On average, one of those so-called planet-saving Electric Edsels we hear so much about costs almost 20,000.00 dollars more than its fossil-fuel-fired counterpart, but that’s going to go up.
The rare earth metals needed to make batteries for these vehicles have skyrocketed in price. Inflation, supply chain, and other issues are pushing additional costs higher. And now, the European Union (EU) appears poised to declare lithium dangerous to human beings.
[T]he European Commission is currently assessing a proposal by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to classify lithium carbonate, chloride and hydroxide as dangerous for human health.
That would result in a more restrictive regulatory framework for their use at a time when the EU is aiming to be self-sufficient in electric vehicle batteries by 2025.
The proposal doesn’t ban lithium imports, but if legislated will add to costs for processors from more stringent rules controlling processing, packaging and storage.
The EU is easily one of the worst offenders when falling for the fake-green agenda, doing near-irreparable harm to its grids and people. Billions, if not trillions, have been diverted from practical or productive purposes in pursuit of this unicorn at the expense of other things.
And the distraction has made them susceptible to dependence on nations like Russia (not that relying on “batteries” isn’t the same whore in a different dress).
Now lithium, the lord and savior of the planet (which is not even close to true), could get a scarlet letter. No, we don’t have any. Yes, we must buy it from dodgy nations with substantial inhuman rights records. Yes, we have to have it, but we’re not about to make anything we insist you use more accessible or less expensive.
And yes, Democrats in the US are trying to make gasoline cost more.
The average American driver uses about 650 gallons a year. When Trump was president, it would take 15 years of paying for gasoline even to cover the difference between the cost of gas and the buy-in price of an EV. Under Biden, assuming gas gets no more expensive (but it will), you still need to drive the thing for 6.25 years.
That does not account for the expected lifespan of an EV battery. By law, these must be warrantied in the US for eight years or 100,000 miles, but most EV consumers believe battery life is closer to 65,000 miles. Charging devices and habits will also affect battery life, just like your mobile phone or laptop. And that all matters.
Replacement batteries for EVs are already expensive – up to $20,000 or more and rising. That’s another 20K.
And these things are not green. Their carbon footprint is significant both front and back end. Making more of them will offshore emissions, not reduce them. And only a fraction of the power needed to use them will ever come from the sun or the wind.
But their relentless pursuit could force change—the flipping of the first and third world.
Modernity requires power on demand and to spare. Nations like China and India are ramping up energy from coal. They are looking for and contracting the extraction of oil and gas globally. Amaco in Saudi Arabia has surpassed Apple as the richest “business” on Earth.
And here in the west, they are doing everything they can to pursue the opposite. The result can only be global civilization change dominated by the East instead of the west.
And given who we’ve allowed to run things and where we are headed, maybe that’s not such a bad thing for civilization.
