The Patriot Post® · Biden Declares War on Gas Cars
It’s never a good thing when the state picks winners and losers, but that’s exactly what Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats are doing with their obsessive push to replace our gas-powered vehicles with electric ones.
And what better way to do it than by unleashing the power of the regulatory state? The New York Times’s Coral Davenport, reporting from an EPA test facility in Ann Arbor, Michigan, can hardly contain herself:
Inside a secretive government laboratory, behind a tall fence and armed guards, a team of engineers has been dissecting the innards of the newest all-electric vehicles with a singular goal: Rewrite tailpipe pollution rules to speed up the nation’s transition to electric cars.
On Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency is expected to propose ambitious greenhouse gas emission standards for cars that are so stringent, they’re designed to ensure that two-thirds of the new vehicles sold in the United States are all-electric by 2032, up from just 5.8 percent today. And the rules could put the nation on track to end sales of new gasoline-powered cars as soon as 2035.
So much for the free market. Team Biden’s ecofascists are hell-bent on forcing all of us into electric vehicles, and they’re prepared to do whatever it takes — even if it means ignoring the will of the American people. Consider a new poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, which shows that most Americans aren’t yet sold on EVs. According to the poll, just 8% of U.S. adults say they or someone in their household owns or leases an EV, and just 8% say their household has a plug-in hybrid. As for the people’s preference, 41% say they’re at least somewhat likely to switch to an electric, but nearly half, 47%, say they’re unlikely to do so.
Respondents cited high prices and a lack of charging stations as the primary deterrents, but they also could’ve listed the limited cruising range of EVs. That range isn’t good to start with, but it’s even worse during the cold winter months, when, as U.S. Oil and Gas Association President Tim Stewart says, the battery’s charge can be reduced by as much as 40%.
As for those high prices, the average cost of a new EV is now more than $58,000, according to Kelley Blue Book. That’s up around $2,000 from a year ago, when we wrote about Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg’s efforts to convince us that everyone benefits by buying an electric vehicle. Yep, whether you’re a family farmer with an old F-150, a suburban mom with a used minivan, or a poor college kid getting to and from campus in a beat-up Accord, all you need is one of Pothole Pete’s coal-charged, battery-powered, overpriced beauties.
As the Times laments, “The history-making shift from the country’s century-plus love affair with gas-driven vehicles still has a ways to travel.”
They’re telling us. Back in the day, Henry Ford used to say that his customers could have their Model T in any color they wanted, so long as it was black. Similarly, Joe Biden seems to be saying that we’re free to drive whatever cars we want, so long as they’re electric. “The future of the auto industry is electric,” said Scranton Joe during a visit to Michigan’s Ford Rouge EV facility two years ago. “There’s no turning back.”
Indeed, there’ll be no turning back if Biden and California Governor Gavin Newsom get their way. As Fox News reports, “Biden set a goal shortly after taking office for half of all cars sold in the U.S. to be zero emissions by 2030 and has repeatedly visited EV manufacturing facilities.” As for Newsom, he’s planning to phase out sales of gas-powered cars in the state by 2035.
Here, we should remember that the Left is misleading us on electric vehicles. The statists’ obsession with EVs isn’t about “climate change” or “the environment.” It’s about control. As Mark Tapscott notes: “The central reason the Left loves EVs is that the process of forcing Americans to convert to electric-powered transportation will destroy forever the incredible freedom and prosperity associated with privately owned gas-powered vehicles. The future will instead be centrally controlled by rich elitists and their corrupt politicians, power-hungry bureaucrats, and ideologically driven ‘experts.’”
Folks, it’s time to buckle up. Elections have consequences, and Joe Biden’s regulatory commissars are just one of the more onerous examples of that truism. And if you thought his war on gas stoves was over the top, just wait till he comes for your gas-powered car.
Update 4/12: The administration did indeed unveil draconian regulations on gas-powered cars. “EPA estimates that by 2032, if finalized, the proposed rules could result in electrification of 67% of new sedans, crossovers, SUVs, and light trucks; 50% of new vocational vehicles (such as buses and garbage trucks); 35% of new short-haul freight tractors; and 25% of new long-haul freight tractors,” read a White House statement. “Cars and truck manufacturers have made clear that the future of transportation is electric. The market is moving.”
The market is not moving without the heavy hand of government.