Former President Donald Trump ripped President Joe Biden’s push for electric vehicles, calling it a “hit job” on Detroit and the auto industry.
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Michigan’s race to increase the state’s number of Electric Vehicles and other non-gasoline fuel vehicles may have caught its second wind after a new company is seeking to invest in hydrogen storage systems.
A subsidiary of French automotive supplier, Compagnie Plastic Omnium, is planning to invest up to $171 million at two sites in the state.
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Chinese Communist Party (CCP) electric vehicles (EVs) manufactured in Red China are now for sale in the U.S. They are Buick’s Envision and Sweden’s Polestar 2, with Lincoln Nautilus soon to follow. Many more Red Chinese EV brands are coming. Waiting in the wings to begin export to the U.S. are BYD Co., Li Auto, Xpeng Motors, Nio Inc., and Geely.
And, as the U.S. dismantles its combustion engine industry and all the ancillary industries to make way for EVs that Americans aren’t buying, American workers are losing jobs and suffering wage decreases. People working in repair shops, garages, gas stations, parts manufacturers, and distributors are just a few of those who will suffer.
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On Tuesday, an electric vehicle (EV) company with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced that it had purchased 270 acres of land in the state of Michigan to build a factory for battery components.
According to the Daily Caller, the planned factory near Big Rapids, Michigan will be located roughly 100 miles away from an American military facility, and within 60 miles of military armories. The factory will be built and operated by Gotion, an EV company that could receive hundreds of millions of dollars in both state and federal grants, as well as tax incentives, to complete the project.
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As President Joe Biden’s administration wants 50% of all new vehicle sales to be electric by 2030, some states are pushing bills to subsidize the industry.
In an analysis of state legislatures by The Center Square staff, actions so far this year in multiple states offer recognition to the emergence of the industry – whether trying to make up tax revenue shortfalls or simply boosting the move away from gas and diesel automobiles.
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In a video released Monday morning, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer touted Democrat’s accomplishments in their first 100 days of office.
She again claimed that she “secured” 35,000 auto jobs since 2019.
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General Motors announced Thursday it’s offering voluntary buyouts to some salaried U.S. employees.
The automaker is looking to cut $2 billion in fixed costs by 2024 as the company transitions its manufacturing operations to produce electric vehicles.
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Electric vehicle battery supplier Our Next Energy says taxpayer subsidies are key to “accelerating” the buildout of a North American battery supply chain, stabilizing Michigan’s grid, and declaring energy independence from China.
Deeana Ahmed, Our Next Energy’s vice president of strategy and sustainability, testified Wednesday in front of the House Appropriations Committee.
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s proposed $79 billion budget aims to allocate $10 million to transition the state’s automotive fleet to electric vehicles.
The governor budgeted $318 million on EV incentives: $150 million to help school districts buy 500 electric school buses; $65 million for EV charging stations; $48 million over two years for an EV sales and use tax exemption; and $45 million for local governments and businesses to transition their fleets to EVs.
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s proposed $79 billion budget for fiscal year 2024 aims to require taxpayers subsidize electric vehicles and chargers with $318 million.
Whitmer’s mobility budget includes $160 million for capital investments in rail, bus, and marine transit service expansions, $65 million for EV charging stations, and $48 million over two years for an EV sales and use tax exemption.
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As the number of electric vehicles grows in Michigan, so does the revenue hole from missing gas taxes that fix the damn roads.
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As California, New York, and other states move to phase out the sale of gasoline-powered cars, public officials routinely echo the Biden administration’s claim that electric vehicles are a “zero emissions” solution that can significantly mitigate the effects of climate change.
Car and energy experts, however, say there is no such thing as a zero-emissions vehicle: For now and the foreseeable future, the energy required to manufacture and power electric cars will leave a sizable carbon footprint. In some cases hybrids can be cleaner alternatives in states that depend on coal to generate electricity, and some suggest that it may be too rash to write off all internal combustion vehicles just yet.
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A Michigan politician talked about how to boost electric vehicle adoption in a brief chat sponsored by General Motors and hosted by Axios.
Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, Michigan’s 12th Congressional District member who serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, touted subsidies via the Inflation Reduction Act and said that EVs are the “vehicle of the future.”
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A team of engineers from Michigan State University led by Associate Professor Annick Anctil projects that rising fuel efficiency standards for internal combustion engine (ICEV) vehicles in the U.S. could lower their greenhouse gas emissions to be close to those of electric vehicles (EVs) by 2030.
The analysis, published earlier this year in the Journal of Environmental Management, should give pause to EV-obsessed policymakers doling out lavish tax credits for purchasing EVs and banning the sale of new ICE vehicles. At least twelve states aim to phase out sales of new, gas-powered cars by 2035.
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While praising California’s decision to ban the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035, Governor Gavin Newsom declared that this will require “100% of new car sales in California to be zero-emission vehicles” like “electric cars.” In reality, electric cars emit substantial amounts of pollutants and may be more harmful to the environment than conventional cars.
Toxic Pollution
The notion that electric vehicles are “zero-emission” is rooted in a deceptive narrative that ignores all pollutants which don’t come out of a tailpipe. Assessing the environmental impacts of energy technologies requires measuring all forms of pollution they emit over their entire lives, not a narrow slice of them. To do this, researchers perform “life cycle assessments” or LCAs. As explained by the Environmental Protection Agency, LCAs allow for:
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First, don’t blame the vehicle. It is a tool that might be just what Los Angeles needs to cope with inversions. Electric vehicles are also very good as airport shuttles and for other locations where short, repetitive routes are the primary use. Some may even be fun to drive (except when they catch on fire).
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Gov. Gretchen Whitmer celebrated the installation of two of the 30 eventual electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at state parks. She made the announcement at Holland State Park.
“This partnership to install charging stations in our state parks speaks to the collaborative approach we are taking to grow our economy and address climate change head-on through clean, reliable energy,” Whitmer said in a statement. “These charging stations along the Lake Michigan EV Circuit build on our rich Pure Michigan tradition of exploration and bringing together communities and businesses to ensure that we honor our past as the place that put the world on wheels and continue to invest in our workforce as we lead the transition to electric vehicles.”
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The federal gov’t and silicon valley are looking to clamp down on your freedom of movement. Your ability to move about as you please does not fit with their goals for the future of our world. Automotive-related freedoms, including access to fuel, allow us to be free to move without the permission of silicon valley and the federal government. Automotive freedoms are not only hobby related; they are essential to preventing yet another step along the road to serfdom at the hands of woke corporations and federal bureaucrats.
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Six private companies will share $577,400 of Michigan funding to expand electric vehicle infrastructure, promote EV adoption, and enhance electric bicycle sharing and charging.
Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II announced Thursday a round of funding that will launch additional EV charging stations, increase access to EVs and expand adoption of EVs with Michigan drivers. More than $577,400 will be appropriated to six mobility projects from the Michigan Mobility Funding Platform, which was created through a partnership between the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, the Michigan Department of Transportation, and the Office of Future Mobility and Electrification.
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General Motors (GM) and Honda plan to produce millions of “affordable” electric vehicles (EV) with prices of some popular models starting at around $30,000.
GM Director of Finance and Sales Communications David Caldwell told The Center Square that the collaboration will result in “a series of compact crossover EVs – the most popular vehicle segment globally.”
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In his State of the Union Address on Tuesday, President Joe Biden promoted electric vehicles (EVs), trumpeting his plans to establish “a national network of 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations.” In so doing, Biden is unwittingly supporting the worst humanitarian abuses in the world. This is because of the way in which the materials used in manufacturing the batteries that power today’s EVs are obtained.
To obtain a reasonable amount of power per pound of battery weight, EV manufacturers generally use various forms of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries, so named because the battery’s positive electrode, called the cathode, is largely made up of the highly reactive metal lithium (Li). To keep the cathode stable when a battery is not in use, the lithium is combined in a metal oxide matrix, with different manufacturers using different combinations of metals.
Most EV manufacturers combine lithium with nickel, cobalt and manganese to create a Li-Ni-Mn-Co oxide matrix to form the cathode. Tesla substitutes aluminum (Al) for the manganese, yielding a Li-Ni-Co-Al oxide matrix for the cathode on their batteries. Tesla maintains that their formulae is more cost-effective as less cobalt is required.
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President Joe Biden’s ambitious $5 billion plan to construct an electric vehicle charging network across the country would prioritize the Interstate Highway System.
The federal government will distribute the funds to states over the course of five years under the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program, according to a joint Department of Transportation and Energy Department announcement Thursday. In 2022, $615 million will be made available to states that submit plans for how the money will be used to construct chargers along the interstate highway network, the announcement said.
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Automobile maker General Motors on Tuesday announced a new, $7 billion investment in Michigan to expand manufacturing capacity for electric vehicles and batteries.
According to projections released by the company, the investment will create 4,000 new jobs, while retaining an additional 1,000.
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A Republican and Democratic senator introduced legislation Friday that aims to end U.S. reliance on rare-earth metals sourced from and produced in China.
The Restoring Essential Energy and Security Holdings Onshore for Rare Earths (REEShore) Act would prevent supply disruptions and bolster domestic production of the minerals, according to Sens. Tom Cotton and Mark Kelly, the bill’s sponsors. They said the legislation is important for American national security and development of advanced technologies.
“The Chinese Communist Party has a chokehold on global rare-earth element supplies, which are used in everything from batteries to fighter jets,” Cotton said in a statement. “Ending America’s dependence on the CCP for extraction and processing of these elements is critical to winning the strategic competition against China and protecting our national security.”
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As Democrats regroup and forge ahead with plans to implement components of the Build Back Better legislation killed by Senator Joe Manchin, calls for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to be given billions to electrify its vehicle fleet are likely to soon reach a fever pitch.
USPS is a high-profile, well-regarded institution through which progressives want to unveil new programs. Progressives pulled out all the stops to provide USPS with electric vehicle funding in 2021 and will likely double down in 2022.
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Lithium — a mineral that is key for electric car batteries — continues to rise in price, jeopardizing the ongoing transition to renewable energy outlined by Western governments.
The cost of lithium has skyrocketed more than 250% over the last 12 months, hitting its highest level ever, according to an industry index from Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. While the cost of manufacturing a lithium-ion battery for an electric vehicle (EV) has fallen sharply over the last decade, the decline has slowed in recent months due to rising lithium costs.
The average cost of an EV battery pack fell to $157 per kilowatt hour, a measure of energy capacity, in 2021, the Department of Energy said in October. That means a typical EV battery is between $6,000 and $7,000, a BloombergNEF analysis showed.
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The Biden administration rolled out a series of new emissions regulations for passenger vehicles and light trucks that it said would “unlock” $190 billion in benefits for American consumers.
The regulations will be enforced beginning with 2023 car models and will be revised with more stringent standards in 2027, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced. The EPA said the new emissions standards would ultimately quicken the transition from traditional engine vehicles to zero-emission cars.
“This day is truly historic,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said during an event on Monday.
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A major nickel mine in a Philippines rainforest has continued to expand, mowing down acres of trees as global demand for minerals essential for electric vehicle manufacturing surges.
The Rio Tuba mine in the region of Palawan supplies an important mineral for electric vehicle batteries in Tesla and Toyota cars, but the mine is nearing an expansion that would cause it to grow from four square miles to 14 square miles, according to an NBC News investigation. The growth of the mine would cause massive deforestation of the land which environmentalists warn could destroy the area’s ecosystem.
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A rise in the number of electric vehicles rumbling off manufacturers’ assembly lines and hitting the state’s roads and highways has Michigan planning to build out a network of charging stations.
A state report predicts by 2030, hybrid or electric vehicles (EV) will represent 51% of all vehicle sales; 50% of vehicle production will have Level 2 autonomy or higher; and software will account for more than 50% of the value of a new vehicle.
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Joe Biden, emulating trendsetting blue state governors like California’s Gavin Newsom and New York’s Andrew Cuomo, recently has declared that by 2030, new car sales must be 50 percent zero-emission electric vehicles.
The problem with this decree is that it violates the proverbial rule against the government picking winners and losers. It’s one thing for the government to subsidize energy research, or, for that matter, any pure research. Libertarian purists might object to that, but sometimes these public-private research partnerships can accelerate innovation and help keep American manufacturers competitive. It’s quite another thing, however, for the government to restrict what sort of technology powers our vehicles, because there’s no way we can predict how technology will evolve between now and 2030.
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A new executive order from the Biden administration has accelerated the timeline for electric vehicles and raised questions about the economic impacts of the transition away from gas-powered vehicles.
President Joe Biden signed the executive order Thursday aimed at making 50% of vehicles zero emission in the U.S. by 2030, an aggressive push toward electric vehicles. About 2% of new cars sold each year in the U.S. are currently electric, according to the Pew Research Center.
“The Executive Order also kicks off development of long-term fuel efficiency and emissions standards to save consumers money, cut pollution, boost public health, advance environmental justice, and tackle the climate crisis,” the White House said.
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General Motors announced in a press release Monday that it would invest $35 billion in electric vehicles through 2025, including the construction of two U.S. battery factories.
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More than 80 charging outlets for electric vehicles will be installed across Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced last week.
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There is a growing push in the U.S. and throughout much of the developed world to convert transportation from a primary reliance on fossil fuels to an almost-exclusive use of renewable energy (wind and solar). With this goal come promises of unlimited clean and free energy, the creation of millions of green jobs, and the benefit of helping save the planet from an imminent climate catastrophe.
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Electric-powered cars are now the rage. Tesla’s market capitalization is seven times larger than that of General Motors and fourteen times larger than Ford’s, though it builds a fraction of the vehicles that those companies do. Many politicians are even considering banning gasoline-powered cars within a few years in favor of electric vehicles (EVs), all in the name of saving the planet.
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General Motors announced its second major electric vehicle partnership in less than a week on Tuesday, this time a $2 billion deal with startup Nikola.
GM will take an 11% ownership stake in the Phoenix company and will engineer and build Nikola’s Badger hydrogen fuel cell and electric pickup truck. The Badger is expected to be in production by the end of 2022.
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Certain electric vehicles emit 11 percent to 28 percent more carbon dioxide than their diesel counterparts, even though various U.S. politicians, including U.S. Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, want taxpayer subsidies for such cars. According to a recent article on the Institute for Energy Research’s website, a study…
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