January 28, 2024
The fourth quarter of 2023 was not good for Electric Vehicles (EV). Multiple manufacturers decided to curb or halt production. Ford in particular decided to cut their F150 Lightening Truck series in half. Roughly 4,500 auto dealers signed on to a letter petitioning the Biden administration to “tap the breaks” on its aggressive EV push, on account of EVs stacking up on dealer lots.
The new year is already off to a rough start and we’re not even through the first month.
Hertz announced it will be selling off about one third of its EVs, which will amount to roughly 20,000 vehicles. This is a major reversal from their promise just a few years ago to dramatically increase its EV fleet. The money procured from selling them off will be used for the purchase of internal combustion engines (ICE) in order to “meet customer demand.” The car rental company isn’t too keen on the expensive repairs that accompany EV ownership either, which can cost up to twice that of ICE vehicles.
Mid-January saw a severe cold snap surge across many parts of the United States, greatly affecting the Midwest. Many Chicago-area EV owners found themselves unable to charge their vehicles, leaving them stranded. This is because on average an EV’s range can drop 40% and charging takes significantly longer in freezing conditions. Some motorists waited hours in line at charging stations that struggled to even charge vehicles, and long lines meant difficulty finding open charging stations. Other vehicles had to be towed. This can’t be good PR for the EV industry.
And now, a cheating scandal.
The Texas Public Policy Foundation’s fall study examines a rule in which EVs “improperly benefit from an erroneous interpretation by the U.S. Department of Energy of a series of laws” promoting alternative fuel vehicles, but “clearly excluding electric vehicles.” Carmakers can arbitrarily multiply the efficiency of EVs by 6.67, meaning a 2022 Tesla Model Y which tests at the equivalent of about 65 mpg in a laboratory is counted as having a compliance value of 430 mpg.
Environmental groups questioned the legality of the rule; the Wall Street Journal broke the story last week, claiming that such inflated numbers have “no basis in reality or law.”
With current regulations, automakers that don’t meet Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards are required to purchase credits from those whose fleets exceed them. Imagine the credits EVs can earn using a multiplier that boosts efficiency nearly seven times greater than gas-powered cars. It’s in the billions. Tesla alone apparently brought in $554 million from these credits just in 2023’s third quarter, representing a large portion of their overall net income.
The government is exploiting CAFE standards to drive the adoption of EVs.
If we’ve learned anything in these last several months about EVs, it’s that the government needs to quit manipulating the market through its massive subsidization of an unwanted “transition” and forcing consumers to purchase vehicles they don’t want. And now we learn automakers have been finagled into manufacturing EVs.
Blinded by their own climate ambitions, the net-zero crowd doesn’t see the writing on the wall. Nor do they seem to care that taxpayers are picking up the tab, particularly those purchasing ICE vehicles, which are artificially inflated to help companies recoup what they can’t charge EV buyers. Very few would actually pay the amount an EV really costs. Americans are bankrolling roughly $50,000 per EV over a decade, with the amount it takes to produce and keep them running.
The rapid push toward electrification is all way too much, far too soon. It’s crippling our economy and consumer wallets.
Centrally planned economies never turn out well; why would this be any different?
It’s past time to put consumers first, not the agenda of a select few. Like the letter penned by thousands of auto dealers across the nation said, “Many people just want to make their own choice about what vehicle is right for them.”
Kristen Walker is a policy analyst for the American Consumer Institute, a nonprofit education and research organization. For more information about the Institute, visit www.theamericanconsumer.org or follow us on Twitter @ConsumerPal.
This article was originally published by RealClearEnergy and made available via RealClearWire.
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I’m surprised that there is no mention of the EV fire problems. 3 buses caugt fire in London this week.
I’ve seen Electric Vehicles described as … ‘Chariots of Fire’
Insert video <here> of burning car carrier ship with Vangelis’ epic soundtrack playing in the audio feed.
Just throw tomato soup on the fires instead of famous paintings.
Just Stop Fires
So, they’re throwing paintings on the fires? No wonder they have trouble putting them out. 🙃
Not all bus fires are EV related.
It comes as a Metropolitan Police investigation is underway into four fires on London buses, believed to be deliberately started, between January 2 and 6.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/london-bus-fire-marylebone-baker-street-portman-square-b1052237.html
If an arsonist starts a fire on your bus would you rather be on a diesel bus or an electric one?
How will an arsonist get that fire started – the steel poles and hard plastic seats don’t catch fire that easily.
Interesting, GM just announced they plan to reintroduce plug-in hybrids to their product line. I read this is a lack of confidence in the future profitability of the BEV
I wouldn’t buy one of those either. A “mild” hybrid, MAYBE, assuming the gas engine is good enough on its own.
“Plug-in Hybrid” essentially translates to “if the battery isn’t charged, an underpowered piece of shit that can’t get out of its own way.”
Which as a practical matter, still leaves you spending lots of time at “charging stations” unless you are satisfied with the performance of a Yugo.
How much power and torque do you need?
2024 RAV4 Prime …
2.5-Liter Dynamic Force 4-Cylinder with SPORT, Eco, NORMAL, EV, HV, AUTO EV/HV, CHARGE, TRAIL drive modes; 302 combined net hp; 177 hp @ur momisugly 6,000 rpm; 165 lb.-ft. @ur momisugly 3,600 rpm
Electric motor: power output (front/rear) 179/53 hp (134/40 kW); torque (front/rear) 199/89 lb.-ft.
https://www.toyota.com/rav4prime/2024/features/mpg_other_price/4544/4550
RE: A lot of time in charging stations … If you buy any kind of car that requires external (plug-in) charging, you should plan to charge it at home. If you can’t charge it at home (or possibly at work), don’t buy one.
And when they stop selling ICE vehicles?
Look to the EU farmers. If you stop selling ICE vehicles, which are the only things that can run a modern commercial farm, you don’t eat. End of story. Between people finally figuring this out and the not eating part, there might be a few less Green politicians running the show.
When gasoline sales are halted by the Dim-O-Crats your PEHV will become a BEV with 35 mile range.
At least in a Yugo…YouGo
Awhile back, Chevrolet marketed a car called the Nova, which in English means an an exploding star. However, Spanish-speaking people mocked the name, since in Spanish “no va” means “it doesn’t go”.
Second or third gen Prius (third or fourth gen in Japan) is a good hybrid, but give the 2004 and 2010 a miss. The first years of each generation had some issues. Also early years of second gen has less tough interior fabrics and a lot of painted plastic that was upgraded to molded color in the later half of those years.
Downside is the latest map discs for the built in navigation (if equipped) are years out of date and so far nobody has figured out (or bothered to try) how to port Open StreetMap data to make new DVD-Rs for them. So a nav system is a negative feature on those now.
It’s near impossible to find a second gen without SmartKey and backup camera, since 100% of them have the big color LCD on the dash. Third gen by default did not come with a backup camera so a large number of them don’t have the color LCD. I don’t know if the backup camera with its display was a package deal with GPS navigation.
SmartKey is very nice. Just walk up, grab the door handle, car unlocks, you get in, hold the brake and push the start button. Getting in to drive only unlocks the driver’s door. Getting in the front passenger door unlocks all four doors and the hatch. Rear door handles do not have the hand proximity sensors (on second gen, dunno about third).
If you really, *really* like one of these, spring for a NexCell Lithium Iron Phosphate battery upgrade. Shaves about 40 pounds of weight off and increases the usable battery capacity and gives an overall fuel MPG boost since the car will run more on electric due to the battery having more usable capacity. With the EV switch hack, in testing by the manufacturer of the LiFePo4 upgrade, the NiMH OEM battery would run a 2nd gen Prius about 3 miles before depleting to cutoff voltage. The LiFePo4 battery was still going at 7 miles. The EV switch was not an available option in North America but it’s a super simple mod. When turned on, the added switch forces the engine to not start below a certain speed until the battery voltage drops to the cutoff value.
If the batteries use lithium, its a bio hazard waiting to happen.
My Rav4 hybrid has a second rear facing camera that displays on the rear view mirror. Love it – especially when cargo area is loaded and blocks view of the rear window. Also get 42-44 mpg in warm weather and 38 in winter cold.
Is there such a thing as a non plug-in hybrid?
Yes. We own one. A Ford hybrid Escape AWD with class one tow hitch.
140 HP I4 Atkinson cycle engine combined with a 78HP equivalent electric machine powered by NiMH traction battery. 32mpg city, 28mpg highway at 70mph. To date car has saved us about $12k in gas cost. Hybrid premium over equivalent v6 Escape was paid off day we drove it home via the then hybrid tax credit.
This $12k the car saved in gas. . .how do you figure?
Is it really equivalent to the V6? I’m happy with a 4 anyway, but for the sake of argument, I think a comparison to a 4 cylinder version is more appropriate – at least for the sake of having the complete picture.
I’ve got a 2021 Subaru Forester. It gets 30mpg at 75mph combined city/highway. Where’s the cost savings coming from?
My Hyundai Tucson. Infotainment system is awful. Hybrid features, including mileage, are great.
Most hybrids are non plug-in. They are characterized by using a generator/alternator in combination with the brakes to slow the car, generating electricity at the same time.
Got it- I never knew this.
Quite an admission, after all the info on these hybrids.
Of course, that ‘info’ is one reason we visit WUWT.
Tons of info here- my old brain can’t hold all of it.
I don’t believe the hype, that self charging hybrids, are more economical than a pure ICE, of the same engine size. Yes they might have regenerative braking, but the energy used to charge up the battery, and of course the additional mass.
bobjones wrote, “I don’t believe the hype … ”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_electric_vehicle#References
Jus one example. Believe what you want.
Why not post real world values from CR for instance – remember the VW diesel emissions scandal, don’t trust the lab numbers.
Well, consider this as a thought experiment.
When the manufacturers do their testing, they have a variety of road scenarios.
So consider this, two identical cars, one with a simple ICE drive train, the other a hybrid.
Both are to do a hundred-mile journey on a motorway, consider the motorway flat, and completely free of any other traffic.
The internal combustion engines are the same size, and do exactly the same MPG (assume 50mpg).
At the start of the journey, the hybrid’s battery is completely flat.
Both vehicles we’ll assume instantaneously start at 50mph and travel at a constant speed (no acceleration or deceleration).
Since the hybrid, has both a battery & electric motor(s), is kerb weight will be greater than the pure ICE vehicle.
Therefore, for the hybrid, to run at a constant 50mph, will require more energy, not just to keep the mass running at a constant speed, but also to divert energy to charging up the battery.
Simple physics.
Taxi companies seem to like the Prius – but they see more traffic than most. And it’s still a Toyota.
For some reason there are a lot of Tesla’s doing Uber and such – I thought the free charging was expired.
Actually, non-plug-in hybrids are really a good idea for city driving (or driving on congested highways), whether or not the owner is worried about global warming. They do have a gasoline engine and an electric motor, and the energy loss from braking is used to charge the battery, which enables the car to operate on electric power only when driving slowly in city traffic with lots of starts and stops. The gasoline engine is still available if acceleration is required.
While non-plug-in hybrids still have a gasoline engine, they get much better mileage per gallon in city driving than ordinary ICE cars of the same size. We have driven a Prius for three years, and averaged about 45 miles per gallon, and we currently have a Lexus SUV hybrid that gets about 30 mpg, not bad for an SUV in heavy traffic.
These hybrids don’t have the cold-weather problems that all-electric cars have, since the gasoline engine can be started in cold weather even better than an ICE car, since the hybrid has a much stronger battery to drive the starter motor than a standard lead-acid battery. Our Prius had no trouble starting on winter mornings in Utah.
There is a place for electric vehicles: golf carts ,fork lifts, wheel chairs, and scooters.
Slot cars work great too
That would be awesome and the road kill would get automatically electrically grilled too.
But seriously, the full potential of EVs can only be realized if they aren’t saddled with the weight and danger of the batteries.
I’m really surprised that alot of cities went full-stupid on battery powered buses – why did they just bring back electric trolleys?
They were a thing in my city for ages, and then one year it was time to rip out all that infrastructure and go diesel. Later they added in the LNG buses. Thankfully no EV stupidity – buses have to go and go and go! They can’t recharge every few hours.
In the early days of the automobile, a substantial portion of the fleet was electric. Over time the free market performed its magic and killed off BEV’s, limiting them to golf carts, forklifts etc. This is about to happen again.
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2024/jan/29/how-can-my-old-honda-jazz-be-too-high-risk-to-insure
Just a bunch whining – if the Honda Jazz (Honda Fit on this side of The Pond) is so un-fit (😉) to be stolen than just insure it for the liability. Though, the ugliness is not an issue for catalytic converter thieves, I guess.
What a world we live in. I guess the UK should spend more money on policing real crime, rather than arresting people praying silently on the street.
“”Nor do they seem to care that taxpayers are picking up the tab…””
What do taxpayers know anyway? Pay up and shut up.
Give Kristen Walker a gold star.
She hits most of the newer things that we now know.
The “fire” issue (see top comment) is well known. It will be solved.
Not mentioned: the millions of people that because of
location (very cold winter; rural) or residential accommodations
(high-rise apartments and condos), and lack of grid support.
Use this search phrase “high-rise apartments” using an images tag.
Say 25% of people in each tower want to plug-in at the end of the
workday and turn on the oven — where from and how will
the electrons get there?
Maybe the electrons would be delivered by Unicorn Fart…Cart. Sorry, I was distracted.
The government advisor confirmed that the electrons are always there. The taxpayer knows this to be correct, BUT that they don’t move back and forth at (50/60 Hz), without a large fossil fueled generator attached.
And that’s just one of the problems.
I live in a rural area. We won’t be getting an upgraded grid anytime soon around here. Last summer, most utility companies in the state requested their customers to not run major appliances during a heat wave, they specifically asked people to not charge their EVs.
“The “fire” issue (see top comment) is well known. It will be solved.”
….by going to completely different solid electrolyte batteries that aren’t a free upgrade, and I hesitate to go along with ‘solved’ till it goes through crash tests.
Basically every EV is already obsolete and will be regarded in the future like we look back on the early electric and steam powered cars of more than 12 decades ago.
I think you mean “tap the brakes”. Breaks don’t slow something down. They destroy it.
Yes. We truly have to get back to decent English in our posts. Far too many “then”s where “than”s should be, along with There, Their, They’re, and more.
The dealer’s first letter had “tap the brakes” and a second letter used “hit the brakes”.
Where “breaks” was introduced is unknown to me and of little concern.
I think the writers involved have English as a first language so, yes, a worthy call-out.
I’ve gotten used to non-native users of English getting words and usage wrong and ignore those. More power to them — I can’t write in their language.
Ok for clean air but what about lorries and vans? And CO2 doesn’t matter
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2400520121
And then there’s what to do with the batteries after they’ve degraded. They try to sound optimistic, but it doesn’t really sound that hopeful to me.
It isn’t just electric vehicles that are spontaneously catching fire and combusting. It is e-bikes as well.
I’ve read where e-bikes are causing apartment block fires and are responsible for deaths from the fires in NYC. The video link below is of a e-bike fire in an e-bike shop, and the caption with the video says many bikes were damaged or destroyed. There were residents living above the shop, and I would not want to be one.
E-bike shop catches fire after lithiumIon battery explodes (youtube.com)
In fair weather, here in Michigan, every thursday night about 9:30, a group of about 15 kids go down my quiet suburban street on e-scooters and hoverboards, all of them electric, they have little head lights and usually someone has a boom box on his shoulder. I wait on them and watch them go by. Weird as they come up the street with no piston engines, so quiet just the noise of the tires and motors. Ah to be young again!
‘Weird as they come up the street with no piston engines, so quiet just the noise of the tires and motors.’
No noise, but no exercise either. A comparison of class photos from today vs. those from prior decades makes it very clear that today’s ‘kids’ are going to have some serious health issues later in life.
In France, the media talking heads say that farmers don’t yet want to convert to EV.
Ford could convert its EV cars, maybe.
A guy can blame the CAGW crowd or environmentalists or socialists or progressives or whoever. There is no need to look any further than our own government. Governments are incapable of running anything properly. If we get the government out of the energy and transportation business all of this would end. Government is hopelessly incompetent.
Government is hopelessly incompetent.
Unfortunately, the government, through its allies in academia and the media, has convinced most voters that it is competent, necessary and beneficial.
You are right.
Government is responding to the public demands of their sponsors.
That statement is far too kind… an btw, it is considered ‘misinformation’.
Government is a multi-faceted enterprise. It has many departments, taxation, the military, education, transportation and so on. These are visible to the public. It also has other, less observable departments, intelligence, espionage, propaganda, dark national arts. Ostensibly their duty is to make themselves more powerful and effective than similar institutions in other countries. Currently the governments of some countries are intent on convincing everyone, and especially neighboring countries, that the CO2 created by hydrocarbon energy consumption will soon destroy humanity and the use of hydrocarbons must end now. So what happens to the existing hydrocarbon resources when Net Zero is achieved? Well, it will be bought at a huge discount or commandeered by the intelligence services of the western elites since it will no longer be useful. When all the possible resources are in the right hands the installation and maintenance of unreliable, inefficient sporadic renewables will be abandoned and hydrocarbon energy will once again be the dominant source of power. But it will be controlled by a select few that operate in the murky areas of intelligence whose access is forbidden to even the highest elected officials. This scenario is already underway. Only the Russians and the Chinese stand in the way, which accounts for the western animosity directed at them, a hatred that is the creation of the intelligence community. If they had no hydrocarbons no one would care about them at all. The Russians have their own and even pipeline sabotage has failed to bring them to heel. The Chinese made deals all over for the energy they need and play along with the renewable craze as well. This may not end well.
Have you ever met a politician you would trust?
Here is the problem with scoring politicians. I have one democrat senator. He is kind of a do nothing politician. My kind of guy if I have to be represented by a democrat. The bad part is that he votes lockstep with the democrat leadership. Not a good choice for me. On the other hand most of my family and many of my friends are hard core democrats. They think this guy is top notch. From my view I don’t trust him. My family and friends think he is the most honest stand up guy we have had. I could put up with him if he would stop voting. It all depends who is doing the scoring.
“…an EV’s range can drop 40% and charging takes significantly longer in freezing conditions. Some motorists waited hours in line at charging stations that struggled to even charge vehicles,…”
Sweet irony. I waited until the relatively late age of 25 before buying myself an internal combustion vehicle instead of relying on public transport and hitchhiking in the UK. The reason, was finding myself once too often in February sleeping in the relative warmth of a basic open air public toilet due to late return from a climbing trip in the Lake District.
I told myself that I was getting too old to put up these things any longer now I could afford a car. Today, I wouldn’t even find a public toilet if an EV left me stranded in the same place midwinter. Many more people will die of cold in North American winters due to EVs.
Most of the deaths from cold or cool weather are caused by increased strokes and heart attacks in the cooler months. There are about 4.6 million cold-related deaths per year compared with about 500,000 deaths from heat-related causes.
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(21)00081-4/fulltext
I keep saying this …….. the low hanging fruit for EV buyers has been met. City drivers with home charging stations can only account for so many EVs. What the government really wants is 15 minute cities a’ la Agenda 21 where personal transportation isn’t necessary nor accommodated. Cost, fires, and charging stations aren’t a problem.
” low hanging fruit for EV buyers ”
I’ve wondered if there isn’t a more descriptive term; maybe
“rich EV beta testers“
Suggestions welcome.
Indeed. BEV’s are merely a means to an end, namely the elimination of private transport.
Walk or take a bus, peasants!
Story tip.
I’ll drop this here –
https://www.theguardian.com/weather/2024/jan/31/melbourne-weather-forecast-heatwaves-under-35-record
It was hotter in Melbourne 40 years ago. Who knew?
Eric?
Wow, and printed in the Guardian, no less. I clicked it, but I’m scared to read it because I know they’ll twist it around into some climate doomsday tirade. I don’t need a headache from resisting the insanity…
After reading this post and backing up to the initial page, I received “429 too many requests” me thinks WordPress doth protest too much
Well you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette-
What led to EV darling Proterra’s bankruptcy | TechCrunch
HUGE News! Freightliner CEO Just Shut Down All Electric Truck Production! (youtube.com)
Why Polestar is destined for failure (msn.com)
Renault pulls plug on floating electric car division (msn.com)
Scrambled eggs anyone?
Even in Oz the MSM can’t ignore the bleeding obvious-
‘Whole world of difference’ between EV goals and reality for car manufacturers (msn.com)
Tesla and BYD have stock for sale now while Toyota hybrid buyers are waiting patiently in the queue for 12-24 months delivery times which is as close to battery cars as most want to get. Number one Toyota’s global production is one third hybrids now and growing.
PS: Wakey wakey wokeys-
General Motors Is Getting Back To Hybrids, And It’s About Time (msn.com)
Just like China made ghost cities the Biden administration is making ghost industries.
Another reality that both governments and manufacturers overlooked is the belief that consumers would be quick to purchase EVs just to do their bit in fighting climate change. By that logic, airlines should be on the brink of bankruptcy as former passengers try to reduce their carbon footprint either by travelling by rail and/or ship. Similarly, those same consumers could help the environment by renouncing meat, installing heat pumps, rejecting synthetic garments, moving to 15-minute neighborhoods, utilizing public transit, and adopting all the other fads that will supposedly provide us with happier, healthier and planet-saving lives. Except nowhere near any of this is happening because they are too expensive, inconvenient and unreliable. As well, people resent governments, egged on and funded by organizations and companies with leftist agendas, trying to over-regulate their lives.
Another reality that both governments and manufacturers overlooked is the belief that consumers would be quick to purchase EVs just to do their bit in fighting climate change.
Well that’s because the elites are such diverse Groupthinkers about anti-diversity-
BBC branded ‘unwelcoming’ after staff told not to hire people ‘dismissive of diversity and inclusion’ (gbnews.com)
Typo
News that I read said “tap the brakes”, meaning ‘slow up’.
“the government needs to quit manipulating the market”
Mr. Walker, this was sarcasm, right?
Here’s a short MGUY video about EV smoke emissions when the battery goes into thermal runaway. It’s pretty scary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnKm9-S0_UY
Chris
The Lady’s changed her mind-
GM Changes Its Mind, PHEVs Are Back On The Table (msn.com)