The Geopolitics of Electric Vehicles

Part 1 of a series on electric vehicles. Part 2: The Business of EVs.

In 2016, Americans drove more than 2 trillion miles.

Converting to an all-electric fleet would reduce the environmental impact of all those cars… but what challenges would we face, and what can we do about them?

Image courtesy of Unsplash

EVs face geopolitical challenges on three fronts: getting the resources, fighting incumbent industries, and gathering political support for climate change. But first, let’s talk about why EVs are important:

Starting with the Why

1. Switching US cars to electric would save 750 million tons of CO2 + CO2 equivalents (CO2e) per year¹ and significantly improve air quality.
2. We cannot meet the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) target of being carbon neutral by 2050 without eliminating gas as a source of emissions, as each gallon produces 20 pounds of CO2 when burned. (Carbon Capture won’t be enough)
3. Moving off gasoline eliminates the need for 91 billion gallons of gas per year. This makes the US, and each of us as individuals, no longer dependent on oil companies & foreign cartels.
4. Eliminating our reliance on oil for transportation would save US taxpayers $10 billion per year. That doesn’t include the cost of…