Trudeau’s battery obsession hits new low

– The Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) found that it will take 20 years for the federal government to see a return on its $28.2 billion investment in EV battery-makers Stellantis and Volkswagen.
– The government’s original estimate was that the “full economic impact of the project will be equal to the value of government investment in less than five years.”
– The PBO’s analysis excluded “public debt charges that would be incurred to finance the production subsidies” and simply accepted estimates of production capability by Stellantis and Volkswagen.
– The Trudeau government’s EV crusade is textbook bad public policy where the government attempts to pick winners and losers in the economy, in this case dependent on fanciful scenarios of future developments in global markets far outside Canada’s control.
– The crusade is also out of step with developments in the largest likely market for Canadian EVs and EV products — the United States, where car buyers are increasingly rejecting EVs despite heavy subsidies and massive government spending initiatives to promote EV manufacturing.
– Governments in North America have been trying to push EVs over internal combustion vehicles for 30 years now, and it has not worked. EVs have consistently failed to compete with combustion vehicles on performance and cost, and failed to win broad consumer support despite oceans of government subsidies for manufacturers and buyers alike.
– It’s long past time for the government to take off its rose-coloured glasses on the EV transition. There are better uses for the government’s time and money. Getting people’s food and housing costs down, for example, might be a good place to start.

Link to the original story: https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/green-trudeaus-super-charged-battery-foolishness-reaches-new-heights-2