California is expected to take one of the most drastic steps yet toward climate change, the ban on gas-powered automobiles. On Thursday, Governor Gavin Newsom (D) is expected to announce a sweeping plan to prohibit the sale of new gasoline-powered cars by 2035, marking a radical push toward greener energy and electric vehicles.
The New York Times reports:
“This is huge,” said Margo Oge, an electric vehicles expert who headed the Environmental Protection Agency's transportation emissions program under Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. “California will now be the only government in the world that mandates zero-emission vehicles. It is unique.”
The rule, issued by the California Air Resources Board, will require that 100 percent of all new cars sold in the state by 2035 be free of the fossil fuel emissions chiefly responsible for warming the planet, up from 12 percent today. It sets interim targets requiring that 35 percent of new passenger vehicles sold in the state by 2026 produce zero emissions. That would climb to 68 percent by 2030.
While climate activists cheer the news many experts are already concerned by the logistics of such a drastic step and the impact it will have on auto manufacturers.
John Bozzella, president of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents large U.S. and foreign automakers, said California's new electric vehicle sale mandates would be “extremely challenging” to meet. “Whether or not these requirements are realistic or achievable is directly linked to external factors like inflation, charging and fuel infrastructure, supply chains, labor, critical mineral availability and pricing, and the ongoing semiconductor shortage,” Mr. Bozzella said by email.
California's drastic move is likely to spur a domino effect in at least 10 other states triggering them to adopt similar policies toward emission-emitting vehicles. Multiple states already follow California's broader vehicle reduction program while others are expected to adopt the rule in the next year.
“The climate crisis is solvable if we focus on the big, bold steps necessary to stem the tide of carbon pollution,” Gov. Newsome said in a statement.
The Golden State is currently the largest auto market in the United States.
The move echoes the Biden Administration's ongoing push toward electric vehicles and climate change. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has been a strong proponent of electric vehicles, even dispelling mistruths that EVs are cheaper than traditional alternatives. (Related: Biden Admin Says Americans Should Learn to Live With Inflation, but Vows to Stop ‘Climate Change')
“We're for cutting the cost of electric vehicles, because when you have an electric vehicle then you're also gonna be able to save on gas, but you've got to be able to afford it in the first place,” Buttigieg said during a radio interview last month.
Buttigieg continued, “Now we're actually starting to see on some models, the cost come to where, even if your car payment's a little higher, your gas payment will be a little lower and you come out ahead.”
However, experts quickly laid out the facts for the Biden Administration that EVs are actually more expensive than traditional alternatives and must be charged more frequently due to their short range.
Myron Ebell, the director of the Competitive Enterprise Institute's Center for Energy and Environment, told FOX Business, “It's really kind of a con job. It may be a good deal for some people in some places under some circumstances. But by-and-large right now, it's not a good deal.”
The California gas-car ban is virtually assured to impact minority communities hardest without factoring in the sheer cost of a new EV minority communities have less access to charging ports and often have longer work commutes. Newsom's progressive move could very likely impact many families' direct abilities to provide necessities for themselves.
Newsom's radical plan is more drastic than federal goals, leading some to wonder if this could be foreshadowing his platform for an upcoming presidential run. The California governor has hinted toward higher political aspirations in the past and some Democrats have already said they would opt for younger and more energized candidates as opposed to President Biden who will be 82 in 2024.
READ NEXT: 11th Texas County Declares Invasion as Migrant Crossings Approach Milestone >>
This whole climate change push is a hoax and will only line the pockets of those who are pushing it!
You are lucky to have your comment posted…They trashed mine.
The socialists are unified around the world to force their two class form of socialism, which is extremely close in concept to monarchies, where the workers are serfs, property of the state, and the ruling class is like the nobles of old. Notice how lawyers are now allowed a government approved title of nobility, Esquire.
To our current ruling class, the Constitution is an annoying artifact of history, where there was always a ruling class, before America screwed things up with equal opportunity.
Equal opportunity is fine. It is guaranteed equal outcomes which are the problem.
The best one was child obesity is caused by climate change
How can anyone in their right mind, think this idea is a good one. Science says this is the wrong position to take. Charging stations need real power, IE coal and oil to work..The batteries require huge mines for the precious metals that are need to make them. I understand the charging stations in remote areas will need Diesel Powered Generators for the power.
The earth hasn’t ‘warmed’ more than a fraction of a degree in Years..The oceans are what regulate it’s temperature…SMH
They already have blackouts and brownouts at times. So straining the electrical grid far more is a recipe for disaster. Sun and wind will not produce sufficient energy for so many vehicles all plugging in every night.
Where are Californians going to by cars when the world’s supply of lithium runs out in 2025?
You mean sold to China?
They all live in tents
Welcome to communist California. If you people had any brains left that live there you would move out with due haste. Gavin Newsom and the California state legislature are communist traitors to the people of California. You could pay me 10 million a year and I still wouldn’t live in that s–thole state.
Welcome to the dystopia of the Peoples’ Republic of California ruled by Gavin Newsome and his socialist fellow travelers. Obstructionist protected special interest groups will prevent the construction of the power plants, substations, and power lines to provide the electricity to charge these vehicles. In time, only the ruling class will be allowed to own personal vehicles, if this deception continues. The bureaucracy, public employee union officials, politicians, and oligarchs are the new ruling class with elections managed by a carefully controlled media as in Putin’s Russia. Notice how few people comment on these posts, which tells us how few people look beyond social media, radio, and/or television. Special interest groups, such as unions, have massive mailing lists to spread their propaganda to their captive audience.
“You will own nothing and you will be happy.” Um, NFW.
These Democrats are complete idiots pushing the narrative of the Green Energy Crap.Where is all the electricity going to come from with all of these electric vehicles. The oceans and the sun are what regulates our weather. Do they honestly beleive that Russia, China and all the others countries will join this Green New Energy charade…..Hell NO! This is all a great big attempt to change this great country into a Socialist nightmare.
Have NO energy to power EVs etc
Need Nuclear now
Thorium reactors
Something aside wind & solar
Cant afford EVs
Few chargers
& CA electric rates High
I thought the world was supposed to be uninhabitable by then ?????
California is quite likely to encourage the exodus from California to states like Texas. Many of these will be successful businesses with large fleets of vehicles needed to conduct business. Only the extreme left likes a government that dictates all of your personal choices.
I see internal combustion tourism on the horizon. . .
2034 will be a great year for auto sales in Kalifornia as people snap up the last of the gas-powered cars. 2035 will see auto sales cut to need zero as all the numb-nuts already will have one, and those who don’t won’t want one. The auto-restoration business will be a great place to invest as gas-powered cars age, and people will pay to have them brought back to like-new.condition to avoid getting stuck with an electric when their gas buggies wear out. The ozone build up resulting from all those electric motors will reach toxic levels and everyone will die.