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1/30/2024

Energy Realism this past week blew up the electric car dream, which is quickly turning into an nightmare. 

The great Robert Bryce got us started last week: electric vehicles are the Next Big Thing, and they always will be. More proof of that reality came recently when Ford announced for the second time in two months that it was slashing production of its all-electric Lightning pickup truck. The only thing surprising about Ford’s latest announcement is that it took the Dearborn-based auto giant so long to understand that only a small segment of car buyers want an EV. Kristen Walker agrees and details the “many problems” plaguing the EV market. The fourth quarter of 2023 was not good for EVs. Multiple manufacturers decided to curb or halt production. 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. Simply put, Americans don’t want to buy them.

Geoff Cooper also wants us to remain realistic by expanding the feedstock for liquid fuels. There is another option for rapidly decarbonizing the vehicle fleet: ethanol. Low-carbon renewable fuels like ethanol must be included alongside other transportation technologies if we hope to hit critical climate objectives. Our Essential Reading this week then must come from Jonathan A. Lesser for the Manhattan Institute. The goal to install battery-powered electric cars has taken hold as a critical environmental objective. Yet this requires billions of dollars in subsidies, tax breaks, and required infrastructure. Given that it is mostly higher-income individuals who purchase electric cars, this goal comes at the expense of the poor. Further, there is sufficient evidence to conclude that electric cars will actually increase greenhouse gas emissions, not reduce them, as compared with the conventional internal combustion engine that now dominates America’s vehicle fleet. 

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