The Obama administration has a true knack for blowing billions of taxpayer dollars on “green” industry initiatives that result in negligible returns. First there was the solar power debacle, with $533 million in stimulus funds being funneled to the unstable and now very bankrupt Solyndra, and now there’s a matching black eye for Obama regarding electric cars.

The President issued a bold statement in 2011 during his State of the Union, boasting that through the mighty regulatory and financial force of government, over 1 million electric cars would slowly prowl the highways of the nation (but not too far from home, of course, since plug-in electric cars have very limited range) by 2015. That statement was…slightly off. CNS has a story up today citing the actual numbers.

Despite massive federal spending on electric vehicles, which is expected to total $7.9 billion through 2019, there are currently just 286,390 plug-in vehicles on the nation’s roads today, according to the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA). That’s 72 percent lower than the million electric vehicles the president predicted four years ago. And with gasoline prices now averaging $2.06 per gallon, the lowest they’ve been since April 2009, that percentage is not likely to change any time soon. Despite steep discounts, manufacturers’ rebates, federal and state tax credits, and even special utility rates in some areas, plug-in electric vehicles accounted for just 3.5 percent of the more than 16.4 million light vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2014, according to EDTA.

Once again, government intervention into business sectors provides very little real world impact, instead wasting billions on what amounts to a very expensive amount of political cuddle time to curry favor with environmentally worried progressives.

The industry for electric vehicles will come about in its own time, as necessitated by the market – the simple rule of supply and demand. Those billions spent foolishly by the Obama administration don’t take market forces into account – even with massive tax breaks, electric cars are still highly cost prohibitive, because the technology hasn’t advanced to the point of affordability. Add in the limited range (another tech issue) and lack of infrastructure to support plug-in cars on a large level (and no, having two plug-in spots in the mall parking lot will not do much if people actually start driving these cars en masse) and you have an incredibly low level of demand.

Will electric cars ever become prominent? That’s up for debate – there are a lot of competing technologies out there that may in fact be far superior both in cost and efficiency. Natural gas powered cars are becoming fairly prevalent in other countries – China for instance. Or hydrogen cell powered cars, which are still in development. It’s ridiculous for the government to try to shove one “not ready for prime time” technology down the throats of its citizens and give that industry an unfair advantage over competing technologies.

The best solution will present itself over time, dictated by supply and demand. Not by government interference.

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