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Let us, gentle readers, review the reality of electric vehicles.  As regular readers know—the SMM EV archive is here–the EV death spiral is accelerating.  Dealers can’t sell them, despite manufacturers reducing prices.  Hertz is unloading their EVs and their CEO, who went full EV–never go full EV–is out. Ford lost around $5 billion due to EVs last year—it’s probably more, but that’s what they’re admitting at the moment—and has cut their EV production going forward by 50%.  They’re probably cutting more, but that’s what they’re admitting at the moment.  Ford has also backed out of or “postponed” collaboration on battery plants, including at least one with the Chinese.  GM has “postponed” all EV production, and America now has 50% fewer Buick dealers.  Half of former dealers took a buyout and closed their doors rather than be forced to try to sell EVs.  And manufacturers, once at least rhetorically all-in for EVs, are now publicly telling the Mummified Meat Puppet Administration (MMPA) to knock off its utopian EV policies.

How bad is it for manufacturers?  This bad:  

We estimate that most OEMs currently lose around $6,000 on each EV they effectively sell for $50,000, after accounting for customer tax credits. We also estimate that OEMs will only be able to close half of this cost gap by making the right technology choices; economies of scale as automakers ramp up production will help, too, but they won’t make up the difference. Then there is the impact of looming Chinese imports to consider; market prices will likely contract further, exacerbating the profitability challenge. At some point, it will become untenable for OEMs to lose money on every vehicle they sell.

As regular readers also know, some companies are losing as much as $64,000 per EV sold, which has to be twice as much as their materials and labor costs for each vehicle, and probably more.  That’s considering the average EV price is around the same amount of money.  Losing any money on any product would seem to be “untenable” for any company with a fiduciary duty to its stockholders, even if it’s partially propped up by government tax credits.  What ironic for Ford is their pickups are their most profitable line, yet their primary EV is their F-150 Lightning.  Why would any manufacturer produce competition for their most profitable vehicles?

With this background of stunning EV success, the MMPA has unleashed a new EPA rule that will mandate electric vehicles be between 60% and 70% of all vehicles by 2032, a mere eight years.  For the EPA’s farcical cheerleading about this unconstitutional, economy destroying, China enabling rule, go here.  

The basic mechanism for this destruction of the American automobile industry and the economy is mileage standards.  The new rule raises them so high only EVs can meet the standards.  That government EV mileage figures are wildly deceptive is beside the point.  The MMPA is going to save the planet regardless of what other nations do, so Americans are just going to have to suffer.

There are basically three ways to improve mileage: (1) Make vehicles lighter. (2) Improve aerodynamics.  (3) Improve combustion efficiency.

American manufacturers have made substantial improvements in all three categories, but future improvements, absent unimaginable jumps in technology, will be incremental.  Unfortunately, EVs are far heavier than internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, some minimum 1000 pounds heavier due to the battery.  That makes them harder on tires, harder on road surfaces, and far more dangerous in accidents, particularly with ICE vehicles.  They’re also hell on guardrails. 

Existing parking garages weren’t designed for the extra weight and future structures will have to be far more expensive to handle that weight.  As I noted, NHTSA EV mileage figures are hopelessly optimistic—outright lies—because they assume absolutely ideal conditions, such as flat roads, mild temperatures, no headwinds, driving far below posted highway speeds, no hills, no air conditioning or heaters, no passengers or cargo, etc.  Real world experience yields ranges far below government guesstimates.

Vehicle aerodynamics have improved just about as much as possible.  One can’t build maximally aerodynamic vehicles without compromising safety, or reducing passenger and cargo volume to ridiculous levels. Think Corvette vs SUV.  EVs can be no better in this category than ICE vehicles.

EV range will never improve absent unforeseeable jumps in technology.  Hardly a day goes by that someone, somewhere, doesn’t announce a new battery technology that will change the world, yet that miraculous tech somehow never makes it into production.  However, internal combustion technology continues to incrementally improve.

It must always be remembered that EV range must be calculated with only 80% battery capacity.  A vehicle with a 320 mile sticker range has only 260, maximum.  Manufacturers don’t want EV batteries charged to 100% as it dramatically reduces battery life.  Batteries can only be charged relatively rapidly–perhaps 45 minutes–with level 3 chargers to 80%.  Thereafter, charging has to slow to keep the battery from exploding, adding hours to the process.  There aren’t many level 3 chargers around, most don’t work most of the time, and the MMPA’s grand strategy to cover the country in EV chargers has thus far, in more than a year, produced two.

Consider this from Powerline:

EVs made up less than 8% of new auto sales last year, and more than half were Teslas. They accounted for less than 4% of General Motors and Ford sales. Foreign luxury auto makers such as BMW (12.5%), Mercedes (11.4%) and Porsche (10%) will have an easier time meeting the Biden mandates because their affluent customers can more easily afford EVs.

The average price of a new EV is roughly $50,000, and only two cost less than $40,000 as of December: the Chevy Bolt and Nissan Leaf. Some makers have slashed EV prices to boost sales, but they are also losing money. Ford ran an operating loss of $4.7 billion on its EV business in 2023, equivalent to $64,731 per EV sold.

The companies are heavily subsidizing EVs with profits from gas-powered cars. This means middle-class Americans in Fargo are paying more for gas-powered cars so the affluent in Napa Valley can buy cheaper EVs. This cost-shift won’t be financially sustainable as the Biden mandate ramps up, and it may not be politically sustainable either.

The New York Post adds detail:  

However, the administration has not given up the goal of making electric vehicles total 70% of new sales by 2032.

Achieving this goal in eight short years is an unobtainable and ultimately destructive pipe dream.

This regulatory overreach is just one prong of the administration’s multi-agency assault on consumer freedom.

At the same time as it abandons the hard-won independence granted by domestically produced oil and gas and forces drivers into unwanted electric vehicles, it is also transitioning the American economy to a reliance on critical minerals produced or refined in China.

Electric vehicles use six times more metals and minerals than traditional vehicles, but Biden refuses to issue permits for the mines needed to produce these minerals in the U.S.

In another federal agency, Biden administration appointees are forcing a drastic increase in the average fuel economy standards for light-duty vehicles.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is hiking those standards from 49 mpg to 58 mpg. This is another method of pushing American consumers out of reliable cars and into electric vehicles.

And what of the American economy?  China, which owns the Biden Crime Family, is poised to hasten the destruction:

Donald Trump was right. It’s going to be a bloodbath when China’s BYD starts selling its “fun-to-drive” Seagull EV in this country at a price not even Tesla can match.

The five-door hatchback doesn’t have the best range or fanciest amenities. But what it does have is a top price under $14,000, good safety features, aggressive looks, and plenty of financial backing from Beijing. BYD’s specialties are batteries and high-tech manufacturing, and they’re using both to aggressively expand overseas production and deliveries.

An improved version for South American markets, called the Dolphin Mini, is already on sale, starting at $21,990.

What less-informed Americans might not initially consider is they’ll need $11,000 or so for a home charger, if their neighborhood electric grid can even support one.  If they live in an apartment, or are attending college, ooops!

‘What we’ve seen over time is automotive manufacturers eventually enter all the markets that matter… Ultimately the Chinese will come to the U.S.,’ Marin Gjaja—chief operating officer for Ford’s EV unit — told CNBC in an interview last week.

The Alliance for American Manufacturing said in February, ‘The introduction of cheap Chinese autos—which are so inexpensive because they are backed with the power and funding of the Chinese government—to the American market could end up being an extinction-level event for the U.S. auto sector.’

Some might call it a bloodbath.

It was this Donald Trump was addressing while the media lied about it.  China is building multiple EV plants in Mexico, another hostile regime, and if the MMPA’s regulations are allowed to stand, the American auto manufacturing industry, and every industry that supplies it, right down to independent truckers, will be dramatically downsized or entirely destroyed, and with them, the American economy.  Chinese EVs will flood the market, further throwing open our southern border and completing the replacement of Americans with third world “newcomers” as the MMPA terms them.  We’re already well on the way to Chinese world domination, and the MMPA is gladly helping finish the job:

The Big Three owned a combined 75% of the U.S. auto market in 1984. Forty years later, that’s down to 40%. While it’s true that Detroit and the UAW are the authors of many of their own troubles, Washington has been there to demand the exact wrong thing at every step along the way of their fall from grace.

Even Maine’s government is far saner than the MMPA: 

The Maine Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) turned down the so-called Advanced Clean Cars program after receiving overwhelming opposition from stakeholders and citizens. The proposed program would have closely mirrored regulations approved in California, mandating that at least 51% of new car purchases in the state be electric by 2028 and 82% be electric by 2032.

‘The Maine Board of Environmental Protection received nearly 1,800 comments from the people of Maine and nearly 84% were not in favor of this EV mandate,’ Maine Senate Republican Leader Trey Stewart told Fox News Digital. ‘Maine is far too rural with far too few charging stations, and many Mainers are also concerned about the reliability of these vehicles in our extreme cold-weather months.’

Whether it’s possible for Donald Trump to be reelected remains to be seen.  The lawfare against him proceeds apace, though there are encouraging signs much of it may be falling apart before trial.  There can be no doubt there will be massive vote fraud in 2024.  AG Merrick Garland is mobilizing the DOJ to ensure it.  

However, Trump promises, among other things, to do away with Biden’s handler’s mandates:

‘Joe Biden’s extreme electric vehicle mandate will force Americans to buy ultra-expensive cars they do not want and cannot afford while destroying the U.S. auto industry in the process’Trump campaign national press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital in a statement. ‘This radical policy is anti-jobs, anti-consumer and anti-American.’

‘It will destroy the livelihoods of countless U.S. autoworkers while sending the U.S. auto industry to China. President Trump will reverse Joe Biden’s extreme electric vehicle mandate on Day One.’

Final Thoughts:  If anyone needed a compelling reason to vote against Joe Biden and the D/S/C Party, this is it.  The leaders of the UAW have endorsed Biden, but have admitted their rank and file members will almost certainly vote for Trump.  At this point, they’d vote for a Republican ham sandwich.

Where, pray tell, in the Constitution is this kind of empowerment of government?  From where does the EPA get this king-like authority?  The Supreme Court, long ago, ruled government doesn’t get to do whatever it wants just because some product might have moved in interstate commerce.

A deposit of rare earths, potentially the largest known in the world, has recently been discovered near Wheatland, WY.  Any bets, gentle readers, on whether the MMPA will allow mining there?  Just as they’ve made us oil dependent on our enemies, they’ll almost certainly continue to make us dependent on our enemies, primarily China, for the rare earths and other metals essential to EV production.  Rare earths are used in a wide variety of products, but that won’t matter to the MMPA.

This, gentle readers, like so much of what the MMPA has done and is doing, has nothing to do with the environment or anything else helpful to Americans.  It’s about control of every aspect of American lives.  Forcing Americans to rely on short range, unaffordable vehicles keeps them close to home, unable to travel, and politically organize, as they choose.  Such vehicles will surely feature mandated spyware, reporting to government every move an owner makes, and likely even everything they say.

If there has ever been an administration more determined to undermine America and Americans and aid our enemies, I can’t imagine who that might have been.