Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy hit a raw nerve during Thursday’s news briefing when he tried to get President Joe Biden’s press secretary to tell us all just how much financial pain the president expects of us all where it concerns Joe’s cause célèbre, the electric vehicle.
Doocy specifically cited the affordability problems of the electric cars that Biden keeps trying to push on America. But he didn’t get far into the discussion before press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre cut him off and refused to speak any further on the issue.
Doocy pointed out that new electric vehicles are currently far more expensive than new gas-powered cars, and even with more expensive gasoline, EVs are simply not cost-effective.
Yet Biden continues to claim he wants to destroy the oil industry and insists that all Americans need to buy electric cars. Doocy wanted to know just how much of this “painful transition” Biden expects of Americans.
“A lot of people can’t afford a $60,000 electric car, and they also are having a hard time affording gas right now. That sounds like a painful transition,” he said.
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“So how much of that kind of pain is the president OK with?”
“No, that transition,” Jean-Pierre started, then stopped and started over. “We are in a transition to clean energy. That is something that — that is important. It is going to create jobs, when you think about electric vehicles. It is going to give — give families some — some tax credits. It’s going to be really important to have — “
But that was not really a reply to the question he’d asked, so Doocy hammered on the subject: “But right now, who can afford an electric car? The average price is $61,000. Is that a realistic? Is that the choice: $5.00-a-gallon gas or a $61,000 electric car?
Instead of delivering a serious answer, Jean-Pierre cut Doocy’s line of inquiry short and accused him of somehow comparing apples to oranges.
Are you interested in owning an electric vehicle?
Yes: 2% (26 Votes)
No: 98% (1541 Votes)
“First of all — that’s apples and oranges,” she exclaimed before talking of Biden’s widely disliked idea of a gas tax holiday.
“It is going to make a difference,” Jean-Pierre insisted. “We’re talking about 18 cents on the federal level; we’re talking about an average of 30 cents on the state level. And if the oil refinery does their job, if they do what we are asking them to do, which is put their profits back in so that gas prices can go down — that’s almost $1.00 per gallon. That matters.”
She then listed some folks to whom the administration apparently believes it matters — teachers, construction workers and, rather oddly, lifeguards — before moving to another journalist.
“All right. We’re done,” she concluded dismissively.
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Of course, Jean-Pierre’s claim that Biden would save Americans $1 per gallon is absurd. Even if he were able to enact a gas tax holiday to put a temporary halt to federal taxes, he has no ability to force the states to temporarily cancel their taxes, too.
Biden’s gas tax holiday can only affect federal taxes, currently 18.4 cents a gallon. Granted, that’s still too much, but if you fill up your car’s 15-gallon tank at $5 per gallon, you’d only save about $2.75 on your $75 purchase. Two tanks of gas, and you’ll have saved enough to go to Starbucks once, if you order carefully.
This is hardly the sort of savings “that matters,” as Jean-Pierre proclaimed.
It does not seem that Americans are being fooled much, though. Only 27 percent of respondents approved of Biden’s handling of gas prices, according to the recent ABC News/Ipsos poll.
Regardless, Doocy is completely correct.
Few Americans can afford a brand new $60,000 vehicle. Even with gas at $5 or more per gallon, it would still cheaper over the long term to operate a gas-powered car for most people.
That doesn’t even include the up to $2,000 upgrade that EV owners will often spend to put in a home charging station, nor the increased yearly car registration fees that many states charge on vehicles that won’t incur gas taxes). Nor the growing number of other taxes — such as per mile taxes — that states are beginning to enact.
Compound all these issues with the fact that public charging stations are still far and few between, service technicians are sparse and replacement parts are not yet well stocked, and you have a situation where your EV ownership brings far more problems than expected.
Finally, it is interesting to note that the left is telling us to save the nation by purchasing electric cars even as our governments are telling us to limit the use of electricity this summer because the power grid is too fragile to bear the load.
Doocy was basically right on the money with his questions. The electric vehicle is just not ready or affordable for mass use.
Which explains why the Biden administration can’t take any hard questions about the fantasy that electric cars are ready to replace America’s gas-powered vehicles.
