The Culture of Lying, Overpromising, and Underdelivering Within the EV Movement
A good thought policy would be to take whatever is claimed by automakers and the media on the benefits, performance, and attraction of EVs and assume the opposite.
The future is electric – but only if you don’t mind being lied to.
It’s very hard to exaggerate the sheer number of overstatements and optimistic projections surrounding the EV movement as well as the claim of its “inevitable transition” toward broad acceptance among a majority of consumers. What began as a seemingly well-intended journey to offer an alternative to air-polluting, gas-powered vehicles has morphed into a broadened campaign of half-truths, lies of omission, and false promises.
The Dishonest “Zero-Emissions” Lie
Much of this began with the promise of battery-operated cars that produce “zero-emissions.” Why wouldn’t someone want to replace their gas-powered, carbon-emitting car with a “clean” car that doesn’t pollute the air? Sounds like something for the greater good of humanity, right?
To say that the “zero-emissions” guarantee is misleading is an understatement. Clear-thinking individuals understand that whatever pollution is generated to charge an EV will take place somewhere else, probably via a natural gas electrical station, hundreds of miles away.
For sure, it takes energy to drill and refine crude oil and to access natural gas deposits, yet nobody is lying about “zero-emissions.” Whoever is the marketing genius that came up with the false “zero-emissions” claim must really believe the public is doornail stupid.
The Exaggeration of Consumer Demand
Well, they’re not that stupid. Consumer demand for EVs is declining according to much of the automotive and business press, who find it impossible to hide the shortcomings of EVs any longer. They have, after all, been touting the benefits of EVs for over a decade, ignoring evidence of performance limitations, the time required to charge, and the much higher total cost of ownership among many other things.
How can readers believe a journalist who writes about how cool it is to drive an EV when their own experience (and those of their friends) tell otherwise? How many times are we to be impressed by the “quietness” and “fast acceleration” inherent in all electric vehicles and to ignore the obvious challenges faced by actual owners in realistic driving conditions?
The Economic Deception of Low-Cost Lithium
It is claimed that the price of a key battery material such as lithium will go down as battery-production volume goes up. Economies of scale, we’re told. Yet the enormous demand for lithium has caused prices to more than triple since 2021, and assuming demand will continue to rise according to projections there is no economic argument to claim that battery prices will fall over time.
Unless, of course, there is a breakthrough in battery technology that makes them lighter, uses less rare earth minerals, and can be built cheaper. This is yet another misdirection by automakers and the media - to talk about prototype battery technologies that are “just around the corner” so that you feel better about outdated battery technologies available today that were first invented in the late 1970s.
The Myth of the Affordable American-made EV
Then there’s the cost factor. Thanks to massive discounting of new 2023 models due to weakening demand, the average price of an EV has dropped to around $57,000. In 2024, the average annual salary in the U.S. is $53,490. How can you characterize a $57,000 vehicle as “affordable” when it costs more than the average household earns in a year?
Tesla promised a $25,000 “low-cost family car” in its EV lineup for over fifteen years. It recently abandoned the project, citing “fierce Chinese EV competition” from suppliers such as BYD. This promise was made to curry favor with government regulators and get special financial aid funded by taxpayers to help bring that “low-cost family car” to the mass-market. That affordable EV turned out to be vaporware and it is now clear that it was never intended to be built in the first place. Deception on stilts!
The National EV Charging Network that will Never Happen
Finally, we were supposed to be on a track to have a national network of 500,000 EV charging stations in place by 2030, as part of a commitment by the U.S. to spend $7.5 billion for the initial 20,000 stations. As of today, there is no commitment for financing the remaining 480,000 stations as promised. Never mind, because that 500,000 EV charger figure is less than half of what will be needed to replicate the ubiquitous network of gas stations across the country.
And I’m just curious: How many of these EV charging stations have been built with $7.5 billion allocated in the last two years? As of the end of March 2024, only seven. Good enough for government work.
EV chargers will be built, of course, in parts of the country where EV adoption has already taken place. Those parts of the country have reasonable weather, destinations that are close by, and charging resources that are within reach. It is therefore no surprise that a vast majority of Tesla Supercharger stations are bundled in California, Texas, and Florida. There are two stations in the entire state of Alaska.
This culture of lying, overpromising, and underdelivering has completely undermined the credibility of the EV movement. Does anybody really believe that a majority of people are going to voluntarily replace their gas-powered vehicle with an EV that has much shorter range, takes upwards of 45 minutes to “fast charge” at a nationwide public network that does not exist, carries a battery pack weighing over 1,000 pounds, can’t haul or tow anything over a couple of thousand pounds more than 100 miles without a recharge, costs around 40 percent more to purchase than a gas-powered equivalent, is over twice as expensive to insure, has terrible resale value, is hideously expensive to repair…and so on.
The public was correct 100 years ago when they first rejected EVs, and they’re correct again today.