I & I Editorial BoardThe polar vortex gripping the nation has exposed a fatal flaw in President Joe Biden’s push to force Americans into electric cars. EVs don’t work well in the cold.
Several news stories out of Chicago this week report how EV owners have been struggling to keep their cars charged as extreme cold saps their batteries of energy, extends charging times, and forces owners to wait for hours to get an open charger.
“Several motorists told local news outlets that they had been stranded at charging stations in the cold with cars with dead batteries, while successful charging was taking far longer than usual. They also claimed that many of the charging stations were not functioning,” Newsweek reports.
One motorist reported that he’d seen “at least 10 cars being towed away after their battery died, with too much energy being expended keeping the car warm while drivers waited.”
Another told CBS News Chicago that a charge that should take 45 minutes was taking two hours. “I’ve been here for over five hours at this point and I still have not gotten to charge my car,” he said.
How many of these suckers, do you think, are going to buy another EV after going through this nightmare? How many buyers are going to dive into the EV pool when they read stories like this?
Consumers are already reluctant (and rightly so) to buy EVs, given their short range and charging hassles in good weather, their repair costs, their low, low resale value, fast-rising electricity costs, and the growing costs to insure them (they are, after all, fire hazards).
A Rasmussen Reports poll released this week found that 65% said they’re unlikely to buy an EV as their next car. More than a third said they are “not at all likely” to buy one.
At the other end of the spectrum, just 29% say their next car is likely to be an EV – which is down from 40% last year.
In other words, the more people know about EVs, the less likely they are to want one. And this poll was conducted before the spate of stories about owners stranded in the bitter cold.
Keep in mind that Biden’s mandates would force two-thirds of new cars sold to be EVs.
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
Using these vague “policy violations,” Google is now threatening to demonetize us. It’s part of Big Tech’s effort to silence conservative voices.
“Keep in mind that Biden’s mandates would force two-thirds of new cars sold to be EVs.”
Poor Joe, he can mandate all the Sellin’ his little heart desires…he can’t mandate any Buyin’.
I just bought a Highlander yesterday from unwoke Japan. The only battery it has is charged by an alternator.
@ ‘Merican – I think you forgot about your health and auto insurance you were forced to buy!
If Tesla is having this much trouble, think of the other makes that do not have as much experience, reliability and charging access.
The problem is that manufacturers are loading up the “supply chain” with EV’s on dealer lots, but they’re not seeing the “demand” for EV’s coming from the public. The current EV ownership profiles of the elite owners are that they are:
• highly educated.
• highly compensated.
• multi-car families.
• low mileage requirements for the families’ second car, i.e., the EV.
• Reside in a “temperate” climate like CA or FL. Almost 40% of EV’s are in CA and CA has 6 times as many than FL.
Current EV owners are dramatically different from most of the vehicle owners. Unlike the profile of current EV owners,
• many are single-car owners,
• most of the potential car buyers are not as highly educated
• nor as highly compensated as the elite EV owners.
• Mandating a change to EV ownership and forced austerity may face a rebellion from those that need affordable vehicle transportation.
The elites have bought them and will continue to buy them, BUT we’re running out of elites!
Narrative pushing on right is as bad as narrative pushing on left. The “duh, EV bad” message won’t stand up to the vast majority of EV owners being satisfied, and the constant improvements in battery and grid technologies/infrastructure.
Just because EVs are not my choice now in a non-coastal northern state does not mean that a future EV will not be right and be able to reliably go five hours between chargings over frigid mountain passes. And of course Tesla’s are the most American cars available in the US when you look at all parts and assembly.
I don’t mean to be cruel-but after reviewing Biden video snippets for the last few years-I think the President could use a “charge”. And I think his puppet masters could use a new candidate.
This is in response to Just Eric. I never heard of so many EV troubles until now. Now I hear of battery fires (in hot weather); EV batteries shutting down in cold weather; charging problems in bad weather; shorter ranges in low temperatures.
The point I’m making is why does Just Eric think EV’s are going to be better in the future, when they didn’t seem as bad in the past as they do today?
In my opinion, only an idiot whose only car would be an EV- would buy an EV now.
If EVs were presently any good, the people in the poll cited by I&I would be happy with their EV buy-not unhappy. The poll numbers would be going up (in favor of EVs). Not down!
Biden has made sure there will be no transition to EVs by mandating them. Good luck with that plan.
I’m supposing that all these “frozen Lithium” folks will be moving to Arizona by next winter. EV Snowbirds.
Cold weather is taking down the Global Warming scam.
Oh, the irony.
FJB
It’s funny, the cars we are being forced to drive to avoid a warm planet require a warm planet to operate.