“EV’s – Electric Vehicles”

In Canada, despite massive government subsidies of new electric vehicle purchases and EV battery plants, as well as considerable government spending on EV infrastructure, the EV market still makes up only 13.3 percent of new vehicle registrations. I write “only” 13.3 percent, but the federal government somehow managed to interpret from this statistic that in double-quick time, 100 percent of Canadians will want to drive nothing but EVs. It cited the statistic as part of its newly announced mandate that by 2035, 100 percent of new vehicle sales must be electric or plug-in hybrid. The government also announced interim targets: From 13.3 percent last quarter, EVs must account for 20 percent of the market by 2026, and at least 60 percent by 2030. Dealers who fall short of these quotas face heavy financial penalties: They must either buy EV “credits” from other automakers or pay for public EV charging stations.

In a story that seems to be becoming increasingly common as time goes on, The Western Journal reported this week about a Canadian EV owner experiencing some massive sticker shock over the cost of replacing the damaged battery in his electric vehicle.

Now, those of us who have always driven internal combustion engine (ICE) cars have at one time or another been faced with big repair bills for some of those vehicles. I can remember spending $4,000 on a new radiator for a 10-year-old Infiniti QX 50 with 220,000 miles on it that I just couldn’t bear to part with several years back. I did finally retire that wonderful vehicle when faced with the prospect of a $6,000 tag for a rebuilt transmission.

… If Justin Trudeau and his Liberals somehow, God forbid, manage to get themselves re-elected in the next federal election, a number of Chinese brands — BYD and Nio almost assuredly, but also others are surely girding up for the fight — will announce plans to start building a dealer network here in Canada, in advance of a full-scale invasion in 2026. As I stated in “The consequences of Canada’s EV mandate,” the main reason we haven’t yet been flooded with cheap Chinese electrics is because the United States has a 25-per-cent tariff on Chinese cars.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A large cargo ship with a fire in its hold is being kept 2 miles (3.22 kilometers) offshore of an Alaska port as a precaution while efforts are undertaken to extinguish the flames, the U.S. Coast Guard said Saturday.

There were no injuries to the 19 crew members aboard the Genius Star XI, which was carrying a load of lithium-ion batteries across the Pacific Ocean, from Vietnam to San Diego, the guard’s Alaska district said in a release.

h/t Mauser

… “In the case of Ontario, the answer was actually that we we have no intention of doing anything about this.”

When asked for its response, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks did not return a request for comment from CBC News.

Winfield said the fact there is no public policy on the disposal of EV batteries is concerning because a number of the chemicals and components used to make EV batteries, such as cadmium, arsenic and nickel are listed as toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) and simply can’t be thrown into a landfill.

“Five years ago we were all optimists and hoping and figuring that where cars could go, airplanes would follow,” Mr. Spragg said in an interview.

But he now believes many of the battery-powered flight efforts to date amount to “green theatre.”

“We can make it work, but it’s going to be limited.”

The failure of consumers to buy enough electric vehicles (EVs) to hit central planners’ targets is one reason that increasing efforts are being made to “encourage” them to switch over from traditional cars.

There are many reasons that EVs are, once relatively wealthy early adopters have bought theirs (typically making sure that they hang on to a spare traditional car — or two), struggling to find the hoped-for demand, but one of them is that they do not appear to hold their value.