The False Promises of Electric Vehicles Are Being Exposed

Written by Dr Tilak Doshi on August 5, 2025. Posted in Current News

Shipping giant Matson declared last week that it would no longer transport electric vehicles (EVs) or plug-in hybrids on its vessels, citing the fire risks posed by lithium-ion batteries

This decision, effective immediately, followed the catastrophic sinking of the carrier Morning Midas earlier in June.

The blaze, which aerial imagery showed billowing from the ship’s stern, underscored the perilous nature of lithium-ion battery fires — intense, almost impossible to extinguish, and prone to reignition.

Lithium-ion battery fires, as seen in incidents like the Morning Midas, Felicity Ace (2022), and Fremantle Highway (2023), are a unique hazard.

These fires, driven by thermal runaway — a rapid, self-heating reaction — burn hotter than conventional fires, produce toxic gases and can reignite days or weeks later. In response, some German cities have banned EVs from underground parking due to fire risks, and a Norwegian ferry operator has prohibited them outright.

Matson’s move is a stark symbol of a broader reckoning: the electric vehicle revolution, once heralded as the inevitable future of mobility, has come full circle. Like a Rorschach test, the EV experience has exposed its hollow promises, revealing a deeper pathology in Western society’s obsession with ‘green’ ideals.

The False Promises of EVs

Just a few years ago, the narrative was unambiguous. EVs were heralded as the vanguard of a clean, renewable future, poised to banish the polluting tailpipes of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to the ash heap of history.

Every major automaker — from General Motors to Volkswagen — proclaimed ambitious plans to pivot entirely to electric fleets by the 2030s. General Motors, a leading force in the automotive industry, had “committed fully to an all-electric future”, EV Magazine claimed as recently as August of last year.

By June of this year, however, Politico reported that “General Motors quietly closed the door this week on a goal to make only electric vehicles by 2035”.

The shine was coming off the EV narrative even before the onset of President Trump’s energy counter-revolution this year with his ‘energy dominance’ and ‘drill, baby, drill’ agendas to end the Obama and Biden mandates and subsidies for favoured ‘green’ industries including EVs.

Sweeping tax and budget legislation approved by Congress in the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ will end the $7,500 tax credit for buying or leasing new electric vehicles and the $4,000 used EV credit on September 30th.

In March 2024, CNBC published a widely cited article entitled ‘EV euphoria is dead. Automakers are scaling back or delaying their electric vehicle plans’. The outlet’s automotive industry reporter Michael Wayland wrote:

For years, the automotive industry has been in a state of EV euphoria. Automakers trotted out optimistic sales forecasts for electric models and announced ambitious targets for EV growth.

Now the hype is dwindling, and companies are again cheering consumer choice. Automakers from Ford Motor and General Motors to Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin are scaling back or delaying their electric vehicle plans.

Governments, particularly in the West, fuelled the EV frenzy with hefty subsidies, tax credits and mandates, while environmental activists hailed EVs as the moral choice to ‘save the planet’.

To many, the allure was seductive: silent, smooth-riding vehicles that emit no tailpipe pollution with the promise of lower running costs. They offered affluent Gaia worshippers a ‘guilt-free’ driving experience.

Yet, as Matson’s decision signals, the EV dream has collided with harsh realities — economic, environmental and practical — that no amount of propaganda or subsidies can obscure.

The EV narrative is built on a foundation of optimistic assumptions which have crumbled under scrutiny.

Take the ‘range anxiety‘ that afflicts many potential EV customers. Despite advances in battery technology, EVs still struggle to match the convenience and reliability of ICE vehicles for long-distance travel.

The time required to charge — often 30 minutes to several hours, depending on the charger — compares unfavourably to the five-minute refuelling of a car run on gasoline or diesel.

In most countries, charging infrastructure, while expanding, remains unevenly distributed, with rural areas and even some urban centres woefully underserved. Planning a long distance journey in an EV often feels like a logistical puzzle, requiring meticulous mapping of charging stations and contingency plans for delays or outages.

This inconvenience has not gone unnoticed by consumers, who increasingly view EVs as a hassle rather than a liberation.

Every now and then, news of battery technology ‘breakthroughs’ gets reported with hopes of EV nirvana around the corner. For example, a story in CarNewsChina published last month reported that “Huawei has stepped up its ambitions in advanced energy storage with a patent for a sulphide-based solid-state battery that offers driving ranges of up to 3,000 kilometres and ultra-fast charging in just five minutes”.

Amateur scientist Willis Eschenbach and expert debunker of magical thinking in energy physics reacted to this story in his inimitable way:

“But, as usual, reality is hiding out in the fine print, ducking the spotlight while the PR machine does its victory lap. Nobody wants to talk about physics. Nobody asks how, exactly, you’re supposed to pour Niagara Falls through a garden hose.”

He was referring to the impossible physics underlying the claims of “ultra-fast charging” by Huawei.

The economic case for EVs has also faltered. Proponents claimed EVs would be cheaper to own and operate, but the reality tells a different story.

Higher upfront costs of EVs relative to ICE vehicles, typically 30-40 percent higher, were only partially bridged by subsidies such as the generous $7,500 federal tax credit in the US under the Obama and Biden administrations which, as already noted, are slated to end shortly.

EVs depreciate more rapidly than conventional vehicles, with some models losing up to 50% of their value within the first two years. Battery replacement costs can reach $30,000, further diminishing resale value.

Insurance costs are reported by some to be exorbitantly more expensive. In the UK as elsewhere, the second-hand market for EVs has collapsed, with resale values plummeting as consumers shy away from used batteries with uncertain lifespans and as car companies keep discounting prices on newer models as sales start to slow.

Car rental companies like Hertz have suffered massive losses after investing heavily in EV fleets, only to find them depreciating rapidly and sitting idle due to lack of demand.

The latest data on global EV sales present a mixed picture. Year-to-date January to May 2025 global EV sales grew by 28 percent over the same period last year. This might suggest that overall, despite the many news headlines about struggling car manufacturers faced with slowing sales figures, the EV transition to electric mobility is still robust.

Yet, a quick glance at the data by regional breakdowns shows that the EV story is overwhelmingly a China-focused one.

Europe bought 1.6 million more cars in 2025 so far relative to the same period last year, or 27 percent more. North Americans bought only 0.7 million more, or three percent.

The ‘rest of the world’ bought 0.6 million more EV units or 36 percent. China alone accounted for 4.4 million new EV units, logging a growth of 33 percent.

To call what is essentially a China-dominated story a global EV success story is a sleight of hand.

Given the opacity of China-related news, it is not clear what to make of reports about vast ‘graveyards’ of unsold EVs in various cities. A Bloomberg article in 2023 reported that “a subsidy-fuelled boom helped build China into an electric-car giant but left weed-infested lots across the nation brimming with unwanted battery-powered cars”.

A report published on Friday warned that “the Chinese auto industry is a bubble about to burst after years of artificially inflated sales and brutal price wars. The scheme involves registering new vehicles in China and then selling them abroad as used vehicles despite being essentially ‘zero-mileage’ cars. This allows carmakers to report high sales numbers even though the market is on the brink of collapse.”

Indeed, inflating EV sales figures is not restricted to China. Geoff from Geoff Buys Cars reveals how EV sales numbers are artificially inflated in the UK. Thomas Shepstone of the Energy Security and Freedom Substack explains it as follows:

Historically, some dealers have registered vehicles to themselves or their dealership to meet sales targets set by manufacturers, qualify for bonuses or clear inventory. This can temporarily inflate reported sales figures, but these vehicles often end up as demo models, loaners or used inventory, not actual consumer sales.

For EVs, the high cost (average transaction price of $56,351 in Q3 2024) and uneven consumer demand could incentivise such behaviour, especially for brands struggling to move EV stock.

As pointed out by David Blackmon is his widely read Energy Transition Absurdities Substack, the other striking take-away from the graph is the much lower sales this year overall from the peak in December 2024.

Blackmon states: “What this chart starkly reveals is that the global EV industry has suffered a dramatic drop in sales this year, from almost two million in December 2024 to a bit less than 1.6 million in May 2025. That’s a collapse of 20% in sales in just 150 days or so.”

It might be argued that comparing December to May sales figures may be misleading and that the second half of this year might surprise on the upside. Few would want to bet on this presumption.

Certainly, most of the auto manufactures who have the most to lose (or gain) financially, as we have seen, are scaling back.

Dirty Secrets of ‘Clean’ EVs

The environmental argument, the cornerstone of the EV push, is equally shaky. Advocates claimed EVs would slash CO₂ emissions, but lifecycle analyses reveal a more complex picture.

Manufacturing EV batteries requires energy-intensive mining and processing of rare earths and minerals like lithium, cobalt and nickel. In countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, cobalt mining by informal enterprise has led to environmental devastation and harsh employment practices including child labour.

The ‘carbon’ footprint of producing an EV far exceeds that of an ICE vehicle, meaning drivers must log tens of thousands of miles before an EV becomes ‘greener’ – and that’s assuming the electricity grid is powered by ‘renewables’ rather than natural gas and coal.

In many regions, it isn’t. The International Energy Agency notes that over 60 percent of EVs sold in Mexico in 2023 and 2024 came from China, where coal-heavy grids undermine the ‘clean’ narrative.

While EVs eliminate tailpipe emissions, their heavier weight and faster acceleration increase particulate emissions from tire wear. Studies suggest that tire emissions can significantly exceed tailpipe emissions, contradicting claims of overall environmental benefits from EV adoption.

The smallest tire particles, measured in nanometres, can enter lungs and spread into organs. Various tire components have been linked to chronic conditions including respiratory problems, kidney damage, neurological damage, and birth defects — a particular concern in low-income neighbourhoods adjacent to highways.

There are indirect costs of electric vehicles as well that, while not included in the cost an individual owner pays, are borne by the country. The most significant of these is the additional wear on infrastructure from EVs.

Heavier vehicles on roads have negative consequences, and EVs are far heavier than their conventional vehicle counterparts. Heavier vehicles cause more damage to roads and bridges.

Heavy EVs also pose a threat of parking structure collapse in older or less maintained carparks.

This is taken from a long document. Read the rest here dailysceptic.org

Header image: Zap Map

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