Government should not be pushing the manufacture and sale of one product while demonizing another.
In yet another attempt to regulate the car market and phase out internal combustion engines (ICE), another agency has proposed a rule with lofty ambitions of increasing fleet-wide Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards in passenger cars. This time, to 58 mpg by the year 2032. The only way to accomplish this goal, however, is to force the manufacture and sale of electric vehicles (EV) on a large scale. This conveniently approaches President Biden’s goal of all new car sales being two thirds electric.
Consumer choice is in jeopardy and about to be sacrificed on the altar of climate change. The reality is, few consumers really want an EV. They currently only represent six percent of all new car sales and are not exactly rolling out of dealerships, even after generous government incentives and handouts.
A major overhaul of one of the largest sectors in the U.S. economy is not in the best interest of the average consumer. There are quite a few reasons why EVs are not selling like hotcakes and why the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) rule is ill-advised.
The most obvious reason is the price disparity between EVs and ICE vehicles, in which the former is at least ten thousand dollars more than the latter. Couple that with an increase in insurance premiums by 28%; an expensive installation of a level 2 charging station at your home residence; and the possibility of replacing the 1,000-pound battery with a price tag of up to $20,000. Owning an EV is hard on the wallet, and it is no surprise that the very upper middle- and first-class elites are generally the ones buying them.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Read the entire Fox News article here.
Kristen Walker is a policy analyst for the American Consumer Institute, a nonprofit education and research organization. For more information about the Institute, visit www.theamericanconsumer.org or follow us on Twitter @ConsumerPal.