Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, considered the most likely Democratic candidate for president in 2024 after Joe Biden in the latest Washington Post ranking, says the solution to high gas prices is getting “most Americans” to switch to electric vehicles — willingly or not.
Buttigieg is issuing federal regulations to force states to limit the use of gas-powered vehicles. If he becomes president, we’ll be living in green hell, compelled to buy pricey EVs to comply with his climate zealotry.
Right now, fewer than 1% of vehicles on the road are electric. EVs are probably the long-term future, but they won’t solve the current pain at the pump; they cost too much, and charging them is a logistical nightmare. The U.S. has 145,000 gas stations but only 6,000 fast-charging stations.
On a radio show July 14, Buttigieg roiled the audience by suggesting that switching to electric cars, rather than producing more energy, is the answer. Meanwhile, gas prices are predicted to rise as high as $6 a gallon this fall, according to an internal U.S. Treasury analysis, or even higher in J.P. Morgan’s worst-case scenario.
EVs are not the answer. Buttigieg is living in la-la land. The average new EV costs about $66,000. A good deal is the 2022 Kia EV6, priced at $40,900 before add-ons, according to U.S. News and World Report. Even that’s more than most people can afford. Three-quarters of Americans who need a car buy a used one, paying around $31,000 for it.
EVs are for big spenders. AAA reports a staggering 78% of EV buyers own other cars. They’re in the income bracket to afford multiple cars. They drive the EV short distances but still fall back on their gas-powered car for long-distance driving.
Lucky for them. Getting a charge away from home isn’t fast or easy, according to the MIT Technology Review. Gas-powered cars zip in and out of gas stations. EV owners have to cool their heels for a minimum of 15 minutes to put a couple of hundred miles on the vehicle, even at the fastest Tesla Supercharger.
That is, if you can find a charging station. They are “nearly nonexistent in rural America,” said MIT.
Even charging at home can be a problem. Take the Tesla Model Y, ranked one of the best electric SUVs of 2022. Even with a 220-volt charger installed in your home, it takes up to 11 hours to power up this model. That’s more than most people sleep in a night.
That’s assuming you’re allowed to recharge. With some states facing brownouts and electricity curbs, there could be restrictions. Texas has already asked EV drivers to avoid charging during peak times. Texas isn’t producing enough electricity to support widespread charging. Imagine being told you can’t plug your car in at night to drive to work the next morning.
The fact is, the nation lacks the infrastructure to support a rapid total transition to EVs, and many states lack the electricity generation as well.
Many of these problems are temporary. The major auto companies are betting on EVs for the future. Both GM and Tesla are partnering with convenience store chains across the country to install charging stations. (The federal government is also funding some stations.) Nearly 14% of Sheetz stores, a regional Mid-Atlantic chain, have Tesla chargers. Sheetz is delighted to sell soft drinks and snacks to EV owners as they wait to power up.
In the long run, count on market ingenuity to solve the shortcomings of EVs and increase their affordability, just like what happened with cellphones. Unfortunately, Buttigieg refuses to wait. He’d rather ram the technology down the public’s throats.
On July 7, he proposed regulations to compel states to reduce CO2 highway emissions, effectively outlawing gas-powered vehicles. The regulations appear to exceed the Department of Transportation’s authority and will be challenged in court. But they indicate Buttigieg’s mindset.
Beware making this climate radical the next president of the United States.
Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York and chairman of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths. Follow her on Twitter @Betsy_McCaughey.
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Electric cars may eventually be the answer but what we have now in EV’s is not. These are toys to play with and see if they’re what you might want. We do want EV’s but not these overpriced golf carts. Again, the auto industry is only supplying us with what they think we want that meets their bottom line. Look at what they have to offer – a $40 – $60+ vehicle that may go 200 miles fully charged. But it’ll go from 0-60 in 3 seconds – ain’t that great, just what I’m looking for to go to the store with my kids. It takes 10-14 hours to charge it or $7000 to place a fast charge to charge it to 80% and kill my batteries prematurely – that will cost up to $10,000 to replace – plus labor of course. We’ve been working on solar for years and besides mine, I don’t see many on the roofs of local homes in the area. We have the ability to make the EV toy a functioning, economical and dependable vehicle but I can’t afford to buy $60,000 toy.
Buttigieg must own a lot of stock in anything and everything that has to do with EVs.
Great commentary. I am not even sure EV will be the answer… I like hydrogen powered. Either way to be green the issue is how to generate and transport the electricity from solar? wind? nuclear plants? We need a plan and solution in place BEFORE we pull the rug out from under the existing transportation and energy systems.
I wouldn’t be surprised at all to learn that PeeLousy, Scummer, AOSEE, and the rest of the Green Nude Eel people have a huge interest in electric cars i.e.: THEY make money when YOU buy them.
I remember my husband saying he has heard all this before. He was born in Berlin in 1938 and lived under soviet rule until the age of 18. I shall die before I drive an electric car you stupid “Butt”. You are not a useful idiot as Lenin used to call people but you are totally useless. I have worked in places you would be so afraid to even go to on vacation. You do not represent the people I have dealt with in other countries. You would be killed in some of them. I am so sick of the woke culture being forced down my throat by the ilk in the democratic party. I am an 82 year old woman and I have not ever seen this before in my country although I have had the opportunity of seeing what has happened in other countries through my overseas work. So we can go on talking and talking but I shall let you all know that I intend to write a letter and will be sending it to the major newspapers .LOL they are not readable for me at this time. They are a joke as is your boss the useful idiot. until he is not useful anymore then they will through him under the bus. And they will do it to you also. This is the strongest letter I have written yet and I hope they (xfinity) will not kick me off as they have done so many times before. Carol
so he gets to choose his sex and we can’t choose our car! FU Buttifudge!
I disagree EV is the answer now or even in the future. Batteries have too many issues and definitely are not environmentally friendly. I would like to see more effort towards Hydrogen. The biggest issue is no distribution network in place and time to re-fuel.
Mandates and totalitarianism is the only thing the Democratic Party understand. The accuse conservatives of it but they are the ones practicing it
Butt Plug is not competent to be POTUS of this country. He doesn’t have the legal right to force anyone to buy anything! He wants to be another dictator like like that pervert Trudeau in Canada. Butt Plug had better remember this is America not Canada! He will be in for a rude awakening if he doesn’t! He could easily have another 1776 event on his hands and unable to handle that!
call them what they are battery cars, and to make the batteries it will put the World Carbon footprint at a 74% Increase. All the fossil fuel engines that are running around the world Today do not cause this much of a Carbon footprint. If you know what you spend on Just your A/C cooling for 1 year at your home. Not any other electricity you may use like Lights Hot water tanks Stoves Ovens Clocks Televison’s Computers Just your A/C, the latest estimate with a Charger at your home to power up your Battery Car will increase your Monthly Bill to Increase 42%. that is after you buy THE Cheapest 168 mile per charge Battery Car for $70,000.00 plus tax, destination, prep, dealer charges. Hey Buttface LACTATING Pregnant Person Butt-a-gee Go _ _ _ _ yourself Fool .. Imagine if you will if everyone had a Battery Car to drive to work and Everyone Charges their Battery Car at the same time .. Good Night to you all .. lmao..
How many demorats drive ev or are they shuttled around in gas powered suburban. The old adage don’t do as I do do as I say. I reversed it a bit.
Another liberal way out in left field. This guy is an idiot and completely out of touch. He can’t even run the transportation department.
Another nonsense idea from a Biden admin intellectual liteweight . Can we drive an electric vehicle on a racist highway system? Unbelievable!
I agree with just about all of the comments I read, Please remember all of them in November and lets get rid of all the vermin who are turning our beautiful country into a banana republic…A pround American and a proud USAF veteran….
Buttboy needs a good case of monkey pox. I would like to know how he plans to forcibly make someone buy something they can’t afford. He can stop the production and sale of gas, bring the country to a screeching halt as truckers stop driving, no one can get to work, no food in the grocery stores. Yeah, then those that can afford an EV can have to road to themselves. I read that Ford is recalling 100k in hybrids, no chips for the F150 EVs. Good luck with your plan, Buttboy.
The main problem is electric vehicles can only be charged using fossil fuels. Plus the high cost and the fact that the battery when used up requires hazardous material disposal at a high cost. So it’s bad for the environment.
Has anyone checked into the price of replacing the battery? Charging? You can only go so many miles before you have to charge. If I went coast to coast how many times would I have to stop and charge? It’s not like filling up at a gas pump in the few minutes it takes. And how many charges til the battery needs to be replaced? I’ll take a horse or mule any day. Oh but then they excrete methane gas so maybe a bike?
Hopefully he doesn’t live that long. Totally worthless.
How much money does it cost to charge your electric vehicle and where do they get the electricity from for the charge?
Jitterbug is an idiot why would anyone want to listen to him. Another Biden dumba**.
Just like ethanol the Green hype is a joke. It is about fear and money(TAXES). If the oceans are going to rise why are all the people pushing this nonsense buying ocean front MANSIONS?
I have attached a 14 minute video that has convincing evidence regarding the electric car policy of this administration. The Green Agenda is for most parts a lie. Zero Emissions don’t exist.
youtube.com/watch?v=S1E8SQde5rk
I have flown over the entire North American continent for 55 years from 1000 to 45000 feet above our majestical planet. There are five lies I am convinced of.
1.The air is not dirty or polluted except over LA, Mexico City. 2.There is plenty of water and nature recycles it constantly. 3.We will not starve because we produce plenty of food and a large percentage of the land is used for ag. 4.We are not over populated except in major cities, lots of desolate unused land down there. There is no climate crisis, the climate is and has always been in a state of change and will always be changing. If it didn’t our world would become stagnant and perish.
Co2 is necessary to make O2 through plants. Want to take care of the Co2? Plant millions of hardwood trees with broad leaves instead of the conifer trees the Government has spent millions giving for free to get people to plant. Millions of acres of land are available to grow them and extract all the CO2 and convert to O2. It’s not Rocket Science!
The Creator contains all the wisdom and has granted us as much of it as we can comprehend and use. We have to grow stronger, smarter, more noble and work harder and implement it to acquire more of it.
Why aren’t Hydrogen fuel cell cars an option? They are completely emission free. You can drink the water coming from the exhaust pipe. Two manufactures are now selling them and the biggest problem is that there aren’t very many refueling stations. These green people need to get their heads out of their backsides and start looking at what is really going to save us from their CO2 catastrophe and not replacing it with something that is going to make it worse.
Lots of folks assume the radical green movement is full of wild eyed zealots who are genuinely mistaken in their beliefs. In fact, what we see is the proverbial tip of the iceberg. These are cold blooded revolutionaries with a comprehensive plan to completely reorder society. Energy scarcity is the means not the end. The end involves serfdom for most and a new class of nobility ruling the ‘masses’. Without affordable available energy we’re back to our great grandparents lifestyle. Bedtime at dusk and up at dawn. Btw, when ac is no longer affordable or outlawed who do you think will die like flies from heat stroke?
Totally agree,thanks to liberal judges on SCOTUS years ago Buttigag and his despicable ilk are allowed to contaminate our lives.Another example of Bidens lack of moral values.
While I’m at it AMAC, I think your organization should re-evaluate your support behind Mutual Of Omaha. They’re not your grandparents reputable company anymore. They’re going WOKE. Ok, now….
Gee, I think it’s just swell all the perverts and mentally ill people in our government are doing such a great job of destroying this country and making us a laughing stock in the world! Oh we need more idiocy, don’t we? It is clear to me that the criminally insane pervert Progressives do not get fairly elected into the positions they hold in our government. Many of the ilk getting in are from demon Progressive states. These states have all passed legislation for strictly mail-in voting, which everyone knows is the greatest threat for voter fraud. It has been going on for decades, and is why Democrats have held on to run their states for 30 or 40 years. Trump brought all this out in the open because of their cult hatred of him.
I just pray that our elections from now on will be legal and fair. We need to get these evil mongers out and many tried for treason!
‘With God, nothing is impossible.’
“Sweetie Pete” is confused. Any man that believes he is an other mans “wife'”, has serious
problems and should not be in charge of anything.
Totalitarian here he comes!
When has Buttihead been right about anything?
Everybody’s gonna have to get a diesel generator to run their charging station and household. What a F**king idiot.
Report: Replacing Battery for EV Costs More than Car Itself, Family Says (breitbart.com)
Pete Buttgig couldn’t even run South Bend well. Does anyone think he can run the US energy system? Like all of Joey’s flunkies he was chosen because he allows one DIMM priority to be checked off: “gay.” Our grid has brownouts already; what’s going to happen if several million more EVs are plugged in? Plus the exorbitant cost of replacing the battery when it fails!
OK, let’s start with Biden’s own limousine, then all his entourage, then ALL the police and military vehicles, then all the over the road trucks, then we can go after trains, planes, ships, etc. THEN you can demand that all the rest of us will comply. That should pretty much shut down the country for good and any military exercises in the world. The Communist/democrats will be happy with the results.
If Butterbutt is indeed issuing regulations to force States to limit gas powered vehicles use, it proves what I’ve been saying about this country now being ruled by regulations, rules, executive orders, and mandates more than by legitimate laws. It is not just wrong, it is unconstitutional since unelected appointees and hired people are the ones who write all of those except the executive orders and the EOs are invalid as well since they did not originate and pass through Congress.
Politicians are the dumbest people on the planet. Can you imagine everything you own that runs on a battery and the lack of confidence when that battery fails? The cost to replace a battery and all the associated expenses seems to be an afterthought since no one
including politicians have a clue of the big picture.
With due respect to the Contributor, there is nothing even remotely practical about battery – powered electric vehicles. They are an artificially created false ” solution ” to a problem that does not exist. The term ” climate change ” has no meaning, there has never been a time in the Earth’s history that the climate did not change. The phrase was created when too much proof that leftist hacks masquerading as scientists had falsified the data for decades regarding ” global warming ” We have a great Interstate Highway system, tens of thousands of privately owned gas stations, and gas-powered cars and trucks that pollute 200 times less than in the past. Carbon dioxide is NOT a pollutant. We can’t afford to let these Marxists ruin our transportation systems the way they have ruined our public education systems!!
Boycott any electric vehicle and since most manufacturers operate on a profit basis, they will find that no customers = no profit and will revert back to what customers will buy.
Maybe we will need to get enough land to raise horses, purchase wagons for our recreational and moving trips and use bicycles for transportation in short trips. Guess we will have to learn from the Amish.
GREAT. 100 Million cars pluged in at nite. You can 3ake up singing where has all the pow3er gone, long time passing. Kyle L.
Who is providing these vehicles to the seniors and those on fixed incomes. Sounds like a new aim at geocide for those that can’t afford to upgrade. I would rather go for 100% ecological travel—horse. I can use the naure.
Where does head in the sand Pete think the power to charge all his EV’s is coming from ? Wind and solar…. that’s a laugh …..so let’s cut fossil fuel that makes our national power grid for this pie in the sky stuff….another example of zero qualifications staff in this administration dictating hog wash to the American people..ENOUGH!
That would surely shut the country down. Sadly, they are intellectually incapable of understanding that concept.
Buttigieg & The Democrats Want to Mandate Electric Vehicles. How much will Nancy & Paul Pelosi make off this deal/
EV Issues:
Black/Brownouts
Crowded charging centers
Lack charging centers
Replace battery kit
Special tires for vs ICE tires
Charging Centers in disrepair
No Road Service
Stuck in traffic, running Heat OR AC use on road
Little DICTATOR Buttigieg can
BUY everybody a DANGEROUS electric vehicle and PAY for maintenance and the ELECTRIC BILL to charge them.
Don’t waste your time calling 911 since their Electric Vehicles WON’T be charged to SAVE you.
Especially, the FIRE DEPARTMENT since their trucks will have to be TWICE the size for EXPLODING Lithium Batteries to be charged.
Good luck on AMBULANCES too or OUR military to DEFEND the UNITED STATES of AMERICA.
And watch your ELECTRIC BILL more than Quadruple.
“…climate zealotry.” AKA giving a damn for the environment and every living creature in it.
“EVs are probably the long-term future, but they won’t solve the current pain at the pump; they cost too much, and charging them is a logistical nightmare.” In reality, 98% of EV charging is done at home. I appreciate not everyone has this facility but there is always work and I would argue that the US has more than its fair share of home that *could* charge EVs without causing issues with cables across pavement/footways. “Too much…” The extra cost (and it is getting very marginal) is easily made back with lower ‘fuel’ and servicing costs. On top of that the driving experience of EVs for all bar a complete petrol-head is a huge improvement over ICEVs.
“AAA reports a staggering 78% of EV buyers own other cars. They’re in the income bracket to afford multiple cars.” Another interpretation is that people who buy EVs are successful because they are more intelligent.
Normally I’d laugh at the thought of buttgage becoming president, but then I look at the current idiot in chief and realize just how bad it can get.
Idiot