Be sure to Click LIKE at the bottom of this commentary, and share it everywhere!! By Craig Andresen – The National Patriot – Commentary

Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency announced the new regulations for semi trucks last week and officials say they represent the strongest-ever greenhouse gas emissions standards of their kind. The new rules will kick in beginning in 2026 for model year 2027 vehicles and progressively become more stringent through model year 2032, forcing a larger number of trucks and buses to be zero-emissions in that time frame.

It’s yet another deep bow to the liberal religion of “climate change” as the insane idea is to make long-haul semis carbon zero by 2032 by mandate, but just like the nonsense behind mandating electric cars, there are problems…BIG problems.

Let’s start with the obvious, the cost of the damned things. We’re talking between $250,000 and $500,000 per truck, and most independent truckers simply can’t afford that sort of hit. The most inexpensive electric semis right now are Tesla semis, at around $250,000 each. But there’s a problem with the Tesla trucks, and for that matter, all electric semis…their range.

The Tesla semi has a range of roughly 500 miles on a full charge, and that’s under optimal conditions which don’t exist anywhere. Cold or freezing weather in most of the country during the winter months, and hot conditions during summer months require extra battery usage, and/or cause the range to shorten maybe by as much as half depending on the situation. A diesel semi, depending on a few factors can get from between 900 and 2,000 miles on full tanks.

That means that at best, under optimal conditions, the driver of an electric semi will have to stop to recharge between twice to four times as often as a diesel driver…4-8 times more often in freezing winter or hot summer driving conditions.

That brings up yet another BIG problem…where are they going to find a place to recharge?

Remember, these new standards are set to begin in less than two years, and we’re supposed to have carbon zero long-haul trucking in less than eight years, but right now, nearly ALL charging stations are found in urban settings and parking lots like at Wal-Mart or a local mall. Others are at gas stations where there are but a small handful of chargers meant for cars.

As it can take at least an hour to fully charge a low semi battery, and because a single semi at the Wal-Mart chargers would require no cars at those chargers due to the lack of available space…where exactly does the Biden regime and the religion of “climate change” think all of these electric semis are going to park for a recharge?

Lewie Pugh, Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) board member, says “There was a company in Juliet, Illinois, that was going to put a terminal in for 30 trucks. The city said, ‘you can’t do it. You’re going to use more electricity than the entire city of Juliet, Illinois.'”

Here are the numbers – As of 2021, the latest available numbers show that there are more than 4 million semis in the United States. If 30 trucks charging will use more electricity than is used by a city in Illinois, do we have anywhere near the infrastructure in this country to handle 4.06 million semis and everybody else’s electric cars?

No freakin’ way.

The next BIG problem is weight.

Semis in the U.S. are restricted to a total of 80,000 pounds fully loaded, and the battery for an EV semi can weigh up to 16,000 pounds. That’s nearly a quarter of the allowable weight per fully loaded semi which means every electric semi will have to decrease their load size by 25%. That means that there will, by necessity, need to be 25% more semis on the roads to haul the same amount of goods, and our infrastructure can’t handle the 4.06 million semis as it is.

Also, the amount of weight being trucked has a net negative effect on the range of the battery, which again, by necessity will mean more recharging stops.

Here’s yet another big problem that crosses over several of the other problems I’ve already mentioned, that being refrigerated trucks.

Semis hauling goods that require refrigeration would be in big trouble under Biden’s new regulations because the same battery that powers the rig, would also have to provide power to the refrigeration unit, thus cutting into the already limited range of such trucks. That problem compounds itself when the driver is sleeping as the battery would remain on, powering the refrigeration to the trailer.

Of course, there are ways around this issue, but they’re not good. An additional battery for the refer unit is always a possibility, but that adds significant weight, thus lowering the already diminished load weight resulting in the need for even more trucks overloading power infrastructure, and the need for even more charging stations when there are already nowhere near enough as it is.

All of this leads to a couple of key factors…supply-chain slowdowns, and rising costs for consumers.

Trucking companies are going to simply eat the increased costs associated with this mandate, and a good many independent truckers will simply have to quit their jobs. Fewer trucks, and higher costs are going to force prices up for consumers, and with fewer truckers making long hauls, goods will be slower in reaching their destinations. We’ve already seen it happen during the COVID shutdowns, and that scenario, while temporary then, will become the new normal.

Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, says “Sometimes when these debates happen, I feel like it’s the early 2000s, and I’m talking to some people who think that we can just have landline phones forever.” He went on to say, “it is crucial that America stays ahead of China in the manufacturing game.”

That is a 100% false argument, as to mandate electric vehicles to appease the religion of “climate change,” we will become reliant…COMPLETELY reliant on China for the batteries that run electric cars and trucks.

Buttigieg says, “We’ve got to make sure that those are made on American soil in places like northern Indiana, where I grew up, places like Michigan, where I live right now. We’ve been working to make sure that that advantage comes back onto American soil.”

Only a fool would believe that being 100% reliant on China gives America the advantage.

Finally, let me address the elephant in the room…

There is no way to build the number of charging stations necessary, for both or either cars and long-haul trucks due to the aforementioned power grid limitations, and if we were to try and build them, we would also have to add more and more fossil fuel burning power stations to the grid. Given that reality, and the reality that the power to existing charging stations actually comes from primarily fossil fuel power generators…how is any of this green, and how does this get us to carbon zero?

It isn’t, and it doesn’t. It’s nothing but pandering to the religion of “climate change” in return for the nincompoop vote.

Someday, we will have a workable, and sustainable alternative to fossil fuels, but that day isn’t today, and we won’t find it on any calendar by 2032. In the meantime, if we want to outpace China, we need to rely on the resources WE have rather than on the resources we can only get from China so that our economy grows faster than their economy while at the same time, we are not subsidizing their economy.

Until that day comes, I have only one thing left to say…

TRUCK Joe Biden.

Copyright © 2024 Craig Andresen / thenationalpatriot.com all rights reserved

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For more political commentary please visit my RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS partner Diane Sori’s blog The Patriot Factor to read her latest article, Decency, Respect, and Common Sense Lost 

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