Free Republic

Congressional Republicans are making a last-ditch effort to gut the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) green energy subsidies via President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill.” The House Ways and Means Committee unveiled a draft bill Monday afternoon to repeal several IRA subsidies including those for electric vehicles and so-called clean hydrogen while preserving tax credits for carbon sequestration, biofuels and advanced manufacturing, which primarily benefit solar and battery storage projects. Republican Utah Sen. Mike Lee and Reps. Chip Roy of Texas and Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma’s Energy Freedom Act would take an even more aggressive approach by proposing a...

California and 16 other states are suing the Trump administration for halting federal money slated to build more electric vehicle chargers. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta accused the Trump administration of unlawfully withholding funding approved by Congress in the lawsuit filed in federal court Wednesday. The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure program had dedicated $5 billion to expand clean car charging across the country, including more than $300 million for projects in California.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson confirmed that current discussions about the $7,500 federal tax credit for electric vehicles in the budget would “more likely than not” result in killing the EV incentive. The US Congress is back from its April pause, and negotiations over the federal budget continue. As part of the new budget, the Trump administration is pushing for further tax cuts that the new tariffs can’t compensate for. This will lead to an even bigger deficit, which Trump campaigned on fixing. Elon Musk’s DOGE effort was supposed to cut $2 trillion in expenses, but the target has since...

Slate Auto’s new vehicle is designed to make EVs more accessible by making most features optional add-ons. The company says it will start delivering vehicles in 2026. *************************************************************** A new auto startup is launching with a made-in-America EV that with federal tax credits will cost just $20,000. Backed by Jeff Bezos and Eric Schmidt, Slate Auto says that affordable price is possible because of its pared-down, basic model that can then be customized—and even transformed from a truck into an SUV. Slate Auto has been in stealth for almost three years, says CEO Chris Barman, who worked as a Chrysler...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California is spending $500 million to put an additional 1,000 electric school buses on the road as federal cuts and freezes paused efforts in other states to replace aging diesel-fueled fleets that are more polluting. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office announced Wednesday that 1,000 zero-emission school buses and related charging infrastructure will be provided to over 130 rural, low-income and disadvantaged school districts. The state grants add about 500 more charging stations for school buses to more than 200 stations already in operation in districts. The expansion contrasts efforts in other states that were hampered by the...

Barack Obama’s Ivanpah Solar Electric Power Plant has officially failed and will begin shutting gone operations early 2026.. - $1.6 BILLION in federal loans. - $535 MILLION grant. - $600 MILLION tax credit. - MASSIVE investor write-offs.. A SCAM paid for by US Taxpayers for NOTHING ... Obamala himself is not bankrupt. Indeed, he remains awash in undrowned private chefs. Never leave your wallet unattended in the presence of Democrats. ... His first scam was Solyndra. ... Ivanpah: $2.7B to boil birds in the desert. California Bullet Train: $100B to almost connect two places no one’s trying to go. One...

US Experience The US has seen two eras in e-bike injury—an early era with the majority of deaths in older patients who have the financial resources to purchase earlier generation and more expensive e-bikes but were less skilled riding a bicycle. During the pandemic, sales of all bikes increased, and the closure of gyms and social distancing led some to purchase e-bikes as a safe option for outdoor exercise. In the second era, e-bike prices fell significantly and became more affordable, leading to a dramatic increase in pediatric use and injury. [snip] For decades, MarinHealth Medical Center has been the...

"How many deaths are we prepared to accept in order to rush through an EV transition that nobody wants?"

It’s become vogue on the right to trash electric vehicles. And, mostly, we’re right to. Most of them are garbage retrofits that rely on a garbage network of chargers which are made by garbage ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) manufacturers who have absolutely no idea what they are doing. What they are manufacturing is virtue-signaling, not cars with anything even remotely resembling good EV—or any other type of—engineering. And then there’s Tesla. There are EVs, and there are Teslas. And though they are both clearly electric cars, they are two completely different animals. This article aims to give you a permanent...

Data Center Alley, a 30-square-mile stretch outside Washington D.C. and home to more than 200 data centers, consumes roughly the same electricity as Boston. So power company officials were alarmed when a big chunk of those centers – 60 of them – suddenly dropped off the grid one day last summer and switched to on-site generators. The mass reaction was triggered by a standard safety mechanism across the data center industry, intended to protect computer chips and electronic equipment from damage caused by voltage fluctuations. But it caused a huge surge in excess electricity, according to federal regulators and utility...

… Oregon transportation officials say that without more funding, residents like (Timothy) Taylor could see further declines in the quality of roads, highways and bridges starting this year. But revenues from gas taxes paid by drivers at the pump are projected to decrease as more people adopt electric and fuel-efficient cars, forcing officials to look for new ways to fund transportation infrastructure. States with aggressive climate goals like Oregon are facing a conundrum: EVs can help reduce emissions in the transportation sector, the nation’s largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, but they also mean less gas tax revenue in government...

The electric buses in question were made by a company called Proterra, which went bankrupt two years ago.. A city in Washington is selling nearly half of its electric bus fleet following reliability issues and difficulty getting replacement parts. The Everett City Council voted earlier this week to sell nine of the electric buses, of which only four are in service right now, because of reliability issues, including critical sensors and components that have been failing since they went into service. The city is now looking to purchase retrofitted diesel buses so there are no gaps in service. According to...

In yet another stunning example of government waste, the Biden administration’s $3 billion scheme to convert the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) fleet to electric vehicles (EVs) has delivered nothing but empty promises, skyrocketing costs, and a mere 93 vehicles out of the planned 50,000. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Representative Michael Cloud (R-Texas) are leading the charge against reckless taxpayer-funded disaster. They introduced the Return to Sender Act, a bill aimed at clawing back the unspent billions that were funneled into the failed USPS EV initiative under Biden’s so-called Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). “Biden’s $3 billion EV fleet for USPS...

State Democratic lawmakers are trying to pump the brakes on the Hochul administration’s “nearly impossible” green-energy rule requiring more new large trucks to be emissions-free. The proposal, pushed by state Sen. Jeremy Coney Cooney (D-Rochester) and Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo (D-Binghamton), would postpone the start of the Democratic governor’s edict until at least Jan. 1, 2027. Hochul’s recent “Advanced Clean Trucks” rule requires manufacturers of vehicles greater than 8,500 pounds to sell an increasing number of zero-emission vehicles in New York, starting with a 7% zero emissions sales percentage in 2025 and ramping up every model year through 2035, to 40%...

The Trump administration is shutting down EV chargers at all federal government buildings and is also expected to sell off the General Services Administration‘s (GSA) newly bought EVs. GSA, which manages all federal government-owned buildings, also operates the federal buildings’ EV chargers. Federally owned EVs and federal employee-owned personal EVs are charged on those 8,000 charging ports. The Verge reports it’s been told by a source that plans will be officially announced internally next week, and it’s seen an email that GSA has already sent to regional offices about the plans: “As GSA has worked to align with the current...

Scandal-scarred electric semi-truck maker Nikola — a pandemic darling once valued at $30 billion — filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday. The company said it is seeking an auction and sale process of its assets, becoming the latest electric-vehicle maker to stumble after grappling with tepid demand, rapid cash burn and funding challenges. “Like other companies in the electric vehicle industry, we have faced various market and macroeconomic factors that have impacted our ability to operate,” chief executive Steve Girsky said in a statement. **SNIP** Nikola shares plummeted 40% Wednesday morning. Electric car sales have been faltering in the US due...

There is considerable buzz in Washington about the disclosures of Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Lee Zeldin on controversial grants by the Biden Administration, including the $50 million environmental justice grant to an organization that believes “climate justice travels through a Free Palestine.” However, one item was particularly notable: $160 million to a Canadian electric bus manufacturer which later announced bankruptcy without fulfilling the contract. Both the Obama and Biden Administration wasted billions in loans and grants on green initiatives including the failed solar-panel company Solyndra and most recently the termination of the Ivanpah Solar Power Plant. These...

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow was pulling a Rachel Maddow on Wednesday night when she attempted to set off a conspiracy theory about Elon Musk and the Trump administration. The left-wing cable host devoted a segment of her show to accusing President Donald Trump and Musk of corruption and “self-dealing” over a potential $400 million purchase of armored Tesla vehicles through a State Department contract. However, Maddow omitted a crucial detail of the story: the planned purchase was listed in a procurement document published in December under former President Joe Biden’s administration, weeks before Trump even took office. Tonight, Rachel Maddow led...

U.S. electric rates are going up. In Missouri, Ameren increased residential power bills by 11% less than two years ago, and now it is seeking another 15% increase, per the Public Service Commission (PSC). According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), rate increases were experienced in 43 American states between 2023 and 2024. The EIA also reported record rate increases between 2021 and 2024 projections. In California, the Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) was granted six rate increases in 2024. Local ABC 30 Action News reported that The Utility Reform Network estimated that residents had experienced a $50...

There is a private property rights battle brewing in rural parts of southeastern Colorado, New Mexico and Oklahoma and portions of the Dakotas, Nebraska and five Tribal Nations. The U.S. Department of Energy has plans to establish the National Interest Electric Transmission Corridors or NIETCs, in these areas and the corridors span five to 15 miles in width. If approved, in New Mexico about 2 million acres of mostly private property would be transferred to the control of the federal government potentially via eminent domain. In Colorado, farmers, ranchers and rural residents stand to lose control of 325,000 acres in...