ROGER SIMON: The Electric Car Is Biden’s ‘Golden Calf.’
President Joe Biden, a man who frequently touts “the science”—but, it’s rather evident, would be unlikely to do better than a “D” on a high school chemistry or physics test—has placed a civilizational-level bet on the electric car.
(Pop Quiz, Joe Biden: What’s the second law of thermodynamics? Biden: Thermodynamics? I love that company! Are we in Philadelphia? Great city!)
It’s almost as if the current occupant of the White House worships the electric car in a fashion bordering on idolatrous. Without the slightest apparent thought, he destroyed U.S. energy independence and is threatening worldwide economic collapse on its behalf.
Indeed, the electric car is Biden’s “Golden Calf.”
He should get down on his knees and pray to a Tesla. With inflation at 8.6 percent, the highest in 40 years, he’s going to need some divine help.
But someone might want to explain to Biden the reality of electric cars, if indeed he’s capable of comprehending it. For that someone, I would nominate Bjorn Lomborg—the Danish author and president of the think tank Copenhagen Consensus Center—who has been perhaps the world’s most esteemed climate journalist for decades.
As recently as February, Lomborg wrote a lengthy article for the Daily Mail with the equally lengthy title, “Are electric cars the new ‘diesel scandal’ waiting to happen? They generate polluting particles just like petrol vehicles, are not even that cost-effective and, as one expert finds, will not save the planet.”
That’s a bit complicated for Joe, I know. Better for him to continue to worship the Golden Tesla (embarrassing as that might be since Elon Musk has switched to a Republican). But let’s hear from Lomborg himself. I have excerpted for brevity:
“Do you remember Britain’s ‘dash for diesel’? It began more than 20 years ago when the then-chancellor, Gordon Brown, announced a new car tax system favouring vehicles with lower emissions of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming. …
“What didn’t emerge until much later—although it was no secret in the motor industry or among government officials—was that diesel cars also emitted greater quantities of other pollutants, nitrogen oxides, and particulates that damage air quality and human health. …
Similarly: Is it ethical to purchase a lithium battery powered EV? “The extraordinary amounts of mining needed to produce electric vehicles are not only environmentally disastrous, they also carry large human costs. The cobalt that is needed for every electric vehicle comes mostly from the Congo and is produced largely by child labor.”