Electric Cars Release Toxic Emissions

Electric vehicles release more toxic particles into the atmosphere and are worse for the environment than their gas-powered counterparts, according to a resurfaced study.

The study, published by emissions data firm Emission Analytics, was released in 2022 but has attracted a wave of attention this week after being cited in a Wall Street Journal op-ed Sunday.

It found that brakes and tires on EVs release 1,850 times more particle pollution compared to modern tailpipes, which have “efficient” exhaust filters, bringing gas-powered vehicles’ emissions to new lows.

Today, most vehicle-related pollution comes from tire wear.

As heavy cars drive on light-duty tires — most often made with synthetic rubber made from crude oil and other fillers and additives — they deteriorate and release harmful chemicals into the air, according to Emission Analytics.   READ MORE...

$5 Billion EV Factory in Georgia

Rivian, the American EV manufacturer, just secured a significant victory in the Peach State. Following a contentious legal tussle, the Georgia Supreme Court chose not to entertain an appeal challenging the legitimacy of Rivian's anticipated property tax relief for its proposed $5 billion EV facility.

 This turn of events propels Rivian ahead in its quest to establish one of the most extensive EV plants in the region.

Back in December 2021, Rivian unfurled its ambitious plan to construct a colossal 2,000-acre EV factory in Georgia. With a staggering production capacity of up to 400,000 EVs annually, the facility significantly outpaces Rivian's existing Illinois plant, which maxes out at 150,000 units annually. 

But, as the saying goes, every rose has its thorns. The path to getting this behemoth off the ground has been riddled with roadblocks.

In fact, the legal road to Rivian's Georgia facility resembled more of a bumper car ride. Initially, Rivian's proposed project faced pushback from a group of residents who sued the Joint Development Authority (JDA) and the company in charge of initial site grading. 

Yet another group challenged the local property tax incentives slated for Rivian, which led to a judge shooting down approximately $700 million of the proposed tax benefits.

Despite these hurdles, Rivian's resilience never waned. The company stood its ground, holding firm to the commitment to its Georgia project. 

Rivian's determination paid off when the highest court in the state sided with the JDA and the State of Georgia on most issues about the company's incentive package.  READ MORE...

Electric Vehicles VERSUS Hydrogen Vehicles

Transportation will definitely suffer some major changes in the next few decades. Carmakers are looking at all potential energy sources at the cost of abandoning gas-powered technologies, which, as we know, has a great impact in terms of carbon emissions. Although there might be a possible rivalry between the energy source, we can say that overall, whether it's hydrogen or electric, zero-emission vehicles are now starting to take over the market.

Both have advantages and both have disadvantages, distinguishing characteristics, and various development methods. Some of them are being implemented without even having the necessary market competitiveness and even without adequate infrastructure. Be it as it may, customers will most certainly have to choose between electric and hydrogen automobiles in a few years when they replace their current diesel or gas-powered car.

But now the question is, which one is better? Which is cheaper or safer? Let's review the pros and cons of acquiring either an electric or hydrogen-powered car.

Pros And Cons: Performance And Risks
Both electric cars and hydrogen cars bring improvements in terms of carbon gas emissions and also in performance, but they also have their own complications.

Compared to EVs, hydrogen-powered vehicles have some benefits. They have a 300-mile range, while EVs have a range of roughly 200 miles and in cold conditions, the EV range decreases, while the range of hydrogen-powered vehicles does not. Most critically, a hydrogen engine produces only pure water vapor as exhaust. As a result, there are no emissions. 

That is to say: “Irrespective of the time of year and the outside temperatures, the hydrogen fuel cell drive combines the best of both drive worlds: the locally emission-free mobility of an electric vehicle and the unrestricted suitability for everyday use” says Jürgen Guldner, Head of BMW Group Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology.  READ MORE...

Tesla Turns Up The Heat

Jan 13 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) has slashed prices globally on its electric vehicles by as much as 20%, extending an aggressive discounting effort and challenging rivals after missing Wall Street delivery estimates for 2022.

The move marks a reversal from the automaker's strategy over the last two years when new vehicle orders exceeded supply. It comes after CEO Elon Musk warned that the prospect of recession and higher interest rates meant it could lower prices to sustain growth at the expense of profit.

Musk acknowledged last year that prices had become "embarrassingly high" and could hurt demand. Shares were down 2.6% on Friday, following the stock's worst year since its inception due to delivery issues and growing competition.

Tesla lowered prices across the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, following a series of cuts last week in Asia, in what analysts saw as a clear shot at both smaller rivals that have been bleeding cash and legacy automakers aggressively ramping up electric vehicle production.  READ MORE...

Electrifying America's Roads

Within weeks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the average price for a gallon of gasoline reached its highest point in American history—a range where it has largely remained as the economic isolation of one of the world’s largest petroleum exporters looks to persist for months, if not years.

Ninety-one percent of American households own a car, meaning that almost everyone will feel the sting of elevated fuel prices when they fill up their tanks for the foreseeable future. However, the roughly 2 million owners of electric vehicles (EVs) will be spared the pain at the pump.

An oil shock of the magnitude not seen since the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo has sent Google searches related to EVs surging by 300 percent in the last few months. Thirty-six percent of Americans now say they plan to buy or lease an EV or are seriously considering doing so. The time is ripe to electrify American roads.

Increasing the ownership and production of EVs presents a strategic opportunity to not only insulate the public from price spikes in oil, but also boost the clean manufacturing workforce and decarbonize the transportation sector—the largest source of CO2 emissions in the United States.  READ MORE...

High Gas Prices

The Democrats want to push all Americans and those who live within her borders, towards electric vehicles since the price of gasoline has doubled since Biden has been our President.  

First of all, the USA is not fully prepared to go 100% EV because it would take several years for our companies to manufacture them. 

 Second, there are not enough charging stations to accommodate all Americans to charge their vehicles and it would also take several years to build those stations

Third, the electric grid for the USA is not powerful enough to support that many EVs plus provide power to all the homes and businesses, and other places that needed electricity to operate.  

Fourth, the components to build electric vehicles come from overseas and there is simply not enough supply for all the EVs we need, especially since the Democrats are trying to push solar panels as well.  

Fifth, until the cost of purchasing an EV becomes affordable, the average American who is making $50,000 a year, is not going to be able to afford those cars.

Therefore, most Americans will simply keep their gasoline cars and pay the high price for gasoline but in order to make it work for them, they will simply drive less...  not only will their drive less, but they will also spend less money on other items like clothes, restaurants, and vacations because they are spending so much for gasoline.

When Americans start doing this, finding alternative sources because the Democrats have decided they want to end fossil fuel TODAY...  the reduction of spending will have the opposite effect that the stimulus money had on the economy...  and, the USA will plunge into a recession.

What is really going to be interesting is when we are in this recession, how are we going to be able to provide resources to all those illegal immigrants that we allowed into the country for the last two years?  These illegals will need:

• Food
• Housing
• Education
• Clothes
• Medical

And, I would be willing to bet that they damn sure don't have the money to buy an EV and make the Democrats happy.

As the Democrats screw up our economy because of their desire to go GREEN...  other countries, like our ENEMIES, for instance, are not going GREEN and that will enable those economies to grow and prosper while our economy is shrinking...  These countries are:

• China
• Russia
• India
• Pakistan
• Middle East (all countries)
• North Korea

I am confident that our enemies will be sympathetic concerning what the Democrats are trying to do with our country...

Do you know how many countries out there want the USA to fail because we tried to force them to live like us???

EVs No Longer A Viable Alternative

One of the key reasons why people made the switch to an electric vehicle was the more favorable cost of ownership. Not only did a battery charge cost a lot less than filling up the tank of a similar car, but the maintenance was also cheaper. But then the world went crazy and now people started questioning the economics of owning an electric vehicle.

When the gas prices started to rise a couple of months ago, a lot of ICE car owners considered switching to an electric vehicle. In fact, both statistics and carmakers indicated an increase in EV orders specifically because of the high gas prices. But things have changed, not least because the increased demand has put pressure on the market. Soon, not only did EV prices increase significantly, but the operating costs also went up.

Tesla, the company that sells the most EVs in the U.S., has aggressively raised prices in the past months. The main reason was raw materials scarcity and price spikes, but the high demand also played a role. This allowed Tesla to post the biggest profit in history in the first quarter of the year and will most likely repeat the claim for the second quarter too. This proved skeptics saying it’s impossible to make a profit from EVs were all wrong. Tesla is one of the most profitable car companies in the world.

Apart from becoming more expensive, the EVs have also lost their cheap operating costs appeal. Electricity prices have spiked and Supercharging costs often shocked Tesla owners. Tesla historically said it does not make a profit from selling electricity to its customers, but Tesla owners faced increased prices nevertheless.  READ MORE...

Electric Vehicles

(Reuters) - During several days of brutal cold in Texas, the city of Austin saw its fleet of 12 new electric buses rendered inoperative by a statewide power outage. That problem will be magnified next year, when officials plan to start purchasing electric-powered vehicles exclusively.

The city’s transit agency has budgeted $650 million over 20 years for electric buses and a charging facility for 187 such vehicles. But officials are still trying to solve the dilemma of power interruptions like the Texas freeze.

“Redundancy and resiliency when it comes to power is something we have long understood will be an issue,” said Capitol Metro spokeswoman Jenna Maxfield.

Austin’s predicament highlights the challenges facing governments, utilities and auto manufacturers as they respond to climate change. More electric cars will require both charging infrastructure and much greater electric-grid capacity. Utilities and power generators will have to invest billions of dollars creating that additional capacity while also facing the challenge of replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy sources.

Extreme weather events add additional layers of difficulty.

“Reliability keeps you awake,” California Energy Commission member Siva Gunda said in an interview.

Rolling blackouts during a California heat wave last year prompted the state to direct its utilities to procure emergency generating capacity for this summer and to reform its planning for reserve power.

The state plans an aggressive phase-out of sales of gas- and diesel-powered cars and trucks by 2035 - which, if achieved, would require vast increases in electric grid capacity.   READ MORE...

Electric Vs. Gas Vehicles

Last year, Patrick Anderson went electric: He got a Porsche Taycan EV in dark blue.

Anderson, who is CEO of East Lansing-based economic consulting firm Anderson Economic Group, loves the zippy acceleration and "exciting" features the car offers. He also gets satisfaction in knowing that driving an EV benefits the environment, he said.

But Anderson's joy comes with a dark side.

"They are a wonderful driving experience. But at the same time, they're an enormous burden in time and in energy in finding chargers and getting them charged," Anderson said. "And you’re not really saving much in terms of charging costs ... you may be paying more.”

Costs to drive an EV compared with a gasoline car are detailed in a report Anderson Economic released Thursday called "Comparison: Real World Cost of Fueling EVs and ICE Vehicles."

The study has four major findings:

• There are four additional costs to powering EVs beyond electricity: cost of a home charger, commercial charging, the EV tax and "deadhead" miles.
• For now, EVs cost more to power than gasoline costs to fuel an internal combustion car that gets reasonable gas mileage.
• Charging costs vary more widely than gasoline prices.
• There are significant time costs to finding reliable public chargers — even then a charger could take 30 minutes to go from 20% to an 80% charge.

It is the first of a series of reports Anderson Economic Group will release. It started the project — an independent report — more than six months ago.  READ MORE...