The Biden administration is reaping what it sows. They pushed the most extreme version of the Green New Deal, which is the cause of the UAW strike and a way for voters to better understand how extreme environmentalism affects their freedom to purchase the care they choose. The Biden administration’s proposed rule to seize American gas-powered cars and replace them with high-priced electric vehicles (EVs), largely made in China, is a disaster for the American economy and American consumers.
Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is pushing emissions standards that would require more zero-emission cars between 2027 and 2032. Diana Feargott Roth of The Heritage Foundation wrote on June 12, 2023: “The EPA’s proposed new auto greenhouse gas emissions regulations will require 60% of new car sales to be electric vehicles by 2030 and 67% by 2032, compared to less than 6% that were on the way in 2022 – with no environmental benefit.” This transition is completely unrealistic and will not bring any environmental benefits.
Many policy experts have indicated that the mandate will cause disruptions to the economy that will benefit foreign EV suppliers more than U.S. manufacturers and workers. Marlo Lewisof the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) wrote that this requirement is de facto troublesome because U.S. “automakers cannot comply without rapidly phasing out internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles and rapidly increasing sales of battery-powered vehicles.” California has gone a step further and made it official banned the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035. The Biden administration has a similar plan to force automakers to produce a percentage of zero-emission vehicles and fleet emission standards that will make it impossible for those who want a gas-powered car to find one. The goal is to force Americans to buy electric vehicles whether they want to or not.
The reason why the shift to electric vehicles is one of the reasons for the UAW strike is because it takes less labor to produce electric vehicles. New York Times as reported on September 13, 2023, “at the center of the debate is whether the shift to electric vehicles, which have fewer parts and generally require less labor to assemble than gas-powered cars, will accelerate the decline of unionized workers in the industry. ” Add to that the fact that China makes 80% of EV batteries and is ramping up EV production to compete with Tesla and the Big Three U.S. EV makers, and you can see why automakers are reluctant to lock themselves into inflated wages.
The UAW strike focuses on the Biden administration’s aggressive push for a Green New Deal aimed at forcing the economy to shift to renewable energy. Environmentalists won’t care if Americans in Michigan and Ohio lose their jobs because of the forced switch from popular gas-powered cars to high-priced, fancy electric cars. The campaign body seeking Joe Biden’s re-election is doing just that. The president can expect his numbers to crater in the swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania if he is perceived to be more interested in tree-hugging than protecting American jobs.
Consumers don’t want electric vehicles for several reasons. They cannot exploit these cars to travel long distances because there are not enough charging stations for all the electric vehicles currently on the road. If it’s frigid, it takes forever to charge. Same thing if it’s too heated. If someone is going on a long trip, they can fill a conventional fuel tank in 5 minutes, instead of slowly sipping a latte while waiting over an hour for the electric vehicle’s battery to charge.
There is also the fundamental issue of freedom. American companies and consumers should not be forced to sell and buy cars that many do not want. There are Americans who have well-paid jobs and want to signal with virtue that they love the environment. There are other Americans struggling with Bidenomics who cannot afford these high-priced electric cars.
It is vital to note that Congress will not address the issue of forcing automakers to switch to electric vehicles. They know better. It appears Biden’s team was more concerned about the opinions of environmentalists than the concerns of UAW union workers and car buyers. Congress should address this issue through the legislative process, not by edict from unelected EPA bureaucrats.
The Biden administration risks turning off even more voters with a UAW strike and a campaign to take away gas-powered cars. An authoritarian plot to force Americans to abandon their fossil-fuel Corvettes in favor of a plug-in Tesla could prove to be the deciding factor in bringing Republicans back to power in Congress and the White House.
