California is mulling a ban on the internal combustion engine, meaning, primarily, non-electric cars.
“California Governor Jerry Brown “has expressed an interest” in eventually banning the sale of vehicles using internal-combustion engines …
“Achieving a single-state ban on specific kinds of cars would be tough, but California has been able to create its own pollution-related legislation since the 1970s. Instead of asking the EPA for waivers to pass this kind of legislation, the state could change vehicle registration rules as it sees fit, which could work as a sort of ersatz ban.
“All this talk of bans is a bit premature, though. The CARB chief who talked to Bloomberg pointed out that there’s no firm date when such a ban could become feasible. It’s on the order of decades away, so if you’re planning on going out and buying a Mustang GT350R next week, feel free to do so with impunity.”
This is obviously not plausible in the short term, as electric vehicles are too expensive for most people, despite being heavily subsidized by the government. But then, plausibility is one thing that California’s loonie politicians don’t seriously care about; that a state with sprawling horizontal cities and a myriad of suburbs that was designed around affordable personal transportation (i.e. car culture) could still operate for most people if they didn’t have cars is insane… which is why the elitist loonies might just push ahead sooner rather than later.
Of course, much comes down to the details of the ban. Would it just be a ban on the sale of non-electric vehicles? If so, people could just buy their cars from out of state. However, the ban would be much more severe if it also prohibited the registration of non-electric vehicles, doubly so if there are no grand fathered vehicles or non exorbitant registration fees therefore (in order to satisfy the ultra rich overlords in California).
Perhaps California might go further and try to ban any non-electric vehicle. This would have the effect of closing off most traffic to the state, and would even directly affect interstate commerce… meaning Congress could legitimately intervene.
That this proposal is being seriously pushed by Gov. “Moonbeam” is just another indicator that if you are one of the remaining non-Progressive sane people in California, you should try planning your escape now.
A little mood music:
