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Who's forcing Marchionne and all the other major automakers to sell mostly money-losing electric vehicles? More than any other person, it's Mary Nichols. She's run the California Air Resources Board since 2007, championing the state's zero-emission-vehicle quotas and backing President Barack Obama's national mandate to double average fuel economy to 55 miles per gallon by 2025. She was chairman of the state air regulator once before, a generation ago, and cleaning up the famously smoggy Los Angeles skies is just one accomplishment in a four-decade career.
Nichols really does intend to force automakers to eventually sell nothing but electrics. In an interview in June at her agency's heavy-duty-truck laboratory in downtown Los Angeles, it becomes clear that Nichols, at age 70, is pushing regulations today that could by midcentury all but banish the internal combustion engine from California's famous highways. "If we're going to get our transportation system off petroleum," she says, "we've got to get people used to a zero-emissions world, not just a little-bit-better version of the world they have now."
We've seen campaigns to defend smoking and not wearing seatbelts and not getting vaccinated. Is this like that, or is there more to it?
(Score: 2) by EQ on Tuesday August 04 2015, @05:32AM
There are places where electrics are simply impossible - you need endurance, horsepower and range at a cheap price (Farm vehicles, for example). Try living in a rural area, or having a 60+ mile commute (not all that uncommon in western US cities - like the commute from Denver to CO Springs). Not everyone is urban.
(Score: 1) by Gault.Drakkor on Wednesday August 05 2015, @01:25AM
Yes there are always exceptions. I am sure they will have permits for those that have reasonable cause to have standard ICE. But non trivial portion of car use is single occupant commuters. Replace those with electric.
As to long commutes: If cities switched bylaws, land use etc to cause creation of pedestrian friendly/centric cities where people live near where they work. This would decrease average car-hours of commuting down substantially. Denser pedestrian centric cities in the long run would be the best thing for the environment and economy.
Horsepower is not a valid argument for ICE btw. Electric can be designed for same horsepower as ICE.