Electric vehicles are an integral piece to President Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure plan as his administration unveiled its National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program last month — providing $5 billion to states to develop electric vehicle charging stations.
The goal is to establish a nationwide network of 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations, which the president hopes will help support his goal of getting electric car sales up to 50 percent of all car sales by 2030.
To push consumers toward electric, the Biden administration has also implemented a federal tax credit of up to $7,500 for all electric and plug-in hybrid cars purchased new in or after 2010. The credit amount varies depending on the capacity of the battery used to power the vehicle.
California is leading the country in electric vehicle adoption, with alliance’s report noting in 2021 the state accounted for nearly 40 percent of all registered light-duty electric vehicles in the U.S. Florida followed at nearly 6 percent, Texas at about 5 percent and New York at 4.4 percent. thehill.com/....
Clean Energy Canada recently reported that EVs are exceptionally cheaper over eight years of ownership (driving 12,000 annually), even though you most likely will pay more upfront. For example, a VW SUV costs almost 50% more than a Honda CR-V.
However, what you pay for the vehicle is only one part of the total cost of ownership. Calculate the larger monthly car loan of an EV against the higher fueling and maintenance costs of a gasoline car. Using average 2021 gas prices, and average 2021 electricity prices, costs of “fueling” the electric ID.4 were a third of the (relatively efficient) gasoline CR-V – and contributed to 22% lower cost per kilometer driven.
After eight years, the reduction in fueling costs is also compounded with lower maintenance costs. With no oil changes to perform, and a far simpler electric drivetrain, maintenance and repair costs for the EV were just over half that of the gasoline vehicle, offsetting the ID.4’s slightly higher depreciation and contributing to a 28% reduction in cost of ownership over eight years
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Factor in the significantly higher fuel prices in 2022, and the cost savings for going electric is magnified significantly – to the tune of $24,000 Canadian or $17,000 USD over eight years. That’s nearly enough to buy another car! www.greencars.com/...
A Forbes magazine interview with environmentalist Saul Griffith examines what it’s going to take to convert to a carbon-neutral world, what obstacles lie in the way, and how we as citizens can play a role. Key to the equation is how quickly we need to scale up production and use of electric cars, solar cells, batteries, and heat pumps.
Griffith notes:
When it comes to climate change, we've been sitting on our hands waiting for a miracle. There’s a mindset that technology will save us, but we've been waiting for that miracle technology for so long that to meet our current climate targets, we need 100% adoption rates of clean energy technology starting last year. What I mean by a 100% adoption rate is that every time anyone in the world buys a car starting tomorrow, it needs to be electric. We can't buy natural gas furnaces to heat our homes anymore. We can't buy any new power plants that run on fossil fuels.
The good news is that the miracle technologies will come along. And batteries, solar, wind power, and electric vehicles exist already - just not at the capacity we need. But by scaling these technologies, implementing renewable technology in homes and offices, we can buy ourselves time to address climate change in a more substantial way. Saul Griffith from Solving Climate Change the American Way: Saul Griffith’s Vision for an Electric Future
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