ELECTRIC VEHICLES, THE WAVE OF THE PAST

ELECTRIC VEHICLES, THE WAVE OF THE PAST

BY JOHN HINDERAKER IN ELECTRIC VEHICLES

Governments keep trying to force us to drive electric vehicles, and it keeps not happening. From the thoroughly pro-EV Times of London:

Fresh concerns have been raised about efforts to boost sales of electric cars after an industry trade body downgraded its forecast for demand.

According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), high energy costs and insufficient charging infrastructure will dampen demand for new battery electric cars this year.

It predicted that registrations would fall in market share from 19.7 per cent of new cars to 18.4 per cent.

So EV market share, at least in the U.K., is declining, not rising. Meanwhile, the British government demands more EVs:

From next year manufacturers must ensure that at least 22 per cent of new car sales and 10 per cent of new vans are emissions-free. This will rise every year incrementally to 80 per cent for cars and 70 per cent for vans by 2030, and 100 per cent for both by 2035.

Needless to say, those demands will not be met. Why not?

[The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders] said that US and European rivals, in particular, were being boosted by green subsidies and tax breaks, and without a similar response from the Treasury, British carmakers would not be able to compete in what it argued was a “global race”.

A race to the bottom. Electric vehicles exist in quantity only because of mandates and subsidies.

But there are other problems, too, as the Telegraph notes:

There were always obvious problems with the technology: the electricity has to come from somewhere, and Britain isn’t installing enough chargers to meet government targets. And that’s before you take the rocketing price of electricity into account, which means that thousands of the handy roadside chargers where motorists could charge up for nothing have been pulled. There are nearly 40 per cent fewer than a year ago.

All electric vehicle plans and calculations that failed to take into account the skyrocketing cost of electricity, driven by inefficient (if not useless) expenditures on wind and solar energy, are defunct. But that’s not all:

It now turns out that some bridges may not be able to take the weight of electric cars which, due to their large battery packs, are heavier than their petrol equivalents. Cue lengthy detours to a sturdier crossing point.

More unforeseen, and entirely needless, consequences.

A further issue is what happens when an electric car hits a pedestrian or a cyclist. Because they’re so heavy, the impact can be worse than that of a normal car. Urban 4x4s used to get a bad press because they could flatten pedestrians like a tank, but an electric car can do the same. Because they’re so quiet – unless they come with the fake engine noises manufacturers are working on – people might not hear them coming.

This is a wrinkle I hadn’t anticipated. Electric vehicles need to pretend to be gasoline-powered to minimize collisions with pedestrians.

Electric vehicles were among the first to be produced, a century ago. They lost out to gasoline-powered cars, because those vehicles are better. It was true 100 years ago, and it is still true today. And that is before we get into the catastrophic environmental evils of EVs.

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/05/electric-vehicles-the-wave-of-the-past.php