Ottawa’s EV mandate could destroy Canada’s auto industry

From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By KEVIN MOONEY

Motorists eager to hit the road in the summer could throw off a surprising upset for the presidential campaign and U.S. Senate elections if public resistance to electric vehicle adoption and other regulations continues to grow.

That’s what some recent polls suggest and it certainly helps explain why the Biden administration is about to artificially lower fuel prices by selling a million barrels of gasoline from a New England energy reserve timed during the summer driving season and in anticipation of the November elections. elections.

Considering the East Coast was using more than three million barrels of gasoline per day in June of last year, it’s not obvious that having another million barrels on the market will make a noticeable difference.

Furthermore, it can be argued that by using the reserve, Team Biden is exposing the region to cyberattacks that would disrupt energy supplies. (Recall that this is exactly what happened in the Southeast in 2021 when a ransomware attack hit the Colonial pipeline.)

But even without any cyber drama, the cumulative effect of President Joe Biden’s anti-energy agenda is already being felt by consumers who benefit from affordable, reliable energy. This is especially true when it comes to conventional gas-powered cars.

During the holidays, cars erase differences, bring families together and improve the quality of life. The American Automobile Association (AAA) predicts that nearly 50 million people will travel 50 miles or more from home to celebrate Independence Day on the weekend of June 30 to July 4.

This would represent an increase of 3.7% compared to 2021, bringing travel volume to pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels in 2019. This increase will be particularly acute as AAA expects 42 million Americans to hit the road on the upcoming Independence Day.

But what about those EV mandates?

President Biden and California Governor Gavin Newsom, a fellow Democrat, are undeterred by the lack of charging stations, the limited range of electric vehicles, their exorbitant costs and the fragility of foreign supply chains leading back to China, as they continue with new regulatory initiatives. Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency finalized a tailpipe emissions rule in March aimed at forcing automakers to sell more electric vehicles, while the California Air Resources Board is moving ahead with a “zero emissions” rule the board approved last year to Newsom to achieve climate goals.

California is clearly working closely with the Biden administration to achieve its 2035 zero vehicle emissions goals. This effort will certainly limit consumer choice and increase costs.

Despite all the subsidies and regulatory schemes designed to favor EVs, they represent only about 1% of the 290 million vehicles in the U.S. today. Meanwhile, the cost of EVs continues to rise.

Recent studies also show that EVs are, on average, more expensive to own and operate than their gasoline-powered counterparts. So how should consumers respond to the regulatory onslaught?

Join the Save Our Cars Coalition, which includes 31 national and state organizations dedicated to preserving consumers’ ability to select the vehicles that best suit their needs.

Tom Pyle, president of the Institute for Energy Research, a coalition member that advocates free-market energy policies, sees cars as an integral part of American life. The Biden-Newsom rules amount to what Pyle describes as “an attack on American freedom.”

“In a country as vast as the United States, cars aren’t just vehicles; they’re an integral part of the American way of life,” Pyle said. “They play a critical role in our daily lives, especially in suburban and rural environments. This modern-day ban would outlaw a product and a value—in this case, gasoline-powered cars and trucks that have created personal mobility on an unprecedented scale—that people can’t convince themselves to forgo.”

The coalition is perfectly positioned to make EV mandates a campaign issue in areas where the affordability of cars that can travel long distances without frequent stops is a major priority of voters. State officials who continue to double down on California regulations will only strengthen the coalition’s arguments.

States that opt ​​out of California’s emissions standards, on the other hand, could be surprisingly competitive in the presidential race. Republican Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin recently announced that he will end California’s EV mandate in his state at the end of this year. While Virginia hasn’t backed a Republican for president since George W. Bush was reelected in 2004, polls show Biden and Donald Trump in a dead heat. The former, and perhaps future, Republican president reportedly opposes Biden’s EV mandates.

By contrast, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat elected in 2017 and re-elected in 2021, is moving full steam ahead with a California mandate that requires all new car sales to be electric by 2035. Polls show Murphy’s Jersey voters aren’t thrilled with the policy change. More than half of state residents say they’re not likely to buy an electric car even with the mandates.

New Jersey hasn’t voted for a Republican presidential candidate since George Bush Sr. won the state in 1988. But new polls show Biden leading Trump by just seven points in the Garden State. It’s worth noting that New Jersey has a large bloc of independent voters who can be pliable in tight races like the most recent gubernatorial campaign.

Murphy nearly lost his reelection bid to Republican Jack Ciatarelli, a former congressman and businessman who came within a few percentage points of an upset. Trump’s campaign rally in Wildwood, N.J., which drew more than 100,000 people, could also serve as a barometer for a potentially close election. Wildwood, a seaside community, is nearly inaccessible without the kind of vehicles that Biden and Newsom are trying to ban.

The big prize may be Pennsylvania, where Trump has led Biden in recent polls. There is also a competitive U.S. Senate race in that state between Sen. Robert Casey Jr., the incumbent Democrat, and Dave McCormick, the Republican challenger.

Polls show Casey with a lead of just six points. So far, Casey has dodged questions about his stance on EV mandates. With Trump already in the lead and McCormick winning in the Keystone State, anyone campaigning on the platform of “Save Our Cars” can have a holiday.

Kevin Mooney is a senior investigative journalist at the Commonwealth Foundation’s free market think tank and writes for several national publications. Twitter: @KevinMooneyDC

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