A few weeks ago, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued an executive order banning the sale of new gasoline powered automobile engines by 2036, with a phase out schedule over the next fourteen years. “This is the most impactful step our state can take to fight climate change,” Governor Newsom said. The problem with Governor Newsom’s claim is that the biggest impact will be felt by China, who will reap billions if not trillions of dollars over the next decade as the world’s largest lithium ore refining and lithium-ion production operation in the world. Without lithium, there are no electric vehicle batteries, and China knows this, as does Governor Newsom. So why the quick rush for the state government to mandate a certain type of vehicle over another, without market forces driving the shift? Put plainly, it’s a reflection of Democrats’ attempts to put government front and center in our daily lives and make us dependent on it even if the majority doesn’t want it. Here’s a close up look at California, U.S.A, and what it can teach us about going electric nationwide.
As previously mentioned, lithium is an essential mineral used in today’s advanced electronic products, mostly the microchips that go into smart phones and laptops like what you are using to read this article, and increasingly automobiles and other transportation vehicles. For electric cars, lithium-ion is necessary to create the energy needed to sustain a long battery life. The problem is that the U.S. is years away from having the manufacturing capacity to mine lithium and refine it into lithium-ion and manufacture cars at a rate to meet the state of California’s demands. Who has the capacity to mine, refine, ship and produce lithium-ion? China, which controls two-thirds of the world’s lithium production. California’s mandate will help usher in an advanced industrialization of China faster than America’s industrialization at the turn of the 20th century.
In addition, the rapid acceleration is an unfair burden on the automotive industry. John Bozzella, President and CEO of the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, which represents major automakers, told CNBC that “California’s mandate would be ‘extremely challenging’ for automakers to meet.”
“Whether or not these requirements are realistic or achievable is directly linked to external factors like inflation, charging and fuel infrastructure, supply chains, labor, critical mineral availability and pricing, and the ongoing semiconductor shortage,” Bozzella said in a statement. “These are complex, intertwined and global issues.”
While California is “leading the nation,” as Governor Newsom likes to say, here’s a look at how California ranks compared to other states based on some key metrics:
- California has a 4.1% unemployment rate (approx. 791,000 people), the 38th highest in the country and above the national average of 3.6%, according to the August, 2022 numbers reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
- California Ranks 29th on the Heritage Foundation’s new Education Freedom Report Card, which is an annual assessment of education freedom in each state.
- California ranks near the bottom, 48th in overall freedom, based on a combination of personal and economic freedoms, by the CATO Institute’s ‘Freedom in the 50 States’ annual report.
- The nonpartisan ‘Fiscal Stability Ranking’ by U.S. News and World Report puts California at 36th in the nation for long-term and short-term fiscal health.
- California is leading the nation as the state with the highest debt, a mere $506.7 billion dollars owed.
- California’s personal income tax, with a rate of 13.3%, is the highest in the country.
California sure does lead the way. It’s leading so much that its people are fleeing the state, having the 4th largest decline of all 50 states in 2021, according to a recent study by Pew Charitable Trust. “California lost more than 352,000 residents between April 2020 and January 2022,” the Los Angeles Times wrote, which is like a city the size of Anaheim, CA disappearing.
In an ironic scene, one that is really symbolic of California’s long list of problems under Democratic rule, days after Governor Newsom announced the state’s full ban of gasoline cars, the California’s electric grid operator put out a notice telling Californian’s that they “may need to take measures to conserve energy, including by avoiding charging electric vehicles, to prevent strain to the state’s power grid over the Labor Day weekend, officials said,” according to Newsweek. That’s right. In light of a massive heat wave sweeping the country, and Americans about to go on vacation, his administration put out an energy conservation mandate. Governor Newsom can’t have his cake and eat it too. The Newsom administration is essentially telling people that he wants more electric cars in his state and fast, while at the same time telling folks that his state’s electricity grid may not currently be able to handle the number of electric cars being charged today.
As other states look to California’s electric vehicle mandate as a model to duplicate, some states are pushing back to prevent this socialist takeover. The Minnesota Auto Dealers Association argues that the weather naturally prohibits the universal use of electric vehicles. “The technology is such that the vehicles just don’t perform that well in cold weather,” Scott Lambert, the trade group’s president, told the Associated Press. “We don’t all live in southern California.”
Governor Newsom’s energy and economic policies are simply misguided, reactionary, and obtuse. His duplicity in leadership is exactly how California got to where it is today. Other states would do well to learn the lessons of California’s mistakes and not subject their citizens to the radical laws of another state like California.
Bob Carlstrom is the President of AMAC Action
Newsom and the far Left DemocRats have created “California” as a definition defined as:
Calling All Liberals Incestors Fornicators Ornery Runts Needed In Area
The wrong people are leaving California!
Natural disasters will reveal exactly how feasible these mandated electric cars will fail. Whether floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, heat or frozen spells, an unreliable electric grid will strand thousands. Idiots like Newsom could care less.
Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. Like the covid vaccines not all that glitters is gold. The EV has a place, it can be very efficient and effective for many of us to have around. Right now I see it as an expensive golf cart. I don’t think it could be my only vehicle – it has too many limitations. And for those of us who have never owned a car that cost over $15,000 it’s a very expensive toy. I don’t need a toy that cost $50k basic that goes from 0-60 in 3 seconds. I don’t need speed, I need 600 miles on a charge and an eighty per cent charge in 1 hour without destroying the batteries. And I need an emergency back up charger that fits under the seat that can charge the car to go another 100 miles. Event then I don’t think it could be my only car – I’ll hold on to my jeep until proven otherwise.
Read the article in The Epic Times September 28th through October fourth issue. Front page Tesla uses a company to supply the batteries that is guilty of bribery and Corruption and has the worst environmental and human rights record in the industry. They are contracted with a group called glencore who was already paid 1.1 billion in the fines . These environmentalists think they’re saving the world they’re destroying the environment and individual people that are forced into slavery to get those materials . Don’t tell me Elon Musk does not aware of that. Need to boycott Tesla
What I have learned: it doesn’t work, the technology is not where it needs to be, the power grid is way behind the power curve…
The Contradictions of Battery Operated Vehicles | Graham Conway | TEDxSanAntonio
youtube.com/watch?v=S1E8SQde5rk
If you look at all this from the perspective of a logical, conservative point of view, it’s true, newsom and all the dumbocrats are failing. However, if you look at it from the perspective of a socialist/communist, it makes perfect sense. Their objective is to crush the economy of the state, thus making nearly everyone dependent upon the Big Brother for sustenance. Once they acquire that, everyone will be subjected to absolute rule, or risk being cut off from life’s necessities. No mystery here.
Watch this close, as it appears that the Governor of Washington is pushing state to follow the same timeframe. The voters need to contact their representatives & express any concerns. I do not see a plan to make it happen by 2036
Newsom and the Democrats running the state have been sending out very clear signals, via state legislation and regulations, for years and years. All the while, the standard of living and the cost of living in California has been in a constant decline the entire time. Ruinous policies produce ruinous results. Yet all through this very long time of Democrats inflicting one terrible policy after another on the state, the vast majority of the people in California continue to vote straight line Democrat in at least 95 percent of the races. Thus emboldening the Demcrats to impose even more socialist policies all along the way. All of this has been readily visible to anyone in any other state in the country, as almost every move made by the Democrats in California is considered “another groundbreaking advancement in progressive policies” in newspapers and TV news nation-wide.
Other states, such as New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, etc., have all jumped on the bandwagon to implement similar policies in their states. The Democrat voters in those states following the same lemming-like action and robotically continuing to vote for Democrats across the board. Half the country is sadly a population too stupid to put 2 and 2 together to make a sane, rational decision to figure out where this all ultimately leads. It is what it is at this point. Fifty years of apathy and willful ignorance has given rise to a significant voting base that can’t connect the dots and display any sort of critical thinking skills. I fully expect California will continue to the lead the nation ever leftward until the sane, rational half of the nation decides they have had enough. Until then, just enjoy the show. It’s a horror movie, if they continue to follow the script they are using.
We need these:
Multiple energy sources
Charging network = to gasoline stations statewide
EV Range
Low costs to replace batteries
Uniform electric rates.
Cut permits, zoning for charger stations
EVs “tap” electricity in air?
Wireless chargers
Bring back Nuclear
The very worst thing that they could do is to send Grusome Newsom to Washington.
It is all about political power gained thru duping the majority of residents. Newsom & Co. have a lock on this.
To not do it?
This “great energy supply shift” is based on the human effects on global warming. We all know that climate changes all the time. Just look at earth’s climate history. But the effects that humans have on climate change is, in my opinion, far from determined. There must be serious debates on this issue but the left is absolutely convinced and will not debate and are hell-bent on taking drastic steps now, despite the horrendous consequences.
First of all Newscum will NOT be in office in 2035 as much as the egotist thinks he will be. I live in CA and will NEVER drive one of those stupid electric cars. If I have to go to another state to buy my car then so be it but it damn sure won’t be an electric one. The POS thinks he’s God.
Crunch the numbers-can’t build the renewable generating capacity to replace fossil fuels in anything like the time frame they want, and the space solar takes is enormous.
it’s all obedience to the overlord Communist China and to line Newsom’s personal pocket on the backs of the U.S. taxpayers
instituteforenergyresearch.org/regulation/electric-vehicle-subsidies-on-the-road-to-nowhere/Electric Vehicle Subsidies: On the Road to NowhereBY ROBERT L. BRADLEY, JR.
SEPTEMBER 18, 2019CONCLUSION
Consumer verdicts for more than a century offer insight for today. Just as proponents of wind and solar to generate electricity want to believe their world is new and futuristic, electric-vehicle interests pretend theirs is new, just needing a little more subsidy and time.
But far from an infant industry, electric vehicles are a mature, deficient alternative to conventional vehicles as judged by consumers. Extended subsidies will simply prolong the uneconomic and require future extensions. It’s time to level the playing field and let the market decide.
going electric has GONE NOWHERE in over 100 years. the current proponents are economic illiterates.
Too much “glitter” and not enough “gold” for EVs to be practical at this time. No one has worked out how this will really work without serious changes in the electrical grid to be able to handle the load of all the EVs being charged at the same time and being able to provide power to air conditioning systems, water heaters, manufacturing facilities, hospitals, nursing homes, and all of the other things that require (yes, Gov. Newsom, I said require) electricity to function properly. We are nowhere near the point of being able to power our needs and power our “toys” at the same time now. Before declaring the EV vehicle issue, all the rest of these issues MUST be resolved.
FIRST OF ALL THESE VEHICALS ARE BATTERY POWERED … IF THEY WERE ELECTRIC, THEY WOULD HAVE EXTENSION CORDS. AS LAWN MOWERS DID AT ONE TIME.
Since his mandates are executive orders, can’t the next governor of California change them? I would think California has wised up enough by now that they will not elect another Democrat Governor. Ever.
Remember this. Put mama and 3 kids in ,you have added more weight. Harder on the car ,more power needed, not as much milage. Kyle L.
The ONLY CLIMATE CHANGE POLICIES America NEEDS is the TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF TODAY’S SO-CALLED DEMOCRATIC PARTY!
If we didn’t change the climate back when everything was run on coal and black smoke belched everywhere, how can they say we are changing it now when the US has almost the cleanest air of any major country?
California is being destroyed. If the people want to support Newsom’s policies, let the state continue to waste away, and the only people left will be the elite, the poor, immigrants, and the homeless. Good luck with that future. It’s the middle class that sustains America’s prosperity.
The new electric vehicles are no better than the 100 year old models, today’s are just more complicated and expensive.
Jay Leno has a couple of early examples in his collection, a 1908 Baker Electric and a 1916 hybrid Owen Magnetic.
Every day, new problems surface with owning an electric car or truck, from the vehicle itself to the lack of charging sites and expense of charging them, to replacement battery costs, to declining grid power. Plugging in to your house 120 volts takes hours/days to fully charge an electric car for fewer miles of range than a gas powered car. .
Not only did Newsom sign the mandate requiring the conversion to all electric vehicles, but the Legislature passed bills and he signed, the rapid phase out of all gas appliances in the same time period. That means things like gas stoves, gas heaters, gas furnaces, gas dryers, etc.
And the starting 1 January 2022 the State is in control of housing codes. The local cities and towns must comply. And it does away with zoning for individual private housing; every city is now to allow, without public hearing, high density housing.
My bumper stick on my gas-powered Ranger asks “If California is So Great Why Did You Move Here?”. Problem is they escape “there” and vote for the same BS they ran from “here”! Californians are like a virus.
California is a lesson in what NOT to do when it comes to battling climate change or anything else for that matter. Unfortunately there are some states in this country (New York included) who are more than willing to follow California right off this disastrous cliff.
The movement toward electric vehicles is revitalizing lithium production in North Carolina.
in 2035 (12 years from now) how are Californians going to charge their electric vehicles? With the Colorado river dropping, may not get any Hydroelectric power from Hover and Powell dams. (about 30% of Southern California’s power). Check out the water level for Lakes Powell & Mead. May need to buy more Chinese wind turbines and Chinese solar panels.
Kind of funny that we didn’t see any fossil fuel vehicles catching fire when they got wet in Florida, but several electric cars. Those sold out to climate change will do anything to try to “save” the planet. Got news for you, God created this planet and only HE can destroy it. The major problem in the short run is a nuclear conflict. Now that will change the climate. Newsom has advanced many policies that affect human life in a very negative way. He will one day face the creator of the universe just as we all will. I pray for his soul; and some common sense would help also.
Washington State is every bit as short-sighted. Governor Jay Inslee, a hand-wringing wokester, sprints to keep pace with the Gavin Newsome and Kate Brown (Oregon governor) race to an empty tank.
These politicians poorly implement bad ideas that unfavorably impact their constituents. But here’s the point. They don’t care! They see themselves working for the ‘greater good’, not for their voters.
Remarkably, those voters continue to overwhelmingly re-elect that socialist troika. So, until the voters wise-up, they — and sadly the rest of us — are stuck on empty.
I’ll say it one more time, we are at least 10 to 15 years away from having the technology to even think about implementing alternate sources of energy, a lot more research needs to go into the batteries that’s going to power the vehicles of the future, windmills and solar panels won’t even come close to providing the energy that each and every one of us consume on a daily basis, and finally, 5 or 6 years down the road, when batteries and solar panels have to be replaced, what impact is that going to have on the environment? These are all questions that needs to be addressed BEFORE we jump from the pan into the fire.
Newscum is an a**hole. I live in CA and no way would I ever buy/drive one of those electric cars. They can’t even keep the grid up and running for air conditioners in 114 heat how the hell do they propose to power all electric cars. He won’t be around here in 2036 anyway.
Rings of Forest Gump, “Stupid is as Stupid does”! Guess we know what Gavin is!