Staff Reports
The Biden-Harris administration has really outdone itself this time, tossing another $521 million at the never-ending quest to build electric vehicle charging stations, which, by the way, were supposed to be popping up like dandelions in a spring lawn. So far, the administration’s ambitious venture into charging infrastructure has resulted in a staggering total of eight charging stations. Yes, you read that right. After spending a cool $7.5 billion, the number stands at a grand total of eight — or as the administration might say, eight down and 499,992 to go! If they keep this pace, Americans can expect a complete network of charging stations by the year 144,881, assuming the Earth is still functional and there’s even electricity to charge those EVs.
For the skeptics out there, the funds were divided up like leftover pizza from a party: $5 billion came from a program under the Inflation Reduction Act, and the remaining $2.5 billion was tucked away as discretionary grants from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. These laws have names so misleading they could easily be mistaken for a bargain-bin self-help book. If these programs were produced in the private sector, lawyers everywhere would be dancing in the streets, giddy with the chance for lawsuits.
Biden-Harris Throws Even More $$$ at This Problem They Made Up – PJ Media #ClimateScam https://t.co/PorHASNiTj
— Terri 🏴 (@River_City) August 28, 2024
A quick review of history shows that two rounds of funding totaling roughly $1 billion were dispersed in 2022 and 2023 – resulting in, wait for it—eight charging stations. It seems that with taxpayer money flowing like wine at a Democrat fundraiser, the logical conclusion is to just do it again. After all, the solution to budgetary mismanagement is always to shovel even more currency into the abyss, amassing debt that will need to be repaid — inevitably— by working-class Americans.
The administration has confidently proclaimed that there are now over 192,000 publicly available charging ports in the U.S., with an astounding 1,000 new public chargers supposedly added each week. However, it’s essential to clarify that these ports aren’t standalone stations but more akin to individual pumps at a gas station— but with extra virtue signaling. Thanks to some mathematical wizardry, with an average of around ten ports per station, it could be argued that there are almost 20,000 actual EV stations. This is all occurring without the help of the Biden-Harris IRA funds, leaving one to wonder why government oversight is necessary in an area that companies like Tesla are fully capable of managing without oversight or subsidy.
Interestingly, despite the government’s flood of supposed incentives, private companies seem unphased, chugging along like an independent train on a freight track, merrily constructing EV charging stations at their expense. It turns out that the strings attached to federal funding — specifically, mandates to build charging stations every 50 miles on interstates — complicate the whole operation. Most of the excessive funding is sitting dormant, unclaimed, while urban areas boast a healthy amount of chargers, demonstrating that true market demand drives infrastructure far better than federal dictates.
Republicans in Congress have tried to get rid of this EV funding slush fund, but the Biden administration continues to stubbornly cling to these programs. Until more fiscally responsible leaders are ushered into office, taxpayers can only hope to see their hard-earned dollars stop being flushed down this electric fantasy. Until then, it’s time to buckle up and enjoy the ride— or at least charge up— because this EV adventure is just getting started.
