Thank you Max. Dwight Giles Jr. Wickford RI
On Fri, Jul 2, 2021, 3:40 PM Meade Dillon via Mercedes < mercedes@okiebenz.com> wrote: > Robert Bryce testified before a House committee yesterday on the subject of > electric vehicles. > > > https://docs.house.gov/meetings/CN/CN00/20210630/112853/HHRG-117-CN00-Wstate-BryceR-20210630.pdf > > Robert is one of the country’s most knowledgeable experts on energy, and I > encourage you to read his entire testimony. Here are some highlights as > summarized by him: > > * I’m pro-electricity, but I am adamantly opposed to the notion that we > should “electrify everything” including transportation. > > * EVs are cool. They are not new. The history of EVs is a century of > failure tailgating failure. In 1911, the New York Times said that the > electric car “has long been recognized as the ideal solution.” In 1990, the > California Air Resources Board mandated 10% of car sales be zero-emission > vehicles by 2003. Today, 31 years later, only about 6% of the cars in > California have an electric plug. > > * The average household income for EV buyers is about $140,000. That’s > roughly two times the U.S. average. And yet, federal EV tax credits force > low- and middle-income taxpayers to subsidize the Benz and Beemer crowd. > > * Lower-income Americans are facing huge electric rate increases for grid > upgrades to accommodate EVs even though they will probably never own one. > > * This month, the California Energy Commission estimated the state will > need 1.3 million new public EV chargers by 2030. The likely cost to > ratepayers: about $13 billion. > > * Meanwhile, blackouts are almost certain this summer and electricity > prices are “absolutely exploding.” California’s electricity prices went up > by 7.5% last year and they will likely rise another 40% by 2030. This, in a > state with the highest poverty rate and largest Latino population in > America. How is racial justice or social equity being served by such > regressive policies? > > * I also talked about resilience, saying “Electrifying everything is the > opposite of anti-fragile. Electrifying transportation will put more of our > energy eggs in one basket. It will make the grid an even-bigger target for > terrorists, cyberthieves, or bad actors. It will reduce resilience and > reliability in case of a prolonged grid failure due to natural disaster, > equipment failure, or human error.” > > I also highlighted the myriad supply-chain problems with EVs. Citing work > done by the Natural History Museum in London, I said that electrifying half > of the U.S. motor vehicle fleet would require in rough terms: > > * 9 times the world’s current cobalt production > * 4 times global neodymium output > * 3 times global lithium production > * 2 times world copper production > > I concluded by saying: > > Oil’s dominance in transportation is largely due to its high energy > density. That density and improvements in internal combustion engines and > hybrids assure that oil will be fueling transport for decades to come. > Powerful lobby groups want Congress to spend billions on electrification > schemes that will impose regressive taxes on low-income Americans, reduce > our resilience, and increase reliance on China. That’s a dubious trifecta. > > ------------- > Max > Charleston SC > _______________________________________ > http://www.okiebenz.com > > To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ > > To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: > http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com > > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
