UPDATE: Why Electric Cars Will Never be a Factor in Idaho

A few weeks ago I crunched some numbers and reasoned driving to Boise was cheaper with gasoline versus charging an electric vehicle.  Gasoline was 70 cents to a dollar cheaper per gallon at the time.  Now some local pumps are charging $4.60 a gallon.  Are my calculations still working today?

According to a piece from Fox Business Network, it depends.  It depends on the price of electricity where you live.  There are wide swings in cost by region and state.  Another factor is where you do your charging.  At home for an eight-hour stretch is cheaper than going to a charging station and especially a station offering a quick charge.

We’re coming into spring and the change of seasons benefits EVs.  In cold conditions, you can lose a fifth of a charge.  With the heater on, some estimates say your distance per charge drops by more than 40 percent.  Imagine filling your tank with gasoline and then having more than one-third of it leak during your trip.  Lost electricity does have a cost and to make up the difference we need to generate and store even more electricity.

If you could snap your fingers and convert the domestic fleet to electricity by tomorrow, roads would be very empty.  We’re short batteries and rare earth minerals and the current grid couldn’t support the electricity load.  We will see price spikes for peak demand and will likely need to burn a lot of coal to generate power.  Why?  Because coal is abundant and constant.  A couple of things renewables can’t duplicate.

Coal, oil, and natural gas are still bridges to the future.  A future that also includes a rapid building program for nuclear and hydrogen.

Mr. Biden and his fellow travelers can’t deliver fast enough.  They’ll pay a steep price themselves in November.