Liberty Blog

Shocking, isn’t it? I mean here I am, a long-time Tesla shareholder ranting about the dangers of electric cars, of all things? Granted, I was able to pay off our mortgage with the gains we made selling off some Tesla stock, and we paid off our daughter's college debt. Regardless, there's still a lot to rant about electric cars, and from a number of angles—dozens of angles, actually.

Probably the biggest fatality awaiting Pennsylvania after electric cars become big is the state police. Yep, electric cars can be potentially fatal to the state police, as we know them. That's assuming nothing is done to stop that death. And no, I'm not being dramatic—it IS going to happen.

Think about it.... About two-thirds of the state police budget is currently funded by the gas tax. But once the cars are all electric, no one is going to be paying any gas tax anymore because they won't be buying gas any more. No gas, no gas tax revenue, and the state police don't get funded. Pretty straightforward, ain't it? And possibly fatal.

And it's not just the state police who're facing death. There's good old PennDOT, too. They get their funding from the gas tax, too. Without gas tax funding, who's going to pay for the roads? Who's going to pay for building the bridges? Who's going to pay for those big yellow trucks that sleep six? No one, when there's no gas tax, that's who.

And what about all those unconstitutional remoras that suckle at the gas tax breast? Remoras like SEPTA, LERTA, LANTA, and other government transportation authorities? I counted, and there are thirty-eight of them in Pennsylvania. Imagine all of them, suddenly without subsidies, going from mass transit to massive deficit

Exactly how much revenue does Pennsylvania expect to lose? Last time I looked, the state's Motor License Fund brought in around four billion a year, and it's glad-handed all over the state. But where's that four billion going to come from once the gas tax dwindles? How would you carve a new four billion dollars out of a forty billion dollar state budget? But we're going to have to bite that bullet—and do it soon, all thanks to the imminent electric car revolution.

And it's not just the state police and PennDOT who are in mortal danger. How about your local gas station? . According to Manta.com, there are about eighteen hundred of them scattered across Pennsylvania. What's going to happen to them? What's going to happen to all the jobs they represent? I'll tell you what'll happen: gone, gone, gone. Sheetz, Wawa, Turkey Hill? Dinosaurs! Every one of them. And the asteroid known as electric cars is already on its way to wipe them out... and the thousands of jobs they provide. Gone, all gone

But wait! There's more! Or should I say, "But wait! There's less!". What about your friendly corner mechanic? There's very little to go wrong with an electric car, you know. And no more emission inspections either, meaning even less money for that friendly corner mechanic, not to mention less cash for the state.

And what happens to Jiffy Lube, Aamco, Meinike? Electric cars don’t need oil. They don't need transmissions. They don't need mufflers. Poor old Manny, Moe, and Jack will need to find new jobs

But wait! There are even MORE fatalities in the making. So far, all the ones I've mentioned have been direct fatalities There are bunches of indirect fatalities, too. For example, what happens to the big oil companies? Exxon, BP, Lukoil? At best, they become Shells of their former self (pardon the pun). The same fate awaits offshore drilling companies, and their inevitable Deepwater spills. And what happens to that poisonous Mariner Pipeline In southeastern Pennsylvania that's destroying all the communities in its path with all its pollution, sinkholes, mudspills, poisoned wells, and worse? Not to mention all its unseen medical risks?

Gone, thank God! Did you hear the other day they were facing no fewer than forty-eight criminal charges?? But soon, we won’t need that poisonous pipeline. It'll be as dead as the people who would have died after its construction.

I can go on and on—as if I haven't already. All these financial fatalities are inevitable with the advent of the electric car in Pennsylvania, and it's already too late to stop it. It's a fact that we've already reached a tipping point where it's cheaper to maintain an electric car than it is a gas car. Total cost of ownership is already far less for an electric car. And mark my words: sometime in the next year or so, the purchase price of a new electric car Is going to be the same as a comparable gas car, and soon after, even less. And once that happens, no one in their right mind will even consider buying a new gas car.

Look around. It's happening already. Demand for electric cars is soaring! Tesla is currently selling every single car they make. Their waiting list is months long, or, in the case of the Tesla Cybertruck, years long, with over a million paid reservations already. Pandora's electric box has been thrown wide open, my friends, and there's no going back.

Don't believe me that there's no going back? Hah! Think of all the treehuggers out there with their gas-guzzling Prius-es. Yes, gas guzzlers; when you compare them to tee-totaler Teslas, they're definitely gas guzzlers.

Think of all those climate stability deniers who think we're headed to a climate Armageddon, clutching their hockey stick graphs close to their chests.

Think of all the people who just want a kick-ass car that does zero to sixty before you even touch the pedal. Do you think any of them will buy a sluggish car fueled by dirty energy? A car that leaves toxic puddles behind and a cloud of toxic smoke? A car that has so many toxic fluids in it that they have to color them differently so that you can tell them apart? Red for transmission, yellow for power steering, green for antifreeze, brown for oil. Do you think an ecologically-aware buying public will go for that rainbow of toxicity? The only color that will be left is blue, for wiper fluid—but Tesla's latest patent uses lasers to clean your windshield instead. So very soon, even the blue will be gone.

Folks, I ain't kidding here. Electric cars are already cheaper, cleaner, AND more fun to drive. Have you driven one yet? Ridden in one? It's like being in a jet airliner blasting down the runway on takeoff—only stronger. I ride motorcycles, and the kick you get from an electric car is even stronger than that.

And the brakes? You hardly need them. Electric cars have regenerative braking. That means the car slows itself just by lifting your foot off the gas pedal—uh, excuse me, off the electrcity pedal. The best analogy I can think of is a model train set. Model trains don’t have brakes. Turn the knob up, the train goes faster; Turn it down, it goes slower. No braking necessary. Electric cars work the exact same way.

And that leads to another reason why Manny, Moe, and Jack are in for big trouble. Brake pads on electric cars last a lot longer than a hundred thousand miles. So you won't be paying a mechanic to replace them every twenty or thirty thousand miles.

So what do we do about electric cars conquering Pennsylvania? We're all about solutions here at The Pennsylvania Project, and we're big fans of a government being limited to protecting the rights and property of the citizens. So to my mind, the top priority is to continue funding the state police. And the gas tax remains THE most logical way to fund them. Ditto for the roads— although not necessarily via PennDOT.

So let's keep the gas tax— and don't be shocked hearing it coming from me. The gas tax is probably THE most Libertarian tax there is. Because it's not a tax at all—it's actually a user fee.

Think about it: If you use the roads, you pay the tax. If you don't use the roads, you don't pay the tax. Like I said, it's not really a tax; it's a user fee. Maybe we should call it a "Road Use Fee" instead?

So the correct problem to solve, is how to collect that Road Use Fee once gas tax revenues dry up. And there is a simple answer. All electric cars can have their software updated over the air. Conversely, it's easy to check your mileage over the air then bill you monthly for any miles you use. No, I don’t know what the rate per mile would be That's for the eggheads to figure out. But I'm sure there is a rate comparable to what the gas tax brings in, and it can be weighted for vehicle weight (pardon the pun), even adjusted for peak period usage, if necessary. So you'll be charged for road use, just like you are today; but if you don’t drive, you won't be charged for it, just like you aren't today.

There you have it, folks: A Road Use Fee. A way to transition away from the dirty-energy gas tax while still maintaining the level of highway safety we've come to know and love. Sadly, no one in Harrisburg is talking about this pending problem. No one is getting ready for the inevitable. Maybe I should run for governor or something? And help the state get ready before it's too late? Beats me.

And by the way, I haven't told the entire story. There's another asteroid heading for Pennsylvania that's flying in right behind the electric car asteroid. But I'll have to save that story for next time.

Ken Krawchuk is a former MontcoLP chair, candidate for governor, and the current host of the Pennsylvania Project program and podcast. This article comes from The Pennsylvania Project Radio Show, Episode 133. Listen to the article on the web here.