2023 set another record for EV sales in the United States. About 1.2 million vehicles, or 7.6% of all sales, were electric according to Kelley Blue Book.
7.6% of all sales is a higher percentage than I would have guessed.
But but I thought electric vehicles would’ve destroyed the grid. Don’t tell me republicans are lying again.
How is this possible? One word — efficiency. Our electric appliances have gotten so much more efficient.
The magic of efficiency could and hopefully will continue this 20-year miracle of keeping electricity consumption flat even while we add lots of new loads, as there is so much more low hanging fruit to be picked. LEDs still need to finish their market domination, and heat pumps are only just getting started and will save oodles of energy for space and water heating and even clothes drying. Building codes are continuously improving, as are appliance standards, meaning our homes and buildings and everything that uses energy in them, are constantly becoming more efficient (with no compromise in performance).
This all adds up. With the 1% that electricity production declined in 2023, we could have added something like another 10 million EVs to the grid last year and our overall electricity use would still have remained the same.
Every step of this has been a fight against more conservative elements. I somewhat understand the LED light battles, since early versions were expensive and poor quality, but even things like increased efficiency standards and “EnergyStar” have always been a battle. Why wouldn’t you choose the appliance that works just like the old one but a little more efficiently? More importantly, why would you get upset that someone else chooses that?
Ted Cruz lashed out at Xbox for adding a power saving mode option.
I think the biggest gripe with appliances are that they don’t last like they used to and it costs about the same to replace as to repair often times, not that they are more efficient.
Which is why conservatives are fighting for right to repair and regulation against planned obsolescence, right? Right?
