The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday edition that car-rental giant Hertz plans to unload 20,000 cars, about a third of its American electric-vehicle fleet, and make up the shortfall with regular gasoline cars. The Globe's Eric Reguly writes that while manufacturers and consumers are increasingly doubtful about EVs, governments are not. Canada plans to ban the sale of cars, light trucks and SUVs with tailpipe emissions starting in 2035. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wants two-thirds of new vehicles sold by 2032 to be electric. In Britain, the target is 80 per cent by 2030. It is hard to believe that Western governments have turned into EV disciples. Forcing carmakers to pump out EVs is somewhere between wrong and outright loony. EVs are generally a quarter to a third more costly to buy, depending on government rebates and taxation. Governments everywhere seem to assume that EV prices will naturally decline as production increases and the metals used in making the cars -- cobalt, nickel, copper, lithium, rare earths -- become more plentiful. All of these metals are finite resources and there is simply not enough supply on Earth's crust to convert 1.3 billion cars and light trucks to electric propulsion.