Electric-vehicle mandates and state net-zero electricity rules were sold as painless. The numbers say otherwise.
A new CFACT paper by Geoffrey Pohanka, chairman of the Pohanka Automotive Group, tallies the damage. Automakers and taxpayers have already absorbed well over $100 billion in EV losses and write-downs. Ford lost $4.8 billion on electric vehicles in 2025 alone—about $57,000 a car. Rivian and Lucid lost far more. The average new car now tops $50,000, pricing out roughly three out of four American families, while the cars still on the road keep getting older.
The same pattern shows up on the grid. In Maryland, a typical net-zero state on the PJM system, residential electricity prices are up about 44 percent since 2020. Reliability warnings are rising with the bills.
The paper draws on company filings, grid-operator data, and government figures. It shows who is paying, why the charging business does not pencil out, and how China is using Western climate rules to its own advantage.