PrairiePundit

 Blaze: We were promised a “green” utopia, free of fossil fuels, powered by sunshine and breezes. However, the net-zero hobbits living in this imaginary Shire were blissfully ignorant of hard realities dictated by physics, engineering, and economics. Once trumpeted by corporate giants and governments alike, the vision of a world without greenhouse gas emissions is crumbling. It’s pseudoscience coupled with false assurances incapable of sustaining the weight of one reality after another. Major airlines, energy companies, and financial institutions are abandoning net-zero commitments that were always destined to clash with the demands of business imperatives and people’s needs. Anti-fossil fuel crusaders assured the public that jet travel could be reshaped through “green” fuel and futuristic aircraft. But in 2024, Air New Zealand shattered that illusion by declaring its 2030 emissions target impossible to achieve. Another blow to the green version of a Middle-earth fantasy came from...

 Federalist Wire: ... The United States Postal Service’s ambitious plan to transform its delivery fleet into an eco-friendly powerhouse has hit major roadblocks, delivering just 250 electric mail trucks in over two years despite nearly $10 billion in funding. Backed by $3 billion from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, the initiative aimed to roll out 35,000 battery-powered vehicles by September 2028. However, the sluggish progress has sparked outrage among Republican lawmakers, who call the project a wasteful “boondoggle” and are pushing to claw back the remaining $1.3 billion. The program, a cornerstone of the Biden administration’s environmental goals, has been mired in technical setbacks. Oshkosh, a Wisconsin-based defense contractor hired for $2.6 billion to produce the vehicles, has struggled significantly. By November 2024, only 93 electric trucks were ready—far below the expected 3,000, according to the Washington Post . Production woes include faulty airbag systems and seve...

  National Review: President Donald Trump signed a congressional resolution Thursday that blocks California’s ban on new sales of gas-powered cars by 2035. The state is expected to challenge the resolution in court as tension between Governor Gavin Newsom and the president continue to rise over the management of L.A. anti-ICE riots. “We officially rescue the U.S. auto industry from destruction by terminating California’s electric vehicle mandate once and for all,” Trump said in his wide-ranging remarks before signing the resolution in the Oval Office. Approved by Congress last month, the resolution aims to put the kibosh on California’s attempt to phase out gas-powered cars. The Congressional Review Act resolutions signed by the president also rolled back California’s authority to enforce zero-emission sales targets for commercial trucks and higher standards for heavy-duty diesel engines. Rescinding the vehicle emissions standards delivers on Trump’s day one executive order to roll...

 Blaze: Return to sender: DOGE cancels Biden's $3 billion electric postal truck order The trucks were expensive and had limited ability. 

 Blaze: Out of juice: Only 5% of US car buyers want an electric vehicle There are some Americans who like EVs and Tesla has a niche market for them. My youngest daughter has an EV she uses for commuting to work but I don't think she would try a cross-country trip in it.  She lives in California so there are probably more of them on the road there than there are here in Texas. 

 Townhall: ... For four years under President Biden, the American people were forced to endure an administration that was hellbent on pursuing a net zero agenda. Across the country, they pushed these radical and costly climate action plans to fundamentally transform and restrict the energy options available to consumers. Along with this came calls from the Left to ban gas stoves, gas cars, gas-powered lawn equipment, and hundreds of other draconian ideas to limit the freedom of the American people. If the high cost of these plans wasn’t enough, they have also proven to be unreliable. States and countries that have committed to energy sources like solar and wind as part of this net zero fantasy have experienced rolling blackouts, continually demand that their customers use less, and eventually have to make haste to open reliable sources of generation they had closed down. Isn’t that right, California ? But Trump’s Executive Order 14154 unleashes fossil fuel production and use in A...

 Fox News: Los Angeles fire cleanup complicated by 'unprecedented' number of EVs with combustible lithium-ion batteries California wildfire cleanup challenged by electric and hybrid vehicle batteries Highly combustible lithium-ion batteries used in electric and hybrid vehicles are complicating cleanup efforts in the Los Angeles neighborhoods ravaged by wildfire damage . Phase 1 of the federal cleanup is underway, as surveyors with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) work to remove and dispose of hazardous materials, including lithium-ion batteries found in charred vehicles and decimated homes. The EPA warned that batteries should be considered "extremely dangerous," even if they are believed to be intact, and "can spontaneously re-ignite, explode, and emit toxic gases and particulates even after the fire is out." ... This raises questions about whether EVs are good for the environment.  While they may not have the emissions of a fossil fuel vehicle the...

 PJ Media: ... The LA Times reported — and I'm sure it killed them to do it — that EV drivers are having a tough time of it.  You’ve plugged your electric vehicle into your home charger and hit the sack. Overnight, high winds topple a power line. Your charger blacks out. Then, a report of a fire, followed by an evacuation order. Your battery’s only charged to 25%. And it’s your only car. Such are the fears some California car buyers are expressing amid the fires that have devastated Los Angeles County and forced people to evacuate their homes at a moment’s notice.  Believe it or not, there were no woke follow-up promises of ponies and unicorns in the LAT, though I'm sure they would have proved more useful than cars with dead batteries.  The Times   brought anecdotes  crystallizing some of the biggest problems with forcing people to have nothing but electric vehicles by  2035.  A gasoline car “can evacuate in any direction on any road and still ge...

 The Federalist Wire: ... Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s summer 2023 electric vehicle road trip, intended to promote EV adoption, has come under scrutiny after racking up nearly $125,000 in taxpayer-funded expenses, according to a report by the Department of Energy’s Office of the Inspector General. The four-day tour, which was accompanied by a gas-powered vehicle, faced accusations of overspending, inaccurate reporting, and poor planning. Granholm’s team submitted 42 travel vouchers for a total of $124,824, with 36 of them exceeding the government’s lodging allowance by a combined $9,487.50. The decision to book hotels near EV charging stations, rather than cheaper accommodations nearby, drove up costs. “Travelers could have chosen different nearby hotels to reduce travel costs at the Government’s expense,” the watchdog reported, but difficulties locating functioning chargers limited their options. The lack of accessible charging stations highlights broader issues with the B...

 Car and Driver : ... An organization of 42 automakers has urged President-elect Donald Trump not to kill off existing EV tax incentives and emissions regulations, as part of a letter in which the group shared its stance on a range of automotive policies such as automated driving and roadway safety, according to a new story from the New York Times titled "Automakers to Trump: Please Require Us to Sell Electric Vehicles." (Trump is pictured above in a photo from 2020 with the ill-fated Lordstown electric pickup truck.) The letter, dated November 12, was sent by the Alliance for Automotive Innovation whose members collectively sell the vast majority of new vehicles in the United States each year. ... EVs apparently need subsidies because they are not as easy to produce and sell as regular autos.  If EVs were better and more affordable they would not need special treatment.  It is still unlikely that many people would take a cross-country trip in an EV.   Musk has...

 DC Daily Journal: ... ... the Kamala Harris campaign has been caught in an illegal quid-pro-quo campaign scheme. In late 2022, the Biden-Harris administration allocated a significant subsidy to BYD Americas, a company with ties to China, under the Clean School Bus program. Specifically, BYD Americas received $395,000 in October 2022, as revealed by documents from the Environmental Protection Agency. Just about a year later, on November 14, 2023, Ke Li, the president of BYD Americas, contributed tens of thousands of dollars to support President Joe Biden’s reelection efforts. Notably, these funds were later redirected to Vice President Kamala Harris after Biden exited the race, as indicated by campaign finance disclosures. The Biden-Harris administration has positioned its electric vehicle initiatives as essential for revitalizing American manufacturing while also addressing the rising economic influence of China. However, a closer look suggests that many of these subsidies may ina...

 Guy Benson: Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton has distinguished himself as one of the most consistently superb Republican representatives in major media settings over recent months, effectively and calmly skewering all sorts of dishonest and bias from the Democrats and their media allies. For instance, in light of Kamala Harris' latest explanation-free flip-flop on electric vehicle mandates, Cotton took to social media with literal receipts. Just like the Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan, Harris is now claiming she will never tell people what sort of car they can drive, despite championing mandates that would push gas-fueled cars into extinction. But she literally co-sponsored the bill...

 PJ Media: The House voted to block the new EPA emissions standards that would have forced automakers to sell two-thirds of all new cars by 2032 to be electric. The bill passed with eight Democrats voting with all Republicans. The EPA's final rule on emissions was published in March. At the time, the Washington Post said the rule will be “the most aggressive emissions restrictions on the auto industry in U.S. history.” In actuality, it would have made gas-powered cars almost as expensive as EVs. ... The market for EVs is still relatively small.  If there was a large market for them the government would not need to create a mandate.

 Rick Moran: EV Dealers Are So Desperate to Offload Stock That They're Offering Lease Deals For $20 a Month They are going to leasing because the resale value of the vehicles is plummeting.  I still have no interest in them.

 National Review: Foreign Automaker Lays Off Thousands of Michigan Workers after Pocketing Hundreds of Millions in Biden EV Subsidies The fact is that very few Americans want an EV and Biden is wasting taxpayer money to push his unpopular EV agenda.  See also: J.D. Power cuts U.S. EV sales forecast to 9% as growth slows

 Newsmax: Biden-Harris administration regulations are on pace to cost the average American family $47,000, according to a University of Chicago economics professor. The amount in net present value corresponds to an annual cost of $6,300 for 10 years or an annual cost of $3,300 forever to each family, Casey Mulligan, Ph.D., said in a report for the Committee to Unleash Prosperity. That's almost twice the costs imposed during President Barack Obama's first term. By comparison, even without counting Operation Warp Speed, President Donald Trump's first term saved each household $11,000. Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, is seeking to return to the White House. He will oppose Vice President Kamala Harris in November's presidential election. Mulligan's report says the costs of new federal rules are more regressive than any of the major monetary taxes used by federal, state, and local governments. "By reducing wages and increasing consumer prices, the rules...

 Independent Sentinel: Without Gas Car Subsidies, The Cost to Charge EVs Comes to the Equivalent of $17.33 a Gal. ...   A recent study done by the Texas Public Policy Foundation found that “adding the costs of the subsidies to the true cost of fueling an EV would equate to an EV owner paying, wait for it,  $17.33 per equivalent gallon of gasoline . ... On top of that, add the inconvenience of charging an EV instead of the few minutes it takes to refuel with gas.  See also: TPPF Releases Study Exposing the True Cost of Electric Vehicles

 American Action News: With a second term for former President Donald Trump suddenly seeming far more likely in the wake of President Joe Biden’s shocking debate performance, the decision by a Louisiana federal judge Monday to place a hold on the Biden Energy Department’s bizarre “pause” on Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) permitting highlights a clear example of how energy policy would shift with a Trump win in November. In rendering his decision , Federal District Judge James Cain, Jr. called the justifications for the paus offered by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and DOE staff “completely without reason or logic and is perhaps the epiphany of ideocracy.” Oof. Of course, that is pretty much what I wrote here about it back in February after the policy was put in place, though I did leave out the part about “ideocracy.” Simply put, a second Trump presidency would put a quick end to interventionist efforts by the federal government to pick winners and losers in the energy space. S...

  Washington Post: Just two years ago, Senate Democrats banded together to push through sweeping legislation aimed at combating climate change in part by speeding the transition to electric vehicles with tax credits and other incentives. But now, facing a tough reelection climate in November, some Senate Democrats who are fighting for their political lives in red states are distancing themselves from aspects of President Biden’s EV policies as Republicans go on offense against Biden’s environmental agenda. Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has made bashing EVs a cornerstone of his campaign, effectively turning them into culture war fodder in an election year. Meanwhile, a fossil fuel industry group is pouring millions of dollars in ads in swing states tying Democratic senators to Biden’s EV push. Trump has vowed to roll back Biden’s electric vehicle efforts and warned “you’re not going to be able to sell those cars” if he becomes president. Biden required automaker...

  American Action News: President Joe Biden has pledged to install 500,000 public electric vehicle (EV) chargers around the U.S. by 2030, but logistical hurdles may be too much to overcome. The Biden administration landed $7.5 billion to build out a network of public EV charging stations around the country in the bipartisan infrastructure package of 2021, but those funds have only led to a handful of operational charging stations to date. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg reaffirmed the administration’s goal to build 500,000 chargers with the money by 2030 during a May television appearance on CBS News, but challenges like adding transmission lines, navigating the permitting process and coordinating with utility companies figure to make the goal improbable. As of April 1, the administration’s $7.5 billion push had only led to seven operational charging stations combining for less than 40 chargers around the U.S., a pace that has drawn criticism from House Republicans and...