Kamala Harris is a car liberal, or so she thinks. [emphasis, links added]
“Contrary to the advice of my opponents, I will never tell you what kind of car you have to drive,” the vice president said at a campaign event in Michigan the other day.
However, she would favor regulations that would revolutionize the mix of gasoline-powered and electric vehicles made in the United States, regardless of what consumers want.
The Biden-Harris administration has been working to regulate the U.S. auto market to its liking. In 2023, the EPA proposed regulations for electric vehicles to account for 67% of new light vehicle sales by 2032.
Later, the agency made some concessions and predicted that electric vehicles will account for 56% of such vehicles by 2032 (another 13% will be hybrids, and gasoline-only vehicles will account for less than 30%).
Why we allow government agencies to decide at their own discretion to reduce the EV share to one percentage point a few years from now is a story for another day.
The mechanism the EPA uses to impose its will are emissions limits on automakers; limits can be calibrated to ensure companies squeeze out gasoline cars to meet targets.
To be clear, none of this is voluntary. Automakers that don't comply will face penalties. Corporate or consumer preferences are not what drives change, but government fiat.
No matter what Harris said to Michiganders, The Biden-Harris administration is really telling you that your choice of car will be artificially limited.
The Harris policy is the equivalent of saying you might want a car in white, gray or black (currently about two-thirds of cars), but in a few years more than half will be green or red (less than a total of 10% of the market).
Or, let's say you might want to buy a Toyota, Ford, Chevrolet, or Honda (the four most popular brands by sales), but soon the market will be flooded with Mazdas, Volkswagens, and Audis (which don't include cars). top ten).
Electric vehicles currently account for less than 10% of sales, so reaching more than half within the next seven years is almost certainly impossible. The Soviet five-year plan was less ambitious.
Among other defects, Charging networks for all these new electric vehicles don’t exist yet, and won’t happen anytime soon.
This is another issue where the Kamala Harris of a few years ago is totally at odds with the new moderate Kamala Harris running in 2024.
As a 2019 Sacramento Bee headline put it, “Ending sales of new gasoline-powered cars is part of Kamala Harris’ climate change plan.”
Take a break from reading National Review
