Mr. Toyota Was Right About EVs
"When the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind.” - C.S. Lewis
What was your takeaway from the recent “deep freeze” that swept most of our country? For many electric vehicle (EV) owners, the frigid temperatures were a rude awakening that EVs might be the future, but they couldn’t handle certain present challenges.
Here is a viral video from Fox 32 in Chicago: An EV charging station in Chicago became a parking lot for “dead” EVs because the charging stations stopped working amidst subzero temperatures. One owner told the reporters, “We’ve got a bunch of dead robots out here."
Besides the charging issue, a AAA study also found that high and low temperatures can cut into an EV’s battery range. Especially in cold weather, an EV battery can lose as much as 40 percent of its range. It seems an EV performs the best only when the weather is perfect, at 75 degrees.
Yet, issues such as charging and battery range haven’t stopped President Biden from issuing an executive order that “sets a target of electric vehicles representing half of new vehicles sold in 2030.” He’s counting on EVs to play a crucial role in helping cut America’s greenhouse gas emissions by 50 percent. His administration has deployed carrots and sticks to incentivize and compel automakers and consumers to shift to EVs.
Examples of “carrots” include generous subsidies for EV manufacturing and purchase, i.e., a customer can receive up to $12,500 in tax credit for an EV purchase. An example of an administrative “stick” is that the Biden administration proposed setting strict new automobile pollution limits, which “would require at least 54% of new vehicles sold in the U.S. to be electric by 2030 and as many as two of every three by 2032."
Most automakers responded to government policies, subsidies, and climate change alarmist demands by racing to make big bets on making EVs and even setting dates to phase out gas-powered vehicles completely. A future where people only drive EVs is fast approaching.
Only one influential person in the auto industry publicly warned against the Biden administration’s EV mandate and the industry’s EV mania.
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