To the people of California — thank you for making the great leap forward in banning new gasoline and diesel vehicle sales in your state by 2035.
Our planet thanks you, the progressive people of the world thank you and our leaders and the crew members of their private jets thank you.
It is greatly appreciated how you have, once again, taken the lead and shown humankind how they should live.
And a special thanks goes to those on the forefront of electrification of our roads, the pioneers who have gone out, already spent their $60,000 to $100,000 on an electric vehicle and have shown us how it’s done.
Except, please don’t charge your cars this week. We’re out of juice.
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And so it goes in the quasi-movie set known as California.
“California now has a groundbreaking, world-leading plan to achieve 100 percent zero-emission vehicle sales by 2035,” California Gavin Newsom purred following last week’s decision to ban the internal combustion engine, according to NPR.
“It’s ambitious, it’s innovative, it’s the action we must take if we’re serious about leaving the planet better off for future generations,” Newsom stated.
And it’s stupid.
Will you be buying an electric car?
Because no sooner had Newsom signaled his virtue than the state’s electricity management people told Californians to unplug their cars.
And their washing machines, and their dishwashers, and their pool pumps.
And those unneeded light bulbs, too.
Because the grid can’t take it.
There’s a heat wave, expected to continue through Labor Day and more and the power grid is stressed, according to the California Independent System Operator Corporation, a nonprofit company that manages 80 percent of the state’s long-distance power lines.
“The ISO is expecting above-normal temperatures and increased electrical demand across much of California and much of the Western states region beginning Thursday, Sept. 1, intensifying through the upcoming Labor Day weekend and extending to Wednesday, Sept. 7,” the ISO said in a Systems Condition Bulletin issued Tuesday.
The highest power demand is expected on Labor Day, Tuesday and on the following day, ISO said.
ISO is urging Californians to monitor its FlexAlert web page that tells consumers when to power down everything they can.
In preparing for a FlexAlert, ISO said, “Top three actions from 4-9 p.m. are to set thermostats to 78 degrees; avoid using large appliances; and turn out unnecessary lights.”
Presumably, a 5-ton electric pickup would be a large appliance, as would any electric car, for that matter.
So the grid meisters ask that you not charge your EV this week.
DEVELOPING: California power grid officials warn of blackouts, urge residents to conserve energy.
“Set thermostats to 78 degrees or higher, avoid using large appliances and charging electric vehicles, and turn off unnecessary lights,” pic.twitter.com/hOn8kweyuD
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) August 31, 2022
Last week, California announced a ban on sale of gas-powered cars by 2035.
This week, they’re telling people not to charge their electric vehicles. https://t.co/8isPS3dGUD
— John Cooper (@thejcoop) August 31, 2022
Given the war on nuclear energy along with coal and other fossil fuels coupled with the unstable reliability of wind and solar power, the grid may never be able to support California drivers in the manner to which they’ve been accustomed.
So why would California’s legislators vote to ban new internal combustion engined vehicles?
That’s the thing — they didn’t.
Last week’s ICE ban by 2035 came from bureaucrats on the California Air Resources Board (CARB).
And it dovetails with Joe Biden’s effort to make 50 percent of all new cars emission-free by 2030 through batteries, fuel cells, plug-in hybrids and, who knows, maybe magic beans.
Imagine how that is to be supported by a national power grid that is becoming increasingly underpowered and uses ancient transmission lines, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Why do I think those in charge won’t be able to fix that problem?
Another thing — they say that as California goes, so goes the nation. I hope that’s not true, but the states of Washington and Massachusetts, through trigger laws tied to California, just enacted their own ICE bans.
And there was some talk of Newsom running for president, talk he recently squelched.
Given the condition of California, and our shaky national electrical grid, if Newsom ran, I doubt if his campaign slogan would be “power to the people.”
