U.S. Making the Same Mistakes with EVs It Made with Gas Cars | Hacker News Reader

U.S. Making the Same Mistakes with EVs It Made with Gas Cars

jalopnik.com

27 pointst2312 comments

Pretty crazy that the IRA bill subsidized large vehicles up to a purchase price of $80k and small ones only up to $55k. Crazy until you realize that the main purpose was to bail out domestic union labor car manufactures (ie. the big three and not Tesla) not promote electric transport (plug-in hybrids with 20mi range get credit).

I don't fully agree with the original article, but I appreciate that they've correctly pegged this as a US problem that other nations solved decades ago with a little touch of regulation to balance the needs of the people both when in and out of cars.

Meanwhile, Americans told themselves that a government regulating things was un-American, then invented jaywalking so they could make walking across a road illegal.

The Atlantic article Jalopnik cites is here:

https://archive.ph/U47pl

I see it as an armchair rant about how great acceleration performance will decrease safety, and then tacking on an argument about EVs not being a bullet for climate change.

The heavier EVs will eat up the roads without paying a gas tax to subsidize road repair.

Personal cars, EV or ICE are not the largest source of wear and tear on roads. Trucks and other commercial vehicles are. Their weight is significantly greater. EVs are mostly about 1000 pounds (~500kg) more than a similar ICE.

In many US states, EVs already have to pay hundreds of dollars extra during annual registration to offset the state gas tax.

In my state, they just raised the "EV tax" on registration from $100 to $300.

I have mileage records, and even using today's gas tax rate, (which will cause an overestimate) I never paid more than $225 a year, and that was a year 30% above average, and with the lest efficient vehicle I've ever had. 2020 was $80, and if I scale for the mileage I had in a typical year, that comes to $144.

The state gov't came out saying that it was based on the average amount people pay, but the numbers they provided used MPG values so low and mileages so high, you'd think they came from a motorhome doing the coast-to-coast tour.

Battery powered Chevy Silverado is 3000lbs heavier that its ICE version. That is directly from the article and very telling.

Yes, some larger EVs do have larger batteries, but many do not have such massive batteries.

Follow the Norway model. First get a majority of EVs on the road, then you tax them.

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/norway-became-an-ev-parad...

Australia doing the same.

https://www.treasury.sa.gov.au/Growing-South-Australia/incen...

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-28/sa-adopts-electric-ve...

The old bait and switch :)

Heavy EVs do nothing compared to the semi-trucks that Americans have inured to. If freight was predominantly hauled on rail lines, that might be relevant.

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