COOPER: The Liberal Socialist recipe for super fast cars and more people biking

Prior to his astonishing announcement the Government of Canada would not be building or paying for roads, which the environment minister subsequently had to walk back, Steven Guilbeault declared late last year that by 2035 he would ensure that no cars with internal combustion engines (ICE vehicles) would be available in Canada.Even before his December prophecy, it was clear that Guilbeault’s dream would never become a reality. Volkswagen, which last spring had received $13 billion to build an electric vehicle (EV) battery plant in St. Thomas ON, declared a few months later that it was cutting back on EV production owing to decreased demand.Apparently, consumers don’t much like EVs. According to StatsCan, in 2022 in Canada, a whopping 6.5% of new vehicles were EVs — that’s less than a hundred thousand out of the 1.5 million new cars and trucks sold. In the States EV sales were even worse, accounting for less than 1% of new vehicle sales in 2022.General Motors said it was reducing EV production for the same reason as Volkswagen. Mercedes Benz also lowered its production targets. Even Tesla has cut the price of its EVs. In the rental market, Hertz revamped its EV strategy when they discovered the resale value of their cars was much lower than anticipated.Also last November, Guilbeault announced in the House of Commons “I am a Liberal and a proud socialist, Mr. Speaker.” That confession, no doubt, is why the unwelcome facts noted in the preceding paragraph mean nothing to him. Socialists, to a person, have no use for mere consumer preferences when their hands grasp the levers of power. Such levers open for them the door to a fantasy world where the economic laws of supply and demand can be repealed.This looks like a structural problem, not a lapse. Something is seriously amiss in Monsieur Guilbeault’s consciousness of reality. Remember as well: Volkswagen was not the only recipient of taxpayers’ money. So too was Ford, Stellantis and Northvolt, a Swedish company. Over the next ten years or so, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer, Canadian taxpayers will have disbursed nearly $44 billion to subsidize EV products.Squandering taxpayers’ money aside, there are a lot of other things wrong with EVs.To stick with EV batteries, ramping up production to meet an imaginary demand requires one of two things to happen: either, according to a Fraser Institute study, a huge increase in mining of lithium (50 new mines by 2030,) nickel (60 new mines,) and so on down the line for manganese, graphite, zinc and rare earths.Moreover, the 400 or so new mines must be built pronto — not the six-to-nine years it usually takes to develop mines for lithium and nickel, the two major components of EV batteries. The second alternative is a huge increase in dependency on China. Is that what Monsieur Guilbeault was really doing on his visit to China last summer?EVs have many fewer parts than ICE vehicles. This means fewer hands are needed to put them together and so fewer jobs. Why the union leaders in Windsor and Oshawa think this is a good idea, is known only to them.The economics of EVs are also ridiculous. The average cost of an American EV is more than $50,000 (CAD$68,000). In 2023 EV production cost Ford $4.7 billion, which amounted to a loss of nearly $65,000 on each EV sold. How do they do that? By subsidizing EVs with cars powered by internal combustion engines (ICE.) This means, in Canadian terms, that ranchers in Nanton pay more for an ICE F-150, so rich greenies on Salt Spring Island can purchase cheaper EVs and feel good about themselves. Worse, everyone who drives one knows that Teslas are sketchy in an Alberta winter and Ford Lightnings won’t do the job — such as hauling horses — on an Alberta ranch.Another Fraser Institute study indicated the Trudeau government’s EV mandate required a 15.3% increase in available electricity generation capacity — ten new hydro dams comparable to Site C in the BC Peace River country. And Site C was a twenty-year project costing $16 billion. It isn’t going to happen.What about pollution? When they are not parked, ICE vehicles do emit particulates and NOx (nitrate oxides) but EVs, being heavier, cause more road damage and tire wear, which produces soot. As Matthew Lau wrote in the Ottawa Sun, when you factor in their emission-intensive production, EVs don’t become less polluting than ICE vehicles until they have been driven between fifty and a hundred thousand kilometres, which may be longer than their battery life.So, what is to be done?When the Alberta government introduced a $200 registration fee for EVs, which will take effect next January, it looked like a start. The reason was clear enough: EVs don’t pay fuel taxes, much of which goes to road repair, including repair of EV damage. The political problem concerns EV drivers more than EVs. Tediously often they are self-conscious progressives who think their every move deserves applause and cheers from old-fashioned ICE car drivers. Of course, there are some exceptions. I know a Tesla driver who loves her car because it accelerates on the Deerfoot like a Maserati. She’s a minority.Personally, I have always thought the EVs were un-Albertan. There’s a reason why nobody likes them, especially in our climate. They should be confined to the Lower Mainland or California. Why incur all the downside consequences of owning an EV as well as impose damage on our major source of prosperity, the petroleum industry that makes good old ICE vehicles run?Here’s a thought: how about doubling or tripling the registration fee, just to let these unpatriotic EV drivers know their proper place?

COOPER: The Liberal Socialist recipe for super fast cars and more people biking

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