Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg put his ignorance about electric vehicles (EVs), landlines, and rural America on full display. Appearing on Fox News Channel’s America Reports on April 2nd,
“Let’s be clear consumers have wanted and purchased more EVs every single year than the year before. Tesla is facing more competition as GM and Ford and Stellantis and other competitive players make sure they get a piece of the EV market. Let’s be clear, the automotive sector is moving toward EVs and we can’t pretend otherwise. Sometimes, when these debates happen, I feel like it’s the early 2000s and I’m talking to some people who think that we can just have landline phones forever.”
Time to get this straight. Buttigieg’s figures also include hybrid cars that are seemingly everywhere these days. It’s almost impossible to find a gas-only vehicle, and if you can, many brands are bucking the V-8 and instead opting for a higher-end V-6. If you live in rural America, these high-power engines are a must-have. Especially when dealing with freezing weather, untreated roads, and frequent elevation changes in the dead of winter. All things that don’t lend themselves to an EV.
Rural Americans prefer to keep their landline instead of relying on a cell phone alone. As recent blackouts have shown us, having a cell phone as your only form of communication with others is a horrible idea, even in urban environments. Going to rural America, and that decision becomes even more dangerous. Signal can be hard enough to acquire on a good day, so when that storm hits, you need to have a reliable backup.
Unfortunately, when it comes to your vehicle, it’s harder to pay for and keep a backup on hand and ready to go for emergencies. In rural America, that backup has to be ready to go on a moment’s notice. You don’t get that with an EV. An EV can’t be jump-started off other vehicles, and you can’t run it off other things in a pinch like you can a diesel.
In essence, an EV and a mobile phone are about as useful as tits on a bull in rural America.
