Electric Cars. The New Plug and Play.

Electric cars. Do you own one? How's that working out for you?

How many electric cars were in the United States in 2025? It was projected the number of electric cars on the roads reached about 5 million.

Companies like Tesla, Ford, General Motors, and others were investing heavily in the development of new electric models, which were expected to cater to a wide range of consumers, from compact cars to SUVs and trucks. However, American companies have slowed down their investments in electric only vehicles and are shifting their focus toward hybrid and lower production targets,

Also, the increase in electric vehicles is going to have a profound impact on the energy sector, as the demand for renewable energy grows to support the charging needs of these vehicles. As more consumers opt for electric cars, the infrastructure for charging stations will need to expand to make it more convenient for drivers to charge their vehicles at home, work, and public locations.

Can the existing electrical infrastructure support the future needs of electric vehicles? Also, add to that the electrical needs predicted for data centers to support the new demands of AI. Our existing electrical grid is not able to support those future demands and it will need massive and rapid upgrades. AI centers are the primary concern and who is going to support those costs for upgrades. It could take 2 trillion dollars to provide those upgrades. Where is that investment coming from?

So many cans have been kicked down the road, the can pile is obscuring reality, and I guess that was the intent.

China is years ahead of the U.S. in technology, manufacturing and market options for electric vehicles. They produce over 70% of the world's EV's and dominate the battery supply chain while offering more affordable and advanced models with much faster charging capabilities than we have in the U.S.

Take for example the Chinese EV manufacture NIO Inc. That’s capital N, capital I, capital O. They produce a high quality premium electric vehicle that competes with top brands like Tesla and German automakers. They offer advanced technology, exceptional comfort and luxury interiors. They also offer mid-market sub brands with their ONVO and Firefly EV’s.

But what they are best known for is their advancements in battery swapping abilities. Buyers can opt to purchase the car without a battery and opt instead to pay a monthly subscription for battery use. This reduces the cost of the vehicle by not including expensive battery costs in the car price. So. What does the owner do for a battery? You get your battery at a NIO battery station. Much like renting it.

When your car needs a charge, you pull into a NIO battery station. It’s almost like pulling into an oil change station that we have on every corner in the U.S. You pull your car into the station, and while you are sitting in your vehicle, the attendants drop the discharged battery out of your car from below, and replace it with a fully charged battery. Then, they run quick diagnostics on the replacement and you are on your way. It’s all finished in 3 to 5 minutes and paid for with your subscription to NIO battery service. Right now, a monthly subscription runs about 250.00 dollars U.S. The cost per swap is about 10.00 U.S. and a NIO with a 150 KWH battery can go 600 miles without a new charge.

There are many different options and upgrades to this service, but the point being missed in the U.S. is making the EV's cost affordable to the average middle-income consumer and also the return on investment for the manufacturer and the consumer. Right now, in the U.S. EV's are only realistically affordable for a select few. And the infrastructure is nonexistent. You have to search for a charging station and be prepared to sit for at least 30 minutes to an hour, if there is no one ahead of you.

Why is the infrastructure nonexistent for EV's in the U.S.? Why are EV's not uniform in design for batteries? Shouldn't filling up your EV be as simple as pulling into a gas station and filling up your car?

All cars run on internal combustion engines with a basic design to be able to use gasoline. Why can't batteries be a universal design and have the car designed and built around the batteries? Then you drive your EV into a battery swap station and change batteries to any car design. Makes sense to me.

With this business model you make the car affordable for everyone, and also the car will not be a worthless piece of junk after 10 years because the battery costs more than the car. It will only be a car with an empty fuel tank and that can be filled up with a battery like the NIO business model.

The U.S. lives and breathes on fossil fuel and the odds of that changing are about the same as humans being able to live on Mars. Why is China ahead of the U.S. in so many things technological? My opinion is most of it is from political influence in this country. One group is trying to slow progress in one area that is not lucrative for them and another group is trying to do the opposite. It becomes a loggerhead at every opportunity for progress.

The infrastructure problem for EV's is just a small example of the gigantic problems facing the U. S. with infrastructure. Our highways are crumbling, our bridges are falling down, our rail transportation system is a 100 years old and a joke. It took 50 years to build what is now falling apart and no one wants to face the fact that it will take another 50 years to take it apart and rebuild it.

Yet we have spent 50 billion dollars, so far, on this current war that is costing about 1 billion a day. Was there another way? Probably. We elect people to make those decisions and right now it looks like they are way over their head. By many estimates it will cost in the neighborhood of 10 trillion dollars to rebuild our infrastructure and throwing 1 billion a day at a war is not helping to get it done.

These are only small examples of the problems in the U.S. and they are surely recognized by our adversaries. They know our weaknesses and that we are becoming weaker every day. The only thing they need to do is wait. While we whine and complain about each other, they are creating ploughshares in technologies and making us pay for it.

It's too late for tariffs. Those are promises that can’t be fulfilled. It’s protectionism and protecting our businesses by punishing our competitors will not work. The only thing it does is prevent our businesses from being creative and innovative. After all the world is now smaller and other countries don't necessarily need America as a producer or consumer.

Without promoting collusion, businesses in this country need to get off the 90-day profit performance, or as we call it, quarterly capitalism and adopt a more realistic invest for profit business model. Everybody, including the smallest common stock owner wants immediate gratification. We should be back to talking about long term investment and growth, and then maybe we will find investors for our infrastructure. Including for EV's.

By adding huge tariffs to China so they cannot send their better than ours EV's to this country so we can protect Elon Musk and Tesla is not the answer and only prolongs the pain that is coming. With the airline industry and the oil industry blocking any attempts at addressing our infrastructure problems, we will be light years behind other countries in those areas. Never mind China.

So. Will EV’s be popular in the U.S.? Someday?

Not in my life time as long as our protectionist trade policies are in affect. Protectionism protects the interests of the ruling class. Protectionism is what’s called a "demagogue's dream" allowing politicians to blame foreign competition and increase voter support.

Preventing China or any other country from entering our EV market is not helping our EV industry or infrastructure and it for sure is not benefiting the average person from the outrageous prices created from tariffs or restricted product availability.

That is not capitalism. Even if they are trying to redefine it.

That's the fact Jack!

Think about it and be sure to VOTE!

Jack Wilson

Article