First up, a dive in on Joe Manchin.

Manchin has been senator of West Virginia since 2010 and developed the reputation as most moderate member of the senate, being pro gun, moderate on abortion and biggest one, pro fossil fuel.

Which his background speaks to that being an owner in a coal company called Enersystem’s, where he’s made 5.4 million off yearly returns the last decade and it paid him $480,000 last year.

He also raises a lot of money for reelection from energy companies, where he pulled in $400,000 in just one quarter of 2021.

Clearly Manchin has an interest in fossil fuel, but I don’t think he realizes that electric cars are more likely to help West Virginia and his interest over hurt them.

Reason is a breakdown in how we get electricity currently in the US.

38% of electricity comes from natural gas.
23% comes from coal.
19% is nuclear
7.2% wind
6.6% hydro
2.2% solar
The rest is a mix of biomass and a few other fuel sources.

Right now, while renewables have been growing, fossil fuel to make electricity is still king, producing over 60% of fuel.

It’s also expected in an electric car economy, the US would need to produce 25-40% more electricity to meet demand.

Fossil fuel based electricity isn’t going away anytime soon.

Where this is good for West Virginia.

West Virginia today only produces .5% of the US’s oil and very little resources to gain traction there.

Coal though, they are a much bigger winner at 13% of US coal, being second to Wyoming.

Natural gas, they also win where it’s estimated they have 10% of natural gas reserves and the ability to produce more of it.

Electric cars are a good thing for West Virginia.

People stop using oil, which they don’t produce and begin using natural gas, which West Virginia could make billions off of.

After that, Manchin brought up a concern about relying on China for electric cars due to cobalt demands.

The world doesn’t have enough cobalt to support an electric car economy, which is why every battery company is exploring solid state batteries, which is likely to become the new norm.

And again, for the materials needed with new electric batteries, West Virginia has mine with some of those materials.

For Senator Manchin, I think this is a really foolish thing and this stance against electric is just a disservice to West Virginia.