Few things bring out the global warming doomsayers than summer weather. Rising temperatures in July when El Nino is underway, are all taken are proof positive that we must use the full power of government to end various destructive behaviors, policies and products.
A case in point is the push to ban the sale of that most dreaded and destructive of products, the internal combustion engine, sometime within the next decade. The eventual replacement for all those gas burners? Electric cars, of course. While EVs make great sense for some – particularly those who can afford them – they don't necessarily make sense for everyone in every situation. (RELATED: State To Regulate Lousy Product Into Popularity – And You're Gonna Like It!)
The Manhattan Institute's Mark Mills has a new study that takes a long, thorough look at the many aspects of EVs and concludes that the promises (and hype) surrounding them ignore substantial problems. Whether it's how EV batteries are made (from rare earths found outside the U.S.), the true carbon costs of building such cars (guesstimates and fuzzy math abound) to whether the current electric grid can handle an EV wave (no) and more, Mills' analysis is as unsparing at it is sobering. (RELATED: Little-Known Resources May Hold Key To Our Destiny – Can We Reverse Course?)
And at the hype machine's heart is what can only be called an acute cultural prejudice:
The car culture is viewed in many environmental circles as inherently toxic and unnatural. As a recent New Yorker article put it: “The grip of the car as a metaphor for liberty is as firm as that of guns, if perhaps with similarly destructive results.” The transitionists see car ownership as a “cultural attachment” and profess to believe that “fewer cars on the roads would not mean a sacrifice in the quality of life, convenience.” There would be significant “progress” in keeping people out of cars by banning inexpensive ICE vehicles and mandating expensive EVs.
In the face of all this, it would be reasonable to reach the conclusion that, put simply, they're coming for your cars.
That may be overstating the case, but the cultural argument remains. Yes, cars, and mass mobility (along with suburbs, detached family houses, etc.) have long been viewed as hobgoblins to be eliminated among those who prefer state-enforced centralization. (RELATED: Washington's Latest Bipartisan Hobgoblin: Social Media)
That doesn't mean EVs are bad things meant to crap your freedom or lifestyle choices. Rather it's the zealous prohibitionist bent of many EV advocates that's the problem:
The future will see tens of millions more EVs on the roads, even without government programs that favor or mandate them. But the entire edifice of subsidies, prohibitions, and regulations to move most, if not all, citizens from ICE cars into EVs is based on a profoundly weak—or, in some cases, false—foundation of claims about emissions reductions and economic parity.
Meanwhile, if implemented, ICE bans will lead to a massive misallocation of capital in the world's $4 trillion personal mobility industry. It will also lead to draconian constraints on freedoms and unprecedented impediments to affordable and convenient driving. And it will have little to no impact on global CO2 emissions. In fact, the bans and EV mandates are more likely to cause a net increase in emissions.
The bottom line is if you want an EV – get on. Enjoy it. Rave about it to your friends and family. In other words – be a part of an EV car culture.
Just don't use the power of the state to make your enthusiasm mandatory.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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