The EV Scam: A Likely Reason for So Epic a Folly

PJ Media ^ | 8/8/2024 | David Solway

[Signalman]

Germany’s leading car parts supplier ZF has recently been forced to cut one-fifth to one-quarter of its workforce, owing in part to Chinese competition and in part to “weak demand for electric vehicles.” Other firms like Bosch, Continental, and Webasto have also been forced to “restructure.” Yet the CEOs of these companies continue absurdly to believe in the future of “electromobility,” since the European Union plans to outlaw fossil fuel-powered vehicles as of 2035. The short-sightedness of EU bureaucrats will lead inevitably to market implosion and an economic collapse, and the car-makers have no option, it seems, but to comply with government fiat.

Fewer and fewer people want these cars. As I’ve written in meticulous detail, they comprise a technical hazard, a convenience disaster, an energy cannibal, a financial liability, and a moral ignominy. The defects associated with the industry are effectively insurmountable for the indefinite future. Cost is prohibitive. EVs are overall polluters. There is not nearly enough available electric power to fuel them. They are not eco-friendly, despite what the propaganda industry would have us believe. The lithium-ion battery is an IED waiting to detonate, flammable, corrosive, and toxic. My neighbor, a Director of Engineering for a major tech firm, cautions: “Never park an EV in an enclosed garage. Not if you value your house.” A test driver for a German EV manufacturer in a comment to the above-linked article reports: “The vehicle's range was too low [and] charging station connectors failed to communicate with the onboard computer.” EVs tend to stall during a downpour. Charging times can run up to an hour and a quarter for an 80% fill compared to a few minutes for an ICE vehicle.

[Jonty30]

You can add a really low ratio of work/energy unit.

[Wuli]

Every aspect of the “green” “electrification” agenda is a big fail because every part of it exists as mandates and mandates for which no actual planning has ever been done, as to how any one of the mandates can be achieved without economic harm just trying to achieve them.

The “green” agenda is a Pol Pot style agenda - destroy everything that is in order to build a Utopia.

[TalBlack]

ALL of our problems are down to one thing: Adults are not in charge. Psychotic ideologues are. Simple. I mean the Pastor brought up that Swedish or whatever kid who thinks he she or it is the wrong sex and child services and the school and the law came to the parents house and took the kid….AND TOOK THE KID.

Well I’m an adult and God fearing…

[PGR88]

I’ve got my own “Austrian” view of this.

Printed fiat money, allowing massive financialization, manipulation of interest rates, and government debt - gives vast social-engineering power to government, monetary redistribution ability to political blocs, and financial skimming opportunities to financial cronies.

“Green Energy” is our latest and greatest example of this.

[aquila48]

“ALL of our problems are down to one thing: Adults are not in charge.”

And whose fault is that?

To me that means us supposedly “adults” are nothing but permissive parents letting spoiled brats run all over us and have the run of the house.

Do you agree?

[Alberta's Child]

I've got my own "Alberta's Child" view of this ...

You are seeing an inevitable dilemma with a modern economy like ours.

When you have the highest standard of living in the history of mankind, you have reached a point where: (1) your citizens have all they really need and don't have to buy more, and (2) your citizens can no longer afford to pay the cost of buying what they produce.

You end up with a completely untenable and unsustainable environment where everyone wants to pay Walmart prices while working for $50/hour. The only way to keep this charade going is to have more and more people employed in jobs that don't actually involve producing things that people buy voluntarily. Instead, these people must work in jobs where they "sell" to "customers" who have no interest in buying what they sell: through government, regulation, mandates. etc.

[SavannahWonderer]

Battery Plants are still being built all over the US. The construction company I am affiliated with has 10 that are being built, with an 11th in Noth Mississippi getting underway. Obviously free gubmint $ starts them off BUT longterm contracts must be in place to sustain them. Looks like no demand for their product at all but they are still getting built at billions each...
Maybe they know something that we don’t...

[cymbeline]

“owing in part to Chinese competition and in part to “weak demand for electric vehicles.” “

Two things going on here.

(1) EV manufacturing, demand, sales, etc.

(2) Very low ocean shipping costs allow countries with cheap labor to provide products to other countries around the world cheaper than those countries can make them.

I consider (1) the minor problem and (2) the major one.

[TalBlack]

It’s our fault for not sorting them out.They stole an election in front of our faces. If we don’t stop clowning around and get serious we’ll find ourselves on our knees.

[doorgunner69]

Oversized electric golf cart fanbois hardest hit.

[central_va]

Simple solution is really high import tariffs and lower income taxes.

[Ann Archy]

It’s ALL about CONTROLLING US!! Where we go....HOW we get there....HOW FAR WE CAN GO. ALL TO CONTROL US!!

[central_va]

Very low ocean shipping costs allow countries with cheap labor to provide products to other countries around the world cheaper than those countries can make them.

The amount of labor that goes into each widget we import is small, maybe 2 or 3%. However if Made in the USA the amount of labor that goes into each widget is still small at 5-7%. So we are gutting out economy for 2 or 3 cents on the dollar. This is nuts.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

“longterm contracts must be in place to sustain them. “

Ask the windmill mfgrs about their cancelled long term energy contracts for offshore wind in the northeast US.

[SamAdams76]

Like Trump said today in his press conference, we just cannot make enough electricity (for everybody to have an electric car).

Intelligent people should have realized that. Electric cars are just a niche product.

[Alberta's Child]

High tariffs help defend against cheap foreign competition, but they don’t help drive up consumption here in the U.S. when population growth is anemic and productivity growth is NEGATIVE.

[Moltke]

the European Union plans to outlaw fossil fuel-powered vehicles as of 2035

"Only" new cars. Existing ICE cars will not be scrapped. If they pull that through (I don't think so) European traffic in another 50 years will look like Havanna today.

[Dr. Sivana]

Every aspect of the “green” “electrification” agenda is a big fail because every part of it exists as mandates and mandates for which no actual planning has ever been done, as to how any one of the mandates can be achieved without economic harm just trying to achieve them.

If we look at the recent past, catalytic converters and unleaded gas were forced on the U.S. with little planning. It really took nearly 20 years for the engineers to undo the damage done to horsepower and overall performance due to them. Many of the workarounds done (Chrysler Lean Burn, pumping emissions back into the engine) just made the problems worse.

Funny how 50 years later, the 1960s American cars are still drooled over, and the 1970s cars are stuck in the bargain basement. (the bumper rules that ruined the look of many of the cars plus lower grade steel also contributed to that).

[lurk]

There are six reasons for every collectivist pogrom in the last 110 yrs.

Money
Power
Money
Power
Money
Power