Commentary

With electric vehicles representing just 5.8 percent of the 13.8 million cars and trucks sold in the U.S. last year, President Biden and the unelected bureaucrats at the Environmental Protection Agency have realized they need to apply more pressure on you to go electric if they’re going to meet their transition goal.

The EPA has announced that there will be further changes to the Café standards in an overly ambitious effort to ensure that all-electric models make up 54 to 60 percent of the new cars sold in the U.S. by 2030, and 64 to 67 percent by 2032.

It was just a year ago that the standards for the 2024 to 2026 model years required 40 miles to a gallon, supposedly with the agreement of automakers, United Auto Workers, consumer groups, environmental and energy experts, states, and the public, according to the EPA.

For years, as a supporter of free enterprise, I have chided the automakers for going weak-kneed to government pressure on Café standards.  Now, they have caved to the government in their all-electric fantasy.

Revisiting the Negatives

I have written about the auto dealers who were unwilling to spend what was required to sell and service electric vehicles and gave up their dealerships.

My fear that the government has gotten ahead of itself with its electric car goal and, too, its dream of wind and solar producing all of the energy needs for transportation, manufacturing a host of products, and the comfort of our homes is reality. Fossil fuels will be needed for decades.

It is only since the signing of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act that funds were included for electric vehicle charging stations to be placed along the nation’s highways.  The time it takes to fully charge an EV on the road poses another problem.  And consumers are learning what it would cost to have a charging station in their garages. 

Those charging stations get their energy from fossil fuels, and will for some time.

To support that effort, we are nowhere near an ability to support the supply chain necessary for batteries and their ingredients, solar panels, and wind turbines. We are still dependent on China for these and the rare earth minerals needed to produce batteries.

Just as drilling permits are essentially not being approved to the extent that we could again become energy independent, the government is not permitting the mining of those vital minerals needed in battery manufacturing.

And About Those Jobs

“Electric vehicles are the key to tackling the climate crisis, while supporting good-paying American jobs.” –Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI)

While Representative Dingell echoes Biden’s repeated promise of “good-paying union jobs,” a recent headline in a Reuters article, “Biden’s clean energy factory jobs may elude U.S. union workers,” and another one, “UAW wants EV tax incentives to require U.S. assembly,” call attention to a job problem.

“To Be Successful, the Transition to Electric Vehicles Must Include American Manufacturing Workers,” read the headline over a piece in the Alliance for American Manufacturing by Lauren Ban.

“More Electric Cars Mean Fewer Mechanical Jobs,” – Jeff McMahon, Forbes

It didn’t take those headlines to get the attention of UAW leaders.  They’ve learned that electric cars require fewer than half of the number of workers to assemble than cars with internal combustion engines.

The New York Times recently reported that while it takes 4,200 employees to assemble a gas-powered Ford 150 truck in the conventional truck plant, the all-electric F-150, essentially a giant battery attached to motors and wheel, is built by about 720 workers in a plant next door.

What about the future of the estimated 150,000 workers currently employed making parts for internal combustion engine powerchains. Conventional powerchains have as many as 2,000 moving parts, while electric powerchains have as few as 20.  This alone will affect both production and engineering jobs.

While there will be jobs requiring skill sets in chemical, battery and software engineering, few universities offer degrees in battery engineering.

Kramerontheright intends to continue driving his 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee and his wife’s 2014 Miata as long as possible.

May God continue to bless the United States of America