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Washington state to ban sales of new gas cars by 2035, following California
Washington state will follow California and prohibit the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035, Jay Inslee, the state governor, said. California regulators on Thursday moved forward with a landmark plan to phase out the sale of gas cars over the next 13 years in the US’s largest auto market. The new policy requires 100% of new sales of passenger cars, trucks and SUVs in the state to be powered by electricity or hydrogen by 2035, with one-fifth allowed to be plug-in hybrids. [ read more … ]
Inflation Reduction Act
A Guide to the Renewable Energy Provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is probably the most consequential climate change legislation ever enacted by the U.S. government—it certainly will be the most expensive—and accordingly, it will have a major impact on the renewable energy industry, mostly in the form of incentives and credits. Our team has reviewed the IRA’s 700-plus pages and brought together in this convenient guide all of the provisions relevant to the renewable energy industry.
[ read more … ]
Commentary
We Can’t Just Throw Bigger Batteries at Electric Vehicles
As much as these psychological challenges are born of American geography, history and mythology, they are also born of the unique attributes of gasoline. Rather than holding E.V. adoption hostage to our ability to make batteries match internal combustion in every way, government policy should focus on the cases where E.V.s have advantages that internal combustion will never match: waking up every morning with a full “tank” sufficient for daily commuting and errands. [ read more … ]
Climate
FDR built a ‘Great Wall of Trees.’ Could Biden do the same?
Three years into his presidency and five years into the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt asked destitute Great Plains farmers to stop growing wheat and start growing trees. The idea seemed crazy. Unemployment was rampant in the mid-1930s, and families across the country needed grains for food. But Roosevelt said the federal government would pay farmers to grow trees in soils stripped bare by the Dust Bowl. Not just a few trees, but 220 million trees. [ read more … ]
EVs
California E.V. Mandate Finds a Receptive Auto Industry
For years, as California has moved ahead with ambitious clean-air regulations, the state has had to prod the auto industry to go along. Now, in the push to electrify the nation’s car fleet, it is California that is keeping up with automakers. Even before state regulators acted Thursday to ban sales of new internal-combustion vehicles by 2035, Detroit’s Big 3 and their international rivals were setting increasingly aggressive targets for exclusively electric product lines. But while the goals of automakers and regulators are aligned, mass production of affordable electric cars — which requires reconceiving the supply chains and engineering developed for internal-combustion vehicles — will not be easy. [ read more … ]
The Only Electric Car Worth Buying Right Now Is Used
To the brave, prudent shoppers trying to cash in on new US incentives to buy an electric vehicle: Good luck. The $12 billion in EV support written into the Inflation Reduction Act — including rebates of up to $7,500 at the point of purchase — is expected to shift electric-car buying into high gear. But most of the battery-powered whips on the marketare likely too expensive, too foreign or too scarce for a purchase to pan out anytime soon. As BloombergNEF analyst Ethan Zindler puts it: “There aren’t many cars available and there aren’t many credits available in 2022.” [ read more … ]
Note: News clips provided do not necessarily reflect the views of coalition or its member governors.