Jimmy Patronis: “the good gentleman may be the only mechanic in the Chamber, but I am the one who was a State fire marshal who saw…”

“the good gentleman may be the only mechanic in the Chamber, but I am the one who was a State fire marshal who saw firsthand how our lithium-ion battery-powered vehicles are not ready for prime time. If you look at what happened when Hurricane Ian devastated south Florida, there were over 25 runaway fires because of EVs that had gotten flooded with saltwater. Heavy metals bridge the batteries and short them out. You can do nothing but park them and watch them burn. These devices are fantastic technology, but they are not battle-tested for our men and women, especially when they are putting themselves in harm's way. A lot of times, the encroachment of those areas that they may be dealing with is going to be in saltwater venues. Any type of flooding, and EVs do not work. In the middle of America, they can have them all they want. Along our coastal regions where our military has to count on reliable vehicles, combustion engines are the only things that are battle-tested that can do the job.”