Virginia will exit the California electric vehicle mandate at the end of the year

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It’s time for governments to stop their flirtation with Soviet-style centralized planning for automobile manufacturing and, like Gov. Youngkin, start practicing a little more free market laissez faire when it comes to consumer choices.

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Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Attorney General Jason Miyares announced yesterday that the commonwealth will withdraw from the California electric vehicle mandate program by the end of 2024 and return to following federal emissions standards.

Virginia’s General Assembly voted to join the EV program in 2021, authorizing the Virginia State Air Pollution Board to adopt California’s “Advanced Clean Cars I” regulation. That regulation is set to expire this year in favor of the more stringent “Advanced Clean Cars II” mandate, which would require 35 percent of new cars sold in 2026 and all new cars sold in 2035 to be electric.

Miyares argued in a legal opinion that the state is not required to comply with new mandates adopted by the unelected California Air Resources Board (CARB), which are set to take effect on January 1, 2025.

“EV mandates like California’s are unworkable and out of touch with reality, and thankfully the law does not bind us to their regulations,” Miyares said in a press release. “California does not control which cars Virginians buy and any thoughts that automobile manufacturers should face millions of dollars in civil penalties rather than allowing our citizens to choose their vehicles is completely absurd.”

Vehicle sales records show that only 9 percent of automobiles sold in Virginia are EVs, indicating that forcing millions of Virginians to purchase an EV who may or may not want one could pose a significant economic burden at a time when residents are struggling with other financial concerns.

In addition, under the mandate, auto manufacturers would be fined over $20,000 for any vehicle they sell that is not in compliance with California’s EV standards, which would have to be absorbed by auto dealers or passed on to their customers.

Glenn Youngkin stated,

“The idea that government should tell people what kind of car they can or can’t purchase is fundamentally wrong. Virginians deserve the freedom to choose which vehicles best fit the needs of their families.”

State Sen. Ryan McDougle, R, who co-sponsored legislation to repeal the CARB Mandate, added that “Virginia’s laws…should be decided by Virginians who are elected to serve and address issues that face our Commonwealth, not a state nearly 3,000 miles away.”

Survey data conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy in January 2024 found that nearly 60 percent of Virginians believe that the General Assembly should repeal the 2021 law that imposes the CARB mandates. Independents strongly supported the move (54 to 35 percent ) and even a plurality of Democrats were in favor of repealing the law (45 percent to 38 percent).

Only 30 percent of Virginians supported keeping the law in place.

However, the support for rejecting broad EV mandates isn’t just limited to Virginia. Polling conducted by the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers found that most Americans think that state governments are pushing EV mandates too hard.

The survey found a clear majority of registered and likely general election voters in Arizona (61 percent), Michigan (87 percent), Montana (74 percent), Nevada (61 percent), Ohio (66 percent), Pennsylvania (57 percent), and Wisconsin (64 percent) oppose the current U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposal that requires nearly 70 percent of new cars sold in the United States to be electric.

According to the data, 61 percent of political independents oppose the move nationally, and in Michigan, the heart of auto manufacturing, 71 percent of self-identified “strong Democrats” oppose the move, along with more than 91.3 percent of political independents.

EV mandates have also had negative impacts on automobile companies and their workers. Auto giant General Motors has laid off more than 1,300 workers at plants that produce the electric Chevy Bolt. Meanwhile, a Ford site in Marshall, Michigan, cut 800 jobs amid weak demand for EVs.

The verdict is clear: Americans across the country are rejecting far-left, anti-freedom mandates that rely on a misplaced reaction to climate-driven concerns that aren’t sufficiently backed by the data.

This is the quintessential command economy that is the antithesis of the free market. Rather than following the law of demand and supply to determine the degree to which car companies should manufacture EVs, governments are deciding that they know better than the people about their needs are. As a result, America’s centralized planners can only point to sales lots with unwanted EVs and financially struggling auto dealers. If people want EVs, they will demand them, and the market will respond by producing the right numbers at the right time.

Unfortunately, today’s progressive governments seem to believe in a one-size-fits-all solution for too many areas of life and are incredibly quick to trot out mandates to force those who don’t want those solutions to get on board.

Fortunately, Gov. Youngkin and the attorney general recognize the economic hardship and disruption that would be brought upon Virginians by this EV mandate and have taken the right steps to restore free market principles.

In Romans 13, we read that authority is granted to governments by God and that He institutes government for good. A government that seeks to fine its citizens millions of dollars for not purchasing an electric vehicle under the pretense of climate alarmism is not only behaving unconstitutionally but is dishonoring God by abusing the very people they are supposed to serve.

More states need to take note and follow Youngkin’s lead by incorporating a little more laissez faire in the economy, allowing consumers, not bureaucrats, to decide what they should buy.

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