Energy chief’s failed EV stunt draws mockery
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm Sunday drew mockery after her electric vehicle (EV) motorcade ran into charging complications, leading a family to call the police on the energy boss.
Granholm’s four-day road trip was a publicity event designed to promote EVs which she and the Biden administration have been aggressively marketing to the American public. The secretary’s caravan, which included a Cadillac Lyriq, a Ford F-150 and a Chevrolet Bolt, stopped at town halls throughout the trip.
But an embedded NPR media operative reported that the procession encountered difficulty in Georgia when the EVs needed to recharge:
Her advance team realized there weren't going to be enough plugs to go around. One of the station's four chargers was broken, and others were occupied. So an Energy Department staffer tried parking a nonelectric vehicle by one of those working chargers to reserve a spot for the approaching secretary of energy.
A young family who also needed to charge their EV did not react well to seeing a gas-powered vehicle blocking the only remaining EV charger:
In fact, a family that was boxed out — on a sweltering day, with a baby in the vehicle — was so upset they decided to get the authorities involved: They called the police.
The sheriff's office couldn't do anything. It's not illegal for a non-EV to claim a charging spot in Georgia. Energy Department staff scrambled to smooth over the situation, including sending other vehicles to slower chargers, until both the frustrated family and the secretary had room to charge.
The debacle came just weeks after Ford CEO Jim Farley called his own EV road trip a “reality check.” Farley found charging to be “pretty challenging” during his trip through several western states, Truth Press reported.
“Charging has been pretty challenging,” Farley said, explaining that at one stop it took 40 minutes to charge the truck’s battery to just 40 percent. “It was a really good reality check — the challenges of what our customers go through.”
EV chargers have drawn criticism for operating on the same fossil fuels EVs are crusading against. But even more criticism has been directed at EVs themselves, which are reportedly responsible for so many carbon emissions that they only become environmentally beneficial after driving tens of thousands of miles.
Volkswagen, for instance, revealed that its e-Golf needs to be driven 77,000 miles before it outperforms its fuel-powered counterparts in environmental impact. The number tops Volvo’s estimate in 2021 that EVs only become “climate-friendly” between 30,000 and 68,400 miles — or what typically amounts to between four to nine years overall.
According to Volvo’s figures, EVs are 70% more environmentally harmful than internal combustion engine (ICE) cars, largely due to their batteries. EV batteries require intensive cobalt and lithium mining, which are conducted in Africa and South America and cause significant greenhouse gas emissions.
Many consumers who are being told to transition to EVs to “fight climate change” are also discovering that EVs are more economically challenging than their ICE counterparts.
Analyses show that because electric cars require so much electricity, EV owners are likely to pay more per mile than ICE vehicle owners. For a Kia e-Niro, for instance, the UK’s best-selling affordable electric car, a full recharge can cost about £54 ($69). On a battery offering an average range of 230 miles, this amounts to 23 pence ($0.29) per mile. But for a 400-mile-range Ford Puma, last year’s fuel-powered bestseller, a £60 ($76) refueling amounts to only 15 pence ($0.19) per mile.
Similarly, owners of the Volkswagen ID 3 may find themselves paying 8 pence ($0.10) more per mile for a full recharge than owners of the Volkswagen Golf pay for a full refueling.
Those who charge their EVs at home are charged a 5% value-added tax (VAT), while those who charge at public stations pay 20%.
The UK nevertheless plans to outlaw fuel-powered vehicles by 2030.
According to a study published in January, “[t]ypical mid-priced ICE car drivers paid about $11.29 to fuel their vehicles for 100 miles of driving. . . . That cost was around $0.31 cheaper than the amount paid by mid-priced EV drivers charging mostly at home, and over $3 less than the cost borne by comparable EV drivers charging commercially.”
The cost difference becomes even starker when factoring in EV drivers who need to recharge frequently at charging stations at an estimated cost of $14.40 per 100 miles.
EVs become more expensive still considering that many governments seek to charge EV owners additional fees to compensate for lost fuel taxes.
Israel’s Finance Ministry, for instance, is considering a travel tax of $0.041 per kilometer for EVs, though the cost may actually be higher. With an average annual travel distance of 16,000 kilometers, EV drivers could expect to pay an extra $656 per year.
Several US states who pushed for “sustainable” and “environmentally friendly” vehicle alternatives are now imposing additional registration fees on EV owners. Illinois Democrats, for instance, proposed charging EV owners a $1,000 annual registration fee to recoup the loss in gasoline taxes. After intense backlash, however, the Prairie State settled on charging EV owners a $251 annual registration fee, $100 more than their ICE counterparts.
At least 19 states have imposed an extra annual registration fee for EVs ranging from $50 to $235, with Blue states such as Michigan and Georgia at the higher end.
In addition to the higher costs, EVs are less equipped for extreme weather, which authorities worry will increase traffic congestion.
Winter’s cold has been known to affect an electric vehicle’s driving range between 20%–41%, reports Axios. According to University of Michigan Energy Institute Director Anna Stefanopoulou, EVs “prefer the same sort of temperature range that people do. Anything below 40 or above 115 degrees Fahrenheit and they’re not going to deliver their peak performance.”
The Wall Street Journal also notes that EVs are severely hampered by extreme weather.
“When temperatures drop to 5 degrees Fahrenheit, the cars achieve only 54% of their quoted range,” writes the WSJ. “A vehicle that’s supposed to be able to go 250 miles between charges will make it only 135 miles on average. At 32 degrees — a typical winter day in much of the country — a Tesla Model 3 that in ideal conditions can go 282 miles between charges will make it only 173 miles.”
