Electric vehicles (aka EVs) appear more and more frequently on our street and highways. How frequently remains a mildly controversial point. Experian Automotive claims that, as of 2023, 9.3% of American vehicles run electrically, meaning as their exclusive source of power. The same group reports that in the first quarter of 2024, new car registrations tallied 7.9% for EVs, a drop of 0.3% from the previous quarter but still impressive.
Like most people, I see far more EVs than I did, say, five years ago when they were a comparative novelty; statistics aside, when I did my own very unscientific count of seventy-five cars on I-45 between Dallas and Houston, I recorded a far from stunning two (both Teslas). Nevertheless, stats are stats, so it’s a fair bet that about one in ten cars no longer boasts an internal combustion engine.
Is this a good thing? For the most part, yes. Decreased air pollution and quieter engines (“noise pollution,” as certain ignoramuses call it) constitute improvements in everyday living that few would deny. Doubtless, cleaner air is desirable. However, many nay-sayers have pointed out that if saving the planet motivates the transition from gasoline to electric cars, buses, and vans, then the ecological damage of mining rare earth minerals for batteries (lithium, cobalt, and copper) ought to be reckoned as minuses in EVs’ production.
It all but goes without saying that the EV proponents calculate this reported damage to Mother Earth as overblown. Similarly, a debate rages over the recyclability of EV batteries.
I’m certainly not expert enough to comment on the merits of those arguments. But three rarely mentioned things have occurred to me regarding the rapid and in some ways politically motivated rush to adopt the electric car. So what are they?
First, the weight of the average electric vehicle must figure in to any wide-scale adoption of the technology. Heaviness varies according to the type of vehicle. For example, as my Internet search revealed, a Hummer EV weighs nearly 2,000 pounds more than its gasoline-powered version; however, a Mini-Cooper comes in a mere 220 pounds heavier.
Since the most commonly seen EV sports the Tesla logo, it may be more informative to ignore the Hummer/Mini-Cooper extremes and investigate Elon Musk’s contribution to the debate. A quick comparison of a Tesla S to a gasoline-powered Mercedes Benz S-Class yields a stunning 1,200-to-1,500-pound difference; on the lighter side, a Tesla Model 3 adds 700 to 1,000 pounds vis-à-vis a BMW 3 Series. No escaping the hard facts: EVs are on the average a lot heftier.
Second, the matter of speed and, more notably, acceleration comes up. An average Tesla, as again my Internet sources tell me, produces “instant torque,” while an internal combustion engine must reach maximum torque slowly. In layman’s terms, that means the EV doesn’t accelerate through a series of gears or by pumping fuel the way the older technology does. If you want to see how this works, check out the YouTube video of a Tesla Plaid Model S going head-to-head on a quarter-mile dragstrip at Datona with a 1000HP Shelby GT500 Mustang (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xlxZQIv7T0). It’s close, but the Tesla wins. Impressive.
As everybody knows, Joe Biden—yes, the forgotten man in the White House—along with Kamala Harris, Gavin Newsome, and I don’t know who else, wants to see EVs and only EVs on the roads. Does anyone want to deny that? Hence, third, “everybody” includes good drivers and bad drivers, and naturally that rather inclusive category takes young men, those under twenty-six years old, into the count. What do we know about them? Ask any insurance agent or actuary: they drive fast, and they’re reckless.
Now, consider that hard fact and mix it into the golden future of American highways and byways of quiet, clean EVs. Does anyone honestly and truly believe that thousands, even millions of cool young men, anxious to impress their girlfriends and pals, will resist the temptation to reach the speed of the Tesla Plaid Model S? Only a Pollyanna will doubt it. What will the death toll be in wrecks where cars, perhaps 800 pounds heavier than gasoline-powered alternatives, broadside other cars? Just wondering.
Don’t get me wrong. EVs are the future, and, as with most technological advancements, once the genie is out of the bottle, there’s no putting it back inside. Whenever a teen or older youth cuts me off on the street, engine roaring, I resent the noise and, yes, the pollution. But the same youth in an electric vehicle, though kinder and gentler minus the ear-splitting racket and exhaust, may not necessarily be the boon to society our green brethren envision.
Like Pope’s fools who rush in where angels fear to tread, the doctrinaire greenies and vote-hungry politicians have not really counted the costs of the new world they so desperately wish to inaugurate. My suggestion is that we apply the brakes in our headlong advance toward the future, at least long enough to take proper stock of what that world will be. It’s a matter of prudence and, for my part, Christian stewardship.
