Green Energy runs through Red China

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DAILY ENERGY NEWS | 05/02/2023

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Go, Ted, Go.

Daily Caller (5/1/23) reports: "Ranking Member Ted Cruz of the Senate Commerce Committee and Chairman James Comer of the House Oversight Committee on April 26 demanded additional information about the activity of activist groups linked to recent efforts to ban gas stoves, according to a trio of letters obtained exclusively by the Daily Caller News Foundation. Cruz had previously contacted the four organizations — consumer advocacy nonprofit Consumer Reports, electrification nonprofit Rewiring America, conservation group Windward Fund and climate policy nonprofit Climate Imperative Foundation (CIF) — in a trio of oversight letters sent on March 15 and March 16, requesting information about whether they had consulted with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) regarding a potential gas stove ban. Comer and Cruz slammed the groups for failing to completely answer the questions that had been posed to them, in particular calling out Rewiring America for providing a 'one-paragraph' response that “reads like the ‘About Us’ section on the organization’s website.' 'Such lack of transparency with Congress and the American public is unacceptable,' the lawmakers wrote near the conclusion of each letter, setting a May 10 deadline for the groups to respond...CIF — which gave $375,000 to Consumer Reports in 2021 to study 'gas stoves and indoor air quality' according to publicly available tax documents — until February listed Wang Yi, which the group identified as the Deputy Director-General of the Institute of Policy and Management for the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as an advisor until at least February 2023, according to an archived copy of the organization’s website. Wang also serves as a member of the Chinese legislature, according to the state-sponsored Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences."

"Those seeking to undermine the United States would be hard‐pressed to find a better approach than hamstringing Americans’ ability to move critical supplies—including energy products—within the country. Thanks to the Jones Act, they don’t have to lift a finger."

– Colin Grabow,
Cato Institute

Putting aside the legality, morality, and logistic improbability of Biden's EV mandate, it is nothing more than a massive gift to Communist China.

R eal Clear Energy (5/1/23) column: "Just recently, IEA released its annual report on electric vehicles, this time celebrating that nearly one in five cars sold in 2023 is projected to be an EV. But if electric vehicles are so wonderful, why are consumers and businesses being forced to buy them? The clearest example of this came with the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new emissions standards for vehicles, released earlier this month, which require manufacturers to increase overall fuel efficiency by over 25% by 2026, effectively mandating that EV's make up two thirds of car sales. The EPA claims this will provide a total of over $1 trillion in benefits by 2055, reduce crude oil imports by 20 billion barrels, and reduce CO2 emissions by 10 billion tons. What’s not to like? Just about everything. Let’s start with the economic impacts, which will be ruinous. First, the price of EVs will increase; that’s basic economics. The new rules will require that about two-thirds of the vehicles manufacturers sell are EVs. Given that most consumers do not purchase EVs, the best way to do that is to raise prices on internal combustion (ICE) vehicles until they are more costly than EVs. (Today, the reverse is true, with the average EV costing around $65,000, while the average ICE vehicle costs around $48,000.) Increasing provides an umbrella under which EV prices can be raised, too. So, if a consumer or business wants to purchase a new vehicle, they effectively will be forced to buy a more costly EV. Second, increasing the demand for EVs will increase the demand for the materials to manufacture batteries, which are the single largest cost of an EV. Prices for rare earths, for example, have increased between 60% and 400% since 2020. Prices for lithium, the basic ingredient in most EV batteries, have increased by about 400%. Moreover, the US continues to prevent development of new mines to supply those materials. Instead, China has a stranglehold on them, and lax environmental rules to boot."

Despite Biden's mandate and every political break imaginable, Rivian, the electric truck company, has lost 93% of its value. Canary in the EV coal mine?

Yahoo (5/1/23) reports: "The relentless erosion in Rivian Automotive Inc.’s share price is revealing an ugly truth: Investors have little faith left in the ability of the Amazon.com Inc.-backed company to compete in a crowded electric-vehicle market. A market capitalization that exceeded $150 billion days after a blockbuster public trading debut in late 2021 now stands at less than $12 billion after a 93% stock wipeout, reflecting almost no value beyond the company’s cash hoard. Like other EV startups, Rivian lacks the advantages of the cost savings that come from large-scale production at a time when legacy car companies are aggressively pushing into the market and Tesla Inc.’s price cuts are pressuring rivals to follow suit. And raising capital to fund that bigger scale has become increasingly difficult as the Federal Reserve continues to tighten monetary policy. 'The market right now is not willing to assign any value to Rivian’s growth prospects,' said Ivana Delevska, chief investment officer at SPEAR Invest. With cash and equivalents of $11.6 billion and debt of $1.6 billion, the firm 'still needs to invest several billion dollars to prove out its business model,' she said."

Lordstown Motors, another electric truck company, is doing terribly... but mass adoption is right around the corner!

Reuters (5/2/23) reports: "Lordstown Motors warned on Monday it might be forced to file for bankruptcy due to uncertainty over a $170 million investment deal with its major shareholder Foxconn sending shares of the Ohio-based electric truck maker down 23%. Foxconn struck a deal in November to take a near-20% stake in the money-losing U.S. firm for up to $170 million. It has since invested $52.7 million and is balking at purchasing additional shares, citing a breach of their agreement, Lordstown said. Foxconn said in a statement that it would fulfill its obligations under the agreement and remained open to continuing talks and working together to reach a mutually acceptable outcome. The dispute is a fresh setback to the U.S. company, which has a dwindling cash balance and production challenges. The company said in February that it had made only 37 trucks for sale and recalled 19 vehicles delivered to customers or being used internally."

Energy Markets

WTI Crude Oil: ↓ $73.43
Natural Gas: ↓ $2.22
Gasoline: ↓ $3.59

Diesel: ↓ $4.11
Heating Oil: ↓ $231.75
Brent Crude Oil: ↓ $77.15
US Rig Count: ↓ 764

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