The President's Daily Brief - December 30th, 2022. Dirty Green Energy: Electric Vehicles

Episode Date: December 30, 2022

It’s December 30th. You’re listening to the President’s Daily Brief. Your morning intel starts now. ------ Today is the final episode of our five part series this week on the Dirty Green Revolution. Over the past week, we’ve talked about solar panels, wind turbines, and the batteries that store and distribute their energy. But, as the facts make clear, none of that stuff is clean, green, or renewable at all, despite what proponents might say. It all comes with some pretty horrible costs.  And that’s why we call it Dirty Green Energy. Well today we’re wrapping up the series with the one thing that will touch us all profoundly about this Dirty Energy Revolution. And that’s Electric Vehicles. And that’s because over the past several months, the States of California, New York, Washington and others have passed laws saying that if you want to buy a new car starting in the year 2035, it must be electric. There will be no new, gas powered cars ever sold again in those states after that year. And it’s not just these states. Some car manufacturers are agreeing to that deadline it too. General Motors, for instance, has announced that they’ll stop building gas powered cars by 2035. So, folks, we have to talk about this. As consumers, yes, but also as a country. We have to understand whether we should embrace Electric Vehicles or should we do whatever it takes to stop or slow that industry down until we can address the very dirty facts about these cars. ------ Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of the President's Daily Brief. Email: [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Own it all. Pay off your home, travel for life, drive a Ferrari. In celebration of the world premiere of the Monopoly Big Board Buckslot Machine by Aristocrat Gaming, Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is giving one person a $1.6 million dream package. The biggest prize in Yamava's history. Club Serrano members can earn daily instant prizes

and secure a spot in the finale May 29th. Don't pass go and own it all. Only at Yamava, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You win? Details at yamava.com must be 21-20. Please gamble responsibly. Monopoly is a trademark of Hasbro. Hasbro is not a sponsor of this promotion.

It's December 30th. You're listening to the President's Daily Brief. I'm your host and former CIA officer Brian Dean Wright. Your morning intel starts now. Today is the final episode of our five-part series this week on the dirty green revolution. So for the past week, we've talked about solar panels, wind turbines and the batteries that store and distribute their energy. But as the facts make very clear, none of that stuff is clean or green or green or. or renewable at all, despite what proponents might say. It all comes with some pretty horrible costs. And that's why we call it dirty green energy. Well, today we're wrapping up the series with the one thing that will touch all of us profoundly about this dirty energy revolution, and that's electric vehicles. And that's because over the past several months, the states of California, New York, Washington, and others have passed laws saying that if you want to buy a new car,

starting in the year 2035, it must be electric. There will be no new gas power cars sold ever again in those states after that year. And by the way, it's not just the states that are doing this. Some car manufacturers are agreeing to it too. General Motors, for instance, has announced that they will stop building gas powered cars by the year 2035. So folks, we have to talk about this. As consumers, yes, but also as a country. We have to understand whether we should embrace electric vehicles or rather we should do whatever it takes to stop or slow that industry until we can address the very dirty facts about these cars.

So you ready to talk electric vehicles? Good. Let's get to it. So all this week we've used our imaginations to help us understand this dirty green technology. So let's just do it again this morning. I want us to imagine that we are inside a car dealership talking to our salesman. Now in this conversation, let's assume that we've already asked that person about some of the horrific things inside that vehicle, namely the battery. Because what we now know, based on the briefs that I gave you earlier this week, the batteries that power electric vehicles today come from very dirty beginnings.

They require miners in the Congo, and over 40,000 of those folks, in fact, are children as young as six years of age. And then, of course, minerals like cobalt and lithium and nickel are then sent to China to refine and then make them into batteries. And that means that your purchase of this electric vehicle, that's about to fund child labor and the communists in Beijing. And maybe folks are okay with that. It seems like a lot of people are. Well, as people do, we should be asking that salesman three very important questions before you make that purchase. first how much does that car cost to buy second how much does it cost to maintain and ensure finally how long does it take to fill up the tank in other words how long does it take to charge the car's batteries now

i don't know if that salesman is going to be honest with you about these questions so i'm going to help you i've got the facts let's start with that first question how much is that car going to cost you Well, according to Kelly Blue Book, the average price of a new electric vehicle is just over $66,000. Now, that is a lot more than what most people pay for a new gas-powered car, which averages $43,000. In other words, the price of an electric vehicle is comparable to what a buyer would normally spend on a luxury vehicle, like a BMW or a Mercedes-Benz. Now, to be fair, there are cheaper models, mostly because they use batteries of lesser. quality or they have lower range. And meanwhile, you can also get some financial assistance to buy one of these things. The U.S. government is currently offering a federal tax rebate of up to $7,500

off. But to get that rebate, your new electric vehicle can't cost more than $55,000 for sedans or $80,000 for SUVs and trucks, which, as car companies have complained, is well below the average cost of an electric vehicle. So that's a purpose. problem. It knocks out a huge number of makes and models from eligibility. Also, we have another catch on who can get this rebate. So to get it, the cars, metals, and batteries have to be 40% made in America. I should say North America. But as PDB listeners will remember, the United States does very little mining for those minerals, especially inside the batteries. And we have virtually no battery manufacturing capability. Meanwhile, this rebate problem, it's going to get worse because the price of these

electric vehicles keeps going up, largely because the cost of minerals inside those batteries is doubling or tripling, especially cobalt, lithium, and nickel. And what's worse, mining executives say that the prices for these critical battery minerals is going to keep rising through at least the year 2035 because demand is so high and new mines can't be open fast enough. And folks, in fact, I've seen estimates out of the United Kingdom and France that say, if you add up all the new demand for all these minerals, the total required is actually beyond the known mineral reserves on the planet Earth. Now, I'm still digging into that claim, but it's pretty remarkable to think about.

And frankly, it's probably true. In other words, folks, and to summarize, electric vehicles are very expensive. And over the medium to long term, they will likely get. much more expensive all because of those batteries. And that takes us to our second question of the morning. How much is that vehicle going to cost me to maintain and ensure, especially as I compare that to a gas powered vehicle? All right, let's first talk about the maintenance. Electric vehicles have far fewer parts as compared to a gas vehicle. And that means, according to the AAA folks, the average cost to maintain an electric vehicle is actually less than a

gas-powered car, about $330 a year less. But the cost of repairing an electric vehicle can be significantly more than a gas-powered car, especially after an accident. So let's take the most common accident out there, a little fender bender. According to a recent study of insurance claims, the average electric vehicle cost to repair a modest fender bender was $4,041. That's about 27% more than a traditional car in that same kind of accident. Now, this study shows that if you had a mid-size or a luxury brand electric vehicle, who-hoo-hoo, the average claim there was $8,037 or 53% higher than traditional luxury cars for that same kind of accident. So, why is that? Well, the bottom line is that the repair parts are more expensive to make based on their materials. And that's especially true if you

mess up that battery. If your electric vehicles battery gets damaged and it's not under warranty, you're looking at a $20,000 repair bill, a number that will only go higher in the years ahead. One other issue on repairs to talk about. Since electric vehicles are a modestly new technology, there are fewer technicians trained to service them. That means the qualified facilities will be harder to find than a gas powered car. That will likely mean that you're going to have to to pay more for repairs. Plus, studies show that it takes 50% longer to diagnose and fix a problem on these electric vehicles as compared to traditional cars. And that's why, all told, labor costs for repairing an electric vehicle are about 30% higher. Now, speaking of, what about those

insurance costs? Well, since electric vehicles cost more and are more costly to repair, insurance companies are naturally going to charge you more. According to a study of insurance premiums, electric vehicles cost about 15% more a year to insure as compared to a gas-powered vehicle. Plus, there's this. Some studies show that electric vehicles tend to start on fire more often than gas-powered cars, especially during accidents.

I will say that there is some debate about this. The data are mixed, so we'll revisit this one later. So the bottom line message, folks, on both maintenance and insurance is this, if I could give you some advice. If you own an electric vehicle, do two things for me. First, be rich. And second, do not get into an accident. Now, there you are. I hope that advice was helpful.

Okay. So we've covered our first few questions of the morning that we set out to tackle. First, we talked about the cost of a car, very expensive. and then the cost of repairing that car also expensive. Lastly, we wrapped up by discussing the cost of ensuring that car and, once again, very expensive. So we now need to ask that salesman one final question. How long will it take to charge this electric vehicle? Because that's really important.

With gas powered cars, we all know that we just pull up to the pump and we spend two, five minutes to fill up. A little longer, if you've got a semi or a big truck. But how about for that electric vehicle? Well, oh boy, if your car salesman is honest, he's going to pour you a cup of coffee or tea or cocktail, because his answer is going to take him a long time. Folks, there are at least five variables that will determine how long it takes to fill up your battery. I'm going to give you the answers after we take a quick short break, but I'll give you a tease.

In some cases, it can take up to four. days to fill one battery. We'll be right back. Get the most out of your vehicle with GM genuine parts and AC Delco original equipment. The only parts designed, engineered, tested, and backed by General Motors. You can find your perfect fit for most makes and models and choose from three tiers of parts, including GMOE or gold and silver aftermarket parts. Visit gmparts.com for more information. Who cares about your poops?

Ollie does. That's why Ali's science-backed the gut health lineup helps support your family's regularity. From daily probiotics to fibergummies, your kiddos will love. Find it all on ali.com. That's OLLY.com. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Welcome back to the PDB. We are talking about the Dirty Green Revolution this morning, which of course is this week's series where we take a critical eye to the industries of solar, wind, batteries, and today, electric vehicles. So next we're getting to the trickiest question of all. How long does it take to charge my electric vehicle? Folks, grab that cup of coffee or tea or cocktail. Get comfortable because the answer isn't like a gas or diesel powered car.

You don't just pull up to the pump and five minutes later or so. You're out of there. In fact, charging an electric vehicle may require, honestly, a lawn chair, a hotel room while you get the explanation. All right, here's why. First, let's start with your power source. People call these chargers or charging stations, but that's not technically accurate. The charger is really inside your car. So we should really call these things power sources.

Regardless, there are three different levels of power sources. They're called level one, level two, and level. 3. So level 1 is the least efficient. It's a three-prong plug that you already have on the walls of your home. So how long does it take to charge a car using that plug? Well, as an example, if you buy a 22 Tesla Model 3 long range car, if you want that to charge from virtually empty to virtually full, that will take you four days. That's according to Tesla itself. Now, listeners have emailed me saying, all right, hold on, Brian. I own a Tesla and nobody uses level one chargers.

In fact, sometimes Tesla gives you a level two charger for free. And those are a lot faster charging. And you know what? That's true. And what actually a great segue to level two power sources? Because as my Tesla listeners have said, they are in fact faster than level one. Instead of taking four days to. charge. It'll take you 8 to 12 hours. Maybe. More on that in a second. But what my Tesla friends

probably won't like to admit is that these level two power chargers do not come free. Not really. You have to have a professional electrician come to your home to install it. That's thousands of more dollars and expense. By the way, good luck if you live in an apartment building or a condo complex, because unless there's a level two charging station in your garage, you're going to need to stay overnight at a Walmart parking lot or something like it. Because that's where most public level two charging stations are at. Now, as ever, we've got to be fair. I have listeners who said,

did they charge at level two while they're at work, and that's enough for them to get home to charge overnight. And that is super. Good for y'all. But how many people I ask have that luxury? especially in rural areas or in poor communities, say nothing of poor countries. Level two power stations are a luxury, my friends.

Nevertheless, we have one final power station to talk about. It's the level three power stations. Now, using one of these will generally take you 30 minutes to one hour to fill up. Unfortunately, there are very few of those in the United States. According to Carfax, there are fewer. than 5,000 level three power stations in America. And compare that to gas stations. There are over 115,000 gas stations in the United States.

That's according to Market Watch. Although it is true that there are plans underway to expand the number of these level three power stations. Joe Biden's climate change bill has lots of goodies and incentives to encourage their construction. But as PDB listeners will recall, these level three power stations require a a massive amount of electricity. In fact, according to the utility company National Grid,

electrifying a typical highway truck stop with just these level three power stations will require as much power as a small U.S. city. It's just one truck stop. And that means that America is going to have to build thousands of tens of thousands of something called a substation. You may have seen these compounds, as it were, driving around. They're fairly, well, if I may say ugly, there are blocks of gray utility equipment that serve a very important purpose.

They transform voltage from high to low power or vice versa, amongst other critical functions. But the key here is that those new substations can take years and millions of dollars to permit and construct. So if your car salesman isn't honest with you about power station differences from level one to level three, well, that could leave you as a consumer and a real pickle. Okay, so that's the summary of our first variable of the first four or five power source. But we've still got four more to go on how long it will take to fill up your batteries.

And depending on each car and each variable, that means that your charge times might go way up. So for instance, we have to consider something called your maximum charge rate. So remember when I said that your charger is actually inside your electric vehicle? Well, it is. And each car charges at a different rate. So the calculation of that is pretty complicated. You divide the battery capacity by the power rating of your car's onboard charger. Then you subtract 10% of power loss associated with charging it and you get your

maximum charge rate. So why is that important? Well, some electric vehicles like that Tesla have a very high maximum charge rate. So you can take advantage of the level three power stations. But other cars have a much lower charge rate. It all depends on the model and the year of manufacture. So the bottom line, folks, is that you can pull up with your very fancy, very expensive electric vehicle to a level three power station, expecting, of course, a fast charge. But if your car's maximum charge rate is slow, well, you're going to be waiting many hours no matter what. All right. Let's move on from power source issues and charging rate issues to a variable that's a little bit more understandable. And that, of course, is weather. You see, when it's cold outside, batteries don't like to charge as fast.

And guess what? Those level three chargers, they don't charge as fast either. Hmm, but it gets worse. Batteries don't like it when it's too hot outside either, not just cold. heat actually degrades both the charge time and the battery's life so there's a technical reason for this it involves your electric car's thermal management systems and internal resistance but i'm going to be honest with you i have no idea what any of that means what i do know is that if it's too hot or it's too cold you are going to be sitting around longer to charge your vehicle so the bottom line here folks your electric vehicle is a princess, and it only likes to live and be charged in sort of Goldilocks-like temperatures. So I'm sorry if you live in Arizona or Alaska because you are too hot or too cold.

And if it's wintertime or summer, then everybody's in trouble because no matter where we live, you're going to be too hot or too cold. And it's why I like to call this the Goldilocks challenge of an electric vehicle. You got to have it just right. All right, let's talk about our fourth variable of charging cars. And now, as you recharge, it may take shorter or longer, depending on how full the tank is, or should I say battery is. And that makes sense. But it's very important to remember something here.

Electric vehicle manufacturers will tell buyers that batteries should not go below a 20% charge or above an 80% charge, especially when it's hot or cold outside, all because of those thermal management systems and such. Again, the science is a bit complicated as to why we got this 80-20 rule, but just remember, your battery is a real princess. Finally, there are a collection of other variables to consider, and I'm just going to call them miscellaneous. So, for instance, how long the power cord is from the power station to your car,

that actually matters in terms of charge time. Or how often you use your air conditioning or heater? That's really the big one. A study out by AAA showed that if you use your heater in the wintertime, that can lower battery range by over 40%. That's why if your salesman is honest, they'll tell you that if you want to cut your charging time in the winter, you should use a seat warmer and bundle up. I'm actually not kidding on that. Do an internet search on battery, wintertime, and heater. It's just hilarious and incredible stuff.

One final thing to note in our bucket of miscellaneous variables, battery life and charge times vary based on whether you drive shorter distances or longer distances. So interestingly, electric vehicles and their batteries do better with lower speeds and shorter distances. That's according to Kelly Blue Book. So all in all, my friends, if you were sitting with that salesman asking about cost and maintenance, insurance, and charge times, well, I suspect that you might just be a little bit overwhelmed by all the answers and to these crazy. machines. They are not plug-in-play, my friends. The facts show us that they are a temperamental little machine that happens to be very expensive. Which reminds me, some of my listeners brought up

the very good point that the cost of electricity to charge these vehicles is also a variable to consider, as electricity prices can differ depending on where in the country or the world you might be. Plus, these listeners said the source of that energy might not be. Might not be quote unquote green at all. And yes, that is all true. If you want to dig into this issue more, go check out the brief that I gave you on August 23rd after we're done here today. I did a little bit of investigative reporting on that issue. But for now, my friends, that ends today's brief on electric vehicles. And it also ends this week's five-part series into dirty green energy. And you know what? What a great week it's been.

When we come back, I'm going to offer up my final thoughts. In the meantime, drop me an email with what you think of this week's briefs. Good, bad, ugly, I'll take it all. My email address, as always, is PDB at thefirsttv.com. Or you can reach me on my website at briandeenwright.com. We'll be right back. Kayak gets my flight, hotel, and rental car right, so I can tune out travel advice that's just plain wrong.

Bro, Skycoin, way better than points. Never fly during a Scorpio full moon. Just tell the manager you'll sue. Instant room upgrade. Stop taking bad travel advice. Start comparing hundreds of sites with kayak and get your trip right. Kayak, got that right. This is a Bose moment.

You've been there before. Somebody's apartment, small talk that's going nowhere, plastic cup that's almost empty. It's not great. Then someone hits play on a Bose speaker. Heads nod, feet tap, one person dances than everyone does. Awkward becomes electric. When Bose sound fills the room, you don't just hear the music.

You feel it. Your life deserves music. Your music deserves Bose. Find your perfect product at Bose.com. Welcome back to the PDB. Well, folks, I think it's been a pretty darn good week. I think we've covered a lot of very important and, frankly, new information, all focused on the main question that we set out to answer, which was,

are these technologies really green, clean, or renewable, or are there dirty secrets to this new form of energy? The answer is resounding and absolutely clear. Green energy is dirty, wildly so. Let's just remind ourselves as to why. With solar panels, most of the world's supply comes from slaves living in Chinese concentration camps. Plus, the panels are manufactured using coal energy. Finally, there are no recycling programs yet in America for these things, not at scale anyway, and that's why most panels end up in landfills. Meanwhile, with the wind turbines, those are disastrous for animals on both land and sea, most especially for birds, including America's national bird, the mighty bald eagle. Plus, when wind blades have to be retired,

They just get buried in the backyards of some of America's poorest communities. And by the way, with both solar and wind, they have one major critical flaw. They're intermittent forms of energy, which is just a fancy way of saying that the sun doesn't always shine and the wind doesn't always blow. So you could have, say, great production levels one day and then the next, you're down to three percent of capacity. That actually happened in the United Kingdom this winter down to three. of what they normally do.

Now, proponents of dirty green energy will say, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Solar and wind might be spotty on occasion, but don't worry, we've got batteries. Ah, yes, the batteries. To refresh our memories here, lithium ion batteries don't exist without kids digging in Congolese soil,

making $2 a day to pull cobalt out of the ground. And for that lithium, we have mines in the Atacama Desert, sucking up the water in the dry, place on earth. Or what about nickel? The world's greatest supplier of that mineral, Indonesia, wants to start a cartel like the oil cartel to control nickel prices and global supply. And that could mean America has to put our military's boots on the ground to secure those minerals, just like we've had to do with oil for decades. Finally, we've got a serious China problem with

dirty green batteries. All of those minerals, they're refining and manufacturing, Almost all of that global supply goes through China. Beijing controls about 80% of each of those key areas during a battery's early life. Speaking of, put on your hazmat suit. What of those batteries starts on fire? Shut your windows too. During a recent fire in California involving a Tesla megapack, residents had to shelter in place when those batteries burst into flames

and spewed out toxic fumes into the air. And speaking of Tesla, Pull out your checkbook if you want to afford one of their cars. Electric vehicles are wildly expensive, dramatically more than gas-powered cars. And by the way, good luck replacing a battery in one of these things. That's going to run you $20,000 to $25,000 or more, especially if you forgot to treat that battery like a princess while it was alive. Look, if I'm going to be fair, it is possible that we could see some innovation in this dirty green

industry. Maybe that innovation will alter our calculus about the dirtiness of it all. We talked about some of those creative innovations along the way over the past number of days, like new types of solar panels or new battery chemistries, new windblades that don't kill birds. And you know what? I hope that that innovation happens. But in the meantime, if you were the president and I were to now offer you my counsel based on the facts and the data, not opinion, not feelings. My counsel would be this. This green technology is not green and it's not ready.

Not to power a nation or its economy. As of this moment, green energy is so dirty that it is an absolute nightmare for our environment, for our people, and for our national security. It would be reckless to adopt it on a national scale. Look, maybe in some, some locations we can use it, maybe say for farmers and ranchers who are out in the back 40, but not to power the nation. Now, if you're worried about climate change, you should consider

things like carbon capture and sequestration technology, or nuclear power, or hydrogen. I'll brief you on those things down the road. But here's something that's interesting. Proponents of dirty green energy hate those alternatives, things like hydrogen and nuclear power and so forth. And that's because for these people, especially those in the environmental community, none of this is actually about the climate. It's about politics and revolution. Let me explain that. There's a climate change activist named Greta Thunberg. Many of you might have heard of her name before. She's been the face of climate change activism for years now, starting out as a very young child who is now 18 years of age.

But to be clear, she's not just some random occasional face of the climate change movement. She's been the world's leading champion of it. Let's remind ourselves of what we know that says that's true. She has delivered multiple climate change speeches at the United Nations. She's been named as one of the world's most influential people by Time magazine. And she's won countless climate change awards and millions of dollars in prices because of her advocacy. So taking all of that into account, Greta Thunberg has just written a book about her

climate change, journey, and activism. And this fall, she was delivering remarks about that in London. And while explaining that journey and her beliefs, she blasted capitalism and the West for causing all of the world's problems, climate and otherwise. Let me just read a few of the things that she said. quote, what we refer to as normal capitalism is an extreme system built on the exploitation of people and the planet, end quote. She went on to say, quote, it is a system defined by colonialism, imperialism, oppression,

and genocide by the so-called global north, all to accumulate wealth that still shapes our current world order. Finally, she said, quote, we are never going back to normal. again because normal was already a crisis. The Western world is in need of a system-wide transformation. So what does that sound like to you? Is it the focus here really about climate change or something else? And by the way, what is this system-wide transformation that she wants in the West?

But you know, that's not what's actually important here. I want you to really consider something else. She has been talking like this since she was. a child. So folks, kids don't come up with this stuff on their own. She was being fed this by others in the climate change community. She was their child puppet. So let's ask ourselves the logical question. What did the puppet masters want? Really? Is this about climate change? Or is this about a political and economic revolution using climate change as the pretext? Well, those are are good questions if I do say so myself.

Logical and reasonable. So, my friends, I hope you ask and answer those questions, along with all the others that we raised this week during the series on Dirty Green Energy. Because maybe, just maybe, none of this is really about solar panels and wind turbines after all. Maybe those are just distractions. distractions from the bigger crisis that we should really be talking about.

And as Greta Thunberg will tell you, it ain't about climate change. And that, ladies and gentlemen, concludes your morning brief. As always, we close out the show reminding each other of why we are here, talking about our country and our world. It's the creed of every good spy and every smart American. It's from John, chapter 8, verse 32. and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Good day.

USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day, like superheroes and sidekicks or auto and home insurance. With USAA, you can bundle your auto and home and save up to 10%. Tap the banner to learn more and get a quote at usa.com slash bundle. Restrictions apply.