In response to the Murphy Administration’s 2035 ban on the sale of new internal-combustion cars and light trucks, Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner LaTourette said,
“There is no ban on gasoline-powered cars by the Murphy Administration. There is a ramp-up to get us to an all zero-emission vehicle future. And that plan does not mean that no one in the state of New Jersey could ever buy a gas-powered vehicle after 2035. … It does not constrain choice. It opens choice. It is following the market.”
It’s true that the state won’t toss you in prison if you’re caught driving your old car or truck … yet. But you won’t be able to purchase a new internal combustion vehicle in the state. And you won’t be able to buy one anywhere else and bring it back to New Jersey. Nevertheless, according to the Commissioner’s twisted logic, the ban will improve your choices and “follow the market.” Apparently, when Henry Ford only sold Model T’s that were painted black, he was actually offering customers the full rainbow of colors to choose from.
S2252, which was signed by Governor Murphy back in 2020, mandates at least two million electric vehicles by 2035 to help “fight” climate change. By comparison, through June of this year, a total of 120,000 EVs have been sold in the state since 2011. But even two million EVs isn’t good enough for the Commissioner. The DEP claims there must be 4.5 million EVs on NJ roads by 2035 to fight climate change. Since New Jerseyans buy around 400,000 new cars and trucks every year, reaching the DEP goal will require 90% of all new vehicle sales to be EVs from now on. Good luck with that.
As for fighting climate change, the DEP mandate will be as successful as I would be trying to tackle Curtis Martin, the best Jets running back in history. I estimate that, if all two million EVs were on New Jersey roads and all were charged with pure, emissions-free electrons from wind and solar generators, the reduction in CO2 emissions compared to two million new internal combustion vehicles would account for one hour of the world’s CO2 emissions last year.
That’s not a typo. One whole hour. You can check out the calculations in my new Affordable Energy for New Jersey Report, “New Jersey’s Electric Vehicle Mandate: A High-Cost Boondoggle that Will Wreck the Economy, Harm the Poor, Wreck the Economy, Harm the Poor, and Have No Impact on Climate,” which was just published (click here).
Of course, if you don’t buy an EV, you’ll still be paying for those who do. I estimate it will cost the state $70 billion in subsidies, lost sales taxes, lost gasoline taxes, public chargers, subsidized home chargers, and electric distribution system upgrades to put those two million EVs on the road. All told, those subsidies equate to $35,000 per EV and over $7,500 for every New Jerseyan. And that doesn’t include the federal subsidies New Jerseyan’s taxes will contribute to.
EV proponents claim they are superior to internal combustion vehicles in every way – cleaner, faster, and just plain cool. So why must they be subsidized? That’s easy. Because they, and the Murphy Administration, believe most New Jerseyans, especially those like you reading this, are just too stupid to realize that the “eat your spinach (or kale)” EV mandate is for your own good.
They are your betters, after all.
