Is There Anything Good About EVs?

EV sales are collapsing like Pfizer’s clot-shot revenue. Both for essentially the same reason. People have figured out the truth about them and for that reason, want no part of them.

Who, after all, would knowingly want to receive a “vaccination” that not only fails to do the two things a vaccine is supposed to do – i.e., prevent you from coming down with the sickness you’re supposedly being “vaccinated” against and prevent you from spreading it to others – but that also might give you heart problems, among other problems?

Who wants to buy a car that makes it less convenient to drive? That costs not just a little but thousands – even tens of thousands more than an otherwise similar car that is more convenient to drive?

Who wants a car that effectively requires a garage to keep it in – since if you haven’t got one to park it in, you may not be able to plug it in?

Extension cords don’t work – even if they reach – due to impedance issues. You can only park as far away from the electrical outlet as the factory-supplied cord will reach – and that’s about 12 feet. And if you haven’t got a garage to park the car in, it will be much more difficult to “Level II” charge it because there aren’t any 240V outlets outside of most houses. If you live in an apartment or a townhouse, you will have to drive somewhere to charge, just the same as you would need to drive to a gas station to fill-up a non-electric car.

With the difference being how much time you’ll be spending waiting there.

Ironically, the ability to avoid having to spend a few minutes at a gas station is one of the Greatest Things touted about EVs. But it’s only Great if you are affluent enough to own a single family home with a garage in which to park and charge the EV. Affluent enough to be able to spend the money to hire an electrician to run a dedicated 240V circuit on its own 30 amp breaker to allow “Level II” charging, which gets a battery-powered vehicle back on the road in a mere 8-11 hours – as opposed to 24 or more hours, if all you’ve got is a standard 120V household outlet to plug into.

Assuming the factory-supplied cord can reach.

It’s remarkable that the economic elitism of EVs goes largely unremarked. Young people and people of lesser means not only cannot afford EVs, they generally cannot afford to own the peripherals necessary to keep one operational, other than occasionally. This, of course, is part of the point of pushing EVs – which is to make driving more onerous for the young and those of lesser means while at the same time conferring elevated status upon those few who have the means to afford them and the peripherals that are necessary to allow for their use more than occasionally. 

The cruel irony being that EVs are most popular among the cohort that can least afford to own them and the necessary peripherals; i.e., young people. They do not own EVs – but they approve of EVs. That is to say, they approve of their own diminishment – which they have yet to fully understand is the point of all of this. 

But wait – isn’t there anything good about these EVs? Other than their tediously talked-up ability to accelerate quickly? Briefly. Other than the specious claims regarding their “zero emissions”? (Assuming one regards the non-reactive gas carbon dioxide – which is not a pollutant – as an “emission.”) 

Well, there could be. If the objective of those pushing EVs weren’t to reduce driving and car ownership, especially for the young and those of lesser means.

EVs have the potential to be less expensive than the least expensive gas-engined economy car because (as is often touted) EVs have fewer parts and can be manufactured with less expense.

Electric motors aren’t necessarily hugely expensive – and neither are electric batteries. Provided they are small  – which they both could be, if the EV were not designed to deliver “ludicrous” speed or sustained high speed. Those attributes do require a powerful (and so, large) electric motor and a very large (and so, very heavy) and very expensive electric battery pack. And that is why all of the EVs available are beyond the means of most young and all people of lesser means. Few such people can afford the minimum almost $30k it takes to purchase the least expensive EVs on the market, plus the single family home needed to house and recharge one at home. 

But none of that is necessary.

Or – rather – it is only necessary if the EV must be able to do the things expected of high-performance and high-priced vehicles; i.e., the things people of means expect a vehicle to be able to do.

On the other hand, people of lesser means – especially the young – would probably be very enthused about a vehicle they could afford to buy, even if it didn’t offer “ludicrous” acceleration or have the ability to operate at sustained high speed. These attributes are for those who can afford them. Once upon a time, there were vehicles that didn’t offer such attributes but did offer affordability.

They were called economy cars.

They were the first cars – often, at second or third-hand – a young person got to drive, on his way to being able to afford something fancier (and faster) if that’s what he wanted, once he was in a position to be able to afford to indulge such wants. But an economy car met his needs.

It put him behind the wheel.

And that is a problem – from the point-of-view of those pushing affluent-only EVs. It is why there are no economy EVs. These would put more young people behind the wheel – and on the road. They would also apply market pressure to produce lower-cost non-EVs, to compete for the dollars of the young and those of lesser means. Such vehicles would also reduce the consumption of natural resources and “emissions” of the gas that isn’t a pollutant.

Problem solved.

But – you see – that is just the problem.

. . .

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