I think that my position on Electric Vehicles (EVs) has been pretty consistent … let those who desire and can afford EVs, purchase them. However, do not mandate their use for everyone, as not everyone can afford an EV. Mandating the use of an expensive vehicle that many of the least affluent among us cannot afford seems cruel and regressive, but it is actually worse than what first meets the eye.
From The Daily Caller:
“President Joe Biden’s massive electric vehicle (EV) agenda will subsidize the lifestyles of America’s well-to-do while hitting average people the hardest, economists and auto market analysts told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Manufacturers are slashing prices of their EVs to make the vehicles more appealing to consumers, which will increase prices for internal combustion engine (ICE) cars to compensate; this dynamic will only pick up speed and infect the used-car market favored by lower-income consumers as the administration’s stringent regulations kick in over time.
‘As the mandated market share of EVs grows, the number of ICE vehicle sales must shrink. A decreasing number of ICE vehicle sales would have to prop up an increasing number of EV sales. The price hike per ICE vehicle would have to increase to offset losses on the ever-larger volume EVs sold,’ Marlo Lewis, a senior fellow for the Competitive Enterprise Institute. ‘Used cars compete with new cars for customers. If new car prices rise, so will used car prices. Even with generous federal, state, and manufacturer incentives, EVs cost thousands of dollars more than comparable ICE vehicles, and millions of middle-income households are already priced out of the market for new vehicles.’
In 2022, approximately 38.6 million used vehicles were sold, compared to 13.6 million brand new vehicles, according to data aggregated by Statista. The regressive impacts of the administration’s EV agenda stand at odds with much of its rhetoric on its environmental agenda, which broadly seeks to promote climate policy and social justice at the same time.
‘Even if it’s not explicitly stated, the only way that automakers can survive billions in losses from its EV division is to increase the profits from the other division (conventional car),’ Mark Mills, the director of the National Center for Energy Analytics said. ‘The long-term and downstream impacts of this cross-subsidization are “profoundly regressive,” he added, alluding to the fact that the government and manufacturers are taking actions in ways that make luxury EVs less expensive while driving up the costs of models favored by the everyman.”
4/16/24