Panos for Progress: Thoughts and Selections

  I was quoted in WalletHub's Best and Worst States to Drive 2026. What tips do you have for a person looking to keep the costs of car ownership low? Those looking for a new or replacement car need to research their next purchase. Sources like Edmund’s and Consumer Reports are free of hype and provide reliable data on vehicle features, performance, long-term costs, and mpg. Buyers should visit a dealer well informed and always test a few comparable models before committing to a purchase. They should ignore the so called “dealer pressure”. If they already own an expensive vehicle to run, then they can consider a swap with a low running cost model at a dealer, Carvana, etc. Typically, hybrids are more economical and many used EVs are on the market at a fairly low price. Gasoline affinity programs can save several cents per gallon. Research local websites and find reliable independent car repair shops; obtain at least two quotes for an expensive maintenance and/or part replacement job...

Sample quotes : Germany’s auto industry is trapped in a vise between higher energy prices that drive up the cost of production, and electric-vehicle mandates that drive down sales. Germany’s auto industry is trapped in a vise between higher energy prices that drive up the cost of production, and electric-vehicle mandates that drive down sales. Politicians are forcing the companies to sell cars that consumers don’t want.* Europe’s auto-industry travails are painful evidence that net-zero climate policy is the worst act of economic masochism in the West since the 1930s.  (*) A big part of the problem is cost. I'm a fun of VW's newest minivan, the ID.BUZZ , but the all wheel drive version starts at over $69,000!

"The Charles Pankow Foundation has funded a study to assess parking garage safety in light of the heavier weight of electric vehicles compared to traditional cars. Led by researchers from the University of Colorado and University of Massachusetts, the investigation will evaluate whether current design standards for garage live loads, set at 40 pounds per square foot , remain sufficient." A standard US parking stall measures 18x8.5 ft or 153 ft2. The standard parking stall area times the 40 lb/ft2 weight standard yields a maximum of 6,120 lb or 2776 kg. A large US parking stall measures 20x9 ft or 180 ft2. The large  parking stall area times the 40 lb/ft2 weight standard yields a maximum of 7,200 lb or 3266 kg. The largest light duty EV sold on the US is the Hummer EV by General Motors. It weighs 9,640 lb. Clearly, many of them parked in the same parking deck of a parking structure will pose a problem. However, the rest of the EVs on sale, as of end of 2023, as shown in th...

Strange finding, but it comes from a paper in a well regarded, peer reviewed journal. Do EV cause more at-fault crashes? The answer based on data from The Netherlands (only) is yes. See:  Are electric vehicles riskier? A comparative study of driving behaviour and insurance claims for internal combustion engine, hybrid and electric vehicles ( Alternate link ) Research Paper Highlights Electric and hybrid drivers exhibit different behaviours than traditional vehicles. Electric vehicles record higher at-fault claims than traditional vehicles. Hybrids do not display a statistically significant increase in claim likelihood. Electric vehicles are 6.7% more expensive to repair than traditional vehicles.

  The September 7, 2024 issue of the Economist has this provocative title on its cover page.  Strong words but they back their statement up with substantial research: They used data from 7.5m crashes in 14 States for ten years (2013-2023. They found that "for every 10,000 crashes the heaviest vehicles kill 37 people in the other car, compared with 5.7 for cars of a median weight and just 2.6 for the lightest." Vehicles have been getting heftier over time, but a big culprit are pickup trucks, large SUvs and EVs. For example, ehe Ford F-150 Lightning weighs ~40% more than its gasoline version. EPA figures show that the average new car in the US weights 4,4000 lbs compared to 3,300 lbs in EU and 2,600 lbs in Japan. "Individually, it is rational for people to buy bigger cars. As Tony Soprano once said to his son A.J. when discussing SUVs, So you want to be the sucker in a regular car who gets decapitated? Yet the sum of those decisions is much more lethal roads, as well as...

  Great coverage on the EV state of the art in China, by Michael Colias of the WSJ:  What Scared Ford’s CEO in China "For years, Tesla was the main source of consternation for auto CEOs trying to tackle a transition to electric vehicles. Now, it is the rapid rise of nimble automakers in China that have rattled executives from Detroit to Germany and Japan. Even Tesla’s Elon Musk recently called the Chinese the “most competitive” carmakers in the world." " BYD’s cheapest EV, the Seagull, starts around $10,000  [subcompact, pictured above] and features a fashionable cabin; a rotating, iPad-like touch screen; and more than 300 miles of driving range, comparable to EVs from legacy automakers that are priced three times higher. It is currently for sale in China and Latin America and BYD plans to start selling it in Europe next year for around $20,000." "Following early buzz for the F-150 Lightning pickup, which lifted the stock price, fading consumer interest in EVs ...

  AXIOS: Barely more than 1% of the 21 million kids who take the bus to school in the U.S. each day, but it's rising fast. The now closed  Clean School Bus Program , administered by the Environmental Protection Agency, prioritizes school districts in low-income, rural and tribal communities. The EPA has spent $2.8 billion on more than 8,000 electric school buses across nearly 1,300 school districts But the cost (burden to the taxpayer) is steep: An electric school bus costs about $370,000, more than three times the price of a traditional diesel bus! AXIOS: the lifetime savings on fuel and maintenance averages $100,000. Therefore, each bus comes with a lifetime loss of $150,000! The school districts pay none of this. The federal taxes do (i.e., adding to the deficit.)

Robert Poole's article titled The (Not So?) Surprising Decline of Electric Vehicles gives a useful update on the reduction of EV sales and manufacturing in the US.  All the text below is from Robert's newsletter. First, let me add two updates. 1. AXIOS: " Ford is again shifting its electrification strategy — delaying a planned electric pickup truck by 18 months and killing plans for a three-row electric SUV ... Ford's EV unit lost $4.7 billion in 2023 (and is on track to lose even more this year. )" 2. ConsumerAffairs:  Nearly one-fifth of sold EVs recalled over battery or charging issues . Surface Transportation News , August 7, 2024: Recent headlines in business media report trouble with the electric vehicle market. Last month, (all-EV) Tesla reported a 45% profit decrease in the most recent quarter, due to lower sales and the lower prices it’s recently been charging due to increased EV competition. GM announced delays in two planned EV factories—one for electr...

J D Power: ... new electric vehicles are taken into the dealership at a rate three times higher than that of gas-powered vehicles . Quote from the report: Proponents of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) often state these vehicles should be less problematic and require fewer repairs than gas-powered vehicles since they have fewer parts and systems. However, newly incorporated repair data shows BEVs, as well as plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), require more repairs than gas-powered vehicles in all repair categories. “Owners of cutting edge, tech-filled BEVs and PHEVs are experiencing problems that are of a severity level high enough for them to take their new vehicle into the dealership at a rate three times higher than that of gas-powered vehicle owners,” Hanley said.