OPINION:
When the Democrats took control of the House and Senate in 2021, the road ahead for electric and hybrid cars looked clear for miles.
New financial incentives would surface to stimulate the manufacture and purchase of these vehicles. Ditto disincentives to stick with traditional transport, via higher license and insurance fees.
Shutting down the Keystone XL pipeline, the Democrats believed, would put continuous upward pressure on gasoline prices to further encourage change. Makers of electric and hybrid cars would engineer tweaks for newer vehicles to add still more appeal.
The package would win enough converts to foster economies of production scale and lower prices significantly. Ultimately, with market dominance shifting, any proper cost analysis would tab electric vehicles and hybrids as the obvious new car choice. President Biden and company hoped to be there by 2030.
Brake lights flashed for that scenario last month, however. Under new management, gas burners will receive a fairer hearing based on functional merit, and just as surely frustrated progressives will foresee environmental devastation.
Any chance of that? Well, check the numbers. Online sources estimate the U.S. share of global greenhouse gas emissions at 16%, with world leader China producing over one-third. And according to the U.S. government’s Energy Information Administration, our entire transportation sector — including cars, buses, planes, trains and heavy trucks — accounts for only 29% of domestic pollution.
Removing the larger vehicles leaves U.S.-owned cars with just a 3% share of global emissions. Even full cooperation from China wouldn’t raise potential savings above 5%, far from a stand-alone salvation or disaster. EVs were never destined for such influence, government-assisted or not.
TOM GREGG
Niles, Illinois
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