Have We Reached Peak Virtue Signaling With EVs?
The cars that were going to save our world from the scourge of carbon-based global warming are, says one media outlet, “piling up on dealer lots” because they can’t be sold. Maybe we’re finally at the point where most if not all of those who are desperate to demonstrate their green cred already have an EV and don’t need another battery-powered adult toy.
Even though “the auto industry is beginning to crank out more electric vehicles (EVs) to challenge Tesla,” Axios reported Monday, “there’s one big problem: not enough buyers.”
Two days later, Market Watch said that as “EV sales stall … there’s a ‘step back from euphoria.’”
While Tesla Inc. and BYD Co., a Chinese conglomerate, have strong growth numbers, the rest in the industry, which has been incentivized to build, build, build by government mandate, can’t sell their EVs.
Korean luxury brand Genesis “sold only 18 of its nearly $82,000 Electrified G80 sedans in the 30 days leading up to June 29, and had 210 in stock nationwide — a 350-day supply,” Axios says.
Meanwhile, “Audi’s Q4 e-tron and Q8 e-tron and the GMC Hummer EV SUV, also have bloated inventories well above 100 days,” and “the Kia EV6, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Nissan Ariya are also stacking up.” Even “the once-hot Ford Mustang Mach-E now has a 117-day supply.”
Axios is blaming the high price of EVs for the lack of sales, but that doesn’t explain why Tesla and BYD continue to sell electric cars. Could be there’s another factor.
We have recently written:
- That EVs are evil (they’re “responsible for raping the planet, poisoning entire communities, enriching genocidal tyrants, and creating a massive hazmat problem while doing nothing to stop “climate change”).
- That EVs are the Yugo of the 21st century (“a minor accident can cause a total loss, even if the car’s been driven only a few miles,” because “the cost of repair is exorbitant”).
- And that they deserve scorn from those who don’t own them (because “the policy geniuses in Washington” want to impose a per-mile tax on all driving since EVs don’t generate fuel tax revenues that fund road repair and new construction – when they’re not being diverted to public transit and other destinations that have nothing to do with automobile travel).
But we haven’t said nearly enough about how they’ve been the perfect product for virtue signalers. EVs are rolling megaphones for the upper-middle class and upper-class white Democrats and progressives who want to scream “look at me, I’m saving the planet.” We’ve seen no research on the matter, but we’d bet that there’s an enormous crossover between homes with EVs in the garage and “In This House We Believe …” signs in the yard.
Guardian columnist John Naughton recently wrote about EV buyers “basking in the warm glow that comes from doing one’s bit to save the planet,” and the “smug feeling” one gets when one doesn’t produce the same emissions as a “hideous diesel SUV.”
He was being a bit sarcastic, as the column is primarily focused on the dirty reality of EVs, an important point we have covered, as well. As an EV owner himself, though, he gets the virtue signaling exactly right.
The tone for this enduring fad – we call it that since it reminds us of teen behavior – was set at the Academy Awards in the early 2000s when celebrities, including actor and self-appointed climate scientist Leonardo DiCaprio, would pull up to the red carpet in Toyota Prius hybrids. Hey, if Leo and George Clooney were driving green cars, then it’s time for the all the right people to join them in contributing to the “cloud of smug.”
We acknowledge that not every EV owner is a peacock who made their purchase so they could showcase their environmental bona fides to the rubes who still drive the automobiles that burn fossil fuels. Some like the feel of EVs over that of conventional cars. Others are drawn by the technology and infotainment systems.
But we’re convinced that the bulk of EV owners buy them for the glory they think they’re covering themselves with. If that’s not the case, then there’s a lot of ignorance out there, because as guardians of the green, EVs are a failure.
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