Jack Wolfsohn | Head Editor & Lindsay Coulson | Writer
September 2, 2022
We live in a fast moving world. On August 25th, it was decided that gas-powered cars would be banned in California approaching the year 2035. But California wasn’t alone in this decision. Twelve other states including Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont are implementing their own version of California’s ban. Here’s the thing: citizens will still be able to buy used gas-powered cars and have the freedom to cross state lines in order to buy new ones. However, this ban should still show positive results relating to the climate. Hypothetically, sales of zero emission cars would rise as well as the sale of plug-in hybrids. However, hybrids will only be insusceptible to the ban if they rely more on electric power than they do gas. Still, it is predicted that greenhouse emissions from cars and light trucks would decrease by 62 percent.
“I think that bans don’t work on this kind of stuff, like prohibition for example. The best way to go about this is to incentivize the manufacturing of electric cars by removing government subsidization on gas cars and moving it to electric cars,” teacher Mr. Cain said. It’s an interesting perspective on this topic, however, prohibition failed because people would hide alcohol in their canes and egg shells. It’s pretty difficult to disguise a gas powered car as an electric one, so, overall, the ban should be just as effective as incentivizing the production of electric cars. Either solution would be able to encourage the manufacturing of electric cars, so it’s a win-win regardless.
It’s important to mention the negative impacts this ban could have. By banning newer gas cars, people who can’t afford new electric ones will continue using old gas-powered cars with worse gas mileage than if gas-powered cars were still being improved. Perhaps a more effective proposal could be to raise the prices of gas which would convince people to buy electric cars without having to ban gas ones. In addition, oil and biofuel companies are not happy about this. Because of the ban, their products will be needed much less than before.
“I go on frequent road trips with my family, and I’m worried about the limited range of some electric cars and where we would charge along the way. But, climate change is a pressing issue and I’m down to do anything that will help the environment,” senior Chrisitan McCleary said. The ban of gas powered cars and push for electric cars, represents an amazing advancement in climate change policy but could be problematic for the average citizen. Specifically, those who can’t afford a new car but have to buy a new electric car because their gas powered one broke down.
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