California: zero emissions cars powered by not zero emissions power plants.

In reply to RevRico :

But if I'm buying a vehicle, I like not "filling up" everyday in addition to not having to plan a route to charge miles out of my way on top of the waiting for a charge. I got to Arizona from Michigan in 2 days, 28hrs of driving. Of course I had a definite hard stop end point date. How many days would that take on electric? There aren't readily available charge points out in the desert. When is someone going to figure out to put a charge station somewhere convenient and it won't be free and the government to tax it? Soon as that happens, electric will become a dinosaur.

What are you guys talking about in terms of lack of energy. California has been shutting down power plants all over the state due to lack of use. We can make the power especially if we do charging at night. Also its not like everyone who buys on of these things is going to 100% deplete the battery. 

Registration of gas powered cars will have to continue as well. The average age of a registered car in California is 11.2 years old. You cannot just pull everything off the road. 

wae said:

(editing to say that I'm not really for gubbmint dictating what the market should or should not produce, so in that regard, I am against.  But not because there's anything wrong with electric cars.)

I think this is one of those "if the market won't do it on its own, policy has to." There is little incentive to hit climate goals on a broad scale otherwise. I was at a conference no less than two years ago when a SVP of Chevron stated their strategy was simply "pump till it's gone." Nice message, enjoy your bonus. 

tremm said:

Who wants something dumb like energy independence as a goal? Easier and less messy to just buy that from other countries. Spend the money on  the defense budget if they don't want to play ball. Problem solved. Good for the country's posture too. That's investing.

Leave car stuff to people who know how to do it. They aren't called the Big 3 for nothing. Silly for states without a car culture to involve themselves in other people's business. 

I'm on board with your sarcasm, but the US already has energy independence. A huge reason why the US has been a bit slower than some other nations to adopt renewable energy sources is because of the energy independence they have that other nations lack. There's enough cheap oil/gas in the US to support the country's energy needs. That also means that the US no longer needs to play global police to ensure free trade in exchange for oil. That's geo-political leverage that is unique among first world countries. Other countries (China, etc) are pushing EVs and renewables because they're trying to gain their own energy independence and re-level that geo political playing field. They're willing to spend the money now to achieve the independence that the US already has. The US has less incentive of course, so they can wait and let other countries do a bunch of development legwork to bring costs down before they invest.

Switching to zero emissions vehicles and electricity generation isn't about that (in the US). It's just about improving air quality and trying to reduce contribution toward climate change.

I hear Mrs. Suddard is building a new patio...

wae said:

I'm also so far to the right that on the street I always make three right turns because I never turn left. 

This needs to be turned into a bumper sticker!