Politico has just published an absolutely fascinating update on funds the US Congress set aside for electric vehicle (EV) chargers, ultimately to support a program connected to “net zero” climate cult goals.
Congress at the urging of the Biden administration agreed in 2021 to spend $7.5 billion to build tens of thousands of electric vehicle chargers across the country, aiming to appease anxious drivers while tackling climate change.Two years later, the program has yet to install a single charger.States and the charger industry blame the delays mostly on the labyrinth of new contracting and performance requirements they have to navigate to receive federal funds. While federal officials have authorized more than $2 billion of the funds to be sent to states, fewer than half of states have even started to take bids from contractors to build the chargers — let alone begin construction.
There are several reasons this is important. Without a network of chargers, traveling significant distances becomes problematic, and Americans love road trips. Just ask our Secretary of Energy, who attempted to use an EV for her own road trip.
But between stops, Granholm’s entourage at times had to grapple with the limitations of the present. Like when her caravan of EVs — including a luxury Cadillac Lyriq, a hefty Ford F-150 and an affordable Bolt electric utility vehicle — was planning to fast-charge in Grovetown, a suburb of Augusta, Georgia.Her advance team realized there weren’t going to be enough plugs to go around. One of the station’s four chargers was broken, and others were occupied. So an Energy Department staffer tried parking a nonelectric vehicle by one of those working chargers to reserve a spot for the approaching secretary of energy.That did not go down well: a regular gas-powered car blocking the only free spot for a charger?
EVs won’t run when they run out of the energy stored in the batteries.
More recently, almost 4,000 car dealerships begged Biden for help, as they want him to use his pen and phone to undo the ridiculous EV mandates that have popped up across the nation…thanks to green energy pseudoscience and climate cultists. Part of the reason for the plea is that technology is not where it needs to be to support EVs entirely replacing fossil fuel vehicles.
People will be less inspired to shell out the mountain of money required to purchase EVs if they don’t trust they will have the ability to recharge their cars readily.
There are also hints that plopping down a network of chargers may be more complex than it looks. In the European Union, electric vehicle drivers hoping to top up their batteries at one of 1,600 Spanish charging stations might be disappointed, as nearly half are lying dormant because they have no power connection. This is a problem all across Europe.
Such gaps are evident across the European Union, where last week the European Commission announced plans to upgrade the bloc’s power grids. These are due to be implemented in 18 months and include addressing EV charging station power shortages.But despite the declarations of its leaders, red tape preventing progress towards greener transport in the EU is on the rise, industry groups and energy companies told Reuters, with permitting one of the major roadblocks.The ease of building an EV charging hub varies considerably country by country. One industry source said that in Germany a hub was held up for months over rules protecting a single tree, while another located on a busy highway had to wait 10 months for a noise evaluation before it gained approval.
And given that the Biden administration is taking actions to gut the energy sources that provide reliable energy (breaching dams, rejecting pipelines, not allowing the sale of oil leases), it may be increasingly difficult to connect to a grid that can charge all the cars and trucks that would be needed to replace the gas fueled vehicles per the climate cult mandates.
And as interesting as the Politico article is, perhaps the most crucial takeaway is in the subheader: “The sluggish rollout could undermine President Joe Biden’s reelection messaging promoting electric vehicles.”
Bidenomics is not selling. Biden’s COVID mandate has been a complete failure and a policy disaster. The less said about Biden’s military leadership, the better (I try to stay uplifting during the Christmas season).
The Democrats are trying to find “wins” to place under the Biden column. Clearly, they are struggling to find one. So far, the only thing green about the Green Energy program he touts is the money being squandered.
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