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EVS AND THE POLITICAL SPLIT
RECENT ITEMS DISCUSS YET ANOTHER SPLIT between Republicans and Democrats: how best to accomplish the inevitable transition from internal-combustion to electric mobility. Indeed, my choice of the word “inevitable” places me on the blue side of matters, yet my occasional rantings of BEV tradeoffs suggest that the transition isn’t that simple.
In any case, here are the items, together with my own comments.
EVs and Covid. In Automotive News, October 22, 2023, Nick Bunkley titles his article “Bill Ford: EVs and Vaccines Both Caught in Blue-Red Fight.”
Bill Ford, Ford Executive Chairman, great-grandson of Henry Ford.
Bunkley quotes Ford in an interview with The New York Times: “Blue states say EVs are great and we need to adopt them as soon as possible for climate reasons. Some of the red states say this is just like the vaccine, and it’s being shoved down our throat by the government, and we don’t want it. I never thought I would see the day when our products were so heavily politicized, but they are.”
EVs and Voting. In Bloomberg, October 26, 2023, Tom Randall observes, “EV ownership is deeply tied to voting behavior in the US, according to a report by BloombergNEF. For every 10 percentage-point increase in Joe Biden’s share of votes in the 2020 election, the concentration of EVs was roughly 50% higher. The partisan rift goes well beyond preferences linked to income, urban density or the current rate of truck ownership.”
BEVs Versus Hybrids in Transition. Randall notes, “Ford and General Motors Co. recently pushed back their timelines for electrifying trucks following a disappointing reception from their first attempts. Ford is shifting its focus to hybrids, which use smaller batteries to help power gasoline engines.”
Notes Bloomberg: “Ford’s F-150 Lightning pickup trucks have failed to win over the red-state masses.” Image by David Paul Morris/Bloomberg.
Indeed, hybrid as optimal transitional technology is a theme having appeared here at SimanaitisSays.
Tipping Points. Randall’s analysis continues: “Including plug-in hybrids, the US is on track this year to cross a critical threshold of 10% of new vehicles being electric, the point when widespread adoption typically occurs, according to a Bloomberg Green analysis of EV tipping points. So far 10 states have passed that milestone—and none of them lean Republican.”
Complex Matters, But Clouded by Ideology, Trumpism—and Stupidity. As Randall notes, “The national Republican Party wants to repeal EV incentives passed under Biden, and presidential candidate Donald Trump claimed without evidence that EVs will all be made in China, destroying the US auto industry.”
I’d wonder what today’s Trump-cowered Republicans would think of establishing an Environmental Protection Agency. Recall, this is what Nixon accomplished back in 1970. Also, let’s see the hands of people defending Trump’s business practices. Or, come to think on it, his views on Covid. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2023
Simanaitis Says 
I had to comment on this .
I’m old and a Mechanic who likes, owns and daily drives older I.C.E. vehicles, my newest is my shop truck, a bare bones 2001 Ford Ranger trucklet .
I and my Sweet enjoy traveling by ground so this skews my views on engine powered vehicles over electric motor powered ones .
If I could reasonably expect to travel 500 miles in one go in an electric vehicle I’d probably be more accepting of them .
Sooner or later the battery problem will be solved and when that day arrives I.C.E. powered vehicles will begin to fade away quickly .
Americans in general have always been restless and electric vehicles are simply not suited towards anyone who travels much .
Time will tell .
I find it interesting that we have 5X more vehicles on our roads since 1969 (at least !) gut maybe 10th the amount of gas stations and this isn’t by accident .
-Nate
“… today’s … Republicans … on establishing an Environmental Protection Agency.”
Absolutely not! I’d not be surprised if a Bill came out of the current House to abolish the EPA, NHTSA, Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered Species Act. At present, the Senate and the President would prevent that from happening. But the time is coming …
Nixon: as with Reagan today, a RINO.
… defending Trump’s business practices …” — modern True Republicans defend everything Trump does. Getting away with sharp if not illegal/unethical business practices is a desired thing for many.
And bringing it back to EVs, the split is fine, for now. My EV experience has, overall, been pleasant enough, but I don’t road-trip it much; long runs are in a hybrid (we have one of each in the family). And note that for similar usage of battery-making materials, you can build a LOT more hybrids (with their smaller batteries) than full EVs.
VWNate and Mike B above make good points, as did JL Albrecht on your equally welcomed 8/18/23 EV Versus Gasoline; Ifs, Ands, Buts Part I:
“I think EVs are part of a solution to getting off fossil fuels, but only part. There are not enough raw materials for the world to swap all ICE cars for EVs.”
The above is yet another reason the world’s scientists agree overpopulation remains our by far biggest problem, their words “bigger than climate.”
And again, UN and other vetted studies show animals raised for meat and dairy produce more greenhouse gas than all the world’s cars, trucks, buses, trains, planes, ships combined.
But if you think pointing out EVs are only another Band Aid on the patient hemorrhaging in the ER is a minefield, try getting people to examine their own actions by curbing overpop and adopting a plant-based, vegan diet, the latter not slowing the world’s leading Formula One driver, Lewis Hamilton, and the single best way to prevent heart disease, cardiovascular woes, hypertension, inflammation, diabetes, cancer, macular degeneration, dementia (now termed type 3 diabetes), Alzheimer’s.
When they manage to grow a plant that tastes like Chicken then you can talk to me about vegetarianism .
I’m a (ex Farm Boy) and have zero qualms about eating the animals I tended .
That being said as a Geezer I’m keenly aware of my health and often don’t eat meat .
BTW ~ my name is _NATE_ .
-Nate
Pardon sir, was going by your nom de plume. I hear you, was long an omnivore and most catholic in my tastes at that. However, Drs. Neal Barnard, founding president of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Caldwell Esselstyn, Bill Clinton’s cardiologist and vegan diet advisor, Dean Ornish, Joel Fuhrman among others agreeing that after cheese (you may as well eat Vaseline, warns Barnard), chicken is the biggest diet atrocity, being higher in cholesterol and fat than even red meat. If it has eyes and ain’t a tater, it’s meat.
Food chemists call “mouth feel” imparted by fats and oils as what makes it hard for many to jettison animal and dairy. So i understand, but as always, knowledge gives us power.
My 78-year-old Packard will, as the saying went, “pass everything but a gas station.” So when i take that dragon once in a blue moon for a romp, like to know i’m otherwise putting dear little effluvia into the biosphere we all share, all 8.1 billion of us, 350 babies onboard here in the US. Put more miles on my old 10-speed bike than stick Civic, and my girl drives judiciously a well-tuned Miata.
So heeding JL Albrecht’s observation, and the world’s scientists, think it’s clear our focus; our only hope for a future in which we don’t require special permits and fees to enjoy our old i.c. cars. Simple, if not EZ.
Also be nice to be around to reap the benefits of using DOT 5 silicone brake fluid, synthetic motor oil, fuel injection hose in lieu of the usual material in aforementioned inline 8.
Dig it, now I’ll feel guilty when I eat my skinless grilled / baked breast .
Further to “hybrid as optimal transitional technology” . . . and while admittedly anecdotal, here’s the story of my middle way, a 455HP, 523 lb-ft (!) plug-in hybrid:
Over its first 11,000 miles this Volvo has reduced my gallons burned by 71% compared to my last 240HP 2 litre RWD ICE, 104 mpg vs 29.7. And on one 178 mile trip I take regularly, the car consumes ~3.2 gallons, 55 mpg.
Charging the battery (from a 110V outlet) costs ~$35 a month at $.17 / kWh.
Fueleconomy.gov says it emits ~70% less greenhouse gases, compared to the av 2023 ICE car (which likely has half the power).
For record keeping purposes I’ve topped off the 16 gallon tank once month since Nov ’22, averaging 8.5 gal.
Choose a PHEV with a 41 mile battery over an EV with a 300 mile battery and . . . there could be a theoretic 80%+ reduction in consequences impacting rare metals mining and processing, and consequences for the power grid (right down to the above mentioned 110V outlet in my garage). If extended to the national fleet, would this render a multi-billion dollar “national charging infrastructure” completely superfluous, or only by 80%? Thoughts?
Also of interest, a Manhattan Inst paper makes a persuasive argument against EVs, with 200 references:
https://manhattan.institute/article/electric-vehicles-for-everyone-the-impossible-dream?utm_source=wsj&utm_medium=feature