One of the defining characteristics of central planners is how unwilling they so often are to accept that reality may fail to live up to their dreams, directives, and targets. They tend to reckon that they just have to give the order and, say, a new technology will be invented on schedule or that consumers will change the consumption habits of a lifetime. Mundane considerations such as geography can be safely ignored.
For a couple of days last month, I drove around large and largely empty areas of southern New Mexico (it’s something I like to do). Gas stations were, on some stretches of road, not to be seen for a long, long time—but, knowing that I would easily have enough gas in the tank to last for a good while, “range” was not an anxiety. It would have been a different matter had I been looking for electric vehicle (EV) chargers. They can be found in New Mexico (and Tesla’s network is well-established there), but I wouldn’t like (beyond the interstates and a couple of other major roads) to have to rely on finding a working unit in some of the remoter parts of a state that specializes in remoteness.
NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) (November 16):
After a marathon four-day hearing, the New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board and the Albuquerque Bernalillo County Air Quality Control Board’s adopted three major standards that will provide significant climate, public health, air quality, and economic benefits to New Mexico.
The Board’s adopted the Advanced Clean Cars II (ACC II), Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT), and the Heavy-Duty Low NOx standards—collectively “the Standards.” The Standards will increase the number of zero-emission trucks and cars on New Mexico’s roads, while also reducing toxic pollution coming from the tailpipes of gasoline and diesel vehicles.
Large, sparsely populated (just over 2.1 million people), relatively poor, and, depending on the season and where you are, subject to temperatures high and low enough to affect EV battery life, New Mexico must be one of the states least suited to EVs. But, as is explained on the NRDC site, sales of new conventional cars in the state will be squeezed from 2026, culminating in a ban in 2035:
As adopted, the ACC II policy requires an increasing number of new clean cars to be sold in the state each year, until 82% of new vehicles sold in the state are electric or plug-in hybrid by 2032. Advocates, including NRDC, had been pushing for a complete version of the program, which reaches 100% of new vehicles sold by 2035, as adopted by 8 other states to-date….
In the first half of 2023, EVs accounted for 4.85 percent of new cars sold in New Mexico, up from 4.17 percent for the whole of last year.
That’s an increase, but it’s still not a lot of vehicles, meaning that New Mexico’s consumers clearly do not understand what type of new car is best suited to their needs and pocketbooks. How lucky for them that the state is stepping in to help them out with their decision-making. How sad that this intervention will not make any difference to the climate.
Oh yes, New Mexico is the nation’s second-largest oil producer (thanks in no small part to fracking), and, on some estimates, the oil and gas sector currently accounts, directly and indirectly, for around half the revenues received by the state’s general fund. That number can be volatile, but still . . .