Should Consumers Have The Right To Pick Best Vehicles For Them?: Mike Braun Grills Officials On EVs

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During a Senate Budget Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) questioned witnesses about the cost of electric vehicles.

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Transcript

00:00Senator Braun. Thank you Mr. Chairman. The average cost of an electric vehicle is

00:07over $17,000 more than the average price of a gas-powered vehicle. So we're doing

00:16a lot that is force-feeding something in that's very expensive. We got other

00:22issues with it. It's in the context of here we're borrowing now a couple

00:27trillion dollars a year where it was just a trillion dollars six months ago

00:31and everything we do new it's a hundred percent borrowed. I think what I'm

00:37wondering and I'd like to ask Dr. Jenkins, Ms. Gross, and Ms. Hinman, given

00:44this context, do the three of you believe that consumers should have the

00:50right to choose the type of vehicle that best fits their own needs? Economic

00:56circumstances? Or do you think we ought to be orchestrating this from here when

01:03we've never even figured out how to spend less than we take in and we're

01:07currently borrowing from these very same consumers and others around the world to

01:13the tune of two trillion dollars a year currently? Senator, I would say that

01:20consumers do have the option to choose the vehicles that best suit them. We have

01:23a wide variety of offerings on the market today and no requirement that

01:27anyone anywhere purchases an electric vehicle. The prices are increasingly

01:30affordable as well so this is a moving target. Cost of batteries which are the

01:34largest component of an electric vehicle have fallen by about 50% over the last

01:39three years and are expected to continue to decline going forward and so that

01:42cost premium you said at $17,000. I looked right now in the compact SUVs

01:47category like a you know Mustang Mach-E or Tesla Model Y, the gaps about

01:51$10,000 up front and again the the cost of ownership is quite low so the total

01:56cost of ownership is already about a parity. Do you know the current federal

02:01subsidy that goes into electric vehicles what the amount is per vehicle? It's up

02:05to $7,500 for the consumer. Do you know what that is in total that we're

02:10currently doing? I believe I just read it was about a hundred and twenty five

02:13billion. Would you agree that all of that's being borrowed to push that

02:20on to consumers? Well CBO's estimate was that the Inflation Reduction Act was

02:25more than paid for so I'm not sure I agree with that. I'd say that's a fake

02:28pay for but thank you for your opinion. Okay we'll go to Miss Gross and Miss

02:32Hinman. Senator thank you for that question. I'll just add without commenting

02:38too much on the policy I'll just add that consumers are choosing these

02:41vehicles. Senator Merkley talked about the energy wallet the fact that you can

02:46feel it in your pocketbook when you don't have to go the gas station and the

02:49cost of electricity is so much less when you're charging an electric vehicle. I'll

02:53also say that truck drivers data out there shows that truck drivers actually

02:57like driving electric vehicles because you don't experience that fatigue that

03:00you have with the rumble in the in the war of a combustion engine vehicle. So

03:05this issue of fatigue is also a safety issue so we're starting to see you know

03:08there is there are reasons to to want to drive an electric vehicle based on data

03:13that's out there that are really extremely compelling for automakers and

03:19manufacturers. Miss Hinman. Thank you so much Senator. I think it's an it's a

03:25little bit of an uncomfortable conversation to have about the fact that

03:29we've got a very large predatory market who is influencing prices up and down

03:34the value chain in ways that US that Americans just can't simply compete with

03:38and to me the sense of sort of how much we're spending is really hard to sort of

03:43square against the massive amount of spend and predatory nature that occurs

03:48from the Chinese Communist Party. You know in a perfect world we this would be

03:53a pure you know a global market right and we wouldn't we wouldn't feel the

03:57need to have to subsidize in the way that we do. I do think there's scope for

04:01new tools especially trade policy tools and environmental policy tools of the

04:05border but certainly you know I think some of these distortions we have to

04:09kind of appreciate its source which is not coming from Americans but it's

04:12coming from an adversary overseas. Thank you and I got one more question but I'd

04:17like to also tell you that it was about nine months ago and I was holding up a

04:23letter from 4,000 dealers that said please don't send us any more EVs and

04:31I'm for the cleanest least expensive and like the idea that it's out there as a

04:36choice but 4,000 dealers said they are choking on them it's even hurt their

04:42own enterprises to have to tie it up because they're not moving at the speed

04:47at which the government would like to see it even when they're offering 7,500

04:53bucks a pop. Got one more question and I'd like a yes or no answer on the part

04:59of all of you. I'm for whatever is going to be the cleanest least expensive fuel

05:05in the long run and even how that impacts electric generation,

05:09transportation, the whole gamut. There's been a very robust discussion in the

05:14Senate Climate Caucus on that which I was part of that we still have great

05:20conversations but a lot of it says that so much of this is going to be due to

05:26technological breakthroughs in the future and as much as we'd like to see

05:30those results in the present we either can't afford it just doesn't make sense

05:34to do it. Now as it relates to electric vehicles to all witnesses does the U.S.

05:41currently have the grid capacity to sustain a growing domestic vehicle fleet

05:48that is being mandated on consumers by policies from the Biden administration

05:54in respecting time just give me a yes or no. Dr. Jenkins. We can expand the

06:01grid at a pace that's sufficient to accommodate all of those EVs as we have

06:04in the past this is not an unprecedented challenge it's one that

06:07American utilities can easily meet. With planning and investment the pace can be

06:12met and grid could be ready. Yes. We can meet we can meet the demands today and

06:19we need to plan for the future absolutely. Yes if you start today and

06:24anticipate where the EV demand will be ten years now you can get there. Thank

06:28you so much. Mr. Chairman can I correct the record on one of the statements I

06:31just made the the total tax outlays this year according to Treasury are 1

06:34billion dollars for the EV subsidies to date that's so that's through the first

06:38half of this year that I think I've misspoke by several orders of magnitude

06:42so I apologize about that.

Should Consumers Have The Right To Pick Best Vehicles For Them?: Mike Braun Grills Officials On EVs

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