Opinion: Conservatives should embrace money-saving benefits of electric vehicles

David Erb
·4 min read
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Among the many absurdities of today's culture wars, one of the silliest is that technologies are now assigned political views. Electric vehicles (EVs) have been deemed liberal, so many conservatives reflexively oppose them. One presidential candidate recently ranted that EV advocates should "rot in Hell."This idiocy reaches full flood in online forums. Detractors ignorantly parrot disinformation. Many comments boil down to a simple declaration: "I don't want an EV." Do these people really think anyone cares about their tastes? Do they gripe that Corvettes are lousy for hauling plywood? Do they resent a Bentley's six-figure price tag? Do they troll the Edsel Club website, moaning that members' cars are, well, Edsels?Maybe they profit from the 45 cents per gallon that taxpayers pay oil companies to blend ethanol into gasoline, consuming 40 percent of the U.S. corn crop in the process. Regardless, the topic deserves a more mature discussion. Here are four reasons why true conservatives should embrace electric vehicles:Reason 1: EVs Conserve Their Owners' MoneyGasoline contains 33.7 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy per gallon, so electricity at 13 cents per kWh equates to gas at $4.38 a gallon. But EVs use energy far more efficiently than internal combustion vehicles (ICVs). A Chevy Bolt consumes 310 watt-hours per mile (Wh/mi), equivalent to 109 miles per gallon (mpg) on gasoline.  If gas costs $3 per gallon, electricity is 13 cents per kWh, and the driver travels 12,000 miles per year, a Bolt uses $484 worth of energy per year, a Prius (50 mpg) takes $720, and the average new vehicle (27 mpg) consumes $1,333.EVs don't require oil changes or the other engine-related maintenance that drains ICV owners' wallets.  And EVs aren't more expensive than ICVs, no matter how many people cite statistics without context to claim otherwise. Do a little apples-to-apples comparison shopping if you doubt me.Reason 2: EVs Conserve All Drivers' MoneyGasoline is one of the world's most price inelastic commodities.  A 1 percent change in supply or demand changes the price 20 percent.  If 5 percent of America's drivers switch to electricity, the other 95 percent buy fuel at half price.  A savings of just 25 cents a gallon leaves over $30 billion a year in U.S. consumers' pockets.  All contractors who depend on 12 mpg pickups for their livings should hope their neighbors buy EVs.  Or, better yet, they can buy electric pickups themselves:  the Ford F-150 Lightning uses 490 Wh/mi, less energy than a Prius, costing $764 per year.Reason 3: EVs Enhance American SecurityThe U.S. simultaneously imports and exports oil.  At the moment, we're mainly net exporters, due to fracking.  But more drilling doesn't bestow energy independence, because oil is bought and sold in a global market.  Demand anywhere raises the price everywhere.  So every gallon of gas we buy puts more money in the hands of dictators like Vladimir Putin and Mohammed bin Salman.Reason 4: 'EV' Means 'Excellent Vehicle'To engineers, vehicles are a design space, like a sculptor's chunk of stone.  If we include hybrid EVs, the design envelope for EVs encompasses almost anything we can dream up.  At the extremes, an HEV design whittles down to a pure ICV or pure battery EV.  In practical terms, this means that an EV can be designed to perform any mission at least as well as an ICV, usually better. Numerous missions can only be accomplished by EVs.Teslas are expensive, and Volts are terrible pickup trucks. But electric motors have stump-pulling torque, perfect for towing.  They're whisper quiet, with low NVH (noise, vibration, harshness) levels that customers covet and ICV engineers spend millions trying to match.  Mark my words: with all of their advantages, EVs will eventually dominate almost every niche in the vehicle market.Transportation's future is available today.  If you're hesitant to go, you're welcome to wait; it's a free country.  But, if you want help sorting through the tribal spin about EVs, I hope you'll attend a Drive Electric Earth Month event, and talk to people who actually live with EVs.  Asheville's is on Sunday, April 21.  Details can be found at driveelectricearthmonth.org.

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Dave Erb is a retired engineering professor with decades of professional experience in energy and emissions.

Dave Erb is a retired engineering professor with decades of professional experience in energy and emissions.
Dave Erb is a retired engineering professor with decades of professional experience in energy and emissions.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Opinion: Conservatives should embrace money-saving electric vehicles