A new report reveals electric cars to be a money pit, living up to the adage 'if it sounds too good to be true, it is'.
EV proponents often claim that the cost of ownership is lower than traditional gasoline or diesel cars, but that's simply not true when you consider the billions of dollars in costs that are quietly hidden by government subsidies and mandates. isn't it.
The hard truth is that the average EV costs at least $53,000 more than a conventional vehicle over 10 years, effectively doubling the price of the average new car.
But the $22 billion the government will provide to EV owners and manufacturers will absorb additional costs at every stage of a vehicle's life, from sourcing raw materials to charging batteries.
This becomes very clear when you look at the numbers behind recharging.
EV proponents claim that charging costs are equivalent to $1.21 per gallon of gasoline, but the actual amount is orders of magnitude higher.
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Including charging equipment, government and utility subsidies, and other frequently excluded costs, the actual cost of charging an EV is equivalent to $17.33 per gallon of gasoline, which EV owners pay less. is less than 7% of that.
Over 10 years, nearly $12,000 in costs per EV will be transferred to utility payers and taxpayers, effectively socializing the price of EV charging while keeping the benefits private.
Most EV consumers are wealthy because of the high entry price, with the average EV costing $58,000 and the average gas-powered car costing $33,000.
This is socialism for the wealthy, shifting costs from the wealthy to middle- and low-income taxpayers.
This would be the same as levying taxes and tolls on people who use public transport or walk or bike to work, and then using that money to lower gas prices.
People who don't own cars would be furious if they found out their money was effectively being given away in this way.
But that's exactly what's happening with EVs.
One of the reasons why EV charging costs are so high is that gasoline and diesel have very high energy densities.
One horsepower is 746 watts, so the engine in a typical American sedan is powerful enough to deliver more power than the maximum amount of power that is wired into four typical American homes.
Conversely, charging a typical EV at home can consume 10,000 watts at any given time, which is about eight times more power than the average American household consumes.
Charging an EV doesn't just require a lot of electricity. You need an infrastructure that can handle that much power.
Both are extremely expensive and will require billions of dollars in additional upgrades to the U.S. power grid to support more EVs.
Most major utilities have already acknowledged that they cannot accommodate the significant capacity additions needed to support the proposed EV mandate.
Instead, utilities will simply beg customers to charge during off-peak hours, often offering incentives like lower rates or bill credits.
The huge subsidies for EV charging and the impracticality of widespread adoption are also exemplified by EV manufacturing and sales.
Average direct subsidies from federal and state governments amount to nearly $9,000 per vehicle over a 10-year period, while direct subsidies from utilities exceed $10,000.
However, manufacturers also receive subsidies and are forced by regulations to produce EVs even if they are not profitable.
The regulatory environment is so onerous and blatantly favors EVs that automakers have to shift more of their production to EVs, even if consumers don't want them, or they will be forced to comply with various federal regulations. It cannot meet government requirements.
A report from the Public Policy Foundation of Texas found that when comparing average corporate fuel economy standards to Environmental Protection Agency regulations, “EVs are out-valued by nearly seven times their actual fuel economy benefits.”
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So no matter how much consumers want gasoline or diesel cars, EVs are the only way for automakers to comply with increasingly strict regulations that will soon make conventional vehicles illegal.
Subsidies and regulatory credits amount to nearly $50,000 per EV over 10 years.
Alarmingly, despite all these subsidies, duties and other incentives, manufacturers are still losing tens of thousands of dollars per EV, the report says. Consumers obviously don't want things produced in large quantities. That's why they're piling up on dealer lots.
Due to a lack of demand, GM and Ford recently announced they will have to cut back on battery production.
What's even more surprising is that the report actually underestimates the total cost of converting America completely to EVs, as it doesn't attempt to measure many other additional costs.
These include billions of taxpayer dollars spent on electric buses, airport charging stations, city taxpayer subsidies, and California-specific subsidies.
There are also many indirect costs, such as unwarranted road damage caused by EVs, which are heavier than conventional vehicles.
Politicians can hide the true cost of EVs behind subsidies and benefits, but the numbers don't lie. EVs can cost twice as much as conventional ones, which is a bad deal for the taxpayers who fund these money pits.
