It’s winter, with high temperatures well below freezing in Jackson, Wyoming, and barely above freezing in Wyoming’s capital, Cheyenne.
Relying only on battery-powered electric vehicles in a cold climate takes courage because car batteries quickly lose their charge when temperatures are low. Yet the federal government wants to spend billions to build charging stations all across the country—including in cold-weather states where electric vehicles are often impractical.
North Dakota has the fewest electric vehicle registrations in the United States: 380. It will receive $26 million for charging stations, or $68,000 per registered EV. Alaska, with $52 million, will get $40,000 per EV; and South Dakota will collect $43,000.
Those three states, like Wyoming, are cold-weather states. West Virginia, which has 1,010 EVs, will get $46 million, or $46,000 each.
But with California drivers piloting expensive Teslas and Hummers down sunny freeways, reasonable people might ask why electric charging stations for the well-off need to be provided by the taxpayer.
Some states may see more EV purchases as a result of more charging stations, but EVs cannot defeat the laws of physics and are unlikely to be popular in cold climates.
Americans know that car batteries are susceptible to cold. Many of us have awakened on a cold winter morning to find our car batteries dead and in need of a jump start or a replacement. The American Automobile Association has a fleet of small vehicles whose sole purpose is to rescue troubled motorists in chilly situations.
Gasoline-powered engines also work less efficiently in extreme cold, but the damage is not as great as with EVs.
Unless and until battery technology changes, electric vehicles are not year-round vehicles in cold climate states. In such states, only high-income individuals can afford the luxury of owning a vehicle that cannot be used efficiently for much of the year.
Elsewhere, most electric vehicles are expensive and largely owned by upper-income people. There is no need for average earners in Wyoming or elsewhere to subsidize higher-earners’ electric charging stations with their tax dollars.
It is wasteful for Congress to build charging stations in states where electric vehicles cannot be used many months of the year. Indeed, it’s foolish to spend money on “infrastructure” that benefits only wealthy people who do not need government support.
If tens of millions of dollars magically appeared with no strings attached in Wyoming or other cold-weather states, the money would almost certainly be put to a better use than electric charging stations. Individual states might instead build roads suitable for all vehicles or reduce taxes for residents and businesses.
Just as the federal government did not provide gas stations and Tesla charging stations, it should not be funding charging stations for EVs. It’s obvious that one of the worst uses of the funds is in Wyoming and other cold-weather states where EVs are generally impractical and unusable.