Electric Vehicles and the Myth of Zero Emissions

At National Renewable Energy Laboratory, EV vehicles in the Optical Characterization (OCL) and Thermal Systems lab in the ESIF. DOE Photo.

The Biden administration isn’t being honest with the American public. Unlike what the White House would have you believe electric vehicles are not “zero emissions.”

Why is that? EVs still need to be charged from a local electricity grid, as Charlotte Whelan reports at The Daily Caller.

What the White House doesn’t tell you is that electric vehicles aren’t as “zero-emissions” as they would like you to believe. Electric cars still need to be charged from the local electricity grid — which may be using any variety of energy sources with varying amounts of carbon emissions. For example, if an electric vehicle is charging on a coal-based power grid, then it is increasing the demand for electricity in that grid, leading to increased emissions from the coal power plant. And the batteries for these vehicles require minerals like lithium and cobalt which are largely found outside of the U.S., in places such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Chile, which have little consideration for their own environmental impact, not to mention the human rights abuses associated with the mining of these minerals.

Paying Through the Nose

Instead of saving Americans money, the average electric vehicle costs about $20,000 more than the average gas-powered vehicle. While EV proponents argue that electric vehicles save money down the road in reduced fuel and maintenance costs, some studies have shown that, depending on your regional gas and electricity prices, it could take more than 15 years to recoup the upfront extra costs in fuel savings. The average American certainly can’t wait that long to “make back” the additional upfront cost, especially as they’ll already be paying through the nose in taxes to support the charging stations that the government has promised to provide.

Listen to the Science?

In this era of COVID-19, we’ve often heard the phrase, “listen to the science.” President Biden and his administration should do just that and stop forcing expensive and ineffective ways to reduce carbon emissions on the American people.

Before the pandemic, coincidentally while Donald Trump was president, energy prices were relatively stable. In the past year, however, prices have risen:

• Gasoline8%
• Electricity 4%
• Piped Gas 19%

According to the WSJ, “The spot price of natural gas is the highest in nearly seven summers, and energy analysts predict that natural gas (and thus electricity) rates will rise more this winter.”

As Ms. Whelan observes, the U.S. has a long history of rising to the challenge and finding innovative solutions to America’s problems.

We have already made great progress in developing clean energy solutions and will continue to find new ways to reduce emissions without forcing Americans to rely on technologies that have shown to have little environmental upside and come at great cost to the American people.