Meanwhile, Trump and his cronies are shooting Americans in the foot by spending taxpayer dollars to decrease America's energy supply, just because Boomers (who like Trump) think that wind is "woke" and Trump lost a fight against a wind farm outside one of his golf clubs[1].
Catherine Rampell from The Bulwark had an excellent article where she spelled out the impact of trump's policies, or should we say his thumb on the scales of winners and losers?
Here's just one paragraph: "Dozens of other renewable energy projects around the country have not received the same—forgive me—windfall. Instead, they’ve been canceled, stalled, or quietly snuffed out, with zero compensation. The list includes a gargantuan solar project in Nevada and more than 150 wind developments around the country, which collectively could have powered around 15 million homes. As a Heatmap headline declared: “Trump is getting away with murdering an American industry.”
Like C J K's article above stated, this man is forking clueless. I recall all too vividly trump telling us all the green movement for more energy sources was nothing but a "Chinese hoax." Really donald? The Chinese are leading the way with solar, EV production, wind and battery enhancements.
Through it all, our mantra has become "drill baby drill." For anyone with a live brain cell, our lives are made better by advancing every aspect of keeping energy costs low through a myriad of options.
Look at the bright side though; big oil is enjoying record breaking profits while still getting massive subsidies from the federal government.
I agree with "the right" that EV subsidies deformed the market, which was/is headed toward hybrid and BEVs. Many carmakers opted to create "compliance cars" just to have the "EV" badge. It has ruined Honda--and it's not the end of subsidies that ruined it, it is the market effects of bad incentive policy. It has made Elon Musk billions of dollars, which is another unintended effect of Liberal policies regarding green energy. I am grateful that Musk used Tesla to spark the market and show what really can be done with a blank slate and good battery tech.
I am also an EV early adopter. Drove either a plug-in hybrid (PHEV), full electric (BEV), or hybrid since 2018. We now have an electric SUV (Kia EV9) and a hybrid Subaru Crosstrek. Love them. Wouldn't change back to full gas engines, ever. The market is moving to EVs, slowly, over a generation. It will happen. Gas prices might be a temporary spike, but for now, if you are looking for a car, there are literally thousands of off-lease, traded, or low-mileage EVs out there to buy for cheap.
Yesterday I looked at my Recurrent (recurrentauto.com) dashboard for my EV9 and it says we saved $1000 in gas in less than a year. Hell yes I'm going to drive electric. And when gas prices fall, I'll still drive electric. I'm more worried about data centers and AI consumption spiking electricity rates than the temporary effects of expensive gas.
There may be thousands of good used EVs available but in part this evidences that people fall out of love with them mostly because you can’t make a long trip without a long stop to recharge.
It takes a Kia EV6/9 or Hyundai Ioniq 5/6/9 ~20 minutes to go from 10-80%. That's a nice little "stretch your legs, go to the bathroom, grab a snack" period - similar to a gas stop on a long drive.
It's true that *some* vehicles take much longer on a fast charger (my Niro EV for example) - but then for most usage the question is "So what?".
The EV9 uses the NAC standard charging port (Tesla). I stop at Buc-ees, plug it in, and by the time I hit the bathroom and buy a drink it’s been done for 10 min already. Sure it’s slower than putting gas in, but can you fuel your car and use the bathroom at the same time?
My EV9 highway range at normal temperatures and 65mph at 80% is about 265 miles. Mileage varies just like a gas powered car. When I take a long trip I always charge to 100% before leaving. That gives me 320 or so miles. I charge when it gets under 70. Sometimes to 80, sometimes to 90 or even 100 it is a meal stop. That’s between 3 and 4 hours driving between stops. Unless you’re a commercial driver or a courier, or driving alone with no stops, it’s a reasonable cadence for traveling by car.
But again: that's not how most people use their vehicles. Most drive from home to work and back, and the vast majority of time the car is not in use - which is a great time to charge on AC (cheaper) rather than DC (not cheap). Most probably don't even need a 240v charger - unless you've got a crazy commute.
I'd suggest "ruined" is a better term for Ford than Honda, as Honda just rebadged a GM vehicle as the Prologue and cancelled production of their own BEVs - where Ford dumped a ton into F150 Lightbing production before re-aligning elsewhere.
They do just fine if you don’t mind walking around a charging station a couple hours a day on a long trip. This was my point and the primary reason most people dump their EVs and go back to gas or hybrid. Long trips are not uncommon in the US. But you can always rent a gas car for your journey and avoid this.
As has been made clear, your point is entirely dependent on the vehicle in question. That you are disregarding that information in favor of restating your subjectively-incorrect take is just showing your bias.
I'm in the market for a new car as my lease is coming up at the end of August - and the removal of the incentives has done no favors towards affordability of a vehicle - at a time when even gas vehicles are pretty unaffordable.
I may just lease another Niro EV, though an EV6 would be nice for the faster DC charging. The trim with memory seats is probably out of reach, however...
Your math might be correct but the assumptions behind it don’t make sense. For example, filling up two or three times per week translates to driving 600 to 900 miles per week! How is this even possible for the average urban automobile?
I live in Texas. We drive fast and far. My Toyota 4-Runner gets about 21 miles per gallon. In the last two months I’ve filled up about five times. That’s about 100 gallons or $200 extra dollars total - $25 per week: The cost of a couple of Margaritas at my local hangout. The higher gas prices may be a symbol of “affordability” but they are not the cause.
Some have said that if gas prices don’t drop by the midterms that the GOP is finished in Congress. For this to be a true cause it also must be true that if they drop to pre-war levels by mid-summer then the GOP will be a shoe-in to keep Congress.
When lived in Houston, my commute was 50+ miles one-way. That’s 100+ miles per day and over 500 miles if you drive to work five days. My commute in Atlanta was nearly that long.
Add to that, trips to the store, school, church, visiting friends, sports for the kids (families involved with travel ball log some serious miles), and 600 miles is probably above average but not unrealistic.
My commute now is only about 12 miles, but I still fill up at least once per week. My truck averages about 20 mpg and in addition to working, I drive to parks and trails for hiking, biking, and running, as well as shopping trips, church, visiting friends and relatives, and other errands. I even try to combine trips but the mileage adds up.
Driving a 21-mpg Toyota and filling up less than once per week, it sounds like you don’t drive much.
Some people have crazy commutes: 90mins to 3hrs each way. A parallel hybrid makes that more efficient, but it's still not great. And your anecdote makes it sound like you don't actually drive that much.
Reminder that it'll take six months to clear the mines from the Strait of Hormuz - whenever they actually get to start removing them - along with numerous facilities being attacked and needing repair.
Meanwhile, Trump and his cronies are shooting Americans in the foot by spending taxpayer dollars to decrease America's energy supply, just because Boomers (who like Trump) think that wind is "woke" and Trump lost a fight against a wind farm outside one of his golf clubs[1].
Morons.
[1] https://theconversation.com/why-trumps-2-billion-buyoff-to-cancel-offshore-wind-farms-is-a-bad-deal-for-american-taxpayers-and-the-us-energy-supply-282456
Catherine Rampell from The Bulwark had an excellent article where she spelled out the impact of trump's policies, or should we say his thumb on the scales of winners and losers?
Here's just one paragraph: "Dozens of other renewable energy projects around the country have not received the same—forgive me—windfall. Instead, they’ve been canceled, stalled, or quietly snuffed out, with zero compensation. The list includes a gargantuan solar project in Nevada and more than 150 wind developments around the country, which collectively could have powered around 15 million homes. As a Heatmap headline declared: “Trump is getting away with murdering an American industry.”
Like C J K's article above stated, this man is forking clueless. I recall all too vividly trump telling us all the green movement for more energy sources was nothing but a "Chinese hoax." Really donald? The Chinese are leading the way with solar, EV production, wind and battery enhancements.
Through it all, our mantra has become "drill baby drill." For anyone with a live brain cell, our lives are made better by advancing every aspect of keeping energy costs low through a myriad of options.
Look at the bright side though; big oil is enjoying record breaking profits while still getting massive subsidies from the federal government.
Who says life is fair?
They're also slow-walking approvals or making dubious national security claims for denying permits.
I agree with "the right" that EV subsidies deformed the market, which was/is headed toward hybrid and BEVs. Many carmakers opted to create "compliance cars" just to have the "EV" badge. It has ruined Honda--and it's not the end of subsidies that ruined it, it is the market effects of bad incentive policy. It has made Elon Musk billions of dollars, which is another unintended effect of Liberal policies regarding green energy. I am grateful that Musk used Tesla to spark the market and show what really can be done with a blank slate and good battery tech.
I am also an EV early adopter. Drove either a plug-in hybrid (PHEV), full electric (BEV), or hybrid since 2018. We now have an electric SUV (Kia EV9) and a hybrid Subaru Crosstrek. Love them. Wouldn't change back to full gas engines, ever. The market is moving to EVs, slowly, over a generation. It will happen. Gas prices might be a temporary spike, but for now, if you are looking for a car, there are literally thousands of off-lease, traded, or low-mileage EVs out there to buy for cheap.
Yesterday I looked at my Recurrent (recurrentauto.com) dashboard for my EV9 and it says we saved $1000 in gas in less than a year. Hell yes I'm going to drive electric. And when gas prices fall, I'll still drive electric. I'm more worried about data centers and AI consumption spiking electricity rates than the temporary effects of expensive gas.
There may be thousands of good used EVs available but in part this evidences that people fall out of love with them mostly because you can’t make a long trip without a long stop to recharge.
Define "long stop", please.
About ten times as long as it takes to fill a gasoline tank
So 50 minutes?
It takes a Kia EV6/9 or Hyundai Ioniq 5/6/9 ~20 minutes to go from 10-80%. That's a nice little "stretch your legs, go to the bathroom, grab a snack" period - similar to a gas stop on a long drive.
It's true that *some* vehicles take much longer on a fast charger (my Niro EV for example) - but then for most usage the question is "So what?".
The EV9 uses the NAC standard charging port (Tesla). I stop at Buc-ees, plug it in, and by the time I hit the bathroom and buy a drink it’s been done for 10 min already. Sure it’s slower than putting gas in, but can you fuel your car and use the bathroom at the same time?
And it charges faster than a Tesla at a Tesla Supercharger, too.
I really do want the faster charging from the EV line rather than the Niro, but it's a big jump in monthly cost too.
What is the highway range at an 80% charge?
My EV9 highway range at normal temperatures and 65mph at 80% is about 265 miles. Mileage varies just like a gas powered car. When I take a long trip I always charge to 100% before leaving. That gives me 320 or so miles. I charge when it gets under 70. Sometimes to 80, sometimes to 90 or even 100 it is a meal stop. That’s between 3 and 4 hours driving between stops. Unless you’re a commercial driver or a courier, or driving alone with no stops, it’s a reasonable cadence for traveling by car.
Depends on the vehicle: 200-400mi or thereabouts.
But again: that's not how most people use their vehicles. Most drive from home to work and back, and the vast majority of time the car is not in use - which is a great time to charge on AC (cheaper) rather than DC (not cheap). Most probably don't even need a 240v charger - unless you've got a crazy commute.
I'd suggest "ruined" is a better term for Ford than Honda, as Honda just rebadged a GM vehicle as the Prologue and cancelled production of their own BEVs - where Ford dumped a ton into F150 Lightbing production before re-aligning elsewhere.
They do just fine if you don’t mind walking around a charging station a couple hours a day on a long trip. This was my point and the primary reason most people dump their EVs and go back to gas or hybrid. Long trips are not uncommon in the US. But you can always rent a gas car for your journey and avoid this.
As has been made clear, your point is entirely dependent on the vehicle in question. That you are disregarding that information in favor of restating your subjectively-incorrect take is just showing your bias.
I'm in the market for a new car as my lease is coming up at the end of August - and the removal of the incentives has done no favors towards affordability of a vehicle - at a time when even gas vehicles are pretty unaffordable.
I may just lease another Niro EV, though an EV6 would be nice for the faster DC charging. The trim with memory seats is probably out of reach, however...
Your math might be correct but the assumptions behind it don’t make sense. For example, filling up two or three times per week translates to driving 600 to 900 miles per week! How is this even possible for the average urban automobile?
I live in Texas. We drive fast and far. My Toyota 4-Runner gets about 21 miles per gallon. In the last two months I’ve filled up about five times. That’s about 100 gallons or $200 extra dollars total - $25 per week: The cost of a couple of Margaritas at my local hangout. The higher gas prices may be a symbol of “affordability” but they are not the cause.
Some have said that if gas prices don’t drop by the midterms that the GOP is finished in Congress. For this to be a true cause it also must be true that if they drop to pre-war levels by mid-summer then the GOP will be a shoe-in to keep Congress.
When lived in Houston, my commute was 50+ miles one-way. That’s 100+ miles per day and over 500 miles if you drive to work five days. My commute in Atlanta was nearly that long.
Add to that, trips to the store, school, church, visiting friends, sports for the kids (families involved with travel ball log some serious miles), and 600 miles is probably above average but not unrealistic.
My commute now is only about 12 miles, but I still fill up at least once per week. My truck averages about 20 mpg and in addition to working, I drive to parks and trails for hiking, biking, and running, as well as shopping trips, church, visiting friends and relatives, and other errands. I even try to combine trips but the mileage adds up.
Driving a 21-mpg Toyota and filling up less than once per week, it sounds like you don’t drive much.
Some people have crazy commutes: 90mins to 3hrs each way. A parallel hybrid makes that more efficient, but it's still not great. And your anecdote makes it sound like you don't actually drive that much.
Reminder that it'll take six months to clear the mines from the Strait of Hormuz - whenever they actually get to start removing them - along with numerous facilities being attacked and needing repair.