Maybe it's worth expanding on why this is not a zero-sum example of freedom lost.
With the specific issue of EV adoption—at least the way it is being framed now by some state mandates–-my question is this:
"How much freedom are we really talking about giving up here?"
It's literally the freedom to purchase a brand new car with a gasoline or diesel engine after 2035 in some states. Four critera, all of which need to be met.
Things you can still do,
no caveats:
- Purchase a new ICE car for the next ten years.
- Purchase or sell a used ICE car indefinitely.
- Drive an ICE car indefinitely.
- Register an ICE car indefinitely.
- Purchase a brand new gas car somewhere else and drive it in another state indefinitely.
*
Provided the downsides of EV ownership are mitigated over the next 10 years (price, range, easy quick access to refueling at home and on the road, cost of battery replacement), here are the freedoms no one will be giving up, ever.
- Freedom to drive wherever you can drive now without any discernible impediment to range or access to fuel.
- Freedom to buy an affordably priced car.
- Freedom to maintain an affordably priced car.
Again,
provided those downsides are mitigated, I cannot think of a single freedom that would be sacrificed other than "I want to buy a
brand new car that burns gas/diesel because...that's just my preference."
Please, someone articulate the freedom being sacrificed and the tyranny we'd experience in its absence?
If the downsides aren't completely addressed, they'll at least be significantly mitigated. At worst some things will become marginally less convenient. I'd still expect the legislation to be retooled in the coming decade to accomdate the shortcomings. That's the way these kind of things generally play out.
I wouldn't buy an EV today. But having an EV in 10 years isn't going to come with the same downsides. Even after, there will be plenty of ICE cars on the road and a full service infrastructure around them for probably 10 years more, slowly tapering down off after that. Gas stations aren't just going to evaporate on Jan 1st, 2035. Most of the people here are old enough that they will never need to buy an EV if they're so averse.