(p. A19) . . . there’s a good argument to be made that the government, and automakers, are leaning too hard into all-electric and neglecting the virtues of hybrid technology. When I first heard this counterintuitive argument from Toyota, I dismissed it as heel-dragging by a company that lags in electrics, but I’ve come around to the idea that hybrids — at least for now — do have a lot of advantages over all-electric vehicles.
. . .
(p. A6) “Toyota’s claim is accurate. We’ve crunched the numbers on this,” Ashley Nunes told me. He is a senior research associate at Harvard Law School and the director for federal policy, climate and energy at the Breakthrough Institute, a think tank. He testified on the topic in April [2023] before the House Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing and Critical Materials.
. . . electric vehicles consume huge quantities of lithium and other materials because they have huge batteries. And they have huge batteries because customers suffer from “range anxiety” and won’t buy an E.V. unless it can go for hundreds of miles without charging — even though the vast majority of trips are short.
. . .
Some people will keep driving old ICE-mobiles (cars with internal combustion engines) because they can’t afford an E.V. And those ICE-mobiles will continue to be major emitters of greenhouse gases.
The production of electric vehicles produces more greenhouse gases than the production of cars with combustion engines. So E.V.s have to travel between 28,000 and 68,000 miles before they have an emissions advantage over similarly sized and equipped ICE-mobiles, according to Nunes. That may take 10 years or more if the E.V. isn’t driven much.
For the full commentary, see:
(Note: ellipses added.)
(Note: the online version of the commentary has the date July 14, 2023, and has the title “A Climate Hawk’s Issues With Electric Vehicles.”)
I see several big problems with EVs for many people, especially the non-rich:
1. They’re outrageously expensive.
2. They’re only practical if you have a nice garage with electricity installed, in order to charge them overnight. Otherwise you have to waste endless time at charging stations. So if you live in an apartment, or in a neighborhood with older, garage-less houses, forget about them.
3. We’re starting to see parking garages prohibiting them due to structural concerns with their immense weight, especially as it adds up. And what use is a car if you can’t park it where you’re going?
Now, maybe (2), the excessive charging time, will eventually be solved, but that may well only add to the outrageous expense, by adding to battery weight and further shortening battery life.