Incentivizing Electric Vehicles
Here’s an article that speaks to the role of financial incentives for electric vehicles, the point of which is that they may not be necessary in the near future. Germany, e.g., has an EV penetration rate the same as the US, but with no incentives.
I can’t help but point out several aspects about the article that may represent a bias or perhaps unintended misinformation.
While the title of the article refers to “EV” and I would include a series hybrid as an “EV,” the term used throughout the balance of the article is PEV or plug in electric vehicle. This is a catch all term that attempts to lump together every vehicle with a plug. It could be argued that this could include an ICE vehicle with an onboard battery charger that you could “plug in.” (The electric starter essentially makes every vehicle a hybrid electric and some “mild” hybrids achieve their status with a larger starter motor.)
When she aims her discussion at “reducing” the need for oil it becomes clear that her focus is hybrids and not a battery electric vehicle. It has long been suggested that the economics for conventional parallel hybrids may not be viable. A hybrid incurs all the maintenance expense of a conventional vehicle plus the additional base cost of the electric drive and batteries.
The EV will pay for the increase in base costs over the lifetime of the vehicle especially when the low to no maintenance cost is factored.
Later in the article she offers a quote that contrasts the PEV: “…PEVs without subsidies are still more costly than competing fuel efficient hybrids…” which may leave some scratching their heads. This is intended to contrast two types of hybrids, those with a plug and those without. But it is not really saying anything or adding to the understanding the article is trying to achieve. Of course hybrids with extra batteries and a charger are going to be more expensive than those without.
Overall I think that argument of the article is a bit weak and I wonder if the author understands the subject.
That should read the quoted article not Craig’s reference to it here.
And Germany already has a built in incentive with much higher gas prices.