A new Manhattan Institute report throws cold water on climate change and the cost benefits of electric vehicles (EVs), widely touted by lawmakers and automakers.
Overall, the rapid electrification of the U.S. transportation sector will increase consumer costs, make the grid more vulnerable to blackouts, threaten national security, and may not even reduce greenhouse gas emissions. be. according to the paper It’s titled “Electric Cars for Everyone? Impossible Dreams” and written by Mark Mills, Senior Research Fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
“I think this is a morally significant outcome, a geopolitical, a social and an economic one,” Mills said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “Subsidies and obligations risk causing perhaps the greatest capital misallocation of modern times in industrial markets. Hundreds of billions of dollars will be spent pursuing these obligations and requirements. ”
“And as the report shows, it doesn’t, it doesn’t achieve its intended goals, and the underlying assumptions are wrong, poorly understood or difficult to quantify. There will be huge economic and social costs to the effort because it is too much,” he continued, “to take the steps that are being taken.”
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President Joe Biden enters General Motors’ Factory Zero electric vehicle assembly plant in Detroit, Michigan, November 17, 2021 (Nick Antaya/Getty Images)
Mills said the government’s aggressive push to electrify the transport sector over the next few years will help the environment by reducing carbon emissions across the economy, and reduce fuel costs while keeping vehicle prices at par. He said it was based on the premise that cuts would save consumers money. at current prices.
But Mills’ report emphasizes that emissions and costs depend on a wide range of conditions.
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“It depends on when and where you charge the car,” he told Fox News Digital. “We also have to add the emissions that occur before the car is first driven into the driveway, as all cars have CO2 emissions associated with the energy used to manufacture them. and machines. All.”
“For an internal combustion engine, around 15-20% of the emissions emitted over the vehicle’s operating life occur before it is driven,” he continued. “Electric vehicles contribute from 15% to 100% of total lifecycle emissions. In addition, because fuel tanks and batteries are made from hard-to-find materials, emissions are traditionally low. It’s much bigger than a car in ‘metal. ”
Mills added that there are “realistic scenarios” in which driving electric vehicles produces more global emissions than driving internal combustion engines.
His report, meanwhile, comes as federal and state lawmakers push for electric vehicles while continuing to target conventional gasoline vehicles.
According to Mark Mills, a senior researcher at the Manhattan Institute, electric vehicles can have a higher carbon footprint than traditional gasoline-powered vehicles. (Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
In December, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized a rule for heavy-duty trucks, which at the time was the “strongest national clean air standard ever to reduce smog and soot-forming emissions” from heavy-duty trucks. said. The new standards will go into effect on March 27 and apply to new trucks sold from 2027 onwards.
Then, in April, the EPA proposed: Most Aggressive Federal Tailpipe Emissions It targets light and medium emissions ever produced. Once finalized and implemented, it will represent a staggering 67% of new sedans, crossovers, SUVs and light trucks. Up to 50% for buses and garbage trucks. 35% of short-haul cargo tractors. The White House has predicted that 25% of long-haul cargo tractors purchased by 2032 could be electric.
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The EPA also reinstated California’s authority to enforce its own emissions standards and electric vehicle sales obligations under the Clean Air Act in March 2022, allowing other states to adopt California’s rules.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom is seen at Moffett Federal Airfield before President Biden arrives in Mountain View, Calif., on June 19. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
A few months later, in August, the California Air Resources Board, the main state environmental agency, said: Approved regulations mandating By 2035, all car purchases in the state, which ranks first in annual car sales in the United States, will be zero-emissions. Altogether, it is estimated that the nearly 20 states that plan to introduce California regulations account for more than 40% of total U.S. vehicle purchases.
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“Ultimately, a ban on conventional motor vehicles, if implemented, would create severe impediments to affordable and convenient driving, leading to a massive misallocation of capital in the global $4 trillion automotive industry. deaf,” Mills said in the report.
“To hypothetically imagine an all-electric world, we need to recognize the inescapable fact of a rat’s nest of assumptions, speculations and ambiguities about emissions,” he concluded. “Given the technical uncertainty, the diversity and opacity of geographic factors, and the unique nature of many processes, much of the required data may never be collected through normal regulatory methods.”
“If U.S. and European regulators enshrine ‘green disclosure’ in a legally binding manner, these uncertainties could lead to havoc, all of which could be manipulated, if not fraudulent.” will be targeted.”
