Are you ready for the government to take away your car? New proposed regulations on automobile emissions from the Environmental Protection Agency would require 60% of new car sales to be electric vehicles by 2030 and 67% by 2032, compared to the fewer than 6% that were on the road in 2022—for no environmental benefit.
Those who like electric vehicles, or EVs, are in luck. But those who prefer gasoline-powered cars will see significant increases in their costs, both for new and used cars.
Some prefer gasoline-powered cars because they are more affordable. The electric version of the base version of the Ford F-150 pickup truck, the best-selling vehicle in America, costs an additional $26,000 over the gasoline-powered one. Tesla’s EV base prices start at $39,000 for a Model 3 and go up to almost $100,000 for a Model X—prices much higher than most families can afford.
Plus, gasoline-powered cars can be refueled in five or 10 minutes at a gas station. Recharging an electric vehicle can take 45 minutes. If someone is in front of you at the charging station, the wait can double. That’s because most people don’t want to let their EV battery go below 20%, and the charging rate slows down when it is charged over 80%.
Many people who love their EVs recharge them at home, overnight. But not everyone has a garage at home. These people often have to rely on charging stations for their EVs.
Unfortunately, charging stations are not as common as gas stations. The U.S. Department of Transportation is spending over $4 billion through 2026 on building more charging stations. Tesla has its own network of charging stations for its cars, but drivers of other vehicles will have to rely on private or government-provided charging stations.
The EPA is also planning new rules for power plants, driving up the costs of the electricity needed to charge these vehicles. These rules plus the EV sales mandate would raise driving costs for Americans and strengthen China’s economy, because China makes 80% of the world’s electric batteries.
Although 60 to 70 miles of range is enough for most trips, people buy cars for all circumstances, including long-distance vacations and cold weather. Depending on weather conditions, most EVs can only go a couple of hundred miles before needing a 45-minute or longer charge. Long trips require several long stops along the way. Additionally, batteries lose 20% to 40% of their range in cold climates. That’s one reason only 380 North Dakota residents chose EVs in 2021 and Alaska only had 1,300.
Yet the Department of Transportation plans to spend $26 million for charging stations in North Dakota, or $68,000 per registered EV. Alaska, with $52 million allocated for charging stations, will get $40,000 per EV.
The new charging stations will place increased electricity demand on the electrical grid, as California has found out from its experience with rolling blackouts. But California has a solution: In order to integrate its EVs into its fragile electrical grid, the state is proposing a bill, SB 233, to require bidirectional charging in all light-duty vehicles and school buses sold in the state beginning in model year 2027. Bidirectional charging means that if the grid needs more electricity, it can take it from your car battery when your car is plugged in for charging.
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 and the Ford F-150 Lightning already have bidirectional charging systems, enabling EV owners to charge their homes with electricity from their car batteries or supply it back to the grid in times of shortage. According to CarBuzz, “A 60 kWh EV battery can provide backup power to the average U.S. household for two to three days.”
California state Sen. Nancy Skinner, a sponsor of the bill, said, “EVs are energy storage on wheels. Why waste that battery, given how few miles most people use the vehicle in any given day? But we need to make it as easy as possible.”
Bidirectional charging changes the concept of the right to personal mobility. If EV owners in California have to return the electricity in their car batteries to the grid in times of shortage, they may not have enough to get to work or school, or for other trips.
Some say that regulations on power plant emissions and eliminating the majority of gasoline-powered cars on the road will reduce global warming. But emissions will not be reduced until China, India, and Russia reduce their emissions, which they show no signs of doing.
For example, in order to produce supplies of batteries for EVs and other components, China is increasing its construction of coal-fired power plants and, therefore, it’s carbon emissions. America has 225 coal-fired power plants and China has 1,118 (half of all the coal-fired plants in the world).
Research by Kevin Dayaratna, chief statistician and senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, has shown that even completely eliminating all fossil fuels from the United States would result in less than 0.2 degrees Celsius in temperature mitigation by 2100. (The Daily Signal is Heritage’s news and commentary site.)
Under Uncle Sam’s Grand Theft Auto plan, Americans would be sacrificing their cars, paying more for transportation, and giving up their personal mobility without benefits for the environment. It’s time to stop the theft.
This piece originally appeared in The Daily Signal
