Manchin opposes electric vehicles because he doesn't want to be "standing in line for a battery"

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Kevin M. Kruse @KevinMKruse 3h
I was pretty confident that most homes in West Virginia had access to electricity.

Is ... is that not right?

____Manchin also skewered his fellow Democrats' idea to spend billions to deploy EV charging stations across the country. Last year, while Congress was refining the infrastructure bill, nearly 30 House Democrats proposed increasing the bill's $7.5 billion expenditure for EV charging infrastructure to $85 billion. In addition to charging stations, the $85 billion would have been used to build more grid resilience in preparation for an electrified transportation sector.

Manchin said during the conference he has "a hard time understanding" the use of government money for charging stations.

"I've read history, and I remember Henry Ford inventing the Model-T, but I sure as hell don't remember the US government building filling stations – the market did that," he said. The crowd erupted with applause.

https://www.spglobal.com/commodity-insights/en/market-insights/latest-news/energy-transition/031122-ceraweek-citing-concerns-over-china-manchin-sours-on-ev-deployment

Link to tweet

[Ohio Joe]

1. What a stupid, stupid man - nt

[jcgoldie]

29. he's not stupid...

He's well paid and of questionable conscience.

[dchill]

2. Joe Manchin is VERY wealthy...

...and would NEVER have to stand in line for ANYTHING.

And I'm pretty sure all electric cars come with a battery.

[Miguelito Loveless]

14. Maybe the WV model

has "Batteries not included" in small type somewhere.

[dchill]

15. Coal-fired batteries!

[uponit7771]

3. He's trying to be ignorant, it's hard work ... but no one is this naturally stupid

[Phoenix61]

4. I couldn't detest him more. Nt

[jalan48]

5. Why is this fuck wad Chairman of the Senate Energy Committee?

[bucolic_frolic]

6. Plenty of US companies working on producing batteries

Not just Tesla. Mullen. Lucid. GM for sure.

[Mr. Ected]

7. In 1974, he would have been SITTING in line for gas, not standing

If this isn't an apples to oranges comparison, and a bad one at that, I don't know what is.

Perhaps he's taken a cue from his Republican comrades that it is easier to utter nonsense to explain your actions than to tackle it with the truth.

[dweller]

8. Can we seize

this jackass’s yacht yet ?
🤨



✌🏻

[zuul]

9. JFC, don't buy an EV if you're too stupid to understand how batteries work.

[Journeyman]

10. These horseless carriages. I don't like 'em. Who wants to crank a car each morning . . .

just to get it going. Slap a saddle on Ol' Bessie and we're off for the day. That's the way it should be. Then you're not dependent on an "internal combustion something," ya know, something you don't understand.

[CentralMass]

12. It helps him strength his right hand/armfor his meetings with the oligarchs.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

11. I read the article, not the Twitter. I m not outraged at all...but that just me...carry on.

While offering measured support for the US energy transition, US Senator Joe Manchin said March 11 he was reluctant to support the proliferation of electric vehicles due to their overreliance on foreign supply chains.

China's dominance of mineral mining and refining is thanks to years of investments and policy that has catapulted the country to become a world leader in less than 10 years. While the US has been slower to build out its EV supply chain, the Biden administration's Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act includes $7.5 billion to develop domestic supplies of key minerals. On March 9, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm described the matter as a national security concern.

…….

Manchin has a debatable point about private business versus government electric filling stations.

……

While the EV supply chain may be out of US control, that of hydrogen is not, which is one reason behind Manchin's support of the clean fuel.

"I'm a big believer in hydrogen, because I don't have to depend on a foreign supply chain to produce the horsepower we need to a carbon-free society as we move to transition," he said.

……….

A country that has 10 year plans and policy, in this case, precious metal mining and refining…. America has a budget crisis every 6 months, and the only long term federal policy is funding the military without debate.

[Miguelito Loveless]

18. Hydrogen is a boondoggle

and will NOT result in a carbon free society since 95% of it comes from methane. Even if you get H2 from green sources, it is still massively inefficient compared to simply using the electricity to charge an EV battery. It takes 55kWh to make a single kg of H2, which will propel an HFCEV less than 50 miles, whereas that same 55kWh used to charge an EV will propel it around 200 miles (based on 3.5 to 4 miles per kWh).

Hard to find any supply chain that doesn't start in foreign parts, since the whole point of exploiting other country's natural resources is to not have to clean up after ourselves.

Electricity generated by solar/wind/hydro is "clean" energy, oil/gas/coal is not. This power can be produced domestically.

All the charging networks are privately owned to my knowledge, so I don't know what his "debatable" point is. The money being offered on infrastructure is to help foster a build out by private companies, probably electric utilities who are best situated to build them.

The next generation of batteries are probably going to be lithium iron phosphate (no nickel or cobalt) and/or sodium-ion (no lithium, nickel, or cobalt, both capable of manufacture in the US.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

22. Yeah, during the Bush administration when I saw the gas companies all exited to have us...

… going to them for Hydrogen from their pumps I figured it would be a way to keep us sucking on their teet.


I don’t think people realize how freeing it is to not have to constantly stop for gas. Especially in a cold climate like Chicago.

[Miguelito Loveless]

26. I've been driving EVs since 2014

and I charge at home every night.

That said, we need infrastructure to help out apartment dwellers and other folks who cannot charge at home, so if we can get L2 chargers at grocery stores, restaurants, libraries, parks, etc, and quick chargers elsewhere, that can make a huge difference. Trouble is we have people like Manchin cluelessly, or deliberately screwing up the transition.

[keithhs28]

13. Guess he's never...

...going to catch up with the rest of the world. He's so early 20th century.

[Carlitos Brigante]

16. He's just an asshole, pretending to be a moron. Which is even worse. nt

[Caliman73]

17. Manchin is a disingenuous idiot...his detractors' arguments however, are dumb.

There is a shortage of batteries and chips, which could hamper the development of affordable electric vehicles. Expanding a product line that is dependent on foreign parts is also, not smart. That said, you respond to that NOT by scrapping the plan, but by scaling up domestic production of the batteries and parts.

Manchin is going to find EVERY excuse not to pull away from coal, because that is what made him rich, and those are the people who fund his campaign. We need to argue against him better.

So what if houses in West Virginia have electricity. If you have a battery that expires in 5 to 10 years and then have to wait for supplies from china, then that poses a problem. Similarly, sure, you can plug the car into your electricity at home, but without a battery, you are going to have to have an extremely long cord to get around. If you do not have the chips needed to build the fast chargers that will be needed on the road, then you sure as hell are going to be waiting in long lines while cars take hours to charge.

We can address every one of Manchin's objections. The problem is that he doesn't want to. He doesn't care about the solutions because he gets his money from coal.

Notice how BP, Exxon-Moil, Shell, etc... are screaming about fossil fuels while quietly building up their market share on renewables. Once they have sufficient control over renewables, they will start pushing it.

[mucifer]

19. he's an evil efwad and I hate him

[LiberalFighter]

20. Manchin needs to be treated for dementia.

[UTUSN]

21. 2fer: Does he realize MUSK would DONATE *big* to somebody who supported him? And

is his "reluctance" like Susan COLLINS's "concern"?

[Midnight Writer]

23. If he remembers "standing in line for gas", then he should know that can happen again at any time.

You don't prevent another disaster by doing the same thing that caused a disaster the first time.

[Baked Potato]

24. His material is really getting old. Nt

[Initech]

25. Tell me you don't know how electric vehicles work...

Without telling me you don't know how electric vehicles work.

[Blue Owl]

27. Did he get that talking point from Dump?

Because it sounds just *that* stupid...

[Celerity]

30. +10000000000000000

[2 Meow Momma]

28. He's really stretching with this effort to seem independent from Dems. nt

[gldstwmn]

31. The coal man doesn't want electric cars?

Is there anything this contrary freak is for besides money in his pocket?