Washington State has officially pledged to try and end the sale of petrol-fueled cars by 2030 – the most ambitious electric vehicle plan in the nation.
Officials in Washington had already vowed to follow California’s standards on vehicle emissions, which for historical reasons are more stringent than those set by the federal government.
Yet, the plan to sell only electric vehicles by 2030, the details tucked inside the state’s $17bn transportation plan, is the most aspirational in the country.
“Washington is a state that’s in a really great position to lead on the issue,” Matthew Metz, the executive director of an environmental advocacy organisation, Coltura, and one of those who has pushed for the move, told The Independent. He said Washington could continue to follow California’s standards on emissions.
“But we can also move on our own, and really show the world that we’re a leader in EV (electric vehicle) innovation.”
Globally, sales of electric vehicles are estimated to pass ten million this year, an additional four million from 2021, according to research firm BloombergNEF.
The vast majority of the sales were in mainland China. In the US, there were around 535,000 sales, a number expected to increase to about 670,000.
Experts say that rising prices for gasoline and increased output by manufacturers, particularly those they believe consumers particularly desire, such as the Ford F-150 Lightning, are considered potential game changers.
During international climate talks in Scotland last November, a total of six car manufacturers and 30 countries pledged to stop sales of petrol engine cars by 2040. Ford, Mercedes-Benz, General Motors and Volvo were among them.
In a post on Medium, Washington governor Jay Inslee, who in 2020 contested the Democratic nomination for president on a campaign of tackling the climate crisis, said the transportation plan lays “the foundation for a massive shift from simply building more lanes to moving people via cleaner, more efficient transportation options”.
That’s fine, “Inslee.” Not many will want to go to your state. Crash and burn, lib loon.
I like electric vehicles and probably will own one within the next few years. But it is the marketplace that needs to determine what types of vehicles will be sold, otherwise we’re going to find that there suddenly isn’t enough electricity or enough batteries to fulfill these idiotic govt mandates. Milton Friedman once said that if you put the govt in charge of the Sahara Desert, in just a few years there would be a shortage of sand.
These electric cars are going to require MASSIVE amounts of electric energy. Since they are not building new RELIABLE electric plants (solar-especially in northern states where the sun doesn’t shine for several days at a time and will be covered with snow, blocking ANY sunlight from hitting the solar panels-and wind are NOT reliable sources) where is this massive amount of electric going to come from??
THE IGNORANT WASHINGTONIANS AND THEIR ALLIED NEIGHBORS NEED NO EXTERNAL ENEMIES, THE CONSERVATIVES NEED NOT WORRY — THESE STATES WILL SELF DESTRUCT!