There are some ideas that, no matter how often they rise and how spectacularly they fail, just won't go away. Perpetual motion machines, for example. Passive exercise machines. Diets that work. These technologies sound great in theory, but don't seem to pan out in practice. Add to the list, electric (or largely electric) cars.

Banter is AEI’s weekly podcast series, where hosts Stu James and Andrew Rugg sit down and talk with leading thinkers and political commentators on a wide range of policy topics. True to its name, Banter keeps the conversation fun, entertaining, and interesting for anyone with an interest in politics and policy.

The private sector is entirely capable of developing EVs and other new automotive technologies without the need for subsidies.

Let’s say that you were a politican with a GM Volt and turned it into an icon of your administration. And let’s also observe that despite giving people (most of whom are wealthy) a whopping $7,500 subsidy to buy a $40,000 car, your union- and government-controlled car company couldn’t sell enough of them to justify keeping the assembly line open. What would you do?

The electric-gas hybrid Chevy Volt is too expensive to be practical for the average American consumer and is designed to meet the demands of an ideological market fostered by upscale urban liberals.

The Occupiers are right about American incomes: They've definitely grown more unequal. But this fact presents three inconvenient truths for the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Once again, the regulators in California have decided to lead the nation in terms of vehicle emission standards, proposing to require that 15.4 percent of all vehicles sold by 2025 must be electric cars, plug-in hybrid cars, or (currently non-existent) fuel cell cars.

Canada's York university has chosen to limit the speech of pro-Israel students while allowing anti-Israel student events to proceed without restraint.