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On this compelling episode of Rush to Reason, John Rush dives headfirst into two of the most hot-button issues of the modern era: artificial intelligence and electric vehicles. With guest Paul Steidler of the Lexington Institute, the conversation explores whether conservatives should embrace AI for its transformational potential—or fear it for its unknowns. From traffic flow to national defense, AI is already changing our world—and John argues the U.S. must lead the way before China does.
In a powerful side conversation, John and his callers unpack the moral outrage surrounding sex trafficking and the deep emotional toll such crimes take
SPEAKER 07 :
This is Rush to Reason.
SPEAKER 06 :
You are going to shut your damn yapper and listen for a change because I got you pegged, sweetheart. You want to take the easy way out because you’re scared. And you’re scared because if you try and fail, there’s only you to blame. Let me break this down for you. Life is scary. Get used to it. There are no magical fixes. With your host, John Rush. My advice to you is to do what your parents did. Get a job first.
SPEAKER 03 :
You haven’t made everybody equal. You’ve made them the same, and there’s a big difference.
SPEAKER 14 :
Let me tell you why you’re here. You’re here because you know something. What you know you can’t explain, but you feel it. You’ve felt it your entire life, that there’s something wrong with the world. You don’t know what it is, but it’s there. It is this feeling that has brought you to me.
SPEAKER 03 :
Are you crazy? Am I? Or am I so sane that you just blew your mind?
SPEAKER 11 :
It’s Rush to Reason with your host, John Rush, presented by Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning.
SPEAKER 12 :
All right, welcome back. Hour number two, Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Appreciate y’all listening today, by the way. Once again, weather-wise, watch. I did look out towards the southeast, and yes, it is very, let’s just say, black and dark and ominous looking, so be very careful if you’re out and about. on that southeast end of town. A lot of you texting in, by the way, not only the weather, but pictures and so on. So yes, be very careful. I cannot stress that enough. So just be extremely, extremely careful. Okay, might have a little bit of change of plan here for our second hour with our guests. Either way, I did talk about this on Friday. as far as the Fed chair and all of that. And our guest was going to talk about that today. And bottom line, yeah, you guys heard me talk about that on Friday. And reality is we’ll see what happens in regards to Jerome Powell. It was interesting talking to Jordan Goodman last Tuesday about that because I would not be surprised to see that have a change. Let’s just say I don’t know when. I don’t know exactly when. timeline, what that will look like, but you guys all know my feelings on that, and we will see how that goes. But anyways, we’ll figure that out. At any rate, let’s do this. I was going to talk about, in last hour, I didn’t quite get a chance to. Do I need to go ahead and take this, Charlie? Is that… Oh, okay. I will… That’s fine. I will do that. Paul, well… Paul, welcome. How are you today, sir? Paul Steidler.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, yes. It’s great to be with you again, John. Hope you’re well.
SPEAKER 12 :
Always great to have you as well. I appreciate you very much, Paul. And I’m sorry, I got my guest list backwards today some way, somehow, but let’s keep going anyways. I’ll still talk to you as I always do, and I love talking to you, so let’s do it.
SPEAKER 04 :
That sounds terrific. Appreciate your flexibility.
SPEAKER 12 :
No, no. So where do you want to start? Let’s get with it. Let’s get going here, Paul.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. So I think it’s very important for conservatives to recognize and for all Americans for that purpose. To recognize the importance of artificial intelligence and the true opportunities we have for massive change, massive improvements in life going forward here. There are a lot of areas of the country… The deep south and places like Texas and Ohio, where there are tremendous investments being made in AI. In the state of Mississippi, for example, there’s $16 billion that’s coming in for two data centers that Amazon is building, which eclipses the next biggest investment in by almost 100%. In fact, by more than 100%. At the same time, there is this tension within President Trump’s coalition between those who are more business-oriented side of folks who want to promote AI, want to promote this economic development, and those who are more on what are typically called the populist right, who are concerned about technology and the development there. This is a tension that the Vice President addressed at a major speech back in March. What is concerning is that there has been a lot of conflict between these two sectors that has been coming out. The Senate, as part of the big, beautiful bill, had a proposal to put a moratorium on new state AI regulations, and there’s a ton of these being considered in New York and California. and some on the populist right push back on that. So I would just encourage people to take a look at these issues, to recognize that AI development is something that is going to be very positive. It’s something the president has championed repeatedly since coming into office early. And we really want policies that are going to promote the development quickly, as the president has continually stressed. that are going to enable us to defeat China because they are not stopping at anything with their AI development.
SPEAKER 10 :
No, they are not.
SPEAKER 04 :
And the more that we can do on this, the quicker the better. And I would just urge folks to take a look at that. and to realize we should follow the policies of the administration, which are to promote this change and not turn over regulation of this sector to New York and California, which appears much more likely at this point in time.
SPEAKER 12 :
Really quick, Paul, what do you feel is the reason— And I know it’s always hard to ask why you think somebody else is doing what they’re doing or having the thoughts that they have. Why do you feel like there’s some on that side that don’t like AI? Are they scared of it? Are they afraid of what it would do economically? What are your thoughts there?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, I think it’s all of those reasons. I mean, historically, there’s always been fear of technology. There was tremendous fear of the automobile as something that was going to kill everybody. There was fear of farm machinery coming into play as something that would displace everybody from agriculture. Even Socrates, when writing was discovered back in his day, was very weary of it. He thought it was going to end human conversation because there was now this thing called writing that people could communicate from. So some of the changes are well-founded. Change, you know, especially something that is seismic like AI, very transformational, can be a very scary thing. But we have to look beyond that. The world is going to change with AI, whether the United States beats in that regard or China does. That’s right. The world will be a lot better if the U.S. is driving that process than the Chinese are.
SPEAKER 12 :
You know what? Well said. And I agree with you. In fact, it’s something that I guess I look at AI personally, Paul, maybe a little differently than even some on Twitter. on the right do i look at and by the way some even i think on the left i look at as a tool just i’m a car guy from you know so you’re talking about the car uh coincides very well with me because i’m a car guy you know grew up in that whole world and still do a lot with it and i look at ai as as you would anything else it’s a tool just like the car just like the internet just like an airplane just like literally anything that’s out there And it can be used for good. It can be used for bad. The reality is it’s how it’s used. And I also believe, Paul, that as a nation, if we can be the ones on the forefront of this and be driving it, then, of course, I feel like we can have it be used for a lot more good than the alternative. That’s my fear with having China be a leader in this area is no offense. I just don’t have a lot of trust to them in the first place. So I want us to be the leader, not them.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right. No, I strongly agree with that assessment. And as you say, AI is a tool. Tools can be used for good and bad things. And what we are seeing AI used for here are some very good things. AI is what enables you to get directions on your phone to get to a place quicker and with less traffic than you would have before AI was out. That’s one of the first developments on it. AI is being used to advance medical research far quicker and far more effectively and at lower cost than used to be the case. AI is being used to improve the efficiency of the electric grid. no matter what type of power you want to have generated, so that things, you know, power generation is much more efficient and systematic. Right now, a lot of energy that gets generated literally goes into the ground because of bottlenecks on the transmission system.
SPEAKER 12 :
It’s funny, you talked about traffic. I don’t think folks really think through this very well, Paul, but you look at even just traffic and signals and the flow of traffic and what can happen. We do metering on ramps, off ramps, things like that. Reality, Paul, is AI could come into a lot of our gridlock that happens across the country And I don’t know how this is going to work as far as cities and counties go, because I hate to say this, Paul, in some cases, they’re some of the biggest bottleneck because it will eliminate, you know, jobs and things that are in some of those areas, which, by the way, I’m fine with because we can take those people, shift them into other areas. But the traffic grid alone. AI could substantially help. I can’t tell you how many times I sit at a stoplight and think, wait a minute, there’s no traffic coming the other way. Why am I sitting here eating up gas, quote unquote, you know, creating pollution, doing the things that we do on a routine basis? And I think to myself, there’s got to be a better way to do this. And there is. I realize it’s going to be slow to roll some of these things out, but I think we need to get it done sooner than later.
SPEAKER 04 :
No, we absolutely do, and that’s a quite interesting example. I mean, think of all the concerns that are going to arise when you start to implement that system, when you don’t have set amounts for a red-white or other regulations that come into play. Right. The benefits of it in terms of fuel savings, time savings, and frankly, making things safer because you don’t have to worry about people running red lights and killing people because they’re afraid they’re going to have to wait for three to four minutes can be a very good, a very positive thing. Again, this is something that we need to embrace. It’s something that we need to champion. AI is also very stringently regulated technology. You can’t do something bad just because it’s with AI. You can’t defraud somebody with AI and say, well, I defrauded them with AI. No, it’s still fraud. It’s still a crime. That’s right. You can’t slander someone. That’s right. You can’t humiliate someone using AI. I mean, there’s all types of… measures that come into play here. So before we adopt the 1,000-plus proposed new laws, principally driven by New York and California that states have put forward since the beginning of this year, we ought to take a deep breath and realize we need freedom of development. There are times when new laws are going to be necessary. In fact, back in May, President Trump signed the Take It Down Act. This is a measure that outlaws revenge porn and AI-simulated pornography of ex-boyfriends and girlfriends. Right, right, right. I mean, that was a gap in the law. Absolutely. And that’s the approach that we should take. Absolutely. Something really is wrong and clearly needs a legal fix. Even the U.S. Congress can move quickly and get it done. Absolutely. So there’s a lot of reason for optimism here.
SPEAKER 12 :
Lexington Institute, how do folks find you, Paul?
SPEAKER 04 :
We are at lexingtoninstitute.org, lexingtoninstitute.org. I’d also encourage folks to check us out on Twitter. The handle is Lex, L-E-X. Next, D-C. Think of us as being next to D.C., outside the swamp in Arlington, Virginia.
SPEAKER 12 :
Awesome. Paul, I appreciate it very much. Thank you for your time today, sir.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay. You’re very welcome.
SPEAKER 12 :
Have a great night. Appreciate it very much. We’ll be right back. Veteran Windows and Doors coming up next. And we talked earlier to Hunter at Cub Creek about heat and even the heat that sometimes can come through your windows and such. And if you’re thinking of making a change along those lines to make your home more comfortable, talk to Dave today. Dave Bancroft. Find him at klzradio.com.
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SPEAKER 12 :
All right, we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. Steve, what’s going on? Good afternoon, sir. John, how are you? I’m great. How are you, sir?
SPEAKER 08 :
Good. Hope you’re having a marvelous Monday. Absolutely. I just got a chance to give you a call on a previous topic on sex trafficking. Right. And we don’t even know because of loosey-goosey standards at the border whether we got 200,000, 400,000, or whatever sex trafficking. Nope, we do not. But good news, bad news. I feel like maybe it’s a personal failure of mine, but I had two former friends one of which was a senior sex crimes detective with our Springs PD, and the other one was a former president of our Pikes Peak Association of Realtors. And they both managed to sexually assault young girls. So wrong. Maybe it’s personal failure of mine, but I cannot reach deep down enough as a Christian to offer redemption, grace, and forgiveness to Not my department. I just think it’s wrong.
SPEAKER 12 :
Steve, you and I on that particular topic, I am not any different than you on that level. There are a lot of things that I will give a redemptive pass to folks that get caught doing bad things. They cheated on their books. They cheated on their taxes. They embezzled. They did things along those lines. I mean, Steve, there’s all sorts of things that Folks can come back and say, you know, what I did was wrong. I’ve paid restitution, this, that, and the other. This particular crime, like you, I probably struggle with more than anything else because it’s just so abhorrent. That one I have a hard time giving a pass on ever.
SPEAKER 08 :
And there’s so many who just destroyed lives. But on a brighter note, we have an organization.
SPEAKER 12 :
Really quick, Steve, you know, and I think for me personally, I just want to add to this for all of you listening. Here’s my take as to why. And, Steve, I’m sure you’re the same way. You know what? You and I, we can defend ourselves. We can fight things off. Women, even to a large extent, they can as well, although lesser than us. So I even have… you know, less sympathy for folks that abuse women because of that. But when it comes to kids, especially Steve, I just, they are, they are, they cannot defend themselves. There is no, there’s just no ability for me to give folks a pass in the area because of that.
SPEAKER 08 :
On a quick, brighter note, there’s an organization here in Colorado Springs, which may be the only one in the state. It’s called Sarah’s house. There are five, a one three C their state license and their only purpose is is to try and give some therapy, hope, and future to sex traffic girls. To my understanding, in talking to and interviewing with the director, they don’t want to stay. We need a ton more of them because they’re doing some great work, and they can only do, I don’t know, 20, 30 kids at a time. We probably need one of those or many of those in every city in the country.
SPEAKER 12 :
I agree. I agree. Steve, great stuff. I appreciate that very much. Thank you for your heart, too, as well. I appreciate that. Paul, you’re up next. Go ahead.
SPEAKER 09 :
Hey, well, here’s the update on the saga for my father-in-law and the DMV.
SPEAKER 12 :
Oh, let’s hear it.
SPEAKER 09 :
So I had already made an appointment at the DMV a month ago. That was just a standing appointment just as a holding thing in case the DMV wasn’t going to cooperate and I had to drag him in there to get his renewed license, etc. So that stood. As you may and some of your callers who have heard the prior call know, I already contacted Polis, the governor’s office for assistance. They ultimately ended up being useless, as I expected in many areas that we already know about. And the only offer that I got from the DMV was to expedite the appointment. Well, I didn’t care. I had plenty of time to get him in there before his license expired, so that wasn’t an issue. My emails to the director asking her, well, what is… When we go, if we went in there, what are they going to ask in terms of documentation that you already don’t have? What information are they going to ask of him that you don’t already have? What are we going to be doing there? And I never got a reply.
SPEAKER 12 :
So they never said anything?
SPEAKER 09 :
No. We show up there for the appointment. It was a specific office. And everybody was really nice. All the staff was great. got him to be able to sit down early cause he can’t stand for a long time with those lines and, uh, got him expedited without really even having to ask. They just brought him right, right up to brought me up to the counter. Um, without knowing the story, they just knew, you know, he’s a senior, he’s 90 years old, let him sit down and get in and out. And, uh, so I did that. Uh, the woman asked, well, I gave her the form. Um, well, he has to take an eye test. And I said, no, we already got a waiver on that. I’ve got an email on that from the director. I could show you, or you can just give her a call. And she said, well, I would have to call her because her system had no notes on there about it, despite a dozen emails going back and forth, no notes in the system. It just said that my online application for his license renewal was rejected. That’s all she knew. So anyway, she gets the approval. She gets the manager for the office over. Again, everyone was very, very helpful in the office. Very, very nice. And she had spoken to the director. The manager there pushed through the system because the system was still not really allowing it to go through easily. She just said to the staff person, send me the stuff. I’ll initial it. and it will be approved that that will be that. Then we get moved over to the other window because he has to take a new photograph, which wouldn’t have been required if everything was done online. So he does the photograph, and I have to recertify all the information about him, which I already did online, but they have to go through the process again, et cetera. And then as I’m checking to make sure all the data is correct, I say, well, what’s this code letter? And it says, well, the C is for corrective lenses. I said, this whole thing is about getting a renewal license without corrective lenses because he went through the surgery. He no longer needs glasses, et cetera. And she says, oh. And she gets some assistance from the staff person next door, and they straighten that out. And that was it. We were in and out. pretty as quickly as could be expected and i was fine but it’s what struck me is it’s amazing that despite how nice people are despite how willing and truly wanting to help you they can’t because the way the system is designed and they and and we’ve allowed you know it’s uh what is it uh What was that movie where the machines take over? I guess there are a lot of movies like that. There are several, yes. It’s something like that, where the computer systems that we design has no ability to override. They can’t think.
SPEAKER 12 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah. We just had a guest on talking about AI. You still have to have some ability for a manager to say, this is ridiculous. I’m authorizing it. End of story. and let’s just get it done.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, the problem, as you know, on the state level, that it doesn’t – it’s not the private sector, Paul. They don’t have that ability, unfortunately. Very seldom do they have that ability, and they need empowered to be able to do that.
SPEAKER 09 :
Yeah, yeah. You know, think about the benefit and the corollary is the U.S. military. The U.S. military, besides the technology advantages – The way it’s designed is to enable and empower at the lowest level possible for enormous flexibility and creativity in the battlefield. And that’s what I consistently hear from the professionals, which I am not, that makes us stand apart from every other country in the world, that you have very young people They’re being trained incredibly well and then being able to do their jobs and make significant decisions as needed based on the field conditions. You have your plan, but if you need to punt, you’re allowed to do that. And that just doesn’t happen with the bureaucracy of the state. No, it does not. Or cities, for that matter.
SPEAKER 12 :
No, it does not. You’re 100% correct. Paul, thank you. So anyway, you got him all dialed in. He’s got a license now.
SPEAKER 09 :
He’s got a life. All right. And I just emailed her and said, hopefully by next year, and hopefully he’s still alive, by next year when we do this, it could all be done online.
SPEAKER 12 :
Awesome. End of story. That’s awesome. Paul, appreciate you, man. Thanks for the update. All right. Bye-bye. All right, man. Have a great rest of your day. We’ll be back in a moment. Golden Eagle Financial is up next. Your financial future needs planned out. Make sure it’s all dialed in. Talk to Al Smith today. Just go to klzradio.com and find him.
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SPEAKER 05 :
Putting reason into your afternoon drive. This is John Rush.
SPEAKER 12 :
All right, we are back. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560. My son Richard joining us now. Richard, we were going to talk today with the big, beautiful bill and a lot of the changes that have come out of, or a lot of the changes that came out of that bill, I should say, in regards to EVs and some of the rebates and credits and so on. And states will most likely still decide to do something about on their own, but as of, I believe it is, don’t quote me, it’s either the beginning or end of September, but in September, I believe the $7,500 federal credit goes away, and my prediction is, and we were talking about this a little bit earlier today, but my prediction is that’s going to have a huge impact on EV sales in general.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, I think that you’re correct in that I think that it will, well, it’s definitely going to maybe mitigate some of the How do you say, I guess, the rush that some people have had to do it, right, because the incentives have been so good and maybe even the putting on par with some of these engines, right, the engines that are still out or obviously that are out there more prevalent. I am with you. I think that it’s something that people probably aren’t talking about enough, Dad, because it’s. It’s a big thing. I don’t think… Obviously, everyone made a big deal about Musk, and even Trump made a big deal about Musk losing it. Although, I think it hurts Tesla less than it hurts everyone else because… His cars have already been essentially out of… They’ve made too much of that $7,500 credit on the federal side of stuff. And so his vehicles will be impacted a lot less than other manufacturers. However, like you said, I think that… Well, this kind of puts all the vehicles back on a level playing field. Now, granted, like you say, there are going to be some stuff that some states, I think, are going to do that will maybe incentivize. And maybe they do a little bit more incentives, right? Because technically the higher sales tax amounts that the states get, I don’t know. I’m sure the states, they can always come up with creative ways of doing stuff. But, again, it’s sort of been for the longest time, you know, everyone’s argument on the EV side of stuff is, well, we need to incentivize people. And your and my answer has always been, well, why? Why not just have them stand alone, right? You know, whether it be for performance or luxury or, you know, some of the features that they can do. Because EVs are really cool. They are a cool thing, but they’re not quite up to par as far as, Well, just the value, right? You and I kind of did a little bit of math today, and we won’t go into the nitty-gritty with that, and maybe we can talk a little bit about that. For the most part, though, Dad, most EVs are still more expensive than their… ICE counterparts, correct?
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, they are. And for those of you on the tax end of it, I did look it up while Richard was talking. September 30th is when that tax credit will end. And I’m not sure exactly where – that’s something where I always stress, please, don’t rely on anybody, including your local dealer, to tell you what you can and can’t qualify for. There’s a lot of stipulations, IRS code-wise. I shouldn’t say restipulations. There’s a lot of IRS code surrounding that. So before you do anything, always double check to make sure that, you know, if you’ve got an accountant, check with them. If you’re doing this on your own, go read all of the regulations and that on that before you do anything. Some of you will qualify for things differently than what somebody sitting in the cubicle next to you might qualify for. So I always make sure that I stress that that’s where it gets a little dicey, Richard, on regulations. because they’re not the same for everybody, and that’s on the federal and state level as well. But I do know this. The federal credit is going away on September 30th, so if it’s something you’ve thought of doing, you probably ought to get after it sooner than later. I do think, though, Richard, back to what you were saying, that while they’re cool, While I do think that there’s a place for them, the reality is a lot of them have been sold strictly off of the fact that you can get $11,500 here in Colorado, by the way. Depending upon what state you live in, that could be higher or lower. But here in Colorado, it’s been about $11,500 off the price of the car. And the reality is that makes the EV come in some cases cheaper than what its gas counterpart is. We did a little math today on a vehicle that you’re driving that we’ll talk about here and do a review on right after the break. But in general, if you did away with all of the tax credits, you’re going to pay more for an EV than you will its ICE counterpart, its internal combustion engine counterpart. Now, in some cases, there is no counterpart. That vehicle stands alone, and that EV, there’s really nothing else like it. And by the way, Richard, I think that’s something that manufacturers are going to have to do more of. In other words, what competes with this particular EV? Well, if the answer is nothing, well, now it has something that it’s – that its marketability-wise is different than anything else, and it might actually keep that model selling. If, on the same token, that EV has a direct ICE competitor, I’m sorry to say, when the $7,500 goes away, and depending upon what certain states do, that EV vehicle is going to lose traction to its ICE counterpart.
SPEAKER 07 :
Correct. And, well, I guess I’ll kind of take a step back and say this for folks, because maybe some of you are saying, well, then what’s the point of an EV? Well, performance-wise, Dad, they are hard to beat.
SPEAKER 12 :
They are.
SPEAKER 07 :
Absolutely. It doesn’t matter if you have a lower-end EV or a Tesla. You know, they’re high-powered, be a ludicrous mode, all that sort of stuff, right? The electric power… Yeah, really quick for those listening.
SPEAKER 12 :
When you get used to driving an EV with its instant-on power, I’ll just say it straight up, Richard. When you get used to that and you hop in anything else that doesn’t quite… Well, won’t do that the same way because gas engines won’t unless you’ve got a really high performance car. They will not act the same. I’ll tell you, Richard, it’s different. It’s really a complete driving experience that if you’ve never driven an EV, you don’t understand because going from one to the other is it’s polar opposites from one another.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, it’s a polar opposite to that. I mean, you go even into the one-pedal driving, right, where you can – essentially, you never really have to use the brake pedal. And for folks that don’t know, basically, it uses the electric motors, their resistance – That’s right, the regenerative braking. Yeah, to stop the vehicle, you get more. That’s right. The vehicle I’m driving now, you can adjust the sensitivity of that, which we’ll talk about in a second. But ultimately, it’s a nice experience because it’s actually a more relaxing, it’s a less stressful, less strenuous driving experience.
SPEAKER 12 :
Correct.
SPEAKER 07 :
However, there is a cost with that, and honestly, that manufacturers to this point have not had to – well, really, they haven’t had to do much marketing of the EVs to set them apart, right? They haven’t had to tell people, oh, this is why you should buy all of this.
SPEAKER 12 :
All they’ve done it off of is you’re saving the planet, and that’s been their main – I’m glad you brought that up because you’re right. Their main goal with an EV is, oh, you’re saving the planet by this. They haven’t had to really market what makes an EV different or better than its ICE counterpart. They’ve strictly done it off of you’re saving the planet. That’s not enough, by the way. It’s not going to be enough.
SPEAKER 1 :
Sure.
SPEAKER 07 :
Correct. And in some cases, Dad, like you said, let’s say it’s a comparable vehicle, but the EV is about $5,000 more expensive. Well, some people may be willing to pay that for some of the features you and I just talked about. Right. There’s also some other features that they can put in because they can hide the batteries differently, and so you actually have more storage, and you have some different technology features that they can put in. Mm-hmm. as far as even cooling the car down and certain things that you can do, but they have not done a good job at differentiating, you know, I talk about that all the time on the business side, of saying, this is why you should do this. And then you also have some manufacturers who have tried to, and a lot of them have walked it back, of putting all of their eggs in one basket, right? They’ve really tried to push the EV. Well, this is the future. And it’s like, you and I have said this from the beginning, which is, no, I think EVs have a place, right? They have that performance piece that’s a really great piece.
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, and really quick, for those of you listening, let me just throw a few of the advantages of the EV side, the electric vehicle. Somebody said, what’s EV? Electric vehicle, that’s what EV stands for. So there are advantages on the EV side, and both Richard and I know this. I, because I’ve owned one now since 2020, so five years now, probably, Richard, longer than anybody else in media that speaks on this particular topic i think i’m i think i’m fair to say that i’ve probably owned one longer than anybody else out there in that space you know in this space has so i can speak directly to it there are advantages and disadvantages we all pretty much know what the disadvantages are you don’t have the ability to go coast to coast as easily as you would you can do it but it’s not done as easily as it would be in an ice engine okay All that set aside, most people never travel outside of their regular area, probably more than 50 to 75 miles anyway. So let’s just throw that part of it out. We all know that’s the disadvantage. But, Richard, the advantages to an EV are convenience. Number one, you’re never going to the gas station. You don’t have to stop and charge. If you’ve got a charging station at home, which most people with EVs do, You literally get in the car. It’s always charged, always ready to go. In most cases, 230 to 250 miles plus on a single charge. Away you go. You get home. You charge you back up at night. You’re charging in the middle of the night, by the way, which is less money to do than what you would be during the day. But the reality is that’s one convenience. The power side of it, which you just said a moment ago, that’s the other convenience. The comfortability of an EV, the technology side of it, they have done extremely well. And EVs are packed full of technology that make the car a blast to drive. The convenience factor is great. The downside, again, one of the negative, I should say, Richard, is, of course, tire wear is very, very high on an EV. But your maintenance costs on an EV, far less than it would be on a regular gas engine. So, again, those are the selling sides or the pluses on an EV that unless you’ve ever driven one and or owned one, Most people don’t know. Probably the number one biggest reason, Richard, on an EV is just the convenience factor alone. You’re just not monkeying around with as much maintenance and fuel as you would with an ICE engine.
SPEAKER 07 :
No, I totally agree. And it’ll be interesting, Dad, to see which manufacturers, to your point, after September, the latter half of this year, will be really curious.
SPEAKER 12 :
Which they better be working on now. All these marketing companies that are working for these guys better be working on as we speak, Richard, because that day is coming soon.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, and that’s my point. You’ll be seeing who actually paid attention and who’s going to be able to educate their dealerships and their salesmen to say, this is why you should do it. Yeah, it may be a little bit more expensive than a comparable car or whatever it may be, but these are the benefits that you get from it. Up to this point, they’ve been able to rely on the low-hanging fruit, which is, yep, it’s just cheaper. This is your credit. You get all those things. So all of that to say that, and we’ll get into a little bit more in our next segment, you and I do think that there is a place in the market for electric vehicles. Is it to the tune of where they are potentially 10%, 20% more expensive than their counterparts? That part remains to be seen, and that’s, I think, kind of what we’re waiting for.
SPEAKER 12 :
That’s right. All right, we’ll be back in a moment. Don’t go anywhere. We’ve got a review to do as well. Ridgeline Auto Brokers coming up next, where if you want to buy a used EV, you want to buy a used ICE engine vehicle, you want to buy a used truck, you name it, they’ll take care of you. Just go to RidgelineAutoBrokers.com.
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SPEAKER 12 :
All right, we are back. We’ll do a review here in just one moment. Before we do that, though, I wanted to make sure, too, Charlie, make sure that I said, you know, ICE vehicles, ICE means internal combustion engine vehicles. That can be diesel or gas. No, it’s not what we pick up illegals in. That’s a totally different ICE vehicle. So ICE means internal combustion engine, so gasoline-powered, diesel-powered. That’s an ICE vehicle. And Richard, really quick, it’s going to be interesting to see what the manufacturers actually do to say here are the positives of owning an electric vehicle over an internal combustion engine vehicle. Because, and by the way, they better be really thinking because there’s an entire market segment, mostly conservatives, that have been anti-EV up to this point. And it’ll be really interesting to see how do they tackle that segment of the market or do EVs just die off? I don’t think they will, but I think they’re going to slow way up.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, I agree. I think it will force some of these manufacturers to shift their strategies, right, which is to say where it should have been all along. Right. That’s right. Which is EV server purpose. And one thing I was going to say before is the other thing too, Dad, right, is everyone markets these ranges, right? You’ve got 300 miles. Well, that’s on a full charge. If you want to not be swapping your battery out after every six, seven years, maybe if you want to get it to the 10-, 11-, 12-year mark, they don’t recommend you go that, right? They want it between 10% and 80%. They want you to very rarely go to 100%, and a lot of people don’t know that.
SPEAKER 12 :
That’s right.
SPEAKER 07 :
And so there is a learning curve, I think, that’s going to kind of come into play here. But like you said, I think it will be interesting because it’s going to force them to actually have to sell these rather than sell themselves.
SPEAKER 12 :
That’s right, through tax credits.
SPEAKER 07 :
To a whole new market of people.
SPEAKER 12 :
That’s exactly right. Exactly. All right, so it is that time where we do a review on a weekly basis. So, Richard, what have you driven lately?
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, so I drove kind of an electric vehicle side of things, a 2025 Volvo XC90, Dad. This was the plug-in hybrid version, so it gives you about 40 miles worth of range on a single charge, which for a lot of people is sufficient, especially if there’s even charging at your office or you’ve got the capabilities to – do whatever you need to do. Again, you can go 40 miles on electric only, and then it switches seamlessly to its hybrid powertrain, even charges the battery a little bit as you’re going. It’s got a lot of flexibility. This is a luxury SUV, Dad, right? This is Volvo’s three-row SUV, but it is a luxury car. I don’t want people to mistake that and think that this is a great value. This car, as we tested it was about eighty nine thousand dollars i think just a hair underneath that but again you get that swedish luxury right you get really nice apportionments on the inside heated and ventilated seats you’ve got captain’s chairs i think that are heat that are heated in the in the second row you’ve got a third row granted when you put that up you don’t have a ton of room in the you know very back for um cargo or whatever it might be but you’ve got the third row if you need it And you get the styling, right, Dad? This is a really pretty car. It’s a fun car to drive. Its lines look great. And this car, Dad, is something that Volvo’s, well, they’ve been doing for a while now. And I think, let me pull up my facts here. It was introduced in 2016. They’ve got some new trim level names for 2025. But for the most part, Dad, they’ve kind of just done some subtle redesigns to this car. And that’s because it’s done really well for them. And it really attracts fans. the right type of buyer, which is, again, you need to carry around four people, maybe five, and still have some cargo room because you can split that third row. And, Dad, the benefit of these plug-in hybrids over the all-electric vehicles that are out there is you have the capability of just charging from a normal 110-volt outlet, right? Just plug this car in. And overnight, in most cases, I think it’ll probably charge straight from your outlet, right? As long as you give it about 10, 12 hours to charge. I don’t have the exact figures in front of me. Now, if you do have a level 2 charger… I think this thing will go from basically zero miles to about 40 miles all within, I don’t know, maybe two, three hours, Dad, right? These plug-in hybrids, because these are just such a much smaller battery pack, right, than compared to their full EV counterparts. And so, folks, while this used to qualify for some different rebates and things like that, but the benefit of this is, like a lot of the cars in this segment and even other segments, is if you want that flexibility to say, hey, I’m not going very far today, or maybe my commute’s 20 miles one way, even with picking up the kids, dropping them off, or maybe it’s about 50 each day. Well, you’re only using 10 miles of gas only. You can probably go maybe even two, three weeks on just charging this car, Dad, right, not having to put fuel in it. and I think there’s a benefit there. And you’ve driven these Volvos in the past. The luxury really is nice on these Swedish-made vehicles.
SPEAKER 12 :
Luxury, safety, of course, Volvo, well-known for their safety and how they actually build the vehicle. It’s one of the safest vehicles on the road. I mean, I would not hesitate to buy one of their vehicles. I do like the plug-in hybrid version probably more than I do, even though I’m a standard EV car owner. I like the plug-in hybrid because you kind of get the best of both worlds, meaning if you want to take a trip across the country… knock your socks off go for it there’s some places to plug in along the way so be it if not you can still go coast to coast very easy just like you could in a regular internal combustion engine vehicle because it has one of those on it it is a true hybrid but yet it’s plug-in meaning that you get that benefit of that 40 mile range or so around town where for like you said richard a lot of people would never even have the regular gas engine come on in most cases because if they charge nightly, that normal charge daily would be sufficient for them to go to and from work, school, whatever it is. And by the way, do it in complete luxury and style and safety at the same time.
SPEAKER 07 :
Nope, absolutely. And the last thing I’ll say is, like you say, again, folks, price point, about $88,000, $89,000. It is a luxury SUV. Don’t get it confused. However, it’s a car that the warranty kind of proves that, Dad, with what they’ve done. And like you say, the safety is sort of second to none. That’s kind of what they became known on. And they just put a lot of nice creature comfort. They actually redesigned the infotainment display, Dad. It made it easier to use. And for those of you that have listened to our past reviews on Volvo, that’s maybe the only biggest complaint we’ve had. It’s an easier-to-use interface. Really cool how they’ve integrated CarPlay and Android Auto into there, all that. So if you want to learn more about this, folks, Catch your local Volvo dealer. Test drive this vehicle. Get your family in it. Ask questions about the EV side of it, those sorts of things. And when you do that, let them know that John and Richard Rush from Drive Radio and Rush to Reason sent you.
SPEAKER 12 :
All right, before I let you go, one texter asked, what do you think of the key on that car? Is the Volvo key okay or is it junk?
SPEAKER 07 :
Um, it’s a little bit funky, but once you get used to it, it gets, it gets a lot better. Right. And then for folks that don’t know, there’s no buttons on the flat parts of it, but all the buttons are on the side.
SPEAKER 12 :
Right.
SPEAKER 07 :
Right. And so it takes a little bit getting used to it. But once you do that, it’s, It’s just like anything else.
SPEAKER 12 :
Okay, gotcha. All right, I’ll let you go, Richard. Have a great night. Thank you very much. Cub Creek Heating and Air Conditioning is next. Any problems with your AC unit at all, even a second opinion, give Cub Creek a call. Just give them a little bit of time. Be patient. It’s their busy season. Go to klzradio.com.
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SPEAKER 12 :
Now back to Rush to Reason on KLZ 560. And that’s it for hour two. Another full hour coming your way. Don’t go anywhere. J.T. Young will be joining us. We’re going to talk about from Iran to immigration. The experts are wrong again. We’ll be back in a moment. Don’t go anywhere. Rush to Reason, Denver’s Afternoon Rush, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 1 :
Bye. I’m a rich guy
