Here is a fairly comprehensive list of the many reasons why banning gas cars is harmful:
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- EVs cost twice as much as a gas powered car
- Range issues are real
- The problem is worse in rural areas where there are fewer charging stations.
- Charging stations are expensive
- A basic home station costs about $600.
- For a public “level 2” station conduits alone cost upwards of $15,000 per unit.
- Public charging stations cost anywhere from $5,500 to $40,000 depending on charging speeds.
- Charging an EV is slow
- The most common publicly-available charging station is “Level 2” will charge between 12 and 80 miles per hour (far slower than a typical gas pump).
- Accessibility to chargers is an issue
- There are places in New Mexico that lack electricity
- Apartment dwellers and renters have limited access to charging stations.
- Charging stations break often
- One California study found 27% of California charging stations were not functional.
- Public charging stations are often taxpayer-funded or subsidized
- Unlike gas stations, highlighting the government-driven nature of America’s and New Mexico’s pro-EV policy.
- EV’s are not profitable even with massive government subsidies
- One 2023 report found that Ford Motor Company was losing $66,446 on each EV sold.
- EV’s require massive quantities of mined materials that are in short supply
- Lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite are just some of the materials that will need a massive new supply for EV’s and their batteries.
- Benchmark found 359 new mines and similar facilities would be needed by 2035.
- Electric reliability is an issue
- EV’s will need massive increases in electricity supplies if EV’s are to be deployed widely.
- A 2019 study found that if EV’s were to replace all gas powered vehicles it would increase demand by 20-50%.
- The source of this electricity would of course go a long way to determining whether EV’s are “green” or not, but an overwhelming share of American electricity is generated by fossil fuels.
- EV’s do not pay gas tax
- Thus they do not fund road construction and maintenance.
- A bill was introduced in the 2023 New Mexico Legislature to impose a fee on EV’s for roads, but it did not pass.
- EV’s do more damage to roads than do internal combustion vehicles.
- EV’s could cause damage to and possibly even collapse of parking garages due to their heavy weights.
- EV battery fires are hotter and more dangerous than other fires
- Making these fires harder to put out.
- New Mexico already has issues with out of control fires.
