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Technically Speaking

Tough Times for

Electric-Vehicles (EV)

by Dave Trecker
t’s hard to believe when you’re driving around Naples. Teslas Rental companies are also feeling the pinch. Hertz reported
and other electric vehicles seem to be everywhere. There’s no it was selling off 20,000 EVs and using the proceeds to buy
I evidence of a decline in sales, at least around here. And why combustion engine cars. In March of this year, CEO Stephen
should there be? EVs are quiet, powerful and fun to drive. Up Scherr resigned, blaming EV investments for heavy losses.
north I drove one that was largely autonomous – a bit scary but, Worse perhaps than the financial hits are the political
presumably, not dangerous. claims about environmental benefits. They simply aren’t true.
Half of my friends own Tesla stock, eager to cash in on President Consulting firm Goehring & Rozencwajg reports that Norway,
Biden’s crusade against combustion engines and his subsidies to an oil producer, needs to get 45 years of use out of its EV battery
underwrite EVs. The switch, we are told, will help slow climate (expected life is 15 years) to offset the global CO2 cost of
change. producing it. And that doesn’t take into account ethical issues,
Yet we read about EV sales tanking around the world. Nobody such as child labor used in the Congo to mine cobalt, an essential
seems to want them anymore. A Wall Street Journal headline ingredient of car batteries.
trumpeted, “The Electric Car Revolution is Losing Its Charge.” No question, the problems are real and not easily solved.
What’s going on here? What’s the answer? If demand for electrics is fading, what’s taking
First off, EVs have some very real problems. its place?
• Consumer Reports just rated electric cars and electric SUVs Most prominent are low emission gas powered cars and trucks,
as the “least reliable” of all vehicles, with 79% more problems than squeezing the most out of available technology to improve miles-
internal-combustion vehicles. per gallon efficiency.
• Cold temperatures in the Chicago area last winter froze But more important might be hybrids, a step down from full
charging stations, leaving EVs inoperable. electrics and said by dealers and rental agencies to be the next big
• Hurricane Ian showed that saltwater intrusion is death to thing.
battery driven cars. What the heck are hybrids?
• Electric vehicle fires are especially dangerous, notoriously hard They’re cars or trucks that have a gasoline engine and one
to put out and easy to reignite. or more electric motors that can work in tandem or separately
• Driving at high altitudes with inherently lower oxygen levels to drive the vehicle. The electric motors are powered by juice
rapidly drains EV batteries. produced onboard and stored in high voltage battery packs. Some
• Unreliable auxiliary 12 volt batteries have rendered new EVs hybrids are plug ins and some are not.
impossible to start, triggering a federal investigation. The technology is amazing. I’ve rented hybrids and marveled at
These problems, along with soaring prices, have consumers the efficiency they deliver.
backing away from EVs in droves, leaving car companies in the But what about President Biden’s latest demand that 56% of
lurch. all vehicle sales be full electric by 2032? Don’t worry about that.
Demand in Germany is down by half. In the U.S., startups have It will be tied up by legal challenges until the Supreme Court
been plagued by losses and have sharply curtailed production. strikes it down.
The big guys are also being hit. GM has lost billions on electric The smart money is on the free market. After all, consumers
cars with gas powered trucks delivering most of its profits. should be able to choose what they drive.
A February report said Ford lost $4.7 billion on electric vehicles
Dr. Trecker is a chemist and retired Pfizer executive living in Naples.
in 2023.

70 Life in Naples | April 2024