Days after state regulators voted to ban gasoline and diesel cars and trucks, millions of California residents received an emergency alert to cut off all unessential electricity use and to stop charging their electric vehicles (EVs) in order to keep the lights on around the state. The timing is uncanny and shows the recklessness of a rushing to ban gas and diesel cars in order to force vehicle electrification. California’s policy v. electricity mis-match was the topic of a recent CNBC Squawk Box discussion. It’s just a couple minutes and it’s certainly worth your time.
Clearly, the grid isn’t ready for California to be outlawing liquid fuel vehicles. If California doesn’t heed its own warning, President Biden and EPA Administrator Regan should. EPA gets the final say on whether California bans gasoline and diesel cars and trucks and whether that policy will spread to cover millions more Americans. This should be an easy no for the President and Administrator. Competition among diverse vehicle technologies can deliver cleaner transportation without demanding even more from a fragile electric grid.
To learn more, give this Wall Street Journal’s editorial a read: No Fun in the California Sun.
The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) is the leading trade association representing the makers of the fuels that keep us moving, the petrochemicals that are the essential building blocks for modern life, and the midstream companies that get our feedstocks and products where they need to go. We make the products that make life better, safer and more sustainable — we make progress.
