In what might be one of the most infuriating ironies to cap a year of neurotic, pathological government and corporate arrogations of our personal autonomy, the Chief Executive Officer of German auto-maker Volkswagen now appears to have stumbled onto the truth that – SHOCK – it’s not economically viable to build batteries for their fleet of utopian electric vehicles.
Stephen Green (an ironic surname) writes for PJ Media:
“Volkswagen, the German carmaker that’s pledged to manufacture nothing but electric vehicles in Europe by 2035, now says it’s ‘practically unviable’ to build the batteries they need domestically.”
Welcome to reality, VW. It’s not as if the problems of electric vehicle “tech” haven’t been manifest, or at least researchable, for years. Yet corporate heads at Volkswagen – like the authoritarian-obsessives of the nation in which its headquarters is based – has obsessed about switching to “electricity” from petrochemical fuel, the fuel which is the cheapest, most efficient, moveable, storable, versatile source of energy in the world.
“That’s according to Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schafer, who wrote on LinkedIn this week that ‘Unless we manage to reduce energy prices in Germany and Europe quickly and reliably, investments in energy-intensive production or new battery cell factories in Germany and the EU will be practically unviable.’”
It sure does seem strange that the CEO of a major car maker would only grasp this reality NOW, when the information about the car batteries – and the larger constellation of problems associated with “electric vehicles” (including slowness of charge, fire hazard, environmental dangers in the sourcing of battery elements and the discarding of spent batteries, lack of energy portability, cold-weather problems, load-capacity inefficiency, and more) -- has been available for a long, long time.
Green notes:
“It takes a lot of energy to produce a lithium-ion battery large enough to power a car or truck, and Europe’s high energy prices drive up the cost of making the batteries that were supposed to reduce costs.”
How did Europe get those high costs for energy?
By politicians for decades imposing edicts and force, playing favorites with special “green” interests, and prohibiting the operation of the free market.
As I wrote in August for MRCTV, nanny-state national governments all over Europe have blocked Russian energy, embraced false, reality-challenging “Anthropogenic Climate Change” myths (complete with bogus “research” produced by many Climate Cultists who live off the public teat), prohibited petrochemical use for home heating, pushed mandates onto homeowners and car-makers, and engaged in such a long, massive propaganda campaign against cost-efficient petroleum/gas that millions actually have bought the fallacy that “green energy” – as it’s erroneously called – is a viable economic option.
It’s not.
In this error, VW has followed the US Postal Service (USPS), about which I wrote for MRCTV in August, and which, as part of the Biden-Dem-RINO push to further institutionalize crony enviro-corruption, will receive $7.5 BILLION to buy a fleet of “electric mail vans.”
And, beyond the expense of those albatrosses, their unfeasibility is so clear, it only makes sense that the always-in-the-red, crazily managed USPS would push for vehicles that will give it – and us, the people stuck with the bill and stuck with the USPS handling mail – massive headaches.
Related: 'Infrastructure Bill' Pushes Electric Cars, Takes Over Regional Power Grids | MRCTV
As I noted in August:
“Waits for the most efficient electric vehicles begin, at the low end, at fifteen minutes for what is called a ‘fast charge’, but that’s not a full charge, and that’s under the best charging conditions outside the home. Charge time in such conditions usually takes much longer than fifteen minutes, and not only depends on the make and age of the electric vehicle, it depends on the capacity of each charger at a charging station, on how many chargers there are, and on how many people are trying to use the chargers.”
But climate and energy insanity appear to abound in the halls of government. It’s a worldwide malady, a fever for fascism – seeing government mix with or tell private industry what to do, via “incentives”, “regulations”, blocks on real, honest, market competition, and “grants” for research going down to the university level, “research” that many corporations utilize later… research that has steered the narrative towards people accepting a falsehood as good and true.
It's become so insane, the greenies actually are adopting a kind of “self-harm” mentality.
The big problem is that this harms everyone. And so, writes Green:
“Take a deep breath and try to wrap your head around this. Europe has been closing nuclear plants and subsidizing wind and solar. Now they’ll tax wind and solar in order to ‘fund a €54bn consumer aid package.’
Subsidized wind and solar are too expensive, so Germany will tax it to pay for consumer subsidies on wind and solar.
It takes a really big government to be that stupid.”
Well said.
And Mr. Schafer is one of the few who is juuuuuust starting to recognize that stupidity. Yet he has not shaken the belief in central-planning.
Related: Watch Out, US: UK Preps Rationing Of Electric Vehicle Recharging, AT HOME | MRCTV
Concludes Green:
“Speaking of viability, Schafer sure does have an interesting definition of that word. He praised Presidentish Joe Biden’s so-called Inflation Reduction Act for providing ‘highly attractive incentives to invest in new plants and production.’
Here’s a pro tip for our European friends, and our so-called leaders in Washington, too: If an investment requires government incentives or subsidies, it isn’t actually viable.”
That’s precisely right.
Follow MRCTV on Twitter!
MN Teacher Asks Kids If She Should Conceal Pronouns from Parents https://t.co/u3xnuTHqHs
— MRCTV (@mrctv) December 7, 2022