Each Toyota Prius engine uses 33lbs (15kg) of lanthanum and 2lbs (1kg) of neodymium. Two other rare earth elements, terbium and dysprosium, are also added to the alloy to preserve neodymium’s magnetic properties at high temperatures.
President Joe Biden’s EPA is obsessed with electric vehicles, are you? Our open today details the necessity of rare earth metals in the hybrid Prius engine. All electric vehicles, EVs, are even more demanding. Now, guess what country controls 85% of the world’s rare earth metals? Yep that would be China our newest competitor for world domination.
Trump’s EPA scaled back MPG requirements to 40 MPG by 2026. Biden’s EPA has increased the requirement to a fleet-wide 555 PMG by 2026. This is a 35% increase from the current 40 MPG standard.
I am not sure a 55 MPG requirement would be met if we all started riding 150 cc (9 cubic inches) scooters. For an auto maker, this means that by 2026 EV sales must increase from less than 3% of current total to 17%, a more than 5x jump. And lithium prices , the component of the battery, have increased 240% this year.
There are many problems the EV crowd ignores. Charging is best done at a slow rate, as in overnight. Fast charge your camera battery in 15 minutes and touch it, ouch, it’s hot, which decreases its life. And charging is far less effective in cold weather. Electric cars are more expensive than EVs. And power is not free, some plant has to generate that power. If our power grid cannot stand four inches of snow last February, how will it respond to massive demands for electricity overnight.
The $7,500 tax credit evaporates once a car maker sells 200,000 EVs. As an EV is more expensive than an internal combustion engine, where is the incentive to spend the extra cash? Given the lack of clean nuclear plants, the increase in output from natural gas and yes coal fired plants will probably result in no savings in overall emissions.
Gasoline prices have increased $1 per gallon this past year. Pipeline denials, slow go on drilling permits, and regulation overkill are the reasons. And with Team Biden begging the Saudis to increase their output of oil, our energy independence is at risk again. It is not hard to imagine China using the price of rare earth metals as its bargaining chip in the South China Sea.
This is bad policy getting worse by the week. All of us who remember 1970s gasoline lines are, well, shivering at the thought, once again.
