Are Electric Cars the Answer?

Can Americans’ electric cars slow climate change?

In 1971 the comics’ Pogo ecologically observed, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” We have now witnessed more and stronger tornadoes and hurricanes, droughts and floods, heat waves and wildfires.

Since 1990 the annual official warnings have intensified. U.N. Secretary Guterres now advocates “climate action on all fronts: everything, everywhere, all at once.”

However impressive our politicians’ rhetoric and professed goals, neither will save us. Consider President Joe Biden’s electric cars (EV) plan. He wants 67 percent of America’s newly manufactured cars to be electric by 2032.

But what does “electric” mean when 80 percent of U.S. electricity is generated from fossil fuels? (Iowa only 40 percent.)

Among the proposal’s other numerous challenges are four: consumers, chargers, cobalt and China.

Consumers. Cars on dealers’ lots are not cars in driveways. Recently 70 percent of car sales were used cars. The average age of drivable cars is 13 years. So we’re talking the occasional purchase of one third of car sales.

Used EV cars? An EV car’s “range” is the miles it can go from a 100-to-0 percent charge. But the recommended charge is between 20 and 80 percent — 60 percent of its “range.” Excessive heat or cold, fast chargers, driving speed, age and miles, reduce it further. Why buy a used battery, whether in a car or flashlight?

Chargers. Unless the EV owner lives in a house or apartment with a personal, assigned charging station, that EV is just street decoration. Gas tanks fill in five minutes. Charging takes 30 minutes to hours. Is the hunt and wait time worth it? On the road, PBS found numerous broken chargers; electricity priced four times what homeowners pay. Will they remain unregulated?

Cobalt. You can’t buy 1,000-2,000-pound lithium EV batteries, or their components, in most U.S. cities. Gathering lithium, cobalt, and other minerals is not like pumping oil or mining coal. For example, the Congo gathers 70 percent of the world’s cobalt with the hands of child and forced labor.

China. China has a 10-year head start on EVs, producing two-thirds of global EV cars and 75 percent of EV batteries. It controls half the world’s components, refining and processing capacity. The U.S. has 10 percent of EV production and 7 percent of battery production, with shortages of necessary minerals. U.S. can’t be world EV car champion. Cooperation with China would benefit both countries.

There are alternatives.

Seat belts weren’t popular with manufacturers or customers. The government’s response? Requiring them on all government vehicles. Soon all cars followed.

Much CO2 comes from fleets, postal and other delivery vehicles, city and school buses. Replacing them with EVs and individual charging stations should be Project One.

Some EVs have burst into flames, especially E-bikes. But peddling one, or walking; working from home; housing closer to workplaces are among other alternatives.

EV cars? OK. Just don’t put America’s biggest bet on them.

Nicholas Johnson drove a dealer’s EV car. Loved it as a toy; not practical (for him) as a car. mailbox@nicholasjohnson.org