What Darth Vader can teach us about electric vehicles and their hidden fees.
Don't get suckered like Lando Calrissian did!
We are starting to hear stories about people having to pay higher prices to register their electric vehicles (EVs).
That’s got to be quite a kick in the teeth. The government browbeats you into buying a more expensive car (I’m ignoring subsidies for the moment — that’s a whole different annoyance), but at least you won’t have to pay gas taxes anymore.
Oops. Yeah you do. Just annually, not by the gallon.
Gas taxes are a crappy way to pretend to pay for the roads. I say “pretend” because the money just goes into state coffers. Maybe they will build and maintain the roads with that money, maybe they won’t.
But at least the gas tax was tied to road usage. Paying more for EV registration instead will benefit those who drive a ton of miles at the expense of people who work at home and only use their car for errands.
That’s one of the wretched things about government. It can’t help but misalign costs and benefits. It also doesn’t have to serve us. It doesn’t have to keep its promises. Like Darth Vader’s relationship with Lando Calrissian, the deal can always be altered. Pray they don’t alter it further.
But of course, they will alter it further. They always do.
Over 30 states have added increased fees for EV registration. Seven have taxes on EV charging itself. Also, the price of the electricity used to charge EVs can always be increased by the government due to the heavily regulated nature of our energy production and distribution.
California, for example, is simultaneously mandating that nothing but EVs be sold in their state by 2035 while (during a recent heat wave) asking EV owners to stop charging them.
Think of it. They are requiring you to switch from gas to electric but their power grids already can’t meet the demand for electricity. Something has to give. Expect more restrictions on power consumption, as well as rolling blackouts and brownouts — or worse.
So, yeah. The government can always alter the deal. If you prefer electric cars on their own merits, fine. Follow your heart. But if you’re switching over reluctantly, but think it’ll be “cheaper” than your gas car, don’t be so sure.
Oh, and good luck with those batteries that like to spontaneously combust.
For myself, as cool as I think EVs are (and as much as I think they are the future) I’m going to wait a while.
Naturally,
Adam
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If you're not a regular reader of Eric Peters Autos (dot com... your libertarian car guy), you should be. He's reviewed a few EVs, which are delivered to his rural home in western Virginia. Because the closest charger to him is down in Roanoke, by the time the vehicle is delivered it usually doesn't have much charge left. And because he doesn't have a 220V outlet in the driveway he tries to charge it up with a drag cord. That might add a few more miles, enough to get to the "fast" charger in town, but only if the weather is nice. If it's outside of the Goldilocks zone, the energy consumed goes to keeping the battery pack at the right temperature.
My take on EVs is that they're just not a practical solution as a primary vehicle outside of the suburbs. Probably an OK solution when you're below the 37º parallel, in a city or densely developed area, and have another vehicle driven by gasoline. Oh, and there's a lot of excess generating capacity available on your power grid. And your service drop is 100A or larger. And you won't need to run a 220V line very far to add the charger. And you only have a few neighbors with EVs because your neighborhood distribution lines can only handle about 4-5 cars charging at a time. And... And... And...
I've been following the space for a few years now. The holy grail right now is solid state batteries. I got all excited about a company called Solid Power because they had backing from Ford and Toyota. But after a year I watched my stop loss trade kick in, "only" losing half my money. Solid State batteries do solve many of the issues that plague EVs now, but until someone is able to get the tech to scale up it's just a cool idea.
But even if they do crack the solid state battery production issues, there's still that problem of where do we get the electricity from? Enough to replace all the watts in gasoline that's used for transportation now? The only thing that comes close to that scale is nuclear, and that's going to continue to be a non-starter, at least as long as department of energy has any role.
I, for one, love my EV. I adore the vehicle. I've never had such a joy for an automobile before. I'm not a car guy, but this thing is just something else that thrills me.
Of course, I don't love it because it's an EV, I love it because it's a Tesla. The answer to the question "What would happen if a software company built a car?" is "something really really really good".
The instant acceleration of the electric motor, the low maintenance burden, the "full tank" every morning without having to go anywhere are all awesome.
It's the software, though, that makes the experience. Full self driving in my Tesla is a mind-blowingly wonderful joy.
I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise, given that I'm a software guy and not a car guy that a car that's software first is a revolutionary change at how I look at a cars.
Anyway, yeah, you're right about all of this. I agree completely. I'm thrilled not that I bought an EV, but that I bought the Model 3 that I did. There's no changing that. If Tesla made a gas vehicle, I'm sure I'd love it too.