Perils of a Command Economy: EV tires

Post #1038

When nations drift away from capitalism, like China, they discover that they can no longer pay the bills. This leads them to attempt to form commands with regard to the economy: a command economy. COVID masks and drugs are an example of this behavior — as mask purchases were mandated, along with COVID shots.

In both cases, masks and shots, China made tons of money which it would not have been able to make on its own (due to a lack of innovation). Because of not having economic freedom, innovation is harmed, and money-making becomes more of a process of a mob “shake-down” than mutual agreements to mutual benefit.

Another way to make tons of money would be to force people to buy electric vehicles (EV’s). Again, China would be the biggest winner under an EV mandate, due to being the world’s largest supplier for the batteries required. But while EV’s are advertised as having zero emissions, that is really a lie.**

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**EV’s can end up emitting less carbon dioxide, but only after they have substituted for a gas-powered car for approximately 3.5 years (because they cost so much up-front). In other words, it takes more carbon dioxide to get a new EV onto the road to begin with than it does to get a new gas-powered car onto the road.

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But by the time you’ve reached your 3.5 year threshold of having that smaller cumulative carbon footprint, then you will have noticed something: Your car tires will have worn out. Due to being heavier and having more torque, EV’s burn through rubber tires. But this creates a new and even-worse type of emission: tire wear particles:

The caption below this graph shows that the emissions from prematurely-worn-out tires are 400 times worse than the tailpipe emissions from gas-powered cars.

To say that in plain, slightly-abrasive, language:

In order to make tons of money by forcing people to buy EV’s, the green cronies of anti-capitalist governments are making emissions 400 times worse than they were.

Tire particulates, which are released into the atmosphere as tires wear out, are not healthy. Here is the overall composition of tires:

Of particular worry is an added tire-preserving chemical called 6PPD which converts into 6PPD-quinone in the environment — a toxic compound which has led to the die-off of fish populations such as salmon, while total microplastics from tires are responsible for more than 5% of ocean pollution.

While the dangers of carbon dioxide emissions are theoretical (and not yet empirically verified via a super-warmed greenhouse gas layer), the dangers of tire wear particles are concrete and directly-observable. The toxic effect on humans is still being studied, but things which kill fish should be suspected of being harmful to humans.

While tires are supposed to last you for 30,000 - 40,000 miles, people who buy EV’s end up replacing tires every 15,000 - 20,000 miles (and some only get 7,000 miles). Not only do EV’s double the amount of tires that you will have to buy, but the EV tires themselves are 50% more expensive than regular tires.

Why pay 20% more for a car whose tires wear out twice as fast and cost 50% more?

The answer is: because my government told me that I’d be saving the earth.

But when tires wear out twice as fast, then twice the tire wear particulates are entering the atmosphere. So, not only are they 20% more expensive up front, and cost you 50% more in tire replacements, but they are actually worse for the environment!

Think twice before you buy an ocean-polluting, salmon-killing EV.

Reference

[EV’s are worse for the environment than gas-powered cars] — https://nypost.com/2024/03/05/business/evs-release-more-toxic-emissions-are-worse-for-the-environment-study/

[EV tires wear out very fast, and cost 50% more to replace] — https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/my-electric-car-heavy-had-change-tyres-after-7500-miles/

[consumer satisfication is higher for gas-powered cars than for EV’s] — https://www.automotivedive.com/news/jd-power-tire-satisfaction-survey-electric-vehicles/711590/

[tire replacements for EV’s can be as often as every 7,000 miles] — https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/climate-change/article284533695.html

[tires are supposed to last you at least 30,000 miles] — https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a15339994/how-long-should-a-new-set-of-tires-last/

[EV tires don’t even last for an average of 15,000 miles] — https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/07/electric-vehicles-tires-wearing-out-particulates/674750/

[EV tire wear particles are a signficant source of emitted pollution] — https://www.popsci.com/environment/problem-evs-tires/

[In China, 6PPD has already been found in human urine] — https://e360.yale.edu/features/tire-pollution-toxic-chemicals

[It can take 3.5 years before EV’s begin to lower the cumulative carbon footprint] — https://www.industryweek.com/technology-and-iiot/article/22026518/lithium-batteries-dirty-secret-manufacturing-them-leaves-massive-carbon-footprint