Video clip] Teslarati reports that the driver "was using a 'driver-assist' feature and a 'trimmed' version of Autopilot," so this likely limited the Model 3 semi-autonomous abilities to lane-keeping and little else. While there have been several fires involving Tesla vehicles, this is the first reported fire involving the latest Model 3. Prepping the Mind. [Scroll down] The electric car and green energy, the "solutions" to problems that don't exist are so devoid of reason, they can't be for the purposes their proponents claim. The electric car alone represents devastating environmental problems, millions of cars with immense batteries all over the Western world (the only societies wealthy enough and stupid enough to buy them) rotting when the price of a new battery for the old car is recognized in 5-10 years. There they sit, leaking toxic chemicals mined all over the world and put into these distribution units called cars. They leak into the earth their proponents are theoretically trying to save. The electric car and green energy (like solar and wind) represent weapons of cultural destruction, absorbing all of the power on one hand and failing to produce enough on the other a combination of which can turn places like Phoenix into ovens unfit for human life. GM reportedly stops providing battery pack replacements for the Chevy Spark EV. General Motors will reportedly no longer provide battery replacements for the all-electric version of the Chevy Spark, according to a report from EV-Resource (via InsideEVs). The Chevy Spark electric vehicle (EV) was first released in 2013, and GM continued to make new models until 2016. A GM district executive confirmed to EV-Resource that the company is "no longer going to supply that [the Spark EV's] battery." GM's inventory of Spark EV battery packs has reportedly run out as well, and the company doesn't plan on making any more. MARTA unveils electric buses for Earth Day. MARTA celebrated Earth Day by unveiling its first electric buses. The agency unveiled the buses Friday [4/22/2022] at a ceremony at its Edgewood/Candler Park station. It showed off three electric buses, which will be put into service May 1 on Routes 2 and 102 out of its North Avenue station. In 2019, MARTA received a $2.6 million Federal Transit Administration grant to buy six electric buses and the infrastructure to charge them. They replace 2005 diesel buses and will reduce MARTA's emissions of greenhouse gases and fine particle matter, which has been linked to a variety of health issues. The Editor says... 'Green Energy'? Let's Do the Math. Rather than argue climate politics and ideology, let's look at math, the language of the universe. Americans own approximately 270 million private gasoline vehicles (GVs) and drive 3.2 trillion miles per year, consuming 123 billion gallons of gasoline. Why? Because we want to. Because we (still) are free to do what and go as and where we want. Democrats don't like this. They prefer that we little people live in little boxes wedged-in with a hundred other little boxes, next to the (subsidized) light rail and the (un-air-conditioned) workplace and the (un-air-conditioned) grocery store selling bugs instead of food. President Brandon read from his teleprompter that he wants to build 500,000 EV charging stations. By comparison, our 279 million GVs require only 115,000 "charging" (gas) stations. "Charging" a GV for the next 400 miles takes about 10 minutes. Absent fast chargers, charging an EV for the next 400 miles can take up to eight hours. Spending less time per person charging requires having more stations — about four times more. How much CO2 will be expelled into the atmosphere to build this costly infrastructure? As with windmills, arguably more than using them will reduce. Electric Cars [are] not Ready for Showtime. All said and done, it should become clear to various parties that the newer generation of electric vehicles is no better, environmentally speaking, than late-model automobiles powered by the much-maligned internal combustion engine. The goal of saving the Earth from ungrounded fears of "climate disruption" attending CO2 emissions pales in contrast to the massive disruptions by a transportation system whose dependence on EVs that will trigger dreaded brownouts. Mines,
Minerals, and "Green" Energy: A Reality Check. Among the material realities of green energy:
Is it Time for an Electric Car? Based on their advertising, it seems that every automotive manufacturer has decided that I need to drive a battery-powered vehicle. This is at a time when internal combustion engines have become much more efficient and refined, with pollution almost eliminated. I grant you we are going through a time of expensive fuel. There is, however, plenty of supply and eventually, prices will come down. We just need the will to extract it from the ground which can be done with less impact on the environment than for instance, mining rare earth elements needed for car battery production. There is also the issue of the electrical grid. Places like California already have rolling blackouts. Remember the huge power outages in Texas after a winter storm several years ago. At least those affected could still drive. I also understand that at least currently (no pun intended) most neighborhoods lack the electrical infrastructure to handle multiple fast chargers in each home. Washington State Plans to Outlaw Most New Gas-Powered Cars. SB 5974, which was recently signed by Democrat Gov. Jay Inslee, establishes that "all publicly owned and privately owned passenger and light duty vehicles of model year 2030 or later that are sold, purchased, or registered in Washington state be electric vehicles" and creates an "interagency electric vehicle coordinating council." During the bill signing this week, Inslee said that the measure is climate-related and will "move us away from the transportation system our grandparents imagined and towards the transportation system our grandchildren dream of." Reports indicate that electric vehicles are cost-prohibitive for many Americans, with an average price for an electric car hovering around $50,000. According to local media, just 1.3 percent of cars on the road in Washington state are battery-powered. Washington State Looks to Ban New Gas Cars. The Democrats' war on the internal combustion engine isn't just solely an obsession with the radical Left and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). It's being exported to the state legislatures now. It's also not shocking that most left-wing states are adopting such measures that are Green New Deal-influenced. In Washington, there could be a ban on new gas cars. [...] [N]ot everyone has $50 [to] 60,000 lying around to blow on these uber-liberal luxuries. Second, it's not green. How do we dispense the spent electric car batteries? Also, what charges them? It's not like there are energy genies in the charging ports. Burning fossil fuels is what keeps electric cars going. Electric Vehicle Batteries. For those of you excited about electric cars and a green revolution, I want you to take a closer look at batteries and also windmills and solar panels. A typical EV battery weighs one thousand pounds, about the size of a travel trunk. It contains twenty-five pounds of lithium, sixty pounds of nickel, 44 pounds of manganese, 30 pounds cobalt, 200 pounds of copper, and 400 pounds of aluminum, steel, and plastic. Inside are over 6,000 individual lithium-ion cells. To manufacture each EV auto battery, you must process 25,000 pounds of brine for the lithium, 30,000 pounds of ore for the cobalt, 5,000 pounds of ore for the nickel, and 25,000 pounds of ore for copper. All told, you dig up 500,000 pounds of the earth's crust for one battery." Study: Electric Cars Can Actually Do More Damage to Environment Than Diesel Engines. Another study has called into question the environmental benefits of electric vehicles, citing the amount of carbon pollution emitted when making lithium ion batteries. Depending on where it is manufactured, an electric vehicle can emit more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than an efficient conventional car, according to data compiled by Bloomberg New Energy Finance and Berylls Strategy Advisors. The problem centers around the development of lithium-ion batteries, which largely power electric vehicles. EV race ignores Russian, Chinese mineral speed traps. U.S. and European electric vehicle (EV) companies are racing to cash in on markets driven by dependence upon government subsidies which, in turn, rely on scarce and costly materials needed for batteries controlled by foreign adversaries. Mining required for those EV batteries will soon dominate the world production of many critical minerals, and already accounts for about 40% and 25%, respectively, of all global lithium and cobalt. Take nickel, for example, of which Russia produces about 7% of the global supply and 20% of the world's class 1 (98% pure quality) used both for advanced electric vehicle batteries and stainless steel production. In March, after prices soared 66% to more than $100,000 a metric ton, the London Metal Exchange suspended nickel trading after a three-month contract price more than doubled. Pelosi's Husband Buys $2M in Tesla Stock as Dems Push Green Handouts. Nancy and Paul Pelosi are making a killing on the Hill. If there's a dime to be made on an inside trade, that's where you'll find Nancy and her husband Paul. Their corrupt trading practices have been well documented here on the DD and elsewhere — but here's a reminder: "The Pelosis participated in at least 10 IPOs," GAI President Peter Schweizer told Jesse Watters on Fox News. "The fact that a politician's family is allowed to participate in an investment that when it goes public generally doubles in value is a real indicator that there's a problem." Most recently, and crazy enough not for the first time, Paul Pelosi "rolled the dice" on some Tesla stock. Since Pelosi's purchase, Tesla's share prices have increased nearly 19% to over $1,036 a share. Is he just that good? Or could there be something else at play. It's something else. In this case, TN stands for Tamil Nadu, India. The Democrats Are Trying to Hide a Very Dirty Secret About Electric Cars. The Left views electric cars like the Rings of Power. It's predictable but also pathetic. Driving electric cars saves the environment, says the left-wing drone. It emits next to nothing regarding carbon emissions, except that it does. Do liberals think we don't know that this whole fad is a con game? Where do you think the energy that powers the batteries comes from? Fairies? Electric cars aren't as efficient as gas-powered vehicles, but you pay more because... of feelings. [Forget] that. Green energy is a backdoor to communism from greenies who talk more about controlling the means of production than saving Mother Earth. Clean energy is a grift and political crony project aimed at giving fat cat donors tax breaks. Solyndra forever ruined this industry. I don't care what anyone says, it's all a long miserable exercise in subsidizing sub-par products. Coal is what powers your electric car. Do liberals even know that? With Push For Electric Vehicles, Democrats Pursue The Paris Hilton Strategy On Energy. At record-breaking gas prices slapping families with a projected $2,000 in additional transportation costs this year, the switch to an electric vehicle may sound tempting — were it not for the nearly $60,000 price tag. This plus the illogic of destroying U.S. energy independence from the most reliable an inexpensive sources makes Democrats' lack of concern about gas prices a version of Paris Hilton's famous Photoshopped T-shirt meme, "Stop being poor." Democrats Don't Want You To Know How Much Fossil Fuel It Takes To Power Electric Cars. Amid inflationary U.S. federal spending, restrictions on domestic oil production, and the current Russia-Ukraine conflict, millions of Americans are suffering the consequences of the Biden administration's dysfunction at the gas pump. Instead of investing in American energy, Democrats are actively suppressing the American energy industry and then telling Americans to spend their savings on overpriced electric cars to solve their problems. But the left isn't being honest about the environmental and financial costs of those trendy electric vehicles. Last Thursday [3/10/2022], Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky took to Twitter to remind Americans that these cars are not as environmentally friendly as Democrats insist they are. [Tweet] To advance their climate agenda and deflect backlash about rising gas prices, Democrats are telling Americans that driving electric cars is for the greater good of the environment, fully knowing the charging stations for these cars are not fossil fuel free. In reality, one of Tesla's Supercharger stations was reported to get 13 percent of their energy from natural gas and 27 percent from coal. Power plants burn coal to generate electricity to power electric cars and emit a higher fossil fuel footprint than the left would care to admit. Leftist comedy: 'Punching down' to mock the misery of Biden's inflation. [Scroll down] According to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the annual mean wage for a full-time wage or salary worker in the United States is $53,490 per year. The average cost of an electric car is $55,000. The price of an electric car is around $19,000 higher than that of a regular gas-powered vehicle. A Tesla car costs around $75,000. For average Americans, the price of a Tesla is more than their annual in-hand salary. The increasing expenditure owing the Biden's inflation makes saving almost impossible. Hence owning a Tesla is an impossibility. Biden's America: The inmates are running the asylum. How does one sanely describe what has happened to the United States since Joe Biden was inaugurated? The nation has been effectively ruined by the policies of Biden's band of incompetents; every Cabinet member is a disaster, promoted for his previous record of failure. Not one of them is qualified for the jobs they've been given. [...] Consider Jennifer Granholm as energy secretary. She is inexplicably ignorant about energy, where it comes from, and what it costs. Buttigieg as transportation secretary, the failed mayor of South Bend, has not a clue about transportation beyond telling all Americans to buy electric cars. Chances are he has no idea about the costs and downsides of E.V.s. Considering the problem of disposal of the batteries when they die, electric vehicles do far more damage to the environment than fossil fuels. Biden's ridiculous promise to end American dependence on fossil fuel is a stupid pipe dream. Fossil fuel is the engine of democracy, of civilization. To suggest we can live without it is pure sophistry. Let Them Drive Teslas. When [Vice President Kamala] Harris and Transportation Secretary Pete get together, it's Platitudicon. As it was this week, when, as the reality of imminent historic gas price spikes was hitting Americans, the duo spent the day promoting electric cars, the Green New Deal and the Environmental Protection Agency's soon-to-be-tightened emissions standards. When it comes to energy, the Democrats adopt a bizarre elitist disconnect: Propelled by theological belief in end-of-days climate alarmism, they assume that Americans will join them in losing all sense of perspective and proportionality. Despite the perpetual championing of electric vehicles, less than 1% of cars, SUVs and light trucks on the road in the United States are electric. The average cost of an electric car is $55,000. Even with layers of subsidies that artificially bring it that low, the average price of an electric car is around $19,000 higher than the price of an average gas-powered vehicle. The average Tesla goes for around $75,000. WH Gets Nailed Big Time for Biden's Hypocrisy on Electric Vehicles. Joe Biden has been pushing the virtue of everyone having an electric vehicle. As we previously reported, he even argued that loosening the restrictions on oil production wasn't the solution to rising gas prices or oil volatility from the Russian war on Ukraine, but people getting electric vehicles was. [Tweet] That comment was of course delusional — that it's not possible to change — and for everyone to suddenly just to get electric vehicles, when so many are strapped just keeping up with Biden's rising prices for everything, and electric vehicle are dependent on coal and fossil fuels. [Tweet] Fox's Peter Doocy had a great question for White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki when he was grilling her about Biden's spin on inflation and gas prices. He asked how long did she think "temporary" inflation was going to last? Even as Gas Prices Surge, Charging an Electric Vehicle Can Still Be Way More Expensive Than Gassing Up a Car. Those trying to sell us on buying electric vehicles often claim that drivers can save money by not having to buy gas, but is that really the case? In many regards, some analysts have their doubts. As the average cost per gallon of gas has soared past $4.20, and with no end in sight, many of our leaders — including Joe Biden — are pushing EVs as a cost-effective replacement for gas-powered cars. As Fox Business recently noted, a one-to-one comparison of the cost of charging an EV versus filling a regular auto with gas showed that EV charging appeared cheaper. But many other factors need to be included in the math to make a true analysis — factors that many EV advocates are desperate to ignore. Biden shares tone-deaf plan to ensure 'no one will have to worry about gas prices'. President Joe Biden ridiculously promoted his green agenda and advised Americans to purchase massively expensive electric cars so they will unrealistically no longer have to worry about buying gas while deterring "tyrants like Putin" from using fossil fuels as a weapon. "Loosening environmental regulations won't lower prices. But transforming our economy to run on electric vehicles, powered by clean energy, will mean that no one will have to worry about gas prices. It will mean tyrants like Putin won't be able to use fossil fuels as a weapon," the president tweeted. "It should motivate us to accelerate the transition to clean energy," Biden declared according to The Driven. Buttigieg Says the Solution to High Gas Prices Is Simple: Just Buy an EV. Our Democrat party overlords know what's best for us, and all we have to do is simply follow their suggestions. After all, their solutions are so simple. Take high gas prices for example. So many of us peons worry about the skyrocketing price of gas at the pump, but America's brilliant Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has a fix for gas prices that's so easy it's almost ridiculous. Why, you just need to buy an electric vehicle, you silly goose. "Clean transportation can bring significant cost savings for the American people as well," Buttigieg said in a speech. "Last month, we announced a $5 billion investment to build out a nationwide electric vehicle charging network so that people from rural to suburban to urban communities can all benefit from the gas savings of driving an EV." Elon Musk Hits Joe Biden Hard After State Of The Union. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk blasted President Joe Biden following his State of the Union address, noting his decision to ignore Tesla in favor of Ford and GM's new electric vehicle ventures. During his speech on Tuesday evening [3/1/2022], President Biden nodded to Ford and its manufacturing in the United States. While the White House has frequently lauded the efforts of Ford and GM, Tesla — the world's largest electric vehicle manufacturer — has often been omitted. The snubbing may lie in the fact that Tesla is not unionized, as White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki hinted last year when she was asked why Tesla was not invited to an electric vehicle summit in which Ford and GM participated. On Twitter, Musk again pointed out the White House's willingness to ignore Tesla's role in promoting electric vehicles. NC Governor Caught in Flagrant 'Rules for Thee' Moment During Electric Vehicle Promo Event. [Scroll down] But this week's example is a little different, and comes courtesy of North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. Cooper, who will be up for re-election in 2024, has made it a priority of his administration to fight so-called "climate change." In January, Cooper issued an executive order that, among other things, set "a goal of getting 1.25 million zero-emissions electric vehicles on state roads by 2030." [...] But unless one had actually heard Cooper previously speak of his supposed commitment to a "cleaner climate," they wouldn't know it based on how he got to the event in the first place — via a gas-guzzling motorcade: [Tweet] Postal Service to Biden: We'll pass on the electric vehicles, thanks. Last summer, the Biden administration announced more details regarding the President's plan to promote a massive increase in electric vehicle use in the United States, replacing internal combustion engine cars with all of their climate-wrecking carbon emissions. In December, they unveiled an ambitious plan to have charging stations in place around the country to keep the electric vehicles running. And, of course, Biden instructed all federal agencies to immediately start replacing their gas-powered vehicles with electric replacements. That was supposed to include the United States Postal Service, which operates one of the largest fleets of government vehicles in the world. Unfortunately for Uncle Joe, somebody at the USPS either didn't get the memo or simply ignored it because this week they announced that the Postal Service is moving forward with its original plan to replace 90% of the fleet with gas-powered vehicles. USPS rejects Biden's plea to buy more electric mail trucks. The United States Postal Service authorized the replacement of its mail truck fleet with nearly all gasoline-powered vehicles, rejecting a plea from President Joe Biden to include more electric vehicles in its purchase. The move, which was announced Wednesday, signals the independent agency's decision to move forward with a controversial plan to purchase 165,000 next-generation mail trucks, only 10 percent of which will be battery-electric vehicles (BEV). The USPS determined there was no legal reason to delay its plans. In a statement, Postmaster Louis DeJoy said the agency would consider adding more EVs to its fleet sometime in the future. "[W]e will continue to pursue the acquisition of additional BEV as additional funding — from either internal or congressional sources — becomes available," DeJoy said. "But the process needs to keep moving forward." Biden to outline plans to extract lithium, other minerals needed for greener economy. President Biden will announce Tuesday [2/22/2022] a series of public and private-sector investments to extract minerals such as cobalt, lithium and graphite that are needed for electric vehicles and other aspects of the global shift toward a "clean energy economy," the White House said. The administration expects demand for these minerals to spike 400-600% generally and demand for minerals used in electric vehicles to jump 6,000% over the next several decades. Mr. Biden is fearful the U.S. is too dependent on China so he will trumpet new investments after ordering a review of the supply chain a year ago. "Critical minerals provide the building blocks for many modern technologies and are essential to our national security and economic prosperity," the White House said in a fact sheet. The Editor says... 'We are afraid': Erin Brockovich pollutant linked to global electric car boom. A Guardian investigation into nickel mining and the electric vehicle industry has found evidence that a source of drinking water close to one of Indonesia's largest nickel mines is contaminated with unsafe levels of hexavalent chromium (Cr6), the cancer-causing chemical more widely known for its role in the Erin Brockovich story and film. The investigation also found evidence suggesting elevated levels of lung infections among people living close to the mine. Recent years have seen a race between mining companies to gain control of the world's largest nickel reserves in Indonesia. Nickel, an essential component in electric vehicle (EV) batteries, could bring transformational wealth to a country where Covid has pushed the number of people in poverty up to 10.19%. The electric vehicle plot. The Democrats have set in motion a plan to spend $5 billion over the next five years to build electric vehicle ("EV") charging stations across America. One of the goals behind that plan is to herd everyone into the cities where EV works best and where people can be more easily controlled. Indeed, you can see from the funding that rural states with wide-open spaces receive much less of the funding. The second purpose of EVs is to pump electric utility investment. Several years ago, the electric utilities and the greens got together in a smokeless room and made a deal. The greens pledged to support more electric utility investment if the utilities would support the green agenda. (Some utilities drag their feet a bit, but the vast majority are fully on board.) That included EV, solar, wind, energy efficiency, gasless stovetop cooking, electric heating, meatless burgers, and you name it. Biden issues a completely tone-deaf announcement about electric cars. It's a certainty that Marie Antoinette never said "Let them eat cake," when she heard about France's peasants starving for lack of bread. However, it's the absolute truth that, even as 82% of Americans are paying above sticker price for cars, while the last year has seen them struggle with rising fuel prices, Biden chose to announce that he's going to buy a whole new fleet of cars for federal workers — 600,000 cars, to be precise — all of them electric. The past year has been a tough one for Americans. Inflation has rocketed, with three primary causes: the government's non-stop money-printing presses; rising fuel prices that boost the price of everything and hugely increase the cost of driving; and the supply chain shortages, including chips and other car parts from China. It's no surprise, then, that Edmunds, the market research firm, says that 82% of Americans who bought a car from a dealership in the past 12 months paid above the sticker price. Pete Buttigieg unveils Biden's $5 Billion plan to put charging stations every 50 miles on interstates by 2030. The Biden administration is putting out new details on its effort to create 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations — with new efforts to push out funds to have them line interstates at 50-mile intervals. The administration is awarding $5 billion over five years to states to have them build thousands of electric vehicle charging stations. Another $2.5 billion will go out in grants to be decided later. It all comes from the $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan that was enacted late last year and that the administration continues to sell, amid the collapse of Biden's Build Back Better plan. Automotive industry sounds alarm over expansion of e-charging stations. Germany has fallen far behind its targets for expanding e-car infrastructure and will likely miss its 2030 e-mobility target, according to the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA). An ambitious e-mobility target was a key part of the coalition agreement laid down by the new German government in late 2021. Part of the vision includes 15 million e-cars rolling onto German roads by 2030 as the EU plans to ban the sale of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles [beginning in] 2035. The problem is that the reality on the ground does not match the targets set by the government. The VDA has cautioned that instead of installing 2000 e-car charging points per week — the amount necessary to meet the 2030 target — Germany is only managing 250. Electric cars generate polluting particles just like petrol vehicles. Do you remember Britain's 'dash for diesel'? [...] I was reminded of this by the recent warning from the Environment Secretary, George Eustice, on the 'polluting particles' produced by battery-powered vehicles. Not from exhaust emissions, but from brake linings, tyres and road surfaces, because such vehicles are much heavier owing to the presence of the battery. No doubt others experienced a similar sense of deja vu. For in an effort to signal climate leadership, No 10 is racing to end the dominance of petrol and diesel-powered cars. Indeed, it is banning the sale of new fossil-fuel vehicles from 2030. Just as it once extolled the benefits of diesel, we are told now that electric cars are the future — and a crucial fix for climate change. What it fails to tell us, however, is that electric cars are not the answer for many people, for a host of practical reasons. These include their upfront cost, limited range, the time it takes to charge batteries, the new infrastructure needed for charging points and the extra power required to supply them. The Editor says... The Inconvenient Truth About Electric Vehicles. America may be headed for a new type of energy crisis. While fracking technology still gives us relative energy independence, there is a distinct possibility that an electricity energy crisis awaits us. What if the demand for electricity significantly exceeds the supply over the next decade? We'd have soaring prices and rolling brownouts. That crisis could easily be triggered by the electric vehicles (EVs) Biden's administration is pushing. By his Executive Order and an associated Action Plan, Biden's administration calls for 50% of all new vehicles sold in America by 2030 to be EVs. That means an additional 50 million new EVs on the road in the next nine years, all in an effort to lower Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, namely CO2. I
wouldn't exactly call Biden's oil and gas policies treason. [Scroll down] Biden's administration is
doing everything possible to spur on the use of battery-operated electric cars and trucks, as well as solar panels in the
United States.
650 km Wintertime Trip With VW E-Car Took 13 Hours, 3 Recharges And Lots Of Warm Clothes. When it comes to performance parameters like fuel consumption, car manufacturers' brochures often boast figures that in reality are only possible under really ideal conditions. But rarely are such conditions the case in real life. The result: disappointed consumers. Electric cars are notorious for their limited range and need of constant recharging — factors that are often overestimated by buyers. Recently German auto reporter Lisa Brack put her brand new electric car through a long distance, wintertime test. The result was hardly thrilling. "The result is sobering — she saves time by consistently freezing," reported the German kreiszeitung.de, on Ms. Brack's test. Do Electric Cars Pencil Out? [Scroll down] Interestingly, the piston-engined car also travels farther as it consumes the liquid energy it carries, because it carries around less weight as it burns up its fuel supply. The electric car, on the other hand, is just as heavy when it is fully charged as it is when it is fully discharged. There is also no "energy penalty" for storing liquid energy. So long as the tank isn't leaking, there won't be less energy available when the piston-engined car's owner wishes to drive somewhere — even if he left the car sitting for a month after having pumped in those 10 gallons. They do not evaporate or become less energy-dense. The tank requires no energy to preserve the energy it contains. Electric car batteries, on the other hand, consume energy even when their energy isn't being used ... to power the car. But it is necessary to power the heater that maintains the temperature of the battery, which must be kept above a certain threshold in order to avoid damaging it and to maintain its capacity to receive a charge. Which it will require, after sitting for a month — unless it was hooked up to a charger, using energy that way. More so, if it's very cold out. Foreseeable electric car catastrophes. Imagine: It is September 4, 2035 in Miami and a large Cat. 5 hurricane is offshore headed straight for Miami. Roughly 7 million persons are in the general area where the hurricane will come ashore in 24 hours. The governor orders an evacuation of the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area of Florida. All of the cars start heading north on I-95. All lanes a re cleared to head northbound. With Congress and President Cortez having mandated that all cars built after 2030 must be electric (no hybrids) everyone heads north, but now they are caught up in a terrible traffic jam. Electric cars are starting to stall out on the I-95 as well as the A1A and the Turnpike as they run out of power. There are simply not enough charging stations to charge the cars and police monitoring the available chargers are limiting drivers to 15 minutes. Chargers are shutting down as water shorts out the charging heads on the cars. The electric cars are turning off their air conditioners to preserve their remaining charge. You are stuck in the traffic jam all night with the storm headed right at you. No battery, no A/C/ no windshield wipers, no GPS. All that you can do is call 911 and hope for help, but they can't because all of the roads are blocked with stalled electric vehicles. Virginia traffic jam provides [a] reminder of [the] limitations of electric cars. Scott has already mentioned the 48-mile traffic backup that occurred in Northern Virginia yesterday. Reportedly, cars were stopped on I-95 for more than 24 hours in freezing temperatures. It must have been awful, but it could have been worse. And, as Charles Lane explains, it would have been much worse if there had been many more electric vehicles (EVs) in the traffic jam. Imagine Virginia's icy traffic catastrophe — but with only electric vehicles. It is a scientific fact that batteries of all kinds lose capacity more rapidly in cold weather, and that includes the sophisticated lithium-ion ones used by Teslas and other EVs. Carmakers can, and do, mitigate cold-weather "range anxiety" through various technologies; Tesla is touting a new "heat pump" to extend winter range. Drivers can save battery power by, say, turning off the heat. The issue cannot be eliminated, however, as Tesla acknowledges on its corporate website. It's a hassle in ordinary winter situations but potentially much worse than that on a night like Monday. Any EV driver stuck on I-95 was right to be anxious — not only about a rapidly dying battery but also about recharging it. Cold would make that process much more time-consuming, assuming there was a charging station nearby, and that the electric power system hadn't gone out (as it did in parts of Virginia on Monday). With Its Power Grid Under Pressure, California Asks Residents to Avoid Charging Electric Vehicles. Amid a West Coast heat wave that includes triple-digit temperatures, California's power grid operators have called on residents to not use as much electricity so as to put less strain on the state's beleaguered grid. In the past week, the California Independent System Operator (ISO) told residents several times to voluntarily conserve energy, including asking them on social media to stop charging their electric vehicles (EVs) during peak usage times. The operator also warned users to "[avoid] use of large appliances and turning off extra lights." "This usually happens in the evening hours when solar generation is going offline and consumers are returning home and switching on air conditioners, lights, and appliances," wrote the ISO. And on June 18, the California Flex Alert Twitter page wrote that "now is the perfect time to do a load of laundry," and urged residents to "remember to use major appliances, charge cars and devices before #FlexAlert begins at 6 p.m. today." The Editor says... Nope, No EV For Me. I've never been a big fan of electric vehicles. Oh, I know everybody says they are "the future" but studies now show the yearly cost of operating an EV versus a gas-powered cars is roughly the same. The people I know who drive EVs say they love them. A huge battery plant is opening in Chattanooga and the auto industry is tripped over itself in a quest to build the biggest and brightest but, nope, not me. I am a gasoline guy. Earlier this week I received a compelling, make-sense story about battery power and normally I would not read such a thing. This time I am glad I did because it makes "going green" sound more like a sham. Man Dynamites His Tesla After Learning He Needs To Pay 23k Dollars For A New Battery. The cost of a new Tesla Model S is about $95,000, but the experience of blowing one up is priceless. Finnish man Tuomas Katainen bought his Tesla in 2013, and it rode like a dream — for about the first 930 miles. "It was an excellent car," he said. "Then the error codes hit." After a month in the shop, mechanics said he'd need the "whole battery cell" replaced, at a price of 20,000 euros, or about $23,900. [Video clip] Are Electric Vehicles A Scam? Electric vehicles (EV) continue to represent a greater share of new car purchases, but their cost, range and charge rate may hinder many consumers from making the transition. While EV's have grown in popularity over the last decade, gas-powered vehicles still account for the vast majority of cars on the road and new car sales, according to Pew Research survey published in June. In addition, a 2020 AAA poll determined that nearly 80% of households with an EV also own a traditional vehicle, suggesting that just a sliver of Americans are making a complete transition. "One reason to be suspicious of electric cars overall, is that we haven't solved any of the real problems that we've always thought they had," said Michael Shellenberger, a climate expert who founded the group Environmental Progress. Lithium Shortage May Stall The Electric Car Revolution, Another Biden Blunder. The electric car revolution will stall in the West if supplies of crucial battery elements like lithium fail to keep up with the forecast huge increase in demand. As with most manufacturing and industry, China currently dominates the battery processing market too, and it is responsible for about 80% of global battery chemical refining capacity. A possibly overlooked supply problem by the Biden administration especially considering President Biden just outlined a plan for 50% of new car purchases to be zero-emissions by 2030. Lithium is a mineral that is key for electric car batteries. The pricing for it continues to rise in price, which is jeopardizing the ongoing transition to renewable energy outlined by Western governments. The cost has skyrocketed more than 250% over the last 12 months, hitting its highest level ever, according to an industry index from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. Elon Musk offloaded more Tesla shares for $884 million as the stock slid, bringing his selling spree to $14 billion. Elon Musk offloaded more Tesla shares on Thursday worth $884.1 million, bringing sales by the electric-vehicle maker's CEO to a total of nearly $14 billion since early November. In his second round of sales this week, the billionaire disposed of 934,091 Tesla shares, regulatory filings showed. That's the same amount Musk sold on Monday, pulling in $906 million — about $22 million more than the haul four days later. Tesla's stock has tumbled in recent weeks, and on Thursday, it slid alongside high-growth tech stocks, as investors weighed the Federal Reserve speeding up cutbacks in stimulus and its potential three interest-rate hikes in 2022. Musk has been on a stock-selling spree since November 8, after polling his Twitter fans about whether to dump 10% of his Tesla holding. He got an overwhelming "yes" in response. Kamala Harris Doesn't Understand how Electric Cars work, Despite Pushing them. In what can only be described as yet more proof that Kamala Harris is a complete moron; today she attempted to plug in an electric car at a charging station while asking the question you've probably never heard when it comes to plugging something into a socket, 'how do I know it's working'. Despite there being gauges right in front of her saying it is working, the moron still blurts out the ridiculous question. "There's no sound or fume," Kamala Harris remarks at an event highlighting the Biden administration's obsession with electric vehicles. "So... how do I know it's actually working?" [Video clip] WaPo warns: Come and see the systemic racism of electric vehicles. Get ready for some new and woke vernacular in the EV era. Now we have to worry about "charging deserts": [...] Why might charging stations be more prevalent in "well to do" neighborhoods, regardless of ethnic diversity? For one thing, it's because EVs are more expensive. At the moment, the gap between an average EV and an average traditional car is over $19,000. The Biden administration wants to close that gap by creating more point-of-sale tax credits for EVs, but the up front costs will still be onerous for working- and middle-class Americans regardless of ethnicity. There are other cost disincentives beyond the price tag too, especially regarding reliability. When one vehicle might make the difference between earning a living and unemployment. How many people who don't live in well-to-do neighborhoods can afford to run out of juice in their car? New Report Shows Push for Electric Cars Is Actually Killing Rainforests. It was buried during the Thanksgiving weekend, but CNN managed to commit a random act of journalism, detailing some new climate data that was found to show that the Earth warming actually began many decades earlier than stated. This revelation manages to both throw off climate modeling, as well as make the claim that mankind's technology was the root cause of... well, everything going wrong. Joining in the fray now is NBC News, which has also surprised by delivering another inconvenient truth. A new report shows that the need for more raw nickel ore — driven by the explosive market for lithium batteries — is causing the eradication of pristine rainforests in the Philippines. This is not a gradual loss of acreage. Massive swaths of the forests are being shredded as nickel mines are expanding at a rate far greater than the rise in global temperatures. Electric-Car Maker Lucid Plunges After Receiving SEC Subpoena. Lucid Group Inc shares plunged premarket after it released a filing that revealed it received a subpoena last week from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) about documents related to its blank-check deal. The Luxury electric-car maker released an 8-K filing Monday morning indicating it "received a subpoena" from the SEC related to an investigation. Lithium Prices Shoot Up, Disrupting Plans for Electric Car Manufacturers. Car manufacturers are finding it increasingly pricier to manufacture electric vehicles (EV) as the costs of procuring lithium, one of the main components found in every commercial EV battery, has shot up almost 280 percent since the start of the year. The demand for electric vehicles has pushed up demand for the metal, and supply has not been able to keep pace. Lithium is a vital ingredient for rechargeable batteries. The price hike will not only impact vehicles but also mobile phones and laptops. Carmakers are also struggling to get their hands on raw materials including lithium, semiconductor chips, copper, and aluminum. Experts claim that lithium will be harder to obtain and investments are needed for mining and producing the requisite amounts. Automobile manufacturers have been enthusiastic about the move to electric, with many companies proclaiming a complete shift from fossil-based engines to electric tech as early as 2040 or even 2030. Death by Politics. The next fatal move by Biden is beginning the destruction of our power grid. Under the guise of the Green New Deal and climate change, the president has already begun his war on fossil fuels. You are witnessing a monumental increase in cost for gas, oil, propane, and natural gas. We will be competing with all the electric cars that he wants for power. Our electric grid cannot sustain our demand for heat and air-conditioning while servicing the enormous need to charge electric vehicles. The sinister nature of electric cars. The Democrats are doing everything they can to get Americans into electric cars. However, those cars come with the risk of a serious loss of power — not just for the car, but for those who buy those cars. We have to begin with asking, why is the governing pushing electric vehicles? And it's not just cars; it's also trucks. Why are they ignoring hybrid vehicles? If something happens to the electric guts of a properly designed hybrid car, the vehicle can limp along with its smaller gas engine until it reaches safety. What happens to a fully electric vehicle if its electrical system fails? Nothing, of course! You're stuck. All you have is a hunk of metal and plastic. And if you run out of electricity while driving, you can't just get a gallon gas can to fill the tank until you get to the nearest service station. Again, you're stuck. The next question is, "Are electric cars cheaper than gas cars?" No, they cannot be cheaper, and that's even if you run them on renewables. Buttigieg Tries to Make Families Feel Better About Gas Prices By Offering an Unaffordable Alternative. As the Biden Administration continues to push American families into alternative energy sources by maintaining pain at the pump, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is attempting to explain away high gas prices. During an interview with MSNBC over the weekend, Buttigieg reassured Americans they won't have to worry about an increase in gas prices ever again, so long as they buy an electric vehicle. "Families who own that vehicle will never have to worry about gas prices again," Buttigieg said. "The people who stand to benefit most from owning an EV are often rural residents who have the most distances to drive, who burn the most gas, and underserved urban residents in areas where there are higher gas prices and lower income." [...] Rural residents who need to drive long distances are the worst candidates for electric vehicles, which only charge for a certain number of miles. Outside of major cities, electric charging stations don't exist. According to Cox Automotive, the average electric vehicle costs at least $55,000. Buttigieg Blasted for Urging Americans to Buy Electric Cars to Save on Fuel Costs. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg raised eyebrows across the country this week when he urged Americans struggling to cope with higher fuel prices to simply buy electric vehicles. [Tweet] "The people who stand to benefit most from owning an EV [electric vehicle] are often rural residents who have the most distances to drive, who burn the most gas, and underserved urban residents in areas where there are higher gas prices and lower income," Buttigieg said. "They would gain the most by having that vehicle," he added. "These are the very residents who have not always been connected to electric vehicles that are viewed as kind of a luxury item." "Everyone can probably afford electric cars in the world that Pete Buttigieg lives in," tweeted Trump White House communications official Mercedes Schlapp. "Average Americans struggling with record high gas prices? Not so much." How cobalt-free batteries will bring down the cost of EVs. Battery manufactures like Samsung and Panasonic and car manufactures like Tesla and Volkswagen, along with a number of startups, are working to eliminate cobalt from batteries. Cobalt is one of the most expensive materials found in lithium-ion batteries and cobalt extraction is largely concentrated in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where it is linked to human rights abuses and child labor. This guy has one solution for everything: The Build Back Better Bill Will Give You $12,000 for Buying an Electric Car. Unless It's a Tesla. On Friday, the House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act, President Joe Biden's signature legislation. Despite being much smaller than it was when initially proposed, the bill is still stuffed with Democratic wish list items, including policies on climate change, child care, family leave, and immigration. The bill is expected to face opposition, and likely some pruning, when it reaches the Senate. One proposal jumps out as an obvious contender for the chopping block. As part of Biden's plan to rein in carbon emissions, the bill contains a provision which would provide a $7,500 tax rebate to any consumer who purchases an electric vehicle (EV), including both all-electric and plug-in hybrids. However, that amount increases by $4,500 if the car was manufactured in a unionized U.S. factory, as well as by an additional $500 if the vehicle contains a U.S.-made battery. Biden's BBB Bill Will Give You $12.5K if You Buy an Electric Car — Unless It's a Tesla. In yet another example that powerful teachers unions and labor unions enjoy joint custody of Joe Biden and the Democrat Party, the ridiculously named socialist monstrosity "Build Back Better" Act contains a provision that provides a tax credit of up to $12,500 to purchasers of electric vehicles — other than Teslas. Why not Teslas? Three words: United Autoworkers Union. That's right, America, as reported by CBS News, only electric vehicles made in unionized U.S. factories qualify for the full $12,500. However, if Tesla it must be, your tax credit would be capped at $7,500. Biden Energy Secretary Subject of Ethics Complaint for Promoting Electric Company She Held $1.6 Million in Stock. President Biden's Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has received an ethics complaint for promoting an electric bus company she sat on the board of and held over a million dollars of stock in. She did so all while being a part of the executive branch in Biden's administration. Breitbart reports Granholm, "who oversees moving the country toward an electric vehicle transportation system and enjoys newfound powers after the passage of Biden's infrastructure package — is facing scrutiny for promoting Proterra, a Burlingame, California-based electric bus company she sat on the board of and held 240,520 shares of stock in, which garnered her $1.6 million when she finally divested them 157 days after her nomination." Global warming scare-mongers refuted as Arctic ice growing, on track to be the most ice in 2 decades. The scariest scenario of the global warming doomsayers has been the idea that the melting Arctic ice cap would put coastal cities underwater. [...] Joe Biden and the climate grifters don't care about the data. They want to spend trillions of dollars converting the motor vehicle fleet to battery-powered electric cars whose power source will be... something. Not quite sure what. Windmills and solar panels won't work, and the greenies hate nuclear power. It's all a scam. Joe Biden Addresses High Gas Prices: Americans Can Save Money if They Buy Electric Cars. President Joe Biden promoted his efforts to lower gas prices on Tuesday, but he reminded Americans they would save more money on gas if they owned electric cars. "For the hundreds of thousands of folks who bought one of those electric cars, they're going to save $800 to $1000 in fuel costs this year," Biden said, referring to the $112,595 electric Hummer pickup he test drove at a General Motors factory in Detroit earlier this month. The Editor says... EV batteries forecast to threaten world with 'toxic chemicals,' 'landfill fires'. It's one of the biggest unanswered questions as electric vehicles (EVs) rapidly proliferate: What will happen to all of the degraded lithium-ion batteries once the vehicles reach the end of their lives? "Recycling" is the optimistic solution offered by EV advocates and supporters of green technology, but will battery recycling actually make economic and environmental sense? According to the International Energy Agency, a predicted 23 million EVs sold worldwide in 2030 could lead to 5,750,000 tonnes of retired batteries by 2040, and this waste will keep piling up as EVs replace internal combustion engine vehicles. The prospect is of pressing interest to a team of scientists and engineers in the UK, which recently published a paper on the "financial viability of electric vehicle lithium-ion battery recycling" in the journal iScience. "If recycling remains unprofitable, battery waste mountains could build up, which, if uncontrolled, bear a significant environmental and safety risk, as toxic chemicals could leak into the environment and landfill fires might occur," the researchers warned. Tesla ranks almost dead-last on Consumer Reports reliability list. Following a tumultuous year for Tesla including a company relocation helmed by CEO Elon Musk, viral reports of cars on fire and other self-admitted quality control issues, Tesla has plummeted on Consumer Reports' annual list of most-reliable carmakers. The electric car manufacturer now ranks 27th out of 28 car brands on Consumer Reports' list, above only Ford-owned legacy luxury brand Lincoln. Much of it has to do with the overall instability of electric vehicles in general — especially SUVs — which Consumer Reports' Jake Fisher said during a presentation are the "absolute bottom in terms of reliability," according to Reuters. But considering that, at one point, the Tesla Model S excelled so much in Consumer Reports' own analyses that the organization itself said it was "breaking the Consumer Reports Ratings system" due to its excellence, the low rank is tough criticism for Tesla and its legions of enthusiasts. Tesla Stock Price Target Hiked To Street High As House Passes New EV Credits. Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives raised his price target for Tesla stock to $1,400 from $1,000 in a note to clients late Thursday, as the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday [11/19/2021] passed a reconciliation bill that includes EV credits for Tesla and other EV makers. Tesla stock and other EV stocks rose on Friday. Wedbush's price target is the highest on Wall Street, along with the top end of Jefferies' outlook. Ives says the linchpin to the overall bull thesis on Tesla remains China. Wedbush estimates China will represent 40% of Tesla's deliveries in 2022. Rivian, the Government Unicorn: The EV truck maker is worth $120.5 billion. It has sold 156 vehicles. We live in the age of free money and endless government subsidy, which is the only way to explain the $100 billion public stock offering by Rivian this week. The electric truck maker has delivered a mere 156 vehicles, but investors are betting government won't let it fail. Twelve-year-old Rivian is being hailed as the next Tesla. Yet when Tesla went public in 2010 it reported $93 million in revenue and was valued at $1.7 billion. Rivian's sales are almost all to its own employees and it projected at most $1 million in revenue in the third quarter. On Wednesday it nonetheless raised nearly $12 billion. Shares later surged as euphoric investors rushed in, and at $120.5 billion Rivian is the fifth largest auto maker in the world by market value. Ponder that one. New
Study Finds Electric Cars Cost More To Refuel Than Gasoline Powered Cars. The Anderson study noted that Electronic Vehicles (EVs) are,
"often presumed to be less expensive to fuel than their ICE counterparts. There is a rationale in physics for this: due to greater thermal
efficiency, electric motors convert energy more efficiently than combustion engines. However, this cost is only one of five." For a
complete picture, Anderson notes that we consumers must consider:
Something Big is Coming. [Scroll down] Ostensibly to chat with the Pope about such theological issues as climate change — apparently the latest religious belief superseding what most people consider Catholicism — President Biden (who reportedly took 800 staffers with him to the Climate Conference in Glasgow, Scotland) cruised through Rome in an 85-vehicle motorcade. What more could you ask to show how seriously Biden takes the issue of greenhouse gases and fossil fuels? Speaking of "serious," how can you not laugh at a president so stupid that he said, "When you buy an electric vehicle, you can go across America on a single tank of gas figuratively speaking. It's not gas. You plug it in." Sure, you do, and you have to plug it in every few hundred miles and wait for hours for it to charge unless somewhere someone has invented some very very long and sturdy extension cords. And, of course, plugging it in requires electric power from somewhere, and there's a substantial shortage of it because of the same loony energy policies that are now forcing up gas and electric power prices around the country and the world. Biden Tries to Explain Driving Cross-Country in an Electric Car, It Goes Horribly Wrong. As gas prices soar across the country, President Joe Biden attempted to explain the benefits of electric cars. Predictably, his explanation was more confusing than it was helpful. Biden was giving a speech Thursday [10/28/2021] describing his two massive spending sprees, also known as the Build Back Better plan and infrastructure bill. According to a White House transcript, Biden was describing the need to replace buses and cars with electric alternatives like rail and electric cars. "When you buy an electric vehicle, you can go across America on a single tank of gas, figuratively speaking," Biden said. "It's not gas. You plug it in." [Video clip] Biden electric vehicle plan creates environmental danger with discarded batteries, ex-EPA boss says. President Biden's climate change plan for electric vehicles and renewable energy sources will harm the environment, warns Andrew Wheeler, former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under former President Trump. "[W]e don't know what we're going to do with the disposal of these windmills or solar panels," the latter of which "in particular, have hazardous materials in them," Wheeler told the John Solomon Reports podcast Thursday [10/28/2021]. While he said he's all for using renewable energy technologies such as windmills, solar power, and electric vehicles, the issue is that there's not yet a sustainable plan for the waste they produce. "Every single energy source has positives and negatives, and nobody ever looks at the negatives of renewable energy, and we have to have as a country if we're going to push what Joe Biden wants to do," Wheeler said. "[H]e wants to have 50% electric vehicles by 2030." COP-26 is a global energy embarrassment. For 26 futile years, the net-zero maniacs have wasted fuel, energy, and taxpayers' money to bite the hands that provide their food, energy, welfare, and public-sector jobs. Led by E.U. and AUKUS dreamers, they destroy reliable energy from coal, oil, nuclear, gas, and hydro while forcing us to subsidize net-negative dreams like solar, wind, wave-power, CCUS, hot rocks, pumped hydro, and hydrogen. All such speculative ventures should be funded by speculators, not taxpayers. COP-Out-26 illustrates to the realists of China, Russia, India, and Brazil that the West has lost its marbles and is in terminal decline. For Scott Morrison to surrender Australia to these green wolves betrays an army of miners, farmers, truckies, and workers in primary, secondary, and tertiary industries that support him and his Canberra pack. The fakery of COP-Out-26 is well illustrated by the provision of diesel generators to recharge the batteries of 26 electric cars provided for show in Glasgow. But that's OK "because the diesels are run on recycled chip fat." The Editor says... Which is more expensive: Charging an electric vehicle or fueling a car with gas? Last year, Patrick Anderson went electric: He got a Porsche Taycan EV in dark blue. Anderson, who is CEO of East Lansing-based economic consulting firm Anderson Economic Group, loves the zippy acceleration and "exciting" features the car offers. He also gets satisfaction in knowing that driving an EV benefits the environment, he said. But Anderson's joy comes with a dark side. "They are a wonderful driving experience. But at the same time, they're an enormous burden in time and in energy in finding chargers and getting them charged," Anderson said. "And you're not really saving much in terms of charging costs ... you may be paying more." 8 Ridiculous 'Green New Deal' Programs in Democrats' Bloated Spending Bill. [#3] Huge Handouts for the Rich to Buy Fancy Electric Vehicles: The "Green Energy" subtitle, starting on page 1695, would throw $279 billion in tax subsidies at a range of predictable things: unreliable wind and solar energy projects, cost-ineffective biofuels like ethanol, and an "environmental justice" bonus depending on where things are built. The most galling aspect of this massive exercise in corporate welfare and economic micromanagement is Section 136401, which provides tax credits toward the purchase of electric vehicles. While much of the rhetoric surrounding the bill revolves around socialist notions of "economic justice," the details in this section show that Democrats have no problem cutting checks to the wealthy. Existing tax credits for these vehicles go overwhelmingly to households making over $100,000 per year. Working-class families are unlikely to purchase a $55,000 sedan or a $74,000 truck. Yet vehicles costing that much are eligible for the tax credit. Similarly, households earning up to $800,000 qualify for the credit. Tesla zooms past $1 trillion market cap on bet that the EV future is now. Tesla Inc surpassed $1 trillion in market value on Monday [10/25/2021] after landing its biggest-ever order from rental car company Hertz, a deal that reinforced the electric car leader's ambitions to top the entire auto industry in sales over the next decade. Tesla shares surged as much as 14.9% to $1,045.02, making it the world's most valuable automaker according to Reuters calculations based on its latest filing. Even Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk expressed surprise at the velocity of the surge. "Strange that moved valuation, as Tesla is very much a production ramp problem, not a demand problem," Musk tweeted in reply to a comment by Ross Gerber, co-founder of the investment fund Gerber Kawasaki and a Tesla shareholder. Net zero greenhouse emissions is an impossible goal. Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are not zero emission. Battery manufacture is both energy intensive and greenhouse gas intensive. On a lifecycle basis, including vehicle manufacture, use and disposal, BEVs with large batteries could have worse emissions than comparable conventional vehicles, although smaller BEVs in areas with low-carbon electricity supplies will have lower but non-zero emissions than comparable conventional cars. The very serious health issues associated with mining for met-als are simply exported away from where the BEV is used. Particulate emissions can be almost eliminated in modern engines. That being the case, tyre wear will soon become the dominant source of particulates, and will be much higher for BEVs because of their greater weight. [...] If enough people do not buy BEVs because of high up-front costs and charging anxiety, the UK automotive industry will be destroyed. To replace just cars and vans with BEVs will require total battery capacity to increase by a factor of well over 200. Forget Silver, Nevada Is Now The Lithium State. Lithium is one of the most in-demand commodities in the world today. With the ongoing shift to electric vehicles (EVs) and clean energy technologies, governments and EV manufacturers are rushing to secure their supply chains as demand for lithium soars. But, as Visual Capitalist notes, while the US is lagging behind in the global lithium race, it is only now starting to realize the need to catch up to China's strong foothold. The Editor says... Life in Centrifugal USA. [Scroll down] The President claimed that this tsunami of dollars (parceled out to favored supporters and interests) would not cost taxpayers one dollar. It wouldn't if you are dumb enough to consider the stupidest wastes of money "investments." Things like these can serve as examples: [...] [#3] $175 Billion in Subsidies for Electric Vehicles. Electric vehicles: A technological novelty so good it won't catch on without hundreds of billions in subsidies. At least, that's apparently what the Biden administration thinks, as its infrastructure proposal earmarks a "$174 billion investment to win the electric vehicle market." The spending will take the form of manufacturing subsidies and consumer tax credits, which historically have benefitted wealthy families most. For comparison, the proposal carves out more for green energy goodies than it does on the total $115 billion to "modernize the bridges, highways, roads, and main streets that are in most critical need of repair." Are Electric Vehicles A Joke? No, not necessarily. Electric vehicles may be fine cars; Teslas certainly are (while Chevy Volts evidently are not). But the idea that our hundreds of millions of gasoline-powered cars are going to be replaced by EVs within the next century is ridiculous. Where will the electricity come from? There is no sane answer to that question, especially since the only plausible solution — an enormous amount of nuclear power — is off the table. And of course, greatly expanding the electrical grid to accommodate EVs, mining the lithium necessary for batteries that vastly exceed anything that now exists, and developing an infrastructure of charging stations adequate to service hundreds of millions of EVs — these are practical matters to which little intelligent thought has been given. So the current mania for electric vehicles is eminently deserving of ridicule. EV Battery Fires Won't Keep Pols from Putting You in Them. Recent news about EV battery fires does not bode well for California Governor Newsom's executive order to ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2035. The Bolt, the only EV that GM is selling in North America, has been "tied to at least nine fires" since early 2020, and Hyundai's vehicles were involved in about 15 fires. Meanwhile, three Tesla's have burst into flames over the past four months. So far, 27 EV battery fires and still counting. Firefighters may need 30,000 to 40,000 gallons of water to contain a Tesla electric vehicle (EV) blaze than they would normally use for a mainstream gas-powered car that was on fire. General Motors announced in August 2021 that they were recalling 73,000 Chevrolet Bolt EV's in addition to the 70,000 Bolts that were made between 2017 and 2019. Fixing all 143,000 of the Bolts being recalled for fire risk to replace new battery modules could, as Morningstar analyst David Whiston told the Detroit Free Press, cost GM some $1.8 billion. The Major Problem With EVs No One Is Talking About. When GM earlier this year started recalling Bolts, it issued a warning to owners of the EV: don't charge your car battery to 100 percent. Normally, this would be easy enough to do. But what if your charger got hacked? Last year, researchers from the Southwest Research Institute in Texas successfully hacked the most popular charging system used in North America. The hack limited the charging rate, then blocked charging, and then overcharged the battery. The reason for the hack: "This was an initiative designed to identify potential threats in common charging hardware as we prepare for widespread adoption of electric vehicles in the coming decade," according to lead researcher Austin Dodson. Mission accomplished. Democrats are again planning to pay rich people to buy expensive cars. As part of their appalling, budget-busting $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill, Democrats are insisting upon a vast transfer of wealth from less affluent taxpayers to the very rich. The form that this transfer is taking is a plan to increase the already outrageous $7,500 taxpayer-funded credit for electric car purchases to a $12,500 credit. [...] Putting aside the fact that electric cars aren't as green as promised, given their filthy batteries created using materials associated with brutal child labor* and the fact that they often just transfer pollution from the gas tank to the fossil-fuel-burning electric plant, the incentives are nothing more than money for rich people. New York outlaws selling new gas-powered new vehicles by 2035. A bill signed into law last week by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul effectively outlaws the sale of new gas-powered vehicles in less than 14 years. The law, Senate Bill S2758 and Assembly Bill A4302, sets a goal that 100% of all passenger cars, trucks and off-road vehicles will be zero-emission. The goal is 2045 for larger vehicles, such as medium- and heavy-duty trucks and buses. As A4302 sponsor Assemblymember Steve Englebright, D-Setauket, said on the Assembly floor before the 110-40 April 20 vote passing the bill: "Zero emissions means that we will see electric vehicles instead of internal combustion engine-driven vehicles on our roads." It also, though, will allow hydrogen-powered vehicles as those produce water vapors instead of a carbon-based emission. The Editor says... Biden's climate commitment tested as greens fight Nevada lithium mine. President Biden is calling for an electric vehicle revolution, but a major mining project proposed for remote western Nevada could soon show whether his administration intends to walk the talk. All the Australian company ioneer Ltd. needs is final Interior Department clearance to start work on the Rhyolite Ridge Lithium-Boron Project after announcing Thursday a joint venture with the international mining firm Sibanye-Stillwater. "We are shovel ready with the approval of this administration," said James Calaway, ioneer executive chairman, in a Thursday press call. Elon Musk upset over proposed Democratic subsidies for unionized electric car companies. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is criticizing House Democrats and the Biden administration for providing tax incentives for union-made electric cars that won't help his company or others that are not unionized. Musk and other automakers say the tax benefit will unfairly boost the business of car companies such as GM, Ford, and Chrysler, which are represented by the United Auto Workers union. Biden Has Completed the Most Lucrative and Devastating Treason In World History. America has been sold to the Chinese. This explains stolen elections and the disaster in Afghanistan. The treason of Biden is unparalleled. Follow this story as you will see how America has been sold out to Chinese interests. This connects most of the dots. On the industrial/economic front, lithium is the new oil. The most important use of lithium is in rechargeable batteries for mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras and electric vehicles. [...] We are all aware that the Biden administration announced, immediately after stealing the 2020 election and assuming power announced that Americans would soon have to give up their "gas-guzzling" cars in favor of electric cars and now we are just beginning to understand how this climate change principle provides cover for the economic takeover of what will prove to be the most important mineral of the face of earth. The demand for lithium is projected by most economists to increase at least by a 40-fold level above 2020 levels by 2040. Your electric car runs on lithium batteries. Where does lithium come from? GM 'not confident' LG Chem will build defect-free Bolt batteries. General Motors will keep its Orion Assembly plant idled and not start repairs on the nearly 141,000 recalled Chevrolet Bolts EVs and EUVs until it is confident its supplier can make a defect-free EV battery that does not pose a potential fire risk. And right now, GM does not believe its battery-maker, LG Chem, can do that. GM and LG Chem have "hundreds of people" working around the clock, seven days a week, to find the cause of the defective battery modules connected to some Bolts catching fire without impact, said GM spokesman Dan Flores. The World Will Run Out Of EV Batteries By 2025. While you can cut down your carbon footprint by a massive margin by switching over to an EV, you just can't get away from using finite resources completely. EV batteries contain a litany of expensive and finite rare earth metals and minerals, most notably cobalt and lithium, which cause tricky negotiations with global supply chains and which are not without their negative environmental externalities thanks to sometimes messy mining operations. The energy revolution's dependence on rare earth metals, which is only set to intensify, has inadvertently put a huge amount of control into the hands of China, which controls around 90% of the market for some of these resources, and has shown that it is not afraid to use that power to sway international politics and diplomacy. In fact, it has been posited that China's dominance of these supply chains, and other countries' reticence of that dominance, could potentially lead to a new clean energy resource war if world powers don't tread lightly. GM recalls every Chevy Bolt ever made, blames LG for faulty batteries. GM has announced that it is recalling every Chevrolet Bolt made to date, including new electric utility vehicle models, over concerns that a manufacturing defect in the cars' LG-made batteries could cause a fire. The Bolt was first recalled in November after five cars that hadn't been in crashes caught fire. After investigating the problem further, Chevy recalled a second batch in July. The problem was traced to two manufacturing defects that could occur simultaneously. The defects — a torn anode tab and folded separator — created conditions that could lead to a short in affected cells. So far, the company has identified 10 fires that involve faulty batteries, according to an AP report. GM to spend $1 billion to expand Chevy Bolt EV recall due to fires. General Motors on Friday [8/20/2021] said it is expanding its recent recall of Chevrolet Bolt EVs to newer models of the electric car due to potential fire risk. The recall expansion is expected to cost the automaker an additional $1 billion, bringing the recall's total to $1.8 billion to replace potentially defective battery modules in the vehicles. GM said about 73,000 vehicles in the U.S. and Canada are being added to the recall from the 2019-2022 model years, including a recently launched larger version of the car called the Bolt EUV. The former recall involved about 69,000 of the cars globally from the 2017-2019 model years, including nearly 51,000 in the U.S. The expanded recall now includes all Bolt EV models ever produced, casting a shadow over GM's first mainstream electric vehicle, as it attempts to transition to exclusively sell EVs by 2035. What You Need to Know About Biden's Ill-Conceived Executive Order on Electric Vehicles. President Joe Biden issued an executive order Aug. 5 calling for half of all new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be zero-emission vehicles by 2030. A president can't exactly force Americans to buy an electric vehicle, and Biden largely meant his executive order as a messaging tool to fuel enthusiasm for his climate agenda. But it threatens to ignore customers along the way. Electric and alternative fuel vehicles arrived on the scene in the past two decades, yet only accounted for 2% of car sales in 2019 despite generous federal and state subsidies. So far, electric vehicles and other alternative fuel vehicles have generally been the lifestyle choice of well-off Americans and urbanites. Studies from the Congressional Research Service and the University of California at Berkeley show the vast majority of tax credits for buying an electric vehicle have gone to corporations and to Americans in top income brackets. Buying an electric vehicle is a perfectly acceptable choice, but we shouldn't pretend that electric vehicles, such as they are now, are the "all-American vehicle." The Editor says... Strong Demand for Gas Vehicles Drives Detroit Production Plans, Clouds Biden's 2030 Goal for EVs. Automakers in North America plan to build more pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles than electric vehicles well into the late 2020s, with strong consumer demand for gasoline-powered vehicles charting sales trends that run counter to the Biden administration's goal of boosting electric vehicles (EVs) to half the market by 2030, according to internal production forecasts reported on by Reuters. President Joe Biden signed an executive order earlier in August establishing the goal of making half of all new vehicles sold in the United States either hybrid or fully electric by 2030. Biden's order also set a new schedule for the development of new long-term fuel efficiency and emissions standards to tackle pollution and other objectives. General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler-parent Stellantis have endorsed Biden's zero-emissions sales target, saying in a joint statement on Aug. 5 that they aspired "to achieve sales of 40-50 percent of annual U.S. volumes of electric vehicles ... by 2030," adding that the goal can only be met with more government investment in charging stations and other infrastructure. Biden's 50 percent goal and the automakers' 40 to 50 percent aspiration includes battery electric, fuel cell, and plug-in hybrid vehicles that also have gasoline engines. America's Automotive Future. Joe Biden, emulating trendsetting blue state governors like California's Gavin Newsom and New York's Andrew Cuomo, recently has declared that by 2030, new car sales must be 50 percent zero-emission electric vehicles. The problem with this decree is that it violates the proverbial rule against the government picking winners and losers. It's one thing for the government to subsidize energy research, or, for that matter, any pure research. Libertarian purists might object to that, but sometimes these public-private research partnerships can accelerate innovation and help keep American manufacturers competitive. It's quite another thing, however, for the government to restrict what sort of technology powers our vehicles, because there's no way we can predict how technology will evolve between now and 2030. Biden's Electric Vehicle Plan Without Mining Expansion Is A Big Win For Beijing. President Joe Biden announced plans Thursday [7/5/2021] to push auto sales to be 50 percent electric by 2030 with new regulations, as part of the administration's effort to promote cleaner energy. "There [is] a vision of the future that is now beginning to happen," Biden said at the White House. "A future of the automobile industry that is electric. Battery electric, plug-in, hybrid electric, fuel cell electric, it's electric and there's no turning back." That future however, may also feature swelling American reliance on one of its greatest overseas adversaries: China. Less than five percent of all new cars on the U.S. market were purely electric vehicles and less than four percent were plug-in hybrids as of June, according to the Energy Department's Argonne National Laboratory. Not only will the government-manufactured shift to up that number by 12 times require massive state subsidies for a slow-growing industry, as Biden promised, but it will exacerbate American dependence on Chinese mineral production to make the car batteries needed. Automakers Team Up With Biden To Force Electric Cars On Consumers. In eight years, half of American car buyers will be forced to purchase overpriced, underperforming electric cars they don't want, courtesy of the federal government and a compliant auto industry. That, at least, is what President Joe Biden announced at the White House on Thursday [8/5/2021], and it's just as we predicted in this space three months ago. With a wave of his pen, Biden ordered that 50% of new cars and trucks sold by 2030 are to be electric. Since the auto companies already have their 2022 model year cars in production, that means they have less than eight years to figure out how to comply with the most massive, disruptive, and anti-consumer mandate ever to come out of Washington. The automakers have only themselves to blame for that. As we noted in early May, they'd already caved to the green police and announced ambitious plans to electrify their fleets, even though consumers have little interest in buying battery-powered cars. Biden to Push for Dirty Electric Cars Our Power Grids Aren't Ready to Support. Joe Biden can't go a single day without issuing some edict on behalf of his leftist supporters. The man who ran as a moderate Democrat will reportedly push for about half of all U.S. cars to be electric just nine years from now. [...] Toyota may remain notably quiet about this. The world's largest automaker has repeatedly warned that our power grids aren't ready to power billions of EVs. Elon Musk has said the same, and he's atop the world's largest EV automaker, Tesla. Neither Toyota nor Tesla oppose EVs. Neither do I, for that matter. They just don't think our grids are ready to power them without very significant investment and overhauls. Who is going to pay for that? Biden's bloated infrastructure bill doesn't address it. 1 in 5 electric vehicle owners in California switched back to gas because charging their cars is a hassle, research shows. In roughly three minutes, you can fill the gas tank of a Ford Mustang and have enough range to go about 300 miles with its V8 engine. But on a recent 200-mile trip from Boston to New York in the Mustang's electric Mach-E variant, Axios' Dan Primack said he felt "panic" as his battery level dipped below 23% while searching for a compatible charger to complete his trip. "I was assured that this might be one of the country's easiest EV routes," Primack wrote. "Those assurances were misplaced." For Bloomberg automotive analyst Kevin Tynan, an hour plugged into his household outlet gave the Mach-E just three miles of range. "Overnight, we're looking at 36 miles of range," he told Insider. "Before I gave it back to Ford, because I wanted to give it back full, I drove it to the office and plugged in at the charger we have there." [...] Roughly one in five plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) owners switched back to owning gas-powered cars, in large part because charging the batteries was a pain in the... trunk, the researchers found. Proterra Lurches Into Damage-Control Mode in [the] Wake of [Washington] Free Beacon Reports. A slump in stock price and reports about Proterra's costly electric buses underperforming across the country have sent the Biden administration's favorite electric battery company into damage-control mode, retaining a top-flight defamation lawyer and inveighing against "partisan blogs" like the Washington Free Beacon and the taxpayer-funded NPR. Proterra, the electric bus company linked to several Biden administration officials and top Democrats, has retained the services of high-profile attorney Erik Connolly, the company said. A Proterra spokesman said Connolly was hired to "address some recent false and defamatory publications about the company." Proterra also published a statement Monday night that sought to set the "record straight about mischaracterizations about our Company in recent partisan news blogs that are opposed to the widespread adoption of zero-emission vehicles." LA Times: Maybe we shouldn't follow California's example on electric cars. Two months ago, the New York Times and CNN raised warning flags on the environmental costs of transitioning to electric cars. Last week, the Los Angeles Times followed suit, although in this case it's the California dog that doesn't bark that should be of greatest interest to that question. Even without the obvious questions about energy for recharging, however, the LAT raises a series of environmental issues with the necessary mining to sustain production of EVs. With China Producing Half the World's New Energy Vehicles, Retired Batteries May Bring 'Explosive Pollution'. As China's new energy vehicle production grows rapidly, with half of global production now coming from China, the huge amount of retired batteries could bring "disastrous" environmental problems and "explosive pollution," says state-owned media Xinhua. According to Xinhua, the cumulative retired batteries in China will had reached 200,000 tons (about 25 GWh) in 2020 and will grow to 780,000 tons (about 116 GWh) by 2025. However, more than half of the retired batteries are not recycled via proper channels, but are "snapped up" by unqualified small factories that don't invest much in environmental protection, the report says. California City Bought Into Electric Bus Company Promoted by White House, Now Considering Scrapping Expensive Fleet After Nonstop Disasters. One Southern California city's test run of the Proterra electric buses touted by the Biden administration has backfired. These buses were the "future of mass transportation," according to Biden officials, so we can only ask: Is this the future we want? According to the Washington Free Beacon, the Foothill Transit agency, which serves valley areas outside of Los Angeles, reported that not only are the buses' transmission failures too expensive to repair, but the buses themselves have also melted in the sweltering California heat and one even caught fire in a "thermal event" in January. Philadelphia's electric bus fleet has disappeared. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is one of the deep-blue cities that's been priding itself in leading the charge against climate change for years now. Back in 2016, they decided to establish a position as an early adopter of electric vehicle technology on a large scale to reduce their carbon footprint. The city purchased 25 electric buses from a company called Protera at a staggering price tag of nearly one million dollars apiece and put them into operation. But barely four years later, every one of the buses had been pulled from service and is deemed unusable. What went so horribly wrong to produce such a result? As the Free Beacon reports this week, just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong. The Editor says... Report: Philadelphia's Proterra Fleet in Complete Shambles. More than two dozen electric Proterra buses first unveiled by the city of Philadelphia in 2016 are already out of operation, according to a WHYY investigation. The entire fleet of Proterra buses was removed from the roads by SEPTA, the city's transit authority, in February 2020 due to both structural and logistical problems — the weight of the powerful battery was cracking the vehicles' chassis, and the battery life was insufficient for the city's bus routes. The city raised the issues with Proterra, which failed to adequately address the city's concerns. The city paid $24 million for the 25 new Proterra buses, subsidized in part by a $2.6 million federal grant. Philadelphia defended the investment with claims that the electric buses would require less maintenance than standard combustion engine counterparts. [...] Over the past five days, Proterra's stock price has fallen over 25 percent. Magic Bus. Speaking of electric vehicles... Possibly the dumbest thing any country could do from an energy standpoint is to promote widespread use of electric vehicles, while simultaneously mandating reliance on wind and solar energy, which work less than half the time. Moreover, governments' politically-motivated reliance on electric vehicles like buses has been a disaster. This is a typical "green" fiasco: [...] There is no sane reason for any government to buy, let alone subsidize, these vehicles. It is crony corruption, pure and simple. [...] By rights, companies like Proterra should be subject to massive consumer and securities fraud lawsuits, and maybe they will be. But political muscle goes a long way, and Proterra and its ilk are darlings of the Biden administration and the Democratic Party in general. King County to require electric vehicle charging stations at new developments. Drivers in unincorporated King County could start seeing more electric vehicle (EV) charging stations thanks to new legislation approved by King County Council Tuesday [7/13/2021]. Under the new legislation, new developments like apartment buildings and single-family townhomes or substantially remodeled developments must have 10% of their parking spots to have EV charging stations and 25% of spaces to be ready to install charging stations in the near future. Now is the Time to Get Serious About Nuclear Energy. California is obsessed with so-called "zero-emissions" transportation, i.e., electric vehicles. The state passed numerous laws, regulations, and subsidies in pursuit of that objective. But EVs are not currently free of carbon emissions. Fossil fuels (coal and natural gas) generate most of the electricity needed to charge their batteries. If nuclear energy generated that same electricity we could honestly say that EVs generate "zero-emissions." Even Elon Musk admits that there is not enough electricity generating capacity to allow widespread conversion to EVs. The only way there could be enough capacity is by resorting to nuclear power. The last remaining nuclear plant in California is at Diablo Canyon and has been operating since 1985. It is the single largest power station in the state, generating ten percent of California's electricity. Because of the state's hostility toward nuclear power, it is scheduled to close in 2025. No one knows what will replace that generating capacity. U.S. urges 50,000 Chevy Bolt owners to park outside because of fire risks. U.S. auto safety regulators on Wednesday [7/14/2021] urged about 50,000 owners of General Motors electric Chevrolet Bolt vehicles that were recalled last year to park outside and away from homes and other structures after charging because of fire risks. Earlier on Wednesday, GM made the same recommendation and added owners should not leave vehicles charging overnight. The recommendation was prompted after the largest U.S. automaker said it was investigating reports of two recent fires in vehicles that were recalled in November for fire risks. Rodents chow down on Teslas, causing thousands in damage. Elon Musk may have a rat problem. Fans of the South African billionaire's electric cars say rats, mice and rodents are chomping down on their Teslas. And despite having dropped tens of thousands of dollars to buy the pricey vehicles, Tesla refuses to cover the damage[.] Sarah Williams, a 41-year-old physician who lives in Manhattan and uses her Tesla to commute to work in the Bronx, told the Post of an alarming incident when she took her 2018 Model 3 into Tesla's Paramus, NJ, dealership in mid-May after her air conditioner had stopped working. "They opened the glove compartment and a rodent fell out," she said. "It's crazy." Tesla Reportedly Asked Chinese Government To Help Censor Social Media Posts Critical Of The Company. Readers of Zero Hedge know that we have been tracking Elon Musk's fading relationship with the Chinese Communist Party for the better part of the last 18 months. And while we can barely guess what the temperature of the ever-changing relationship is today, one thing seems to be certain: Musk and the Chinese government are growing closer. And for proof of that, look no further than a new Bloomberg Businessweek article profiling Elon Musk's struggles in China. While the content of the article isn't entirely new [...] one portion of the report was stunning: Musk, in true CCP form, reportedly asked the Chinese government to censor the company's critics. When Do EVs Become Cleaner Than Gas-Powered Cars? Most people don't know it, but EVs are not as clean as gasoline cars right off the bat. In fact, due to the impact of mining many materials used in EV batteries, it takes quite a bit of driving before you are doing less harm to the environment than gas cars. This was the topic of a new Reuters analysis piece by Paul Lienert, which sought to point out exactly how long you have to own and drive an EV in order to reach parity with a gas vehicle. The analysis was performed using "data from a model that calculates the lifetime emissions of vehicles" developed by the Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago. The necessity for the analysis is obvious, because "...making EVs generates more carbon than combustion engine cars, mainly due to the extraction and processing of minerals in EV batteries and production of the power cells," said Jarod Cory Kelly, principal energy systems analyst at Argonne. Tesla Delivers 201,250 Cars In Q2, Missing Estimates. Tesla stock is mostly flat in the pre-market session after the company announced it delivered over 200,000 vehicles in Q2, the company said in a press release Friday morning. Its exact deliveries for the quarter came in at 201,250. The company produced 204,081 and delivered 199,360 Model 3/Y vehicles, the company said. It produced just 2,340 Model S and Model X vehicles and delivered just 1,890 of them. New Tesla model caught fire while driving: lawyer. [Video clip only.] Dem Transport Bill Boosts China's Green Energy Sector. House Democrats are ramming a bill through Congress that could be a boon to China's green energy sector. The INVEST in America Act, a bill sponsored by House Transportation Committee chairman Peter DeFazio (D., Ore.), could kick millions of dollars to Chinese industry by promoting "green" technologies, a rapidly developing sector of China's economy. The act gives incentives to businesses that move away from gas-powered engines and includes measures to implement a nationwide network of electric-charging materials, but it lacks provisions that those materials will not be made with Chinese slave labor. Committee Democrats gutted those safeguards, which would have ensured that electric vehicle material procurement would occur in the United States. China possesses the largest stockpile of rare earth minerals used in electric car batteries in the world. $2.8M federal grant to fund Iowa electric buses. The Iowa Department of Transportation will use a $2.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration to replace nine gasoline or diesel public transit vehicles with battery-electric paratransit buses, the department announced June 28. The East Central Iowa Council of Governments (CorridorRides), Heart of Iowa Regional Transit Agency, and Southeast Iowa Bus will operate the buses and charging infrastructure the grant secures, the release said. Iowa DOT Modal Transportation Bureau Transit Programs Administrator Brent Paulsen said in the USDOT release that, while some Iowa cities have battery-electric buses, the nine grant-funded buses are the first of their kind to be deployed in rural Iowa. Time for Enviros to Take Their Lithium. Lithium has long been used as a treatment for bipolar mental illness, and perhaps there is a connection to the environmental mania for electric cars that depend on huge lithium-ion batteries. Batteries exploding in burning abandoned Illinois building. Lithium batteries exploded loudly overnight inside a burning former paper mill in northern Illinois that officials had believed was long abandoned, and fire officials have decided to let the blaze burn out because they fear trying to extinguish it could trigger more explosions. The fire that started in Morris Tuesday prompted city officials to order the evacuation of 3,000-4,000 people in some 950 nearby homes, a school, church and small businesses. On Wednesday [6/30/2021], as thick, black smoke continued to billow from the building, Police Chief Alicia Steffes said the evacuation order would remain in place until at least 9 p.m. and "might be extended." Electric
Vehicles On Collision Course With Reality. From the congressional testimony of Robert Bryce:
Psaki: Rural, Disadvantaged Communities To Be 'Focus' of 500,000 Charging Stations for $56K Electric Cars. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that President Joe Biden is looking to build out half a million electric vehicle charging stations — focusing on "rural and disadvantaged communities" — as part of his $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. It should be noted that the average electric car costs around $55,600, and they are best utilized in cities. It is not clear how disadvantaged communities could afford them or why rural residents would be interested in purchasing them. The Editor says... Biden's EV goals maybe fantasy, but the profits the swamp is making are real. The Biden administration lives in an electric car fantasyland, but the profits they're making off the industry are real. Most hardworking Americans, many living in rural America, cannot afford an electric vehicle, nor do they want one. Currently, just under 5.4 million hybrid electric cars have sold in the U.S. as of 2019, comprising only 1.6% of all new light-duty vehicle sales between 1999 and 2019. A Tesla that can drive more than 520 miles without needing a new charge has a starting sticker price of $141,190 — far beyond the reach of most Americans. Yet, the Biden administration has made it their mission to push these electric cars on U.S. consumers. They've proposed $174 billion in taxpayer monies to subsidize the industry and aim to build 500,000 charging stations around the country — an investment, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said — that would help "rural and disadvantaged communities." California: Try not to recharge your electric cars, folks. California is on track to ban the sale of non-electric vehicles in an effort to "go green" as fast as possible. They're even banning the construction of new gas stations in the next decade. But a slight hitch may have shown up in that plan, caused by a stretch of high temperatures this summer. How are the two related? Well, their power grid is being increasingly driven by renewable energy, specifically wind and solar power. But that leaves the grid teetering precariously on the edge of collapse after the sun goes down. And that's when a lot of people come home and start turning on their lights and their air conditioners. And they also plug in their electric cars to recharge. That has the people running electrical power distribution asking everyone to unplug those cars to avoid a blackout. California Asks Residents to Avoid Charging Electric Cars Amid Power Grid Strain. California's power grid operators have asked the state's residents to conserve electricity in order to put less strain on the power grid amid a major heat wave. The Epoch Times reported that the California Independent System Operator (ISO) told residents numerous times in the past week to voluntarily conserve energy, even asking them on social media to avoid charging electric vehicles during peak usage times. The ISO also said residents should avoid "use of large appliances and turning off extra lights," and wrote that "[T]his usually happens in the evening hours when solar generation is going offline and consumers are returning home and switching on air conditioners, lights, and appliances." With Its Power Grid Under Pressure, California Asks Residents to Avoid Charging Electric Vehicles. Amid a West Coast heat wave that includes triple-digit temperatures, California's power grid operators have called on residents to not use as much electricity so as to put less strain on the state's beleaguered grid. In the past week, the California Independent System Operator (ISO) told residents several times to voluntarily conserve energy, including asking them on social media to stop charging their electric vehicles (EVs) during peak usage times. The operator also warned users to "[avoid] use of large appliances and turning off extra lights." VW will stop selling combustion engine cars in Europe by 2035. Volkswagen is clearly a fan of electric vehicles when it's trotting out machines like the ID.4, but it now has a better sense of just when it will leave fossil fuels behind. As Reuters reports, VW board member Klaus Zellmer told Münchner Merkur in an interview that the automaker will stop selling combustion engine cars in Europe between 2033 and 2035. [...] VW's plans put it slightly behind Ford and GM, both of which plan to drop combustion from key regional lineups by 2030. However, the goals still make it clear that combustion engines don't have much more than a decade left on the market in some parts of the world. It may be just be a question of whether or not the charging infrastructure can keep up. Federal regulators warn of risks to firefighters from electrical vehicle fires. It's the kind of blaze that veteran Chief Palmer Buck of The Woodlands Township Fire Department in suburban Houston compared to "a trick birthday candle." On April 17, when firefighters responded to a 911 call at around 9:30 p.m., they came upon a Tesla Model S that had crashed, killing two people, and was now on fire. They extinguished it, but then a small flare shot out of the bottom of the charred hulk. Firefighters quickly put out those flames. Not long after, the car reignited for a third time. "[...] How do we make this stop?'" Buck asked his team. They quickly consulted Tesla's first responder guide and realized that it would take far more personnel and water than they could have imagined. Eight firefighters ultimately spent seven hours putting out the fire. They also used up 28,000 gallons of water — an amount the department normally uses in a month. That same volume of water serves an average American home for nearly two years. Tesla apologizes after [a] man in S[outh] China [was] locked in his car due to [a] power failure. Tesla apologized on Thursday after a man in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province was locked in a Tesla Model 3 for 15 minutes on Sunday while charging the car and had to call someone to break the window to escape. Tesla responded to reports of the incident stating that the cause was a power failure and it has been actively communicating with the customer to solve vehicle maintenance issues. "We are very concerned about what happened to the customer. We once again want to express our sincere apologies for not being able to be at the scene to provide assistance," read a statement issued by Tesla on its official Sina Weibo account on Thursday [6/3/2021]. Electric truck startup Lordstown Motors warns it may go out of business. Lordstown Motors, the startup electric truck maker, warned Tuesday [6/8/2021] it is close to running out of cash and may be forced out of business in the next year. The news, which sent Lordstown shares down nearly 8% in after-hours trading, is a blow to not only the company but also to the gritty industrial town from which it gets its name. For 53 years, Lordstown, Ohio, was home to a massive General Motors plant, which GM closed in 2019. It sold the 6.2 million square foot factory, nearly twice the size of the Pentagon, to start-up Lordstown Motors later that year, which promised to pay union-level wages to workers to build its Endurance pickup truck. It is due to start production of that truck in September. Biden looks abroad for electric vehicle metals, in blow to U.S. miners. U.S. President Joe Biden will rely on ally countries to supply the bulk of the metals needed to build electric vehicles and focus on processing them domestically into battery parts, part of a strategy designed to placate environmentalists, two administration officials with direct knowledge told Reuters. The plans will be a blow to U.S. miners who had hoped Biden would rely primarily on domestically sourced metals, as his campaign had signalled last autumn, to help fulfill his ambitions for a less carbon-intensive economy. A viable alternative to Chinese minerals hegemony. Prompted by a worldwide chip shortage already impacting automobile production, President Biden in February signed an executive order directing a 100-day broad review of supply chains for critical materials for semiconductors and large-capacity batteries, including rare-earth elements. It builds on analyses, reports and executive orders initiated several years ago by the Trump Administration. The stark truth that this review should highlight is that the U.S. and its Western allies have been left behind at the starting gate in a race only China seems to have realized was taking place. The Chinese began building their now-dominant supply chain decades ago. The U.S. has been 100% net import reliant on rare-earth elements, with 80 percent of those imports sourced from China. EPA says it will declare a desert flower an 'endangered species' that could halt a mine necessary for electric vehicle batteries. The idiotic and expensive plans to force electric vehicles down the throats of drivers has run into an obstacle created by an law that environmentalists demanded. You can't have electric vehicles without lithium ion batteries, and you can't build all those car batteries without a supply of lithium, which some warn will be inadequate soon. [...] Lithium is far from the only problem that makes electruc vehicle conversion plans a total fantasy. Electricity production would have to vastly increase, and solar or wind just can't provide that kind of power. Burn more coal? Natural gas? Nuclear power? How about those new factories to build those cars and batteries? Universal Electric Car Myth Debunked. In one smoldering Tweet, a guy follows the math to debunk the idea that the electric car will replace the internal combustion engine. The environmentalist's electric vehicle Utopian future is entirely reliant on the one thing environmentalists refuse to accept — wide-spread nuclear power generation. White House Denies Report That Biden Looks Overseas for Electric Vehicle Metals. The White House reacted to a published report that stated President Joe Biden, to please environmentalists, is planning to import most of the metals needed for electric vehicle production instead of sourcing from U.S. miners. Reuters reported on May 25 that the United States would source metals for electric cars from ally countries such as Canada, Australia, and Brazil, citing two administration officials with direct knowledge of the matter. This was contrary to what the Biden campaign promised before the election. "The plans will be a blow to U.S. miners who had hoped Biden would rely primarily on domestically sourced metals," the report stated. The plan also conflicts with the executive order signed last year by former President Donald Trump to expand and strengthen domestic mining of rare earth minerals and other critical materials. Trump also allowed the Pentagon to fund private-sector efforts to build a domestic refinement capability for rare earths. The huge, destructive green lie. [Another article from 2020] tries to spin E.V. travel positively, but it's so contorted as to be laughable. It also notes that batteries degrade "over time" so that the "great" 100-mile charge now could be less later. I can testify to that, for I bought a hybrid in '09, and my mileage has diminished by a third even though I have fewer than 50,000 miles on the car. Once that battery is dead, it makes for more problems, too. First, the car's worthless, no matter its low mileage. Second, the battery must be recycled, a near impossible feat. The difficulty of recycling batteries, once they're no longer useable, is a huge problem. We are creating slag heaps of toxic garbage. My chemist friend tells me they're working hard to produce sulfur batteries, which apparently don't need the rare earth components and are easier to dismantle and recycle. They're not yet commercially viable. Those Dirty Electric Vehicles And A Bolt Of Green Hypocrisy. There is much more to the electric vehicle story than the "EVs good, gasoline- and diesel-powered automobiles bad" narrative we've been fed. Truth in advertising would require electric cars to be shown surrounded by the Pig Pen-esque dirty cloud that they kick up. The birthplace of most electric cars is the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country where the diamond trade has helped finance civil war. There, reports the Deseret News, "slave labor" is feeding "big tech's quest for cobalt," an element used in the batteries that drive EVs. "Our children are dying like dogs," a Congolese mother whose son and cousin died while working in the Congo's cobalt mines, says the Deseret News. She and others have filed a lawsuit in U.S. federal court that "insists companies are simply turning a blind eye to the egregious abuses that include children killed in tunnel collapses or losing limbs or suffering from other horrific injuries caused by mining accidents." The United Nations says that "nearly 50% of world cobalt reserves" are found in the Congo. The Deseret News says the figure is more than 60%. Tesla is stuck with over 10,000 cars on factory hold, resulting in a logistical nightmare. Tesla has over 10,000 electric cars that came out of Fremont Factory on a "containment hold" and can't deliver them to customers, according to sources familiar with the matter. It is likely going to lead to a logistical nightmare at the end of the quarter. Since Tesla owns its entire distribution network and doesn't sell to third-party dealers, the automaker has been known to have difficult end-of-quarters where it is trying to deliver as many vehicles from the factory to customers in order to keep its inventory low. It leads to fairly intense end-of-quarter pushes, but things had finally stabilized during the last two quarters. Now, Tesla employees are again expecting a crazy end-of-quarter, but this time, it's due to a supply chain issue. The African slavery behind the leftists' green dreams. One of Joe Biden's initiatives is to get Americans into electric cars. In his first week in the White House, he announced that he wants every car that the federal government owns to be electric. Moreover, his $2-trillion "infrastructure" plan calls for giving taxpayer-funded rebates to electric car buyers and to increase the number of charging stations (although without also increasing the amount of available electricity). What Biden and other Green Deal proponents are ignoring is that the lithium that is an essential ingredient in electric car batteries comes from slave labor in Africa. Ford boosts EV spending, aims to have 40% of volume all-electric by 2030. Ford Motor Co on Wednesday [5/26/2021] outlined plans to boost spending on its electrification efforts by more than a third and said it aims to have 40% of its global volume be all electric by 2030, sending shares up 6.5% to a near five-year high. Under a plan dubbed "Ford+" meant to have investors value it more like a technology company, the No. 2 U.S. automaker said it now expects to spend more than $30 billion on electrification, including battery development, by 2030, up from its prior target of $22 billion. It has launched the all-electric Mustang Mach-E crossover, and plans to introduce electric versions of the Transit van and F-150 pickup. "This is our biggest opportunity for growth and value creation since Henry Ford started to scale the Model T," Ford Chief Executive Jim Farley said in a statement. Ford's electric pickup truck isn't ready for the heartland. Ford's launch of its new electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck received a serious boost when President Joe Biden became the unwitting spokesperson for the new "green" vehicle [last] week. The ethics of a sitting president providing free advertising for one company over its competition is a serious question, but there are other issues with the new brand that Ford will need to address. Pickup trucks remain popular in America, even among people who rarely do anything that would require that sort of carrying capacity. But the trucks doing the real work tend to be located in rural, agricultural areas. How well will the F-150 lightning perform out on a ranch? It sounds like they can haul heavy loads well enough, but many in the target market aren't so sure that the restrictions imposed by the vehicle's recharging requirements will make the practical. Tesla opts for gasoline-powered vehicles for roadside service for its cars in Australia. When you absolutely, positively have to get there (and back) way out in the outback... They've got a lot of wide-open space Down Under, places where you can drive a long, long way before you encounter much in the way of human settlement, including electricity supplies. That may be why Tesla in Australia is using gasoline-powered pickup trucks to go out and rescue Tesla-owners stranded on the road. Tim Blair of The Telegraph spotted the concession to the reality of needing a driving range greater than can be handled by an electric truck such as the electric Ford F 150 Lightning, recently driven by President Biden, that gets as little as 100 miles on a charge when towing. We Bet F-150 Lightning's Range Is under 100 Miles when Towing at the Max. Range typically occupies an outsized chunk of the conversation on any new EV. But, in the case of the F-150 Lightning, which has the bestselling pickup's usual healthy scoop of towing and hauling capabilities, things get more complicated. Ford is claiming that the range figures for its electric pickup will come in at 230 miles and 300 miles, depending on whether the standard-range (which we estimate can hold 115.0 kWh) or extended-range battery pack (150.0 kWh, same caveat) is beneath the bed. Those are EPA predictions, specifically EPA combined figures, in lightly loaded conditions. Although the Lightning is aided by the aerodynamic effects of its flat underbody, when running at real highway speeds there's no tricking the air molecules, and a bluff truck is going to suffer. In our highway range testing, which we conduct at a steady 75 mph, we typically see a range number that's about 20 percent below the EPA figure. Economics, not climate, is the main driver behind automakers' embrace of electric vehicles. Major automakers see vehicles with electric powertrains as a new moneymaker in the United States, market analysts say. It's a strategic shift driven less by climate change and more by a desire to compete economically. The newfound electric enthusiasm from automakers could help President Joe Biden curb emissions from transportation, the highest-emitting sector in the U.S. Biden wants to put many more electric cars on the roads, pledging to provide point-of-sale rebates for consumers, investing heavily in building out charging infrastructure, and encouraging domestic manufacturing of the cars and their batteries. His infrastructure proposal would spend at least $174 billion on vehicle electrification. Schumer on electric cars: 'All vehicles on the road should be clean' by 2040. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) says every vehicle on the road should be fully electric by 2040. "There is no way the United States can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions without looking at how Americans drive," Schumer said on Tuesday. "So I have put forward an ambitious, comprehensive proposal to accelerate our country's transition to zero-emission vehicles. We've called it Clean Cars for America. "The goal of that plan is that by 2040, all vehicles should be clean. All vehicles on the road should be clean. The International Energy Agency, by the way, recommends the world reach that target by 2050, so we beat them by 10 years, if this proposal goes into effect." The Editor says... Electric Ford F-150 Lightning's Battery Weighs Over 1,800 Pounds By Itself. The electric Ford F-150 Lightning is being revealed in full tomorrow after years of hype, even though it made a surprise appearance today [5/18/2021]. The battery-powered pickup will be one of the automaker's most important models ever, and it signals the brand's commitment to EVs by completely transforming the country's best-selling vehicle, full stop. U.S. President Joe Biden toured Ford's Rouge Electric Vehicle plant on Tuesday to get a better understanding of the company's approach to zero-emission cars and trucks, unmasking the F-150 Lightning in the process. Biden in Michigan Ignores Record Allowing China to Buy Up American Electric Vehicle Industry. President Joe Biden, while touting his $174 billion electric vehicle (EV) plan, ignored his record of allowing Chinese investors with ties to the Chinese Communist Party to buy up key parts of the American EV industry. During a speech at the Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in Dearborn, Michigan, Biden touted his record as vice president to former President Barack Obama in relation to the nation's battery-powered EVs. "Our own Department of Energy pioneered and transformed the battery industry when Barack and I were in office. And through the Recovery Act's grants and loans, battery prices dropped 80 percent because we were looking forward," Biden said. The Editor says... Biden to pitch his $174 billion electric vehicle plan in Michigan. President Joe Biden made the case for his $174 billion electric vehicle plan on Tuesday [5/18/2021], calling for government grants for new battery production facilities during a visit to a Ford Motor electric-vehicle plant in Michigan. "We're going to set a new pace for electric vehicles," Biden said, vowing to reverse what he called the Trump administration's "short-sighted" rollback of vehicle emissions standards while pushing for passage of his ambitious $2.3 trillion jobs and infrastructure bill. Biden argues the United States is falling behind China, which is selling more EVs. The Editor says... Batteries are fossil fuel, too! Tesla Suspends Bitcoin Payments Over "Concerns About Environmental Impact". After announcing plans to accept payment for Tesla's cars in bitcoin back in February, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has just announced via tweet that the company will suspend bitcoin payments over concerns about the environment. As perhaps the biggest booster of bitcoin in corporate America, Tesla announced during its Q1 earnings report released last month that it made a $272 million profit selling some of the bitcoin it had purchased on the company's balance sheet. Earlier this week, Musk joked about the possibility that the firm might accept Doge for payment. In a note published on Twitter, Musk wrote that while he is still personally a believer in the crypto currency, Tesla has become concerned about the role of fossil fuels in bitcoin mining, a common criticism made by environmentalists against bitcoin. The Editor says... NYT: Will electric cars become an environmental catastrophe? Answer: Of course they will, with mining being among the many other issues in pushing to eliminate internal-combustion engines in favor of an all-electric fleet. No one who has studied the composition of the energy-storage systems in electric cars could possibly miss the environmental dangers of such a transformation. The most interesting point of this brief review of one potential environmental catastrophe is the media outlet raising the issue. Even if it got buried over the weekend, the fact that the New York Times raises the mining issues is significant. Automakers Cave To Biden's Electric Car Dreams, And Ignore Their Own Customers. When President Joe Biden declared that he wants all cars sold to be "zero-emission" by 2035, carmakers didn't raise a peep of protest. Worse, they are starting to fall in line with promises to go all-electric, even though the vast majority of consumers don't want these cars. General Motors made a big splash earlier this year when it promised to sell only electric cars by 2035. "General Motors is joining governments and companies around the globe working to establish a safer, greener and better world," CEO Mary Barra said days after Biden was sworn in. "We encourage others to follow suit." Honda later announced plans to make only battery-powered cars by 2040. Volvo said it will go all-electric by 2030. Ford said in February that it would invest at least $22 billion worldwide in the next few years to build electric vehicles. Social cost of 'green': A loss of fast cars and freedom. Henry Ford's Model T at the beginning of the 20th century brought a new level of freedom to "the great multitude". Mass produced, affordable and all shades of black. By mid-century, men of my father's generation routinely conversed under hoods of their cars examining carburetors, spark plugs and valve covers. In the early 21st century, Rascal Flatts sang "Fast Cars and Freedom." Well, the proletariat can say goodbye to all that if the Green New Dealers have their way, according to Helen Thompson, professor of political economy at Cambridge University. You see, the electric vehicles promoted by climate cultists are likely to be too expensive for working stiffs. Even today's government-subsidized Teslas are purchased largely by those with more disposable income than most. Ms. Thompson notes that the energy transition being advanced by elite thinkers (using the term loosely) is unique in that efficient fossil-based energy sources would be traded for inefficient sources — wind, solar, and in the case of cars, sorely limited battery technology. Inefficiency costs more than efficiency. Sorry, it just does. The Dawn Of The E-Vehicle Battery Eco-Disaster. Now it's beginning to dawn on the greens: They've got a colossal environmental problem in the works — a problem they were warned about long ago and one they've refused to believe was real because it clashed with their vision of a green utopia. At the moment they are playing it down, insisting solutions to avert the lithium-ion battery's environmental problem will be found in time. Elon Musk's racket. The big automotive news is that Elon Musk's Tesla reported record earnings of $438 million for the past quarter. This translates to 93 cents per share on $10.39 billion in revenue. Tesla did this despite a semiconductor chip shortage that is hobbling other car companies like Ford, which had to slash vehicle production at seven plants in North America. Some see this as proving investors right to give Tesla stock a nosebleed price-to-earnings ratio of nearly 1,700, and thus making Musk the second richest person alive if not the richest. Our betters also preach that the stock market portends the future. So it follows that electric vehicles (EVs) are the coming thing, and Musk must be a genius. Right? Wrong. There's much skepticism about EVs. It's not adequately reported in the news, but they have serious technical, environmental, and electrical infrastructure problems to solve before they can seriously challenge internal combustion vehicles on America's roadways. 1 in 5 electric vehicle owners in California switched back to gas because charging their cars is a hassle, new research shows. In roughly three minutes, you can fill the gas tank of a Ford Mustang and have enough range to go about 300 miles with its V8 engine. But for the electric Mustang Mach-E, an hour plugged into a household outlet gave Bloomberg automotive analyst Kevin Tynan just three miles of range. "Overnight, we're looking at 36 miles of range," he told Insider. "Before I gave it back to Ford, because I wanted to give it back full, I drove it to the office and plugged in at the charger we have there." [...] Roughly one in five plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) owners switched back to owning gas-powered cars, in large part because charging the batteries was a pain in the... trunk, the researchers found. Of those who switched, over 70% lacked access to Level 2 charging at home, and slightly fewer than that lacked Level 2 connections at their workplace. The Feds Are Funding Fantasy EV Charging Stations. President Joe Biden wants the Federal Government to build 500,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, at an estimated cost of around $178 billion (not including the probable need to upgrade existing local and community electrical systems, to handle the extra loads). How might that work? [...] One possibility is the utilities that sell the juice. After all, a big part of the cost, perhaps the biggest, will be paying the utilities to upgrade their distribution systems, so that these charging stations can work. This will be especially true in rural areas, such as along the 50,000 miles of interstate highways and hundreds of thousands of miles of other major highways. But even urban and suburban neighborhoods will need major upgrades. Or how about having the gasoline companies do it? They already blanket the country with gas stations. In fact the charging stations could be at the gas stations, where cars already go. Lordstown Motors' "Endurance" All-Electric Pickup Fails To Endure Baja Race. Lordstown Motors' electric pickup truck, Endurance, did not endure too long in the SCORE San Felipe 250 in San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico, on Saturday [4/17/2021]. [Tweet] The electric vehicle startup hyped its entry into the Baja, Mexico event for weeks, only completed less than 40 miles of the 280-mile course before withdrawing. Electric Car Drives Across United States — In Only 18 Days. [Even] the Pony Express was able to get mail from Missouri to Sacramento in only 10 days. In 1860. On horseback. But Volkswagen is very excited about their electric cars. With 21st Century technology they are able to make what was once a 4-day drive with quick and easily-available refueling, into a multi-week ordeal where you must obsess about fuel availability. Congress is Rolling Out its $1.9 trillion Infrastructure Bill, and Two-thirds of it Has Nothing to do With Infrastructure. For as much as liberals complain about large corporate subsidies, they cheer on proposals like these that ultimately (and disproportionately) benefit the very people they resent because: SURPRISE! Electric vehicles are made by large corporations. Large corporations that reportedly strip the earth for lithium, have huge injury claims, and supposedly pay pennies a day to their third-world miners/minors. The EXACT same folks that they claim to hate. Congratulations, you just got played. The funds will go toward manufacturing subsidies and customer tax credits. But here's the most laughable part: they've allocated more toward subsidizing electric cars than the total $115 billion to "modernize the bridges, highways, roads, and main streets that are in most critical need of repair." Washington state passes bill with goal to phase out gasoline cars. Washington state lawmakers passed a bill on Thursday [4/15/2021] setting a target to stop sales of gasoline-fueled vehicles there beginning in 2030, five years sooner than California. The target is not a firm mandate and is contingent on the state adopting a tax on vehicle miles traveled, a measure to help pay for new transportation infrastructure, according to the text of the bill. The move by the Pacific Northwest state comes as efforts to boost adoption of electric vehicles are accelerating over concerns about fossil fuels' contribution to climate change. US Green Impossibilities. As of 2019, the US was using 4,400 terawatt-hours of electricity per year. There is also a big push to go to electric vehicles, and that will require more electricity. The current US generating capacity is about 1,000 gigawatts (GW), of which about 675 gigawatts (GW) is fossil-fueled. By 2040, the US Energy Information Agency (EIA) estimates we'll need about 1500 GW of generating capacity. This means we'll need another 500 GW of new generating capacity to get to 1,500 GW, plus 675 GW more to replace existing fossil capacity. That's 1,175 GW of new generating capacity needed by 2040. As Texas has just proven beyond doubt, no matter if we supply part of this with wind or solar, we'll need 100% backup. Nuclear is not ideal for this, but the new generation of reactors are said to be able to respond quickly enough to balance out the load when wind and solar fail. Biden's Electric Cars Will Have To Run on Chinese Batteries. With blissful abandon, President Joe Biden is proposing a massive expansion in electric cars, funding 500,000 charging stations for their batteries around the country. There's only one problem: China controls 80 percent of the globe's essential raw materials — called rare earth minerals — necessary for the manufacture of car batteries. Meanwhile, the United States has to import 80 percent of these minerals it uses, mainly from Beijing[.] So, in switching from gas-powered cars to electric cars, we would be switching from energy self-sufficiency to total dependence on China. Instead of Arab sheiks controlling our destiny, Chinese communist apparatchiks would. Biden's 'Made in America' electric vehicle push to benefit China. President Biden's push to fill the nation's roads with electric vehicles would be a boon for China and would increase America's dependence on the communist power, which dominates the globe in advanced battery production and the mining of rare minerals needed to make those batteries. The White House is working with congressional Democrats to ensure its infrastructure package includes at least $174 billion for "made in America" electric vehicles. At least $40 billion would be used to install 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations across the country. The Editor says... Are You Ready For Biden's Ban On Gas-Powered Cars? In the next couple of months, the Environmental Protection Agency will issue new fuel economy standards that could be impossible for carmakers to meet — without going electric. That, at least, is what President Joe Biden's EPA Administrator Michael Regan is indicating. In an interview with Bloomberg last week, Regan talked about imposing rules that meet "the urgency of the climate crisis," and "did not rule out future emissions requirements that create a de facto ban on new conventional, gasoline-powered automobiles, like an explicit phase-out ordered by California Gov. Gavin Newsom." [...] anyone. As we noted last year, Biden promised voters he would do just this — impose regulations on automakers that they could only meet by selling electric cars. As a matter of fact, he promised that on his first day in office, he'd develop "rigorous new fuel economy standards aimed at ensuring 100% of new sales for light- and medium-duty vehicles will be zero emissions." 9 Things You Need to Know About Biden's 'Infrastructure' Spending Plan. [#9] $174 billion in subsidies for electric vehicles. Last but not least, the request for enormous subsidies for electric vehicle purchases and charging stations represents yet another way the plan plays favorites. Electric vehicle ownership is concentrated among the wealthy. Increasing the use of electric cars would have a negligible effect on total carbon emissions or cause a measurable change to global climate. California's senators ask Biden to ban sale of gas-powered cars. California's two Senators are pushing the Biden Administration to set a date after which automakers would no longer be allowed to sell gasoline-powered cars anywhere in the United States. The letter sent Monday [3/22/2021] by Sens. Diane Feinstein and Alex Padilla to President Joseph Biden urges him to "follow California's lead and set a date by which all new cars and passenger trucks sold be zero-emission vehicles." California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order in September requiring that all new passenger cars and trucks sold in the state be zero-emission vehicles by 2035. The Editor says... Toyota Warns (Again) About Electrifying All Autos. Is Anyone Listening? Depending on how and when you count, Japan's Toyota is the world's largest automaker. [...] Toyota has grown by building reliable cars for decades. When Toyota offers an opinion on the car market, it's probably worth listening to. This week, Toyota reiterated an opinion it has offered before. That opinion is straightforward: The world is not yet ready to support a fully electric auto fleet. Ford Cancels Ohio Investment and Shifts to Electric Vehicle Production in Mexico. The United Auto Workers are angered about a decision by Ford to move production of a new electric vehicle from Avon Lake, Ohio, into Mexico. Ford previously agreed to spend $900 million on a new product line for the Ohio plant; however, according to the UAW the location has shifted. One way of looking at this change in direction from Ford relates to the cost of producing electric vehicles. First, it is far less expensive in Mexico (labor, environmental regulation, energy costs, etc); secondly, an outlook the new Biden administration will not strongly enforce USMCA compliance measures against U.S. multinational firms. The UAW supported Joe Biden, but his policies will likely undermine their workers. Unfortunately, this was all too predictable. Partly because Biden-Harris owe Wall Street too much, and the multinationals are once again in control over the U.S. economy. Volvo's first EV is stuck at cargo ports waiting for a software update. Volvo XC40 Recharge electric SUVs are currently being held at US ports because the company is waiting to ship a crucial software update before releasing them to customers and dealers, The Verge has learned. The problem appears to be that these XC40 Recharge SUVs — which is Volvo's first all-electric vehicle — left the company's factory without the Volvo On Call software activated. Volvo On Call is a subscription service that connects Volvo cars to an owner's smartphone, allowing them to remotely turn the vehicle on and off, lock or unlock the doors, and access diagnostic information. One customer, who was supposed to take delivery of his XC40 Recharge at the end of February, tells The Verge his dealer's best guess is that his SUV may not make it out of the port in Newark, New Jersey until mid-April. Electric Vehicle Fantasies. A 2021 Tesla Model S Long Range can go 412 miles on a multi-hour charge; its MSRP is $80,000. A Model 3 costs around $42,000; the Model Y all-wheel-drive $58,000. Similar sticker-shock prices apply to other EV makes and models, putting them out of reach for most families. "Long range" models achieve that status by loading them down with expensive, heavy batteries and long charging times. Most electric vehicle ranges are far shorter. [...] Politicians are being pressured to retain the $7,500 per car federal tax credit (and hefty state tax rebates) now scheduled to lapse once a manufacturer's cumulative vehicle sales since 2009 reach 200,000. EV drivers also want other incentives perpetuated: free charging stations, access to HOV lanes for plug-ins with only the driver, and not having to pay gasoline taxes that finance the construction, maintenance, and repair of highways they drive on. How do you Extinguish a Lithium Battery Fire? A few weeks ago I asked a fire fighter friend how they extinguish electric vehicle battery fires. He said "Oh you mean like a Tesla or something? The answer is you can't. You cordon off the area, and spray a fine mist of water on the fire to try to keep the temperature down until it finishes burning. Takes a few days until it is safe". The problem is, besides being highly flammable, lithium is literally the lightest metal. At atomic number 3, it is the first element in the periodic table which is a solid. [...] The fumes from a burning lithium fire are highly toxic, capable of causing death or long term dementia like brain injuries — so you need to keep members of the public at a safe distance. Fire fighters need to wear respirators if they approach the flame. There are chemical extinguishers, but my fire station friend didn't seem to think much of them, at least not for large lithium fires. USPS unveils new sleek looking mail trucks. The US Postal Service on Tuesday unveiled a modern replacement for the iconic Grumman LLV mail truck that has been in use since the late 1980s. The new design consists of a waste-high [sic] front hood that resembles the front beak of a duck in front of an extra-high windshield. Oshkosh Defense has been contracted to build between 50,000 and 165,000 of the new trucks over the next 10 years — replacing vehicles that have been in service for as long as three decades, USPS said in a statement. Oshkosh's design is not completely finalized, USPS said. The initial order of trucks will cost $482 million, with the first vehicles expected to hit the roads in 2023. Post Office Purchase of Gasoline [Powered] Trucks Seems to Defy Biden Order. The U.S. Postal Service currently plans for only 10% of its new truck fleet to be electric, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said Wednesday [2/24/2021], angering environmentalists who say the move flies in the face of a White House executive order to electrify the government's vehicles. DeJoy's revelation in a hearing before a House panel comes the day after the Postal Service announced that Wisconsin-based maker of military trucks, Oshkosh Corp., had won a long-delayed $6 billion contract to replace the service's fleet of gas-guzzling postal trucks. The Editor says... Texas Freeze Raises Cost Of Charging A Tesla To $900. The electricity shortage in Texas amid the cold snap has sent spot electricity prices soaring so much that the surge in power prices equals a cost of $900 for charging a Tesla. The typical full charge of a Tesla costs around $18 using a Level 1 or Level 2 charger at home, according to estimates from The Drive. This estimate is based on an average price of $0.14 per kWh of power. However, the extreme winter weather this week has sent Texas spot electricity prices soaring, as the wind turbines froze in the ice storms and reduced the wind power generating capacity in the Lone Star State by half. Spot electricity prices at the West hub have soared above the grid's $9,000 per megawatt-hour cap, compared to a 'normal' price of $25 per megawatt-hour, FOX Business notes. Autoworkers face uncertain future in an era of electric cars. When General Motors boldly announced its goal last month to make only battery-powered vehicles by 2035, it didn't just mark a break with more than a century of making internal combustion engines. It also clouded the future for 50,000 GM workers whose skills — and jobs — could become obsolete far sooner than they knew. The message was clear: As a greener U.S. economy edges closer into view, GM wants a factory workforce that eventually will build only zero-emissions vehicles. It won't happen overnight. But the likelihood is growing that legions of autoworkers who trained and worked for decades to build machines that run on petroleum will need to do rather different work in the next decade — or they might not have jobs. The 'battery fairy' and other delusions in the demand to replace gasoline powered vehicles with electric cars and trucks. I continue to be amazed that serious people think that gasoline powered vehicles can be completely replaced by electric vehicles in a decade-and-a-half, and that this would be a good thing, even if possible. Under threat of government action, however, the world's major auto manufacturers are falling in line boosting production of plug-in models, and upstart Tesla Motors is now the world's most valuable auto manufacture, based on the value of its capital stock issued and in the public's hands. Mary T. Barra, CEO of General Motors, has pledged to sell only zero emission vehicles by 2035. That would meet the deadline imposed by California Governor Gavin Newsom, who signed an executive order banning the sale of internal combustion vehicles in the nation's largest car market by 2035. Pelosi's big Tesla stock buy raises ethics questions. A watchdog group called out House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for a very profitable Tesla stock deal shortly before the Biden administration released plans to make the federal automobile fleet electric. Last month, Paul Pelosi, a wealthy venture capitalist and husband of the California Democrat, bought up to $1 million of Tesla stock when the price was roughly $640.34 a share. The price had shot up to $838 a share by Thursday [1/28/2021] on the NASDAQ exchange. Tesla stock has been a darling of Wall Street for years, and the company stands to reap huge profits if the federal government moves to an all-electric fleet. Nancy Pelosi's Recent Stock Purchase Raises Ethical and Legal Questions. Nancy Pelosi's latest financial disclosures, revealed over the weekend, show that she purchased 25 Tesla call options with a $500 strike price and an expiration date of 3/12/2022 on December 22, 2020, paying between $500,000 and $1 million for the option. There were other purchases of AllianceBernstein Holdings, Apple, and Walt Disney on the disclosure, but the Tesla purchase is raising eyebrows, as Chris Katje of Yahoo! Finance noted, "as arguments could be made that the companies stand to benefit from new President Joe Biden's agenda." On Monday [1/25/2021], Joe Biden announced his "Buy American" executive order that includes a plan to replace the U.S. government's fleet of cars and trucks with U.S.-assembled electric vehicles. Tesla, General Motors, and Nissan all produce electric vehicles in the United States. General Motors plans to exclusively offer electric vehicles by 2035. General Motors wants to end production of all diesel- and gasoline-powered cars, trucks and SUVs by 2035 and shift its entire new fleet to electric vehicles as part of a broader plan to become carbon neutral by 2040, the company said Thursday [1/28/2021]. The company plans to use 100% renewable energy to power its U.S. facilities by 2030 and global facilities by 2035 — five years ahead of a previously announced goal. GM's announcement comes a day after President Joe Biden signed a series of executive orders that prioritize climate change across all levels of government and put the U.S. on track to curb planet-warming carbon emissions. The Editor says... Biden's plan to replace government fleet with electric vehicles won't be so easy. President Biden's plan to replace the government's fleet of 650,000 cars and trucks with electric vehicles assembled in the U.S. by union workers is easier said than done. The populist "Buy American" message sounds good, but the vehicles Biden wants are still several years away and his purchase criteria would require an expensive overhaul of automakers' manufacturing strategies, not to mention a reversal of fortune for labor organizers long stymied by Tesla and other non-union companies. Joe Biden Signs Executive Order to Make All Federal Vehicles Electric. President Joe Biden signed an executive order Monday to phase out the federal government's use of vehicles that run on gas and replace them with ones that run on electricity. The process is part of Biden's "Made in America" executive order, which the president claims will create one million additional jobs in the auto industry in America. I'm sure this is completely unrelated: Also completely unrelated: Electric Vehicles Don't Save Money. Electric vehicles are being sold, in part, on how much they'll save people in terms of maintenance costs. That's a total con. EVs are not no-maintenance or even low-maintenance relative to non-electric cars. They are different maintenance. And they're not cheaper to maintain. Instead of oil and filter changes, you change the battery pack. Which do you suppose will end up costing you more over the life of the vehicle? That will shortly become clear. US Regulators Ask Tesla to Recall 158,000 Cars. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration asked Tesla to recall over 150,000 Model-S and Model-X vehicles over concerns about the cars' touch screens. U.S. regulators demanded Tesla recall 158,000 of its electric cars over safety concerns on Wednesday. Regulators found that the cars' media control units could fail after years of use, leading to touch screens not working. This would affect safety functions such as defogging, back-up cameras, and the driver assistance system. Americans Supposedly Just Voted For Only Electric Vehicles. President-elect Biden has promised his $2-trillion "climate change" plan will include "rigorous new fuel economy standards aimed at ensuring that 100% of new sales for light- and medium-duty vehicles will be zero emission vehicles (ZEVs)." VP-elect Harris has called for beginning this ban by 2035, perhaps even sooner, if they can maintain their momentum for fundamentally transforming America. Once the sale of new gasoline engine vehicles is banned, the only question remaining is, How long before driving such vehicles is also outlawed? Harris has promised that, under "my plan, by 2045 we will have basically zero emission vehicles only. 100% by 2045." Of course, that means zero emissions in the USA, assuming all electricity generation is also zero-emission for charging batteries — despite enormous emission increases in places where battery minerals are mined and processed, and batteries are manufactured (which likely won't be in America). NTSB: Electric vehicle battery fires a threat to first responders. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Wednesday [1/13/2021] said that electric vehicle fires pose a threat to first responders and that vehicle manufacturers have distributed inadequate guidance to mitigate safety risks. In an 80-page report based on an investigation on four electric vehicle fires, the NTSB found that the vehicles' high-voltage lithium-ion batteries "pose the risk of electric shock to emergency responders from exposure to the high-voltage components of a damaged lithium-ion battery." The government agency added that its investigation found that damaged battery cells can experience uncontrolled spikes in temperatures and pressure. Electric car driver discovers fast charge costs more than gas. [Scroll down] Fast chargers will bring the battery only to an 80% total charge due to the limitations of lithium batteries. Charging above 80% will damage the battery. Since I arrived at the charging station with ten percent capacity remaining, I received an additional 70% charge, which gave me about 190 miles total range. It required one hour and ten minutes. The cost was $21.07, or 43 cents per kW. The cost would be about 34 cents per kW if I joined Electrify America for four dollars per month. Filling my gasoline vehicle for the same range would cost less — about $13. Charging an EV at a fast charger costs more per mile of range than filling up a gasoline-powered vehicle. The Editor says... There's A Caveat With Electric Vehicles. It's certain that the EV era is coming. A shift from internal-combustion cars and trucks to electric cars and trucks is a necessary step on the path to a more sustainable transportation ecosystem. But there's a catch — always is — and a recent report from Undark, a digital science magazine, offers great insight into one of the often-overlooked costs of EV production. EVs need lithium for their batteries, and heavy lithium mining could be very harmful to regions such as the Atacama Salt Flat, where mining companies are ramping up activity to meet demand. Promises to ban purely gas-burning cars are being made by governments worldwide, from California and Massachusetts to the UK and Japan. If these plans are enacted, it will mean a drastic increase in the demand for lithium. So, what happens when the demand for lithium hits a peak? The report cites local experts who claim that the mining has begun to decrease the groundwater supply. Cadillac dealers are jumping ship rather than upgrade for EV sales, report says. As Cadillac gears up to become a manufacturer of electric vehicles, it's reached a point where it needs to start preparing its dealer network for the change. This means lots of costly and mandatory upgrades to their facilities for franchised dealers unless GM gives them a way out of their franchise agreements. According to a report published Friday by the Wall Street Journal, that's precisely what GM is doing. Specifically, GM is giving Cadillac dealers a choice between giving up their ability to sell any Cadillac and taking a buyout or investing hundreds of thousands of dollars into an uncertain future. Electric Vehicles Will Drive Us to Serf City. Without question, the automotive industry is rapidly shifting to electric vehicle production. Yes, EVs rely on fossil fuel to generate the electricity used to manufacture them and to charge their batteries. Hence they are not the 'green' vehicles that the enviros tout. In fact, EVs are net polluters when you consider the tremendous environmental damage that is done to mine the lithium and rare earth elements needed in their manufacture and transport. And recycling and/or disposal of Li-batteries is another problem waiting a solution. Furthermore a study from the Union of Concerned Scientists found that the assembly of a midsize EV would produce about 15 percent more emissions than the process of building a similar-sized gasoline powered vehicle. None of that matters. The big money, media, and government are solidly behind electric vehicles. As Bob Dylan sang, "You don't need to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows." This is rather amazing considering America didn't vote for EVs nor did the car market demand them. If the projections persist, EVs will be the norm due to manipulations by global elite and their allies in big business and government. Mean and Unclean: Electric Cars Powered by Child Labor in Africa. The makers of wind turbines, solar panels, electric vehicles and other supposedly environment-friendly technologies — as well as the green activists, politicians and bureaucrats who promote and support them with our tax dollars — continually claim that these technologies are 'green,' 'clean' and 'just.' Is that true? In this premier edition of our new series "Mean and Unclean," JunkScience.com explores the African child labor cruelly exploited to make electric cars go. [...] This video shows people washing the cobalt ore in a river. This crude processing technique would be unthinkable and incredibly illegal in the United States. [Video clip] Tesla's "Gigafactory" In Berlin Just Had The Water Shut Off For Not Paying The Bill. While Elon Musk was busy making high school style "420" and "69" jokes on Twitter, the water at his $400 billion company's latest project — the construction of a Gigafactory in Berlin, Germany — was being turned off for non-payment. It's likely a wonderful glance into what the priority structure looks like at Tesla. There are multiple reports coming out of Germany that Tesla had to stop their construction as a result of the water being turned off, according to electrek. Autos, Engine Bans, and the New Socialism. One reason EVs are money losers is that consumers don't want them. Battery-powered chariots make up just 1 percent of the U.S. market. Yet automakers are overhauling their business models to make EVs. Why? Because for the first time, governments are mandating how automakers power their vehicles. Just as unelected bureaucrats are outlawing coal power, so are they outlawing the gasoline engine. Welcome to the new socialism. The government rush to dictate auto powertrains drives against market demand, forcing car companies to make two classes of cars: one for customers and one for their government masters. A New Abnormal of Rolling Blackouts Under Biden Energy Plan. In concert with the aspirational Green New Deal co-sponsored by his running mate Senator Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Biden's plan calls for humongous expenditures in renewable energy, including installing 500 million solar panels and manufacturing 60,000 wind turbines. Add to this that Biden proposes to have taxpayers finance a half-million electric car chargers across America — along with funding to help car makers convert their factories to electric vehicle (EV) production. Meanwhile, California Gov. Gavin Newson has now ordered his state to ban new gas vehicles by 2035 in order to weaponize its gigantic car market as a hammer to force automakers to concentrate on EVs. All of this, of course, will shift even greater energy demand from petroleum to the electrical power sector. Producing and recharging those EVs will require that energy sufficiency is constantly available. That wasn't the case when that August heatwave left millions of perspiring Californians in the dark as power demand outstripped supplies. Electric Cars: A Hill to Die On? Electric cars are quickly attaining a status in American culture previously reserved for mothers, Marvel movies, and apple pie: Everyone likes them. As the first presidential debate showed, Donald Trump and Joe Biden agree on hardly anything, but they set aside partisanship when it comes to electric vehicles. Tesla's stock has skyrocketed 400 percent this year, and Wall Street is showering even obscure brands with money. But danger lurks beneath the glowing headlines. China's industrial policy prioritizes electric autos, and many Americans fear that the United States will lose out in this sector. [...] Total car sales have already peaked in the European Union, Japan, and the United States, and the new bout of protectionism may combine with stringent emissions standards to reduce car sales worldwide. China is now the world's biggest car market and it holds the lead in adopting electric vehicles, which many industry analysts see as the way of the future. It's not entirely clear that future is desirable for the U.S., though. Gavin Newsom: If You Like Your Car, You Can Keep Your Car. When Barack Obama told the country that under Obamacare "if you like your healthcare plan, you can keep it," he was dinged for telling the PolitiFact Lie of the Year. California Gov. Gavin Newsom made a similar promise when he signed last week an executive order that will outlaw the sale of new gasoline- and diesel-powered cars by 2035. "You can still keep your internal-combustion engine car," he said. "You can still have a market for used cars. You can still trade and transfer those cars — we're not taking anything away." Obama knew better, or at least he should have, than to make his promise about health care plans. But Newsom is likely telling the truth, as far as he knows. Outside of an override by the Legislature on possible future legislation that would contradict him, he has the authority to keep his promise as long as he's governor. But he has no control of what happens after he leaves office. Mandating electric vehicles without a plan will be devastating to California's economy. Before sky diving, you need to plan ahead by having a parachute before you jump. California Governor Newsom's recent suicidal jump onto the EV train has a minimum of eight (8) lack-of-a-plan ramifications from his recent Executive order to ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles by 2035 that will be devastating to the state's economy and environment. EPA chief to Newsom: You don't have the power to ban gas-powered vehicles. EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler rebuked California governor Gavin Newsom yesterday [9/28/2020] for his executive order barring sales of gas-powered vehicles in the state by 2035. California no longer has the authority to impose such regulations, Wheeler reminded Newsom, and it also lacks the power, literally: California ban on gas cars a preview of what liberals want nationally. Who can fail to be attracted to the Tesla? That sleek, silent-running electric vehicle seems more common on the road every day. The introduction of the Model 3 has put this fascinating, tech-heavy brand of car into the same price category as the more expensive nonluxury conventional vehicles. As a result, Tesla can barely build them fast enough to keep up with demand. Nor is Tesla the only make of electric car generating broad interest. Audi, BMW, Chevrolet, Ford, Mazda, Mercedes, Nissan, and other automakers are all expected to come out with new fully electric models in the next year or two. Even so, there are limits to this revolution. Electric vehicles are still very expensive for the low-income consumer who can't do without wheels. Even for consumers willing to pay more for added range, they are less suitable than conventional cars for certain long-range uses. Nikola: How to Parlay An Ocean of Lies Into a Partnership With the Largest Auto OEM in America. The underlying narrative for the electric vehicle market in 2020 has undoubtedly been Tesla's relentless rally, which recently culminated in the company being valued with a market cap of over $400 billion at its peak — more than time-tested names like GM, Ford, Daimler and Fiat — combined. Unlike Nikola, Tesla develops extensive proprietary technology, which cuts many traditional automakers and suppliers out of its picture. The astronomical rise in Tesla's valuation has pressured other auto companies, like General Motors, to unlock similar value from the ongoing EV wave. Despite Funding Cuts, LAPD Stuck With $10M Electric BMW Pilot Program. The "Defund The Police" movement has prompted the city to cut $150 million from the LAPD budget. But what about those expensive electric BMWs that were exposed in several David Goldstein investigations? David first reported on these LAPD BMWs back in 2017 — a $10 million pilot program that the department is still stuck with years later and for years to come despite calls to cut costs. Last year we found an LAPD employee using one of the department's fleet of electric BMWs to commute to and from work. Another one in 2017 using the car to get a manicure. And we found hundreds of others vehicles rarely used. Biden and Democrats look to 'Cash for Clunkers'-style program to boost electric vehicles. Democrats eyeing full control of the government in 2021 are rallying around the idea of providing consumers rebates to swap old gas guzzlers with zero-emission vehicles, seeking to improve upon the Obama "Cash for Clunkers" program. In recent weeks, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, along with a special climate change committee created by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has endorsed a plan by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer to take more than 63 million gas vehicles off the road over a decade, replacing them with cleaner ones. Tesla Austin Factory Now Official. The long rumored and threatened (if you're California) Austin-area Telsa Gigafactory is now official: [...] The site is evidently going to be out at SH-130 and Harold Green Road northeast of the airport, at the site previously owned by Martin Marietta. Tesla picks Texas for its largest auto assembly plant. Tesla has picked Texas as the site for its largest auto assembly plant where it has vowed to employ at least 5,000 workers and will get more than $60million in tax breaks from Travis County and a local school district over the next decade. Work on the plant, which will be over 4 million square feet, is already underway, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said during the company's second-quarter earnings call on Wednesday evening [7/22/2020]. The Green New Deal in Action. Electrical automobile batteries embrace vital quantities of cobalt, copper, lithium, nickel, manganese and uncommon earth components. In line with the modification, the highest producer of cobalt is the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which UNICEF and Amnesty Worldwide estimate employs 40,000 youngsters in mines for as much as 12 hours a day at wages of lower than $2 a day. Some minerals are additionally mined in international locations that exploit youngster labor like Zambia and Zimbabwe. This is without doubt one of the soiled little secrets and techniques of fresh vitality. Democrats and unions have demanded that companies, particularly textile producers, certify that their provide chains don't supply supplies produced with youngster labor. But now they oppose requiring the federal authorities to do the identical when funding renewable vitality. 9 Radical Ideas in the Biden-Sanders 'Unity' Platform. Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) released the policy recommendations of their "unity task force" on Wednesday [7/8/2020]. [...] Here are nine of the most radical proposals in the "unity" document: [...] [#2] Shift the entire "fleet of 500,000 school buses to American-made, zero-emission alternatives" in five years. This is among the more wild-eyed proposals in the platform's climate change section. It is not clear who will produce these buses (presumably to run on battery power), or what is to be done with half a million currently functional buses that run on ordinary fuel, and how local school districts are meant to afford the cost. The platform provides no further details. Electric vehicle charging burst in flames. [Video clip] The mad rush to electric vehicles. Americans have expressed great displeasure over subsidizing EVs for the wealthy, a recent American Energy Alliance poll found. Only one in five voters would trust the federal government to make decisions about what kinds of cars should be subsidized — or mandated. Many do not even like, or cannot afford, the innovations already introduced for internal combustion vehicles, as evidenced by data showing that the average age of the U.S. vehicle fleet has increased in recent years. Who can blame them for being angry? Wealthy EV buyers can get $7500 federal and up to $2500 state tax credits (not just deductions), free or low-cost charging at stations installed at taxpayer and electricity consumer cost, and access to HOV lanes even with no passengers. EV drivers pay no gasoline tax, and thus pay nothing for road construction, repair and maintenance. Like Electric Cars? You Probably Helped Pay for Them. The EV tax credit was first enacted in 2008 and provides a $7,500 tax credit for individuals or businesses who purchase an EV. The size of the credit depends on a vehicle's battery capacity, which means more money to those with larger batteries. For individuals the credit is non-refundable and can only be used to offset an individual's tax liability if the liability is less than the credit. Businesses are able to carry the credit back one year or forward up to 20 years. Though the credit is claimed by individuals and businesses purchasing the vehicles, manufacturers are limited as to the number of vehicles they can make that would qualify for the tax credit. Per the authorization, each manufacturer can sell 200,000 vehicles that qualify for the credit. After that cap is reached, the value of the credit phases down over a year, at which point the credit is eliminated for that manufacturer. Plug-in hybrid cars 'emit three times more carbon dioxide than official figures suggest'. Plug-in hybrid cars can emit up to three times more carbon dioxide than advertised as real-world tests show some are more polluting than lighter petrol vehicles. Hybrid cars make use of a battery-powered electric motor to support their internal combustion engine and are often touted as a green choice. However, aseries of studies have revealed that the fuel consumption rates of the hybrid vehicles are far greater in the real world than in testing conditions. The reason for this is that hybrids — which contain an extra electric motor and battery — tend to be heavier than their petrol counterparts. Tesla dumped by Saudis costing kingdom billions in gains. Saudi Arabia dumped the majority of its Tesla stock missing out on monstrous gains in just the past few weeks. The kingdom's Public Investment Fund sold 8.2 million shares of the electric-vehicle maker at the end of 2019, according to a regulatory filing released on Tuesday. Those shares would be worth $7.3 billion at Tuesday's closing price of $887.06 as Tesla's stock has soared 86.5 percent this year. Saudi Arabia still owns 39,151 shares worth $34.7 million. General Motors Announces $2.3 Billion Ohio Electric Vehicle Battery Plant. General Motors on Thursday [1/9/2020] announced plans for a new factory in Ohio that will produce battery cells for electric vehicles. The Detroit automaker will own 50% of a joint venture with long-time partner battery partner LG Chem; the new company expects to invest $2.3 billion at a new manufacturing site in Lordstown, Ohio. The factory is expected to create more than 1,100 new jobs in the city near Youngstown, which was formerly home to a GM assembly plant with a workforce of about 4,500. Electric Vehicle Startup Begins $300 Million Facility Project in Arizona. Electric vehicle startup Lucid Motors this week held a groundbreaking ceremony for the $300 million first phase of construction at the site of its planned factory in southern Arizona. The Silicon Valley company selected Casa Grande, Arizona — about 40 miles south of Phoenix — for its assembly plant in 2016, with an original goal of beginning production in 2018. Lucid secured a $1 billion investment from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund last year to help fund the construction of the factory. Tesla Is Now the Most Valuable U.S. Car Maker of All Time. Tesla Inc. shares have surged to start 2020, helping the electric-car maker become the most valuable U.S. auto maker ever. The company closed Monday [1/6/2020] with a market value of $81.39 billion, surpassing Ford Motor Co.'s peak of $80.81 billion set in 1999. A rough road ahead for electric cars. We have all watched the apparent increase in the acceptance of electric cars (EVs) thought to be a major portion of our automotive future. Tesla's $95,000 upscale vehicles get featured almost weekly in the Wall Street Journal as their finances, good and bad, rotate their favor with the investors who keep the stock as elevated as bitcoin in recent years with no underpinning of real value based on price/earnings ratio. Wolf Richter, a San Francisco. based entrepreneur, calculated that if the company ever earned a $billion dollars with an average stock market P/E ratio of 12, the company's stock should sell for $65, yet it regularly hovers around $400 having made no profit. Its highly touted $35,000 car for the masses never materialized, remaining in a price range of more than $10,000 over an equivalent gasoline powered vehicle. Police Wasted £1.5 Million on Electric Cars That Can't Chase Criminals. Police forces in the United Kingdom have squandered over a million pounds on electric cars that are incapable of chasing criminals or performing emergency services because the eco-friendly vehicles are too slow and take too long to charge. A freedom of information request found that police in the UK have spent £1.49 million on 448 green cars and vans. However, the actual cost of the eco-police fleets is likely much higher as many districts have not reported their purchases. Volkswagen — Smoke, Mirrors and Electric Cars. VW produced 10,830,000 vehicles in 2018, edging out Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi as the world's largest manufacturer. Very close to 2.5 million, or 23 percent, were SUVs. [...] But 19 percent of the company's output will be additional SUVs, which have higher fuel consumption than the fleet average vehicle they will replace. When you do the math, making conservative assumptions about the real emissions of the fleet, VW's plan is still slightly positive with regard to carbon-dioxide emissions. But what about those 600,000 EVs that are to be sold (and powered) in China? According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration around 72 percent of China's electricity in 2015 came from the combustion of coal, with a few more percent from natural gas. In other words, a lot of the energy powering those 600,000 "zero emission" vehicles will in fact come from the combustion of fossil fuels, with coal producing more carbon dioxide per unit of electricity than any other source. Congress must stop subsidizing wealthy car buyers. Why are Democrats Sen. Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi teaming together to lobby for a tax bill that would provide about 80 percent of the benefits to Americans who make more than $100,000 a year? Mr. Schumer and Mrs. Pelosi are the ones who for the last two years have been railing against income inequality and "tax cuts for the rich," but now they are head cheerleaders for a bill that would extend and even expand tax favors padding the pockets of mostly wealthy Americans who can afford to buy pricey Tesla and GM electric vehicles. The price tag for taxpayers could reach $16 billion for this bill. Electric Cars Are the future. Cars lined up waiting to be recharged. [Video clip] 10 questions to ask your climate alarmist friends. [#4] If we replace all our cars with electric vehicles, how do you think the electricity will be generated? Electric vehicles don't magically stop CO2 emissions because they have to get their electricity from somewhere. In fact, some electric vehicles actually emit more carbon dioxide over their lifetime than traditional cars, depending on the electricity sources where they're driven and manufactured. Green Delusion Persists: Tesla Crash Victim Can't Find Anyone To Recycle His Wrecked Car. It was just over a month ago that we reported on a Tesla accident in Austria that resulted in firefighters needing to use a special container to transport the remains of the vehicle and the battery at the scene of the accident. Now, the owner of the vehicle is having trouble finding someone who will properly recycle his wrecked car and its battery. It's been sitting in one place since the accident and Tyrol reports that "nobody wants to burn their fingers to dispose of the car with its unpredictable 600 kg lithium-ion battery." The owner, Dominik Freymuth, says he feels "abandoned by the manufacturer." Tesla already received 146,000 Cybertruck pre-orders worth over $8 billion. Elon Musk announced that Tesla already received 146,000 Cybertruck pre-orders just over a day after they unveiled the electric pickup truck to mixed reviews. The Tesla Cybertruck has been polarizing, to say the least. Elon Musk explains Tesla Cybertruck window fail, says 200K have been ordered already. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has spent the past few days tweeting explanations for the embarrassing rollout of the company's new Cybertruck pickup last Thursday [11/21/2019]. During a demonstration of the triangular truck's allegedly superstrong "Armor" windows, Tesla designer Franz von Holzhausen threw a metal ball at the front door window causing it to shatter, and did it again with the rear door window with the same result. Tesla Stock Drops As Cybertruck's Shattering Debut Delights And Confuses. Tesla stock dropped Friday [11/22/2019] after the electric-car maker unveiled its high-tech "Cybertruck" — an event that cheered the company's fans but caused some head-scratching among analysts wary of its bizarre design. Tesla debuts futuristic new electric pickup Cybertruck to applause and derision. It looks a little like a Mars rover, or a stainless steel triangle on wheels. But it is definitely like no other pickup truck you've seen before. And it lit up social media late Thursday during its unveiling with some deriding it as ugly — and others loving its futuristic style. Tesla founder Elon Musk unveiled the Cybertruck, the company's new pickup, at a typically grand event and is already letting consumers sign up to buy and put down deposits on it even though the Cybertruck won't be on the road until late 2021. San Diego's Green New Deal Showcase Unwittingly Reveals an Expensive Future. [Scroll down] My colleague's son has a Tesla and commutes 80 kilometers to work in Denmark. He has had his EV for five years. He needs to change the battery pack next year. A new battery pack will cost from one-third to half of the new car cost. EV bus manufacturers state that they can have a battery life of 15 years. This seems dubious today but technology continues to improve. However, components in discarded battery packs are very lethal to the environment and require special care. Tesla Discloses US Revenues Collapsed 39%. Americans Sour on its Cars, Pent-Up Demand Exhausted. This morning [10/29/2019], Tesla filed its Form 10-Q quarterly earnings report with the SEC, a moment when no one was supposed to pay attention after the surprise quarterly profit that had caused such a hullabaloo last week. The 10-Q provides a pile of additional detail that Tesla is not required to disclose in its promo-laden earnings report that was primarily designed to downplay its first year-over-year revenue decline since the Financial Crisis. But that revenue decline is a lot more nerve-wracking than what it looks like on the surface. The Electric Car Fantasy. It takes energy — the equivalent of 80 to 300 barrels of oil — to fabricate a battery that can hold energy equal to one barrel. Thus, energy used to make batteries brings a carbon "debt" to EVs which, depending on where the factories are located, greatly diminishes, or even cancels out, emissions saved by not burning oil. None of this changes the fact that, for the first time in a century, EVs are exciting options for niche markets. Credit for that goes to the three scientists who received the 2019 Nobel Prize in chemistry for inventing the lithium battery — and to Elon Musk. If Teslas weren't well-designed and appealing, even subsidies wouldn't have enticed well-heeled buyers. Nor would every automaker be trying to compete. But for perspective on sales adoption in niche markets: even Tesla's impressive cumulative total of over 500,000 sold in the six years after its introduction was eclipsed by the Ford Mustang, selling 2.5 million in its first six years. Electric Cars Hardly Guaranteed To Beat Oil. Indeed, released just a few weeks ago, J.D. Power's Mobility Confidence Index shows that Americans are still not exactly in love with the machines that we are supposed to just assume will end oil's century of dominance in transport. Consumers are not as optimistic about the future of plug-in cars and self-driving vehicles as analysts and the media are portraying. Among other concerns, electric cars are too expensive, rely on a precarious supply chain (some immorally using child labor), lack a significant used car market, and have worrying short-range issues. 24 Things Wrong With Electric Cars Millennials Choose To Ignore. Without a doubt, there are a number of strong reasons that can compel anyone to choose to drive an electric car. However, it must also be noted that electric cars come with their own set of issues and problems. Just to give you a better idea, here are 24 things wrong with electric cars that today's millennials are simply ignoring. Tesla's Fatal Strategy. On October 21, 2019, President Trump praised ongoing trade negotiations between the United States and China. Still, as negotiators work towards a deal that would alleviate tensions and reduce tariffs amongst the countries, the trade war persists. And that fact could spell disaster for Elon Musk's Tesla — a company banking hard on generous financial assistance from both the United States and Chinese governments. Last year, Musk faced bad news: the United States would be scaling back its subsidies for electric vehicles, known as EV credits. Without the additional support from the federal government, Tesla had to search for a new revenue stream — and the company found it within China's regime. Tesla's "Futuristic" Door-Handles Blamed For Killing 48-Year-Old Man Trapped In Burning Wreck. The door handles on the Tesla Model S are being blamed for the death of a 48 year old man who was involved in a fiery crash earlier this year, according to Bloomberg. A police officer was unable to pull the man to safety from his burning vehicle. Oman Awan was driving his leased Tesla in February when he lost control of the vehicle on a South Florida parkway and slammed into a palm tree. A police officer who responded to the scene was unable to open the doors to free Awan because the handles were retracted and bystanders were forced to watch "helplessly" as the car filled with smoke and flames, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed in state court in Broward County. Electric vehicle charging in the hallway catches on fire. On October 20, 2019, a video of an electric car caught fire in the circle of friends. In 2 minutes and 18 seconds, the ring flashed several times and the sparks splashed. According to China Fire, the video took place in a rental house in Chenghai District, Shantou. The electric vehicle charged by the wall suddenly exploded. [Video clip] Proving a Negative. The Democrats' affection for the ill-conceived, fantastical Green New Deal is an example of unintellectual wishful thinking pushing aside factual reality. So-called "sustainable, renewable" fuels are simply not economically viable in today's energy market without heavy government subsidies. It's just too expensive. For example, electric cars still only represent a 2% share of the U.S. auto market, despite all the frenzied attention, government subsidies and publicity they've received. Battery technology remains too expensive and too short-lived for electric vehicles to be affordable for the mass market and for drivers to have a reliable, confidence-inspiring range of over 400 miles. A comprehensive, country-wide recharging infrastructure still doesn't exist, so regardless of their range or the affordability of the purchase price, without the assurance of being able to "refuel" anywhere away from home, electric cars are sentenced to only really being suitable for around-town/recharge-at-home use. Dyson Becomes Latest Sign That Electric-Car Bubble Is Bursting. Dyson Ltd.'s sudden decision to scrap its $2.5 billion electric-vehicle ambitions is the latest reality check creeping into the once soaring EV industry. The famed maker of vacuum cleaners and hair dryers couldn't find a way of making the project commercially viable, billionaire James Dyson said in a letter to staff Thursday [10/10/2019]. The announcement came about two years after the company first disclosed its plans to jump into car manufacturing. Electric-Car Owners Shocked by California Blackouts. Everybody knows that electric cars are going to save the planet from climate change or something. Unlike regular cars, which run on gasoline and make all the polar bears cry as they sink into the sea, electric cars are powered by... um... magic? Mjólnir, the hammer of Thor? That must be how it works, or else owning an electric car would impose some sort of cost to the environment. And that can't be, or those guys wouldn't be so insufferably smug. You know those intentional blackouts they're having in California to reduce the risk of wildfires? Well, guess what happens now? Electric-Car Owners Hard Hit by Massive California Power Shutdown. Nature built California to burn. And there's only so much Elon Musk, Pacific Gas & Electric, or anyone else can do to diminish that. "All Tesla Supercharger stations in regions affected by California power outages will have Tesla Powerpacks within next few weeks," Elon Musk tweeted this morning in response to PG&E's shutoff of power to several California regions in order to minimize the risk of wildfire from high winds. "Just waiting on permits." "Waiting on permits" may as well be California's state motto. And there's never any guarantee they'll actually come. The Editor says... NASCAR may switch to hybrids in 2022, series executive says. NASCAR has an all-new car coming in 2021, but a bigger change may happen the following year. "Nothing is fully confirmed until it hits the race track. That said, hybrid tech could certainly be in our cars by 2022, if all plans stay on track," NASCAR's senior vice president for racing development, John Probst, told Tech Crunch this week. Probst said the plan is still very much in development, and that the powertrains would be focused more on improving performance than fuel efficiency. Tesla Advises Customers Hit By California Blackout to Charge Up. Before PG&E Corp.'s massive blackout swept across Northern California, Tesla Inc. issued a politely worded but urgent message to its many area customers: charge up your car, now. Customers tweeted photos Wednesday of the notice popping up on the touch screens of their electric cars, advising them to top off their batteries while they still could. Utility owner PG&E began shutting off electricity to parts of the region early Wednesday [10/9/2019] to prevent its power lines from sparking fires during an expected windstorm. The EV Free Lunch is coming to an end. For years electric vehicle owners benefited from federal subsidies (financed by the working class). They also enjoy exemptions from the fuel taxes that pay for road and bridge maintenance as they use no "fuel" as it relates to powering a combustion engine. Things are changing and rather quickly. With subsidies beginning to end, states are also hitting electric vehicle owners with high fees in an effort to put all vehicles equally accountable for financing repairs and maintenance of our highway infrastructure. The average household income of electric vehicle (EV) purchasers is upwards of $200,000. This subsidy is a burden on American families and disproportionately impacts low-income consumers, who can't afford to purchase EVs, but are forced to pay for supporting infrastructure while EV owners who enjoy the benefits of that same infrastructure are given a free pass.
The Editor says...
The Editor says... Biden: 'We Can Take Millions of Vehicles Off the Road...'. [Scroll down] Host Anderson Cooper asked Biden, "Will there be a point, or would you like there to be a point — and if so, when — that everybody drives an electric car or has to drive an electric car?" Biden responded, "Well, I think, look — that's going to be based upon whether or not we can make it economically feasible. And it is economically feasible, because guess what? Everybody knows where the world is going. "You're not — just like, you know — we set out the rules for what kind of plant, you know, coal-burning plants. No one is going to build another coal-burning — we've got to shut down the ones down we have, but no one is going to build a new one. Guess what? They're not efficient relative to what else is available to be done. [...]" The Editor says... How Elon Musk Fooled Investors, Bilked Taxpayers, and Gambled Tesla to Save Solarcity. [Scroll down] In public, Musk doesn't talk much about Tesla's factory in Buffalo — a place he once, in better times, dubbed Gigafactory 2. Gigafactory 1, of course, is Tesla's much-hyped futuristic electric car plant outside Reno. Gigafactory 2, which is shrouded in silence and secrets, was a controversial side venture: a high-stakes move to dominate America's growing market for solar energy. Tesla bought the factory's main tenant, SolarCity, for almost $5 billion in 2016. The plan, in true Muskian hyperbole, was to turn the plant in Buffalo into what was billed as the largest manufacturing facility of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. SolarCity would build 10,000 solar panels per day and install them on homes and businesses across the country. VW Bets Future on Electric People's Car. Volkswagen AG lifted the curtain on the first of a new generation of vehicles it is betting will take the electric car out of its tiny market niche and make it the new car for the masses. [8/22/2019] Walmart sues Tesla over solar panels it says caused multiple fires. Walmart has sued Tesla, saying solar panels supplied by the electric carmaker were responsible for fires at about seven of its stores. The fires destroyed significant amounts of store merchandise and required substantial repairs, totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket losses, according to a lawsuit filed in a New York court on Tuesday [8/20/2019]. As of November 2018, no fewer than seven Walmart stores, including those in Denton, Maryland, and Beavercreek, Ohio, had experienced fires due to Tesla's solar systems, according to the lawsuit.
The Electric Obamaphone. Elon just admitted something that is getting very little coverage — and no explanation. He announced that Tesla will no longer be selling the "affordable" $35,000 Model 3 he promised would be Tesla's first mass-market electric car. Like so many of Elon's promises, that one's out the window, too. [...] Elon is admitting that electric cars aren't mass-market cars. That after all the glitzy assurances, after all these years, in the end, they are what they have always been: Specialty cars for people with the disposable income to indulge other-than-economic considerations such as "technology" and — as Elon loves to tout — the driving characteristics of electric cars. The "New Energy Economy": An Exercise in Magical Thinking. [Scroll down] All this has relevance for encouraging EVs. In terms of managing the inconvenient cyclical nature of demand, shifting transportation fuel use from oil to the grid will make peak management far more challenging. People tend to refuel when it's convenient; that's easy to accommodate with oil, given the ease of storage. EV refueling will exacerbate the already-episodic nature of grid demand. To ameliorate this problem, one proposal is to encourage or even require off-peak EV fueling. The jury is out on just how popular that will be or whether it will even be tolerated. Sales of hybrid cars plummet after subsidy cut. The number of green cars sold in Britain has fallen for the first time in two years after the government cut subsidies. Last month 13,314 "alternatively fuelled" cars were registered, 12 percent less than in June 2018. Sales of pure electric cars rose sharply but this was offset by a huge decrease in the number of hybrids, which run on a combination of battery power and a conventional petrol engine. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said that it was the first time since April 2017 that the eco-friendly car sector had seen a decline. The Coming Cash For Not-Clunkers. What do you suppose will happen when they build them — but no one comes? Within the next couple of years, almost every car company will be building — and trying to sell — electric cars. It won't be just Tesla's cars — which cars Tesla is already having trouble trying to sell. Chiefly, because there is a built-in limit to the number of $35,000-and-up cars you can sell — regardless of the number you build. Elitist Vehicles: You Subsidize Them, But You Can't Afford Them. The least expensive EVs costs a lot of green — $30,000 to start for the Nissan Leaf, several thousand more for the next-up Tesla 3 ($35,000) and Chevy Bolt ($36,620), and way up from there. The typical new EV sells for south of $50,000. Plus another couple thousand for a "fast" charger, so you can wait 30-45 minutes to get going again rather than all day. The average person can't afford this — in money or time. But he is forced to subsidize this, which is an interesting thing given the hardest pushers of EVs are affluent liberals — who used to be people who feigned concern about the economic troubles of the average person. Now they pick his pockets to fatten theirs. And no one seems to be angry about this. Tesla 'On The Verge' of Bankruptcy: Vilas Capital. As electric car company Tesla Inc. and its CEO Elon Musk gear up for a make-or-break earnings report next month, one chief investment officer, John Thompson of Vilas Capital, tells Fortune that the company is "without any doubt" on "the verge of bankruptcy." Bears have increasingly criticized Tesla's cash position as it faces pressure to ramp up production for its first mass-market vehicle, the Model 3 sedan. Some investors are losing confidence in serial entrepreneur and angel investor Elon Musk, who despite his history of beating the odds, has continually delayed targets for his Palo Alto, California-based automaker at a time when it faces heightened competition from traditional car companies and EV startups. Zero Emissions Claims Don't Pan Out for Electric Vehicles. A study by the IFO think tank in Munich found that electric vehicles in Germany emit 11 percent to 28 percent more carbon dioxide than their diesel counterparts. The study considered the production of batteries as well as the German electricity mix in making this determination. Germany spent thousands of euros on electric car subsidies per vehicle to put a million electric vehicles on the road, but those subsidies have done nothing to reach the country's greenhouse gas emission targets. This is just the latest example of government programs expecting one outcome and getting quite another, instead. To some it is ironic; to others it is funny. The Big Lie: The future is in Battery Electric Vehicles. I have a subscription to California based Motor Trend magazine. Motor Trend editors and writers are pushing the idea that the future is in Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs). This is a big lie. Let's take a look at who is driving the BEVs market. Employees sour on Tesla amid cost-cutting, layoffs. Tesla Inc's rankings at two high-profile job websites have declined, suggesting that job dissatisfaction at the electric car company is intensifying amid layoffs, strategy shifts and executive turnover. Spoiler: It's the taxpayers. The Phony Case For Electric Cars. In an editorial published last week, Bloomberg (the news site, not the former mayor) declares that the only way cities can "dramatically improve air quality and extend lives shortened by pollution" is to follow the lead of places like Amsterdam and "ban (non-electric) cars." "Cities should offer up-front incentives to buy zero-emission cars, for instance, as well as non-financial benefits such as parking vouchers. Higher taxes on petrol and diesel cars — whether via congestion tolls or at the pump — will encourage drivers to switch and offset some of the costs of the transition," the editorial board says. They go on, and on, with policy advice, including more public transit options, charging stations, electric taxies and buses and "underground skating pods." There's nothing wrong with underground staking pods, whatever those are, so long as they're privately funded and operated. Electric Car Tax Credit Bill Will Cost $16 Billion, Critics Say. An extension of a consumer tax credit for electric vehicle purchases sought by a bipartisan contingent of lawmakers could cost as much as $15.7 billion, according to an analysis prepared by opponents of the effort. The analysis of legislation by Senator Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat, to grant automakers a $7,000 tax credit for an additional 400,000 vehicles was commissioned by American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, a Washington trade group. The current $7,500 per-vehicle incentive for consumers, credited with helping establish the nascent market for electric cars, phases down once a manufacturer sells 200,000 of the vehicles. Electric Car Debate. The U.S. and China are in a fierce competition over production of electric vehicles. Both countries have dumped major public cash into the fight. But here in the U.S. those federal subsidies on so-called EV's are phasing out. Lisa Fletcher reports whether they should continue is driving a major debate. In our nation's capital, there is a fast moving debate about whether taxpayers should continue to fuel the electric vehicle industry. Proposed $1,000 Illinois electric vehicle registration fee called unfair by EV owners and manufacturers. A proposed hike in Illinois' annual registration fee for electric vehicles, from $17.50 to $1,000, is being called unfair by current EV owners, and a sales disincentive by manufacturers — just as the new technology is beginning to gain broader traction. North Dakota to Charge Electric Vehicle Owners for Highway Maintenance. North Dakota joined 20 other states imposing fees on electric vehicles, on April 11. [...] Senate Bill 2061 imposes annual fees of $120 on electric vehicles (EVs), $50 for plug-in hybrids, and $20 for electric motorcycles, to ensure owners of these vehicles contribute to highway and road maintenance. Road construction and maintenance are largely funded by gasoline taxes. Because EVs do not use gasoline, their owners avoid such taxes though EV use still puts wear and tear on roads. From whence comes the power to drive electric vehicles? Elon Musk recognized early on there was money to be made in businesses that support environmental causes. He has gained the support of the green movement by broadcasting his vision for a future without fossil fuels, reducing global warming and traveling on battery powered cars. [...] At first glance Musk's vision for the electric car seems reasonable. It has no tailpipe and no emissions. Government subsidized electric buses and trains have been increasing in recent years. However, our entire nation has been ignoring two critical questions that must be answered — and those answers will not come easily. Rich people don't need your money to buy electric cars — Let's get real about EV tax credits. Americans who want to drive electric vehicles should absolutely be free to do so. But the rest of us should not be forced to subsidize their expensive, environmentally questionable choice of cars. Liberal environmentalists have long touted electric vehicles (EVs) as an affordable, low-emission option for middle-class American families, even though the electricity used to power them is most often generated by fossil fuels and the buyers are rarely middle class. The soon-to-expire tax breaks that EV owners receive go disproportionately to upper-income Americans. Huge bang and house burns to the ground — just an e-bike battery mishap. GlowWorm Bicycles said eZee has recalled some faulty batteries, but lists these Handy safety tips for all e-bike batteries: Don't charge them unsupervised, don't overcharge, undercharge, charge near flammable things or charge overnight, and have a fire safety plan. Tesla and Other EVs are a Fraud. The reason is how batteries work. They start to degrade chemically on the day they're made, and do so more-or-less linearly. There's nothing you can do about that — this happens even under ideal storage conditions. In addition there's a "per-cycle" penalty too, because batteries operate through ion exchange across the electrolyte — that is, the physical movement of ions between cathode and anode. [...] When you account for the required CO2 emissions to mine the raw materials for the batteries, refine those materials and assemble the batteries you're better off driving a gasoline-powered vehicle. Electric vehicles emit more CO2 than diesel ones, German study shows. When CO2 emissions linked to the production of batteries and the German energy mix — in which coal still plays an important role — are taken into consideration, electric vehicles emit 11% to 28% more than their diesel counterparts, according to the study, presented on Wednesday [4/17/2019] at the Ifo Institute in Munich. Mining and processing the lithium, cobalt and manganese used for batteries consume a great deal of energy. A Tesla Model 3 battery, for example, represents between 11 and 15 tonnes of CO2. Given a lifetime of 10 years and an annual travel distance of 15,000 kilometres, this translates into 73 to 98 grams of CO2 per kilometre, scientists Christoph Buchal, Hans-Dieter Karl and Hans-Werner Sinn noted in their study. The CO2 given off to produce the electricity that powers such vehicles also needs to be factored in, they say. Tesla Posts Huge Losses in 2019. Tesla's first quarterly earnings report of 2019 showed the company took a massive financial hit after losing a $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit on Jan. 1, Greentech Media reports. Tesla released its Q1 earnings report Wednesday, showing losses greater than the already pessimistic predictions from analysts. The electric car company posted a $702 million net loss. The negative cash flow is the greatest loss the company has ever posted over one quarter. In conjunction with the deficit, Tesla's car delivery dropped by 31 percent from 90,700 cars in the last quarter of 2018 to 63,000 cars in the first quarter of 2019. Tesla needs $2.5 billion in fresh capital, says a top analyst, and it's causing the stock to drop. Tesla CEO Elon Musk's comments during the latest quarterly update were a hint that the electric vehicle maker will soon need to raise billions more in capital, Morgan Stanley said on Thursday. "Given improvements in efficiency and upcoming expansion plans, Mr. Musk admitted that from today's perspective there is 'some merit' to raising capital," Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said in a note to investors. Jonas is widely followed on Wall Street as an early authority on both Tesla and electric vehicles. Morgan Stanley forecasts Tesla will raise $2.5 billion in the third quarter of this year, coming "from strategic sources," Jonas said. Electric Car-Owners Shocked: New Study Confirms EVs Considerably Worse For Climate Than Diesel Cars. According to the study directed by Christoph Buchal of the University of Cologne, published by the Ifo Institute in Munich last week, electric vehicles have "significantly higher CO2 emissions than diesel cars." That is due to the significant amount of energy used in the mining and processing of lithium, cobalt, and manganese, which are critical raw materials for the production of electric car batteries. Electric Ford Bronco revealed with shocking price. The Ford Bronco is being rebooted. Not just by Ford, which has an all-new version on the way next year, but also by Zero Labs, a startup boutique builder based in Los Angeles that's turned the original Bronco into an electric luxury vehicle. The truck looks a lot like the first generation model, and is even build on an authentic frame. To that, the company adds carbon fiber body panels and an interior trimmed in bamboo, aluminum and premium leather, or a vegan substitute, if you prefer. A Bipartisan Bill Is Introduced To Retain And Expand The Federal Electric-Car Tax Credits. A bipartisan coalition introduced a bill in Congress today [4/10/2019] that would extend the one-time federal tax credit for buyers of electric, plug-in hybrid, and hydrogen-powered vehicles. The Driving America Forward Act, as it's called, is sponsored by Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Gary Peters (D-MI), and Susan Collins (R-ME) along with Congressman Dan Kildee (MI-05). It's also supported by no fewer than 60 organizations, including automakers, environmental organizations, and electric vehicle suppliers. Electric cars are already causing some grid failures in Australia. EV ownership in Australia is only 1 car in 4,000 of all our cars on the road. Yet already they are causing streets to go black, and possibly blowing transformers which need replacing "more often". The Editor says...
Bill Expanding Electric Vehicle Tax Credits Would Mean $99 Million Less for Colorado's General Fund. Legislation expanding Colorado's tax incentives for electric vehicles could mean over $99 million less in revenue for the state's general fund at a time when Democratic lawmakers are looking for ways to raise tax revenue. The current electric vehicle tax credits offered for purchase or lease of electric or hybrid vehicles is scheduled to be reduced, then phased out by 2022. House Bill 1159 would increase the tax credits offered for 2021, the last year the credits are offered under current law, and extend the credits through 2025. But the tax credits offered in HB 1159 would mean the state's general fund loses out on $99.2 million in revenue, according to the estimate in the bill's fiscal note. All About That Bass: Carmakers Seek Electric Car Sounds For Post-Petrol Era. Carmakers are dreaming up futuristic electric car engine sounds to ensure that pedestrians can hear vehicles that lack audible cues like high-revving, howling combustion engines, senior executives at the Geneva car show said. Tesla's $35,000 Model 3: Brilliant Move Or Hail Mary? After the market closed on Thursday, February 28, Tesla's Elon Musk announced that the company would be selling a $35,000 Standard Range version of the Model 3, closing almost all of its stores and having all cars ordered online. While Musk had been touting a $35,000 Model 3 for a few years, moving to all online sales is either a brilliant move or a Hail Mary, since it is a major shift on how a car company sells and how people buy them. It may turn out that Tesla will be even more disruptive to the auto industry and pull this off, or it could be an indication that this is a desperate move to become profitable on a sustained basis. Tesla is finally selling a car for $35,000. Yes, it's nearly three years after Elon Musk promised it, but now you can finally order a Tesla for $35,000. Tesla on Thursday [2/28/2019] unveiled a "Standard Range" Model 3 sedan that sells for $35,000 before tax incentives — well below the most recent entry-level price above $42,000 — and said it will close many of its stores worldwide to cut costs and finance the discount. The new, budget Tesla has range of 220 miles and a top speed of 130 miles per hour. For an extra $2,000, you can buy a slightly more souped-up Model 3 with a premium interior, a range of 240 miles and a top speed of 140 miles per hour. A Tesla Burned to a Crisp on a Vermont Lake. We Walked Out There and Found It. The Shelburne Police Department tells Popular Mechanics that the owner of the vehicle took their Tesla onto the ice to go fishing, and that at some point during the expedition the car hit a rock. The car started making unusual noises, and shortly after that caught fire. No one was hurt. Minnesota agencies unveil plan for growing electric vehicle industry. The number of electric vehicles in Minnesota is growing at a rapid pace. Now for the first time, state agencies have a an official plan to support the industry's growth. "This thing is happening fast," said Tim Sexton, MnDOT Chief Sustainability officer. Amazon backs electric truck startup Rivian in $700M funding round. Electric truckmaker Rivian received over $700 million in outside investment from Amazon and others, the company announced on Friday [2/15/2019], after unveiling in November an emissions-free pickup and SUV. "This investment is an important milestone for Rivian and the shift to sustainable mobility," founder and CEO RJ Scaringe said in a statement. The Editor says... Electric Vehicles? Don't Get 'Em Cold! Are electric vehicles the wave of the future, or expensive toys? This shocking news story — shocking if you live in the North, anyway — suggests the latter. [...] Frozen door handles are an annoyance not unique to electric cars, but reduced range can be life-threatening. ["]At 20 degrees, the average driving range fell by 12 percent when the car's cabin heater was not used. When the heater was turned on, the range dropped by 41 percent, AAA said.["] Of course, at 20 degrees you pretty much have to turn the heater on. That is a remarkable loss of functionality. Also, AAA tested the vehicles at 20 degrees above zero, a balmy temperature that we haven't seen for a while here in the Twin Cities. What happens at 20 below, a temperature we have seen several times in the last week or two? Or eleven below, which it is at this moment where I live? A car whose range is severely compromised at such temperatures could be a death trap. When did driving become a problem that needs to be solved? The California rules mandate a huge increase in electric vehicle sales — a requirement that benefits the Golden State's one car manufacturer, Tesla. Tesla to date has proven incapable of mass producing an affordable electric car, so publicly funded financial perks benefit its billionaire founder, Elon Musk, and those wealthy enough to be able to pay for his pricey cars — which often serve as the second or third vehicle for these 1 percenters. Need to pull a horse trailer or haul construction supplies? Tesla does not have the vehicle for you. The California standards don't just provide these carrots. They also use a stick to punish those who can't afford or don't want electric cars — adding thousands of dollars to the cost of those other vehicles. That will put cars financially out of reach for more Americans. Volkswagen-backed Electrify America buying Tesla tech for charging stations. Volkswagen-backed Electrify America has reached an agreement to buy battery storage systems from Tesla for its growing network of electric car charging stations. The Tesla units will allow the stations to stockpile cheaper, off-peak electricity to reduce the price for charging throughout the day. The cost of the agreement was not announced. Winter Has Come for Electric Cars. The next time a polar vortex rips through the U.S., electric vehicle owners should be prepared to be frustrated if they don't take special care of their battery-powered rides. Winter has come for Tesla Inc. and its army of car owners, which swelled in size last year. And some of those customers have cooled on the company along with freezing temperatures. Model 3 owners have taken to social media and online forums to air issues they've had with their sedans due to the frigid weather of the last week. Cold conditions are a drain on battery range, no matter the car brand. But other predicaments are particular to Tesla. South Bay Fire Officials: Dealing With Tesla Fires A Learning Process. The day after a Tesla Model S vehicle burst into flames not once but twice, Santa Clara County fire officials on Wednesday admitted that they are still learning how to handle fires involving the electric vehicles. The car's battery pack caught fire twice on Tuesday [12/18/2018], leaving the Tesla a charred and smoldering mess. Tesla increases Supercharging prices to the point that gas might be cheape. One of the benefits of electric vehicles was supposed to be that driving around would cost less per mile. When factoring in the price of current electric vehicles versus the cost of less expensive cars with internal combustion engines, this has yet to prove true. Tesla has drastically raised prices at its Supercharging stations that might make charging their vehicles more expensive than refueling at a regular gas station. Tesla is made in Fremont, so it's not surprising local police bought a Model S patrol car. Fremont, Calif., in the San Francisco Bay Area is home to electric car company Tesla's massive vehicle factory and it'll soon be the home to what's believed to be the first U.S. police department with a Tesla in its fleet. Fremont police bought a used 2014 Tesla Model S 85 kWh battery version from Tesla a year ago. They have the bill to show it cost $61,478.50. Now after updating the vehicle with more than $4,000 in modifications to make it look and act like a police car with lights, a push bumper, interior prisoner seating and partition, and bulletproofing, the first Tesla patrol car is almost ready for its debut. Report: America's oil boom could lead to a 'climate catastrophe'. I would love to drive an electric car, have my home powered by solar energy, and live the wonderful green life we're all destined to live — just as soon as an electric car is made as well and operates as efficiently as a gas powered car and solar energy can be made as cheaply and reliably as oil or gas powered electricity. But that day is not today. Tesla to cut workforce by 7 percent. Tesla is swinging the job axe in an attempt to trim costs. The electric automaker is cutting several thousand jobs, while it ramps up the production of its crucial Model 3 sedan. [...] Tesla cut U.S. prices for all its vehicles as the new year began to offset lower green tax credits. The Editor says... India's Electric Vehicle Goals Being Realized On Two Wheels, Not Four. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has set a target of electric vehicles making up 30 percent of new sales of cars and two-wheelers by 2030 from less than 1 percent today. But its efforts to convince carmakers to produce electric vehicles have flopped mainly because of no clear policy to incentivize local manufacturing and sales, lack of public charging infrastructure and a high cost of batteries. Why Tesla Stock Was Slammed Wednesday. Shares of electric-car company Tesla took a big hit Wednesday [1/2/2019], falling as much as 9.9%. As of 10:11 a.m. EST, the stock was down about 7.4%. The stock's decline follows fourth-quarter Model 3 deliveries that fell short of analysts' estimates and a price reduction in the U.S. Tesla spontaneously combusts — twice. A silver Model S mysteriously caught fire twice on a single Tuesday in California, the blazes occurring several hours apart with no apparent cause. The Tesla first ignited in a Los Gatos tire and auto repair parking lot after the owner — identified only as "Chris" — had it towed there to fix a flat tire. He emerged from the shop with an employee only to find smoke pouring from the hood and a hissing sound coming from the car. [...] Hours after another tow truck had removed the Tesla to a tow yard in nearby Campbell, it caught on fire again. Congress must reform federal electric vehicle tax credit. In its current form, the credit provides American drivers with a $7,500 incentive to purchase a qualifying electric vehicle. The credit begins to phase out once a manufacturer sells 200,000 vehicles, creating uneven incentives and essentially limiting the pool of available vehicles. If the plug-in vehicles tax credit goes unchanged, or worse completely repealed, consumers will see less vehicle choice, with many EV models out of reach. Given the highly competitive global marketplace, this tax credit remains a critical part of making the domestic market for EVs stronger, but it must be reformed. Neera Tanden accidentally reveals what Dems will do to the economy to 'stop' Global Warming. She just wants to drive up prices everywhere because of some "theory" about making electric cars less expensive. What if they don't get less expensive? Tesla Loses General Counsel, Replaces Him with Trial Attorney. Tesla's General Counsel Todd Maron is reportedly leaving Elon Musk's electric car manufacturer, and will be replaced by seasoned trial attorney Dane Butswinkas, who called Tesla "worth fighting for." Trump Is Right — Subsidies For Electric Cars, Renewable Energy Must End. President Trump's economic adviser Larry Kudlow says subsidies for electric cars and other renewable energy programs might soon be eliminated. That would be a major victory on the road to energy freedom. What Trump Should Do About Electric Vehicle Subsidies. President Trump recently tweeted that he wanted to end subsidies for General Motors "including for electric cars." In this case the president's personal pique aligns with an opportunity to advance good public policy. One of most significant subsidies from which GM benefits — the $7,500 tax credit for electric car buyers — is already scheduled to phase out as GM passes the 200,000 vehicle cap on the full credit, entering a one-year phase-out before the subsidy ends completely. It's a rare circumstance in which a government program could actually end just by Congress doing what it specializes in — doing nothing. White House seeks to end subsidies for electric cars, renewables. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Monday the Trump administration wants to end subsidies for electric cars and other items, including renewable energy sources. Chevy Volt was going to save Detroit. Now its workers are losing jobs. The Volt, an electric car with a backup engine for long trips, was supposed to revitalize GM. Show the world Detroit could create revolutionary technology, compete with Asian automakers, produce something besides gas-guzzling SUVs. Prove the government-backed bailout had been worth it. In many ways, the Volt also was supposed to save Detroit. The company's last plant within the Motor City's limits would build the vehicle. America's most storied manufacturer would use American workers to build a new kind of American vehicle. That dream is over now, likely for good. Tesla China Sales Plunge 70 Percent In October: Auto Industry Body. Tesla Inc's vehicle sales in China sank 70 percent last month from a year ago, the country's passenger car association told Reuters on Tuesday [11/27/2018], underscoring how the Sino-U.S. trade war is hurting the U.S. electric carmaker. Six Years Ago Obama Promised to Buy a Chevy Volt. Now It Is Dead. Six years ago, President Barack Obama promised to buy a Chevy Volt after his presidency. "I got to get inside a brand-new Chevy Volt fresh off the line," Obama announced to a cheering crowd of United Auto Workers activists. "Even though Secret Service wouldn't let me drive it. But I liked sitting in it. It was nice. I'll bet it drives real good. And five years from now when I'm not president anymore, I'll buy one and drive it myself." Tesla Owner Waits Nine Months On Body Shop. Unreasonably long wait times for parts and a lack of reputable Tesla-approved repair centers has been a glaring problem for many Tesla owners. Across the internet, Tesla forums are filled with angry owners who regret even buying the electric car because a basic repair could take months. Some owners have reported 4 to 5 weeks, while others said six to nine months for repairs. Tesla has gone from "production hell" to "delivery logistics hell," and now it seems there is a new one: "repair hell." The Dirt on Clean Electric Cars. Beneath the hoods of millions of the clean electric cars rolling onto the world's roads in the next few years will be a dirty battery. Every major carmaker has plans for electric vehicles to cut greenhouse gas emissions, yet their manufacturers are, by and large, making lithium-ion batteries in places with some of the most polluting grids in the world. By 2021, capacity will exist to build batteries for more than 10 million cars running on 60 kilowatt-hour packs, according to data of Bloomberg NEF. Most supply will come from places like China, Thailand, Germany and Poland that rely on non-renewable sources like coal for electricity. Cuomo Doubles Down on NY Electric Vehicle Charging Station Subsidies. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is giving building owners in New York State who install electric vehicle (EV) charging stations subsidies covering up to the 80 percent of the cost. Under Cuomo's Charge Ready NY (CRNY) initiative announced in September, the state is allocating $5 million for grants to owners of multifamily apartment buildings, office buildings, and public locations such as malls, parks, retail locations, and theaters to install EV charging stations that meet the government's standards. CRNY provides a $4,000 rebate per charging port to install charging stations as long as they provide enough electric power for up to 25 miles of travel for each hour a car is charged. Government-subsidised plug-in cars may never have been charged. Tens of thousands of plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) bought with generous government grants may be burning as much fuel as combustion-engine cars. Data compiled for the BBC suggests that such vehicles in corporate fleets averaged just 40 miles per gallon (mpg), when they could have done 130. Many drivers may never have unwrapped their charging cables, The Miles Consultancy said. Subsidies for new PHEVs were recently scrapped, after seven years. Electric Cars: The Real Killers. There weren't any "zero emissions" mandates or carbon credits back in the mid-'90s and while CAFE — the government's fuel economy edicts — did exist, back then it was only 27-something miles-per-gallon and so it wasn't yet necessary to build EVs as compliance cars, just to even out the MPG math (as it is now; this is one of the non-market mechanisms being used to nudge EVs onto the market). So the EV1 had to stand on its own two bowed and rickety legs — and of course, couldn't. As today, it was much too expensive ($35,000 in mid-1990s dollars) to make any kind of economic sense and didn't go very far and took forever to recharge before you could go not-far again. Which didn't make sense generally. GM tried give-away leases but that was just the problem. The only way to get people into an EV1 was to basically give it to them. GM Surrenders To The Green Lobby — Calls On Feds To Mandate Electric Cars. General Motors has given up on the free market. It now wants the federal government to force electric cars on the market and taxpayers to heavily subsidize them. GM should focus more on improving reliability than pleasing environmentalists. DOJ Is Reportedly Investigating Tesla's Claims About Its Model 3 Production. Just as the dust looked to be settling for Elon Musk's Tesla, it appears the company has another investigation on its hands. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into whether the electric car company misled investors about its production goals for the Model 3, citing sources familiar with the matter. A Tesla spokesperson told Gizmodo in a statement that it received a "voluntary request for documents from the Department of Justice about its public guidance for the Model 3 ramp" earlier this year. But Tesla said it has not received any additional document requests, a subpoena, or a request for testimony from the DOJ about its public guidance for Model 3 production "for months." Tesla under FBI criminal investigation: report. A published report Friday said the FBI is conducting a criminal investigation into whether electric-car maker Tesla misled investors by overstating production forecasts for its Model 3 sedan. The Wall Street Journal reported that FBI agents have contacted former Tesla employees to interview them. The paper cited anonymous people familiar with the matter. A Tesla spokesman said the company was transparent about the difficulty of increasing production of the Model 3. He said the company cooperated with a "voluntary request" for documents from the Justice Department earlier this year and has received no additional requests on the matter for months. GM breaks with Trump administration and calls for nationwide electric-car sales program. Two of the biggest automakers are pushing back on the Trump administration's proposed rollback of U.S. fuel-economy standards. In filings due Friday [10/26/2018], General Motors Co. planned to propose that, rather than oppose California's so-called zero-emission vehicle sales mandate, federal regulators should embrace a nationwide electric-car sales program starting in 2021. Honda Motor Co., meanwhile, took exception to President Trump's proposed freeze on mileage standards and called for steadily increasing requirements to continue. The Cheapest Tesla Model 3 is Now $45,000. With the demand for electric vehicles rising and EV production picking up the pace to match it, prices are slowly declining. With the arrival of the affordable $35,000 base model being pushed back until 2019, Tesla has announced a new mid-range Model 3 for just $10,000 more. This mid-range option is built with the same exact battery pack as the long-range Model 3, which has a range of up to 310 miles. The difference is, the mid-range Model 3's battery pack will have fewer cells — meaning a range shortened to 260 miles, but a lower price. The Electro-Porsche Surtax. Porsches have never been inexpensive — but they're about to become more so. You could call it the electric surtax — because that's what it amounts to. And it's probably going to be applied to us all, eventually. Porsche corporate — the company — just announced that it will expect all 190 of its U.S. stores to install high-voltage fast chargers at a cost of $300,000-$400,000 per store as part of the company's "commitment" to "electrify" half its product portfolio by 2025. The problem — which Porsche openly concedes — is that while electric Porsches are fast, they're slower than a '72 Pinto with a slipping transmission when it comes to recharging. Tesla's breakneck pace produced more than 53,000 Model 3s this quarter. Tesla made 53,239 Model 3s in the third quarter of 2018, which is nearly twice as many as it produced in the previous quarter, the company announced on Tuesday [10/2/2018]. The automaker delivered 55,840 Model 3s and 83,500 cars in total (including the Models X and S). That means Tesla sold, in one quarter, "more than 80 percent" as many cars as it did in all of 2017, the company said. Tesla faces trial over allegations it threatened foreign workers with deportation. A federal judge has ruled that Tesla must defend itself at a trial over allegations it knew foreign workers at its California assembly plant were threatened with deportation if they reported an injury and worked long shifts that violated forced labor laws. US District Judge Lucy Koh, in San Jose, California, dismissed most of the seven claims against Tesla on Monday [10/1/2018], but allowed two claims to survive, paving the way for the plaintiffs to seek documents and witnesses to build their case. Edmunds: How to shop for an electric car. Even though electric vehicles account for just a fraction of overall car sales, they are slowly gaining favor with buyers, particularly as second cars for daily commuting. Tesla plunges after the SEC sues Elon Musk over tweets. Tesla shares fell by as much as 11% in after-hours trading Thursday [9/27/2018] following news that the Securities and Exchange Commission had sued Elon Musk. Bloomberg earlier reported that Musk, the electric-car maker's CEO, was facing a criminal probe over his tweet in August that he was considering taking the company private and had secured funding. The suit alleged that Musk falsely claimed he could take the company private, Bloomberg reported. It alleged that Musk made false and "reckless" statements, and sought undetermined civil penalties against Musk, the report said. Electric Vehicles Reach a Crossroads. The global automobile sector stands at the intersection of three major geopolitical trends: shifting trade dynamics, the transportation revolution and the rise of China as a technological competitor to the United States. In the short term, automobiles represent a key focus of the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, which has proposed measures that would target foreign cars with tariff barriers. Steel and aluminum tariffs, combined with extensive tariffs levied against China (as well as Beijing's retaliation to the United States), have the potential to disrupt supply chains and increase component costs. As electric vehicles themselves alter automobile markets over the coming decade, partnerships will be crucial to reducing developmental costs and standardizing components. And though the U.S. auto market will remain one of the world's largest, it will be dwarfed by the market opportunities that will emerge as demand for electric vehicles climbs in China, especially if a protracted trade battle limits access to the Chinese market for U.S.-based manufacturers and parts suppliers. Elon Musk to resign as board chairman of Tesla, pay $20 million fine. That's a high price to pay for a stupid pot joke. Elon Musk must step down as chairman of the board of Tesla for three years — and he and the car company will each forfeit $20 million — under a punishing settlement forced by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The settlement is Musk's penalty for a market-scrambling joke tweet the billionaire entrepreneur and rocket scientist sent out two months ago — "announcing" a $420 takeover price for the company. The expression "420" is slang for marijuana use. Tesla is 'no longer investable' due to Elon Musk's antics, firm says. Tesla shares fell in trading Tuesday [9/11/2018] after a once-bullish research firm argued that the electric-car maker is "no longer investable" due to CEO Elon Musk's erratic behavior in recent weeks. Nomura Instinet said Tesla remains "positioned to deliver unprecedented revenue growth" because its control of the supply chain and battery manufacturing technology places it ahead of other companies developing electric cars. However, the firm downgraded its Tesla rating to neutral from buy, noting that some of Musk's recent behavior could weaken consumer confidence in the brand. Short Circuit: The High Cost of Electric Vehicle Subsidies. Is the internal combustion engine dead? It soon will be, according to advocates for "zero-emissions vehicle" (ZEV) technologies, especially battery-powered electric vehicles. They claim that ZEVs will offer superior performance, lower cost, and, most importantly, "emissions-free" driving. Sound too good to be true? That's because it is. Critics of the internal combustion engine fail to consider just how clean and efficient new cars are. Tesla's Board Fiddles While Elon Musk Goes Up In Smoke. It's been a mere month since Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk's unvetted tweet on taking his company private — based on apparently imaginary "secured" funding — that sent its board and the Securities and Exchange Commission scrambling. And even less time since Musk's unvarnished admission to the New York Times that he faced a choice between "Ambien and no sleep" — in an interview in which he also found himself having to defend himself against charges that he was smoking marijuana (and that his reference to a $420 buyout price was a nod to "weed" culture). Tesla erupts in chaos after senior execs leave, Musk tokes up. The turmoil at Tesla reached a fever pitch Friday, as news emerged that two senior executives will leave Elon Musk's electric-car maker a matter of hours after he smoked marijuana during an hours-long interview with a comedian. Chief Accounting Officer Dave Morton gave notice Tuesday that he was resigning less than a month into the job, according to a filing. Tesla's stock plunged, then extended declines after Gabrielle Toledano, the head of human resources who's been on a leave of absence, told Bloomberg News that she won't rejoin the company. A solution in search of a problem: The Editor says... Tesla shares fall 9 percent after Musk's bizarre interview. Tesla investors tapped the breaks [sic] on Friday [8/17/2018], pushing shares of the electric car maker down 8.9 percent after unsettling comments by founder Elon Musk were reported. Musk, in a revealing interview, said he has been working up to 120 hours a week and needs Ambien to fall asleep at night. In the interview, Musk, alternating between laughter and tears, told the New York Times the struggle over the last year to get production of the Model 3 going at full speed was "excruciating." "This past year has been the most difficult and painful year of my career," he said. Investors must have gotten unnerved. Elon Musk is coming unglued. Electric car maker Tesla's CEO Elon Musk admitted to the New York Times that stress is taking a heavy toll on him personally in what he calls an "excruciating" year. The newspaper said Musk alternated between laughter and tears during the interview in which he said he was working up to 120 hours a week and sometimes takes Ambien to get to sleep. At Tesla, It's Time To Face — And Fix — The Facts. [T]he erstwhile media darling Elon Musk and his headline-grabbing electric-car production company, Tesla, are drowning in bad facts. The company has not just been plunged into the deep end by Musk's recent brain-dead tweet that he was considering going private and had secured financing, when clearly the latter is not true. There are also reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating both whether the tweet was intended to misleadingly pump the stock and also whether the company has been misleading investors all along with overly ambitious production targets. Tesla Burns Through $739 Million on Road to Record $717.5 Million Quarterly Loss. Elon Musk's Tesla burned through $739.5 million as the company posted a record quarterly loss of $717.5 million on Wednesday. Nevertheless, the company remains optimistic about its future and claims Model 3 production will climb 75 percent in the third quarter. Elon Musks electric car company Tesla burned through $739.5 million in cash in its second quarter, resulting in a record $717.5 million net loss. Tesla's Cash-Back Request Sends a Worrisome Message. Tesla has apparently asked some suppliers to return some of its prior payments in order to help the company in its quest for profitability, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing a company memo. [...] Having used $1.4 billion in cash for operations since the start of 2010 — rather than generating it from them — Tesla has relied on a mix of equity issuance, raising debt, customer deposits and negative working capital to fund operations and investment. Tesla Asks Suppliers for Cash Back to Help Turn a Profit. Tesla Inc. has asked some suppliers to refund a portion of what the electric-car company has spent previously, an appeal that reflects the auto maker's urgency to sustain operations during a critical production period. The Silicon Valley electric car company said it is asking its suppliers for cash back to help it become profitable, according to a memo reviewed by The Wall Street Journal that was sent to a supplier last week. Tesla requested the supplier return what it calls a meaningful amount of money of its payments since 2016, according to the memo. Why Are "Thousands" of Teslas Sitting In a Field in California? When Tesla finally met its Model 3 production run rate target, astute investors and analysts pointed out the use of the word "factory gated" in the company's press release: "Not only did we factory gate 5000 Model 3's, but we also achieved the S & X production target for a combined 7000 vehicle week!" Musk wrote in an email to his staff that week. It was a term that Tesla hadn't used before. Now, thanks to a couple of sleuths on Twitter, we may have just found out what the term means. Twitter Tesla sleuth @ISpyTSLA, with the help of others, has been trying to figure out exactly where all these vehicles are winding up. [...] But why stash the cars there? Is it to optimize net working capital and give investors — and auditors — the impression of more liquidity than is actually available? Elon Musk is a total fraud. Musk has been in business since 2002. His stated goal is nothing short of transforming humanity through his products: his electric cars, space travel, and an underground high-speed Hyperloop system. He has yet to succeed at anything but somehow spins every failure into proof of imminent success. His only accomplishment has been this decades-long Jedi mind trick. Tesla is best known for blowing deadlines and consistently falling short on production. In November 2017, Bloomberg reported that the company burns through $500,000 per hour. For two years now, Tesla has been suffering an epic talent drain and in May, two top execs — one the liaison with the National Transportation Safety Board — walked out the door. The Tesla Model 3 Will Fail. The death of the perpetually tardy Model 3 may ultimately have less to do with it being an overpriced electric car than with something even more lethal to its chances... It's a too-small sedan. Electric or not, they aren't selling. Even the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord — both of them just redesigned — are experiencing sales dips. If these formerly perennial hot-sellers are in trouble, it's a clue that something is seriously awry with this kind of car rather than any particular car. New report suggests broad adoption of electric vehicles may actually increase air pollution. Using a recent forecast prepared by the U.S. Energy Information Administration, [Dr. Jonathan] Lesser's analysis shows that, over the period 2018 — 2050, the electric generating plants that will charge new EVs will emit more air pollution than the same number of new internal combustion engines, even accounting for air pollution from oil refineries that manufacture gasoline. What's more, EV subsidies benefit the wealthy at the expense of the poor. A nationwide survey of EV owners in 2017 found that 56% had household incomes of at least $100,000 and 17% had household incomes of at least $200,000. In 2016, median household income for the US as a whole was less than $58,000. It's time to hit the brakes on the government's drive for electric vehicles. Mississippi Taxpayers on the Hook for Millions in Electric Car Company Bankruptcy. GreenTech Automotive appeared to be a company with a bright future. Its leadership included, Terry McAuliffe, who would soon be elected governor of Virginia, and Anthony "Tony" Rodham, brother of the then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and brother-in-law of former President Bill Clinton. Together, the high-powered duo raised more than $141 million from Chinese investors between 2009 and 2013, promising them an investment opportunity in environmentally friendly electric cars that would also bring much-needed jobs to an impoverished Mississippi county. The duo was also able to leverage tax abatements and investments from the State of Mississippi for the company. As part of the company's pitch to its Chinese investors, they were to receive coveted EB-5 visas, under which foreign nationals are granted permanent residency in the United States if they invest $500,000 to $1 million in a project or business that creates jobs in the United States. Electrify America will deploy 2,000 350kW fast chargers by the end of 2019. For over a century we've lived with cars that can be refueled in minutes, and old habits die hard. Even though the optimal solution is EV owners plugging in each night, the thought of being stranded with a slow-charging EV but hundreds of miles to drive in a day causes enough terror to rule out such cars for many potential drivers. If we want more people to make the switch, the answer then is more chargers and faster chargers. Volkswagen to change iconic logo amid electric-car push. Volkswagen will turn its iconic VW logo into something "more colorful" for a new era of electric cars, the car maker announced on Tuesday [4/17/2018]. Jochen Sengpiehl, the Volkswagen brand's chief marketing officer, told reporters in Germany that a new logo will make its debut next year, according to Bloomberg. The move will coincide with the start of Volkswagen's accelerated rollout of new electric vehicles. "The big challenge is: How do we get people into the electric world," Sengpiehl said during a news conference. "We want people to have fun with us. We need to get more colorful." Tesla is the biggest short in the US stock market. More investors are betting against electric-car maker Tesla than any other U.S. stock, new data show. The dollar amount of shares shorted on Tesla increased 28 percent in the last month to $10.7 billion, according to S3 Partners. The percentage of Tesla's available stock currently sold short exceeds 25 percent, according to FactSet. Tesla collapse? Bankruptcy for Elon Musk is entirely possible, economist warns. As Tesla ramps up the production of its flagship Model 3 electric sedan while simultaneously facing increased scrutiny for production delays and a fatal crash that involved its heralded autopilot feature, an analyst is warning the auto manufacturer's stock is going to crash within three to six months. "I said in a note to my clients that in the next three to six months the stock is going to crash," Vilas Capital Management CEO John Thompson told FOX Business' Stuart Varney on Thursday. "And because of that, they're going to be on the verge of bankruptcy, because they need the capital markets to survive. They have to raise money." Tesla Recalls Almost Half the Cars It Ever Built. Tesla is recalling almost half of all the vehicles the company has so far produced, after corroding bolts that could lead to the loss of power steering has forced the company to fix 123,000 of its Model S sedans. Tesla is having a very bad week. Tesla's stock is crashing. The electric-car maker's shares plunged to their lowest levels in more than a year in a blow to Street darling and Tesla creator Elon Musk on a Moody's debt downgrade tied to production snafus for the Model 3 and nagging worries about last week's fatal car crash in California. Shares fell 7.7 percent, to $257.78, after tumbling 8.2 percent on Tuesday [3/27/2018]. Moody's said the ratings downgrade from B3 to B2 "reflect the significant shortfall in the production rate of the company's Model 3 electric vehicle." The Hidden Cost of Electric Cars: Government Subsidies and Manipulated Markets. In the past few years of heavy marketing and media attention in the form of favorable media coverage that amounts to a combination of free advertising and incessant pressure, one would expect that the electric car market would have taken off. It hasn't, though. It survives on government handouts. In fact, in areas without heavy-handed government pressure, less than one percent of new cars sold are electric, according to a report by Reuters last September. That report also said that the Norwegian island of Finnøy has the highest density of electric cars anywhere in the world — where about one in five cars is electric. The article gives a good reason for those numbers: Those driving electric cars are exempt from the $6,000-a-year toll charges for the tunnel to the mainland. So over the life of the car, those traveling back and forth to the mainland may wind up actually profiting from buying a car they would not likely have otherwise elected to purchase. In other words, those electric cars are actually paid for not by the owner, but by those who do pay the $6,000-a-year toll charges and higher taxes that go to line the pockets of electric-car buyers. Far from being an endorsement of the joys of electric car ownership, this proves that in the absence of government handouts in the form of tax and toll breaks, the electric-car market would die of natural causes. Tesla Employees Claim Company Producing Large Numbers of Flawed Parts, Low Morale. Tesla employees are claiming that as much as 40 percent of the parts manufactured by the company are flawed, causing expensive rework and hurting employee morale. CNBC reports that multiple former and current employees at electric car manufacturer Tesla have alleged that the company is producing a high ratio of flawed parts which has led to costly rework on components. One current Tesla engineer has estimated that as much as 40 percent of car parts manufactured or received at the company's Fremont factory require rework from staff. This is a huge issue for the company given that Tesla's reputation as a carmaker relies heavily on the efficiency of their automated production line, which is currently assembling the company's Model 3 sedan. 400,000 Tesla customers have already pre-ordered Model 3 cars, paying $1,000 refundable fees to do so, yet the company still lags massively behind on the production of the cars. After $1Billion in Govt. Subsidies 'Green' Tesla Fined $139K for Air Pollution. Tesla's factory was fined $139,000 for emitting the same type of toxic NOx into the atmosphere that their electric-vehicles are supposed to eliminate. Tesla has been fined $139,500 by Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) for emitting nitrogen oxides (NOx) air pollution inside its factory. Although Tesla told the San Francisco Chronicle that the sanction was due to a malfunctioning furnace, the company was fined $1,000 for the same issue in 2013. Nitrogen oxides known as NOx, are poisonous gases often emitted by fossil-fuel burning cars, trucks, tractors and boats or industrial processes like power generation. NOx human health impacts include breathing problems, headaches, chronically reduced lung function, eye irritation, loss of appetite, and corroded teeth. McAuliffe-Led Electric Car Company Blames Conservative Media For Bankruptcy. A scandal-plagued electric car company former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe founded blamed conservative media for the automaker's recent decision to filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. GreenTech Automotive believes negative coverage of the company's use of controversial Visa program "negatively affected governmental, investor and public perception of GreenTech." Federal officials began investigating the company shortly after reports unearthed the company's use of the EB-5 visa program, which offered immigrant investors permanent residency. GreenTech, the electric car company once led by McAuliffe, files for bankruptcy. The electric car company founded by former Gov. Terry McAuliffe filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week, blaming in part a wave of negative coverage by a conservative news website for its financial woes. GreenTech Automotive's bankruptcy petition cites 76 articles by the website Watchdog.org it says "negatively affected governmental, investor and public perception of GreenTech" and prompted investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Homeland Security. GreenTech in 2013 sued Watchdog.org, operated by the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity, for $85 million. A judge dismissed the case in 2014. San Francisco Politician Wants to Outlaw Gas-Powered Cars. Sacramento is threatening to outlaw a freedom Californians have enjoyed for more than a century through a bill introduced by Democratic Assemblyman Phil Ting, of San Francisco. If it's passed and signed, new gasoline-powered cars will become the state's new undocumented immigrants. Government will refuse to register them. Should it become law, Assembly Bill 1745 would, beginning Jan. 1, 2040, "prohibit the department from accepting an application for original registration of a motor vehicle unless the vehicle is a zero-emissions vehicle." Commercial vehicles weighing 10,001 pounds or more when fully loaded are exempt as are vehicles brought in from other states. While the San Francisco Democrat insists a transition to electric vehicles is necessary to sharply cut greenhouse gas emissions, the argument has more smoke than fire. Speculation that man is overheating his planet due to Industrial Age atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations is far from settled science. Ford to spend $11B on electric vehicles through 2022. Ford will now spend $11 billion on electric vehicles through 2022, increasing its previous estimates as it races to catch up on battery-powered cars. Ford previously committed $4.5 billion dollars on electric vehicles by 2020 and then added an additional $500 million dollars. Ford plans to offer a "very wide range" of electric vehicles in Europe and the U.S., including an electric sports car scheduled to arrive in 2020. Aussie Government: End the Free Ride for Electric Cars. Australian Federal Urban Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher wants a new system of road charging, which ends the free ride enjoyed by electric cars which do not have to pay fuel tax. This new electric car company is trying to outsmart Tesla. There's a new electric car company on the block. It's called Byton, and the SUV prototype it revealed at this week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, with its sleek design, zero emissions operation and smart device-lined interior, is aiming straight for Tesla. California Bill Seeks Ban on Fossil-Fueled Vehicles by 2040. California would ban the sale of new cars and trucks powered by fossil fuels in 2040 under legislation introduced Wednesday in the state legislature. "We're at an inflection point: we've got to address the harmful emissions that cause climate change," Democratic Assemblymember Phil Ting, the bill's author, said in a statement. If the measure becomes law, by January 1, 2040, all new passenger vehicles sold in California would have to be so-called zero emission vehicles such as battery-electric or hydrogen fuel cell cars. More cars are sold each year in California than in any other state — and more than in some countries. UPS Pre-Orders 125 Tesla Electric Semi-Trucks, Largest Order Yet. United Parcel Service Inc said on Tuesday [12/19/2017] it is buying 125 Tesla Inc all-electric semi-trucks, the largest order for the big rig so far, as the package delivery company expands its fleet of alternative-fuel vehicles. The War on the Internal Combustion Engine. Environmentalists have been waging a war on gasoline and diesel powered vehicles for decades. The Clinton and Obama Administrations and the state of California have been in the forefront by increasing CAFE standards and imposing ever more stringent tailpipe standards as a way to drive up the cost of gasoline and diesel powered vehicles. After the Kyoto Treaty in 1997, climate change became the major justification for pushing hybrids and electric vehicles and making climate change the justification for ever more stringent regulations and subsidies for hybrids and EVs. So far, that strategy has not worked. Gasoline prices peaked in July 2008 at $4.09 per gallon and have been lower since then providing the incentive to buy larger cars, SUVs, and pickups. Last week, the national average was $2.57 a gallon. The market for hybrids and EVs, which is not great, has been kept afloat by subsidies and tax credits, which were promoted by George W. Bush in 2007 to achieve energy security. Even with that help, DOT data show only about 500,000 hybrids and EVs being sold from 2000-2015. Ford Ramps Up Electric Vehicle Push In China Amid Slowing Sales. Ford Motor Co will launch 50 new vehicles in China by 2025, including 15 electrified vehicles, the U.S. firm said at an event in Shanghai on Tuesday, as it looks to rev up sales growth in the market and shift towards cleaner electric cars. Ford's sales in China have been weak in recent months, and the company is scrambling to come up with electric and hybrid vehicles to comply with strict Chinese quotas over production and sales for so-called new energy vehicles, or NEVs. Democrat 2020 Hopeful Sued for $17 Million in Electric Car Scam. Shades of Clintonian corruption still abound among high-profile Democrats. (And this time another Clinton is involved, to boot.) Outgoing Democrat Governor of Virginia Terry McAuliffe, who is reportedly considering running for the presidency in 2020, is being sued along with Hillary Clinton's brother, Anthony Rodham. Chinese investors sue McAuliffe, Rodham over green-car investments. Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe and former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's brother Anthony Rodham are facing a $17 million fraud lawsuit from Chinese investors in Greentech Automotive, an electric car company that appears to be struggling to survive. Tesla battery production releases as much carbon dioxide as eight years of gasoline driving. It was a huge announcement, greeted with much fanfare. Ford, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and the Volkswagen Group have joined together to build an automobile-recharging network throughout Europe, one they hope will allow uninterrupted EVing all throughout the continent by 2020. Better yet, said recharging stations will be of the ultra-fast 350 kilowatt variety, which are the ne plus ultra of battery rebooting, rendering an almost complete recharge in but 15 minutes or so. Now, never mind that there are currently no car batteries — no, not even Tesla's — that can withstand such an onslaught of electrons without blowing up, or that the first cars (mondo expensive Porsches and Audis) that will be 350 kW-capable won't be released until 2019; [...] The inconvenient truth about Tesla's truck. Tesla has finally unveiled its much-promised big rig. And with not a little fanfare, especially considering that said semi is claimed to have a range of 500 miles (800 kilometres!) and, more importantly — at least for fleets seriously considering an all-electric 18-wheeled future — is able to recharge 400 of those miles (640 km) in just 30 minutes. So the question is, has The Elon Musk really reinvented the electric vehicle yet again? How Much Should Taxpayers Invest in Elon Musk? Few people realize that [Elon] Musk played an important part in the creation of PayPal. More familiar is Musk's role as the CEO of Tesla, an innovative and increasingly successful auto manufacturer that produces stylish electric cars. He also helped found SolarCity, one of the leading companies in the United States that manufactures solar panels. [...] Like all celebrated inventors/entrepreneurs, however, Musk has had his share of failures and detractors, and more importantly his successes have always come at a price. Increasingly, that price is borne by taxpayers, in the form of costly subsidies, tax breaks, and government contracts. According to the Los Angeles Times, Musk's companies have received, or will receive, government subsidies and tax breaks totaling $4.9 billion! It is thus reasonable to ask: is Elon Musk worthy of such a giant investment of taxpayer dollars? Tesla's Burning Through Nearly Half a Million Dollars Every Hour. Elon Musk said last week that Tesla Inc. is designing a new sports car that could go from zero to 60 mph in 1.9 seconds. Not bad, but here's a speed number that investors might want to focus on instead: Over the past 12 months, the electric-car maker has been burning money at a clip of about $8,000 a minute (or $480,000 an hour), Bloomberg data show. At this pace, the company is on track to exhaust its current cash pile on Monday, Aug. 6. Tesla next-generation Roadster breaks all the records: 0-60 mph in 1.9 sec. Elon Musk surprised everyone at the Tesla Semi unveiling with his "one more thing" being a prototype of the next generation Roadster. They not only unveiled the stunning design of Tesla's new sports car, but they also announced some mind-boggling specs that are sure to break a lot of records. Tesla's semi truck — what to expect. Tesla is unveiling its first semitruck concept on Thursday night in California, marking a major shift for a company that started out building two-seat electric sports cars over a decade ago. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the truck "will blow your mind clear out of your skull and into an alternate dimension," but hasn't offered many details on how exactly it will do that. Tesla looks to enter trucking business with electric semi. After more than a decade of making cars and SUVs — and, more recently, solar panels — the company plans to unveil an electric semi tractor-trailer on Thursday night [11/16/2017] in Hawthorne, California. The move fits with Tesla CEO Elon Musk's stated goal for the company of accelerating the shift to sustainable transportation. But the semi also adds to the chaos at Tesla, which posted a record loss in the third quarter. This is slightly off topic. Tesla's rich and subsidized buyers about to get smacked by Trump tax reform. Tesla, the obnoxious green car company whose products roam the streets of Beverly Hills and carry its assorted movie stars, is about to get a lesson in sustainability if the Republican congressional tax reform bill goes through. No more free stuff. [...] Turns out the big reason anyone buys one of these green vehicles isn't to virtue-signal, although there's a lot of that going on. It's that Tesla buyers get a $10,000 tax break, while you, buying a humble used Honda or Chevy to get to work, get nothing. I do not know all the particulars of this, but I have known people who have told me that that tax break, combined with other tax breaks and subsidies, effectively makes driving a Tesla free, at least for some buyers. Why Calling Electric Cars 'Zero Emission' Is Blatantly False Advertising. If truth-in-advertising laws were properly enforced, any company that labeled a battery-powered car as "zero emissions" would be guilty of breaking the law. A new report, in fact, shows that electric cars can be worse than conventional cars when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions. Should the American taxpayer be required to subsidize an industry that could not survive on its own? Following news that President Trump's draft budget repeals the $7,500-per-vehicle federal tax credit for electric cars, Tesla's share price took more than a 7% dip. Electric vehicles are the only kind Tesla makes, and it receives other subsidies as well. At the state level, it receives carbon credits, which it can sell to companies that don't exclusively sell electric cars. These credits have the effect of raising the price that consumers pay for non-electric cars. So the middle class Deplorable in his Ford Explorer has been subsidizing the much richer guy in his Tesla. Additionally, several states offer rebates to buyers of electric cars. To the extent that state taxes are deductible from federal taxes, Americans in other states are subsidizing the "green" state cars. This is not even to mention the various subsidies states and municipalities offer to induce green companies to build plants in their area, which also ultimately get passed via the state tax pass-through. Tesla fires hundreds of employees. Somewhere between 400 and 700 employees of electric-vehicle maker Tesla were fired this week after their performance reviews, according to a published report. Those let go included engineers, managers and sales staff — just as the Palo Alto, Calif., company — led by entrepreneur Elon Musk — prepares to release its Model 3 sedan later this month. Word of the departures — which the company stressed were dismissals and not layoffs — first emerged through a report by the Mercury News of San Jose, Calif. Electric Car Putsch? It's not just the government that's pushing electric cars. The media is equally complicit. Both are engaged in what has to be described as nothing less than a concerted propaganda onslaught to convince the public that the naked emperor is indeed wearing a suit of the finest materials available. But the question — why? — remains mysterious. What is so important — to them — about electric cars? Why the urgency to create the impression of inevitability? The media, in particular, seems to be obsessed with this — even to the point of exaggerating the confected enthusiasm for electric cars displayed by major car manufacturers, who must at least pretend that electric cars are The Future — in order to not offend politically correct orthodoxy. Ban Gas-Powered Cars? California Is Thinking About It. It isn't enough for California to contemplate its own state-run single payer health care system that would require, at a minimum, tripling the state budget. Now a lawmaker wants to have the state ban gasoline-powered cars by the year 2040. I certainly hope California follows through and tries this. If nothing else, it will provide wonderful black market opportunities. Think of all the meth labs that will convert to mini-refineries, not to mention the smuggling. It is doubtful we can legally confiscate existing cars, so look for California's rolling stock to become the equivalent of all those 57 Chevys and Buicks we see on the streets of Havana. California's enacted and potential bans: From internal combustion engines to plastic bags. California became the first state in the U.S. to ban single-use plastic bags in 2015, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune. Businesses that continue to offer the bags have to charge customers a fee. California's enacted and potential bans: From internal combustion engines to plastic bags. Cars with internal combustion engines could soon be banned in California. Mary Nichols, the California Air Resources Board chair, told Bloomberg that Gov. Jerry Brown is interested in a potential ban. However, she said banning cars with internal combustion engines wouldn't happen in the next 10 years. Car Ban: Yet Another Gaseous Proposal. California Assemblyman Phil Ting managed to get some positive coverage in newspapers across the state and in major news publications across the country last week. That was quite a feat for the little-known San Francisco Democrat[. ...] Ting announced plans to next year introduce a bill that would outlaw the sale of cars powered by internal-combustion engines after 2040. It doesn't appear to be his idea, actually. He was following the lead of Mary Nichols, head of the ham-fisted California Air Resources Board. California's Latest Bad Idea — Outlaw Gas-Powered Cars. California is considering a ban on the sale of gasoline-powered cars. If state officials go this route, it will have little effect on CO2 emissions, but will harm consumers and kill California's economy. California lawmaker wants to ban gas car sales after 2040. France and the United Kingdom are doing it. So is India. And now one lawmaker would like California to follow their lead in phasing out gasoline- and diesel-fueled vehicles. When the Legislature returns in January, Assemblyman Phil Ting plans to introduce a bill that would ban the sale of new cars powered by internal-combustion engines after 2040. The San Francisco Democrat said it's essential to get California drivers into an electric fleet if the state is going to meet its greenhouse gas reduction targets, since the transportation sector accounts for more than a third of all emissions. Experts Mock California Enviro Push To Ban Fossil Fuel Vehicles In The State. Analysts and conservatives believe a Democrat-led plan to propose a ban on gas-powered cars in California later this year is a pie-in-the-sky scheme that ignores important factors about the state's auto industry. Assemblyman Phil Ting plans to introduce a bill in January that would ban the sale of gas-powered cars produced after 2040. The Democratic lawmaker said California drivers must adopt electric vehicles if the state is going to reduce greenhouse gas emissions — but some are scoffing at the push. "The market is moving this way. The entire world is moving this way. At some point you need to set a goal and put a line in the sand," Ting told reporters Friday. Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club have joined his push to wipe out the state's fossil fuel industry. China Fossil Fuel Deadline Shifts Focus to Electric Car Race. China will set a deadline for automakers to end sales of fossil-fuel-powered vehicles, becoming the biggest market to do so in a move that will accelerate the push into the electric car market led by companies including BYD Co. and BAIC Motor Corp. [...] The world's second-biggest economy, which has vowed to cap its carbon emissions by 2030 and curb worsening air pollution, is the latest to join countries such as the U.K. and France seeking to phase out vehicles using gasoline and diesel. The looming ban on combustion-engine automobiles will goad both local and global automakers to focus on introducing more zero-emission electric cars to help clean up smog-choked major cities. What would it take to persuade you to buy an electric car? Even with up to $10,000 in federal and state incentives, only 4% of car buyers in California chose electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles last year. That's a huge problem in a state with rising greenhouse gas emissions from passenger vehicles, and with a goal to more than quadruple the number of zero-emissions vehicles on the road by 2025. California Senate Scraps $3 Billion Electric-Vehicle Subsidy Bill. The California legislature scrapped a $3 billion spending bill aimed at boosting tax subsidies for electric vehicles that could have been a boon to Tesla. The late Friday [9/1/2017] move came after criticism that the bill was short on details and failed to demonstrate exactly where the money would come from to pay for it. The state Finance Department had opposed a previous version of the bill because it appropriated billions of dollars "without identifying a funding source." The bill's original language called for funds to come from additional taxes on utilities, but that language was stripped out earlier in the legislative process. Surprise: Middle And Lower Classes Bear The Burden For Tesla Sales. Is there any reason that these vehicles are offered subsidies and tax breaks, when it is essentially rich people who are buying them? Can Merkel really ban gas cars in Germany? It came out recently that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is now considering bans on gasoline and diesel cars — cars that use internal combustion engines (ICE). This possibility has been floated in the UK, France, India, Norway, the Netherlands, and certain German cities. However, it is a significant departure from the norm for the country's leader, Merkel, to consider such a strong policy, and I would say that even in recent months I wouldn't have expected it. The auto industry in Germany is just too strong and too interested in a slow transition to electric vehicles, and Merkel is much more a moderate than a revolutionary. Car or air conditioner? The National Grid, a British multinational electricity and gas utility company, issued a warning to customers: Don't boil water when you are recharging your electric car. You'll blow a fuse. Given how many hours it takes to recharge a car, that would be inconvenient. Don't boil the kettle while charging your electric car because it will blow the fuse, National Grid warns. "The average household is supplied with single phase electricity and is fitted with a main fuse of 60-80 amps," the National Grid said. "If one were to use an above average power charger, say 11 kW, this would require 48 amps. When using such a charger it would mean that you could not use other high demand electrical items... without tripping the house's main fuse." Child miners aged four living a hell on Earth so YOU can drive an electric car. Picking through a mountain of huge rocks with his tiny bare hands, the exhausted little boy makes a pitiful sight. His name is Dorsen and he is one of an army of children, some just four years old, working in the vast polluted mines of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where toxic red dust burns their eyes, and they run the risk of skin disease and a deadly lung condition. Here, for a wage of just 8p a day, the children are made to check the rocks for the tell-tale chocolate-brown streaks of cobalt — the prized ingredient essential for the batteries that power electric cars. Environment Canada wastes $75K on useless electric car study. A new report from Blacklock's Reporter reveals that Environment Canada is wasting $75,000 to study why Canadians choose to buy the cars they do. But the Canadian automobile industry, in their ongoing pursuit to give Canadians what they want, has already done this research. Those studies concluded that Canadians were choosing their SUVs for the same things I chose mine and you likely chose yours: practicality. Canadians have to drive in winter conditions and like the extra space. Despite all the government subsidies and incentives, Canadians just refuse to buy those tiny electric cars and hybrids. In a police state, everything that isn't mandatory is prohibited. Chevy Forced To Extend Shutdown Of Bolt Plant After Realizing That Literally No One Wants A Bolt. General Motors launched it's [sic] much-hyped, all electric Chevy Bolt at the end of 2016. The Bolt was expected to make a splash as it was the first electric car in the U.S. market to offer 200 miles of driving range at an affordable price starting around $35,000. The only problem is that pretty much no one seems to want one. McAuliffe's Former Electric Car Company Audited for $6.4M in Repayment to Mississippi. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe's (D.) former electric car company has been audited to repay $6.4 million of public funds to the state of Mississippi. GreenTech Automotive, which McAuliffe left in 2012, was unable to deliver on its promise to create jobs in the state of Mississippi, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. Now Mississippi State Auditor Stacey Pickering is asking for the full sum of $5 million in public loans, along with interest and recovery costs, to be repaid in full within 30 days. He warned GreenTech CEO Charles Wang that failure to pay could result in the state filing a lawsuit against the company. France to 'ban all petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040'. France will outlaw the sale of all petrol and diesel vehicles by 2040, its new environment minister, Nicolas Hulot, has announced. It will also ban any "new project to use petrol, gas or coal", as well as shale oil, by that date. The radical measures were unveiled at a press conference as part of French president Emmanuel Macron's pledge to "make the planet great again". Mr Hulot, a former star wildlife TV presenter, announced "the end of the sale of petrol or vehicles between now and 2040" and a pledge to make France carbon neutral by 2050. "The carbon neutral objective will force us to make the necessary investments," he added. The Editor says... Volvo Plans to Go Electric, to Abandon Conventional Car Engine by 2019. For Volvo the internal combustion engine has run its course. In the face of competition from upstarts like Tesla Inc., which begins production this week of its new mass-market Model 3 electric battery-powered family car, the Chinese-owned automotive group on Wednesday said all new Volvo models from 2019 would be either fully electric or a hybrid. Volvo is the first major auto maker to abandon the technology that has powered the industry for more than a century. Hakan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars, said in a statement that the move "marks the end of the solely combustion engine-powered car," reiterating his target of selling one million electric cars and hybrids by 2025. Tesla car battery production releases as much CO2 as 8 years of gasoline driving. Huge hopes have been tied to electric cars as the solution to automotive CO2 climate problem. But it turns out the the electric car batteries are eco-villains in the production process of creating them. Several tons of carbon dioxide has been emitted, even before the batteries leave the factory. Don't Let the Door Hit You, Elon. Unfortunately, the most innovative elements of Tesla cars may be the least functional. At least, that's if you believe a class action lawsuit filed against Tesla by three buyers who, after paying $5,000 more than the already substantial list prices on Tesla vehicles for so-called "Enhanced Autopilot" software, claimed that the software made their vehicles inoperable. In addition, even the tech favorable blog Wired had to admit that despite their professions to be environmentally friendly, even functional Tesla vehicles aren't as green as they appear. In other words, these are a fashionable but not particularly groundbreaking brand of luxury car. Subsidy-driven solar industry a bubble waiting to burst. Automotive research company Edmunds warned that the elimination of the $7,500 U.S. tax credit for electric vehicles (EV) is, "likely to kill the EV market" according to Bloomberg. Think about this. Tesla, an electric car company that has yet to make a profit, has the largest market capitalization of any U.S. auto company recently surpassing both Ford and General Motors, and a leading auto company analyst predicts that absent federal government subsidies, the entire market for their product will collapse. Sacramento public housing residents just got free Zipcars. Residents at three public housing areas now have a mini-fleet of free Zipcars to make their way around Sacramento. On Friday, Sacramento launched a pilot program that put eight shared electric Kia Souls at public housing sites. Up to 300 residents can apply for on-demand access to the vehicles, with no charge for maintenance, insurance or juicing up the battery. The program is funded through a $1.3 million grant from the California Air Resources Board using cap-and-trade funds that businesses pay to offset their carbon emissions. Tesla's success comes from 'welfare for the rich'. Tesla is supported by tax dollars from the federal and state governments. Federal taxpayers kicked in $7,500 to lower the costs for the first 200,000 vehicles. The taxpayers at the state level across the country are also subsidizing the innovative vehicle manufacturer at even greater rates. Colorado taxpayers kick in another $5,000, while California contributes $2,500 per vehicle. According to the Los Angeles Times, Tesla buyers had garnered in excess of $284 million in federal tax incentives plus $38 million in California rebates. Tesla also makes hundreds of millions per year from other automakers by selling environmental credits in California and more than six other states to manufacturers that cannot meet California's "zero emissions" sales mandates. Nevada gave $1.3 billion in subsidies to Tesla to build its huge battery factory there. Yet another subsidy is that electric car owners do not pay into the Highway Trust Fund because they do not use gasoline, which is taxed by the gallon to pay for road construction and maintenance. If Tesla Is Worth More Than GM, Why Are Taxpayers Still Subsidizing It? The big news in the auto world was that Tesla (TSLA) topped the market value of General Motors. That means the car company that gets massive taxpayer subsidies is now worth more than the car company taxpayers bailed out a few years ago. Welcome to the world of crony capitalism. On Monday [4/10/2017], Tesla's stock closed at $312.39, which meant the startup electric car company, which sold a grand total of fewer than 80,000 cars last year, was worth more than GM, which sold 80,000 Chevy Silverados every eight weeks. New York state to launch electric vehicle rebate. New York state will soon launch a rebate intended to make electric vehicles more price competitive with traditional cars. Why are effeminate men attracted to electric cars? I think, like some ladies, effeminate men want a car that's small and petite. Electric cars are much smaller than normal gas-powered vehicles in the same price range. They often have smaller steering wheels, so men with smaller hands can more easily grip them. Another factor is that effeminate men are used to being cowed by more aggressive, masculine men, and their choice of car also reflects that. They choose a little lightweight vehicle, which, if it wants to survive, has to wiggle out of the way of larger cars (driven by masculine men) in traffic. Effeminate men, used to being dominated in person, prefer a car that allows them to also be dominated in traffic. Obama Has Little To Show For His Lavish Spending On Roads, Green Energy And E-Cars. Obama said he'd put a million electric cars on the road by investing massively in battery technology while heavily subsidizing the cars themselves with a generous tax credit. In 2012, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the price tag for Obama's dream would be nearly $8 billion over 10 years. But electric car sales have consistently underwhelmed, leaving the nation nowhere near that 1 million mark. Electric cars remain a tiny niche market heavily subsidized by millions of taxpayers who have no interest in owning one. DOJ Settlement on VW Emissions Scandal Requires German Automaker to Promote Electric Vehicles; EV Industry Not Happy. Following the revelation early this year that Volkswagen had failed to accurately report its emissions test results for its diesel vehicles, the Department of Justice (DOJ) reached a $14.7 billion settlement with the German automaker that included $2.7 billion to promote education and infrastructure for electric vehicles across the United States. "The settlement of the company's Clean Air Act violations ... requires Volkswagen to pay $2.7 billion to fund projects across the country that will reduce emissions of NOx where the 2.0 liter vehicles were, are or will be operated," the June 28 DOJ press release said. Feds to require sound alerts for electric cars, hybrids. Federal regulators are moving to require electric and hybrid cars to make sounds that alert pedestrians who have trouble seeing. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Monday it is moving to require all electric and hybrid vehicles to create noise at up to 19 miles per hour — whether in forward or reverse. Above that speed, cars make enough wind-speed noise and tire noise that they have no trouble being heard. Automakers will have until Sept. 1, 2019, to meet the requirement, although the U.S. Department of Transportation said half of their electric and hybrid fleets must have audible alerts by September 2018. Tesla says it's unlikely Autopilot used in Indiana crash. Witnesses reported the car was travelling at a high rate of speed about 1 a.m. Thursday [11/3/2016] when it hit a tree, crashed into a building and caught fire, leaving a trail of burning battery components. The Editor says... Surge in electric cars could strain energy grid, warns EU agency. The large scale roll-out of electric cars on EU roads will help fight climate change but more electricity will have to be generated to power the vehicles which, the European Environment Agency (EEA) has warned, could have its own impact on global warming. The European Environment Agency this week said that larger numbers of electric vehicles will not be enough to make to the transition to a low-carbon economy. The EU's transport sector still depends on oil for 94% of its energy needs. Hawaii Bill Would Ban Vehicles Powered by Gasoline and Diesel Fuel. In a far-reaching effort to further Hawaii's embrace of renewable energy, state Rep. Chris Lee (D-Kailua) and state Rep. Nicole E. Lowen (D-Kailua Kona) have introduced legislation targeting vehicles powered by gasoline and diesel fuel. The bill, House Bill 2085, is vague on how fossil-fuel powered vehicles would ultimately be eliminated, leaving it to the state's Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism to develop a plan. The bill aims to reduce and ultimately eliminate the import of fossil fuels for ground transportation by 2045. It builds upon legislation signed into law by Gov. Dave Ige (D) on June 18, 2015, which mandates 100 percent of the islands' electricity be produced by renewable energy — such as wind, solar, and geothermal — no later than 2045. The Editor says... It's time to yank Tesla's direct line to the U.S. treasury. [E]very Tesla Model S or X — which range in price from $66,000 to $150,000 — qualifies for a $7,500 federal tax credit. And many states offer additional incentives for buying electric vehicles. It's time for taxpayers to stop subsidizing status symbols for the wealthy. The good news is the tax credits, which were included in the 2009 stimulus bill with support from President Obama, only apply to the first 200,000 electric vehicles sold by each manufacturer. Tesla has now sold over 85,000 cars in the U.S. With the introduction in late 2017 of the Model 3, which has a tentative base price of $35,000, Tesla will soon reach 200,000 vehicles sold, and the subsidy will then be phased out. Little Green Lies: Why Electric Cars Won't Save the Environment. One reason why the polluting effects of electric cars are obfuscated is because their proponents point to charging stations as a sustainable alternative to gasoline. What these electric car cheerleaders don't explain, however, is where the electricity for charging these cars comes from. When the answer is coal, environmentalists no longer have a leg to stand on when they advocate for electric vehicles. [...] Furthermore, though the Obama administration rewards drivers of electric cars, the left is really playing both sides of the fence. Though many of these car charging systems rely on coal, Obama's administration froze all coal mining on federal land earlier this year. Couple that with his Clean Power Plan and thousands of mining jobs, as well as a significant source of U.S. energy, have been decimated with a flick of Obama's pen. The End of Global Warming. I bought a hybrid car, not because I think it has anything to do with global warming, but simply because it is an advancement in technology that is a cleaner alternative. I lived in London when the buses were diesel. It was horrible in August. Now that the buses are hybrids, the air is free to breathe again. That should be our concern. We do not need conspiracy theories of changing the climate. We are [insignificant] when it comes to that. We cannot even create a perpetual recession-free economy, and politicians want to tax us so they can manage the climate? Come on. I would not trust these people to even direct traffic as they do in Rome. Elon Musk Says Autopilot Death "Not Material" to Tesla Shareholders. When Joshua Brown crashed and died in Florida on May 7 in a Tesla that was operating on autopilot — that is, Brown's hands were not on the wheel — the car company knew its duty. "Following our standard practice," Tesla said in a statement issued last Thursday it "immediately" informed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about the accident. So much for immediacy. The NHTSA sat on that news — of possible interest to the driving public, wouldn't you say? — until announcing it late last Thursday, June 30. That was almost eight weeks after the accident. Tesla driver crashes, dies while car in 'autopilot' mode. Tesla Motors acknowledged today that a driver of one of its Model S cars operating in Autopilot mode died when the semi-autonomous system failed to detect a tractor-trailer turning in front of the luxury electric car. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has begun a preliminary investigation of the fatal accident that occurred May 7 in Williston, Fla. The case illustrates the experimental nature of autonomous vehicle technology that has attracted billions of dollars of investment from the auto and technology industries. The Editor says... NJ will subsidize building electric car charging stations. 398 charging stations doesn't sound like a lot. Except there probably aren't 398 electric cars in all of New Jersey. Remember when the people who needed and wanted a service paid for that service? Daimler to unveil long-distance electric car in October. Germany's Daimler will lift the curtain on its much-anticipated long-distance electric car at the Paris Motor Show in October, as the automaker gears up to compete with Tesla Motors' Model X sport-utility vehicle (SUV). The company will display a prototype of an electric-powered Mercedes car with a 500-kilometre (310 miles) range, Chief Development Officer Thomas Weber said this week in Stuttgart at an event for journalists. Tesla would be out of business in a month without government intervention. There's no way Norway is actually going to ban normal cars in favour of electric ones by 2025. The electric automobile industry only exists thanks to state subsidies. Elon Musk's Tesla Motors is probably the most heavily subsidized company in America. Only the very wealthy can afford his expensive, inefficient cars. His tweet cheering on Norway's announcement was just another example of virtue signaling. Study: Electric Vehicles Pollute More Than Gas-powered Cars. [Scroll down] That conventional vehicles pollute less isn't quite as shocking when you consider, as American Thinker's Thomas Lifson points out, "that internal combustion engine performance has improved so radically over the past several decades that they actually emit very few pollutants compared to engines of the past. The internal combustion engine is the most highly engineered product on the planet, having been worked on for well over a century by hundreds of thousands of engineers all over the planet." The proof is in the pudding. Consider the evolution of popular sports car the Chevrolet Camaro: While the 2017 version is actually about 300 pounds heavier and has horsepower approximately equal to or greater than the 1970 version, it also goes fairly close to twice as many miles on a gallon of gas. But electric vehicles have gone 10 times as far on a gallon of hype. Crony Capitalism and the Spigot of Government Subsidies. Tesla secured nearly $1.3 billion in benefits from a variety of sources, including money from Nevada to set up a car battery factory, federal subsidies through the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program, and a number of federal and state tax breaks for the purchase of Tesla vehicles (such as the $7,500 federal tax credit and a $2,500 California rebate). Why would so much in government subsidies go to produce a car that only a few Americans can afford? The new Tesla Model S ranges from $80,000 to nearly $115,000 before tax credits and rebates. Automakers entrenched in fuel cell hydrogen are succumbing to physics and going electric. I think we are witnessing the start of a new (but long overdue) trend this year. The few established automakers still pushing fuel cell hydrogen vehicles appear to be warming up to battery-powered electric vehicles instead. Honda, Toyota and Hyundai, arguably the automakers most stuck on hydrogen, all announced new electric vehicle programs in the past few weeks. How Audi and Porsche Will Try to Take On Tesla Motors. Tesla has shown the world that electric cars can be fast and luxurious and very desirable. In the process, it has generated huge demand for its products. Now the world, or at least the major automakers, are starting to respond. Given that all of Tesla's sales so far have been in luxury-vehicle segments, it's no surprise that the biggest challenges to Tesla look to be coming from the longtime luxury-car leaders. Lithium War Heats Up After Epic Launch Of Tesla Model 3. The unveiling of Tesla's Model 3 electric car was no less than the lifting of the final curtain on a game-changing energy revolution. And if we follow that revolution to its core, we arrive at lithium — our new gasoline for which the feeding frenzy has only just begun. Unveiled just on 31 March and already with 325,000 orders, it seems that the market, too, understands that the Model 3 is more than just another electric vehicle. In one week alone, Tesla has racked up around $14 billion in implied future sales, making it the "biggest one-week launch of any product ever." (And if you think the "implied future sales" negates the news, think again: Each order requires a $1,000 refundable deposit.) It will change the world because it is the first hard indication that the tech-driven energy revolution is not only pending, it's arrived. The Model 3 and its stunning one-week sales success — apparently achieved without advertising or paid endorsements--brings the electric car definitively into the mainstream, and there is no turning back now. Competitors will step up their game and the electric vehicle rush will be in full throttle — so will the war to stake out new lithium deposits. Tesla shares crash on negative quality report. Falcon-wing doors aren't helping Tesla's shares take flight. A scathing story by Consumer Reports — which detailed customer gripes about fancy, high-tech features of the Model X, including its futuristic doors — helped send Tesla's stock tumbling on Tuesday [4/19/2016]. One Model X owner, Michael Karpf, complained that one of his falcon-wing doors "failed to close, then later didn't sense an overhang and bonked into it, leaving a ding in the door," the magazine's website reported. The 75-year-old Californian said his complaints were dealt with "quickly and completely," but added that he also had problems opening and closing the driver's door and window, and that the Model X's huge "infotainment" video console had frozen repeatedly. Tesla, The Coal-Powered Car, Won't Be Saving The World. The electric car has been promoted as the environmental guardian that will save the planet from man's destructive behavior. The truth is a bit different, though. Electric cars are not eco-friendly. The Tesla 3: A Marketing Success Story. The lure of an all-electric car is undeniable — no CO2 emissions, freedom from dependence on environmentally "dirty" fossil fuels, the convenience of charging up at home overnight, as easily as your cell phone. No more searching around for a gas station in unfamiliar areas, no time wasted on late mornings having to stop for gas, no more aggravation when the morning posted price of $2.29 9 becomes — inexplicably, frustratingly — that afternoon's ride home price of 2.49 9. Tesla's first electric vehicle — the Model S — was a high-end, very expensive ($100,000) car, great-looking and great-performing, no doubt, but hardly a product for the masses. It did, however, establish Tesla's credibility as a manufacturer capable of designing and producing an all-electric car that actually worked well for day-in, day-out use. A few hiccups here and there, but tens of thousands of Model S's have been delivered and Tesla's capability as a bona fide large-scale supplier of electric vehicles is now cemented. Most Tesla Model 3 buyers won't get the $7,500 tax break. Lots of Tesla buyers are banking on fat tax credits to make the Model 3 even more affordable. But they shouldn't. Anyone who buys a plug-in car in the U.S. today is eligible for a federal tax credit of up to $7,500. That's more than 20% of the Model 3's $35,000 starting price. But that tax credit won't last forever — in fact, it's only good on the first 200,000 U.S. cars that any manufacturer sells. Tesla's Electric Cars Aren't As Green As You Might Think. Devonshire Research Group, an investment firm that specializes in valuing tech companies, dug into the data and concluded that Tesla's environmental benefits may be more hyped than warranted. Devonshire isn't saying that Tesla is pulling a Volkswagen, or that its cars are spewing greenhouse gases from invisible tailpipes. It's arguing that Teslas (and, by extension, all electric vehicles) create pollution and carbon emissions in other ways. Each stage of an EV's life has environmental impacts, and while they aren't as obvious as a tailpipe pumping out fumes, that doesn't make them any less damaging. Tesla Shares Surge as Model 3 Orders Top Estimates. Shares of Tesla Motors jumped as much as 9 percent before the opening bell on Friday [4/1/2016] and were set to open at their highest in six months after the electric car maker said orders for its new Model 3 sedan had sped past 130,000 in the first 24 hours. The Model 3, Tesla's first car aimed at the mass market, was unveiled by Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk on Thursday. Electric cars: Another failed Obama Campaign promise, and that's a good thing. 2015 is now in the record books and, after billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars in EV subsidies for consumers and industry, Reuters reports: "only about 400,000 electric cars have been sold. Last year, sales fell 6 percent over the previous year to about 115,000, despite the industry offering about 30 plug-in models, often at deep discounts." Though 400,000 EVs may have been sold, the actual number on the road is likely far less. Most of the "sales" are actually leases and when the lease term is over, the EVs get turned back into the dealer, and then the manufacturer. Drivers, even with generous incentives to buy the model they are driving, don't want them. According to the Wall Street Journal, there is little demand for used electric cars. Tesla Motors' net loss more than doubles in fourth quarter. Tesla Motors Inc. reported an unexpectedly large fourth-quarter loss of $320 million on Wednesday [2/10/2016] as the maker of luxury electric cars incurred heavy costs related to developing two new models. The Palo Alto company's primary car is the Model S sedan, and last fall it launched the Model X sport utility vehicle. Tesla also plans a lower-priced, mass-market electric car called the Model 3 for late 2017. Shift to Electric Vehicles May Not Help in Climate Fight. The Dutch city of Rotterdam provides a dirty, example of the persistent fact the switch to electric vehicles to reduce carbon dioxide emissions is more of a shell game, simply shifting the source of emissions rather than actually reducing them, than a solution to rising greenhouse gas emissions. Thanks to generous tax subsidies and gasoline prices of nearly $7 a gallon, in part due to high gas taxes, the share of electric vehicles has grown faster in the Netherlands than in nearly any other country resulting in it being second only to Norway in terms of percentage of electric vehicles on the road. Four percent of all cars sold in the Netherlands last year were electric. Britain Embracing Electric Cars. British sales of Electric and Hybrid cars have surged in the last year. [...] Whether the popularity of electric will last is anyone's guess. Britain has a dangerously overloaded electric grid. If the majority of electric car owners recharge using off-peak power, this won't be an issue — but if a significant number of drivers choose to charge during peak time, the surge in demand could cause the grid to fail. There might also be some long term safety issues. Quite apart for the unfortunate apparent tendency for car batteries in some models to catch fire, Britain occasionally experiences severe blizzards which strand drivers on snow covered roads. A stranded petrol car can keep burning fuel, and can keep the car interior safe and warm for many hours. An electric car, not so much — especially if the battery starts to freeze. Washington Post admits that, no: electric cars were NOT worth it. At least, if you use the rule of thumb that any time you ask a question in a headline then the answer is always going to be 'no:' "The government has spent a lot on electric cars, but was it worth it?" And the answer to the question is no in this case, too. Tesla Model S Bursts Into Flames, Burns To A Crisp While Charging. The Norwegian owner of a Tesla Model S found an unexpected f(i)ringe benefit during a cold Friday afternoon [1/1/2016] when shortly after he had parked his luxury electric car at a supercharging station in Gjerstad, and left, he realized the car could serve as a very quick and efficient, if quite toxic, source of heating for the cold Scandinavian country, when the Model S spontaneously burst into flames. Are EVs too reliable and too quiet? You never know what problems you're going to get into with a new technology. EVs are zero-emissions vehicles. They eliminate gas purchases. Their range is getting better all the time. But now they're running into two obstacles: They have so few moving parts that they don't require much maintenance, which makes dealers reluctant to sell them. And they're so quiet that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is thinking of requiring them to carry noisemakers at low speeds so they don't threaten blind people or cyclists. Tesla Model S Owners: You May Want To Double Check That Motor. New vehicles from nascent auto manufactures are bound to face some growing pains, and that seems to be the case for Tesla. Analysis performed by Green Car Reports of 2012 and 2013 Model S vehicles found that two-thirds of drivetrains will have components that fail within 60,000 miles. The online publication GreenCarReports.com worked with a reliability engineer to analyze data from a survey of Model S owners conducted by electric car advocacy group Plug In America, and discovered that the characteristic life — the age at which 63.2 percent of parts are expected to fail — was around 50,000 miles. That finding reinforces Consumer Reports "worse-than-average overall problem rate."
Without state subsidies, electric car sales in Georgia crash. For more than 15 years, Georgia offered one of the country's most generous tax credits for people who bought electric cars. But the $5,000 subsidy went away three months ago and a look by Watchdog.org at how the tax credit's expiration has affected sales shows a dramatic drop in the number of all-electric cars such as Teslas and Nissan Leafs purchased in the Peach State. Consumer Reports pulls recommendation of the heavily hyped Tesla Model S. In August, the independent testers at Consumer Reports handed all-electric automaker Tesla one heck of a rave review, giving its heavily hyped Model S the best performance rating ever, a staggering 103 out of 100. Now, the ratings giant has dinged the showpiece from America's youngest car company with a far less glowing endorsement, withdrawing its recommendation due to drivers' complaints of a "worse-than-average overall problem rate." Tesla Plugs Into $35,000 In Tax Loopholes For Super-Wealthy Customers. Tesla Motors, which is already heavily dependent on tax subsidies to sell its luxury electric cars, has managed to hit another lucrative taxpayer vein with its Model X electric SUV. That car, which will retail at more than $100,000, is eligible for a $25,000 tax deduction, according to the Los Angeles Times. California Has a Plan to End the Auto Industry as We Know It. Sergio Marchionne had a funny thing to say about the $32,500 battery-powered Fiat 500e that his company markets in California as "eco-chic." "I hope you don't buy it," he told his audience at a think tank in Washington in May 2014. He said he loses $14,000 on every 500e he sells and only produces the cars because state rules require it. Marchionne, who took over the bailed-out Chrysler in 2009 to form Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, warned that if all he could sell were electric vehicles, he would be right back looking for another government rescue. Tesla officially opens 2nd charging station in Michigan. Tesla Motors is holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony today [7/27/2015] for its new charging station in Grand Rapids, its second in the state that's home to the U.S. auto industry. [...] The Supercharger provides up to 120 kilowatts of power and replenishes 170 miles of range in a half hour. For example, the Model S has a range of 270 miles, she explained, so it can fully charge is less than an hour. The Editor says... Tesla gets $295M in cap & trade credits for technology not offered to customers. Tesla Motors has earned more than $295 million in state cap and trade emission credits during the past three years for a battery-swapping technology customers weren't getting, a Watchdog investigation reveals. In fact, the electric car company, owned in part by billionaire Elon Musk, may have earned credits up to nearly half a billion dollars in value from the 11 states that use the Zero Emission Vehicle barter as part of a green auto industry mandate. California created the program and leads the pack, doling out $173 million in credits to the Silicon Valley-based Tesla. H8 Wins: Oregon Threatens Home Of Christian Bakers. Fox News is reporting that the fascist state of Oregon is ramping up its persecution campaign against Christian bakers who declined to bake a wedding cake for a same sex lesbian couple. Aaron and Melissa Klein, the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, have been told that if they don't pay the $135,000 awarded to the lesbian couple who sued them, a lien will be placed against their home next week. Maps reveal how EVs can be WORSE for the environment than gas-guzzling vehicles. The study looked at US vehicle emissions on a county-level to map where gas cars and electric vehicles cause the most damage to the environment. It found that in the east of the US, the impact of charging up EVs overnight does more harm to the environment than going to the petrol station. Thanks to electric cars: More about odometer taxes. New study: Electric cars may be worse for the environment than gas-powered. Electric cars are worse for the environment per mile than comparable gasoline-powered cars, according to a new study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. This contradicts the common assumption that electric cars are cleaner. In spite of this, the federal government still pays $7,500 for every electric car purchased — a subsidy the nation would be better off without, say the authors. The study was authored by four economics and business professors. Company that got millions from US taxpayers now profits Chinese owners. The good news is electric car battery maker A123 Systems is finally on track to turn a profit. The bad news is taxpayers don't figure to see any of the $133 million the federal government spent and the estimated $141 million in tax credits and subsidies secured from Michigan to help the company take off in 2009, only to see A123 Systems crash, declare bankruptcy in 2012 and then get purchased by a privately held Chinese conglomerate. Will Obama Force Consumers To Buy Electric Cars They Don't Want? Recent sales data show that consumers don't want electric cars. Too bad, since President Obama has put in place regulations that will effectively force the public to buy them in the not-too-distant future. Sale of Michigan company to China may haunt Clinton. National Republican Party officials are questioning why Hillary Rodham Clinton did not intervene in the controversial 2013 sale of high-tech battery plants in Michigan to a Chinese firm when she was secretary of State and could have done so. At a campaign stop in New Hampshire last month, Clinton, the leading Democratic candidate for president, expressed concerns about the sale of A123 Systems — built with millions in government aid — along with those of other new energy firms, to Chinese investors, calling them "unfortunate" and a "serious" problem for high-tech industries in the U.S. Electric Cars Aren't Green; But Subsidies are Greening Someone's Pocket. [Neither the] Nissan Leaf nor the Chevy Volt are environmentally friendly. Why? Where do they get their energy from? The electrical grid and the electrical grid is powered by nuclear, water, or fossil fuel. Not only that, but battery disposal is incredibly toxic to the environment. [...] What's really important to note is that Tesla, and all "green energy" is heavily subsidized. I haven't looked at one single green energy company that can make a profit without government subsidies. That means every single taxpayer is on the hook. Your money is being redistributed to Tesla and other companies in the green space. Elon Musk's growing empire is fueled by $4.9 billion in government subsidies. Los Angeles entrepreneur Elon Musk has built a multibillion-dollar fortune running companies that make electric cars, sell solar panels and launch rockets into space. And he's built those companies with the help of billions in government subsidies. Tesla Motors Inc., SolarCity Corp. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, together have benefited from an estimated $4.9 billion in government support, according to data compiled by The [Los Angeles] Times. The figure underscores a common theme running through his emerging empire: a public-private financing model underpinning long-shot start-ups. 6,000 First-Generation Chevrolet Volts Still Sitting On Dealer Lots. In 2012, Reuters reported that GM was losing about $50,000 on each Volt it produced. Experts estimated then the Volt cost about $90,000 each to produce. Chevrolet Throwing Money at the Volt to Clear Out Huge Backlog. [Scroll down] While this same discount applies to six other Chevy models, the Volt is the second slowest-selling General Motors vehicle (behind the Chevrolet City Express van), with a 172-day supply through April. That's 51-percent higher than last year, according to data from WardsAuto, and worse than the Nissan Leaf's 123-day supply. Chevy dealers have more than 5800 Volts to clear out — more than double the number they sold this year through April — so the company is using every weapon in its sale arsenal. Record Numbers Of Drivers Trading In Electric Cars For SUVs. President Barack Obama promised to put a million more hybrid and electric cars on the road during his tenure, but new research shows drivers are trading them in to buy sports utility vehicles (SUVs). The auto-research group Edmunds.com found that "22 percent of people who have traded in their hybrids and [electric vehicles] in 2015 bought a new SUV." This number is higher than the 18.8 percent that did the same last year, but it's double the number that traded in their electric car for an SUV just three years ago. Edmunds.com reports that only "45 percent of this year's hybrid and EV trade-ins have gone toward the purchase of another alternative fuel vehicle, down from just over 60 percent in 2012." Green Car Co. Tied to Visas Obtained Under False Pretenses - and Democrat Operatives. GreenTech Automotive. Backed by the political elite (Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's brother Anthony Rodham, former Louisiana Governor Katherine Blanco, and former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour) funded by foreign nationals (namely exiled Chinese businessman Charles Wang), and nearly as profitable as Solyndra. Yes, that Solyndra. But it gets worse. Electric Cars Leave Behind A Cloud Of Carbon Dioxide. Another name for electric cars is "coal-powered cars." That doesn't sit well with those who want to demonstrate their green bona fides by driving a plug-in vehicle. But it is in many cases accurate. Anyone who begs to differ can take up the argument with Chris Kennedy, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Toronto. He told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. that, depending on the province, an electric car can produce more carbon dioxide than a gasoline-powered car. Report: Va. governor received special treatment from Homeland Security. Not long before he became governor of Virginia, Democrat Terry McAuliffe received special treatment on behalf of his electric-car company from a top official at the Department of Homeland Security, according to a new report from the department's inspector general. McAuliffe was among several politically powerful individuals from both parties, including Sen. Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), seeking special visas for foreign investors through a program administered by the department. But intervention on behalf of McAuliffe's GreenTech Automotive company by Alejandro Mayorkas, now the department's No. 2 official, "was unprecedented," according to the report. GM recalls Chevrolet Volt over carbon monoxide. General Motors is recalling 50,249 of its Chevrolet Volt plug-in cars to make a software fix that will ensure that drivers and passengers don't accidentally subject themselves to carbon monoxide poisoning through a mix-up about whether the car's engine is running. The problem involves an issue that dogs many hybrid cars today: Drivers can't easily tell when the engine is running or when the car is running on battery power alone. If the engine turns on to recharge the battery when the car is inside a garage and people aren't aware of it, they can be poisoned by carbon monoxide. GM reports two people say they have been injured from the issue. Two picked to build Chicago-area car-charging stations charged with fraud. Touted with fanfare by city officials and then-Gov. Pat Quinn at the 2011 Chicago Auto Show, a planned network of charging stations for electric vehicles was billed as an environmentally friendly project designed to be the best and largest in the country. But the green initiative fizzled badly, and now two former owners of a California-based company initially selected to build the sprawling Chicago-area network stand charged with fraud in an indictment made public Wednesday [3/4/2015] in Chicago's federal court. Electric car benefits? Just myths. Electric cars' global-warming benefits are small. It is advertised as a zero-emissions car, but in reality it only shifts emissions to electricity production, with most coming from fossil fuels. As green venture capitalist Vinod Khosla likes to point out, "Electric cars are coal-powered cars." The most popular electric car, a Nissan Leaf, over a 90,000-mile lifetime will emit 31 metric tons of CO2, based on emissions from its production, its electricity consumption at average U.S. fuel mix and its ultimate scrapping. A comparable diesel Mercedes CDI A160 over a similar lifetime will emit 3 tons more across its production, diesel consumption and ultimate scrapping. DART officials preview zero-emissions 'bus of the future'. An electrically powered bus garnered a lot of attention at Dallas Area Rapid Transit headquarters Tuesday [2/3/2015]. Agency employees stood in cold temperatures to look. Others took short rides on what some dubbed "the bus of the future." DART officials were showing off the bus because they are applying for $13 million in federal funds to buy nine. DART gets $7.6 million from feds to buy 7 all-electric buses for downtown-Oak Cliff D-Link. Dallas Area Rapid Transit spokesman Morgan Lyons says we'll have more details soon. But for now, here's the takeaway: The Federal Transit Admission just announced it's giving the transit agency $7,637,111 to purchase seven all-electric buses as part of its D-Link fleet serving downtown and North Oak Cliff. The big money is heading to Dallas as part of the FTA's Low and No Emission Vehicle Deployment Program, which is spreading $54.5 million across 10 cities to "deploy the cleanest and most energy efficient U.S.-made transit buses." Tesla Is No Free Market Champion. First, Tesla buyers get a $7,500 federal tax credit, plus a $2,500 rebate from several states. Then there are the environmental credits that California hands out to companies selling "zero emissions" cars. A Tesla Model S, for example, gets four credits for each one that moves off the lot, which Tesla then sells — at $5,000 apiece — to other car companies that can't meet the state's zero-emissions sales mandate. In 2013, these credits netted Tesla $129.8 million[.] If gas is cheap, what's the rush to get a more fuel-efficient car? The Editor says... With $2 Gas, the Toyota Prius Is for Drivers Who Stink at Math. A road trip in a Ford F-150 pickup from New York to Los Angeles costs about $292 at the moment, roughly $84 less than it did just two years ago. A stop for gas in the middle of the country will cost less than $2 per gallon. All this is a major problem for anyone trying to sell hybrid and electric vehicles. Electric engines and their massive batteries have never been cheap. A big part of the sales equation — savings at the fuel pump — has virtually vanished. Obama Is 826,000 Short of His 1 Million Electric Car Promise. Back in the good old days when President Obama didn't have so many dings on his record, he promised that by 2015 there'd be more than 1 million electric cars on the road. Well, with just days to go, he's [well] short of that goal. Instead of 200,000 Nissan Leafs on the road today — as Obama's Department of Energy predicted in 2011 — there are less than 70,000. China's Electric Vehicle Policy Not Turning Over. The Chinese government's goals were to have 500,000 electric vehicles on the road by 2011 (accounting for 5 percent of total vehicle sales) and 5 million on the road by 2020. But, as the authors point out, "in mid-2013, China had only about 40,000 electric vehicles on the road, more than 80 percent of which were in public fleet vehicles, such as taxis and buses." For a country that in the past couple of decades has seemed never to fail to impress the rest of the world with its ability to deliver on bold ambitions, the failure to "turn over" on the electric vehicle policy is worthy of study. Brown signs bill to urge more drivers into eco-friendly vehicles. Seeking to put more California drivers in electric cars, Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Sunday [9/21/2014] providing financial incentives and other perks to entice consumers to buy the environmentally friendly vehicles. The push for low-emission cars, combined with the governor's approval of climate-conscious measures such as one to encourage residential solar energy use, comes days before he is set to appear at the United Nations Climate Summit in New York City, where he is expected to tout the state's efforts to combat climate change. California may waive environmental rules for Tesla battery factory. The state would exempt Tesla Motors Inc. from some of its toughest environmental regulations as part of an incentive package being discussed with the automaker to build a massive battery factory in California, a key state senator said. [...] The plan being negotiated in the office of Gov. Jerry Brown could grant the automaker waivers for significant portions of the nearly half-century-old California Environmental Quality Act, Gaines said. The proposal is alarming some environmentalists. The Editor says... Chevy Volt Resale Values Plummet as Lease Returns Hit Market. The taxpayer subsidies, along with inflated residual values and other GM incentives, provided for low monthly lease payments and led to a full two-thirds of all Volt "sales" being attributed to leases. That's about three times the lease rate for the overall industry. So, what happens to resale values of vehicles with little mass appeal that are forced upon the public with subsidies and manipulated leases? The result was predictable; those leased vehicles are now being returned and resale values are plunging. Having won many awards in the past, the Chevy Volt is now the front-runner to be the recipient of the highest depreciating vehicle award. Bill would cap income eligibility for state's clean-vehicle rebates. California wants 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2025 — more than 15 times the number now. So the state pays buyers $2,500 per car, on top of a $7,500 federal tax credit, to help speed development and promote widespread adoption. The effort has had mixed results. Sales of electric cars are up but remain well off the pace needed to meet state goals. And the generous subsidies are going largely to some of the state's wealthiest residents. Nearly four-fifths of the state rebates went to households earning $100,000 or more, according to a state survey of buyers. Nearly half of those getting rebates for Tesla's premium electric sedan earned at least $300,000. Tesla Making Patents 'Open Source' to Boost Electric Cars. Elon Musk, Tesla Motors Inc.'s outspoken co-founder, said patents for the maker of Model S electric cars will be "open source" and available at no charge as it seeks to expand adoption of battery-powered autos. The carmaker will provide access to all the "several hundred" patents it has filed and won't sue those who use them in "good faith," Musk said today on a conference call. At Tesla's June 3 annual meeting, he said too few automakers offer "serious" electric vehicles and pledged to do something about it. Electric Cars Are Not the Answer. The Tesla Model S Performance sedan demonstrates you can get serious speed and gorgeous styling along with pure electric power and zero emissions. I rode in a preproduction model back in 2009 and it was amazing. In fact, with its 265-mile range when properly optioned, it makes the single strongest case for an electric car-filled future. The thing is, that Tesla Model S costs $94,900. For that reason and several others, pure electric cars won't be the answer for mainstream consumers — today, tomorrow, and possibly forever. Hybrid Vehicles and Fuel Economy. Hybrid automobiles have gotten a lot of publicity as a way of getting better gas mileage and reducing auto emissions and our dependence on imported petroleum. These newfangled autos gain mileage efficiency by providing supplementary energy from batteries that are recharged when the gasoline engine is operating. Their development is a consequence of government energy and environmental policies — plus the failure to develop a practical all-electric vehicle, which the government promoted for decades and wasted millions of dollars subsidizing. U.S. taxpayers out $139M as China buys failed Fisker electric car company. It's official: Taxpayers aren't going to recoup the $139 [sic] paid into the failed Fisker Automotive company that went bankrupt because it was just bought up by a Chinese parts dealer, the Wanxiang Group. The China company bought Fisker for just over $149 million at a recent U.S. bankruptcy auction, Fox News reported. Plans are that Wanxiang will turn around and start selling the same car, albeit a bit changed model, back to U.S. markets by the end of the year. The company will also reach out to Europe for new sales, Fox News said. Sergio Marchionne: Please don't buy Fiat Chrysler's electric car. The CEO of the newly combined Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is urging people not to buy his company's electric car. [...] Reuters reported that Fiat Chrysler Automobiles Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne told a Washington, D.C., conference this week that he would prefer no one buy the $32,650 Fiat 500e, a beautifully done, practical electric car. "I hope you don't buy it because every time I sell one it costs me $14,000," he is quoted as having said. Five Things You Can Do About Climate Change. [#4] Reduce Emissions In Transit: The key thing here is to avoid electric cars. Even before it rolls off the production line, an electric car has created far more CO2 than a conventional one. That's because the manufacturing process — notably the energy used to create its battery and mine the lithium — is so un-eco-friendly. Avoid also using bio-fuels, one of the most environmentally damaging forms of energy available. In Asia and Africa, the demand in the West for mandated bio-fuels has led to the replacement of rainforest with plantations of industrial palm oil; it has also driven up food prices by diverting agricultural land for food production, thus harming the world's poor who are especially vulnerable to starvation. Electric cars are an impractical answer to oil crisis. In Tuesday's Las Vegas Sun, Tony Seba wrote that electric cars will make cars that use gas obsolete by 2030, thus eliminating the need to drill for oil and cleaning up the environment by closing oil, gas and nuclear power plants. But he omits facts that make his premise totally without merit: He neglects to discuss the energy required to mine and refine the silicon necessary to make the huge number of solar cells that would be necessary to accomplish his dream. Refining silicon is much like refining aluminum. It requires huge amounts of electricity, which won't be available if coal, oil and nuclear plants are shut down. Sorry, but electric cars are a waste of space. There they go, hunched over the steering wheel of their funny little plastic runarounds, an invisible halo of environmental piety hovering over their heads as they trundle about saving the planet. [...] You can now choose from a range of electric cars that look much like normal vehicles. Except there's a problem. Electric cars are dreadful. Even after 20 years of frantic development they remain impractical, ridiculously expensive and not even particularly green. I wouldn't pay £1,000 for any of those I've test-driven, let alone the £28,000 or so often demanded. Obama-backed 'green company, Smith Electric Vehicles, leaves trail of unpaid bills and broken promises. Four years have passed since President Obama visited Kansas Citys [sic] main airport, rolled up his shirt sleeves and admonished the skeptics who said Smith Electric Vehicles was unlikely to make good on its promises to build 510 experimental electric-powered trucks and buses suitable for commercial use. "Come see whats [sic] going on at Smith Electric," the president said, inspecting a table full of bright green truck batteries in what was once a maintenance hangar for TWA. "I think theyre [sic] going to be hard-pressed to tell you that youre [sic] not better off than you would be if we hadnt [sic] made the investments in this plant." The skeptics turned out to be right. Tesla loses $50 million in first quarter as costs rise. Electric car maker Tesla Motors lost $49.8 million in the first quarter as it accelerated the development of its new crossover. Tesla's loss of 40 cents per share compared with a profit of 10 cents per share in the January-March period last year. Last year's first-quarter profit was the decade-old company's first ever profitable quarter. Revenue grew 10 percent to $620.5 million in the latest quarter. Tesla said it produced a record 7,535 Model S sedans during the period and delivered 6,457 to customers. Tesla to stop supplying batteries for Toyota. With its own crossover in the works, electric vehicle maker Tesla Motors says it is going to stop supplying battery packs and motors for Toyota, which uses them in the electric RAV4. Bloomberg News found word of the end of the arrangment in a corporate filing from Tesla last week. "Toyota is expected to end the current RAV4 EV model this year," Bloomberg quotes Tesla as saying in the quarterly filing Friday [5/9/2014]. It says the deal was worth $15.1 million. Another Obama-backed 'green' company leaves a trail of unpaid bills and broken promises. "Come see what's going on at Smith Electric," the president said, inspecting a table full of bright green truck batteries in what was once a maintenance hangar for TWA. "I think they're going to be hard-pressed to tell you that you're not better off than you would be if we hadn't made the investments in this plant." The skeptics turned out to be right. Despite $32 million in federal stimulus funds and status as one of Obama's favorite "green" companies, the firm has halted production, having built just 439 of the promised 510 vehicles. California positively gets a negative from Tesla on battery factory. California pollution-control policies enable Tesla to rake in tens of millions of dollars each year from selling environmental credits to other automakers — a key source of Tesla's revenue. But is this a case of unrequited love? When it comes to building a $4-billion to $5-billion battery factory that will employ 6,500 workers, Tesla is shunning the Golden State. The automaker is looking at 500- to 1,000-acre sites in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas. ObamaCar Replacement Batteries Cost $34,000 According to GM Dealers. Here's the good news about the ObamaCar known as the Chevy Volt: There haven't been any reported fires connected with the ObamaCar since the company recalled 8,000 of the electric vehicles — that's one in six vehicles. That is no fires, if you don't count the people who've been "fired" from the Volt production line as sales continue to make Obama's "one million" electric car promise just another broken dream in a crooked scheme. Obama promised that by the time he finished as president, he'd put a million electric cars on the road. Thankfully, he won't quite make it. Obama appointee subsidizes electric bus company, then goes to work for it. Washington's green revolving door keeps on spinning. President Obama's Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood has left the administration and joined an electric bus company he subsidized and praised while in office. Proterra Inc. makes buses that require no gasoline or diesel — they run on electricity and fuel cells. Judge approves Fisker asset sale to Wanxiang. A Delaware bankruptcy judge on Tuesday approved the sale of the remaining assets of failed electric-vehicle maker Fisker Automotive to Chinese auto-parts conglomerate Wanxiang Group. California auto buyers favor Toyota Prius; rest of U.S. prefers trucks. Toyota's Prius was the best-selling vehicle in the state for the second consecutive year in 2013, highlighting California's radically different taste in automobiles. Nationally, Ford's F-Series truck has been the bestselling vehicle for more than three decades. The Prius ranked 16th in sales nationally. Another Tesla Caught On Fire While Sitting In A Toronto Garage This Month. Earlier this month, a Tesla Model S sitting in a Toronto garage ignited and caught on fire. The car was about four months old and was not plugged in to an electric socket, says a source. [...] Last year, three vehicles caught fire over the course of six weeks. The company has previously pointed out in a government filing that the lithium ion battery cells "have been observed to catch fire or vent smoke and flame." Chevy Volt: Flagship Model Of The Government-Industrial Complex. The Government-Industrial Complex (GIC) is at it again, picking energy technologies. Its track record is atrocious. [...] [N]o one has figured out how to produce a comfortable electric car at an affordable (non-subsidized) price that has enough range to be practical for the most of us. And so GM's answer is the Chevrolet Volt, which doesn't suffer from range limitation because of its internal combustion engine, which works both as a generator and prime mover as the charge in 400 pounds of lithium ion batteries depletes. If Tesla Would Stop Selling Cars, We'd All Save Some Money. First of all, let's stipulate that the Tesla model S is a pretty cool looking car, that the high-end version accelerates like a rocket, and that its massive, low center of gravity pretty much inures it against a rollover. Next, let's congratulate Elon Musk on paying off his half-billion dollar federal loan ahead of time. Finally, thanks to everyone in the country for helping to make this possible, and for continuing to do so. The public is still on the hook for Tesla, and will be for the foreseeable future. Electric cars in NC to pay $100 annual fee, starting now. Beginning with registrations due in January, the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles will assess a $100 annual fee on all electric vehicles registered in the state. Legislation approved in 2013 established the fee to make up for the fact that gasoline taxes are not collected for these vehicles. Bankrupt car charging firm funded by stimulus still doling out bonuses. Despite a disastrous year for defunct car-charging company Ecotality, which went bankrupt only a few years after winning a $100 million federal grant, two high-level employees soon stand to receive hefty retention bonus payments even though the company has no future. Company lawyers say they need to pay the bonuses to make sure the two stick around during the dim final days as the company finalizes the transfer of its assets. A federal bankruptcy court in Arizona approved the bonus plan despite objections from creditors and government lawyers — though the judge capped the total at the $125,000 sought by the company. Still, the fact that lawyers are quibbling on how to spend $125,000 marks just how fast and far Ecotality has fallen since 2009 when it won a $100 million grant from the Department of Energy. The Tesla battery swap is the hoax of the year. If the car can exchange batteries in 90 seconds, then it's totally crushing the 15-minute requirement established by the California Air Resources Board. Notice that, even in this case, the 85 KWh version still doesn't meet the range requirement to be a Type V vehicle, as it's rated by the EPA at 265 miles. So it would be stuck at 5 credits. It seems CARB bent the rules a little, or perhaps they concluded that the superb refuelling time "offset" a deficiency in range. In any case it's no reason for alarm. What is a reason for alarm is that CARB gave Tesla these extra credits before any battery swap station had been built. Fisker won't ever make cars at former GM plant, Carper says. Fisker Automotive Holdings Inc., the bankrupt electric-car maker, won't use the shuttered General Motors Co. plant it bought in Delaware even if its new owner resumes production, U.S. Senator Tom Carper said. Fisker, whose assets are being bought by a group led by Richard Li, son of Hong Kong's richest man, is required under an agreement with the U.S. government to make its Karma luxury car in the U.S., Carper, a Delaware Democrat, said Thursday [12/19/2013] in an interview at Bloomberg's Washington office. Quick sale in Fisker bankruptcy remains on track. A Delaware bankruptcy judge has approved court documents outlining a sale process for failed electric-vehicle maker Fisker Automotive[.] The Major Problem With Electric Cars. The best indication of interest in specific electric-car models is simply the sales tally. Tesla expects to sell 21,500 Model S cars by the end of 2013. Data collected by Autoblog indicates that Nissan and Chevrolet are neck and neck for the EV sales lead this year, having sold a bit more than 20,000 Leafs and Volts through November. Speaking of November, 2,003 Leafs were sold nationally that month, compared with 1,920 Volts. And what about Mitsubishi's EV? Automotive News reported that a grand total of 12 i-MiEVs sold in the month. Electric car owner charged with stealing 5 cents worth of juice. One Saturday in November, Kaveh Kamooneh drove his Nissan Leaf to Chamblee Middle School, where his 11-year-old son was playing tennis. Kamooneh had taken the liberty of charging the electric car with an exterior outlet at the school. Within minutes of plugging in the car, he says a Chamblee police officer appeared. "He said that he was going to charge me with theft by taking because I was taking power, electricity from the school," Kamooneh said. Kamooneh says he had charged his car for 20 minutes, drawing about a nickel's worth of juice. Electric Vehicles Top List Of Cars And Trucks That Depreciate The Fastest. Electric cars lead [the Forbes] list of the cars and trucks that lose their value faster than average. Also ranking poorly are some big-ticket luxury cars, and, not surprisingly, older, lame-duck vehicles that are late in their product life cycle and about to be replaced. Energy loses $139M on loan to electric car maker. The Obama administration said Friday it will lose $139 million on a loan to struggling electric car maker Fisker Automotive Inc. after selling part of the loan to a private investor that immediately took the company into bankruptcy. Taxpayers lose $139 million on Fisker Automotive loan. The Energy Department has sold off its $192 million loan guarantee to Fisker Automotive to Chinese billionaire Richard Li for $25 million — the biggest taxpayer loss on a green loan since the failure of Solyndra. The Energy Department will announce the "selling of the promissory note" to Hybrid Tech, which is owned by Chinese billionaire Richard Li, according to sources familiar with the sale. The DOE sold the loan to Li for $25 million after lending the financially troubled green automaker a total of $192 million since 2009. Obama electric car goal veers out of reach as buyers favor diesel, hydrogen. With U.S. sales of plug-in electric vehicles on pace to reach half of President Barack Obama's goal, regulators are following customers and automakers to vehicles powered by other fuels, from hydrogen to diesel. California, which leads 10 states that require automakers to sell zero-emission vehicles, may alter its system of tradable credits to stop favoring plug-ins over hydrogen-powered cars. That would hurt Tesla Motors Inc. while helping Honda Motor Co. Obama, who touted electric cars in his first State of the Union address and gave $5 billion in U.S. loans, grants and tax breaks to spur their development, hasn't mentioned them in public since July. Electric Car Rentals Stalled in U.S. by Range Anxiety. Rental car drivers just aren't plugging into electric vehicles, largely because of fears the batteries will die. In fact, people who drive off in electric vehicles from Enterprise Holdings Inc., the biggest U.S. auto renter, often bring them back to trade for a car that runs on gasoline. "People are very keen to try it, but they will switch out of the contract part way through," Lee Broughton, head of sustainability at Enterprise, said in an interview. "Range anxiety makes them think they can't get to a charging station." Tesla Fires Raise Doubts About Seemingly Untouchable Company. The headline-grabbing electric car company Tesla suffered another blow to its image this week when one of its Model S cars caught fire, the third in six weeks to do so. In all cases, drivers walked away from the battery-powered cars uninjured. But for a company that touts the best safety rating in the auto industry and accolades like "Car of the Year" and "Best Car Ever Tested," the reports of cars bursting into flames are troubling. Electric cars: A waste of $5 billion?
President Obama set a goal to have one million electric cars on the road by 2015. We are now at 10 percent of that number. [...] To date,
the federal government has spent: Shades of Solyndra: Team Obama mum as another green energy firm went bust. Failing to heed the lessons of the Solyndra debacle, Energy Department officials kept quiet about their knowledge that a government-backed electric car charger company was sliding toward bankruptcy and putting taxpayer money at risk, the agency's chief watchdog has found. Inspector General Greg Friedman admonished department officials for failing to disclose during an audit this summer what they knew about San Francisco-based Ecotality's financial troubles and the possibility that the firm might not meet the terms of its taxpayer funding. The company received $100 million in aid from the 2009 stimulus. Golden Hammer: Energy Department pays out millions for contractors' food, drink. Government contractors working to develop a renewable car battery have been using taxpayer money to pay for food, drinks and entertainment, according to new findings from federal investigators. In the past five years, the Energy Department has poured more than $1 billion into developing a hydrogen fuel cell. But the agency's the inspector general warns that 10 percent of that total might have been wasted by contractors' wining and dining. Cadillac ELR arrives on lots in January, starting at $76,000. If you've been saving your pennies in anticipation of the Cadillac ELR's pricing and availability announcement, it's almost time to smash the piggy bank. Come January, you'll have the distinct privilege of dropping upward of $76,000 on the fully rebranded and slightly upgraded Chevy Volt. Assault and GM's $30,000 Battery. The economy must be doing a lot better than all the wretched indexes (number of people no longer even trying to find work, number of people on the dole, etc.) indicate. Otherwise, GM would not have announced it is committed to developing a new electric car battery capable of moving a car 200 miles down the road... at a cost of only $30,000 per battery. No word about the cost of the car it will go in. Tesla says car fire began in battery after crash. A fire that destroyed a Tesla electric car near Seattle began in the vehicle's battery pack, officials said Wednesday [10/2/2013], creating challenges for firefighters who tried to put out the flames. Obama's Green Car Only Burns Up If It Hits a Metallic Object — Yay!. People driving by took video of the car burning with their cell phones and posted the video on the Internet. It went viral. It caused the stock to fall drastically. Tesla said the fire was contained! At least they kept their sense of humor. Check out the video and tell me how this fire is contained. The firefighters had trouble putting it out because water seemed to make it worse. Tesla Grapples With PR Nightmare After Battery Fire In U.S. A video that went viral of a burning Tesla electric car has emerged as a public relations nightmare for the company, analysts said Thursday [10/3/2013], as the "green car" maker lost as much as $3 billion in market value two days after the incident in Washington state. Not Even Fisker's Fire Sale Can Dampen DOE Enthusiasm for 'Investments'. After the Department of Energy announced this week it had given up on not-bankrupt-but-should-be Fisker Automotive, and will auction off its loan for a pittance, you'd think (and hope) Congress would have had enough of this kind of thing. Senator John Thune certainly has. "The Obama administration has gotten into the business of picking winners and losers at a significant cost to taxpayers," said the South Dakota Republican yesterday [9/18/2013]. ECOtality Files for Bankruptcy. Taxpayer-backed green energy company ECOtality filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday [9/23/2013] following weeks of turmoil in which the company laid off employees and ceased filling orders for its electric vehicle charging stations. The Department of Energy (DOE), which awarded the company about $115 million in stimulus funds to produce those chargers, suspended payments last month. DOE has already paid $96 million of its $115 million commitment to the company. Obama's Middle-Class 'Mission Accomplished'. Obama's idea of a "durable industry" seems to be solar companies like Solyndra and electric car suppliers like A123 Systems. Both of these "durable" companies filed for bankruptcy after obtaining generous loans from the Obama administration. Taxpayer money that would otherwise have been invested to create good jobs in the private sector was squandered so the president could pretend he was a green energy pioneer. In reality, he has never been a pioneer at anything. He is an old-fashioned radical who still harbors the adolescent fantasy of a Marxist utopia. Another Obama-funded Green Energy Company Nears Bankruptcy. ECOtality, the electric car-charging company that operates more than 600 charging stations in Arizona, may be about to close its door. Last month, the company disclosed a myriad of problems with the SEC. A Green Car Named Desire. California's green regulations often drive national policies, so it's worth pointing out how its programs to cut vehicle emissions have become a gravy train for the 1%. [...] Car makers are compelled by the California Air Resources Board to increase their electric fleets to meet these mandates. However, the battery-powered cars have been duds with most consumers. So the board has graciously allowed manufacturers to comply with its diktats by buying "credits." Palo Alto-based electric car maker Tesla has made a $119.5 million killing (300% of its net income) this year from hawking its excess credits. Company operating hundreds of AZ charging stations near collapse. ECOtality, the electric car-charging company that operates more than 600 charging stations in Arizona, may be about to close its door. Last month, the company disclosed a myriad of problems with the SEC. DOE to Lose Tens of Millions on Green Car Company. The Department of Energy (DOE) will likely lose tens of millions of dollars on a loan extended to a green vehicle company with ties to a top fundraiser for President Barack Obama. The news comes days after DOE announced that it would restart the loan program responsible for lending taxpayer funds to the struggling company. The department loaned $50 million to the Vehicle Production Group in March 2011. It announced this week that, after recouping a small amount of that loan, it will sell the remaining $45 million debt to AM General for $3 million. Chevrolet's Electric Volt: Is Failure Within Its Range? Nearly a year ago General Motors was losing almost $50,000 for each Chevrolet Volt it built. Now GM's business model, driven by trendy environmentalism, calls for it to cut the price and lose even more money. How Green Is a Tesla, Really? Electric cars are squeaky clean, of course, in the sense that they don't burn gas. With no engine, no gas tank, and no exhaust, they're considered to be zero-emissions vehicles. But there's more to a vehicle's environmental impact than what comes out of the tailpipe. Energy Department loses a casual $42 million on failed loan to green van company, no big deal. [T]he Department of Energy just got some sweet news about yet another project in government venture socialism. Yet another of the beneficiaries of their ghastly loan guarantee program has made it to the end of the line, and not in a good way. Norway: The Friendliest Place In The World For Electric Cars. Just last week, Tesla Motors opened its first Supercharger fast-charge stations outside the U.S. — in the Scandinavian country of Norway. With just six stations and 46 charging points, 90 percent of Norwegians live within 200 miles of a Supercharger — well within the 265-mile EPA range of a Model S sedan. Electric Losers, Round Two. A leading candidate for the biggest government failure in recent years is the $25 billion Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Loan Program (ATVM), which stopped doling out loans in 2011 after funding such debacles as Fisker Automotive. But this is the Obama Administration, where nothing in government fails, so naturally new Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz wants to revive it. Your electric car allows you to escape the gasoline tax. Big Brother will fix that! 'Demand' for Nissan Leaf is All Hype and Subsidies. Reports have trickled out lately that, all of a sudden, demand is so great for the all-electric Leaf that Nissan's production just can't keep up. [...] Then the appropriate question from taxpayers should be, "What did we pay $1.4 billion for you to do in Smyrna, Tennessee then?!?" That's how much stimulus-backed money went to the Japan-based automaker to design a factory outside Nashville to crank out up to 150,000 Leafs and 200,000 Leaf batteries per year. Afghanistan's Rare Earth Element Bonanza. Although what the ISAF will leave behind is better than what was there in 2001, Afghanistan remains a battered land. However, the resources Afghanistan's land holds — copper, cobalt, iron, barite, sulfur, lead, silver, zinc, niobium, and 1.4 million metric tons of rare earth elements (REEs) — may be a silver lining. U.S. agencies estimate Afghanistan's mineral deposits to be worth upwards of $1 trillion. In fact, a classified Pentagon memo called Afghanistan the "Saudi Arabia of lithium." The Editor says... Get a horse. The apt symbol of the Obama presidency is the Chevy Volt, stalled on the open road. Like Barack Obama, the Volt presented itself to the public with the lofty promise of a better future, but delivered a future not as good as the past and present. Chevy announced this week it would cut the price of the Volt by an additional $5,000. The Chevy Volt (i.e., the Obamacar) is a classic tale of top-down thinking, the story of subsidy, crony engineering and rejection by the market. Car buyers, always eager to buy something new, expected a peach and got a lemon. The Volt is the president's economic policy on four wheels. GM Cuts Chevrolet Volt Price by $5,000 As Sales Stall (Again). The biggest dud in automotive history. Still a dud at the new lower price of (a whopping) $34,995. Reduced for quick sale! McAuliffe on GreenTech investigation: I don't know anything, I was just in charge. It seems that the Republican camp's hits on Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe and his oversight of GreenTech Automotive, currently under an SEC investigation, are at least hitting the target to some degree. Earlier this week, the Washington Post editors posed a rather uncomfortable question or two for the Democrat, who resigned as the barely-productive company's chairman just last December and remains the largest shareholder. Terry McAuliffe's former car company is signaling problems in his Virginia governor's race. [Scroll down] The troubling question is whether GreenTech, as conceived by Mr. McAuliffe, is a serious and viable automotive enterprise or mainly a scheme to attract foreign investment capital and serve Mr. McAuliffe's political agenda. The fact that production has ramped up so slowly — to date, just a few hundred golf-cart-sized electric cars have rolled off the assembly line — feeds those suspicions. So does a federal investigation focusing on whether a senior official at the Department of Homeland Security gave Mr. McAuliffe special treatment, based on his political connections, in approving EB-5 visas for GreenTech's foreign investors. Documents: SEC probing McAuliffe former e-car firm. The electric-car company headed until last fall by Democratic Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe and a sister company led by the brother of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are under federal scrutiny over how they used a foreign investor visa program. McAuliffe's GreenTech company bypassed state law in acquiring land, failed to produce a single car. Virginia candidate for governor Terry McAuliffe bypassed state law to acquire land for his "green car" factory in Mississippi and invited President Obama to attend an event for the company that subsequently bogged down in a wide-ranging scandal. Documents obtained by Cause of Action through a Freedom of Information Act request indicate Obama considered attending the rollout of GreenTech Automotive's first electric car. McAuliffe was the chairman of the company, but quietly resigned in December 2012. How many miles per gallon does your Prius really get? At issue are recent auto tests conducted by the venerable watchdog Consumer Reports. The organization found, for instance, that the EPA rates the Ford C-Max hybrid as getting 47 mpg overall. But the Consumer Reports tests mimicking real-world conditions showed it got only 37 mph. Why the discrepancy? Consumer Reports says the EPA is using outdated testing methods that favor hybrid vehicles. Government Enforced Noise Pollution. Early this year, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published a proposed rule that would require hybrid and electric vehicles to make a sound while being operated at speeds slower than 18 miles per hour. Because they use an electric motor, hybrid and electric vehicles generate less noise than conventional vehicles with internal combustion engines, and legislators and regulators alike are concerned that pedestrians could be injured by a vehicle that they can't hear coming [...] Former Electric-car Engineer: Electric Cars Pollute More Than Gas. Is the only "green" aspect of electric cars the money some companies make off them? If former plug-in advocate and General Motors engineer Ozzie Zehner (shown) is correct, this is exactly the case. Author of the book Green Illusions, Zehner once built his own hybrid car that could run on electricity or natural gas. And, he writes in a recent article entitled "Unclean at Any Speed," he was convinced cars such as his "would help reduce both pollution and fossil-fuel dependence." But he now says, "I was wrong." The Chevy Volt Sales Figures are on Fire! "With signs that sales of its Chevrolet Volt battery car could be coming unplugged," reported NBC News in June, "General Motors is offering potential buyers as much as $5,000 in incentives — making it the latest maker to try to cut prices in a bid to boost lagging demand for electric vehicles." In June the company reported 2,698 Volts sold thanks to those drastic discounts by GM. In fact, all battery-powered cars have seen deep price cuts due to disappointing sales. Chevy Volt Owners See Red, Head for Fiery Crash. GM has lowered the price on the Volt with incentives, that may of may not be temporary. As I wrote in my article, they did it because despite a record year for car sales, Volts sales were only up year-over-year by 1.7 percent according to the company as of end of May 2013. They were looking to go into the 2014 production year in July with 9,000 extra Volts in their inventory. That's even after idling production several times because Volts weren't going out the door fast enough. States Mull New Taxes, Fees on Electric and Hybrid Vehicles . North Carolina is the latest state whose legislators are discussing new laws that would impose fees on drivers of hybrid and electric cars. The state of Washington passed a bill late last year to add a $100 annual fee to the ownership of electric vehicles and a $50 annual fee to the ownership of hybrid vehicles. Virginia has a $64 annual surcharge on hybrid vehicles. According to published news reports, Arizona, Michigan, Oregon and Texas soon will be coming out with their own proposals. Other states may not be far behind. Diesel hybrid + computers + government meddling = white elephant Electric Cars Aren't So Environmentally Friendly. Think that electric car the green lobby wants to hustle drivers into is really cleaner than a gasoline-powered vehicle? Think again. Electric cars, says a researcher, are dirty cars. Electric vehicles "unclean at any speed"? Conservatives have long argued that the pursuit of electric vehicles through government grants and credits is a bad idea, mainly from a public-policy and economic standpoint. But what if electric vehicles are a bad idea from an environmental standpoint, too? An environmental activist who once pushed for EVs and now works as a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley now calls electric vehicles "unclean at any speed" in a recent article for the engineering journal IEEE Spectrum. Unclean at Any Speed: Electric cars don't solve the automobile's environmental problems. Two dozen governments around the world subsidize the purchase of electric vehicles. In Canada, for example, the governments of Ontario and Quebec pay drivers up to C$8500 to drive an electric car. The United Kingdom offers a £5000 Plug-in Car Grant. And the U.S. federal government provides up to $7500 in tax credits for people who buy plug-in electric vehicles, even though many of them are affluent enough not to need such help. (The average Chevy Volt owner, for example, has an income of $170 000 per year.) Some states offer additional tax incentives. California brings the total credit up to $10[,]000, and Colorado to $13[,]500 — more than the base price of a brand new Ford Fiesta. Study: Electric Cars No Greener than Gasoline Vehicles. Electric cars, despite their supposed green credentials, are among the environmentally dirtiest transportation options, a U.S. researcher suggests. Writing in the journal IEEE Spectrum, researcher Ozzie Zehner says electric cars lead to hidden environmental and health damages and are likely more harmful than gasoline cars and other transportation options. Electric Cars: The Environmentalist Paradox. The government recently said that the fuel cost for an electric vehicle is only about one-third of the cost to fuel a gasoline vehicle for the same distance, but that Energy Department (DOE) formula leaves out some key financial and environmental factors in the overall cost of owning an electric vehicle, says USA Today. Electric cars are useless for long trips. Here's the proof: The zero-emission vehicle myth. Auto enthusiasts were thrilled last week as green automaker Tesla made it into the black, earning $11 million profit on revenue of $562 million in the first quarter of 2013. "I'd be lying if I said it wasn't somewhat surprising to see they've been able to turn a profit so quickly," Alec Gutierrez, an industry analyst, told Bloomberg News. A closer inspection of the numbers, however, reveals that the Palo Alto-based carmaker made its profit by selling $68 million in carbon credits to other automakers. Chevy Volt Owner Tells Scary Story of Unintended Acceleration. [Scroll down] So, according to the owner of the car, the problem was created by pressing the wrong button four times — this is caused due to the design that groups the Power and Drive mode buttons too close together and places them relatively low, making their operation perhaps trickier than it should. Apparently, according to other forum members, pressing the Power button twice has been known to cause the car to shut down, but never accelerate on its own. Source: A123 Thrown Under the Bus for Fisker Meltdown. When troubled electric-car maker Fisker Automotive announced last fall that it would cease production, it laid blame squarely on the bankruptcy of A123 Systems. But battery supplier A123 has maintained normal operations during its Chapter 11 proceedings and, according to a source familiar with the situation, was fully capable of making batteries for Fisker's plug-in Karma sedan. The current blame game was preceded by months of financial woes, accusations, counter accusations and court filings, with both companies playing equal roles. Germany may fall short of EV target. Three years after [Angela] Merkel said she wants to see 1 million battery-powered cars on German roads by 2020, there has been scant progress: On Jan. 1, only 7,114 of Germany's 43.4 million passenger vehicles were electrics. Tesla promises to add charging stations. Electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc. promises to boost the number of fast-charging stations in the U.S. and Canada to make cross-country travel by electric car possible in the next year. The Editor says... Electrics Fail to Take Charge. Bold plans come and go: a 1980 report on the introduction of electric vehicles in the United States predicted 1 [to] 2 million units in sales by 1985 and as many 11 [to] 13 million fully electric cars by the year 2000. But by the end of 2012, the United States had about 50,000 electrics on the road, no more than 0.03 percent of all light-duty vehicles licensed to operate in the country. Tesla Motors' Specious Rise. While another electric vehicle company under this program is in trouble (e.g. Fisker Automotive), Tesla is not. Tesla Motors is different for a number of reasons that include: a recent increase in the value of its stock along with the sale of new stock and debt securities earning about $1 billion, way more than it needed to repay the loan, an enviable stash of environmental credits from the state of California that is valued at $250 million for this year, and the deep pockets of Elon Musk, Tesla's co-founder. Trailblazing Israeli Electric Car Company to Close. It was an audacious idea that came to symbolize Israel's self-described status as "Start-Up Nation," a company that believed it could replace most gasoline-powered cars with electric vehicles and reduce the world's reliance on oil — and all within a few years. Three Cheers for Tesla. I have always been skeptical of electric vehicles, mostly because of my perception that electric car makers are more interested in subsisting on government subsidies than in competing on a level playing field for my business. So I was intrigued when I got an email this morning from Jeff Evanson, Tesla Motors' Vice-President of investor relations. Evanson, a long-time Power Line reader, pointed out that the company raised over $1 billion last week, and will use a portion of those proceeds to pay off its loan with the Department of Energy ahead of schedule. This will make Tesla the only US-based auto maker with no government debt. BMW CEO: Stop Worrying And Buy Electric Cars Already. It's a tough job selling electric cars anywhere in huge numbers at the moment, with much of the buying public still skeptical of the potential benefits. Spare a thought for those trying to sell electric cars in Germany then, where buyers are traditionally even more conservative in their tastes. To this end, BMW has taken the very Germanic, no-nonsense step of telling his countrymen to "get over it" and drop their fear of electric vehicle technology. General Motors Recalls Hybrid Cars for Electrical Flaw. General Motors Co. said it is recalling 38,197 Chevrolet Malibu Eco, and Buick LaCrosse and Regal sedans from the 2012 and 2013 model years with eAssist hybrid powertrains. The cars' generator control modules may not function properly. Another Electric Car Maker Goes Up In Flames. After selling just 100 of its $37,250 five-passenger vehicles, Coda filed Chapter 11 today [5/1/2013] taking a few well-known investors with it. On the bright side, the government was not involved (from what we can tell), but on the even brighter side, none other than former US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson was among those burned by the company going up in flames. Get Uncle Sam out of the green startup loan business. Meet the Solyndra of the electric car industry: Fisker Automotive. In 2009, the company was awarded a $529 million loan through the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program. It is in bankruptcy, and has now fired 75 percent of its workforce. The reality, however failed to meet this goal. It did produce — at least until last year — the Karma sedan, a $104,000 plug-in electric hybrid car. But the car wasn't just exclusive and expensive, it didn't even work. Another Obama Green Project Folds after Getting Millions from Taxpayers. Turns out that, after taking $192 million from Uncle Sam, Fisker has laid off three quarters of its employees and the feds have finally acknowledged that it's likely on the verge of bankruptcy. One California newspaper reports that Fisker failed to make a $10 million first payment on the $192 million government "loan." The company has manufactured only 2,700 vehicles, sold a laughable 2,000 and hasn't built one since July, according to the story. Nearly Sideswiped by Another Green Car. Fisker Automotive featured in a House hearing this week, as congressmen questioned how that luxury electric-car maker — now in financial straits — ever qualified for a $529 million federal loan guarantee. The Obama Energy Department is facing some awkward questions — a la Solyndra — about what role politics played in granting that subsidy. Perhaps we need not guess. White House had advance warning on Fisker's struggles, documents show. Fisker Automotive defaulted on a federal loan that cost U.S. taxpayers nearly $200 million, but congressional Republicans focused Wednesday [4/24/2013] on the Obama administration, asking why officials appeared to overlook deadlines and other possible red flags that led to the company's collapse. Obama "Green Energy" Destruction: Each Karma 'cost' Fisker $660,000 to produce. The California-based automaker, which appears to be headed for bankruptcy, spent an estimated $660,000 for every one of fewer than 2,500 vehicles it made during its short production history, research firm PrivCo says in a new study. That doesn't mean each Karma actually cost $660,000 to make, just that all the money spent by Fisker, divided by the number of cars produced, result in that number. The Electric Car's Short Circuit. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has proclaimed that there will be a million electric cars on the Autobahn by 2020. President Barack Obama has likewise promised a million electric cars in the United States — but five years sooner. Someday, the electric car will, indeed, be a great product — just not now. It costs too much; it is inconvenient; and its environmental benefits are negligible (and, in some cases, non-existent). Breakthroughs are always "right around the corner." Obama Electric Car Company Fisker's Lawsuits Piling Up. Following a lawsuit over not paying rent for the month of April, electric startup Fisker Automotive was hit with another lawsuit on Friday [4/12/2013]. Filed in Orange County Superior Court, Fisker's web site and mobile designer Ignited is suing Fisker over an alleged $535K in unpaid bills. Terry McAuliffe's Solyndra. Turn over any green-energy rock, and wiggling underneath will be the usual creepy mix of political favoritism and taxpayer-funded handouts. [...] GreenTech is the latest proof (after Solyndra, Fisker, A123 and others) that the political class is adept at hooking up cronies and investors with taxpayer dollars. But creating jobs? No can do. Lomborg: Electric Cars Get Dumber by the Day. Writing in the Wall Street Journal on March 11, Bjorn Lomborg, author of The Skeptical Environmentalist, documented that electric automobiles are not the least bit environmentally friendly. Lomborg may allow environmental activists to pull the wool over his eyes regarding assertions of a global warming crisis, but his understanding of the electric car swindle is spot on. President Barack Obama champions electric automobiles as the transportation technology of the future, but the facts tell a different story, as Lomborg shows. Struggling automaker Fisker lays off 160, may file for bankruptcy. Fisker Automotive Inc. on Friday [4/5/2013] laid off about 160 people — most of its staff — as the struggling start-up automaker searches for a buyer or may file for bankruptcy in coming weeks. A company statement confirmed it had laid off about 75 percent of its workforce of around 210 people. Obama Green Loan Recipient Fisker Preps for Bankruptcy. [Fisker Automotive,] which received a federal $529 million loan guarantee in 2009, furloughed 200 US workers at the end of March to conserve cash. Its bankruptcy would be the latest high-profile failure of Obama's "green energy" loan program. A century ago, battery-powered cars were shown to be impractical, and they still are. Don't Buy an Electric Car. It isn't cost effective. I spent my career in the high-tech industry. When I tell you that it's smart to be a late adopter of anything new, especially technology, you should listen. In time, competition increases, prices come down, and reliability goes up. Let rich people like rock stars and actors buy Teslas and Volts. They're not for you. Hydrogen Conundrum. Hyundai has just released a new hydrogen-powered car in New Zealand — the ix35 Fuel Cell SUV. It emits water from its tail pipe, so why isn't it on the front burner for environmentalists? [...] Hyundai indicated the fuel cell pack used in the ix35 Fuel Cell SUV, costs $100,000, although many believe it costs more. Hyundai expects to bring the cost of the fuel cell pack down to $50,000 by 2015. This is still several times the cost of an internal combustion engine and five times the cost of the Li-ion battery used in GM's Volt. Cameron hails all-electric Nissan Leaf. Nissan has officially launched production of its 100 per cent electric Leaf car at its vast Sunderland plant. Along with a new UK battery facility, yesterday marked the culmination of a £420 million investment by the Japanese car manufacturer. Unplug the electric subsidies. Taxpayers already offset $7,500 of the cost of every hybrid through a federal tax credit at a total cost of $2 billion. In addition, many states offer similar incentives of their own. The 2009 stimulus bill poured $2 billion into the development and manufacture of electric-car batteries and other components, and the Energy Department's "advanced-technology vehicle manufacturing program" offers up to $25 billion in direct federal loans to electric car makers. Moreover, $400,000 has been wasted on "education projects" to promote electric cars. Hyping Electric Vehicle Sales. Proponents announced that 487,480 electric vehicles were sold in 2012, but this includes hybrids. Hybrids are not EVs or PHEVs. Understanding the objective behind each type of vehicle can help distinguish hype from facts. Hybrids use electric technology to improve vehicle efficiency, as measured by miles per gallon, while still relying on the internal combustion engine (ICE) as the primary, almost sole, source of power for the vehicle. The media adopted the term Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) for this type of vehicle, which has created considerable confusion. The Chevy Volt: Not Only a Bad Investment but Now a Tool for Fraud!. We have known for quite some time now that the Chevy Volt is not that great of design and costs taxpayers [about] $250,000 per car. Part of that cost to taxpayers is a $7,500 federal tax credit for plug-in motor vehicles. There is a problem however. General Motors is now offering a no questions asked 60-day return policy for all Chevrolet models including the Volt. When the federal tax credit is coupled with the return policy, the potential for abuse is obvious. Obama seeks $2 billion in research on cleaner vehicles, fuels. President Barack Obama tried to turn the page on bitterly partisan fights over energy policy on Friday [3/15/2013], focusing the first energy speech of his second term on a modest proposal to fund research into cars that run on anything but gasoline. Automakers: 'Quiet cars' rule too loud, requires more time. Major automakers say the Obama administration's "quiet cars" rule to help blind pedestrians avoid electric vehicles and other nearly silent vehicles would result in warning sounds that are too loud. Two trade groups representing Detroit's Big Three automakers, Toyota Motor Corp., Volkswagen AG and other major Asian and European automakers raised serious concerns about the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's proposed rules mandating minimum sound levels to warn the visually impaired as well as bicyclists. Fisker co-founder Henrik Fisker leaves company amid clash with executives. Fisker Automotive co-founder Henrik Fisker has resigned as chairman of his namesake company after butting heads with the company's management. Representatives for the California-based automaker told Automotive News "the main reasons for his resignation are several major disagreements that Henrik Fisker has with the Fisker Automotive executive management on the business strategy." Henrik Fisker resigns from Fisker Automotive over strategy. Henrik Fisker, executive chairman of the company that bears his name, resigned today [3/13/2013]. "Effective as of Wednesday 13th March 2013, Henrik Fisker has resigned from Fisker Automotive as Executive Chairman, and has left the company," he said in an e-mail to the Detroit Free Press and other media outlets. Green Cars Have a Dirty Little Secret. A 2012 comprehensive life-cycle analysis in Journal of Industrial Ecology shows that almost half the lifetime carbon-dioxide emissions from an electric car come from the energy used to produce the car, especially the battery. The mining of lithium, for instance, is a less than green activity. By contrast, the manufacture of a gas-powered car accounts for 17% of its lifetime carbon-dioxide emissions. [...] While electric-car owners may cruise around feeling virtuous, they still recharge using electricity overwhelmingly produced with fossil fuels. Taxpayer-Funded Tesla Sedan Fails Test Drive. New York Times columnist John Broder experienced a rude surprise recently when he test-drove a taxpayer-subsidized Tesla electric sedan. Despite all the promises made and subsidies received by alternative vehicle companies, the Tesla sedan failed miserably and left Broder stranded on the side of the road in the freezing cold. The all-electric car: still an idea ahead of its time. Tesla Motors, co-founded by Elon Musk (who also founded SpaceX and co-founded PayPal), launched its Roadster model in 2008. A sports car, this was the first production model to use lithium ion batteries and have a range of more than 200 miles. But its base price is $109,000 and fewer than 2,500 have been sold (across 31 countries). Although partially overcoming the range issue, it is very much a toy for the better-off. Pricing Electric Cars. The cost of electricity varies far more than the cost of gasoline. [...] Electricity rates vary from state to state, ranging from an average of 8 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in Washington to 36 cent[s] per kWh in Hawaii. Different rates means that an all-electric 2011 Nissan Leaf would cost only $28.29 to drive 1,000 miles in Washington state but more than $97 to drive that same distance in Hawaii. The cost of fueling an electric vehicle (EV) can be calculated by multiplying the vehicle's kWh/100 miles figure by the electricity rate to get the cost per 100 miles. Electric cars head toward another dead end. Recent moves by Japan's two largest automakers suggest that the electric car, after more than 100 years of development and several brief revivals, still is not ready for prime time — and may never be. The Electric Car Is an Abomination. Electric cars never really made any sense. They are cloaked in the sanctimony of the green movement, because they don't use nasty fossil fuels like gasoline. Instead, they use electricity, which is sent out through power lines from big power plants, which generate this electricity — how? Oh yes, by burning fossil fuels like oil, coal, and natural gas. This is known as the "long tailpipe," which goes from the car charging up in your garage all the way back to the smokestack of a coal-fired power plant. DOE confirms LG Chem battery plant workers were paid not to make Chevy Volt batteries. After a big announcement in 2010 that the plant would open and hire over 400 people, the first batteries were supposed to start being made in 2012. Unfortunately, the plant has been sitting idle even though the company received $142 million in federal funds and was granted $175 million in tax breaks. Only half of the 400 job have been filled, and those workers were paid about $842,000 to do other things in late 2012, including watching movies and playing board, card and video games. Report: Chevy Volt Battery Supplier Wasted Millions in Stimulus Funds. An Inspector General's report from the Department of Energy (DOE) recently revealed that the LG Chem auto battery plant in Holland, Michigan "inappropriately claimed and was reimbursed for labor costs that did not support the purpose/objective" of a government grant. This is the DOE's report: Taxpayer-Supported Fisker Looking to China, Like A123. Stimulus déjà vu-lishness lurks: Another "green" tech company that received hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars is financially troubled, seeks a buyer (or their preferred term — a "partner"), and China is ready to swoop in and buy up the remains on the cheap. And the same two Republican senators who slammed the last deal that went down like this are sickened again. Senators raise alarm over another possible sale of taxpayer-backed firm to Chinese. Republican senators complained Wednesday that U.S. taxpayer dollars could end up boosting the Chinese economy, following reports that a Chinese firm is leading the pack of companies bidding for a majority stake in government-backed Fisker Automotive. The troubled California-based electric car maker, which was backed by U.S. taxpayers to the tune of nearly $530 million, for months has been looking for a financial partner. Boeing Battery Fires Highlight Folly of Obama's Electric Car Push. After lithium-ion batteries caught fire on Boeing's new Dreamliner, stories popped up about how dangerous they are. Turns out they're the same kind of batteries President Obama is forcing into U.S. cars. Each electric car could add costs of $2000 per year for "our" electricity network. [Scroll down] As it is, it takes so much energy to make those big electric-car batteries, that people who own an electric car need to drive about 130,000 km before they even start saving any CO2. It's quite possible that electric vehicles might produce more CO2 over their lifetimes than the equivalent petrol powered cars does. Not to mention that electric car factories are more toxic than normal car factories and that electric cars were deemed to be worse for the environment in a study by The Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Boeing Battery Fires Highlight Folly of Obama's Electric Car Push. After lithium-ion batteries caught fire on Boeing's new Dreamliner, stories popped up about how dangerous they are. Turns out they're the same kind of batteries President Obama is forcing into U.S. cars. Federally Funded Chevy Volt Battery Plant Paid Workers to Play, Not Make Batteries. It was supposed to be the center of a resurgent domestic lithium ion battery industry. A shiny new factory in Holland, Michigan, that by the end of 2013 would produce enough energy cells to power 60,000 electric or hybrid electric cars — and the Chevy Volt would be its highest-profile customer. Instead, after spending $142 million of a $151 million federal Recovery Act grant to set up the factory, LG Chem Michigan has yet to produce a single battery cell that can be used in an electric car sold to the public. It gets worse. Two of five planned production lines remain unfinished. And rather than the 440 jobs the plant was supposed to create, less than half exist today. Obama Commits Assault With Battery. The problem here is so obvious that it shouldn't be necessary to say it: If projects such as this made any economic sense at all, banks would be financing them. But these schemes are far too irrational for even the most profligate of banks or the junk bonds or any other legitimate means of finance. So the politicians rush in, falling over each other to squander the nation's diminishing treasure on yet another billion-dollar photo op. Obama Unveils His Economy-Killing Cap-And-Tax Plan. The president's proposed Energy Security Fund will stifle the private energy sector boom and provide permanent funding for future Solyndras and electric cars that nobody wants. Report: Michigan battery firm misused $150M U.S. grant. A Michigan-based company slated to produce lithium-ion polymer batteries for electric vehicles has instead kept production overseas, has failed to meet job targets outlined in a $150 million grant from the federal government, and has been reimbursed by the government for $842,000 in wasted work time, according to a U.S. Department of Energy Special Report released Wednesday [2/13/2013]. [...] The agency said employees "spent time volunteering at local non-profit organizations, playing games and watching movies during regular working hours." No Batteries, Just Playtime: Another $150M Strike for Green-Tech Stimulus. In February 2010, LG Chem Michigan Inc., a subsidiary of the Korean corporation, was awarded more than $150 million in Recovery Act funding to help construct a $304 million manufacturing plant in Holland, Mich., for lithium-ion polymer batteries to be used in electric cars. The goal was to manufacture enough electric-car batteries to equip 60,000 vehicles annually by the end of this year. [...] While employees were goofing off, the plant hadn't even reached the capability to manufacture batteries beyond test cells that couldn't be sold to the public. [...] Additionally, a project that was supposed to create more than 440 jobs didn't even reach half that goal. NYT writer test drives an electric Tesla — ends up stranded. "Theory can be trumped by reality, especially when Northeast temperatures plunge" writes New York Times reporter John Broder who recently took a test drive in a $100,000+ electric Tesla sedan. Broder writes that due to the to the cold temperatures, his Tesla lost enormous amounts of battery power during his trip, even though at times he drove without using the heater. The electric car mistake. The Obama administration's electric-car fantasy finally may have died on the road between Newark, Del., and Milford, Conn. The New York Times's John M. Broder reported Friday [2/8/2013] that the Tesla Model S electric car he was test-driving repeatedly ran out of juice, partly because cold weather reduces the battery's range by about 10 percent. Chevy Volt Follows Stupid 2012 with Stupider 2013. GM has now all but admitted that in it's current iteration, the Chevy Volt — the car on which the company says it pinned all its hopes and dreams — is dead. That could be a sign of progress, but alas, no. Because as a result they have introduced a Cadillac version of the Volt power plant just to make the stupidity a bit pricier. Electric cars head toward another dead end. Recent moves by Japan's two largest automakers suggest that the electric car, after more than 100 years of development and several brief revivals, still is not ready for prime time — and may never be. Chinese Group Approved To Buy Ailing, Taxpayer-Funded A123 Systems Battery Firm. The decision has been hanging in the balance for some time now, but Chinese auto parts maker Wanxiang Group has finally won approval to buy bankrupt battery maker A123 Systems. Wanxiang Group fought off bids from American company Johnson Controls to buy A123, which supplies electric car batteries to companies like Fisker. Car buyers reject electric cars, but Obama won't quit spending on them. The market has spoken. People don't want unreliable short range transportation. Electric cars are a fine place to cut the budget. CBO Says Electric Vehicle Subsidies to Cost $7.5 Billion With Little Benefit. I recently came across a report written by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) which estimated the cost to taxpayers for "federal policies to promote (aka subsidize) the manufacture and purchase of electric vehicles (EVs)." The piece also predicts the short-term benefits of the subsidies and includes the effects of rising federal requirements for fuel economy (known as CAFE) standards. The outlook is that federal subsidies will cost taxpayers $7.5 billion over the next few years for little or no benefit (even when including the impact of CAFE) to total gas consumption or emissions. 'Electric car is not dead,' GM says. General Motors Co. North America chief Mark Reuss said he isn't giving up on electric vehicles, despite struggling industry sales in 2012. "The electric car is not dead," Reuss said at the Automotive News World Congress on Wednesday night [1/16/2013]. He said despite setbacks, the Detroit automaker isn't giving up on electric autos, even though it had to abandon its initial forecast for its plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt. The Chevy Volt: The Chevy Volt, the new battery powered car introduced by General Motors, is a sorry excuse for a car. [...] It doesn't matter whether you are an avid global warming believer or think global warming and the green movement are complete [nonsense] (like myself), this car is a terrible purchase. Cadillac combines plug-in power with American luxury in ELR. Plug-in power meets traditional American luxury today as General Motors reveals its Cadillac ELR, a battery-driven coupe based on the same technology in the Chevrolet Volt. GM's investment in the Volt, estimated at more than $1 billion, will now include the iconic luxury brand. GE Ditches Plans For 25,000 EVS And Hybrids By 2015. While General Electric has a vested interest in see electric and plug-in hybrid cars storm the car market, GE has apparently had a change of heart. The electronics and aviation giant announced that it was no longer seeking to replace much of its fleet with 25,000 hybrid and electric vehicles. Instead, GE will pursue other alt-fuel options, including CNG and propane. Global warming catches fire. In 2009, the administration offered a half-billion-dollar loan to Fisker Automotive to underwrite the production of the $100,000 hybrid-electric luxury automobiles that are beloved in Hollywood. Sixteen of these politically correct vehicles happened to be waiting at Port Newark, N.J., in October when Hurricane Sandy hit. After floodwaters receded, the waterlogged Fisker Karmas burst into flame and burned to the ground. The tendency toward self-immolation was significant enough that it sparked a series of recalls last year. Los Angeles Yanks Plug on Free Parking for Electric Cars. For years, LAX has offered electric-vehicle owners one of the most generous incentives of its kind in the country: free parking for 30 days in two of its terminal lots, which contain, altogether, 38 charging stations. The rule was meant to encourage people to buy greener cars, but lately it has turned the lots into a mob scene, with some electric-vehicle drivers circling the stations desperately for electricity or running extension cords while others hog the charging spaces for weeks at a time. Chevy Volt sales triple in 2012. GM sold 23,461 Volts in 2012 compared with just 7,671 in 2011. While it's an impressive jump, the Volt is still one of Chevy's lowest-selling cars. However, the Volt greatly outdid the Corvette, for instance, of which only 14,000 were sold last year. The Editor says... 2012: The Year of Taxpayer 'Green' Waste. [Scroll down] As 2011 closed the president's media sycophants had fawned over the Chevy Volt for a year despite battery fires and poor sales, which led to at least two separate factory shutdowns during 2012. [...] Meanwhile causes of garage fires that occurred in Connecticut and North Carolina where Volts were located were never determined. Modica was critical of the delay by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration in its investigation and release of information about the fires. Nissan Admits Arrogance in Sales of Taxpayer-Subsidized Leaf. A top Nissan official has said the company was "arrogant" in its marketing and sales approach for the all-electric Leaf, which received a $1.4 billion stimulus loan guarantee from President Obama's Department of Energy. Not that the company is going to return taxpayers their money, since the premise upon which Nissan received the loan were ridiculously high production estimates. Will Fisker Be Sold to the Chinese Now Too? Fisker Automotive finally received a good review for the only model it has produced — the highly subsidized, widely panned and sometimes burned extended-range electric Karma — from automobile aficionado Jay Leno. But that didn't prevent the recipient of $193 million out of President Obama's green stimulus from laying off another 40 workers. Tesla Motors ... Another Elite Theme in Collapse? Of course, a cursory examination of global warming evidence brings us smack up against an inconvenient truth ... that global warming probably doesn't exist and that even if it did, the amount of manmade carbon in the atmosphere (versus water based greenhouse elements) won't affect the atmosphere's balance one way or another. And that offers the question ... Why bother to make electric autos? This is a question, in our view, that car companies have yet to answer. The technology remains clunky, the range is restricted and often the cars themselves sacrifice solidity for mileage. First responders 'at risk of electrocution from hybrid and electric cars after serious accidents'. Firefighters and other first responders are putting themselves at a serious risk for injury or even death when responding to hybrid and electric car crashes, an industry panel revealed this week. The danger comes with the increased size of those vehicles' battery packs and becomes potentially deadly for those dealing with wrecked vehicles. Rules urge bigger hybrid, electric car signage. Hybrid and electric cars need prominent labeling inside or out to warn firefighters and other rescuers of the hazards posed by their high-voltage systems after a serious crash, according to an influential industry panel. Hybrids or electrics should have inch-high letters or badges on both sides and the rear that are visible to first responders from at least 50 feet, says the committee of experts from SAE International, formerly known as the Society of Automotive Engineers, who looked at the issue. The Editor says... October 2012 Dashboard. Plug-in vehicles had a strong month. Both the Toyota Prius PHEV and the Chevy Volt turned in their best-ever monthly sales, and the Volt has set incremental records the last three months straight, with consistent sales of just under 3,000 units. While incentives on the Nissan Leaf led to the second-best-ever performance. The Ford C-Max Energi (plug-in hybrid) debuted with 144 sales. These vehicles were 0.65 percent of total North American sales, again a best-ever performance. Americans Won't Pay $40,000 for a $17,000 Car. The $51 billion-bailed-out General Motors (GM) Volt is completely uncompetitive with its un-bailed-out electric/hybrid competition. Plug-In Cars Don't Resell — Because They Don't Sell. Of course all new cars lose roughly 20% of their value the moment they roll off the lot. But there are a lot of used plug-in-specific problems. You don't get the $7,500 federal bribe on the used ones. The very-much-higher up-front retail price is rarely if ever made up in fuel savings over the life of the vehicle. Mayor Ballard's statement about greening city's fleet. Calling it a vital national security issue, Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard today signed Executive Order #6, 2012 making Indianapolis the first city in the nation to require the purchase of either electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles for the city's non-police fleet. The Editor says... Bankrupt Obama-stimulus recipient goes to the highest bidder, the highest bidder being China. The problem here is that in the case of A123 Systems, a manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries for electric cards, the Obama administration spoon-fed hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayer money into what they assured us was a guaranteed-successful endeavor at ushering in the glorious green-energy revolution and leading us down the path of ostensibly necessary energy independence. Obama donor firm conducted auction in which Chinese company bought US battery maker. The Chicago law firm that auctioned the assets of failing battery maker A123 Systems Sunday [12/9/2012] to the Chinese company Wanxiang Group is a major Obama campaign donor, records reveal. A123 received $249 million in funds from President Obama's 2009 stimulus package, and spent at least $132 million of those funds to build two factories in the Greater Detroit area. The company's bankruptcy and sale to Wanxiang Group means that the Chinese company now owns all of the properties A123 purchased with its stimulus money. GOP lawmakers warn A123 sale will hurt national security. Republican lawmakers warned Monday the sale of a clean-energy firm to a Chinese company could hurt national security. Wanxiang America is purchasing A123 Systems's automotive, energy storage and commercial and government operations in a $256.6 million deal. As electric car experiments fumble, Tesla is last man standing. This week witnessed some notable high profile struggles from three companies that are aggressively betting their futures on electric cars. A123 Systems, Fisker Automotive and Better Place — representing billions of dollars of investment in the future of electric cars — are now facing major problems financially and commercially. GM Hypes Chevy Volt's Insignificant 100 Millionth Mile. General Motors is making more ridiculous claims on the Chevy Volt by flooding the web with stories of how 100 million electric miles have been driven since the Volt's much-hyped inception. Let's put the boasting in perspective. In the two plus years that it took for Volt drivers to put on 100 million miles, gas-powered vehicles logged over 5 TRILLION miles in the US. [...] The Volt has fallen far short of sales goals and has cost taxpayers billions of dollars in subsidies to reach the much-publicized but unimpressive milestone. So, what's the net reduction in gas usage in the US as a result of the Volt's accomplishment? Less than .002%. Electric Cars: The Environmentally Friendly Way of Losing Money Since 2009. A Congressional Budget Office report released in the fall tells Obama what the rest of us have known for some time: Your bet on electric cars wasn't an investment, but a gamble; a dumb gamble. And now you've just come up snake eyes. Taxpayers footing the bill for next generation of electric car batteries. Whether you like it or not, you are an investor in the electric vehicle (EV) battery of tomorrow. Late last week, the Department of Energy announced plans to spend $120 million to establish a major battery research center at the Argonne National Lab outside of Chicago. The stated goal: to create a new "Manhattan Project" that will develop an EV battery in the next five years that lasts five times as long and costs one-fifth as much as current EV batteries. And they say it's all in the interest of national security. The Editor says... China bids today on yet another failed Obama energy loan recipient. You won't hear much about it elsewhere today. But from some downtown Chicago law offices will come the distinct sound of one more nail being driven into the coffin of Barack Obama's green energy giveaway loans. A123 Systems will be auctioned off. It's a Michigan lithium ion battery maker which declared bankruptcy back in October, the same day it cashed another $1 million check from the crack Obama investment team. Battery maker that received stimulus money could be sold to Chinese company. A bankrupt battery manufacturer that was a cornerstone of President Obama's effort to make the United States a global leader in clean-energy technology could end up in the hands of a Chinese company when it goes on the auction block Thursday [12/6/2012]. Electric cars praised by Obama may use banned foreign parts. The year after President Obama singled out the company for creating lots of American jobs, California-based Tesla Motors became the focus of a federal probe into whether the automaker was using foreign instead of American parts in manufacturing their electric vehicles, records show. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) investigation centered on whether the company was using its foreign trade zone status to bypass federal loan requirements that companies must buy American, according to documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. CBO Finds Electric Cars Not Smart: Toyota Pulls Plug On Its iQ. Last year, Toyota reportedly sold 178,587 hybrids in the U.S., its largest market, compared with 37,000 Camry sedans during last August alone. The automaker had planned to sell between 35,000 and 40,000 Prius plug-in hybrids in Japan this year, but by September had sold only 8,400, about 20 percent of its target. Chevy Volt named most satisfying car in Consumer Reports survey. The plug-in hybrid topped the Consumer Reports annual customer satisfaction survey for the second straight year, with 92 percent of owners saying they would definitely buy it again, down from 93 percent in 2011. Startup electric car company accuses Energy Department of corruption. To date, the $25 billion ATVM program has approved just four loan guarantees for Ford, Nissan, Tesla and Fisker, totaling approximately $8.5 billion. XP alleges those awards were the product of a poorly documented process rife with political cronyism and manipulation, and not based purely on merit. XP manager Scott Douglas Redmond says his company has several witnesses and more than 5,000 documents to back up its claims that it will reveal during a trial, if one is granted. 2013 Chevrolet Volt — Not Quite Electrifying. Volt's lithium-ion battery pack can power the vehicle for about 38 miles with absolutely no gasoline assistance. The batteries can be charged from "empty" to "full" in about 10-16 hours on normal household current, according to GM. With a 240-volt charge, a full charge cycle takes "about 4 hours." Volt features a standard J1772 socket behind a flap on its front driver's side fender, which is compatible with most of the public charging stations in my area, and probably in yours, too. GM goal: 500K with electrification by 2017. General Motors said it will have delivered at least 500,000 vehicles "with some form of electrification," such as a hybrid drive system, by 2017. The announcement by Mary Barra, head of GM's global product development, came Wednesday [11/14/2012] at an event in San Francisco, where GM is showcasing its electric vehicle strategy. Tesla S Electric Is Motor Trend's Car of the Year. Motor Trend magazine named Tesla Model S its 2013 Car of the Year, the first time a non-gasoline powered vehicle received the honor, but Americans are still warming to the idea of driving an electric car. Electric Cars Are Not The Solution To Gasoline Dependency. Electric cars are a key environmental issue. Helping reduce the emissions released into our atmosphere is very important for the future of our planet and the future of our society. Electric cars are supposed to be reducing emissions but the fact is that they don't help as much as they may seem. Battery company got $1M from Energy Department the day it filed Chapter 11. The Energy Department has supported A123 Systems, Inc., which produced batteries for electric vehicles, through thick and thin. The company received a $946,830 payment, part of a larger grant, on the day it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in mid-October. The company revealed the Oct. 16 payment in a letter this week to Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and John Thune (R-S.D.), who have questioned federal financing for the company. Oregon Department of Transportation to explore fees based on miles driven. More fuel-efficient cars are siphoning off gas-tax revenues that support highway maintenance in Oregon. As a result, state transportation officials are considering a mileage tax on vehicles that average 55 miles or better on a gallon of gasoline. A pilot project started this month will test different methods of tracking mileage, which could lead to a bill before the Legislature in 2013 to tax vehicles that need little or no gasoline. "I don't think people will be excited about GPS tracking," said Derek DeBoer, one of the owners of TC Chevy in Ashland. More about odometer taxes. How a New Jersey Man Used the Gas in His Prius to Power His House for a Week: Bob Sakala's power might have only come back on last Thursday, but the New Jersey man wasn't in the dark like many of his neighbors impacted by Hurricane Sandy. How'd he do it? Sakala jerry-rigged his hybrid car to provide power to his house. NBC New York reported that Sakala had previously read on the Internet about how to convert his Toyota Prius into a power source. The Editor says... $1.6 million in electric cars burn after Hurricane Sandy. Sixteen Fisker Karma electric vehicles caught fire and burned to the ground after being submerged by saltwater from Hurricane Sandy's storm surge. The $100,000 cars were parked in Port Newark, N.J., prior to the storm's arrival, according to Jalopnik. The vehicles were submerged when Hurricane Sandy's storm surge beached the port, flooding the luxury electric vehicles and other cars parked in the port. Automobile Magazine names Tesla Model S 'Car of the Year'. The Model S is an all-electric luxury sedan that can accelerate from zero to 60 miles per hour in just 4.3 seconds. That's fast for any car, but especially one with the size and roominess of the Model S. In a test arranged by the magazine, the Model S even beat a 560 horsepower BMW M5 sedan in a race to which could hit 100 miles an hour first. Feds consider rule for electric car noises to alert blind pedestrians. Federal regulators have proposed a rule to require electric and hybrid car manufacturers to add artificial noises that to alert pedestrians, in particular the blind, to slow-moving electric vehicles. "Because these cars operate so quietly, particularly at low speeds, they are involved in more accidents with pedestrians and cyclists who can't hear the vehicle coming," according to the Department of Transportation. "This problem is even bigger for the visually impaired who rely on sounds for guidance." Software glitch could strand Chevy Volt drivers. The Detroit News reports that Chevrolet is initiating a "customer satisfaction" program to fix a computer glitch that can cause the plug-in hybrid car's electric motor to shut down while the vehicle is in motion. Up to 4,000 2013 model year Volts may be affected by the problem. Year of the electric car blows a fuse. This year was supposed to be the year of the plug-in car but, as 2012 draws to a close, it looks like the electric car market still isn't fully charged. By the end of 2012, most major automakers will have a plug-in car of some type on the market, but plug-in cars still make up just one tenth of one percent of all cars sold in America. Volt no jolt: LG Chem employees idle. Workers at LG Chem, a $300 million lithium-ion battery plant heavily funded by taxpayers, tell [WOOD-TV] that they have so little work to do that they spend hours playing cards and board games, reading magazines or watching movies. They say it's been going on for months. Electric car market is badly in need of a charge. The electric vehicle industry is in serious trouble, or at least far behind where its proponents had hoped it would be. On Tuesday [10/16/2012], one of the nation's largest electric car battery companies — A123 Systems Inc., which has 1,000 workers and contractors in Michigan — filed for bankruptcy. It has lost $900 million since 2007 amid sluggish electric vehicles sales. Quarter-billion-dollar stimulus grant creates just 400 jobs. Battery maker A123 Systems vowed thousands of new jobs when it received a nearly quarter-billion-dollar stimulus grant in late 2009, but federal job-tracking figures show only a few hundred positions were created before the company joined a growing list of federally backed energy businesses that ended in bankruptcy. Republicans Seize on Bankruptcy of Battery Maker That Received $249M in Federal Loan Guarantees. The bankruptcy filing Tuesday [10/16/2012] of an electric car battery maker that received $249 million in federal loan guarantees and that President Obama had touted as a poster child for green-energy jobs has given fresh fodder to Republicans and presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who have attacked Obama's green-energy initiatives as a waste of taxpayer funds, yielding few new jobs. Another Green Company Bites the Dust. What does (or did) A123 do? It "makes rechargeable lithium-ion batteries for electric cars." A123 Files For Bankruptcy; Sells Auto Assets To Johnson Controls. The company has been hurt by the slow development of the electric car market. Don't be surprised to see this turn into a Solyndra-style political football; A123 had received $249 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Energy. Electric Car Battery Maker A123 Systems Files Bankruptcy. A123 Systems Inc. (AONE), the electric car battery maker that received a $249 million federal grant, filed for bankruptcy protection after failing to make a debt payment that was due yesterday [10/15/2012]. Electric Cars Are Far Too Expensive'. The German government said last year it wanted to see 1 million electric cars on the road by 2020. But this week it conceded that the goal is probably out of reach. Media commentators argue that battery-powered cars are too expensive and don't have a long enough range to make them attractive to consumers. Electric cars 'pose environmental threat'. Electric cars might pollute much more than petrol or diesel-powered cars, according to new research. The Norwegian University of Science and Technology study found greenhouse gas emissions rose dramatically if coal was used to produce the electricity. Electric Cars Hurt the Environment. The U.S. and other countries have spent billions subsidizing electric cars, an environmentalist solution which has been met with only lukewarm enthusiasm from customers. And it turns out environmentalists are split over whether these things are in fact worse for the environment than what we've got. California Grants Tesla $10 Million To Build The Model X Electric SUV. California regulators on Wednesday [10/10/2012] approved a $10 million grant to Tesla Motors to help manufacture its next electric car, the Model X sport utility vehicle. Tesla will pony up $50 million to match the California Energy Commission grant, which will be used to expand manufacturing capacity at its factory in Fremont, Calif., and to purchase equipment to make components for the Model X. Chevy Volts For War-Torn Vienna, Nothing For Benghazi. While our consulate in Benghazi was guarded by unarmed Libyan contractors making $4 an hour, our embassy in Vienna received an expensive charging station for its new electric cars to help fight climate change. State Department Cut Libyan Security While Spending on Chevy Volts. The Washington Times is reporting that at the same time State Department officials were cutting security for our diplomatic stations in Libya, they were increasing the budget for our embassy in Austria in order to purchase Chevrolet's electric powered Volt. Chinese billionaire to scoop up failing car battery maker that got $240M from feds. A struggling Massachusetts-based company that makes batteries for electric cars and got $240 million in stimulus money is being saved from bankruptcy by a Chinese billionaire who could move operations overseas. A123 Systems received a $241.1 million grant from the Obama administration three years ago and more than $125 million in State of Michigan tax credits in the hopes that the company would create jobs, while leading the country away from conventional gas-guzzling vehicles and toward clean energy. The Chevy Volt, just the latest expensive toy. Electric vehicles have always been the playthings of the well-to-do. Even the earliest models were expensive for their time. The 2008 Tesla Motors Darkstar Roadster has a net base price of $101,500 and can go 200 miles on a battery charge. The Chevy Volt with its $41,000 price tag and 40-mile electric range, is also a plaything of the relatively wealthy. And if the government offers a $7,500 rebate, that just means the rest of us are subsidizing toys for the rich. Plant that got $150M in taxpayer money to make Volt batteries furloughs workers. President Obama touted it in 2010 as evidence "manufacturing jobs are coming back to the United States," but two years later, a Michigan hybrid battery plant built with $150 million in taxpayer funds is putting workers on furlough before a single battery has been produced. Nissan Leaf battery degrades quickly in hot climates. Leaf owners in Phoenix noticed that upon full battery charge, their dashboard charge indicator showed a decreasing capacity. According to hybridCARS website range per battery charge has dropped from the advertised 100 miles to as low as 44 miles. At first Nissan claimed it was a fault of the dashboard gauge, but that proved not to be the case. The lithium ion battery was actually losing charging capacity over time. Embassies Facing Security Cuts Waste Money on Chevy Volts. The U.S. military's newspaper, Stars & Stripes, recently reported that the Pentagon is buying Chevy Volts in a 1,500 electric-vehicle purchase, as part of the Defense Department's "green initiatives," which seek to reduce the country's dependence on foreign energy sources. A recent Congressional Budget Office study challenged the assumption that electric vehicles have any impact on such dependence, prompting the question of why the government is spending money this way. Voltonomics: A Detailed Analysis of the Chevy Volt's Profitability. The bottom line: even with generous assumptions, the first generation of the Chevrolet Volt will consume about $1 billion in federal tax credits, and STILL result in an economic loss to GM shareholders in excess of $600 million over its lifetime. Without the subsidies, the cumulative loss would triple to $1.8 billion. Chevy Volt Leases Costing Taxpayers $10 per Gallon of Gas Saved. General Motors reported that it sold 2,851 Chevy Volts in September. The number is sure to be touted as a great success, even though the annualized rate of sale is still well below initial sales goals for the vehicle and no where near what conventionally-powered, mainstream cars sell. What is sure to be less publicized by the media is that the majority of the Volt "sales" were heavily subsidized leases that are costing taxpayers millions of dollars. Even Über-Green Germany Not Sold on Electric Cars. The United States isn't the only country wasting piles of money on failed initiatives to promote electric cars. In Germany, costly measures to encourage electric car development have been useless, as only 4,600 electric cars are on German roads today (that's less than a hundredth of a percent of all registered cars). The cars are still too expensive and impractical for most Germans: they can only travel 62 miles at a time and cost about $13,000 more than a normal car. Another Spectacular Green Failure. Greens have an odd knack for developing useless and expensive government policies. Ethanol, ballyhooed as a way to reduce greenhouse gasses, raises food prices for the poor and, in the U.S., actually increases greenhouse gas emissions at great cost. Costly programs to create "green jobs" seem to produce more scandals than jobs. And now we have a subsidy program for electric cars that costs money but otherwise gets nothing done. Obama's Electric Car Future Gets Zapped. First, the Congressional Budget Office released a detailed report on Obama's massive electric car program. Its conclusion: The money "will have little or no impact on the total gasoline use and greenhouse gas emissions of the nation's vehicle fleet over the next several years." It also found that, even with the $7,500 tax credits, electric cars are a bad buy, costing owners far more over the life of the car than traditional gas-powered vehicles. Translation: Obama's electric car subsidies are a complete and total waste of money. Here are two reasons most Americans don't trust the mainstream media. The first story concerns electric vehicles, or EVs, which are assumed to be the wave of the green future. EVs cannot now and aren't likely any time soon to offer more comfort or convenience at less cost to consumers than conventional internal-combustion cars and trucks. Even so, the federal government has spent billions of dollars in the past two decades on research, loans and tax credits to encourage automakers to sell more EVs and consumers to buy them. But consumers avoid EVs like the plague. CBO: Electric vehicles a loser that allow for more pollution. Late last week, the CBO analyzed the outcomes of the green-tech subsidy programs aimed at promoting EVs like the Volt, and concluded that they're not exactly successful. In fact, the programs have a lot in common with other Barack Obama economic policies — they subsidize sales that would have taken place anyway, and end up with perverse outcomes that actually make the concerns that the programs intended to address worse. New electric police cars on patrol in Michigan City. A pair of new police cars are [sic] about to hit the streets of Michigan City, and you might be amazed what they look like. The city through South Shore Clean Cities has received a donation from the "THINK" Electric Car Company of two electric cars for the police department. The Editor says... A pair is a set of two things. The words pair is singular, at least in this case. Chrysler plug-in program halted after batteries overheat. Chrysler has halted work temporarily on a test fleet of plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles pickups and minivans after several of the advanced batteries in its pickups overheated, the automaker said today [9/24/2012]. [...] Three of the fleet's 109 pickups equipped with plug-in hybrid powertrains sustained damage when their prototype 12.9-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion propulsion batteries overheated, Chrysler said. Consumer Reports slams Fisker Karma. The bad Karma continues for hybrid car maker Fisker. Consumer Reports slammed Fisker's flagship luxury plug-in, the Karma, on Tuesday [9/25/2012], calling it "plagued with flaws." Chevy Volt Battery Plant Floundering Despite $151M from Obama. Another in a long list of Obama-touted and tax-supported "green energy" companies is on the verge of going out of business, this time in Michigan. Toyota drops plan for widespread sales of electric car. Toyota Motor Corp has scrapped plans for widespread sales of a new all-electric minicar, saying it had misread the market and the ability of still-emerging battery technology to meet consumer demands. Even War and Rumors of War Can't Save Chevy Volt. A new Congressional Budget Office report tells Obama what the rest of us have known for some time: Your bet on electric cars wasn't an investment, but a gamble; a dumb gamble. And now you've just come up snake eyes. CBO: Electric car subsidies ineffectual on fuel efficiency. Despite the federal government pumping $7.5 billion into the electric vehicle industry in the United States through 2019, overall national gasoline consumption is unlikely to be significantly affected, according to a report released by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). [...] "The more electric and other high-fuel-economy vehicles that are sold because of the tax credits, the more low-fuel-economy vehicles that automakers can sell and still meet the standards," says the report, adding that the funds will have "little or no impact on the total gasoline use and greenhouse gas emissions of the nation's vehicle fleet over the next several years." Are the Chevy Volt's sales being inflated by "giveaway" leases? The Chevy Volt, which the Obama administration has hailed as the vanguard of its green-energy subsidy efforts, has had a bad month in the news. While GM announced a sales record for the plug-in hybrid for August, Reuters pointed out that the company was losing around $49,000 per vehicle in those sales, pouring red ink into an automaker that can't deal with the money it already owes taxpayers. Fox News then reported that the sales record came in part because the Department of Defense began ramping up purchases of the Volt, making it look like another bailout was in process. Atlantic City sets up electric car charging stations in flood-prone parking garage. Some people are finding something shocking about a new parking garage in Atlantic City. GM offers big discounts to boost Volt sales. General Motors rolled out the Chevrolet Volt two years ago with lofty sales goals and the promise of a new technology that someday would help end America's dependence on oil. Bias alert: Most Americans have no problem depending on petroleum that comes from the Gulf of Mexico, or Texas, or Alaska. Dependence on foreign oil is what we want to avoid. The Associated Press adds a subtle twist, referring to "America's dependence on oil." Obama Mileage Mandate Will Fuel Auto Disaster. The latest "corporate average fuel economy" (CAFE) standards will require the average fuel economy of all the cars an automaker sells to almost double to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. [...] The Honda Fit would need to get 61 mpg by 2025, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That's double what it gets today. How Honda can possibly close that gap is anyone's guess. In contrast, the EPA gives electric cars huge "miles per gallon equivalent" ratings. The all-electric Nissan Leaf gets a 99 "mpge" rating, the Volt a 60. That, along with generous credits for electric cars in the new CAFE rule, means automakers will have little choice but to try to push plug-in cars onto the market. This might please Obama, who wants a million electric cars on the road by 2015. But it's small comfort to consumers, who clearly aren't interested in buying them. The Defense Dept. Will Buy Volts, Instead of Military Equipment, to Make Obama Look Good. GM's Volt electric car is much in the news because GM is losing up to $49,000 on every Volt it builds. They have sold only 13,500 Volts this year, 33.75% of it's [sic] 40,000 goal. Even at that, hardly anyone wants to buy one. Such a dilemma. The "Optics" are very bad for Democrats who have just proclaimed GM being "alive" as one of the Obama administration's great triumphs. Pentagon to Buy 1,500 Chevy Volts. General Motors, the financially strained U.S. automaker that absorbed billions of taxpayer dollars through the auto bailout, has secured a new deep-pocketed customer for its purportedly failed electric Chevy Volt: the Pentagon. The Department of Defense is seeking to make the federal government's military operation more "environmentally-friendly" by reducing its use of fossil fuels with a conversion to electric vehicles. The DOD plans to purchase 1,500 models of the Volt, which has been burdened with lethargic sales and mounting losses since the automaker launched it in 2010. Pentagon is buying Chevy Volts to 'green up' the military. The Pentagon is buying Chevrolet Volts to help "green up" the military — while propping up sales of the bailed-out automaker's most politicized car. The Department of Defense began purchasing the struggling luxury electric car, which retails at $40,000, this summer as part of its goal to purchase 1,500 such green vehicles. The Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar, Calif. purchased its first two Volts in July, and 18 more vehicles will come shortly to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where Air Force One is based, according to military magazine Stars and Stripes. GM's Volt: The ugly math of low sales, high costs. General Motors Co sold a record number of Chevrolet Volt sedans in August — but that probably isn't a good thing for the automaker's bottom line. Nearly two years after the introduction of the path-breaking plug-in hybrid, GM is still losing as much as $49,000 on each Volt it builds, according to estimates provided to Reuters by industry analysts and manufacturing experts. GM on Monday [9/10/2012] issued a statement disputing the estimates. The Chevy Volt: Another Obama Green Investment Loses a Billion. Readers of my column know that there are few things that I dislike more than the Chevy Volt. I don't like the inflated claims that government-corporate elites make about it; I don't like that it costs more than a normal car to keep it driving; I don't like that European journalists gave it the automotive equivalent of the Nobel prize for engineering; I don't like that it catches fire; or that the Volt's voltage puts first responders at danger at accident scenes because engineers didn't think about safety for first responders. No, instead they only considered Obama's desire to put one million electric vehicles on the road no matter what the cost. Obama's One Million Electric Car Goal: Three Percent Complete. In 2011, President Barack Obama set a goal of putting one million electric cars on American roads by 2015. Currently, there are just 30,000 electric cars on U.S. roads. The abysmal numbers are even more surprising considering the government's efforts to prop up "green car" manufacturing. Electric luxury car manufacturer Fisker, for example, was approved for a $529 million taxpayer-funded government loan; the federal government cut off the funds at $193 million after sales fell woefully short of required targets. Is It Time to Declare the Nissan Leaf a Flop? Thus far in 2012, Nissan has sold 4,228 all-electric Leafs, a decrease of 31.5% compared to the same period last year. Last month, 685 Leaf purchases were made in the U.S., a 50% decline compared to August 2011. Obama sells old ideas as new. [Scroll down] Oh, but what about all his innovative ideas for green energy: faster trains local governments don't want and electric cars consumers won't buy? The New York Times reports that the electric car "has long been recognized as the ideal solution" because it is "cleaner and quieter" and "much more economical." The Times reported that in 1911. Obama has turned his back on nuclear power while investing massively in a technological breakthrough pioneered by Heron of Alexandria in the first century: the windmill. When Figures Lie: Chevy Volt Puts the Government in Government Motors. If there was any doubt from skeptics about the complicity of the Obama administration in creating and directing the "new" General Motors — a.k.a Government Motors — the latest ballyhoo regarding sales figures and the Chevy Volt should convince even the doubters. Consumers Still Don't Want a Chevy Volt. GM is practically giving away the Chevy Volt, but that has not been enough to keep it in production. For the second time this year, the bailed out automaker will suspend production of the electric car so popular with Capitol Hill. The Michigan assembly plant that builds the car will close for four weeks between September and October. The announcement comes after a record-setting August for the Volt. GM sold 2,500 Volts in August, a 700 percent increase from 2011. Volt monthly sales to hit record in August. Chevrolet Volt's August sales are expected to set a monthly record for the General Motors plug-in hybrid. GM spokesman Jim Cain said the company expects the Volt's August sales to top 2,500, the best month by far since its December 2010 launch. That would mark a 35% increase over July sales and more than a 700% jump from year ago results. GM Said to Halt Chevrolet Volt Production for Four Weeks. General Motors Co., the largest U.S. automaker, is planning to stop production for about four weeks in September and October at the factory that makes Chevrolet Volt cars, two people familiar with the plan said. Sales of the plug-in hybrid sedan haven't met Chief Executive Officer Dan Akerson's projections this year. Through July, GM sold 10,666 Volts in the U.S., according to researcher Autodata Corp. The Editor says... That's not exactly a brisk business. Ford sold 516,369 F-150 pickup trucks last year. GM goes from bad to worse despite Obama bailout. GM has been selling cars in the U.S. at deep discount and, while it's making money in China — and is outsourcing operations there and elsewhere — it's bleeding losses in Europe. It's spending billions to ditch its Opel brand there in favor of Chevrolet, including $559 million to put the Chevy logo on Manchester United soccer team uniforms — and just fired the marketing exec who cut that deal. It botched the launch of its new Chevrolet Malibu by starting with the green-friendly Eco version, which pleased its government shareholders but which got lousy reviews. And it's selling only about 10,000 electric-powered Chevy Volts a year, a puny contribution toward Obama's goal of 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2015. Fisker Issues Second Recall of Electric Car. After the second of two mysterious fires in a Karma sedan, the government-backed electric car-maker Fisker has initiated a voluntary recall of its luxury vehicles. In a statement, Fisker spokesman Roger Ormisher said that Fisker engineers and an independent fire expert had "identified the root cause" of a fire that swept through a Karma parked outside a Woodside, California grocery store on August 10. After Billions Of Taxpayer Dollars, Green Transportation Is A Bust. [Scroll down] Wind-powered ground transportation was tried and abandoned by the mid-nineteenth century. Thomas Edison himself wasted part of his fortune trying to develop the battery to enable Henry Ford to offer an electric car to compete against the internal combustion engine. NPC researchers note that there is a "great deal of uncertainty" about which, if any, of these hurdles can actually be overcome. Electric car boom in Ind. city goes bust. Elkhart, Indiana lost jobs faster than any other city in the country in 2009. Both Democrats and Republicans promised to re-energize manufacturing in the city, backing a new electric car plant. But as CBS News investigated, instead of a boom, things went bust. With unemployment peaking above 20 percent, Elkhart, Indiana was at the white-hot center of the economic meltdown, and a natural launch point for President Obama's electric vehicle initiative. Head of Chevy Volt Program Named CEO of Fisker. Tony Posawatz, the former head of the Volt program at General Motors, has been named the new CEO of Fisker, as the automaker hunkers down on development of its second model, the Fisker Atlantic. Posawatz is now the third CEO to man the helm at Fisker, following the appointment of Tom LaSorda this past February, who took the reigns from the company's founder, namesake and current Executive Chairman, Henrik Fisker. Green Car Collides with Laws of Thermodynamics, the Real 'Inconvenient Truth'. Al Gore published a book, made a movie, and won a Nobel Peace prize for his thesis on global warming. [...] Had Al stopped at the movie or just winning the Nobel prize he may never had to face the most fundamental laws of thermodynamics that unfortunately for him, his investors, his political party, his Washington friends, and the US tax payers as a whole disproved his whole notion that cheap electric cars would proliferate and cheap electric power for these electric cars would be generated in his fuel cells. Fisker probing second Karma fire. Fisker Automotive engineers have started to examine and test a Karma plug-in hybrid that burst into flames in a parking lot in Woodside, Calif., on Friday. So far, the evidence suggests the fire was not caused by problems with the vehicle's lithium-ion battery pack, new technology components or exhaust routing, Fisker said today [8/13/2012]. Frito-Lay to add 45 electric delivery trucks to California fleet. The trucks are made by Smith Electric Vehicles, a private manufacturer in Kansas City, Mo., that names its truck models after famous inventors and scientists. Its biggest truck is the Newton while the smaller vehicle is called the Edison. [...] The state of California put about $2.2 million of grants and rebates into the project. Energy Dept. Invests $43M in Projects 'Too Risky for the Private Sector'. The Department of Energy announced the distribution of $43 million in funding for the development of energy storage technology that is "too risky for private-sector investment." [...] Xilectric, Inc., in Auburndale, Mass., is receiving $1.7 million to "reinvent Thomas Edison's battery chemistries for today's electric vehicles." The Editor says... The rest of the article goes into detail about how the U.S. government is dispensing corporate welfare payments (in some cases to foreign countries) for the purpose of finding a way to make electric cars feasible. The Constitution does not authorize the government to spend money on scientific research unrelated to national defense. Unfortunately, the number of people who care what the Constitution says is steadily decreasing. Electric car tour stops in Paramus to charge up at Bergen Community College. To drum up support for President Obama's new fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks, which would require an average 54.4 miles per gallon by 2025, environmentalists in New Jersey staged an electric car tour Thursday which included a stop at a charging station in a parking lot on the Bergen Community College campus in Paramus. GM exec: 100, 200 miles on a charge may be coming. A small battery company backed by General Motors is working on breakthrough technology that could power an electric car 100 or even 200 miles on a single charge in the next two-to-four years, GM's CEO said Thursday [8/9/2012]. The Editor says... My car can go 300 miles between fill-ups, which only take about five minutes and can be done at hundreds of locations all over the county. Not only that, I could buy four cars like the one I drive for the price of a Volt, a Leaf, or a Prius. Energy Dept. spends $43 billion on researching better electric car batteries. The Department of Energy continues to make good on President Barack Obama's promise to double down on electric car research and development. The DOE announced on Thursday [8/2/2012] that it is giving out $43 million for 19 new research projects aimed at improving energy storage technology, such as batteries for electric cars and storage for electric grids, and for the U.S. military in remote bases around the world. The research would directly benefit cars like the Nissan Leaf and the subsidy-backed Chevrolet Volt, whose battery literally flamed out late last year, sparking a congressional inquiry into its safety. Toyota Says Electric RAV4 Will Set Pace for Mileage Per Charge. Toyota Motor Corp., the biggest maker of hybrid autos, said its RAV4 EV sport-utility vehicle powered by batteries and motor from Tesla Motors Inc. will go farther on a charge than major competitors' electric models. The small SUV, arriving at California dealers in about a month, goes as far as 113 miles per full charge, Toyota said at a briefing this week in Newport Beach, California. Military adding more electric vehicles to fleet. Electric vehicles are becoming a more common sight on military bases as the Department of Defense adds "road-capable" electric cars such as the Chevy Volt to a fleet of thousands of smaller battery-powered vehicles. Last month, the first two Chevy Volts arrived at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif., where they will be used as nontactical government vehicles. Eighteen Volts are about to hit the roads at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Marine Corps and Air Force officials said. U.S. offers electric car charging help to Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt owners. Chicago's already juiced-up access to electric-vehicle charging stations is getting a new spark: Local owners of Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt cars who agree to share their charging data may get a free wall-mount charger and a $400 installation credit as part of a government program aimed at building a nationwide network of electric-vehicle charging stations. Is the WWF Telling the Truth About Electric Cars? The World Wildlife Fund's praise for electric cars demonstrates its profound disconnect from reality. Nissan Leaf Can't Handle the Heat. Two years after the Department of Energy gave Japanese carmaker Nissan a $1.4 billion loan to retrofit a Tennessee plant for electric car production, consumers are claiming that the Nissan Leaf loses up to half of its battery life in severe heat. The Chevy Volt: Not Only a Bad Investment but Now a Tool for Fraud! We have known for quite some time now that the Chevy Volt is not that great of design and costs taxpayers ~$250,000 per car. Part of that cost to taxpayers is a $7,500 federal tax credit for plug-in motor vehicles. There is a problem however. General Motors is now offering a no questions asked 60-day return policy for all Chevrolet models including the Volt. When the federal tax credit is coupled with the return policy, the potential for abuse is obvious. Chevy Volt 60-Day Return Makes Tax Credit Abuse Likely. General Motors has announced a 60 day money back guarantee policy for all new Chevy models, including the Chevy Volt. The move sets up a scenario where purchasers can buy a Volt, claim the $7,500 federal tax credit (and most likely state credits) and return the vehicle for a refund within 60 days. Did GM really not consider this glitch, or is this just another way for Government Motors to prop up politically important Volt sales leading up to November elections? Does GM's Chevy Volt ad signal return to advertising toward gay and lesbian buyers? Gay and lesbian consumers prefer fuel-efficient cars, account for 5% of new car purchases and have average household income in the six figures — more than that of heterosexual households, according to a recent marketing survey. So it's little surprise that General Motors ran a gay-themed advertisement last month for the Chevrolet Volt, the type of car studies show gay and lesbian consumers tend to like. GM didn't count on the ad drawing national attention. Media Fail: Chevy Volt Makes NO Money, Costs Taxpayers Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars Per Car. The President is running in large part on the bailout's $30+ billion loss, uber-failed "success." And the Press is acting as his stenographers. An epitome of this bailout nightmare mess is the electric absurdity that is the Chevrolet Volt. The Press is at every turn covering up — rather than covering — the serial failures of President Obama's signature vehicle. The Press has failed to mention at least five Volt fires, myopically focusing on the one the Obama Administration hand-selected for attention. The Press has failed to mention that the Volt fire problem remains unsolved. At this point you should be wondering, "What else is the news media covering up?" The Tesla Model S: Your Tax Dollars at Work? So what did your $465 million taxpayer loan to One Percenter Elon Musk get you? Another six-figure toy for President Obama's rich West Coast friends. Musk's Tesla auto company is rolling out its first copies of the Energy Department — financed, $97,700, 300-mile-range Model S electric sedan for journalist review. (Make that $90,200 — you are also paying to give each posh buyer a $7,500 tax credit.) Transportation Secretary: Without Obama 'No One Would Have Ever Predicted' Lexus Hybrids — Which Debuted in '04. The Obama administration is taking credit for inspiring Lexus to create a hybrid SUV — even though the automobile company began the well-publicized production of its RX 400h SUV hybrid in 2004 — four full years before Obama was elected. Energy secretary: U.S. must make affordable electric cars. Energy Secretary Steven Chu wants the U.S. to become a global leader of affordable electric vehicles, starting with a five-passenger plug-in hybrid where the extra cost is paid back within five years. The goal is to produce and sell unsubsidized plug-in electric vehicles within 10 years that are comparable in cost with conventional vehicles. Steven Chu is no Don Draper. The Energy Department needs its ministry of propaganda to make such an absurdly uneconomic undertaking seem plausible. Oil bashers want everyone to dump their current SUVs and buy a hybrid-electric Chevy Volt. It's not happening. Government Motors sold just 1,680 Volts last month, but many of these turned out to be fleet purchases. General Electric, one of the top green-subsidy recipients, has promised to buy 12,000 electric cars from GM by 2015. State, federal and local governments also have raced to add the overpriced golf carts to their fleet. Americans rightly preferred more useful vehicles in May. Ford sold 54,836 of its F Series trucks, Chevy moved 34,555 Silverados and Dodge sold 26,040 Rams — that's a 6,800 percent sales advantage for the pickup over the Volt. The Media's Lockstep Elation About a Chevy Volt Non-Improvement. Obama is trying to run for reelection on his record of bailing out failed vehicles like the Chevy Volt. Blogger Busts EPA's Fake Fuel Figures. Blogger Lindsay Leveen at Green Explored explains, in layman's terms, how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has created data "that disobey the laws of thermodynamics so that the worthless government policy of favoring plug in vehicles over gas or diesel powered vehicles can be supported by the public." The key, according to Leveen, is that the EPA deliberately ignores energy losses at each stage of the electrical process — meaning that the EPA's claim of 118 miles per gallon (MPG) for the Honda Fit means less than 41 MPG in reality. Car Battery Start-Ups Fizzle. Since 2009, the Obama administration has awarded more than $1 billion to American companies to make advanced batteries for electric vehicles. Halfway to a six-year goal of producing one million electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, auto makers are barely at 50,000 cars. Fisker May Never Build Electric Cars in US. The luxury carmaker Fisker Automotive continues to signal it could ditch plans to build its next generation hybrid electric vehicle in the United States, despite the nearly $200 million in Obama administration loan money it has already received. Ford to start shipping Focus Electric to dealers. Ford Motor Co (F.N), the second-largest U.S. automaker, will start shipping its first electric passenger car to dealers this weekend, people familiar with the matter said. About 350 Focus Electric cars will be sent to 67 dealers in California, New Jersey and New York over the next couple weeks. Manufacturing executives signed off on the decision on Friday [5/18/2012]. Obama Administration Announces $5M Alternative Fuel Program. Adding to President Obama's "all-of-the-above" energy approach to curbing gas prices, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced earlier this week a $5-million initiative "to help expand the use of alternative-fuel vehicles, including electric vehicles (EVs), in cities and towns across the country." The taxpayer-subsidized funding will finance 10 to 20 projects that "address barriers to the adoption of these vehicles" and "drive market development" to broaden fuel station access for alternative fuel transportation. Top 10 misguided energy policies. [#8] Chevy Volt fiasco: Obama's attempt to leverage the auto bailout by bullying carmakers into making energy-efficient vehicles was a miserable failure. The Chevy Volt cost too much, didn't work very well, and had safety issues. No wonder the American consumer roundly rejected the effort and the automaker had to suspend production of the Volt. Two Broadcast Networks Ignore Soft Recall of Chevy Volts. In November 2011 it became public knowledge that the Chevy Volt could possibly catch fire weeks after a serious accident. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened its investigation into the matter on Nov. 25. Now General Motors is trying to recall all of the Volts for "enhancements," all while attempting to avoid the word recall. ABC and NBC are also avoiding the topic. Hybrid car owners cite price, technology in refusing to buy again. Despite a desire to help the environment, lighten fuel bills or reduce dependence on foreign oil, hybrid owners' decision to buy a second one comes down to dollars and cents. "There are a lot of gasoline-powered vehicles out there that are much more fuel efficient, and cost thousands of dollars less than their hybrid counterparts," says Lacey Plache, chief economist with Edmunds.com. Obama Administration Pushing Americans Toward Alternative-Fuel and Electric Vehicles. The Energy Department on Tuesday announced it will spend $5 million taxpayer dollars this year "to help expand the use of alternative fuel vehicles, including electric vehicles (EVs), in cities and towns across the country." The money will fund 10 to 20 two-year projects that "address barriers to the adoption of these vehicles" and "drive market development" to make alternative fuel vehicles and fueling stations widely available. Official claims Fisker Karma to blame in Texas house fire. Last week, a fire badly damaged the home of a new Fisker Karma owner, and authorities are saying that the electric car was the source of the blaze. According to Fort Bend County, Texas, chief fire investigator Robert Baker, the Fisker Karma started the fire that spread to the house. "Yes, the Karma was the origin of the fire, but what exactly caused that we don't know at this time," he said. The car was a complete loss. Another electric car bursts into flames. The Administration has been striving mightily to ignore all those Chevy Volts bursting into flames, but last week an electric Fisker Karma — another Obama "green jobs investment" — caught fire in Texas, and [almost] took out the owner's house, as reported by AutoWeek. Sens. Grassley, Thune Want Answers on Fisker Loan. Why are taxpayers forced to underwrite a loan for the producer of a $107,000 toy vehicle for the wealthy, the majority of which is assembled at a European auto plant? Two weeks ago Republican Sens. Charles Grassley of Iowa and John Thune of South Dakota asked Energy Secretary Steven Chu those and some other pointed questions about his department's decisions, in granting a $529 million taxpayer loan guarantee to Fisker Automotive, a luxury electric car manufacturer. GM Executive Refutes Chevy Volt / EV Hype. The WSJ yesterday [4/26/2012] reported that auto company executives are skeptical regarding the prospects for plug-in electric vehicles like the Chevy Volt. The skepticism was displayed at the annual Society of Automotive Engineers World Congress. Among the skeptics was General Motors' executive director of powertrain-engine engineering, Sam Winegarden (in photo). It seems that not all criticism of the Chevy Volt and cars like it are driven by a right-wing conspiracy to enrich oil companies. Localities Get Up to $33,000 in Subsidies per Chevy Volt. A Jacksonville.com report gives a good explanation for why some Florida localities are purchasing Chevy Volts. When Jacksonville's chief of fleet management, Karim Kurji, was asked what the advantage of going green by purchasing Volts was he hit the nail on the head when he replied, "Federal money." The story goes on to reveal that the total federal taxpayer money used to subsidize one Chevy Volt purchased by Atlantic Beach was over $33,000. It now appears obvious that the Obama Administration and General Motors are willing to pay just about any price, even if the taxpayers are footing the bill, to see the Chevy Volt "succeed." Ask Me about Your Volt. [Scroll down] Rather than a hybrid, the Volt is marketed as an "extended-range electric car." That's because, unlike the Priuses of the world, which use electricity as an auxiliary in low-demand driving conditions and to ease the burden on the internal-combustion engine, which, in fact, does virtually all of the work of powering the drivetrain, the Volt has a 1.4-liter gas engine that acts as a generator for the large electric motor that actually turns the wheels. This engineering quirk might matter during the 42 miles, on average, of pure electric driving you get on a full plug-in charge (which can take anywhere from 4 to 10 hours, depending on whether you use the 120-volt adapter, which is included, or a 240-volt upgrade, which is available). GM Lithium Battery Explosion Warrants Unbiased Investigation. General Motors has been quick to allay concerns that the Chevy Volt had anything to do with an explosion at a testing facility that appears to have injured five workers, one possibly seriously. The explosion has been attributed to gases from a lithium-based prototype battery being developed at GM's tech center. While the incident should not serve as an indictment against the Volt, concerns about volatile lithium-ion batteries are legitimate. Another Blunder Affects Taxpayer-Funded EV Battery Company A123. Just as the Department of Energy gave A123 Systems a vote of confidence by extending a deadline until 2014 to spend down its $249 million stimulus grant, the deeply troubled electric vehicle supplier experienced another setback. One of their batteries caused an explosion. GM Blames Chevy Volt Owners for Power Cord Problems. Being a politician means never having to say you're sorry. It now seems that the same philosophy holds true with government-owned General Motors. About eight months ago some owners of Chevy Volts complained that charging cords were overheating, sometimes to the point of melting. At the time, GM blamed owners, saying the wall outlets were the culprits. We now finally have GM addressing the safety concerns and agreeing to replace charging cords for all 9,500 Volts that have been sold since production began. But in what is becoming a new public relations precedent, the move is not being called a "recall." 10 Reasons Why Fisker May Be Worse Than Solyndra: Automotive and green technology advocacy Web sites are abuzz with a story about a former employee of Fisker Automotive who claims the company released its $102,000-plus Karma electric sport sedan prematurely, in order to meet targets set forth by the Department of Energy so Fisker could access funds from a $529 million loan award. This followed reports from all over the Internet that Consumer Reports purchased a Karma in Connecticut for $107,850, only to see it totally disabled before the magazine could run it through its tests. Chevrolet Discontinues Avalanche Truck — Despite Better Sales than Volt. [The Chevy Volt is made] by General Motors, of which the American people are still forced to own 33%. As the result of the $83 billion auto bailout — on which we're poised to lose more than $30 billion. Osama Bin Laden is dead — General Motors is killing us. Obama campaign inflates US jobs by 40 percent for pricey electric auto. President Barack Obama's deputy campaign manager got her facts wrong while she was trying to support the administration's $193 million subsidy for a luxury automaker. "Hi, I'm Stephanie Cutter, I'm the deputy campaign manager here at Obama for America, and I wanted to arm you with the facts about the latest attack from 'Big Oil,'" Cutter said in her May 2 video. "Let's get the facts out, because it is important that you guys know the truth." Cutter's speech appears to have been aimed at a new attack ad by Americans for Prosperity (AFP) that dinged Obama for sending "half a billion [dollars] to an electric car company that created hundreds of jobs ... in Finland." 10 Things That Would Be Happening Today If Obama's Policies Were Working. [#2] Obama spent hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars to promote the Chevy Volt and said he had a goal of seeing a million electric cars in the U.S. by 2015. If that was going to happen, Volts would be flying off the showroom floor as opposed to the meager 7,700 that were sold last year — before production was halted this year. The Search for the 100-MPG Car. Recently the EPA was caught trying to suppress a report that the U.S. power grid might not be able to withstand the new "pollution" standards without triggering rolling blackouts. What the report does not mention is that adding a major demand of 11 million new electrical appliances, called electric cars, will very likely collapse the grid. But not to worry: no one wants to buy the "premier" electric vehicle, the Chevy Volt, since it is prone to spontaneous combustion. China's dream of electric car leadership elusive. China's leaders are finding it's a lot tougher to create a world-beating electric car industry than they hoped. Politico: Chevy Volt is a campaign issue. Politico discovered that Republicans plan to make the Chevy Volt a campaign issue. Why those dastardly Republicans. How dare they base their campaign on the many, many presidential failures under President Obama. Ford's electric car battery pack costs $12,000-$15,000. One of the auto industry's most closely guarded secrets, the enormous cost of batteries for electric cars, has spilled out. Speaking at a forum on green technology, Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally indicated battery packs for the company's Focus electric car costs between $12,000 and $15,000 apiece. Chevy Volt a charged issue. From Rush Limbaugh to Mitt Romney, critics on the right have tried to turn the electric-gasoline plug-in hybrid car into a synonym for Big Government overreach. Fox News business anchor Neil Cavuto recently called it a "Fred Flintstone car" and the "dumbest thing I've ever seen." "It's going to lead to a lot of divorces," Cavuto said, theorizing that spouses will fight over who forgot to charge their Volt overnight. Don't presume for even a moment that this guy is the only one with the same idea. Former GM Vice Chairman: 'I Would Raise The Fuel Tax 25 Cents a Gallon Per Year'. Former Vice Chairman of General Motors Bob Lutz said he would raise taxes on gasoline to compel American consumers to buy more electric cars. It doesn't always pay to buy fuel-efficient cars. The recent run-up in fuel prices has put the spotlight on hybrids, battery cars and other high-mileage vehicles. But while it may sound great to get 40, even 50 miles a gallon, are you spending an arm and a leg to save far less than you might expect on your annual gasoline bill? Some hybrids carry a premium that can push up to $5,000 or more. The penalty is even higher with plug-ins and pure battery-electric vehicles, or BEVs. Even on many "eco" models using relatively conventional gasoline power you could be in for a stiff price penalty. But is it worth it? Savings come slowly for hybrid, electric car owners. Buyers who choose Nissan's all-electric Leaf ($28,421) over its approximate gas-powered equivalent, Nissan's Versa ($18,640), will likely wait nearly 9 years until they break even, according to a new report by The New York Times that examines the cost of fuel efficiency. For drivers of the Chevrolet Volt ($31,767), the wait is even longer — 26.6 years. Obama's Back To The Future Energy Policy. Shortly after taking office, President Obama gutted a $1.2 billion Bush administration R&D program designed to bring hydrogen-fueled cars to market. [...] An Energy Department advisory panel reported last year that the technology wasn't a "distant dream," and that Japan, Korea, China and the EU were "aggressively" investing in hydrogen cars with plans to commercialize them in 2015. But Obama decided instead to invest billions of dollars in electric cars — a technology that dates back more than 150 years but has yet to succeed commercially. Troubled Fisker to unveil 'Nina' sedan. Fisker Automotive is expected to unveil its new, less expensive plug-in car, code named Nina, at an event in New York City Tuesday. But before that car can hit the road, Fisker's got a trunkload of trouble to unload first. It Runs in the Family: Volt's Cousin, Chevy Cruze, Investigated for Fires. The Chevy Cruze, which is the same car, right down to the lug nuts as the Chevy Volt — minus, you know, the voltage — is being investigated for engine fires that Reuters says "in many cases completely engulfed the vehicles in flames." This is an original compilation, Copyright © 2013 by Andrew K. Dart Eco-Scams Are as Easy as "A123". The Solyndra of the week is A123 Systems, an electric vehicle battery company based in Massachusetts. The firm also has battery plants in Michigan, where former Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm once heralded A123 as a federal stimulus "success story." Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the company headquarters and hailed it as a "great example of how Recovery Act funding is helping American companies." Fisker's Bad Karma. President Obama reminds us that successful green energy startups aren't easy, as illustrated by Solyndra's loan fiasco. What about Fisker Automotive, recipient of a $529-million DOE loan? The product of this government/industry partnership is the four-door performance Karma sedan, aimed strictly at 1% buyers. So how does that investment look? Top conservative car is.... I saw a Nissan Leaf the other day. It runs on coal here in West Virginia. Up against a coal truck, the Leaf would be flattened. True, a convertible with the top down would not fare much better but at least I would go in style. Battery Company Juiced Up Pols' Coffers. A Waltham-based electric car battery supplier — now facing financial implosion despite receiving $249 million in federal stimulus cash — was a heavy donor to congressional Democrats before scoring the hefty taxpayer handout, the [Boston] Herald has learned. A123 Systems CEO David Vieau has donated $16,900 to Washington, D.C., power brokers and Democratic committees since 2008, including $2,400 to Bay State Rep. Edward J. Markey, the chairman of the climate and energy committees, in 2009 — just three months before A123 received $249 million in federal stimulus funds. EV firm files for bankruptcy, lays off 50 Oak Park workers. A Canadian company that electrifies Ford Motor Co.'s Transit Connect is reorganizing under court-protection and filed for bankruptcy in the United States. British Columbia-based Azure Dynamics, which has offices in Oak Park, has been installing the battery electric powertrain in Ford's Transit Connect since 2010. Car Wars. [Scroll down] Though the president has often expressed his fondness for the Volt, GM has suspended production of the vehicle for five weeks, with 6,000 unsold. This decision clashes with Obama's goal of 1 million plug-in cars on the road in 2015. According to the Department of Energy's blueprint issued last year, this would include 505,000 Volts. That goal was always unattainable. Now an Energy spokesman says it's "no longer up-to-date." Only 7,671 Volts were sold in 2011 and 1,626 in January and February this year. Energy Department-Backed Company Under SEC Investigation. In its push to get electric vehicles on the road, the Obama administration has partnered with a company in dire financial straits that is also under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission for insider trading. San Francisco-based green technology company ECOtality received roughly $115 million in two separate Energy Department grants to build 14,000 electric vehicle charging stations in 18 cities. Stop! Don't Cut that Wire! That's a Chevy Volt! Unlike old-fashioned lead acid batteries, the Chevy Volt lithium battery contains enough of a punch that it can kill you — and anyone else who is not grounded — if first responders cut the wrong wires or even the right ones, as Stephen Smoot reminded us last week on Townhall. After taking us through the procedure first responders are suppsoed to use to cut the wires, Smoot writes: "General Motors also warns that 'cutting these cables can result in serious injury or death.'" Electric car revolution faces increasing headwinds. Scott Kluth has a love-hate relationship with his new Fisker Karma luxury electric sedan. The 34-year-old car lover bought the plug-in hybrid electric Karma in December for $107,850, but five days later the car's battery died as he was driving in downtown Chicago. GM Is Replacing The Charging Cords On All Volts Since They Might Melt. The issue has been very limited, with only a few cords actually ending up melted. The 120-volt charger comes packaged with the car, but it is not meant to be the primary charging cord. Most Volt owners have a 240-volt station installed to charge the car quicker. Even so, Chevy is taking a preemptive step to provide a higher level of confidence to the owners. 'Consumer Reports': Fisker plug-in remains glitch-plagued. "Just this weekend, for example, the speedometer and energy meter display disappeared when driving, on top of having several other rogue warning indicators appear last week. It is expected we'll be revisiting the dealership soon." Could You Soon be Charged to Plug Into Public Outlets? Community power-up stations have been cropping up in public places like airports for years now. Conversations about public charging stations for electric vehicles is growing as well. But who is, or will, pay for this electricity? And what of "electrical theft?" With these questions and energy conservation in mind, Sony has recently released prototype technology for an outlet that would recognize a user and charge them accordingly. The DOE Helps Firefighters Combat Volt Fires. Last week, the Obama Administration sought to increase the Chevrolet Volt purchaser tax credit from $7,500 to $10,000. All this for a car so dangerous to first responders that the Department of Energy allocated $4.4 million dollars for programs to prevent fire fighters from electrocuting themselves while trying to rescue crash victims. This is why electric vehicles aren't likely to be used as rental cars. "It's A Brick" — Tesla Motors' Devastating Design Problem. Tesla Motors' lineup of all-electric vehicles ... apparently suffer from a severe limitation that can largely destroy the value of the vehicle. If the battery is ever totally discharged, the owner is left with what Tesla describes as a "brick": a completely immobile vehicle that cannot be started or even pushed down the street. The only known remedy is for the owner to pay Tesla approximately $40,000 to replace the entire battery. Unlike practically every other modern car problem, neither Tesla's warranty nor typical car insurance policies provide any protection from this major financial loss. Top 10 Obama energy blunders. After President Obama's bailout of General Motors, the automaker turned its attention to producing the Chevy Volt. Even with the government's help, the electric car is a flop, with few buyers and an exorbitant price. The Volt has trouble staying charged in cold weather and the battery can burst into flames long after being damaged in a minor accident. Obama's fantasy of gasless cars is proving to be among the biggest debacles in automotive history — rivaling Ford's Edsel and Chevrolet's Corvair. Electric vehicles fail to generate sales. These are dark days for electric cars. Sales for the nascent plug-in electric vehicle industry aren't meeting expectations for several companies, causing some to rethink goals and others to fold. General Motors will stop making the Volt for five weeks starting March 19. Sales are below expectations, though stronger this year than those of the competing plug-in Nissan Leaf. New Rasmussen Poll: 58 Percent Oppose $10,000 Subsidies to Electric Car Buyers. A recent Rasmussen poll finds 58 percent of Americans are opposed to providing $10,000 subsidies to those who buy electric cars. This is at odds with President Obama's recent budget proposal to provide $10,000 subsidies to Americans who purchase electric cars to offset the typical cost of $32,000-$42,000 per car. The President hopes that this policy endeavor will result in getting one million electric cars on the road by 2015. The Volt Unplugged. Barack Obama wants to buy a Chevy Volt when he leaves office. If they're still making them. The announcement late last week that Chevy was suspending Volt sales for lack of demand (conveniently timed after the Michigan primary was over, because laying off 1,300 UAW workers would have clashed with Obama's Election Day, anti-Romney UAW Convention speech boasting that he had saved Detroit jobs) was a huge embarrassment for a president who in part rescued GM in order to make what the president claims is the Car of the Future (no doubt, it's his vast experience in the car market that convinced him). Too Many Volts, Not Enough Buyers, Especially At That Price. Chevrolet is shutting down production of the Volt, its electric car. Not even generous federal subsidies are enough to keep this trendy environmentalist flop on the road. Dear GE, GM and Obama: We're Not as Dumb as You. When GE announced at the end of February that it would be bailing out General Motor's green car strategy by ordering 12,000 electric-gasoline powered Chevy Volts for their fleet, it was more than just Government Electric doing a solid for Government Motors doing a solid for the Government Owners in the Obama administration. Rather it was an admission of failure by the monetization arm of the Green Conspiracy to control market behavior. Electric cars and liberals' refusal to accept science. President Obama boasted at a United Auto Workers conference last week that General Motors was back in business, producing cutting-edge vehicles like the plug-in electric Chevrolet Volt. He even promised to buy one when his time in office ends "five years from now." Whoops! Just three days later, GM announced that it would suspend Volt production for five weeks this spring, idling 1,300 workers at a Hamtramck, Mich., factory. Alas, Obama's endorsements notwithstanding, there's not much of a market for this little bitty car, at least not at the price of almost $32,000 — after a $7,500 federal tax rebate. Obama proposes bumping Chevy Volt subsidy up to $10K. President Barack Obama is touting a new series of green-tech subsidies in North Carolina Wednesday, simultaneously trying to goose his prospects in the swing-state and to jump-start his stalled plan to minimize the nation's use of gasoline. The new subsidies include an expansion of the $7,500 subsidy for the wealthy buyers of the Chevy Volt. Our Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid breaks down. While doing speedometer calibration runs on our test track (a procedure we do for every test car before putting it in service by driving the car at a constant 65 mph between two measured points), the dashboard flashed a message and sounded a "bing" showing a major fault. Our technician got the car off the track and put it into Park to go through the owner's manual to interpret the warning. At that point, the transmission went into Neutral and wouldn't engage any gear through its electronic shifter except Park and Neutral. Fisker Karma car dies in Consumer Reports testing. A $100,000-plus Fisker Automotive luxury sports car died during Consumer Reports speed testing this week for reasons that are still unknown, leaving the struggling electric car startup with another blow to its image. "It is a little disconcerting that you pay that amount of money for a car and it lasts basically 180 miles before going wrong," David Champion, senior director for the magazine's automotive test center, told Reuters, on Thursday [3/8/2012]. Oops! $100,000 electric car flunks track test. A $100,000-plus Fisker sports car died during Consumer Reports speed testing this week for reasons that are still unknown, leaving the struggling electric car startup with another blow to its image. "It is a little disconcerting that you pay that amount of money for a car and it lasts basically 180 miles before going wrong," David Champion, senior director for the magazine's automotive test center, told Reuters, on Thursday [3/8/2012]. Bam's bad karma. It wouldn't be much of a tale, except for one thing: The clunker was created by a company that's been feasting on your tax dollars — specifically, a $529 million green-energy loan guarantee from Team Obama. Obama's 'Undriveable' Electric Car. A leading consumer product testing firm takes one of the administration's dream green cars for a spin and had to call a gasoline-powered flatbed truck to tow the lemon away. At least it can go from zero to $529 million in stimulus dollars in nothing flat. Obama promotes proposed $10,000 Volt tax credit. Are you having a hard time convincing yourself to buy a Chevy Volt? Perhaps a $10,000 instant tax credit will change your mind. According to a fact sheet sent to reporters today [3/7/2012], President Obama will once again highlight a proposal to increase the tax credit for electric vehicles. GM laying off 1300 due to low Volt sales. General Motors Co. announced the temporary suspension of Chevrolet Volt production and the layoffs of 1300 employees, as the company is cutting Volt manufacturing to meet lower-than-expected demand for the electric cars. Volt production on hold for 5 weeks. General Motors has told 1,300 employees at its Detroit Hamtramck that they will be temporarily laid off for five weeks as the company halts production of the Chevrolet Volt and its European counterpart, the Opel Ampera. "Even with sales up in February over January, we are still seeking to align our production with demand," said GM spokesman Chris Lee. The Volt Finally Shorts Out! I have been critical of the Obama administration for exerting undue pressure on GM to develop a super green car which would solve all of our gasoline problems. ... Today [3/3/2012] GM announced that Obama's wunderwagon would be pulled from production. Several thousand employees will be laid off and peripheral small companis will suffer as well. Obama delivers kiss of death to the Chevy Volt. By now we're all familiar with the White House's usual Friday afternoon document dump. Now they're dumping a whole product line. Obama and the Volt. Has anybody else noticed the disturbing correlation between Obama speaking for a product and that product failing miserably shortly thereafter? ... Three days after Obama touted that he would get a Volt after his second term ends, GM temporarily (ahem) halted production and laid off 1,200 workers. Obama declared that he will buy a Volt in 5 years, which only confirmed that Obama is straight-up delusional. High price soured Chevy Volt sales. Despite winning a trophy case worth of awards — including Motor Trend Car of the Year and North American Car of the Year — the Chevrolet Volt plug-in car has failed to meet GM's sales expectations. The problem is simple: The car's price is simply too high for most customers to swallow, according to analysts. Chevy Volt named European car of year. The Opel Ampera, which sells in the United States as the Chevrolet Volt, has been named European Car of the Year by automotive journalists from 23 countries. Obama Might Not Get His Chance to Buy a Chevy Volt. "General Motors has told 1,300 employees at its Detroit Hamtramck that they will be temporarily laid off for five weeks as the company halts production of the Chevrolet Volt and its European counterpart," the Detroit Free Press reported. Even more ironic: The very auto plant the president mentioned in the speech — Hamtramck plant in Detroit — is the one being downsized. Another 1,300 laid off after Obama's bailout. President Obama's rewrite of the history of the American automobile industry this week went unchallenged by the fact-checkers in journalism, proving once again PolitiFact and the rest are unpaid stooges of American liberalism. On Tuesday, The Won boasted — erroneously — about saving the automobile business. On Friday, 1,300 workers at GM received layoff notices as there is no market for Chevy Volts, despite government subsidies of $7,500 per car (the average income of a Chevy Volt buyer is $175,000 a year according to GM). Chevy Volt Temporarily Halts Production. In the latest bit of evidence that the Obamacar is destined to become the Hoovermobile, General Motors is suspending production of the Chevy Volt for five weeks. During that time period, 1,300 employees will be laid off. The federal government was expected to spend at least $2.4 billion in taxpayer funds to promote the hybrid electric car. Hybrid Van Maker to Shut Down. Plug-in hybrid delivery van start-up Bright Automotive Inc. is winding down its operations after withdrawing its application for around $400 million from the U.S. Department of Energy. Bright's application withdrawal follows those of Chrysler Group LLC and General Motors Co. The Rochester Hills, Mich., company blamed an overly rigorous and lengthy process to receive the department's Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing loan program for the decision to shut its doors. Start-up Bright Automotive will close its doors. An Indiana electric vehicle company that had planned to build energy-efficient fleet trucks announced Tuesday [2/28/2012] it will close down this week, and it blamed the Obama administration for stringing the company along for three years with promises of a federal loan. Obama's Chevy Volt Won't Sell. The Chevy Volt used to cost taxpayers $250k per vehicle to produce, but our cost is about to go up — way up! Sure, America was just getting used to the financial floggings that forced us to pay $7,500 for every fire-starting Chevy Volt sold. But with sales as low as 281 units per month, ObamaGenius buried — that's right, I said 'buried' — in his 2013 budget the increase to $10,000 per Chevy Volt purchased. Ever Get the Feeling the American People Are Going One Way and Obama Is Going Another? The American people don't see things the way Obama does: they certainly don't see proper governance of this country the way he does. ... He sees a green car nation although America is still a SUV nation. People own SUVs and pickup trucks because those are the vehicles they want, and in many cases the vehicles they need, for their families or for their jobs. Yet instead of doing all he can to bring the price of gasoline down so Americans can fuel the cars they want to drive, Obama tries to show us a better way with the union-made electric car that catches on fire when you park it in the garage at night. The sooner the better. Obama vows to buy a Chevy Volt in five years. President Obama, speaking to a raucous crowd of United Auto Workers activists, vowed to buy a Chevrolet Volt electric car in "five years" — just as soon as his presidency is over. Higher gas prices to spur hybrid sales. Soaring gasoline prices have become a rite of summer in the 21st century. With predictions of an imminent return to $4 a gallon gas in much of the nation, will consumers in the market for a new vehicle again take a look at hybrids and all-electric plug-ins? The Editor says... First of all, "soaring gasoline prices" are entirely the fault of Barack H. Obama and the environmentalist, anti-capitalist Democrats, who hate the sight of refineries, pipelines and gasoline tankers. If you buy a $40,000 electric car that raises your residential electric bill by $200 a month, I will still be way ahead of you, even if gasoline is $6.00 a gallon. The Tesla Roadster Can Become A $100,000 Brick. According to The Understatement, if the battery of the Tesla Roadster becomes fully drained, the car effectively becomes a brick. It cannot even be rolled. Even more surprisingly, the only way to fix it is to have the battery pack replaced to the tune of $40,000. Tesla Motors: Solid as a brick. It's one thing if your phone or your Xbox gets bricked. But your $100,000 car? Hey, guess who got $465 million in federal loans? And guess who's now trying to blame their customers? GM changing Volt for California carpool lanes. General Motors Co is adjusting its plug-in hybrid Chevrolet Volt to meet strict California requirements for a $1,500 state rebate and allow drivers to use special carpool lanes there, the carmaker said on Thursday [2/23/2012]. Unplug electric car subsidies. For the first time in a few years, electric cars are mostly an afterthought at the auto show in Detroit. To be sure, electric cars and hybrid electric models are on the show floor and still being promoted at various intensity levels by Detroit's automakers as well as Japanese companies and upstarts building — but not selling many — high-priced, electric sports cars. But the niche vehicles are not as prominent this year as in past years. That's a good thing. GM's Dubious Super Bowl Ad Claims. GM continues to freely spend its stockpile of taxpayer supplied cash reserve as it even aired a spot touting the Chevy Volt. At a cost of $3.5 million for a 30 second spot the expense equals about 15% of the total revenues GM brought in during the entire month of January for the Volt when sales fell to a dismal level of 603. Many Unanswered Questions Surround Fisker Layoffs. Fisker, already the recipient of $193 million of a total $529 million loan from the Department of Energy — not to mention a reported $850 million in private investment — shows disconcerting signs of incompetence and poor stewardship with the resources it's been trusted with. Why is GM Spending Millions to Re-Hype the Chevy Volt? If there was any question that Motor Trend is in the tank for GM and the Volt, just look at their report on January Volt sales where they stated, "As for the most improved models, there were some interesting inclusions: the best model was the Volt, which rose 87.9 percent to 603 sales." It takes a heck of a lot of optimism (but a lot less integrity) to proclaim 603 sales in a month a success, but I guess the bar for the Volt is pretty low. Taxpayers' Leaf: Four Recharging Stops Needed to Go 180 Miles. Consumer Reports has painted an ugly picture of the Nissan Leaf, as did an early enthusiast based in Los Angeles, who described his frustrations with the heavily subsidized, all-electric car in a recent column. Now comes what must be the definitive example of the Leaf's impracticality — this time from a (still) hard-core advocate, whose 180-mile Tennessee trek to visit family over the holidays required four lengthy stops to keep the vehicle moving. Taxpayer Cash for Ener1 Helped a Thrice-Failed Foreign EV Company. Last week yet another treasured Obama administration "Green" energy company — electric vehicle battery manufacturer Ener1 — went bankrupt, after having been granted $118 million in stimulus funds in August 2009. But the gift did more than just sustain it and subsidiary EnerDel; the cash enabled the company to bail out what would be its top customer, a Norwegian electric car company that had already been drained of cash on at least three previous occasions. Tesla racks up $40M worth of Model X orders. Just days after unveiling its Model X electric SUV, Tesla Motors boasts that it has already taken orders for $40 million worth of the plug-in crossover. With model X prices expected to range from about $60,000 to over $100,000, the orders represent between 667 and 400 SUVs. With All The Volts Counted, Taxpayers Lose Again. Tucked away in the recesses of President Obama's 2013 budget, a budget that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says he will not bring to the Senate floor, is a nugget that speaks volumes about the troubles we're in: While delaying the Keystone XL pipeline, the administration plans to increase the subsidy for the Chevy Volt and other "new technology" vehicles to $10,000 per car. Obama 2012 Budget Proposes Higher Tax Credit For Plug-In Cars. [On February 13], President Barack Obama released his proposed U.S. government budget for the fiscal year starting in October. And in it, he followed through on a promise from his State of the Union address last month, by proposing to cut up to $4 billion in subsidies to the oil and gas industry. The budget also suggested that the tax credit for purchase of an electric vehicle be raised from its current $7,500 to $10,000. GM Unplugs from Business Realities with Chevy Volt Re-Launch. The Volt is a $40,000 version of the Chevy Cruze which costs roughly $20,000. Aside from owning something trendy, why would the average consumer pay $20,000 for an electric booster to a gasoline powered car? The Volt, according to recent test by a TV host, goes 20 miles before the battery is depleted and the gasoline engine kicks in. Not much of a gasoline savings! The Cruze gets a combined MPG of about 33 while we can assume that the Volt gets 40. Why Is the Government Subsidizing a $104,000 Car? Fisker's problem is that it is the recipient of a $529 million loan from the Department of Energy. Having already pocketed $193 million to help push the $104,000 Karma onto the market, Fisker is now "failing to meet DOE benchmarks" in converting the Wilmington, Delaware factory into an assembly line for the $40,000 NINA. In the kind of accounting the government likes in order to show it isn't just throwing away money, DOE wanted some proof of performance. Obama hikes subsidy to wealthy electric car buyers. The White House intends to boost government subsidies for wealthy buyers of the Chevy Volt and other new-technology vehicles — to $10,000 per buyer. That mammoth subsidy would cost taxpayers $100 million each year if it is approved by Congress, presuming only 10,000 new-technology autos are sold each year. But the administration wants to get 1 million new-tech autos on the road by 2015. The subsidy cost of that goal could reach $10 billion. Shocker: dirty electric cars. From the University of Tennessee at Knoxville comes this surprising bit of research. Taken in entirety, and electric vehicle has a greater impact on pollution than a comparable gasoline vehicle. Another Green Energy Company Stumbles: Fisker Announces Layoffs. Fisker Automotive, the maker of an exotic electric sports car that is being built with help from a $529 million federal government loan guarantee, has announced layoffs at its Delaware plant as it tries to persuade the Department of Energy to send it more public funds. Is Fisker the next Solyndra? Fisker Automotive looks like it is on its way to a slow-motion crash, which would leave taxpayers on the hook for more than a half-billion through a loan the Obama administration co-signed. The company makes electric/hybrid luxury cars in Finland that are sold in the United States. In January, the company recalled all its 2012 Karma cars because they were fire hazards. Fortunately, only 239 of them had been sold. Now layoffs have begun. The Follies and Foibles of the Chevy Volt. The Volt is a very heavy, needlessly complex compact hybrid with a battery range of 25-50 miles. Many misconceptions about its drive mechanisms are still floating about — apparently abetted by GM — but the fact remains that when the Volt's battery-only range is exhausted, its weak onboard gasoline engine, which requires premium fuel, directly drives the vehicle. A full battery recharge takes up to 12 hours on 110 volt house current, but about five hours with a special, high voltage charger, an option available at only $2000, not including installation. All this for around $41,000 minus a federal tax credit of $7,500. Volt sales fall in January. General Motors extended-range electric Chevrolet Volt had its worst sales month since August, as negative publicity over fire risks hurt vehicles sales in January. GM sold just 603 Volts — above its sales in January 2011, but far below GM's best-ever sales month in December, when GM sold 1,529 Volts. Leaf & Volt Sales: January 2012. Volt sales are less than 40% of the 1529 units sold in December. GM is suffering the fallout from stories that the vehicles can catch fire after accidents, and sales are so soft, GM dealers are turning away cars they can't sell. Electric Cars: Doubling Down On Dumb. Once again, the regulators in California have decided to lead the nation in terms of vehicle emission standards, proposing to require that 15.4 percent of all vehicles sold by 2025 must be electric cars, plug-in hybrid cars, or (currently non-existent) fuel cell cars. In case you're wondering why this all sounds familiar, it's because California is re-running the same delusional program that it ran in 1990... An Administration's Green Fiascos Pile Up. Even the much-ballyhooed Chevy Volt has turned into a disaster. Fire hazards aside, there is simply no demand for the vehicle beyond some arms of government, a few corporations with cash to waste and rich, tree-hugging celebrities who can afford the luxury of pretentiousness. Chevrolet hoped to sell 10,000 Volts in 2011. Actual sales amounted to 7,671 units. GM has temporarily laid off 1,200 workers on the Volt production line and is considering slowing down production. The Failed Chevy Volt That Just Won't Go Away. People who have looked into the history of automobiles have noted that while electric cars have never managed to rival internal combustion cars for their performance, comfort, reliability, or customer-attractiveness, they persist in inspiring a small segment of the public. And would-be social engineers have always loved them. As Robert Bryce points out in his book Power Hungry, electric cars are the "Next Big Thing. And they always will be." California Issues Clown Car Mandate. Golden State regulators have passed sweeping emission standards requiring one in seven new cars sold in the state in 2025 be an electric or other zero-emission vehicle. ... [I]f we've learned anything in recent years, it's that industrial policy and telling consumers what they need and must have vs. what they want and find useful doesn't work. Only the marketplace can accurately pick winners and losers. The government, having no competition, usually picks losers. We have also learned that climate change is an overhyped fantasy based on ideology rather than science. Obama the promise breaker. Government Motors predicted it would sell 10,000 Chevy Volts last year, but the public wasn't quite so keen on the idea of paying $40,000 for a fancy golf cart. Even with taxpayers chipping in up to $11,000 to reduce the sticker shock, the wealthy liberals who bought the plug-in hybrid didn't hit the target. GM ended up selling closer to 7,600 Volts, a figure that includes significant fleet sales to state and local governments. The Nissan Leaf electric car also failed to top the 10,000 mark. ... By comparison, Ford sold 516,369 F-150 pickup trucks, Chevy sold 367,343 Silverados and Dodge sold 218,750 Rams in 2011. Even the dealers don't want them! U.S. Auto dealerships turning away Chevy Volts. According to numerous auto trade reports, a number of U.S. car dealerships are turning away the Chevy Volt. Despite the fact that General Motor's Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson who will testify to Congress on Wednesday [1/25/2012] and tell lawmakers that the Volt is a safe plug-in hybrid vehicle, there is little confidence his testimony will do much in terms of a bottom line for the Volt at local dealerships across America. All-electric cars are expensive, impractical playthings, and always will be. New figures for car registrations show that the number of ultra-low-emission vehicles sold in the second quarter of this year could barely fill an average shopping-centre car park. A mere 628 all-electric cars, plug-in hybrids and hydrogen cars were registered in the three months between April and July [2011], according to Department for Transport numbers. To put these numbers into perspective, there were ten times as many cars sold in the UK in 1910 (two years after the Model T was introduced) than there were ultra-low-emission vehicles (ULEV) sold in 2010. Chevy Volt Battery Issue The Next Solyndra? Is a new Solyndra brewing in the halls of power in Washington? One might think so with word today of a new report released by Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. According to Bloomberg, this report basically accuses the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in a cover up of sorts over the battery fire issue the NHTSA just closed its investigation on last week.Electric carmaker Think, battery firm Ener1 fall into bankruptcy. The view from inside Think City's plant here is the worst nightmare for politicians betting on electric vehicles to drive job growth: 100 cars, most of them not finished, lined up with no word on their future. Only two years ago the tiny Think cars (two can fit in a regular parking space) were expected to bring more than 400 jobs to this ailing city and a lifeline to suppliers who once made parts for gas guzzling recreational vehicles. Electric-Car Firm That Got Biden Visit, $118M in Stimulus, Files for Bankruptcy. Ener1 — a company that manufactures batteries for electric cars, and that received $118.5 million in federal stimulus money, and that Vice President Joe Biden visited last year the day after President Obama's State of the Union Address — announced today [1/26/2012] that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Obama-backed electric car battery-maker files for bankruptcy. An Indiana-based energy-storage company, whose subsidiary received a $118.5 million stimulus grant from the Energy Department, filed for bankruptcy Thursday [1/26/2012]. Ener1 is asking a federal bankruptcy court in New York to approve a plan to restructure the company's debt and infuse $81 million in equity funding. Obama-backed car battery company files for bankruptcy protection. Ener1, an electric car battery company that the Obama administration awarded a $118 million stimulus grant to expand its operations, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Thursday [1/26/2012] after being unable to repay pressing debts. The news comes one year after Vice President Biden visited the company's new battery plant in Indiana to highlight its progress with federal funds. Volt safety sparks talk of federal conspiracy. The apparent safety woes of the much-touted, all-electric Chevrolet Volt touched off a firestorm on Capitol Hill on Wednesday morning, as House Republicans charged that the Obama administration conspired with General Motors Co. to conceal those risks from consumers while pushing the vehicle as part of the "green" future. Some Chevy dealers spurn Volt allocation. Some Chevrolet dealers are turning down Volts that General Motors wants to ship to them, a potential stumbling block as GM looks to accelerate sales of the plug-in hybrid. Do electric-car drivers deserve special parking spaces? Many drivers cruise aimlessly trying to find a parking spot. Not electric-car drivers. Today, more shopping malls and stadium operators are adding special spaces where electric cars can be parked and recharged. Is that fair? Fox News poses the interesting question and says that in some cases, the special spaces for electric vehicles are even closer to building entrances than those for the handicapped. Unplug the Volt. This $40,000 plug-in hybrid can travel 35 miles on battery power, a feat enabling smug owners — their average annual salary is $175,000 — to pretend that their emissions are pure. Of course, instead of coming out the tailpipe, the unwanted carbon-dioxide molecules are instead released at the power plant, which is generally coal-fired well outside their view. The well-heeled also enjoy the belief that their plug-in technology is modernly superior to anything else on the road, even though companies like Waverly Electric Motor Vehicles and Columbia Electric Vehicles produced cars with better range than the Volt in the year 1901. It didn't catch on then, and it won't catch on now because electric cars makes zero economic sense. Prius wagon sales quickly top GM Volt. Toyota Motor Corp. scored a quick victory in 2011 as U.S. deliveries of its Prius v wagon in 10 weeks topped sales of General Motors Co.'s Chevrolet Volt, a plug-in hybrid that was available all year. A Jolt for GM's Volt? Car-Pool Access. Chevrolet engineers made modifications to the Volt's exhaust system and expect by March to begin selling models that meet California's stringent emissions standards, allowing California buyers to qualify for a $1,500 state rebate on top of a $7,500 federal tax break. New Chevy Volt Scam: GM reduces Volt emissions to capture California taxpayer cash. ... The emission reduction is meaningless; there will be no improvements to public health or the environment. This is just a scam to rip-off taxpayers. There are more charging points than electric cars in UK as sales slump. Sales of electric cars have slumped so badly that there are now more charging points than vehicles on the road. Just 2,149 electric cars have been sold since 2006, despite a government scheme last year offering customers up to £5,000 towards the cost of a vehicle. The Department for Transport says that around 2,500 charging points have been installed, although their precise location is not known. GM may put brakes on Volt electric vehicle production. General Motors is closely watching sales of its Chevrolet Volt electric vehicle and will adjust its production of the car accordingly, potentially by June, according to a report Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal. Actually, it sounds like the company's Volt electric vehicles may be available strictly on a build-to-order basis in the future. GM says wait until summer to see if Volt is a flop? Continued negative press — not to mention post-crash-test fires and production-line upgrades — conspired to produce first-year sales figures a little lower than GM had hoped. Does that mean the Chevrolet Volt is a sales flop? According to GM's Vice Chairman Steve Girsky, it's too early to tell. Chevy Recalls More Volts Than They Actually Sold. They are recalling "around 8000" Volts for minor "structural repairs," because, as it turns out, part of the vehicle's GreenSmart technology involves catching on fire and murdering you, which turns out to have been the hit it was planned to be. They've sold 7,671 of the short-range vehicles/rolling immolation murder-carts, so they seem to be recalling more vehicles than actually sold. Chevy Volt will receive safety enhancements, but don't call it a recall. The Chevrolet Volt is about to get safer. That's the big message from GM today as the company announced structural and cooling system "safety enhancements" that are intended to better distribute the car's energy load from a crash and, thus, better protect the battery from potential fires. Total Recall: Recalls happen, but they are typically done at the expense of the business and not the taxpayer. The Mackinac Center released a study compiling all state and federal taxpayer giveaways for the creation and production of the Chevy Volt. In sum, the taxpayer contributed $250,000 for each Chevy Volt. The Chevy Volt is Barack Obama's Edsel. GM has set high corporate hopes for the car, anticipating at least 10,000 sales in its first year on the market. But the Volt's prestige quickly faded once it hit showrooms. It was recently dubbed one of the "worst product flops of 2011" by the blog 24/7 Wall St, which noted that "[o]nly 125 models were sold in July 2011" at a time when GM was disingenuously claiming the vehicle was wildly popular. Despite a $7,500 taxpayer credit for buyers, Volt's hefty $39,000 price tag is beyond the reach of many middle-class drivers. As a result, only 7,671 were sold — many of which were purchased by the federal government. The actual number sold to parties not connected to the taxpayer-funded entities was somewhat lower. Low Voltage Sales For the Subsidy Mobile. The idea is that many of the heavy-duty government expenses were made up front, so once enough units are sold, all those millions will even out to only a few bucks per unit. $250,000 per unit might seem like a lot of money to force taxpayers to pump into a car that stickers for about $41,000, and is purchased by people whose average income is $170,000 per year, but eventually we shall Win The Future, and it will all seem like money well spent. Except... it doesn't look like those rosy GM sales projections for the Volt are panning out. At all. Obama gets two 'awards' for worst product failures of 2011. [T]wo autos pushed by Obama's government-directed auto companies won slots No. 3 and No. 6 on Yahoo!'s "Worst Product Flops of 2011." The No. 3 prize went to the battery-powered Chevy Volt, which had been touted by Obama as the green-tech model for future vehicles. It is being built by General Motors — which is still partially-owned by the federal government — but the company only sold 7,000 of the cars by December. Company managers had predicted sales of 10,000. AP Source: GM to call back 8,000 Chevy Volts. General Motors is advising Volt owners to return their electric cars to dealers for repairs that will lower the risk of battery fires. GM's Chevy Volt Misses 2011 U.S. Sales Goal as Safety Probed. General Motors Co.'s Chevrolet Volt missed its U.S. sales target of 10,000 cars in 2011, the company said. Chevy dealers sold 1,529 of the plug-in hybrids last month, leaving the brand 2,329 shy of its goal. A slow production increase kept dealers in short supply until December, and a federal investigation of three fires that occurred after Volt crash tests lowered demand for the car, according to Bandon, Oregon-based CNW Marketing Research Inc. U.S. dealers sold a total of 7,671 Volts last year. Gore-mobile recalled as a fire hazard. Crony capitalism not only is a pain in the national wallet, but products from crony capitalists pose a physical danger. Fisker Automotive — fronted by Democratic eco-millionaire Al Gore — received a half-billion federal "loan" 2 years ago to make luxury electric cars. Not only was this a sweetheart from the Obama administration, but the deal financed the manufacture of unsafe electric lemons. Obamacar for the 1 Percent. The real scandal behind this week's latest electric-car barbecue is a reminder that taxpayer dollars are being burned up to subsidize wealthy Americans' dreams of owning a $100,000 sports sedan. "California-based Fisker said Thursday it is recalling 239 plug-in electric hybrid cars because a misaligned battery part could lead to a fire," reports the Detroit News today [12/30/2011]. "It comes just a month after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a formal investigation into fire risks in General Motors Co.'s plug-in hybrid, the Chevrolet Volt." Fisker Recalling 239 Karma Plug-In Hybrids for Fire Hazard. Fisker Automotive is recalling all 239 of its 2012 Karma luxury plug-in hybrid cars because of a fire hazard, according to a report filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Prices on the 2012 model start at $103,000, including the destination charge. Angry Hybrid Owner Suing Honda Saying Car Doesn't Get 51 MPG. Heather Peters is taking Honda to small claims court for what she says are the fuel economy shortcomings of her Civic Hybrid. When she originally purchased the vehicle, she did so in the hopes that it would save her money at the gas pump. However, Peters claims that the car does not deliver the advertised 51 miles per gallon (mpg) highway and 46 mpg city fuel efficiency. A Honda Civic Lesson. Heather Peters is hopping mad at Honda. She says her '06 hybrid Civic's actual mileage more than just varied: About 30 MPG vs. the EPA (and Honda) advertised 50 MPG. So she's going after Honda in court — small claims court — for $10,000. Which is the maximum payday she can get there. Honda is concerned because if Peters wins, other hybrid owners may use the same tactic... ObamaCar Sticker Shock: Taxpayers Taken For A Ride. At a time when Democrats are blaming the GOP for blocking a payroll tax cut deal that will add $40 in the average paycheck, they have no problem taking that worker's tax dollars to make and subsidize what we once called an electric Edsel bought by a precious few with an average income of $170,000. "Each Chevy Volt sold thus far may have as much as $250,000 in state and federal dollars in incentives behind it — a total of $3 billion altogether, according to an analysis by James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Chevy Volt Costing Taxpayers Up to $250K Per Vehicle. Each Chevy Volt sold thus far may have as much as $250,000 in state and federal dollars in incentives behind it — a total of $3 billion altogether, according to an analysis by James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Chevy Volt subsidy amps up wealthy. The buyers of Chevrolet's taxpayer-subsidized Chevy Volt hybrid have an average income of $170,000, but still receive thousands in tax breaks for their purchases. The wealthy buyers of the Volt each get a $7,500 tax credit for buying the car. The number of people who get the subsidy is unknown, because the company does not say how many of its buyers are individuals who pay taxes, as opposed to companies or government agencies. The Volt Re-Evaluated: $250,000 Per Car. I've long been fascinated by the sad tale of the Chevy Volt, a heavily subsidized electric car nobody wants. It's one of the purest, most perfect examples of government attempting to artificially create a marketplace, and failing miserably. Chevy Volt: No Profits, Few Sales, Four Fires and One Big Cover-Up. It has now been one year since General Motors (GM) first delivered the Chevy Volt to market. And what a year it's been. The Volt makes GM literally no money — it costs $41,000 to make, and sells for $41,000. And they are selling far fewer than GM's announced expectations. At least in part because (at least) four Volts have burst into flames — two in April, and two in November. And GM and the Barack Obama Administration knew about the fires since (at least) June — and said nothing until November. Are Chevy Volt Fleet Sales Latest Evidence of GM Deception? Sales for the Chevy Volt have been stagnant and it has become apparent that lack of supply is not the reason. GM CEO Dan Akerson is responsible for tying the success of GM into the success of the Volt by having made lofty claims that the vehicle was, in fact, the future of the company while investing a major portion of marketing dollars to help support the perception. Deception was evident as statements were made that the vehicle was "virtually" sold out and supply couldn't keep up with demand, while evidence surfaced that this was not the case. Consumer Reports' Chevy Volt Safety Double Standard. The latest internet headlines to hit regarding CR and the Volt tout that the Volt, as well as the Nissan Leaf, are "cheaper to run" than gasoline cars. CR supplies a chart that uses hypothetical driving circumstances that benefit the Volt and only assumes gas usage as the "cost" of a vehicle. Usually, cost of operating or owning a vehicle would take into consideration the price of the vehicle and depreciation, the most important aspects of net costs. It is ludicrous to suggest that the Chevy Volt, which cost over $40,000, saves owners money over similar gas vehicles which are priced about half as much. Chevy Volt Uses No Gas — Unless it's Cold Out. Here's another surprise for Chevy Volt owners. Autoblog reports that General Motors is holding an online chat with Volt owners about winter driving. Part of the chat reveals that, despite the fact that GM claimed the Volt is purely electric for a range of about 35 miles, the vehicle will use gas in cold conditions. GM states, "Please be aware: when starting your Volt in these colder months, in some instances, your gas engine may engage regardless of the state of charge of the battery." Coda: Code for a Trojan horse. Much of the electric car, pitched as an 'all American' green vehicle, is made in China. ... From a jobs perspective, the Coda's arrival means this: American electric carmakers such as California-based Fisker Automotive and Tesla Motors, along with the GM Volt and Ford's Focus Electric, will compete on home soil with a company benefiting from all of the unfair trade practices China has used to bury so many other American industries — from toys, textiles and machine tools to electronic assemblers and, most recently, solar panels. These practices range from currency manipulation to reported illegal export subsidies, counterfeiting, pollution and widespread worker abuses. The Volt Administration. Perhaps the signature energy policy of the Obama administration was the Chevy Volt — the electric car that the Obama administration tried to bribe Americans (with their own tax money) to buy. These "green" cars, we were assured, were going to transform American industry and energy use. Sucking huge subsidies from taxpayers, the Volts nevertheless sold (or rather, didn't sell) for an eye-popping $41,000. But in crash testing, it seems the Volts have a nasty habit of bursting into flames — taking all of those government subsidies, to say nothing of the passengers — down with them. The metaphor is irresistible. 8 Reasons Why The Electric Car Will Not Be A Success Anytime Soon. [#2] Charge Time: In the case of the Leaf, once the battery is depleted it can take up to 20 hours to completely recharge on a 120 volt outlet, according to Nissan. On a 240 volt, it takes seven hours, and a 480 volt fast charge station takes 30 minutes. In our instant gratification broadband society, even waiting 30 minutes is an eternity. We timed a fuel stop in our personal car and it takes approximately four minutes. Volt hysteria: Why image and perception are everything. The idea that advancements in automobile battery technology would come in bunches and that we'd see remarkable, jaw-dropping improvements on the order of the explosion in computer technology and such was a nice dream to hang on to if you were a rabid idealist who graduated from the "finger snap" school of contemporary thought. But it wasn't realistic in the least. The technology involved in vehicle electrification is massively complicated and involved. And development of the technology, though racing along at a feverish pace, is coming up far short of the pipe dream schedule imagined by the green intelligentsia. Charging stations for electric cars are mostly idle. Charging stations installed with a share of taxpayers' money are twice as plentiful across Tennessee today as the number of electric cars they're designed to refuel, and most of the units go unused for hours or days at a time. Car registration data show that 270 all-electric cars of various brands have been registered in Tennessee this year — 81 in Davidson and Williamson counties combined — but there are about 500 chargers available in public places to serve them. Time for government to come clean on Chevy Volt fire probe. NHTSA is investigating three fires in Volt battery packs following collision tests, but it may have withheld information about this potential safety problem from the public for several months. Consumers had a right to know if the Chevy Volt was dangerous before it came to market, and the public has a right to know if the NHTSA is currently doing its job. Two recent Chevrolet Volt fires finally prompted NHTSA to launch a formal investigation of what has been called GM's "crown jewel." For Obama's green-car revolution, fits and starts. The Obama administration has poured roughly $5 billion in taxpayer funds into the electric-car industry, offering incentives to manufacturers, their suppliers and even car buyers who might want to go green. But analysts say the risk is rising that taxpayers in many cases will not see a return on their money soon, if ever. Instead, they warn that some federally subsidized companies could be forced to shut down in coming months. Electric Car Startup Aptera Closes Shop. The California company was counting on a federal loan — and private investments to match the loan — so that it could start producing its very first electric vehicle. Aptera said it was close to securing a $150 million from the U.S. Department of Energy, but it couldn't line up the private dollars necessary to complete the loan application process. Fire Sale on Electric Cars! Electric-car sales are on fire. Okay, well, only a few electric cars have actually gone up in smoke. But with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opening a formal safety investigation into fears about fires started by the much-hyped Chevrolet Volt, it's become clear yet again that electric vehicles are The Next Big Thing — and they always will be. Chevy Volt tops owner satisfaction survey. The Chevrolet Volt, General Motors' plug-in car, topped the rankings in the latest Consumer Reports customer satisfaction survey. The survey asked new car owners how likely they would be to purchase the same vehicle again. In the case of the Chevy Volt, 93% of owners said they would "definitely" buy the car again. The Editor says... That's because the few people who have bought Chevy Volts are environmentalist zealots who would be satisfied with it even if it had a range of five miles between charges. That's also the sort of person who reads Consumer Reports. Chevy Volt misses 2011 sales goal. General Motors admitted Thursday [12/1/2011] that it won't sell the 10,000 Chevrolet Volts that it had hoped to sell in 2011, and said that it would buy the plug-in electric car back from any customer fearful about its safety. GM willing to buy back Volts. General Motors will buy Chevrolet Volts back from any owner who is afraid the electric cars will catch fire, the company's CEO said Thursday [12/1/2011]. Is the Chevy Volt the New Corvair? The Chevy Volt has earned some criticism because of resentment against the General Motors bailout. But there's plenty of deserved criticism, too. The Obama administration has poured millions into auto battery technology that gets no better mileage than the 1896 Roberts electric car. There's a chance, therefore, the Chevy Volt will join other failed cars of the past in the rust bin of auto history. G.M. Declares Chevy Volt Safe. General Motors executives on Monday defended the safety of Chevrolet Volt batteries that are under federal investigation for post-crash fires, and said it would provide free loaner cars to Volt owners worried about their vehicles. E-Car Fires: Big Bump In The Road. When the Toyota Prius was being accused of having overlooked design flaws that were causing accelerators to get stuck with fatal results, the owners of Government Motors, a competitor, wasted little time pushing for a recall and congressional hearings while accusing Toyota of cutting corners for the sake of corporate profits. We wonder if the same sense of urgency will prevail in the wake of new safety tests indicating that an earlier test in which a Chevy Volt experienced a battery fire three weeks after a side-impact test was no fluke and that the car's lithium-ion battery poses a fire hazard. Battery fires prompt govt probe of Chevy Volt. New fires involving the lithium-ion batteries in General Motors Co.'s Chevrolet Volt have prompted an investigation to assess the risk of fire in the electric car after a serious crash, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Friday [11/25/2011]. Chevy Volt recall? With developments on Monday [11/28/2011], it is clear that the federal government is recalling these electric cars because of fears that long after they have an accident they will burst into flames. Spontaneous combustion is a huge problem that makes these the Electric Vegas (as one commenter put it) as dangerous as they are impractical. GM Offering Loaner Cars To Worried Chevrolet Volt Owners. General Motors is contacting every owner of a Chevrolet Volt to assure them the extended-range electric car is safe and allay fears it could catch fire after a crash. In addition, GM is going to give any owner who still has concerns another GM car while the federal investigation of Volt is underway. The offer came on a conference call with reporters this morning [11/28/2011]. The Editor says... Look on the bright side: It won't take that long to contact everybody who owns a Volt. Volt owners offered free loaner cars from GM. General Motors says it will offer free loaner cars to Chevrolet Volt owners if they're concerned about the cars catching fire. Chevy Volt Again Suspected in House Fire. Cars in Depth reports that the Chevy Volt and it's charging station are suspected as possible causes for a house fire that started in the garage of a Mooresville, NC home. According to the report, investigators found a Volt plugged into a charging station located in the burned out garage. The Iredell County Fire Marshal's office investigating the fire states, "The charging station was in the known area of origin, but the cause of the fire has not been officially determined." Duke Energy Warns Customers to Not Use EV Charging Stations. After a house fire in Mooresville, NC which started in the home's garage was traced the the area near a charging station for an electric vehicle, WSOC-TV reported that Duke Energy, which installed the Siemens built charging station, has warned customers to not use similar units while the investigation into the fire proceeds. When fire investigators went through the burned out garage, they found a Chevy Volt plugged into the 240 volt station, the second garage fire reportedly involving a Volt. Since it was not the only electrical appliance plugged in that area of the garage, the charging station may not be at fault. Obama's Energy Plan: Chevy Volt. Money is tight as we enter this holiday season, so few of us will wake up on Christmas morning to find a Chevy Volt, wrapped in a large green bow sitting in our driveway. But, that may be a good thing, considering recent incidences involving Volts or their chargers, catching fire. ... The Volt, just like everything else the government produces, underperforms and is overpriced. In an op-ed piece for the New York Times, automobile expert Edward Niedermeyer wrote the Volt "offers the performance and interior space of a $15,000 economy car." Are Electric Cars An Explosion Risk? Safety and environmental concerns have been used by the administration to kill or delay fossil fuel energy projects such as offshore drilling and the Keystone XL pipeline to bring Canadian tar sands oil and a minimum of 20,00 jobs to the U.S. market. Will electric car technology receive the same level of scrutiny and concern? Volt fire could lead to new safety rules. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Friday it had investigated a fire that occurred in Wisconsin this spring, after the Volt extended-range electric vehicle underwent a 20 m.p.h., side-impact test for its five-star crash safety rating. The crash punctured the Volt's lithium-ion battery pack, and after more than three weeks of sitting outside, the vehicle and several cars around it caught fire. No one was hurt. Batteries in Electric Cars Examined After Chevy Volt Fire. Federal safety regulators said Friday [11/11/2011] that they were examining lithium-ion batteries used in electric cars because a Chevrolet Volt ignited three weeks after it underwent a crash test. One more selling point for Chevy Volt; batteries catch fire. The Volt has been such a spectacular failure that only a few thousand vehicles are on the road. I'm sure GM can fix this problem quickly. If they don't, a new word for failure will enter the lexicon of auto terms; "Man, that car is a real Volt." House fire spurs Duke Energy to stop electric car charging across NC. A house fire in Lake Norman is attracting national attention. Teams from the federal government and from some of the nation's biggest companies are on the scene wanting to find out the cause. It's what was in the garage that has investigators concerned. Investigators are trying to find out if an electric car charging station is to blame. Drive your electric car as much as you like, but you might have trouble when you recharge it. After fire, Duke Energy says don't use car charging stations. Duke Energy is asking customers who own their electric car charging station to stop using the product after a house fire in Mooresville last month. Duke Energy sent an e-mail to about 125 customers in the Carolinas and Indiana who currently participate in their plug-in electric vehicle pilots and have the same type of charging station installed at their homes to stop using it. Another Burning Chevy Volt Destroys NC House. That's right, this is the second Volt so far to consume itself — that we know of. After fire involving Siemens Charger and Chevy Volt... Duke Energy Warns Customers to Not Use EV Charging Stations. After a house fire in Mooresville, NC which started in the home's garage was traced the the area near a charging station for an electric vehicle, WSOC-TV reported that Duke Energy, which installed the Siemens built charging station, has warned customers to not use similar units while the investigation into the fire proceeds. The high-voltage hype of electric cars. David Whiston of Morningstar thought he'd look at how quickly consumers will embrace electric vehicles, which sell for thousands of dollars more than cars of comparable size and features. He concluded that the internal combustion engine is a long way from the junkyard. Consider the pure electric car from Nissan, the Leaf. It has a price of about $27,700 and an advertised range of 100 miles. But the range depends on speed, terrain and whether the air conditioner is on. For most driving, the range might be just 60 to 80 miles, Nissan reports on the car's website. Alaska's Billion Dollar Mountain. There are 17 rare earth metals on the periodic table, divided between "heavy" and "light" based on their atomic weight, the heavies being far more rare and expensive. Together they're referred to as technology metals. In the 1980s research in rare earths led to the revolution in electronic miniaturization. ... They're in military technology and in electric cars, too: About two kilograms of neodymium and dysprosium make the motor run in a Prius. Volt drains power from economy, Obama's 2012 campaign. The White House's green technology revolution is sitting in an auto lot in Butler, Pa., and nobody is buying. "Nobody comes in to ask, nobody comes in to look ... The American people are smarter than the government — they're not buying that car," said Republican Rep. Mike Kelly, who owns the auto lot where one of General Motors' combined electric-and-gasoline powered Volt autos sits unwanted, unsold and unused. The Chevy Volt would cost its buyer almost $40,000 — even after a $7,500 federal check — and that's more than twice the price of a comparable Chevy Cruze, Kelly told The Daily Caller. GOP Cops Raid the Green Casino. In a shrewd political move, GOP candidate Mitt Romney has called for an investigation into federal loans to luxury carmakers Fisker and Tesla. While the investigation is unlikely to turn up anything illegal, what Romney's investigation will keep reminding Americans is that the scandal is legal. Green Energy's Bad Karma. With the administration's approval, the recipient of another half-billion-dollar loan to build electric cars is outsourcing the work and any jobs that might be created or saved to Finland. Where do the stimulus horror stories end? [Scroll down] In the second new stimulus program scandal this week, the Obama administration gave electric car maker Fisker Automotive a $529 million loan guarantee to build vehicles in the United States. At the time, Vice President Biden claimed "this is seed money that will return back to the American consumer in billions and billions and billions of dollars in good new jobs." But the rest of the story came out this week when Fisker officials acknowledged that most of the 500 jobs being created are actually in Finland. More Obama Jobs Idiocy: Funding Electric Cars Built in Finland! With the approval of the Obama administration, an electric car company that received a $529 million federal government loan guarantee is assembling its first line of cars in Finland, saying it could not find a facility in the United States capable of doing the work. Vice President Joseph Biden heralded the Energy Department's $529 million loan to the start-up electric car company called Fisker as a bright new path to thousands of American manufacturing jobs. But two years after the loan was announced, the job of assembling the flashy electric Fisker Karma sports car has been outsourced to Finland. "Solyndra On Wheels". Yesterday a guy whose name appears to be Andrew Fox happened to see a very cool car where he lives in the D.C. area, and took the trouble to investigate. As a result, he highlighted an Obama administration boondoggle that in some respects is worse than Solyndra ... The Obama administration has invested $529 million in taxpayer money to help develop the Fisker Karma. That's right — it's another "green jobs" scam, except that if any jobs are being saved or created, they are in Finland and China. Will Fisker Motors Be Another Solyndra? With Hyundai, Toyota, Porsche, and GM building hybrids, why is the government funding an automotive startup? Fisker's people believe that they can build a car with more consumer appeal. Are they right? The market will let them know, just like it has for Chevy's Volt. There are two considerations involved. First is the Karma itself, and second is the government loan in light of the Solyndra revelations. Did someone mention Solyndra? Fisker Karma Electric Car Gets Worse Mileage Than an SUV. The Fisker Karma electric car, developed mainly with your tax money so that a bunch of rich VC's wouldn't have to risk any real money, has rolled out with an nominal EPA MPGe of 52 in all electric mode (we will ignore the gasoline engine for this analysis). Not bad? Unfortunately, it's a sham. Energy Department Defends Loan to Company Building Electric Cars in Finland. The Department of Energy is standing by a $529 million loan guarantee to a company building an electric car line in Finland. A department official, in a lengthy response posted on a government blog Thursday night [10/20/2011], confirmed that the company Fisker is assembling its Karma electric car at its "overseas facility." The response comes after ABC News reported that the Obama administration gave the green light for the company to move the manufacturing to Finland two years after announcing the loan. The Fisker Karma's 20 M.P.G. Sticker: A Scarlet Letter? With its range-extender gasoline engine engaged, the Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid was rated this week by the Environmental Protection Agency at just 20 miles per gallon. The E.P.A. figure was first reported by the blog GreenCarReports.com. 115-year-old electric car gets same 40 miles to the charge as Chevy Volt. Meet the Roberts electric car. Built in 1896, it gets a solid 40 miles to the charge — exactly the mileage Chevrolet advertises for the Volt — the much-touted $31,645 electric car General Motors CEO Dan Akerson called "not a step forward, but a leap forward." The executives at Chevrolet can rest easy for now. Since the Roberts was constructed in an age before Henry Ford's mass production, the 115-year-old electric car is one of a kind. GM announces Chevy Spark fully electric car. General Motors, maker of the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid, will sell a small totally electric car beginning in 2013, the automaker announced Wednesday [10/12/2011]. The Chevy Spark EV will be sold in limited markets in the U.S. and other countries, GM said. Hybrid car sales: Lots of options, few takers. For all the excitement generated by every new hybrid car introduction, there is one little problem. In case you haven't noticed, hardly anyone is buying them. The market share for hybrid cars peaked in 2009 at 2.8% of all new vehicles sold. GM considers building Volt in China. General Motors Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson said Tuesday [9/27/2011] the Detroit automaker may assemble its extended-range Chevrolet Volt in China, if Chinese consumers embrace the vehicle. Chevy Volt sales don't have expected spark. General Motors insists it will sell 10,000 Chevrolet Volts in the U.S. by the end of this year, but as of now, the numbers don't look good. By the end of August, the last time GM publicly announced its sales, about 3,500 Volts had been sold. To reach 10,000, GM will need to average about 1,700 Volts per month for the last four months of the year. Tesla's business plan: Riding on fumes. This Saturday [10/1/2011], Tesla Motors is holding a test drive to reveal the latest versions of its second zero-emission automobile, the all-electric four-door Model S to several thousand reservation holders. Tesla has made some extraordinary claims for the car, and analysts and investors will be watching the event closely to see if it can live up to them. Top 10 Green Job Fiascos. The bailout that General Motors received from the government came with a price: The carmaker was tasked to create the ultimate green vehicle. The result — the Chevy Volt — is a product with an exorbitant price tag that nobody wants to buy. $25 billion green-car fund dodges bullet. A large green-car loan fund that was created in the Bush years and which began dispensing money under the Obama White House dodged a bullet late Monday [9/26/2011]. But the spotlight turned on the Department of Energy's Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing loan program in this dispute may keep the fund in the cross hairs for the next budget showdown. Shutdown For What? According to DOE, almost $1 billion in loans have gone to two companies — Fisker Automotive and Tesla Motors — that specialize in super high-end luxury electric cars. The Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid has a base price of around $95,000; Tesla's Roadster starts at $109,000. Another $6 billion in loans went to Ford, a company that turned in a $6.6 billion profit in 2010 — its largest in more than a decade. And $1.4 billion went to Nissan to help it crank out the Leaf, the all-electric car that's had a grand total of 6,187 sales in its first eight months — despite $7,500 in federal tax credits to buyers. Electric Vehicles Led by Leaf Fail to Connect Consumers. Klaus Doerrzapf, who has solar panels on his home, has no plans for an emission-free car in his garage. He's one of the reasons why automakers like Nissan Motor Co. won't recoup investments in electric vehicles anytime soon. "It's too early," the 50-year-old manager at an electrics company said at the International Motor Show in Frankfurt. "Range and price are a problem. 30-minute Leaf chargers soon will trickle into TN. The first of 30 fast chargers for electric vehicles such as the Nissan Leaf will be installed in Tennessee next month, with the rest to follow by the end of the year as the automaker ramps up deliveries of the car in 15 states. All-electric Coda: First Chinese-made car comes to U.S.. After years of anticipation, the first Chinese-built car is finally being offered for sale in the U.S. But far from being the vanguard of an invasion of cheap Chinese cars that U.S. automakers once feared, the Coda sedan, as the model is being called, is a pricey niche model: a $44,900 all-electric sedan. Gore-Backed Car Firm Gets Large U.S. Loan. A tiny car company backed by former Vice President Al Gore has just gotten a $529 million U.S. government loan to help build a hybrid sports car in Finland that will sell for about $89,000. The award this week to California startup Fisker Automotive Inc. follows a $465 million government loan to Tesla Motors Inc., purveyors of a $109,000 British-built electric Roadster. UH-MC receives $300,000 grant for electric cars. The University of Hawaii Maui College has received a nearly $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to work with the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism and private industry to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles in Hawaii. Obama Crony Socialism on Parade. [Scroll down] GM is now neck-deep in "green" non-energy energy. Of the oh-so-successful Solyndra sort. They last year received more clean (non-energy) energy patents than any other organization. They are dramatically ramping up production of the unprofitable and unselling hybrid Chevy Volt. And creating a like-model for Cadillac. They have fitted an (again, unprofitable) Volt plant so as to be solar-powered. Which cost $3 million — but only saves them $15,000 a year in electricity. Read his lips: No new jobs. U.S. auto companies would be producing more SUVs and trucks, both popular with car buyers, and fewer electric cars if Obama hadn't intervened. That practically nobody, except the federal government, is lining up to buy electric cars — that's seemingly irrelevant to the president. What's important is that Obama — government — knows what's best for the future of the auto industry. The shocking truth about electric cars. [Scroll down] Electric cars aren't necessarily green at all. Electric vehicles require large amounts of electricity — so much that Toronto Hydro chief Anthony Haines says he doesn't know how he'd get it. "If you connect about 10 per cent of the homes on any given street with an electric car, the electricity system fails," he said recently. And if the extra electricity isn't generated by renewable energy, then overall carbon dioxide emissions will go up, not down, [University of Manitoba's] Prof. [Vaclav] Smil says. AAA Plans Electric-Vehicle Charger Trucks. AAA, the largest U.S. motorist group, plans to deploy fast-charging trucks to aid drivers of electric vehicles such as Nissan Motor Co.'s Leaf when their batteries run down. Scientist died after G-Wiz car imploded. The husband of an Imperial College academic told his wife to 'get off her phone' moments before she was killed in a crash. Judit Nagy, 47, died when her tiny electric car, a G-Wiz, collided with a Skoda Octavia as she made her way to the parents' evening of one of her four children. The Editor says... This is where a tiny car will take you — to the morgue! On the other hand, the victim was talking on the phone and wasn't wearing a seat belt, so she could have been killed in any car. Where Will We Plug In? Electric cars, which have come and gone at least twice since the dawn of the automobile era, are back. The first mass-market EVs are here and more are rolling silently over the horizon. The Obama administration loves cars with cords and wants 1 million on the road by 2015. Chevy Volt: Flagship Model Of The Government-Industrial Complex. President Obama recently reminded General Motors' stockholders, all 311 million of us, that he's calling the shots at America's largest automaker, when he told an audience in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, that freedom to market was the price for the bailout: "If we are going to help you [GM], then you have also got to change your ways." And then he stated the ways: electric cars, and isn't it great that jillions of taxpayer dollars are being thrown at battery manufacturers? Citing a Lack of Usage, Costco Removes E.V. Chargers. Costco, the membership warehouse-club chain, was an early leader in offering electric-vehicle charging to its customers, setting an example followed by other retailers, including Best Buy and Walgreen. By 2006, Costco had installed 90 chargers at 64 stores, mostly in California but also some in Arizona, New York and Georgia. Even after General Motors crushed its EV1 battery cars, the Costco chargers stayed in place. Luxury Volt: GM to build electric Cadillac. GM said Wednesday [8/17/2011] that it will go forward with plans to build a production model of an electric Cadillac luxury coupe. The Converj Concept, which was first presented at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show, will be called the Cadillac ELR. Hard Times For the Chevy Volt. The Chevy Volt has only sold about 3,200 units thus far, which is not only pathetic, but not even good enough to outsell the Nissan Leaf's 4500 units. Nevertheless, Government Motors is ramping up for more Volt production. Chevrolet Volt prospects are starting to lose interest. Sure, buyers start losing interest in any new model after the initial hoopla dies down and ad dollars dry up, but there's trouble on the horizon for the Chevrolet Volt, the electric wonder car. Interest in buying the $39,995 plug-in car is starting to taper off, not only among "early adopters" but among lots of other buyers, as well, reports CNW Marketing Research, which tracks such things. How Hollywood Sells the Electric Car. Filmmaker Chris Paine documents the entertainment and automotive industries efforts to make the plug-in car as hot as they once made the Hummer. Chevrolet dealers install solar-powered Volt rechargers. Chevrolet dealers are installing solar-powered charging stations near their showrooms for the Volt extended-range electric car. The Editor says... Just drop off your Chevy Volt and within a couple of weeks, it will be fully recharged. Unless it's January and the solar cells are covered with snow. Chevy Volt Sales Still Embarrassingly Bad. A week after the Environmental Protection Agency came out with new job killing fuel efficiency standards, we have learned that sales of the electric Chevy Volt, are still dismally bad. The big sales number for July? The Editor says... The Chevy Volt, by and large, is only being purchased by those who spend other people's money. GM Volt Supply to Surge in Race With Nissan's Leaf. General Motors Co., trailing Nissan Motor Co. in electric-car sales, plans to boost output of its Chevrolet Volt to 5,000 a month as the automaker seeks to seize the lead and test consumers' hunger for plug-in vehicles. Nissan is winning this year, selling 3,875 of the Leaf in the U.S. to GM's 2,745 Volt sales. Electric Car Maker Folds, Salinas Loses $500,000. A Salinas car manufacturing company that was expected to build environmentally friendly electric cars and create new jobs folded before almost any vehicles could run off the assembly line. The city of Salinas had invested more than half a million dollars in Green Vehicles, an electric car start-up company. Finance killed the electric car. In a bid for about $2 million in grant funding from the state Energy Commission, Green Vehicles painted an optimistic picture for producing zero-emission, battery-powered vehicles at its Firestone Business Park plant south of Salinas. There was just one thing missing: money. Electric Cars, Liberal Dreams, and Decepticon Democrats. For many years, liberals have been gushing with enthusiasm over the prospect of a totally-green planet, one where CO2 emissions are a thing of the past (but wouldn't that kill green plants?), wind turbines spin like glittering pinwheels in a parade (killing hundreds of thousands of birds each year), and electric cars line the roads (stopping every 40 miles for a recharge). The left's brilliant lie. The bureaucracy doesn't care about functionality. It wants to wipe out inventions it has long hated, such as the internal-combustion engine. That's why the latest proposals to raise Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) requirements are set at unattainable levels. Currently, manufacturers achieve an average rating of 30.3, but a few manufacturers like Ferrari score just 16.2. By increasing noncompliance penalties, it simply won't be feasible to make a fun car even in low volumes. Only boring hybrids and impractical electric cars will remain. Green Vehicles Inc. Is No More. It's pretty safe to assume that the Green Vehicles debacle won't be a national establishment press story. Obama's subsidymobiles. Having invested heavily in luxury electric automakers Tesla and Fisker, the Obama administration is now putting the screws to their gas-engine competitors, Porsche, BMW & Co. In its regulatory plot to make the gas engine go the way of the incandescent light bulb, President Obama's EPA isn't just mandating 56 miles per gallon by 2025 — effectively creating a standard only hybrid electrics can meet — but mandating harsh fines for companies that make engines the agency doesn't like. Obama's Plan for $10 Gas. American drivers are angry at having to pay $4 a gallon for gas, and understandably so. Their anger is often directed at the oil companies that supply the gas. It should be directed at Barack Obama instead. From the beginning of his appearance on the national stage, Obama has focused on the goal of driving up energy prices with the idea of "weaning" America off fossil fuels. ... By driving up gas prices, Obama hopes to force Americans to purchase hybrid and electric vehicles. Hmmm... how can we make these cars even more impractical? Nissan works on recharging Leaf with solar power. Japanese automaker Nissan is testing a super-green way to recharge its Leaf electric vehicle using solar power, part of a broader drive to improve electricity storage systems. Unplug the hype, and how much car is left? Buy a Chevy Volt at the suggested retail price of $40,280. If you only use it in electric mode (plug it in every night, and keep your total driving down to about 40 miles per day or less), yes, you will get what the EPA considers the equivalent of 95 miles/gallon in the city. ... [But] If you are really concerned about gas mileage, the Chevrolet Aveo has a suggested retail price of $11,965, and the EPA city fuel economy estimate is 27 mpg. How much gasoline can you buy for the difference in price? At $4 per gallon, you can drive 142,998 miles for the price difference. Prius Plug-in charges ahead of the Volt. Enthusiasts who are raving about the range assisted, battery-powered Chevrolet Volt are ignoring the 800-pound elephant in the room: Toyota, which in addition to its vast knowledge base and production volume in hybrid cars, has a better idea. R.I.P. Tesla. The Tesla electric sports car is dead — a victim of its own defective economics. This was not unpredictable. The company created an electric version of the gas-powered Lotus sports car — and tried to sell it for twice the price of the gas-powered version. Just 1,650 of these electric lemons found people rich enough — and dumb enough — to spend $109,000 for a $51,845 Lotus Elise stripped of its perfectly good gasoline engine and converted to run on electricity. Obama Blunders on Batteries Badly. One of Barack Obama's favorite fantasies is that Americans will soon abandon their SUVs and pick-ups in favor of battery operated cars. Implementing energy policies to "boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe" is part of his overall plan to force us to go green. The supposed upside is the standard line of worshippers of the green god — reduced greenhouse gas emissions and a cleaner environment. But, like so much of the hope-and-change agenda, the electric car idea isn't off to a very good start, and new research finds it may not be so green after all either. Electric car company filing for bankruptcy. The electric car maker that launched its North American operations in northern Indiana has filed for bankruptcy protection in Norway, a major creditor said Wednesday morning [6/22/2011]. Think Global AS plans to liquidate its assets, according to a statement from its exclusive battery supplier, Ener1 Inc. Electric cars: still in park. The rich are different from you and me: they can afford to be green. Forgetting that it is a Japanese import, Arianna Huffington called her Toyota Prius "an automotive two-fer, a pleasure to drive and patriotic to boot" while actor Will Ferrell said "there's no reason all Americans shouldn't be driving hybrid cars" and Meryl Streep opined that America would not be in the Middle East if everyone drove one. GM offers cheaper Volt. General Motors announced Friday a cheaper, stripped-down version of its Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid for the 2012 model year. The base price of a 2011 Volt is $41,000 while the base price of the 2012 Volt will be a little lower: $39,995. To make up for that $1,005 price drop, the base Volt will no longer have navigation — although it will still have the computer touch-screen — and it won't have the upmarket Bose stereo. The Editor says... It's $40,000 for the "stripped" version. Who — other than the U.S. government — would buy that car? Some Volt dealers take tax credit for themselves. [Scroll down] The salesman's comment suggests there is truth to reports that some dealers are gaming the system to claim battery car tax credits for themselves, as first reported by a conservative think tank called the National Legal and Policy Center. "Many Volts with practically no miles on them are being sold as 'used' vehicles, enabling the dealerships to benefit from the $7,500 credit supplied by the American taxpayers on each car," NLPC's Mark Modica said in a blog post on the practice. "The process of titling the Volts technically makes the dealerships the first owners of the vehicles, which gives them the ability to claim the subsidies. The cars are then offered to retail customers as 'used' vehicles." Americans say 'no' to electrics despite high gas prices. Nearly six of 10 Americans — 57% — say they won't buy an all-electric car no matter the price of gas, according to a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll. U.S. buying 101 Chevy Volts, will install gov't charging stations. The Obama administration announced today it is buying more than 100 plug-in electric vehicles and will install charging stations in government buildings in five cities, including Detroit. The General Services Administration — which oversees most of the federal government's 600,000 vehicle fleet — plans to buy 116 plug-in electric vehicles, including 101 extended-range Chevrolet Volts, 10 battery electric Nissan Leafs and five Think City EV models from Finish EV startup, the agency said today [5/24/2011]. U.S. government buys its first electric vehicles. The federal government handed over the keys to a handful of electric vehicles it purchased Tuesday. The 116 cars — a mixture of Chevrolet Volts, Nissan Leafs and Think Cities — are the first electric vehicles to be purchased by the U.S. government for the federal fleet. They will be distributed to 20 agencies, including the U.S. Department of Energy and Department of Defense, in five cities across the country. GM to boost Volt production. General Motors is preparing to greatly increase production of the Chevrolet Volt as it prepares to begin selling the Detroit-made plug-in hybrid across the United States as well as in China and Europe. Up to now, the Volt has been available only in California, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Texas, Michigan and the Washington D.C. area. Obama issues new directive for federal vehicles. President Barack Obama on Tuesday [5/24/2011] directed federal agencies to buy more hybrid and electric cars under a plan that will require the government to purchase only alternative fuel vehicles by 2015. In tandem with the president's memorandum, the General Services Administration announced a pilot program to buy more than 100 alternative fuel vehicles to be distributed to federal agencies across the country. Oregon's electric car charging network is behind schedule. With its backyard chicken farms, recycling ethos, and nation-leading love affair with the Toyota Prius, Oregon has long been seen as the perfect test bed for electric cars. So it was with some collective relief when Oregon's green credibility was reaffirmed in 2009 by its selection as one of six states to participate in the EV Project. The $230 million, stimulus-funded study is geared to put thousands of electric cars on the road across 18 cities, along with a network of more than 8,000 public charging stations, then watch how they get used. Americans aren't buying into electric cars. You'd think that with gas prices this high that sales of hybrid or electric cars would really get charged up. Think again. So far, they make up only about two percent of all vehicles sold in the U.S. Read the facts about the GM Bailout. Despite Obama's billions of tax dollars shovelled to the bailout and his ceaseless campaign on behalf of alternative energy, the endless lectures of the American public by Big Green environmentalists, never-ending blandishments from the likes of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and endorsements from every Politically Correct celebrity on either side of the Mississippi River, GM's Chevrolet Volt has sold exactly 1,703 cars. That's through the end of April, according to Automotive News' data center. ... Obama spent $50 billion bailing out GM so that, among other things, it could get the Volt to market and help lead Americans to that Clean Energy Paradise the Big Greeners and their political allies have been promising us for decades. The Danger Of Eco-Madness. I would never own an electric car, maybe a hybrid, but never full electric. They are just not capable of doing what gas powered cars can do, and sometimes that can be dangerous. Lawmakers pus |
