It seems like years, but it was only months ago, that thru regulation and diktat federal bureaucrats were driving consumers to electric vehicles. It smacked a bit of the forced pandemic programs and perhaps successful implementation of those diktats suggested that agendas could be imposed centrally, forcefully.
The political winds changed and all the Washington Wind Socks pointed a different direction. Suddenly the EV market had to stand on its own merits. It is collapsing. Despite several years of state and federal subsidies, EVs are simply not market ready, perhaps because all these subsidies encouraged individuals to purchase, at the same time discouraging manufacturers from reducing cost/price, anticipating subsidy increases to match price increases. It has happened before, and may well again. In the near future.
What is interesting is that the Blue Bellies who felt the bureaucratic state's role is to constrain consumer choice, herding them towards implementing the Blue Belly Agenda gave no concern to obvious consequences, particularly the impact on electric generation and grid capacity. Higher residential bills to pay for new generating capacity? No worries...EVs are worth it. Really? Fragile grid? Straw...meet camel. Deal with it.
And then came...server farms. These are not EVs. Some would say these data centers draw electricity 7x24. Indeed. They do. But we have about 300 million registered vehicles in the US. If these were all EVs, as the Blue Bellies want, each would draw around 75Kwh over a 4 hour period, and if they were all scheduled to even out the draw, it would represent 3.75 terraWatts, on average, 7x24. Enough to power 3.1 billion housing units in the US, where there are currently 148 million units. Perspective. While new data centers will use more electricity, they are a base load, while EVs will provide very uneven loads, thus straining the system. Either one, or both, will drive expansion of generating capacity. And we're talking dramatic expansion.
What is interesting is that the Blue Bellies are avid, outspoken supporters of the one, and equally outspoken in opposition to the other. Will we ever find out the real reason for this?
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