TRUE cost of owning an EV equates to $17.33/gal of gas, study reveals

11/07/2023 / By Belle Carter

A recent study titled “Overcharged Expectations: Unmasking the True Costs of Electric Vehicles” recently disclosed that owning an electric vehicle (EV) comes with a hefty price tag of $17.33 per gallon of gasoline. The study went out amid President Joe Biden’s massive push for the green agenda, switching from gasoline vehicles to electrification as well as California and other “leftist” states implementing laws to ban the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035.

The Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) conducted the research, which indicated that EVs do not stand alone in comparison with other vehicles because of the “wide array of direct subsidies, regulatory credits and subsidized infrastructure that contribute to the economic viability of EVs.” According to the paper, “adding the costs of the subsidies to the true cost of fueling an EV would equate to an EV owner paying $17.33 per gallon of gasoline. And these estimates do not include the hundreds of billions more in subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act.” It would cost $48,698 more to own over a 10-year period without $22 billion in government favors given to EV manufacturers and owners, the piece further revealed.

“The Biden administration and leftist states such as California have pushed for widespread electrification in less than 20 years through government subsidies and coercive regulations, but the price you see in the lot is not the true cost of an electric vehicle,” the study author Jason Isaac said. “Electric vehicle owners have been the beneficiaries of regulatory credits, subsidies and socialized infrastructure costs totaling nearly 50 thousand dollars per EV. These costs are borne by gasoline vehicle owners, taxpayers and utility ratepayers, who are all paying a hefty price for someone else’s EV.”

Needless to say, the Austin, Texas-based think tank’s study implied that traditional fossil fuel-powered cars are way more affordable to own than EVs without subsidies. “It is not an overstatement to say that the federal government is subsidizing EVs to a greater degree than even wind and solar electricity generation and embarking on an unprecedented endeavor to remake the entire American auto industry,” the report further said.

The Western Journal also reported that as per the study, about $22 billion in various federal and state forms of aid have artificially lowered the price of a 2021 electric vehicle by almost $50,000. Estimating the total cost to other people for the strain on the power grid from charging electric vehicles came out to $11,833 over 10 years. Worse, these come from taxpayers’ and utility ratepayers’ pockets.

The study from the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) found, for example, that the average 2021 electric vehicle “would cost $48,698 more to own over a 10-year period without $22 billion in government favors given to EV manufacturers and owners.” https://t.co/bu1hwp7Sma

— Bud Brigham (@bmbrigham) October 27, 2023

Meanwhile, state and federal subsidies shave $8,984, on average, from the real cost of an electric vehicle over 10 years, while everyone else pays more, the report said. “The stark reality for proponents of EVs and for the dreamers in the federal government, who are using fuel economy regulations to force manufacturers to produce ever more EVs, is that the true cost of an EV is in no way close to a comparable,” the report said.

The study further discussed that commuters are now preferring to use/take hybrid vehicles more than electric vehicles. “Perhaps if D.C. politicians and bureaucrats stop trying to force Americans to build and buy their preferred types of vehicles, the cleaner and brighter future that they imagine will actually materialize,” it added. “It’s time for federal and state governments to stop driving the American auto industry off an economic cliff and allow markets to drive further improvements in cost and efficiency,” the report stated.

For TPPF’s Brent Bennett, following the said study, it would be false to claim that EVs will soon cost less than gas-powered cars. “This study shows that EVs are still a long way from being competitive without massive subsidies. The Biden administration’s stringent fuel economy standards and regulatory manipulations are driving American automakers toward bankruptcy and adding thousands of dollars to the cost of every gasoline vehicle. Rolling back these subsidies and burdensome regulations would save consumers money and stop the auto industry from falling off a financial cliff,” he said.

“Overcharged Expectations” was submitted as part of a public comment on the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration‘s proposed fuel economy standards.

Economist: EVs are the “next big flop”

According to Steve Moore, former President Donald Trump’s economist, EVs may be the auto market’s “next big flop” and investing in them has been a bad bet. “Henry Ford’s son was named Edsel, and this was going to be the great car, all of the executives said, ‘This is the car everybody’s going to want to buy.’ Ford made 500,000 of these new sedan cars, but guess what?” Moore said on “Varney & Co.” Monday. “Nobody bothered to ask consumers whether they wanted the car.”

He pointed out that “Edsel” was one of the great flops of all time. He then warned: “If these trends continue, we’re going to see the EV market become the next big flop because car buyers don’t want them.”

Recently, the EV push at Ford and General Motors hit a speed bump that’s cutting into the automakers’ profits and causing them to reevaluate their electric plans amid a price war and supply chain challenges.

Fox Business reported that Ford noted in its earnings report released last week that its EV unit posted a quarterly loss before interest and taxes (EBIT) of $1.33 billion, an acceleration after a loss of $1.08 billion in the prior quarter. It added that it’s cutting production of its Mustang Mach-E while scaling back about $12 billion in planned investments in the EV segment, including delaying its second battery plant in Kentucky. (Related: Embarrassing: Award-winning EV makes “startlingly loud bang” and loses power during testing.)

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