No, 'Sunshine' Won't Power Electric Vehicles

Drivers beware!

Keeping an electric vehicle (EV) fueled up and ready to go may be more costly than you imagined.

As the price of gasoline continues to rise, you may be tempted to make an EV your next mode of personal transportation, thinking no more expensive lines at the service station.

Just pull into the garage, plug it in, and let it charge overnight.

Then "poof," you’re all "fueled up" and ready to go the next morning, right?

You may want to rethink that idea.

A new study revealed that when compared to a conventional vehicle, the cost to top off an EV is about $17.33 — per gallon.

This is according to an analysis conducted by the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

They arrived at this by adding up the costs of direct subsidies to buyers of the car and chargers; indirect subsidies in the form of avoided fuel taxes and fees, as well as electric grid generation, transmission, distribution, and overhead costs for utilities; and regulatory mandates that include fuel economy standards, EPA greenhouse gas credits, and zero-emission mandates.

All of a sudden $3 for a gallon of gas ($5 in California) doesn’t sound all that bad.

Gas at $17, on the other hand, would send the whole country into a revolt.

So why the emphasis on EVs?

Blame it on the feds pushing us in that direction.

"The market would be driving towards hybrids if not for this market manipulation from the federal government. We’d be reducing emissions and improving fuel economy at the same time on a much greater scale," study author Jason Isaac told The Center Square.

He also cited a Toyota estimate that the batteries from one EV could power 90 hybrids, and reduce emissions 37 times more than that single EV.

This is in addition to other expenses associated with an EV, including an average vehicle cost of $58,500, and that batteries are good for only a limited number of charges.

The battery replacement cost runs from $4,000 to $20,000.

The cost of replacing batteries may explain why there’s a very limited market for used EVs. No one wants a car with nearly dead batteries.

No one wants to pay the inflated cost of a used car with new batteries.

Six months after taking office, President Biden set a goal that 50% of all new vehicle sales will be electric by the year 2030, in order to address a purported "climate crisis."

But waning sales and problems related to battery module availability, as well as the issues cited earlier, may have gone into last week’s decision by Ford and GM to scale back EV production in the coming year.

The climate crisis crowd is fighting back, however.

Yesterday The Washington Post reported that "a new study shows there’s just six years left to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius at current CO2 emissions rate."

The paper added that "Scientists used to avoid phrases like 'climate emergency' and 'climate crisis.' No longer."

Well yeah, except for that time:

• In 1967 when Stanford University biologist Paul Ehrlich said it was "already too late" to avoid global famine.
• Or in 2008 when NASA climate scientist James Hansen concluded, "we’re toast" due to rising sea levels.
• Or a year later when then-Prince Charles said there was just 96 months to save the world.
• Or in 2014 when French foreign minister Laurent Fabius said we had just "500 days to avoid a climate chaos."
• Or the numerous other times in the last 50-plus years when climate alarmists walked around holding signs that proclaimed, "the end is near."

After a while it just becomes noise.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm is one of Biden’s biggest EV cheerleaders.

"I drive a Chevy Bolt which is an electric vehicle," she said during a 2021 appearance on ABC’s "The View."

"I don’t have to buy gasoline. The average person that gets an electric vehicle saves $600 a year because you don’t have to fill it up."

This latest report put an end to any thoughts of saving "$600 a year," however.

Granholm, a former Michigan governor, elected as a Democrat, added that her home is equipped with solar panels.

"So I drive on sunshine," she concluded.

And on cloudy days there’s always fairy dust and unicorn flatulence.

Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.