A week ago on August 25, 2022, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) voted in favor of their regulation requiring the transition to zero emission vehicles (ZEV) in California. The regulation requires 35% of the new cars sold in the state to be ZEV by 2026, 51% by 2028, 68% by 2030 and 100% by 2035. It also requires the transition to ZEV heavy-duty trucks by 2045.
Fast forward a few days later to August 30, 2022, and the manager of California’s power grid warned citizen to be prepared for Flex Alerts and requested setting thermostats to 78 degrees and avoid charging electric cars.
Are we the only ones who see the conflict with those two notices?
While we are on the subject, let’s talk batteries. Remember batteries do not produce energy. They store energy produced elsewhere. That would be energy produced using coal, nuclear fusion, natural gas, diesel, hydro, solar or wind.
The average ZEV automobile battery weighs 1,000 pounds and contains 25 pounds of lithium, 60 pounds of nickel, 44 pounds of manganese, 30 pounds of cobalt, 200 pounds of copper and 400 pounds of aluminum, steel and plastic. In order to produce the minerals needed for each battery, a total of 500,000 pounds of earth is excavated and mined, and they are mined in places like the Congo and China who have no environmental or child labor standard.
Not exactly humane, environmentally friendly nor zero emission.
We are not opposed to going green. We support transitioning to renewable energy and ZEV in a way that does not just trade one evil for an even more significant evil.