Criminals Know What the Government Won’t Admit About EVs

The federal government and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration have been pushing for increased use of electric vehicles — setting dubious central planning goals for EV purchases. Yet multiple market signals show the public isn’t buying what the government is selling. John Fund of National Review Online highlights an interesting piece of news that confirms the public’s general disinterest in trading gas-powered cards for EVs. Criminals who make a living stealing cars take little interest in government-endorsed vehicles.

More than 1 million cars were stolen in the U.S. last year, an all-time record. The least vulnerable to theft were electric vehicles. Thieves apparently don’t think they’re worth stealing, despite the subsidies, mandates, and government propaganda extolling their virtues.

The Highway Loss Data Institute reports that four of the six vehicles with the lowest theft rates are electric.  The 2021-23 Tesla Model 3, for example, recorded only one theft per 100,000 insured vehicles. By comparison, the gas-powered Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat SUV was stolen 2,583 times for every 100,000 insured vehicles.

“It’s not just consumers who are turning up their noses at EVs — even the criminals can’t be bothered to steal them,” says Daniel Turner of Power the Future. “EVs are expensive, unreliable and confusing — not to mention heavier and more damaging to roads and infrastructure than their traditional counterparts.”

Indeed, in the first quarter of this year, there was a 42 percent gap in the average price of an electric car vs. a gas car.

“Only 7.1% of the new car market consists of electric vehicles, as many Americans cannot afford or conveniently charge an EV,” the National Automobile Dealers Association concludes. Thieves and consumers have diametrically opposed interests when it comes to car thefts. But they seem completely in agreement that old-fashioned, gas-powered cars are still the way to go.

The post Criminals Know What the Government Won’t Admit About EVs first appeared on John Locke Foundation.