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It’s beyond time for Gov. Kathy Hochul to pull the plug on her pie-in-the-sky electric-vehicle-mandate madness.
In 2022, New York adopted California’s Advanced Clean Car II rule, requiring 35% of 2026 model cars sold in the state to be “emissions-free,” then 68% by 2030 and 100% by 2035 — part of the drive to meet the harebrained goals of ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2019 Climate Act.
With the 2026 deadline looming, EV sales are nowhere near 35%: Electrics make up only 10% of car sales statewide, and in some parts of New York it’s below 2%.
Failure to meet the targets exposes automakers to hefty fines, which they’d either have to pass on to customers or avoid by cutting off sales of non-EVs.
That has auto dealers pleading for sanity, with Greater Automobile Dealers Association of NY Chairman Jack Weidinger pointing out: “The deadlines don’t match the reality.”
Meanwhile, eight House members (four Republicans, four Democrats) from New York wrote Hochul in February, warning of “substantial economic repercussions” as the mandate could “raise the prices of all vehicles, making even hybrids and gas-powered cars more expensive for consumers.”
The gov’s main action so far: promising $30 million in subsidies to try to bribe New Yorkers into buying EVs.
Her staff also insist the mandates don’t really mean what they say, and can be met this year if as few as 11% of new sales are electric, and claim the state Department of Environmental Conservation won’t enforce the 35% sales rate until the end of 2030 “at the earliest.”
Then why not change the letter of the law?
Otherwise, greens might well sue to require enforcement at the stated levels.
Indeed, it’s unlikely even 35%-by-2030 is remotely practical: Drivers simply don’t want EVs, because of their limited range, poor cold-weather performance and other issues.
Plus, New York doesn’t have the charging infrastructure to support the EVs already on the road.
There aren’t nearly enough stations (some reportedly have wait times of over an hour), and options become even more sparse when drivers leave the city, making long-distance travel a pain.
In February, Hochul announced $60 million to build more charging stations — on an already overworked, unstable grid.
With New York greenies fiercely opposed to the use of any reliable energy source, where, exactly, is the electricity to power all these new EVs to come from? Wind farms aren’t going to cut it.
Some states that adopted the ACC II rule in the last few years are already wising up: In early April, Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore signed an executive order postponing penalties for failing to meet the impossible standards.
He probably realized that drivers are more likely to take their business to Virginia, where Gov. Glenn Youngkin removed the EV mandate last year, than buy an electric vehicle they don’t want in Maryland.
Hochul needs a similar wake-up call.
It’s time to face facts: These standards are a pipe dream.
Ditch the mandate now, gov.