New Poll: Voters Support Ethanol and RFS, Oppose EV Mandates

January 09, 2023

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(Renewable Fuels Association) A new survey of registered voters shows robust support for ethanol and the Renewable Fuel Standard, while also revealing significant opposition to policies that ban liquid fuels or mandate electric vehicles. The poll was conducted for the Renewable Fuels Association by Morning Consult.

“As the new Congress settles in and begins to consider the future of our nation’s energy policy, these polling results demonstrate that Americans strongly support expanded use of lower-cost, lower-carbon renewable fuels like ethanol,” said RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “Voters clearly want greater access to fuel blends containing more ethanol—like E15, E30, and E85—and they want to see more flex fuel vehicles made available. These results also make it apparent that Americans strongly oppose policies that would limit the availability of liquid-fueled vehicles or effectively force them to purchase electric vehicles. Overall, this survey is a strong indication that consumers understand and appreciate the environmental advantages, energy security benefits, and affordability that ethanol offers.”

According to the survey:

Nearly two-thirds of survey respondents (65 percent) support the Renewable Fuel Standard, while only 15 percent expressed opposition to the program.
Meanwhile, 64 percent of respondents have a favorable opinion of ethanol, compared to just 18 percent unfavorable.
Regarding higher blends, 68 percent support increasing the availability of E15 to help lower fuel prices and bolster energy independence, and 66 percent said it is important for the federal government to promote the production and sale of flex fuel vehicles (capable of running on up to 85% ethanol) in the United States.
Three out of five (60 percent) respondents support the Next Generation Fuels Act, which would drive the use of more efficient, lower-carbon liquid fuels like E25 or E30, compared to just 18 percent who oppose such legislation.
By a margin of nearly 3 to 1 (52 percent to 19 percent), voters support efforts to sequester carbon dioxide using underground pipelines.

Notably, Cooper said, support for ethanol and renewable fuels policy crossed party lines and includes majorities of both Republican and Democrat respondents.

The poll also found strong doubts about some policy proposals regarding electric vehicles, particularly those that eliminate consumer choice and options when it comes to vehicle purchases. Key results:

Half (50 percent) of respondents said they were not interested in purchasing or leasing an electric vehicle in the next three years, while 42 percent expressed interest. Another 8 percent had no opinion.
Nearly four out of five (77 percent) of voters say it is important for automakers to disclose (to potential buyers) the emissions impacts of the electricity used to power electric vehicles. Only 12 percent said transparent emissions information isn’t important.
Two-thirds (66 percent) oppose policies that ban the sale of new cars with traditional liquid-fueled engines, with only 23 percent supporting such policies.
Seven out of 10 respondents (69 percent) oppose EV mandates, with 54 percent expressing “strong” opposition.
Meanwhile, 58 percent support federal funding for charging infrastructure and tax credits for electric vehicles.

RFA has been polling with Morning Consult since 2016. This survey was conducted online with 1,999 registered voters in late December 2022 and has a two-point margin of error. Click here for the topline data. READ MORE

Gavin Newsom's California Electric Car Push Faces Huge Hurdles (Newsweek; includes VIDEO)

The energy crisis may force drivers in the 'best country in the world' to 'think twice' about electric vehicles — here are 3 big plays to gas up your portfolio (MoneyWise/Yahoo! Finance)

5 Hidden Costs of Electric Vehicles (Yahoo! Finance/GOBankingRates)

11 Hidden Costs of Owning an Electric Car -- If you think the electric car revolution means cost-free driving, think again. EVs come with a financial sting in their tail. (BobVila)

Electric Vehicles: An Industrial Opportunity for the U.S. or China, Not the EU (Transport Energy Strategies)

Survey Finds RFS Support Among Voters: A Voter Survey Finds Support for Ethanol, Opposition to State Electric Vehicle Mandates (DTN Progressive Farmer)

New Poll Shows Support for Ethanol (Energy.AgWired.com)

New Renewable Fuels Association poll: Voters support ethanol and RFS, oppose EV mandates (DRG News)

The US needs 8 times more charging stations by 2030 to handle the coming wave of electric cars (Business Insider)

US Big Three auto companies commit to making cars that people don’t want (Washington Examiner)

Federal safety watchdog concerned about EV weight, size in crashes (Detroit News)

NTSB head warns of risks posed by heavy electric vehicles colliding with lighter cars (Associated Press)

New Poll Finds Majority of Voters Support Increased E15 Availability (Convenience Store News)

Electric Vehicles Look Poised for Slower Sales Growth This Year (Bloomberg)

Brian Kemp and the Electric Car: A Love Story (Politico)

GM, Ford EV Vehicles Called Out by US Transport Safety Watchdog for Road Safety Issues (Benzinga/Yahoo! Finance)

How the Hummer is fueling a backlash against electric trucks (E&E News)

Yes to electric cars—but not the Hummer EV -- The Hummer EV is an environmental disaster, and it should be treated as one, argues David Zipper. (Fast Company)

Can California’s electric-vehicle push overcome the red-state backlash? (Los Angeles Times)

Rush to electric vehicles may be an expensive mistake, say climate strategists (CBS)

Wyoming GOP lawmaker pushes electric-car ban, then says he didn’t mean it (Washington Post)

Wyoming lawmakers push for electric-car ban and to limit sales by 2035 (USA Today)

Driverless cars: The dark side of autonomous vehicles that no one’s talking about (EuroNews.green)

Michigan leaders worry electric vehicles could impact state’s road funding (WNDU)

Toyota is investing $35 billion into EVs. But some say it may be too late. (CNBC)

EV Chargers, Biofuel Makers Square Off in Billion-Dollar Tussle: Carbon credit programs for transport fuels spread globally; Draft EU legislation pushes EV charging funding to biofuels (Bloomberg)

A Giant Auto Market Is Short of EV Buyers: Consumers are back and willing to spend on electric vehicles in India, but the infrastructure to support the sector is lagging. Hybrids could be the answer. (Bloomberg)

The False Promise of Electric Cars (National Review)

GM invests $918 million in U.S. plants for gas engine, EV components (Reuters)

EVs cut bills for most people, but not the poorest — study -- The study is the first to consider every census tract in the U.S. while modeling what could happen to both household energy bills and carbon emissions in a large-scale transition to EVs. (Politico Pro)

Driving 100 Miles in an EV Is Now More Expensive Than in an ICE -- Deadhead miles and opportunity costs make electric vehicle ownership dramatically more expensive than just your average car powered by a gas engine (Jalopnik)

Electric vehicles more expensive to fuel than gas-powered cars at end of 2022: consulting firm (Fox Business)

A new study estimates the United States will need more than 1,000 big charging plazas, at a cost of up to $1.3 billion, to stand up a basic charging network on interstate highways. (Politico Pro)

Nunes: EV Price War won't put poor families behind the wheel (Detroit News)

Tesla hikes price of Model Y after US alters tax credit rule (Detroit News)

Germans Think Twice About Electric Vehicles: Sales fall after subsidies end even in the Vatican of climate-change faith. (Wall Street Journal)

Polestar and Rivian Say EVs Aren’t Enough to Hit Climate Goals (BNN Bloomberg)

Is EV Adoption Really That Beneficial for the Environment and Our Health? (Environment + Energy Leader)

The Climate Crusaders Are Coming for Electric Cars Too -- A new report makes clear the ultimate goal: tiny, uncomfortable apartments and bicycles for all. (Wall Street Journal)

As electric car sales surge, their benefits are increasingly criticized (New York Post)

Heavy Electric Vehicles Jeopardize Climate Action and Public Safety, Experts Warn (Inside Climate News)

The Inconvenient Truth About Electric Vehicles: The experience of owning, charging, and driving an electric vehicle makes the rising inequality of America more visible in new and subtle ways. (The Atlantic)

For some electric vehicle owners, recharging now more costly than filling up (CBS)

America’s EV heartland struggles with increased power outages (The Hill)

Just how good for the planet is that big electric pickup truck? (New York Times)

EV charging infrastructure is ‘inadequate and plagued with non-functioning stations’: J.D. Power -- Roughly one in five public charging attempts fails, leading to driver frustration, the company says. (Utility Dive)

Hybrid cars are still incredibly popular, but are they good for the environment? (NPR)

EV Adoption Still Has a Long Way to Go in the U.S. -- Fewer than 50 percent of drivers are considering an EV as their next car. (Jalopnik)

Deloitte: Accelerated Pace of Change Set to Drive the Future of Automotive Mobility (Deloitte/PR Newswire)

Americans still aren't sold on electric cars (Business Insider)

Electric vehicle drivers get candid about charging: 'Logistical nightmare' -- Charging on the go is neither easy nor fast. (ABC News; includes VIDEO)

Excerpt from MoneyWise/Yahoo! Finance: Electric vehicles have become popular over the past few years. But EVs could take a significant hit based on what’s happening in Switzerland.

According to a report in the Telegraph in December, the country is weighing emergency measures in case of an electricity supply shortage this winter.

Switzerland — the best country in the world according to a recent analysis from US News & World Report — could shorten store operating hours, lower the thermostats at buildings, and limit the private use of electric cars to “absolutely necessary journeys.” READ MORE

Excerpt from Yahoo! Finance/GOBankingRates: EVs certainly can make financial sense for some drivers, but there are a lot of hidden costs that industry marketing glosses over.

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EVs Still Cost Much More To Buy

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Most Drivers Will Change Cars Before an EV Pays Off

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Electricity Is Cheaper Than Gas, But It’s Hardly Free

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The Myth of a Maintenance-Free Vehicle
When you switch to electric, you leave behind the incredibly complex internal combustion engine and the many problem-prone parts that make it run — no tune-ups, no oil changes, no coolant flushes. But that truth has fostered a popular myth that says electric cars don’t require any professional upkeep.

“You’ll hear some people say there is no maintenance needed for an EV, but that is not true,” Fix (automotive expert Lauren Fix of Car Coach Reports) said. “If there are moving parts, there is maintenance. Yes, there are fewer moving parts in EVs, so the annual cost of maintaining an electric vehicle comes in at around $900 a year. That’s only $300 less than the $1,200 a year it costs to keep gas or diesel engines running smoothly.”

According to Forbes, EV drivers pay about $0.06 per mile in maintenance costs compared to $0.10 for ICE vehicles.

EVs Are More Expensive To Repair and Insure
While EVs are cheaper to maintain, they are much more expensive to fix in the case of an accident — more than 50% more, according to Forbes.

“Gas-powered vehicles cost less to repair if in a collision,” Fix said.

Because they cost more to repair, they cost more to insure.

“Insurance is a big factor to consider,” Fix said. “The average cost of an electric car is 23% or more expensive because the car itself and its parts cost more to repair and replace.”

When all is said and done, the bottom line is a $13,000 price difference unless you keep your EV for nearly three times the typical ownership period.

“Totaling all factors in, an EV will set you back $71,770,” Fix said. “A gas-powered car? $58,664. You will never make up the initial expense difference over the lifetime of your more expensive electric vehicle. Put another way, a gas-powered car will cost you $600 more a year to drive. But over an average of six years of owning an EV versus a gas car, the EV will set you back $13,000 more.” READ MORE

Excerpt from BobVila: While electric cars may bring significant cost-cutting and eco-friendly breakthroughs in the long term, the teething period could also carry a few extra expenses. If your garage is already being prepped for a new electric car, here are the hidden costs of owning an electric car you should know.

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2. Registration Fees

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4. Road Charging

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5. Home Charging

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This means daily commuters need to have a more expensive Level 2 electric car charger professionally installed for convenient overnight charging.

Electric car charger costs are typically around $2500 for both the charger and installation, and EV chargers have a lifespan of about ten years. If your home needs an electrical upgrade to accommodate a Level 2 charger, expect to pay more still.

6. Battery Replacement

Unlike a standard car battery, an electric vehicle battery is not cheap. They’re good for 100,000 miles but come with a hefty price tag of $10,000 to $20,000, so expect to reinvest some of your gas savings into purchasing a new battery down the line. EV battery technology is anticipated to improve over the next few years—and their prices will likely come down—but if you intend to rack up the miles, it’s worth factoring in how you’ll pay for a new battery.

Some conditions can cause faster electric car battery degradation. For example, using super-fast DC charging degrades battery life. Manufacturer Kia notes that fast charging causes 10 percent in battery life degradation over a period of eight years.

7. Depreciation

Most people know that the moment you drive a new car off the lot, it loses value. That loss is amplified when it comes to electric cars. The reasons for EV depreciation are manifold:

New electric cars come with a $7,500 tax credit (which comes with certain restrictions). Once that tax credit is voided, a car’s value can plummet by as much as 60 percent when a three-year lease expires, for example.
EVs lose up to 20 percent of their maximum range after five years.
Electric car technology is still new and evolving fast. Like the latest smartphone versus a three-year-old model, newer EV models will be far more attractive to shoppers than older ones, especially as battery technology improves.

8. Range Loss

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EV batteries degrade over time, so as your car ages, expect a fully charged battery to take you a shorter distance than it once did.

Additionally, cold weather affects EV battery performance. A AAA study quantified temperature-related EV range loss to be as much as 12 percent at 20 degrees Fahrenheit compared to 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

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11. Add-ons

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Tesla boasts about its self-driving option, which costs an additional $15,000 circa 2022, and the company’s acceleration boost feature costs around $2,000. These extras add up, and unlocking a full package of Tesla electric car add-ons can cost more than $20,000. READ MORE

Excerpt from Transport Energy Strategies: Climate experts insist action to fight climate change must take place here and now, in this decade, not in some distant future, and the full environmental impact of electromobility is unlikely to materialize any time soon. Not only do heavy industries take time to change, social acceptance also takes time, especially when the new offer is not immediately a “must have”, unlike the iPhone 14! There are many reasons for motorists not rushing to replace their ICEV by an EV. A major one is the price of the electric alternative, between one quarter and one third more expensive than the equivalent thermal model on our markets.

One of the reasons: The cost of manufacturing the battery is not reducing as quickly as expected. Breakeven between ICEV and EV keeps on receding to the future, 2030 now (it was 2025 not long ago), not good news for the small models where the battery is the largest element of cost, easily one third. The blame is put on materials (metals like cobalt, but also good old copper), but technology breakthroughs, the switch to solid electrolyte, synonymous of reduced cost, reduced weight, increased autonomy, faster recharge, improved safety, is slow to emerge as well, not before the end of this decade, according to the most optimistic technology developers.

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China: China is likely to benefit from the switch of ICEV to EV, the latter being less complex to build, allowing the Chinese car industry to avoid the arduous climb to match the century-old ICEV expertise of the West.

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China has extensive control of the value chains of the materials, that are key to build EVs, and of elements, like batteries, a major cornerstone of any EV, which production is concentrated in China, Korea and Japan, and just an idea, let us say a project, for the time being in the West.

United States: The U.S. may not be such an easy market for the Chinese exports.

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Add to that the Inflation Reduction Act, limiting EV purchase subsidies to American-built vehicles and batteries — what else do you need to make the U.S. an autonomous island for locally-built and driven EVs? And not mentioning the energy independence of North America, in fossil and bioenergy, which could justify some ICEV resilience as well.

European Union:

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The Western Europe-based legacy car industry has recently become addicted to top-of-the-range margins and to outsourcing of its production of small cars in less well-off neighboring countries.

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End of globalization re-shoring could have been an opportunity, but does anyone seriously believe today the EU car manufacturing industry can be up to the electromobility task, facing cheap Chinese imports of small EVs and limited commercial possibility of export to the U.S.? More likely, the future of EU road transport will tell a sad story of dwindling sales in the top-of-the-range segments, small volumes with hefty margins, Ferrari or Aston-Martin like, and a mixed bag of ageing ICEVs and EV Chinese imports in the smaller segments. READ MORE

Excerpt from Detroit News: The chair of the National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday that she's concerned about the safety risks of heavy electric vehicles.

A GMC Hummer EV weighs more than 9,000 pounds, Jennifer Homendy said, with a battery that weighs more than 2,900 pounds. The battery alone is around the weight of a Honda Civic.

A Ford F-150 Lightning is up to 3,000 pounds heavier than the non-electric version, and the Mustang Mach-E, Volvo XC40 EV and the Toyota RAV4 EV are all around one-third heavier than their gas-powered counterparts, she added.

"I am concerned about the increased risk of severe injury and death for all road users from heavier curb weights and the increasing size, power and performance of vehicles on our roads, including electric vehicles," Homendy told an audience at the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting in Washington.

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In an interview with The Detroit News following her remarks, Homendy said mass and velocity are two of the biggest risk factors when it comes to crashes. It "has a significant impact" whether it's a crash with another vehicle or a pedestrian or cyclist. READ MORE

Excerpt from CBS: Many, including John Lorinc, last month's winner of the 2022 Balsillie Prize for Public Policy for his book Dream States, worry that the dash to go electric has not been well thought out.

The potential result? Unsustainable costs and unnecessary damage to the environment.

"It's a really important evolution of technology to get away from internal combustion engines, so that part is necessary," said Lorinc in a recent phone interview. But he said the change comes with many caveats, including the fact that a lot of the world's electricity is still made using fossil fuels.

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"Electric vehicles are large engineered objects that require a lot of metal, they require a lot of components that are shipped all over the place," he said. "There's a lot of mining and processing of minerals required to make the components, so it's not an environmental panacea by any stretch of the imagination."

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Lorinc describes how innovations such as early, inexpensive ride-hailing apps like Uber drove people away from public transit, helping to plug up downtown streets. In one case, he describes how Innisfil, Ont., a small town north of Toronto, experimented with switching away from costly bus services to ride-hailing apps — and how the idea became so popular it blew the municipal budget.

And there's research on how electric self-driving cars could one day transform cities, Lorinc writes, but in a way that just might be flawed.

"EVs are here to save the car industry, not the planet, that is crystal clear," said outspoken urban planning advocate Jason Slaughter in a recent email conversation. "Electric cars use batteries instead of gasoline, but they are still a horrendously inefficient way to move people around, especially in crowded cities."

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And there are signs the trend toward fewer urban cars is growing. Last week San Jose, Calif., became the largest U.S. city to abandon parking minimums — the traditional requirement that urban development had to have a certain number of parking spaces.

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Effectively, she (Colleen Kaiser, low carbon transportation expert with the Ottawa-based Smart Prosperity Institute) said, any car or truck that is on the road many hours a day, including buses, delivery vehicles, travelling sales reps, long-distance commuters, car shares such as Communauto or Zipcars, should be the ones to electrify first. READ MORE

Excerpt from Washington Post: A group of Republican lawmakers in Wyoming introduced a bill last week urging the legislature to seek to phase out the sale of new electric vehicles by 2035.

Electric vehicles are impractical, and their batteries hog precious resources, the lawmakers said. Fox Business reported that the bill would “protect a state economy largely fueled by gas and oil.” (Wyoming is the country’s eighth largest crude oil producer, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.)

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Instead, his (state Sen. Jim Anderson's) resolution was motivated by California’s move in August to proceed with a ban on sales of new vehicles powered only by gas by 2035.

“I have a problem with somebody saying, ‘Don’t buy any more petroleum vehicles,’” Anderson said, adding that he introduced the bill “just to get the message out that we’re not happy with the states that are outlawing our vehicles.” READ MORE

Excerpt from EuroNews.green: The computers needed to run self-driving cars could pose a serious threat to the environment.

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To run autonomously, these cars rely on a vast computing infrastructure powering onboard cameras and operating driving algorithms.

If such self-driving vehicles are widely adopted, the computers powering them would generate as much greenhouse gas as all the world’s existing data centres currently do - roughly equivalent to 0.3 per cent of global emissions, or the total carbon footprint of Argentina.

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The energy required to power the computers would emit more than 200 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year. READ MORE

Excerpt from WNDU: Those who drive electric cars pay only 70 to 80 percent of the costs paid by other drivers, putting the burden of repairing Michigan’s roads on non-electric vehicle drivers.

Plus, road taxes are built into the price of gas — meaning electric vehicle drivers can avoid paying it. READ MORE

Excerpt from Wall Street Journal: Replacing all gasoline-powered cars with electric vehicles won’t be enough to prevent the world from overheating. So people will have to give up their cars. That’s the alarming conclusion of a new report from the University of California, Davis and “a network of academics and policy experts” called the Climate and Community Project.

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Problem No. 1: Electric-vehicle batteries require loads of minerals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel, which must be extracted from the ground like fossil fuels. “If today’s demand for EVs is projected to 2050, the lithium requirements of the US EV market alone would require triple the amount of lithium currently produced for the entire global market,” the report notes.

Unlike fossil fuels, these minerals are mostly found in undeveloped areas that have abundant natural fauna and are often inhabited by indigenous people. “Large-scale mining entails social and environmental harm, in many cases irreversibly damaging landscapes without the consent of affected communities,” the report says. Mining can be done safely, but in poor countries it often isn’t.

Problem No. 2: Mining requires huge amounts of energy and water, and the process of refining minerals requires even more. According to the report, mining accounts for 4% to 7% of global greenhouse-gas emissions. Auto makers have made a priority of manufacturing electric pick-up trucks and SUVs because drivers like them, but they require much bigger batteries and more minerals.

More mining to make more EVs will increase CO2 emissions. It will also destroy tropical forests and deserts that currently suck CO2 out of the atmosphere, the report says.

Problem No. 3: “Producing EVs and building and maintaining roads, highways, and parking lots are energy- and emissions-intensive processes with high levels of embodied carbon,” the report says. “Electrification of the US transportation system will massively increase the demand for electricity while the transition to a decarbonized electricity grid is still underway.”

The report concludes that the auto sector’s “current dominant strategy,” which involves replacing gasoline-powered vehicles with EVs without decreasing car ownership and use, “is likely incompatible” with climate activists’ goal to keep the planet from warming by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius compared with preindustrial times. Instead, the report recommends government policies that promote walking, cycling and mass transit.

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A Natural Resources Defense Council report last year on lithium mining also concluded that the government needs “to reduce long-term dependency on single-passenger vehicles.”

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California’s Democratic Legislature last year even passed a bill creating a $1,000 tax credit (originally proposed at $7,500) for households that don’t own cars.

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Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed the bill, citing its budget cost, but he said he supported “approaches to incentivize a transition from vehicles to more sustainable transportation.” Eliminating cars—not only gasoline-powered ones—is the left’s ultimate goal. This is why progressives have mobilized against nearly every mineral mining project in the U.S.

The looming shortage of minerals will cause prices for EVs—the only cars Americans will be allowed to buy if Mr. Newsom and his green friends have their way—to rise inexorably.

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Note, too, that there won’t be nearly enough minerals to make the massive batteries necessary to back up an electric grid powered by unreliable wind and solar. READ MORE

Excerpt from New York Post:

These leaders often talk as if shifting to electric cars is the boldest step our nation can take to help the planet. In reality, policies forcing carmakers to build EVs—and forcing drivers to buy them—are misguided. Even if all Americans traded their gas-powered cars for electric vehicles, the transition would yield only modest reductions in emissions. Moreover, the policies intended to push people into buying EVs rely on un-American levels of coercion.

To be clear, the EVs are technological marvels and a blast to drive. But the promise of electric vehicles has been oversold. EVs are not an environmental panacea. And, for now at least, they don’t make sense for most drivers.

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It’s no coincidence that Tesla, America’s most popular EV brand, was born in California’s Silicon Valley. The roads are smooth, the weather is mild, and the people are rich. California EV owners can charge their cars in their own suburban garages and drive them modest distances to work or out to dinner.

But most Americans don’t live in balmy Palo Alto. Many have to contend with very cold or hot weather, which can dramatically reduce an EV’s range. Others drive rural roads, where chargers may be scarce. And city residents often lack personal garages where they can plug in.

Nonetheless, the federal government wants to see an EV in every driveway, and offers subsidies of up to $7,500 to people who buy them. Not surprisingly, most of that subsidy money winds up in the pockets of well-off car buyers.

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Meanwhile, battery-powered cars and trucks still can’t do all the things people expect from their ICE vehicles. For example, Motor Trend magazine recently tested the towing-capacity of Ford’s hot-selling F-150 Lightning pickup. They discovered that hooking a full-sized camper trailer to the $92,000 EV truck reduced the pickup’s range to a nail-biting 90 miles.

EVs are also more expensive than comparable ICE vehicles—and prices are still rising. According to J.D. Power, the average new EV sold for $66,000 last year, up from $51,000 the year before and far higher than the $45,844 price tag for an average ICE last year. Driving an EV now also costs slightly more per mile than driving a mid-priced ICE, according to the Anderson Economic Group.

Time is another factor. Tesla owners like to brag about plugging into the high-voltage “Superchargers,” which can pump 200 miles worth of juice into a car’s batteries in about 20 minutes. But most public charging stations are of the less powerful Level 2 type. These can take eight hours or more to fully charge a vehicle. (Many home chargers take even longer.) Meanwhile, it takes less than four minutes to fill the tank of a typical ICE car.

EVs are often touted as “zero-emission vehicles.” But calculating their true environmental footprint is surprisingly tricky. Yes, EVs emit no tailpipe emissions. So, if an EV is charged with low-carbon electricity—say from nuclear, hydropower, solar, or wind—that adds up to very a clean operation.

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However, if you live in a state that mostly burns coal for electric power—like Utah, Indiana, or Kentucky—your car’s carbon footprint will approach that of an ICE vehicle. And EVs only reduce emissions if people actually drive them instead of a comparable ICE vehicle. Researcher from the University of Chicago recently concluded tat he typical EV is only driven 5,300 miles per year, ‘about half the US fleet average’.”

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A typical EV battery pack contains about 25 pounds of lithium, 30 pounds of cobalt, 60 pounds of nickel, 90 pounds of copper, and hundreds of pounds of other materials. All those minerals must be mined, processed (mostly in China), and shipped around the world—which takes energy and creates pollution. Is all that environmental disruption worth it?

Most experts calculate that the lifetime emissions from an EV are still somewhat lower than those of a comparable ICE vehicles. But not everyone agrees. And those “lifecycle” calculations assume the EV will be driven as much as a combustion vehicle, which, as that California study showed, probably isn’t the case.

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Even today’s relatively modest production of electric vehicles is putting strains on mineral supplies. The price of lithium has climbed roughly 1,000 % since 2020.

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Investors too are becoming more realistic about EV prospects. Tesla’s stock—which was once worth more than all the world’s major car companies combined—has fallen by roughly half since its late 2021 high. Washington might also consider accepting a similar dose of reality, with federal policymakers rolling back efforts to force us all into electric vehicles overnight. Offering subsidies to help affluent people buy luxury cars is unfair, and according to a recent Harvard study, might even boost overall emissions. READ MORE

Excerpt from Inside Climate News: Even with its expensive price tag ranging between $87,000 and $112,000, GM’s emissions-free version of its iconic SUV is so wildly popular that the automaker can’t keep pace with demand and was forced to halt orders last fall, just a year after the Hummer EV went on sale. As of last October, GM had received some 90,000 reservations for the vehicle but had only delivered 783 of them to customers.

But as Americans soon begin to tap the hundreds of billions of dollars made available for clean energy efforts through the Inflation Reduction Act—namely in the form of consumer tax rebates—a growing number of environmental and public safety experts worry that some of the new EVs expected to flood U.S. streets could actually make driving more dangerous and even exacerbate climate change.

That’s because some of the most popular models being touted by the world’s leading car manufacturers also happen to be their largest. GM’s Hummer EV weighs more than 9,000 pounds, nearly twice the weight of its gas-guzzling version and as much as three gasoline-powered Toyota Corollas. Similarly, Ford’s F-150 Lightning and Mustang Mach E SUV, as well as Chevrolet’s Silverado EV, weigh hundreds to thousands of pounds more than their gasoline counterparts.

In fact, the Hummer EV’s battery alone weighs roughly 3,000 pounds and contains enough lithium, nickel and other high-demand minerals to power nearly 400 e-bikes, researchers say. Climate advocates have criticized the vehicle’s oversized battery as a wasteful use of important resources that are already in short supply.

And because electric vehicle technology provides much greater acceleration than combustion engines, even the bulkiest EV models can reach dangerous speeds as quickly as sports cars. The Hummer EV, for example, can reach 60 miles per hour in just 3.3 seconds—as fast as some Ferraris. The larger mass paired with the ability to reach dangerous speeds quickly makes EVs especially deadly when they collide with smaller vehicles.

“Why he would be giving free publicity to that vehicle is beyond me,” David Zipper, a transportation policy expert and visiting fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School, said regarding Biden’s social media post last week. “Not only” because “it’s dangerous for the environment and for road safety, but also it’s not actually eligible for the tax credit.”

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Jennifer Homendy, head of the National Transportation Safety Board, also expressed worry over the danger heavy EVs could pose to public safety during the Transportation Research Board’s annual meeting last month.

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Zipper told me that the issue is particularly worrisome considering that the U.S. is at a 16-year high for traffic deaths, and a 40-year high for ones involving pedestrians.

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Furthermore, because U.S. electricity grids are still predominantly powered by fossil fuels, large EVs can even be more polluting than some small gasoline-powered sedans—at least for now. GM’s Hummer EV, for example, was found by one study to cause more greenhouse gas emissions than a gasoline-powered Chevy Malibu.

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One way, Zipper said, would be for more local and state governments to pass weight-based taxes similar to the ones recently passed by Washington, D.C., and Norway. Under D.C.’s new rule, adopted last summer, gas-powered passenger vehicles weighing more than 7,000 pounds and electric vehicles weighing over 6,000 pounds will cost seven times more to register annually than a typical sedan.

Zipper said the Department of Transportation should also begin considering risk to pedestrians or cyclists when calculating its influential crash-test ratings, known as the New Car Assessment Program, to show a more complete picture of the danger those vehicles pose to the public.

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“This is something that President Biden and U.S. DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg have been bending over backwards to ignore, and that, I think, is a real problem,” Zipper said. “These vehicles are inefficient, make it harder to combat climate change, and are likely to kill people on our streets.” READ MORE

Excerpt from The Hill: In particular, the Midwestern grid — the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, or MISO — faces a growing 1,300 megawatt shortfall as soon as this summer.

California is also at “high risk,” NERC found. Most of the western U.S. is at “elevated” risk of shortfalls, as is New England.

That shortfall is rising because the disconnection of fossil fuels and nuclear generation is accelerating faster than the construction and connection of new resources — as grid managers face new demands from cryptocurrency and the need to charge new electric vehicles, NERC found.

In his December comments, Moura also singled out the risk from extreme weather. The grid is “impacted by changing weather more than it ever has been,” he said. “It’s vitally important that we’re planning and operating power systems that can be resilient to extreme weather.” READ MORE

Excerpt from Jalopnik: The study was done by auditing company Deloitte and conducted on 9,500 consumers in nine countries. It shows that just 30 percent of new car buyers in the U.S. are considering an EV for their next car. People still want gas vehicles though, as 63 percent of buyers say they’re still going for a gas-powered vehicle as their next purchase. Compare those numbers to Europe, where 48 percent of European buyers are considering an EV for their next car and just 36 percent are considering a gas car. READ MORE

Excerpt from Deloitte/PR Newswire: Key takeaways -- The future of automotive mobility is being shaped by a variety of tectonic forces converging to shift consumer sentiment and behavior.

One in 3 consumers in the U.S. and nearly half in the Europe5 region (the aggregate region comprised of the following countries: France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) would most prefer their next vehicle be electric, while half of consumers in the U.S. and 61% in the Europe5 region will choose an EV brand based on whether the company has a well-articulated plan for battery recycling.
Over half of survey respondents in the U.S. and Europe5 regions are concerned about taking on the residual value risk of owning a traditional fossil-fueled vehicle going forward.
Nearly 40% of U.S. consumers and half of consumers in the Europe5 region aged 18-34 question whether they need to own a vehicle going forward because of the experiences they had with shared transportation options.
Motivated by a desire to maximize convenience, transparency and flexibility, one-third of consumers in both regions aged 18-34 would move to a subscription model, supported by the fact that half of survey respondents are interested in making one monthly payment that covers all vehicle-related costs, including insurance and maintenance.

Automotive mobility providers, including captive finance companies, are redefining themselves as managers of mobility services in an effort to unlock new sources of revenue and profit going forward. READ MORE