The Purple Wave Issue 63
The Purple Wave Issue 63
But It Will Save the Planet! Maybe.
Introduction
Ronald Reagan said the following: “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” And it gets worse the more socialism takes hold, especially these days as those in government, both elected and non-elected, take on the latest social engineering fad. Dominating approximately the first quarter of the new century is Climate Change, the rebranded “Global Warming” brought about by the lack of supporting evidence.
When government decides how you are to spend your money, that is the time to become seriously worried. Both for your own personal finances but also your very life which may meet an untimely end as fallout of the government sanctioned controls on how you get to live your life. Meanwhile, those leading the charge are so out of touch with the lives of those most affected by these new policies.
In this issue, we take a closer look at one of these examples of government meddling.
Past and Current Issues - audio file
Feature Article
All About EV’s
Are Electric Vehicles truly good for our future?
Recently our illustrious Prime Minister announced that as of 2035 all new vehicles sold in Canada must be Electric. While I am fascinated with the technology and would like to at least try driving one, I am realistic, something Trudeau is not. The government forcing people to do something, rarely, if ever actually works. Especially when it comes to how we spend our own money.
What appeals to me about electric vehicles (EV’s) include the mechanical simplicity and physical properties such as high torque and the ability to use regenerative braking. However, there are other issues that may persist far past 2035, for example price and operating concerns.
CanadaDrives, a website devoted to buying and selling vehicles in Canada, lists the most affordable EV’s available in Canada. Currently, at the top of the list is the Hyundai Ionic 5, a 5-seater SUV, with a Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of $45,000 and a range of about 490km. The Hyundai Kona, a similar sized vehicle with an internal combustion engine (ICE), has a MRSP of about $22,100, or almost half the price. A lot of fuel would need to be saved to make economic sense.
Another obvious concern is distance one can travel between recharges. The Ionic is rated at 490 km on a full charge. The Kona, using the thirstiest of the engines available, has a range to empty of about 575 km. Not a big difference, except you will have no problem finding a filling station for the Kona whereas charging stations are few and far between for the Ionic. The Kona will take mere minutes to fill while the Ionic, well, you just must be patient.
The above does not take into consideration something we in Canada must endure, winter, with especially where I live, about 4 months of below 0°C weather. Anyone who has experienced our winters know that common lead acid batteries loose power with decreasing temperatures. At -30°C battery capacity is usually cut in half. Recently I came across an article describing how a brother and sister duo rented a Tesla and then drove from Orlando, Florida to Wichita, Kansas this past December. "We ended up having to stop every one and-a-half hours to charge for an hour, then an hour and-a-half, then two hours," is what they experienced. Note the increasing charging times and that the temperature in Wichita at Christmas time was below freezing with the coldest being December 22nd with a low of -4°F (-20°C).
Another person, also with a Tesla, at a temperature of -7°C, a temperature considered on the balmy side of a typical winter day in much of Canada, found his car would not charge at all!
Remember that an ICE typically has a thermal efficiency of less than 40%, although some of that lost heat can be recovered to heat the cabin. A battery powered vehicle does not have access to any excess heat being lost. Thus, to keep the cabin warm, electricity must be used for heat instead of being available for the electric motors. As a result, the range decreases. The colder the temperature the more energy needed to keep the occupants warm while at the same time the battery has less capacity available.
Recently I watched a couple of videos on YouTube dealing specifically with the Ford F150 Lightening. It does not do well in cold weather.
Another video, from 2 years ago, looked at 20 EV’s, all either sedans or SUV’s, in Norway that did real world testing. Admittedly the conditions were not too cold with the lowest temperature experienced being -6°C. On average they experienced a 20% decrease from the rated milage expected. I had difficulty finding any reliable information for the colder weather we can expect.
One major issue for me is range, or the lack thereof. Yes, they are making great strides in improving battery capacity, charging speed and even new advances in battery chemistry. Advances that give me a positive outlook for the future if things go well. The real problem here is that the current manufacturers are relying on government subsidies to try and bring the price down to the point that economies of scale can kick in. We have seen this in the past with any new technology. The first iterations were very expensive such that the average person could not afford them. Things like VCR’s, TVs, and computers had the prices dropping significantly in less than 5 years upon introduction to the market. But we are not seeing these drops in the EV industry. One reason being the artificial nature of those subsidies and their unintended consequences. For example, no fuel tax from EV’s even though they use, and wear, the same roads used by ICE vehicles. As a result, the EV’s are getting a free ride! If EV’s are the only vehicles left on the road, this free ride must change.
One factor that influences the final price of any consumer commodity is the price of raw materials. The price of lithium carbonate, needed to make those huge batteries in the current versions of EV’s, has increased 5-fold this past year. One big reason is that the supply is still quite limited. While there are lithium-bearing brines accessible by existing abandoned wells in Alberta, there still would be a severe undersupply of lithium required to attain 100% EV’s powered by lithium batteries. Classic supply and demand controls will fall into place. High demand with low supply will result in high prices. High prices will allow more low-grade sources to become economic. But it will take time for that production to come on stream. During that period, we will have high EV prices because of the cost of raw materials. Few people will be able to afford it. We have already seen this multiple times with the solar cell business. More businesses will go bankrupt first and no gain will be made.
Personally, I am not worried by this insane call to force the market to make available only EV’s come 2035. The people most at risk are those in the middle class and poorer class. These people are going to rebel by voting the bums out, unless drastic measures are imposed that prevent that event from happening.
But the elephant in the room that the politicians and activists ignore, either intentionally or unintentionally, is that the electric grid system is incapable of supporting the huge increase in electricity demand that would follow if EV sales increase markedly. For example, back in 2019 a Globe and Mail article reviewed this topic and noted that for BC to go all EV would require an estimated ”additional 1,050 gigawatt hours of electricity load per year.” Again, that’s just for BC. On a per capita basis (5.07 million people in BC in 2019) that works out to 207 kWh/per person per year. For all of Canada, it is 7.8 terrawatt hours (tWh) per year.
To put that power increase into perspective, the largest electric generation facility in Ontario is the Bruce Nuclear plant with a rated capacity of 6.6 gigawatt hours (gWh). We would have to build 1.2 THOUSAND equivalent power plants! PLUS invest in expanding the electric grid to handle that load!
Keep in mind, too, that we already have seen big increases in electricity costs just through the forced introduction of solar and wind sources to the current grid. At these elevated prices we, the consumers, are forced to subsidise them. For example, back when I was still in Manitoba my cost of electricity was 7.0 cents per kilowatt Hour (kWh). Now, here in Ontario, 13 years later, I am paying on average 23 cents per kWh. This is a 228% increase for that time, a period where we experienced 13% inflation! What would be the cost to expand the electric grid to meet this new apparent demand? Also, what impact would it have on what we must pay for electricity?
Of course, this is assuming that we have as many vehicles as we currently have. The menacing intent, found in World Economic Forum (WEF) videos, is that the average human will own nothing, and be happy. Including automobiles. I recently reported on the book Factfulness, written by Hans Rosling. In that book he classified the world into 4 levels based on income; “the first being those who live on less than, in adjusted terms allowing for inflation and other factors, 2$ per day, those in Level 2, living on less than $8 per day, those in Level 3 being less than $32 per day and Level 4 being all above $32 per day. This he illustrated as Level 1 being barefoot as they barely make enough to live, Level 2 can afford a bicycle, Level 3 can afford a motorcycle and Level 4 can afford an automobile. With the prevalence of automobiles, we in Canada obviously fall into Level 4.”
If Rosling is correct, then the only way Canada can succeed at only having EV’s is to make sure most of us Canadians fall way back to Level 2 or even Level 1 – poor. Is this part of the World Economic Forum Plan?
So, there we have it. If you believe that we should switch to EVs, then you will either make the sacrifice of being poor or figure out a way to become a member of the ruling class, thus becoming one of the few who can afford having that EV. This sounds like the revival of communism but in Canada instead of Russia. Will Canada become another sad example of social engineering that has already proven to provide nothing but despair to much of the population? This is the result of being fooled by the utopian mirage. Socialists use this method to fool people into falling for their nonsense. Only time will tell. But you can do your part by doing everything in your power to ensure this Liberal “dream” fails to materialise.
By: Alan Aubut