California should phase out gas-powered cars

Is California ready to phase out gas-powered cars?
Is California ready to phase out gas-powered cars?Joe Raedle/Getty Images

California is a global environmental leader, but it’s falling behind in one key respect: phasing out gasoline cars. Germany, India, Norway and the Netherlands are moving to ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles by or before 2030, and France and the United Kingdom by 2040.

Here’s why California should join that list. It would:

Fight climate change: Every gallon of gas burned emits 20 pounds of carbon dioxide, the main driver of climate change. Transportation is our biggest source of carbon emissions. Shifting to electric vehicles today would cut tailpipe carbon emissions to zero, and total carbon emissions by 75 percent. Why? Because our electricity is clean and getting cleaner. Today, 27 percent of California’s electricity comes from clean, renewable sources like sun and wind. By law, 50 percent of electricity must come from renewables by 2030, and a pending bill would require 100 percent renewable electricity by 2045.

Improve our health: Vehicle emissions are the country’s largest source of air pollution, causing 53,000 premature deaths a year, and increasing the risks of asthma, lung disease and cancers — especially in children and the 4 in 10 Californians living near busy roads. Annually, health impacts from vehicle emissions cost California $15 billion.

Create jobs, lift the economy, increase energy independence: Moving from gas cars to electric vehicles would create an estimated 100,000 additional jobs in California by 2030. Tesla’s factory alone will employ 9,300 with the expansion of the Model 3. Electrification would move dollars from crude oil (mostly imported from OPEC countries and Alaska) to the domestic economy.

California is ready to phase out gas-powered cars because:

The technology is here: Tesla models and the Chevy Bolt already have a range of 220 to 335 miles per charge. Ford is developing a 300-mile range SUV. California has more than 11,000 public charging stations and is adding thousands more, including fast chargers along highway corridors.

Electric cars are economical: Lifetime costs are lower for many electric vehicles than for gas cars.

California drivers want electric vehicles: More than 400,000 people prepaid for the Tesla Model 3, which made its debut last week. Volvo and BMW are advancing electric models starting in 2019. California already makes up half of the U.S. market for electric vehicles and has a mandate to put 1.5 million zero-emission vehicles on the road by 2025. The head of the California Air Resources Board has put forth a goal that all new vehicles sold be zero emission by 2030.

This is how we can meet that goal:

•Ask your legislator to introduce or support legislation to phase out gas cars by 2030. Tell your legislator to support AB1184, introduced by Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, which would allocate $3 billion in subsidies for electric vehicles to increase demand and speed up innovation.

•Decide that your next car will be gas-free.

•Advocate for your city council member and county supervisor to introduce and support building ordinances that require charging infrastructure in new construction and retrofits.

•Ask your employer, your landlord, your supermarket, your shopping center to put in charging stations.

We’re already on the road to clean cars; we just need put the pedal to the metal.

Janelle London is the California state director of Coltura,, an organization advocating for a gasoline-free America by 2040.