Americans Can’t Afford Their Cars; Iran's War Metal
And more about the real costs of renewable energy and digital technology—and how we can do better.
Americans Can’t Afford Their Cars
You might not believe in climate change, or that cars are a huge contributor thereto. You might not care about the environmental costs of mining the metals we need to build motor vehicles. But there’s one thing we can all agree on: cars are a huge money-suck. In fact, those totems of American life are becoming increasingly unaffordable for the average American.
The total annual cost to own and operate an automobile in the US has risen by about 30 percent in the past decade, hitting a vertiginous $12,296 last year. That includes payments, insurance, gas, maintenance, parking, the whole show. Most of those costs are continuing to rise. Repair costs have jumped by double digits in recent years; insurance has nearly doubled since 2020.
Almost every American household—92 percent—owns at least one car. More than half have at least two. That means the majority of American families are spending almost $25,000 per year just to get around. That’s orders of magnitude more than what many of our compatriots in other rich countries pay for transportation. “In many European countries, an annual rail-and-transit pass, can cost as little as $4,000; Austria's KlimaTicket, which gives users total mobility on a national scale, costs the equivalent of $1,340 US,” points out transport journalist nonpareil Taras Grescoe in his Highspeed newsletter. Taras also predicts President Trump’s tariffs will further inflate car insurance costs “for the simple reason that it will cost insurance companies more to replace car parts, which, because so many are manufactured abroad, are subject to tariffs.”
As investments, motor vehicles are appalling. “In 2024, the AAA calculated the average new vehicle loses an eye-watering $4,680 in value every year, over the first five years,” reports the Wall Street Journal. “In the last quarter of 2024, one in four consumers were underwater on a car loan—meaning that they owed more than the vehicle’s market value.” Most of a car’s life is spent doing nothing. They sit parked, immobile and unused, about 95 percent of time. When they are driven, it’s mostly for short trips of under three miles. No wonder the financial firm Morgan Stanley calls cars “the world’s most underutilized asset.”
In the absence of a decent public transportation system—something that is indeed absent in most North American cities and suburbs—there is an obvious alternative: electric bikes. Brand-new, high quality e-bikes go for around $3,000. That means you could buy one for every member of a family of four for less than it costs to keep a single car going for a year. Any decent e-bike is perfectly capable of taking you a couple of miles to school or work. Add some panniers and it will haul your groceries with no trouble. Swap just one car for an e-bike—or two!—and the average American could easily pay off their credit card debt in one year, their student loans in four, or save over $100,000 for retirement in ten.
London, England shows what’s possible. Biking has surged there in recent years, to the point where today, for the first time, bicycles outnumber cars in the city center. One of the key reasons for that is that in the last two years, the use of rentable e-bikes has quadrupled. The big shift started in 2022 with the introduction of more powerful e-bikes, which let people get from here to there with very little pedaling required. As The Economist notes, “while many people enjoy the thrill and convenience of cycling, some dislike the effort.”
OK, but isn’t riding a bike more dangerous than driving a car? Maybe, but that’s mainly because we don’t have safe roadways for bikes. Happily, more people are starting to appreciate bicycle infrastructure. A new YouGov survey finds that three-quarters of Americans support bike lanes in their area. Large majorities agree that bike lanes increase quality of life and safety for cyclists as well as pedestrians. Nonetheless, only about one-third of those surveyed want more bike lanes. We’ve still got a long way to go.
Iran’s War Metal
The recent US and Israeli attacks on Iran specifically targeted one type of metal with military applications—uranium. But there’s also lot of online chatter about whether America was also after Iran’s antimony, an obscure but extremely important mineral for modern armies. As I explained back in December, antimony is used in ammunition, night-vision goggles, and infrared missiles, among other things. The US uses over 50 million pounds of the stuff each year, but produces zero. China controls most of the world’s supply and has recently begun restricting exports, to the Pentagon’s consternation. Then in March, Iran announced it had discovered a huge trove of antimony.
I think it’s very unlikely that antimony was anything more than a minor consideration, if one at all, behind the US and Israeli bombings. Iran’s deposits are many years from being developed, and there are other places that produce antimony. An American company is working on reopening a mine in Idaho. Still, when influential conservative think-tanks like the Heritage Foundation are warning “the United States must expand antimony supply chains and source more from countries other than China,” it’s clearly an issue to keep a close eye on.
Book News
I was pleased and honored to have been part of this new BBC documentary, The Copper Kingdom, which asks an important question: “How can Chile satisfy an electrifying world’s hunger for copper and at what environmental cost?”
Also very flattered that The American Energy Society chose my first book, The World in a Grain, as one of its Summer Reads 2025! I second their recommendations for the books by Hannah Ritchie, John Vaillant and Siddharth Kara. None of them are exactly relaxing beach reads, but all definitely important and well-told.
More News Worth Knowing
🪧 From Portugal to Serbia, Europeans want climate action, but not lithium mines
🆗 Oklahoma aims to be America’s critical metal refining center
♻️ Portland, Oregon has curbside battery recycling!
Note to subscribers: Power Metal is going on vacation for the next couple of weeks. Summer has officially begun, and British Columbia is one of the best places in the world to soak it up. I’ll be off in the woods til mid-July or so. See you when I get back!
Great article. Have an amazing vacation with lots of rest.
--Hans
Thanks, Vince! Interesting about the antimony! Best wishes for your vacay! If your in Surrey sometime, drop in for coffee, special from Transcend Roasters in Edmonton.