It is often taken as a given that electric vehicles are friendlier for the environment and that we will all inevitably be driving them in the future. In this short video, Mark P. Mills of the National Center for Energy Analytics questions the government’s push towards EVs, and whether these “givens” are true.
Battery
EV Buyers Regret Choice (Update)
UPDATE – UPDATE – UPDATE
Although the electric vehicle market has seen significant growth over the past few years, there are signs that the exponential growth will slow down, with automakers like General Motors reducing electric vehicle sales and production targets. In fact, it appears as though even some EV owners themselves are yearning for a return to ICE-powered models.
According to a report from Automotive News, consulting firm McKinsey & Co. found that 46 percent of U.S. respondents who currently own an electric vehicle are likely to buy an ICE-powered vehicle as their next car purchase, with charging concerns standing out as the largest hindrance toward the gradual transition to all-electric vehicles.
Beyond this, McKinsey & Co. also found that 29 percent of electric vehicle owners worldwide are likely to switch to gasoline vehicles, citing the same concerns.
“I didn’t expect that,” McKinsey & Co. Center for Future Mobility Leader Philipp Kampshoff remarked. “I thought, ‘Once an EV buyer, always an EV buyer.’”
[….]
Interestingly, electric vehicle owners appear to be experiencing buyer’s remorse due to inadequate public charging infrastructure, high ownership costs, and limitations with long trips.
See also WINTERY KNIGHT!
~ Original Post Below ~
Bottom line of this post? EV CARS SUCK!
- “Overnight, we’re looking at 36 miles of range,” he told Insider. “Before I gave it back to Ford, because I wanted to give it back full, I drove it to the office and plugged in at the charger we have there.” — BUSINESS INSIDER
….Standard home outlets generally deliver 120 volts, powering at a level EV experts call “Level 1” charging, while the higher-powered specialty connections that can pump up to 240 volts into electric cars is known as “Level 2.”
The difference is night and day, according to the researchers. Of those who switched from EVs back to gas cars, over 70 percent lacked access to Level 2 charging at home, and slightly less than that lacked Level 2 connections at their workplaces.
“If you don’t have a Level 2, it’s almost impossible [to keep an EV],” noted Kevin Tynan, an automotive analyst for Bloomberg. Tynan used to own a Ford Mustang Mach-E, a battery-electric crossover SUV. Plugging it into his home outlet for an hour could give the Mach-E just three miles of range.
“Overnight, we’re looking at 36 miles of range,” he said. “Before I gave it back to Ford, because I wanted to give it back full, I drove it to the office and plugged it in at the charger we have there.”
For comparison, it takes an average of three minutes to fill up the gas tank of a Ford Mustang, which has enough range to go about 300 miles before needing to refuel.….
1 in 5 EV Buyers Switch Back to Gas-Powered Cars: Study (THE DRIVE | Apr 30, 2021)
Electric vehicles are poised to become a mainstay of transportation in the United States and abroad. Many countries are banning the sale of new internal combustion-powered vehicles around the year 2030, and with nearly every automaker having launched or already launching new EVs, the writing is on the wall.
But according to new research from Nature Energy, not everybody who takes the leap and buys an electric car sticks with the decision. In fact, around one in five people—or 20 percent—switch back to gasoline-powered cars. Why? Well, it’s for a variety of reasons, as it turns out.
The research, to start, was conducted with a sample size of 4,160 people. All of them purchased an electric vehicle in the state of California between 2012 and 2018, so this data is already a few years old now, and as we know, things have changed a lot since 2018 when it comes to EVs. But in any case 1,840 of those 4,160 people had made a decision about purchasing their next vehicle, which is how Nature Energy gathered the data for the “one in five” claim. It gathered other data about these people as well to learn more about their decision.
Those who were least likely to stick with electric vehicles were the ones who depended on them for their only means of transportation—so essentially people who only had one car, and the EV was it. People who lived in places where home charging was difficult also abandoned electric vehicles at higher rates, which is a good segue into the types of people EVs still aren’t right for: those who make less money.
Adopters who were most likely to ditch EVs were generally younger, were more likely to rent their living spaces and were less likely to live in a standalone house. This makes it very difficult to secure 240v fast charging where these people live, so they’re completely dependent on public charging stations. Women also switched back to gas-powered vehicles at higher rates than men, although the paper offered no concrete suggestion as to why that might be.
The study also found that improvements to public charging infrastructure didn’t really matter to these people, implying that they perhaps only travel short distances in their vehicles and take fewer long trips. This suggests that investments in public charging infrastructure may not be the simple one-size-fits-all solution that EVs need to gain popularity…..
One Out Of Five Electric Car Buyers Return To Gas-Powered Cars (POST MILLENNIAL | Sep 5, 2023)
Drivers cited “dissatisfaction with the convenience of charging” as a reason to return to gas-powered vehicles.
A new study has revealed that one in five early adopters of electric vehicles are going back to using internal combustion engines leading to a fall in the price of electric vehicles (EVs).
According to the study published in Nature, of those early adopters of EVs in California from 2012 through 2018, 20 percent of those who opted for plug-in hybrids have returned to gas-powered vehicles, while 18 percent of EV drivers returned to internal combustion engines with their next vehicle purchase.
One demographic is those who moved to a new place with no Level 2 chargers, which could be related to migration away from urban centers to more suburban and rural areas during the Covid pandemic.
Drivers also cited “dissatisfaction with the convenience of charging” as a reason to return to gas-powered vehicles.
Additionally, households with fewer vehicles were more likely to opt for a return to gas-powered vehicles, as well as any household that bought an EV but kept at least one less efficient vehicle.
Women were more likely to return to a gas-powered vehicle than men, according to the study.
In June it was revealed that over one thousand employees of the Ford Motor Company would be losing their jobs as a result of a significant loss of revenue due to electric vehicle investment efforts. Additionally, the automaker is expecting to lose $3 billion in electric vehicle operating profit in 2023, and the company’s current operating costs are $7 billion to $8 billion, higher than any other competitor, which has forced the company to lay off employees, along with other cost-saving measures…..
Trickle Down Economics: The Impact of Government Interference
This is really a story about a GOVERNMENT INDUCED SHIT SHOW. The artificial inflation of a segment of the market that will “trickle-down” (so-to-speak) to many aspects of our lives. And so, with billions given to EV production from the Inflation Reduction Act will accomplish the exact opposite of what the Democrats promised it would do. Of course we all knew this, I am just pointing out the EV connection. As one article notes below,
- The automakers are still healing from the chip shortage, which we talked about in one of our previous articles: Chip Shortage Puts a Brake on Automotive Production. They are now faced with lithium supply constraints which are not expected to ease down for a couple of years. And then there is also a looming threat of a shortage of other minerals such as graphite, nickel, cobalt, etc., which are also critical for the production of EV components.
It will take years for economists to sift through the wreckage of Big-Government edicts and messianic proclamations to “save the planet.” For now, all I can do is sound the alarm bells, in my own corner of the WWW.
QUOTE w/MEDIA
This is a FLASHBACK that originally aired on the radio Jul 2, 2013. Dennis Prager interviews George Gilder about his new book, “Knowledge and Power: The Information Theory of Capitalism and How it is Revolutionizing our World.” I found this small bit on Dodd-Frank interesting as it leads to government interference creating a business atmosphere that nets zero information — or — creativity, entrepreneurial investment, or new growth and business.
- “A fundamental principle of information theory is that you can’t guarantee outcomes… in order for an experiment to yield knowledge, it has to be able to fail. If you have guaranteed experiments, you have zero knowledge” | George Gilder (The Fuller Interview Is Here)
EDITOR’S NOTE: this is how the USSR ended up with warehouses FULL of “widgets” (things made that it could not use or people did not want) no one needed in the real world. This economic law enforcers George Gilder’s contention that when government supports a venture from failing, no information is gained in knowing if the program actually works. Only the free-market can do this.
Why the posting of this key idea, or, rightly called an economic law. There are two stories I wish to share that brought me to think about this old audio I uploaded to my YouTube, and just fixed and reuploaded to my RUMBLE.
STORY 1
US to Give Automakers, Suppliers $12B to Produce EVs
The United States is making $12 billion available in grants and loans for automakers and suppliers to retrofit their plants to produce electric and other advanced vehicles, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told reporters Thursday.
The Biden administration will also offer $3.5 billion in funding to domestic battery manufacturers, Granholm said.
For the advanced vehicles, $2 billion of the funding will come from the Inflation Reduction Act which Democrats passed last year, and $10 billion will come from the Energy Department’s Loans Program Office, Granholm said…….
STORY 2
U.S. EV Share Goes Flat At 7.1% Through June As Gas Autos Return
EV share of the new-vehicle market flattened out at 7.1 percent across the first half of the year after growing steadily in 2021 and 2022, according to U.S. new-vehicle registration data from Experian.
Is the party over? Hardly.
But in the fast-growing U.S. market of the moment, as microchip supplies improve and the production of popular gasoline-engine autos returns in force this summer, EVs are no longer outpacing the rest of the car business — at least for now…..
ALSO:
- EVs sat at dealerships for an average of 92 days in the second quarter of 2023 versus 36 days for the same period in 2022. (U.S. NEWS and WORLD REPORT)
However, the push by governments to replace fossil fuels will increase production of these EV vehicles, reducing inflation will be impossible as prices of all sorts of items will greatly increase. 2-billion wasted and doing just the opposite of what Democrats say it would do.
The below articles will deal primarily with Nickel, but the overuse of this material as well as others in battery production due to this artificial inflation by governments will create interference in knowledge to be produced allowing the market [people] to make choices based on supply and demand.
What this means is that a shit show will trickle-down the supply chain. To the cost of stainless steel, to other ingredients key to electronics and all batteries. In other words,
A GOVERNMENT INDUCED SHIT SHOW HAS BEGUN
NATIONAL SECURITY (Sino-Russian)
Global Nickel Mining Industry – Statistics & Facts
Nickel is a chemical element and a transition metal. It is mostly used for high-grade steel manufacturing, and increasingly so, in batteries. Global production of nickel from mines was estimated to amount to a total of 3.3 million metric tons in 2022. The major countries in nickel mining include Indonesia, Philippines, Russia, and New Caledonia. Home to the world’s two largest nickel mines based on production in 2022 was Russia, with the Kola MMC Mine’s production amounting to 151,030 metric tons and the Sorowako Mine producing 77,270 metric tons of nickel. Indonesia has the largest reserves of nickel, tied with Australia, and followed by and Brazil in third place. Interestingly, nickel reserves are among the metals and minerals with the least remaining life years, however, because nickel is a highly recyclable material, this poses less of a problem.
Nickel Mining Companies
The leading companies based on nickel production worldwide as of 2022 were Tsingshan Group and Delong from China, Nornickel from Russia, and Jinchuan Group from Hong Kong [China]. Tsingshan Group alone accounted for a 20 percent share of global nickel production that year. The world’s leading nickel producing companies based on market capitalization as of July 2023, however, were a different cohort: BHP from Australia had the leading market cap, at 155.2 billion U.S. dollars. The Brazilian company Vale came in second, with a market cap of nearly 62 billion U.S. dollars…..
Russia and China Unveil a Pact Against America and the West
In a sweeping long-term agreement, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, the two most powerful autocrats, challenge the current political and military order.
n their matching mauve ties, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping last week declared a “new era” in the global order and, at least in the short term, endorsed their respective territorial ambitions in Ukraine and Taiwan. The world’s two most powerful autocrats unveiled a sweeping long-term agreement that also challenges the United States as a global power, nato as a cornerstone of international security, and liberal democracy as a model for the world. “Friendship between the two States has no limits,” they vowed in the communiqué, released after the two leaders met on the eve of the Beijing Winter Olympics. “There are no ‘forbidden’ areas of cooperation.”
Agreements between Moscow and Beijing, including the Treaty of Friendship of 2001, have traditionally been laden with lofty, if vague, rhetoric that faded into forgotten history. But the new and detailed five-thousand-word agreement is more than a collection of the usual tropes, Robert Daly, the director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States, at the Wilson Center, in Washington, told me. Although it falls short of a formal alliance, like nato, the agreement reflects a more elaborate show of solidarity than anytime in the past. “This is a pledge to stand shoulder to shoulder against America and the West, ideologically as well as militarily,” Daly said. “This statement might be looked back on as the beginning of Cold War Two.” The timing and clarity of the communiqué—amid tensions on Russia’s border with Europe and China’s aggression around Taiwan—will “give historians the kind of specific event that they often focus on.”….
NICKEL SHORTAGE AND BATTERIES
Electric Vehicles And The Nickel Supply Conundrum: Opportunities And Challenges Ahead
…One of the key commodities to realizing this ambition is nickel. Unlike other battery materials such as cobalt and lithium, nickel is unique in not being primarily driven by global battery demand. About 70% of the world’s nickel production is consumed by the stainless steel sector, while batteries take up a modest 5%.
S&P Global Market Intelligence forecasts global primary nickel consumption to rebound year-on-year due to stainless steel capacity expansions in China and Indonesia. Demand outside China is expected to be the main driver of global growth in volume terms in 2022 and global consumption is forecasted to rise at a compound annual growth rate of about 7% between 2020 and 2025.
The battery sector’s nickel demand is also expected to accelerate substantially, with many predicting it to near 35% of total demand by the end of the decade….
Why An Electric Vehicle Battery Shortage Could Be a Big Problem
With more electric vehicle orders than ever, can our international supply chain keep up with the demand? Or can the U.S. constrict its own battery plants in time?
Consumers have never been more interested in electric cars and climate change goals. But with automakers scrambling to produce more EVs than ever, we could be facing a problematic shortage in the near future.
Jerry, your favorite super car app, breaks down why the predicted lack of inventory could be much worse than the current computer chip shortage.
A Storm Is Brewing
With a looming battery shortage, carmakers are doubling down on mining raw battery materials like lithium, nickel, and cobalt. The shortage would affect not only sourcing materials but processing and building the actual batteries as well.
Some companies are taking battery manufacturing into their own hands and constructing exclusive battery plants.
Rivian Automotive Inc. Chief Executive RJ Scaringe said, “Put very simply, all the world’s cell production combined represents well under 10% of what we will need in 10 years,” according to Market Watch. Essentially, at least 90% of the necessary supply chain to keep up with demand does not exist.
…CNN notes that “the United States sources about 90% of the lithium it uses from Argentina and Chile, and contributes less than 1% of global production of nickel and cobalt, according to the Department of Energy. China refines 60% of the world’s lithium and 80% of the cobalt.”
No Ev Battery Plan For The Long-Term
We all know about Biden’s goal to ensure that at least half of all vehicles will be electric by 2030. We’re talking a $7.5 billion electric vehicle charging infrastructure. California even pledged that by 2035, all cars must be zero-emission vehicles.
Though the Biden administration has pushed for more EV production in the short term, there aren’t long-term plans pertaining to electric batteries. Did you know it can take at least seven to 10 years to set up a mine?
Unfortunately, the U.S. is very dependent on foreign countries that have the manufacturing capacity and raw materials that we don’t.
If for political reasons China shut down the world’s electric vehicle transition, what happens then? It’s also possible that China could restrict “exports of lithium hydroxide to give its domestic electric battery and vehicle manufacturers an advantage,” according to CNN.
As you can imagine, the price for critical battery metals has shot through the roof. According to CNN, “Some automakers like Tesla have made deals with suppliers of raw materials recently, which may help insulate them from shortages.”
If you’ve looked into buying an electric car recently, you’re very familiar with the federal tax credit awarded to EV car owners.
According to CNN, “The government has offered subsidies for electric vehicle purchases and charging infrastructure, but the mining sector hasn’t seen similar support, the battery metals experts say.”
[….]
Will Super-Sized EV Batteries Strain the Supply Chain?
Electric vehicle battery costs soared in 2022. But that doesn’t seem to have slowed the pace of automakers planning to adopt ever larger battery packs to satisfy ever-higher EV driving range claims.
As Bloomberg recently calculated, using EV models from the U.S., Europe, and China, the average pack size is now around 80 kwh, from in the vicinity of 40 kwh in 2018, and the growth trend is expected to continue for some years.
Meanwhile, average global EV range is now at 210 miles—up dramatically versus the average range of 143 miles in 2018.
That also means average EVs are less efficient, the byproduct of a shift to larger EVs.
EV driving range has been increasing at a rate of about 10% each year. Bloomberg sees the market finally reaching a ceiling in its demand for more range at 250-310 miles depending on the size of the EV, with the smallest city cars well below that range.
[….]
According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance, the Silverado EV’s pack, topping 200 kwh, represents $25,000 to $27,000 of direct cost to GM. That happens to be as much as a well-equipped 2024 Chevrolet Trax crossover, or a base 2024 Chevrolet Trailblazer SUV.
The Chevy Silverado EV won’t even have the biggest battery among full-size electric trucks. Ram plans a gigantic 229-kwh pack for its upcoming Ram 1500 REV.
The Silverado EV’s battery pack has more than twice the capacity versus that of the top Lucid Air that can go more than 500 miles on a charge. It’s also enough to power an average American house for almost three weeks, based on the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s 2021 household daily average of 10.632 kwh.
Ford isn’t going to go to 600 miles of range and thinks the sweet spot is around 350 miles. Mazda has said that long-range EVs aren’t the future…..
Behind the 2023 Surge in Battery Demand for EVs
Global sales of electric cars are set to surge to yet another record this year, expanding their share of the overall car market to close to one-fifth and leading a major transformation of the auto industry that has implications for the energy sector, especially oil. That’s according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) recent report, “Global EV Outlook, 2023”, accessible here [as a PDF], which, in its 142 pages, shines a bright light on the remarkable dynamics that have unfolded in the field of battery demand for Electric Vehicles (EVs). This gallery summarizes the IEA report to navigate six compelling sides of the industry’s transformative journey. It begins with a surge in battery demand for EVs, outlining how, in 2022, it soared by approximately 65%, reaching a colossal 550 GWh from 330 GWh in 2021. This growth, fueled by a 55% increase in electric passenger car registrations, is a global phenomenon, yet it finds its epicenter in China and the United States.
[….]
1. Battery demand by mode and region, 2016–2022:
IEA’s report states that the demand for lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries in the automotive sector surged significantly in 2022, rising by approximately 65% to reach 550 GWh, up from about 330 GWh in 2021. This remarkable growth was primarily attributed to the increasing sales of electric passenger cars, which saw new registrations rise by 55% in 2022 compared to the previous year.
In China, the demand for batteries in the automotive industry experienced an even more substantial increase, exceeding 70%. This coincided with an 80% increase in electric car sales in 2022 compared to 2021. However, this upward trajectory in battery demand was somewhat tempered by the rising prevalence of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs).
Meanwhile, in the United States, the demand for vehicle batteries also witnessed robust growth, expanding by approximately 80%, even though electric car sales only saw a comparatively modest increase of around 55% in 2022 relative to the preceding year.
2. Overall supply and demand of battery metals by sector, 2016–2022
The surge in battery demand is spurring the need for essential materials. In 2022, there was still an imbalance between the demand for lithium and its supply, a situation that persisted from 2021. This discrepancy occurred despite a significant 180% rise in production since 2017.
This chart shows that in 2022, EV batteries accounted for approximately 60% of the demand for lithium, 30% for cobalt, and 10% for nickel. In contrast, just five years prior, in 2017, these proportions were roughly 15%, 10%, and 2%, respectively.
(READ THE REST! – Great Summary of larger report! Maria Guerra’s articles are now my first stop on this topic)
Electric Vehicle Industry Jittery over Looming Lithium Supply Shortage
The transition to Electric Vehicles (EVs) is picking pace with concentrated efforts to achieve the net-zero carbon scenario by 2050. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimated that global EV sales reached 6.6 million units in 2021, nearly doubling from the previous year. IEA projects that the number of EVs in use (across all road transport modes excluding two/three-wheelers) is expected to increase from 18 million vehicles in 2021 to 200 million vehicles by 2030, recording an average annual growth of over 30%. The estimation is based on policies announced by governments around the world as of mid-2021. This scenario will result in a sixfold increase in the demand for lithium, a key material used in the manufacturing of EV batteries, by 2030. With increasing EV demand, the industry looks to navigate through the lithium supply disruptions.
Lithium Supply Shortages Are Not Going Away Soon
The global EV market is already struggling with lithium supply constraints. Both lithium carbonate (Li2CO3) and lithium hydroxide (LiOH) are used for the production of EV batteries, but traditionally lithium hydroxide is obtained from processing of lithium carbonate, so the industry is more watchful of lithium carbonate production. BloombergNEF, a commodity market research provider, indicated that the production of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) was estimated to reach around 673,000 tons in 2022, while the demand was projected to exceed 676,000 tons LCE. In January 2023, a leading lithium producer, Albemarle, indicated that the global demand for LCE would expand to 1.8 million metric tons (MMt) (~1.98 million tons) by 2025 and 3.7 MMt (~4 million tons) by 2030. Meanwhile, the supply of LCE is expected to reach 2.9 MMt (~3.2 million tons) by 2030, creating a huge deficit.
There is a need to scale up lithium mining and processing. IEA indicates that about 50 new average-sized mines need to be built to fulfill the rising lithium demand. Lithium as a resource is not scarce; as per the US Geological Survey estimates, the global lithium reserves stand at about 22 million tons, enough to sustain the demand for EVs far in the future.
However, the process of mining and refining the metal is time-consuming and not keeping up pace with the surging demand. As per IEA analysis, between 2010 and 2019, the lithium mines that started production took an average of 16.5 years to develop. Thus, lithium production is not likely to shoot up drastically in a short period of time.
Considering the challenges in increasing the lithium production output, industry stakeholders across the EV value chain are racing to prepare for the anticipated supply chain disruptions.
[….]
The automakers are still healing from the chip shortage, which we talked about in one of our previous articles: Chip Shortage Puts a Brake on Automotive Production. They are now faced with lithium supply constraints which are not expected to ease down for a couple of years. And then there is also a looming threat of a shortage of other minerals such as graphite, nickel, cobalt, etc., which are also critical for the production of EV components. While the world is determined and excited about the EV revolution, the transition is going to be challenging.
So challenging in fact that GOOGLE years ago admitted the problem:
We came to the conclusion that even if Google and others had led the way toward a wholesale adoption of renewable energy, that switch would not have resulted in significant reductions of carbon dioxide emissions. Trying to combat climate change exclusively with today’s renewable energy technologies simply won’t work; we need a fundamentally different approach.
[…..]
“Even if one were to electrify all of transport, industry, heating and so on, so much renewable generation and balancing/storage equipment would be needed to power it that astronomical new requirements for steel, concrete, copper, glass, carbon fibre, neodymium, shipping and haulage etc etc would appear. All these things are made using mammoth amounts of energy: far from achieving massive energy savings, which most plans for a renewables future rely on implicitly, we would wind up needing far more energy, which would mean even more vast renewables farms – and even more materials and energy to make and maintain them and so on. The scale of the building would be like nothing ever attempted by the human race.”
Google Joins the Common Sense Crew On Renewable Energies ~ Finally! (RPT)
Global Lithium Shortage Could Severely Impact EV Makers In 2025
Here’s what could happen if demand outstrips supply.
The automotive industry could be in for a shock, with a new report predicting that a lithium shortage is on the horizon. Citing BMI, a research unit of Fitch Solutions, CNBC reports that by 2025, demand will outstrip supply. The BMI report puts this down to China’s soaring appetite for the alkali metal.
“We expect an average of 20.4% year-on-year annual growth for China’s lithium demand for EVs alone over 2023-2032,” reads the report. Lithium is an essential component in electric vehicle batteries. It is used in most battery packs, including those found in popular vehicles such as the Tesla Model S. According to Euronews, the electric sedan uses approximately 26 pounds of lithium in its battery pack.
While China’s lithium demand will increase by 20.4% year-on-year, the country’s supply will only grow by 6% over the same time. It’s worth noting that China is the world’s third-largest lithium producer after Australia and Chile…..
EV Semi-Trucks Reality Check (Infantile Thinking)
The weight issue for bridges, street infrastructure (such as sewer lines and asphalt wear and tear, etc.), and fire risks not only affect EVs in general, but especially Semi-Trucks that are EVs. In a previous post I noted the dangers of EV cars added weight for parking structures and deaths. But now you have these monsters hitting the road… what are firefighter options as well? Will they have to get new rigs with a foam to stop these fires? More hazmat options for the toxicity of these fires? I don’t know WEIGHT WEIGHT RELATED TO TOW CAPACITY AND CARGO LIMITS American truck manufacturers like Freightliner and Tesla are already delivering the electric trucks that the industry needs to pivot away from gas engines. New legislation, like the Inflation Reduction Act, is encouraging the change through credits for green commercial vehicles, but the weight of massive batteries is still standing in the way. A semi-truck including its cargo can legally weigh a maximum of 80,000 pounds. A battery for an electric truck can be up to 16,000 pounds, according to recent reporting by CNBC. That’s nearly a quarter of the total weight of the truck. The eCascadia electric semi-truck, which was released last year by truck manufacturer Freightliner, weighs up to 4,000 pounds more than a regular diesel truck, for example. That’s heavy, but less overall weight than the average electric semis, which a University of California study estimated will be more than 5,000 pounds heavier than their carbon-spewing counterparts by 2030. That’s more than 5,000 pounds less cargo on the truck. In terms of cargo, that’s space for nearly 17,000 t-shirts, 16,000 apples, or one full car less than a non-electric semi-truck could carry. …. WEIGHT RELATED TO RAOS WEAR & TEAR Road wear and tear… “A new study shows EVs put 2.24 times more stress on roads than petrol vehicles” Electric vehicles (EVs) cause twice as much stress on roads compared to petrol vehicles, potentially worsening the pothole crisis in the UK, according to a study. The research conducted by data journalists at The Telegraph revealed that the average EV exerts 2.24 times more stress on roads compared to a similar petrol vehicle and 1.95 times more stress than a diesel vehicle. The impact is even bigger with larger EVs, which can lead to up to 2.32 times more damage to road infrastructure, according to the report. In an analysis, 15 popular EVs were compared to their petrol counterparts, revealing an average weight difference of 312 kilograms. The increased weight of EVs can be primarily attributed to their heavy batteries, which can weigh up to 500 kilograms. Scientists note that this heightened stress on roads results in the increased movement of asphalt, leading to the formation of small cracks that can eventually develop into problematic potholes. A previous report by the Asphalt Industry Alliance estimated that this cost could mean that nearly £61,700 needed to be spent for every mile of a local road in England and Wales.…. CHARGING TIME – range Andrew Boyle, co-president of Massachusetts-based Boyle Transportation and first vice chairman of the American Trucking Associations, told Congress the trucking industry was committed to further reducing emissions but that regulations must be technically achievable, national in scope, and set on a realistic timeline. Here is an example using cars… now imagine the issue for long-haulers. I have seen articles with battery pods that can just be switched out {plugged in and out so-to-speak}, but this will triple battery production and add even more stress on power grids. Are these people dumb! INFRASTRUCTURE One fleet tried to electrify just 30 trucks at a terminal in Joliet, Illinois. Local officials shut those plans down, saying that would draw more electricity than is needed to power the entire city. Another California company tried to electrify 12 forklifts. Not trucks, but forklifts. Local power utilities told them that’s not possible. If the product, charging infrastructure, and power is not available to comply with these unrealistic timelines, then regulators are setting trucking — and the American consumer — up for failure. MORE FIRE HAZARDS Electric vehicles are on the rise across the country, and while that’s a step forward for the environment, firefighters are raising safety concerns. They say electric vehicle fires pose a number of risks, not only to the community, but also to firefighters themselves. The truth about EVs and fire risk in our cities | Auto Expert John Cadogan SPONTANIOUS COMBUSTION! Ford shut down production of the popular electric truck for five weeks following a fire in Dearborn in February. When the fire was out, all that was left was soot and damaged paint. Fire departments nationwide are in training as they learn how to put out fires for electric vehicles. But an EV fire is a dramatically different and far more dangerous problem for them. ACE OF SPADES lights this topic up! I add media: The 2023 Mercedes-Benz EQE 350+ Sedan was in the garage when it caught fire on July 19. According to Jennifer Ruotolo, the EV was a loaner from Mercedes-Benz while her own car was getting serviced. She told News4Jax that the luxury electric sedan wasn’t even charging when it burst into flames – she doesn’t own a home charging unit. “It was parked in the garage, about 22 hours and then it caught fire. I was at work. About 8:30 and my husband heard a hiss and a pop, and he went into the garage full of smoke. It engulfed in flames and exploded,” the Nocatee, Florida resident said….. [….] Undamaged EVs are alread terrifying enough (there is no way would I ever allow one to be parked in my garage) but if an EV was in a wreck or otherwise damaged, where the heck do you store it knowing that it could erupt in flames at any time. If I were a wrecker driver I would not want to ever tow a damaged EV. Back to Nikola, you may recall that I put it at the top of my “EV Manufacturer Dead Pool,” predicting it would be the next to go out of business, following Lordstown Motors’ bankruptcy. Well, Nikola is getting closer. It just suspended all sales of battery powered trucks and recalled all those on the road. “Nikola Recalls All Battery-Electric Trucks, Halts Sales After Fire Probe” [Reuters – 8/14/2023] Nikola said on Friday it was recalling all the battery-powered electric trucks that it has delivered to date and is suspending sales after an investigation into recent fires found a coolant leak inside a battery pack as the cause. [….] I have an obligation to acknowledge when I get things wrong. As noted above, I predicted that Nikola would be the next EV manufacturer to go bankrupt. I got it wrong, it was actually a Biden-touted electric bus maker that was next in line. Proterra, Electric-Bus Maker Touted by President Biden, Goes Bankrupt [WSJ – 8/08/2023] Proterra, an electric bus maker that has been lauded by President Biden for its U.S. manufacturing operations, has become at least the third electric-vehicle business to file for bankruptcy in roughly the past year. [h/t to Mr. CBD for bringing this one to my attention. I think Proterra was his entry in my EV Dead Pool.] [….] GM has been plagued by exploding EVs, so they are now trying to figure out why. I know! I know! [Buck waves hand furiously in the air.] I know the answer to this one!! It’s when lithium-ion batteries are used as a power source for a vehicle rather than using a gasoline powered engine. You’re welcome, GM. [….] I believe that others on the blog have already covered this next story, and I am not going to joke about it, because this awful EV conflagration took a man’s life. “Burning Car Carrier Towed to Temporary Location off Dutch Coast” [Reuters – 7/31/2023] A burning car carrier off the Dutch coast has been towed to a new location away from shipping lanes as part of an operation to salvage the ship, the Dutch public works and water management ministry and local media said on Monday.The freighter, which was travelling from Germany to Egypt when the blaze broke out on July 26… Ship charter company “K” Line said on Friday there were 3,783 vehicles on board the ship – including 498 battery electric vehicles, significantly more than the 25 initially reported. EV lithium-ion batteries burn with twice the energy of a normal fire, and maritime officials and insurers say the industry has not kept up with the risks. Shipping companies and insurance companies have a day of reckoning coming regarding EVs. They are under pressure from the eco-left to embrace electric vehicles, but EVs are explosively dangerous, they are almost impossible to extinguish when they catch fire, and they are so fragile that the slightest damage to an EV will require it to be totaled. TOXIC FIRES A car catches fire every two minutes in the United States, and firefighters are well-versed in how to respond. But they face new hazards and challenges when that fire is in an electric vehicle or EV. Nearly 2 million EVs are already on the road and many believe they’re the future of driving. Though EV fires aren’t necessarily more common than standard car fires, they require a different approach from first responders (more from LOCAL 12) Here an EV bus takes minute to fully engulf, luckily it was next to a steel and glass building and not a wood structure. Can you imagine these fires with the amount of battery cells long-hauler trucks have?
A Mercedes-Benz EQE Sedan caught fire and burned to a crisp inside a Florida homeowner’s garage last week, severely damaging the building.
A battery fire has destroyed both of Speed ONE Racing’s electric Lancia Delta World Rallycross cars, Carscoops reports. The two Lancia Delta Evo-e race cars were reportedly in the paddock at Lydden Hill Race Circuit in the UK on Friday morning when a fire originating in one of the cars’ battery packs spread and consumed the team’s road tent, taking both cars with it. The fire shut down the World Rallycross Championship event while race authorities attempted to ascertain the cause of the fire. [….] “The fire began just before 08:45, with fire crews working hard to bring it under control and extinguish it as swiftly as possible. Regrettably, the entire Special ONE Racing area was burnt down, including both of their RX1e cars. …
Heavy EV Batteries Are Posing Deadly Problems
Dennis Prager reads from an article regarding concerns over the increased weight of EV vehicles: Here is the AXIOS article Dennis was reading from: EVs Are Much Heavier Than Gas Vehicles, And That’s Posing Safety Problems Threat level: Safety watchdogs are raising concerns after the recent deadly collapse of a parking garage in New York City called attention to the challenge of creaking infrastructure. Flashback: In a speech in January, National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy praised the effort to reduce carbon emissions by switching to EVs but warned of the “unintended consequences” being “more death on our roads,” the AP reported….. (AXIOS) MORE: Study: Heavy Electric Vehicles Cause TWICE the Road Damage than Their Petrol Equivalents A UK study led by the University of Leeds found the average electric car puts 2.24 times more stress on roads than a similar petrol vehicle – and 1.95 more than a diesel. Larger electric vehicles can cause up to 2.32 times more damage to roads. Heavy EVs Pose Threat of Parking Structure Collapses The safety concern is now front and center in the UK, where, as in the U.S., many older parking structures exist. “I don’t want to be too alarmist, but there definitely is the potential for some of the early car parks in poor condition to collapse,” structural engineer Chris Whapples told The Telegraph. “Operators need to be aware of electric vehicle weights, and get their car parks assessed from a strength point of view, and decide if they need to limit weight.” If maintenance has not been kept up at these older parking structures, structural flaws are “baked in” according to building supply company Sika’s senior technical manager Steve Holmes. Many Ford F-150 Lightnings come close to 7,000 lbs, while gas-powered F-150s range between 4,000 and 5,700 lbs. So all EVs pose added stresses when combined into one stacked car park….. Electric Vehicles May Be Too Heavy For Old Parking Garages: Report The collapse of a parking garage in New York City on Tuesday that killed at least one person has put a new spotlight on aging structures used for vehicle storage. The five-level building, which has several active violations listed with the city, dates back to 1925 and was first licensed as a garage in 1957 for five or more vehicles per floor, WNBC reported. The exact cause of the structure’s failure has not been determined, but updates have been made to it in the years since and it is currently licensed to accommodate 276 vehicles. [….] The incident occurred after a recent study raised concerns that many older parking garages may need to be re-evaluated due to the increasing average weight of vehicles, particularly electric models. The report from the British Parking Association noted that some electric cars weigh more than double what popular models in the same segments did in the 1960s, due in part to their heavy battery packs. This also often applies to contemporary cars. For instance, a Tesla Model S weighs over a thousand pounds more than a gas-powered Mercedes E-Class, while a 9,000-pound GMC Hummer EV is 2,400 pounds heavier than the similarly-sized Hummer H2 that was last sold in 2009….. (FOX) EVs Are Too Heavy for Current Road Weight Limits, Car Haulers Say The car hauling industry is lobbying various departments of the federal government to increase weight limits on U.S. highways in order to accommodate the transportation of electric vehicles. According to Reuters, the industry says current weight limits on trucks roaming around U.S. roads are outdated and not equipped for the imminent pivot to battery-heavy EVs. Currently, federal highway safety standards restrict trailers to 80,000 pounds gross vehicle weight. This standard was set back in 1975, back when a Honda Civic weighed 1,570 pounds, or roughly half what one weighs now. Per EPA figures, the average car or truck on U.S. roads has swollen from 3,200 to 4,200 pounds over the last 40 years. EVs carrying very heavy batteries—the 9,000-pound GMC Hummer EV attributes almost one-third of its weight to just its cells—stand to raise that figure even higher. And while electric cars are a relative minority today, the government aims to have half of all new vehicle sales be of electric vehicles by 2030…..
The battery that might change everything
Via HotAir: