“Cleaner Car Choices”

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The government of the state of New Jersey has just decreed that the people of New Jersey will not have the option to buy anything other than a battery powered device if they want a new car come 2035.

And it’s actually coming sooner than that. Restrictions on the sale of cars that aren’t battery powered devices go into effect come 2027, which is just barely three years from now.

New Jersey is not the only state government to have so (or similarly) decreed. Other states include California, Washington,Oregon, Massachusetts, Connecticut and – yes, Virginia – even Virginia.

Of course, this is being presented by those taking away the option to buy anything other than a battery-powered device as giving people more options.

Kind of like “safe and effective.”

By filing the landmark Advanced Clean Cars II rule [which will be published in December] New Jersey builds upon its standing as a national leader in climate action and its participation in the global Accelerating to Zero commitment,” says New Jersey’s governor, Phil Murphy. “The steps we take today to lower emissions will improve air quality and mitigate climate impacts for generations to come, all while increasing access to cleaner car choices.”

Italics added.

It is fascinating – to the sane mind – that whenever government imposes something negative it characterizes it as a positive.

“Choices” are being taken away, for obvious openers.

The upside-down assertion made by the government is that people don’t already have choices. Indeed, that they are being – somehow – denied them. The fact is that battery powered devices (like high-fuel-economy cars) are and have been available for those who prefer such choices. But that kind of choice is not the kind intended by Murphy, et al.

The “choice” is to be winnowed down to one choice. It’ll be the only one you’re allowed to make.

And not just because these government decrees forbid the offering-for-sale of other-than battery-powered devices by 2035 but also because all battery-powered devices are fundamentally the same. What is the difference between Device A – that has an electric battery and an electric motor – and Device B, that also has a battery and electric motor?

The shape? The color?

As opposed to an entirely different type of engine – and transmission – two of the things that make one make/model car something different from other cars. Drive a Miata and then drive a Prius and see whether you notice a difference.

The point is that people already have the choice to buy a device – if that is what they want. What is wanted – by people such as Phil Murphy – is to deny everyone else a different choice. This is gallingly framed as “increasing access,” as if such “access” were not already available.

And it’s not “cleaner,” either.

This latter is a merely temporary fatuity. It will be said for as long as it is convenient to say it, which will be just as long as it takes to deny people “access” to anything other than a battery-powered device. At which point, it will be discovered that – lo and behold – the manufacturing of battery powered devices creates “emissions,” too. And also the generation of  the very high voltage electricity needed to power them up in anything less than several days of waiting.

Both the manufacturing and the generating result in the production of carbon dioxide (which, to correct the governor, plays zero role in worsening air quality) as well as other “emissions” that are actually pollutants. The afterbirth resulting from lithium-leaching, for instance, is a toxic tsunami and almost literally in that millions of gallons of water are fouled in the process. Cobalt is also nasty stuff, if you genuinely care about “the environment,” to say nothing of the barefoot kids who claw the stuff out of mines, by hand, in the not-so-democratic Republic of Congo.

Battery-powered devices are also much heavier than cars and so cause tires – made of oil – to wear out faster and this latter results in particulate emissions much higher than those produced by cars that are not battery-powered devices.

And then there are the batteries, themselves. Each 800-1,000 pounds or more of used-up, caustic materials. What will become of millions of them? 

At which point EVs will no longer be regarded as ZEVs (Zero Emissions Vehicles), if by some Great Leap Forward in battery technology it becomes feasible to make EVs that the masses can afford to buy that do not cost them so much time. That Great Leap Forward is essentially the same as others that preceded it in that it is held out as a possibility that never materializes. Charlie Brown thinks that – maybe this time – Lucy won’t pull away the football at the last minute. 

But of course, she always does. She always will.

Because it’s what she does.

As this column has put forward on previous occasions, good enough is never enough – for government. Because if it were, government would have nothing to do. More finely, government would no longer have the excuse – to do more.

It is not enough, for instance, that most new cars are already partial zero emissions vehicles (PZEVS) and have been so for more than a decade, at least. “PZEV” – an official regulatory acronym coined by the EPA itself – means the vehicle produces almost no meaningfully harmful emissions. But the government, like Inspector Javert from Les Miserables, insists upon none – zero – which of course is not possible. At least, not without zero cars and zero driving.

Which will inevitably include the devices, too.

Because this is not about “lowering emissions” or “improving air quality”  – much less “increasing access to cleaner car choices.”

It is about eliminating your access to cars, period.

This will also include, by the way, “access” to the “choices” you’ve already made – as in the car you already have, if it’s not a battery powered device. If you believe that only new cars that aren’t devices will be verboten come 2035 or even sooner, you might be interested in this fantastic timeshare investment I know about.

. . .

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56 COMMENTS

  1. Tell me what about this strikes you as “off.”

    https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/27/rivian-r1t-ev-leasing.html

    From link:

    You can now lease a Rivian R1T electric pickup in select markets

    Based on the company’s website, leasing is largely available on higher-end models of the vehicle that can cost more than $90,000.

    Leasing has become a popular way for customers to try out an electric vehicle without any long-term commitment. Doing so also qualifies a buyer for a full $7,500 federal tax credit under the Inflation Reduction Act, compared to the $3,750 that purchasers of Rivian models currently qualify for.

    Leasing is categorized as commercial business under the IRA and therefore exempt from regulations that require the vehicle and battery components to be made in North America. Most EVs for sale today do not qualify for the full tax credit because of where the vehicles or components are built.

    “Today, Rivian launched a new way for customers to get behind the wheel of a Rivian with the introduction of leasing,” the company said in an emailed statement. “Rivian’s leasing program offers the adventure of owning a Rivian with more flexibility.”

    So, incentivizing leasing over buying? For obvious reasons, but still interesting.

  2. “Green, Net-Zero, Climate Change, Clean Air ACT”, the key word being “ACT”.
    It’s ALL a GDMF ACT, as in, Staged Performance in Costumes and Make-Up.
    I have most disliked Broadway Stage performances, and this one is being forced down our throats like the manufactured Covid-19/Bubonic Plague.
    New Jersey, Maryland, and the entire 50-mile radius surrounding D.C. is just a cesspool of endless disease and corruption.

      • I would not even take a Tsar Bomba. Google Nukemap and go to that site. You can choose a nuke and detonate it anywhere in the world to see the kill radius.

  3. How re you going to get out of that EV Jesus cult-freak Cybertruck when the battery goes into thermal runaway? It is literally a rolling incinerator/crematorium.

  4. Sounds kinda like the euphemism “access to reproductive health care” — when she “accesses” it, she kills the baby and doesn’t reproduce.

  5. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: EVs are NOT ready for prime time, and I say that as an EV FAN! I retired from a Tesla partner, so I’ve followed them with interest for years. I’d like to see EVs succeed, but not like this. I don’t want EVs forced on people. One, people need to be free to buy and use what they want; they need the freedom to buy what works best for them. Two, EVs won’t work in rural areas.

    EVs have made impressive progress, yes; today’s EVs are far better than the CitiCar that was available decades ago. However, they are not ready for prime time quite yet. Their capability and functionality don’t match ICEVs, nor does their value; until their cost and capability matches or exceeds ICEVs, EVs won’t be adopted en masse. Also, there’s the safety issue to consider; until the matter of exploding batteries is solved, I don’t want one in my garage. I don’t care if it’s a rare occurrence; I don’t want one in my garage! My garage is integral to my house; it’s below my living room. I know that as long as I properly care for my ICEV, it won’t do that.

    I only hope that enough Americans push back to stop the mad rush to EVs. They’re not ready for prime time, and no gov’t edict will change that. I only wish that the car companies had fought back harder against gov’t ukase, so as to undermine the precedent it had set.

  6. Electric vehicles are snakes in the grass. Diesel powers farm machinery, ocean going vessels and locomotives. 20 mule teams are officially obsolete.

    Although, a ready and willing trained mule to pull good-sized logs out of the forest to the log pile has value more than money, mules are here for a reason.

    How to slay the dragon.

  7. The American diet has made everyone fat, sick and stupid. Everyone.
    Diet literally turned men into women and made women even more treacherous.

    • Hi Campit,

      There’s truth in this – about the food (ands its effect on people). In addition to making them fat (or at least, helping them to get fat) the food has also made them chronically sick – and that has made them dependent and afraid. I’ve learned to be careful about what I eat – and where it comes from. I advise people to shun all processed and fast food and stick as closely as possible to real foods – meat, eggs and vegetables and so on that you cook yourself, at home. Avoid sugar and shun sugar substitutes, especially HFC.

        • Hi Campit,

          I’m with you… I eat mostly meat, eggs and (hard) cheese, plus a lot of coffee. I find I can eat enough to feel satisfied and not get fat. My energy stays even and – so far, knock on wood – I’ve not noticed any loss of strength or stamina and I’m in my 50s now. I am convinced, from both personal experience and from what I have read, that the food the average person eats in this country is almost literally poison. Evidence of this is right before all of our eyes: Go to any public place and have a look at the people. Three out of five (leaning toward four) will be significantly overweight and two will be morbidly obese to a degree that would have drawn stares when I was a kid. In the ’70s, Jackie Gleason – Sheriff Justice from Smokey & the Bandit – was considered fat. He’s average for a man, by today’s standards. What has changed?

          What people eat.

    • 100% on point. I would say the readership here doesn’t necessarily agree w/ that statement but it doesn’t make it true or not obvious at this point. This is ancient wisdom we are learning the very hard way.

      • I don’t know about that. Some women are quite libertarian, and some men vote like entitled little children. How do you think modern soy boys vote?

        If somehow we could tie voting to tax paying or property ownership or something, we’d keep the moochers from voting and not exclude the non-moocher women.

        • “Some women are quite libertarian..” true but thrre are not enough of them to overcome the vast majority that are emotional basket cases.

          I also think voting should be limited to gainfully employed males who actually pay as opposed to recieve taxes. This would eliminate anyone on the dole as well as government employees who voting is a serious conflict of interest and should never be allowed.

          This is no different than companies allowing only stockholders to vote for board positions and proposals.

      • Almost all women are feebleminded amoral parasites via evolutionary biology/genetics. I have met very few who are reasoning adults. They will almost always vote to steal from others.

    • Universal suffrage killed this country. Yes women are too dumb, too easily manipulated and too emotional to vote. There are very few Raider Girls around.

    • @ Chuckles

      To that let’s not forget the other group who should be banned for life from voting. . .government employees. Naturally this includes any person working at the federal, state or local level. Anyone who draws a paycheck from the taxpayer will not be allowed within five miles of a voting booth under penalty of imprisonment, or worse. And while we’re on the subject, let’s help further reduce their damage to the economy by imposing a four year term limit on all govt workers. Thinking about a career working in govt? Fuhgeddaboudit! There, that should do it.

      • “To that let’s not forget the other group who should be banned for life from voting. . .government employees.”

        Government employees should be banned…Full stop.

  8. New Jersey and other states that have enacted laws like this (Maryland is also one) have signed death warrants for new car dealerships. Here in the mid-Atlantic area new car dealers in West Virginia will be cleaning up….for all of the residents of those affected states who will go there to buy the new car that they want. People won’t stop buying certain vehicles, especially pickup trucks – they will abandon local dealerships that are barred from meeting those needs.
    I live in Maryland, and I don’t see myself buying a new car anytime soon, if ever. But, if in this dystopian future, I decided to, I would just head west to West Virginia.

    • You bring up an interesting point: why aren’t the car dealers FIGHTING this BS? After all, auto dealers are often very powerful at the local and state levels-powerful enough to make problems for these a’hole politicians…

      • Denial.

        Dealerships don’t care what kind of cars they sell, as long as they sell them. They see the success of Tesla in some places, and think they’ll have some of that action when all cars are EV’s. There’s not much thinking ahead in car salesmanship, only the end of quarter matters.

        • I see what you’re saying, but even dealers who have EVs on their lots have to see that they aren’t selling. Why would they want more of what’s not moving-especially when quarterly numbers matter so much?

  9. Wishing didn’t work. So now come the guns. Maybe they can hold some of the researchers hostage until they achieve the breakthrough necessary to fix the battery problem.

    Oh! Throw some AI at it! It will figure out how to defy Newton and his physics. Throw some quantum computing at it too, since we all know that it is all based on “if you concentrate hard enough the answer has already been found.”

    Maybe Tinkerbell can give us all some of that magic dust they’ve been passing around Washington.

    I’m beginning to understand why people don’t think we sent Neil and Buzz to the moon. But that was all just plain old Newtonian and Keplerian physics. No subatomic structure alteration necessary. Problem is, now everyone just figures that any problem is just a matter of money and manpower. Throw 4% of peak US GDP at a problem and you’ll solve it. But of course we no longer have 4% of 1960s era GDP to throw at anything, what with all the debt and wars and handouts. Not to mention actual GDP on a global scale isn’t anything like what it once was. So there’s big talk about millions of worthless dollars tossed at a rent seeker to find the next big breakthrough, billions of dollars misallocated to inappropriate uses, and rewards for taking the wrong actions. All reenforced by threat of violence.

  10. Imagine the bonfire when the electric garbage truck goes up in flames….and ignites the electric cars…which ignite the surrounding buildings…but the vaunted fire department can’t get to the fire because their electric firetrucks are going up in flames too.

  11. If you’ve ever been at a deli counter in North Jersey on any given weekend you already know how everybody they’re forced into waiting for the Level 3 chargers is gonna play out in the Dirty Jerz. There will be blood. Of course, Massachusetts/Goldman Phil will be long gone by then.

  12. Not only do these psychopaths want the masses not to have an automobile PERIOD, they’ll continue to have their private jets, which likely creates a FAR BIGGER “Carbon footprint” than any automobile on the road today….and let us not forget these endless wars that the U.S. government has been pushing for close to 25 years that WE continue losing in both blood and money, and the insect/ frankenfood diet that they’re also trying to foist on the masses…..

    https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/climate/the-polluter-elites/

    • Oh yeah, clicked on the link. Don’t worry about it, all of the polluter elites will one day die, just not soon enough.

      Sick and tired of the elites, what a bunch of assholes. har

      • Hi Drumphish,

        I’m not worried myself about these “polluter elites”, but they sure ran an effective propaganda campaign on people about cliiiiiiiiimate change to the point that true belivers were defacing pieces of art at art museums or blocking ordinary people from driving, but have these cretins overplayed their hand when they started advocating such insane things like eating bugs & NET ZERO as a “Solution to climate change”? We’ll find out over the next few years whether people say “NO!” to eating bugs and frankenfood. They already appear to be saying “Hell no!” to EVs due to the issues coming out about them. These psychopaths have also overreached with COVID jab mania & propaganda to the point people are questioning all other vaccines after it became increasingly obvious that the mRNA COVID jabs were NOT “Safe and Effective!” Why, even Chelsea Clinton, Hillary Clinton’s daughter, has launched a campaign to have children be “Up to date on childhood vaccinations” after more and more parents are skipping “CDC recommended vaccinations” for their children.

        • Hi John,
          I do think momentum is building to “just say no!” to these climate hysterics.
          Eric’s graphic of “WEF calls for end of private car ownership” leads me to reply that it’s time to call for an end to the WEF.

    • Yup, another holiday weekend another 1100 flights “cancelled” due to simple thunderstorms.

      I call BS. Same agenda different mode of travel. “Shut up and get back in yr box peon”

  13. The past 4 decades of public indoctrination in public schools that eliminated reasoning skills and actual science had led to this and all the other woke crap today. The only way we’re able to get out of this is when the whole country crashes down. Even then the majority will be too stupid to learn from mistakes.

  14. “Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.” – Bastiat

    This includes the mental fiction of saving the planet by forcing others to pay more to do so.

    • When a government becomes powerful it is destructive, extravagant and violent; it is an usurer which takes bread from innocent mouths and deprives honorable men of their substance, for votes with which to perpetuate itself. – Cicero 40 BC

  15. Truth is fatal to the Psychopaths In Charge. They avoid it like the plague. Oh, wait, they avoided the truth about that as well.

  16. ‘New Jersey builds upon its standing as a national leader in climate action.’ — Gov Phil Murphy

    During Thanksgiving, I’ve been more exposed than usual to the Lügenpresse. Time magazine, which I wouldn’t deign to use for toilet paper, now names the Climate 100 — toadies and suck-ups pushing the WEF depopulation agenda.

    One such is Paul Dickinson of Carbon Disclosure Project, quoted as saying ‘Like cigarettes, we should ban the advertising of high-carbon products.’

    https://time.com/collection/time100-climate/6333052/paul-dickinson/

    No surprise that totalitarianism comes in mangled English. An editor conversant in that language would recast Dickinson’s garbled utterance as ‘Like cigarettes, high-carbon products should be prohibited from being advertised.’ Free speech, who needs it?

    He goes on to pronounce, ‘An electric car is simply a cheaper, better product that makes the right choice very easy to make.’ To recast this oleaginous claim in plain English, substitute ‘compulsory’ for ‘very easy to make,’ and put ‘right choice’ in scare quotes.

    One gasps at the shear effrontery of know-nothing nobodies like Dickinson. How dare he? He can kiss my ass.

  17. > “The steps we take today to lower emissions will improve air quality and mitigate climate impacts for generations to come”
    – Phil Murphy

    >the astronauts of the Mercury program reported that they could see two human-constructed things from space: one was the Great Wall of China and the other was the “plume streaming from Four Corners Power Plant.”
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Corners_Generating_Station
    >Originally, units 4 and 5 were owned by Southern California Edison Company (48%)
    So when you drive your Tesla down PCH in Malibu, you can feel “virtuous,” knowing, or not knowing, and certainly not caring, that the pollution caused by generating the electricity need to power it is 1,000 miles away, polluting the air over the Navajo Nation.
    And then there is the water:
    >The station is cooled using water from Morgan Lake, which is man-made and is replenished by about 28 million gallons of water each day from the San Juan River.
    >The river drains a high, arid region of the Colorado Plateau. Along its length, it is often the only significant source of fresh water for many miles.

  18. The problem is most people are somewhat reasonable and logical. They can’t fathom the depths of depravity that dwell in the minds of the sociopaths that rise to the top of large organizations. As such they simply can’t believe someone would or could be so evil despite the historical record.

    We are always told that Hitler, or some other “demon”, is simply the exception. In reality, being able to ignore the negative effects on the victims of one’s plans is a resume’ enhancement for those in power. They sleep well because they have no conscience no shame and no empathy. Those are characteristics of normal people and those enticed by GovCo are simply not normal.

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