The title of this article in the Wall Street Journal says it all. If electric cars are such a phenomenal idea with such great benefits, why do we have to pay people, and/or force them, to buy them? Written by climate science nutjobs’ biggest pain in the neck, an actual scientist, Bjorn Lomborg; the article lays out all the negative attributes of electric cars, the most ironic of which is that they are far worse for the environment than are ones using gasoline. Extracting the minerals needed for batteries and manufacturing and disposing of them is a particular nightmare and often involves human rights violations. Relying on electric cars makes us almost completely dependent on China for components. The subsidies given for these cars go almost exclusively to wealthy persons. Poor people can’t afford these expensive monstrosities even with subsidies. And soon, due to forced use of renewables, they won’t be able to afford the electricity to run them either. And the performance of these cars is completely substandard, particularly in cold weather, although they do tend to burst into flames which can warm the driver up. Just another concoction of lies from the whacko environmental movement, aided by a complacent and ideological media. (WSJ Article)
Our Final Example of Stupid Policy for the Evening Involves Phony BS on Electric Cars
About this Blog
The Healthy Skeptic is a website about the health care system, and is written by Kevin Roche, who has many years of experience working in the health industry. Mr. Roche is available to assist health care companies through consulting arrangements through Roche Consulting, LLC and may be reached at [email protected].
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Understanding of basic micro economics and history are some of the most valuable subjects
Two of the most important concepts in micro economics that are used in almost every field of endeavor are 1) the supply and demand curves and 2) marginal cost / marginal benefit analysis. Note that while cost benefit analysis is good, it will often lead to erroneous conclusions. As such, marginal cost / marginal benefit analysis is vastly superior.
Since the subject of the post is EV with a discussion of subsidies, I will point out one of the major myths of using tax credits.
In broad economic terms, One of the reasons there are so few EV sales is that the supply and demand curves dont meet as a price that is conducive to volume sales.
For example, lets assume the demand price is $30k for the EV whereas the supply price is at $40k (such that there are no sales). An income tax credit is then enacted at 25% of the sales price ($10K) which artificially shifts the demand curve so that the equilibrium price now appears to be $40k – Now the demand curve and the supply curve cross at $40k. The myth is that the buyer is gets the benefit of buyer a $40k EV at $30k ie the $10k tax credit.
The reality is that the buyer bought the EV at the demand curve point $30k with the seller getting a $10k increase in proceeds from the sale. In summary, the tax credit the buyer receives actually benefits the seller in the form of an artificially increased sales price.
(note – the portion of the tax credit which benefits the seller is a function of the demand for the product with vs without the subsidy. In the case of EV’s the demand without the subsidy is very low, as such, the majority of the benefit goes to the seller, though not all)
“If electric cars are such a phenomenal idea with such great benefits, why do we have to pay people, and/or force them, to buy them?”
That is what I was thinking during covid: Why were vax alternative treatment plans stifled/censored/outlawed? Why were people told, “Get the shot or lose your job”? Why were advertising companies needed to sell us on the so-called “vaccination”? Narc-lines were put in place to report our neighbor’s non-compliance.
All over a supposed one-and-only treatment for all, the vax.
And over at Zerohedge they are reporting in Europe Tesla Supercharger prices are being bumped up from $5-10 a full charge to $30 or so dollars. What’s not to like! /sarc off.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/tesla-hiking-supercharger-prices-significantly-across-europe
Well I don’t own an electric car but I did test drive the most expensive Tesla once and it was bar none the most incredible car I’ve ever driven. Not even in the same universe as any other car. Performance was mind-boggling. It seemed instantly obvious to me that this was the future. But I wasn’t considering any environmental issues, so there’s that.