Bill Engvall is one of my favorite standup comics, most well-known for being part of the Redneck Comedy Tour along with Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy, and the great Ron White.
Where Foxworthy made a fortune with his “you might be a redneck” routine, Engvall created a comedy calling card of his own with his “here’s your sign” gag. In that act, Engvall would use the set-up of stories of friends, relatives, neighbors and other saying or doing stupid things, and then award them with a “Stupid” sign to glue to their foreheads.
Here are some examples:
I shot me a nice deer, and I hung it on the den wall in my house. My neighbor comes over and he says, Did you shoot that thing? I said, Nope. He ran through the wall and got stuck. Here's your sign.
One day I locked my keys in my car and as I was standing there with a hanger halfway through the top of my window, a guy walks up and says, Lock yer keys in the car? Without missin' a beat I said, Nope, Just washed it and was hanging it up to dry. Here's your sign.
I called my wife up on the cell phone and said baby you aint gonna believe this, i go, we just hit a deer with the airplane. and there was a silence on the other end of the line followed by.. OH MY GOD.! were you on the ground? I said nope, santa was makin’ one last run. Here’s your sign.
I really love that last one but do NOT recommend any of you guys using it at home. Don’t ask why, just trust me on this.
Anyway, I’m thinking Mr. Engvall needs to revive this routine for application to this miserable failure of an energy transition we are all not enjoying and not in fact even having these days.
Specifically, I think he might want to think about applying it to anyone who still claims that buying and driving an electric vehicle saves you money over buying and driving a gas- or diesel-fueled car.
The latest evidence of that reality comes to us from AutoBlog’s Chris Teague, who published a story last week detailing the results of a new study released by iSeeCars, which finds that the costs associated with EVs is wildly higher than advertised.
In fact, the study finds the costs associated with EVs to be far higher than not just internal combustion cars, but also those of Hybrids and Plug-in Hybrids.
Here’s the key excerpt from the story:
iSeeCars’ research looked at the costs to operate various fuel types between November 2022 and April 2023, finding that EV owners not only drove far fewer miles than gas owners, but their average costs to operate those vehicles over 1,000 miles were much higher.
People drove EVs an average of 10,256 miles during that period, seeing costs of $5,108 per 1,000 miles. In contrast, owners drove gas vehicles 12,813 miles, averaging $3,123 over the same distance. The costs per 1,000 miles for other fuel types in the study include:
Hybrids: $3,056
Gas Cars: $3,123
Plug-In Hybrids: $4,351
EVs: $5,108
EV owners may worry about range and spotty charging infrastructure, which could contribute to the smaller number of miles driven. The higher purchase price of each vehicle is spread over fewer miles, making them significantly more expensive to drive. iSeeCars’ study found an average EV price of $52,387, compared to the $40,009 gas buyers paid.
[End]
Oh.
Here’s your sign.
That is all.
Very revealing of the facts. Love it! I wouldn’t have an EV if you gave it to me……because my great brother in law couldn’t fix anything that went wrong with it. Now my gasoline powered car he’s an ace on it!
Of course EVs have a more expensive total cost of ownership, but all you'll hear from EV evangelists are savings on fuel, oil, filters, transmission repairs, and other factors unique to EVs that are insignificant to the expense of upfront purchase, depreciation, insurance, frequent tire replacement, home charging setup, and collision repair. The per-mile cost calculation is very telling yet the EV evangelists will just shout louder if you attempt to engage them with facts.