California Cuts Gas-Powered Cars

The Palisadian-Post has partnered with locally founded environmental organization Resilient Palisades to deliver a weekly “green tip” to our readers. This week’s tip was written by Éva Milan Engel.

Once again, California will lead the nation in combating the climate crisis: State regulators voted to ban the sale of gas-powered cars by 2035. The rule, issued by the California Air Resources Board, requires that 35% of new passenger vehicles sold by 2026 produce zero emissions, then 68% by 2030 and 100% by 2035.

Californians will still be allowed to operate and sell their used gas cars, but production of new gas-powered cars will be restricted more and more each year until only electric cars will be made.

If it feels like this change is just in time, it may well be. California has suffered from record-breaking wildfire, drought and air pollution worsened by climate change, not to mention this most recent heatwave. And it should come as no surprise that our largest source of greenhouse gas emissions is from transportation.

The vote comes after Governor Gavin Newsom set a target to move away from internal combustion engines. California is the nation’s most populous state and its largest auto market. So, while California is first in the nation, more than a dozen other states are expected to follow when setting their own auto emissions standards.

I got some pro tips from Palisadian David Eagle of Current EV, an active member of Resilient Palisades’ Clean Energy team. Eagle is an expert at finding the best deals for electric vehicles, chargers and solar power for his clients. Here’s what I learned:

Aren’t EVs expensive?

• They can be if you’re talking about luxury cars like Audi, BMW and Mercedes. But lower cost EVs, like the Chevy Bolt, start at around $26,000—and that’s before applying incentives.
• Buying or leasing EVs include federal tax credits up to $7,500, rebates up to $2,000 and other discounts ranging from $750 up to $2,000.
• Lower-income Californians can get additional rebates, credits and discounts.
• Even with the current craziness of dealers marking up vehicles by $2,000 to $10,000 or more over MSRP, these incentives can reduce the effective cost of many EVs thousands of dollars below MSRP—something that simply isn’t possible with gas-powered vehicles.
• When you add in the fact that EVs don’t run on expensive gas and need very little maintenance, the cost of operating one is considerably lower too.

More incentives:

• You can get stickers that allow you to drive solo in the carpool lane.
• Santa Monica allows EVs to park free at the city’s meters.

Changing our cars from gas guzzlers to EVs is an environmental game changer. Nothing moves the needle on greenhouse gases more than tailpipe emissions. Bravo, California.