Can Koch Kill EVs?

The disruptive nature of electric vehicles (EVs) becomes clear as more of them move onto America’s road.   One of the most significant contributions to the adoption of EVs has been the performance demonstrated by Tesla’s vehicles.  Not the auto-pilot and driverless gimmicks that Elon Musk touts, but the actual performance of Tesla’s as a transportation device. 

It turns out that the cars last five times as long and cost a fraction to maintain. The cars spend less time in the garage, don't need oil changes and other services. They are "blazing far past the 100,000-mile mark after which most fleets sell off cars to keep down the total maintenance costs."

Silly things are big expenses, like those fancy retractable door handles at $1500 a pop. The battery capacity of one car, at 330,000 miles, has dropped 23 percent. But 330K is way more than most cars ever drive, and Sonnad of Tesloop notes that Tesla has figured a lot of these problems out.

Auto manufacturers are going to go through a difficult transition and some of them may not survive intact.  EVs are simpler to assemble (despite Tesla’s ramp-up pains) so auto worker jobs will be jeopardized.  Automotive supply chains will go through a complex transition.  Auto dealerships will struggle as their assured stream of maintenance revenue shrinks.  The same can be said of a whole raft of supply chain and independent repair and services providers.   

Still, the real pain will be at the pump – today roughly 70% of US petroleum production are used for transportation, with the vast majority used for personal vehicles.  Is it any surprise that the most vocal opponents of EVs are fossil fuel companies or their paid supporters in Congress and “think tanks.”  It’s the same politicians,lobbyists and “think tanks” that form the climate change denial brigade.