Kate Gordon of Next Generation in the USA at blogs.wsj.com: I’m not generally a fan of picking winners and losers except when it comes to the future of cars. Here, electric vehicles (EVs) are the clear long-term winners. They’re highly efficient, dirt cheap to power, and can run on infrastructure that already exists. And even though electricity isn’t yet “clean” in many places around the country [USA], EVs still generate fewer emissions than your average gas-powered vehicle—regardless of whether you charge up on the coal-fired Kentucky grid or Washington’s much cleaner hydro- and wind- powered system.
I believe EVs are our future. But we also need short-term solutions to move us toward that future. Right now the average vehicle on U.S. roads is over 11 years old, and a 20 year-old car produces over 30 times the smog pollution of a late-model automobile. Between the auto fleet’s overall greenhouse gas impacts (17% of all U.S. emissions), its health impacts ($5.3 billion per year in California alone), and the strain that high gas prices put on our wallets (frequently over a third of household budgets in car-dependent regions), it’s clearer than ever that we need change fast.
Here’s the good news: Today’s new gas-powered vehicles are cleaner and more efficient than ever. Even as we’re investing in EVs for the long term, we need to pass policies today that retire the dirtiest, oldest, and least efficient vehicles and replace them with cleaner safer, and more efficient new ones. California’s updated Enhanced Fleet Modernization Program aims to do just this, and the state legislature is mulling over a bill that would allow those drivers to receive relatively larger incentives if they buy a replacement EV instead of a gas-fired vehicle. State and federal lawmakers interested in cleaner air and fuel savings for their constituents should take a leaf out of California’s book and investigate retirement and replacement programs for their jurisdictions.
Kate Gordon (@katenrg) is vice president and the director of the energy and climate program at Next Generation. She previously served as vice president for energy and environment at the Center for American Progress.
I believe EVs are our future. But we also need short-term solutions to move us toward that future. Right now the average vehicle on U.S. roads is over 11 years old, and a 20 year-old car produces over 30 times the smog pollution of a late-model automobile. Between the auto fleet’s overall greenhouse gas impacts (17% of all U.S. emissions), its health impacts ($5.3 billion per year in California alone), and the strain that high gas prices put on our wallets (frequently over a third of household budgets in car-dependent regions), it’s clearer than ever that we need change fast.
Here’s the good news: Today’s new gas-powered vehicles are cleaner and more efficient than ever. Even as we’re investing in EVs for the long term, we need to pass policies today that retire the dirtiest, oldest, and least efficient vehicles and replace them with cleaner safer, and more efficient new ones. California’s updated Enhanced Fleet Modernization Program aims to do just this, and the state legislature is mulling over a bill that would allow those drivers to receive relatively larger incentives if they buy a replacement EV instead of a gas-fired vehicle. State and federal lawmakers interested in cleaner air and fuel savings for their constituents should take a leaf out of California’s book and investigate retirement and replacement programs for their jurisdictions.
Kate Gordon (@katenrg) is vice president and the director of the energy and climate program at Next Generation. She previously served as vice president for energy and environment at the Center for American Progress.
